We're at that fun crossroads where WWE has to do something with someone who is unbelievably over: LA Knight. Unfortunately, WWE and Vince have so many ways to fuck it up. Either continue to bury him because how dare he get himself over without WWE pushing him. Or push him so much that the fans get sick of him before he capitalizes on a world title opportunity.

I assume he loses today. WWE loves to disappoint the fans when they know what the fans want.

It "makes sense" to me for Logan Paul to win it and cash in on Rollins tonight. The MITB is opening the show. This would set up the rematch between them at SummerSlam.

I don't WANT that to happen. But this seems the most Vince-like scenario.

The men's MITB match is interesting this year. Not one big name in the match really. LA Knight could be in position to become one, but it remains to be seen how they'll handle his popularity now. All arguably mid-carders or less. And since it can be used for any title, there's some realism that any of them could technically win it. Well, maybe except for Butch and Santos.

Both money in the bank winners were good choices in my opinion. The entire Judgement Day are an actual threat to Roman even though Priest will most likely cash in on Rollins' SuperIntercontinental title. And Iyo is obviously no threat to Mami, but her feud with Asuka is gonna be solid.

Yeah really glad Iyo Sky won. People tend to shit on Damage CTRL but they've been a fun faction to watch for the last almost-year.

Under Vince's watch, The Judgment Day without Edge was pretty close to becoming a jobber team, but they've done very well, so I'm happy Rhea is women's champion and Priest has the briefcase.

I'm not really sure how you have two world champions on one show, one of them isn't defending his title and he is the one who headlines. It really does diminish Seth's title. It's the World Heavyweight Championship all over again. No matter who held it, it was always inferior to the WWE Championship.

Seeing lots of Austin Theory hate on Twitter. It's too bad because I like Theory, but they have no clue what to do with him. His US title run is the antithesis of Gunther's IC title run. Champion almost eight months and so little to show for it. He's coming off like the last pet project of Vince McMahon. And keeping the title on him is the only way they can think to keep him relevant.

Theory seems overprotected and underutilized at the same time. Like he should have dropped the US title to Sheamus at the ppv yesterday. Would have been a huge pop from the crowd.

And he has a stupid face.

Definitely a huge waste of a Cena match when we don't know how many more John has left in him.

So Summerslam is looking like:

Roman v Jey
Cody v Brock 3
Seth v ??? does it really matter?
Logan Paul v Richochet - this is gonna be dope
Asuka v Bianca v Charlotte
Rhea v Becky v Trish
Austin Theory v Sheamus - or maybe LA Knight would be good for this spot?
Gunther v Drew
KO / Sami v Judgment Day (Finn and Dom Dom) - i dunno, JD has to get on the card somehow and there's no other tag teams ready for this spot


I think thats get everyone who is important on the show? Ronda v Shayna could be on here too.

MITB was good. Liked both briefcase winners. Enjoyed the women's match more this year. A couple awkward Bayley moments aside (is it me randomly noticing it, but has Bayley been a bit off in recent months?), it was very good.

Civil War was good too. Roman taking the pin was a nice surprise. I'm still on board with Reigns keeping the titles for a good while longer, but maybe WWE has begun the journey to that result now.

I hope Summerslam gives us some big returns. Randy Orton would be a great surprise. Big E sounds like he's ready and waiting for the clear. No matter his critics, I will always love Bray Wyatt and I hope he comes back as well. Keep the same gimmick but don't go so slow with it.

And the matches are looking good too. Well built all around.

I'm kind of sad Ronda Rousey is leaving. If she had the same motivation as the first run, she would be fantastic. But something just didn't click this time around. It felt more like a paycheck to her. She showed up quite a bit, I'll give her that. But the in-ring work wasn't as strong, and the mic work was awful. Her mic work was never top level, but I remember her delivering a killer promo on Becky Lynch the night after Royal Rumble 2019. I couldn't imagine her trying that now without butchering it.

Also sad we never did get a one-on-one with her and Becky.

Over at AEW, I love MJF and Adam Cole together. I also love everyone knows how it'll end, but we're along for the ride.

