I have been working on art all weekend, expressing my devotion to my newfound faith, so please forgive me (or don’t, I don’t care) for running up against my deadline here!
WWE:
Final Judgment is in the House
WWE actually gave me a preview!! So, let’s see what we are working with here: oh, shit, a vague promise that this Final Judgment will be coming to Columbus. Now, this whole preview was about the group in some fashion, although it did mention one match. I suspect we will get a unifying theme for the night with Damian Priest probably re-taking center stage and insisting that he gets another shot at the gold.
US Title Tournament: Chad Gable v. Austin Theory
I feel terrible for the once-meteoric Theory here, because word on the street is that Murrey is really high on Gable. Plus, Gable is a former Olympic gold medalist, sooooo.
Yeah, sorry Austin, but there isn’t a chance in hell that you are winning this one. This title seems destined for a finale showdown between Gable and Nakamura, with Gable likely taking the win!
More from the Bloodline and from Asuka?
The World Champion and the Women’s Champion are bound to be in the building, especially since Priest and Rhea are likely to mention them in some fashion. I do agree with my counterpart here that we will see some follow-up on the awesome debut of Jericho last week, but with very little information we are forced to speculate.
AEW:
Roman Reigns v. Wardlow
On to AEW, and we look to what may or may not be the opening bout (I would personally put the Jurassic Express in the opener, to separate it from the women’s tag match some, but that’s just me). Roman would honestly look silly if he loses to MJF’s handy man after closing the show last week in such awesome fashion with his intimidating arrival to confront the GOAT champion. So, Wardlow will very likely take the loss here!
Sting v. Sammy Guevara
Sting has been stalking Brock Lesnar for a few weeks now, so he…takes on Sammy? I’m kidding, I’m kidding. We all know why Sting is facing Sammy, don’t we? Firstly, Sammy’s Inner Circle leader was sent packing into Murrey’s loving arms. Secondly, the boy is now taking on the role of a glorified jobber. Sammy will remain locked in the mid-card through to the 7th Era as he takes a loss from Sting, probably followed by a near-beatdown by Lesnar. With all sarcasm aside, I am enjoying this Sting/Lesnar program. Looking forward to what’s next!
Gunther Speaks
For any veterans of World War Two, this next part may be triggering. No, it isn’t the Fuhrer coming back to get his revenge, it’s the new arrival: GUNTHER!
With how much WWE spent on building this guy to be the monster that he is, I have a hard time believing that Jericho was the ONLY pick-up for him. Seriously, I like Jericho, but he hadn’t been active since Genesis, and before that he was mere background noise to the Bloodline’s development. Either WWE got swindled or they have another major surprise coming.
Either way, Gunther issued a challenge to Cody upon his arrival last week, and now I suspect that he will respond to Swerve Strickland’s rebuttal this past Friday on Dark. This will likely be the runner-up for highlight of the night, for me.
Jurassic Express v. The Acclaimed
A Boy and his Dinosaur are about to be buried by the Rap Battle Winners of Wrestling, Bowens and Caster! The Acclaimed are a great new addition to the AEW tag roster and there is no way that I see them losing this match. Not happening.
Bianca Belair & Ronda Rousey v. Sasha Banks & Chyna
Having back to back tag matches, in my humble opinion, is bad for viewership, and bad for the talent. So, I hope that the bookers move the aforementioned men’s tag match at least one more match back to create a tad bit of separation for reasons that I mentioned earlier.
This way, the women have more room to shine and steal the show, and you know that’s exactly what they are going to do, because this is the only match on tap for AEW tonight with any real backstory. Rousey stepped up to offer herself as Bianca’s first challenger, but Sasha feels she should in front of the line, as is tradition with a recently deposed champion.
My prediction here is that Bianca and Rousey will get the win – probably by DQ -, but that there will be some kind of accidental scuffle between them in the process. I don’t think AEW wants Sasha to be pushed away from the title too fast or too far just yet. That’s why I think it will be a DQ finish or even a no contest, so as to protect her. Nor do I think that the company wants Bianca and/or Rousey to eat a loss right now unless the two fight to the point of costing themselves the match.
It’ll be a fun one either way, and I am very much looking forward to it!
Benny’s Address
Per the letter that he penned for the press over the weekend, my youngest brother is planning to finally answer the pleas for his resignation, and he wants everyone important and relevant to this to attend as he attempts to preempt the Board’s decision.
I don’t think he will resign, unless he is planning some kind of fake-out or even a completely handing of power over to Sami. The fact that he has Molly attending has me a tad worried for my former Sister-in-Law. Is he planning a heinous kidnapping of her too? Perhaps their daughter is going to get tortured in front of her? I don’t know, but I am anxious to see what happens!
HCW:
Shot at Tag: Untouchables v. Lunatic Fringe v. Misters
I have been informed that the now-Interim President of HCW, Scott Nash, plans to offer public previews for the final two episodes of Mayhem in this era, but he opted to just pass the impending card on to me, so that I could offer my thoughts.
The opening bout will be a match involving the three biggest HCW tag teams squaring off to see who will be added to the Tag Title Match next Monday at No Mercy. The Untouchables are – outside of Olson and Lee – the greatest tag team in the history of HCW, and this could be their last hurrah, as they are increasingly battered and bruised.
