King and Queen of the Ring predictions, and the King of Kings of the Ring final results!

 

Good Morning!

Busy weekend ahead of us. I’ll be doing a preview for AEW’s Double or Nothing on Saturday or Sunday, depending on whether I try to push it to see if any more matches are added to that already bloated card on Collision. But today is for King and Queen of the Ring, a show I might not be watching because a) my wife is a better person than me and objects to those Saudi Blood Money shows, and b) we might have a Dungeons and Dragons game going at the same time. 

But that’s the future! For now, we’ve got a show to preview and an in-house tournament to finish!

We haven’t really done the recap thing recently, because I’ve kinda had other things going on in life. Yard stuff, house stuff, you know. But I love this thing we’ve built, and I’m not abandoning it or anything. Just adjusting for life. So rather than the “every Friday, no matter what” setup, we’ll be keeping it casual and posting whenever I want to get something out of my head, or off my chest. I’ll post on the usual socials when something new goes up.

 PPV previews are still gonna happen, though, because I really like guessing the outcomes of matches. So, we’ll use this weekend's previews as kind of a short recap of the storylines that got us to where we are now, i.e. violence. 

I’d like to talk about the King and Queen of the Ring show, and WWE’s relationship with the Saudi government in general. I’ve heard a lot about why they shouldn’t be doing them, why the relationship is based on blood money, and why the Fed is awful (as a business) and why I shouldn’t watch. I even got called out for it on social media. I don’t like these shows at all. 

I learned the term “sportswashing” because of Crown Jewel. It’s a term for, basically, holding big sporting events to distract, or whitewash, the numerous human rights violations that exist to this day in the region. Saudi’s current government, funded by an unlimited amount of oil money, has been actively using soccer, golf, F1 racing, and more in kind of a “look over here - not over there” move.

Stephanie McMahon, back when she was a member of the WWE board, made a big deal out of the WWE using its platform to make change. And they have made some progress – women have participated in these Jeddah shows, albeit fully covered up. Relations have improved enough between Saudi Arabia and Syria that Sami Zayn, himself a person of Syrian descent, has agreed to appear on the more recent PLEs from there.

The thing is, nothing is getting solved right away. For the WWE, that means they can justify taking those giant paychecks and running shows and having a museum of sorts in Jeddah, because they feel like they’re doing enough in the region to enact change. Before this weekend’s show, the photo I used as a header was taken at a conference that included women athletes in Saudi Arabia alongside WWE superstars. However, treatment of women in the region have barely improved, to say nothing of the local government’s opinion of queer folks. To put it bluntly, it’s not enough. 

WWE is doing a little to make a change in a region that’s obviously opposed to it, and it’s going to take more than some pretend fights to address hundreds of years of history. It puts fans, especially the perpetually online fans who are aware of the conditions, in a rough spot. Do we boycott the shows? That was easier when they were big, glorified house shows – now WWE has title matches, King of the Ring, and storyline developments taking place on these shows. However, one could just as easily find the results online, or wait until Raw to be caught up on the event by WWE itself. Do we boycott the fed itself? It’s not like the entire company has a clear conscience. It’s currently embroiled in a sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit that allegedly involves former WWE owner Vince McMahon and employees John Laurinitis and Brock Lesnar. And while those three people aren’t currently with the company, it seems unlikely that no one who has been there since these events (allegedly) took place didn’t know anything.

One has to make their own call with this stuff. The more you know about a company, any company, the less you’re gonna want to use their stuff, or watch their product, or participate in what they’re doing. You can applaud efforts for change while still realizing there’s a lot of work to be done; you can also expect a company to be held accountable for the actions of the people who own it. If it’s too gross for you to give your time and money to a corporation willing to work with deviants and theocratic governments, there’s a ton of other wrestling out there  – I cover it here with AEW, and there are countless other promotions. But I’m also gonna keep writing about WWE as well.

