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!

Finally, the Rock has come back to ... finish the story?! It's the Untitled Monday Blog!

 

"It's what's best for business, brother. I'm sure you understand."

Good Morning!

HOOBOY. The hits just keep on coming over in the WWE, don’t they? Bayley turned on the rest of Damage CTRL before they could turn on her (minus a conspicuously absent Dakota Kai) and announced her intention to fight IYO SKY at WrestleMania for her championship! A good segment that got us on the road to WrestleMania, and one that wasn't nearly as memorable as what followed later, unfortunately.

Friday’s episode of SmackDown featured what may be the most wildly divisive segments in history, as the Rock all but took Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania spot in exchange for … well, for Cody to elect to fight for the cheap piece of plastic that the winner of the losers’ bracket holds, according to Roman Reigns. After that vicious burial – one that went WAY further than Seth’s verbal attack on Roman’s title last Monday – Cody basically conceded his WrestleMania main event to The Rock. A handshake, a hug, words that Cody tried SO HARD to mask with a plastic smile…and that was pretty much the end of “finish the story at WrestleMania” for this year.

Or so we think! Social media has gone absolutely bonkers over the weekend, with the hashtag #wewantCody getting all kinds of traction. Even the most staunch Rock fans, and many of those same Cody supporters, still want to see Roman versus Rocky…just not right now! Everything over the last two years in the WWE main event has revolved around some form of “finish the story.” And whether that story was Cody winning the title, Cody winning at WrestleMania, or Cody beating Roman…it’s been so long that all those goals are one in the same. It’s not going to be the ending that’s been telegraphed if Cody goes after the secondary title (and that’s what it is – it’s a title literally created because WWE couldn’t figure out how to get just one title off Reigns, and Seth has spent the last year making it relevant) and just lets the Rock walk into WrestleMania as a title challenger. 

But it could also … not be that. We’ve got Raw tonight, and literally weeks of TV, between now and ‘Mania. Maybe there’s a path we’re just not seeing yet. Maybe the two-nights, two-losses Roman Reigns WrestleMania is still a possibility! I understand all the anger, and even I watched Friday’s show muttering “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” before taking a beat and collecting my thoughts. It probably helps that I’m not overly invested in any one side here – I like Cody, I like Roman. I’m fine with a Rock/Roman match, which is probably the biggest match WWE has had in a Legend versus Superstar match since Rock versus Hogan at WrestleMania X8 – a match I saw live hanging from the rafters in Toronto.

I hate to be part of the “let it play out” crowd, but that’s part of the whole “Let’s Watch Some Wrestling” vibe, man. If we get closer to Philadelphia and what a lot of fans are feeling now still holds true…well, then I guess we have something to worry about. But for now, remember that change can happen and whatever you’re hoping is on that WrestleMania XL card can probably still happen!

Unless you’re one of us Punk fans. We get nothing and like it!

The “Let’s Watch Some Wrestling” Vengeance Day Recap!

…our list, guide, PPV recap, or little blurb for this week’s as-yet-untitled Monday blog

So, as I’ve probably said before…NXT tends to get graded on a curve. It’s a developmental brand first and foremost, with some delightfully dumb characters, and performers who are still learning the craft – or at least are learning to do it in the style preferred by the WWE. That being said, I enjoyed Vengeance Day from start to devastating finish! Let’s dive in!

Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker defeated Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals

I picked Trick Melo gang to win this one, and was WRONG. But that’s cool – I really wasn’t sure how they were gonna play the ending, considering Melo and Trick have appeared on SmackDown recently, and Bron Breakker showed up on SmackDown and is scheduled for Raw tonight. Melo making the save while Trick dodged out of the way of a Breakker spear was a dramatic way to end the match, and foreshadowed what we’d be getting later – especially after Williams insisted Melo be in his corner for the main event. A good match with a scary spot – apparently the ropes were a little loose and it’s been reported that all four guys came out of this match a little dinged up – and the silly bad guys get to keep being silly for a while longer.

Dijak defeated Joe Gacy in a No Disqualification Match

Plunder match, brawl, slugfest…whatever you want to call it, this match was a fun, short romp with some silly weapon spots. Gacy wearing a trash can while headbutting Dijak was cool, and the little army men that Gacy set up on a table before tossing Dijak through it was a good idea, even if the guys didn’t stay vertical. Duct taping Dijak’s eyes didn’t stop the big guy, and he got the win in another fun fight. 

