Supremo

Cameron Grimes rules. Proper funny, great character, brilliant worker. He carried those dark days of NXT during the pandemic. It's a real, "telling-on-yourself," moment when you can't find a way to feature this guy on your seven hours of weekly television. Even more so when someone as shit as Karrion Kross is on about his third or fourth chance. Hopefully, someone picks him up quickly and pushes him TO THE MOON.

I don’t know why Becky is getting all the heat. The belt has gone back to her because there’s almost no-one else ready. That’s not on her. She didn’t force Hunter to do fuck all for the Raw women’s division bar, “Rhea wins,” for nearly a year. Anyone crying that Becky won over Liv Morgan should be forced to tell us their favourite Liv Morgan match.

Just Nigel McGuinness punching his arms in the air, celebrating the end of Bryan Danielson’s life. It’s the best bit in wrestling. Feud of the year contender and they haven’t even interacted yet. The day Danielson squares up to him is going to be amazing. Can’t fathom anyone suggesting any other match for Wembley. It’s perfect.

Look at her beautiful, smiling face! I prayed for this and it happened. It was an excellent show. Last year, when the TV was coming off the rails, they still had a roster so talented that it was impossible to have a pay per view that delivered anything below an eight out of ten. Now, with the added talent depth? It’s as if they can’t help but deliver a nine out of ten every single time. Great crowd all night long. Looked like the perfect venue. Large enough to where it felt like Big Time North American Pro-Wrestling, but small enough that you could pack it out and turn the lights all the way up. My jam. Fantastic opener. I’ve got all the time in the World for what a cocky, hilarious prick Okada is. Laughing his arse off after giving Pac a DDT on the floor, giving everyone the middle finger rather than doing the Rain Maker pose. Brilliant. Great action, with a cool finish, I’m interested in where that forced standing ovation for Pac leads. You assume/hope it’s all designed for something big at Wembley. Pac vs. Ospreay, maybe? Fun Trios match. Copeland is getting better and better mixing it up with all these freaks. Interesting finish, as you assume it leads to a Malakai vs. Copeland singles feud over the TNT Title, but that would require Black to actually have singles matches, take more than his usual three bumps, and even less likely, do a fucking job. We’ll wait and see, but none of that sounds like his style in 2024. Sooner he and Buddy piss off back to WWE the better. Julia and Brodie have been the stars of that act for years now. Julia vs. Willow was a mostly basic affair, but it was all about the result, so who cares. Willow is the best. I was delighted to see her win. Nice tease with Statlander looking like she might attack. I assume Stat will be revealed as Mercedes’ attacker later down the line. Mercedes continues to Mercedes. She even unironically watches TV sideways like a 2D cartoon character! She’s distilled WWE tropes. I saw the best description of her on Twitter - she feels like when they used to do Celebrity Hosts on Monday Night Raw. Completely separate from the rest of the roster. Like a variant from a completely different dimension. Willow should win at Double or Nothing. Willow should unify the TNT and Women’s Titles. Willow is the best. I’d build the entire company around her. Roddy and Kyle was an excellent match, wasted on a rubbish storyline, featuring the worst faction of all time in Undisputed Kingdom. When Adam Cole gave that shitty look behind Wardlow’s back I audibly muttered, “oh, fuck off.” Teasing ANIMOSITY before MJF has even come back. Garbage. Wardlow needs to go to WWE already. Saw a suggestion online of doing Kyle vs. Danielson, for some free TV grapple fuck action. I approve of this message. Get them Colliding, Saturday night! Jericho match was hilarious. “Go home Jericho!” and, “Please retire!” chants. Fucking hell. What a mess. Even worse, if you just look at the work, this was probably one of Jericho’s better performances in recent months, with what could be an interesting storyline development with Jericho as FTW Champ, but it’s completely irrelevant at this point. He’s fucked beyond repair. No amount of meta booking or ironically leading into the Go-Away heat will save this. I wonder how long is left on Hook’s contract. He and Wardlow should jump to WWE as a package deal. Probably Toni Storm’s best match in this new gimmick. She was once again hilarious at the press conference, too. Taking the piss out of Triple H, “being dragged,” in front of