March 29th, 2015.
WrestleMania 31. Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
In the ring, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are doing the usual WrestleMania spot where they announce the attendance for the show, revealing that it set a Levi’s Stadium record of 76,976 fans. Disputed number or not, it is a record that stands to this day. After the announcement, it turned into a heel promo for The Authority, where Stephanie got to mention how WWE’s growth from WrestleMania 1 to WrestleMania 31 is largely because of her, and where Triple H got to brag, not only about beating Sting earlier in the show, but also that The Authority owns every wrestler and fan in attendance.
This would bring out none other than The Rock as a WrestleMania surprise. He cut the usual “nobody owns The People, and you damn sure don’t own The Rock” response promo, mentioning his lengthy in-ring history with Triple H. Stephanie would stand up for her man, forcing Rock to leave the ring in yet another attempt to emasculate someone in a long, long line of it for her character. Rock would leave, but only to walk over to the front row, where Ronda Rousey and the rest of the MMA Four Horsewomen were sitting. This drew a huge pop from the crowd, and a very loud chant for Ronda. After Rock had Ronda hop the barricade, he brought her into the ring, where she would defy Steph’s orders to leave, hit Triple H with a judo throw, and then show how easily she could snap Steph’s arm like a twig if she wanted to do so.
It was a fun “WrestleMania Moment” that the crowd ate up with a spoon. Ronda was still a huge deal in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. The month before, she defeated Cat Zingano at UFC 184, successfully defending the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship, and running her record to a perfect 11-0. While this wasn’t her first time on WWE programming (the Horsewomen were also front row for SummerSlam seven months prior), but this was her first time actually stepping foot inside of a WWE ring in front of the world.
January 28th, 2018.
Royal Rumble. Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In the ring, Asuka had just won the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match in the show’s main event. She would be joined by Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair. It was being teased that we would find out immediately who Asuka was going to choose as her WrestleMania opponent, but before she could pick, “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett would blare throughout the arena. The Philadelphia crowd went nuts. Ronda Rousey had truly arrived in WWE. Instantly, ESPN would publish the news that Ronda had signed a full-time WWE contract. She would get in the ring and point at the WrestleMania sign, just like all the good little boys and girls are forced to do at every opportunity for the first few months of the year.
It was another “WrestleMania Season Moment” that the crowd loved. While Ronda’s MMA reputation had taken a hit after back-to-back losses (to Holly Holm at UFC 193 and to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207), she was still one of the most recognizable and marketable stars that the sport had. Ronda’s deal with WWE was THE story on every sports site, and in every sports paper, around, edging out Roger Federer winning his sixth Australian Open and becoming the first man in tennis history to win 20 Grand Slam tournaments.
April 8th, 2018.
WrestleMania 34. Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In the ring, it was time for a mixed tag match that would see Kurt Angle teaming up with Ronda Rousey, making her pro wrestling debut, against the team of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. The match had everything it takes to be a recipe for disaster when it comes to in-ring quality. A woman making her debut teaming up with a 49-year-old who was clearly beyond his physical prime, and they were taking on a 48-year-old less-than-part-timer and his 41-year-old wife who was wrestling her first match in nearly four years and was never a full-time wrestler to begin with.
The match ended up being a lot better than I expected, and I know I’m not alone in that line of thinking. Obviously, Angle and Triple H handled most of the actual match itself, but Steph was incredibly effective as the annoying heel that kept pestering Ronda over and over again, taunting her and using underhanded tactics to get the advantage, building the anticipation to the inevitable moment when Ronda would finally get her hands on Mrs. Levesque. When Ronda was in the ring, the match was laid out intelligently, allowing her to showcase her strengths and not leave her exposed. Even Triple H got in on the action, selling wonderfully for Ronda’s offense, making her look like a beast for beating up a man who was nearly a foot taller than she was and was nearly twice her weight.
Yet another “WrestleMania Moment” that the crowd loved every minute of. It was a long three-year journey from WrestleMania 31 to WrestleMania 34, but now, the “Ronda Rousey Era” was officially off and running.
Ronda’s first run with WWE wasn’t a very long one. After debuting at WrestleMania 34, she would work up until WrestleMania 35, and would then take time away from the business to do some acting and to start a family with her husband, MMA fighter Travis Browne. It was a busy year, though. Four months after her debut, she would defeat Alexa Bliss to win the Raw Women’s Title, a belt she would hold until dropping it to Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35, which, by the way, was her first loss with the company that didn’t take place in a tag team match (where she wasn’t even part of the pin). She successfully defended the title ten times on television and pay-per-view in just under eight months, and the WWE Universe always reacted very well to her, whether she was a face or a heel.