I myself have watched the Fed since I got into wrestling over thirty years ago. It was what was on TV, and I’ve always liked the storytelling and the stars. As time has passed, and social media has allowed us to learn more about both the performers as people, I’ve only liked it more, with the exception of guys who out themselves as turds. However, you also learn a lot about the bad things companies and people do through social media too. And even if you don’t find that yourself, don’t worry – there’s no shortage of people online whose sole joy in life is pointing out why you shouldn’t like the thing you like. I’ll keep watching, and hope things change, the same way I hope Amazon, or Apple, or Boeing, or any number of other places that make things we all use will eventually be overtaken by decent folks who put people over profit. One can hope, right?

One last point, that my wife actually brought up to me. There are kids at these shows, little wrestling fans that are the age a lot of us were when pro wrestling really got its hooks in us. How cool was it to see those larger-than-life athletes in front of us? How cool must it be for those kids in Jeddah, especially those little girls in the stands, to see a Bianca Belair or Becky Lynch and think they could do that? 

Anyway, TL;DR I’m probably gonna put the show on because I have Peacock and I watch the Fed, and because covering this stuff is part of trying to make this dumb blog a real thing people really read. I understand if you don’t, and I’m happy to land on that grenade for you if you’re curious but don’t want to support what they’re doing over there in Connecticut and Saudi Arabia.

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

The LWSW King of Kings of the Ring tournament began earlier this week, with three brackets representing three stretches of Kings of the Ring. Eight participants per bracket were whittled down to one, and the winners met in a triple threat match for the coveted title of King of Kings of the Ring. I thought about a ladder match, but the guys involved seem more like grapplers and brawlers, not the high flyers you’d want in a modern day ladder battle. 

Harley Race, the original King of the Ring. Owen Hart, the King of Harts. And Brock Lesnar, the Beast Incarnate. Only one can become the One True King, The King of Kings of the Ring. Let’s get this party started!

Brock did Brock stuff early, going after both Hart and Race before Harley got wise and dipped out of the ring. Owen recovered enough to reverse a few moves, and when the action went outside Hart went for no less than three weapons – two kendo sticks and a chair. Back in the ring, Brock shattered one of those canes on Race’s forehead, opening him up for the second time in two matches. Owen saw the opportunity and went after Brock with a cane of his own, but by the time Harley was back on his feet Brock was back in control again. Owen allowed Lesnar to hit a triple powerbomb on Race before tagging the Beast with a chair and going for a pin, but Harley had enough left in him to kick out.

As is often the case in WWE 2K24 triple threat matches, the AI made some poor decisions once red started to build up on everyone’s health meters. Finishers were applied by everyone, but the third man was always right there with a chair to break up the pin that followed. And while Brock was the obvious threat, both Hart and Race spent way too much time wearing each other down.

Hart nearly lost to a cane shot while Race was outside the ring, stunned, but he somehow kicked out after 2.99. More weapons were introduced, more violence was performed, but in the end  a package piledriver stunned Owen, which Harley Race followed with a running knee to Lesnar’s face, bloodying the big guy. Somehow, the match continued, with Brock just getting mad from that blood and going after everyone with a steel chair, including the referee. 

Honestly, the CAW for Owen was nearly perfect. He was opportunistic, and smart enough to know when to get out of Brock’s way. However, that ended up costing him, as he tried to take advantage when Brock had just hit an F5 on Race. An attempted belly-to-back suplex was reversed, though, and Lesnar had enough left in him for another F5, getting Brock the win and the title.

Not the best outcome for me personally, but it was a fun match to watch! And there’s something to be said for a shady guy to win at one of the shadier events of the year, I guess. It’s not irony, but it’s something. 

So, until next year when we revamp this, we’ll move on, with lil’ Brock Lesnar as our King of Kings of the Ring. Watch out for Money in the Bank season, when I’ll somehow figure out a tournament to do the Most Money in the Bank.

