Writer’s Note: In case you missed me mention it a few weeks ago, this will be my last weekly column until November. With my daughter starting Kindergarten a few weeks ago, I’m going to use some time to really recharge my batteries and to spend more time with my wife. After this column goes live to the world, I’ll be back with a WWE Bash In Berlin review column on August 31st, but then you won’t see me again until November 2nd, when I’ll be back with a WWE Crown Jewel review column. Then, on November 4th, my weekly columns will return, and things will be back to normal. Feel free to follow me on social media if you aren’t already. I’ll still be around to chat or to take column requests and things of that nature. For now, though, let’s get this final pre-vacation weekly knocked out, shall we?
*By Request*
“Not from you in particular but there’s a lot of negativity online from wrestling fans. Tribalism, trolling, and whatever else you wanna blame. My request to you is to write about the things that AEW and WWE are doing right now that you like the most. I know you’re a fan of both companies so I’m hoping it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to pull it off.”
Simple enough.
Not only will I be talking about AEW and WWE, but I’ll also be talking about NXT. I won’t be listing things in any particular order, but other than that, it’s just as the request called for… what AEW, WWE, and NXT are doing right now that I like the most. Just to make things nice and easy, I’ll be listing five things in each category.
Let’s spread some positivity.
NXT
– The Bright Future Of The Women’s Division: The course of mainstream women’s wrestling in North America has changed so much over the last decade or so. Women are getting better and better in the ring, and because of it, they’re getting more and more popular with fans, and because of that, they’re getting more and more opportunities that weren’t available to them before.
Obviously, there are tons of women on the WWE and AEW rosters that are worthy of infinite amounts of praise. However, when you look at the women in NXT, and you think about the future of the business, it really does seem like everything is in good hands.
NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez leads the charge. She doesn’t celebrate her 23rd birthday for another two months, but she already has what it takes to be a major superstar for years to come. If she were on Raw or Smackdown today, she would fit right in without a problem.
NXT Women’s North American Champion Kelani Jordan has come on strong, not even being a pro wrestler for two years at this point. However, she has more raw athletic ability than just about anyone in NXT, and she has been putting the puzzle pieces together at a rapid pace.
Lola Vice, Sol Ruca, Arianna Grace, Fallon Henley, Jaida Parker, Thea Hail, Karmen Petrovic, Wren Sinclair… there’s a long list of women in NXT right now that, for one reason or another, are giving people “future World Champion” vibes. That’s not even counting Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer, who are two of the top talents in the world and are really only in NXT so that they can get acclimated to a new country and a new lifestyle.
– Oba Femi: When he made his television debut last year, it was a victory over Oro Mensah that lasted a grand total of 3:34. That’s all I needed to be interested in his future. He looked like a million bucks, and carried himself with the presence… the “it” factor… that can’t necessarily be taught.
Here we are, 16 months later, and there might not be anyone in all of wrestling that I look forward to seeing more than this guy. He has already mastered the “hoss fight” style of match, but he has also proven that he is excelling at facing smaller, quicker opponents. He made his in-ring debut a little less than two years ago, but you wouldn’t know that by watching him.
After his debut, I wrote that I wasn’t ready to call him a future World Champion after a single match. Well… I’m ready now. He has everything needed to be a WrestleMania main event player, and if he continues the meteoric rise that he’s been on, that’s exactly what he’ll be before long.
– The Handling Of Joe Hendry: To say the least, Joe Hendry is an interesting piece of today’s wrestling scene. He isn’t quite a “comedy wrestler” that is only there to make people laugh, but his over-the-top character and antics are definitely the first thing you notice about him.
In building himself up to become one of the more popular non-WWE and non-AEW wrestlers on the planet, Hendry was able to be put in a position where he could be a key player in the working relationship between NXT and TNA. With only a few appearances in NXT, Hendry will now be competing for the NXT Title at this weekend’s No Mercy pay-per-view. Even if he doesn’t win the title, I give props to those in charge of NXT for realizing they had something special on their hands, but also that they didn’t have a lot of time to take advantage of that something special. They moved quickly because they had to.
