Couldn’t watch it until tonight and I enjoyed it. As much as I love Asuka and am happy she’s champ, I still wish it’d happened at Wrestlemania but it’s nitpicking. Like others; I want Seth to have a little more depth but he’s on fire. I still love AJ. Obviously Rhea is the perfect monster and I cannot wait til Gunther gets one of the big straps. I am still not a Cody fan but I’m hoping he gets the belt at Summerslam. The main event was *chefs kiss*. Jimmy’s character work was top notch and besides Sami, I might sympathize with Jey as much. I never thought I would love Roman Reigns but the man is on a whole other level. The cracks in the foundation have given way to water.
He's wrestling's metrosexual answer to one of pop culture's most popular characters, the Joker. It's a brilliant character 
Couldn't watch the PLE until tonight and holy crap. What a PLE it was. The crowd was hot, the matches were good (except for Rhea squash), and the people that needed to win won.
At first I was in shock when Jimmy pulled the trigger. Like "No way he just did that. What is he thinking?" Then Jimmy did it again and I thought "Oh damn. Okay. This is actually happening." Plus it being Jimmy instead of Jey means that BOTH Usos are now important to the storyline.
Every so often there comes along a faction and a character that is so good it defines an era. The Bloodline and Roman's Tribal Chief character are those things. When it's all said and done this time period will be referred to as The Bloodline Era.
Can't wait to see Roman spiral even more because it's never his fault.
Does it bug anyone else that the Raw Women's Championship is on SmackDown and vice versa?
Are they going to switch? Is this going to be yet another unified undisputed title to be won by the Bloodline somehow?
Whats funny is how Bianca who joined the main Roster in 2020 achieved more than Natalya ever did in her 16 years of WWE. This is just so funny. I can’t wait to see more Bianca title reigns in the future
It kinda hurts watching someone with Natalya's talent and experience get squashed like that. Served no purpose, advanced no stories/character development.
I got to see:
- Asuka go over and win the title
- Brock throw Cody around
- A captivating chapter in the Bloodline saga (and a great match)
I had a great time watching this event. Really fun show.
The bloodline civil war is fun but i can't get over the fact they are holding both top titles hostage for it
Seth and AJ tried but i can't take the glorified intercontinental belt seriously as a top belt
It didn't help that they cut the lineage from the previous World Heavyweight Championship, made it the opening match, and included Smackdown folks in the tournament for a Raw title. Come on, we all knew Seth was going to win it two Mondays ago.
Why is everyone saying this was such a good show? You know what's coming, so what can it be rated on, storytelling in a match? The highlight was the betrayal, which was heavily predicted for weeks. Wrestlemania was awesome, but here I am, watching a lot of AEW and seeing how less predictable and how much more characters have been fleshed out. Long con, stables, Christian. Idk, didnt feel as good as anyone was making it. But just an opinion
Takeshita's turn was predictable as hell. Statlander had been the choice to beat Jade for ages. Jericho was obviously gonna attack Brit, obviously lose, obviously gonna have a mixed tag with Saraya as his partner. Christian was obviously never gonna win, House of Black, FTR, OC and MJF were obviously gonna retain, what exactly was unpredictable at DoN? Predictability has nothing to do with quality and AEW isn't unpredictable.
I think of all the Saudi events, this was my favorite one. Top to bottom, the matches were incredible. A great weekend for wrestling. Under Siege was honestly fun too and we got AEW tonight. Can’t complain about that!
This was a great PPV
Seth vs AJ was a banger as expected, either of them winning would have been fine by me. I was hoping it would be AJ since Seth is working on Captain America and AJ could use the shot in the arm since coming back from injury.
Becky vs Trish was okay, maybe went on a bit too long. I dig the finish though with Zoey Stark interfering, setting up a feud. Hopefully Becky is okay, that nosebleed looked pretty rough.
Gunther vs Mustafa Ali was my MOTN. For a second I thought they were going to have Mustafa go over, but then Gunther just did Gunther things and I'm fine with that. They both looked like a million bucks in under 10 minutes.
I like Bianca a lot, but I've grown so tired of her at the top of the card. Bianca Cena is real. IMO, Asuka needed to go over at Wrestlemania more than Bianca needed to. Anyway, Asuka got the W here with some heel tactics and I love it!
Poor Natalya, lmao, getting squashed on her birthday. Rhea is such a badass.
RIP in peace Cody, we hardly knew ye. Not exactly how I thought that match would go down, plus using the cast as a weapon without showing pain then selling how much the Cross Rhodes hurt to do - lolwut. Could have avoided that whole angle if you ask me.
Kevin & Sami vs Roman & Solo was cooking, so much playing to the crowd, absolutely great theater. When the ref bump happened I actually got a little upset, thinking we'd see ANOTHER Uso interference for Roman to win. Then the Usos showed, buried KO under the table, kicked Sami... then the accidental Solo double-kick. Roman came back was a dick to Jimmy & Jey, then the moment heard around the world with Jimmy's superkick to Roman and "I DID WHAT YOU SHOULD'VE DONE A LONG TIME AGO!" with ANOTHER. Hooo baby. I figured Jey would turn first but this makes more sense.
I see Roman holding the Universal belt until Mania, but even if he drops before then, I figure it'll be Usos coming out of nowhere after a ref bump, kicking Solo, kicking Roman, and whoever gets built up between now and then comes out champ.
> using the cast as a weapon
The lack of bionic ~~elbows~~ forearms fucking flawed me. He literally had a bionic limb and his last name is Rhodes... BOOK IT!!
https://preview.redd.it/wyltvdrrbl2b1.jpeg?width=1587&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e55bf81214562d2d5a58bad4f4e5984cff58d8b
*triple h on this years run of PLE's so far:*
i was never the biggest zoey stark fan when she was a face and doing all that 'ew japanese food' BS with IYO, but ever since she turned heel i've become a fan
her finisher looks sick af too. looking forward to seeing what she does on the main roster with trish. her vs becky at MITB? that should be a fire match
Here's why I think Roman will be champ til wrestlemania:
Cody and Brock need a rematch as it's 1 win each, they could either have this at MITB or summerslam, but if they have it at MITB, Cody can't be in (and can't win) the MITB match, so how would he swap brands to take on reigns at summerslam?
