Counting Lights

Figured I'd jump in here - watched my first episode of RAW in YEARS last night. Crazy how good that was. Kinda crazy how much of 2011 is reflecting right now. Between Punk, Rock, Awesome Truth, it's like a flashback to when I was at my peak wrestling fan-ness(?). Heel Rock is crazy good. Been watching his promos on Youtube and this is so, so, SO much better than his nostalgia run back in 2011-13. I will say, Punk's promo game was ooooooff. That Vince dig was good but otherwise wow, Drew brutalized him. This Mania card, on paper, is also looking like the best one in a veeery long time. Just curious - is it looking like Shinsuke, Andrade or Liv are getting Mania matches?

Sasha was excellent until she started incorporating high flying moves into her arsenal. Her general psychology changed after that. But in NXT? Girl gave us some of the best womens matches of all time against Becky & Bayley.

Hangman's promo was so dope. Dude is such a natural face. I keep blissfully forgetting Jeff Jarrett is a thing and any time he shows up I get a rude awakening. I hope they get this feud over with. I liked Ruby vs Tay a lot. MJF should never take a powerbomb again lol. Overall match was really good though, so were both solo promos. Solid Dynamite.

The stigma around sex work of any kind is egregious. What a shit reason to be let go. I haven't watched NXT or Mandy's work in ages, but I feel for her.

I really dug Kross's trainer room promo to Rey. And the look is working for me. I really wish the dude wasn't a sleeping pill in the ring.

They really have a star with Starks. Obviously MJF needs to win this one, but I'm in on Ricky dethroning him in a few months time.

Quick thoughts, in reverse - I don't know/care about Ishii but the main event was fun. Glad they ditched the interim BS for the womens belt. Can't help but think the women should've had two proper segments though? Let Britt & Hayter have a full promo, then do a standard tag for TayJay vs Willow/Blue. Are they really shackling the dull, drab, uninteresting carcasses of Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal to The Acclaimed for a program? Elite vs DT was very fun. But ffs this whole post-brawl out situation has been so unbelievably toxic. The FU chants for both Punk on Saturday and Elite last night were uncalled for in my honest opinion. This is wrestling's equivalent of investing too much in random celebrity drama that has no effect on your life and it's bringing out the worst in everyone. Glad Starks beat Ethan. The latter offers nothing overly new or interesting to me. Starks needs to get some fire back though, but I'm sure he and Max can duel on the mic. HOUSE OF BLACK ARE BACK LETS GOOOOO!!! Orange/Hager was so much fun. It's dumb, but this "I LIKE MY HAT"" gimmick for Hager is genuinely entertaining as hell and meshed with OC's shenanigans so well. Opening promo was... interesting. I'm kinda curious what happens next? Danielson to ditch Moxley, join with Regal/MJF for a while? Maybe eventually be the one who beats MJF?

Watched Rampage over breakfast. Brian Cage vs Dante Martin was actually really fun. Shame about Best Friends this week, I love them but they were involved with the two most boring groups in the company this week and their matches were insta-skips for me.

There were some rumblings a while back Logan was hella right wing, which probably implies Rowe is too given they're married. Sucks cuz like... I love the gimmick. I listen to a shit ton of folk punk so this shit is definitely my vibe, but I'd be lying if that wasn't in the back of my mind when she showed up. Weird given she's tight with Ruby & Liv who don't seem like they'd be down with that at all.

Theory ain't World champ material yet IMHO. Had he won it, would've probably been a transitional champ who then fell off for a while ala Randy Orton's first run (best case scenario, anyway). He only got the case cuz he was a Vince project and I think Trips is right to hold off for now. That said, man, dude looked like an absolute idiot the way he got booked. Time to rehab him a bit. In general, lots of choices have been making me scratch my head lately. I guess HHH is just assembling the dominos from how Vince dropped them, but I for one can't wait until WrestleMania is over and done with so they can run a draft and hopefully things can really get in the groove.

Ya know, with Triple H bringing back all these old projects of his, I would love if he could wrangle Sanity back for another run. They had one of the worst post-NXT runs I can remember.

Aight, but this isn't MMA. It's pro wrestling. It's a soap opera featuring a stunt show that mimics a real fight in the most absurd way. Real world clout doesn't really matter when you go out there to play a character. I mean hell, Bobby Fish just tried to pull the "I'm a legit badass" card and that shit didn't fly with anyone. An actor doesn't need to actually murder someone to play a serial killer on TV, know what I mean? Orange is an absurd, over-the-top character yeah, but he's not presented the way a Santino Marella was, where he occasionally gets lucky. It's consistently noted that Cassidy's entire persona is a massive mind game to keep people from taking him seriously.

See undercard is weird phrase. On the one hand it means anyone not main event, but it carries such a stink on it and you only ever see it used negatively. I split my rankings more as Main Event > Upper Midcard > Lower Midcard > Enhancement OC is top of the Upper Midcard to me. A guy who can main event a weekly with no issues and someone who you can have face your World Champ in a perfect "he probably won't win but... shit he might" matchup. This is how he's been presented since day 1 and it works. Crowd reaction alone solidifies that. It's not just about who he's beaten, it's also about how he lost to some. This is a guy who has taken Cody & Omega to their limits, two of the undisputedly best of the best AEW has ever had. More recently, he took Ospreay to the limit. Not everything is about wins/losses and Orange is a guy who can consistently look strong even in defeat by stealing the show. The wins against people like Jericho & Cole that you mentioned go to show that he can pull out a win over some of the best too. For a guy who has only now actually won a title, he's been presented exceptionally well. I also don't think we can call Jay Lethal a lower midcarder. He's been constantly featured for months on end, feuding with Upper Midcarders like Darby, Wardlow & Joe while challenging for both the TNT & TV belts. Not even a fan of his, but c'mon.

If I knew who the hell Shibata was, maybe I'd be more upset. But losing to a guy who has been consistently presented as a big deal in AEW since day (undercard in what world??) doesn't seem like a bad way to go, especially for a New Japan guy making a one off appearance. Personally, I like seeing OC as champion. It's something different and I reeeeally hate the concept of "some characters don't need titles". Nah, those are the characters that make the most unique champions.

I'm not saying it's a groundbreaking monster pop, but for Colt I'd say it was a nice, solid reaction. I genuinely have no opinion on Cabana outside of the Dark Order vignettes, I'm just saying the crowd reacted positively and saying they didn't is incorrect.