WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

CODY RHODES vs. RANDY ORTON (19:48): The crowd was going ape shit before either guy even started to wrestle. Are the people of Saudi Arabia that starved for entertainment? I guess life gets boring when porn and alcohol are banned in your country. Plus, women are covered up and are you even allowed to hit on a girl? I think arranged marriage is the only way to end up talking and/or having sex with a girl. And there's no "going to the club" on a Saturday night, is there? It'd just be men and no alcohol. Either way, the boisterous crowd helped this show and this match. They did boo Cody, which is probably why there's now internet rumors that they're thinking of turning him heel. This was the finals of the King of the Ring tournament. Cody won so he gets a title shot against John Cena at Summerslam. **1/2

RHEA RIPLEY vs. RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ "RIYADH BOULEVARD STREET FIGHT" (14:04): The women wrestlers aren't allowed to show any skin besides their face and hands. Considering they both wore black latex,, Catwoman-esque, skintight, bondage outfits, maybe it would have been less offensive if they could show some bare leg. This was a hardcore match so they brought out a table but didn't break it...which made me wonder if they weren't allowed to break tables. They used the table to balance it on the corner of the ropes and stand on it so Rhea could deliver her finisher down onto the mat. They also used a Singapore cane. Match was fine. *1/2

SAMI ZAYN vs. KARRION KROSS (13:32): Saudi Arabia loves Sami Zayn. His family is from Syria and he's a Muslim. I guess that's why. He was born in Canada, though. Karrion Kross has, apparently, been getting big cheers on whatever show he's on (I think it's RAW...but I couldn't even remember the last time he actually wrestled). I don't know why. Match was only 13 minutes but seemed to go on too long. *

SOLO SIKOA vs. JACOB FATU (12:08): I kind of thought they were pushing Jacob Fatu to be a big star and send him into the main event picture. Well, he already lost the U.S. title here. Jeff Cobb, who's going by the stupidest name ever, JC Matteo, interfered, as did Tonga Loa. Then they debuted Hikuleo, who's another Samoan dude. They all teamed up to beat up Fatu. I guess the ref was knocked out? Match wasn't good even though Fatu is usually in good ones. *

JADE CARGILL vs. ASUKA (8:34): This was the final of the King of the Ring tournament. Surprisingly, Jade Cargill won. An 8 minute final is kind of ridiculous, right? Even the crowd got quiet for this one. 1/2*

JOHN CENA vs. CM PUNK (26:17): At last year's Wrestlemania, everyone raved about the Cody/Roman match. If you remember, everyone and their mother interfered during that match. I'm guessing this gave the WWE the idea that they should always do a thousand people running out at the end of a match since it worked so well that one time. The match was fine but pretty dull before the billion people interfering. The announcers noted that the arena was very humid, which is probably why CM Punk looked dead tired after a few minutes. The ref got knocked out. Seth Rollins' music hit, and he came out with Paul Heyman, Bron Breaker, and Bronson Reed. Rollins has a Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in, but he never got to do it. Breaker and Reed tried to beat up CM Punk. Sami Zayn and Penta ran out at one point. A ref ran down to the ring but Cena gave him a brutal shove to the floor that made me laugh (poor Charles Robinson). At one point, Rollins gave CM Punk a foot stomp and that led to Cena eventually winning. Nobody was talking about what happened in this match, though. Everyone was talking about CM Punk being a hypocrite. Years ago he made an infamous tweet to The Miz that read: "Go suck a blood covered dick in Saudi Arabia you fucking dork." CM Punk has also been very LGBTQ friendly, which Saudi Arabia is obviously not (it's illegal to be gay there). So for someone to badmouth the country all these years and then all of a sudden take the money and go there and then apologize to their king (which he did a few days ago at a press conference) is definitely hypocritical. Oh, well. CM Punk didn't exactly come across as a good guy when he was in AEW, either. This match sets up John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes for the title at Summerslam. That show is 2 nights for the first time ever and at the Giants football stadium outside NYC, so it's a big deal. Will they finally turn Cena back into a babyface and give us the retirement tour we all want? They fucking better. **

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

NAOMI vs. ALEXA BLISS vs. GIULIA vs. RHEA RIPLEY vs. ROXANNE PEREZ vs. STEPHANIE VAQUER "MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH" (25:11): This is my favorite WWE PPV of the year because I love ladder matches. It used to be that you'd get two ladder matches and two men's championship matches on the show. That usually made it a stacked show. Those days are long gone. The main event of this show was just a typical RAW main event match. The only championship match on the show was for the women's Intercontinental title. CM Punk and Roman Reigns, two of the bigger stars in the WWE, weren't even on the show. The big, "shocking" return was...R-Truth. Okay. So this PPV, apparently, isn't much of a big deal anymore. That's a shame. Some of this show was entertaining but the three non-ladder matches were mostly boring. This match was uber-sloppy, which was expected. Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer are from Stardom and CMLL, so maybe it's just because they never wrestled with ladders before, but early on it seemed like they were baffled at how ladders even worked. Roxanne Perez was also in this mix, as she's new from NXT. At one point, two of the women wanted to slam the ladder shut onto their opponent and didn't realize you can't do that because of the slats in the middle holding it up. Do they, like, not even practice this stuff? Or, like, study how to work with a ladder? They also tried to throw a ladder on someone and it bounced off the top rope instead of hitting the person. Ugh. With all of these fresh faces, you'd think they'd throw a bone to one of them. Nope! Naomi won. Even Seth Rollins won the men's ladder match. Ladder matches are at least entertaining no matter how sloppy and fucked up they turn out, so this was at least watchable. Vaquer gave one of the women her trademark maneuver on a ladder bridge, which was cradling their head between her thighs and slamming her head down onto the ladder repeatedly. The crowd loved that. Rhea Ripley was also very over. Match was fine but nothing special. **

DOMINIK MYSTERIO vs. OCTAGON, JR. (4:55): TKO bought the Mexican wrestling promotion AAA for some unknown reason. They ran their first co-production show before this show at another location (I haven't watched it yet, but the main event was Chad Gable vs. Vikingo). Apparently they set this match up during that show, as this was previously unannounced. Considering Dominik quickly beat AAA's Octagon, Jr...maybe they wish the WWE hadn't bought them. They're just going to bury all their talent! There truly wasn't anything to this match, although Dominik playing heel to the crowd is always amusing. *

BECKY LYNCH vs. LYRA VALKYRIA (15:20): This match was boring. Considering they just had this match on the last PPV, it was fairly obvious Lynch was going to win. Lynch won by pulling Lyra's tights. Their last match was better. 1/2*

SETH ROLLINS vs. ANDRADE vs. EL GRANDE AMERICANO vs. LA KNIGHT vs. PENTA vs. SOLO SIKOA "MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH" (33:35): This was a typical, clusterfuck, everyone-runs-out-from-the-back type of WWE main event match...but it wasn't the main event. Some of it was wildly entertaining but it definitely went on way too long. El Grande Americano won a 3-way on RAW to be in this match instead of CM Punk. Why would you not have one of your biggest stars on one of the supposed biggest shows of the year? Baffling. By the end, Seth Rollins' heel group ran out to beat everyone up and then Solo's group ran out to beat everyone up. Jacob Fatu turned on Solo, though, and slammed him through a ringside ladder bridge. Eventually Seth Rollins won, which was expected. Penta gave Andrade a Canadian Destroyer on a ladder bridge in the ring. Penta also suplexed Seth off a ladder onto another ladder leaning against the ropes. This was by far the most entertaining match on the show, but when everyone started running out from the back the actual ladder match stopped for, like, ten minutes. Good match but it went on too long. ***

CODY RHODES & JEY USO vs. JOHN CENA & LOGAN PAUL (24:00): For twenty minutes, this was a dull slog. First off, this is a RAW main event to set up a title match at best. This isn't a PPV main event. I guess Cena doesn't wrestle on RAW and it's his last year so that means it's a bigger deal. Finally the match got exciting when Logal Paul did a second rope moonsault onto Jey on the Spanish announce table. I thought he'd given up doing big, suicidal spots so it was nice to see him back doing them. Cena hit Cody with the belt when the ref wasn't looking. Then a masked figure ran into the ring to lay out Cena. He unmasked and it was R-Truth! R-Truth was supposedly fired from the WWE last week. Apparently, he signed a new deal since then...but it kind of begs the question: was his "firing" just to make this surprise even more surprising? Or did the WWE actually notice that everyone was mad they fired him and re-hired him? I kind of feel bad for all the others they've fired recently, like Braun Strowman, Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai, and Carlito, because they're not coming back like R-Truth. And considering R-Truth just wrestled Cena for the title on Saturday Night's Main Event a few weeks ago...what's the point of re-igniting that storyline? Does anyone really want to see another Cena vs. R-Truth match? At the end, Cody pinned Cena. The next big show is the 2-night Summerslam at the New York Giants stadium. I figured this means Cody vs. Cena for the title there but then I remembered they just fucking did that at 'Mania. The next actual PPV is the King of the Ring finals in Saudi Arabia. Ugh. They're still going there? Jesus. *1/2

