WWE SURVIVOR SERIES: WAR GAMES

Petco Park, San Diego

AJ LEE, ALEXA BLISS, CHARLOTTE FLAIR, IYO SKY & RHEA RIPLEY vs. BECKY LYNCH, LASH LEGEND, NIA JAX & THE KABUKI WARRIORS (ASUKA & KAIRI SANE) "WAR GAMES" (40:50): I'd rather see two War Games matches on a PPV than whatever the hell they used to do at Survivor Series (before this they were doing RAW vs. Smackdown matches and champion vs. champion matches...originally it was 5 vs. 5 elimination matches), but I still don't like that they're still calling it Survivor Series when the title is meaningless. My idea is to call the RAW before Thanksgiving "Survivor Series" and do the traditional 5 vs. 5 matches there and just call this PPV War Games. Either way, this felt like a big show because it was held outside at San Diego's baseball stadium. I guess because the WWE can fill up a baseball stadium they think that, creatively, they don't have to even try very hard. This match only had 4 matches. While it was semi-entertaining, it was also just typical WWE: i.e. not that exciting, by-the-numbers, safe, stale, predictable, fairly forgettable. If you read the reviews on the Cage Match website you would think this was a horrible show. It wasn't. It was the same thing the WWE has been for years. If you're really into War Games matches, it was kind of hard to even watch this show considering AEW just put on two War Games matches that had buckets of blood, glass, fire, a bed of nails, and thumbtacks. This felt, obviously, tame in comparison. The highlight of this match was Iyo Sky putting a trashcan over her head and jumping off the top of the cage. AJ Lee got a giant pop and looked good in there for a brief time. Rhea Ripley wore a mask that was based on Art the Clown from the Terrifier movies. Those movies are basically rated X for the extreme gore. Considering how PG most of the WWE is these days, I'm surprised that mask was even allowed. What does TKO have to do with the Terrifier movies? Obviously something. This match was at least somewhat entertaining because it was a double cage match with some weapons and thus not entirely boring. **1/2

DOMINIK MYSTERIO vs. JOHN CENA (16:48): Cena's retirement year has to go down in the history as the worst booked retirement ever. The first half of the year he was a heel, which makes no sense considering he should be going out as a fan-favorite, crowd-cheering hero. After he turned back into a babyface they quickly had Brock Lesnar squash him and beat him. Now they're having him lose again to Dominik. Wh-wh-what? Who the fuck is okaying this booking? Cena should be winning every match on his way out to make the fans happy. Dominik cheated to win back the IC title, which he lost to Cena a few weeks ago on RAW in Boston. Dominik faked an injury so a few members of The Judgment Day could beat up Cena when the ref wasn't looking. Then JD and Finn ran out to interfere again when Cena inadvertently knocked out the ref. Match was fine but having Cena lose on his last PPV is blasphemous. **

STEPHANIE VAQUER vs. NIKKI BELLA (12:22): There wasn't much to this. Did anyone think Nikki was going to win the women's championship? Stephanie gave Nikki the Devil's Kiss move on the announce table. Nikki still looks good at her age, but this was pretty monotonous. *1/2

BROCK LESNAR, DREW McINTYRE & THE VISION (BRON BREAKKER, BRONSON REED & LOGAN PAUL) vs. CM PUNK, CODY RHODES, ROMAN REIGNS & THE USO'S (JEY & JIMMY) "WAR GAMES" (39:25): This match was pretty entertaining. The ending was fairly lame, as they had a masked figure enter the cage, give CM Punk a stomp which led to Bron pinning him. The masked figure is apparently Austin Theory, though they didn't reveal that yet. Brock got a big cheer when he came out to destroy everyone. I guess nobody cares that he's still involved in Vince's sex trafficking lawsuit. Jey Uso stopped mid-match to climb the cage and "yeet" with the fans. Logan didn't do any big moves so I'm not sure why he was even there (isn't that his thing?). Bronson came in and did a bunch of top rope jumps onto everyone. CM Punk and Cody were both slightly bleeding. Roman did a spear through a table onto Brock who had Jey on his shoulders. Brock put Roman through the announce table before the match officially started. While this show wasn't fantastic or anything, this is the WWE these days. This is exactly what I expected. I don't see anything changing. It's mildly entertaining, predictable, & entrance-focused. If you want great wrestling or something wild and exciting, go watch something else. **1/2

AEW FULL GEAR

Newark, New Jersey

BANG BANG GANG (AUSTIN GUNN & JUICE ROBINSON) vs. THE ACCLAIMED (ANTHONY BOWENS & MAX CASTER) vs. BIG BILL & BRYAN KEITH vs. THE OUTRUNNERS (TURBO FLOYD & TRUTH MAGNUM) (6:07): It's Tuesday, November 25th, at 11:35 PM. I just finished watching this show tonight even though it took place on Saturday night. These AEW PPV's are always great but so fucking long. It takes me forever to finally get around to watching the whole thing. Because of that, I watched the three pre-show matches on Sunday so I barely remember them. This was a really good PPV, though. It was also AEW's bloodiest ever. Jesus Christ. And this is coming two weeks after Blood & Guts, which was, obviously, super bloody. That show, by the way, was one of the best wrestling shows of the year. One reason was that it was a regular episode of Dynamite so it wasn't on PPV (it was longer than usual, at 2 hours, 35 minutes). This year they had a women's and men's War Games match plus a 'Hangman' vs. Will Hobbs street fight. Darby Allin also got tossed onto two flaming tables. Plus Toni Storm got a mirror smashed over her head. Statlander got pushed onto a bed of nails. That was a hell of a show. None of these pre-show matches were particular great. The Newark crowd was pretty good all night but they did get quiet during some of the duller moments. The show was 4 hours and 25 minutes, plus this hour pre-show. That meant the show didn't end until 12:25 AM. Yikes! They're lucky Saturday Night Live wasn't live. I don't even remember much about this match except Juice looks like he has a new hairdo. I still can't figure out what they're attempted to do with The Acclaimed and apparently neither do they. **

