MoS

Venn diagram for those who actively like Jay White and who like Elite melodrama is probably a circle, so I can see why he was debuted that way. It's about Omega, White, Elite v. Original Bullet Club Blah Blah Blah Blah. I don't really care about it, but for their audience, I think it was fine.

Oh I am not saying he tweeted anything inappropriate. In fact I quite liked the Gilbert-Rich reference. That's what made me think of the DVDVR nerd thing, same as us DVDVR/PWO nerds

He really is a DVDVR shitposting nerd at heart, isn't he

Did Gorilla ever explain what happened to the promising youngster who evidently made his debut that night

Also in no universe do Keith Lee and Mark Henry look the same. Just compare him to Vader or someone, J.R, it's okay to compare black wrestlers to white ones lol

Agreed about Brock's reaction and Keith's entrance being an all-time Rumble moment, but I have always felt Brock said "Who's this motherfucker?" with a shocked open face that put over Lee so much. I am no lip-reading expert though.

Pretty much agreed with everything here

The Jade match was good until it fell...completely apart at the end? Not sure what happened, felt like they forgot a spot. That second top rope spot especially. Serena Deeb is so awesome. As we say here, Serene Deeb please respectfully step on my neck. That main event was absolutely bonkers. The bumps, Archer acting like a psycho, and that mad mad finish. Hangman Page is fucking awesome and he should really start getting his due. He has been a part of some of AEW's greatest matches now, some fans really need to stop thinking of him as an Elite hanger-on. He is our world champ and he has fucking earned the right to be called the world champ.

That was an incredible tag match. Credit to Tully, they nearly botched the GTS but he recovered very well. They should really start giving FTR more wins, yeah, Dax is also such a great promo.

Completely disagree, I thought this debut was awesome. He threw around two grown men like kids, while also showing enough of his agility and athleticism to let everyone know he isn't just another big guy. And he looked charismatic as hell and the crowd was going super nuts for him. I think it more than lives up to the hype.

All right, that Keith Lee debut is the greatest debut in AEW history, CM Punk included. Forget about looking like a star, the man looked like two levels above everyone else in all of pro wrestling. Imagine releasing THIS GUY LMAO. If he doesn't get hurt, he will be world champ in less than a year, what an incredibly cool superstar.

I have come around on Jay White in recent years, used to think he was completely useless but now find him quite competent. Not particularly into the Elite melodrama but whatever

Santana completely punked out Jericho lol, he is awesome, and Ortiz isn't far behind. Maybe Jericho is more self-aware than we thought

Is that the first impromptu big-time match Dynamite has had leading off the opening segment? They shouldn't do it too often, but once in a while it's great, makes things feel more chaotic, even though Loss if he was on the booking team would almost certainly question the internal logical consistency here. Everyone was tremendous here, Wardlow's eventual face turn will be amazing

Somehow all my work emergencies happen on Wednesday nights?! Fuck due diligence. Starting Dynamite now - already been spoiled but that's fine, looking forward to catching up - and I am just popping for this MJF entrance. Jerome said the other day that making out on camera is a heel move and clearly MJF is a student of the game

Keith Lee once debuted in an indy promotion by literally blowing the door off its hinges. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is a way-too-cute reference/segment based on that.

Going to steal half a page from good bubba KawadaSmile's book. Rampage might actually be sneakily my favorite hour to watch in all of weekly wrestling, but it doesn't really warrant its separate thread. Texas Death Match for the world title should be good. I like Archer and Hangman is great. Looking forward to what Punk does next. As long as the surprise isn't fucking Karrion Kross or Bray Wyatt, I am good.

Orton has displayed more personality since the start of the pandemic than he has in his career since he was a cocky 23-year heel just as good as he claimed he was. It's been a pleasant surprise.

I again recommend watching the international fite feed of the match for those North American people who are cool with it. There's an amusing explanation for why the crowd was a bit quiet coming off the final break. MJF and Punk tried the old Bret Hart ringside figure four spot on Punk's knee but MJF couldn't do it, and the crowd started chanting you fucked up at him. As the segment started, MJF had just got done throwing Punk back in the ring and the crowd had just got done chanting that at him, so they were a bit flat, luckily for the wrestlers, it happened during commercial. They quickly got the crowd back though.

The fact that Vince's ultimate takeaway from that More McMahons is good isn't really the fault of the feud though. If you think of the feud as ending when Austin beat Rock at Backlash, I think it still remains by far the best feud in WWF history. Vince's mistake was not realising that such a feud could only work once, and only with singular people in Austin and Vince himself.

Russo fucked the buildup to Survivor Series 1998, but I thought the PPV itself and the tournament was quite a clever idea, although obviously Vince McMahon oversaw that. Tournaments don't draw well generally but that tournament was quite intriguing, and did a great job elevating Rock and turning Mankind once and forever into a highly sympathetic main event babyface. There was a lot of trash and convoluted shit in the buildup, like there always is when Russo is involved, but the fundamental idea was great, and that's why I think it worked. No matter how shitty the dead weight was, you still had Rock and Foley getting elevated while Austin continued to add wrinkles to his feud with Vince McMahon. Vince was tremendous in using Austin and himself, and the dynamics of their feud, to build up several main event stars that could headline his shows when Austin inevitably succumbed to his injuries. It's why I think for all the nonsense, Austin v. McMahon is still the greatest feud in WWF history. It just totally changed WWF's landscape in every conceivable way.

I meant Biden, not Rogan lol. Got my Joes confused

Rock takes very few stances on Twitter apart from hard work being Good, and not chasing your dreams being Bad. Man makes way too much money to take any kind of strong stance anywhere. His mildest possible endorsement of Rogan had the QAnon people speculating that he had died and was replaced by a lizard, so I don't entirely blame him for that.

After the Mox segment and before the main event, the only quarter to show growth was the Hangman-Archer angle one. Apart from Soho-Nyla, Brandi and Lambert lost a shit ton of viewers, so I am guessing this time Brandi isn't going to pettily publish the minute-by-minute ratings on Twitter for a victory lap. Chart courtesy- Brandon Thurston and Wrestlenomics