Ronda gained some new respect from fans by doing the j-o-b at WrestleMania 35 on her way out the door. Yes, it was a “disputed” finish with Ronda attempting to get her shoulders off the mat during Becky Lynch’s pin attempt, but that didn’t need to happen at all. Ronda could’ve “big timed” everyone and refused to lose, leaving Becky to pin Charlotte. You’d still get “The Man” reaching the top of the wrestling world in the Mania main event, and you would also have a built-in story of Ronda eventually returning to reclaim the championship that she never lost in the first place. She took the pin, and when it was revealed that she was leaving, I think just about everyone expected her to return at some point down the road.
In her time away from the sport, she seemed to take every possible opportunity to take shots at pro wrestling fans. Time and time again, she would be on podcasts or some sort of interviews, and she would speak in glowing terms about the men and especially the women of WWE, and how much she enjoyed being in the ring and actually wrestling. According to her, though, wrestling fans were “fucking ungrateful” and “don’t even appreciate” her. As you can imagine, that didn’t sit very well with fans. At the time, there were some people who assumed she was merely playing the heel role and working the fans at the suggestion of WWE. In a lot of ways, that would definitely make sense. However, she was dropping f-bombs and I just don’t picture Vince McMahon, in all of his “let’s make this a family-friendly company above all else” ways, going with that. Maybe if she let it slip once, he could talk to her about it and tell her to keep it PG, but that’s just not what happened. She wasn’t working. Those were her true feelings.
Unfortunately for her, the feelings of the fans were true, too.
By the time she returned to WWE at the Royal Rumble earlier this year, the feeling in the air was completely different. The fans weren’t receiving her the same way they did when she first debuted, even though she was being positioned as a face once again. Her reactions from live crowds were lukewarm, at best, sometimes, and her reactions on social media were usually pretty scathing, with people wanting her to go away as soon as she came back.
Was it fair? Were we, as wrestling fans, being “fucking ungrateful” and showing that we “don’t even appreciate” her again?
Hmm… how can I say this and make myself clear?
No.
No, we were not.
First and foremost, cry me a fucking river when it comes to how grateful and appreciative we should be.
Look… I respect everyone that steps into a wrestling ring to put their health and their lives on the line. That’s everyone, from those who main event WrestleMania to those who are in the first match in an elementary school gym somewhere in front of a couple dozen fans. As a fan of the sport, I think every one of us should feel that way. That’s all that is a given, though. Ronda feels that way about wrestling fans because… they booed her? Because they had the unmitigated gall to have their own opinion?!?
I’ve already mentioned how well fans received her when she first started her pro wrestling journey. I enjoyed the beginning of her WWE stint, too. It didn’t take long for things to change for me, though. I’ve made it very clear in my columns, as well as on Twitter, that there have been some things about Ronda the pro wrestler that I absolutely hate.
It starts as soon as her music hits and she comes out to make her way to the ring. You’ve seen me say it in numerous Running Diary columns, but man, I’m 100000% sure that Ronda’s makeup artist hates her guts. In all seriousness, when was the last time you saw Ronda’s makeup in WWE and thought to yourself that it was a great look? This is strictly a WWE thing, because I’ve never seen it as a problem for her anywhere else. She ranges from looking like a tired raccoon to looking like she has the worst case of pink eye ever, and sometimes, all of the above.
Then… she makes her way to the ring.
Ronda is a legitimate badass. She’s an Olympic-level judoka, a pioneer champion in women’s MMA, and someone that could not only kick my ass, but the asses of many a man all over the planet. With that said, you wouldn’t know it if you watch her walk to the ring. On top of the ridiculous makeup, she has the weirdest walk I’ve ever seen. It’s an attempt at a “power walk” like something Vince McMahon would do, but Vince was playing it up on purpose to look as exaggerated as physically possible. Ronda comes walking out, moving like someone who walks on those moving walkways at the airport, but she puts SO MUCH upper body emphasis into her walk. Her shoulders start flailing around, and she starts looking like the human embodiment of those den-den daiko twisting drums that Mr. Miyagi introduces to Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid Part II as the secret to his family’s brand of karate.
Then… her matches begin.
