The NXT Roadblock mini-review and more, it's Casual Friday!

 This whole writing thing is so … weird. As somebody who has had a steady job since they got outta high school – first at an animal hospital for ten years, then at four (very) different auto shops for around 15 more – just sitting at a desk and thinking, and letting those words get going is a big change. I love doing it, especially this blog thing. I’d like to think the handful of folks who click on these at least read the opening monologue, even if they aren’t really getting into the wrestling discourse of it all, but who’s to say?

And that’s when it gets hard to sit down and do it, when ya start thinking like that. As I always say when I write about my dad, this is as much for me as it is for anyone else. I got my first paying gig writing about wrestling through this blog, and at this point it serves as much as an audition as it does free therapy for your beloved author. I also just like the process. I fill my coffee mug, sit at my desk, and do the “fun” writing before I get into the paid stuff. But even the fun stuff still requires work, you know? Picking a quote to subtweet under the promotional stuff, putting the work out there on socials in hopes that maybe somebody takes a chance and gives the thing a read – that’s not nothing, and it actually makes me a little nervous. 

All that is to say that I usually do the Casual Friday blog on Thursdays, when there’s no new wrestling that I regularly watch and I’m usually between paid gigs. But this week I was supposed to go help a pal work on her place, and the weather said maybe don’t do that, so my timeline’s all screwy. And that’s the thing I’ve found most frustrating about this whole creative endeavor – it’s really hard to get going if your brain just decides it’s not a writing day. Today clearly is. I can always tell when I sit down and the words just kinda flow from my fingertips. So I’ll knock this out, and then get to the paid stuff until Mo is up and at them, and then it’s back to pretend farm work. Those crops ain’t gonna water themselves! (Well, not until we invest in sprinklers.)

It’s been snowing since I woke up, and since my wife and I stayed up well past our bedtimes playing co-op Stardew Valley, I’m writing this from my couch on my laptop with Ditka and Trillian snoring beside me. I tend to worry that my mechanical keyboard is too noisy, and the office is right across from the bedroom. So I opted for the silent laptop and an ergonomically inferior writing setup. At least the coffee maker is closer.

We Watched Some Wrestling!

So I posted this to the blog on Tuesday night, just before turning on the TV to watch NXT Roadblock, the last WWE special of any kind before WrestleMania XL on April 6-7. And while I was right more than I was wrong, I was especially happy that my main event prediction panned out! Not only are we getting good-guy-Mafia-leader Tony D against Ilya Dragunov for the NXT Championship at Stand and Deliver, but we also saw the return of Trick Williams, first teased during the Tony D / Carmelo Hayes match as a theme song and distraction, but then gifted afterward by Tony himself. I’m really looking forward to Hayes and Trick, as this storyline has been brewing for quite a while. 

The rest of the show was fine, with Shawn Spears winning in a squash, tag champs The Wolf Dogs and the Kabuki Warriors retaining, and Joe Gacy losing again to Dijak in an asylum match. That last one was a lot of silly fun, with spray painted tables and a box labeled “Do Not Open” that, when opened, launched a spring-loaded boxing glove into Dijak’s stomach.

Oh, and during that Kabuki Warriors match, Tatum Paxley and women’s champ Lyra Valkyria lost, but more importantly Roxanne Perez came out afterward to complete her heel turn, fully attacking the champ’s arm after her loss. I think it’s not too risky to say we’ll see those two at Stand and Deliver as well, with Paxley in her BFF’s corner. 

The post-Sting era of AEW Dynamite brought with it a new set and new logos for both the show and the company, as well as a promo-heavy episode that served as a lite-reset after Sunday’s big PPV, which we talked about already. And while the first hour, admittedly, might have dragged a little bit, AEW more than made up for it in the back half of the show. 

A fantastic Young Bucks segments led into a brawl between the brothers and Eddie Kingston, and when the numbers caught up to Kingston a coin drop confirmed the rumors, and Kazuchika Okada made his debut as an AEW performer. However, after suspending Hangman Adam Page for his actions on Sunday, and firing Kenny Omega from the Elite (because he wasn’t making his dates – because the man has been getting treated for diverticulitis!) the Bucks had an opening … and Okada established himself as the newest member of the group by hitting Eddie with a Rainmaker lariat! A great kinda swerve, letting the big debut happen alongside a heel…I guess it isn’t a turn, per se, but it was unexpected to see Okada debut as a villain alongside the clearly-loving-it Bucks. 

We also got a helluva main event, with Will Ospreay following his first match as an AEW regular on Sunday with another banger, this time against Kyle Fletcher. Both guys put everything they had into this fight, and it was really as good a TV match as you can ask for. 

