Mission 003 – The Mission? Beginning a New Era
With the era technically underway as of Starrcade, we look now to the official kickoff in just 4 days!
Yes, the era was supposed to launch tonight with the premiere of ULW via “Premier Aggression”, but Triad members Brown and Mouse decided that it would be more of a challenge to premiere ULW against WWE’s era premiere and to then compete directly with AEW’s era premiere next Monday. “There should be no easy night for this new era. We want ULW to PROVE that we are the best, not just assume as much.” These were the words of Catherine Mouse as Brown seemed to nod in agreement during our sit-down last night.
You have certainly read by now about the explosion which publicly occurred earlier today between Brown & Mouse and their Triad compatriot, Mr. Dibiase. The “Million Dollar Man” was reportedly enraged about “again” being excluded from the decision-making process. What Brown and Mouse have told me, though, is that he isn’t being “excluded” so much as he has been on the losing side of their “executive votes” starting with the Draft and up through now.
Catherine was particularly animated as she explained that their agreement in organizing the administrative structure of Cash Mouse Entertainment was that the three of them would have an equal vote, and that the majority would win the day. Even so, she did note that each of them reserves the right to make certain administrative decisions without needing to win a majority, and that this is how Dibiase was able to fill “a couple high-profile vacancies” in the month since Cash Mouse Entertainment was born. From what I have been told, the hiring of the very controversial Dr. Evil was but one of these decisions made by Dibiase, and that he has sealed the records from anyone but him as to whom the others will be.
Moreover, we will have the final organizational details of how CME will operate, including the official eleven-member Board of Directors. Most of the Board membership was appointed in the early days of the new company with unanimous support of the Triad (which, again, reserves the power to fill vacancies), and those members include the Executive Assistant to the Triad, the President and Vice President of the company, the Administrative Advisor, the COO, the CCO, and the Communications Director.
From what I understand, the Board will weigh-in only when the Triad is not in unanimous agreement (which becomes self-enforcing). A unanimous Board plus one Triad member can overrule the other two Triad members, and two Triad members only need a simple majority of the Board (an affirmative vote by 6 members) to win the day. Removing a member of the Triad requires a vote of no-confidence by the other two Triad members plus a unanimous vote of the Board, and a unanimous vote of the Triad is required to remove any member of the Board.
I know that this is a lot of “boring” bureaucratic “nonsense” to some of you, but these details about how the company will operate should help to explain the brewing power struggle amongst the Triad. Dibiase feels scorned and it appears – according to Brown and Mouse – that he is hoping to pack the Board with allies so as to hinder the agenda of his fellow Triad members. Some in the company have actually begun to sympathize with Dibiase, as some have conveyed to me that Dibiase’s recent moves are merely some possible negotiating tactic to “restore balance” and “take back the voice that was taken from him”.
In this respect, I suppose that I will leave it up to you to decide whether Dibiase is in the right…or if this is a potentially destabilizing development. Time will tell.
ANYWAYS, let’s look at the premieres to come to kick of the Seventh Era of Professional Wrestling!!
WWE Friday Night Smackdown
The only thing we know about WWE’s plans for Friday is that they plan to hold the kickoff of their own intrapromotional draft, so as to divvy up the newly-big roster between the Raw and Smackdown brands. We found out at Starrcade that WWE will introduce a new world title – the World Heavyweight Championship – after this draft to come. We also know that Night One of the WWE Draft will give each brand two picks for four rounds, with Smackdown getting first dibs!
ULW The Premiere
Instead of launching tonight with “Premier Aggression”, ULW will instead launch on Friday with a new season-starting tradition called “The Premiere”. For this initial incarnation of the special show, we will see:
A rematch (from Starrcade) for the ULW Tag Team Championships with the Young Bucks attempting to retain their Tag Team titles from Erick Rowan and Luke Harper of the Bludgeon Brothers! You will recall that the Bludgeon Brothers intentionally got themselves disqualified at Starrcade and then left with the titles! This was seen as a demonstration of their power and Vice Commissioner Evil (acting as Commissioner with Commissioner Lenny Mouse still not ready to assume his newfound responsibilities) has ordered that a rematch take place with one decree: “there must be a winner, and the winners must be the ones to leave with the titles!”
The next match will see Jade Cargill’s first challenger for the Women’s Championship decided as the returning and former champion Beth Phoenix takes on the first Knockout’s Champion of the Sixth Era, Nikki Bella, the insurgent AJ Lee, and the debuting Akosha! In this match there is no clear favorite. In fact, I would offer that each of these four women has a realistic shot at becoming the first challenge for Jade!
Speaking of champions, the International Champion, Charlotte Flair, will defend her title against the returning former Women’s Ascendant Champion, Mandy Rose! Rose is coming off a bit of a hot streak working with Murrey Entertainment for the better part of the last 18 months (she was traded to then-AXW as part of the trade which brought Shawn Spears to PWI), and now she is looking to prove herself against warrior champion who captured her own championship by winning the final Women’s Premier Athlete Tournament Roulette!
Finally, in the Main Event of ULW’s debut, LA Knight will defend his newly-won (at Starrcade) Premier Championship against the returning icon, Sean Olson! Knight has a bit of momentum heading out of Starrcade, but he could find that momentum suddenly stopped when he is confronted by the highly-decorated Olson!