BOOM & DOOM (BIG BOOM AJ & QT MARSHALL) vs. RPG VICE (ROCKY ROMERO & TRENT BERETTA) (11:57): The Costco guys are back. Big Boom AJ looks like he's been hitting the cake display too hard at Costco these days. The Rizzler had a cape on. Are those Tiktok stars still popular? Or is it over? I did laugh when Trent pushed the kid over. I'm horrible. **

EDDIE KINGSTON & HOOK vs. THE WORKHORSEMEN (ANTHONY HENRY & JD DRAKE (1:48): This was short so fairly pointless. They haven't done much with Kingston since he returned. I don't think he's even in the Continental Classic this year, which starts on Thanksgiving eve. He won it the first year, didn't he? 1/2*

EL SKY TEAM (MASCARA DORADA, MISTICO & NEON) vs. THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (HECHICERO, KAZUCHIKA OKADA & KONOSUKE TAKESHITA) (13:44): CMLL is the hottest promotion of 2025 in the whole world. That's kind of crazy, really. Sky Team is one reason. They're a popular team often in the main event on Friday nights at Arena Mexico. Mistico is CMLL's big star but Neon looked phenomenal in this match (he's younger, so that helps). They did the gimmick again where this match bled from the pre-show into the PPV. Okada's entrance started the PPV (he was late because of storyline travel issues...he pulled up in his car backstage without a shirt on and in his wrestling trunks). They played up the Takeshita/Okada feud. I'm guessing that match will be either the final or semi-final in the Continental Classic. Probably the final since it's literally the hottest feud AEW has these days. Both of those guys are on the NJPW Tokyo Dome show in January. Okada is wrestling Tanahashi in Tanahashi's retirement match. And Takeshita is going to lose the IWGP title to Yota Tsuji. This match was very exciting and a lot of fun. It was for the CMLL trios titles, which Sky Team retained. ***

PAC vs. DARBY ALLIN (16:57): Fairly entertaining match, though no gruesome or crazy moments here. PAC press slammed Darby from the apron to the floor. That was about it for big moves. Darby was all taped up because they said he had second degree burns from when PAC tossed him off the stage through two tables on fire at Blood & Guts (yes, they somehow left the cage). So PAC tore off Darby's bandages and clawed his burns with his nails. **1/2

TIMELESS LOVE BOMBS (MINA SHIRAKAWA & TONI STORM) vs. BABES OF WRATH (HARLEY CAMERON & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE) vs. MARINA SHAFIR & MEGAN BAYNE vs. SISTERS OF SIN (JULIA HART & SKYE BLUE) (13:09): They're doing a tournament for the new women's tag team titles. I'm not sure why the finals weren't on this show but I guess they decided to drag it out. We got this superfluous match instead. It was one of the weaker matches on the show. Not sure the crowd was really into any of these women. *1/2

FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) vs. BRODIDO (BANDIDO & BRODY KING) (20:11): Great match. They did the deal where Bandido kept kicking out at 2 non-stop towards the end and the crowd was going wild. FTR won the tag titles here. The only champion to retain on this show was Statlander. This was wild and entertaining and the crowd was super into it. Fantastic stuff. ***1/2

RICOCHET vs. BOBBY LASHLEY vs. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. DANIEL GARCIA vs. KEVIN KNIGHT vs. MARK DAVIS vs. MATT MENARD vs. MIKE BAILEY vs. ORANGE CASSIDY vs. RODERICK STRONG vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. WHEELER YUTA "CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH" (22:54): Oh, AEW has too many titles you say? Well screw you, man! We're adding another one! It's getting ridiculous, really. This match was to crown the new National title champion. Okay. Usually, these Casino Gauntlet matches have a surprise entrant, but not here. The match was entertaining. It started with Lashley and Shelton having to wrestle each other. A lot of action. It was fun. Ricochet is the new National champion. ***

KYLE O'REILLY vs. JON MOXLEY "NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH" (19:17): AEW told a perfect story that culminated at Blood & Guts. At the last PPV, Darby Allin got Moxley to tap out. On the Dynamite after, Kyle wrestled Moxley and had him in the ankle lock and Moxley was about to tap out again. Moxley knocked out the ref to cause a DQ so he would have to tap. They did the match again and Moxley escaped again without tapping. This led to Kyle making Moxley tap out finally at Blood & Guts to win the men's match. I guess there's just too many PPV's now, so they have to keep recycling things. Because there was no point to this match. The story was over. Anyway, Kyle made him tap out again. This match was the first of three bloodbath matches on this show. They both used a fork to jab each other's forehead. The crowd grimaced in uncomfortable shock at the images of blood pouring down after the jabs. Other than that, this was mostly a grappling match. It was dramatic stuff. ***

MARK BRISCOE vs. KYLE FLETCHER "NO DQ MATCH" (24:49): This was the best match on the show. There was a barbed wire board, chairs, ladders, tables, a screwdriver, and thumbtacks. Both men bled buckets. So...of course it was the best match on the show. I mean...if horror is your thing. And if it's not, maybe you shouldn't be watching AEW. Briscoe won the TNT title here. There were too many big spots to even mention. Briscoe got destroyed in this one, though. I don't know he was even still standing. One particular move had Briscoe giving a suplex on the apron to Fletcher onto six steel chairs sitting up at ringside. Briscoe's head landed right on the seat of one of the chairs hard. That looked gruesome. This was epic and totally engrossing. ***1/2

