Tag: Review

WWE 2K26 review: More improvements, new issues

Posted on by Marc Quill

The Road to WrestleMania is upon us, and it means it’s time for the yearly WWE 2K game to grace fans with its presence. Yes, WWE 2K26 is set to hit the ring for this year’s edition and unlike the actual Road to Mania this year, it’s a game that manages to excite players as usual, but not without its fair share of issues that keep it from being a Hall of Fame-worthy experience.

Look In My Eyes, What Do You See?

WWE 2K26’s in-ring action does remain largely the same from previous years, but new additions include a new debuff that appears when your stamina runs out completely. This meter essentially locks you out of reversing moves, so careful strategizing will be prioritized over spamming moves over and over again. Expanded combat on barricades and the inclusion of corner springboard attacks add to the variety of ways you can dish out pain.

And speaking of “dishing out pain,” WWE 2K26 adds a new bevy of weapons to the chaos, with thumbtacks being the most notable of them. For an added touch, the thumbtacks remain stuck on wrestlers who take bumps on them. These weapons now work in tandem with the reintroduction of weapons physics and even some ragdolling, especially on falls from high distances. This is none more evident in the new Backstage Brawl environment known as The Scrapyard which seemed to be designed with the new physics in mind. This environment features many high ledges where wrestlers can throw each other from great distances to create some truly insane high spots, along with several weapons ready for your use at your disposal. While those high-danger spots are fun to pull off, nothing beats the simple joy of delivering a powerbomb on the side of some steel steps.

There’s four new matches that add to the growing number of match types already present from previous games. Three Stages of Hell, which we recently saw play out on SmackDown early in the year, is basically a more extreme ⅔ falls match where you can pick unique match stipulations per “Stage”. With damage taken retaining through each stage, this match type truly lives up to its hellish namesake.

“I Quit” matches make their return to the franchise with a new mechanic. At various points during the match, you can get the ref to ask your foe to say those two infamous words, triggering a mini game where a wrestler on the verge of quitting has to prevent a meter from draining completely by hitting green markers within a circle. The more damage you take, the tougher it is to avoid the meter from draining. A neat touch is that a few WWE wrestlers have unique lines tied to this match on top from the generic voices heard.

The Inferno match is also back, where the goal is to set your opponent on fire.The ring is surrounded by fire and moves performed will fill a meter that causes the fire to shoot up completely once filled. Then it’s a matter of dragging your opponent to the fire to set them alight for the win. For added chaos, you can freely leave the ring before the fire reaches full Inferno and grab weapons to make these fiery encounters feel even more brutal.

Last and probably least, is the Dumpster Match, which is just literally the previously-introduced Casket Match, but with a dumpster instead of a casket. It’s nice for those that want some variety, but it’s otherwise nothing to write home about.

Presentation-wise, the game truly shines as it feels more like a true-to-life WWE broadcast than ever before. Before matches there’s now a degree of control where you can blast pyro at will or hit a couple of preset taunts. It’s not necessarily game-changing, per se, but does make for some entertaining moments when, say, Seth Rollins’ usual entrance strut is occasionally broken up by him doing a few “crybaby” emotes randomly.

This emphasis on presentation extends to even the start of the matches, where players can choose to shake their opponent’s hands (or deliver a devious cheapshot), engage in a little chain wrestling action, or even just rush them down. It helps make the matches in WWE 2K26 feel even more like their real-life counterparts.

Commentary sees Wade Barrett and Booker T join Michael Cole and Corey Graves to call the action, and I have to say, this commentary quartet is really good in the game. Of the two new additions, Barrett’s commentary is the strongest and you can tell he had a lot of fun recording his lines.

Still, it’s not all perfect when it comes to presentation, as while wrestler models can look really good, some still look a bit off and long hair physics still remains a persistent issue, even with the move to current-gen only for these games.

“Do I Have Everyone’s Attention Now?”

Showcase is front and centre once again, with cover star CM Punk being the focus this year. Players will play through some of Punk’s greatest WWE matches, as well as some fantasy contests that casts Punk in “what if” scenarios. If you’re familiar with the Showcase format, then you’ll know how it works: complete specific objectives before winning the match to unlock arenas and wrestlers – most of which are Punk variations. It’s not exactly what I’d call “fun”, especially if you’re halfway through and you’re asked to hit a certain amount of moves on Punk’s foe for what feels like the 100th time. At the very least, cutscenes between matches that feature Punk’s insights on the particular match you’re about to compete in are well-done.

For those not wanting to go through that busywork, there’s a 20-man gauntlet that can be played instead. This is an alternate way to get all of the Showcase unlockables, but be warned, it’s automatically set to the game’s hardest difficulty, and it’s designed to see if you’ve got what it takes to be called “Best in the World”.

MyRise is back once more and as the title of this year’s edition indicates, it’s all about “The Comeback,” where you take your created male or female wrestler on a journey back to the top after two years away. Story branches throughout this mode allow you to make your wrestler a face or a heel and offers up unique rewards, most of which are earned through so-called “Rise Matches” that you complete to progress to the next part of the story. It’s relatively short compared to previous MyRise stories, but I liked the story and the voice acting, particularly from the main player(s) which was well done.

The Creation Suite, a perennial favorite among fans, has seen the biggest benefit from WWE 2K26 moving to current-gen consoles only. Now with 200 create-a-wrestler slots to play with, as well as the return of body morphing and two-tone hairstyles, plus improved layers, there’s more ways for players to create the wrestler of their dreams as they see fit. Unfortunately, that same level of attention for Create-a-Superstar doesn’t seem to be evident in Create-an-Arena, where the only notable changes are the addition of LED barricades and a large library of ring aprons from past WWE events. 

Universe Mode, the popular sandbox for players to create their own shows and let things play out however they see fit, has definitely seen quite a few improvements. A new “Creation Wizard” allows players to shape their Universe even before the action truly begins, with PLE schedules, rosters, and base champions being able to be set in stone. The WWE Draft now appears as a week-long event in Universe Mode and can also similarly be edited to your heart’s desire. This, on top of additions to the promo system and Money in the Bank cash-ins, make it feel like the developers have listened to those wanting to see tangible change in Universe Mode.

The best new addition to Universe Mode, however, is the “Watch Show” feature, which allows players to experience their Universe’s shows as if they were watching a real WWE program. The broadcast camera angle with cuts to action shots really help to add to how lifelike Watch Show can feel at times.

MyGM is back for more with expanded seasons that can run up to 50 weeks, on top of being able to book an even wider variety of matches in order to prove your superiority as the greatest General Manager in offline, online, and even against the computer.

An Island of Issues

There’s tons to like about WWE 2K26, yes, but as mentioned earlier, it’s not all smooth sailing. A lot of that comes down to modes introduced in this game and WWE 2K25, namely The Island and the Ringside Pass.

For better or worse, The Island makes its return in WWE 2K26 and it’s seen some changes. When you enter The Island, there are now cutscenes as opposed to just dialogue screens. They anchor a story of three warring factions looking to take control of The Island after last year’s events: one led by Punk, another by Rhea Ripley, and the third under Cody Rhodes’ command. Even with that change, a lot of the issues I had with The Island’s introduction in WWE 2K25 persists – namely the fact that a lot of creation items are locked to this mod. The story for The Island is fine, but between the constant lags I experienced and needing to plunk down real-world money to make your Island wrestler better or get all the mode-exclusive cosmetics, I’m still not a fan.

The other “big” monetization pit is MyFaction. Intergender support is new for this go-around, as is a chemistry system that takes into account certain attributes amongst your MyFaction roster to determine the team’s overall chemistry. Quick Swap matches are essentially a wrestling version of fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom, where you can swap in your team members out with a push of a button, complete with a nice teleportation animation. Other than that, your enjoyment of MyFaction will boil down on how much you can tolerate these “Ultimate Team” style of modes in sports games and how much of a grind you’re willing to commit to to get the absolute best cards for your faction without spending real-world money on currency.

Of course, we have to talk about the huge new elephant in the room introduced in WWE 2K26, and that’s the Ringside Pass system. Taking inspiration from Fortnite-style Battlepass mechanics, this replaces the former DLC pack model of previous games. Here, players will have to grind across several modes to earn points to unlock new wrestlers, title belts, and other assorted goodies through various seasons. The first “season” centers on the WWE-owned AAA and some of its stars, with Mr. Iguana and Vikingo included among the unlockables.

The Ringside Pass has understandably gotten a mixed reaction from fans, especially those opposed to a Battlepass format for unlockables. And I have to say, I tend to agree with those reactions, especially considering how big a grind is being asked of players. This seems more designed for the hardcore WWE 2K players who can spend long hours grinding to unlock more and more from the Pass. And even then, the painfully slow rate the RXP bar fills will make this grind a very long one. That’s not even getting into the fact that the game seems like it’s subtly pushing players to buy tier skips to just unlock everything. In short, this Ringside Pass system sets a precedent that may turn away players from future games if it becomes something permanent moving forward.

Final Verdict

Even with that, it’s hard to say that the in-ring experience of WWE 2K26 hasn’t improved from previous years. It seems that Visual Concepts has refined the style of wrestling it has been working on since WWE 2K22 and it shows with what 2K26 offers under the hood. As the only game in town when it comes to major wrestling video games, it’s still clearly the cream of the crop. But the increasing turn towards microtransactions in The Island, MyFaction, and Ringside Pass is still very concerning and could very well threaten the franchise’s overall popularity in the near future.