the audience to get his dick sucked every week. Good craic. Ospreay vs. Danielson was the absolute tits. One of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen. Blows my mind that it had so much build up, borderline set up to fail considering the hype going into it, and yet they managed to surpass expectations with ease. Absolutely mind blowing stuff. What a fucking talent Will Ospreay is. I thought the Takeshita match sealed Match of the Year, and yet it took him less than a month to completely overshadow it. Tony Khan must laugh himself to sleep knowing he managed to sign Ospreay to a long term deal. A true ace. Found myself squealing with delight as the match went on. One-Armed Styles Clash? Rest in peace, my balls. Them both running at each other like Superheroes, recreating the poster? Art. The Running Knee counter to the Springboard Cutter? What the fuck is even happening at this point. This was something really special. Only way it could have been improved was if they’d had Moxley at the desk, losing his mind, screaming swear words. Agree with others that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the finish. I can never really be arsed with Danielson’s obsession with this stuff. Seen a surprising amount of people thinking it was a shoot, too. Have you never seen Bryan Danielson wrestle before? He always does this! Not a huge deal though, probably just took what was a 10 star match and made it a 9.5. I can almost see the logic, too. It’ll certainly sell the Tiger Driver as a dangerous finisher going forward. There’ll be a huge false finish at Wembley if he busts one out. Danielson acting like he was dead also created that weird dynamic you sometimes get in MMA, where a guy is celebrating a huge victory, whilst his opponent - someone’s son, husband, father - is lying motionless in the cage. It definitely sells you on the idea that these lads are absolute killers. Will Ospreay is a superstar. But yeah: this rocked my world. Match of the decade. Bryan Danielson owes it to the World to never retire. It’s supposed to be his final year and he’s arguably in the best form of his whole career. Unbelievable. Best of all time. His kids are gonna end up being the biggest heels in the business if they force him to go away. Fair play to FTR and The Bucks. An impossible task to follow Danielson vs. Ospreay, but they were seemingly willing to die trying. Cash Wheeler especially. He must know he’s guilty and will eventually get sent down. A man bumping like he has no future. Loved the Jack Perry run-in. Thought it was shot and framed brilliantly with the security pulling his mask off, loved the big reaction he got, his cocky grin was note perfect, and him throwing up The Elite hand signal as he waltzed off was cool as fuck. He’s going to fit in perfectly with Mathew, Nicholas and Okada. What a glorious bunch of pricks. Also, for the record; I really don’t jive with this idea that Jungle Jack was always rubbish. There seemed to be this mad wave of negativity surrounding him after All In, with people acting like he was crap and not worth ever bringing back. Some people were even saying he was on same level as Sammy Guevara, but that’s bollocks. He’s a great talent, has had loads of amazing matches, is a certified hunk, and although the original heel turn was a bit crap I think this new run has some serious legs. He looked great in New Japan. This might end up being the best thing that ever happened to him. Excursions work. Main event was similar to the Willow match. Nothing amazing between the ropes, but the perfect feel-good result. Loved Swerve’s Black Panther gear and entrance. You knew he was winning from that point. Great moment seeing him raise gold. Awesome to have seen him grow, develop and manifest this into reality. From those first glimpses of greatness tagging with Keith Lee. Tremendous to see him go all the way. All the credit in the World to Samoa Joe, too. There’s no shame in being a transitional champion, especially when you restore tonnes of prestige, deliver great matches and really make someone in defeat. He did everything he could to solidify Swerve here. I’m excited to see where things go. Yet again, they’ve had a huge, amazing show that has drawn a line under some stupid decisions and set the ground work for a phenomenal run, provided they can keep up the momentum. But yeah. Swerve Strickland winning the World Title in Handman Adam Page’s absence? Good Lord. It’s almost as interesting imagining what this will do to Hangman than it is imagining what Swerve will do next. This’ll be Hangman opening Dynamite on Wednesday. He’s gonna fucking kill him!