JOSH ALEXANDER & THE YOUNG BUCKS (MATT & NICK JACKSON) vs. JURASSIC EXPRESS (LUCHASAURUS & JACK PERRY) & KENNY OMEGA (19:06): This was the one disappointment on the show. I figured this would be one of the best matches on the show. They did have a hard time following the last match. But Omega was limping throughout so looked a bit off. Luchasaurus failed to catch one of the Bucks on a dive and that made the match instantly feel sloppy and awkard for a while. There were some exciting moves and the crowd got into some of it, but usually all of these guys (except Alexander...who's not on the same level) knock it out of the park. After the match, The Bucks were leaving with Don Callis, apparently going to join his family when the rest of Callis' crew started pummeling Omega in the ring. The Bucks decided to turn babyface and run down to save Omega. The Bucks shook Jurassic Express' hands and hugged Omega. **1/2

KRIS STATLANDER vs. MERCEDES MONE (23:09): These two actually wrestled at last year's Full Gear, too. That was for the TBS title. This was for Statlander's championship, which she retained. Most of this match was dull but the last five minutes or so, when they finally started doing big moves and kicking out at dramatic moments, were good. **1/2

SAMOA JOE vs. 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (16:02): Thankfully, this was short. It was after midnight when this finally went on, so the crowd wasn't too boisterous. Both men were bleeding, but Somoa Joe was gushing a crimson river out of his forehead. The big problem with this match was the fact that there was interference. The entire reason you have a cage match is to thwart outside interference. Granted, this match would have been a total bore without outside interference, plus the heel needed to cheat to win and Hook turned heel, which would make no sense if he couldn't get into the cage. The ref was knocked out. 'Hangman' had the match won. Shibata and Hobbs came into the cage after Hobbs tore off the lock. Hook ran out but hit 'Hangman' with the belt and joined The Opps. Samoa Joe gave 'Hangman' his package piledriver finish on the belt to win. I kind of figured Samoa Joe was winning the title...because they already had this match at the last PPV. Why do it again with the same result? And once Hook turned, Samoa kind of had to win. Change is fine, it helps the weekly TV storylines and adds fresh matches. But Samoa Joe has already been champion. So has 'Hangman.' Why don't they give the title to some new guys like Darby or Fletcher or Ospreay or PAC? Supposedly, Samoa Joe said he's retiring after his current contract is up. I think Tony Khan just wanted to give him one last title run. That's fine, I guess. Go out one last time as champ into the sunset. After the match, the lights went out and Swerve Strickland made his return. He has new music, which probably isn't a good thing. Swerve beat up all the random guys in the ring that had The Opps Dojo t-shirts. The show ended with 'Hangman' and Swerve in the ring staring at Samoa Joe, Hobbs, Hook, and Shibata on the ramp. So while the actual cage match wasn't particularly great, you at least got a title change, a heel turn, and a return. So there's that. **1/2

AEW WRESTLE DREAM

St. Louis

DEATH RIDERS (CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI, DANIEL GARCIA, PAC & WHEELER YUTA) vs. THE CONGLOMERATION (KYLE O'REILLY, ORANGE CASSIDY & TOMOHIRO ISHII) & RODERICK STRONG (15:53): This show was too long but all three tag team matches were really good. The three women's matches weren't very good. The main event was one of those eyes-glued-to-the-spectacle type of a match. This was definitely one of the weaker AEW PPV's in memory, though. One reason is probably that the St. Louis commission didn't let them brawl into the crowd or have blood (there still was some blood in the main event) on this show. The pre-show was an hour and the main card was four hours and twenty minutes. It took me two days to finally watch this whole show. The St. Louis crowd was super loud and insane during most of this pre-show. They got tired, though, and a lot of the rest of this show was before a fairly quiet crowd (the crowd did pick up for the closing stretch of every match and they were into the final two matches). This opener was pretty much just a typical TV match. It was entertaining and fast paced. **1/2

EDDIE KINGSTON & HOOK vs. THE FRAT HOUSE (COLE KARTER & GRIFF GARRISON) (3:21): Eddie Kingston recently returned from being out for over a year with a broken leg. They haven't done much with him since his return. This was very, very short...which was probably a good thing. *1/2

HARLEY CAMERON & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. TOP GODS (MEGAN BAYNE & PENELOPE FORD) (12:13): The crowds everywhere love Willow Nightingale. When her party music hits everyone gets on their feet. You'd think that would mean she'd be pushed into being the women's champion or something. Nope! This match was probably the best women's match on the show...which isn't saying much as the other three were all boring with a silent crowd. **

FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) vs. JET SPEED (KEVIN KNIGHT & MIKE BAILEY) (12:19): This match was fast paced and exciting. They tried a new gimmick where this match didn't end on the pre-show. That meant that when the PPV started, the pyro went off and everything while the match was still going on. That was cool and the crowd was super hot for this one. Good action all around. The finish had Stokely cheating to help FTR win. ***

JAMIE HAYTER vs. THEKLA (15:53): The announcer's noted that both of these women were once in Stardom. So was Megan Bayne, right? And Mina Shirakawa and Toni Storm. I guess that makes sense considering Stardom is the biggest all-women wrestling company (Marigold is the only other one I know of...and that only started because the president of Stardom was fired and started Marigold). This was Thekla's first big, PPV solo match. I can't say she failed, as she at least knows how to wrestle. The problem was that this match was boring. Jamie Hayter is usually in good matches but this one was just too methodical and slow. The crowd was pretty quiet for all three of these women's matches on the main card. That didn't help. *1/2

