Watched the clip of his intro. Gotta love that his music theme is a super generic cheap-ass version of his AEW theme too.

Penta is essentially in a holding pattern until they figure out Fenix coming in; Ricky taking the money is good, but also, yeah, he isn’t gonna be a big player on the main roster. 

I know they don't have any obligation to do it, but if I was TK I'd just let Fenix go at this point. Unless something happened that was kept super quiet, he clearly has no interest to ever return to AEW willingly and we all know WWE is just counting down the days until his deal is up. I know you don't normally want to just serve up a guy like that on a silver platter to your competitor, but paying a guy who clearly wants to be elsewhere to sit home and do nothing is some "jilted ex who can't accept its over" type shit.

I know it’s never going to happen because he’s on the TKO Board, but I kinda wish The Rock would just go away, and stay gone.

Boy…they brought out Trish, wearing a Maple Leafs jersey no less, and this crowd is still kinda dead. I hope the crowd is hotter tomorrow. The Rogers Centre (fka Skydome) has acoustic problems as it is, (unless the crowd is molten, the sound tends to go straight up) but if they are this subdued tomorrow, it could really take away from the atmosphere of the show.

They've done multiple shows there for the past couple of years and all were insane crowds, I'm sure it won't be much of an issue, especially when they get the Sami/KO match that will almost assuredly be the closest version to 2010 Generico/Steen match they can get at 40.

CM Punk has overdelivered. To see him cut a scathing promo on a heel Cena is wild as shit.

On 2/26/2025 at 6:20 PM, sek69 said:

I know they don't have any obligation to do it, but if I was TK I'd just let Fenix go at this point. Unless something happened that was kept super quiet, he clearly has no interest to ever return to AEW willingly and we all know WWE is just counting down the days until his deal is up. I know you don't normally want to just serve up a guy like that on a silver platter to your competitor, but paying a guy who clearly wants to be elsewhere to sit home and do nothing is some "jilted ex who can't accept its over" type shit.

If Fightful is to be believed, Fenix is now officially free and clear of AEW, and it’s basically a matter of when, not if he shows up in WWE. We will see. I would assume if he actually is coming, they may be holding off on guys like him, Black and Miro for the traditional Monday after Wrestlemania surprise debuts?

Okay, WTAF. They did it again, they swerved me again. Did anybody else see Iyo winning the Women’s World Championship and Rhea losing her belt and the match at Wrestlemania? Because I sure didn’t. I wonder what happens now? They end up making it a Triple Threat? Rhea gets involved in the Tiffany/Charlotte angle? Rhea ends up working with someone else at WM?

I also did not see that coming, but I like them throwing a curve ball like that in a match that seems like a foregone conclusion.

It seems the obvious path is a Bianca/Iyo/Rhea triple threat but at this point you can't rule out any possibility

Saw a twitter post yesterday about Cena turning heel to the tune of everyone cheering, and how fans care less about being part of that storyline than they do observing the product with a critical eye. Thought the example was dumb, but I get the concern. All that's to say that CM Punk tonight made me want to see him take on the world and come out of top. Not because he's a great wrestler and will rank highly come putting together a GWE list, but because I still believe in that man when he speaks with feeling.

5 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

CM Punk has overdelivered. To see him cut a scathing promo on a heel Cena is wild as shit.

 

23 minutes ago, EnviousStupid said:

CM Punk tonight made me want to see him take on the world and come out of top. Not because he's a great wrestler and will rank highly come putting together a GWE list, but because I still believe in that man when he speaks with feeling.

Yeah Punk definitely kicked it up a notch tonight. That was a level of intensity we haven’t seen a lot of since his return to WWE, even though this run has been a lot more hit than miss from him. (Especially the McIntyre feud.)

Not to rehash the past again, but you have to wonder what Tony Khan thinks when he sees Punk cut that kind of promo for his competition. And then TK turns around and realizes that he got left with…Jungle Boy. You have to figure that in his darker moments, Khan ends up kicking himself, at least a bit.