Pros

  • Nails the little things almost perfectly
  • In-ring action more refined than ever
  • Universe Mode’s freedom even better than ever
  • Presentation at its best, with commentary even better
  • Ragdoll and weapons physics

Cons

  • Showcase Mode still feels like a chore
  • Ringside Pass will be a huge turnoff for casual players
  • Microtransactions have increased
  • Graphics could be better, especially on some wrestler likenesses

Rating: 8/10

WWE 2K26 released on March 6th in early access. A review code was provided by the publisher.

WWE Evolution review: Proceed with caution

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Image: WWE

Apparently, no one proceeded with caution.

The main event of Sunday’s WWE Evolution was capped off with a surprise, at least to those in the arena. Naomi, who had lost to Jade Cargill earlier in the show, arrived at the end of an excellent main event between Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY. She quickly cashed in and pinned SKY to win the Women’s World title.

SKY and Ripley had an incredible main event, probably in the top three or four matches of the weekend including the ROH and AEW main events. They put on a clinic and the crowd, which was hot all night for everyone and everything, reacted big to all the nearfalls and big spots, including SKY leaping off a giant platform to the floor during what ended up being a very, very long referee bump.

On the one hand, I can understand people being upset about a match this good ending without a decisive finish. On the other hand, the crowd reacted big to the win and at the very least, something happened at the end of the show. I was expecting Ripley to go over here as I think she’s due for another run as World Champion, but Naomi winning pretty much ensures we’ll be getting a three-way match at SummerSlam. Which is fine, as if it’s anything near what I saw on Saturday it’ll be the highlight of that weekend.

Evolution was a fun show where nothing was bad and the opening and closing matches delivered. The crowd made the show better than it was on paper and it helped that everyone worked hard. Triple H in the post-show press conference seemed coy about making this a yearly event, but considering WWE is doing everything in its power to counterprogram AEW, something tells me a lot of shows will be greenlit, and that will almost certainly mean another Evolution.

The rest of the show:

  • The triple threat for the Women’s Intercontinental title that opened Evolution was excellent, exactly how a three-way match should be. It had your typical three-person finish where Bayley had Lyra Valkyria pinned only for Lynch to swoop in at the last minute. That finish is used a little too much now, but this was fine. I still feel the feud between these three isn’t done yet and with two SummerSlam shows to book in a few weeks, we will likely see another variation of this match.
  • Jacy Jayne kept the NXT Women’s Championship, pinning Jordynne Grace after Blake Monroe did the turn. I felt that Monroe wasn’t long as a face and would eventually lay out Grace, but I wasn’t expecting it on this show until Monroe agreed to be in Grace’s corner during a pre-show angle. I thought Grace was winning here as a title match between her and Monroe makes sense, but I guess they’re doing it without the title. Don’t feel anything about Jayne being the champion currently.
  • The Women’s Tag Team title match was also helped by the crowd. I don’t know why but people desperately wanted to like Charlotte here and hyped up everything that she did, it was kind of amazing. She didn’t win, but hey, at least she got cheered. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez retained the titles and will likely be champions for a while as they continue to build their relationship until the inevitable Liv Morgan return.
  • Tiffany Stratton and Trish Stratus felt like a match rushed for time. This was good, but felt too short compared to other matches on the card. Stratus is still very good and looked better than Stratton here. The thing with Stratton is that she got really over as a heel in NXT, but once she turned face, or whatever this is, she just seems off and as champion isn’t really feeling like the standard bearer for her brand.
  • Jade Cargill emerged victorious in the falls count anywhere match between herself and Naomi. Standard weapons match. Not sure why Bianca Belair was here as she really didn’t get involved at all. This was another match where Naomi was in control for most of the match, only for Cargill to win the win at the last minute. I guess they had to keep Naomi strong as she was going to end the show winning, but weird to book Cargill in that manner heading into a big match at SummerSlam.
  • Stephanie Vaquer is going to Paris, last eliminating Lash Legend to win the number one contender’s battle royal to earn a future title match. It was a well-booked, no frills battle royal with nothing in terms of surprises, which I thought was a surprise within itself. They pushed Legend really strong here, to the point where its obvious whhen she gets called up she’ll be pushed as a big star. She’s way better than she was when she started TV but I feel needs a run as champion before being called up. With the Paris show not taking place until the end of August, there’s plenty of time to build around Vaquer, who already seems super over with the crowd.

AEW Double or Nothing review: The road to All In begins

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The road to AEW All In has begun.

At Sunday’s Double or Nothing, Hangman Page defeated Will Ospreay in a classic main event in Phoenix to not only win this year’s men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament but earn a title match against Jon Moxley in Texas. The two traded nearfalls, finishers, and everything else in between until one final buckshot lariat scored the win for Hangman.

Prior to the main event, I thought it could go either way. I have thought for a long time that Ospreay should be the face of the company simply because he’s one of the best wrestlers on Earth. But once Hangman won, I thought his win made all the sense in the world. He’s been the one constant throughout these last six years of AEW programming and has spent the last couple of years tormenting himself; an aimless, guideless mess.

And finally, with this win, he’s found purpose again.

In his press conference interview, Hangman said for the first time in quite a while, he has something to look forward to. All of these years of angst and confusion will finally lead to this one moment against Moxley. All that’s left is to beat the AEW Champion. Will he do it? Some argue that Darby Allin could be the one that knocks off Moxley once he returns from his Mt. Everest climb but I think a lot of people would be upset if Hangman doesn’t score the win in Texas.

The women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament saw Mercedes Mone defeat Jamie Hayter in an excellent match to add another title to her collection.

She will now face Toni Storm, who was successful in her title defense against Mina Shirakawa. This has been building for a while and it’s obvious why Mone has been TBS Champion — they wanted to keep her and Storm separate until it was time to do the big match. It’s certainly time to do it now as it’s the biggest match AEW can do in the women’s division. The harder part is deciding who wins.

Double or Nothing was a great show. AEW’s pacing problems are still evident and it probably would have been a better show with a couple of matches being cut. Still, I can’t complain too much about a show like this.

The rest of the card:

  • Anarchy in the Arena was about what you would expect: a wild & crazy brawl that was easily the best match of the show. How can you go wrong with a bunch of brawling and crazy spots while Drowning Pool’s Bodies plays six or seven times? Sheer anarchy throughout including every weapon you can think of, brawling all throughout the arena (the multiple cameras showcasing the mayhem is always a fun touch), all ending with Kenny Omega and Swerve Strickland getting their revenge over the Young Bucks. There’s always a fun party match on every AEW show as of late, but this is THE party match to end all party matches.
  • The six-man tag team match that had to follow Anarchy in the Arena was wrestled very well and I give everyone involved an A for effort. But, they just couldn’t follow something as chaotic as the previous match. Tomohiro Ishii, Brody King, and Hiroshi Tanahashi came out for the save and took out all members of the Don Callis Family after the match so I think we’re beginning the build to Forbidden Door, unless they want to pretend Tanahashi didn’t promote his final match in the US last month at NJPW’s Windy City Riot.
  • Storm defeated Shirakawa in a match I thought was just fine and perfectly alright. It was more to cement Storm’s status as champion heading into July. I’m happy that the two kissed and made up after the match as a sign of good friendship which everyone in the crowd very loudly cheered for.
  • Kazuchika Okada retained the Continental title, defeating “Speedball” Mike Bailey who I have to give a shout-out for wearing super cool Balatro gear. This was very good, one of Okada’s better matches so far in AEW, and it’s mostly because of Bailey. If it wasn’t for Ospreay, Bailey would be an early contender for Most Outstanding Wrestler as every time I’ve seen him he’s given it his all, and is very much flourishing in AEW. All this will inevitably lead to what they teased months ago: Okada vs. Omega in a match that hopefully unifies their two titles for good.
  • The Hurt Syndicate defeated Sammy Gueveara and Dustin Rhodes to retain their AEW Tag Team titles in another good match. The aim of this match was to see if MJF would turn on The Hurt Business. Despite a bunch of teases, he didn’t. I think the goal now is to wait and see if, not when, MJF ends up turning on them.
  • Ricochet emerged victorious over Mark Briscoe in a stretcher match. Aside from the Anarchy in the Arena, this was the blood match you see on every AEW show. They are not banning the blade anytime soon, obviously. Ricochet is on the rise so it makes sense for him to win. At the same time, I feel like Briscoe is much more than just someone that loses to everyone all the time. The good news is that he’s so over and so good at what he does, he can be in that role and everyone will still love him no matter what. He is a national treasure.
  • FTR defeated Nigel McGuinness and Daniel Garcia. This was a good match and the right guys won as AEW is clearly building to a Adam Copeland return that will lead to the All In match. Dax and Cash are very good in this heel role and I am glad that Stokely Hathaway has finally found the perfect spot for himself as their manager, it’s long overdue. Nigel looked good and moved well. I think he’s in a prime spot as well, serving as an announcer but coming out every now and then to wrestle.

WWE Backlash review: Smoke and mirrors

Posted on by Bryan Rose

John Cena and Randy Orton met one last time (probably) on Saturday.

It started out relatively fine, some good back and forth, somewhat mechanical in nature but perfectly alright. The crowd was totally into hometown hero Orton even though most probably knew he wasn’t winning. Then we got the dreaded first ref bump of the match. Cena went through the new announce table that doesn’t do a good job of breaking. Another ref bump. Then Cena went through another table.