JURASSIC EXPRESS (JACK PERRY & LUCHASAURUS) vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (MATT & NICK JACKSON) (23:09): This was the match of the night. That's not exactly a surprise, as The Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express from 2021 made my Top 10 Best Matches of the Year list. ReDragon vs. Jurassic Express vs. The Young Bucks from 2022 made my Top 10 Best Matches of the Year list as well. These two teams just work well together. This was not as good as either of those matches, though, but it was still super entertaining with a lot of creative, exciting moves and a hot crowd that ate everything up by the end. Luchasaurus is back doing flips and Jack Perry looked fantastic, especially considering he didn't wrestle for over a year until returning last month. After the match, The Don Callis Family ran out to beat up Jurassic Express and Kenny Omega ran out to make the save. This seems to be eventually setting up The Bucks turning into good guys again and re-teaming with Omega. Kenny was supposed to wrestle Andrade on this show. Andrade returned to AEW on Dynamite last month but the WWE suddenly announced that even though they fired him, he had a one year non-compete in his contract because he was fired with merit. Omega wasn't the only big AEW star that didn't wrestle on this show. Ospreay and Swerve are out with injuries. MJF has time off. Edge is filming a TV show or something. Perhaps that's why this PPV felt like a lesser AEW PPV. ***

THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY, MVP & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. THE DEAMAND (RICOCHET, BISHOP KAUN & TOA LIONA) (13:28): These two teams have wrestled each other a bunch on TV recently. They had a hardcore match in Jacksonville a few weeks ago. This wasn't a hardcore match but they did slam Shelton onto Bobby through a table since it was Tornado rules (which means...few rules). The match was fairly entertaining. I do kind of feel that AEW is turning Ricochet into the joke he became in WWE. Ricochet is great as a heel but he's also a fantastic wrestler that'd be great in main event title matches. He proved that in January at the Tokyo Dome against Zack Sabre, Jr. **1/2

KYLE FLETCHER vs. MARK BRISCOE (24:45): This match was good but not as good as their April PPV match in Philly. They might've gone too long with this one. The big problem here was that neither man should have lost. Fletcher just lost to Page on the last PPV so he shouldn't be losing again. Briscoe just beat MJF at the last PPV in his biggest win yet in AEW. Briscoe losing kind of negates that momentum. I get it: everyone has to lose, there's two TV shows every week and a PPV pretty much every month so there's way too many matches to have people constantly winning. I would've given Briscoe the win and give him a title shot against Page. I think he deserves that and the crowds would love it. Fletcher retained his TNT title. **1/2

KRIS STATLANDER vs. TONI STORM (16:33): I say this after every Toni Storm match: the crowds love her entrance and her gimmick but don't give a shit about her wrestling. This match was pretty dull. Statlander retained the women's title and then Mercedes made her entrance and told Statlander to get out of the ring. *1/2 

MERCEDES MONE vs. MINA SHIRAKAWA (16:10): This match was just as dull as the last one. The crowd was not into this at all. They did get into most of these matches late when they felt like the end was near. Mone won, which means she won Mina's ROH TV title. *

BRODIDO (BANDIDO & BRODY KING) vs. THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (KAZUCHIKA OKADA & KONOSUKE TAKESHITA) (27:26): The crowd was still pretty tired and quiet but after the long Okada/Takeshita beatdown, the crowd finally woke up when Brody and Banidido got their comeback. The second half of this match was wildly entertaining and a lot of fun. They teased the Okada/Takeshita feud throughout. Bandido had his one arm injured so he had to deliver his finishing move, which is a German suplex off the ropes, one-handed. That was awesome. Brodido retained the tag titles. Hopefully we'll get the Okada vs. Takeshita match sooner than later. ***

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. SAMOA JOE (19:02): The crowd actually got into this match. It was a good match, though considering this wasn't the main event, I think everyone figured Samoa Joe wasn't winning. You could tell the crowd was dead because 'Hangman' kept waving his hands to fire them up throughout. After the match, The Opps, Hobbs and Shibata, turned heel with Joe to beat up Page. **1/2

DARBY ALLIN vs. JON MOXLEY "I QUIT MATCH" (25:54): The St. Louis commission said no crowd brawls and no blood. What the fuck are they gonna do? Um...drown Darby in a fish tank. Put wooden skewers under Darby's fingernails. Have Claudio toss Darby from the ring onto the announce table. They certainly pulled off having a wild, crazy, disturbing match with the restrictions. Moxley also gave Darby a Death Rider through two tables at ringside. The only blood came when both men were bleeding from the mouth early. Claudio and Wheeler brought a fish tank in the ring and filled it up with water so Moxley could drown Darby in it. One of the Death Riders tazed Darby with a tazer. The big spot of the night came when the lights went out and came on with Sting standing in the ring. He beat up everyone with a bat, smashed the fish tank, then put Marina over his shoulder and carried her away. Darby hit Moxley with Sting's bat, choked Moxley with an AEW flag, gave him a Coffin Drop from the top rope, then put him in the Scorpion Death Lock amidst water from the broken fish tank. Moxley quit immediately which was a bit anti-climactic. This wasn't as good as some of the bloodier Texas death matches they've had, but this was still one of those eyes-glued-to-the-screen, engrossing car crash matches. It was a wild spectacle and a good way to end the show. ***

WWE CROWN JEWEL

Perth, Australia

BRONSON REED vs. ROMAN REIGNS "AUSTRALIAN STREET FIGHT" (21:05): Perth, Australia must be paying these wrestling companies to come there, because AEW had a show in this building in February. You'd think AEW and WWE would go to Sydney or Melbourne, not the smaller city Perth. I'd be pissed off if I lived in Perth and my taxes were going to pro-wrestling. I'm sure the city has homeless people and people on welfare. I'd rather see money going to helping people instead of boosting tourism which ends up helping the rich, like hotel owners. It's kind of sad that this is the world we live in. I did think that this show was an improvement on their last PPV. WWE definitely listened to the critics, because all of a sudden, wrestlers were doing big, wild top rope moves and the in-ring was more exciting. This match also had a good finish, as Bronson Reed pinned Roman Reigns. They've finally learned that you gotta give the new guys some wins to build them up. This was a hardcore match so they used a Singapore cane and broke a table. It also had no rules, so Bron Breakker showed up out of the crowd to spear Roman. The Uso's ran out to make the save but Jey inadvertently speared Roman through a table, leading to the loss. Now Roman is mad at the Jey Uso. The Bloodline turmoil never ends! Get a new fucking story. Jesus. Match was at least entertaining. The Perth crowd was hot which helped. **1/2

