Fatty Facesitter

I think variety is key. If you’re watching several long, drawn out frames in succession without big breaks being made it doesn’t really tingle the testes, but inbetween frames like that it’s a lovely change of pace. One thing I quite like about Selby/Allen though is there’s been a lot of good camaraderie between them - this keeps it light and entertaining and breaks up some of the monotony. 

I absolutely hate Hendry on commentary even if the match is good. Legend, GOAT status etc, but I find his voice and personality so incredibly dull. It really doesn’t lend itself well to commentary. I’d honestly rather listen to Dominic Dale than have Hendry in the box at any point. 

I feel slightly uneasy at myself for saying this but I feel the total opposite about Shaun Murphy on comms and punditry - he offers expert analysis, delivers it well, and is a very easy listen with his soft Northamptonshire accent in the box. Reminds me a lot of Willie Thorne in terms of his style. 

…Back in a moment, just off to scrub myself down on the count of feeling dirty. 

👍 White/Robinson vs Spears/Starkz - Solid, physical start to proceedings. Nothing to go out of your way to see, however. It still feels like White is wasted in this role and he should have come in at the top of the card. 

👍 Wheeler/Lethal - Perhaps ran a tad too long and the crowd weren’t particularly invested, but there’s a Jeff Jarrett sighting and it continues the intrigue around the affections of Mark Briscoe, so there’s that. Match itself was perfectly acceptable. 

👎 Rhodes/Lee squash - Match itself was pointless and the staredown with Swerve and co at the end feels a few weeks too late for me to get my testes tingling in anticipation at revisiting that rivalry. 

👎 Anna Jay/Ashely D'Amboise - Too long, too boring. Crap brawl between Anna Jay and Julia Hart post-match too - same problem as their match a couple of weeks back, zero believable intensity. Skip. 

👎 Firm bollocks - Rubbish. Imagine wasting rare words from Hook on this shite, or even his presence in this angle generally. More terrible Hardy acting too. This is going to be such a massive chore next week. 

👎 Acclaimed squash - I love The Acclaimed but this was a total waste of time for all involved. 

👎 Tay Conti scolds Sammy - Speaking of terrible acting, deary me. I get the sentiment of what they were going for, but this didn't land. 

👎 Fat Andrew Tate (same lad from Dynamite) in the front row. Pipe down and piss off. 

Overall - A lacklustre episode this week. The opening and closing matches were fine, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. There were meaningless squashes, some awful promos and hardly anything g else to pique one’s interest. The show is already lurking into meaningless b-show territory. Soon, it'll be time to bin it off and go full steam ahead with Collision. 

👍 KO/Zayn vs Usos - Not quite up to their Wrestlemania standard but that wasn’t the requirement for this TV main event. Still an excellent match and the right result which adds further intrigue as to the future of Jimmy and Jey. It would have been easy to do a cop out and switch the belts back onto them - now there are more questions to answer and that makes for better television. 

👍 LA Knight/Butch - Made shorter due to the commercial break, but what we got was still decent. LA Knight continues to be over like rover. Yeah. 

👍 Triple threat tag match - Love how they played up to Brawn accidentally chucking Ricochet the week before. Lots of fun here as a showcase for all three teams. 

👎 The Draft - The biggest issue for me is that a combination of the draft segments and ad breaks killed the flow of the matches tonight, which collectively had less time allocated to fit in all of the announcement bollocks. The spokesperson theme was a fun addition admittedly, but Teddy Long picking for Raw?! Come on, player. I left separate thoughts on the actual picks, but as a plot device in general this did nothing for me I’m afraid and it's beginning to show its age. Also, for all the crowing they do about the possibility of teams getting broken up, they keep getting drafted together! A farce. 

👎 Zelina Vega vs Sonya Deville - A short heater for the PLE - Match itself too short to rate favourably, but a nice little bit of business with Rhea Ripley at the end just to plant a tiny seed of doubt ahead of the PLE and a much-needed heater for Zelina. 

👎 OC return - Seems a bit of a waste to continue with the group at this point and it seemed like an underwhelming way to have AJ return as part of the package deal. You could potentially turn them heel and have them set up against the likes of the LWO potentially, but they do nothing for me as a collective presently. 

Draft thoughts 

SD - Roman/Solo/Heyman - No shock. 

Raw - Cody - Fingers crossed he wins MITB and still challenges Roman, or he wins the Rumble and challenges Roman again at Wrestlemania. It does make sense to keep him separate from Roman for now and it makes sense that after Roman he would be the next pick. 

- SD - Bianca - Interestingly she kept referring to herself as the Smackdown women’s champion in her phone promo. Hopefully they don’t just do a shitty belt swap with Rhea. 

- Raw - Becky - Surprisingly high up the pecking order. 

- SD - Street Profits - Still expect them to split at some point…also they just so happened to be completely ready to compete in blue? Come on, player. 

- Raw - Imperium - Gunther for future World Heavyweight champion. 

- SD - Edge - Ambivalent about this one. 

- Raw - Riddle - Interesting to see him kept seperate from Roman/Solo.

