Let's talk about expectations and Double or Nothing, Dynamite, Raw, AND KaQotR!

 

Good Morning!

A lot has happened since we last talked! AEW’s Double or Nothing was a success, a good and at times great show with some standout matches. We’ve also gone in some interesting directions since that show, both due to booking decisions and Adam Copeland’s nasty injury. 

Before we dive in, I want to talk a little bit about expectations, headcanon, and fantasy booking. After Wednesday’s Dynamite, I saw a lot of discourse about how disappointed so many fans are with the decision to have Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland square off at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view in a few weeks. Some folks are worried that it means Ospreay is already going to be taking the AEW World Championship off of Strickland; others feel like AEW is “blowing” this dream match by scheduling it so soon after Ospreay’s debut. And still others believe that Ospreay should be doing something with his newly-won International Championship, and staying away from the world title picture until he’s ready to win it. 

I agree with all those concerns, to a degree. I think I would have preferred Ospreay take on an international star, Hechicero or someone from NJPW for example. I would have liked Strickland to also have one of the performers that isn’t a part of the AEW roster to feature against the champ, since Forbidden Door is kind of an interpromotional exhibition. However, I don’t see any reason for concern.

When AEW brought Ospreay, Mercedes Mone, and Kazuchika Okada into the company, it was fair to assume none of them would be eating a pin anytime soon. However, it’s been a few months now, and with Okada being a part of the biggest heel faction in the promotion, and Mercedes playing a heel-lite role, Will Ospreay’s friendly, crowd loving character is the one to play the victim here. He’ll look strong even in a loss, the match will be incredible, and I imagine that we’ll see the storyline between Ospreay, Don Callis, and whoever distracts or interferes with Will from the Family develop further.

The problem that can happen when we get our hopes up, or talk ourselves into a certain story, is that we can get angry or frustrated when a promoter goes in a different direction. Because once we get started down those rabbit holes, it’s hard not to keep fantasy booking for months ahead. And if those plans are dashed by Tony Khan or Triple H, one can easily fall into the trap of being predisposed to not liking the direction simply because it doesn’t mesh with one’s own plan.

I’ve always been a firm believer in “letting it play out.” That’s not to say I don't get annoyed with booking, whether it’s Tony’s constant tournaments or Trips’ affinity for every bad guy being “cool and relatable.” In the end, though, it’s nothing to get mad about. I don’t have any stake in this stuff, and neither do you. It’s just wrestling, right?

Recapping Raw, King and Queen of the Ring, Dynamite, and Double or Nothing

I assure you, this won’t be the slog it sounds like. I don’t know why I think I’ll make time to write separate blog posts for all this stuff, but I think I bit off more than I can chew again. I watched both PPVs and Raw and Dynamite, but still haven’t caught up with NXT despite having most of the show spoiled for me (which is fine, I’m too old to know what a Sexxy Red is anyways). So we’ll kinda double up on results and where we’re going.

Swerve Strickland beat Christian Cage to retain his AEW World Championship, in a match that was really good despite its predictable outcome. That was kind of a theme for the weekend – apart from a few surprises, almost everything went according to expectations. Dynamite, however, sent those expectations out the window when Will Ospreay became Swerve’s next challenger. This is the part where I admit that, while I’m excited for that match, I almost never catch Forbidden Door. It’s not out of malice or spite, I just have happened to be out of town or busy when the show is scheduled, and it falls on a friend’s birthday this year. So unless I get out of it somehow (unlikely) I’ll be missing yet another PPV. 

Although, I mean, they expanded to like 12 a year and they’re fifty bucks a pop, I won’t die from not watching. You’ll catch me up, won’t you dear reader?

Liv Morgan was the big surprise, possibly the only surprise, on WWE’s Saudi show. She defeated Becky Lynch with a little Dominik Mysterio interference, and repeated the performance on Monday in a steel cage match. Dom was rewarded with a smooch for his “accidental” efforts, although one could argue that Liv was the kissER and Dominik was the kissEE. 

Gunther and Nia Jax became King and Queen of the Ring, with Gunther treating the crown like a bauble with a title shot attached and Nia fully embracing her new royal image. I love both of these decisions, and I can see Gunther facing Drew McIntyre after Drew wins the title from Damian Priest in Scotland. Both of those matches sound pretty fun!

What else was good…oh, right, Darby Allin set Jack Perry on fire before Allin was hung upside down in the middle of the ring. Anarchy in the Arena is always a good time, and this year was no exception. If you’ve got the means, that was one of the best matches of the night.

