Hey, I'm back for another edition of the Pro-Wrestling Digest and we just completed another Mania week of action. I've seen absolutely none of it so far, to be clear. I'm always behind on shit, but that's just part of the nature of this site forever, it seems.
Let us start with the big Endeavor news. They paid a sex pest that "moved on" from the damage he caused a shit load of cash for his company, kept him in place, and further empowered him to return WWE to the days of the past and kill a lot of the goodwill Trips had been sorta building up. From the best of my knowledge, the dude with a bad case of pedo-face had a hand in things for the past little bit here but had allowed the newer power structure to remain stretched yet present. Now people are wanting out, others are changing their minds about coming over, and the tone of the locker rooms has sunk.
But hey, the stocks are up so who fucking cares.
Vickie's a cunt, it seems. Rick Steiner's a cunt, it also seems.
Moving along, the little playlist show I air on my YT channel to allow folks to catch up on AEW in a quicker fashion, using videos the company uploads and cutting away the weekly fat, is no longer going to be a thing. Whomever runs the channel has been making some strange calls of late. I first noticed that they were getting more picky about content from Dynamite and Rampage that they'd upload. Now they're increasing that stance while also cutting match finishes. It would make Spark far too incomplete (they even cut the finish to Omega vs Cobb) to represent the intended goal of the show. It also seems like a fucked thing to do to fans that want to keep up on the product but might not have cable right now. How dare people want to support your show!
Anyway, here's the last and latest episode of the show.
1. Butcher, Blade, Kip vs Sting, Darby, Orange ***
This one was basically Cassidy and Sting having fun and Darby being serious while the heel side existed to eat the L but were good in their role. Good for a throwaway.
In a segment to follow, Cole came out to promote his return next week with a decent promo and a segment that featured Garcia being set up as the opponent. Better than expected.
2. AEW World Tag Titles: Gunns(c) vs Top Flight NR
A Gunns title defense. Top Flight of course looked like the far better team, reminding fans that one of the weakest duos of the division are holding the straps right now. FTR told the Gunns they'd run off to Vince's playground if they couldn't beat them for the titles after.
3. Storm vs Blue ES
Blue did the job, The ♀Wo then did nWo stuff until they were again ran off. Riho wanted brains.
4. TNT Title: Hobbs(c) vs Penta
Penta worked down for Hobbs and they had little in the way of chemistry either way. Meh stuff, really. Fenix with the save in post.
5. Moxly vs Stu ***1/4
Jon and the recently returned Player Dos worked a singles match in our five-spot. Decent, good even, with both looking good thanks to some hard work and a decent pace. Hell, there was even a solid near fall here that added nicely to the drama of the whole thing. BCC and Dark Order tensions continue.
After, Starks and Juice shared a segment. A bit cheap, sports-entertainment in style, stuff to be honest. The match will likely be good, at least.
6. El Hijo del Vikingo vs Kenny Omega
Two of my favorite workers, going spot for spot and breaking the laws of physics more than once; this simply rocked! Absolutely incredible athleticism in what was a perfect way to use the lucha standout. It's about damn time we get this fool in on US TV. A MOTYC and one I'm certain to rewatch many times in the future. A damn fine way to end Spark, too!
AEW had a decent week here, for sure. Very little to complain about.
Keeping with AEW, I did watch some other shit they put out that I won't be using for the now dead series. Here's an exclusive playlist to follow along with this section of the review!
7. IWGP US Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega(c) vs Mantanza Cueto ****
The monster is fucking back! I was at the Austin show when he appeared to assist Inner Circle and purchased a shirt that day for the unit thinking he was joining on. I should've reached out to some of my contacts or something. Oh well, I still like that shirt a lot. Jeff is an awesome dude. There's a picture of him and I at a Houston flea market from years ago while I was fucked up from that awful car accident that broke my back somewhere on this site for those that care for some reason about such things.
Fantastic stuff thanks to the fun dynamic and quality of performers. Kenny remains the ACE and Jeff a more than serviceable work rate beast.
MJF and Perry had a fun promo exchange. MJF was fire and JB was decent; better than usual, even.
8. AEW International Title: Orange(c) vs Butcher NR
Fine for a throwaway defense. Not much more to really say past that.
9. Ruby vs Willow NR
Birds and Bees in the not-rated contest. Decent, though with the expected stuff added on from unit-mates present. A repeat post-match section saw the heels ran off.
10. Cole vs Garcia ***1/4
Adam Cole's match with Red Death Daniel Garcia was a good one with an expected outcome. A solid main event and it's nice having Adam truly back instead of him just appearing occasionally to remind folks that he had said he was back.
Jericho laid it on a bit heavy after.
11. Takeshita vs Guevara ***1/2
As athletic as you'd expect, this singles match landed well and kept the main theme of Rampage (starting hot before fizzling) running here. Soup continues to have match after match of top shelf quality with everyone he is put up against. There's a better one left in these two between each other.
12. Juice vs Action ***
Okay, but super forgettable. Action remains a weird one on the roster. Just a building block on the road to Robs and Starks' match. The latter would run off the former in post.
Remember when Vince sodomized the UK scene because he was mad a small reboot show was getting average at best numbers on TV there? I wonder how the dude that looks like an old 007 villain is going to take news of the AEW show running there later this year...
It wont be a sell out, but they'll break their current attendance record for sure.
That's it for now on this one. CMLL Lightning, oh so DDramaTic, and We DREAM of STARDOM!! content on no.98! Thanks, as always, for reading.
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