– Ava: It certainly appears as though her in-ring career wasn’t working out the way she and/or WWE wanted it to. She switched from a wrestler to a manager type, and now, to the NXT General Manager. She wrestled a total of six matches in NXT, with her last one coming over a year ago.
When she first started having time on television, her mic skills were raw, no pun intended. You could see that there was potential there, but it seemed like she was always nervous. That’s perfectly normal for a young performer, but when your father is The Rock, one of the most charismatic “talkers” in the history of the business, people view you on an unfair scale.
Once she started moving away from being a wrestler, things started improving for her on the microphone. She didn’t have to focus on learning holds and different ways to bump, and could focus on getting more and more comfortable as a public speaker.
As the General Manager, she really seems to have blossomed into a good promo. She seems a lot more comfortable in her own skin, and she has become a commanding presence. What helps her to stand out is that she is still getting better. Someone like Adam Pearce or Nick Aldis is already set in where they’re going to be… Ava just celebrated her 23rd birthday two weeks ago. She has plenty of time to get better and better and better, which is pretty cool to think about.
It has been a lot of fun watching her improve. Will she ever reach the levels that her dad reached? No, but of the zillions of people that have been involved in the history of pro wrestling, how many people have reached the levels that The Rock did on the microphone? Exactly.
– Chase U: If we’re being honest with each other, Chase U shouldn’t work. The gimmick is corny, and often veers directly into silliness. Andre Chase’s ring attire, Thea Hail’s Scrappy Doo vibes, seemingly endless Performance Center recruits as “students” of the university, mismatched members like Duke Hudson and Ridge Holland… there’s a lot that, in a normal situation, wouldn’t see any success on television.
Apparently, though, this isn’t a normal situation. Not only has Chase U seen success (two NXT Tag Team Title reigns), but they have grown to become one of the most popular acts in NXT. Andre Chase is able to wrestle in his attire, and do so pretty well. Thea Hail’s pugnacious personality has helped her to stand out in the aforementioned NXT women’s division. The Performance Center recruits have helped make cheering for NXT in person an interactive thing, which adds to the fun factor. Duke Hudson and Ridge Holland have gone from aimlessly wandering about on NXT programming to having a true purpose.
It all works.
If Andre Chase were to move on to the NXT Championship picture tomorrow, the NXT fans would buy it, and they would cheer him on. They’ve supported the group in their Tag Team Title ventures, and they supported Hail as she tried to take the NXT Women’s Title from Roxanne Perez and, prior to that, Tiffany Stratton.
None of it makes any sense to me, but I’m still enjoying the ride.
AEW
– Kazuchika Okada: I’ve talked about this before. Could he be in a better position on the card? Yes. Could he be competing for the AEW World Title and wrestling in 30-minute matches on a weekly basis? Yes.
The man looks like he’s having the time of his life, though. He busted his ass in Japan, wrestling all of those hard-hitting epics for years. Becoming one of the sport’s all-time greatest in-ring performers provided him with the opportunity to sign with AEW for what was undoubtedly a ton of money.
More money to be seen by more people and to do less harm to your body? Shit… good for him. He’s one of my all-time favorites, so I’m glad to see a different side of him, and to see him having fun.
– Action: Not Andretti. I’m talking about straight up in-ring action. If you’re someone who enjoys some tremendous in-ring action… and I consider myself one of those people… then AEW has made it their mission to give you what you like, time and time again.
On any given episode of AEW programming, you’re going to get at least a couple lengthy, pay-per-view quality matches. It’s no big deal whatsoever for a match on AEW television to go 30 minutes or longer. While WWE has gotten better in doing that, they’re still much more focused on the promos, the backstage segments, and the video packages. There’s a time and place for all of that, but I’m very thankful that a promotion in AEW’s position has been able to come along and do something completely different.