Closing Up Shop

The weekend ahead has some good stuff, despite it only being the regular TV schedule for both AEW and the Fed. I think the Rock is scheduled for SmackDown, but don’t hold me to that. Rampage has a great announced card, and Collision looks pretty good too! We’ll recap all of those early next week, but for now it’s time to feed the fur-kids and get to writing. Have a great weekend!

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

A Quick NXT Roadblock Predictions Post!

 Consider this an accountability post – I’m not going to tweet to promote it or anything, but I’m going to watch Roadblock because I love me some NXT and I feel like a TV special still can count for our predictions! So this is getting knocked out LITERALLY MINUTES before I flip on the TV. I'll elaborate and put up a full review tomorrow morning. Have a great Roadblock, kids!

Tony D’Angelo, Joe Gacy, Kabuki Warriors, Chase U, and Shawn Spears will all come out of the show with wins! LET’S GO!

Thinking about my dad, and a wrap up of this week's WWE programming - it's the rare untitled mid-week blog!

 

Good Morning!

I really was hoping to do a second blog this week, and with good reason. WWE is fully on the Road to WrestleMania this week, and with AEW hitting its stride again and AEW Revolution coming up this weekend, I’d rather spend Casual Friday focused on the All Elite side of things, with a preview of that pay-per-view and a review of tonight’s Dynamite. So let’s talk about the Elimination Chamber show from Saturday morning, and the Fed in general!

We Watched Some Wrestling!

I actually stayed up for Elimination Chamber like a small child, unaware that my sleep would (of course) be destroyed the next couple nights. But it was fun at the time, and the show was largely pretty good! It was predictable, but sometimes keeping the stories on track is all we can hope for – not everything has to be a swerve, and when things go like we predict it makes the occasional hard right turn in the tale all the more interesting and unexpected. 

Becky Lynch and Drew McIntyre won their respective Chamber matches, Becky through grit and Drew through opportunistic advantages. Both sets of tag team champions retained their titles, as did Rhea Ripley in a good match against Nia Jax, but as I said, nothing really unexpected overall. I mean, unless you consider Twitter losing its collective mind over the runtime of the show versus the match times, but even that should be expected at this point. The crowd seemed pretty into it, and while I get that WWE’s style isn’t for everyone, I also think there’s no reason to subject yourself to something you know you don’t like, especially if it’s just for engagement purposes. But then again, I only have like a dozen people who pay attention to my stuff, versus the thousands of followers those accounts have, so maybe it’s me who’s doing it wrong? WHO’S TO SAY?

Anyway the big Grayson Waller talk show segment basically existed to have Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins beat up Austin Theory, and for Cody to challenge the Rock to a match. Rocky is scheduled to appear on SmackDown three times before WrestleMania, so that means plenty of back-and-forth between the two of them (well, three if you include Seth, who has kinda eased himself into the whole Bloodline story) in the month before the big show.

RAW had some good stuff too, most notably several challengers appearing for Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship. It’s looking more and more like we’re going to see some version of a multi-man match at WrestleMania with Damien Priest, Sami Zayn, Chad Gable, and Jey Uso all expressing interest in the IC belt. Dominik Mysterio also challenged Gunther, but may himself have found a challenge in Andrade, who spoke with the younger Mysterio backstage. New Day lost a really good street fight with Imperium:

…and Becky Lynch interrupted a match between Nia Jax, who attacked her earlier in the show, and Liv Morgan, who did NOT appreciate Lynch’s interference. Cody Rhodes and Paul Heyman had a faceoff that featured Cody chairshotting some “suspended New York cops” and Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins had a tense chat after Drew did a bit of CM Punk cosplay.

Over on my beloved NXT – now there’s a show dozens of us are paying attention to – we had some interesting developments on the road to next week’s Roadblock show as well as Stand and Deliver, NXT’s biggest show of the year. A challenge from NXT champ Ilya Dragunov to Carmelo Hayes might have turned into three big matches, as Tony D’Angelo, mafia family leader and somehow good guy on NXT, challenged both Ilya and Melo. So we’ll get Tony versus Melo next week, and I’m hoping we get the return of Trick Williams on that show too. Then it’s Trick versus Melo and Tony versus Ilya at Stand and Deliver, which should both be pretty dope! 

Oh, and before I forget to mention it, the part where Carmelo had his security force surround the ring during his contract signing with Dragunov, only for Tony D to walk in, snap his finger, and have the whole group simultaneously hop down from the apron and walk out? Awesome.

We also saw the Good Brothers challenge new tag champs Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin (who I always want to call Corbin Bernsen for some reason) and Joe Gacy, last seen in a straight jacket inside a dumpster, break free and assault Dijak backstage. Oh, and Shawn Spears, formerly of AEW and formerly before that Tye Dillinger in NXT, made his return as the guy teased for the last month in those creepy text vignettes. I’m happy he’s back, and hope he gets used well this time around!