Tony D’Angelo, Stacks Lorenzo, and Adriana Rizzo defeated Lucien Price, Bronco Nima, and Jaida Parker in a Six Person Mixed Tag Match

The Family went over, as expected, in a match that was disjointed and had more brawl than wrestling match. But that’s okay, since the Family was going in hot after OTM (that’s right, the Mafia are the good guys in this story) took out Rizz and the restaurant. Rizz had an especially cool spot, and the Family generally looked like champs in this one. It didn’t overstay its welcome, and the right guys won, even if it did kinda feel like a match we’d see on any given Tuesday.

Lyra Valkyria © defeated Roxanne Perez [and Lola Vice] for the NXT Women’s Championship

I wanted Perez to get the win here, but it looks like we’ve dovetailed things into some interesting directions. The initial half of the match was a bit slow, but once Perez hit Pop Rox I thought it was all over…and then Lola Vice cashed in her not-Money-in-the-Bank contract! Things were a little more chaotic after that, especially with the interjection of Valkyria stalker Tatum Paxley, and in the end it was Paxley that cost Perez the win, shoving her out and allowing Valkyria to hit her finisher on Vice for the pinfall. 

The lesson in all that? Don’t cash in a contract until after the match! 

Oba Femi © defeated Dragon Lee for the NXT North American Championship

Both guys played their roles to perfection here, with Lee taking bumps like crazy and selling for the big guy, and Femi playing up his size and power while still not hesitating to make Lee look good in spots as well. A little long, but Femi retained, which was the right call. Maybe Lee moves up to the main roster after putting the new champ over one more time?

Ilya Dragunov © defeated Trick Williams for the NXT World Championship

Was absolutely GUTTED that Trick wasn’t able to pull out the win. Carmelo Hayes accidentally cost him the match, as a redirected attack ended up injuring Trick’s knee. After a hard hitting match, Dragunov retained and Melo went in to console the challenger…only to chop block Williams after he turned around. Melo followed up with about a dozen chair shots, leaving his former partner lying in the ring. I’m really hoping this lasts until Stand and Deliver, where these two stars should be able to close out the show with a hell of a main event.

If you’re looking to check any of this one out before Tuesday’s NXT show, I’d recommend the opener and the main. The women’s match was pretty good, too!

Oh, and for the record...that puts us at 4/6 for the night, and 6/10 for the year. A solid 60%!

I'll openly admit I still haven't caught up on Collision as of Monday afternoon. Had a busy weekend, and really wanted to talk about the Rock Cody Roman stuff. But I think if there's time tomorrow, I'll make another post about tonight's Raw AND share some thoughts on AEW's weekend show.

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! As per usual, this week we’ll be watching RAW on Monday night, NXT on Tuesday night, and AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night. Thursdays are for putting all that stuff into a nice, convenient blog for you to check out on Fridays – we call it the Casual Friday blog, and it’s 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!

Recapping a busy week...it's Casual Friday!

 Not only was this week one of the most eventful, it was also the week the paying gig kept me from my Untitled Monday Thing. Then yesterday, a bit of helping a pal post-surgery ended up knocking me out, leading to a later than expected morning! Woof. So today’s Casual Friday is gonna be a little more freeform rant and a little less structured. Let’s talk a bit about what we missed, dear reader.

Catching Up On The Week That Was

Obviously, the big news was that Vince McMahon resigned from TKO Sports, the group that now owns UFC and WWE, after a lawsuit was brought against him for a number of … well, just the worst stuff you can think of. And while the more cynical among us don’t expect this resignation to stick for a number of reasons – one, he’s come back from a forced resignation in disgrace before, and two, bad people never seem to get their comeuppance – it’s the opinion of “Let’s Watch Some Wrestling” that if we stay positive on all the other stuff in wrestling, we ought to stay positive about this as well.

Vince leaving won’t fix the entire company. Years of rot and awful people putting other awful people in positions of power need to be cleaned and cleared before a better reputation can even be hoped for. But it’s a start, and it shows that with the right pressure from the right places, this new company might be less resistant to change, even if it’s just to appease shareholders who don’t want their stock prices to fall because Mr. PeepeePoopoo Mustache Creeper has asked to stay on the board as a consultant or something. Baby steps, you know?