– Will Ospreay: The man is a walking, talking, living, breathing highlight reel. In my opinion, he is the best wrestler alive today, and I think he has had that crown for a few years now.
I did some research for this, looking back at all of the Ospreay matches I’ve seen over the last few years. The last time I saw a singles match of his that I didn’t personally give three or more stars to was in March 2022, when he faced BUSHI on the second day of the New Japan Cup.
Read that last paragraph again.
Yes, it’s MY ratings, and those types of things are completely subjective, but I haven’t seen him in a singles match that I rated less than three stars for TWO-AND-A-HALF years. I haven’t seen all of his matches, sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say I’ve seen 85-90% of them that have been accessible to me. I’ve missed more of his tag, six-man, eight-man, and ten-man tags, so perhaps there’s more “duds” in those categories, but my goodness, that’s an insane stretch.
Seeing him on a bigger stage in North America is great. New opponents, new feuds, and new eyeballs that can see him do his thing. I’m all for that. If he’s wrestling somewhere, it’s automatically one of my favorite things about that company.
– A Rabidly Loyal Fanbase: AEW isn’t as big a company as WWE happens to be. That’s not a point that can be argued whatsoever. You can argue about who is BETTER, but who is BIGGER? No. In every possible way you can measure success, WWE is ahead of AEW.
That’s not a knock, mind you. It’s just the way things are.
Those AEW diehards, though… they throw their all into supporting the company. They’re the ones watching the television product every week, buying the pay-per-views when they air, purchasing whatever merchandise they can find, and so on and so forth.
I know it’s a popular thing to mock the attendance numbers for AEW shows, but when you watch the shows, pay close attention. If there’s 2,500 people in the crowd for an episode of Dynamite, and 10,000 people in the crowd for an episode of Raw, there’s a really good chance that the Dynamite crowd was louder than the Raw crowd.
Why?
First and foremost is passion. Those AEW fans love the product that the company puts out, and they’re going to react to it. Cheering, booing, chanting, yelling… they’re going to make a lot of noise, and it’s going to sound like a lot more people are in the building.
It isn’t just the fans in attendance at shows, either. AEW fans are much quicker to defend the promotion online than WWE diehards are to defend WWE. They love this shit, and I appreciate the hell out of that.
– Athena: Yeah, yeah, yeah… technically, she’s a Ring Of Honor wrestler, but whatever. The RoH Women’s Champion has had the title, as of the day this column is posted, for the last 625 days, with 23 successful title defenses in that time period.
When it comes to consistency, there aren’t many people in all of wrestling that can say they’ve put in better work for a longer period of time than what Athena has been doing as the “Forever Champion.” She was already a really good in-ring performer, going back several years, but this title reign has helped to take her to an entirely different level. As I’ve said many times, it’s just a shame that almost all of this work has been done behind the Honor Club paywall, which pretty much guarantees that there won’t be too many people watching her perform.
I would love to see Athena moved to the actual AEW roster. She deserves to be seen by a broader audience, and she deserves to be rewarded further for the great work she’s been putting in.
– Bryan Danielson: Fuck it… after All In concluded, I’m throwing in a sixth entry here. It’s an entry that should’ve been here all along, anyway.
Bryan Danielson is the single greatest professional wrestler that has ever lived. Yes, I’m serious, and no, I don’t care if you disagree. I will never tire of seeing him perform, and I can’t express how thankful I am to have seen the vast majority of his career unfold before my eyes.
WWE
– Jacob Fatu: If you’ve followed his career from before his time with WWE, you knew Jacob Fatu was someone special. The things he is capable of doing in the ring shouldn’t be possible for someone his size, but not only does he do them, he does them effortlessly.