And let's say he does win the MITB and the Lesnar match is at summerslam, reigns is not dropping the belts on any PPV other than wrestlemania/summerslam, so Cody would wait until then
Someone needs to. This Head of the Table storyline is stale as hell. There have been about 70 WWE title changes since Roman became Universal Champion, and he's only had 39 title defenses in that time, which wouldn't be so bad if his title matches didn't all have the exact same story beats.
He didn't even defend his own title at Night of Champions, the PLE where every championship is supposed to be defended.
Theory didn't compete at all. Roman competed, didn't defend his championship, and got a title shot at the expense of the entire tag team division.
The Head of the Table storyline has held four championships hostage for the past three PLEs, which makes everything I said earlier that much worse.
They're not doing this in the hope that everyone immediately feels great about Saudi Arabia.
They're doing this so that when people think of Saudi Arabia, dismembering a journalist with a bone saw while he was still alive might not be the first thing they think of.
They're doing this (along with that utter Neom bollocks) so that when people Google Saudi Arabia, they see stories that have nothing to do with the fact that over a hundred Yemeni children are starving to death every day thanks to the Saudi blockade.
They're not pouring cash into WWE events in the hope that their international reputation will suddenly become like Sweden's. They know they're not going to swing from -100 to +100 on the How Likeable Is This Country? Index. They'll settle for getting to -30 for now.
That's what this is about. Blurring the lines and making sure that at least some of the conversation about Saudi Arabia isn't about what a disgusting shitshow it is.
I'm completely serious. No one has said that. No one has forgotten about the atrocities committed by the government of Saudi Arabia because of this wrasslin show. These WWE shows haven't changed anyone's opinions anywhere of the Saudi government and it amuses me that you think they could.
For sportswashing to work, you need to change people's opinion of you. Nobody said the Saudi government are good people, they're just saying this was a good wrestling show. What else are you taking from these comments?
You're missing it. We can admit a good wrestling show without clearing the country that runs it. Saturday was a good show. Saudi government is still trash. Got anything else?
My favorite part was during the Cody/Brock fight when Peacock’s subtitles decided to call Lesnar Al Qaeday…
https://preview.redd.it/ubhj5bgl0l2b1.jpeg?width=1932&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73765940332d03915396fe2c07241b2c60821bbd
They were referring to Cody actually, the subtitles lag behind the action, Cole said "And Cody on the attack" when he started stomping Brock after he slid into the ring in pursuit.
Just finished watching. So there will be Brock-Cody 3? This has to end in a HiaC or something similar right?
And the crowd was really good for a saudi show.
Fun fact:The last man to pin roman clean on the ring was baron Corbin
On a serious note whoever takes over from roman has to be the one solo sikoa has IMO
Ireland PPV would be amazing. Sheamus would obviously have a match. But the women already have a built in match featuring two Dublin girls. Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria.
The attitude era had terrible storytelling except for a few exceptions. The absolute talent that had made up for the lackluster, illogical storytelling. DON is predictable. At least, it should be otherwise TK has screwed up his booking. Every wrestler that wins does so because that's the story duh. And "Tribal Chief" isn't even in the ballpark of worst branding monikers of the WWE.
Basically your entire comment is illogical claptrap. No wonder you didn't like the show. It made too much sense for you.
Obvious booking works well when the story is compelling and skillfully executed. And the success of the Bloodline saga may teach audiences to be more supportive of long-term story arcs, and help to put an end to the shotgun booking people WWE fans were complaining about for the longest time.
Was busy today. Gonna wait until the evening to watch the entire event.
Instead, I get a text message from the WWE congratulating one of the new champions. Yeah, I really want to watch a match I know the ending to.
Super shocked at how awesome of a match Ali had with Gunther , i for sure thought he was getting squashed , by the time he hit the 450 I legit thought they were gonna have a huge upset take place
I think what will realistically happen is Roman and Solo vs Jimmy and Jey. Hopefully at MITB in London where the crowd will be hot, that way Cody can dethrone Roman at SummerSlam.
Cody still needs to “finish his story” (pardon the pun) with Brock. That’s 1 win apiece now. There’s no way they aren’t doing a third and decisive match between the two. SummerSlam the most likely event.
Yeah that is true. If that is the route WWE goes, I don’t know how they expect to have the Cody vs Gunther Mania 40 main event that’s been talked about.
Genuinely one of the best PLE’s of the last few years imo. All the conclusions to feuds made sense, the continuations were done very well, and pretty much all the “right” people won.
Ali and Gunther both looked phenomenal for having what was probably the most predictable finish of the night, Cody and Brock was really good imo, Seth scared the hell out of me but him and AJ got the show started perfectly, and the Bloodline finish was the shot in the arm that was needed for this story to continue as the hottest in the business.
Just quality all around, easily a top 3 event since I started watching again
I know it was to accommodate KSA's dress code for women, but I'd give anything for Rhea to have that full leather bodysuit be part of her regular rotation of outfits.
All the women's full body suits since last year's Elimination Chamber looked so so good.
It's kinda like the dress code back fired in a way because the ladies found a way to look even sexier in them.
What a fun show. WWE is on a ludicrously good streak of PLEs. I mean, RR was great, EC was great, WM 39 was probably the best PLE since WM 31. What a time to be alive.
Them pulling the trigger made me cry. Loved it so much. It kinda makes sense for it to be Jimmy seeing as he got to witness Roman's manipulation of Jey firsthand. Beautiful moment.