Bryan Danielson, you’ve just had one of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time. Are you going to receive your flowers like a normal person, or continue this weird fetish for worked neck injuries and seizures, like a fucking sicko? Bryan Danielson;

Confirmation coming through as to why they didn’t use Bayley Buddies for Bayley’s entrance on this show. They didn’t want to steal the thunder from later on in the night, when Seth Rollins would become a real life Bayley Buddy, with his limbs flailing about in the wind. Check out the glitched rag doll physics on Seth’s leg when he takes that bump. Good fucking Lord. Seemingly hanging on by a piece string! I can’t even explain what a huge open goal they’ve got for Seth’s return. Easily the most I’ve ever felt for that character. The most amazing, underrated hero of the weekend. As if losing his belt wasn’t bad enough, he lost the ability to have his leg attached to his body! I don’t know how exactly you capitalise on this, but if he returns as the same old cackling idiot in dumb, whacky clothes then they’ve lost their minds.

And on that sacred day, pro-wrestling tribalism officially ended. From then onwards, there was peace. WWE and AEW fans rejoiced together, hand in hand.

“One of those rental cars belongs to Kevin Owens, and the other, your boy Tama Tonga’s!” CM Punk is going to hit the fucking roof! Good show. He’s in the difficult Kane role as the first Title Challenger after someone wins at Wrestlemania, meaning there’s less than zero drama or doubt of the result, but fair play to AJ Styles. I swear these last two weeks is the most he’s actually tried in years. Seems getting the main event at Backlash has injected some much needed motivation. Alongside a shit load of steroids, obviously. I was going to be a dickhead and point out that with the time difference Cody’s promo made no sense. For him to acknowledge AJ’s win it would mean he was still at the o2 arena, still in his gear, at something mad like half one in the morning. Except it’s Cody, so it wouldn’t be surprising at all for him to stay at a show hours after it finishes to give every single person a photo and autograph. The man is the best. New tag belts are absolutely gorgeous. Impressive showing from the Street Profits. Glad to see them being showcased again. That mad dive from Montez to the outside is glorious! Like he’s flying through your TV! Really good angle with The Bloodline. Solo dressed in his Sunday best was funny. Like a football hooligan appearing in court. He’s doing a spectacular job staging this coup though. Really delivering on the mic. Tama Tonga came across great as a complete nutter, too. Heyman’s acting is a bit much, but what can you do. There isn’t a bigger fan of Bloodline melodrama than Paul Heyman himself. Man is high as fuck on the smell of his own farts. Shout out to Triple H. Talking bollocks on Logan Paul’s podcast the week of Mania about how blood and swearing needs to be used, “in moderation,” and only when, “it really matters.” Took him a fortnight before he used blood again, with Kevin Owens covered in it here. You’re fooling no-one, Hunter. You’re as big a geek for this stuff as the rest of us. Blood is cool. Triple H when asked about blood in a public setting, requiring a professional answer. Triple H actually booking his shows.

This episode made me wonder if they’re building towards a Blackpool Combat Club vs. Don Callis Family Blood and Guts and/or Anarchy in the Arena match. It’s around this time of year they start doing a big faction war to build towards those matches, and they’re the only factions really beefing right now. Ideally they just drop the idea of doing these matches annually, it’s the worst type of contrived booking to always have specific stipulation matches at the same time every year. But if they are going to do it, I can’t really see who else could fit the bill. Maybe a miracle happens, Omega is healthy and they do Elite vs. Elite? Have Hangman and Omega return with their own back up? Can the Motor City Machine Guns still go?