- SD - Bobby Lashley - A future Roman challenger in the interim. 

- Raw - Drew McIntyre - Another World Heavyweight title contender. 

- SD - The OC - It was surprising seeing them selected as a package deal. Again though, an underwhelming Styles return. 

- Raw - Miz - Proved recently he can still go against Rollins, hopefully Seth gets selected for Raw and they can run this back. 

- SD - Damage Control - At least Bayley’s feud with Michael Cole will continue. 

- Raw - Shinsuke - Pair him up with Walter and have him get battered. 

- SD - Alba Frye/Isla Dawn - Strange first NXT call-up when the pairing is still fairly new on NXT's screens. 

- Raw - Indi Hartwell - Amazing considering she’s only just won the strap and after she got injured last week. I wouldn’t have given any of the triple threat title match contenders a call up following the match earlier this week. 

ROH TV 27/4/23

👍 Blake Christian vs Gringo Loco - American lucha libre is it? Don’t mind if I do. This was great to watch and a good example of not judging a book by the cover - Blake Christian might have a generic look and name, but fuck me can he move. Gringo Loco’s attire wouldn’t look out of place in a trainee match in somewhere like the King’s Lynn leisure centre, but he wrestles like he's headlining in front of a sold out crowd crowd in Mexico City. There’s been some really good booking throughout this show in terms of putting pairs of performers together who have some excellent chemistry with one another and this is one of many examples. Cracking main event. 

👍 Athena vs Lady Frost - Another hard-hitting Athena contest as she continues to be the MVP of recent ROH output - a great way to open this week’s broadcast. Who knows where this title run is going for Athena, but presently they’re knocking it out of the park with her booking and she’s responding in kind with top performances. 

👍 Kingdom Vignette/other promos - A well put-together piece which puts over their history in the company and their current mission, which is essentially getting revenge against the teams in the Supercard of Honor ladder match. Really you could have put this out on the first show after the PPV, but it’s a welcome explainer all the same. Also thought the other backstage bits with Christopher Daniels and Rocky Romero were simple, to the point and welcome advancements. There was much more of s balance this week between angle advancement and throwing too many matches at the booking sheet. 

👍 Brian Cage/Leon Ruffin - Much more fun than recent Cage showcases thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of the comparatively diminutive Ruffin, who also sold beautifully for his foe. 

👍 Dark Order/Trustbusters - Short but sweet again, with the backdrop of The Righteous keeping tabs on Stu Grayson adding intrigue. Sonny Kiss is such a unique performer - probably been said multiple times but it feels like there’s a lot of untapped potential there that nobody’s quite sure how to mould. 

👍 Skye Blue vs Diamanté - Much better outing for Skye this week - another example of two performers with chemistry which ultimately making for a better show case for both of them. Interesting to see Athena pop out to say hello at the end - I wouldn’t say Skye Blue is ready for a title match at this juncture but it’s good to see any kind of ROH angle advancement on a very match-heavy TV show. 

👍 Lee Moriarty vs Rockey Romero - Decent little ripper here and at the risk of repeating myself, another example of a pairing booked together with really good in-ring chemistry. They clearly see something with Moriarty as they seem determined to keep pursuing with him in this longer-form matches. 

👎 Rush/Vance vs Infantry - Squash, feel free to skip this one. 

👎 Best Friends vs Occasio/Summers - Too short to mean anything of note - another one you can skip and not lose any sleep over missing. 

Overall - Plenty to like about this week's show. 11 matches last week was simply too many, and although we still had 9 this week there was a much better balance between the in-ring content and angle/storyline advancement, in some case forming the backdrop or aftermath of the matches themselves. This show should also serve as a good booking template moving forward in terms of booking together compatible pairings who collectively help each other to raise the bar and showcase themselves in a very positive manner. An enjoyable and recommended watch this week for the duration. 

I see Mike Bucci aka Nova aka Simon Dean was taking his first WWE steps at this point. Wonder if he’d already cut his hair by that point after being effectively told to by management because his hair was too similar to that of one HHH, or so the story goes!

👍 Jordynne Grace/Maria Slamovich - Very good standard here in the opener. Aside from the action itself being entertaining they made a real effort with the audience participation factor too - not that this terrible audience for this set of Toronto tapings deserve it. No moans about the roll-up finish either, because even that was creatively done with Grace’s strength ultimately giving her that extra edge. A fine way to kick off this broadcast.

👍 Nick Aldis - Most Aldis entries will earn thumbs ups purely because of geographical bias from me, but I genuinely thought the vignette featuring him was another well put together presentation from Impact’s production team. It made him look like a big star, putting over his previous TNA exploits as well as his NWA World title travels. This is exactly the sort of treatment they should employ around this signing and it’s so far, so good in terms of the wider presentation. Big pop for the on-location shot of the world famous King's Lynn docks. 

👍 PCO/Champagne Singh - 55-year-old PCO continues to amaze. This wasn’t squeaky clean, but that’s not what you want from a PCO match anyway - he awkwardly and viciously uses his body as a weapon to gain the advantage. Singh did his bit here as a part-comedy villain, part-victim, selling as if he’d literally been attacked by a monster. Good few minutes of madness. The eventual clash with Maclin could be quite the hoss-fest. 