Oh, and while we’re on that subject, how rude of Ridge Holland to just interrupt NXT Women’s Champ Lyra Valkyria while she and frenemy Tatum Paxley were discussing their upcoming women’s tag team title opportunity. This is the champion of your promotion, discussing becoming a double champ, but it’s more important that some guy who’s had a string of bad luck comes out to complain? I’m happy for the returning Spears, and it’s fine that he’s got a rival now, but it seemed really disrespectful the way Holland just shooed the ladies out of the ring. Hell, even the way he said “ladies” bugged me as he asked them to “give him the ring” – at least refer to her as champ, my dude. 

Other NXT developments included the Good Brothers getting a really good, albeit brief, match out of relative newcomers Idris Enofe and Malik Blade:

Which then led to several tag teams making themselves known. I think the addition of Gallows and Anderson to the NXT roster will let the young guys get some good reps in with some seasoned pros, both in the ring and on the mic, which can’t hurt your developmental brand at all.

Also! Charlie Dempsey (son of beloved wrestler William (Steven) Regal) beat Noam Dar in the main event for the Heritage Cup, a former NXT UK staple. Roxanne Perez  continued her slide towards a possible heel turn, Gigi Dolan lost to Jaida Parker due to Miss NXT Arianna Grace questioning the fighting on a wrestling show, Lexus King beat up Von Wagner and Robert Stone after losing to Wagner and Chase U’s savior Jacy Jayne and pals ran down Thea Hale’s choices in men and friends. A good go-home show for a branded TV special, for sure!

Let’s Remember A Guy (Dad edition)

If you’ll indulge me before we wrap things up, I’ve had a weirdly dad-centric week and I kinda want to talk about it. Consider this the therapy portion of our program, since I’m not about to try actual therapy and I don’t think my insurance would cover it anyway. 

So I had three things that kinda converged into a full Let’s Remember Some Dad. First, I was going to help a friend with some house stuff – fixing holes, installing floors, repairing a toilet, that sort of stuff. Stuff my dad taught me how to do, and stuff that he was always willing to do for everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean it – he’d do handyman work for my mom’s family long after the divorce, and even helped out his coworkers at Target despite having nothing else in common with them. He was just a good dude that wanted to help, and was capable of doing so. If there’s anything I want to take from what he taught me, even more so than the actual ability to work, it’s that desire to help when I know I can. 

Second, I started a pitch for SlashGear about tools that would come in handy for an engine swap, and it got me thinking about my dad’s project car. For some reason, we thought it was a 1955 Ford Fairlane 500 with a 351 Torino engine in it. After some research, and learning how older VINs work, it turns out it’s a ‘57, which makes more sense – the 500 wasn’t introduced until then. The engine swap thing turned to that car because I got curious about the availability of the original engine, in hopes of maybe doing a swap myself and finishing what he started, restoring the seafoam Ford to its former glory. He got it running – not well, but well enough that I was able to take it around the neighborhood with him while I was in Tennessee in 2022. 

Thirdly, just this (Wednesday) morning, a Twitter pal mentioned that she’d lost her dad two years ago, and asked if folks would have a bloody Mary in his honor as she can’t stomach the drink. Coincidentally, Mo and I were just talking about bloody Marys the night before, so I volunteered my service as a fan of the cocktail.

Just an odd series of things that got me thinking about him again. He was a good dude and a great dad and I miss him terribly, and more often than I tell anyone. It’s weird the little things that spark a memory of someone who’s passed, whether it's a parent or friend or even a pet. As I’m writing this, I just noticed the mug I chose this morning is the Blackhawks one. The logo reminds me of him, a lifelong fan of the team since the days of Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. He took us to countless games when tickets were cheap, before the Stanley Cup wins in the 2010s led to a spike in prices. But we had a blast, taking the Blue Line El train from Forest Park to the United Center, enjoying pops and beers and watching guys like Tony Amonte, Eric Daze, Jeremy Roenick and Bob Probert. I wonder how he would have reacted to Patrick Kane scoring that overtime game-winner the other night as a Red Wing! 

Apologies for getting all reminisce-y on you there. Let’s go home.

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! Thanks for coming with me on that journey, and for indulging me in remembering my old man. I’ll still be here for Casual Friday, where we’ll talk about AEW Dynamite and do the full AEW Revolution pay-per-view preview, featuring Sting’s Last Match. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button (if I can figure out how to get it to work – if you’re really feeling like donating, switch to desktop mode and it’ll pop up if it’s not down there on mobile). Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

The Let's Watch Some Wrestling Elimination Chamber 2024 Preview and More...It's Casual Friday!

 

Good Morning!