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Glendale, Arizona

ANNA JAY & HARLEY CAMERON vs. MEGAN BAYNE & PENELOPE FORD (12:35): I guess they didn't know what to do with Anna Jay so they threw her in with Harley Cameron, who is still pretty popular with the fans. Megan Bayne was in the women's championship match at the last PPV and now she's on the opener of the pre-show. That's not good. This was only the 2nd Double or Nothing PPV outside of Las Vegas (the 2020 pandemic show was in Jacksonville). I think they went somewhere else because they had a small crowd there the last two years. This crowd seemed to be quiet except for the big spots most of the night, although they did go nuts during the Anarchy in the Arena match and they tended to get louder towards the end of all the matches. This match was forgettable but the crowd was into Harley. *1/2

AR FOX, BANDIDO, HOLOGRAM & KOMANDER vs. CRU (LIO RUSH & ACTION ANDRETTI) & RPG VICE (ROCKY ROMERO & TRENT BERETTA) (13:16): Kind of didn't think I'd see Rappongi Vice back. Not sure why they're using a slightly different name, though. There was a lot of good action in this match. AR Fox has been a crowd favorite lately. Fun pre-show match. **1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. JAMIE HAYTER (21:17): This was the final of the Owen Hart Cup. The winner will face Toni Storm at All In Texas. I thought it was kind of obvious that Mone and Ospreay would win the Owen tournament. I was wrong! Mone won, though, so I was half right. Match definitely picked up steam and turned into something pretty good. Mone spiked Hayter right on her head with a package piledriver to win. It looked like Hayter was paralyzed instantly, but maybe all that red hair was in the way and it wasn't that bad. She did seem okay. **1/2

FTR vs. DANIEL GARCIA & NIGEL McGUINNESS (23:31): FTR are heels now for whatever reason. Boredom, freshen up things...I guess. Nigel only wrestles once in a blue moon these days, so it was nice to see him back in there. Match was fine. **

RICOCHET vs. MARK BRISCOE "STRETCHER MATCH" (16:11): Good match. I haven't seen a heavy crimson mask like Briscoe had in this match in a while. Because all the fans chant about Ricochet being bald, Briscoe sprayed his head with cleaner and shined it with a rag. Okay. This was AEW's first Stretcher Match. Also could be called an Ambulance Match. Crowd was into it and there were a lot of cool spots. ***

THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. THE SONS OF TEXAS (DUSTIN RHODES & SAMMY GUEVARA) (12:38): Is there even a tag team left in AEW to compete with The Hurt Syndicate? They've kind of buried everyone except for other heel teams like FTR and The Young Bucks. Sammy Guevara is exciting to watch so I have no idea why they've demoted him to ROH. Are they still angry that he injured Jeff Hardy like a year ago? Guevara and Rhodes got more offense than most against The Hurt Syndicate. MJF was out there because he's a member of The Hurt Syndicate now. He tried to get Lashley to use his diamond ring to cheat and knock someone out. Match was okay. **

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. MIKE BAILEY (16:02): Bailey looked good. Okada is still his slow-walking self. Match was fairly entertaining. **1/2

TONI STORM vs. MINA SHIRAKAWA (15:52): This show was 4.5 hours long. This is why. Did they even promote this match? Mina is supposedly now signed with AEW. She's exuberant. Toni Storm has always been more entertaining outside of the ring than in. Match was fine but nothing special. **

KENNY OMEGA, SWERVE STRICKLAND, THE OPPS (KATSUYORI SHIBATA, POWERHOUSE HOBBS & SOMOA JOE) & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. DEATH RIDERS (JON MOXLEY, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI, MARINA SHAFIR & WHEELER YUTA) & THE YOUNG BUCKS "ANARCHY IN THE ARENA" (35:19): This was a hell of a lot of fun. The gimmick now is they play music during the match. They started to play "I'm So Excited!" for comedy and then "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" five or six times. The crowd loved that. The highlights included Mina Shafir stapling Swerve's tongue with a staple gun and Kenny Omega giving a One Winged Angel on one of the Bucks onto an exploding table at ringside. They brawled outside and in the stands. The Bucks gave Omega a double knee to the face after putting thumbtacks in his mouth. Eventually the Death Riders were locked inside the ambulance that was still by the entrance, leaving the Bucks alone in the ring to lose. I'm still a little bit baffled as to why they didn't make this the main event. I thought maybe because the heels were winning. They weren't! Fun match, though. ***

THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (JOSH ALEXANDER, KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & KYLE FLETCHER) vs. PARAGON (ADAM COLE, KYLE O'REILLY & RODERICK STRONG) (12:48): Good luck to anyone that had to follow up that Anarchy match. This was pretty forgettable because they even turned off the crowd lights because everyone left to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. Normally with a hot crowd this might've been something fantastic. A bunch of guys came out after to beat up the heels. Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi came out for no real good reason. **

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. WILL OSPREAY (36:59): Everyone online raved about this match and proclaimed it a classic and maybe the best match of the year. It was good but I didn't think it was a 4 star classic or anything. It did shock me that 'Hangman' won. Not in a million years did I think Ospreay wasn't going to win the title in the main event of All In Texas. He's the best wrestler in the world. What the heck are they waiting for? 'Hangman' is great but he's had the title already. Is it because he's a cowboy and All In is in Texas? I mean...Ospreay could win the title in August at Forbidden Door in London. Or they could wait until next year's All In at Wembley. Seems like they're waiting too long, honestly. This was dramatic and the crowd got super into it. They did the gimmick where Page and Ospreay were using their friend's finishers and then their rival's finishers. That was creative. They did botch the table spot because it broke while they were attempting to do a move while standing on top of it. 'Hangman' won with the Buckshot Lariat. So Moxley vs. 'Hangman' is the main event of the biggest AEW show of the year. I did not see that coming at all. ***

WWE BACKLASH

St. Louis

JACOB FATU vs. DAMIAN PRIEST vs. DREW McINTYRE vs. LA KNIGHT (18:14): This was a very enjoyable show. It was a hell of a lot better than Wrestlemania. It definitely helped that every match was good and the show was only 2.5 hours long. The Logan Paul vs. Jey Uso title match was taken off this show and moved to Saturday Night's Main Event in two weeks for no apparent reason. A lot of people online seemed to not like this show, but their main criticism was the constant interference and ref bumps in every match. I actually like that stuff, as did this crowd, because otherwise these matches would be total bores. The crowd was loud and into every match which helped. I don't even really like WWE that much these days but I thought this was one of their best PPV's in the last few years. This opener was very exciting. After everyone battled in the ring for awhile, Drew and Damian brawled in the crowd and Damian gave Drew a suplex off a rig through two tables. They were both out which left LA Knight and Fatu in the ring. The crowd loved Fatu even though he's supposed to be a heel, but that might change as they introduced tension in The Bloodline. Solo Sikoa interfered to take Jacob Fatu off of the announce table when LA Knight was on the top rope ready to deliver an elbow drop. Jeff Cobb then made his WWE debut and Solo told him to take LA Knight out. After beating up LA Knight, Jacob Fatu eyed up Jeff Cobb as if he didn't want his help and didn't ask for it. Fatu retained the U.S. title. This was the best match on the show. ***

LYRA VALKYRIA vs. BECKY LYNCH (18:43): This match was pretty dull early but the crowd got into it when there were a bunch of a near falls towards the end. The funniest part of the match came when Becky was taunting some total nerd with glasses and curly hair wearing a track suit in the front row. The announcers mentioned that this was Lyra's fiancée. Uh...what? How'd that total dweeb score Lyra Valkyria? Not that Lyra is some super model or anything, but she's cute, a WWE wrestler, in great shape, and probably making good money. Lyra retained her title with a roll-up. I think she has the Intercontinental title. I honestly didn't even know they had a women's IC title. The last five minutes or so were fairly exciting. Becky beat up Lyra after the match and put her in an armbar submission until Adam Pierce and a bunch of WWE goons ran out to stop her. **1/2