Adam Copeland went full Vampire Edge for his entrance, and he defeated Malakai Black despite Cope breaking his tibia in a poorly-executed leap from the top of the steel cage in which their match took place. That whole match was a bloody good time, and both guys put themselves through hell before beloved vampire Gangrel tore through the mat to attack the House of Black and help Copeland get the win.

That injury meant the Young Bucks had a reason to yank the TNT title from Adam Copeland, and they immediately did what we were expecting and gave the belt to their pal Jack Perry. However, new “interim EVP” slash Tony Khan mouthpiece Christopher Daniels said why would we give a guy a title when we could have qualifying matches and put on a LADDER MATCH for the TNT championship at Forbidden Door. We’re already getting my sweet Cinnabon son Konosuke Takeshita battling Penta el Zero Miedo for the first spot, and if all the matches are on this level I’ll be pretty stoked. 

Mercedes Mone got the expected win over Willow Nightingale, but she’s still doing her best to play tweener. She offered some supportive words to Willow on Wednesday’s Dynamite during her championship celebration, and a surprise match against Skye Blue was pretty good too!

More importantly, the match rocked. As much as I don’t like that finisher, it kinda made sense in the context of the match, so I’m willing to overlook it. I’m still not completely sold on Mercedes in AEW, but I’m sure I’ll be chanting CEO along with the rest of the crowd when Dynamite comes to Colorado next week!

Trent Baretta beat Orange Cassidy, and Konosuke Takeshita lost his eliminator match against Jon Moxley. I really didn’t like either call, and Dynamite only made me double down on that. Cassidy followed up his victory with a dumb “accept the contract offer from the villain” bit that led to Baretta signing with the Don Callis family. So, to be clear, Callis actually wanted to sign the guy who never wins when it counts, and not the guy who was undefeatable as International champ for months. 

And Moxley? Man, the guy can’t even lose a qualifying match? Who does that help? If anything, it made Take look worse, because Mox was playing the role of injured guy the whole match. He still beat Takeshita, a villain who desperately needs a turn or a real direction. And then he beat Rocky Romero (who, to be fair, hasn't had a singles win in AEW since Dark Elevation existed) in a second Eliminator match on Dynamite just to double down on how cool and tough he is. That annoyed me. I should have added Moxley to that intro, because he’s another guy AEW just can't allow to lose.

I like Moxley, I really do. But I'm not into his current character, and I don't like the Blackpool Combat Club as a unit. There's no reason for it, and the sooner Claudio abandons everybody to join Adam Cole as a full time streamer/part time wrestler, the better.

Oh, and MJF made his return! Shortly after Adam Cole popped up to re-establish that he's still a jerk, and still injured, a first-person video showed someone getting a scarf, a diamond ring, . Max offered a hug, followed up with a kick to the junk, and cut a passionate promo that let us know he's still a good guy (for now) but he's done with the cutesy friendship stuff. He wasn't around on Dynamite, meaning he was waiting for Loveland Colorado, home of AEW's most excitable fan base, to make his Dynamite return next week.

That feels about right, as far as covering the big happenings. Some folks won, some folks lost, and our PPV record for the weekend was 15/18. That’s not too shabby!

Closing Up Shop

And that’s it! I’ve been working on some house projects leading up to my wife’s 39th birthday extravaganza, but I try to make a point to post at least once a week. There aren’t any PPVs this weekend, but we’ve got qualifiers for the AEW TNT Championship ladder match and possibly the Owen Hart cup as well? Besides, I gotta pay attention this weekend so I know what’s going on when I go to the show on Wednesday. We’ll take pics, I’ll try to be observant towards what happens, and I might even try to talk with some other fans. It’s always a blast, and while this is a new location for AEW (its third since they started coming out here) I’m sure we’ll have a good turnout. 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me in the comments or on my social media accounts. And if you're feeling super generous, you can buy me a Ko-fi using the link on the bottom of the page (assuming it actually works.) I’ll be back sometime next week, but until then…Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

Casual Friday + The Let's Watch Some Wrestling King of Kings of the Ring Tournament Announcement!

Good Morning!

What an odd week for pro wrestling that was. I felt like neither Raw nor Dynamite did a lot for me, possibly due to both feeling a little off theme. Raw felt weird because there was almost too much wrestling on the longest wrestling show of the week, and Dynamite felt odd because of its pacing and storyline beats that just didn’t work for me. That AEW Edmonton crowd didn’t help matters – I was equal parts annoyed when they were too quiet and annoyed when they started trying to get themselves over. Enjoy your hockey team elsewhere, Oily fans. Except for that guy who harassed Skye Blue to the point that ref Aubrey Edwards called for security to yeet the guy out – that guy can eat a bag of tacks and fall down the Exorcist staircase.

