When you watch pro wrestling as often as I do, life is bizarre when it’s not a fixture on the television screen multiple days a week.
Such was the situation the last eight days. I replaced pro wrestling shows, coverage, podcast, takes, and interviews with rides, thrills, Micky Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Princess Elsa, and some tremendous time with family at Disney World for Spring Break.
I’m back. I’m caught up. I’m not sure what the hell happened.
We need more from John Cena
-Ok, so John Cena essentially did his first heel promo a second time? I mean it wasn’t word for word the same, but it might as well have been. Listen, I was on board with his first promo as a heel being about him, being about the fans and him, and being about him getting heat. It worked week one, but only if the second chapter built off of it. Chapter two didn’t. We didn’t get any kind of explanation as to his reasoning for doing what he did. We didn’t get The Rock looped back into the fold in any meaningful way. And, we didn’t get Cena talking about Cody Rhodes and beating Cody Rhodes for the world title. Yes, Cena needed to get heat for this thing to work, but this also needs to address key storyline beats for people to take it seriously. Cena as a heel night two didn’t do any of that and leaves the door open for many concerns in what is a huge match for WWE at WrestleMania 41.
-The rumored triple threat match between Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins is on for WrestleMania and it will take place in the night one main event. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Here’s the thing. I’ve enjoyed all of the segments with these guys in the lead up to the big one on Smackdown where everything got finalized. I know that the match is loaded with top talent including the face of the company in Roman Reigns. I also know that the match itself is likely to be good. Hell, even VERY good. The thing is, WrestleMania main events should have stakes behind them. Most good ones do. Not all, but most. This match should have something. Maybe it’s a number one contender slot for the Undisputed WWE Championship? Something. The fact that these guys are just (at this point) wrestling in a match, just doesn’t fit in the main event slot with all sorts of championships being defended and Royal Rumble winners wrestling elsewhere on the card. It’s good, but it’s a lot of resources in one place for an outcome that doesn’t really matter.
Still?
-So, the Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky triple threat world championship match at WrestleMania STILL isn’t official? What is the point of dragging out a storyline to get to an end, when everyone already knows what the end is going to be. I’ll be pleasantly surprised this week if Ripley beats Sky for the title and goes on to face Belair at WrestleMania. That’s what should happen, but we’ll see if it does.
-I hope Jacob Fatu gets a huge moment at WrestleMania this year. He has “big star” written all over him and WrestleMania 20 John Cena-like win over someone like LA Knight is a strong momentum builder heading into the rest of the year.
-Ok, over to AEW real quick. The interaction and confrontation between Jon Moxley and Swerve Strickland was excellent this week. Strickland has elevated his game significantly since losing the AEW World Championship and is the clear guy to take it back at AEW Dynasty. AEW has a chance to make some noise prior to WrestleMania with a title change, my guess is they pull the trigger and that promo should give them confidence as to why.
Toni Time
-I like that Toni Storm is being treated like a workhorse babyface champion. She’s the champ, now line up opponents for her to knock down. That’s how the business works. Megan Bayne is up first.
-AEW has a helluva match on their hands with Kenny Omega vs. Mike Bailey vs. Ricochet on tap for Dynasty. I’d like to see Bailey showcase his personality a bit more. The in-ring will stand it’s own, but whether or not he truly becomes something big in AEW will depend on whatever kind of character he establishes.
What did you think of wrestling last week? Let us know in the comments!!
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