👍 Swinger - This is so, so daft. And you know what? I love it. I love Swinger’s music, his charisma, his knack for comedy, his gear including the golden fannypack, the lot. Looking at it as a daft comedy angle, thoroughly entertaining. 

👍 Jody Threat/Seleziya Spark - Another good showcase for a Knockout here in terms of Jody Threat and it was short but sweet. 

👍 Kazarian feature - Nicely executed here. Interesting that they didn’t shy away from some controversial topics around the TNA management of the time etc. Far more interesting than I expected this to be - this was like a tastefully done shoot interview without being a snarky work-shoot type of scenario (take note, AEW) and it made for a good feature. Overall this was another winner for Impact’s production team who continue to impress me with their output. 

👎 Donna Purazzo vs Taylor Wylde - These two didn’t quite click as well as I’d hoped - there were a couple of sloppy spots and it felt to me like Wylde struggled a bit to keep up with Purazzo’s pace. Certainly not hideously bad by any stretch and it still had some good moments, but it didn’t quite work as the main event. Purazzo though remains a thoroughly convincing Knockouts champion and I’m interested to see where her reign goes. A decent night for the Knockouts looking at the bigger picture. 

👎 ABC vs The Design - Again, nothing terribly wrong with the action but nothing that stood out as must-see. The wider backdrop of the issues with the Design and Callahan just isn’t very appealing despite their collective best efforts. I will say though that Chris Bey deserves some credit for battling through an apparent ankle problem after a blown spot early in the match. With Kon. 

👎 Joe Hendry’s broken his nose! Gutting. 

Overall - Impact continue to promote their knockouts prominently and the performers are repaying that faith with their efforts. Both WWE and AEW’s higher ups and performers should take note on both those counts. At the risk of repeating myself I’m really, really impressed with Impact’s production team who continue to produce excellent vignettes and features. Lots to like about Impact this week - definitely has the feel of a promotion back on the up.

2 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

I hope it REALLY hurt.

Sorry, it’s the anaesthetic 🫠

Finally had a troublesome tooth removed after months of delay.

Thank goodness for the anaesthetic but bloody hellfire was that a rough experience. They kept yanking my jaw open, they couldn’t get it out on the first try so had to cut it in half, and then they had to get a big lad in to do a final, forceful pull (fuck off, Bacon. I know you’re reading this) and with the worst sounding crack and crunch I’ve ever heard, it was over. 

A hair-raising experience. Now, to save up for the barnet transplant!

I watched Powerrr again so you don't have to. 

👍 The Wrestling! - Rather than review each match in detail (most of them are quite short) I'll comment on the action generally. The first couple of episodes of this new season were sorely lacking in what I'd call premium in-ring action - not a patch on the matches being put on by their industry contemporaries and certainly not up to the standard of the earlier seasons of Powerrr. However, this week there was a marked improvement in the content of the the in-ring product. It's still not the most eye-catching of the most technically sound, but the execution definitely made for a step in the right direction. Kenzie Page and Ella Envy was a big improvement on last week's women's match for instance. There was nothing so hideously bad you had to skip it. There's still plenty of work to do, but hopefully as we build towards the Crockett Cup we can step up the intensity level. 

👍 Aaron Stevens will always get a thumbs up for any appearance he makes. I'd love to see WWE rehire him as a manager. 

👍 Special mention for Trevor Murdoch, who appeared to dislocate his finger mid-match and popped it back in himself to keep things rolling. 

👎 Same gripes as previously about the set - this was part of the same set of tapings as the last couple of shows. Can't find any details presently on the next set of tapings but Christ I hope it's back in a studio environment because this looks so low-rent. 

Overall - I might stick with it for a few more episodes. It's an easy free watch on YouTube and there might be the odd gem to discover every once in a while. It's still not a patch on the Powerrr of old, but there are still flashes with things like the graphics, the vignettes and the odd funny promo. It's not going to make me start watching their second show (NWA USA) anytime soon, but let's see where it all goes. 

👍 Tony Schiavone - “Listen up, you prick!”

👍 Pillars business - Good, we’re back on track! The best mates stuff with MJF/Sammy is good tele and hopefully they keep that running before, during and possibly even after the PPV because it’s great fun. The squabbling between Jungle Boy and Allin was unwelcome, but the handshake at the end hopefully puts that crap little set of poorly-executed verbal exchanges to bed. The match between Sammy and Allin was a cracker, full marks for effort and the 630 to the outside through the table was ballsy. As for the tag announcement next week, fine, you can telegraph it from a mile away but the match will be great, we’ll finally get to the official announcement and we can put the last few weeks of dodgy build behind us and start again. Overall, the stench of last week did still linger a little bit, but this week certainly helped clear up some of the mess and got the train back on the rails. 

👍 Elite/Takeshita/BCC business - All good stuff, this. Match itself was a tag team ripper that didn't outstay it's welcome and the ending was a grim yet welcome way to close proceedings. Lots of different possibilities that can come from this and I'm on board for all of it. 