But let’s talk some actual wrestling instead, shall we? The beginning of the King of the Ring tournament gave us a lot of wrestling on Monday night, and plenty of it was good to great! There have already been some injury substitutions, with Kofi Kingston filling in for Xavier Woods (I think this one is storyline), Asuka being replaced with Dakota Kai (legit), Jey Uso replacing Drew McIntyre (real), and Angelo Dawkins taking Bobby Lashley’s spot on SmackDown tonight (also real). Monday saw Jey Uso defeat Finn Balor, Ilja Dragunov beat Ricochet, and Gunther move on at Sheamus’ expense. We also got Zoey Stark over Ivy Nile, former Women’s champ Iyo Sky beat Natalya, and birdperson Lyra Valkyria won over the aforementioned King Kota. The tournaments are off to a solid start, with Gunther being my pick for the guys – and my pick for match of the night, too. I guess that was a given, considering the history he and Sheamus have, but goddamn do those two know how to GO. 

We also got some feud pushes and storyline developments in the rivalries between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan, and Sami Zayn, Bronson Reed, and Chad Gable. The Judgment Day continues to slowly crumble, but not in any really pressing way. 

I dunno…like I said, there were a bunch of matches, most of them good, but nothing really resonated with me. The same can be said of AEW: despite some truly good wrestling, I just kept thinking to myself that if I had anything else to do, would I really feel like I missed out if I didn’t get the Double or Nothing show?

Again, don’t get me wrong. Trent Beretta and Orange Cassidy opened the show with a hell of a fight, and while Orange got the slippery win I think we’ll see these two face off at the PPV again, possibly with a stipulation to encourage some violence and shenanigans. And the main event between Adam Copeland and Brody King was some hard hitting, bloody violence the likes of which we haven’t seen in some time. 

It was everything else that didn’t click for me. Serena Deeb just isn’t compelling as a good guy, especially when pitted against Toni Storm’s charismatic character. The crowd didn’t help, as they literally started a “Let’s go Oilers” chant while Deeb was recounting her horrific experiences with unexplained seizures. But at the end of the day, a better build (or a better talker) might have made things go more smoothly. 

The Young Bucks popped on screen for four segments to cement that they are a) douchebags and b) in charge. I know a lot of people love this version of their characters, I just am not one of them. I do think Jack Perry is doing great heel work right now, however.

Those Elite appearances were peppered throughout midcard matches between Mariah May and Harley Cameron, Rocky Romero and Jay White, and Big Bill & Chris Jericho and *checks notes* Mo Jabari and Harlon Abbott. If you need me to tell you who won those matches, I … well, I would gladly do so, because I’m a nice guy. It almost felt like the show, bookended by some real AEW action, existed to get these promos and stories told. For me, though, aside from Christian Cage and Swerve Strickland building their Double or Nothing title match, it was just people wrestling and talking on my TV. I’ll say this – at least my weekend watches are delayed, so I can jump forward past commercials and speed up matches a bit.

I hate to sound negative, though! I’m looking forward to Cage vs Strickland. And the New Elite in an Anarchy in the Arena match against FTR, Eddie Kingston, and Brian Danielson should be a blast, possibly ending with someone getting lit on fire before the bad guys steal the victory. Mercedes Mone’s in-ring debut (FINALLY, because these promos ain’t working for me) is a big deal for the show. But right now, the product just isn’t where I know it can be, you know? I’m not mad, just disappointed. 

Enough with that, though. Let’s get into something a little more fun. NXT!!! We saw Wes Lee miraculously return to action after last week’s shocking appearance, around six months ahead of schedule. He picked up a win and has his sights set on Oba Femi’s North American title – the old “title that I never lost” situation, or Rule Four of my wife’s reasons for wrestling matches. HE WANTS THAT CUMMERBUND.

Shayna Baszler won over Natalya’s newest pal Karmen Petrovic, and some highlights from the NXT Combine – the pre-qualifier for the new Women’s North American Championship ladder match – were shown. The beloved mafia guys who may have literally murdered Drew Gulak continue to be the good guys in their feud against No Quarter Catch Crew, who found themselves in a match with some great-looking rookies in Tyriek Igwe and Tyson DuPont. Said mafiosos told the NQCC that the ref for the match was unavailable, but fortunately Stacks, right hand man to NXT Don Tony D’Angelo, happened to be available, and had a stripey shirt on too! How convenient. Good guys won after some questionable officiating, and later we’d see the mafia guys straight up kidnap two of the three remaining members of No Quarter Blah Blah to make sure Tony gets his match against current Heritage Cup champ Charlie Dempsey.