Regardless, I don’t want to harp on this stuff too much. If you care about it, the whole lawsuit has been picked apart by smarter (or at least timelier) people than me. At the end of the day, it’s a gross thing that a lot of people are happy has happened. Most of them are happy for good reasons, like justice and a woman’s right to be believed. Others are just happy that the company they don’t watch has had a bad time, and that feels kinda shitty. After the maybe-nothing-maybe-not thing with Jericho a few weeks back, it’s probably best that we lean into the good parts of this thing we all enjoy, rather than hope a company that employs a bunch of people fails because someone prefers a different set of initials. But I digress…

[EDIT] After I knocked this out, I learned about the whole John Laurinitis, a former McMahon employee and co-defendant in that lawsuit claiming to be a victim of the whole thing. And about the federal government starting an investigation into McMahon based on that lawsuit. There’s definitely going to be a lot of information coming out and I’ll try my best to keep up with it all for you, dear reader. There’s a lot, and most of it is disgusting, and I’m not going to be reading the actual lawsuit or anything, but there’s several actual wrestling journalists who are trying to keep up with everything, so I’ll stay on top of their work, at the very least. 

The Royal Rumble

What else…oh, the Royal Rumble happened! And it was largely…fine! I enjoyed the matches, thought the women’s match was a bit better than the men’s but both were okay. Winners were predictable (although not by yours truly…I had Becky Lynch and CM Punk) and the other two title matches went about how I’m sure many of us expected. Roman wins with interference again, Logan Paul wins by DQ . I will say I liked the ending of the US Championship match way more, and thought it was a creative way to keep KO looking strong while also leaving the belt with Logan Paul for now.

I enjoyed the women’s match more because they gave us more of the Royal Rumble surprises we’ve had for so long. Jordynne Grace, Tiffany Stratton, Roxanne Perez, a returning Naomi, and a debuting Jade MF’in Cargill all appeared and made statements. Stratton and Perez have been main roster ready for some time, and I think their showings in the Rumble solidified that. Naomi got all she deserved and more, with that St. Pete crowd giving her the nicest return chant possible. And Jade got to look great, single handedly tossing Nia Jax from the match and also matching strength with fellow powerhouse Bianca Belair.

The guys, well, they had a match. And I’m sure we’ll see stuff grow from that in the coming weeks. But with no returns, legends, or debuts (I won’t count Carmelo Hayes because he’s been on SmackDown for weeks now) it was just a little underwhelming. That said, the ending was really good, especially when it got down to CM Punk and Cody Rhodes. And yeah, Rhodes won again, and yeah, Punk is out for like six months…but sometimes just because they do the thing you expect isn’t bad. It just means they’re telling a good story to its logical conclusion. Nothing wrong with that.

CM Punk Is Out Of WrestleMania XL

Oof, that Punk injury though. That frickin sucks, man. And look, I get that he rubs a lot of people the wrong way. I have been a fan for years, but as a native Chicago suburbs kid, I’m kinda predisposed to liking the guy. And seeing him come back, only to have to wait another year –at minimum – to get back to a WrestleMania just bites.

However, if there’s a positive, it’s that he seems adamant that he’ll be back. And in the meantime, we’ve got a lot of moving parts to settle in place before WrestleMania, or even Elimination Chamber. Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Seth Rollins, possibly even the Rock will need to be sorted out. Becky Lynch versus Rhea Ripley and Bayley taking on IYO SKY seem like locks, but there still need to be matches made and alliances broken before those can happen. It’s an exciting time to be a fan, especially if you’re like me [and I know I am] and enjoy a bit of fantasy booking.

All Elite Wrestling

AEW existed as well! The other guys have had a couple of, if we’re being honest, weak Dynamites the last couple weeks. Collision was good, though, especially when the company must have known their numbers would be crap going against the Rumble. However, a little controversy came from the main event cage match, as rumors said that the rules for the match were changed so Malakai Black didn’t have to eat a pinfall. I don’t like these rumors! Black is cool and has a great gimmick, but he’s not the guy to tell his boss whether he loses from time to time. Everybody loses! It’s part of the sport! He’s also vehemently denied these rumors, so like everything in wrestling, it looks like we’re gonna have to pick a side between the performers (whose whole job is to work us fans) and the reporters (whose job is to generate clicks for revenue). It’s fun! Wrestling journalism is so fun to follow…

Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page look to be colliding again next week, which should be amazing. Actually, next week’s whole Dynamite card already looks like a world-beater, with the Tag Team Championships on the line between Sting and Darby Allen and Big Bill and Ricky Starks. And a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT from Tony Khan! Maybe he’ll tell us about Will Ospreay’s first match, or Kazuchika Okada debuting, or even Mercedes Moné. WHO’S TO SAY?