👍 Orange Cassidy/Bandido - Another OC belter and a rip-roaring opener with some top spots, transitions, crowd participation, the lot. Cassidy is the man of the moment for me - he’s busting out fucking hurricanranas with his hands in his fucking pockets for goodness sake. Bandido is very impressive too - he’s got a magical combination of speed and strength to go along with some real charisma. They had some excellent chemistry together here and it was a fantastic watch. Bootiful. 

👍 Double J/Dax Harwood - Another enjoyable pairing tonight. Jarrett looks in fine fettle and was in splendid form here - so many little touches with his selling and riling up the crowd that many young’uns in the lockeroom could learn from. This ran slightly longer than I anticipated but certainly not in a negative way. Keep this rolling so we get a tag titles matches and more competing for the affections of Mark Briscoe, please. 

👍 Owen Hart Cup - All for it. Also, Tony K should always use this autocue from now on to save him losing his train of thought and repeating himself (even if it does make him a bit wooden!)

👍 Wardlow squash - Delicious. Arn’s voice might have a bit less bark now but he’s definitely still got a great promo in him. More evidence that both Wardlow and the TNT title are back on an upward trajectory. 

👍 Cole/JAS/Roddy Strong business - Nothing wrong with any of this. Good to see Mr. Strong in this neck of the woods. Hell of an eight-man tag in the making following this skirmish. 

👍 Cargill/Valkrye - Slightly anti-climatic ending but they had a tough spot on the card and still got the crowd invested. They seemed to be hinting at a Taya heel turn at the end - either way I'd be down for a longer rematch headlining a Rampage or a PPV with more time allotted. 

👎 What's with this grim close up on a bloody, drooling Darby Allin. Yuck. 

👎 Also, he's still behaving like a moaning prick and that's not very babyfacey, now, is it? 

Overall - Not only is their main storyline heading back in the right direction, but so is the show as a whole. A massive improvement across the board on last weeks' episode that started off hot and maintained the momentum throughout the broadcast. Even a bad Dynamite has its moments, but a good to great Dynamite leaves you craving for more and it reminds you of how good wrestling in general can be when the actions good, the storylines are interesting and the presentation is on point. Terrific. 

An old picture from my first Crucible stint and the branding is now out of date, but to me there are few finer sights in sport than the one-table Crucible setup. Spine-tingling stuff. 

Luca Brecel is fast becoming one of my favourites. Who else prepares for just 15 minutes before getting smashed and playing Fifa with his mates? Strikes the ball so quickly and beautifully. Mesmerising to watch. 

Si Jiahui has has the tournament of his life - the kid's 20 years old and he's been slugging it out since round two of the qualifiers at the English Institute of Sport, playing over 100 frames of snooker in this spell. To hold his own against McGill in that decider was something else. Whatever happens from this point, I hope he can avoid the pitfalls if his compatriots caught up in he match-fixing scandal and I hope he can sustain this sort of form rather than dropping like a stone in the rankings next season, because he's excellent to watch. 

Mark Selby is probably the favourite now and let's give him his flowers - he's an absolute titan in this competition. You could argue he's already amongst the greats with four titles to his name, but five would cement his status as a legend long before he hangs up his cue. At this point he's the most likely to catch up to Ronnie and Hendry's magnificent 7. 

Mark Allen didn't play his best stuff against Jak Jones, but his season has culminated superbly and it would be fitting for him to take the crown after a bumper campaign. On his day there's nothing he can't do on the table. He seems to have really turned his life around off of it too and perhaps winning here would allow to him really close the chapter of the first part of his career and move forward with a new leaf. 

Bring on the semis (Super Bacon don't you dare put that in out of context). 

8 hours ago, theringmaster said:

Think it's unfair to criticize Roxanne and Stratton, they were thrown into a tough spot as every dynamic of the match changed; going from 3 to 2, they had to call on the fly, listen to the ref and obviously in the back of their minds they had to be wondering what was the finish? Is Indi not coming back? I felt bad for Indi since this was obviously supposed to be her big showcase match as Champion and it was just 'there' with a botched ending. She could be one of those cases where a championship actually hinders her. Regardless of the botches and the flat feeling, Roxanne is still obviously the absolute future of the division though.

Unfortunately it was so, so bad that nobody is exempt from criticism. It was bad before the unfortunate injury even took place. After the injury, when Perez did that hurricanrana/frankensteiner from the top rope she landed square on her head and neck. They strikes they were hitting each other with had absolutely no velocity whatsoever and they barely played to the crowd at all. I'm no expert and while I'm sympathetic to their plight, the execution of what they were able to do during that spell was of a really, really poor standard. 

Fuck a duck. Never saw that coming. 

I know it’s been five years but it’s quite strange living in a time where an AEW show will, pretty soon, have been and gone. 

All signs pointing towards Collision being the big announcement tonight. There are still plenty of opportunities for talent to compete across the different shows if they are really wanting to give talent more exposure. 