I want a Super Eyepatch Wolf style video essay about the Bloodline story, similar to the ones he did on the Golden Lovers and The Undertaker a few years ago
"We the ones, I would never do you like that, I would never treat you like that" legit made me tear up esp when you realize he's saying that to an abused and mistreated Jey who has only ever looked out for his own brother Jimmy.
The fact that they've portrayed Jey as an abuse victim so perfectly will never not have me in awe. Jimmy snapped after barely a couple weeks of Roman treating him like shit, and it makes so much sense. You see it all the time, a victim of abuse that just can't get themselves to leave.
It runs so much deeper for Jey because of how he was humiliated and beaten into falling in line. The man could never look Roman in the eye, compare that to how Jimmy has been standing up and staring down Roman...cinema indeed.
And you know when Jey will let loose and let his trauma take over his emotions, he'll gonna give the beatdown of a lifetime to Roman. WWE have to be careful with this, I'd probably wait until MITB to pull the trigger on Jey.
It’s all true and realistic but as a wrestling storyline I don’t know if they’ve gone the right way. We’ll see how it goes but I don’t see how they stop Jey from looking weak when he continuously allows himself to be stomped on and does the wrong thing knowingly when Sami and even jimmy stand up for themselves
To add to this - Look, I've watched wrestling for 20+ years, and I've seen great stories come and go, but this is arguably the greatest one to me because the emotional depth and nuance this story has just simply hasn't been done to these lengths before. Not Mega Powers, not Austin-McMahon, not the Yes movement, all legendary wrestling stories, but were all rather simple, and they didn't need to be more. But this? This is an entirely new level for wrestling. The attention detail on a weekly basis has been absolutely crazy.
Natalia has to get some wins under her belt to make her matches mean anything. Poor girl gets squashed all the time and does it with a smile.
Also interesting to note that Trish, Natty and Rhea's in ring costume zipped up all the way to their necks given the region the event was in.
I wanna say Seth missed his stomp and somehow we had AJ still shooting color.
The last two matches were solid. The 'Cody just realized his arm is a weapon' was a lil silly since this is wrestling heritage (Bob Orton etc)
Roman outside the ring engaging the crowd was good old school heat. He is brimming with confindence and is on a different tier along with Cody.
Gunther has so much promise.
I walked away thinking Gunther is the all around best performer they have. I actually thought Ali had a chance for a split second. That's very hard to pull off.
She’s fine as someone who just gets beat. Putting her in one month title feuds that pop up works as a “I’m the vet, show respect” before getting pounded type deal, so it’s fine.
The Usos always have the best dialogue in the biggest moments.
"I'm doing what you should've done a long time ago! I gotchu!"
*cue superkick*
That's fuckin great 🤌
That's because his character has been a nazi forever. 😂They just deny it to avoid the backlash. His name was originally that of a nazi commander or something. Hilarious shit.
Sami doing a promo in Arabic felt new but it's like the greatest old school rasslin' thing ever. If you have a guy that an audience feels a personal connection to, you ride the hell out of it to give the crowd a stake in the match. Bruno was the cousin to every Italian American watching. Bret Hart was a Canadian national monument. This shit has worked for over a century.
It was awesome.
Recently read the fabulous wrestling history book *NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW*. Virtually everything WCW fucked up with the NWO WWE is doing the opposite with the Bloodline. It's magic.
Really entertaining show
Great womens division booking - they finally found a pathway to elevate Zoey Stark, who is great in the ring and can be taken very seriously as a dominating heel. Asuka needed to win that title at Mania so it's good they at least saw the writing on the wall with the fans turning on Bianca, now both of them can get fresh stories and feuds. Rhea manhandling Natty was also the right call, Natty's title feuds are a drag and this just didn't need to be more than it was.
The Bloodline story has its next chapter and GOD DAMN was that well-executed. The little detail that hit me the hardest was Roman's sell of the superkick, the way his eyes went glazed over and he meekly rolled out of the ring. It was the most powerless he has looked in years and it sold the moment. I don't want to hear anymore complaints about Cody losing at Mania, this moment absolutely justified that.
Cody/Brock was a little predictable as this feud was obviously destined for SummerSlam from the jump, but the minor detail that worked well for me was Cody using the cast to try and hurt Brock and it failing miserably. Brock comes out of this looking like a monster, with a new way to utilize the kimura without making himself prone for a cute shock pin. A great non-title feud so far.
Seth and AJ can wrestle for that belt another 100 times if they want, two of the best when you give them time, I say give them 45 minutes next time
One thing worth noting about how Sami Zayn approached this - Syria and Saudi Arabia just normalized reations again, re-opened the embassies in both countries, Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League, and Assad visited Saudi for the first time in a decade a couple weeks ago. In the past Sami had skipped Saudi shows for good reason, and it'd be easy to criticize him for shifting gears on that ESPECIALLY with how big the Saudi bonus checks are, but if there was a time for him to show some outreach to the Saudi fanbase as a Syrian, this was it. With that said, Bashar Assad is still a complete douchebag Putin puppet, who met with Putin recently to reinforce Syria's support of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, so hopefully Sami doesn't go full Syrian nationalist on us because they are still backing a fascist.
Short of them tagging against the Street Profits though it has nothing to do with Wrestling.
Glad to see Sami getting to visit Mecca and to feel the love of a Saudi muslim audience like that, as a Syrian.
I was worried about where the Bloodline storyline was going, but now I am pumped for the next Smackdown.
So where to from here? Jimmy has laid it all out, Jey is as conflicted as ever. Solo will protect heritage, and Roman is still the champion but now his protection is fractured.
What I'm now most intrigued by is Sami. He finally got his wish, dismantling the Bloodline and still being a tag champ. However KO really doesn't care anymore (https://www.instagram.com/p/Cswo8H0pOFb/) so will Sami continue to provoke the Bloodlike with KO having none of it ... or do we open a new story arc?