NXT is in full go-home mode, as the Vengeance Day PPV is coming up this weekend. Swerve and Trick did as we expected, defeating the LWO to get into the finals of the Dusty Cup. And Carmelo and Trick’s tense relationship continues to stay the course, as the pair had a stern conversation about Dragunov’s mind games -- a phrase used no less than five times in one segment. Lyra Valkyria, the bird person herself, has a stalker/follower in Tatum Paxley, who again attacked Roxanne Perez before the champ faces off against the contender. Valkyria, for her part, claims she has no knowledge of Paxley’s reasons for the ongoing attacks, but I’m not so sure. I hate to be on the same side as Booker T in most cases, but it does seem like she’s been pretty lax in allowing Paxley to keep on going after Perez.

Last Year’s “Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!” Prediction Stats

And that’s about it, right? All caught up? Cool. So, we went 2/4 for the first PPV/PLE of the year, calling the not Rumbles but not the Rumble matches. It happens. But with another PLE on the way this weekend, I’m thinking we dive right into the predictions for that one. This year, I’ll keep a running tally of my success rate in guessing matches. Last year, going off my published stuff from both the blog and The Wrestling Estate, I had a decent record! Here’s some stats on Let’s Watch Some Wrestling’s 2023:

WWE

Royal Rumble

Rhea

Cody

Roman

Bianca

Bray

Elimination Chamber

X

WrestleMania 39

X

Backlash

X

Night of Champions

X

Money in the Bank

Knight

SKY

Cody

Seth

Ronda+

Gunther

Usos

SummerSlam*

Knight

Cody

Baszler

Paul

Rollins

SKY

Reigns

Gunther

Payback

X

Fastlane

X

Crown Jewel

X

Survivor Series

Tm Cody

Tm Flair

Escobar

Gunther

Ripley

NXT Deadl1ne

Frazer

Dragunov

Mysterio

Perez

Hayes

Williams

Stratton

AEW

Revolution

X

Double or Nothing**

Hardys

Cole

Elite

Cassidy

Wardlow

FTR

Hayter

Statlander

Guevara

HoB

Forbidden Door***

Ospreay

Okada

All In****

Aussies

Tm Sting

Bullet Club

BCC

Ospreay

Acclaimed

Bucks

Shida

Punk

Cole

Hook

All Out

X

WrestleDream

X

Full Gear

Joe/MJF

Tm Sting

Hangman

Bucks

Cassidy

Statlander

Starks/Bill

Shida

MJF

Kingston

Claudio

Worlds End*****

Hangman

Hook

Tm Sting

Swerve

Miro

Tm Rush

Cage

Hart

Kingston

Storm

Joe

Nightingale

Hook

Totals

Matches with Predictions

68

Correct Predictions

47

Accuracy

69%

Some notes:

I obviously didn’t preview every PPV or PLE last year. The blog was in a tentative place, and I contributed to a few other wrestling sites last year as well, which took some of my focus. The X’s are shows I didn’t preview. Italicized results are matches I didn't preview on shows I otherwise did, often due to late or nonexistent announcements.

*SummerSlam featured the IYO SKY Money In The Bank Cash-In, so I’m counting that prediction as a win.

**Similar situation with Double or Nothing, where I predicted a returning Statlander challenging Jade Cargill after her win over Taya Valkyrie.

***I didn’t write a full preview for Forbidden Door, but did participate in a roundtable discussion at The Wrestling Estate (RIP)

****Worlds End saw Dustin Rhodes replace an injured Keith Lee, but I think contextually Swerve winning would have been the same call regardless of who his opponent was. Also, Christian Cage technically lost his title, but then immediately won it again due to shenanigans, so I’m calling that a retention.

Not too shabby, huh? Also…69% accuracy? Nice. 

So with that, and our strong 50% start at the Royal Rumble this year, let’s get into…

The “Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!” Vengeance Day Preview

Baron Corbin and Bron Breakker versus Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals

Some recent developments have made this a little harder to call! Firstly, Bron had a great showing in the Royal Rumble. Rumor is, he was taking the spot of Brock Lesnar, who was all but directly named in that lawsuit we spoke about. But regardless of the reason why he was in there, Breakker made the most of the opportunity, spearing and yeeting guys like his life depended on it. Add that to the missed opportunity to bring him up while he was the most popular man in NXT, and maybe they’re looking to get him on the main roster while the getting’s good.