STEPHANIE VAQUER vs. TIFFANY STRATTON (10:06): The one gigantic problem on this show was that no titles were defended. That made matches like this feel less dramatic than they should've been. These are the two women's champs, and it was for the Crown Jewel title. I'm still not sure why they called this show Crown Jewel, since all the other Crown Jewel's were in Saudi Arabia, where gay people, porn, alcohol, and negative government coverage is outlawed. Saudi Arabia actually just killed a journalist in June for making a comedic, anti-government Twitter page. So the Crown Jewel name is tarnished as hell. I'm sure Perth doesn't cut the head off of journalists with a sword for criticizing them. This match was good but kind of too short to turn into anything fantastic. They're really pushing the hell out of Stephanie Vaquer, but, honestly, the last good match I've seen her in was against Mercedes Mone in AEW. **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. AJ STYLES (27:12): Considering this is John Cena's retirement year and the crowds at all these shows are cheering for him the loudest...maybe they should start making his matches the main event? Half of the arena was wearing his yellow retirement shirt. The gimmick in this match was that they both kept doing other wrestler's finishing moves. I'm thinking this is going to start a trend, because the crowd popped like crazy for all of these moves. Cena did an RKO, Bray Wyatt's Sister Abigail, The Undertaker's tombstone piledriver, among others. AJ did a Scorpion Death Lock, although the announcers didn't mention it was Sting's move. AJ also did 'Hangman' Adam Page's Dead Eye, which the announcers didn't acknowledge. It was fun and the crowd was going crazy...but it went on a bit too long. I'm still baffled at why they had Cena destroyed and lose to Lesnar last month...especially when it was revealed that Cena's final opponent will be Gunther and not Lesnar. **1/2

IYO SKY & RHEA RIPLEY vs. THE KABUKI WARRIORS (ASUKA & KAIRI SANE) (19:57): This was the weak match on the show. Rhea is from Australia, so she got a lot of cheers. Iyo did a cool moonsault off the top rope down onto Asuka and Kairi at ringside. This was just kind of a by-the-numbers match. *1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. CODY RHODES (29:43): This was a well wrestled match with some big moves. Seth did a bell-to-bell head butt dive. They did a Spanish Fly off the top rope. Cody gave Seth a top rope Crossroads. The in-ring was a lot more dynamic than usual for WWE, which is why I figure someone was reading all the criticism Wrestlepalooza got for being dull. Both of these men are champions, but this match wasn't for either title, so there was no drama. Who cares who wins? It was for the Crown Jewel title. Seth wrapped a watch around his knuckles and hit Cody with it when the ref wasn't looking. This led to him pinning Cody. This was definitely one of the better matches the WWE has had this year. If it was for a title we would've cared about it more and the drama would've been heightened. Oh, well. It's October and I guess we're not getting a Hell in a Cell match this year? That's a shame. CM Punk is facing Seth for the title at the next big show, Saturday Night's Main Event on November 1st. **1/2

WWE WRESTLEPALOOZA

Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

BROCK LESNAR vs. JOHN CENA (8:48): The WWE added this show late to the calendar because they wanted to go head-to-head with AEW's All Out PPV. AEW moved their PPV to the afternoon in response, although both shows ended up going head-to-head from 7 PM to 8 PM Eastern. This was also the first WWE PPV on the new ESPN streaming app. The deal with Peacock ended early, which was a shame because if you were a Comcast cable customer or had Youtube TV, you didn't get to see this show for free (the ESPN app costs $30 a month but a lot of cable companies offer it for free since you're already paying for regular ESPN). Confused yet? I pay for Comcast. I have ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, ESPN U, and whatever the hell else there is. I didn't get free access to this PPV, though, which was odd because Xfinity (which is Comcast) was a sponsor of this PPV. Comcast supposedly will offer free access to the ESPN streaming service eventually, probably by the end of the year. To make matters worse, a lot of people really, really hated this show. I think the big problem was that the first and last matches weren't very good, so you started watching it with a bad taste in your mouth and then ended watching the show feeling disappointed. The three matches in the middle were typical WWE fare: entertaining but nothing special. The WWE product is greatly helped these days by the sold out crowds, which make it seem like you're missing something. Why is the WWE so mediocre but still is selling out everywhere? As for this match, a person pretty close to the ring held up a sign that read: "He shouldn't be here and we all know why." Lesnar wasn't booed because he's involved in the Vince sex trafficking lawsuit, though. The only boos he got were because he's a heel and the fans want Cena to win. And, really, he wasn't even really booed that much. The giant problem, and one of the reasons a lot of people hated this show and match, was because Cena got destroyed and lost. Boy are they really fucking up this Cena retirement, aren't they? This isn't rocket science. You play the hits, you win, the crowd cheers, and you go out in glory. There was one shot of a child in a Cena t-shirt and hat in the crowd crying after Cena lost. What the hell kind of retirement is this? They're trying to humiliate him on his way out the door? I was also curious how a child is a John Cena fan. Yes, Cena has been around this year, but he was a heel most of the year. Before this year, Cena showed up maybe one or two times a year if that since leaving the WWE. How is this child a Cena fan? Did he just become one in August? I'm baffled. The entrance also had Cena come out with a whole gang of kids wearing his outfit. That was cool. Cena got beat down early. He did have a comeback where he gave Lesnar a few AA's. Then it was Suplex City. Then Lesnar gave Cena like four or five F5's and pinned him. Huh? The only thing I can think of is that they're planning on having him beat Lesnar in his retirement match. I guess? Or they just want to bring back Lesnar and have him face Cody for a title and thus Lesnar couldn't lose here. I don't know. This made little sense. Match was entertaining but felt tone deaf. **