The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling King and Queen of the Ring 2024 Preview

The King and Queen of the Ring Finals

Short of skipping Friday night’s Smackdown, we’re kinda stuck as to who will face Gunther and Lyra Valkyria in the King and Queen of the Ring finals. I believe Randy Orton and Nia Jax are the safe bets, and when it comes to the Saudi shows, it’s typically the bigger stars who get the matches. So, if we’re assuming those bookings are correct, I’ll go with Gunther and Nia Jax as our 2024 King and Queen of the Ring. Gunther doesn’t need a bauble, per se, and I don’t think he’ll do the whole “royal” gimmick, but he can say that he’s been a general for so long, that royalty isn’t that far fetched. 

Nia, on the other hand – I want the velvet cape, crown, scepter, awful British accent, the whole shebang. I think she’ll have a lot of fun with it, and her recent run has been some of the best work of her career. 

[Edit: the people I expected to get in, got in. Also, Bianca Belair got a preshow match added that will see her and Jade Cargill defend their tag team championships against Indi Hartwell and Candice LaRae. Which Bianca and Jade will win, unless Bianca’s bad knee – which cost her the match against Jax – comes into play again. But it seems FAR too soon for a breakup.]

Sami Zayn © versus Bronson Reed versus Chad Gable in a Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship

This story has been rolling along since before WrestleMania, when Chad Gable failed to defeat Gunther a number of times, then failed to defeat Sami Zayn for one more chance at ‘Mania. Chad turned on Sami after Zayn won the title, in an impressive visual that featured Sami and his wife hugging at ringside before Gable suplexed Zayn out of his wife’s arms. Since then, Gable has gone full heel, and Sami has been dealing with Chad, an unwilling but complicit Alpha Academy, and Bronson Reed all gunning for him and his belt. 

I think Sami retains here, because while this story has been well told, it’s also still technically Sami’s first big rivalry since he won the Intercontinental Championship. Triple H likes long reigns, and this hasn’t been long enough just yet. I do like Gable’s current heel character, although it’s a little too abusive to Maxxine, who I always feel bad for because WWE keeps putting her in the spotlight despite a lack of experience or natural talent in any facet of pro wrestling. You just know Otis is gonna snap sooner rather than later – I just don’t think it’ll be at this show.

Becky Lynch © versus Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship

Another match where the reign is simply too short to end this quickly. However, there’s hope for a change! Becky Lynch’s contract is up soon in real life, and she’s alluded to it more than once on TV. Liv has been a champ before, and this “Liv Morgan Revenge Tour” she’s been on since her return has given us a more vicious and calculating Morgan than we had in the past, even when she was a baddie. Her frequent background canoodling with members of the Judgment Day, her willingness to leave allies to the wolves when it doesn’t directly benefit her…these are good heel moves, and while I still think she’s kinda goofy on the mic, she’s doing great in this run.

More importantly, Becky keeps bringing up the fact that Liv has never beaten her before. She’s basically overlooking Morgan, a fact that historically ends up biting wrestlers in the ass. So, I’ll go out on a limb and say that Liv Morgan will win the title here. I can’t remember the last time a title changed hands on a Saudi show, and maybe that’s the big hook for this one, where the biggest announced stars are in the main event.

Cody Rhodes © versus Logan Paul for the WWE Universal Championship

Cody’s next defense after Wrestlemania comes on the heels of his surprisingly excellent match in France against AJ Styles. Maybe “surprisingly” is too strong a word – these are two world class talents that are a little older, but no less talented than they were in other companies. AJ and Cody proved that they can put together a hell of a banger when called upon, and that crowd definitely gave them something to feed off of. 

Logan Paul has proven time and time again that he’s naturally talented at this wrestling thing, and willing to put in the work to get even better. He’s gold on the mic as a douchey heel, and always has friends willing to put their well-being on the line in order to help Logan retain his United States Championship – kind of like how people are willing to do the same for popular YouTubers in order to get their own channels over. Meta!

