Sunday night didn’t just see the all-important Brand Warfare of Raw vs. Smackdown at Survivor
Series, it was the final night of perhaps the most legendary character in all of wrestling
history: The Deadman, The Undertaker.
Until the next Saudi Arabia show, at least.
Taker’s final farewell was heavily promoted in the weeks leading up to the PPV, with the
WWE Network producing several Undertaker themed shows, Taker himself heading to Cameo for
a limited time at $1,000 a pop - so it’s okay when he does it? - and eating chicken
wings.
But the actual farewell segment itself wasn’t a complete homerun.
While many people did enjoy Undertaker getting the opportunity to say goodbye, many criticized
it, me included, for being a weirdly put together 45 minutes - where about half of that was
taken up by a load of WWE Legends and Taker’s friends from his past coming down to the ring,
only to disappear after the video package without saying anything, to be replaced by
Vince McMahon to introduce Taker, who himself disappeared, for Undertaker to cut his final
promo/ Social bubbles are such a drag.
According to PWInsider, it was Vince McMahon who put the whole segment together and was
“hands on” with it all day, with some small input from Triple H, But someone who
was in that ring wasn’t a fan of it.
On Instagram while answering fan questions, The Godfather - one of Taker’s best friends
and a member of his BSK crew backstage - agreed with one fan who called his farewell “boring”,
personally adding it, “could’ve been written better”.
He also agreed with another fan who called the segment among other things, “lazy”,
“uninspired” and “embarrassing”, saying “Well said.”
What did you think of Undertaker’s retirement segment at Survivor Series?
Let me know in the comments down below.
Perhaps the segment needed another set of producing eyes to look over it, which WWE
now have - as it’s being reported by PWInsider that David “Fit” Finlay has returned to
his producer role within the company after being put on furlough back in April during
WWE’s mass firings.
It’s also being reported that Shane “Hurricane” Helms has also returned to his role, which
means he won’t be available for more cameos in Matt Hardy matches in AEW, like the Elite
Deletion match at Full Gear earlier this month.
But the real return we’re all waiting for appears to have been dropped.
All Red Everything: Eva Marie.
It was reported last month by Cultaholic - and confirmed by PWInsider - that Eva Marie had
re-signed with WWE after saying in an interview that she had “unfinished business” in
the company.
At the time it was reported that creative was working on ways to bring Marie back into
the fold, whether that be on Raw or Smackdown, but there were also some questions over what
sort of contract Eva Marie had signed.
However according to Rinside News - so do take this with a pinch of salt - “there
is currently no talk about [Eva Marie’s] return”, adding that they were told, “her
name has not come up in any meetings”, and as recently as this past Monday, her name
had still not been mentioned.
They added on Twitter that there are no creative plans in place for her return.
Now here’s my review of AEW Dynamite… in about 5 minutes.
The show opened with Hangman Page taking on John Silver, in what is actually a single
chapter of a storyline stretching back months, of the Dark Order trying to recruit Page.
And the Dark Order trying to figure out what exactly their tone is.
Page won in a fun back and forth match with Silver, which had a heavily comedic slant.
Seeing a man down, out and lonely, Evil Uno then offered Page a place in the Dark Order.
It’s yet another different version of the faction, with Uno’s kindly approach being
very different from Brodie Lee’s manic beatdowns.
I’ve enjoyed most of the various Dark Orders, and I really appreciate AEW tweaking their
acts as they go.
But I think now is the time to settle down with Brodie’s vision for the act.
Interestingly, talking of character changes, in a beautifully subtle note, Hangman Page
did not drink a single beer in this segment.
Hopefully meaning he’s getting back on the horse.
In the packed TNT/FTW title picture right now, we got Will Hobbs, not going by Powerhouse
Hobbs, wrestle his first match since turning heel and joining Team Taz, where he absolutely
squashed Lee Johnson - who was also announced as the latest member of the Nightmare Family.
Because why not?
Everyone else is.
Even Taz’s son, apparently.
Taz demanded to talk to management about AEW’s disrespect of his FTW belt in the post-match,
which brought down Cody who asked why, if Taz is so great, his own son is choosing to
train at the Nightmare Factory rather than with him?
Cody then turned to face the crowd.
