Mission 031 – Are you ready for the feast?!
The holidays are on the horizon and I can think of nothing better to do with my time but offer my thoughts on the stuff we’ve seen from our competition in the past week!
WWE has been on a bit of a tear as of late, and while you certainly saw my…compatriot’s…thoughts on what they’ve been up to, I feel inclined to offer my two cents, if you will.
First and foremost, we can’t talk about WWE without talking about what they’ve done to revive Hurricane Helms! Sure, one could assert that this may be indirectly something to accredit to ULW’s lack of foresight, but the controversial trade which triggered a bunch of hoopla over the summer culminated in the first ever instance wherein one company’s world champion jumped ship to a new company…while still holding the competition’s world title!
Now, with Helms having acquired the ULW Undisputed Championship via an online purchase, he is waltzing around acting like he is the real world champion, and he has kicked off a 48-man tournament to determine who will challenge him for this title that now effectively means nothing.
Look, you will see PLENTY of commentary about this little twist in WWE via the upcoming magazine edition, but for now I am going to leave you with this: protect this gold comedy angle with everything you have, Murrey. It’s keeping you in the race for supremacy!
On to more serious matters, WWE has sort of forgotten that they have a number of great comedy characters along the way. Sure, you have funny moments – par for the course with Murrey Entert…er, Final Boss Media -, but the only legitimate comedy regular in the company right now is Helms.
As for the others – Johnny Lawrence and the Bret/Goldberg duo, to name a few -, they’ve been placed on sabbatical for the time being, for reasons unbeknownst to this commentator veteran of the business. Whenever we do see them – which, I suspect, will be in the coming weeks, since someone high-profile is pointing it out -, I have no doubt in my mind that WWE will remind us why comedy is their greatest strength. Moreover, I feel that an appropriate balance is the magical seasoning that Murrey and company need to put them over the top.
I absolutely applaud them for getting more serious – the story surrounding the Hollow has the potential to serve as a dark horse candidate to steal the story of the era thus far award, so BRAVO there -, but the gist of the wrestling fanbase has always clamored for the things that you do best. So, by all means, keep strengthening your serious stuff with top-notch bouts, but don’t forget what makes you a contender to begin with!
And, as Anthony underscored, we need to regularly see the champions in action. It is very easy to forget who holds your titles when we don’t see them semi-consistently. I can tell you right now that I can only name – without looking through my notes from weeks ago – your two world champions: Rock and Damian Priest. This might also be due to the plethora of championships in the company, but I digress. Just need a little more work here, that’s all.
Either way, I also want to briefly comment on what we’re seeing at the top of the company; namely, the change of the guard running the show. With Murrey back in charge, he has established a new mission: replace the World of Wrestling with WIN!
There will be more to say regarding that mission in the magazine, but I will say that I am particularly interested in what this will produce, and whether Murrey’s new venture will be a success or a flop. Time will tell, and I can’t wait to see what awaits us in the coming months!
Last thing I want to say regarding WWE at this point is that I love this story between Rock and Seth. However, I feel like it lost a considerable amount of steam when Seth and his Revolutionaries betrayed Vince and Murrey, only for Vince and Seth to make up later on.
Yes, we got a pretty cool moment between Jesse and Vince out of it, but I am not coming out of the last few weeks with the impression that Seth is a genuine threat to Rock’s reign. Rather, while I recognize Seth’s legitimacy as a former world champion, he has been knocked down considerably from being a contender at all.
This doesn’t mean that he isn’t a main eventer. It just means I don’t see him leading the company…yet.
Over on the AEW side, we have some of the best content thus far! Let’s begin by first assessing the success of Toni Storm. Toni continues to be a top star in this industry because her character work is developed so well, and she makes you INSTANTLY care about what she is saying and doing.
I would remiss to not highlight the contributions of Jade Cargill and Becky Lynch, opposite Miss Storm. Jade and Becky have been top brass in the industry for a couple of years now, and they have only continued to show exactly why in their supporting roles alongside Toni. They both demonstrate how big of a threat they are to Toni, which almost makes you sympathetic for Miss Storm…almost.
When this story wraps, I believe that Storm will still reign for a time, but to say I am enjoying what the company is doing here would be a massive understatement! Well done!
Moving on over to the supposed mid-card picture and we see the former World Champion and current TV Champion, Logan Paul making waves. His first open challenge was aimed at Sean Olson, who had this challenge sprung on him in the middle a fire promo as part of what I see as the BEST story being told right now that isn’t Mouse Family-related: Olson’s feud with Brandon Lee!