I simply cannot anymore. There needs to be an intervention. We all shouldn’t be punished for eternity, just because Jericho doesn’t want to go home to his nutcase MAGA wife for an extended period of time. Just get a divorce, Chris. You hope Jericho was watching that opening segment. Moxley went away for weeks and it already felt exciting and novel to have him back. It’s not rocket science and requires little to no effort. You can even give those poor bastards at the trademark office a break. Just fuck off for a bit, please! Alas, I’ve given up hope. It won’t happen. I reckon we’re three weeks from him trademarking, “Jericho needs to fuck off.” It was a good go-home show. Everything settling back down after two weeks of their heads falling off because of CM Punk. The momentum’s not there like it could have been, but still a positive sign to see them steady the ship again. Who knew that ignoring people in other companies and just cracking on could produce positive results?! Really good mixed tag. Copeland had some great hoss chemistry with Brodie King. They should do a singles match. Brilliantly fun spots when Willow came out and started diving on Brodie, too. She rules. Strap her up. Interesting the way they had Copeland nod and shake hands with Mercedes. Hopefully what Copeland has been doing is contagious because he and Mercedes couldn’t be more different right now. Copeland is doing all this new, interesting, exciting stuff, whereas Mercedes is very slowly dying on her arse. She looks the absolute business - the rainbow hair from this week may have been the best look yet - but fuck me if there’s nothing there beyond the look and ability to carry yourself like a star. Weeks and weeks of bad, NXT-style promos. Each time they release a, “WE HEAR FROM MERCEDES,” graphic it’s sounding more and more like a threat. It’s the pits. I had to check Wikipedia to confirm, and was not surprised to see Mercedes hasn’t had much of a career beyond NXT and WWE. It seems ingrained in her. Like it’s all she knows. That WWE cadence and rhythm, where everything half rhymes. It stands out as so fake and shit in AEW. The phoney, robotic delivery is only compounded by the crappy, spooky, attacked-in-the-dark storyline. I thought we’d all admitted this Scooby Doo shit belongs in the bin? MJF’s career nosedived trying to make it work in this environment. We had to do a whole G1 tournament to distract everyone from it! Have we learnt nothing? The idea of Mercedes keeping this up, doing these bad promos, crappy acting and not wrestling until the end of May sounds absolutely dreadful. Instant return to form for The New Elite. Great match, fun character work, excellent dickhead-ery. I laughed out loud at Mathew still talking into the microphone as he got suplexed. I saw The Bucks were teasing a surprise at Dynasty. I assume Jack Perry joins The Elite after helping them win the ladder match. Providing they keep the Punk stuff to a minimum and focus on being So Cal Twats, I think it’ll work. Perry looked like a superstar on that New Japan show. Bryan Danielson doing a Bunkhouse Brawl the night before his dream match pay per view headliner. Never change, Bryan. Fantastic match between Ospreay and Claudio. It remains amazing how quickly Ospreay has adapted and became such a complete North American pro-wrestler. Superstar. Great night for Swerve. Good promo and then an amazing spot where he took out everyone with a stomp before landing on his feet. Top guy stuff. It’s time to pull the trigger. Learn from WWE. Pull the trigger when the time is right. We always knew the right time to pull the trigger on Cody was Wrestlemania 40. Definitely not Wrestlemania 39. Same applies here. You can taste it. It’s now or never. Nothing less than a Swerve victory will suffice on Sunday! But yeah. Almost goes without saying. Full support for Nyla, who’s great, massively under-utilised and an absolute hoot on Twitter. This should kickstart a new push.

I had no idea Cool Hand and Ruby were a couple in real life. Double brilliant news!

I don’t know if he’s paid some big bucks to push his stuff recently, but yeah. I’ve gone from not even knowing who Joe Hendry is, to fully believing in him. He’s all over my socials. Feel like every other post on my For You page is his cheeky grin spinning into shot. Catchiest entrance music ever. Get this lad in AEW!