When he signed with WWE, there was a ton of doubts that he would be allowed to do a lot of what made him famous. Yes, he was going to be involved in the top storyline in all of WWE, but the company isn’t exactly known for letting their “big men” do “little men” things. A lot of that still remains to be seen, as he has only wrestled three times (as of the moment I type this sentence) in WWE, but holy hell, he has been made to look like an absolute monster so far.
Squaring off with some of the top names in the company, he looks like he belongs, and that matters more than just about anything. Like I mentioned about Oba Femi before, Jacob Fatu looks like someone who has World Titles and WrestleMania main event spots in his future, and I’m glad to be able to witness it from the ground floor, so to speak.
– Cody Rhodes: To say that the pressure was on for Cody as the Undisputed WWE Champion would be an understatement. He was placed in some amazing positions upon re-signing with WWE in 2022, and then, he was chosen to be the man who put an end to one of the greatest World Title reigns in company history.
I know that some folks haven’t been satisfied with Cody’s title reign… some blame Cody, and others blame the way he has been booked… but I think he has done a great job. He is a huge deal, and is treated like a huge deal on WWE programming… therefore, the championship remains a huge deal. He has stepped into the huge shoes that John Cena filled for so many years, working an ungodly schedule, doing promotional work, charity work, and selling a metric fuckton of merchandise along the way.
Yes, he does run the risk of playing the background role with Roman Reigns back in the mix, while Roman feuds with The Bloodline, but I have faith that his star remains too bright for that to truly happen.
– Production Values: With Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn at the top of the mountain when it comes to the decision makers in the company, WWF/WWE was always known for their production values. Year after year, the company’s product looked bigger, flashier, glitzier, and a lot smoother than any other wrestling company could ever dream of being. Even when WCW was beating them in the television ratings on a weekly basis, their shows weren’t as good looking as what the WWF was delivering.
With both Vince and Dunn out of the picture now, it’s crazy to think that the WWE product looks even better on television now. The lighting is better, the new camera angles and tracking shots are phenomenal, and every little decision seems to be done to make things more attractive to watch.
Say whatever the hell you want about Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn as human beings… Lord knows I’ve done a lot of that in my previous columns… but yeah, they helped to make the company worth a gazillion dollars. The fact that the look of the product has improved in all aspects after their departure says everything about the people in charge now, and I’m glad to give them the credit they deserve and have earned.
– A Motivated Michael Cole: This is where I stop paying respect to Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn.
For years, Michael Cole was average, at best, and downright horrendous, at worst.
Why?
He had morons like Vince and Chief Teef yelling in his ear, telling him what to say, when to say it, how to say it, and how often to regurgitate catchphrases and shoehorn sponsor drops. Even at his best, Cole didn’t sound authentic, because he wasn’t authentic. He was what Vince and Chiclet Hearn thought a play-by-play announcer should sound like, what they thought was cool, what they thought was funny, and so on.
With Vince and Bucky Luciano out of the picture, WWE commentary is vastly improved across the board, but nowhere more so than with Michael Cole. He sounds more motivated, and seems like he’s having more fun than at any other point in his career. He’s showing off a lot more knowledge of the sport, discussing moves and the world of wrestling that lives outside of the WWE bubble.
REAL emotion is exactly what you want from your play-by-play guy. Let me know about what’s going on, and show me that you care deeply about it, one way or another. It truly is refreshing to hear Cole call matches these days.
– An Attempt At World Domination: Perth, Western Australia. Lyon, France. Glasgow, Scotland. Berlin, Germany. San Juan, Puerto Rico. London, England. Cardiff, Wales.
In the last two years, those seven cities have been chosen to host WWE pay-per-view events. Legitimate pay-per-views, too, not like those shows the WWF used to run in the United Kingdom that only people in the UK could see unless you found the DVD for sale somewhere.
I love that. Getting to see new venues and new stage designs is great, but hearing those insane non-American crowds is even better.
It’s going to continue, as well. Paul Levesque has mentioned that the company was going to look at Italy as a potential host for a future pay-per-view. There have been rumors of Mexico and/or Japan hosting shows, too, as WWE builds stronger working relationships with wrestling promotions in those countries.