Regardless of who shows up in Jeddah, Cody’s not dropping his title here. I could see Logan’s brother, Jake, or even Mike Tyson showing up – maybe both? There are almost always surprises on these Saudi shows, even if they’re mostly predictable when it comes to match outcomes. 

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! I’ll be posting an AEW Double or Nothing preview on Saturday night or Sunday morning, and hopefully will find the time to recap both of the weekend’s big shows on Monday or Tuesday. As always, I’ll post on the usual socials when I do.

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!

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!

Some WWE 2K24 Info, and a Weekend Wrap-up: It's the Untitled Monday Blog!

Good Morning!

You know what really grinds my gears? Subjective statements. Full disclosure, I was like 80% sure that’s what I was thinking of when I had one in my head, but I had to look up the definition. So, yeah, subjective statements given as facts. You see them all the time on Twitter, or any social media, really. YouTube videos. And even more so in wrestling discussions. Takes like, “Everybody hates WWE” or “AEW is awful and nobody watches it except to bitch about it.” These things frustrate me, dear reader, and I’ll tell you why.

I don’t want to ever be the kind of person who pushes an opinion on somebody else. Part of that is because my takes, especially those involving wrestling, are often pretty unpopular or outright bad! I have been a fan of X-Pac since the days when the phrase “X-Pac Heat” was just getting over. I think CM Punk is a good wrestler but a great performer. And I love predicting the dumbest outcomes of feuds just for the chaos and entertainment value. But another part of that is that I love how varied wrestling fans’ ideas can be! A lot of us olds have watched for years, and the part of our brains that are constantly fantasy booking can often come up with some pretty wild stuff. That’s why Universe Mode in 2K sticks around; we’ve got ideas and we’d love to see them play out.

But inundating people with these statements that make them feel like their opinions are “less than” because they aren’t the writer’s opinion, whether or not they are popular, seems like it would just make people more willing to accept what they’re told. That’s no fun! Give me more well thought out wrestling opinions, more wild cards, more crazy fantasy WrestleManias. Share your opinions, sure, but don’t poop on somebody else’s dream of Sasha Banks coming out at #30 in the Royal Rumble this weekend, man. Let people have hope that their weird fantasy booking might come true!

Weekend Watchlist

…a recap of what we watched over the weekend

SmackDown

Some fun stuff on this week’s blue program, as we saw Pete Dunne get his old name back after being “Butch” – a Vince McMahon decision if I’ve ever heard one – for the past year or so. Logan Paul and Kevin Owens had a chat on KO’s talkshow, which was solid promo work followed by Logan insisting KO not wear his cast for their match. KO agreed, taking the cast off right then and there, but the distraction allowed Paul to attack Owens and, after a brief comeback, thwack Owens’s hand against the steel ring steps and stand tall.

The women’s tag team scene continues to be built up, as a short championship match between Kayden Carter and Katana Chance and the spooky duo of Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn – who I guess are going by the “Unholy Union” now – was followed up by new challengers (and old champs) Asuka and Kairi Sane. I’m all for building the whole women’s tag division, I just would prefer tag team championship matches to go more than three minutes, you know?

The main story of the night was the Bloodline, and how they are dealing with Roman Reigns’s upcoming title defense at the Royal Rumble. While AJ Styles and LA Knight have been at each other’s throats, and Orton has looked like a viable title contender while also taking down Solo Sikoa in a short main event match. Roman ended up signing the fatal four way contract after his opponents were all laid out, only to eat an RKO from a revived Randy to close out the program. The way Orton checked the contract before dropping it next to a downed Roman was a nice touch – either he was just checking the signature, or there was something Roman and his many lawyers missed that Orton was pointing out. I guess we have one last week to find out!

Rampage and Collision

Rampage had a few really decent matches this week! Jericho vs Sydal and Amidala vs Statlander were both fun, competitive, good, short bouts, and Darby Allen taking on Jeff Hardy in the main event was a really good ten-minute fight!