Have you ever watched a really bad women’s wrestling match that involved one or more women who have zero business being in the ring? Chances are, one thing those women have in common is that they’re too preoccupied with taking care of their hair than working the match properly. You know the type… they get hit with, say, a powerbomb, but instead of selling that their back is nearly broken, they’re focused on getting their hair out of their face and making sure they’re presentable. That’s Ronda, except replace “fixing her hair” with “pulling her shorts out of her ass.” When she hits a move, she has to adjust her shorts. If she takes a move, she adjusts herself before bothering to sell it. Rest hold? Adjusts herself. Promo? Adjusts herself. Adjusts herself? Adjusts herself.
When you put all of those things to the side, like she tries to do with her shorts and the crack of her ass, and simply focus on Ronda Rousey’s ability as an in-ring performer, what do you get? Her first run wasn’t bad whatsoever. She wasn’t going to confuse anybody with Bryan Danielson in his prime, but she was perfectly capable of participating in really entertaining matches. She had two really good matches against Nia Jax, of all people, in 2018. Her match against Nikki Bella at the all-women’s Evolution pay-per-view was one of the best women’s matches of 2018, and that was topped a few weeks later by her match against Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series. Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks are two other opponents that she had some good stuff with during that first run with WWE. Her fighting background allowed her to present a different type of offense than almost any other women’s wrestler in the business at the time, and it showed. I can’t take that away from her at all.
This second run, though? It stinks. Pure, unadulterated dumpster juice.
Not only has she not gotten better in the ring since leaving in 2019, she has gotten worse. Noticeably worse. Even some of her biggest supporters from her first run are quick to admit that. There’s no passion in what she does. In a post-match digital exclusive interview after her return at the 2022 Rumble, Ronda said that her new baby was the only thing she cares about now. You can tell. She seems to have zero desire to get better, and it comes across like she’s only there for the extra checks because diapers can be expensive. She is currently on a three-match pay-per-view streak of absolute stinkers, starting with her match against Liv Morgan at SummerSlam, then her match with Liv at Extreme Rules, and now, her match with Shotzi at Survivor Series. To be fair, Liv Morgan and Shotzi aren’t Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada in the ring, either, but both women have had good matches recently that haven’t involved Ronda Rousey.
Sometimes, when a pro wrestler isn’t an all-time great in the ring, they can at least somewhat make up for that with their charisma and promo abilities. Ronda Rousey is not one of those people. She’s actually a lot worse on the mic than she is in the ring. She has never been someone who exudes a lot of natural charisma, and she is incredibly awkward and robotic when she speaks. In fact, there haven’t been many English-is-their-first-language wrestlers in the history of the business who seem to be as socially awkward and stilted as Ronda is. WWE tends to do a good job in hiding that a bit, not letting her get the promo time of someone like Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair, but they can only perform miracles to a certain extent. Her awkward nature even comes across during her matches, where she constantly finds herself speaking to fans in the crowd as if she was in a room of two and they could hear everything she says. She comes across as thin-skinned, letting what the fans say get into her head and rattle her, and this has happened several times, both as a face and as a heel, causing her to cross those lines multiple times during a single match.
Ronda has spent most of 2022 either as the Smackdown Women’s Champion, or chasing the Smackdown Women’s Champion. The women’s division on Smackdown has been absolutely decimated this year. Charlotte took time off after WrestleMania Backlash on May 8th and hasn’t been seen since. Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of the company on May 16th. Bayley jumped from Smackdown to Raw upon her return from a knee injury. Look at all that star power, leaving Ronda to be forced to hold the brand down almost by herself. Yes, that part isn’t Ronda’s fault, but it accentuates the issue with her right now tenfold. A lot of us used to be excited when “Bad Reputation” was heard on WWE programming. Now, many of those same people groan when they hear it, because they know what’s coming next.
What’s the solution?
I’m not really sure that there is one right now. Going back to the last thing I mentioned, you have to think the Smackdown roster will receive a boost at some point soon. The returns of Sasha and Charlotte have been rumored for a long time now, although, with Sasha, she could just as easily show up on AEW television, so who knows? More star power on Smackdown, and more proven commodities in the ring, will help take a ton of pressure off of Ronda, without a doubt. It’s not like that will fix the problem, though. Ronda’s negative traits don’t just go away because she moves down the card a bit. As a matter of fact, they might even get worse with a “demotion” as she will have even less of a reason to put some effort into what she does.
If this were someone with less star power and mainstream appeal, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. They would get pushed to the top, fail to handle that type of success properly, put on some stinkers, and that would probably be the end of the experiment. That isn’t going to happen here. WWE isn’t going to be all “yeah, this isn’t working” and then send Ronda to NXT for six months to see if she can improve her game. This really ties WWE’s hands.