With Friday previewed, we look to three days later (a week from tonight) as the big three wrestling promotions compete in a three-way dance for supremacy for the first time since Monday, May 13th (when the Final Asylum came out on top). On Monday, July 8th, AEW will present its own era premiere with “Dynamite”. It will compete with WWE’s Raw and ULW’s “The Shockwave”!
AEW Dynamite
AEW has announced a few things to look forward to for Dynamite, and these include:
A “Reverse Battle Royal” to crown a first-ever Knockout’s Hardcore Championship, which will revive the classic 24/7 rule of eras past. Looking at the 2024 Draft, I think it is reasonable to conclude that the leading candidates to win this title are Chyna (who was exempted), Raquel Rodriguez, and Thunder Rosa. Out of these three, I think Thunder Rosa makes the most sense, but I am looking forward to whoever wins this innovative battle!
The AEW Tag Team Champions will defend their titles against the only undisputed greatest tag team of all time: the Harlem Turtles! No tag team is more decorated or celebrated, and I feel that this match will serve multiple purposes. For starters, the Acclaimed getting the win over the GOATs of tag wrestling will anoint them as the next big tag team. Secondly, this match will at least slightly rope in the story between Sami and Splinter, as Stevie R and Booker D were the loyal pupils of Master Splinter and his loss at the conclusion of the Sixth Era will most certainly come up for this celebrated team!
We have also learned that Athena Star will defend the Knockouts Championship in an open challenge, but I have no reason to believe that she will drop the title before the next PPV (Aftershock). She may defend the title against Toni Storm or even Bianca Belair, but it is staying put around her waist. I suspect that we will see the foundation laid down for Star to defend against Sasha Banks at the next PPV; and I wouldn’t want to be Star there, as Sasha is riding a little momentum coming out of her (history-making) Main Event victory over Alexa Bliss at Starrcade!
In the match-Main Event, we get the much-awaited confrontation between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns as Lesnar defends his shot at the AEW Championship! With the Bloodline having been debilitated in AEW after the Usos jumped ship to WWE to join the WWE Champion, The Rock, it would stand to reason that Roman is in a state of free-fall. However, I don’t think his fall will continue here. Instead, I think that Brock and Roman will have a continuation of their rivalry, with some kind of no contest decision setting up for both men to challenge Sami Zayn for the title.
Finally, for AEW’s premiere, Sami Zayn – co-chair of BWM Inc., and the World Champion – will be a special guest on Impaulsive and announce the “biggest signing of the year”! I am not sure who this will be, but I suspect that it will be someone from the Available Talent pool. I am excited to see who it I, though, so bring it on!!
WWE Raw
WWE will continue their internal brand extension draft with each brand receiving 24 picks over six rounds, with the Raw brand receiving the first pick! Since we don’t know too much about what to expect beyond this, I will sadly have to leave it there…except to say that we will most certainly see Chairman Murrey try to get some revenge for what Johnny Lawrence and Danhausen did to him at Starrcade as well as see some follow-up with the expansion of the Rock’s Bloodline!
ULW The Shockwave
I have learned that despite the fact that this will no longer be the premiere of “Extreme Aggression”, there will still be NO DISQUALIFICATION all night, so as to keep the promise made to the fans!
Here, ULW makes its Monday night debut with an Extreme Championship match pitting the Extreme Champion, Jesse Hash, against the returning madman named Jon Moxley! Moxley hasn’t been seen much over the past few years since he left PWI, but that shouldn’t be seen as a weakness for him as much as it is an opportunity. Then again, Jesse’s success over The Crock at Armageddon 4 gives him some great momentum…especially as he is one of the few Dibiase loyalists who survived the draft!
Following Rousey being the first overall draft pick (even though Lawrence Mason froze initially on the big stage), she made her presence in ULW known right away at Starrcade by attacking the winner of the 6th Era’s best women’s wrestler for PWI and HCW, as well as the three-time PWI Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss! Vice Commissioner Evil has set up this showdown for the first annual “Shockwave”, and I am in agreement with other analysts who feel that this was definitely worthy of a PPV!
Then again, ULW will only have ONE PPV, and that will be the final show: Armageddon 5, so I don’t think we want that event to happen any time soon, nor would we want to wait that long for any match!
One of the things that PWI did well was holding the wildly popular multi-tag team ladder matches, and we will see that success built upon with the next “Ladder War” for an opportunity at the Tag Team Gold as we see four teams incoming via the draft – Proud & Powerful, the Lucha Brothers, AOP, and the Acolytes – compete to see who will challenge the winning team between the Young Bucks and the Bludgeon Brothers!
Finally, “The Shockwave” will conclude with a match for the Undisputed Championship as Triad Member Dibiase has “rewarded” the champion – Bray Wyatt, who defeated Randy Orton for the gold at Starrcade before being betrayed by Dibiase – with an open challenge against a mystery challenger. What we do know here is that Dibiase has warned that he will be bringing someone in who knows a great deal about the new champion as well as being a loyal associate of Dibiase’s.
Will this person be inserted into this match, or will there be someone else in mind?
All I can say is that I am ecstatic about the week we are about to experience! Let’s get ready, because this brand new and exciting era is finally upon us!!
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 