10 Things I Think I Think About… WrestleMania 40 So Far

First things first… happy trails to Peter King, the longtime Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports writer, who just announced his retirement. If you’ve been a reader of his, you should know that his columns are where I got the “10 Things I Think I Think” idea. I’ve been reading his work for as long as I can remember, so I’m a little sad that I won’t get to read anything from him anymore.

With that said, let’s talk about WrestleMania. After watching Elimination Chamber, and seeing a few Mania matches start coming together, I’ve been thinking about the “grandest stage of them all” and the journey that we’re on as we creep closer to the event. When I post this column, we will be 33 days away from night one of WrestleMania, which is crazy to think about.

Ten thoughts. One topic. As usual, they’ll be listed in no particular order.

 

WWE Might Be Fumbling The Ball With LA Knight: The man came almost out of nowhere to become one of the most popular acts in all of wrestling. He got himself so over that people were calling for him to dethrone Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel last year, and then again at the Royal Rumble this year. While he wasn’t successful in either of those matches, it was still expected that he would play a major part in WrestleMania.

Do you consider a match with AJ Styles as playing a major part in WrestleMania?

I don’t. Not this year, at least. That’s not a knock on AJ, mind you. He’s still a world class in-ring performer, and I have no doubt that he’ll be able to help Knight, who is far more character and mic skills than wrestler, have a really good match.

It’s just in a “forgettable” place, with everything else going on right now. While things could still end up this way with a match involving three or more competitors, I don’t understand why the path wasn’t Logan Paul defending the United States Title against Knight. Not only would that have been a bigger “spotlight” match because of the extra media attention that Logan Paul brings to WWE, but it could’ve provided for a “feel good” moment with Lawrence Antonio Knight winning his first main roster championship with the company.

While I fully expect the WWE Universe to continue supporting LA Knight, even if he doesn’t win the United States Title at WrestleMania, I do think the company runs the risk of missing out on a tremendous opportunity if they continue to avoid pulling the trigger on something special with him.

 

I Continue To Hold Out Hope For Another WrestleMania At Madison Square Garden: Obviously, this is more of a general WrestleMania thought than one specifically about WrestleMania 40, but it remains a thought in my head nonetheless.

I completely understand why WWE wants to have WrestleMania take place at the biggest stadiums, hoping to rack up as many people as possible in attendance, which brings in a crazy amount of money for ticket and merchandise sales. Even for the visual alone, 75,000+ fans in attendance is super cool to witness.

I’m old school, though. Even though I am almost 100% sure that it will never happen again, I still continue to hold out hope that we’ll eventually get another edition of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden. There is such a deep connection between WWE and MSG, and even though there aren’t as many shows there as in years past, it’s still cool to see MSG on the docket, even if it’s just a house show.

WrestleMania 1, 10, and 20 took place at MSG. 30 was at the Superdome in New Orleans, and 40 will come to us from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. On one hand, I would love to see WrestleMania 50 back where it all began, but on the other hand, I have a sneaking suspicion that the special number of 50 will mean the company will look for the biggest venue possible, trying to break any and all records they can.

 

It’s Crazy That We Still Haven’t Had Bianca Belair vs Rhea Ripley At WrestleMania Yet: They signed WWE contracts within months of each other, made their NXT on-screen debuts within months of each other, and they have basically been tied together ever since.

The company has done a pretty decent job of keeping Bianca and Rhea apart since they made their main roster debuts. They’ve been involved in a handful of matches, both as opponents and as tag partners, but most of those matches were of the tag variety, in Royal Rumbles, or in things like Elimination Chamber. They have precisely one singles match against each other on the main roster, and that came at the tail end of a Gauntlet Match on Raw in 2022.

A WrestleMania showdown was teased last year, but nothing came of it.

As long as both women remain under WWE contract, people… myself included… will continue calling for them to face each other at WrestleMania. It’s a huge, era-defining match that needs to happen eventually.

 

CM Punk Doesn’t Have A Lot Of Chances Left: When Punk is rumored to be returning from his torn triceps, he will be on the verge of celebrating his 46th birthday. At one point, a 46-year-old wrestler might as well have been a 146-year-old wrestler.

While times have definitely changed, with wrestlers working at a high level well into their 50’s and sometimes beyond, Punk is a special case. He is 45, going on 46, and it appears as though he either has some terrible luck, or that his body is completely breaking down on him after the years of combat sports that he has put it through.