THE VISION (BRON BREAKER & BRONSON REED) vs. THE USO'S (17:26): Since this was the first PPV on the ESPN app, they tried to do big things to make it a big show. Brock Lesnar and AJ Lee returned. The Uso's reunited as a tag team. There was a title change (Stephanie Vaquer won). The show felt kind of flat, though. Nothing was excellent. This match was entertaining but was kind of just a RAW main event. LA Knight was the special ref. He let them use chairs and tables for some reason. I think this show might've been better if the AEW show before this wasn't so awesome. It's tough going from a classic like Fletcher vs. 'Hangman' to anything on this WWE show. It's not even in the same league. **

STEPHANIE VAQUER vs. IYO SKY (19:41): Everyone online that seemed to hate or dislike this show did mention that they liked this match. Stephanie won the women's title here. Honestly? The match was fine but nothing special. Vaquer did a bunch of top rope jumps. You'd think winning the women's title would be a big deal but there's another women's title that Tiffany Stratton has. The WWE feels kind of dull these days. **

AJ LEE & CM PUNK vs. SETH ROLLINS & BECKY LYNCH (29:15): AJ Lee is fantastic. Every segment she's been in these last two weeks have been great. She's so great and obviously loving being out there that I wondered why she ever retired in the first place. Supposedly she had neck problems plus her husband, CM Punk, left the WWE and she didn't want retaliation for that. She's 38 now but looked fantastic in the ring. It also helped that she looks like she's having a blast out there. The problem with this match was that it went way too long. They stalled for like five minutes before anything even happened. The big spot had all four wrestlers on both announce tables. CM Punk had Seth on his shoulders. Becky threw AJ across one announce table to the other at Punk and the three of them crashed down on the announce table. This was entertaining and fun and probably the match I enjoyed the most on the show. **1/2

CODY RHODES vs. DREW McINTYRE (16:53): When they put Lesnar/Cena on first, I figured they'd probably have the CM Punk/AJ/Seth/Lynch match on last. Nope! I get it: this is for the WWE title. But this match had very little build. Nobody thought Drew would win. It was also kind of boring. Drew went for a kick outside the ring but missed and ended up kicking through the side of the announce table. He then hobbled around as if he broke his leg. The next PPV, which is in Perth, Australia, has Cody vs. Seth. It's not for either title, though, it's for the Crown Jewel title. That means nobody cares who wins. Great. *1/2

AEW ALL OUT

Toronto

THE OPPS (POWERHOUSE HOBBS & SAMOA JOE) vs. THE WORKHORSEMEN (ANTHONY HENRY & JD DRAKE) (5:19): This was an excellent show, perhaps the best PPV of the year. It was also 6 hours long, which meant it took me four days to watch it. The first four matches were on the pre-show, which was on TNT instead of Youtube this time. They moved this show to a 2 PM start because the WWE decided to schedule a PPV at 7 PM at the last second. It didn't bother me, and I think these fans were probably happier to go home at 8 PM instead of 1 AM. None of these pre-show matches were worth watching. The Workhorsemen are still a thing? It was short, anyway. *1/2

DANIEL GARCIA vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA (14:49): Garcia is a heel now and has joined Moxley's Death Riders group. I guess he won't be doing his dance anymore? I guess it's something different, as Garcia has seemed to be stuck in the TNT title, B-level purgatory his whole tenure. Match was fine. It is kind of sad to see Shibata, who was once battling in the main event for the IWGP title against Okada once upon a time ago, being just a random mid-card guy now. **

HOLOGRAM & PARAGON (KYLE O'REILLY & RODERICK STRONG) vs. THE FRAT HOUSE (COLE KARTER, GRIFF GARRISON & PRESTON VANCE) (3:19): The Frat House is, exactly as the name implies, a group of grown men pretending they're drunk frat boys in college. I've only seen them on the ROH PPV's. I guess their gimmick is...something? I mean, better than nothing I suppose. This match was an epic at 3 minutes. **

HARLEY CAMERON, MINA SHIRAKAWA, QUEEN AMINATA & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. MEGAN BAYNE, PENELOPE FORD & SISTERS OF SIN (JULIA HART & SKY BLUE) "TORNADO TAILGATE BRAWL" (11:28): The Frat House left their beer coolers and beer pong table by the ring so all of that was used in this street fight. Match was mildly amusing. **

ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) (18:03): This was the first time Edge and Christian teamed together in Canada in decades. The most memorable thing in this match was when Copeland did John Cena's 'U Can't See Me' move. That got a big pop, though the announcers didn't mention Cena's name. The big spot came when Beth Phoenix, now referred to as Beth Copeland, came out at the end of the match. After Copeland and Christian won the match, Mother Wayne comes out with Nick Wayne in a wheelchair (he broke his foot) to distract them. Kip Sabian runs in and him and FTR beat up Christian then handcuff Copeland to the rope. FTR give Beth a spike piledriver. So you got the big hometown win and a cruel, continuing feud post-match beatdown. It was compelling. The match was just okay. **

EDDIE KINGSTON vs. BIG BILL (7:21): Kingston has been out since May 2024 when he broke his leg during a NJPW show. This match wasn't even set up or anything, it was just the return of Eddie Kingston. He looked like his usual self (he didn't, like, lose any weight or anything). Kingston won with his spinning backfist which actually missed. After the match, Hook showed up to stop Bryan Keith and Big Bill from beating up Kingston. *1/2