They wind back up in the ring with another ref who also gets taken out. For some reason this, somehow, causes SmackDown GM Nick Aldis and a bunch of former wrestler agents to come out and check on this one referee. Nevermind another referee was taken out earlier and was still laying on the floor, this is the referee they’re concerned about. Orton proceeded to lay everyone out one by one until it was just him and Cena. But then R-Truth came out to do the idiot shitck, he was taken out. Cena recovered just in the nick of time to low blow Orton then strike with the WWE Championship for the victory.

This was significantly better than Cena’s WrestleMania match, but geez Louise it was way too overbooked. Someone thought of doing THREE ref bumps in this match when one probably would have been fine. By the time of the third ref bump I was begging for this to end, and thankfully not long after it did. Cena clearly can’t go at the same level as other main event WWE stars so doing smoke and mirrors is fine. I would prefer he do it for the rest of the year. Just, please, do a finish that doesn’t suck.

What’s next for Cena? R-Truth. Yes, during the press conference Cena took out Truth and put him through a table. Remember when Triple H was winning the perception wars against AEW handily just a few months ago? Yeah, that seems to be running out fast.

Backlash overall was an easy show to watch, two in a half hours of mostly good wrestling padded with a lot of commercials and highlight videos and talking heads. I think there’s a happy medium between this and AEW’s five-hour twelve match format, but that’s just me.

Here’s the rest of the show:

  • The four-way that opened the show was very good and probably the best match on the show overall, right next to Lynch/Valkyria. Very intense, a lot of cool spots and it helped that the crowd, which was hot all night, was totally into it. Based on the giant chokeslam spot at the end Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest are probably having one more big match, perhaps in Saudi Arabia as long as McIntyre is okay.
  • Dominik Mysterio defeated Penta to retain the IC title in a good match. Mysterio did some cool stuff like a suicide dive into a DDT that looked very clean. The finish was a backdrop to El Grande Americano running in and interfering yet again, causing another loss for a luchador. I’m kinda ready to get to the part where Americano loses or gets unmasked because it seems like they’re too into the heat building part. Maybe Worlds Collide?
  • Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria also had a very good match, with Lyra retaining the title in somewhat of a surprise. These two have terrific chemistry with one another and I think this will be a feud that gets over Valkyria, who is very good but needs something more here on the main roster level. The finish came out of nowhere, but Lynch’s beatdown afterwards clearly implies this is just the start of what will be a long storyline involving Valkyria, Lynch, and eventually Bayley.
  • Gunther mostly destroyed Pat McAfee in a match that was perfectly fine. People got into McAfee big time and absolutely lost it when Cole took off his headset to help. But I have to say, McAfee’s offense looked so ineffective at times, particularly towards the end of the match as he’s throwing punches that did not look good at all, like Shane McMahon-level. Still, can’t complain too much about a match that the crowd enjoyed. I wonder what the direction is for Gunther moving forward…

WWE WrestleMania 41 review: John Cena’s quest to ruin wrestling begins

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Image: WWE

The best way to compare the two nights of WWE WrestleMania 41, strangely, is like comparing WCW and WWF pay-per-views in 1997.

Night one was like a WWF show. The undercard was underwhelming, feeling like an episode of Raw or SmackDown. But the main event, where Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and CM Punk had their Shakespherian story of love, trust, and betrayal, was excellent, ending the show on a strong note.

It was a typical, very well done, big time WWE main event match. Everyone kicked out of everyone’s finish, the timing to everything was great, and then it was time for Paul Heyman to make a decision. Would he stay with Roman, keep Punk’s favor and guide him instead, or go with Seth? He chose the latter, screwing over both of his former associates to side with someone completely new.

I liked what WWE did here. I think it was time to add a new wrinkle in the dynamic between these four. Heyman/Seth is something new and I’d like to see where they go with it. Based off the win, I think Seth needs to go after the World title with his first target being new champion Jey Uso, which I’ll get to later.

Night two, meanwhile, was like a WCW show. The undercard had some great matches, especially the opening three-way match for the Women’s World title. Then, there was the main event between John Cena and Cody Rhodes that stunk the joint up. We probably should have listened when Cena said he was going to ruin pro wrestling. He wasn’t kidding.

Nothing about the match worked. At this point in his career, Cena’s stuff doesn’t look good and he spent the first half of the match avoiding bumps. There was a lot of stalling. The ref was, in fact, bumped. Then came probably the goofiest, corniest main event finish I’ve seen in some while.

Travis Scott came out, slowly made his way to the ring, and attempted to help Cena. Rhodes managed to get the better of both men, eventually laying out Scott. Cena recovered, grabbed the title, and went to strike Rhodes, who grabbed the title. But suddenly, he DEBATED about striking Cena, making faces and looking conflicted. Dude, he left you a bloody mess at Elimination Chamber. This should not be something to struggle internally about like an afterschool special.

Cena, the smart heel, low blows goofy Cody and hits the AA to win his 17th World title, finally surpassing Ric Flair’s 16 to become the most decorated champion in WWE’s version history. And what a match to do it.

This match didn’t do anyone any favors. How are we supposed to get excited about Cena’s upcoming matches when he had this performance at WrestleMania? How do we get behind Rhodes who completely blew his chance? Of course, these will be answers given later as we start to build toward the eventual rematch but I’m hardly looking forward to it at this stage.

The rest of WrestleMania 41 night one

  • Jey Uso scored the big one, defeating Gunther to win the World Heavyweight title. I didn’t think this was as good as their Saturday Night’s Main Event match from a few months ago as it took a long time for it to go into second gear. The last few minutes picked up with Jey scoring the SUBMISSION WIN. That was weird, but there’s probably a story to it we’ll soon see unfold.
  • Tiffany Stratton defeated Charlotte Flair in a match that never clicked. Both looked sloppy and missed stuff left and right. They didn’t work well together and while Charlotte got great heat, there was nothing to the match beyond that. I figure there is an eventual rematch, but I hope it’s better than what we got here.
  • El Grande Americano defeated Rey Fenix in a match that was perfectly alright, but didn’t get enough time. Fenix subbed for Mysterio who tore his groin the night before on SmackDown. I figure there will be a mask vs. mask match somewhere down the line where Fenix or whoever wins and Americano is unmasked as Gable.
  • Jade Cargill got her revenge over Naomi in a match that was just okay. I really like Naomi’s new presentation, and she cut some great promos leading into this match. But there wasn’t anything here beyond a Jade win.
  • The New Day defeated War Raiders in a perfectly fine match. I will note that Ivar looked great here and did some cool stuff. I figured a title change was coming as it was time, plus people like to boo Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods.
  • Jacob Fatu defeated LA Knight to win the United States title. This was probably the second best match of the evening. Knight seems to show up for the big shows and looked great here as did Fatu, particularly in the final minutes of the match where he dominated like a complete monster. Fatu has a great aura about him and this kind of finish adds to it.

The rest of WrestleMania 41 night two

  • IYO SKY retained the Women’s World title in a fantastic opening match. This was your classic main event-style match where everyone was going for big moves and everything looked great. Bianca Belair even did her trademark hair whiplash spot, this time to Rhea Ripley. I like that after weeks of Bianca and Rhea getting into each other’s faces with IYO feeling like the odd woman out, she was the one that walked away WrestleMania as champion.
  • Randy Orton beating Joe Hendry in a quick match was just that: a short match aimed at Hendry doing his entrance that always gets over. Everyone enjoyed this but, geez, how does this benefit TNA that their World Champion was pinned in such short order? 
  • Becky Lynch made her big return, teaming with Lyra Valkyria to defeat Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez. This wasn’t anything special as the big story of the match was Becky making her return. We’ll see where they go as a team.
  • Dominik Mysterio is the new Intercontinental Champion, defeating Bron Breakker, Finn Balor, and Penta in a great four-way match. Breakker was the star of the match, looking like a million bucks in overpowering everyone with traditional Steiner flair. I felt like this was the right move as Mysterio has really done well perfecting this persona over the last couple of years. It’s a hot act.
  • The street fight between Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest was what you’d expect. A lot of tables were broken, stairs were used, and pretty much everything you’d see in a normal street fight. I thought it was pretty good, both of them always work hard. McIntyre won relatively clean, so I wonder if there’s more to him and Priest or if he moves to someone else.
  • Logan Paul got the better of AJ Styles in what I thought was a good match. Paul is an incredible athlete and even though he is what he is, it’s still remarkable to see him have this kind of match where he’s holding his own against someone like Styles.

AEW Dynasty review: Matthew & Nicholas ruin everything

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Those darn Young Bucks are back.

The main event of Dynasty saw Jon Moxley manage to walk away with the AEW Championship briefcase yet again. This time, it was thanks to the returning EVPs The Young Bucks, who laid out Swerve Strickland with the EVP trigger allowing Moxley to cover him for the win.

Unlike last month, this main event was pretty damn good, capping off another strong pay-per-view for AEW. It wasn’t brutal so much as it was gritty. There was a bit of blood, but it wasn’t a complete bloodbath like you would see in some Swerve matches. To their credit the crowd, who at that point had been watching wrestling for at least five hours, got into this match strongly especially after The Ops came out and chased away the Death Riders, realizing that for once, hey, someone may actually beat Moxley. Then the finish went down.

I get that this wasn’t a particularly well-recieved finish, and I would have loved to see Strickland emerge as champion. I would also love it if every Jon Moxley match didn’t end with House of Torture nonsense that I feel is infiltrating every wrestling promotion now. But I also understand that the long-term planning is for All In, AEW’s biggest show of the year. Moxley will very likely be champion heading into July. So for right now, the focus is on Moxley doing his shtick while the Owen Hart tournament unfolds.