Yep, I’m definitely sure that brutal line won’t have any repercussions-psyche, Taz
has you locked in the Tazmission right now.
Later on, Ricky Starks cut one of the best promos of his Dynamite run so far on Darby
and Cody, who they’ll face next week, and Darby set fire to a car for the dark emotional
feels.
Following their impressive debut last week, newly signed brothers Top Flight took on the
Hybrid2 in a grudge match.
Unsurprisingly for how athletic everyone in this match is, there were some really cool
innovative spots.
The action was very solid for a team so young.
But what Iiked most was how Top Flight lost, tapping out to Angelico’s leglock.
I often criticise another company for beating their new stars over and over again, which
derails any momentum.
But that’s usually when they’ve debuted much higher up the card.
As New Japan had proven over the decades, beating your young boys over and over again
actually helps endear the audience to their growth.
Hybrid2 continued to beat them down after the match, and the Bucks made the save.
FTR cut a really cool promo about how losing the tag titles at Full Gear was the worst
night of their lives.
And, in a rare, refreshing admittance, confessed that for three seconds, the Young Bucks were
the better team.
Again, it’s another example of how drawing attention to a wrestlers’ failure can make
the rematch story even more compelling.
The entire Expanded Inner Circle Universe was at ringside for Chris Jericho and Jake
Hager vs Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian - which wasn’t just a cool match for the
Inner Circle looking so intimidating with their numbers.
But also because for the first time in their very long careers we saw Jericho wrestler
Daniels.
The heel interference helped Hager get the pin, with MJF punching Daniels with the diamond
ring, which Jericho followed with the Judas Effect - it’s Judas Effective!
Scorpio Sky saved SCU from a post-match beatdown, which has Jericho cutting a fun heel promo
later, setting up him vs Kaz for next week.
Still waiting on that bachelor’s party, Orange Cassidy turned off Kip Sabian and Miro’s
Megadrive, starting a brawl between them and the Best Friends.
Before the contract signing part deux, Kenny Omega cut a great promo on Jon Moxley backstage,
not just putting over how this is a wrestling match, he doesn’t want any of that hardcore
nonsense.
But also by busting out one of the best playground insults of all time.
Omega said Moxley’s dad sounds tough, following Jon’s promo the previous week, but Kenny’s
dad would beat the s-word out of him.
This lead to a great Kingston/Moxley staredown backstage as Mox tried to find out who attacked
him last week, which brought him to attacking Omega during the greatest entrance in wrestling
right now!
Heel turn, Jon.
Kenny did a great job of looking like a snivelling bad guy, while Moxley cut an awesome promo,
capped off with some Bullet Club fingering.
This was great.
I just feel the actual title match next week is coming too quickly.
AEW continued to actually give their women’s division storylines next - it’s a low bar
- with video packages recapping Shida’s knee injury and Anna Jay’s history with
the Dark Order ahead of their title match.
They had an exciting bout, slightly marred by Tay Conti’s conflicted heel act, but
one that Shida fought through to retain.
And continuing actual storylines for the women, Abandon made her return to lick the belt,
which I presume is her way of saying ‘I would like a title match if you would be so
kind.’
And the main event saw Fenix and Pac vs Butcher and the Blade, where they started at 11 and
stayed there, wrestling at an incredibly fast, dynamic pace.
Or, if you’re the Butcher, just clobbering people.
Kingston pushed Fenix off the top rope to help the Family win, but then Lance Archer
ran down for the save.
It’s a testament to how strongly AEW have booked their entire men’s roster, that about
half of them could main event Dynamite at any time.
What did you think of this week’s show?
Let me know in the comments down below.
And follow us on Twitter @WrestleTalk_TV to vote in our poll on a pole match - where 49.2%
of you thought this was excellent.
I thought it was really enjoyable, with strong booking and wrestling up and down the card,
but it was more of a set up show for next week’s big Winter Is Coming special.
So this AEW Dynamite is a Good 3 out of 4.
Is Kurt Angle making a wrestling return?
And what happened with the botch on RAW?
Click the video on the right to find out!
And who was crowned the interim tag team champions on last night’s WrestleTalk Implodes episode
of QuizzleMania?
Watch me beat Luke again by clicking the video below that.
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I’ve been Mr Davis, Jam that Jam.