Personally, I feel that pairing Ronda with her real-life buddy, Shayna Baszler, is a step in the right direction. I’m glad that we’re finally getting that on WWE television. One, it can be a vehicle to elevate Baszler to a different level, but it’s also something that can hide one of those pesky negatives of Rousey. While Shayna isn’t The Rock when it comes to promo work, she’s leaps and bounds better than Rousey is on the microphone. Shayna is able to successfully portray that psychopathic heel character that is not only looking to snap your bones and tear your ligaments, but that enjoys dishing out that type of punishment. If both women can potentially benefit from putting them together on television, why wouldn’t you give it a shot? Of course, even that has a bit of a hurdle that needs to be overcome, as the current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky, are heels. Nobody in the world is asking for a Dakota & Iyo vs Ronda & Shayna feud, especially while Ronda still has the Smackdown Women’s Title.
“Well, put the tag titles on a face team so they can feud with Ronda and Shayna! Problem solved!”
I hear you, random person who typed that in my column, but the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles have seen short reigns all year. Since Carmella and Zelina Vega dropped the titles to Sasha Banks and Naomi at WrestleMania this year, we haven’t seen a team hold the belts for longer than seven weeks, and two reigns (Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah and Alexa Bliss & Asuka) not even combining for three weeks in length. Dakota and Iyo need to be working on building a lengthy reign as champions, building what little prestige is left in the history of that title. Now, you could make Ronda and Shayna the “monster” heel tag champions and let them go on a run, in hopes that a face team can be built up to eventually take them down, but that isn’t the priority now. The Smackdown Women’s Title is.
You know what’s really messed up about all of this? As it stands, the women’s division on Smackdown is so bad that taking the belt off of Ronda almost doesn’t make any sense. Even some of Liv Morgan’s biggest supporters didn’t fully buy her defeating Ronda at Money In The Bank, even with the briefcase cash-in giving Liv the injury advantage. If you think that’s bad, who is going to buy, say, Aliyah beating Ronda? Zelina Vega? Lacey Evans? Xia Li? Valhalla? B-Fab? I just named most of the brand’s women right there, and Aliyah isn’t even active, as she’s out with a shoulder injury. Yuck. WWE has placed themselves in a very bad situation that they might not be able to get out of for a while.
As we reach the end of 2022, and with no more pay-per-view events until the 2023 Royal Rumble, it seems more and more likely that we’re going to see Ronda as the champion until at least WrestleMania. I don’t think that’s a stretch in any way, shape, or form. Will that be the end of the national nightmare of many a WWE fan across the world? We’ve seen this recipe play out before, of course.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you now, folks. More specifically, I’m looking forward to hearing from those of you who still call yourselves fans of what Ronda Rousey is bringing to the WWE table right now in December 2022. You don’t need to make a rebuttal for everything I said in this column, but I just want to hear what you like about her. Did you enjoy her last three pay-per-view matches? Everyone, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Weekly Power Rankings
Ricochet vs Santos Escobar: This is the type of thing both men are fully capable of doing on a weekly basis if they’re just given the opportunity to do so, Vince McMahon, you rat bastard. What a great match. For a long time now, I’ve been saying that Santos Escobar was ready to shine on the main roster. This was just a taste of that for fans who didn’t see him much in NXT, Lucha Underground, or anywhere else in his career before he debuted on Smackdown. With Triple H taking on so much more power now, perhaps Escobar will turn that potential into reality.
Bryan Danielson vs Dax Harwood: This is the type of thing both men are fully capable of doing on a weekly basis if they’re just given the opportunity to do so, Vince McMahon, you rat bastard. If Dax Harwood isn’t on your list of Pro Wrestling MVP’s for 2022, I think you might be lying to yourself, or you just aren’t watching AEW at all. There aren’t many wrestlers on the planet today who have had a better in-ring year than he’s had.
“Hangman” Adam Page: I like Adam Page. He has been a great addition to the AEW roster. I’m glad to see him return after a serious concussion put him on the shelf for a month-and-a-half. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to make this list, you know?