51 minutes ago, Chilly McFreeze said:

Really? Honestly I found it kind of woeful bar the odd big break. Especially the safety. Watching Brecel give a safety shot about 2 seconds thought and then putting Ronnie back in is infuriating. He's such a naturally gifted player but has a huge vibe of just not really giving a shit. One of the most careless players I have ever seen. See also Jack Lisowski. Players like those 2 will never win the WC until they work on their all round game. You can't just pot your way to victory at the Crucible.

Ronnie was relying on his C game as far as I can tell which shows how bad Brecel is at all round match play given the scoreline. Ronnie was definately there for the taking in the 2nd session and Brecel just threw his chance away because he couldn't be arsed to actually engage with the match and think about the shots he was playing.

 

 

Probably more a reflection of how dull the second round felt more than anything. And even watching Ronnie in his C game is better than most people's A game. I kind of like the fact that neither player spends hours deliberating over safety - I also think that you need to have a vibe of not giving much of a shit to get a chance against O'Sullivan at times because it can be so easy to get overawed by the occasion if you're not careful. 

Last day of the two-table setup today!

👍 Carmelo Hayes/ Grayson Waller - I thought this was excellent. Some of the transitions in the early going were absolutely delicious and there were some great spots throughout. They seriously busted a gut between them and you could see how much they've grown as performers since this incarnation of NXT launched. Waller looked to have done himself a mischief at the end - hopefully nothing too serious. The only blemish on an otherwise brilliant match. Both chaps have bright futures. Couldn’t give a toss about the Bron beatdown post-match but it does at least begin the setup for the next PPV nice and early. 

👍 Trunk match - A fun way to start the night and they made good use of some of the spring-themed paraphernalia around the set. The trunk match theme was at least somewhat unique. However, the show-closing cinematic segment can get in the bin. NXT’s ‘acting’ is really, really tiresome. 

👍 Drew Gulak sighting. 

👍 Joe Gacy - “It’s just me, Joe” 

👎 Women’s title triple threat - Absolutely terrible from start to finish and one of the worst main events NXT have ever produced. The execution was abysmal from the very start with absolutely zero zest and featuring all the intensity of an ant passing wind. After the poor opening section, complete with the spot already highlighted by @Supremo, it completely fell apart with two more poorly-timed spots within moments of each other - Stratton does a double stomp on Perez right onto her bonce when she’s completely unprotected, then Stratton does a Swanton to the outside and Hartwell goes down with an ankle injury. This left Perez and Stratton completely exposed as the plan fell out of the window and they showed no acumen for improvisation. Perez then almost ends her own career by landing on her head from a top rope hurricanrana. No points for guts for Hartwell coming out at the end to finish the match - the damage had already been done. All three performers took a massive hit to their credibility here I’m afraid - developmental brand or not, there were so many basic elements of being a professional wrestler that were really, really poorly executed. All three have shown their capabilities previously so they clearly have the ability, but this match will haunt them for a goo while. It’s almost worth watching just to see how poor it really was. I’m normally quite a Positive Peter and I never like to be too harsh, especially with an injury involved, but this was quite worryingly bad to the point where I think all three performers could do taking a good look at themselves. Really, really poor and nowhere near up to standard for television. 

👎 Cora Jade/Valkrye - Too long and without anything unique taking place. Jade does has potential with this heel character, but there was nothing standout here. 

👎 Breakker/Chase - Nothing criminally bad but it was just too short to be anything of note. 

👎 Briggs/Henley James/Jenson - Ran too long and had nothing groundbreaking. Fast forward to the end for plot development, otherwise you can skip the rest. 

👎 Oba Femi/Oro Mensah - Ran too long and Oba Femi poses no unique qualities from any generic big man we’ve ever seen. 

👎 Charlie Dempsey is the worst talker of all time. Regal, give your son a clip round the ear’ole and project some personality onto him. 

Overall - The NXT title match was excellent and the opening tag was fine. Otherwise the rest of the show was either entirely skippable or red reels rotten. A bizarre episode.

Rocket/Bullet was a great standard. Quarters already a much better watch than the second round thus far. 

10 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

(Part one of ramblings of what I thought was a great show and still hardly anyone is talking about Bad Bunny!)

As I said previously, I thought this was an excellent Raw. Again, bear in mind I watched it without knowing who was running creative, what the big announcement was going to be, Phillip Brooks and Michael Mizanin renewing acquaintances, etc. But I neglected to talk about the World Championship reveal. Alas, here we go - 

I'm seemingly in the minority - I thought the whole treatment in terms of the announcement, the introduction of the title, the design and the possibilities that can come from it are akin to the reaction in the arena - overwhelmingly positive! 

First, the segment itself. I genuinely wasn't expecting the announcement, partly through not getting wind of it in the build up. I just assumed HHH was going to talk about the draft, a new acquisition, announcing another show, etc etc. When he started talking about Reigns, I was expecting him to then vacate possibly the WWE title. But the title reveal really surprised me, and the crowd reaction very much reflected my own. I thought it was a great idea, I thought it looked the bollocks and I had no issue with the reasoning behind it in terms of what HHH conveyed. 