BUT the storyline almost demands that Williams and Hayes win. Dragunov basically set the pair at odds by offering Trick the title shot he was owed as Iron Survivor at the same show where the Dusty Cup finals are being held. And that hasn’t been lost on Carmelo, who continues to look like the shifty one in this partnership despite constant claims that he’s only got Trick’s best interests at heart. Since we need to pick a winner, I’ll go with the Trick Melo Gang, but I appreciate that it’s not as clear cut as it seemed to be a few weeks ago.

Tony D’Angelo, Stacks Lorenzo, and Adriana Rizzo versus Lucien Price, Bronco Nima, and Jaida Parker in a Six Person Mixed Tag Match

THIS is the NXT I tune in for week after week. Just the dumbest possible storylines imaginable. The mafia guys, two of whom are the NXT Tag Team Champs, had the restaurant they own (or maybe just frequent?) demolished by new challengers Price and Nima. Both groups recently added female members, so we’ll get the old-fashioned Fed rules for this mixed tag match – guys tag out when a gal tags in. It’s not as fun as watching the World’s Cutest Tag Team back in the day, but since none of these workers are problematic, I guess it’s for the best. I’ll pick the Family to win here, since whoever wins the Dusty cup later is guaranteed a title shot. No sense making the story even more convoluted just yet.

Dijak versus Joe Gacy in a No Disqualification Match

These guys have been at each other’s throats for a few weeks now, and they also have a longer history back when Gacy was running a cult (because it’s NXT and that’s a normal storyline on this show). I’m feeling a push for Gacy now that Ava, his former protégé, is in charge, and Dijak never seems to suffer after a loss. He’s just too good a baddie to not be believable as the guy your favorite might lose to! So, we’ll say Gacy picks up the win.

Oba Femi © versus Dragon Lee for the NXT North American Championship

Oba Femi shocked the world, or at least me on my couch, when he picked up the win against Dragon Lee a few weeks back. I’ve loved Femi since he was first introduced in the Men’s Breakout tournament a few months back, but I still thought it would be months until he even sniffed a title opportunity. He’s been mostly good in the role as the powerful champion, maybe a little rough around the edges but the base is there. It would feel disingenuous to let Lee get the strap back right after losing it, so I’ll go with Femi to retain a while longer. If the match is good, or even if Lee were to win, I’d still expect a third match at Stand and Deliver. But we’ll see how Sunday goes before we start fantasy booking that ‘Mania weekend show.

Lyra Valkyria © versus Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Championship

I mentioned this matchup earlier, and I think the goofy NXT storytelling around Tatum Paxley has been fun so far! She’s playing the role of obsessed goth well, but there’s a chance she might end up costing Valkyria the title with her shenanigans. The popular opinion on the socials is that maybe Roxy is gonna be turning heel soon, but I think that’s a mistake. I’m hoping Valkyria goes all the way in on having an evil partner, and I’d also love to see Perez win the title and eventually move on to the big shows. Roxanne as the lovable underdog would help ease her into the move up, and also would make a hell of a moment when the loving NXT fans thank her and see her off in Philly. We haven’t had much in the way of big debuts on the Raw after WrestleMania the last few years, but I think there’s a strong chance several NXT stars see their way up this year.

Ilya Dragunov © versus Trick Williams for the NXT World Championship

Trick. All day. The man is everything you want in a WWE Superstar – he’s got the look, he’s good on the mic, he can wrestle a good match, and the crowd is all the way over for him. If you need evidence of that, check out his SmackDown appearance, saving Carmelo Hayes from a Austin Theory/ Grayson Waller beatdown. Those fans aren’t even the NXT faithful and yet the “whoop that trick” chants were loud and clear throughout the arena.

I liked Ilya’s championship run, but WWE has had a history of missing the boat on several recent hot NXT acts. You’ve got an immediate storyline with a jealous ‘Melo to work through WrestleMania weekend, and the history between those two, along with a possible “can they coexist” storyline if they win the Dusty Cup. It’s basically everything WWE bookers want, all at once. WHO SAYS NO?

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! Thanks for coming with me on that journey. We’ve got a stacked SmackDown tonight, where we’ll start that brand’s Road To WrestleMania with appearances by Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and who knows who else! AEW will be playing host to some cool CMLL talent on Rampage and Collision, giving us some solid lucha libra in our diet. Sunday brings us the first NXT PLE for the year, Vengeance Day. Our Monday weekend in review should be pretty packed! Hopefully I stay on my game and, you know, write it!

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.

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