Watching Rampage 100. It's crazy to me that anyone thinks The Elite would or could go to WWE. Cody Rhodes is a major exception because he had an established career already in WWE. We haven't had a major AEW name jump to WWE that is new to WWE. I'd make an argument that one of the only outsiders to make a name for themselves before WWE and then in WWE is AJ Styles. I'd rank him above Sting and Goldberg at this point. Sting's WWE run was notable only that it happened. And Goldberg's WWE run has been largely "legend status" Goldberg, except maybe that one year run from '03-'04, which was honestly as forgettable as Sting's '14-'15 run.

I know it will eventually happen that a top tier AEW name goes to WWE. But they aren't getting the Cody treatment.

AEW banned some stuff this week. The biggest thing on this list are those god-awful unprotected head shots with chairs. That shit looked awesome when I was a kid and didn't know any better. Now I just imagine each shot is leading someone one step closer to some sort of irreversible brain damage.

The banned list feels pretty damn strict to me, and likely WBD coming down hard too hard on them. I don't know WWE's full banned list of moves and behavior, but I don't think AEW's is far off (might be as strict?) them now.

It also seems to, intentional or not, target a handful of talent like MJF, Moxley and basically the entire BCC, and some others. This basically ruins their Blood & Guts event (read the additional rules below):

Here is the list of moves/spots that no longer permitted:

-Unprotected shots to the head
-Shots to the back of the head
-Buckle bombs/Blind moves backward into the turnbuckle
-Fencing response/seizure sells
-Spitting
-Blood in the crowd (i.e., no bleeding while in the crowd and no throwing bloody gear, tape, or other objects in the crowd)
-Weapons/projectiles in the crowd
-Taking drinks or food from guests in the crowd
-Physical contact with the crowd (e.g., wrestler holding opponent and allowing a fan to chop them)

Additionally, AEW have issued a second list of moves/spots that can’t be used without permission from the medical team and the producer/coach of the match:

-Spots and bumps on the ring apron and outside
-Table/ladder/chair spots in and out of the ring (Only allowed with padding)
-Any elevated spots outside of the barricades (dives and ladder spots on stage, around the arena, and other places outside of the ring)
-All piledriver/tombstone variations, including sit-down drivers, inverted/poison hurricanrana and vertabreakers
-High-risk dives or top rope moves (450, 630, double moonsaults, SSP, etc.)
-Intentional bleeding (of any sort, not just blading)
-Throwing people into/through/over ring steps, commentary table, bell table, or guardrails/barricades
-Weapon usage: Chairs, pipes, kendo sticks, hammers, ring bells, bats, chains, etc. Title belts. Thumbtacks, skewers, barbed wire, and other sharp/puncturing objects. Powders, aerosol sprays, or liquids
-Throwing any weapons or objects: chairs, etc.
-Choking/strangling with hands or a weapon or hanging spots
-Injury spots or angles, whether or not medical is involved/called to the ring
-Any physicality in the crowd or crowd brawling
-Any physicality involving referees, managers, extras, celebrities, or special guests

Much of the stuff on the "need permission first" list is WAY too strict. If the talent have to follow it strictly, I'm afraid a good number of them will want to go back to NJPW or the indies.

All of those things happen on every Dynamite lol.

The 100% banned stuff is no loss IMO. Unprotected head shots look awful in 2023. The crowd stuff is just a safety issue. Lawsuits waiting to happen.

I would assume the stuff that needs approval means matches like Blood and Guts will be fine. That stuff will just get approval before they do the match.

Crazy to me how LA Knight started out as a great heel in NXT, evolved to a strong babyface, moved to the main roster and nearly buried and fired as Max Dupri, came back as a great heel and has evolved into a strong babyface. You can call him derivative of others but everyone in the last 30 years has been influenced by someone else.

I've said it before but no matter what happens with Bray Wyatt, his feud with Knight helped shake off whatever was left behind of the Max Dupri character and legitimize him as a star. Also proves that losing a feud isn't always a bad thing.

Loving MJF and Adam Cole together. Loving MJF as a faux babyface. Loving that Adam Cole staring at the world title is likely what causes MJF to turn on him. Everyone saying it's too obvious that MJF turns on him, but I don't think it's going to work the other way around. I also don't know if keeping them together for a while is going to work either, with two major PPVs coming up. Pretty much has to be MJF vs. Adam Cole at All Out.

But man, they are fun to watch.

Heel Jungle Boy, or Jack Perry, needs a lot of work. Audience has been very indifferent towards him so far, and he's just not a good heel so far. Has time to get better... but I don't know, not seeing the potential here myself.