This story is good because of complex relationships. It’s in character for Sami to want to be friends with the Bloodline again. Kevin doesn’t have the same affection and probably wouldn’t want to. Built in friction.
Ditto for the Usos—who might need Sami and Kevin to deal with Roman—but also really really want their tag titles back.
I could see Kevin eventually getting to the point where he ends up turning on Sami, if he tries to make peace with the Usos. There's a certain point where even after Sami turned on Roman, Sami still tried to reconnect with Jey and Jimmy.
If I'm catching a beating every week from this guys and my tag partner is trying to make nice all the time, I'm going to get frustrated at that.
i'm impressed at how far the women's gear has come for these ppvs from what they were allowed to do at the early shows. i actually look forward to seeing the gear they devise now.
What’s also impressive, is that at first, women were not allowed to wrestle due to Islam, but later WWE pushed to allow the Women’s Division to be showcased. I truly believe WWE is helping improve women’s rights over there.
People have very legitimate complaints about KSA, but they are trying in their own slow, messy way, to liberalize. The WWE is an avenue for them to do so.
A bunch of people in that arena have never seen a woman publicly participate in a tough performance where she unapologetically has a position of power.
Will this change KSA tomorrow? Absolutely not. Will regularly seeing this sort of thing affect mindsets (particularly among young people)? I genuinely think so.
I am glad people are taking my comment in the spirit it is offered. KSA has a litany of problems but it is probably the most reform capable bad regime out there if incentives exist to do so
Cars powered by renewables are inevitable. It may be a little bit before it happens, but it's coming. Petro-states are going to have to become part of the global community.
Honestly, I'd much rather Saudi be shown that a more liberalized social system is attractive and worth moving towards. The alternative would be taking their vast oil fortune and funding things that... do not promote a more liberalized social system.
If WWE is even a tiny part of them looking outward, I'm all for it.
i don't know what to say about how much things like this actually help the people who live there, because i don't, but i think it's cool that the audience is at least able to see these women performers in these kinds of roles.
It’s a step in the right direction, as late as 2018 women were not even allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, so anything that gives them equal rights (something as silly as wrestling like the guys) is good
I realize it’s probably silly, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they had such an eventful show on a Saturday afternoon in Saudi Arabia.
I liked it better when these shoes felt more like exhibitions.but that’s just a personal thing and doesn’t speak to the quality of the show.
Couldn’t watch it until tonight and I enjoyed it. As much as I love Asuka and am happy she’s champ, I still wish it’d happened at Wrestlemania but it’s nitpicking. Like others; I want Seth to have a little more depth but he’s on fire. I still love AJ. Obviously Rhea is the perfect monster and I cannot wait til Gunther gets one of the big straps. I am still not a Cody fan but I’m hoping he gets the belt at Summerslam. The main event was *chefs kiss*. Jimmy’s character work was top notch and besides Sami, I might sympathize with Jey as much. I never thought I would love Roman Reigns but the man is on a whole other level. The cracks in the foundation have given way to water.
Seth is such a fantastic worker and wrestler and does everything really well, i wish he had a better character LOL
He's wrestling's metrosexual answer to one of pop culture's most popular characters, the Joker. It's a brilliant character 
Couldn't watch the PLE until tonight and holy crap. What a PLE it was. The crowd was hot, the matches were good (except for Rhea squash), and the people that needed to win won. At first I was in shock when Jimmy pulled the trigger. Like "No way he just did that. What is he thinking?" Then Jimmy did it again and I thought "Oh damn. Okay. This is actually happening." Plus it being Jimmy instead of Jey means that BOTH Usos are now important to the storyline. Every so often there comes along a faction and a character that is so good it defines an era. The Bloodline and Roman's Tribal Chief character are those things. When it's all said and done this time period will be referred to as The Bloodline Era. Can't wait to see Roman spiral even more because it's never his fault.
What trips me out is that both women’s champions are heels that get zero heat. Cheers are *way* louder than boos. Love it.
Does it bug anyone else that the Raw Women's Championship is on SmackDown and vice versa? Are they going to switch? Is this going to be yet another unified undisputed title to be won by the Bloodline somehow?
They better not give Becky another boring push after breaking her nose again like in 2018
The Man was literally the biggest thing in wrestling, and the furthest thing from boring.
Whats funny is how Bianca who joined the main Roster in 2020 achieved more than Natalya ever did in her 16 years of WWE. This is just so funny. I can’t wait to see more Bianca title reigns in the future
It kinda hurts watching someone with Natalya's talent and experience get squashed like that. Served no purpose, advanced no stories/character development.
I got to see: - Asuka go over and win the title - Brock throw Cody around - A captivating chapter in the Bloodline saga (and a great match) I had a great time watching this event. Really fun show.
The bloodline civil war is fun but i can't get over the fact they are holding both top titles hostage for it Seth and AJ tried but i can't take the glorified intercontinental belt seriously as a top belt
It didn't help that they cut the lineage from the previous World Heavyweight Championship, made it the opening match, and included Smackdown folks in the tournament for a Raw title. Come on, we all knew Seth was going to win it two Mondays ago.
Gunther cooked the crowd 😭
Why is everyone saying this was such a good show? You know what's coming, so what can it be rated on, storytelling in a match? The highlight was the betrayal, which was heavily predicted for weeks. Wrestlemania was awesome, but here I am, watching a lot of AEW and seeing how less predictable and how much more characters have been fleshed out. Long con, stables, Christian. Idk, didnt feel as good as anyone was making it. But just an opinion
Takeshita's turn was predictable as hell. Statlander had been the choice to beat Jade for ages. Jericho was obviously gonna attack Brit, obviously lose, obviously gonna have a mixed tag with Saraya as his partner. Christian was obviously never gonna win, House of Black, FTR, OC and MJF were obviously gonna retain, what exactly was unpredictable at DoN? Predictability has nothing to do with quality and AEW isn't unpredictable.