This was a very long show and I think this is a good time to vent about AEW’s “for the sickos” booking. Look, I like AEW. I don’t make a living criticising them for the YouTube algorithm, this was a good show. Dynamite and Collision most weeks are fine, even good! But there are many times where I feel like they ask for too much of my time. They just announced a FOUR HOUR television block for June 4. They’re running 5 1/2 hour pay-per-views, and that isn’t including the 90 minute pre-show and the post-show where I’m hearing questions like “what is your favorite chicken wing” and “what is your Waffle House order” at 10 pm PST. I have a life, AEW. Please let me live it on days when you have shows.

The rest of the very long show. Which, for the record, was good!: 

  • The best match on the show was Kenny Omega retaining the International title over Speedball Mike Bailey and Ricochet. These three went out there and busted their butts to have an excellent match. A ton of cool dives and innovative moves, ending when Omega pinned Ricochet with a One Winged Angel off the turnbuckle. This was also an excellent showcase for Bailey, who looked like a million bucks, though I have to question how his knees are doing after smashing them on the apron.
  • The Hurt Business retained their titles, defeating Big Bill and Bryan Keith. There was never a moment where I thought the challengers would win, and they didn’t. The key to this match was building towards whatever’s going on between MJF and the rest of the Hurt Business, attacking Bill in the crowd during a moment on the outside. Match itself was fine.
  • Adam Cole won the TNT title, defeating Daniel Garcia in a pretty good match, at least on a technical level. The crowd didn’t seem to care about the match or Cole’s title win. I’ve liked their series of matches in the last couple of weeks, but for whatever reason the crowd just wasn’t into them.
  • Bandido and Chris Jericho had a good match, with Bandido winning the ROH World title for a second time. I don’t know if I liked the false finish with Jericho pinning Bandido with the bat, but it did get reversed and we got a nice ending with Bandido celebrating with his family. It’s nice to have happy moments with family so everything worked out in the end.
  • Kyle Fletcher defeated Mark Briscoe in what I think was the second best match on the show. These two had a fantastic match on a recent episode of Collision and they followed that with this match, which was also excellent and very hard-hitting at times. Mark Briscoe is at a point in his career where he’ll be over no matter what as he’s such an engaging personality and always goes out there and delivers. Fletcher is someone special and should win the tournament, but I don’t feel like he will.
  • Death Riders kept their Trios titles, defeating Rated FTR. The match was pretty solid, but it will be remembered more for the post-match attack that saw both Cash and Dax attack Cope, giving him stuff piledrivers onto chairs and conchairtos, putting him out of action probably until All In. I wonder if they’re reuniting Cope with Christian, and after all of these years of Christian being a mega heel, how does he end up reuniting with Cope?
  • Timeless Toni Storm managed to walk away as the AEW Women’s Champion in a pretty good match, defeating Megan Bayne with a cradle. Whoever structured the match did a great job as I thought the strongest points of the match were Bayne looking like a monster kicking out of Storm’s strongest offense.
  • Mercedes Mone continued her streak of great matches by defeating Julia Hart. This didn’t start off hot, but by the final few minutes it was really great thanks to the crowd, who got super into the match, particularly for Hart. If Mone and Athena isn’t the All In match, I wonder if Mone is winning this and challenging Storm.
  • Will Ospreay opened the show by defeating Kevin Knight. I wish Knight didn’t take so many losses early in his AEW career as I think he’s a talented guy that they should take time getting over. But considering the kind of matches he’s had in the last couple of weeks, I think he’ll be fine. I wonder if this is the year that Ospreay wins the Owen and challenges Moxley, because if it’s anyone’s time to be the top babyface in the company, it’s either Ospreay or Strickland.

WWE 2K25 review: Head of the Table

Posted on by Marc Quill

Since the soft reboot of sorts for 2K Games and Visual Concepts’ WWE 2K series with WWE 2K22, the perennial WWE franchise has seen its share of improvements each year. Last year’s 2K24 was arguably the best of the recent games, and now this year’s installment looks to take that crown with gusto. I can safely say that WWE 2K25 does that with relative ease, although there is a rather large Island-shaped elephant in the room that does need to be addressed.

Gameplay-wise, WWE 2K25 retains the controls that have been the mainstay of the franchise since its reboot and refines them with some small additions like the return of chain wrestling sequences at the start of matches and high-risk maneuvers from the barricade. An overhaul of the ladder match minigame and ladder finishers also help make that match feel a bit more exciting than in previous years. Small quality of life additions such as the ability to disable Instant Recoveries, Possum Attacks, Quick Escapes, and Possum Pins are also very much welcomed. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Y8tw3zv44

WWE 2K25 features a roster of nearly 300 wrestlers, which include unlockables from Showcase and MyRise mode. The roster spans generations, from current stars like Seth Rollins and Bianca Belair, legends of the past such as the Wild Samoans and Andre the Giant, and the future stars of tomorrow like Je’Von Evans and Sol Ruca. Of course, there’s future DLC packs that’ll add more to this already massive roster, with Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer, the Motor City Machine Guns, TNA’s Abyss, and even New Jack all teased for future release.

One of the most-requested features for many years has been intergender matches, and this year’s WWE title delivers on that front in spades. Women wrestlers can now mix it up in nearly every match against male opponents with impunity, and it should give would-be bookers a lot more freedom in building the dream matches they’ve always wanted. Want to finally have Rhea Ripley get her revenge on Dominik Mysterio in a No Holds Barred match or replicate Chyna’s run as Intercontinental Champion? in WWE 2K25, you most certainly can.

Two new match types make their debut in the form of Underground and Bloodline Rules matches. The former is a brawl inside a ring without ropes as popularized on NXT programming where the only way to win is to knock your opponent out or make them submit. The latter is the match type from WrestleMania 40’s Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns main event match where there are no disqualifications and run-ins can be triggered after filling up your special meter. With up to three “Bloodline Run-Ins” per side, this kind of match easily turns into chaotic fun when everyone gets involved.

New Backstage Brawl environments round out the gameplay additions, with the infamous NXT Parking Lot now available for your fighting pleasure, as well as the WWE Archives, which is a treasure trove of WWE artifacts. Players will certainly have lots of fun brawling on top of the SmackDown fist at the Archives like it’s 2002.

WWE 2K25 Solo Bloodline

Visually, the brutality of matches are now more evident than ever in 2K25 with the scars of war being more pronounced as a particular match goes on. Bruises, welts, and blood mark brutal encounters well and should make for memorable screenshots and replays for players. The addition of a third-person camera for entrances and even gameplay itself adds a new perspective, and in the case of entrances, can help entrance enthusiasts get some great shots of their wrestlers making their way down to the ring.

The game’s soundtrack is solid and features songs from Eminem, Gojira, BABYMETAL, Jelly Roll, and Architects, to name a few. Mixed in with the soundtrack is the wide array of wrestler theme songs that you can add to the game’s jukebox so that they play in the in-game menus. Commentary remains great, with added specific lines for particular matchups a great addition for more realism.

WWE 2K25’s MyRise mode flips the script from previous editions by offering a singular story split between your created men’s and women’s wrestlers. This year sees the story revolving around a group called the Mutiny threatening to disrupt WWE as we know it, and it falls on your created wrestlers to take the fight to this literal NXT Takeover. Replay value is encouraged as multiple story branches can unlock wrestlers, items, and arenas depending on what choices you make. It even boils down to how the makeup of your custom wrestler’s personality shapes up to be. You’re given three choices of having them be a brash warrior, a comedic jokester, or a cold and calculating taskmaster. These choices help certain scenes play out differently, as a scheming wrestler might approach the threat of the Mutiny far differently than a comical one would. It’s fun to play through MyRise once again just to see how these different cutscenes play out.

As I dug deeper into MyRise, it became quite clear that the story was clearly inspired by both the infamous Retribution storyline from 2020 COVID-era WWE and 2010’s Nexus angle, but taken to its fullest potential. The addition of WWE Live Matches to proceedings, which allows you to unlock even more wrestlers – most of which are WWE 2K’s own cast of original grapplers – makes sure things are never boring in this year’s MyRise story.

The franchise’s signature Showcase mode puts the entire Bloodline in focus, as players get to relive classic matches featuring members of the famed Samoan wrestling dynasty, change history on some of these encounters, or even play out fantasy matchups not thought possible. One notable change for Showcase this year is the removal of “Slingshot Technology”, which previously inserted real-world footage into cutscenes to mixed results (largely due to the overabundance of blurring), in favor of in-game cutscenes, which makes things work out for the better a lot more.

I found Showcase’s prologue sequence, which neatly recreates the WrestleMania 40 main event as a way to set the stage for the mode itself to be an inventive way to get players acclimated to how Showcase works.

One addition that might be irritating for those looking to unlock everything Showcase has to offer is the timed objectives. Matches will feature a particular task that must be completed within a set amount of time. Not completing these in time will result in unlockables for that match not being rewarded, even if you win. And with how hectic matches like the Bloodline WarGames match can become, it’s easy to lose track of these objectives and get frustrated when you have to restart them again. 

Even with that aforementioned caveat, it’s quite clear that the Bloodline Showcase was a mode put together with the greatest amount of detail and attention. The videos between each match, hosted by Paul Heyman, add some grandeur and having the Wise Man himself describe the importance of these matches to the greater Anoa’i lineage as only he can is a nice touch.