One of the biggest reasons Punk returned to WWE was to headline WrestleMania. It sure looked like he was going to get that opportunity against Seth Rollins until the triceps injury. The story with Rollins remains something that the company can return to, but there are things that make it difficult. If Punk returns several months before WrestleMania 41, do you put Punk and Rollins on different shows? With everything they had going on, it would be hard to have them both on Raw for eight months and “saving” that match for Mania. It isn’t just as easy as hitting the “pause” button for Punk’s injury and then hitting it again when he returns. There are other things that need to fall into place.

Of course, this is CM Punk we’re talking about. There are a bunch of people on the roster that he could headline WrestleMania with. I’m simply pointing out the fact that a 46-year-old CM Punk isn’t quite the same as a “regular” 46-year-old wrestler, and that he might be running out of logical, organic chances.

 

We Might Be On The Verge Of A Brand New Era: There are currently eight different championships listed on the WWE main roster. Four of them are already announced as being defended at WrestleMania 40, and it’s a pretty safe bet to say that at least one or two more title matches will be announced. For example, WrestleMania 39 featured a total of six title matches, which is the same amount of title matches that we saw at WrestleMania 38. WrestleMania 37, on the other hand, featured a grand total of eight title matches. Before that, WrestleManias 34, 35 and 36 featured NINE title matches, back when multiple championships weren’t combined.

WrestleMania 35 saw a total of seven championships change hands, counting the main event, which was the Winner Takes All match that had Becky Lynch defeat Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey and Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in a Triple Threat to win both titles.

There is a legitimate case to be made that WrestleMania 40 could very well see seven or eight title changes, completely resetting the board, so to speak, and giving us a new “era” moving forward in WWE.

Roman Reigns? I would assume that Cody Rhodes will be the betting favorite to beat him and become the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.

Seth Rollins? I’m thinking that Drew McIntyre will also be the betting favorite to become the brand new World Heavyweight Champion.

Iyo Sky? The easy story to tell is for Bayley to overcome Damage CTRL’s betrayal and win the WWE Women’s Title.

Rhea Ripley? As great as she has been, Rhea is stepping into the ring with Becky Lynch, who hasn’t held a singles title on the main roster in two years, so many feel she is overdue.

Gunther? We don’t have an official match announced for him yet (more on that later), but with no more Intercontinental Title records for him to break, a major moment is coming where someone finally knocks him off and becomes the new champion.

Logan Paul? If he’s facing Randy Orton like it appears he might, would it really shock anyone if Orton won? Even if it doesn’t necessarily make a ton of sense, it’s Randy Orton. Come on.

Damian Priest and Finn Balor? The tag division continues to get stronger and stronger, and the champions continue to get pushed closer and closer to their limits. That can only last so long.

Asuka and Kairi Sane? The WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles are five years old, and they’ve already changed hands three times at WrestleMania. Even without strong stories, these are the belts that end up on the line in matches that feature more teams than usual.

Eight champions, and there’s not a single one of them where you can be absolutely sure that they’ll walk out of WrestleMania with their title(s). That isn’t even counting Damian Priest having the Money In The Bank briefcase in his possession, which may lead to yet another title change.

I’m not saying all the titles will, or should, change hands in a single weekend. All I’m pointing out is that, more than most years, the champions look vulnerable, and we could be getting a New Japan-like show where all, or most, of the company’s titles change hands.

 

Lots Of WrestleMania Payoffs With Two Nights, But Nothing Compared To Previous Years: When WWE first made WrestleMania a two-night event, a lot of people immediately thought it would be an opportunity to get more matches, and therefore, have more people on the card to collect that special WrestleMania pay day.

Makes sense.

One problem, though.

WrestleMania 39 saw 49 people actually wrestling on the show. That’s purely in-ring workers, and not managers of any kind, etc. The year before, 47 people wrestled at WrestleMania 38. Both of those numbers certainly sound high, but let’s compare them to others, shall we?

WrestleMania 34, before the switch to two nights, had 87 people wrestling on the show. One year later, 90 people wrestled at WrestleMania 35.

I know what some of you are thinking, and I’ll talk about that right now.