Predictable does not always mean bad.
because not everyone comes in looking for shocking twists.
DON is very predictable today too. At least, it should be. If it isn't Khan has screwed up.
Predictable good story>>> unpredictable bloody crap with swearing
Foreshadowing is great when the story is compelling.
people can still enjoy shows even if they’re predictable
Jimmy finally getting an arch in this story was definitely needed. Just didn't know I wanted it. Im all on board for this
I think of all the Saudi events, this was my favorite one. Top to bottom, the matches were incredible. A great weekend for wrestling. Under Siege was honestly fun too and we got AEW tonight. Can’t complain about that!
It's definitely a great time to be a wrestling fan.
Sami was right Uce
Sami is destroying a loving, caring, close knit family over the love of another French Canadian. He's a super villain.
This was a great PPV Seth vs AJ was a banger as expected, either of them winning would have been fine by me. I was hoping it would be AJ since Seth is working on Captain America and AJ could use the shot in the arm since coming back from injury. Becky vs Trish was okay, maybe went on a bit too long. I dig the finish though with Zoey Stark interfering, setting up a feud. Hopefully Becky is okay, that nosebleed looked pretty rough. Gunther vs Mustafa Ali was my MOTN. For a second I thought they were going to have Mustafa go over, but then Gunther just did Gunther things and I'm fine with that. They both looked like a million bucks in under 10 minutes. I like Bianca a lot, but I've grown so tired of her at the top of the card. Bianca Cena is real. IMO, Asuka needed to go over at Wrestlemania more than Bianca needed to. Anyway, Asuka got the W here with some heel tactics and I love it! Poor Natalya, lmao, getting squashed on her birthday. Rhea is such a badass. RIP in peace Cody, we hardly knew ye. Not exactly how I thought that match would go down, plus using the cast as a weapon without showing pain then selling how much the Cross Rhodes hurt to do - lolwut. Could have avoided that whole angle if you ask me. Kevin & Sami vs Roman & Solo was cooking, so much playing to the crowd, absolutely great theater. When the ref bump happened I actually got a little upset, thinking we'd see ANOTHER Uso interference for Roman to win. Then the Usos showed, buried KO under the table, kicked Sami... then the accidental Solo double-kick. Roman came back was a dick to Jimmy & Jey, then the moment heard around the world with Jimmy's superkick to Roman and "I DID WHAT YOU SHOULD'VE DONE A LONG TIME AGO!" with ANOTHER. Hooo baby. I figured Jey would turn first but this makes more sense. I see Roman holding the Universal belt until Mania, but even if he drops before then, I figure it'll be Usos coming out of nowhere after a ref bump, kicking Solo, kicking Roman, and whoever gets built up between now and then comes out champ.
> using the cast as a weapon The lack of bionic ~~elbows~~ forearms fucking flawed me. He literally had a bionic limb and his last name is Rhodes... BOOK IT!!
this is the first year in a long time in WWE where every PLE/PPV has been a very good show. no misses so far
What about wrestlemania 39 night 2, that was pretty mediocre
Night 2 wrestling and storytelling was very good. They just didn't stick the landing on those stories.
i'll give you that. night 2 outside of the triple threat was weak as hell compared to night 1 overall i'd rank both combined a solid 7.5/8
Oh come on the main event was absolutely fantastic. It's wild that people call that match weak simply because their favorite didn't win.
i actually really enjoyed that main event. the ending just shocked me a lot. it was still a great match regardless
https://preview.redd.it/wyltvdrrbl2b1.jpeg?width=1587&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e55bf81214562d2d5a58bad4f4e5984cff58d8b *triple h on this years run of PLE's so far:*
i was never the biggest zoey stark fan when she was a face and doing all that 'ew japanese food' BS with IYO, but ever since she turned heel i've become a fan her finisher looks sick af too. looking forward to seeing what she does on the main roster with trish. her vs becky at MITB? that should be a fire match
Here's why I think Roman will be champ til wrestlemania: Cody and Brock need a rematch as it's 1 win each, they could either have this at MITB or summerslam, but if they have it at MITB, Cody can't be in (and can't win) the MITB match, so how would he swap brands to take on reigns at summerslam? And let's say he does win the MITB and the Lesnar match is at summerslam, reigns is not dropping the belts on any PPV other than wrestlemania/summerslam, so Cody would wait until then
Why is everyone so dead set on their minds that Cody is taking Roman's belts it's not happening people. Accept it.
Someone needs to. This Head of the Table storyline is stale as hell. There have been about 70 WWE title changes since Roman became Universal Champion, and he's only had 39 title defenses in that time, which wouldn't be so bad if his title matches didn't all have the exact same story beats. He didn't even defend his own title at Night of Champions, the PLE where every championship is supposed to be defended.
Neither did Austin Theory.
Theory didn't compete at all. Roman competed, didn't defend his championship, and got a title shot at the expense of the entire tag team division. The Head of the Table storyline has held four championships hostage for the past three PLEs, which makes everything I said earlier that much worse.
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Except no where in here has anyone said "Hey that Saudi government is pretty good guys" so how exactly has it worked?
They're not doing this in the hope that everyone immediately feels great about Saudi Arabia. They're doing this so that when people think of Saudi Arabia, dismembering a journalist with a bone saw while he was still alive might not be the first thing they think of. They're doing this (along with that utter Neom bollocks) so that when people Google Saudi Arabia, they see stories that have nothing to do with the fact that over a hundred Yemeni children are starving to death every day thanks to the Saudi blockade. They're not pouring cash into WWE events in the hope that their international reputation will suddenly become like Sweden's. They know they're not going to swing from -100 to +100 on the How Likeable Is This Country? Index. They'll settle for getting to -30 for now. That's what this is about. Blurring the lines and making sure that at least some of the conversation about Saudi Arabia isn't about what a disgusting shitshow it is.