MJF “Turns” On William Regal: We know now that this was done to write Regal out of the story because he’s heading back to work for WWE, but holy shit, this was such a weird ending. There was the big heel turn for Regal, then… nothing. No storyline explanation, nothing dragged out… just MJF attacking Regal the first chance he got. Did Regal go through with the turn at Full Gear, then head backstage immediately after the show to tell Tony Khan he was leaving? Why would you go through with this entire thing if you knew Regal was leaving right away? That’s pretty dumb, especially when the Regal turn was the laziest, most predictable outcome to the Moxley vs MJF match. Yes, MJF attacking Regal was well done, hence its inclusion here. It’s just a shame that everything surrounding it might have forced a conclusion that saw corners cut left and right. Yet another instance of Tony Khan’s short-sighted booking and decision making that negatively affects the overall product of his company.
The Usos vs Matt Riddle & Kevin Owens: You mean to tell me that The Usos had yet another really good match? Shocker. Kevin Owens was a huge upgrade over Elias for this match, but you knew it wasn’t going to change the outcome. There was never any real threat of the Tag Team Titles changing hands, nor should there have been, at least in this situation.
Kofi Kingston vs Gunther: This is the type of thing both men are fully capable of doing on a weekly basis if they’re just given the opportunity to do so, Vince McMahon, you rat bastard. With each passing match that Gunther has where he gets to look like a million bucks, people start thinking more and more about him potentially feuding with Roman Reigns. There’s so much money to be made there, especially when you throw in the rest of The Bloodline and Imperium.
NXT Hitting The Road Again: After this weekend’s Deadline event, the next NXT pay-per-view special will be Vengeance Day on February 4th. What makes that special is that the event will be taking place at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be the first NXT pay-per-view outside of Florida since Stand & Deliver during WrestleMania weekend this year. If you want to go back even further, it is the first non-WrestleMania weekend NXT pay-per-view outside of Florida since Takeover: Portland on February 16th, 2020. That was before the COVID pandemic shut the world down. 14 people wrestled on the Takeover: Portland card. Of those 14, 13 of them no longer wrestle for NXT (Dominik Dijakovic being the only one), with four (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, Keith Lee) of them no longer under WWE contract. It will be great to see the brand touring once again. Even better, the Spectrum Center is an NBA arena, able to hold over 20,000 fans for wrestling shows. I’m not saying it will see 20,000 fans for Vengeance Day, as seating configurations could bring the number way down, like the 6,000 that were in attendance for Vengeance (ironic) at the same arena on June 25th, 2006. Either way, it will be infinitely better than the crowds we see for NXT’s weekly television shows at the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando.
Sheamus vs Sami Zayn: Banger after banger after banger after banger after banger. You know the deal by now. None of this should surprise anyone at this point.
Asuka vs Bayley vs Rhea Ripley: This is the type of thing all three women are fully capable of doing on a weekly basis if they’re just given the opportunity to do so, Vince McMahon, you rat bastard. I think the right woman won here. Bianca Belair vs Rhea Ripley is going to be a major WrestleMania match, perhaps even at WrestleMania 39 in a few months, so you have to save their interactions for that. A Bianca Belair vs Asuka match is also a really big deal and could/should be saved for something bigger. They’ve only had two singles matches on television, and one of those lasted less than three minutes before it was over via disqualification after interference from Becky Lynch. Having Bayley move on to the #1 Contender’s Match next week makes a lot of sense to me.
Death Triangle vs The Elite: The matches are still crazy good, but I’m starting to understand some of the initial complaints when AEW announced the Best-Of-Seven series between these teams. When you’re packing 30+ minutes worth of action into a 15-minute match, it’s going to be insanely difficult to keep things fresh when you have seven matches over the course of seven weeks. It would’ve been hard to spread the seven matches out, so… maybe… just don’t make the series in the first place?
Solo Sikoa: He has been paying tribute to Umaga for a while now, even down to the way he walks and moves during his matches, the way he tapes himself up, and the fact that he has become a silent “monster” type, even though he’s “only” 6’2″ and about 240 pounds. For reference, Umaga was listed at the same height, but at 350 pounds. Now, Solo is being booked as an Umaga-like “monster” to boot. In one brief period, he helped orchestrate an attack on Elias that took him out of the Tag Team Title match on Raw, and then he decimated Matt Riddle, leading to Riddle being stretchered out of the arena. He’s doing such a great job in this new role within The Bloodline.
Axiom vs Andre Chase vs Von Wagner: This is Von Wagner’s second appearance in my Weekly Power Rankings over the last few weeks. What the hell is happening right now?!? He is slowly getting better, and more entertaining, in the ring. I’m still glad he didn’t win here, as I don’t need to see him in what could be a much longer appearance at Deadline. That Iron Survivor Challenge is going to be crazy, so having someone like Axiom involved is the right call. He could really win people over in a match like that.
