(Apologies for the lack of Wrestling Thread last week. My DVR failed to record Dynamite again and I was so angry that I went to bed immediately. It actually recorded this week. Thank Christ the Max debut is next week.)
The big story this week is World’s End this weekend. Last year’s World’s End was one of the most disappointing PPVs of last year, so let’s hope this year is better. The matches at the moment are:
-Ricochet vs. Kazuchika Okada
-Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher
-The winners of the previous two matches for the Continental Title
-Mercedes Mone vs. Kris Statlander for the TBS Title
-Konosuke Takeshita vs. Powerhouse Hobbs for the International Title
-Mariah May vs. Thunder Rosa in a “Tijuana Street Fight” for the Women’s Title
-Adam Cole vs. MJF AEW for the *checks notes* Dynamite Diamond Ring
-Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Adam Page vs. Jay White for the World Title
-Chris Jericho retained the ROH Title (boo!) last Friday. I didn’t watch it but the people that did have said it’s a legit worst match of the year contender. After the match Bandido returned on ROH (boo!!) to set up a feud with Jericho (boo!!!) and then immediately concussed himself (boo!!!!). I can’t believe that after the amazing hype videos they’ve done for Bandido’s return on AEW, they’re going to have him return on ROH. Tony’s going to have to give up on the idea of ROH being a legit promotion again. It’s just a Weekend at Bernie’s of a promotion at this point.
-Tomorrow night’s episode of Rampage is going to be the last one. The show’s been in a bizarre situation ever since Collision debuted, feeling more like a weird extension instead of its own show. I’ve also heard that Battle of the Belts is being cancelled too, which no complaints there.
-WWE is sending Omos to Pro Wrestling Noah for an excursion. Apparently, the idea for this was Keiji Muto, who is said to love Omos. Considering how much of an otaku Omos is, he’s going to have a great time there.
-WWE executive Lee Fitting has been accused of misconduct during his time with ESPN. He replaced Kevin Dunn who finally left in December of last year. It’s unclear what WWE is going to do with the situation. His name was still in the credits of NXT this week, which has people afraid that they’re just going to stick their head in the sand again.
-Dave Meltzer stepped in it again this week. He claimed that Fitting’s name was absent from this week’s Raw and was a sign that he was on his way out. However, Raw never has end credits and, as mentioned above, his name was in the NXT credits. Someone’s gotta wheel uncle Dave to the old folks home.
-Tessa Blanchard returned to TNA. Goddammit.
-Two weeks ago, Mercedes Mone had a NJPW match with Hazuki. I watched it and all I could think was “Jesus, where’s this Mercedes been all year?” It’s one of the best matches of the year and easily the best women’s match of the year. Definitely seek it out.