When it comes to, “dream matches,” I try my best to keep my excitement and expectations at a reasonable level. I don’t want another Okada vs. Danielson. Or a modern-day Edge or AJ Styles match at Wrestlemania. But then they release a poster like this and I can’t control the hype. This is class! Love the ferocity on Danielson’s face. Like to think he’s racing to knock a Peri Peri Chicken out of Will’s hands, to suggest a plant-based alternative. The Title match had an equally as cool poster. Two bad ass, cool motherfuckers. The fucking lads. This needs to be Swerve’s moment.

I’m here all day long to watch World Sports Entertainment bomb worse than the XFL.

This shot in particular is absolutely magical. Up there with The Rock walking out of the darkness. Whoever is directing their shows these days is infinitely better than the previous shit show. Super fitting the way the camera zooms out from Sami to reveal the packed house. Metaphor for the last three years. I still attribute this new boom period to Sami’s performance in the Bloodline. Turned the whole company around. Great to see him getting his flowers.

Chris Jericho has trademarked, “The Jericho Vortex.” Because of course he fucking has. All this time and effort to try to play into it and make it a meta character. Surely it’d be easier to just fuck off for a bit, like everyone wants you to? If he’d accepted this six to twelve months ago it’d already nearly be time for him to come back and feel fresh and exciting again. Someone should send him this on Twitter. Try and inspire him to take a break and achieve new goals. Not that it matters though. I’m more convinced than ever he’s trying to burn through his contract to go back to WWE. Any time away is more time he needs to pay back before his contract can expire. He’s probably already sniffed around Hunter about a Hall of Fame induction to get him back in the fold.

It’s something straight out of the school playground. “If you’re Champion of the World, then I’ll be Champion of the Universe!” You could see over Wrestlemania weekend that enough people want to get rid of the stupid, “Universal,” moniker though. Samantha Irvin didn’t even say it when announcing Cody was the winner. So typical of them to still use the word, “Undisputed,” though, when they’ve spent the last year pushing that there’s now two belts that are supposed to be of the same importance. Sounds quite disputed to me.

I didn’t rate this stuff when Bray was doing it, but could at least admit he had some interesting ideas, even if they never went anywhere or concluded satisfactorily. Bo Dallas, and now potentially Matt Hardy, continuing it? Ooof. My hopes are not high. Sami Zayn’s entrance was the stuff of legend. Reminded me of that time Eddie Guerrero did something similar. Do you think Kevin Dunn watches Raw tutting and rolling his eyes? Or does he sigh softly, admitting to himself that he’s a rubbish director who created dog shit television for decades. For a medium in which everyone fights in their underwear, I can’t explain the intangible nature of it. But every now and then, someone just looks like a Dad at the swimming baths. I love Sheamus, but unfortunately that’s exactly how I’d describe his new look. “Twenty five lengths? Think I’ve earned myself a KFC!”

Rhea beat everyone. Looked boss. Vacated the title without putting anyone over. Shawn Michaels truly teaching these rookies THE BUSINESS.

Danhausen to WWE is an interesting idea. Looking at Danhausen’s Twitter Likes the last week or so, that appears to be what he wants, too. He doesn’t seem to be particularly shy about supporting Punk over AEW in this never-ending war of shit. Can Bryan Danielson fine the roster for Likes? Or does it have to be Tweets? Checking Cagematch, Danhausen hasn’t been on AEW television for months, yet continues to wrestle independent shows, so something is definitely up. They’re actively opting to not use him. Fools. Maybe it’s best if they let him go to hang out and drink Pepsi with Phil on Monday nights. I don’t believe he’d be more successful there though. WWE has improved massively, and is far looser and more enjoyable these days, but I’d still have zero faith in WWE doing that type of comedy or character work. It’s a million miles from their style. I don’t even think Hunter would get it. Honestly, it might be Punk’s greatest crime. I love me some Danhausen. It’s a crying shame all this has led to him being in this weird limbo, not making me laugh on TV.

Literally this graphic from Collision. A genuine rush of excitement. Forget the Punk bullshit. He’s back to save the day yet again.