DOMINICK MYSTERIO vs. PENTA (9:17): Think Penta is wondering if signing with WWE was a bad idea? I suppose losing to Dominick on a PPV isn't that bad. Dominick is one of the most over guy's in the company in terms of heel heat. I still have no idea why they're using Penta and Fenix as singles wrestlers. Dominick did an awesome through-the-ropes dive into a DDT. The Judgment Day guys all ran out at one point, though they were thwarted when Finn Balor took too long to grab a steel chair and the ref saw them. This is playing into Finn being angry at Dominick pinning him at Wrestlemania. Chad Gable, dressed up as El Grande Americano, a Luchador, gave Penta a head butt when the ref wasn't looking. Gable has a steel plate in his mask, thus why Penta was so devasted by the head butt he got pinned by Dom afterwards. Penta hasn't been that exciting since joining WWE, though he wasn't all that exciting in AEW when he wrestled solo, either. Match was at least entertaining. **1/2

GUNTHER vs. PAT McAFEE (14:07): McAfee has only wrestled a few times over the years in WWE, but they've always been entertaining. It was not a total beat down, as McAfee had a few comebacks and got a few shots in. At one point, Michael Cole left the announce table to plead for Gunther to just "end it." Cole, of course, got pulled into the ring by Gunther but McAfee kicked Gunther in the face. This was very engrossing, actually. **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. RANDY ORTON (27:49): There were three ref bumps in this match...so if that's not your thing then you probably hated this. Early on this was a total bore. I figure these two probably wrestled each other a million times over the years, so seeing an Orton vs. Cena main event PPV title match is pretty nostalgic. Orton is from St. Louis, so that's the reason this match was made. At one point, after the 2nd ref that ran out got knocked down, the Smackdown CEO and a bunch of his assistants ran out to the ring. The only purpose for this was so Orton could give them all RKO's. Orton put Cena through the announce table but it didn't break (it fell apart a few moments afterwards) so Orton got a table from under the ring and put Cena through it. R-Truth ran out at one point to stop Orton from kicking Cena in the head. The Cena and R-Truth stuff was a storyline from, like, 15 years ago or something absurd. Probably even more absurd that R-Truth is still around. Eventually when the refs were all dead, Cena gave Orton a low blow and hit him with the belt to win when the ref woke up. Cena definitely did a better job playing the heel here than he did at Wrestlemania. The storyline is that he wants to retire as champion. The problem with that storyline is that they should let him keep the title until his final match. Do we really want to see Cena cheating to win for the next 7 months, though? No. All the interference at least made this match watchable. I liked this show. It probably helped that I didn't watch it live so I could fast-forward all the entrances and commercials. A short show with a hot crowd and a lot of shenanigans. I suppose it's my cup of tea. **1/2

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 41

Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas

NIGHT 1 (Saturday, April 19th)

JEY USO vs. GUNTHER (16:21): This show was a dog. I always bitched about how long Wrestlemania was and that they should make it two nights. Well, now I'm pleading for them to go back to one night. While the crowd was into this first match and into the main event, they didn't much care for anything in between. It certainly didn't help that none of the matches besides the main event were any good. This show was so dull that some people online were raving about the main event like it was Omega-Okada or something. It wasn't, it's just that the show up to the main event was so forgettable and boring that it made the main event look like something excellent. It also didn't help that between matches there were at least 10 minutes or more of commercials and video packages. I feel pretty bad for the audience that paid those exorbitant ticket prices for such a bad show. Not that this card was any good in the first place. Ospreay vs. Takeshita on Dynamite on Wednesday was better than this entire show combined. If they had only done 1 night this year, it at least would've cut the fat. Jade Cargill vs. Naomi is a match for the biggest show of the year? Give me a break. Also The New Day vs. The War Raiders? These are RAW matches at best. They decided to go with the WWE championship match first. This is for the lesser of the two main titles, obviously "lesser" because it wasn't even the main event. Gunther beat Jey Uso a few months ago on a Saturday Night's Main Event show...so it was pretty obvious Jey would win the title here. The crowds at all these WWE shows love doing the "Yeet" hand motion, which is why Jey is popular. It's not because of his exciting wrestling. Usually, at least, in the past, Gunther's matches have been match-of-the-year caliber. Not lately, anyway. At least the crowd was somewhat awake for this match. Jey Uso choked out Gunther to win...which is kind of ridiculous, but whatever. They should really just put The Uso's back together as a tag team because they've never been good singles wrestlers. **

THE NEW DAY vs. THE WAR RAIDERS (9:12): And then they went into four straight short matches that a silent crowd sat through utterly bored. They popped for some of the big moves here and there, but that was it. The New Day are heels now. They won the tag titles here. The tag division is pretty thin these days, which makes me wonder why they decided not to keep The Lucha Brothers as a tag team. Xavier Woods cheated when the ref wasn't looking and held someone's leg which caused Kofi to pin one of the Vikings. The War Raiders did one cool spot where one picked up the other and tossed him off the apron onto The New Day. I guess Big E. is never coming back. 1/2*

JADE CARGILL vs. NAOMI (9:20): They really tried to push Jade as a power house and a big star and all that. Trust me, it doesn't work. AEW tried it for years. Jade just isn't a good wrestler. Naomi spent the whole match trying to keep her boob from popping out of her outfit. 1/2*

JACOB FATU vs. LA KNIGHT (10:38): Fatu is one of the few WWE wrestlers that is actually really exciting to watch and the fans seem to get behind. I guess beating LA Knight for some superfluous title is considered pushing him? I mean...put him in the main event title hunt already. The crowd popped when Fatu was doing moonsaults. LA Knight has cooled off thanks to the WWE never really going all the way with him. His pinnacle was a main event losing to Roman Reigns in Saudi Arabia two years ago. The crowds at least still chant his catchphrases. This was fine but nothing special. **

EL GRANDE AMERICANO vs. REY FENIX (7:55): Chad Gable is wearing a Luchador mask now for some reason. I'd say it's because Vince thinks it's funny but Vince isn't writing this, anymore. Rey Mysterio was supposed to wrestle in this match but he got injured on Smackdown so they threw in Rey Fenix. While Fenix lost, at least he got his Wrestlemania moment, which I guess is why he left AEW (WWE bought AAA, so maybe that also had something to do with him leaving AEW). The Lucha Brothers are awesome as a tag team but not as great separately. Hopefully the WWE realizes this sooner than later. Gable cheated by putting a steel rod in his mask and head butting Fenix. I've seen Fenix look a hell of a lot better literally all the time. Has WWE already ruined him? *1/2

TIFFANY STRATTON vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (19:09): This feud got a lot of online press because on Smackdown two weeks ago they apparently went off script and it was a disaster. First off, they didn't go off script. Nobody cared about this match so they decided to pretend like they both really hate each other and say stuff on TV as if it was real life. How stupid are you fans to think that this shit is real? Well it worked, as suddenly people cared about this match. It was clunky. Tiffany came out in a Barbie Box. That was amusing. Really, none of the grand entrances were that cool. LA Knight and Charlotte both came out in a car. Both Tiffany and Charlotte did moonsaults. They both seemed a bit off. Match was just okay. Tiffany retained her title. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. ROMAN REIGNS vs. CM PUNK (32:39): I think there was 20 minutes or more between the last match and this one. They brought out the Hall of Fame inductees. HHH, who runs the company now, was inducted into the hall of fame. Supposedly his speech at the Hall of Fame was over an hour long. I'm glad I didn't watch that. This match was more entertaining than anything else on this show. Considering how bad the rest of this show was, this match seemed like Steamboat-Flair or something. If you had only watched this match, though, it was good but nothing spectacular or anything. They broke both announce tables and Paul Heyman turned on both Roman and CM Punk to align himself with Seth. This was not a surprise. I read a preview of this show on Voices of Wrestling and he predicted this. I'm guessing more people than him figured this "shocking" finish would occur. They did a zillion kick outs. That got old. Roman went for a spear and Seth jumped up and turned it into a Pedigree. That was kind of cool. They brawled in the crowd. The finish had Paul Heyman coming into the ring and giving CM Punk a low blow and then Roman a low blow and then handing Seth a chair. The funniest thing was at one point, Seth was yelling at Roman about the past and mentioned "Mox." As in...Jon Moxley. But he wasn't "Mox" in WWE. He was Dean Ambrose. Oh, c'mon, Seth, just go join AEW already. Match was entertaining but my God was this a dull show. **1/2

NIGHT 2 (Sunday, April 20th, Easter)

IYO SKY vs. BIANCA BeLAIR vs. RHEA RIPLEY (14:26): The last time Wrestlemania was in Las Vegas, it was Wrestlemania IX, held outside Caesar's Palace. I remember that because I was a fan of the WWE back then, even going to one or two WWE house shows (Owen Hart vs. Brett Hart in a steel cage was the one main event I remember). I recall renting the VHS copy of Wrestlemania IX from Blockbuster. The Undertaker wrestled Giant Gonzalez. The main event had Yokozuna beating Brett Hart...then, for no logical reason, Hulk Hogan ran out and leg dropped Yokozuna to pin him. No, it didn't make sense then, either. As stupid as that Wrestlemania was, it was probably better than this one. Night 2 was different in that the first couple of matches were entertaining and then it went downhill, culminating in a fairly disappointing main event. This first match, for the women's title, was perhaps the best match on either show. The crowd was still awake, alive, and loud and the match was non-stop action. Iyo Sky retained the title. ***

