“A heart on fire with excitement and passion has a huge magnetic power.”
Rhonda Byrne
Last month I wrote a piece about how this is an amazing time to be a wrestling fan, my thought was that I could talk about my experience being at mania and all the positive things going on in wrestling in April. I never set out to do a monthly piece to recapture all the things that happened that month, but after the May we just had, I had to talk about it. I have no idea if this will become a monthly thing, I’ll do but let’s just get into it.
As I said last month, this new era of wrestling that we are in whatever we ultimately end up calling it when it is all said and done is truly special. I haven’t felt this way, this passion for the business that I have been following for most of my life. WrestleMania season is usually the peak season for this industry where we see the culmination of the best stuff, but this industry didn’t take their foot off the gas and are giving us the best stuff in years.
Worlds & Egos Collide:
Let’s start things off with the episode of NXT that ended the month with an absolute bombshell. In January the wrestling world was rocked when the reigning TNA Knockouts Champion, Jordynne Grace shocked the world entering the Royal Rumble. She wasn’t the first reigning TNA Knockouts Champion to enter a Rumble, but she was the first one to not to have previous WWE ties. She impressed enough people that the fans both on and off screen clamored for Triple H to continue to keep the prohibited portal open to see more WWE & TNA crossovers.
I have previously written of my admiration of TNA being an incredibly resilient company always finding a way to survive and reinvent itself. TNA has accepted its role as an alternative promotion that focuses on the future stars of this business and veteran talents being given a canvas to continue their careers and giving them a chance to reinvent themselves. They aren’t trying to compete with WWE or AEW directly and because of that, I think they make them a candidate for a Triple H partnership like the WWF secretly had with ECW in the 90s. Essentally a pipeline for the future talent of WWE and a place for WWE to send veterans to reinvent themselves and possibly NXT talent for some additional seasoning.
It was teased after Jordynne’s Rumble appearance that it may not be a one and done situation. When TNA fired Scott D’Amore, the thought was the door may have been shut, but it appears it isn’t closed and may be in fact kicked out. HBK had said he was jealous Hunter got Jordynne for the Rumble and clearly his DX brother, worked it out to get Shawn a chance to have the Juggernaut in NXT.
Having Jordynne shock the world as the mystery opponent for Roxanne’s NXT Women’s Championship at Battleground is absolutely brilliant. Roxanne legitimately didn’t know who her opponent was, and her reaction was 100% genuine, which made it that much better. Hearing TNA chants in the WWE PC was absolutely surreal and it is just another incredible moment that reminded me why I love this stuff. Jordynne in my opinion is the best women’s wrestler not to be in WWE and she is one of the performers that has carried TNA on her back, but we all know she is likely WWE bound eventually.
Jordynne has an open challenge for her Knockouts title at Against All Odds on June 14th and I fully expect someone from NXT or WWE to be the one to challenge her.
The night of shocks wasn’t over for NXT as the night ended with former Impact/AEW star, “All Ego” Ethan Page making his shocking debut taking out the NXT Champion, Trick Williams.
Ethan Page is an incredible talent that I have been following for years and talked about two years ago that AEW was wasting his talent. Ethan is one of the most underrated talents and knows how to be an incredible heel. I have been telling TNA & NXT reviewer, Archie Carter for months that I felt Ethan was WWE bound since AEW completely dropped the ball with him and relegated him to the forgotten paywall that is ROH. Ethan has strong ties to Johnny Gargano and Cody Rhodes and considering both those guys are tight with Hunter and Shawn, it isn’t shocking that they would be interested in the Ego.
Ethan is a hot heel for Trick to feud with now that Melo is on the main roster. I do expect Ethan to likely come away with the NXT title out of this as they will likely send Trick to the main roster sooner than later considering how over he is. In one night, NXT made Ethan Page a bigger deal than his entire AEW run. Outside the ring, Ethan appears to be a genuinely good dude so I’m very happy for him to get the opportunity to perform for the grandest stage in the business. This should be an absolutely fun story to play out on NXT TV.
The Prohibited Portal seems open, and we can be in for a wild ride if we do get a World’s Collide WWE/NXT vs TNA show in 2024.
All Hail the King and Queen:
Triple H knows how important the KOR was to his career and how it used to be a launching pad for the next megastar for the company. Although over the years the tournament has been skipped or stuck in just king or queen gimmicks and hasn’t launched anyone, this year appears to be different.