Battle Of Los Angeles 2023: As of the moment I type this, we’ve seen 13 of the 16 names in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Battle Of Los Angeles 2023 tournament revealed. Michael Oku, Shun Skywalker, Masha Slamovich, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Komander, Alex Shelley, Jonathan Gresham, Aramis, Titus Alexander, Jordynne Grace, Lio Rush, Black Taurus, and Latigo will all be involved, and that is a STACKED lineup. BOLA is regularly viewed as, arguably, the biggest tournament in wrestling every year, and there could be some classics coming to us on January 7th and 8th. Here’s to hoping the final three names can keep the buzz and the momentum going.
Tegan Nox: Look back at everything I’ve been saying about the depth of the women’s division on Smackdown, not just in this column, but for weeks and weeks now. Adding someone like Tegan Nox can only be seen as a positive thing. Fingers crossed that her horrible luck with injuries is in the past and she can stick around this time.
The O.C. vs Alpha Academy & Baron Corbin: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson continue their stretch of motivated performances in their latest WWE run. I still can’t help but feel that AJ Styles is being “wasted” in this whole story, though. He should be competing for bigger and better things than whatever bragging rights are on the line in this Bullet Club offshoot story.
Ruby Soho: I’m glad to see her back after suffering a broken nose back in September. Now, will she get lost in the shuffle of the bloated AEW roster again? Time will tell.
KC Navarro & Kylie Rae: Word broke that both of them received a private WWE tryout recently. Navarro, at only 23 years old, is one of the brightest stars on the independent scene right now, and will undoubtedly be a much bigger name somewhere in 2023, even if it isn’t under the WWE umbrella. Kylie Rae was also one of the biggest names on the independent scene, but multiple rumored mental health issues have caused her to leave both AEW and Impact before she could even get her feet off the ground. Both could be great additions to WWE/NXT if they’re offered contracts and choose to sign them.
The New Day: If they can’t go after The Usos for a while, and if The Usos are the champions of both Raw and Smackdown, what else is there for Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods to do but head to NXT and try to become champions there? I would’ve preferred a bit of a longer feud with Pretty Deadly, simply because the promos and segments could’ve been a lot of fun, but for now, I’ll take an NXT Tag Team Title match between the two teams at Deadline.
Juice Robinson: On one hand, he is an official member of the AEW roster, so more people will have the chance to get their eyeballs on him. However, on the other hand, he is one of 2,714 people under AEW contract, so what are the odds that he won’t be relegated to doing pretty much nothing but the company’s YouTube shows within a month or two?
A New Blackpool Combat Club-like (or Catch Point) Stable In NXT?: William Regal is returning to WWE. Regal’s son, Charlie Dempsey, is now in NXT, showing that old school sinister in-ring style that his father has perfected over the last few decades. On this week’s episode of NXT, Drew Gulak, one of the best technical wizards in the business, arrived to “scout” Dempsey’s match. I’m not saying… I’m just saying.
This Week’s Playlist: “Superhero (Heroes & Villains)” by Metro Boomin, Future & Chris Brown… “Too Many Nights” by Metro Boomin, Future & Don Toliver… “Raindrops (Insane)” by Metro Boomin & Travis Scott… “Umbrella” by Metro Boomin, 21 Savage & Young Nudy… “Trance” by Metro Boomin, Travis Scott & Young Thug… “Around Me” by Metro Boomin & Don Toliver… “Creepin” by Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage… “Niagara Falls (Foot or 2)” by Metro Boomin, Travis Scott & 21 Savage… “Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians)” by Metro Boomin, 21 Savage & Mustafa… “Feel The Fiyaaaah” by Metro Boomin, A$AP Rocky & Takeoff… “Activated” by Mount Westmore… “Immortalize” by Crown The Empire… “Boltcutter” by Bury Tomorrow… “Tearing Your Life Away” by Guilt Trip… “Titanium” by We’re Wolves… “Show Me Your God” by The Amity Affliction… “Too Much Is Never Enough” by Gideon… “Nite and Day” by Al B. Sure… “Oooh This Love Is So” by Al B. Sure… “Killing Me Softly” by Al B. Sure… “Off On Your Own (Girl)” by Al B. Sure… “How Can I Ease The Pain” by Lisa Fischer… “I’m Not In Love” by 10cc… “What You Won’t Do For Love” by Bobby Caldwell… “We’re In This Love Together” by Al Jarreau