Holy cats! It’s been quite the recovery here at Let’s Watch Some Wrestling, as your old pal Russ has been trying to rebound from That Chicago Trip that left me six pounds lighter and a lot less spry. But we’re back to normal and ready to roll, with a week full of WWE developments leading up to this weekend’s Elimination Chamber show in Australia. Will we stay awake for it, given it’s a 3am start here in Colorado, or is this a “stay off social media and enjoy the show with breakfast on Saturday morning” situation? WHO’S TO SAY? 

In a fun play on our segment title below, Sheamus was recently on Twitter asking if folks missed him and his streak of “banger after banger after banger.” After a fan replied, saying they prefer “characters and stories,” Sheamus fired back, “Watch a soap opera then!” As if what we’ve been watching all these years is anything but a glorified version of All My Children! But I digress…

Acting like we can’t have both five-star matches and character development in our wrestling shows seems silly to me. Guys like Bret Hart and Jake Roberts made careers out of not only building dramatic storylines on the microphone, but using in-ring psychology to make their rivalries all the more intense. Separating the two, especially on the basis of the letters the promotion one prefers, doesn’t do anyone any favors. I guess I just like liking things, but I don’t think I’ve ever watched a wrestling show that I didn’t get some form of entertainment from. Whether it’s great storytelling, amazing in-ring action, or some combination of both (or neither, which can end up pretty fun in its own right) it’s a good time and the whole reason we keep watching!

“It’s A Soap Opera With More Suplexes and Less Violence”

…in which I discuss the storylines that keep us watching week to week

Speaking of the reason so many people have been tuning in…The Rock appeared on SmackDown last week! Given my temporary health issues, I wasn’t able to review last weekend’s events in a more timely fashion, but I assure you the Rocky heel turn was appreciated here in the LWSW headquarters, AKA my office and living room. It appears that someone in WWE, maybe Triple H, maybe some shareholders, maybe old Dwayne himself, realized that the Cody thing might be too big to put off for a “dream match” and decided to pivot. Regardless of the reason, we got the best version of the Rock back on TV, demeaning fans and running down his opponents and their supporters. I’m still not sure what the overall plan is, but I think we’ll get a clearer picture after this weekend. SmackDown is the go-home show before the Elimination Chamber, which is the last big main roster event before WrestleMania in April. So we’re bound to continue putting the pieces in place for what might be the biggest ‘Mania of all time!

RAW gave us some of those pieces, as Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa (predictably) interfered in two high-caliber matches that could main event any premium live event: Cody Rhodes took on Drew McIntyre to open the show, and Jey Uso faced Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship in the main event. WWE did a bit of trolling in the opener, recreating the finish of WrestleMania 39 with Sikoa and Uso attacking Rhodes and allowing a briefly-hesitant McIntyre to hit the Claymore and pick up the victory. Those two would reappear at the end of the show to cost Jey Uso the IC title, distracting and attacking Jey before and after the end of the match to keep Jey without a belt. I’d love to see Jimmy and Jey face off at WrestleMania, and I think Drew McIntyre might come out of this weekend with a WrestleMania title shot as well.

AEW gave us TWO women’s matches on one Dynamite, although one was a squash and the other almost got a participant hurt so it’s hard to celebrate that just yet. I learned that some injuries meant the show was changed on the fly, so maybe Madison Rayne wasn’t prepared to have a match at all. But, woof, the match was just bad and borderline dangerous.

In happier news, we got a hell of an opener in Jon Moxley and Claudio Castignoli facing off with FTR. Even though it ended in a draw, the match was fantastic and hard hitting – and SHOCKINGLY bloodless – and will likely lead into some kind of stipulation match at next weekend’s Revolution show. 

Wardlow had a very passionate speech later in the show, which kinda made me feel bad for the guy. He keeps getting pushes that just fizzle out, but he’s obviously dedicated to getting better at mic work as well as in the ring, and he’s jacked as all get out. But we’ve been through so many of these half-assed pushes that I just can’t bring myself to care anymore. I will, however, happily be proven wrong if he and AEW can stick with it this time around. 

Oh, and NXT happened! Shotzi was hurt in the main event, and a quick replacement match with Lash Legend facing Lyra Valkyria was put together, but it really felt unnecessary, especially since the show was taped. Regardless, the women on this show continue to be a high point, and WWE really has a solid crew developing to continue the recent trend of good women’s wrestlers being molded from solid athletes in other fields.

Beloved learning institution Chase U, a full university that somehow exists in the NXT universe, defeated superheroes Axiom and Nathan Frazer in a really fun number one contenders match. Really, NXT always brings that 80’s “I am a wrestler but also I have one interest or job that my whole personality is based upon” vibe that got me into this whole sport. It’s so dumb, and I love it so much.

Let’s Remember A Blog!