I took HHH's words on Roman Reigns being nothing more than kayfabe - there was nothing in there that felt 'on the nose' for me. It came across as an attack on Roman Reigns the character and the position that he and the likes of Paul Heyman have negotiated themselves into as opposed to what Joe Anoa'i has negotiated with WWE higher-ups behind the scenes. I'll come back to this shortly but in terms of HHH's comments, nothing more than character-driven for me. 

Next, the design. It looks like the classic outline, but on steroids. The overt logo will divide opinion, but to me it absolutely looks  the part and you totally, completely buy it as something that will very quickly become a coveted piece of hardware. Designs will always divide opinion and be subjective, but I think when pitted against other recent WWE efforts it's a massive improvement. 

This I think is the most subjective point - the first title holder. This is what's stirring the most debate and people are already trying to label it as a consolation prize for Cody, or a consolation prize full stop. I get the sentiment - but I think it makes perfect sense to bring in the title for several reasons.  It's a title that will be used as another device to headline more shows, both TV and PLE. It's another title for more workers to aspire to to eventually attain. It also clears a path for Roman to continue his current reign and continue his more relaxed schedule. In terms of the first holder, should it be Cody? Should it be someone else?

Personally, I think it's tailor-made for Seth Rollins. His impassioned promo about it (which was much more on the nose than HHH's comments) was well delivered and instantly made it an even bigger deal. As the inaugural champion, he can take on babyfaces, heels, celebrities like Logan Paul and Pat McAfee, the lot. He can have bangers on TV, house shows, PLEs, the lot. He oozes star quality and he absolutely deserves it for the quality of his output ever since transitioning into this 'drip god' style character. The whole narrative about him wanting to push the industry forward means he'll want to relentlessly prove that this is the strap people should care about. He made another good popint about Roman not technically beating him, so that further adds weight to his claim for the gold. It also totally clears the way for Cody to continue to challenge for Roman's title/titles, eventually win them, and perhaps the Universal title can be retired after that. Then we go back to two champions defending regularly, everyone's happy. 

...But what if Cody DOES win this one? I honestly don't think it would be as shit as people make out. After all, who better to spearhead the new title than the industry's serial disrupter? What better way to disrupt the status quo than to lead the way with a new title and to bust a gut to make it even more prestigious than Roman's run? They're already having Cody headline house show tours - why not give him the belt to add further gravitas to that? What better way to kick off this particular title's legacy than to put it around the waist of someone who's family's legacy has left a massive footprint over the industry? 

I am really, really surprised by the overwhelmingly negative reaction at this stage. There's every chance they'll fuck it up, but the announcement itself, the way it was treated in terms of a backdrop for the rest of the show and the possibilities that could come from it are all very interesting to comprehend at the moment. 

Overall (Part one!) - For context, I watched Raw this morning without any notion of the major announcement coming (I got an early night and missed any commotion about it on social media or the news sites) and these thoughts were initially written up as they usually are, on the fly after each match/segment/angle without gauging other opinions first, either from here or from social. I also watched this without any inkling about who was running the show despite what has since come to light. With that in mind...

👍 Bad Bunny/Priest - Absolutely GREAT bit of business here and I'm surprised that, at the time of typing this up, there hasn't been a single mention of it on these hallowed pages. The match between Rey and DP itself was a fun little ripper (special mention for a great camera shot as Rey goes for the 619 and Priest flashes into shot out of nowhere with a massive boot to Rey's noggin). But the Bunny/Priest altercation afterwards? Superb. Bunny absolutely leathered big Damian with those kendo stick shots, and Priest in turn sold for him like his soul was being extricated from his body. A street fight at Backlash too? Yes please. Lovely, lovely stuff. A good night for the Damian Priest fan club chaired by @Devon Malcolm. Bad Bunny is fucking brilliant as well and you could see he was having the time of his life out there. 

 👍 Cody/Finn - First, the opening promo. Cody is STILL over like rover and you can't help but hang on the soppy cunt's every word. Nice touch with the stuff around the torn pec and the first time being back in that arena since then. There was a very important shift in focus here, because aside from Finn’s little jab, there was no mention about Wrestlemania - he’s now fully focussed on Brock Lesnar and charging full steam ahead. Good way to open and Cody vs Finn was one hell of a setup for later on. Then, there's the match with itself and you just knew they were going to tear it up, and they most certainly did. A perfect heater for Cody heading into Backlash. 

👍 Bloodline/Sami/KO tension - Again, why are we not talking more about this? It's still one of the most utterly gripping things on WWE television. The ramifications of the tag match on Smackdown were already high stakes as they were, but now we're staring at a scenario where the ramifications for the losers are perhaps even greater. I get that people might be waning on their interest in this feud now, but I've long believed that there's still juice left in it, and this proves my point. As for Sami/KO bickering...abso-bloody-lutely they should be bickering. Why would they be 100% squeaky clean after everything they've been through in their careers? Especially recently? It makes perfect sense that there would still be some squabbling and you can't tell me otherwise. YOU WILL ALL LEARN TO LOVE THIS, DAMN YOU. 