MyGM sees the addition of online matchmaking, with up to four players being able to compete to see who comes out on top in a battle of the brands. Universe Mode, on the other hand, brings back promos, last seen in WWE 2K19, as well as adding the ability to host two-night PLEs to make things more exciting. MyFaction now sees the introduction of the World Tour, a set of matches with different rules across several locales that unlock Persona Cards of various wrestlers.

And now for possibly the most controversial addition to this year’s game: The PS5/Xbox Series X-exclusive known as The Island. Its announcement in the initial WWE 2K25 trailers was a source of divisive opinions among fans and with good reason. The Island is essentially a wrestling-styled take on the NBA 2K series’ City modes. And if you’re familiar with those modes, it’s one that incentivizes pay-to-win mechanics as you’re practically forced to plunk down real-world money if you want to boost your wrestler’s stats in a short time. On top of that, The Island also features cosmetic items that can be bought for your wrestler, most of which feature real-life brands, and all of which are overpriced with the purpose of pressuring you to spend on microtransactions to collect these items (a set of Air Jordans will set you back about 18,000 in VC, the currency used for this mode). 

WWE 2K25 The Island The Arcade of Tomorrow

Now, it’s possible to not spend any real money at all, but the payout for winning matches against AI foes and online opponents as well as clearing objectives on The Island is so woefully low that you’re practically being encouraged to expedite the process of boosting your stats/unlocking clothing with real money.

The Island’s interesting premise of having your wrestler fight to earn a WWE contract under the behest of cover star Roman Reigns and its window dressing of areas themed to other WWE wrestlers was honestly not enough to grab my attention and I just largely stopped after trying out the mode for a few minutes or so. Even putting aside the microtransaction aspects of The Island, the mode itself feels undercooked and not worth all the hype given prior to release.

Thankfully, aside from creation parts from The Island being available once unlocked/purchased (though with the unfortunate downside of being unable to edit these Island-exclusive parts at all), it’s skippable and doesn’t really require much attention if you’re not into this sort of mode. That said, I do worry that future games will make that even more impossible, especially if The Island ends up being popular.

Speaking of creation, that part of the experience seems to have less of a focus this year. While the WWE 2K creation suite remains the best in terms of character creation, modes such as create-an-arena and create-a-championship have seen less attention, getting little to nothing whatsoever. Further complicating things is that cross-generation creation sharing via Community Creations has been eliminated, meaning PS4, PC, and Xbox One users can only share creations with those consoles while PS5 and Xbox Series X users can only share creations amongst themselves. 

Final Thoughts

All in all, I think WWE 2K25 continues the franchise’s place at the head of the wrestling games table for the foreseeable future. The looming spectre of The Island and its unfortunate implications for future iterations is certainly cause for concern, but the gameplay remains as solid as ever and the new non-Island additions to the game do help make 2K25 feel like an enjoyable gameplay experience for wrestling fans old and new. 

Pros

  • Core gameplay as good as ever with added QoL changes
  • Intergender wrestling’s return 
  • Visually impressive, especially with blood and bruises
  • Underground and Bloodline Rules matches add to the fun
  • Strongest MyRise story in the WWE 2K franchise
  • Bloodline Showcase well-presented

Cons

  • The Island is a huge disappointment
  • Microtransactions in MyFaction & The Island
  • Create-an-Arena & Create-a-Title unchanged
  • No cross-gen Community Creations

Final Rating: 8.5/10

WWE 2K25 is now available for PlayStation 5, Playstation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC.

AEW Revolution review: Mox & Cope do their match

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The most annoying thing about Sunday’s AEW Revolution was that up until the main event, this was a surefire show of the year contender.

And you know what? Even after that nonsense, I am still going to consider it a top notch show anyway because a match like Jon Moxley vs. Adam Copeland isn’t going to drag me or this show down.

To be fair, Cope and Mox had to follow a steel cage match where Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher did literally everything under the sun in one of the craziest cage matches in recorded history. Their situation was a tough one, to be sure. But even taking that into account, I can’t understand why a match like this ended the show where the last two or three matches before it would have closed things on a high note. But that didn’t happen as Mox and Cope went out there, did their match, and it wasn’t particularly good.

After weeks of Copeland hunting down most of Mox’s crew, he proceeded to have a technical wrestling battle with Moxley. And by battle, I mean Mox sat there and did holds. Cope then sat there and did holds, and vice versa. For a match that had been built on Cope taking every single member of the Death Riders down so he could get his hands on Mox, going out there and simply doing a wrestling match felt off psychologically.

Then there was the ref bump and, what do you know, Wheeler Yuta came out. On the last episode of Dynamite, it was teased that Yuta was tired of being yelled at by Mox and it was implied he wasn’t going to help him Sunday. (Never mind this was at least the second or third time they’ve teased Yuta might turn on the Death Riders and Cope looked like an utter fool for letting him go.) So wouldn’t you know it, shock of all shocks, when the time came, Yuta in fact did not turn on the Death Riders and proceeded to lay out Cope. Wow. What a shock.

As usual with the Death Riders storyline, Suddenly A Bunch Of Stuff Happened. Jay White came out and interfered but accidentally struck Cope with the briefcase. Then Christian Cage came out and cashed in his anytime, anywhere title shot that he won back in August. And after all these months of teasing his cash in, here’s how it ended: Christian hit a spear and a Killswitch but Mox came to and put Christian in his bulldog choke. Christian cutely attempted to cover Cope, but Mox pulled him off and Christian submitted, the end. The Death Riders live on.

Swerve Strickland, who won a number one contender’s match earlier in the show, took out Mox with a dive off a balcony to end the show, so that’s kinda cool but it didn’t erase the last 30 minutes.

The ending to Revolution reminded me of those WCW shows in 1997 where you would get a great undercard but a totally abysmal main event. This wasn’t as bad as some of the worst WCW main events but, boy, was it a flat ending to an otherwise excellent show.

Here’s a rundown of the rest of the card:

  • Two things can be true about the steel cage match that took place between Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher. This was a brutal, violent, amazing spectacle full of incredible spots, something that won’t be forgotten for a long time. The problem was once they hit the high point, they continued and did so many crazy nearfalls that it bordered on parody. Once Mark Davis ran in for a second time in this cage match where there can’t be any interference, I was beginning to wonder what the finish was going to be. Would it be the really cool Oscutter off the cage? The Styles Clash onto the thumbtacks? The (multiple) screwdriver stabbings? The crazy Spanish fly off the cage? No, but all of that happened for some very close nearfalls. The answer? After all of that, Fletcher was pinned with a Tiger Driver 91. There were a lot of cool things, and I want to stress that overall, I thought the cage match was great, but there was A LOT going on, probably too much by the end.
  • Like the main event, Kenny Omega and Konosuke Takeshita had to follow a really violent spectacle in the Hollywood Ending, but unlike the main event, I thought they did a good job. I wasn’t expecting this kind of match where Omega sold and sold and sold for a long time, but they did a good job building toward the end and I enjoyed the crucifix finish. I didn’t imagine Omega winning the title but it does make sense as Takeshita got the win in their previous match.
  • Toni Storm and Mariah May had their Hollywood Ending and I must say, it was one hell of a brawl and maybe the best thing on the show in terms of overall execution. This was a fast-paced, brutal spectacle full of violence. Both women bled buckets, especially Toni. There was tons of glass and using that glass to spill more blood. Lots of piledrivers and big moves on surfaces that were not a pro wrestling ring. The aftermath of the bout where “THE END” was shown on screen as Storm continued to lie next to her former friend I thought was also a nice touch. This story kind of dragged in places, especially when Storm vanished for months, but now that it’s all said and done, I thought it was a very well done story. Who would have thought All About Eve would inspire a wrestling storyline in the 2020s?
  • The Hurt Business defeating The Outrunners was nothing special. I don’t really have anything to say about it other than The Hurt Business is probably not losing for a long time. Next!
  • There wasn’t much to Kazuchika Okada defeating Brody King either. Nothing wrong with it, I thought it was a good hard-hitting match, but it’s one of those bouts that gets lost in a sea of really great matches. Okada won, just biding time until they do the Omega match in July.
  • Swerve Strickland gained revenge over Ricochet in what I thought was an excellent back and forth match, probably the best bell-to-bell wrestling match on the show. Ricochet has found his footing as a heel and it’s helped out his matches a ton. Swerve is one of the best in the world and showcased it here yet again. Swerve is next for Moxley and while this may just be me ready to move on from the Death Riders storyline, I’m all for him to win the title again next month.
  • Momo Watanabe failed to win the TBS title from Mercedes Mone. These two had a very good, hard-hitting match. And when I mean hard-hitting, I mean Watanabe kicked Mone repeatedly. Hard. It didn’t seem fun, but Mone picked up the win after a hard battle. I’m kinda at the point where I’m wondering what the endgame is for Mone’s run with the TBS title, but she’s been consistently good so there’s no rush either, I guess.
  • Hangman Page defeated MJF in what I thought was an excellent opener, probably right there with Ricochet and Swerve. MJF’s petulant behavior, jealous over Page’s popularity, played out in full force here, particularly near the end when he started throwing a fit. Also, that Angel’s Wings spot towards the end looked like it HURT. This ended up being a very well-worked match, and with Page’s victory, he should get a World title match sooner than later.

WWE Elimination Chamber review: John Cena sells out

Posted on by Bryan Rose

After all these years, it seemed like John Cena was never going to have the heel arc that most stars of his caliber have. Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin had their heel runs to varying success but after years of John Cena being a babyface and only months to go before his retirement, it seemed like things would stay that way.