DREW McINTYRE vs. DAMIAN PRIEST "SIN CITY STREET FIGHT" (13:54): This was a hardcore match, so they broke a bunch of tables. Priest gave Drew a Razor's Edge from the top rope through a table. Then Damian was walking the ropes and Drew tossed him over and down onto two tables. This wasn't fantastic or anything but it was entertaining. **

DOMINIK MYSTERIO vs. PENTA vs. FINN BALOR vs. BRON BREAKKER (10:30): Another fairly entertaining match. The finish had Finn about to win the title when Dominik did a frog splash off the top rope onto Finn then pinned him to win the IC title. Penta did a cool top rope dive to the floor, but him and Fenix still look like shells of their former selves for whatever reason. **1/2

RANDY ORTON vs. JOE HENDRY (3:10): Kevin Owens has to get neck surgery, so he was out of this match. The surprise opponent was not Jeff Cobb, who will probably show up on RAW. It was TNA's champion, Joe Hendry. The crowds love Joe Hendry. The problem? He's supposed to be the TNA champ...why is he losing in 3 minutes? The ending was fun. Hendry slammed Orton then did his turn around pose but Orton RKO'd him to win. **1/2

LOGAN PAUL vs. AJ STYLES (17:43): This was actually kind of boring. Paul did a few cool spots, including a Lionsault. Styles is obviously too old to be wrestling four star masterpiece matches, anymore, and Paul isn't as death defying as he was when he started. *1/2

BECKY LYNCH & LYRA VALKYRIA vs. THE JUDGMENT DAY (LIV MORGAN & RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ) (8:38): Becky was the surprise here, taking Bayley's place. She's been out a long time, raising kids I guess. She looked good here, though this was short with not much to it. Lyra isn't exactly over or anything...who is she, anyway? Becky and Lyra won the tag team titles. *1/2

JOHN CENA vs. CODY RHODES (25:03): 'Stone Cold' came out before this match to announce the fake attendance. He drove one of those off road 4-wheeler bikes and crashed it into the barrier and a woman fell over. He had to walk to the back up the stage instead of riding the bike back. Then the main event started! The crowd was super hot when this match started. Cena actually looked really good considering he doesn't wrestle much these days. He did also look like he was kind of phoning everything in a bit, like he was bored. Everyone online hated this match...and I think the reason was because The Rock didn't show up. Cena turned heel because The Rock told him to...but there was no follow up. Instead, Travis Scott, the rapper, came out near the end of the match. Scott was in the ring with Cena, The Rock, and Cody at Elimination Chamber during Cena's heel turn. Why? I guess so the WWE can get mainstream press out of it. Travis Scott pulled the ref out of the ring at one point. Cody gave Scott his finisher. While the ref was out, Cody refused to be evil and hit Cena with the belt. Cena cheated by removing the corner pad on the ropes and slamming Cody's head into it. Cena kicked Cody in the balls and gave him a belt shot. The ref woke up and Cena won the title. The match was fine but nothing great. Travis Scott's long entrance towards the end of the match was bad, and him interfering was silly and lame. The Rock not being there when he was part of the story was also disappointing. There were a few entertaining matches on both nights but in total this was a bad, forgettable Wrestlemania. **

AEW DYNASTY

The Liacouras Center, Philly

CRU (ACTION ANDRETTI & LIO RUSH) & NICK WAYNE vs. AR FOX & TOP FLIGHT (DANTE MARTIN & DARIUS MARTIN) (11:16): The last AEW PPV, Revolution, was one of the best they've ever done...so it was fairly obvious this show would get some negative feedback. First off, the card wasn't good. The only match on paper that seemed like it would be excellent was the Omega 3-way. The last PPV we had Ospreay and Fletcher doing a Spanish Fly off of a cage and Toni Storm and Mariah May dipping their taped up hands in glass and punching each other. That was kind of hard to live up to and, honestly, they didn't really even try. The negative feedback seemed to be centered on two things: the show was too long (it ended at 12:21 AM on a Sunday night...meaning people had to work the next day) and everyone hated the main event ending. Considering I never watch these shows live, the length never bothers me. I just watch it in 2-3 chunks. The main event ending wasn't bad...it's just that people didn't like that Swerve didn't win. This was not a typical, excellent AEW PPV, though. It was entertaining throughout. And this first match on the pre-show was fantastic. The crowd was on their feet going crazy when AR Fox was doing back and forth over-the-top-rope dives from both sides of the ring like a mad man. I really wish they'd do something with Nick Wayne because he was a big star on the indie scene and AEW hasn't really done much of anything with him. Top Flight used to be a top team and they're pretty much just a low-card, forgettable team now with no future. Still, the match was a lot of fun. *** 

ANTHONY BOWENS vs. MAX CASTER (0:40): Considering AEW rarely uses a ton of talent for whatever reason, it's odd that Max Caster has been getting a ton of TV time lately for no good reason. He comes out and shows off his "Best Wrestler Alive" trademark plaque then loses quickly to someone in a squash. This might've been cute, like, once or twice. It seems like they do it all the time. Is this going anywhere? This time, Anthony Bowens came out to a big crowd pop. He's been gone for awhile for no good reason. Maybe they shouldn't have broken up this tag team? 1/2*

WILL OSPREAY vs. KEVIN KNIGHT (13:46): One reason that this card wasn't good was that it had a bunch of matches like this that were just random TV matches thrown on a PPV. I mean...at least we got a Will Ospreay match, and it was a great match. Kevin Knight used to be in a team with Kushida in NJPW. AEW just signed him. He's fun to watch but he's just going to end up in those forgettable, purposeless Top Flight type of random matches you'll see on Collision sometimes. The crowd was great tonight for awhile (they got tired late). They cheered for everything Ospreay did. The crowd even started doing European chants during the Toni Storm match which was jarring. This was the first round of the Owen Hart cup. The winner, which presumably will be Ospreay, gets a title shot at All In Texas. ***

THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. THE LEARNING TREE (BIG BILL & BRYAN KEITH) (10:29): I said this card wasn't any good, right? Well, here's another one. The Learning Tree is pretty much a joke. The Hurt Syndicate is a heel team that the audience loves so now they're baby faces. MJF wants to join The Hurt Syndicate so he popped up in the front row and hit Big Bill with his ring. I'm guessing this is leading to a Bobby Lashley vs. MJF match? I don't really get it, either. Match wasn't good. *1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. JULIA HART (13:03): This was the first round of the Owen Cup which presumably Mercedes will win so she can face Toni Storm at All In Texas. I love Julia Hart because she's a cute 20 year old gymnast. She's not a very entertaining wrestler, though. This wasn't very good. *1/2

DEATH RIDERS (PAC, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & WHEELER YUTA) vs. RATED FTR (CASH WHEELER, DAX HARWOOD & COPE) (14:43): After the match, FTR turned on Edge and laid him out and gave him the Conchairto. That was memorable. The match wasn't. FTR is heel now. I think they used to be a few years ago, right? You kind of have to figure Edge will get a partner to face FTR. The only partner I can come up with is Christian, right? Christian was a babyface when he started in AEW. Hell, he wrestled Omega on the first ever Collision when Omega was a heel champ with Don Callis as his manager. That match was excellent. I mean...FTR vs. Edge & Christian at All In Texas would be a pretty big match. I honestly don't even remember if this match was any good but the post-match was great. **1/2

TONI STORM vs. MEGAN BAYNE (15:23): Megan Bayne is this tall, blonde woman with giant fake tits. So...I get why they're pushing her. She's not the greatest in-ring talent, though, even though she came from Stardom. The match was fine but nothing special. Toni retained her title with a roll up. *1/2

KYLE FLETCHER vs. MARK BRISCOE (16:06): This was, shockingly, the best match on the show. Holy, shit, this match was awesome. It was another Owen Cup match. Fletcher beat the living shit out of Briscoe. He gave him power bombs on the ring apron and the guardrail. His running kicks to Briscoe's face were insane. This was All Japan mid-90's type of hard-hitting brutality. The crowd ate this up. I loved this. ***1/2