👍 Bloodline/LWO - A Fatty Facesitter opening tag match ripper. Lovely stuff, this - action-packed from bell-to-bell. Despite the loss I thought this was another great LWO showcase - love the new theme and they’re clearly over and the crowd were well behind them, and I think they’ll have their first proper moment in the sun at Backlash so I’m ok with a few defeats along the way - they lost here being incredibly competitive and got taken down by a ref distraction and a brutal spike. A good heater for the Bloodline heading into Smackdown and Backlash respectively.

👍 Rollins/Omos - For something thrown together for a PLE so last minute, I'm bang up for it now. Nothing wrong with this bit of business at all.   

👍 Other bits - Streets Profits vs the ex-Hurt Business was perfectly fine. I'd be quite happy to see them split in the draft to be honest to freshen things up. The Theory/Lashley/Reed business over the US title was perfectly executed for me. Nothing wrong the six-woman tag, nobody put a foot wrong. Gable/Ali was also fine if a bit surprising with the finish. I think Ali's new gimmick will take time to adjust to, but it has the feeling of a slow burner about it. They need to run Alpha Academy and the models stuff for longer because it's so entertaining. 

Overall (Part two!) - Everything above was great - from top to bottom I thought the show was a really, really fun watch and at no point did I get bored or feel compelled to keep fast-forwarding. You'll notice I've neglected to mention the World title business...this is two-fold. One, I think it's a massive topic that can be discussed separately. And two...well, my shift starts in a minute. So I'll conveniently return to this later but overall, I can't surely be the only person that thought this was an excellent Raw? Can I?...

I love Kyren Wilson because he's the goodest of good eggs, and fair play to John Higgins, but it's so disappointing to see him go out to such a big margin. Was barely a contest. At this rate the Class of 92 will go on for another ten years - it just feels like nobody is ready to properly dethrone them. Trump and Wilson should be spearheading this era of the sport, yet they're still playing second fiddle to them. 

👍 Moxley/Daniels - Solid (if unspectacular) with a simple story told throughout. Not the sort of balls-to-wall opener we’re perhaps used to seeing for Rampage but an easy watch all the same. 

👍 Julia Hart/Keira Hogan - A much improved outing from Hart and a good contrast from the awful match with Anna Jay a couple of weeks ago. Much more intense, much more physical and much better execution. The fact that Hogan brought the physicality element too forced Hart to bring out more of that evil personality they are trying to convey through the selling, the evil looks of disdain, etc. As much as the possibility of a rematch worries me, the post-match brawl with Anna Jay was also well executed here and you got a much better sense of the hatred they had for one another. Good stuff. 

👍 8-Man - Still enjoying the dynamic that this is bringing as a result of winning the affections of Mark Briscoe. Some fun spots here and even a slight sense of jeopardy at the end - I thought the Varsity Athletes might pick up the surprise win as a result of the tensions across the ring. Again, nothing groundbreaking in terms of the action but in terms of the story it was all good stuff. Automatic thumbs up for Double J and the combined Fargo-strutting!

👎 Vikingo/Dralisitico - I’m a massive Vikingo fan and I also like Dralistico, but the execution felt very off and there were some quite unnecessary risks taken here. They tried to slow the pace down and while that might work in the context of a longer match, for a Rampage main event with a limited timeslot I’m not sure they were able to tell the story they wanted to tell here. Some mesmerising spots still, but for a better Vikingo match this week, go back and watch his ROH bout with Gringo Loco. 

👎 Firm Deletion - Stokely was funny with his little cameo, otherwise the Hardys could barely string a sentence together between them. Imagine having Hook as a side character in all of this. Delete indeed. 

Overall - A bang average Rampage this week in all honesty. Though there are still some items with a thumbs up, the whole show was entirely skippable in truth.

Overall - 11 matches is far, far too many for this length of a broadcast and as a result there were a ton of skippable elements this week. Two weeks ago I commented on the lack of angle advancement and promo time. Last week they addressed this and there was much more of a balance. This week, we've gone back to hardly any promo or angle advancement and it was essentially a match-fest. I know complaining about too much wrestling on a wrestling forum is perhaps an odd complaint, but I do think variety is important especially when we're trying to establish the brand again and maintain interest. That said, check out the three matches I left a thumbs up for as those are some gems amongst the batch. 

👍 Vikingo/Gringo Loco - Butter my bollocks, I enjoyed the shit out of this. Easily the most exciting match on the show and an absolutely great spectacle to watch. Vikingo is just mesmerising to watch and has real star quality. Gringo Loco was also fantastic here - his ring gear and overall aesthetic don't look like much, but it's proof that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover because he put in a fine performance here. Some really beautifully executed spots in this one right from the start. A minor criticism might be that if anything they were going too fast at times and they ran the risk of blowing a spot or two. But the effort and majesty of some of the moves and transitions here were fantastic to watch. An absolute bobby dazzler. 