MARK BRISCOE vs. MJF "TABLES N' TACKS MATCH" (19:21): MJF was on CMLL's Anniversary show on Friday night in Mexico City. He lost to Mistico in a bloodbath (it was all Mistico's blood). So MJF (and Hechicero and Mascara Dorada) had to fly from Mexico City to Toronto to make this afternoon show on Saturday. MJF should get a medal or something, because both of his matches were super bloody and super wild. They did something really unique in this one, something you usually only see on an indie deathmatch tournament show or Big Japan or somewhere obscure: they covered the entire mat with thumbtacks and wrestled the whole match like that. Call it a 10,000 Thumbtacks Deathmatch. Before the match even really started, Mark took all four buckets of thumbtacks that were in each corner and emptied them across the ring. Both men ended up bloody. At one point, Mark had thumbtacks sticking out the back of his head. They also broke tables, including one that MJF covered with more thumbtacks. This match was nuts and super entertaining. Briscoe finally got his big AEW win. Fantastic match. ***1/2

THE DEMAND (BISHOP KAUN, RICOCHET & TOA LIONA) vs. THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY, MVP & SHELTON BENJAMIN) (13:42): It seemed like MVP wrestled most of this match. Ricochet did an awesome run into an over the corner dive to the floor. MVP eventually got pinned. The last five minutes or so when things heated up this match was great. **1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. RIHO (15:55): This match was pretty good but the crowd didn't much care for it (they were on their feet for the thumbtack and ladder matches). I still can't figure out why Riho only wrestles like twice a year for this company. Does she live in Japan? Does she have another job? She looked great here so there's no rust. Bryan Danielson was on commentary and mentioned that Mone is trying to break Ultimo Guerrero's record of holding more than 10 titles at one time. **1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. MASCARA DORADA (20:55): As soon as this started, Okada and Takeshita threw Dorada out of the ring and the crowd cheered. That was funny because Dorada was so awesome in this match that by the end the crowd was cheering for him to win. Dorada is in CMLL and he's excellent. The crowd loved all the high flying he did, and he became a star instantly to these Toronto fans. Okada was his usual, slow self, though the back and forths with him and Takeshita were pretty awesome. Good match. ***

JON MOXLEY vs. DARBY ALLIN "COFFIN MATCH" (19:19): They started the match by brawling among the crowd. Darby did a Coffin Drop off an entranceway. Darby started biting Moxley's ear and then used a screwdriver to cut his ear up even more, which got sickening groans from the crowd. Darby also used the screwdriver to rat-a-tat-tat Moxley's head, which burst and bloomed with blood. They did a bunch of spots with the two coffins out there. Darby did a running drive through the ropes and both men toppled into the open casket. PAC showed up at the end to toss Darby over the top rope onto a coffin. That eventually led Moxley to win, though later in the show, Darby put Moxley in a body bag backstage and set it on fire (yes, that really happened). Does this mean those two are going to do a fire match or something? This match wasn't great or anything, but it was a watchable spectacle. **1/2

KRIS STATLANDER vs. TONI STORM vs. JAMIE HAYTER vs. THEKLA (11:59): This match was pretty short but it was memorable because Statlander won out of nowhere, shocking everyone. Toni Storm has been the women's champ since beating Mariah May in Australia way back in February. Statlander has been in AEW for years and finally won the title for the first time. The fans have always liked her so it was cool to see her win, though she's supposed to be a heel now and probably joining the Death Riders (Wheeler Yuta keeps coming up to her to "talk"). Jamie Hayter looked awesome in this match and the crowd enjoyed seeing Thekla do her spider gimmick moves (a top rope suplex with her legs still on the ropes). **1/2

BRODIDO (BANDIDO & BRODY KING) vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. JETSPEED (KEVIN KNIGHT & MIKE BAILEY) vs. THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (HECHICERO & JOSH ALEXANDER) "LADDER MATCH" (24:34): There were a ton of crazy spots in this match. They broke a bunch of tables, so this was more than just a ladder match. Probably the spot of the match was Bandido holding a ladder and doing a top rope flip with the ladder down onto Hechicero and Josh at ringside. Kevin Knight was on the ladder and everyone picked up the ladder and carried it then tossed him off and onto two ringside tables. Brody King gave Mike Bailey a sitting powerbomb onto a ladder bridge that bent but didn't break. Bailey also did a flip knee slam from a ladder onto Hechicero on a ladder bridge. I could go on and on...but this was a spot fest and a half. Brodido retained the titles in an awesome match. After the match, Jack Perry showed up to beat up The Bucks (I kind of thought they were friends in the same faction but, let's be honest, Perry has been gone since 2024 so maybe I just forget the storyline). The Bucks got the upper hand and were about to hit him with the BTE trigger when he smiled and the place went dark. There was a video of Perry digging up a grave and resuscitating Luchasaurus. Luchasaurus returned and Jurassic Express is back. Jungle Boy's music hit and they hugged. I mean...I loved Jurassic Express. Perry's matches as a heel were dull, so this is great news and this was an awesome return. ***1/2

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. KYLE FLETCHER (38:10): This match was excellent. It reminded me of those old Naito/Ibushi matches where they were just delivering devastating moves putting the other one on their head back and forth. Page gave Fletcher a Dead Eye through a ringside table that looked horrific. Page gave Fletcher a top rope Dead Eye that looked just as gruesome. They also did the gimmick where they delivered other people's moves. Page gave Fletcher an Omega running knee. Fletcher did Ospreay's hidden blade. Fletcher gave Page a suplex on the ring bell table. This was just back and forth destructive moves in high, dramatic fashion. Really one of the best AEW PPV main events in history. The only problem was that nobody on Earth figured Fletcher was actually going to win, so the high drama wasn't at, like, an Omega/Okada level. Still, this was about as good as it gets. ***1/2