BANDIDO vs. CHRIS JERICHO (18:12): This match had all the cornball cliche of an Arena Mexico match in, like, the 1960's. First off, Bandido hasn't looked that great since his return. Granted, he was out with an injury for, like, two years or something preposterous. Jericho won by hitting Bandido with a baseball bat when the ref wasn't looking. For some reason, this match had instant replay and the ref reversed it when Bandido's mother and sister and ringside mentioned the bat shot to the ref. The match was re-started and Bandido won the ROH title and kept his mask (the stipulation had him losing the mask if he lost). I mentioned a few years ago that Jericho shouldn't be in singles matches anymore. I'm standing by that! Match was kind of dull. When the ref re-started the match, Bandido's mother and sister were ringside jumping up and down cheering. Like I said, this was cornball cliche out of another era. **

ADAM COLE vs. DANIEL GARCIA (15:35): This hot, packed Philly crowd was pretty quiet for this one. They come to AEW shows to see high flying and blood. They don't want to see a regular wrestling match. This was a regular wrestling match. Adam Cole has cooled off since his high in the summer of 2023 when he teamed with MJF. Garcia lost the TNT title here and I don't think anyone cared. Oh, well. It probably didn't help that this match was the 3rd in a month between these two. *1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. 'SPEEDBALL' MIKE BAILEY vs. RICOCHET (30:56): Everyone said this match was too long. I guess it was? My problem was that a singles match between Omega and either guy would've been better. It was too stop-start with three wrestlers in there and it didn't have that dramatic flow, it was pretty much just high spots. It was very entertaining, though, and Omega looked great. The Philly crowd woke up for this one to chant about Ricochet being bald. ***

JON MOXLEY vs. SWERVE STRICKLAND (31:14): This was a classic WWE clusterfuck main event. What that means is...you get the ref bump, the announce table break, and a ton of interference. It did at least make this interesting, because before all of that happened the match was kind of dull. Marina Shafir came into the ring with the briefcase (which has the world title). Prince Nana ran into the ring but Marina hit him with the briefcase. Moxley gave Marina an RKO by accident. Eventually, 'Hangman' Adam Page ran out. He was ready to give either Moxley or Swerve a Buckshot Lariat (the storyline is...we don't know who he was going to take out). PAC, Wheeler, and Claudio ran out. Samoa Joe, Hook, and Shibata ran out to make the save. After they all brawled to the back, Moxley pulled out a ladder from under the ring (it should be noted that this was not a no-DQ match or anything). Swerve and Moxley were brawling on the ladder by the announce table. Swerve jumped off the ladder to give Moxley a stomp through the table that broke. That was a great spot. The ref was knocked out with a thrown chair somewhere during this mele. The lights went out. When the lights came on, The Young Bucks had Swerve in the ring and they gave him the EVP double knee. The ref woke up and Moxley pinned Swerve to retain the title. Okay. Deep breath. That was a lot. It was entertaining even though everyone online seemed to hate it. The Young Bucks are still heels? I kind of thought they'd return as good guys. They've been gone for 6 months. They did wrestle twice this year for NJPW in Japan (they won and lost the tag titles). And where's Jack Perry? Why does AEW have a black hole where talent disappears? Like...where's Britt Baker? I did give a lot of matches on this show low ratings so it certainly wasn't a great show or anything but it entertained me throughout and the crowd was awesome for a lot of it. **1/2

AEW REVOLUTION

Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles

HOLOGRAM & KOMANDER vs. BLAKE CHRISTIAN & LEE JOHNSON (9:54): This was an excellent show. The pre-show, which had 4 matches, and the main event weren't very good, though. Hologram is exciting to watch and Komander is entertaining. I feel like the AEW PPV pre-show matches used to be a lot better. **

DANIEL GARCIA & THE UNDISPUTED KINGDOM (ADAM COLE, KYLE O'REILLY & RODERICK STRONG) vs. SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS (CARLIE BRAVO, LEE MORIARTY, SHANE TAYLOR & SHAWN DEAN) (9:37): I watched this pre-show yesterday and watched the PPV today. I kind of forget what even happened on the pre-show. These matches weren't very memorable. They are setting up another Daniel Garcia vs. Adam Cole match for Garcia's TNT title. Cole was ready to deliver his Panama Sunrise move but Garcia stopped it by putting their opponent in a submission hold instead, thus pissing off Cole. They actually already wrestled last week for the TNT title but Shane Taylor and his group ran in to cause a DQ. Match was fine. **

CHRIS JERICHO vs. GRAVITY: This match never started because Big Bill and The Bad Apple ran in to beat up Gravity. I guess Gravity is Bandido's brother? Because Bandido ran in to make the save but got beat up. Gravity and Bandido's mother and sister came in the ring to tend to them and Jericho was going to hit them with a bat. I guess this is setting up Bandido winning the ROH title from Jericho, presumably at the ROH show on Wrestlemania weekend. That doesn't really make sense, though, since Jericho just beat Bandido in a title match last week. **

BIG BOOM AJ & THE CONGLOMERATION (ORANGE CASSIDY & MARK BRISCOE) vs. JOHNNY TV & MxM COLLECTION (MANSOOR & MASON MADDEN) (12:54): Big Boom AJ, his son, and The Rizzler, some fat kid, are Tiktok and Youtube stars for whatever reason. This is actually the second time they were in an AEW match. I've seen enough. Granted, I'm not a 10 year old boy. Match was fine. No one really did much. *1/2

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. MJF (19:04): Great match to open the PPV. I was thinking that Page should really win here because it seems like MJF always wins. It gets a little ridiculous (I think the last time MJF lost was against Ospreay at last year's All In). This show was so loaded that I forget most of what even happened in these early matches. Page did win with The Buckshot Lariat. Crowd was hot. Very entertaining. ***1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. MOMO WATANABE (18:18): The crowd was quiet early for a lot of these matches but got into them by the end. This was one of them. The place was quiet until the second half. Momo is from Stardom so I don't think anyone knew who she was. She did some brutal moves, though, like a top rope knee stomp onto Mercedes on the apron. Match was fine but nothing special. **

SWERVE STRICKLAND vs. RICOCHET (18:10): The crowd got into this by the second half. Ricochet is awesome as a heel. Swerve really is a big star that the crowds everywhere pop for. They probably should give him the title again at Dynasty next month. They did a ton of near-falls in this, maybe too many. There were all these Hollywood B-stars at ringside making a ruckus during this match. Leslie Jones, who used to be on Saturday Night Live, was screaming throughout the whole match at ringside. Swerve gave Ricochet a backdrop slam on the announce table. Really heated throughout and the crowd was standing at the end of this. Good match. ***

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. BRODY KING (10:56): These days, Okada is only in really good matches once in a blue moon. This was okay but felt more like just a typical TV match. Okada won with The Rainmaker. The crowd was pretty quiet for most of this match. **

THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. THE OUTRUNNERS (TRUTH MAGNUM & TURBO FLOYD) (8:40): A few months ago, The Outrunners were so over with the crowds that Bryan Alvarez, the Wrestling Observer podcaster, said they should make them tag champs. Well those days are over, but they did get this title shot. The crowd popped for some of The Outrunners stupid, 80's, Hulkamania-esque gimmicks. But the crowd was more into Lashley and Benjamin, even though they're supposed to be heels. This wasn't a total squash, as they gave The Outrunners some momentum in the middle for a while. They're building The Hurt Business up as this unstoppable team kind of like how Roman Reigns was an unstoppable champion for years. I'm thinking maybe The Young Bucks come back and beat them. I mean...who else is there? FTR seem to be turning heel. *1/2

TONI STORM vs. MARIAH MAY "HOLLYWOOD ENDING MATCH" (12:56): This was the match that all the fans online raved about being the best of the night. It was wild and exciting but I still thought Ospreay/Fletcher was better. They started by brawling by the entrance and going through a table. In the ring, they taped their hands up and stuck them in a bucket filled with a broken champagne bottle, thus having glass shards on their hands. Orange Cassidy actually did this at All In in 2023. The crowd loved that spot. Both of the women were bleeding but Toni Storm was gruesomely covered in blood pouring down her face. The ending had Toni giving Mariah a piledriver through a table by the entrance and winning. This was something. Fantastic match. ***1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (28:30): This match reminded me of a New Japan match where it heats up and becomes epic and awesome in the last five minutes or so. They did bring out a table and Takeshita slammed Omega onto the table while it was on its side. That's because Omega had diverticulitis and had some of his intestines removed last year. They traded big moves, had a bunch of near falls. The crowd was going wild by the end of this. Omega won the International Title. Really good match. ***1/2 

