The BlackBear

Fuck you COVID-19, all events from 1st to the 14th of March cancelled. On a funnier note: Any of you see SSD? Because I have seen twitter losing it's mind.

So not really been watching much American stuff, but been keeping up with New Japan since late last year; Holy shit the New Japan Cup looks great: In Round one: Jay White / Okada Ibushi / ZSJ and Ospreay / Shingo!

Glad Owens has gone Face again. It doesn't really makes sense, given how he turned on the New Day, but that was dumb anyway so... Folk love him, and his skills on the mic are off the charts, he's got everything a Tweener champ needs. Imagine, if you will, him taking on AJ, but this time with the roles reversed.

I actually watched an episode of Raw for the first time in months, because everyone said it was a marked improvement. And it was pretty good actually, still some poor stuff, but alright. Them weirdly fumbling around commercial breaks is very odd, the Kanelis stuff was peak Vince, this Wild Card rule has to go, and I'm not sure if you knew this but Becky and Seth are in a relationship! Worried for the Street Profits, just because I like them and call ups seem to be getting shafted. But AJ heel turn especially was good, and the Tron getting smashed up was silly fun. And this 24/7 nonsense is charming, and I'm so excited to see Spud getting to express himself properly.

At this point I'd say the sell-out buzz is worth more than actual ticket revenue. Hindsight's a lovely thing, but there's merit to being cautious, the market for AEW is still very unclear. It's magnified in contrast to WWE's poor sales for Stomping Ground (originally backlash, until they realised it'd look like Saudi Arabia Backlash...) Also here in the UK, they're (WWE) trying to run an NXT-UK show in Cardiff on August 31st, when not only is there a New Japan show in London, but there is a Wales/Ireland Rugby World Cup warm up game in Cardiff. Hotel prices are already through the roof.

I can only imagine it's loyalty to Vince.

Didn't watch it, but heard it was terrible. There's footage out there of Goldberg collapsing outside the ring after the match. It's terrifying stuff, both guys need to be done, the problem is will either want their final match to be in Saudi? It took a damn long while, but I finally cancelled my Network subscription. It hardly makes a difference but I don't want to support what they're doing. I'm clearly in the minority here, but I couldn't care less what Punk does.

Yeah, had to watch it over the course of two days due to timezones. But it was a damn good show, standouts for me were Cody/Dustin (holy shit that was a lot of blood,) and SCU vs the Chinese guys. I'm not nearly as impressed by Jericho, as Jericho seems to think we all are, but whatever, he's the big name star. Jack Whitehall was an odd appearance, but then FUCKING BRET HART! It's a lovely belt. The Bucks aren't really my type (enjoyable but not too special,) but the Lucha Brothers are incredible. For a first (I kind of think of it of the second though) PPV it's a great start. Really looking forward to Moxley cutting loose (have you seen his after show promo?,) Hangman getting a push, more good Tag Team matches. Also super happy to see Jimmy Havoc up there.

Can't come soon enough.

Titus Worldwide could have been a good heel midcard stable.

I have lost all interest in Roode. I want them to give Gable a push, the kid is electric. Also Eric Young is out of Sanity now. Damo's put out a tweet saying he'll miss Wolfe too, so Sanity might be done for good.

... The Viking Experience...

Grab a big ol pinch of salt guys: Dean Ambrose rumoured to have handed in his notice. https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2019/01/29/dean-ambrose-leaving-wwe-shortly-after-wrestlemania-when-his-contract-expires-in-april/ IIRC it was Austin himself who demanded Austin 3:16 become a shirt. And given Trips was originally planned to win that KotR (before the Curtain Call,) one could say WWF/E stumbled on to Austin as well.

Huh, it was fairly by the numbers but all things considered I had a good time watching that. In the UK so was up until 5 and massively surprising to me I didn't feel it dragged. I liked both Rumbles and felt they had enough interplay between the individual storylines, sure there were oddities: Hornswaggle, Nia. But yes they were lacking a few big surprise entrants. I even liked Brock and Rondas matches, which I wasn't expecting to, you can really tell when Brock gives a shit about his opponent. Bryan and Styles were in a damn difficult position, and sadly they couldn't make it work, but I am kind of intrigued by him having allies. Maybe something like the Cruiserweight fourway should have gone here to just amp everyone up again. I mean... was it ever not going to? But speaking of which Halftime Heat looks good, also WWE shooting hard on Maroon 5 12/14 for the weekend, (I thought Rusev would retain and picked McIntyre to win the MRR, didn't get the weird tag match because I didn't know that was happening.)

Pretty good show, didn't really feel Ohno / Riddle, and I'm still not sold on Belair. Got all my predictions right too, so that's fun. I'd actually have rated the Ciampa match over the Gargano one, the latter was certainly flashier, but I preferred the story telling between Ciampa and Black. I think we're heading towards a split in Undisputed Era. And just a minor peeve, but Dream should have had man on one arm and a woman on the other, two women? Yawn. Looking forward to the Rumble tonight, hopefully the NXT graduates will do well.

I don't say trust him, but taking in to account the extremely changeable mind of Vince, outside of the writers room he usually seems to have a relatively good idea what the plans are. You just need to remember he's a journalist, and sensationalist news sells. Having said that: Ronda apparently is looking to have a family, so may be done with WWE after Wrestlemania, which would be pretty crazy, she's only been around a year. I wouldn't hate it if true, I'm not a fan of these big dominant champions coming in and just never losing.

Well I think Meltzer said he was going to get one back in December 'at least for a little while,' but he also said there were no plans to put him over Brock. Whether that means he was getting pushed just so he could be fed to Brock, or will continue to be near the top of the card after the probable loss, I don't know. I am a cautiously optimistic about the match, as Brock has still shown that when he respects his opponent (AJ) he can still have a pretty decent match, I don't want a lazy finisher, finisher, finisher, pin, match.

Another week another excellent Almas Andrade / Mysterio match. The Rumble's usually one of my favourite PPV's so, really looking forward to this weekend. Albeit 9/10ths of that excitement is Smackdown. Hopefully all the NXT guys (used in the gender neutral sense) get to make a big splash. It's beyond unlikely that Finn beats Lesnar, but just imagine if he does. #MakeAndradeCienAlmasAgain

They definitely got better as they became more established, but even so they've always eclipsed their corresponding main roster show.

Do you watch Take-Overs? Because that's where the really good matches are.

I looked it up because I saw so many people raving about it. It was great by TV standards, and pretty good by a PPV standard. However why the fuck do they have to shorten everyone's name? God forbid he have surnames. What is so difficult about Cien-Almas?

So The Revival appear to be angling to leave. I can't imagine if they want a release they're likely to get it anytime soon. They sat on PAC seemingly out of spite, and that was before AEW was a going concern.

Long history of no nonsense dicks being faces, it's just that in the current crop of WWE guys they're rare. Most of the time someone gets over being a badass then when they turn, they start being boring and generic.

I watched it, haven't been watching the weekly stuff, but it didn't suffer for lack of context. I'm a little disappointed they took the title off Rhea Ripley so soon, she looks like a stone cold killer, and the other belts are all held by Faces. It'd have been nice for them to have a bit of an establishing reign first. That said Toni Storm is the woman to take it off her, and with her recent troubles online, it's a nice show of faith by the company. Annoyed me them pronouncing Walter with a W, it's Valter damnit! And it's Coffey btw. Weakest thing for me was the commentary, I don't know how much experience the other guy has (not Nigel) but I didn't feel much energy or insight coming off him.

NJPW don't seem keen either, Omega saying he needs to be away from it for a while. Rumours the Bucks were being very closely watched backstage at WK and the night after.