Mission 011: ULW Slips

Mission 011 – ULW Slips in First Week Competing on Three Nights

Another stellar week of professional wrestling has come and gone, and boy did it shake things up!

For the first time this era, WWE prevailed in a ratings encounter as it shot ahead of ULW last Monday. They followed that victory up with the closest nail-biter of a ratings victory since in 16 years (maybe even since 2004) on Tuesday.

Carrying WWE to victory was a series of unforgettable moments from Flex Fuller visiting a hospital to try and find out why he was losing muscle tone without Brown’s “elixir” to an outstanding vignette by Finn Balor as he reintroduced the “Demon” for the first time since losing to Bray Wyatt back at the Final Showcase in February.

On Tuesday, WWE’s stellar performance can be credited to moments such as Johnny Knoxville planning to have some kind of explosive display soon and – most significantly – the captivating saga developing between Sonya Deville and Candice LeRae; even as Gargano is positioning himself to challenge Karrion Kross for the NXT gold.

This will not be WWE’s last victory, I can assure you. Instead, this was a mere warning shot as to what we can expect in the weeks to come. WWE has always been a force to be reckoned with, and they only needed a few corrections to fully make a stink. Well…the stink has officially crept into our collective noses!

AEW continued their own abuse of ULW programming with a stellar episode of Chaos on Friday. Kicking things off was MJF coming out alone to make sure that no one overlooks him as the heir apparent to the AEW title, but he was cut off by an emboldened Will Ospreay, fresh on the heels of two impressive victories over the past few weeks. A match was set and we are set to see another blockbuster encounter!

This successful night of action also involved a hilarious showdown between “Midgey” and a photographer before Hogan was compelled to accept Lady Love’s proposal as well as a very intriguing segment with Molly Holly and Booker D meeting up with Stevie R and his worm-infested night light. There’s a “war coming” we are told as the four of them prepare for some kind of plot to undo the corruption we are seeing at the hands of Zayn and Dibiase.

Finally, and I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed this, Omega and Pac stole the show with a hellacious bout. Omega was reportedly a prime target in successive drafts for PWI in years past, and we can see exactly why. He may be the greatest wrestler alive today. Either way, this was a wonderful way to end a show which rightly won the ratings battle for the evening.

Not a bad way to respond to the forced cancellation of AEW’s show this past Monday!

Now, on to this Monday, and we look to what’s on tap for ULW this week as the company attempts to bounce back from its most embarrassing week in the ratings war to date!

Extreme League (Aggression – 9.16.24)

Kicking things off for Aggression will be a showdown between Bron Breakker and Sean Olson, his first victim of the night from last Monday’s installment. Olson is on a bit of a descent and Breakker is hoping to continue the man’s bad luck!

Speaking of bad luck, the last time we saw the Acolytes takes on the Authors of Pain, AOP injured Bradshaw, but this week we will see what is slated to be their finale. Whichever team comes out on top will be a shoo-in for title contention, for sure!

One thing that hasn’t been for sure, though, has been the motivations of Living Dead Girl as she has wreaked havoc in the lives on numerous women’s wrestlers. On Aggression, two of LDG’s targets will square off as Nikki Bella attempts to climb out of her own rut at the expense of Io Shirai!

Finally, for Aggression, Cora Jade finally gets the title shot that she earned weeks ago in that Extreme Royale as she challenges Jade Cargill for the Women’s Title! Can the longest reigning champion in ULW come out on top? Tune in to see!

Premier League (Animosity – 9.17.24, Intensity – 9.20.24)

The Premier League Commissioner, CJ Perry, has stacked the week ahead with some incredible title matches to look forward to, starting with AJ Lee defending her newly-won International Championship against the former and final Women’s Immunity Champion, Ruby Riott!

Mystico has his stiffest challenge for the Premier Title to date as he defends against the former Champion who never actually lost the gold: LA Knight! Knight is enjoying a bit of momentum from his resounding victory over Carmelo Hayes last Friday, so this will be one of the biggest matches of the week, for sure!

Moving on to Friday, and we have the Bludgeon Brothers defending their tag team title against the fast-rising Pretty Deadly. It’s remarkable that Wilson and Prince are still standing and able to challenge the ferocious champions after the Natural Disasters beat them down at a live show last week, but they earned this shot and are ready to risk it all to be champs!

Finally, the Main Event of the week, for sure, will see the Undisputed Champion, Bray Wyatt, defend his world title against the former champion who ended the second-longest world title reign in history earlier this year: Ted Dibiase Jr.! Dibiase has been underappreciated by his father since dropping the ball and the championship back in May, so he has a massive chip on his shoulder. As for Wyatt, he has expressed that he is not feeling like himself lately, so the outcome of this one will be closely watched by everyone!

All in all, this is a high-stakes week with mounting pressure on the inaugural Head of the Triad, Ted Dibiase Sr., to preside over ratings success. It’s getting to a point where it is put up or shut up and it will be interesting to see whether the man can deliver!

That does it for me as of right now, I have been told that we should expect a press conference or release prior to Aggression, so make sure to keep an eye open for that!

Until our next Quest, this has been Johnny with yet another mission!