Then Saturday happened.

It seemed likely that Cena was going to win the Elimination Chamber, as it is hard to pass up the idea of him vs. Cody Rhodes while the opportunity is there. And in fact, he did win. But the outright heel turn that took place after the match, with Cena assaulting and bloodying a stunned Rhodes and aligning himself with The Rock, was something very few people expected.

The angle was extremely well done, and when you think about it, everything made sense. The Rock wanted someone to be his ‘champion’ in WWE, and since Rhodes wouldn’t do it, Cena is the next best guy for the role. The guy that always did what the company told him to do going against the one person that told The Rock no. Sounds good to me!

A lot of online folks have compared this as a moment similar to the infamous Bash at the Beach angle that saw Hulk Hogan turn heel and join the nWo, or at WrestleMania X-7 when Steve Austin did his turn. They’re extremely similar in some aspects, but there’s some differences. By 1996, Hogan was completely washed as a babyface and crowds were already starting to turn on him, so being the top heel was a logical choice. On the contrary, In 2001 when Austin did his turn, fans weren’t ready to boo him as he had just returned from neck injury and when WWE doubled down during the Invasion angle, the ratings slid.

In 2025, John Cena isn’t the face of the company or the top merch seller, Cody Rhodes is. so if he needs to the heel to the top star’s face, then it makes all the sense in the world. You also have to admire it, too. It would have been easy for WWE to have Cena spend most of the year riding a wave of nostalgia, and that still may be possible as he can always turn back for his last couple of matches. For now, WWE and Cena have decided to embark on something completely different and out of left field. And I have to give them props on taking WrestleMania up another notch in terms of interest.

Elimination Chamber overall was a pretty good show, even before the show-closing angle. The men’s chamber that headlined was pretty good and picked up in the last few minutes when Seth Rollins, Cena, and CM Punk were in there by themselves (though did you notice those punches between Punk and Cena? I did). Based on the finishes here, it seems likely we’re getting Punk/Rollins (and Reigns?) and Damien Priest/Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania. 

The Women’s Chamber match was also very good, actually a bit more better then the men’s match. Lots of big spots (I can still hear Bianca Belair’s hair whip on Liv Morgan, ouch!) and much like the men’s match, some good wrestling towards the end of the match between Belair and Morgan. One of the big stories that played into the match was Jade Cargill making her return, not attacking Liv Morgan but rather Naomi, indicating that perhaps Belair’s tag partner was the one behind the attack that put Cargill out last year. With Belair’s win, that will likely play a part of the build towards WrestleMania as she’ll face either Rhea Ripley or IYO SKY.

The tag team match was pretty simple, and I didn’t see any major problems with it. Stratus looks amazing at this point of her career and can still hang. Stratton got the big win, pinning Nia Jax and putting her on a collision course towards Charlotte Flair, which should be a very interesting WrestleMania match.

And in the unsanctioned match, Kevin Owens got the win over Sami Zayn, defeating him after multiple powerbombs onto the ring apron, which as you know is the hardest part of the ring. This was good, but I also thought if you are going to use blood, this probably would be the match to do it, right? This was unsanctioned, meaning there was lots of weapons including hockey sticks, trash cans, tables, chairs, and even a barbed wire chair, which I don’t think has been seen in WWE for a while. Owens even took a drop toe hold into the barbed chair but yet still didn’t bleed. He must have really tough skin. My guess is since the main event angle required blood, this match couldn’t have it. All of this led to the return of Randy Orton, who went after his former friend Kevin Owens, so that is another likely WrestleMania match.

And that is all for Elimination Chamber! Up next is…WrestleMania. Yep, it’s next month. Nothing but build from here!

WWE Royal Rumble review: YeetMania

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Didn’t see that coming, did you?

Jey Uso was the winner of this year’s men’s WWE Royal Rumble, last eliminating John Cena to win. I did not expect that going in and not many people did, honestly. The most exciting thing about this year’s match was that WWE has done such a good job of building contenders in the men’s division that a lot of people could have won like Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Cena, or even CM Punk.

That made the last few eliminations feel pretty special. A Royal Rumble match is good when there’s an air of unpredictability and this Rumble had that, leading to an entertaining match.

The men’s Rumble also presented the first look at some possible WrestleMania 41 matches. After he was eliminated, Rollins got into it with both Roman Reigns and Punk, setting up the possibility of a three-way match. Logan Paul eliminated AJ Styles, making me feel there will be more on that situation in the next few weeks. And with Uso’s win, it looks like he’ll be going after Gunther’s World Heavyweight title after losing to him one week ago on Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Going with Uso is a…choice. I like him as he’s fun and charismatic and it’s clear that the crowd sees him as a major star. And given that his last World title match was pretty good, I think he and Gunther can deliver a WrestleMania-caliber main event. But is he the guy to go with?

Meanwhile in the women’s Royal Rumble, everyone pretty much assumed that Charlotte Flair, who has been out of action for over a year with a knee injury, would win and, shock of shocks, challenge for another title. And sure enough she did, last eliminating NXT’s Roxanne Perez. This was a fine match and people reacted to big surprises like Alexa Bliss and Jordynne Grace, but Rumble matches are built on moments and there wasn’t anything significantly memorable here. My guess is Flair will challenge Tiffany Stratton who still probably has to go through Nia Jax first.

Cody Rhodes retained the undisputed WWE title and regained the “winged eagle” title by defeating Kevin Owens in a ladder match that had a bunch of sick spots. My own back hurt when Owens landed on the side of that ladder following a Rhodes back body drop. Yikes! The final spot of the match where Rhodes gave Owens an Alabama slam through one of the ladders was also a cool, yet kinda sick, visual. Sami Zayn came out and looked after Owens as Rhodes grabbed the title, so there’s still intrigue as to where the Zayn/Owens relationship goes from here. I wouldn’t say this was a super remarkable ladder match, but the last few minutes were excellent.

DIY retained the WWE Tag Team titles after defeating the Motor City Machine Guns. I was thinking this could be one of the better matches of the show, but surprisingly it was just a match. It was well worked, but no one in Indianapolis saw these two teams as stars and as a result, they simply sat on their hands. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley lost after interference from the Street Profits who also took out DIY. That may be a three-way match for somewhere down the road.

Next month is the Elimination Chamber from Toronto. Will John Cena overcome the odds and go to WrestleMania? Well I hope so or he, one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time, won’t have a path to WrestleMania…again!

AEW Worlds End review: Mixed signals heading into the new year

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Image: JJ Williams

AEW has had an up and down 2024. Of course, the biggest news was their new television deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, ensuring they’ll be profitable in the years to come. On the other hand, ratings & attendance are down and the shows have been a mixed bag.

Take Worlds End, for example. The good stuff was really good and Will Ospreay had one of the best one-night performances you’ll ever see. But the bad stuff was bad and it’s not immediately clear if there’s anything real hot heading into the new year.

Take the main event of the show, for example. There wasn’t anything wrong with the match itself which saw Jon Moxley successfully retain the AEW World title against Hangman Page, Jay White, and Orange Cassidy, the latter of whom had already been beaten the previous month. The problem was absolutely no one in the building thought any one of these three had a chance to win the title and sure enough, they did not.

At least the show ended on an upbeat tone compared to the last two shows when FTR and the returning Adam Copeland came out to clean house, setting the stage for the next World title feud.

I’m not particularly into this Moxley world title run as it reminds me way too much of Vince McMahon’s booking from the 2010s where the heels have all the heat in the world and repeatedly tell the audience that the faces can’t get their stuff together, only for the dumb babyfaces to prove the heels right. I’ve seen this on AEW television for two months now. It was boring in 2019 when WWE did it and its boring now in 2024. Hopefully, Copeland is the ingredient this storyline needs to get things moving because it hasn’t done anything for me thus far, and there’s no indication it’s doing anything for business either.

The rest of the show:

  • Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay in the Continental Classic finals to retain the title he held going into the tournament. This was a fantastic match and easily the best since Okada’s arrival in AEW. This is the Okada people wanted but haven’t really gotten thus far in his AEW run. The last five minutes were fantastic and reminded me of the top-tier NJPW style main events that Okada was known for. After the match, we saw the return of Kenny Omega who handed the title to Okada as an All In Texas banner hung in the background, clearly indicating what the future holds for those two. That show is roughly seven months away. This was great, but now I kinda have to watch them slowly build this when I’m pretty much ready to see it now.
  • It strikes me just how bad AEW missed going all the way with Ospreay this year. This guy has consistently been impressive every step of the way and is easily a lock for Most Outstanding Wrestler in the upcoming Observer Awards. Why isn’t he AEW Champion? Imagine if his matches headlined every show; the vibe surrounding AEW would change in an instant and for the better. It’s so weird that AEW is going with boring WWE heat at the top while Ospreay is killing it wherever he’s put.
  • Yet again, Mercedes Mone and Kris Statlander put on an excellent match. The crowd was silent at the start but really got into it by the end which saw Mone score the win with a modified roll-up. Mone is closing out 2024 strong with a string of great matches, I hope that bodes well for her 2025.
  • Konosuke Takeshita retained the International title over Powerhouse Hobbs in a pretty good match. This struggled for heat but I thought the work was good, Hobbs can definitely hang at this level and deserves to be here. 
  • I don’t even know where to begin with MJF and Adam Cole. The match was fine. But after a full year of feuding, and after weeks of Cole looking to finally get his singles match with MJF, he simply lost after a low blow. The worst thing is they decided to make the win not matter anyway because Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong prevented MJF from injuring Cole further, which eventually led to a full reunion between all members of the Undisputed Era Kingdom who promptly laid out MJF. So why did he win?
  • This easily earns worst feud of the year because it did the one thing that makes a feud really bad: everyone got less over as the weeks went on, to the point people were booing Cole for laying out MJF after the match. I understand plans changed due to things beyond anyone’s control, but even after Cole returned from injury, it was just one miss after another. Let’s all move on and forget any of this ever happened.
  • Thunder Rosa and Mariah May had a pretty good weapons match. The problem here is twofold. One: no one really thought May had a chance of losing the title. Two: I have seen so many weapons matches in so many different promotions they are starting to lose their appeal and are all blending into one match. I thought the pinata spot was pretty clever at least, and there was a memorable ending with May piledriving Rosa into a table.
  • Okada and Ricochet had a good match. Ricochet’s heel shtick is working but he’s just missing something in terms of being a top-tier worker in AEW. Okada can be here and there and he was fine here, but was a lot better later in the night.
  • Ospreay defeated Kyle Fletcher in a very good, bloody match that started off the show strong. I don’t think it was as strong as their previous encounter, but they worked hard and it became the second best match of the night. I kinda wish they went all the way with Fletcher as he’s someone special they need to keep hot, but there’s other opportunities and at least 10 other titles he can go for in this company. Besides, what we got later I can’t really complain about.