WILL OSPREAY vs. KYLE FLETCHER "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (28:56): Now this was something. This was my favorite match of the night and perhaps the best match of the year thus far. It was edge-of-your-seat stuff. It was totally epic and dramatic and sometimes hard to watch. I mean...Ospreay gave Fletcher a Spanish Fly off the top of the cage. That's insanity. Mark Davis, Fletcher's former Aussie Open partner, ran down to the ring and cut the door open with bolt cutters to deliver a bag. The bag contained a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire and a bag of thumbtacks. Ospreay hit Fletcher with the barbed wire bat and then ran the bat across Fletcher's forehead. Ospreay gave Fletcher a Styles Clash onto the thumbtacks. Fletcher had a screwdriver stashed on the top of the cage and eventually both men stabbed each other in the head with it. While all of this carnage was going on, they were both delivering wild, big moves on one another. Fletcher gave Ospreay a Brain Buster on a steel chair. Ospreay jumped off the side of the cage to give Fletcher an Osscutter. Finally, Fletcher was on his knees yelling, "I fucking hate you!" and Ospreay gave him The Hidden Blade to win. This was a masterpiece and the type of match you'll never forget. ****

JON MOXLEY vs. ADAM COPELAND/ JON MOXLEY vs. CHRISTIAN vs. ADAM COPELAND (26:32): Well...good luck following that last match. The crowd was dead. The match was a bore. The crowd woke up when the ref got knocked out and Wheeler Yuta and Jay White came down. Jay White inadvertently hit Copeland with the briefcase (Moxley has been keeping the title in a briefcase for no good reason). Wheeler, who had teased turning against Moxley, didn't. Wheeler and Jay White brawled to the back. Copeland gave Moxley a bunch of spears and went to pin Moxley but Christian pulled him out of the ring. Christian cashed in his title shot contract. The match became a 3 way. Moxley ended up tapping Christian out to win. After all of these awesome, AEW matches on the show, this main event just felt like a WWE match. Christian showing up got a big pop but the crowd hated that he lost so easily. Moxley was walking through the crowd after the match and Swerve jumped off a railing and onto Moxley. I'm guessing they'll do that match at Dynasty on April 6th (in Philly at The Liacouras Center). Considering how dull this main event was and how dull the Death Riders storyline has been, I think Swerve should win the title. *1/2

WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER

Toronto

BIANCA BeLAIR vs. ALEXA BLISS vs. LIV MORGAN vs. NAOMI vs. ROXANNE PEREZ "ELIMINATION CHAMBER" (29:15): This was one of the more entertaining WWE PPV's in recent memory. I'm kind of wondering if that had anything to do with the RAW ratings on Netflix being so disappointing. Usually when ratings are a factor, companies try all kinds of bold, eye-catching things. AEW did this last year when they were in talks for a new TV contract. They had Jack Perry and The Young Bucks beat up Tony Khan on TV. They showed the real security footage of the Jack Perry & CM Punk fight. And they also did an hour long TV match between Ospreay and MJF. Maybe I'm wrong and all of these big, bold ideas were always going to happen. Who knows? The show wasn't all great, though. I didn't like the fact that a show with only 4 matches was 3 hours and 15 minutes long. This match was fine but nothing special. It started with a "shocking" moment when Jade Cargill came out and beat up Naomi. Naomi was stretchered out and was eliminated. Besides that, there wasn't much else to this besides a typical, been-there-done-that Chamber match. Bianca whipped Liv with her hair and eventually Liv was bleeding from her back. Bianca won...but the storyline seems to be setting up Bianca vs. Jade, not Bianca vs. whatever champion she faces at 'Mania. Tiffany Stratton and Rhea Ripley are the two women's champions. Bianca vs. either of those two women would probably be a good match but there's no storyline there, is there? **

TIFFANY STRATTON & TRISH STRATUS vs. CANDICE LeRAE & NIA JAX (11:41): This match was kind of dull until Tiffany came in and looked incredible. Trish actually looked good considering she hasn't been a full time wrestler in, like, twenty years. I was watching this and thinking that they probably wanted this match to go longer than usual because the show had only 4 matches. It was only 11 minutes long! It felt like 20. That's not a good sign. Tiffany is a star, though, so she was fun to watch. *1/2

KEVIN OWENS vs. SAMI ZAYN "UNSANCTIONED MATCH" (27:35): This was the best WWE match I've seen in forever. That's not a surprise, really, as these two are two of the better wrestlers in the company. They used a barbed wire wrapped chair in this which was one of the bold, shocking aspects of this show. When was the last time the WWE used barbed wire? I think it was that JBL vs. The Big Show cage match that had barbed wire across the top of the cage. That was probably 20 years ago. And did they ever even use barbed wire before that? Ever? It's definitely a great thing when you use something sparingly. Barbed wire still gets a pop in AEW, but seeing it in WWE when they never use it was a big deal. They brawled in the crowd for a while. Sami put Kevin through two tables stacked with plastic cups and cans in the crowd. There were two tables stacked on top of each other that Sami got tossed onto from the top rope. They did some slams on a steel chair and the barbed wire chair. The barbed wire was even more fake than the AEW barbed wire because it didn't even stick to Kevin's shirt. Kevin beat up two referees. WWE officials ran out trying to get Kevin to stop. Eventually Kevin won. Good match. After the match, Randy Orton returned and gave Kevin an RKO and then gave a few officials that ran in RKO's. ***

JOHN CENA vs. CM PUNK vs. DREW McINTYRE vs. LOGAN PAUL vs. SETH ROLLINS "ELIMINATION CHAMBER" (32:36): This match was packed with stars which made it feel like a big time match (Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Dominick Mysterio, Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley and LA Knight were a few of the wrestlers not even on this show). Logan Paul did a frog splash from off the top of a pod. Eventually it came down to CM Punk and Cena. These two had one of the best feuds in the WWE ever in 2011 during The Summer of Punk...so that was nostalgic and fun seeing those two wrestling again after so long. Seth Rollins was eliminated but gave Punk a foot stomp on the steel floor in the chamber. This caused Cena to be able to put Punk in the STU submission hold and win. A lot of this match was entertaining, but it seemed like it went on a bit too long. **1/2

THE ROCK & CODY RHODES SEGMENT: Cody and The Rock came out while Cena was still in the ring. The Rock wanted Cody to give him a hug because The Rock wanted Cody's soul. No, I have no idea what that even means. Cody said that he doesn't have a soul because he's already given it to the WWE and the fans. Then the big, bold choices came into play. Cody said, "Go fuck yourself," to The Rock. I mean...it's Peacock, you can curse, show nudity, and blood, who cares? But the WWE usually doesn't curse (Michael Cole also said "shit" during this segment...so is this the new normal?), so that was a surprise. Then Cena kicked Cody in the balls and beat him up while The Rock watched. So Cena finally turned heel after all these years. The reason he never turned heel was because his merchandise was always the #1 seller and he was popular with little kids. Since this is his retirement run, I guess the WWE figured he'd never be able to turn heel ever again, why not try it this year? The other reason is probably because they wanted one of the Wrestlemania main events to be Cody vs. Cena, and they might've been afraid that Cody might get booed. Or maybe it was those bad Netflix ratings and they wanted to do something daring to get people talking. I like that they tried something fresh. I don't like that Cena's retirement year is going to be him being evil. Usually you want a retirement tour to be a thank you to the fans and go out with cheering crowds and adoration, right? You don't want to retire being booed and beating up good guys and seeing kids crying in the audience, do you? This might end up biting them in the ass. I guess we'll find out. This company hasn't exactly made the best decisions in the last few years (Sami Zayn not beating Roman for the title being the obvious black mark). But at least this made the WWE interesting for the first time in a long time. 

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis

WOMEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (CHARLOTTE FLAIR) (70:20): This show was typical WWE these days; entertaining but nothing special and, of course, no match-of-the-year contenders. The WWE is hot these days and printing money, so I guess they don't care if they're not producing 4 star matches. What was the last 4 star WWE match? I don't think I've ever given 4 stars to a WWE match. The one problem I had with this show was that both Rumbles were too long. The men's Rumble on this show was the longest one in history. It was actually longer than that awful Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia that featured 50 men and was one hour and 17 minutes long. The first Rumble ever back in the 80's only had 20 men and was 33 minutes long. Most of them have been a little bit longer than an hour. Maybe they should go back to the 20 person gimmick. These Rumbles are too long. They drag, they're boring, wrestlers are just standing around most of the time. In this new, Vince-less era, the Rumbles don't feature a lot of past stars past their prime. This one had Trish Stratus, but she's actually recently wrestled on big shows in the last couple of years. Remember when they had a lot of really old stars show up? What, was Vince the only one that knew their phone numbers or something? There were a few returns in this match. Charlotte Flair was injured and gone all of 2024. Alexa Bliss was gone because she had a baby. Nikki Bella returned at #30. She's been gone for years. I wonder how she was making $ for the last ten years. Remember she was dating John Cena? Was that just a publicity stunt? So Nia Jax came in and eliminated a bunch of wrestlers. Charlotte Flair won by eliminating Roxanne Perez, who is a NXT wrestler. Giulia, who used to be in Stardom, is the NXT champ now and was in her first Rumble. I feel bad for her because she'll never be able to showcase her true talents in WWE. Same for CMLL's Stephanie Vaquer. I do like the Rumble gimmick, so this was at least mildly entertaining. **