I doubt TK has the self-actualization to admit where things went wrong, but yeah, it must be at least a little painful. That being said, I don't think CM Punk "worked" in AEW because, as anti-corporate as he might seem, its clear he works best in a place with defined parameters, a clear pecking order, and strong organization. I think Ari Emanual, Nick Khan, Triple H, etc. are all scumbags, but for Punk it seems like he's happier swimming in waters where the sharks don't hide that they're sharks and your status and creativity liberty is attached to your accomplishments. AEW isn't run by saints either; I'm just saying organization/strong central leadership/clear vision are not things AEW has ever been known for.

I mean, Otis isn't going to be given a live mic and told to cut a worked shoot promo about The Rock holding a belt he's never earned. LA Knight probably doesn't have the clearance to say "Go Fuck Yourself" on Peacock/Netflix. Its clear who can and cannot do and say what. But over at AEW, Punk took some umbrage with perceived on-screen jabs at him that had nothing to do with his storyline coming from guys he didn't think were high enough on the pecking order to make.


I didn't get through all of RAW because, like going back to a bad restaurant that has 1 or 2 great appetizers, somewhere around the 60-minute mark, I gave up. The opening segment was EXCELLENT. Gunther/Otis was...okay, but nothing I'd consider "must see." From there, show felt like it went into cruise control with filler segments and an Ivy Nile/Valkyrie that was also fine but...yeah...two 10-12 minute matches in the first 60 minutes of a wrestling show is not my cup of tea. I mean, I get it, Elimination Chamber recap videos are going to be a big part of the show, but it was just too, too much. 

Reading the spoilers of the main event, I'm glad they went with a swerve. I'm not sure if the reasoning is to give Rhea a big win at Mania (winning the championship is always treated like a bigger deal than just retaining it) or to actually elevate IYO. Including her certainly doesn't hurt things. Rhea/Bianca is a big time match and big time storyline, but it almost feels rushed because Bianca has spent so much of the past year in tag storylines involving Jade and Naomi and that is clearly her "main" story right now. Making it a three-way gives them some more options with booking and also allows them to escape having Rhea or Bianca get a clean victory over the other. Its pretty insane that they've been kept apart for 5 years (their last 1-on-1 match was on a Takeover in February 2020).

2 hours ago, DMJ said:

Elimination Chamber recap videos are going to be a big part of the show, but it was just too, too much. 

One thing they did do, that I really liked and thought was quite effective, was the videos and crowd shots of little kids freaking out over Cena turning heel, or shots of some of his fans actually crying.  Hammy as hell, but I was hoping they were going to lean into how much this heel turn hurt his fans, and they actually did.

 

2 hours ago, DMJ said:

I didn't get through all of RAW because, like going back to a bad restaurant that has 1 or 2 great appetizers, somewhere around the 60-minute mark, I gave up. The opening segment was EXCELLENT. Gunther/Otis was...okay, but nothing I'd consider "must see." From there, show felt like it went into cruise control with filler segments and an Ivy Nile/Valkyrie that was also fine but...yeah...two 10-12 minute matches in the first 60 minutes of a wrestling show is not my cup of tea.

I hear you. As I have said a bunch of times in this thread alone, in my humble opinion the WWE product has improved tremendously over the last year or so...but their shows are still way too damn long. I find RAW much easier to get through than Smackdown, but man I am counting the days until June when Smackdown goes back to 2 hours.  I find that I generally end up reading a book, scrolling my phone or doing something else while WWE programming is on, and then giving the show my undivided attention when something important or good actually happens.  I have really been enjoying the War Raiders/Creed Brothers rivalry for example, although last night's match may have been the end of that. The Finn Balor/Bron Breakker angle could be interesting as well.

Cora Jade seemed to get concussed in her match with Jordynne Grace but it wasn't obvious where it happened. They did a spot where she got backed into the corner and it was clear the lights were on but no one was home.