Tough guy Michin visited from the main roster and murdered beauty queen Ariana Grace, which is kind of a bummer since Grace has been doing some fun work with Gigi Dolin. Trick Williams learned the contents of the mysterious envelope that Lash Legend was carrying was a photo of Noam Dar with his shoulder up when Trick pinned him several weeks ago. Dar claimed that Trick was therefore a fake champ, since Trick’s winning streak started with that match, so Trick granted Dar a championship match. Should be fun – Noam’s group, Meta4, are a very silly lot, but that doesn’t mean Noam can’t put on a solid match when the story calls for one. 

Fallon Henley won her first match as a bad guy, Roxanne Perez retained her championship in the main event against a visiting Chelsea Green, and Lexis King defeated Duke Hudson in one of those impromptu matches that we always seem to make time for on wrestling shows. All in all, it was a fun, dumb show with its fun, dumb characters doing fun, dumb stuff.

The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling King of the Kings of the Ring Invitational Tournament!

Alongside our usual Friday banter, I decided I wanted to do a King of the Kings of the Ring tournament! Since it’s KOTR (and QOTR) season in real life, I wanted to put together a tournament to decide, once and for all – or until next year when we have another name to add to the pool – who is King of the Kings of the Ring. There are three brackets, with the first chunk of entrants requiring a bit of fudging to make even sets of eight. Fortunately, the ‘80s featured a ton of just such fudging. 

There were actually double Kings of the Ring after Harley Race took the tournament and the crown in 1986. See, even though the tournament was an annual event from 1985 to 1989, once Race won the title of King of the Ring he really took it to heart. Much like more recent kings Booker T or Baron Corbin, Race fully adopted the King name and mantra, wearing a crown and cape. 

Even though Randy Savage won 1987’s King of the Ring tourney, Race kept the gimmick until he went out with an injury in 1988. After that happened, Race’s manager, the beloved Bobby “the Brain” Heenan decided that he could just name the next King of the fed, and chose Haku.

 “King Haku” ended up losing the crown to “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan in May of ‘89, but then “Hacksaw” lost it to “Macho Man” Randy Savage in late August of that year. The Macho Man celebrated according to tradition, giving birth to the “Macho King” gimmick in the process. 

Hence, we fill out our bracket using King Haku, King Hacksaw, and – since he’s the only two-time winner ever – a double Bret Hart. Fortunately, the game gave us two Brets by default, and I’ve found some great CAWs (or are they CASs now?) for the guys who aren’t in the game. And so, I came up with three divisions and randomized the entries rather than trying to seed the entrants the way any true nerd would – I rolled an eight-sided die and kept rolling until I got the numbers to sync up.

BRACKETS!

Credit where credit is due: WWE 2K24 creator HonchosLegends did Muraco, Haku, Hacksaw, and Santana. DrGorillaNuts (LOL) created Owen, SuperBob made King Mabel, AttitudeCreationz built Mr. Ass, ViceroyFlair put Edge together, and WittyWitterson rounds out the Create-A-Superstar group with his young Brock Lesnar. I also grabbed a King of the Ring belt, made by HeatWave, to award the winner when we get to the Triple Threat Finale.

As you can see, I divided things up from 1985-1991, 1993-2000, and 2001-2021. It worked out that our double-Brets at least are separated by eras. We’ll decide the winner in a triple threat match, but the tournaments will all be simulated by the computer, and we’re turning on the damage retention option to reflect the one-night tournament aspect of King of the Ring that was a thing until its more recent resurrections.

I have a little experience with both brackets and sims, so this is a fun exercise for me. When I was writing for Tilt Magazine, I wrote a piece ranking the Elimination Chamber matches up to 2022 – the 2023 event was about to take place, and that means interest was up in the old Search Engine Optimization stuff. Anyway, if you’re interested, here’s a link to that article.

As for brackets, well…I’ve mentioned before (I think) that I ran a 2k22 Universe featuring the cast and crew of the animal hospital that my wife works with. I even uploaded some of our events on YouTube, and while my camera isn’t the best, my wife and I had a lot of fun making those little videos. She even went fully in character, joining me on commentary for a few of the shows as if she’d just gotten out of the ring from her matches. It was a great time, and even though a lot of those coworkers have moved on to other adventures, I still get the occasional text asking if I’d ever do another.

I totally would, by the way. I just don’t know how to run it outside of the animal hospital environment. But I digress.

How to run these brackets is the next question. Do I try livestreaming the game and watching along with you? Or just sim through and post the results, leaving more time for writing and maybe giving some backstory into the matchups? And what about the finale? Do we go nuts and make it a Ladder Match, or just keep it a traditional triple threat? I’d love any feedback you might have. Let me know, dear reader.

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! No pay-per-views or premium live events this weekend, so it’s SmackDown on Saturday morning, and then I’ll be playing catch-up with AEW on Sunday morning due to some prior commitments.