Also... All In Wembley. They've sold like 80,000 tickets, the show is a month away, and... no matches on the card yet.

I like to think they're working to make it the best that they can, which would be a work-in-progress, but... they're not allowing any time for feuds to build up for it, so most will be last minute and thrown together. Look, putting a strong talent against a strong talent can often make for good matches and that's fine. There's just a lack of enthusiasm.

I assume we'll get MJF vs Cole, Luchasaurus vs Darby, and maybe CM Punk vs Starks? Although the latter might be heading for a conclusion next week, so Punk might get thrown into the MJF and Cole match since he's proclaiming himself the real AEW World Champion now.

It's nuts that they blew the MJF/Cole v FTR match on Collision. Could have main evented Wembley with that.

I'll comment more on SS after it's over, but first...

This "MMA" match between Ronda and Shayna was a missed opportunity. Could have put a cage down. Could have billed it as more "real."

Now... they were clearly more stiff here. Both had some marks/bruises on them, but it was still this odd in-between.

SummerSlam was solid.

Roman's matches have begun to tire me out though. They're all generally good/great, but they also end up dragging in the final 5/10 minutes or so and having similar things happen. I was fine with him winning at Mania, and I also thought he'd win here too, it's just the HOW he won again.

Lesnar/Cody was surprisingly good. Best Lesnar match in a long time, IMO. I suppose Cody will go after Reigns again, but it also feels like weird timing. I guess Roman could lose before Mania, it would be a big surprise for sure, but just feels impossible. And having Cody chasing Reigns for 8 months will get old.

Happy for Io. Glad she cashed in tonight because I was honestly a bit meh on Bianca winning the title back so early. Might get that Io/Asuka feud at last.

Ronda/Shayna was... disappointing, but I suppose they did their best to put on a good of a fake MMA fight as they could. With a proper build and better planning for the match, I think this was a big missed opportunity to have a more event, big match feel.

Glad Logan Paul won, honestly. He puts in the work to make these infrequent matches and keeps losing, so what's the point then? This win give him some clout even if he cheated.

I guess LA Knight will eventually challenge and beat Theory. I don't know what happened with Theory. He more or less has everything that makes a star in the company, but his booking since Mania has been quite bad. Maybe it's just an issue of creative and what to do with him and him not having much to offer on that front.

Gunther will break the Honkey Tonk man's record, but I don't know who they'll have him eventually drop the title to. I suppose it could be someone he's already beaten, which would be fine, but I also feel it will be someone else.

I can summarize all this by saying... I'm interested in where A LOT of stories and title hunts are going to go after SummerSlam because so much feels very open to me.

Saw the Jimmy betrayal coming from a mile away. Even called it earlier in the night. The Bloodline story is predictable and therefore boring.

First half of the show was great. Almost everything up until Finn Balor lost. Poor guy. That crowd was 100% on Seth's side at the start but they were all in on Finn when he hit that coup de grace. Hot kickout from Seth, and I was expecting more cheating anyway, but damn at that final result. New tattoo, same ole loser. Finn is probably midcard for life now.

Brock v Cody was awesome. I'm back in. WOOOAHHH!!!

Logan Paul v Richochet was messy but alot of fun. We say it everytime, but its amazing how quick Paul picked it up. At times it almost felt like he was the veteran pushing the match along while Richochet was setting up new spots lol.

Gunther is the man. Hope he gets a match against Brock at Mania. That could main event night one.

There were some reports that Seth's body is getting worn out and he might need to take some time off for surgery / other mending. So, I thought Finn at least had a 50% chance of winning last night, but honestly... should have known better. For real, WHAT was the last feud and/or big match he's actually won? I don't think he minds losing, never heard of any rumors of him being disappointed, contract disputes, etc., but as a fan it's still annoying he's so far down the ladder and doesn't seem to have a path up it.

Priest (maybe full Judgement Day) will turn on him at some point or the Judgement Day will just breakup. Maybe Priest leaving on his own, Rhea and Dom-Dom going their own way, etc.

... Sting has been out with an injury for what... a month?

He returns tonight and commentary freaks out (especially Tony). People were holding up their phones since it was taking a bit longer than normal for the lights to come on and Tony mentioned the phones and said "Could it be?!", and I was about to freak out myself thinking it might actually be Bray Wyatt, but no... just Sting. lol.