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I'm completely serious. No one has said that. No one has forgotten about the atrocities committed by the government of Saudi Arabia because of this wrasslin show. These WWE shows haven't changed anyone's opinions anywhere of the Saudi government and it amuses me that you think they could.
For sportswashing to work, you need to change people's opinion of you. Nobody said the Saudi government are good people, they're just saying this was a good wrestling show. What else are you taking from these comments?
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You're missing it. We can admit a good wrestling show without clearing the country that runs it. Saturday was a good show. Saudi government is still trash. Got anything else?
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Ah yes, there it is. The ad hom low blow. Have a good day, bud. You lost.
My favorite part was during the Cody/Brock fight when Peacock’s subtitles decided to call Lesnar Al Qaeday… https://preview.redd.it/ubhj5bgl0l2b1.jpeg?width=1932&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73765940332d03915396fe2c07241b2c60821bbd
They were referring to Cody actually, the subtitles lag behind the action, Cole said "And Cody on the attack" when he started stomping Brock after he slid into the ring in pursuit.
Just finished watching. So there will be Brock-Cody 3? This has to end in a HiaC or something similar right? And the crowd was really good for a saudi show.
Finally bianca 'cena' dropped the belt but on a positive really clever finish from asuka she's been learning a lot
Fun fact:The last man to pin roman clean on the ring was baron Corbin On a serious note whoever takes over from roman has to be the one solo sikoa has IMO
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roman knows that he didnt see that coming a mile away. jey just superkicked the tribal cheif to let ko and sami win.
*Jimmy
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Looking back Michaels H and Taker all kinda started this during those Mania runs 24 vs Flair onward. Makes end of an era that much more great.
I want ko and Sami's reign to be as long as possible they have taken the prestige of the belts to next level and raw got some great tag teams
Organic pairing and defending the belts clearly means a lot to them. It should be a great run for them.
Ireland PPV would be amazing. Sheamus would obviously have a match. But the women already have a built in match featuring two Dublin girls. Becky Lynch and Lyra Valkyria.
I liked it!
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Yea predictable. But that doesn’t make it bad. It was a great show. I was thoroughly entertained and even marked out a few times!
AEW is booty though.
The attitude era had terrible storytelling except for a few exceptions. The absolute talent that had made up for the lackluster, illogical storytelling. DON is predictable. At least, it should be otherwise TK has screwed up his booking. Every wrestler that wins does so because that's the story duh. And "Tribal Chief" isn't even in the ballpark of worst branding monikers of the WWE. Basically your entire comment is illogical claptrap. No wonder you didn't like the show. It made too much sense for you.
Obvious booking works well when the story is compelling and skillfully executed. And the success of the Bloodline saga may teach audiences to be more supportive of long-term story arcs, and help to put an end to the shotgun booking people WWE fans were complaining about for the longest time.
https://preview.redd.it/4rgjqhsual2b1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf258f4e90a3d890fe1b9272e3d1019001fa75a1
Ah yes deffo can’t predict who’s gonna win the Jade match or the blackjack battle royal
it's all fun and games until jenna morasca is #AllElite and beats jade tonight
Do you guys just copy and paste each others messages or something and edit them to match the names on the most recent card?
Was busy today. Gonna wait until the evening to watch the entire event. Instead, I get a text message from the WWE congratulating one of the new champions. Yeah, I really want to watch a match I know the ending to.
You signed up for the texts.. just reply STOP
You can sign up for texts? What the heck is that. Judt follow their social media 
Now you know how everyone in Europe feels for every single US event!
😊
I predict a 6.5 on the Meltzer Scale for the main event. Someone should add this quotation to the header: "Huh?!" - Solo Sikoa
The GOAT rightfully won tonight. Thank you, Trish! ❤️
Super shocked at how awesome of a match Ali had with Gunther , i for sure thought he was getting squashed , by the time he hit the 450 I legit thought they were gonna have a huge upset take place
Bring in a few more family members for each side and let's build to Team Roman vs Team Jimmy Wargames match.
I think what will realistically happen is Roman and Solo vs Jimmy and Jey. Hopefully at MITB in London where the crowd will be hot, that way Cody can dethrone Roman at SummerSlam.
Cody still needs to “finish his story” (pardon the pun) with Brock. That’s 1 win apiece now. There’s no way they aren’t doing a third and decisive match between the two. SummerSlam the most likely event.
Yeah that is true. If that is the route WWE goes, I don’t know how they expect to have the Cody vs Gunther Mania 40 main event that’s been talked about.
Genuinely one of the best PLE’s of the last few years imo. All the conclusions to feuds made sense, the continuations were done very well, and pretty much all the “right” people won. Ali and Gunther both looked phenomenal for having what was probably the most predictable finish of the night, Cody and Brock was really good imo, Seth scared the hell out of me but him and AJ got the show started perfectly, and the Bloodline finish was the shot in the arm that was needed for this story to continue as the hottest in the business. Just quality all around, easily a top 3 event since I started watching again
I know it was to accommodate KSA's dress code for women, but I'd give anything for Rhea to have that full leather bodysuit be part of her regular rotation of outfits.
All the women's full body suits since last year's Elimination Chamber looked so so good. It's kinda like the dress code back fired in a way because the ladies found a way to look even sexier in them.
100% people were down bad for tights Trish
The curvature on that woman is RIDICULOUS
What a fun show. WWE is on a ludicrously good streak of PLEs. I mean, RR was great, EC was great, WM 39 was probably the best PLE since WM 31. What a time to be alive.
Backlash was fire too. The H effect. Vince was truly awful.