I’ve said it before, but it wouldn’t bother me if WWE never did another pay-per-view in the United States again, unless it takes place somewhere that’s easily accessible for me. There are MAYBE two or three cities in this country that can be depended on to have a wild, raucous crowd for wrestling shows. WWE isn’t hurting for money, so if they can expand things even further by traveling the globe some more, I’m down for it.
This is where I turn things over to you. I want you to tell me what you currently like the most about whatever wrestling promotion you want to talk about. It could be NXT, AEW, or WWE. It could be any combination, or all three of them like I did. If you want to talk about New Japan, that’s fine. GCW? Knock yourself out. I just want to know about the things that you’re currently enjoying the most about the pro wrestling business. As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s switch directions and look at my Weekly Power Rankings, before we close things out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Bryan Danielson: We’re in the final months (weeks?) of the man’s career. If you watched All In(nit), you heard Tony Schiavone mention that Danielson is the greatest professional wrestler he’s ever seen. I’m in complete agreement there. I’ve been following Danielson’s career since 2005, and have been able to go back and watch just about everything of his I could check out. Independent shows in front of 100 or less people, main events of stadium shows, everything in between… nobody has ever been better, and nobody has ever loved the sport as much. Enjoy him while we still have the chance to do so.
Swerve Strickland vs Bryan Danielson: The whole thing was laid out really well. More often than not, a retirement stipulation in wrestling is a clear signal that the person who has their career on the line is going to win. In this case, there’s so much going on in Bryan’s real life that it actually gave people reason to pause and think about the end being near. Two masters of their craft, a red hot Wembley Stadium crowd, plenty of drama, and some really good storytelling… this is going to end up on a lot of people’s year-end Match Of The Year lists.
MJF vs Will Ospreay: Bryan Danielson is the greatest pro wrestler of all-time. Will Ospreay is the greatest pro wrestler right now. The run that he’s on now is absolutely absurd. This is a saying used more for other sports, but the man is putting up “video game numbers” over the last few years. MJF, on the other hand, is still underrated by a portion of wrestling fans, who still feel that he’s more character and promo work than actual in-ring skill. I don’t know how many great matches he needs to be involved in for that thought process to change, but he continues to bust his ass in the ring.
Toni Storm vs Mariah May: Both women took advantage of the overly personal aspect of their storytelling by beating the hell out of each other when they had the chance to do so. It’s almost a shame that their match went on so early in the show. Their story has been so much better than the one told by Mercedes Moné and Britt Baker, and their match ended up being so much better than the one Mercedes and Britt had, too. The two women’s matches at All In(nit) should’ve switched places, honestly.
The Patriarchy vs The House Of Black vs Juice Robinson & The Gunns vs PacPool Combat Club: You know what you’re going to get with AEW trios matches. Non-stop action, more spots than you can count, and something very entertaining. Throw in two extra teams, and then a bunch of ladders… and you had this hectic affair. Fun stuff.
Casino Gauntlet Match: The format of the match really seems to be catching on with a lot of fans. It helps when you get surprise returns/debuts, and the general chaos that comes with the match being able to end at any time. Seeing Nigel McGuinness return to the ring for the first time since November 2011 was amazing. Even if he never wrestles again, I’m so happy for him that he got to do it one more time, and in front of 55,000 people at Wembley, no less. The debut of Ricochet was also a blast. He looked extra motivated out there. Sure, the end of the match seemed to take the wind out of people’s sails, but even that made sense from a storytelling point of view.
Kazuchika Okada vs Claudio Castagnoli: As soon as the time limit was announced during the introduction, you knew it was going to a draw. Sure enough, it did. I do feel AEW goes to that well too often, but the match itself was really good. I mean, look at who was involved. Of course it was really good.