…in which we reminisce about a lesser-known bit of my writing from the past

So, in a bit of a twist here, I’m gonna link to an article I wrote for Goomba Stomp / Tilt Magazine last year. While the site is no longer actively producing new content, it does still exist on the internet, meaning I can’t in good conscience just repost the whole dang article here.

In the piece, I assembled a list of the best Elimination Chamber matches, and then pitted the winners of those Chamber matches against one another using the magic of technology, i.e. WWE 2K23. Kind of like Inception, but with a big cage match instead of guns. Give it a read! It’s one of the few times I’ve been published on the internet while being allowed to have some fun with an idea I came up with. I might even have the match footage lying around somewhere…checks folders* nope, I guess not. 

Oh, speaking of that, we’ve preordered WWE 2K24! I was probably going to regardless, but I might try streaming some footage of the game since the pre-order gets us a few days of early access. Is that something you’d be interested in seeing? Let me know!

The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling Elimination Chamber Preview!

And, keeping in the Elimination Chamber spirit, let’s dive right into our preview! According to Wikipedia, we’ve got four matches scheduled for the Perth edition of the show. Oh, AND Grayson Waller will be hosting a talk show segment featuring Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, which I assume will lead to an attack by some Bloodline members as well as longtime Waller pal Austin Theory.

It’s a bit of a shame that both Bronson Reed and Indi Hartwell* not only aren’t scheduled to be on the show, but actually lost qualifying matches. Seems pretty rough of WWE, long-known as the caring wrestling company, to tease home country appearances for both of these young stars before pulling the rug out from under them. (end sarcasm)

The Kabuki Warriors (c) versus Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae for the Women's Tag Team Championships

Oh hey they added a kickoff show tag team match! And Indi got in! That's really nice. Indi and Candi will absolutely lose here but at least Hartwell made the card, and I never scoff at a chance to watch Asuka and Kairi in the ring!

Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Tiffany Stratton, Naomi, and Raquel Rodriguez in an Elimination Chamber match for a title shot at WrestleMania

I mean, it’s gotta be Becky Lynch, doesn’t it? WWE has all but telegraphed her and Rhea Ripley facing off at WrestleMania for months now, including a face-to-face at the WrestleMania preview event at Super Bowl week. I’m more curious as to whether any of the other women in this match end up having something to do at the Show of Shows. Bianca has a win streak to maintain, but I really can’t see a reason for the other four to make the card. Maybe a few of them team up for the annual Tag Team Showcase? Who’s to say?

Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, LA Knight, Kevin Owens, and Logan Paul in an Elimination Chamber match for a title shot at WrestleMania

This one is a bit harder to call, but my money’s on Drew McIntyre. Drew has interacted with almost everybody involved in the biggest storyline in the company, and his justified heel work has been top notch. I could see him winning Seth Rollins’ title at ‘Mania, or getting involved with the Bloodline as well. Randy Orton is a wild card, as a guy who’s as close as anyone to Triple H / John Cena / Ric Flair title territory, and I’m sure we’ll see all of the participants in this Chamber match on the biggest show of the year as well.

The Judgment Day versus New Catch Republic for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship

This isn’t the team to take the belts off of the Judgment Day. Hell, this team didn’t even have a name until a week ago, wasn’t actually a team until a month ago, and Pete Dunne hasn’t existed in this form in years! No, Judgment Day will win, possibly with some assistance from Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonaugh, and some interference by Miz and R-Truth, who should get these titles at WrestleMania.

Rhea Ripley © versus Nia Jax for the Women’s World Championship

Rhea Ripley is going to be cheered like a hero in Australia, and there’s no way she drops her title to Nia despite the great work Jax has been doing since her return. I expect her to hang on until WrestleMania and fall to Becky Lynch, but that’s a ways off. Tonight is all about the hometown gal getting her flowers, and deservedly so.

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! We’ve got SmackDown, Rampage, Collision, and the Elimination Chamber to keep up with this weekend, so warm up those couch cushions because it’s gonna be a comfy few days!

I’ll see you next week for the usual Casual Friday and Untitled Monday blog posts. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

The Friday After MommaGeddon...it's the Casual Friday Blog!

 So we’re gonna go a little more freeform with today’s blog, but there's a good reason for it! For one, dear reader, I assume missing a blog day means you’ll never check in again, because that’s the kind of brain nearly every writer has, or so I’ve seen. More importantly, I only just got back to Colorado last night after a hell of a weekend, a hell week, and having watched a hell of a lot less pro wrestling than usual.

The vagueness of last week’s blog was for a reason – my sister, brother-in-law, and their doggos were driving to Chicago, while I was hopping on a flight. My wonderful mom turned 70 this week, and several months ago my baby sister suggested we all return home to surprise her. And she was very surprised! We coordinated before we stopped by, and it was all the screaming and tears one might expect. We followed that up the next night with a surprise party with a large chunk of our very large family showing up at a restaurant for what she thought was just a little family dinner – more tears ensued, laughs and drinks were had, and lots of food was consumed. We even had a Superbowl party on Sunday, with the usual grub and the whole family gathering one more time before my sister headed back East.

