Bad Bunny freakin’ ruled in his debut. He hit a Canadian Destroyer, for goodness’ sake.
I love how people are freaking out about Bad Bunny hitting a Canadian Destroyer when Pat McAfee did literally the exact same thing a few months ago on AEW. Yeah, you could maybe say his is less impressive because he’s an athlete…but he was punter and, yes, they’re football players and in better shape than you or I, but they aren’t a skill position.
NXT
Really liked the main event night 1. I felt for Bianca when it started; she seemed genuinely overwhelmed.
Ringside was a super-spreader event; I could see the cardboard cutouts in the stands though. My joy for the wrestlers getting to perform before a live audience was greatly tempered by the fact that people still aren’t talking this seriously enough, half-a-million deaths into the pandemic.
Night 2 I felt wasn’t as solid as Night 1. The ending of Orton/Fiend made absolutely no sense, as did commentary pretending not to recognize Dabba-Kato when he interfered in the IC title match. Roman retaining is an odd choice, though someone on another board noted that technically Edge was on top of Bryan so he should’ve got the pin, and if they pursue that angle going forward it should make for good TV.
The mid-air brogue kick Sheamus hit on Matt Riddle was insane and was probably the best finish of the night, more than making up for the Fella’s botch a few minutes earlier. And if I never see the Bella Twins on WWE TV again, it’ll be too soon.
I don’t even want to see the commercials for their reality series.
8 hours of Wrestlemania is too much.
Rhea Ripley was ready for Asuka at WM. Then it looked like Asuka might have a Raw Redemption but then neither she or Rhea were ready for a rematch or for Charlotte. I got no idea what happens next, kind of hard to care. Becky and Ronda are lurking out there somewhere, Bianca is on the rise, and Banks hair has gone from annoying to hideous.
One more note about the women, Billie Kay got herself a WM moment, brief and minor as it was, she can wrestle a little and she’s a great performer. Glad to see she got a spot instead of her friend Peyton Royce. Royce’s entire talent is wearing a bikini. She’s damn good at that, but she can’t wrestle worth shit.
Fantastic match with Seamus and Riddle. Riddle is collecting a lot of receipts. Seth putting over Cesaro, or anyone else was kind of surprising. Reigns and Lashley are laughable cartoon heels.
Three-way at WrestleMania Backlash (ugh, what a horrid rebranding) and Asuka takes another pin. Asuka gets to be the jobber for a little bit for Charlotte and Rhea, and given how little the women are featured, she’ll get nothing else.
Ex-Retribution replaces Benjamin and Alexander? Someone get Vince out of there!
Personally always thought Billie Kay was better than Peyton Royce at what you termed her entire talent, but taste is subjective (unless it is mine, in which case it is objective) 
AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur convo of the day
Taz, during women’s tag match intro: That’s Amber Nova right there, wearing the silver.
Ex: There’s also “Amber Nova” on the back of her robe.
Taz: Well maybe some people don’t read as well as you.
WWE Clearinghouse 2021
WWE released Billie Kay, Chelsea Green, Mickie James, Tucker, Calisto, Wesley Blake, and Samoa Joe.
Add Bo Dallas and Peyton Royce.
I’d say Peyton Royce will join hubby Shawn Spears in AEW. Maybe she can convince Tony Khan to resurrect the IIconics and bring Billie Kay over.
Chelsea Green will probably return as the psycho bride in Impact, since that’s where Matt Cardona settled.
Mickie James will either retire or join her huz Nick Aldis in NWA.
I knew Tucker’s career would go in the toilet after they broke up Heavy Machinery. Wesley Blake didn’t exactly light up the skies either. Kalisto could wind up anywhere. Bo Dallas saw the writing on the wall and started a real estate career, so he’s effectively retired.
Samoa Joe’s release surprises me the most. He was one of the darling indies of his time along with CM Punk and AJ Styles. He had a run of bad luck on the main roster with his injuries, but he was talented on commentary. I’m sure AEW will snag him.
I thought he might go, they didn’t utilize him well and if he can’t work in the ring he’s probably not worth the money to them. Let’s see what happens with AEW in general, they don’t need to give a job to every WWE refugee. They really don’t know what to do with all the ‘talent’ they have now, that’s why every AEW singles match has about 12 participants.
Bo is being a lot smarter than his character ever was, he’s got a family real estate business and Liv Morgan, that ain’t no ordinary family and he’s winning all around. Congrats Bo.
Speaking of Liv, I’m surprised Ruby wasn’t on the list. I haven’t see her doing anything that will get her noticed.
Fully, completely agreed.
If WWE gave a single shit (not even 2 shits) about women’s wrestling, the Iconic Duo would have been the perfect, perfect cowardly heel team. But it is obvious that anything and everything below the top men’s title is simply giving into Vince’s whims that week.
WWE, to its credit and some wrestlers’ chagrin, is keeping wrestlers out of the ring due to an overabundance of caution where the other promotions will be fine letting them wrestle. Samoa Joe is probably in that group.
Definitely time for me to take a wrestling break and watch only select matches (like the really, really good Pac/Fenix vs Young Bucks match). I’ll very likely…okay, definitely…will still follow the news, but I’ll probably only pop in as a viewer briefly for MitB and then again after Extreme Rules.
Former Chicago Bears star, WCW wrestler, and member of the Four Horsemen, Steve “Mongo” McMichael, has been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and will retreat from public life.
According to Wikipedia, the average survival from onset until death is two to four years, with 10% of patients lasting 10 years or more.
Prayers for him and his family.
Kenny Omega is now a triple world champion - he beat Rich Swann in the title for title match at Impact’s PPV tonight, adding the Impact championship to the AEW and AAA world titles.
At this rate, Tony Khan is halfway to creating a new undisputed world championship.
I keep wondering how much Impact will benefit from this. Their buy rate did increase for Rebellion, but the only quid pro quo has been having the Good Brothers appear in BTE videos and help Omega cheat when they’re not doing bits about masturbation. AEW otherwise gets to promote their shows on Impact, without the latter getting to do the same on a network that has a bigger draw than their own.
WWE will indirectly refer to other wrestling feds as “the independents,” but Vince otherwise won’t acknowledge their existence. He’s much the same way about NXT. Tony Kahn’s breaking of this sacred cow demonstrates that all feds can benefit from cross-promotions, so long as AEW gets to do it the most.
gods I wonder if that’s a good thing …
I wonder if theres an ecw/wcw type of talent steal being planned or if kahn’s just casing the joint for a buyout when impact’s owners is tired of losing money
Are the AEW and Impact World Titles unified now, or simply held by the same person?
For now they’re two distinct championships held by the same person, much like a few years ago when Austin Aries was Impact Champion and was going around the indies winning all of their top titles.