#DIY (JOHNNY GARGANO & TOMMASO CIAMPA) vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS (ALEX SHELLEY & CHRIS SABIN) "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH": If this match happened anywhere other than WWE and happened ten years ago it might've been a masterpiece. But these guys are old, the WWE isn't exciting, and the crowd didn't much care for this match. They had around 65,000 fans at this show, which is impressive. When the crowd pops big for Penta doing a Canadian Destroyer, I always wonder what they'd do if they saw a Will Ospreay match. Would their heads explode? & when they stand up and chant for "tables" and gasp at Kevin Owens going through a table, what the heck would they do seeing 'Hangman' vs. Swerve in a hardcore match? Would they faint? It's almost like these WWE fans don't watch other wrestling. At least, that's what it seems like by the crowd reactions. This was for the tag team titles...which is a total dud of a division in the WWE. The Uso's broke up. The Judgment Day is kind of more singles wrestlers that sometimes wrestle as a tag team. There's those Viking guys that were great in ROH but are super bland now. This was fine but pretty forgettable. **

CODY RHODES vs. KEVIN OWENS "LADDER MATCH" (25:22): This was at least a good match with some brutal spots on ladders. They seem to be turning Cody heel for some ungodly reason. Why would they do that? They do realize that Cody left AEW because the fans started booing him, right? The fans did boo Cody at least in one spot in this match. Maybe it was just that these big WWE shows sometimes get the hardcore fans and the hardcore fans like Kevin Owens. Both men got slammed onto ladder bridges. That was exciting. Cody kept the title and is supposed to wrestle Cena at 'Mania. ***

MEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (JEY USSO) (80:11): 80 minutes? Jesus Christ. I have, like, things to do. This show was 4 hours and 18 minutes. What is this, a New Japan show? This Rumble was good because it had a lot of big stars in it. Cena, who is retiring after this year, hasn't been in one in a while. Roman Reigns hasn't been in one in years because he was a forever champion. And they had CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Logan Paul. Jacob Fatu, who has become the most exciting wrestler in the company since he debuted (they haven't neutered him yet), was definitely the star. He didn't win of course. Jey Uso eliminated Cena to win. Uso is a crowd favorite. He comes out on RAW amidst the crowd and everyone moves their hands up and down and it's a spectacle. I get why he won. But...he was just in the main event last week on Saturday's Main Event where he lost a title match to Gunther. So why let him win here? He's just going to beat Gunther at 'Mania? Makes no sense to already have had that match and he lost. I suppose Cena will win at the Elimination Chamber to get his 'Mania match. This large crowd popped more for the wrestler's entrances and when they just stood in the ring than for really anything they did wrestling wise. At one point, it was CM Punk, Roman, Seth and Cena standing in the ring and the crowd was going crazy. I get it...the wrestling wasn't better than them standing there. This was Penta's first Rumble and at least he did some moves. Logan did a spot where he jumped to the announce table but he was still alive. He then jumped to the stairs to get back in the match. L.A. Knight was eliminated pretty fast late which I guess means they've given up on pushing him as a main event star. Logan was #30. I figured the only ones left for #30 were The Rock or Solo Sikoa. Both weren't in the match. A lot of this was entertaining but a lot of it was boring. The WWE is fine; it's entertaining, it sells out football stadiums...but it doesn't feature great wrestling matches. This is why we're watching it. At least...me. Will the WWE ever change and get there? I miss the glory days of NXT. I assumed that would translate to the main show with HHH in charge. Sadly, I was mistaken. **1/2

NJPW/CMLL/AEW WRESTLE DYNASTY

Tokyo Dome

Attendance: 16,300

MOMO WATANABE vs. WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. ATHENA vs. PERSEPHONE (11:13): Some of this show was entertaining. Most of the matches just seemed totally random and thrown together, though. This match was fine. Willow looked good. Athena is really short, that's probably why she's been in ROH forever and never on AEW TV. Persephone is from CMLL and she looked good. Momo is from Stardom. They didn't really get a lot of time to do much. **

THE SONS OF TEXAS (SAMMY GUEVARA & DUSTIN RHODES) vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (SHO & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU) (9:27): I was wondering what the hell happened to Sammy Guevara. He's apparently in Ring of Honor purgatory these days. He did some great top rope flips and dives in this match. The crowd seemed to like Dustin Rhodes for whatever reason. Match was okay. **

TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. EL DESPERADO vs. HECHICERO vs. KOSEI FUJITA vs. MASCARA DORADO vs. MASTER WATO vs. SOBERANO, JR. vs. TITAN (16:23): Did New Japan really have to pay for airfare and hotel rooms for all these wrestlers? If so, how did they make money on this show? Doesn't it cost thousands of dollars to fly from the U.S. or Mexico to Japan? A hotel room in Tokyo has to be, like, $300 a night, right? This match was all action so it was at least entertaining. I really miss watching CMLL because their Friday night shows used to be free on Youtube and now they charge money for them. Oh, well. Ishimori won and all the CMLL wrestlers were mad and tried to "get" him and he ran away. **1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA (5:00): This was an exhibition. I guess New Japan doesn't want to ever let Shibata actually wrestle on one of their shows since he almost died once in their ring. All these two did was slap each other on the chest back and forth until the time limit draw. Yeah...I don't know about the idea to even do this. It was odd. *1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. MINA SHIRAKAWA (14:06): Pretty good match. I guess the elephant in the room here is that Mina has big tits and she's constantly fixing her outfit so they don't pop out. She was doing this in her match against Mariah May on Dynamite a month ago, too. Maybe she needs a new wardrobe or something. So this was for the REVPro women's title and the NJPW Strong Women's title. Mone came in as the NJPW champ and won the REVPro title. This was entertaining. Mone has had a string of good matches lately. **1/2

DAVID FINLAY vs. BRODY KING (12:53): This was a totally random match. It was okay. The crowd liked Brody's big, running flip dive into Finlay against the ropes. And the crowd liked that Finlay could pick up Brody to slam him. I mean...I'd have rather seen AEW's Okada or Ospreay on this show than guys like Finlay and Jack Perry. **

SHOTA UMINO vs. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI (14:31): Years ago, Shota was Moxley's tag partner and friend in some of the AEW/NJPW matches. I guess that storyline is out the window, as Claudio is in Moxley's heel group now and just beat the shit out of Umino throughout this match. Claudio even ambushed Umino on the ramp during his entrance. Match was fine but nothing special. I guess Umino kind of had to win here since he lost in the main event yesterday. **

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (13:30): This match was excellent. It was short but built into something dramatic and awesome that got the crowd fired up. Takeshita delivers the greatest elbow shot in wrestling. It sounds like a sledgehammer hitting a redwood. Just all big moves, all devastating, all power, near falls, drama, a hot crowd. This was great. ***1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. LOS IGNOBERNABLES DE JAPON (TETSUYA NAITO & HIROMU TAKAHASHI) vs. UNITED EMPIRE (GREAT-O-KHAN & JEFF COBB) (13:46): This was very entertaining and a lot of fun. New Japan just had a tag team tournament...so I have no idea how the fuck The Young Bucks ended up winning the IWGP titles in this match when they weren't even in that tournament. What was the point of that tournament again? The Young Bucks actually haven't even wrestled since November when they lost the tag titles to Private Party on Dynamite. They looked great in this match. Cobb looked good but Naito looked dazed and confused and Great-O-Khan and Hiromu didn't really do much. ***

YOTA TSUJI vs. JACK PERRY (13:12): This was just a bore. I used to really like Jungle Boy years ago. Jurassic Express was awesome. I remember that Omega vs. Jungle Boy title match on Dynamite being really good. Now Perry is a heel and not really that exciting in the ring. Maybe these two just don't mesh well together. 1/2*