HOWEVER, that’s where the story turns! Apparently we ate something at some point that gave both my sister and I a really nasty stomach virus. Like, the kind where you don’t want to be more than twenty feet from a bathroom. Later we found out that six other partygoers got it too! Unfortunately, my sister was already on the road and had to tough out the six-hour drive home. I was more lucky – my wife insisted I move my flight to later in the week and just camp out at my mom’s until I got better. Mom even came down with the same thing, albeit a lighter version of it. A funny story in hindsight, but it really sucked at the time!

Anyways, this is all to say that your quasi-reliable wrestling blogger didn’t actually consume a lot of wrestling this past week. I watched Dynamite with mom’s husband, fielding questions about the Young Buck’s blood-covered suits and Darby Allen’s decision to yell at them rather than fight. But that’s it – I’m catching up today on what I missed because it’s looking like another Colorado snow day. So let’s talk about what i DID see, and we’ll catch up on the rest after the weekend!

All Elite Wrestling is feeling pretty elite again!

Honestly, the card for this week didn’t exactly excite me. I think I’m a little over Jon Moxley right now, despite his constant high motor and urge to get the fans to care. His opening match with Dax Harwood of FTR was really good, and while both guys did their best to put on a hard-hitting show to get fans ready for a solid night of action, it didn’t change the fact that I really just want Mox to take a break! The guy has been a constant presence on AEW for a couple years at this point, and I think it would benefit both the man and his character to just step away for a bit. I also feel like the Blackpool Combat Club has run its course, but I think I’m in the minority in that opinion. Regardless, it was a good match between good wrestlers and probably the second best bout on the show.

The main event was in a similar spot for me. Seeing that Matt Taven, a guy we’ve literally never spoken about around these parts, was having a Texas Death Match against International Champ Orange Cassidy – and for the title, no less – with very little build felt forced. And it was! But that doesn’t change the fact that it was a hell of a fun Valentine’s Day gift, complete with a heart-shaped box full o’ tacks, Trent pulling a Terminator 2 with a flower box to save his pal from the Undisputed Kingdom, and enough blood to keep the red valentine’s theme afloat to the end of this paragraph. It was a blast to watch, and the aforementioned Taven made some good improvisational decisions when tables failed to do what wrestling tables are supposed to. A great ending to a solid show. 

But in between those two was a match between now-goateed MattHEW and NichOLAS Jackson, who did a great job of embracing their new evil EVP gimmicks in their match against Top Flight. They slowed the action down and denied the fans a lot of the high-flying that they might have expected in this matchup, but still kept things really entertaining. The Bucks cheated to win, as expected, and then belittled and attacked beloved announcer Tony Schiavone before Darby Allin arrived to make the save. But, in a decision a lot of fans including myself are questioning, Darby chose to question AEW’s early hiring practices rather than, I dunno, attack the guys who are still wearing the suits covered in his own blood from last week’s attack. It felt really out of character for Allin, a guy generally known for acting before thinking, to just hang back rather than go all out. This isn’t a rivalry based on the Bucks’ new jerk boss gimmicks – it’s entirely based on Sting’s last match, and should revolve around that. 

It was a decent promo, don’t get me wrong! It just felt out of place being delivered at that time, by that guy, to the guys it was being delivered to, you know? I’ve never liked heel authority figure plots, and despite the Young Bucks being fantastic at being douchebags, AEW has always portrayed itself as the “good place to work.” It seems weird to me, even just in kayfabe, to decide that’s not going to be the case as long as these two are playing this role. 

One last Dynamite note before we switch to WWE – my sweet Cinnabon son, Konosuke Takeshita, has been scheduled to face Will Ospreay in Will’s first match as an official member of the AEW roster. That match is set for the Revolution pay per view, and it’s gonna rule so freakin’ hard! I’m very excited as both a wrestling fan and a proud parent. But I digress…

What is even happening with WrestleMania?!

It’s a great time to be a fan, I’ll say that. I think we could do a full crazy board like the one in the Charlie Day meme (you know the one) and concoct over ten different full, entertaining two-night Wrestlemania cards with the current storylines that are developing. None of them might even be right! But that’s the kind of great setup and big name talent they’re working with in WWE right now. We’re all going to end up with a favorite superstar or two that somehow doesn’t make the show, I fear, but I hope that isn’t enough to ruin your enjoyment of the big weekend. 