WWE Survivor Series review: Hope you like weapons

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The final WWE PLE of the year, Survivor Series, ended with one burning question: what does CM Punk want from Paul Heyman?

We don’t know just yet, and that will be the million-dollar question as we approach the final weeks of 2024. What we do know is that Punk and Reigns put aside their differences in the WarGames match to come together and take out Solo Sikoa in what ended up being an excellent match, filled with fun and exciting spots that made the match shine, something that has sorely been needed in recent Bloodline drama-fests.

I’m praising the main event, but at the same time I am at a crossroads when it comes to WarGames matches in WWE. With blood limited, the company often resorts to weapons, and boy was there a lot here. The men’s match had weapons, but the women’s match went completely overboard. I don’t believe I’m kidding when I say literally every time someone came to the ring for that particular match they took a detour to look under the ring for a weapon.

Here’s the thing that annoys me logically about excessive weapon use in a match like this: THE CAGE IS A WEAPON. There were no tables or chairs or anything in the first WarGames matches because they were already inside a weapon! NXT introduced the idea that every WarGames match needs to enter Plunderville in order to be special and it’s something that has bothered me ever since. Maybe I have entered the ‘old man yells at cloud’ era of my wrestling takes. But darn it, this is something I’ll die on a hill for.

Don’t get me wrong, the main event was great and I’m probably in the minority when I say the women’s WarGames match was good too. I’m just exhausted seeing the same weapons in every match that isn’t just a regular WWE match. They all blend together, and do you really want a once-a-year stipulation like WarGames to blend in with everything else WWE does all year?

Honestly, I’m in favor of bringing back Survivor Series matches. Those were fun. Remember Survivor Series matches at Survivor Series?

Anyway, the rest of the card:

Rhea Ripley’s team bested Liv Morgan’s team in the women’s Survivor Series WarGames match. I thought this was good. Not great, the men’s WarGames was much better, but I thought this was fine. I don’t think others agree, but hey, it’s my review. Based on the finish, we’ll probably see Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan one more time for the Women’s World title. And I think it does need to be one more time as that feud has somehow managed to drag on for most of the year.

The Intercontinental three-way was pretty good, about what you would expect with these three. People were into the idea of Sheamus winning the title but alas, no dice. Even though he took the pinfall I’d like to see at least one more singles match between Sheamus and Breakker before they move on. Breakker shouldn’t lose the title anytime soon, but I’d like to see a match between these two with a better finish than what we got last time.

The United States title match wasn’t much. There wasn’t any heat save for the surprise title change, the work was just kinda there, then Nakamura pinned LA Knight to win the title. Nakamura has been given a new werider gimmick that actually reminds me a lot of The Great Kabuki for whatever reason. Problem is, Nakamura’s work in WWE has been uninspired at best and this match didn’t really prove otherwise. Not sure what the future of the US title is under him because quite frankly, I didn’t expect him to win here.

Gunther retained the World Heavyweight Championship over Damian Priest. The finish had echos of SummerSlam as Finn Balor interfered, allowing Gunther to retain the title via rear naked choke. This was pretty good, not an all-timer Gunther main event style match but what they did was perfectly fine. Clearly, there’s still a blowoff match between Balor and Priest in the cards, the question is when they’ll pull it off. As for Gunther, that’s anybody’s guess. Maybe Punk?

AEW Full Gear review: Everything everywhere all at once

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Full Gear ended on Saturday with a dizzying array of talent doing things happening at such a breakneck pace that I still don’t fully know what happened.

The main event had Jon Moxley defeating Orange Cassidy thanks to help from Wheeler Yuta, who simply ran in and laid out Cassidy, allowing Moxley to win. It was a good main event, though there were better matches on the show. If you imagined this match in your head, you knew how it was going to go and you knew what the finish was. There were no frills, though there was plenty of blood, and a scary-looking back rake.

Then the end of the show happened. Try absorbing all of this.

Moxley continued to attack Cassidy with disinfectant of all things until Hangman Page made the save. Why? Who knows. This was a distraction for Christian Cage to come out and lay out Moxley in an attempt to cash in his title match. However, Jay White came out and attacked Cage. The Deathriders then attacked White as they made their exit. White grabbed a chair and stormed to the back, where the Deathriders were closing in on their truck. But then the truck was t-boned by a car driven, legit, by Darby Allin. Deathriders stole a car and left the arena as the show ended with Allin using his skateboard to destroy their car further.

Got all that? No? I don’t blame you.

Full Gear, an up and down show with a crowd struggling to react to anything, ended with a bunch of questions but not a lot of answers. Cage, a heel, is still teasing his wannabe Money in the Bank contract match. Hangman Page and Moxley had a staredown. Jay White I think wants a title shot. And Darby Allin, fresh off of being squashed last Wednesday, wants Moxley too. It feels like several months of Moxley challengers were all crammed into one ten minute segment that left people mystified rather than looking forward to what’s next. This all probably would have been better if the storylines were a little more cohesive and planned out better, and that can best sum up Full Gear as a whole.

There were good matches at least, two great ones in fact.

Bobby Lashley defeated Swerve Strickland in a simple but effective match, with Lashley defeating the AEW Champion decisively. Lashley should have won, as he needed a big win in his PPV debut.  I don’t know about Strickland losing at this point in time, however. Given The Hurt Syndicate’s attack on Prince Nana, the feud probably isn’t over, and I can see this continuing through the end of the year.

Konosuke Takeshita and Ricochet had a fine match where they did some cool things, but I expected more from the two, and the crowd simply didn’t care. Ricochet did a really cool space flying tiger drop at least. It’s kinda amazing this wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be because I don’t remember the last Takeshita match that didn’t wow me, but here we are.

I liked Daniel Garcia winning the TNT title from Jack Perry as I felt like it was a long time coming for Garcia, who they’ve struggled to go with for most of the year. He finally won a big title in a pretty good match. Garcia has been booked well since making his return last month and now he feels like someone special that you can finally get behind. The opening video with Garcia’s mother beforehand was also a nice touch.

You would think on paper that the champagne celebration, live on pay-per-view, would lead to the return of Toni Storm. It did not. Instead Mariah May went to turn on Mina Shirakawa because, well, I guess she’s just really mean. Mina saw it coming, got mad, and attacked May, spearing her off the entrance ramp and through a table. Okay, so why on Earth was this on pay-per-view if it wasn’t meant to be Storm’s return? We’re just delaying the inevitable, but I think with Grand Slam Australia still being a ways away, they’re just playing the waiting game, and a feud with Mina will kill some time.

Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher put on a hell of a match, definitely the best match of the night. Ospreay is a lock to win Most Outstanding Wrestler this year and Fletcher should be in the running for Most Improved, as while he’s always been good, this was the year he really showed he could be something, and this was the match that proved he should be a player moving forward. And now that AEW has given him the big win, they need to make sure he comes off as a big deal in the future. If they drop this now, it’s on them.

Jay White and Hangman Page had an alright match, but I thought their match at WrestleDream was much better. They went for something different and the crowd just didn’t get into it as much. Not bad at all, but I had a hard time getting into it as well. I think based on the main event angle they will be involved in the World title scene, and I don’t think it’s over between the two just yet..

Mercedes Mone and Kris Statlander had the first great match of the night. I’ve been iffy on both as of late due to their booking, but they put on a hell of a performance on Saturday. I thought Statlander had zero chance of winning heading in and by the end, I was buying the idea that it may actually happen. They are already teasing a Kamille/Mone breakup heavily (it hasn’t even been that long, has it?) so I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re going with that for World’s End.

MJF and Roderick Strong was alright, but the crowd was dead for most of it, which was a theme for a lot of the matches on this show. The storyline between MJF, Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, and Adam Cole just doesn’t resonate with me. It was already an uphill climb after Cole came back as a face and they’ve struggled to get it going ever since. I get they’re holding off the MJF/Cole match to next month, but unless they have a story that actually works I’m hoping that is the end of that story because it’s causing everyone to get less over.