Max Holloway with the greatest finish I’ve ever seen. Phenomenal. They need to change that Islam vs. Dustin Title fight into a Triple Threat involving Max after this!

Incredibly, this show is a week away! It’s a real achievement to have a card that looks this good on paper and yet somehow nobody is really talking about it. Wrestlemania overshadowing it hasn’t helped, but neither did airing that stupid Punk stuff last week. Completely distracted the conversation. Fingers crossed they’re over this Punk bullshit and we get a big, hard sell for the go-home week. It won’t have the emotional resonance of the Sting retirement, nor will it have the crowd size of Revolution, but otherwise this looks like another banger show. Tony’s an idiot with a lot of flaws, who can’t help but get in his own way, but the man sure can put together a pay per view! Samoa Joe (c) vs. Swerve Strickland for the AEW World championship Toni Storm (c) vs. Thunder Rosa for the AEW Women’s World title Young Bucks vs. FTR in a Ladder match for the AEW World Tag Team championship Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. PAC for the AEW Continental title Julia Hart (c) vs. Willow Nightingale for the TBS title Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay Adam Copeland, Mark Briscoe & Eddie Kingston vs. House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews & Brody King) Will Danielson and Ospreay break Meltzer’s scale? What’s the highest Dave’s gone? Seven stars? Eight? Could be looking at a tenner here, lads! Will this be Swerve’s big coronation? Or will Hangman return to cost him again? Feels like now or never. And what state will Hangman be in if Swerve wins the World Title? I imagine Page showing up with a wild, unkept beard, like the Hardest Geezer returning from Africa. Weeks stuck at home, obsessing? He’s gonna be a mess! Cheese completely off his cracker. Genuinely terrifying imagining what Cash Wheeler will do in a ladder match. He’s been burning through his bump card like a maniac ever since he got arrested. Wrestling like a man who’s accepted he might go to jail at some point, so no longer cares about holding anything back. Should be a spectacle. When was the last AEW ladder match? I can’t remember. It’s been long enough that this actually feels novel and special. Should be great, provided the whole thing isn’t undermined by CM Punk chants. Hoping The Bucks win. Cannot be arsed with another boring FTR reign. You assume Okada will have an epic with Pac. You’ve got to justify that 4.5 million dollar salary that’s definitely real! Adam Copeland vs. Malakai Black in a singles TNT Title match would have been more interesting, but it’s been obvious for the longest time that Black has no interest in stuff like that. If the lazy prick must burn through the rest of his AEW contract in Trios matches to save his body for Papa H, at least we get the bonkers team of Copeland, Briscoe and Kingston. Between those three teaming up here and Copeland doing a Mixed Tag with Willow, this is exactly the type of mad stuff I want to see Copeland doing. Crazy match graphics you never thought you’d see. Matches you can’t even imagine in your head. Great stuff. Quietly, Copeland is turning into one of their best signings. I’ll be rooting for Willow. Adore her. Still worried they’re going to turn her heel to feud with Mercedes, which might end up winning next year’s Wrestling Observer's Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic. Hopefully they don’t add too much else. Chances of Jericho somehow managing to get on the show and stinking it up? Rarified air of a man in desperate need of a massive fuck off. Trios match to unite the ROH and AEW Six man titles? Ideally, this is the end of The Acclaimed. An act way past its sell by date. Give me a big singles push for Anthony Bowen. One of the best sellers in the whole industry. Caster can get in the bin. I wonder if we’ll get a Moxley defence of the IWGP Title? Maybe against Takeshita? Seems to make sense given the ongoing feud between BCC and the Don Callis Family. So yeah. Thoughts?

Matt Riddle acting the tit, going full Austin Aries, no-selling his loss, and high-fiving fans as he danced out of the arena was interesting. Has he managed to fuck up his New Japan deal already? I mean, it was always cursed to begin with, but that's record time! Man's a Grade-A whopper. Glad this means he likely won't be at Forbidden Door.

That's the joke.