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First and foremost, if you haven’t done so yet, watch the final segment of last night’s Smackdown. Cody Rhodes’ delivered an all time, amazing promo. From start to finish, it was a fantastic piece of business. Roman Reigns came out at the end kept it short and sweet, and man, it made me wish that their match was happening right then and there. ... Also, I hope HHH was listening to the fans where LA Knight is concerned. He needs a real push post WrestleMania.
HALL OF FAME
I enjoyed the Hall Of Fame, which I watched this morning. Everyone did a great job, as is usually the case. Far and away, the highlight was the amazing induction speech that Konnan did. He completely and totally killed it. You should go out of your way to watch it, it’s worth your time.
My second favorite moment was Ric Flair telling us that he had Muta watch out for his late son Reed.
The happiest moment of the show was when the camera panned to Asuka, who looked to be losing her mind at the induction of Muta. Great stuff.
On another note, Rey’s speech was a lot of fun. Think about it, he always knew how small he was for every bit of the journey and yet, he just kept grinding and defied the odds. The one thing that always made Rey, as a small guy, more believable than people like The Young Bucks was that Rey never worked like he was a big guy. Just the opposite. He knew he had to use his speed and his legs to look legitimate and he did just that. Great career for the legend and a deserved induction into the HOF. … I also like what they did with Dom and company. He got up and left which was what he should do, while not bringing down the ceremony.
STAND AND DELIVER
I was finishing the HOF so I missed the pre-show match but man, they tore down the house with the opener. Every one of them brought their A game and took bumps that they will be feeling for a while. On shows like these we will see the big spots and while they can be scary, if they are going to be done it should be on the biggest stage, not on a random TV show. … I was so happy to see Indi Hartwell get the win. She has been a great soldier on the brand for years now and she deserved her moment. It was cool to see Dexter Lumis come back and and get involved in the finish. It was a call back to their storyline from years back.
Usually the second match is the spot wrestlers don’t want to be in. Not today as Gallus put their tag belts on the line against The Family and The Creeds. If you have been following me for any period of time you know I am a huge Gallus (and NXT UK, RIP) fan. It was great to see Gallus defend here as I want the US audience to see how great these guys are. … The Creeds have improved so much over the last year or so. Julius is a freak of nature. … The Family have improved a lot as well. These guys had a great match. Gallus Boys stayed on top.
Remember my love of NXT UK? It was on display in this match as JD McDonagh, Axiom and Ilja Dragunov are all alumni and for those who never saw them before today, you see how great they are, as are Dragon Lee and the champ Wes Lee. These guys KILLED it out there, delivering an amazing match… I was glad Lee retained. He called for the match and if he lost, he would have looked like a dope.
Grayson Waller and Johnny Gargano will be feeling their bout for a while. Waller’s back was a hot mess. These guys just totally killed it. Plus, they had cool storyline stuff with Candace and Baby Wrestling getting involved, and then celebrating with The Way at the end. … The only potential negative was Waller losing. But, if he debuts on Raw on Monday and attacks Gargano in his debut, it will be OK. And even if not, once he brought Gargano's family into it, it made it OK for him to lose. Give him the mic and he can get his heat back in a second.
The women’s tag match was fine. I am a big Kay Lee Ray fan and I wish she was doing her old gimmick instead of being Alba Fyre but that’s life. This was the most storyline match on the show so the the story was about whether the champs would cheat or not. James wanted to but Henley didn’t, and it cost them the Titles. NXT UK alumni gets the gold again.
The show ended on a strong note as Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breakker delivered a great title match. They could have gone either way here for sure but it just felt like it was Melo’s time and I am glad they went that way with it. … Bron presenting the Title to Hayes and giving him respect was cool, especially after Williams got involved. It made Bron look like a real babyface. I don’t know if Bron is getting called up or not, but he represented the brand really well and his growth since his debut has been phenomenal. Him hitting that jump up Frankensteiner (and it’s a shame that they can’t call it that) and the flip to the floor is super impressive for a guy of his size. … Hayes coming out to the Lakers logo and gear was cool. Most of the fans were behind him, which was clear from the start. But as the match went on, and Bron delivered, he got the crowd to split. I love when that happens.
Other thoughts: Battleground is May 28. If you watched the show today, you should be doing the same that day, much to Tony Khan’s dismay. … Pretty Deadly were hilarious in their roles as hosts. Those guys are great.
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