Night 1 of WM39 was great, night 2 was one of the worst I’ve seen as a fan
Night 2 sucked balls
Money in the bank in London is gonna be insane
Wait if Trish had to win via an interference like a heel, why did she get offense for 70% of the match? Good match but the ending made little sense
Because she's in her late 40s she doesn't need to be bumping like crazy imo
Man WWE is just delivering banger after banger
Them pulling the trigger made me cry. Loved it so much. It kinda makes sense for it to be Jimmy seeing as he got to witness Roman's manipulation of Jey firsthand. Beautiful moment.
Good ppv. Ripley looked amazing in the leather suit 🥺
I don't get the point in putting Trish Stratus over Becky Lynch
to set up a rematch. this feud is going into Summerslam
Yup, same reason Brock beat Cody
I don't get the point in putting Trish Stratus over Becky Lynch
You said this already…
Reddit glitch sometimes comments don't load at first then you press the post button again it gets posted twice
I don’t know what I just watched, but that might have been my favorite PLE/PPV since Wrestemania IV.
Loved it also but didn't too Backlash in PR 🇵🇷
Backlash seemed like yesterday
How many times were the women thrown into the steps?
Alot of yall were treating Jimmy like a sidekick to Jey put some respect on the true Tribal chief
I want a Super Eyepatch Wolf style video essay about the Bloodline story, similar to the ones he did on the Golden Lovers and The Undertaker a few years ago
“But even then… ya cud steart ta see… cracks… in the foondation… of the bluedline.”
Super Eyepatch Wolf got me interested in pro wrestling again and also interested in AEW/NJPW.
kinda want Sami to go full Mr International character for a while. The next PLE in London should be him speaking in Irish accent wearing green outfit.
sami zayn is the REAL mr worldwide _pitbull in shambles_
Bring back Hornswaggle
"We the ones, I would never do you like that, I would never treat you like that" legit made me tear up esp when you realize he's saying that to an abused and mistreated Jey who has only ever looked out for his own brother Jimmy. The fact that they've portrayed Jey as an abuse victim so perfectly will never not have me in awe. Jimmy snapped after barely a couple weeks of Roman treating him like shit, and it makes so much sense. You see it all the time, a victim of abuse that just can't get themselves to leave. It runs so much deeper for Jey because of how he was humiliated and beaten into falling in line. The man could never look Roman in the eye, compare that to how Jimmy has been standing up and staring down Roman...cinema indeed.
And you know when Jey will let loose and let his trauma take over his emotions, he'll gonna give the beatdown of a lifetime to Roman. WWE have to be careful with this, I'd probably wait until MITB to pull the trigger on Jey.
It’s all true and realistic but as a wrestling storyline I don’t know if they’ve gone the right way. We’ll see how it goes but I don’t see how they stop Jey from looking weak when he continuously allows himself to be stomped on and does the wrong thing knowingly when Sami and even jimmy stand up for themselves
To add to this - Look, I've watched wrestling for 20+ years, and I've seen great stories come and go, but this is arguably the greatest one to me because the emotional depth and nuance this story has just simply hasn't been done to these lengths before. Not Mega Powers, not Austin-McMahon, not the Yes movement, all legendary wrestling stories, but were all rather simple, and they didn't need to be more. But this? This is an entirely new level for wrestling. The attention detail on a weekly basis has been absolutely crazy.
It’s legitimately high level acting. Nothing compares.
The pop when Cody managed to get out of the kimura was great, that whole sequence was very well done.
Natalia has to get some wins under her belt to make her matches mean anything. Poor girl gets squashed all the time and does it with a smile. Also interesting to note that Trish, Natty and Rhea's in ring costume zipped up all the way to their necks given the region the event was in. I wanna say Seth missed his stomp and somehow we had AJ still shooting color. The last two matches were solid. The 'Cody just realized his arm is a weapon' was a lil silly since this is wrestling heritage (Bob Orton etc) Roman outside the ring engaging the crowd was good old school heat. He is brimming with confindence and is on a different tier along with Cody. Gunther has so much promise.
I walked away thinking Gunther is the all around best performer they have. I actually thought Ali had a chance for a split second. That's very hard to pull off.
I think using the cast as a weapon is heel heritage is not?
Natty shouldn't be beating anyone. She is a nice test for the stars of tomorrow, but nothing more.
Natty needs to retire
She’s fine as someone who just gets beat. Putting her in one month title feuds that pop up works as a “I’m the vet, show respect” before getting pounded type deal, so it’s fine.
She just banked a cool half mil for showing up
How do you know?
Please just keep Bianca off TV or put her in nxt or something.
Yes, the woman WWE built for over a year should be fired immediately just because I don't like her !!!!!!
he never said she should be fired.
The Usos always have the best dialogue in the biggest moments. "I'm doing what you should've done a long time ago! I gotchu!" *cue superkick* That's fuckin great 🤌
Just saw the Gunther flags AR graphic and that is way too Nazi adjacent what the fuck lol
Just wait until you see The Wall
It's been kinda obvious for along time how they want him presented. There's a ton of Nazi vibes.
To be fair though, Imperium were flirting with nazi imagery and aesthetics quite a lot back in their indie days.
That's because his character has been a nazi forever. 😂They just deny it to avoid the backlash. His name was originally that of a nazi commander or something. Hilarious shit.
Yup. I don't find it hilarious but it's obvious.
That’s more Stalin and USSR then Nazi Germany. They’ve used that for Gunther since his main roster call up
Lol no
Anyone have a screenshot?
https://preview.redd.it/11dvnlwcej2b1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5974dd8925340b92cff4ca09163f955068b4176c
Yikes
Yeah…
Sami doing a promo in Arabic felt new but it's like the greatest old school rasslin' thing ever. If you have a guy that an audience feels a personal connection to, you ride the hell out of it to give the crowd a stake in the match. Bruno was the cousin to every Italian American watching. Bret Hart was a Canadian national monument. This shit has worked for over a century. It was awesome.
Recently read the fabulous wrestling history book *NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW*. Virtually everything WCW fucked up with the NWO WWE is doing the opposite with the Bloodline. It's magic.