I’ll see you next week for the usual Casual Friday and Untitled 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!

Untitled Monday Blog -- Backlash Edition!

 

Good Morning!

That was a weird weekend, but because of prior commitments I just figured the move was to skip our beloved Casual Friday and hop right into the Untitled Monday Blog – or the Blog du lundi sans titre, since we were in France for both SmackDown and Backlash. Thanks, Google translate!

If we’re being honest, I kinda overlooked Backlash. As it’s right after WrestleMania, it seemed pretty unlikely that any of the champions who won at the Granddaddy of Them All would drop their titles. My picks, as made on our buddy Ricky Raiden’s Twitch Stream on Saturday morning, were therefore kinda chalk – I picked the Bloodline to win because we needed to keep momentum on the side of Bloodline 2.0. I chose Damien Priest, Cody Rhodes, and Bayley to retain their titles. And I went with the Power
Buff Girls to take the Tag Team Championships off of the Kabuki Warriors, since Jade Cargill is our new “chosen one” and she and Bianca Belair are a dynamite pairing (no pun intended). I went 5/5, putting this year’s record at a solid 73%.

*Stephen A. Smith voice* HOWEVER, what I didn’t count on was our French Fed Fans to absolutely carry the weekend for WWE. Those folks were so into it that I really didn’t get as mad as the internet seemed to be that WWE announced its largest gate ever for Backlash. I mean, if one keeps up with the product, wouldn’t one be inclined to pay to see it live, especially when one considers that France gets house shows and very little else – a live PLE is a really big deal for them! Yes, they paid more than we stateside would have, but considering their lack of options, I think it’s fine. But I digress.

The event had some surprises, too! Aside from great matches all around, the team of Randy Orton and Kevin Owens lost due to shenanigans AND a debuting Tanga Loa, brother to recent Bloodline 2.0 heavy Tama Tonga! I don’t know much about him, but those folks who follow New Japan Pro Wrestling tell me he’s, well, not as exciting an addition as Jacob Fatu would be. Still, you can’t have a Bloodline without the numbers to negate any good guys who decide to team up, and the Guerillas of Destiny – that’s Tonga and Loa as a tag team, and thank God for teams with names – certainly add said numbers. 

Since we didn’t get a chance to talk AEW last week, let’s have a look back at the Dynamite/Rampage power block we got on Wednesday. NBA and NHL playoffs have made a mess of All Elite Wrestling’s programming, but instead of merely cancelling the shows that would have been bumped because of those playoff games, AEW made the call to extend Collision or Dynamite where it could. And Wednesday’s programming left nothing to complain about, as it left those dastardly Young Bucks in control of the show after a disconnection from Tony Khan. When we last saw the AEW CEO, he was in a neck brace during the NFL draft, and got a lot of mileage out of that kayfabe injury. He had a grand time promoting his brand and taking shots at WWE, and while I’m over the latter part of that, I’m glad they’re using his victimization at the hands of the New Elite for some long term storytelling.

Speaking of long term storytelling, Swerve Strickland met his opponent for Double or Nothing in a few weeks, and it was none other than Christian Cage. Cage reminded Strickland that Swerve nearly murdered Cage’s baby boy, Nick Wayne, a few months back, and Cage is out for revenge. Christian and his family beat the hell out of the new champ, and established themselves as a threat against the Mogul Empire. While the rankings crowd may argue that Christian hasn’t been around since his yambags were used as a pincushion during a TNT championship match with Adam Copeland, the Young Bucks simply decided that as acting showrunners, they can kinda do whatever they want. Christian provides a good, established opponent for Swerve, and a believable threat to his championship – all good things!

Kenny Omega made his return at the end of Dynamite, giving an impassioned promo about how he nearly lost his life to diverticulitis. He told us that he wasn’t ready to come back yet, but also reminded the crowd and the New Elite that as long as he’s still with the company, he still holds a portion of the power as co-executive vice president. Expectedly, that didn’t sit well with the baddies, and Okada faced Kenny down for a little back-and-forth before the Bucks went all in with an attack on Omega that left him hospital-bound. 

It’s a very WWE direction for AEW, an “evil authority figure” storyline that we haven’t gone back to since the days of The Authority in the Fed. But I’m fine with it – as long as the matches aren’t going to suffer, and I can’t imagine anyone in AEW would allow that to happen. It’ll be fun to have some dyed in the wool baddies on a program that often feels too morally gray. Sometimes you just want to root for a good guy, and boo a bad one, you know?