WWE CLASH IN PARIS

La Defense Arena, Paris

ROMAN REIGNS vs. BRONSON REED (22:07): This was the first time I watched a WWE PPV live in a really long time. It started at 2 PM on a Sunday and I had a cold so was basically laying on the couch anyway. The amount of commercials between matches is ludicrous. The show was 3 and 1/2 hours long with only six matches. I complain about all the commercials on college football, which started this weekend, but at least there's a good reason for that: they're on regular TV. This is a Pay Per View. We're paying to watch this. I have no idea what Peacock costs (I get it free because I have Xfinity), but it's probably around $10 a month. Why do we have to sit through twenty minutes of commercials between every match? I might've liked this show more if there wasn't so much dead time. And maybe that's the reason I thought to myself in the middle of watching this show: man, the WWE fucking sucks. They have big crowds at all of their shows now so they're certainly popular, but everything about this product feels stale, lifeless, sanitary, dull, and unexciting. Nothing about this show was truly bad, but it just feels boring right now. Are there any feuds that you care about now? The only match in the foreseeable future that I'm intrigued by is Brock Lesnar vs. Cena, and that puts a bad taste in my mouth because Lesnar is a part of Vince's sex trafficking lawsuit. I was so happy when Vince was finally gone from WWE because Triple H was supposedly a part of making NXT so great back in the day. He has not made the WWE better than Vince's product. RAW is a total bore now, filled with just as many commercials as it was on USA even though it's on Netflix, which costs like $17 a month. In some other universe, this match would've been fantastic. Roman Reigns has had good matches in the past and Bronson Reed used to be in New Japan (he beat Okada once...his claim to fame). But this match was mediocre at best. All of the entertaining stuff happened after the match. Roman won the match and was standing on the announce table celebrating. Bron Breakker came out of the crowd and speared Roman through the other announce table. Then Reed and Breakker beat up Roman. Jey Uso tried to make a save but was thwarted. Security ran out and medics put Roman on a stretcher but Reed still got up on the top  rope to give a splash onto Roman. This post-match melee was better than the actual match. The problem? Does anyone actually want to see a Roman vs. Bron Breakker match? I give them credit for trying to make new stars and build someone new up with Bron Breakker...but that would mean Roman Reigns would have to lose a match. He didn't here. I also kind of hope Paul Heyman retires soon, because as much as I like him, I'm really tired of his schtick these days. ** 

THE WYATT SICKS (DEXTER LUMIS & JOE GACY) vs. THE STREET PROFITS (ANGELO DAWKINS & MONTEZ FORD) (13:12): The problem with The Wyatt Sicks is the same problem that Bray Wyatt had. Their entrances are cool and the crowds like holding up their phones in the dark arenas, but when they start wrestling nobody cares. The Street Profits did some cool dives off the top rope. The crowd popped for those big moves. This arena was unique in that, unlike the indoor U.S. arenas, this one seats 30,000 people. All of the indoor basketball/hockey arenas only fit around 18,000. The crowd was good in that they chanted a lot and were loud for the stars. They didn't seem that into this or the next match, though. *1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. NIKKI BELLA (13:06): Nikki looks great considering she's post-retired and older. I don't think she was ever a particularly great wrestler, though. The only massive botch was a kick off the top rope she delivered that was miles away from Becky and Becky didn't know if she should act like it hit her. Other than that, the match was fine but totally forgettable. Nikki still looks gorgeous, which is probably why they brought her back. 1/2*

RUSEV vs. SHEAMUS "GOOD OL' FASHIONED DONNYBROOK MATCH" (20:04): This was a hardcore match. It's really tough to watch these WWE "hardcore" matches when you see much better hardcore stuff every week in AEW and ROH. On Friday, ROH had a PPV at the ECW Arena. QT Marshall and the actor Paul Walter Hauser had a hardcore match that was actually much, much better than this match. There was a moment in that match when QT used a dustpan to pick up broken glass and cover a table with the glass, then gave Hauser a DDT from the top rope through the glass covered table. Hauser actually put QT on his shoulders and did a flip slam from the apron onto a ringside table. They also had blood, thumbtacks, and a barbed wire chair and barbed wire bat. This match had chairs, tables, a Singapore cane, a bar, and some barrels that they stood up on. I guess this is what you're going to get with hardcore WWE matches. Rusev was so adamant to getting out of AEW...I wonder if he's happy now? The match wasn't anything great but it held my interest. **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. LOGAN PAUL (26:24): Considering the Cena/Cody match at Summerslam was long, I guess Cena is now in the phase to have long matches before his retirement. 26 minutes doesn't sound that long, but this match felt like it went on forever. I used to really like Logan Paul's matches. I remember him doing a lot of crazy, high flying top rope maneuvers that were exciting and fresh. This match was fucking boring. Weren't Logan's entrances also pretty cool? He would come out on a zip line or come out flying a drone? Now he just walks out. Has he gotten stale in his old age? Heh. Dude's probably still in his 20's. I just looked it up. He's 30. Cena at least looks better in the ring lately. The second season of his show Peacemaker just started and it's fantastic...so it's probably good that he's retiring since his Hollywood career is so much more entertaining. Paul kicked out of an AA. Cena gave Paul a Styles clash (seriously, why is the Styles clash this legendary move now? Ospreay does it now and it always gets this gigantic pop). Hopefully Brock vs. Cena next month will be better. *1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. CM PUNK vs. JEY USO vs. LA KNIGHT (24:49): This match was kind of underwhelming. The big story was that Becky Lynch came in wearing a mask at the end to prevent CM Punk from pinning Rollins. Everyone figures this is to set up CM Punk's wife, AJ Lee, returning and there being a mixed tag match between the couples. It makes sense to have Becky join Seth's heel group since Becky is a heel and literally Seth's wife in real life. It's something new at least. The only other interesting moment happened when LA Knight jumped off the top rope and went through the announce table (someone moved off it at the last minute). All of these wrestlers are pretty entertaining in ring, so I kind of thought this might be a lot better. The WWE is really in a slump these days, and I wonder what it's going to take to break out of it. **