Of all the talents that Hunter brought back to the company after taking over the throne, to the shock of literally everyone Nia Jax is arguably the best talent that he brought back. She has made a complete 180 as a performer and she is that monster heel for the women’s division that they probably always envisioned.
Nia put on a hell of performance in the tournament and the finals was perfect. Since calling her up to the main roster, WWE has gotten behind Lyra and you could have totally saw Lyra defying the odds and beating Nia with the upset. However, Nia literally crushed her and the crowd has gotten behind this Nia as they now respect her.
Gunther maybe one of the greatest talents of his generation as he has an aura of believability that is unmatched. He is like someone from a bygone era that when he beats a talent down, you know he could legit handle himself outside the ring. He is without question the greatest IC champion of all time and restored the prestige to the championship.
Throughout this entire tournament Gunther proved that he elevates any match simply by being in the match. As he battled through Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Jey Uso and Randy Orton, all future HOFamers, these were all incredibly classics. There was no question at the end of all these matches we witnessed something truly special, and Gunther beat all of his opponents like they owed him money.
Of all the KOR tournaments that I have seen, Gunther may have had the greatest road and matches to get to the crown. I think we will be seeing World Champion Gunther sooner than later and I’d be shocked if he isn’t World Heavyweight champion this year.
You cannot talk about the Saudi show without talking about the reigning IC Champion, Sami Zayn. One of the biggest missing pieces from the original Saudi shows was that Sami Zayn was banned due political reasons, but what we have witnessed the past two shows now that Sami is allowed there is that he is beloved by the people. This is truly special for Sami and the fans, and you can feel that connection and that comes across to the TV audience as well.
Sami is a positive representative of his people and there is a shared love between him and the audience. Sami put on an amazing triple threat match as he celebrated with the crowd.
Anarchy & the Rise of an Assassin:
I have said this many times before that I think the “Ariel Assassin” Will Ospreay is a once in a generation talent probably the heir apparent to the best in ring talent in the business in the vein of HBK and AJ Styles. Ospreay continues to prove to be one of the best to do it today. Roderick Strong is one of those talents that doesn’t get the credit he deserves just how good he actually is. So having Strong vs Ospreay you knew they were going to paint a masterpiece on that canvas even though you knew Ospreay was going over. They absolutely delivered and it kicked AEW Double or Nothing off on a high note.
We fully expected insanity for the Anarchy in the Arena match just based on the story of the Elite vs Team AEW and based on the previous history of anarchy in the arena matches. This match literally had everything from attempted vehicular manslaughter, attempted drowning, hanging, explosives, thumbtacks and someone set on fire.
Was this a classic? No way but no one expected it to be. We expected anarchy and that is exactly what they gave us. Jack Perry getting set on fire by Darby Allin who used a flame thrower was absolutely insane on so many levels. Tony Khan teaching Jack and the audience to stop, drop and roll on the ramp was educational. Seriously though it was a spectacle and something that I’ll never forget and the WR watch party couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Team Elite won as they should because you need to have the heels win to continue to tell the story of the faces trying to save AEW from the Elite.
Finally, the month ended with the dream match of Swerve vs Ospreay being made official for Forbidden Door. AEW crowned their first black world champion, and this should have been treated as a big deal, but after that night AEW has treated Swerve more like a mid-card champion than their world champion with their booking and march card placement. Swerve in a feud with Christian Cage could have gone on for months but AEW decided one and done. This past week Ospreay won a title shot and considering how much the company paid to get Ospreay and how they have pushed him and how they have lackluster booked Swerve it looks like the writing is on the wall.
It was expected that they would have held off booking this until All In at Wembley but they have moved it up to Forbidden Door. I think a huge reason is they are afraid of not selling out in New York and they don’t truly seem behind Swerve as champion. Considering how they dumped Willow in favor of another high-priced free agent in Mercedes Mone, it appears Swerve’s days maybe be numbered. I hope I am wrong here, but one thing is for certain they’ll paint a classic in that ring.
Final Thoughts:
Regardless of what wrestling product or brand that you prefer, there is no question that this is truly a special time to be a fan. The business has never been hotter, and the one constant is to expect the unexpected. There is something for everyone and just enjoy the ride and reject tribalism.
ITTMP