Tonight is Raw, where we’ll be locking in the mostly-uneventful draft. With Backlash in the rear view, we’re back to regular tv programming, which means distracted viewing for yours truly as I vaguely keep up with the Nuggets and the NHL. I’m sure I’ll have more to say later in the week, but since we’ve got a bit of a house cholo list to finish before tonight, I think we’ll call it a day.

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! I’ll see you later in the week for the usual Casual Friday and any Untitled 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 best Raw in the last ten years? That and more...it's Casual Friday!

 

Good Morning!

It’s a busy sports weekend, with the next round of the NCAA tournament already running and baseball’s first weekend of the regular season. We’ve also got WrestleMania week coming up, with all the go-home madness that comes with that, plus AEW’s continuing build to its Dynasty PPV. 

But what I wanna talk about today is expectations. They’re related to all of those things, really. Whether it’s your March Madness brackets or your hopes for the Cubbies, people put a lot of stake in the things they love – or the things they’ve decided to identify with. And wrestling is no different. The problem comes when someone’s expectations are unrealistic, or they put too much stake in an opinion or a hope that may be less than plausible. Take the latest trend in Twitter takes – the stopwatch guys. These are people who time things on wrestling shows – stuff like match length, or the amount of actual wrestling on a show, or the amount of time women’s matches are allotted. They are rarely unbiased or presented in good faith – more often than not, it’s fans of “the other side” pointing out their perceived shortcomings with the product they’re analyzing. 

But why do that at all? If you don’t enjoy WWE’s focus on storytelling, or presentation, what good are you doing by timing the amount of time matches are taking up on their programming? Preaching to the choir? Upping your follower count? Yelling at another fanbase who values different parts of pro wrestling? I just find it exhausting. 

There is SO MUCH wrestling out there, there’s literally no reason to get mad at others for liking what they like. I mainly watch Raw, NXT, SmackDown, Dynamite, and Collision. I enjoy them for very different reasons. WWE for its larger than life image, storytelling, presentation, and stars. AEW for its incredible matches and smaller feel. And NXT because it’s just kinda silly, and I like seeing younger talent find their abilities. I’m fully aware of a bunch of other stuff, and when I’m in the mood I’ll watch some New Japan, or TNA, or just find matches on YouTube that folks recommend. And I feel like I’m on the low end of wrestling consumption – you go on BlueSky or Twitter and there are people live-tweeting shows at all hours. 

My point is, maybe we need to enjoy what we enjoy. I like liking things – and yeah, I’ll complain a little when the thing I like doesn’t go how I’d hope, because I’m invested. But I’m not going on social media to argue about that because a) nobody has ever won an internet argument and b) I simply don’t want to. Everything in life seems so polarizing – I don’t need my entertainment to fall into that as well. 

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

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

It’s the week before WrestleMania and all eyes were on Raw this week, emanating from my beloved hometown WWE arena of the Allstate Arena (or the Rosemont Horizon for the real ones – the real old ones, that is). For a show that had minimal wrestling – a thing that we accept in WWE programming, especially this close to ‘Mania – this might have been one of the best booked Raws in years! The Cody speech that opened the show was great. The little teases that nodded towards the chaos that would ensue during the main event were so good. And that post-main event beatdown of Rhodes by The Rock, outside, in the rain, with the ghosts of Stone Cold and Cena looking on from a semi trailer? Cinematic feels like it’s too strong a word, but I got nothing else. Rock versus Cody has to be coming if Rocky’s schedule allows for it, but we’re also expecting Rock to take on Roman Reigns at some point. We’re spoiled, is what it comes down to. 

AEW has been putting on shows that are basically the opposite of WWE, keeping the focus in the ring and signing some of the best talent in the world. Hopefully the attendance starts to reflect the in-ring product, because I feel like it really puts a damper on the shows when they take place in these mostly empty arenas. I see people saying it’s a bad crowd, but even a good crowd can only make so much noise in a barn. Khan has said that they book the larger arenas because of their ability to market the shows better, but we’re not seeing that marketing pay off in full stadiums. I’d like more small venues, personally. Sell out! Get people mad that they can’t get in, and next time around maybe you book that larger option.

Dynamite gave us some amazing matches in the opener and main, with Shibata fighting Will Ospreay and Takeshita taking on Swerve Strickland. Both were great matches, if not the best they could pull off, and they just made me look forward to more battles between these four. 

NXT, also building to a big WrestleMania weekend show with their always-good Stand and Deliver on next Saturday afternoon, had some great stuff too! A fantastic main event featuring main-roster guys Otis and Tozawa of Alpha Academy taking on the NXT tag champs, the Wolf Dogs, stood out as the best thing on the show. But we also got Dijak beating Shawn Spears with a little help from former foe Joe Gacy, and Natalya showed up to answer an open challenge from well-regarded new-ish wrestler Lola Vice…and beat her, because we need to keep Nattie strong for, um, reasons. 