WrestleMania 34 saw a 20-woman Battle Royal and the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the show. That’s 50 names right there, leaving 37 names for the rest of the show.

WrestleMania 35 saw a 17-woman Battle Royal and the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the show. That’s 47 names, leaving 43 names for the rest of the show.

That’s still a lot of people. If you take the two Battle Royals away from WrestleMania 35, you’re still left with only five fewer names than the total that performed at WrestleMania 38.

It’s crazy to think about a two-night Mania featuring a ton of people on the show, and yet, the numbers pale in comparison to what WWE was pushing out in the last few years of one-night Mania events.

 

WWE & AEW Need To Work Together For The Rhodes Family: I asked for this last year, and it didn’t happen, so I’m asking for it again this year.

WWE and AEW need to come together and figure something out so that Dustin Rhodes can make an appearance at WrestleMania. I don’t care if it’s coming out to counter Bloodline interference, or if it’s just big brother entering the ring to celebrate with little brother after little brother… say it with me… finishes the story.

Some people have proposed Dustin asking for his release so that he can sign with WWE to close out his career with his brother. I’m not going that far, because I think Dustin is truly happy with the schedule he has in AEW, and the young talents he gets to work with there.

As I pitched last year, I think a deal could be reached that sees Dustin appear at WrestleMania in exchange for the WWE commentary and social media teams promoting AEW along the way. Michael Cole can mention that Dustin works for AEW, and they could plug Dynamite or even the rumored new pay-per-view AEW is going to have in April. WWE’s social media accounts could show clips and pictures of Dustin’s Goldust runs while also promoting AEW and their shows.

It’s not that difficult. Both sides gain something there. It allows people to calm down with the tribalism, even if it’s for one night. Cody and Dustin will provide us with one of the most emotional moments in the history of the wrestling business. Triple H (and other TKO members) and Tony Khan earn a little brownie points in the eyes of many fans across the world.

What makes this difficult is what we just witnessed with Revolution. Leading up to Sting’s final match, WWE apparently refused to allow certain people to appear at Revolution, even in the crowd, and they also refused to allow AEW to use any of Sting’s WCW footage, causing AEW to turn to Pro Wrestling Illustrated for a bunch of PWI’s photos through the years. It would be difficult to envision the two sides immediately turning around and working together for something like this.

I don’t care, though. Make it happen.

 

Bayley Has The Opportunity To Create The Biggest Chapter In Her Career: Let’s have a really quick history lesson.

Bayley made her WrestleMania debut at Mania 33, where she successfully defended the Raw Women’s Title against Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, and Charlotte Flair in a Fatal Four Way Elimination Match.

The following year, Bayley was the last elimination in a Mania pre-show Women’s Battle Royal that was won by Naomi.

At WrestleMania 35, Bayley and Sasha Banks lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles to The IIconics in a Fatal Four Way that also included Beth Phoenix and Natalya, as well as Nia Jax and Tamina.

WrestleMania 36 saw Bayley successfully defend the Smackdown Women’s Title against Lacey Evans, Sasha Banks, Tamina, and Naomi in a Fatal Five-Way Elimination Match.

Bayley was a “healthy scratch” at WrestleMania 37, not booked for a match at all, and would spend her time there in a segment where she made fun of Hulk Hogan and Titus O’Neil, only to get beaten up by The Bella Twins.

She would once again not see action at the following year’s event, but this time, it was due to her still being on the shelf with a torn ACL that she suffered in July 2021.

Last year, she wrestled at her first WrestleMania in three years, teaming up with Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai in a losing effort against Trish Stratus, Lita, and Becky Lynch in a Six-Woman Tag.

Go back through all of that. Even if you’re someone who claims to be a super duper mega fan of Bayley, there’s nothing in there you would call memorable or spectacular. Don’t lie to me. Bayley’s WrestleMania history has been quite the mixed bag. Successful title defenses, a title loss, a pre-show Battle Royal, and a losing effort in a six-woman tag against three of the sport’s all-time greatest women.

This year, though, Bayley has a chance at something special. This will not only be her first singles match at WrestleMania, but it will also be the first time she is the challenger in a title match. More importantly, though, it is the first time that there is a real, honest-to-goodness storyline for her to be involved in and for fans to sink their teeth into. There is so much more of a spotlight on her this year, and she has earned every single bit of it.