On Collision, we saw the official formation of the Acclaimed/Bing Bing Ging supergroup, which I’m kinda hoping ends with the Ring of Honor and AEW Trios Championships getting merged in the inevitable breakup. Thunder Rosa returned to singles action for the first time in over a year, and she had a good match with Queen Aminata, who herself has been on a streak of respectable losses as she’s just getting in the door at AEW. Adam Copeland and Dante Martin had a really fun “Cope Open” match where it looked like Martin figured out how to slow his own gravity to allow the elder grappler to keep up. Mox returned with a solid match against the much larger Shane Taylor, Toni Storm acknowledged her new rival Deonna Purrazzo, and Buddy Matthews and Daniel Garcia had an absolute banger to semi-main event. 

The actual main, teaming Ortiz with Eddie Kingston against Brian Danielson and Claudio Castignoli, was a good-not-great battle. Ortiz ate the loss as Danielson kicked the crap outta him while Claudio held Eddie back, and while the match got a lot of time, it just didn’t quite click for me. I’m sure it’s there to build a foundation for a BCC/Eddie and pals program, so I won’t act like I’m disappointed in match one of five being a little less than spectacular. We’ll see!

Thing of the Week!

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

So this morning I woke up to A TON of news about WWE 2K24. Our lovely cover stars were announced for all three versions, which I used up top as our header. Cody Rhodes on Regular, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley on Medium, and a whole group for the Extra Crispy WrestleMania 40 super expensive version. The differences in those versions are about thirty bucks per tier and some extra outfits and cards for MyFaction. But the upgrades in gameplay that were announced already are what I’m most excited for!

Looks good, weird Stone Cold de-aged/AI head notwithstanding…

So, per the 2K website, they’re adding Special Guest Referees, Casket Matches, Ambulance Matches, and Gauntlets. The ability to have four wrestlers participate in Backstage Brawls has also been highlighted, which is pretty cool and will probably be a blast in multiplayer matchups. The roster boasts over 200(!) Superstars and Legends, and while I’m betting that many of them are the year-based variations we’ve seen in past editions (Cena ‘98, Cena ‘02, etc.) that’s still a hefty lineup.

New MyRise storylines for female and male wrestlers were expected, and MyFaction has some tweaks. Universe Mode will have new rivalry actions, new cutscenes, and double title matches, which are all great for those of us who love messing around with that mode. I made a Universe back in 2k22 using my wife’s animal hospital buddies, and while they’ve mostly gone their separate ways I’d love to bring back something like that, if only for an excuse to make a bunch of create-a-wrestlers and mess around with this Universe mode.

MyGM is what I put most of my time in 2K22 into, and it looks like they’ve included a bunch of improvements to that mode. More match types, brands, and GMs are all promised, as are trades, contract decisions, and “drama.” I assume that means stuff like the texts you’d get each week telling you so-and-so is pissed that they haven’t been on TV, or that they don’t like losing every week and would rather jump ship to NXT.

Oh, and pre-ordering gets you a pretty good set of wrestlers, too! Superstar Billy Graham, Stardust, "Un-Dashing" Cody Rhodes (when he wrestled with a face mask after a broken nose), and Dusty Rhodes are included, as well as MyFaction cards for a 1976 version of Dusty, a "Mattel" version of Cody with bruised pec, and a manager card of Pharoah, Cody's beloved husky dog!

Overall it looks like a ton of improvements to a game that’s been solid ever since the 2K22 reboot, after the shameful debacle that was 2K20. Maybe we’ll be like the cool kids and stream the game once I get my hands on a copy? WHO’S TO SAY?

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 to sometime before RAW 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. 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. We’ll be previewing the Royal Rumble this Friday on top of the usual blog stuff, so get ready for a big feature for your weekend reading pleasure!

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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!