This past week’s RAW saw Jey Uso continue to shine in his program against Imperium, picking up the win alongside the New Day. I’m thinking some good booking can lead us to a good Intercontinental Championship rematch against Gunther at Elimination Chamber (there’s already one scheduled for Monday but I’ll assume a DQ finish and forced rematch at the pape), with brotherly interference by Jimmy Uso leading to a match between the brothers Uso at WrestleMania.

Speaking of the Elimination Chamber, we’ve already got some qualifiers for the matches inside that structure. Bobby Lashley, LA Knight, and Liv Morgan all earned their spots, and those matches are looking to be a good time! I think the womens’ match is the more obvious, as Ripley/Lynch will make a hell of a WrestleMania match. But given the Rollins involvement in the Bloodline story with Cody, who makes sense to derail or challenge him? Drew McIntyre seems like one route, but he’s also got a match with Rhodes next week, and he attacked Sami Zayn to end the show after Zayn lost to Shinsuke Nakamura. Maybe Friday will clear some things up. 

Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes had an interesting conversation about the Bloodline problem. Rollins offered to be Cody’s shield against the combined might of Roman Reigns and The Rock, and while Cody didn’t immediately agree, it’s looking like maybe some kind of tag thing might be the direction they’re headed? Or a one-two tag/singles combo over two nights? WHO’S TO SAY ANYMORE? 

.

NXT developments too? 

Yes, even a little NXT news before we dip out. Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin, the Wolf Dogs, made the most of their title shot against The Family, claiming the NXT Tag Team Championships in a really good main event! Even though Bron has been featured on both main roster shows being wooed by their respective GMs, I’m glad he and Corbs got the win here. You could tell Corbin, especially, really felt something after picking up the win. Even if it’s just a short reign before Breakker moves up, it was the right call and a way to make Bron look even stronger before he moves on from NXT.

.

Closing Up Shop

But with that, we’re calling it a day! It’s been a week, and even already a day, and I have quite a bit of house cholo work to catch up on now that I’m back in the saddle again. No Collision this weekend, and no PPVs or even football to watch, so we’ll focus on Smackdown and maybe some fantasy booking for the Untitled Monday Blog. Have a great weekend, stay healthy, and we’ll see ya.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

It's Friday, It's Gonna Snow, and The Rock Done Smacked A Man On Live TV: It's the Casual Friday Blog!

 

Good Morning!

It’s “another day, another dollar” mode here at “Let’s Watch Some Wrestling,” as we get ready for a wrestling-free weekend due to other commitments. I’ll have to catch up after, meaning we’ll just assume that the Untitled Monday Blog will be on a bit of a break. But no worries; it’s not like we haven’t got a metric ton of stuff to talk about from the past several days!

Headlines and Storylines

…in which I discuss the storylines that keep us watching week to week

#WeWantCody

So…what do you guys wanna talk about? Do we start with the internet going so #WeWantCody crazy that the WWE may have had to switch their (possible) plan of The Rock versus Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, replacing the assumed Cody Rhodes vs. Reigns main event? That seems like as good a place as any. 

As I write this, we’re about a half hour away from the WWE WrestleMania press conference that’s promised … well, it hasn’t promised anything, actually. It’s hoped, or assumed, that we’ll get some kind of confirmation on Roman’s challenger at the Show of Shows, whether that’s Cody or Rocky. Rock spent the better part of this morning on the Pat McAffee show playing heel, running down Cody fans and potentially implying that that match is going to be … something not a one on one match. Special guest referee? Triple threat? Double match? I’ll take some notes and we’ll come back to this.

ONE HOUR PLUS LATER

After about 45 minutes of pandering and what felt like the longest promo train in RAW history, we got Seth Rollins. And then we got Roman Reigns, shushing Seth and reminding everyone within earshot that the World Heavyweight Championship that Seth holds is a second-tier title. Then Roman decided he could choose his own opponent, and he picked The Rock. Rock came out to a chorus of boos, led us through a history lesson on the Samoan Dynasty, and then accepted the match by threatening to force it down our collective throats. Cody Rhodes then made his presence known, calling the whole thing bullshit and demanding his match with Roman at WrestleMania.

We’ll pause here for effect. Cody essentially gave Rock his spot on Friday, right? Like, just because they didn’t address it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But I digress.

Rock didn’t like Cody’s tone, I guess, because he went full heel on the American Nightmare. The Brahma Bull claimed that Cody, literally the most respectful guy in all of wrestling, was being insulting to Roman and Rock and their ancestors by bringing up Jey Uso, as well as how ashamed the ancestors would be of Reigns, despite Reigns running down Dusty moments before. Rock slapped Roman, CM Punk tried to antagonize everyone, and the official Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes graphic dropped. What is Rocky going to mean to this? Can Seth get his tarnished reputation rebuilt? Will the two night WrestleMania format mean two Roman matches? Two Rock matches? Two Cody matches? WHO’S TO SAY?