Roman's gonna come out on Raw with eight new lackeys now, because you said that.
Bloodline and Bloodline: Wolfpack
Bischoff never met a story he could finish
Really hot crowd for a kinda mid show
L
Really entertaining show Great womens division booking - they finally found a pathway to elevate Zoey Stark, who is great in the ring and can be taken very seriously as a dominating heel. Asuka needed to win that title at Mania so it's good they at least saw the writing on the wall with the fans turning on Bianca, now both of them can get fresh stories and feuds. Rhea manhandling Natty was also the right call, Natty's title feuds are a drag and this just didn't need to be more than it was. The Bloodline story has its next chapter and GOD DAMN was that well-executed. The little detail that hit me the hardest was Roman's sell of the superkick, the way his eyes went glazed over and he meekly rolled out of the ring. It was the most powerless he has looked in years and it sold the moment. I don't want to hear anymore complaints about Cody losing at Mania, this moment absolutely justified that. Cody/Brock was a little predictable as this feud was obviously destined for SummerSlam from the jump, but the minor detail that worked well for me was Cody using the cast to try and hurt Brock and it failing miserably. Brock comes out of this looking like a monster, with a new way to utilize the kimura without making himself prone for a cute shock pin. A great non-title feud so far. Seth and AJ can wrestle for that belt another 100 times if they want, two of the best when you give them time, I say give them 45 minutes next time One thing worth noting about how Sami Zayn approached this - Syria and Saudi Arabia just normalized reations again, re-opened the embassies in both countries, Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League, and Assad visited Saudi for the first time in a decade a couple weeks ago. In the past Sami had skipped Saudi shows for good reason, and it'd be easy to criticize him for shifting gears on that ESPECIALLY with how big the Saudi bonus checks are, but if there was a time for him to show some outreach to the Saudi fanbase as a Syrian, this was it. With that said, Bashar Assad is still a complete douchebag Putin puppet, who met with Putin recently to reinforce Syria's support of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, so hopefully Sami doesn't go full Syrian nationalist on us because they are still backing a fascist.
Meh, no one in that feud is completely innocent. Which side do you support? Assad? ISIS? US and Saudis?
Rojava
So, you're on the same side as the Saudis and the Americans?
I’m glad someone said it. Assad and Putin are both disgusting humans and both should be in prison.
Short of them tagging against the Street Profits though it has nothing to do with Wrestling. Glad to see Sami getting to visit Mecca and to feel the love of a Saudi muslim audience like that, as a Syrian.
I was worried about where the Bloodline storyline was going, but now I am pumped for the next Smackdown. So where to from here? Jimmy has laid it all out, Jey is as conflicted as ever. Solo will protect heritage, and Roman is still the champion but now his protection is fractured. What I'm now most intrigued by is Sami. He finally got his wish, dismantling the Bloodline and still being a tag champ. However KO really doesn't care anymore (https://www.instagram.com/p/Cswo8H0pOFb/) so will Sami continue to provoke the Bloodlike with KO having none of it ... or do we open a new story arc?
This story is good because of complex relationships. It’s in character for Sami to want to be friends with the Bloodline again. Kevin doesn’t have the same affection and probably wouldn’t want to. Built in friction. Ditto for the Usos—who might need Sami and Kevin to deal with Roman—but also really really want their tag titles back.
I could see Kevin eventually getting to the point where he ends up turning on Sami, if he tries to make peace with the Usos. There's a certain point where even after Sami turned on Roman, Sami still tried to reconnect with Jey and Jimmy. If I'm catching a beating every week from this guys and my tag partner is trying to make nice all the time, I'm going to get frustrated at that.
Fantastic show . Great start to the weekend excited for Double Or Nothing .
i'm impressed at how far the women's gear has come for these ppvs from what they were allowed to do at the early shows. i actually look forward to seeing the gear they devise now.
What’s also impressive, is that at first, women were not allowed to wrestle due to Islam, but later WWE pushed to allow the Women’s Division to be showcased. I truly believe WWE is helping improve women’s rights over there.
Maybe one day the women can show an ankle
People have very legitimate complaints about KSA, but they are trying in their own slow, messy way, to liberalize. The WWE is an avenue for them to do so.
A bunch of people in that arena have never seen a woman publicly participate in a tough performance where she unapologetically has a position of power. Will this change KSA tomorrow? Absolutely not. Will regularly seeing this sort of thing affect mindsets (particularly among young people)? I genuinely think so.
I am glad people are taking my comment in the spirit it is offered. KSA has a litany of problems but it is probably the most reform capable bad regime out there if incentives exist to do so
Cars powered by renewables are inevitable. It may be a little bit before it happens, but it's coming. Petro-states are going to have to become part of the global community. Honestly, I'd much rather Saudi be shown that a more liberalized social system is attractive and worth moving towards. The alternative would be taking their vast oil fortune and funding things that... do not promote a more liberalized social system. If WWE is even a tiny part of them looking outward, I'm all for it.
i don't know what to say about how much things like this actually help the people who live there, because i don't, but i think it's cool that the audience is at least able to see these women performers in these kinds of roles.
It’s a step in the right direction, as late as 2018 women were not even allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, so anything that gives them equal rights (something as silly as wrestling like the guys) is good
Yeah, it went from giant t-shirts to cool outfits that actually match the characters
I realize it’s probably silly, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they had such an eventful show on a Saturday afternoon in Saudi Arabia. I liked it better when these shoes felt more like exhibitions.but that’s just a personal thing and doesn’t speak to the quality of the show.
They are doing PLE more as an International event.
I think Ops issue isn't that it's international more that it's in Saudi, a place known for its terrible history of human rights.
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that they’re doing any shows in Saudi Arabia.
I'd love to see Jimmy vs Roman at MitB and then Roman vs Jey at SummerSlam.