Bayley is a guaranteed first ballot WWE Hall Of Famer, but unlike the rest of the “Four Horsewomen” (Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte Flair) that she came up with, she hasn’t had a career-defining match or moment at WrestleMania to this point. That could very well change in a matter of weeks.

 

Roman Reigns Is Going To Make History, One Way Or Another: As of this very second, Hulk Hogan holds the record for the most main event matches at WrestleMania with eight. WrestleMania 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 all featured Hogan in the show’s final match.

Roman Reigns is scheduled to defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Title against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. Unless someone in WWE loses their ever-loving minds, I think it’s more than safe to assume that match will be the final match on night two. If that’s the case, do you know how many main event matches at WrestleMania that would give Roman Reigns?

Eight.

31, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39… all of those WrestleManias featured Roman in a main event spot.

Now, let’s have some fun and start a debate.

After the events that took place on the most recent episode of Smackdown, it looks like we’re getting the heavily rumored Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns & The Rock tag match on night one of WrestleMania.

So… if Roman gets the main event of night one and the main event of night two… does that count as two main events because it’s on different nights, or just one main event because it’s still the same WrestleMania? Do the math. It’s very important for the record books. If Roman gets both nights, and we count it as two main event matches, that means he would tie Hulk Hogan’s record on night one and break the record the following night.

Roman breaking the record sure seems like it would put that record out of reach. Of course, that’s probably what people thought for decades when Hogan was on top. If you look up and down the current WWE roster, it’s difficult to imagine anyone getting that many WrestleMania main event spots. Kevin Owens has two, but he turns 40 this year. Cody Rhodes is about to get his second, but he turns 39 this year. Drew McIntyre could possibly get a second one, but he also turns 39 this year. If Drew gets his second, that means Seth Rollins would also get his second, but Seth turns 38 this year and might have the knees of a 58 year old at this rate.

There’s a lot of young talent on the roster, but SO MUCH needs to go right for someone to get that many main event matches at WrestleMania. Not only do you need the longevity, but you also need to be good enough and big enough to stay at the top of the card, as well as good luck when it comes to health. It’s entirely too early to make that type of call for someone like Bron Breakker, who turns 27 this year, or Logan Paul, who turns 29 this year.

Imagine if Roman gets to eight and then nine this year, with the possibility of another one next year with a singles match against The Rock. That would put him at ten, and he would still be 39 years old by the time WrestleMania 41 comes and goes, which would give him time to extend the record and REALLY put it out of reach. That’s wild to think about.

 

There Are A Ton Of Options For Gunther: While this is obviously not the most important takeaway from the matter, Brock Lesnar showing up in Janel Grant’s lawsuit really screwed things up for a heavily rumored WrestleMania match. By now, you’ve all seen the buzz that we were originally scheduled to get Lesnar vs Gunther at Mania this year, but those plans had to be scrapped at the last minute when the Grant lawsuit details went public.

While it is incredibly disappointing that we won’t be getting the showdown between Brock and Gunther, it did open the door for several potential options.

Chad Gable continues to petition for a rematch against Gunther. Damian Priest is being teased as a new challenger. Sami Zayn is still talking about wanting to become a champion at WrestleMania, and his name has been tied to Gunther recently. R-Truth is a social media darling, with people calling for his years of great comedic work to be “rewarded” with a spotlight match at WrestleMania. Many people are still holding out hope for Big E to return as Gunther’s challenger, as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have been facing two-on-three odds for a while in their feud with Imperium.

The list goes on and on.

Logic, and wrestling history, indicate that we’re going to end up with some sort of match where Gunther has more than one challenger. Triple Threat, Four Way, Five Way, etc. It makes sense, based on what we’ve seen on WWE television, but man, I really hope that doesn’t end up happening.

Gunther has always been a top tier in-ring performer, but he has taken things to a completely different level during his Intercontinental Title reign. Great match after great match after great match, and he’s doing it as a “workhorse” heel, unafraid to put the title on the line against anyone that stands before him. He has done such a great job that he deserves better than a match like that at WrestleMania, even if it makes sense to get multiple challengers on the board. I understand the other side of the coin, with the idea that multiple challengers means that Gunther could take the loss without being pinned, and that would allow him to stay strong and move up to the World Heavyweight Title picture. In a lot of situations, I would agree with that line of thinking, and I’d be in support of it.

