C.S.

No, I mean, is Adonis the guy they've been hyping in the mystery videos? Kinda disappointing if so, because who the fuck is he?

Was he the big mystery?

Candice LeRae's promo is good. It would be better if she could actually act.

To show solidarity with his hero Michael Jackson.

Don King has joined NXT!

KUSHIDA needs to squash the everloving fuck out of Dream and send him packing to EVOLVE.* *Yes, I'm aware EVOLVE is dead. That's the point.

Yeah, but staying in NXT and getting staler and staler in that setting is also killing them. Time to make a move. They can always return to NXT in a year or two.

Damien Priest has done nothing for me so far. "He is tall" is about all I can really say about him. Remember when Gargano matches were events? Feels like years ago. Gargano and Ciampa are beyond stale in this setting and desperately need a call-up.

Some questions for tonight: - Will "good rassler" Kyle O'Reilly win the title despite never not being a draw at any level? NXT has kind of given up on caring about that stuff. Yes, it's a new match, but new doesn't necessarily mean fresh or compelling. If there's a story-driven element at play with the Undisputed Era, it could get interesting. Otherwise, Zzzz. Jey Uso says people ask him, "Which one are you?" I ask myself that about Kyle O'Reilly. - Why is Velveteen Dream still on the roster? Will KUSHIDA squash his ass and send him packing? - Who will the mystery person be? (Bo Dallas? Ember Moon? Bobby Roode? Chad Gable?) - Most importantly of all: How will NXT surive without the GREAT Mauro Ranallo, especially when he inevitably joins AEW? They should've paid The Voice of a Generation™ that sweet-ass Mauro Money™ to keep him!

Ironically, that's Moolah's own fault, since she always lobbied to be the star attraction.

Politician Andrew Yang isn't happy.

Yang responds to the latest sleazy WWE tactic:

This week's Broken Skull Sessions on the WWE Network is with Kurt Angle, and it's shocking how lax WWE was about concussions as late as the early '00s. Nothing we didn't already know, but seeing the clips and hearing it all laid out really hammers the point home. They also missed/ignored a shitload of warning signs about Eddie Guerrero's heart-related health problems.

The Broken Skull Sessions with Stone Cold interviewing Kurt Angle is heavy. Multiple concussions, handled poorly with a "the show must go on" mentality - which was par for the course back then, but still - eventually ending up with Angle becoming a hot mess of drugs, painkillers, and mental issues. TNA allowing him four DUIs under their watch tells you all you need to know about how incompetent and uncaring Dixie Carter really was. If she wasn't malicious, she was at the very least harmfully naive. Was anyone fooled by her at any point? Kurt's crappy WWE return where he wasn't allowed to wrestle was heartbreaking, ending with a useless retirement match against Baron Corbin. Kurt was understandably hurt that the red carpet wasn't rolled out for him the way it was for Goldberg (who was mentioned by name, but Kurt said he understood why Goldberg was made champ). But considering how Kurt left the company (there's a story I haven't heard before, which I won't spoil), I can connect the dots and understand why Vince would be skittish to go all in on him again. I was reminded of Kurt's WM match with Shawn Michaels, which is somewhat of a forgotten unsung classic - although I'm sure everyone at PWO hates it because of Shawn. The build for that was fantastic, with great nostalgia overload. They also mentioned Benoit several times without ever saying his name, and Guerrero, whose name they obviously did mention.

To be fair, they're probably too dumb to realize what that really is. Wrestlers, by and large, are not intelligent people. We'd like to think they are, but when dumb dodos like Kane are lauded as among the smartest people in the company, that says it all. Any large group who uses "brother" and "daddy" in sentences unironically cannot possibly be intellectual.

Another sad example of the toxic WWE culture: Sami Zayn on assimilating to WWE culture: I still didn't have that realization, that heartbreaking moment where you realize, 'Oh, you can't just be yourself' because you have to put on this facade and if anything, that's a testament to how amazing my life was. I only learned that lesson at 28! Most people learned that lesson when they're six! More here: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/09/sami-zayn-recalls-wwe-star-talking-to-him-about-being-675344/

Joey Ryan somehow looks even creepier without the mustache - with a shave, he went from gigolo rapist to serial killer.

I'm confused...

Because he probably hadn't.

Then you think all white dudes with mustaches and beards look alike.

It happens, but when combined with WWE's real life issues, it's a bad idea and look all around. Part of the problem is that they keep people in NXT forever, so guys like Murphy are seen as "young." This angle would not be nearly as problematic in AEW, where they have actual young guys. Marko Stunt texting Aliyah? Fine, because there's only a small age gap there.

No Raw Underground tonight. Has it been cancelled already? They always resort to cutaways like that when Ric is around because he presumably can't take bumps anymore.

Unless putting Lawler in there is a rib on him, which is something this company might think is funny.

This storyline sucks. If Murphy really wanted to win over Aliyah, he'd walk away from the match instead of, ya know, beating the shit out of her brother. But I guess Aliyah is supposed to be an idiot or naive child, or both.

Aleister Black shoulda wrestled with the eyepatch. He's back to being "just another guy" without it.