Randy Orton vs Ludwig Kaiser: Kaiser continues to put on performances like this, making people feel he could be one of the next breakout stars in WWE. While that obviously remains to be seen, he is definitely putting himself in position for a bigger push. He’s still at that “have good matches with just about anybody, but ultimately lose most of them” phase for now. We’ll see.
Sheamus vs Pete Dunne: Two of the most physical performers in the sport today. They beat each other’s asses, and set themselves up to probably do it again soon. I’ll take it.
PacPool Combat Club vs Top Flight & Lio Rush: As exciting as the Martin brothers and Lio Rush are, it was the right call to have Pac, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta win here. It gave them the final spot in the Ladder Match at All In(nit), and that allowed Pac to have a great moment in front of his fellow countrymen.
AEW’s Shot At World Domination: I give WWE credit for holding a bunch of shows outside of North America, so it’s only right to do so when AEW is doing it. Going to England for All In(nit) twice is fine. Not only did we get the announcement that Forbidden Door will be in England next year, too, but we also found out that Australia will be getting an AEW pay-per-view in February. I’m all for it. These crowds outside of the United States are amazing, and I’m glad that more and more of them are getting a chance to have shows in their neck of the woods.
Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa vs The Street Profits: WWE is in a weird spot right now when it comes to their title pictures. Paul Levesque seems to prefer lengthy title reigns when possible. Of course, that means a lot of people aren’t going to be champions… so acts like the Profits keep finding a “ceiling” that they’re not able to break through. I’m sure they’ll win titles again at some point, but I just think they’re long overdue. They just happen to have been around when a team like The Usos had a stranglehold at the top of the card.
Joe Hendry vs Pete Dunne vs Wes Lee: With Dunne and Lee having feuds elsewhere, it made sense for Hendry to come out victorious here. He continues his magical journey, earning a shot at the NXT Title. You don’t think… nah… they wouldn’t… would they?
Sheamus: The man traveled to Dublin, Ireland to be a “guest picker” on ESPN’s College Gameday. He was the only one on the panel to choose Georgia Tech to pull off a major upset against the 10th ranked team in the country, Florida State. What happened? Georgia Tech won, and Sheamus couldn’t wait to gloat about it. The man knows more about college football than one would think.
Braun Strowman & Bronson Reed: With Bronson running roughshod on Raw for a few weeks, WWE has chosen Braun Strowman to get in his way. It actually makes sense. For years, Braun’s character has made one thing perfectly clear… he hates bullies. Now, we’re going to get a match featuring two big meaty men slappin’ meat. Big E would be proud.
This Week’s Playlist: “WE PRAY” by Coldplay, Little Simz, Burna Boy & TINI… “ALL IN MY HEAD” by blink-182… “Detroit” by Tee Grizzley & 42 Dugg… “SE TE NOTA” by Myke Towers & Peso Pluma… “The Story Of Our Lives” by Jeris Johnson… “Illusion” by Seether… “DRAG ME UNDER” by blessthefall & Alpha Wolf… “Ghost Inside The Shell” by Catch Your Breath… “Skin & Bones” by Silverstein… “NOSE BLEED” by Stand Atlantic & Sueco… “Rock Steady” by The Whispers… “Lay It Down” by Lloyd… “Hustle Blood” by Big Boi & Jamie Foxx… “U Should’ve Known Better” by Monica… “Street Symphony” by Monica… “Ryde Or Die” by The Lox, DMX, Eve & Drag-On… “Down Bottom” by Drag-On & Juvenile… “Pina Colada” by Sheek Louch & Big Pun… “So Hardcore” by Busta Rhymes… “They Don’t Know” by Jon B… “Welcome To The South” by Young Buck, Lil Flip & David Banner… “Prices On My Head” by Young Buck, Lloyd Banks & D-Tay… “Black Gloves” by Young Buck… “Stomp” by Young Buck, The Game & Ludacris… “Taking Hits” by Young Buck & D-Tay
