Welcome to the first-ever Weekly Slam. Here, we take a look at the wrestling headlines and discuss events of the past week. Buckle up, we’re going in!
AEW Grand Slam
Had to start the weekly slam with this right? Grand Slam has been dogged in controversy after controversy (if you believe the dirtsheets) and the event finally took place this past Saturday.
Whilst most WWE fans will tell you this was a monumental fail (I am a fan of both – for the record) it was a brilliant event, with a few hiccups thrown in.
There is no doubt that Tony Khan wanted this to be a huge PPV event (similar to that of ALL IN) but with the ticket sales not hitting those same heights, the event was moved from the Suncorp Stadium to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Now, there is nothing wrong with moving venues. As long as it’s done in the correct way. Ticket holders being informed and offered the same tickets or refunds should be the norm, and there were reports that this wasn’t the case.
Moving venues was clearly the correct thing to do, and this ensured the arena was packed, giving a great atmosphere for the event.
As for the matches? Well, they were as great as you would expect from an AEW PP…sorry TV event. Make sure you check out the hot crowd singing Cope’s theme tune. Goosebumps.
The main event match was (possibly?) the end to one of the best stories in pro-wrestling of the past few years – ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm defeating Mariah May to regain the AEW Women’s Title. Kudos.
Harley Cameron
Now, Harley Cameron is on fire at the moment. She is riding that wave (that she created herself by the way) and hopefully, AEW can do the right thing. Now I don’t actually know what the right thing is. I think it was probably right to have Mercedes retain, as Harley needs more time in the ring.
The last thing we want is to see her catapulted to a title win and then have a lacklustre reign. We are still cheering for her after this loss and recognise the talent she is, rather than discussing how she has won a title after 2 minutes.
Keep the ball rolling with her and she will be fine. Keep giving her matches to improve her in-ring skills and she can be a megastar. I have a feeling we will be discussing Harley some more on future editions of the Weekly Slam.
Mercedes Mone
Mercedes has got a lot of stick since joining AEW. Some of it, possibly deserved. I mean, she is the Boss, the CEO. We want the absolute best. And we haven’t seen it. Until recently. I think her matches have improved signigficantly since that very disappointing (in my opinion) match with Shida a few months back.
She has been putting on very good matches and she just needs to strike a chord now with her promos and she will be back to where we want her to be. I feel she gets a LOT of unnecessary abuse just because of her contract, but the tide will turn with her.
Will Ospreay
I keep scrolling (I know, I know) on FB and the likes and seeing the Will Ospreay, Jericho Cruise video where he was impersonating MXM. I mean for a start, this was not a televised show. How dare wrestlers have fun at a show with a live crowd? How dare he!?!?!?
If you haven’t seen Will Ospreay in action, (I don’t mean his Jericho Cruise dance, but you can easily find that online with a billion negative comments) then go watch some of his matches from 2024. Well actually, ANY match from 2024. Bangers and Cash.
The Grand Slam Ring
I know – another AEW bit. I’m getting to the WWE stuff I promise!
There has been a lot made of the AEW ring for the Grand Slam event being 18×18 instead of 20×20. It did look smaller on TV but hey, WHO CARES?
Oh, the people predicting AEW’s demise care. That’s all.
Jey Uso
So more hate online (hate and online in the same sentence? Surely not?) for Jey Uso after winning the Royal Rumble.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Jey, but also never disliked him. Hopefully, he can do something over the course of the next few weeks to convert us middle-grounders into big fans. That’s what he should be looking to do in the lead-up to WrestleMania.
When you look with hindsight, it does make sense. I mean you had an absolutely stacked Rumble with all these big-time payers. It was so difficult to predict. It should have been obvious that none of them would win it. But it wasn’t and they certainly had me following the crowd with my thoughts about Punk winning.
I still think Punk will find himself in a title match at Mania, just not sure what they will do with Cena. I really don’t want to see Cena anywhere near the world title at WrestleMania.
Watching the final 2 in the Rumble, I was taken back to the dark days of WWE when we all despised Cena (remember this?) when he would literally win everything with the ‘Super Cena’ gimmick. I do not want to go back to this.
I wouldn’t mind him winning number 17, just do it towards the end of the year. Have him keep trying (never give up) and failing but then right when it’s his last shot – he overcomes the odds and wins goldie for the 17th time.
Cena will no doubt feature on future editions of the Weekly Slam, I can feel it in my bones!
Plug Time – Check Out Connor’s Amazing Fantasy Booking Of All WrestleMania’s Right Here
Ricky and The Releases
So Ricky Starks agreed a deal with Tony Khan to end his AEW stay and rocks up at NXT the nxt night (see what I did there?)
I loved watching Ricky in AEW. His feud with MJF was fantastic and he can really go on the mic. His ring skills are also pretty decent and he is going to be a major asset for WWE. I thought his debut was great. Short and sweet, introduce yourself to the crowd and leave everyone wanting more.
Also last week, Miro and Malakai Black agreed releases and now the rumourmill is in full swing. Will they end up back in WWE?
I’m really not sure. Let’s start with Malakai. What has happened? I mean he started in AEW by knocking out Cody Rhodes. He was given the stable ‘The House of Black’ with Brody King, Buddy Matthews and Julia Hart. Everything looked so good and HOB was an awesome stable.
But it just never happened for Malakai and I don’t know why. Was it injury? I’m not sure if we will ever know.
Same with Miro. I just can’t understand what has happened there.
Will they end up back in WWE? Well, we remember what happened first time around with these 2. Rusev and Aleister Black didn’t exactly set the fed alight. However, it’s surely a different ball game now with Trips at the helm, and I would expect these 2 to be top players if they do return.
Well, that will do for this first edition of The Weekly Slam. Thanks for all your support as we grow this wrestling fan-site.
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