WWE EVOLVE premiered on Tubi tonight.

https://tubitv.com/series/300015112/wwe-evolve

Fun short sprint of a show.

Thankfully, WWE didn't act like the old EVOLVE never existed.

The women's opener was way too long, and all of these women are RAW, but Kali Armstrong is the clear star among them.

Keanu Carver vs. Trill London was FUN, and both played their parts to perfection.

The main event six-man "ID showcase" - Jack Cartwheel, Sean Legacy and Cappuccino Jones vs. Jackson Drake, Brad Baylor, and Ricky Smokes - had solid wrestling and good character work from everyone involved. I love Cappuccino's persona, Cartwheel seems to have a unique in-ring style, and the Swipe Right heels are detestable a-holes with hair we can all be jealous of. I believe one of the commentators compared Swipe Right to Zack Morris and AC Slater from Saved by the Bell, lol.

Luca Crusifino from the D'Angelo Family came across as really smooth and polished in his role. He said Tony D'Angelo runs NXT and he runs EVOLVE. Enjoyable way to incorporate a familiar face into the new show. I assume he'll eventually clash with Ava, who HBK left in charge to run the show going forward.

The commentary from Pete Rosenberg and Tony Khan Robert Stone was surprisingly okay.

I'd seen a Swipe Right match on IWTV, knowing they were WWE ID prospects, and immediately thought "Oh, they'll be just fine". Decent look, the one match I saw was solid, and they had a good, heat-getting gimmick. 

Enjoyed the first EVOLVE show, agree with C.S. that Kali Armstrong is the obvious star of the first match. I was also really pleasantly surprised how good Rosenberg was on commentary, just did a neat tidy job.

I’m very glad LA Knight won the United States Championship back tonight. I don’t know what the hell they had been planning on doing creatively when they took the belt off Knight and put it on Nakamura at Survivor Series, but whatever the plans were, they clearly abandoned them.

Nakamura beat Knight in November and had only defended the title once since then (against Knight, which ended in a DQ when the New Bloodline interfered.) That’s one (unsuccessful) US Title defense in almost 4 months. They either kept Nakamura off TV or had him lurking around backstage and cutting spooky promos.

I was the first one to applaud when they changed up Nakamura’s character and direction, but bottom line is they never followed through at all. At least when Knight was US Champ he had decent TV defenses against Hayes, Andrade and Escobar.

I saw speculation on Twitter that Nakamura might actually be finishing up with WWE. Maybe it’s time. Let’s be honest, dude has been in WWE for 9 years and for the most part he has accomplished a whole lot of nothing.

I hope they can find a decent feud/angle/opponent for Knight so there is a US Title Match at Wrestlemania this year, at least.

There's stories coming out saying Jade was rubbing the whole women's locker room the wrong way to the point Shanya Bazler was ready to handle business. If that's accurate, I wonder how much real feelings Naomi was channeling in her promo tonight.

Also glad to see Lex finally getting in the HOF. Dude's been through a lot and has taken accountability for his past.

Missed opportunity for Michin to come out like New Jack against Cactus Chelsea.

Holy shit that Cody promo, he was channeling classic pissed off Dusty and that's always fucking awesome.

It's crazy to me how old, roided to the gills Randy Orton is cutting great, fired up BABYFACE promos in 2025. Anything can happen.

10 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

It's crazy to me how old, roided to the gills Randy Orton is cutting great, fired up BABYFACE promos in 2025. Anything can happen.

Yeah, that was a hell of a promo from Orton, and I usually find his mic work kind of underwhelming. Between Orton and the aforementioned Cody promo, ‘twas a great night for pissed off babyfaces.

12 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

I hope they can find a decent feud/angle/opponent for Knight so there is a US Title Match at Wrestlemania this year, at least.

I'd honestly put him against Jacob Fatu. In any case, it's likely they'll push the "multi man clusterfuck" button.