I just…I don’t like Natalya. I don’t like that she’s always around, I don’t think she’s as good as WWE seems to think she is, and I think she’s kinda turning into Chris Jericho in a way, just always around the younger talent. No thank you. 

We Watched Some Wrestling!

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

AEW gave us Swerve Strickland versus Konosuke Takeshita, and as a fan of both, that’s an easy recommendation:

And, as I mentioned a little while ago, that NXT main event between Alpha Academy and the Wolf Dogs was a lot of fun!

But rather than a match, the WWE offering is going to be the last bit of Raw. The CM Punk/Seth Rollins/Drew McIntyre segment was crazy in an unhinged, unscripted, almost reactionary kind of way, though, and since I already linked the Rock’s assault on Cody, I’ll link that promo here:

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! Thanks for coming with me on that journey. No pay-per-views or premium live events this weekend, so it’s “just” the five hours of WWE SmackDown, AEW Rampage, and AEW Collision to keep up with. Next week is the biggest week of the wrestling year, and I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about after this weekend, so I’m looking forward to catching up with you on Monday, dear reader.

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!

Fantasy Booking WrestleMania XL...it's the return of the Untitled Monday Blog!

 

Good Morning!

Hey, it’s a Monday blog? I know, weird, especially since we didn’t have our normal SmackDown/Rampage/Collision weekend schedule due to the NCAA tournament. However, it’s only two weeks until Wrestlemania XL, and I really wanted to write about the big show. 

Two reasons for that. One, obviously, is that I really like writing about pro wrestling, and this is arguably gonna be one of the biggest WrestleManias of all time, both in terms of size and scope. And two, because I’d like to weigh in on some of the matches. So this is less of a preview, per se – I’ll make one of those next week, once everything is locked in and we have an idea of the schedule. But, using Wikipedia and what we think we know about the card, I’ll be booking my own two-night ‘Mania and we’ll see how it goes. It’s our…

Thing of the Week!

Wikipedia has ten matches listed, with the main events set and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship being contested on night two as well. It also made a point to note that the matches I didn’t just mention are “subject to change”, which I assume means they’re making this up just like I am. And that’s fine! While we've got match graphics for most of the matches I didn't make up, we've still got two weeks of shows remaining; any number of them could be swapped out or added to. There’s also room for more – since the introduction of a two-night WrestleMania in 2020, we’ve had cards with 18 (in 2020), 14 at 37, 16 at 38, and 15 matches at last year’s WrestleMania 39. 18 seems like a lot in hindsight, but we gotta remember that we were also all locked in our homes in 2020 because of COVID, and what else did we have to do? 

So far, we’ve got seven championships up for grabs at the Show of Shows, with only the Women’s Tag Team Championships still going undefended. But with Bianca Belair and recently-returned Naomi getting involved in the drama around Iyo Sky’s WWE Women’s Championship, I’m thinking the Kabuki Warriors will be defending, too, either in a straight up match against Belair and Naomi (or Bianca and Jade Cargill, if she and Naomi can't get on the same page), or in some kind of showcase match similar to the six-pack ladder match the men are running. Hell, we could even do Bianca, Naomi, and Jade against the Kabuki Warriors and Dakota Kai, although then it wouldn't be for the tag belts.

Actually, given that we will need SOMETHING for these women to do after 'Mania, I like that better. Get Jade in front of a lot of eyes on the biggest stage imaginable, alongside proven champs, and then we can branch off after Raw. That woman is gonna be a superstar (outside of my home, where we're already sold on her) and a WrestleMania appearance will only help get her there faster.

We also have several Bloodline-adjacent matches. Aside from the main events of nights one and two, and the brother-against-brother match between Jimmy and Jey Uso, we’ll also see Seth Rollins defend his title on night two against Drew McIntyre. I don’t think Drew will get involved in the night one tag team match involving Seth, Cody Rhodes, The Rock, and Roman Reigns, but you never know. Drew has been adamant that the Bloodline is the reason he doesn’t have a championship, but he’s also been fine taking advantage of Bloodline attacks when they work in his favor. A beaten-down Rollins might be enough for Drew to take him down on his own. 

Tonight’s CM Punk appearance on Raw might also factor into this match, since Rollins was set to defend against Punk before both men got injured, and Drew has gloated about being the one to take Punk out in the Royal Rumble. Maybe Punk is healthy enough to serve as a guest referee, or to join on commentary, getting involved when the action gets a little close to the announce table. Punk could have a hand in the match or a cash-in, even if it’s just his hand that counts the pin that ends Drew’s short reign, or Seth’s slightly longer one. Priest’s MitB run hasn’t been spectacular, or even memorable, but that all goes away with a successful cash-in. And keeping Punk involved, even if it can't be physically just yet, goes a long way in keeping him relevant.