KENNY OMEGA vs. GABE KIDD (31:55): Holy shit. This match was insane. Omega didn't wrestle in 2024. He was in the hospital with diverticulitis. This was his first match back and everyone wondered if he'd be a shell of his former self. Nope! This was a classic Kenny Omega balls-to-the-wall epic. At one point, Omega power bombed Kidd over the guardrail and through two tables (one broke). The trainers all ran out when the AEW referee yelled, "Help! Help!" While all the trainers and the ref and the War Dogs were tending to Gabe Kidd at ringside, Kenny jumped off the top rope and did a Swanton Bomb over the guardrail down onto everyone. Gabe Kidd was busted open now. Eventually Kidd slammed Kenny onto a table then hit him over the head with the broken table. Omega was now a total bloody mess as well. They threw chairs into the ring and Kidd gave Omega a top rope suplex onto the chairs. They both hit each other on the head with a chair...something we don't see any more and with good reason. The crowd was going ape shit at this point. Kenny gave Kidd a bunch of knees to the face. Kidd put Omega in a submission and jammed his fist into Kenny's abdomen because, well, Kenny had diverticulitis and was holding his stomach in pain throughout the match. Kenny tried to lift Kidd up for a One Winged Angel but collapsed and held his gut. At one point, Kidd kicked out at 1 to shock and awe from the crowd. Omega gave Kidd a knee to the face and then won with the One Winged Angel. Fuck. It'll be hard to beat this for match of the year in 2025. This was wild, crazy, insane, dramatic, awe-inspiring. Tanahashi was sitting at ringside doing commentary and after this match he was crying. It should also be noted that English commentary guy Chris Charleton was suspended for two months for bad mouthing Tony Khan and AEW during this broadcast. Bad mouth AEW all you want, but AEW wrestlers were the stars on these two shows. Omega is a legend. And Takeshita was in the 2nd best match. This match was so epic, so awesome. And Tanahashi crying tears of joy at what he witnessed was the perfect ending to this. ****

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. RICOCHET (20:57): Okay. Good luck following that. This match was good but the crowd was obviously quiet and also nobody on Earth thought Ricochet was winning the IWGP title. He's not even in the main event picture in AEW. Ricochet did wrestle his heart out, doing every possible flip, dive, and maneuver he's ever learned. Ricochet wrestled perhaps the greatest he could ever wrestle. It was a good match but the high drama was absent. Zack submitting Ricochet. Good match, but they should have put Omega/Kidd in the main event. ***

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 19

Tokyo Dome

Attendance: 24,107

RAMBO (HIROOKI GOTO) (34:35): New Japan is back doing two straight nights of Tokyo Dome shows. That's a bit surprising considering the company isn't "hot" plus a lot of their big stars left to go to AEW. The second show was a NJPW/AEW/CMLL show. The second night was better only because it had an awesome Kenny Omega match. This show had a few good matches and it was mostly entertaining, though those days of Wrestle Kingdom being this show of the year, epic event are long gone. The show started, as usual, with this terrible Royal Rumble match with mostly has-been legends hobbling down to the ring and doing very little when they got inside the ring. The winner of this match would get an IWGP title match. Honma, Great-O-Khan, Josh Barnett, Sanada, Yuji Nagata, Taichi, Satoshi Kajima, and a few others were in this. Sanada was in the main event of last year's WK. How the mighty have fallen! Match was terrible. Kenta came out and did a funny fast walk to the ring. I guess he realizes this match is a joke. Yano was in there. Maybe if this match didn't go so long it'd be, like, fine. 1/2*

ICHIBAN SWEET BOYS (KOSEI FUJITA & ROBBIE EAGLES) vs. INTERGALACTIC JET SETTERS (KUSHIDA & KEVIN KNIGHT) vs. BULLET CLUB WAR DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DRILLA MALONEY) vs. CATCH 22 (FRANCESCO AKIRA & TJP) "LADDER MATCH" (13:05): Match was entertaining though not as great as I thought it might be. They botched a lot of moves, sometimes bafflingly hilarious. Drilla Maloney tried to powerbomb someone onto a table at ringside and missed the table. Kevin Knight jumped off the top of the ladder in the ring and barely touched the person he was supposed to land on. Eagles took a rough slam onto a ladder bridge that cracked. You can tell they never do ladder matches in Japan because when someone would start climbing up the ladder everyone  "oohed" and "ahhed" like they'd never seen it before. Fujita and Eagles won the Jr. tag titles. **1/2

MAYU IWATANI vs. AZM (8:46): This match was fantastic. These two are in Stardom but this was for the IWGP women's title. I'm not sure why that title exists as there are no women in New Japan. Supposedly these two have had a heated rivalry in Stardom and Iwatani always beats AZM except during their tournament last year. They didn't get much time but it was all action. ***

EL PHANTASMO vs. REN NARITA vs. JEFF COBB vs. RYOHEI OIWA (10:04): ELP won the TV title. Match was fun but short. It was fast paced and all action. ELP looked great. Cobb broke Narita's stick in two and the crowd popped for that because Narita always cheats by using that in, like, every single match. **1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. EVIL "LUMBERJACK MATCH" (15:07): This is the start of Tanahashi's Retirement Tour. His last match will be at next year's WK show. It's funny, but the WWE is doing the same thing with John Cena this year. This was fine, nothing special. It had a lot of interference as usual. At one point, Dick Togo was jumping off the top rope to chop Tanahashi in the groin. Hopefully AEW's Death Riders doesn't ever fall to the absurd level of HOT's antics. Because Moxley and his gang is pretty much the same gimmick. *1/2

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. SHINGO TAKAGI (12:42): This match was good but probably went too short to turn into anything spectacular. Takeshita vs. Ishii was actually better on Night 2. Takeshita retained his AEW International title and won the NEVER title. It was good while it lasted but seemed to end before it heated up. ***

EL DESPERADO vs. DOUKI (5:23): Douki jumped off the top rope down onto El Desperado and dislocated his elbow. The ref called for the bell and Desperado won the Jr. title because of a forfeit. Match was decent but obviously never got going. I feel so bad for Douki because this was the biggest match of his life. 

YOTA TSUJI vs. DAVID FINLAY (19:39): These two had two good matches in the G1 tournament last year. Tsuji beat him in the semi-final of the G1. They definitely have good chemistry together, and Finlay has definitely gotten better in the ring. Tsuji won the Global Heavyweight title. What the fuck does that even mean? ***

TETSUYA NAITO vs. HIROMU TAKAHASHI (17:08): Zack Sabre, Jr. won the G1. That means that the main event of this show should have been Zack winning the title from Naito. They decided to do that match in October, probably because Naito is old and can barely wrestle coherently anymore. That reason doesn't exactly make sense, though, considering Naito was in the semi-main event anyway. Zack winning the title in the main event of this show would have been a better ending than him beating Shota Umino. The match wouldn't have been as good...but they were putting on a bad match (this) anyway. This was slow and dull and not good. I guess they wanted to do this match at least once before Naito is in a wheelchair. 1/2*

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. SHOTA UMINO (43:44): Shota is referee Red Shoes' son. Maybe that's one reason why he's been pushed as the next big star. I watched the whole G1, and when Shota would come out he came out through the crowd and would give everyone a fist bump and then give a kid a bracelet. NJPW is really pushing him hard. So it wasn't that surprising that he started getting booed late last year when the crowds found out he would be put into the Wrestle Kingdom main event for no reason. He didn't even make the semi-finals of the G1. The last big match he had was in 2023 in that 40 minute main event against Ospreay that he lost. They didn't boo him in this match until he kept kicking Zack after the ref (his dad) tried to stop him. That was the only time they booed him. Everyone complained that this didn't feel like a WK main event. I think the idea was to have a long, epic match that would get him over with the crowd for doing a good job. Match was good but wasn't excellent or anything. Sometimes these long matches don't feel long because they're good...but this one felt long. Shota is a good wrestler and they had some good, fast sequences of back and forth moves that were great. The drama wasn't there, though, and it never turned into an unforgettable classic. ***

The Best Show of 2024: AEW REVOLUTION 3/3

 

    The best match of the year was on this show (Ospreay vs. Takeshita), as was Sting's retirement match, which I gave 4 stars to. I called this "maybe the best AEW PPV ever." It feels like AEW PPV's will always win this award as long as the company is around. They're always so stacked, so long, and so entertaining. The moment of the year in a match was probably Darby Allin falling off a ladder in the ring through a pane of glass on chairs at ringside. I still remember the audience gasping in horror when a shot of his bloody back was shown on the big screen. That Ospreay/Takeshita match was a masterpiece. Everything involving Sting's retirement was fantastic. His sons coming out dressed up like Wolfpac Sting and Blonde Colorful Sting. Sting's old partners and opponents at ringside like Ric Flair, Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat, and Lex Luger. Sting being tossed through a pane of glass by The Young Bucks in the ring. It was very, very memorable. And while there were some bad matches on the show (I gave zero stars to Deonna Purrazzo vs. Toni Storm), there were a lot of good ones besides the two 4 star affairs. I gave 3 stars to Christian Cage vs. Daniel Garcia, Eddie Kingston vs. Bryan Danielson, Wardlow vs. Chris Jericho vs. Brian Cage vs. Dante Martin vs. Hook vs. Magnus vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, and Samoa Joe vs. 'Hangman' Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland. I mean...a show with 2 four star matches and 4 three star matches. That's rare. This show happened way back in March and I still think about moments from it. Hell of a show.