Oh, I should note that there was backstage footage after the conference with Rock basically "do you know who I am"-ing Triple H. So Rock's going full EVP and throwing his weight around? That does make it easy for him to get what he wants...and you just know WWE was waiting to do a heel authority figure angle...it's been a couple years!

So, what did we learn from the press conference? Well, first, we learned that wrestling stuff is really cringe, especially when it’s presented to the mainstream. Look, WE know how weird and poorly done a lot of the promo/acting stuff is, but THEY don’t. And cutting promos for an hour to the uninitiated just makes the whole thing look worse. Second, we learned that Cody and Roman are going to meet in some way at ‘Mania. Third, we learned that Big E and CM Punk should definitely star in a buddy cop show or something together, they were great on commentary.

And fourth, I think we learned where the Rock stands in modern WWE. I thought the company was sending a message with the booking of the Royal Rumble this year – legends are great, but there's a focus on current generation talent right now. We’ve got NXT talent to look forward to, and plenty of young talent on the main roster that we’re telling some interesting stories with. Forcing the Rock into things because you want a distraction from your former CEO’s alleged sex crimes isn’t the magical cure it once was. 

And to those who argue that this is somehow proof that WWE was right in booking Cody to lose at last year’s mania? No. It proves that if he’d won, booking Rock versus Roman and Cody versus literally anybody else would have given you two great main events with no weird backtracking and heel turns done on the Pat McAffee show. There’s no way to know if Cody would have been as big now as he is just because he’d have held a title, or if this long string of wins has made the crowd fall in line and cheer Cody like the second coming of Cena. I’ve been supportive of the story they’re telling, but that doesn’t retroactively absolve them of not telling the story they should have, you know?

Stuff from NXT!

NXT had the big Carmelo heel turn at the end of Vengeance Day, and the reason for it was basically that he didn’t like Trick Williams going after the World title instead of a b-tier championship. It’ll be interesting to see if Melo’s turn affects his frequent SmackDown appearances – or if Trick follows him to Fridays to make this feud a main roster thing. Both guys have been super over when they showed up -- we'll see if that trend continues if Melo starts acting like a jerk!

Hangman/Swerve 3, CMLL Invasion, and Mercedes Moné

AEW has some good stuff going on too, with the Revolution PPV coming up in just a couple weeks. Sting’s final match looks to be beside Darby Allen, his young son, against the Young Bucks. Sting and Allen won the AEW Tag Team Championships after a good tag match against Big Bill and Ricky Starks, but the big moment was after the win, when the EVPs attacked the new champs. Dressed all in while, a quickly-opened up Darby bled all over the Jacksons, leaving a fantastic visual as the scorned and incredibly douchey Bucks stood over the victors. 

Tony Khan’s BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, version 99, was that AEW will be doing a “First Dance” type event to welcome the former Sasha Banks into All Elite Wrestling. March 13 at the Fleet Center in Boston (typed “BO$$TON” on the show graphic) will be called Big Business, and while her name wasn’t mentioned, it was very heavily implied that the biggest free agent in wrestling will be showing up that night. I’m excited! Deonna Purrazzo felt like a big deal, and the AEW women’s division has a ton of talent right now. They just need TV time and maybe more than one storyline per week! 

The Hangman/Swerve saga continued with a 30-minute draw that was a different flavor of violence than previous matchups between these two. Less bloody but still very…blunt? Stiff. It was rough! After the bell, which came as Swerve was about to get a pinfall victory, Strickland demanded five more minutes. Hangman turned him down – he was there not to win, but to deny Swerve what he wanted most. Fair! I like this Drew McIntyre style of booking justified heels, not necessarily bad but definitely angry and wronged. It looks like we’ll get a triple threat between Hangman, Swerve, and Samoa Joe for Joe’s AEW World Championship at Revolution. Should be fun!

And finally, last week's CMLL tour around the AEW shows led to a beatdown by the luchadores after their loss on Dynamite. But there are more matches coming up this weekend, and I’m assuming maybe even a match between the factions south of the border?

We Watched Some Wrestling!

…in which I recommend some of the best matches I saw last week

On Dynamite…just about everything? If I was FORCED to pick just one match, I’d go with the CMLL guys against the Blackpool Combat Club just because of the unique nature of the interpromotional matchup. 

NXT had a solid opener and main event, but the edge goes to Dijak and Dragunov as it’s a beefier matchup and those two don’t know how to hold back. 

And for Raw…the four way tag match was definitely worth your time. 

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! Just a lot of chatter today, honestly. A lot to think about on both WWE main roster shows and AEW as well. Unfortunately I bit off a bit more than I could chew this week, so we're shutting down early and I'll be a busy bee over the weekend...

I’ll see you next week for the usual Casual Friday and Untitled Monday blog posts. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!