I still think Chad Gable will have a part to play in the Sami Zayn match against Gunther for the Intercontinental title. He and Sami had some heated discussions last week. Maybe Chad goes full heel and costs Sami the belt at ‘Mania, or the two decide to include Gable in the match and stay respectful…who’s to say? I’d like a triple threat, personally, but we do have to factor in the fact that there isn’t an offseason and we’re gonna need some storylines to drag on past the beginning of April.

The women’s championship matches have been set for some time, and the general consensus seems to be that both champs will be dethroned at the big show. Really, I think Logan Paul might be the only person to successfully defend his title – an achievement that would both be kinda dumb and a great next thing for the ego-driven superstar to latch onto. 

As far as the women’s belts though – there’s a chance Becky Lynch could lose, right? She’s had a big WrestleMania win already. She’s been hot lately, getting good matches out of Nia Jax and Liv Morgan on recent Raws. And Rhea Ripley hasn’t really had many rivalries of note since winning the title…Cagematch says she’s defended ten times, but can you name an opponent besides Nia Jax? 

I couldn’t, and I’ve watched every one of ‘em. Since winning the belt off of Charlotte Flair at last year’s WrestleMania, Ripley defended in singles matches against Zelina Vega, Natalya twice (albeit one being a Saudi Squash), Raquel Rodriguez twice, Zoey Stark, Ivy Nile, and Nia Jax. There was also a five-way defense at last year’s Crown Jewel where she beat Nia, Rodriguez, Stark, and Shayna Baszler.

I think Rhea might have a better run in her, but I don’t believe that stretching this title reign any further is the right call. Maybe it IS best if Becky takes the belt off of her for a while, and a future title run focuses more on Ripley and less on the Judgment Day, a faction that feels like it’s run its course. I imagine title losses for Ripley, Finn Balor, and Damien Priest will introduce some faction-ending tension in the group, with a Priest singles run all but guaranteed with that Money in the Bank contract.

I’ve talked myself out of that one pretty fast, haven’t I?

So, my night one could be:

*LWO (Rey Mysterio, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz del Toro, Carlito, and Zelina Vega) versus Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Elektra Lopez, Angel, and Berto) w/Dom Mysterio, maybe in a street fight?

Gunther © versus Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship

*Damage CTRL versus Naomi, Bianca Belair, and Jade Cargill

Logan Paul © versus Randy Orton versus Kevin Owens for the United States Championship

*A women's tag team showcase match

AJ Styles versus LA Knight

Iyo Sky © versus Bayley

The Rock and Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins

With night two featuring:

Judgment Day © in a six-pack challenge for the Tag Team Championship

Jimmy Uso versus Jey Uso

Seth Rollins © versus Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship

Rhea Ripley © versus Becky Lynch for the Women’s World Championship

Roman Reigns © versus Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

That gives us thirteen matches, with four of them made up on the fly by me, just now. Trying to keep both tag belts away from their respective women’s title feuds was tough, as both sets of belts are paired with women’s championship matches, and Priest may be involved in the McIntyre/Rollins match as well. My logic was that the Bayley win should be the biggest moment in the women’s division at WrestleMania, and that crowd should get a nice good guy victory before the Rock and Roman (and Jimmy, and Solo, and whoever else they can find) get the win over Cody and Seth.

I hated putting Rhea and Becky in the spot before the main, but it will be labeled as a co-main and I think it will be great to get a nice moment before the bad guys pick up the win to end night one. Like last year, Sunday will feature a triple main event, with three of the most important championships in the company being defended. I also tossed in that LWO/LdF match after Friday’s SmackDown had Dom reprising his role as Rey Mysterio’s biggest hater, since that feud has been running for a long while now.

But, as always, this card is subject to change. I’ll be surprised if this entire post isn’t outdated by the time we finish watching Raw tonight!

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! I’ll be using Mondays for catching up on the weekend action from here on out, although I might post these a little later than the Casual Friday blog. Look for Untitled Monday Wrestling Blog around the crack of noon on Mondays.

As per usual, this week we’ll be watching RAW on Monday night, NXT on Tuesday night, and AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night. I’m considering trying something new, posting short recap posts the mornings after those shows, but we’ll see how that works out with my house cholo schedule. As always, Thursdays are my day for putting all week’s events into a nice, convenient blog for you to check out on Fridays – we call it the Casual Friday blog, and it’s usually up at 9am Mountain time on Friday, appropriately.

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 we’ll see you back here Fridays and Mondays. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!