Mission 014 – Is this thing on?
It’s been a while since I was able to delve into the state of professional wrestling at length, but now that I have the opportunity to do so, I am feeling cautiously optimistic!
For the first time since mid-January, all 3 promotions are back up and running simultaneously and there is a distant rumbling of the oncoming draft this summer. But before we get to all of that noise, let’s look at what we saw in this past week of wrestling’s revival.
Kicking things off, I want to offer my thoughts on WWE, first. Business is absolutely picking up in Triple H land en route to Wrestle Empire. However, I did get a good chuckle out of Cena’s comment to AJ Styles about how he “carried the wrestling world” while Styles was “too busy wrestling bingo halls and pretending to be a big deal”. I mean, Cena probably saw himself as a big deal when he debuted in LWF 21 years ago to a great deal of fanfare only to fizzle out when he jumped to UWA later that year. Or, perhaps he felt the weight of the industry and its expectations on his shoulders as he wrestled the midcard in HCW from 2008 to 2010 or again during its rebirth in 2022.
Nevermind the fact that AJ Styles has literally held two world championships to Cena’s zero championships in that span of time, because while Cena was suffering from his squared circle delusions of grandeur being puffed up by Murrey and Brown, Styles was slowly making a name for himself, establishing his value in the Indies before being discovered by EWA in 2008 and then using every opportunity given to him by Benny to legitimately make a play at saying he was a standard bearer in this business. Sure, Cena, is the one trying to steal the proverbial spotlight.
Regardless, I am intrigued by this story and am looking forward to seeing Cena’s inevitable world title push, which is the most rational result of this entire storyline. Doesn’t mean he has to win here, but it does mean that the big one is coming soon. Looks like his HCW revival in the Sixth Era is finally about to payoff.
Big E and Kofi’s story is perhaps my favorite sleeper story of the entire industry right now. Kind of coming out of nowhere as the team dropped their belts, this one has captivated me every time it is featured. Kofi’s inexplicable rage and Big E’s sympathetic character portraying a man desperately trying to make sense of all of this while begrudgingly preparing to take down a friend has all the makings of a top notch tale. Consider me hooked. I’m not sure who gets over in this feud, but I do know it has worked wonders for both men involved!
Chad Gable’s pursuit of the Lucha Libre secrets had me in stitches the moment Doc Brown’s magic was sprinkled in there. Triple H must have realized that he was missing everybody’s favorite fake scientist, because the joy the fans felt the instant they saw that radical hair could be heard across the galaxy! The quest to stop Rey Mysterio from winning the IC title has me excited to see what happens next. Hell, we even had a cameo from El Gigante (the part that killed me the most)!
R-Truth then gave Finn Balor a good run for his money, impressing management to the point where Triple H went on a quest of his own to find Truth to tell him about an opportunity. If Truth doesn’t get back to Trips tonight, well, I guess that’s it for his chance at glory.
We saw more matches on Smackdown than we did on Raw, but Raw absolutely felt like the bigger show. Despite that, we did see some great developments from WWE on Friday: Asuka retaining her revived women’s title reign, a victory from DDP, and the Rock putting Ciampa down before finding himself with two fewer members of his version of the Bloodline as the Usos reunited with Roman!
That last part was what sold the show to me, personally, as it continues the build to the marquee match of Wrestle Empire. I honestly can’t wait for that show, and it signals that April will be the biggest month in the industry so far in this era!
Over in AEW, we kicked off Dynamite with a fun marriage counseling session wherein Lady Love revealed that the “Love child” is not the same as her still-born horror baby from July 4th, 2010, but rather is a product of her frozen sperm come to life. She has a son and now Midgey is going to have some competition for his high chair. A very entertaining section of the show, and I am eager for us to finally meet this kid.
The biggest pop (including with the ratings) of the night came with Master Splinter’s long-awaited return to the screen as he assumes control of the company to stead this erratic ship. After a comedic encounter with Johnny Lawrence – who was trying to bribe Splinter with some beer for another shot at gold -, Splinter took to the podium to address the “State of AEW”. There, he lashed out at the perceived corruption in ULW with Lenny’s apparent power grab and revealed a groundbreaking partnership between AEW and WWE. Good stuff all around. I’m curious to see to what extent this partnership takes us. Wait, wasn’t there a similar partnership between Murrey and Benny in the previous era? Hmm.
One of the best parts of the night across the industry was also featured in this show, as Timeless Toni watched a flicker-show reel of Athena Star’s never-ending retirement tour. I 100% loved Toni’s narration here, and her demented demeanor only has me begging for more. Toni saying that Athena is done when Toni says she is was great, and has me hoping it catapults her to the top!
We also had an encounter between Drew and Dom and two matches from AEW (and a promise from Splinter that AEW programming will soon be expanding to re-include Chaos), with the debut of Tiffany Stratton getting her dangerously close to deposing Liv Morgan and Will Ospreay beating MJF at his own game in a barnburner of a Main Event as well as Logan Paul and Adam Page coming to blows in building towards their World Title match.
A fun week of action which saw AEW come out on top, WWE place second over ULW for only the second time, and a still undetermined ratings winner for Friday’s ratings battle. That does it for me today, prepare for a preview of “Lucky Break” in the next few hours!
Until our next Quest, this has been Johnny with yet another mission!
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 