👍 Takeshita/Moriarty - Damn, this was great. A nice story told with Takeshita selling the arm and Moriarty trying to pull off the upset. I take @gmoney's point about Takeshita having these epics on free TV against opponents who quite clearly aren't on his level in terms of star power - that's something I think they should cool down on and this perhaps didn't need to stretch past ten minutes. At the same time, this was fantastically physical, eye-catching and Takeshita hopefully moves another step closer to a possible showdown with Cesaro down the line for the strap. 

👍 Athena/Heather Reckless - Short, sweet, packed with physicality and personality from both sides. Despite getting dispatched in quick fashion, Reckless showed great fire in standing up to the dominant champion before selling the beating with aplomb. Athena's personality continues to radiate through the screen and she continues to look like a proper star - easily one of the best acts in ROH. 

👍 Samoa Joe/Colt Cabana - Short but sweet and didn't outstay it's welcome. Good to see two ROH legends main eventing. Not a classic but one of the more fun encounters of the evening. 

👎 Kingdom vs Martin/Andretti - A rare one from me, because usually I'm all about tag team matches to open the show and get the crowd fired up. But this one just didn't have any zest about it or any sense of jeopardy. The Kingdom are a perfectly solid and dependable heel duo and it's an improved act for having Maria in tow, but this one just didn't get the juices flowing and as a result it made for quite a mediocre start to the show. 

👎 Willow/Renegade - Not a bad showcase again for Willow who shows great potential as a babyface act, but we've seen the same thing for the last three weeks or so and we now need to move her closer to a showdown with Athena or to pop her back on Dynamite or Rampage for a couple of weeks to freshen things up. Also, she looks like a total mug for going to the code of honour post-match, not only because the heels tried to cheat her out of the win, but knowing full well that Charlotte was still lurking at ringside once the match had concluded. 

👎 Lance Archer/Jah-C - Again, perfectly fine as a squash and a good showcase for Archer, but they immediately ruined the brilliant opening. Archer battering his opponent literally during the entrance looked great, but then Jah-C composed himself and went for the code of honour?! Why would you knowingly go to shake the hand of someone who has just unceremoniously battered you? That's twice ROH has made a babyface look like a total putz on this show. 

👎 Brian Cage/Joey Jett - Hometown hero Jett got the crowd invested but overall this was pretty dull and one of many matches tonight that could have been removed from the card to trim the fat. 

👎 Dark Order vs Johnson/Karter - I like John Silver and he's always fun to watch, but generally there were no stakes to this match and it's yet another item that could've been cut from this line-up. 

👎 Penta/Nick Comoroto - Another non-essential and easily skippable match. 

👎 Iron Savages vs Lynch/Jones - Skip!

Ronnie's done Handsome Hoss an absolute solid at the end there - he could have chosen to do a token fist bump and make no eye contact before getting out of dodge and burying him in the press conferences, leaving Vafaei to wallow in his words while he sat there beaten, victimised, humbled and distraught, his stock with the snooker public being low enough for them to look at him as a laughing stock. Instead, Ronnie completely diffused any bad blood and chose to give him a cuddle and choose love, not war. As a result, Hoss is forgiven, the beef is squashed and it's immediately been put down as a lesson learned and everyone moves on. 

I thought Ronnie showed real class in doing that, and also in his BBC and WST interviews too - he referenced his own verbal sparring with Stephen Hendry back in the day and how Hendry didn't talk to him for two years until he apologised, and how that hurt him because it was his hero. It's nice to see Ronnie actually learned from that and used his experience to diffuse the situation. He really put Hoss over as a future world champion and someone who has tons of potential. 

The WST media element is quite interesting to me - for a good ten years or so now, Ronnie has been very anti-WST when it comes to doing anything for them and has had regular pops at the upper management of the game, including multiple jabs at Barry Hearn, and more recently Steve Dawson in the build up to this tournament. During press conferences he's usually very irritable because he keeps getting asked the same questions. However, on the tournament media day he took part in a great piece with WST's social team where kids got to interview some of the pros, and in his post-match conferences and interviews he's been extremely relaxed, patient and has put real thought into his responses as opposed to going off on tangents. 

We shouldn't necessarily praise him for doing the bare minimum or being polite in his interviews, but he seems ridiculously calm, relaxed and I think he's shown some great maturity, which hasn't always been the case at some of these tournaments. As if he wasn't dangerous enough already - this will make him all the moreso. 

1 hour ago, FUM said:

I’ve not seen the show and sounds from the review above that it went well but wasn’t Riddle/Sikoa the main event just last week? For all Trips has improved things his rematch tendency is tough going. Feel like Sikoa/KO has taken place on RAW about 4 times lately too.

Riddle/Sikoa last week was more an angle as part of a big brawl which also involved the Usos and KO/Sami. In this case they had more of an actual match and the stipulation really added to it. It also makes sense in the context of the feud, so in this case so give them a pass. 

Solo/KO have worked three Raw matches in the last three months - again though, as long as it makes sense in the context of the wider arc of the story I don’t mind this too much. None of the matches have been boring - it’s not quite a Kofi/Ziggler scenario all those years ago where they worked together about 100 times and none of it felt fresh.