Logan retained his championship, but I wasn’t mad about how, as we had a very intriguing interference by crows dispatched by Lee – very reminiscent of how Paul once attacked LA Knight -, and I am honestly completely enthralled by this one! Just a great job all around!
Shifting gears, I need to quickly address the present state of High-Minded, their feud with the Flex Squad, and the involvement of Doc Brown. I do think that the feud has potential, and I did like Brown’s moment in the backstage, but something was off this past Monday, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Either way, this really does have the potential to steal the show. Looking forward to where it takes us!
I love Will Ospreay, and I genuinely think AEW has done very well balancing their talent to have an appropriate reservoir of world title contenders, but I don’t see Ospreay losing this strap any time soon. I don’t care who the opponent will be, all I know is that Ospreay is going to keep dominating for a while, and that is only because THIS is the moment the company has been salivating over ever since Ospreay was signed summer last year!
Second last, I want to also convey that I am enjoying what AEW is doing with the story between MJF and Lashley, but I almost forgot that any of them existed in the intervening month that has elapsed since we last saw or heard from them. MJF and Lashley are both bound to be back on top. I just want to see more from them, that’s all!
Lastly, I can’t express enough how awesome this story involving the Mouse Family truly is. For starters, when you look at the big picture, it is the ONLY story in the history of the business which has effectively created splinter stories connecting every promotion to each other! From the Hollow to the Benny Saga, and finally over into the Bray/Lenny/Abigail tale, we have something truly revolutionary here!
The big unveil back with Sympathy for the Devil with Uncle Howdy’s arrival and him siding with Megan in conjunction with Benny instructing the director not to show him each made things even more interesting, and we saw more of this awesomeness on Monday!
First, you had the Guilty Remnant piggybacking on what we heard from Mickie Mouse over at Hallow-Travaganza when Brodie suggested taking out Megan to take out Abigail and takedown the Mouse Family. THEN, you see raw footage from the Halloween Special wherein Benny seemingly snapped out of his slumber and dependency on Danhausen.
These two sections both contributed to Dynamite’s thunderous ratings victory as well as advanced this story to the next level! All I will say here is that this remains the best ongoing part of the business, and the excitement for what comes next is truly palpable!
Finally, let’s take a look at what ULW is offering tomorrow night!
THE GREAT GOBBLEFEST 2025
8-Man Elimination Tag Match: The Lost versus the Callaways
In a return to the Thanksgiving Tradition of elimination tag matches, Darby and the Lost are looking to take out the family that betrayed them (at least in their eyes), the Callaways! This tale has roots that go back to the Second Era USWA as well as the AEW of old when Darby was paired with the Brothers of Destruction, and we see that Darby hasn’t gotten over what happened back then.
The winning team will also have the privilege of determining the fate of the losing team, and I can’t wait!
Women’s Undisputed Championship: Sasha Banks defends against Paige
Paige had her moment in the spotlight in the middle of the Sixth Era when she briefly held the Women’s gold. This is a different ballgame, though, as Sasha is on a great run as Chyna continues to watch her back.
Sasha unified the Women’s and International Championships last month, and she declared herself the Undisputed Champion of the company overall in light of the ULW title debacle, and she feels unstoppable. On the flipside, Paige is looking to reclaim a spot that she felt deprived of for years.
As Maryse flanks as some revenge for her losing her title to Sasha, Paige comes into this an equal shot at glory!
Tag and Providence Championships – 3 on 3 on 3 Elimination Tag – BFS v. The Triumvirate v. TWO
Here is a clash you won’t want to miss! I wish I could offer my predictions for AEW’s show tomorrow night, but part of what I would mention there is my excitement for their title picture as displayed in the preview of the show, and the same goes for my excitement in this match!
Bron Breakker and his father/uncle Tag Team partners, the Steiner Brothers will be defending the Providence Championship as Brock Anderson and FTR will be defending the Tag Team Championships against each other and the Turtle World Order representation via Turtlition and the legendary Raphael!
There is so much bad blood here that’s been bubbling since the summer, and with the last-minute addition of Raphael to the picture, the excitement level is through the roof! I can’t wait to see what happens here!
Main Event – 8-Man Bro-limination Tag Match: AJ Styles and The Peak v. The Straight Edge Society
Another story which has been boiling up since the summer is the war to come with AJ Styles and CM Punk going for each other’s throats simultaneously with the Peak taking on what remains of Seth’s Vision!
Here is the culmination of that tale, and I am being told that some new stipulations will be added and announced prior to the bout! To be honest, I think this has the potential to surprise a lot of people with how big of a deal this show has to be!
Well, that does it for me! I would love to share more, but I have a deadline for this magazine, so no time to waste!!
Until our next Quest, this has been Johnny with yet another mission!
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 