The opening tag match was just kind of there. The crowd was more interested in booing Max Caster, who is clearly teasing a breakup with Anthony Bowens. Probably for the best at this point. Not much more to say other than this feels like a division that needs something because even though Private Party’s title reign is still new, the division feels like it’s just plodding along with no clear direction.

WWE Crown Jewel review: A show that happened

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Image: WWE

In case you missed it, there was a WWE premium live event on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

Cody Rhodes and Liv Morgan won their Crown Jewel championship matches, earning huge, gaudy-looking title belts….that were immediately walked over to WWE’s amusement park/museum/whatever it is a short walk away from the arena and put on display, not to be seen on television for at least a year.

Does this all matter? Not really. Will it be talked about much on Monday? My feeling is no.

Saturday’s show in Riyadh was fine, easy to watch, and went by fast. It advanced the latest in the Bloodline drama, the centerpiece of WWE storytelling at the moment. It was a typical show in Saudi Arabia where the focus was making the country happy by giving them a gimmick that’s for them and them only because they are very special. You get very special status, after all, if you give WWE $100 million dollars a year for two shows.

Crown Jewel’s main event saw Rhodes defeat Gunther with the Bret Hart finish from WWE WrestleMania VIII to become the men’s Crown Jewel Champion. This was a fine main event, but I wouldn’t call it outstanding. The heat was just kind of there and I was expecting more from these two, especially when you consider that this was a champion vs. champion match. But like most of these matches, it is unlikely I will remember most of it by this time next month.

The women’s Crown Jewel Championship went to Morgan who defeated Nia Jax after 1000 people interfered in a match that was not that good. Okay, now I want to talk about my least favorite storyline in WWE right now which is Tiffany Stratton teasing the MITB cash-in. You see, WWE loves to do this tease each year. They spent most of last year and this year with Damian Priest agonizing over whether or not to shoot his shot, and now it’s Stratton’s turn.

After so many years of the same trials and tribulations, it’s boring and trite to see this play out yet again. This year, they have turned up the annoyance factor to 11 as Stratton teases cashing in this briefcase in every single solitary segment she is in. It has now become her entire character. To be frank, I don’t care if she cashes in anymore, especially against Nia Jax who is well on her way to winning Most Overrated in the Observer Awards.

As usual, the Bloodline vs. Bloodline six-man tag match was more about furthering their story than what went down in their match. Not that this was bad, as it was heated and there was some good action here and there, but the story coming out of the match is stronger than the match itself with Solo Sikoa pinning Roman Reigns to score the win for his team, setting up a future singles match down the line. As the new Bloodline picked the bones of the old after the match, Sami Zayn came down for the save but took out Reigns by accident. So not only are Jey Uso and Reigns still not getting along, Zayn has inserted himself back into the story and no one trusts anyone, especially after The Usos saw Zayn talking to Sikoa on SmackDown. Intriuge, especially with Survivor Series just weeks away!

The United States title match saw LA Knight retain the title over Andrade and Carmelo Hayes. Probably the right choice as he’s way more over than the other two despite the good matches Andrade and Hayes have been having on SmackDown. This was cool and had some neat spots, but it didn’t last that long. Knight has now beaten both of these guys multiple times, so I don’t know where you go with them after this. Maybe they’ll just wrestle against each other forever. 

Kevin Owens and Randy Orton didn’t have a match. Instead, they brawled, took out officials, and capped it off with Owens giving Orton an elbow off a platform onto a bunch of tables. Owens is definitely in line for a title match sooner than later, so him doing a job doesn’t make sense and I feel Orton is also getting a title shot somewhere down the line. What happened here was probably for the best.

Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill retained their Women’s Tag Team titles in a pretty good four-way match that was filled with action. This had its strong moments, particularly whenever Damage CTRL were on offense. We’re kinda just waiting to see where the Belair and Cargill team goes as WWE will want to split them, but when will they pull the trigger?

Seth Rollins defeating Bronson Reed was fine, but I kinda expected more of a wild brawl all around the ring and while the finish played into that, most of this was just a wrestling match — a perfectly fine wrestling match, yes, but just a match nonetheless. Reed immediately got back up to his feet after taking a curb stomp, so there’s probably more here to come.

So that wraps up Crown Jewel, a show that will go down in the record books as a Show That Happened. Up next for WWE is Survivor Series, where we’ll likely see Bloodline vs. Bloodline. Finally!

AEW WrestleDream review: The fall of Bryan Danielson

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Most retirements in wrestling these days end on a good note. That’s probably why seeing AEW do the complete opposite was so surprising.

The end of Bryan Danielson’s full-time wrestling career at WrestleDream in one of the saddest stories you’ll ever see in modern pro wrestling. Danielson, the hometown hero, passed out to Moxley’s rear naked choke, losing the AEW World title and thus, his career as we know it.

Moxley, who has spent the last month speaking in riddles and making demands, ordered the rest of what used to be the Blackpool Combat Club to attack Danielson. Darby Allin and Wheeler Yuta attempted to make the save, but Yuta showed his true colors by laying out Allin. Moxley then ordered Yuta to use the plastic bag on Danielson like Moxley himself did at All Out. Then, Claudio Castagnoli stomped Danielson’s neck while it was wrapped in a steel chair as more babyfaces attempted to make the save. It was futile as the damage had been done. The show ended with the announcers, the crowd, and the locker room sorrowful over what had just gone down.

This was bold to do in Danielson’s hometown where most probably knew this was it for him, but they at least wanted the nice, happy farewell speech after he lost. But it didn’t happen. Management, Danielson, or whoever decided this was the way to end Danielson’s full-time career. It was a heat-heavy angle reminiscent of Vince McMahon’s last days in WWE where the heels dramatically overpowered the babyfaces in every which way. I don’t know if it’s the right move to do, but it’s what they did.

The match itself was very good, one of the better ones on the show. Before everyone went home utterly depressed, they were hot for Danielson and this match, getting into Danielson’s near falls. It was a smart and brutal match — about as brutal as you can get without spilling blood. The finish itself didn’t feel like the finish, but I guess it was a fitting one considering what they were about to do next.

Danielson choosing to end his full-time career this way was…a choice, to say the least. There’s this mentality in wrestling where you want to send people home happy, but sometimes for storyline purposes, you just can’t. It wasn’t fun seeing Danielson being beaten this way, but that was the point. You can probably make an argument that it felt too much like WWE, which AEW can be guilty of at times, especially in recent years. I assume we’ll see Danielson down the line, maybe looking to avenge what his former friends did to him, but who knows.

And now, the rest of the show.

There was plenty of good wrestling here, but does every AEW pay-per-view need to be over four hours? It’s a lot in an era where we get plenty of wrestling every week. By the last two matches, I felt like I was ready for this show to wrap up. But then those two matches were pretty good, so I can’t complain much.

  • Jay White defeating Hangman Page was a surprise, but I figure we’ll see more between these two in the coming weeks. This was one of the better matches on the show: a hot opener with some really crazy bumps, including someone getting power bombed on the steel steps. Yikes!
  • I think Mariah May vs. Willow Nightingale was good, but now we’re at a point where we’re just waiting for Toni Storm to make her return, leading to what I assume will be one final blowoff match. That doesn’t seem immediate, so we’ll probably see at least one other person attempt to down May. Perhaps Britt Baker? As for Willow, I’m not sure. I was kinda hoping for a title change here as Storm vs. May doesn’t necessarily have to be for the title and I think Willow would be fine as champion, but I guess they didn’t see it that way.
  • Jack Perry defeating Katsuyori Shibata was fine, but the big story took place after the match. After Daniel Garcia made the save for Shibata, MJF made his triumphant return and attacked Garcia, but that was to set up the return of Adam Cole, who is now a babyface despite turning on MJF very meanly last year to set up a new stable that’s promptly gone nowhere. Well, I guess we’re just forgetting all of that. Maybe that’s a good thing, but between this and the Kris Statlander turn, AEW has a bad habit of dropping things cold with zero explanation until they’re yelled at about it.
  • The three-way bout where Konosuke Takeshita defeated Will Ospreay and Ricochet to win the International title was awesome, easily the best thing on the show. Ospreay is in a league above anyone else here in this company and should be the champion right now, but what can you do. He’s a lock for Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year for sure. Takeshita also finally got his big win and his first title in AEW. It’s been a long time coming but well deserved, especially after the performance in this match.
  • Hologram picked up another win, defeating The Beast Mortos in a two out of three falls match. The crowd was kinda sleepy on this at first, but it picked up in the end. I think Mortos is much better than his push and I hope he gets some attention as a member of this new LFI group because he’s better than being only slightly above a job guy. Hologram needs to go for a title as they are pushing this winning streak and yet, he’s just kinda facing the same guys every week.
  • Based on the pep talk with trainer Amazing Red before the match and Matt Jackson making sure to bury them before the action, I thought Private Party might beat The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team titles. They didn’t. I thought this was a good match, and the last few minutes were great but where do Private Party goes from here? After being told for the last couple of weeks that they have been going nowhere for the last five years, Saturday kinda proved it all true with the loss. It looks like their future might revolve around Stokely Hathaway. Maybe after this loss, it’s time to change things up.
  • The ROH title match was good. I like Mark Briscoe, and he and Jericho ended up having a pretty good match with some weapons here and there, they told a good story. I enjoy seeing Briscoe on pay-per-view and being Ring of Honor Champion as he’s one of the best babyfaces in the company. Seeing him is always a plus.

And that covers the main card of WrestleDream! Full Gear is up next month, and one match seems to have been confirmed…and it involves the Costco Guy. Ok, cool! Or boom?