This isn’t one of those situations, though.

WWE has built Gunther up to such a degree that they have the chance to create a legendary moment when he drops the title. You could “make” a new star and elevate someone like Chad Gable or, to a lesser degree, Damian Priest. A classic return like Big E would be talked about for years to come. Sami Zayn would cause Lincoln Financial Field to rumble from the ground up if he wins the title.

I’m not sure that it will happen, but yeah, Gunther needs to be in a one-on-one match at WrestleMania, defending his title and dropping it to make a lasting memory.

 

Time for you to chime in. I’ve listed ten thoughts, so now, I want to know your thoughts on my thoughts. If you have some other thoughts on WrestleMania 40 and the build we’ve seen or heard about already, I want to know those, too. As always, hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.

Now, let’s move on to my Weekly Power Rankings, before I close things out the way I always do… with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.

 

 

Weekly Power Rankings

Sting: One of the greatest careers in wrestling history has officially come to an end, but what a final stretch he had. He’s never been known for his talking, but he cut one of the best promos of his entire career, then had everyone feeling nostalgic by rappelling from the ceiling like he used to do in his “Crow” days. Finally, he had quite the retirement match, but I’ll talk more about that in a moment. Overall, it was a great way to wrap things up. Thank you, Sting.

Will Ospreay vs Konosuke Takeshita: Ospreay is the best pro wrestler alive today. That has been the case for a while now. Making his debut as an official member of the AEW roster, so he probably felt the need to show off more than usual. On the other side of the ring, Takeshita continues to be one of the best in the world, too, and you just know he had that extra chip on his shoulder with all the attention that Ospreay was getting. With all that talent and extra motivation, we ended up getting a classic. It was as physical and as punishing as you’re going to see in AEW (or in WWE), and both men put on a masterclass, showing the world why they get the props they do.

Sting & Darby Allin vs The Young Bucks: If you were expecting a technical marvel here, you’re an idiot who isn’t paying attention. It was always going to be a wild brawl, and that’s what it was. Darby nearly killed himself for Sting, and Sting repaid Darby by digging down deep and playing the hits, as the saying goes. It was truly joyous to watch Sting muscle up and kick out of a bunch of the Bucks’ offense, just like he used to do back in the day to people like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. The match, as a whole, was every bit the spectacle that Sting’s final match needed to be.

Paul Heyman: This one almost didn’t make the cut, as it was announced just before I posted my column, but congratulations to the first member of the WWE Hall Of Fame’s Class Of 2024. He is incredibly deserving of the spot, and the fact that he will be inducted in Philadelphia is perfect. His speech has the potential to be an all-time great. Now, the question is… who inducts him? If WWE wants to be… well… WWE-centric, Roman Reigns and CM Punk are right there. The fact that everything is happening in Philly, though, means that it should be an ECW Original, right? Tommy Dreamer immediately comes to mind. The Dudleys would also make for a great choice. As I mentioned earlier in the column, I’m not sure if WWE and AEW can work together on certain things these days, but if they can, AEW has people like Taz, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, Don Callis, Dean Malenko, and Jerry Lynn under contract, and they all have strong ECW ties. There’s really no shortage of names, as Heyman has been almost everywhere, connecting with so many different people from several generations.

Eddie Kingston vs Bryan Danielson: As I said in my Revolution review column, the storyline added to what was already going to be an extra physical match. Danielson worked extra stiff in an attempt to show that Kingston wasn’t worthy of his respect. Kingston worked extra stiff in an attempt to earn Danielson’s respect. Simple, yet effective.

FTR vs Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli: An old school feel to this tag match, which was fitting, coming from one of the most old school venues in wrestling. This would’ve fit right in with the Mid-Atlantic and NWA matches that were held at the Greensboro Coliseum in the 70’s and 80’s.

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci: We know that WWE matches can’t get truly violent and “hardcore” in this day and age, but damn, this was about as physical as WWE matches get today. Great work from both teams in a feud that seems to be continuing on only to give people hope that Big E could return to the ring to even the odds for his New Day brothers against Imperium.

Samoa Joe vs Swerve Strickland vs “Hangman” Adam Page: It told the story that everyone expected it to, and sometimes, that’s not a bad thing at all. Swerve and Page cost themselves a chance to become the new AEW World Champion because of their obsession with each other. Page would rather attack multiple Referees than see Swerve win the title. Swerve would rather attack Page more than try to pin a prone Joe on the mat. I dug it.