The Lunatic Fringe – that is Krazy Kid and Maniac – are trying to finally win the big one for Edge Court, but the goal is likely to finally get their hands on the Misters. Perfect and Kennedy have reportedly not seen much of each other ever since Gustav took Kennedy under his wing. Now, we see if all of that training will benefit the team paired with Prefixes!
Shot at Women’s: Amazon v. Dana Brooke v. Daffney
In an apparent attempt to prevent an automatic PWI/Mickey victory in the Women’s Title match slated for No Mercy, Amazon, Dana Brooke, and Daffney have all been given a chance to try and show Alexa Bliss and Molly Holly what they are made of.
Daffney has had quite the roller coaster ride of a career. She started out this era with a fractured psyche, calling herself “Daisy Buffer”, but when she finally got serious she shed that persona and started winning important bouts and there is no remaining bout for her in this era that is more important than this one!
Dana Brooke has always had the talent to make it, but not enough opportunities, and this is arguably her one and only honest shot at greatness. The woman definitely has her detractors, but she is determined to prove them all wrong!
Finally, we have THE most iconic and longest-tenured star in women’s wrestling: Amazon. I am one of those who remained relieved that Mickey didn’t succeed in retiring her last summer, and now she has a chance to seize this moment to get back to the top for the first time in over a decade!
Shot at Undisputed Title: The Melee
In a unique Royal Rumble-esque match, the challenger for the Undisputed Title at the next Mayhem in two weeks will be determined in a match featuring 20 men, in elimination and falls count anywhere rules!
This is emblematic of everything that HCW has always been about and is the match for which I am the most excited. Not knowing any of the participants makes it hard to preview, but the concept alone is just as exciting as the opener for PWI’s Asylum!
PWI:
Open Hardcore Match for a shot at the Tag Titles
My counterpart calls this for what it is: a reverse battle royal, and that was essentially the founding concept of this match when it was first conceived 4 years ago for the Immunity title. Now, for the first time ever, it will involve tag teams, and I am being told that to start the match between the two winning teams, BOTH members of each team must make it into the ring. This will be a lot of fun and will help the Young Bucks know who their opponents are at Global Conflict IV: No Mercy!
AJ Lee v. Paige
You’ve seen the build here. Paige became an unfortunate casualty in the crazed reaction of the tormented AJ Lee as she struggled to understand why Becky didn’t love her. Paige was just trying to help a friend, and Lee went absolutely bonkers on her! Ever since, Paige has been demanding this match, and was very frustrated when it got pushed from Battle Line in favor of the Women’s Battle Royal.
Now, though, after Paige pushed Becky out of the picture (and literally through a door last week), she has finally been granted her match tonight. Lee’s state of mind, from what I have been told, has gotten a tad clearer since Paige made herself Lee’s clear adversary for the moment, so who knows what that means for the showdown to come!
Feud-Ending Falls Count Anywhere Match: Shawn Spears v. Matt Cardona (1)
Shawn Spears has been a thorn in Cardona’s side since Cardona bogarted Shawn’s Pinnacle to create the new Golden Rule. FTR hasn’t been much help in staving off Shawn’s attacks, either, and they are likely going to be all tied up with the opening bout to be too involved in this one. So, what we’ll get is a clear winner to finally put a bow on this one. Cardona – thanks to Randy Orton – failed to win the Premier Championship at Wrestlemania last week, and now he is trying to avoid the embarrassment of a second-consecutive loss en route to challenging for the Undisputed Title in just over a month.
The path to Armageddon 4 is getting shorter by the day, and Spears is one of the last few remaining roadblocks for Cardona. So, now is the time for him to deal with this particular hurdle once and for all!
Main Event – Premier Finale – Women’s International Championship
And finally, we close the night with the final finale for the Premier Athlete Tournament Roulette. Look, I know that this concept has had its critics, but I, for one, am proud of all the moments and cool twists that it gave us over each of the five seasons that it existed. For starters, and not even Chris Hyatte can disagree with this one, we would have NEVER seen Alexa Bliss rise as quickly to prominence as she did without the tournament and all of the privileges that it gave her.
Now, tonight, she stands poised to become the first ever 3-time winner of the tournament as well as the first ever Women’s International Champion. Given that she was the only participant in any of the 10 tournaments over the last five seasons to ever have a bye to the next round, she is uniquely positioned to win it all and maybe even make a solid argument for greatest women’s star of the era, if not of all time!
Yet, Alexa is not the only one in this match tonight, for we have three other incredible competitors: the last Women’s Immunity Champion, Ruby Riott, who will have no distractions nor help since both Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan are on the injured list. The final Women’s Ascendant Champion, Zelina Vega will also be in this battle, and she has had quite the journey herself throughout the era from being tag champion and then feuding with her former partner to being relegated to the former Ascendant Class before rising to conquer it. Don’t count her out!
Lastly, but certainly not least, we have Charlotte Flair, who actually had to advance through the tournament the hard way without a single bye to help her. She started this era with a heartbreaking loss in the finale of a tournament to crown a champion and now she aims to avoid that heartbreak again.
Who will ultimately raise the prize above their head? Only tuning in will reveal that answer!
That does it for me tonight, I will see you all again this weekend for my next review and predictions!
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 