Kyle O’Reilly: He made his return to AEW after being out since mid-2022 with a serious neck injury that looked like it might be a career-ender. The emotion on his face was real, and it was a beautiful thing to see.

The Rock: Yes, it was 20-something minutes long, but the Twitter “promo” he cut on Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins was fantastic. He didn’t rely on his usual schtick of telling them to stick things up their asses or focus on catchphrases. Instead, he cut an angry, impassioned promo that, laid out the way he did, makes what his character is doing perfectly understandable. Then, Cody Rhodes responded on Twitter with… a meme. I tweeted that it was the flipped coin version of Rock’s feud with John Cena, when Cena would cut an incredible promo, only to have Rock respond with a focus on hashtags or breakfast cereal.

Eddie Kingston & FTR vs Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli: A tried-and-true method where you take multiple matches at an upcoming pay-per-view and you “preview” them on television by making some sort of tag match.

Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura: Not the best match they’ve had against each other, but still a lot of fun. Sometimes, you don’t need any more than that.

Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, Hook & Daniel Garcia vs Christian Cage, Killswitch, Roderick Strong & Brian Cage: Let’s try this again. A tried-and-true method where you take multiple matches at an upcoming pay-per-view and you “preview” them on television by making some sort of tag match.

Rey Mysterio: It’s good to have him back as we’re officially on the road to WrestleMania. Perhaps now, Santos Escobar and the entire LWO vs Legado Del Fantasma story can actually advance and not just tread water.

Christian Cage vs Daniel Garcia: There isn’t anybody in the business right now that is better at making you want to punch them in the face than Christian Cage. He is a master at being a dick, and that’s the best compliment I can pay him.

Noam Dar vs Charlie Dempsey: I still don’t think the Heritage Cup format is truly working here in North America. It is giving us a bunch of good matches, but the crowds aren’t reacting the way they could or should. I don’t think that will change with Dempsey as the new champion, but we’ll see.

Roderick Strong: He looked like an animal against Orange Cassidy, targeting Cassidy’s back and ribs and picking him apart from bell-to-bell. It’s as good as Roddy has looked in the ring in a long time. As the new AEW International Champion, I’m hoping to see him have a great reign like OC’s reigns have been. He’s more than capable of it.

PAC: We haven’t seen PAC on AEW programming in over seven months due to an injury. That last appearance was two weeks after he returned from a six-month absence due to an entirely different injury. He had a vignette during the Revolution pre-show where he said he would be back “very soon.” Works for me.

Penta El Zero Miedo vs Dante Martin vs Bryan Keith: A fun little spotfest to provide us with another entrant in the Scramble Match at Revolution. It was better than the Scramble Match itself, so that counts for something, right?

Shawn Spears: I’ve never been the biggest fan of him, but if there was anywhere that he was going to be the most successful, it would be in NXT. It’s interesting that he is still Shawn Spears, though, and not back to being Tye Dillinger again. NXT fans are still going to give him the “ten” chants and the hand signs, no matter what. I’m just curious to see if he tries a more serious character, only for those crowd reactions to hold him back a bit.

 

 

This Week’s Playlist: “First” by ScHoolboy Q… “Crooked Officer” by That Mexican OT & Z-Ro… “Twisting Fingers” by That Mexican OT & Moneybagg Yo… “Slow Dance” by Josh Tatofi… “New Religion” by Ministry… “Timebomb” by Attila… “Seek & Destroy” by Metallica… “Now That We Found Love” by Heavy D & The Boyz… “Here I Go” by Mystikal… “Dear Summer” by Jay-Z… “Give It All” by Rise Against… “I Will Remember You” by Ekolu… “Endless Summer Nights” by Ekolu… “Never Let You Down” by Ekolu… “Rock Box” by Run-DMC… “How I Could Just Kill A Man” by Cypress Hill… “Everything About You” by Ugly Kid Joe… “Cats In The Cradle” by Ugly Kid Joe… “Blue Angels” by Pras… “Hive” by 311… “Psychosocial” by Slipknot… “Am I The Only One” by Vended… “Overall” by Vended… “Ded To Me” by Vended… “Asylum” by Vended