All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Presents: Double or Nothing (May 25, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Double or Nothing was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada on May 25, 2019. It was the inaugural event under the AEW banner.

The card comprised nine matches, including two on the Buy In pre-show. In the main event, Chris Jericho defeated Kenny Omega, earning a future AEW World Championship match against "Hangman" Adam Page, the winner of the pre-show's Casino Battle Royale. Other prominent matches saw The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) defeat The Lucha Bros (Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix) to retain the AAA World Tag Team Championship, and Cody defeated his brother Dustin Rhodes. The event was also notable for the surprise appearances of Awesome Kong, Bret Hart, who unveiled the AEW World Championship belt, as well as Jon Moxley (formerly Dean Ambrose in WWE) with Moxley and Kong both being confirmed to have signed with AEW.

Background Information:

After the success of the September 2018 All In event, a group known as The Elite (Cody, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega), the driving forces behind the event, used the positive response from All In to pursue further events with backing of businessmen Shahid Khan and Tony Khan. On November 5, 2018, several trademarks were filed in Jacksonville, Florida, among them were "All Elite Wrestling" and "Double or Nothing", leading to speculation of a formation of a promotion and the name of the promotion's first event.

On January 1, 2019, All Elite Wrestling was officially announced, along with the announcement of their inaugural event, Double or Nothing. On February 8, at AEW's Las Vegas rally, Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes announced the signings of Japanese women wrestlers Aja Kong and Yuka Sakazaki, who will make their first appearances for AEW at Double or Nothing. On February 10, it was announced that pre-sale tickets sold out almost immediately after going on sale. On February 13, AEW announced that all tickets for the event sold out within 4 minutes of going on sale. In April, it was announced that Jim Ross would do play by play for the event.

On May 8, 2019, it was announced that Double or Nothing will air on ITV Box Office in the United Kingdom. Additionally, a one hour pre-show titled "Buy In" will air on ITV4 featuring the Casino Battle Royale and other matches. The following week it was announced that it will also stream on WarnerMedia's B/R Live service in the United States and AEW's YouTube channel worldwide.

Results: 

21-man Casino Battle Royale - Adam Page won by last eliminating MJF

Winner receives a future AEW World Championship match against the winner of Double or Nothing's main event

Shawn Spears reminding us that he is a Perfect 10.

For a second there, I thought Joey Janela was dead off that.

Marko Stunt once again dying for our sins.

Second time in this match where I thought Joey Janela died. That bump looked like it absolutely SUCKED. 

If Page is going for that JBL style clothesline from Hell then he has it down FLAWLESSLY IMO. 

This match had an interesting concept where entrants weren't entering into the match Royal Rumble style like Lucha Underground's Aztec Warfare match. No, they were entering as groups at a time as entrants were asked to draw suits from a deck of cards prior to the match and each suit will enter the ring at timed intervals. It was definitely unique for sure, but it also made it hard to keep a track of who was all in this thing. I was more distracted at how many names from MLW was in this match (Ace Romero, MJF, Brian Pillman Jr., and Marko Stunt to name a few - wasn't he still damn injured? If not, I know Court Bauer's pissed...) along with some Lucha Underground alumni (Luchasaurus, Sonny Kiss/XO Licious, and Tommy Dreamer to name a few). I didn't understand why they allowed a dude with no legs into this - that was either a very cruel joke or just plain bold in a match like this.

The biggest takeaway from this match is that all of these guys are fighting for a shot at AEW World Championship when anyone could legitimately buy into (no pun intended) only at least 1-2 (Hangman Page and MJF if we're being honest here) of these guys max truly winning this thing. While it was cool to see guys like Dreamer, Jimmy Havok (I swear that dude wrestles everywhere not WWE...), Glacier (seriously WTF...), Billy Gunn, and few noteworthy mentions, this match came across like it was the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X7. Even Lucha Underground's Aztec Warfare matches didn't ever feel as comical as this did for the majority of it.

Kip Sabian defeated Sammy Guevara

Between Lucha Underground and a handful of other places, I've only seen Sammy Guevara work a few times but I thought it was a solid enhancement talent. As for Kip Sabian, this was my first exposure to his work and I thought he was showcased well here with Guevara. If AEW is serious about making new stars instead of this being the "Being The Elite" & friends variety hour, then they have to start somewhere to start showing off talent. This was a decent match to end the preshow on, I'll say that much. I had to go back and watch this match and Casino Battle Royal after the fact though as I only watched the show from 8PM to finish live.

SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) defeated Strong Hearts (Cima, T-Hawk, and El Lindaman)

Surprised that Daniels can still move around like that at his age after all of these years.

Going into this match, I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't even aware that Cima was still wrestling anymore. I haven't seen him wrestle since he was on Ring of Honor back in the early 2000s. Good to see that he could still go.

This was fun match to start the show off with. It was a high speed, hard-hitting affair to keep everyone interested while keeping the excitement up to set the tone for the rest of the night.

Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. defeated Nyla Rose, Kylie Rae, and Awesome Kong (with Brandi Rhodes)

I can't speak for anyone else but I was SHOOK when I saw Awesome Kong come out.

No lie, I was legitimately shocked to see Awesome Kong show up here. I was convinced that Brandi Rhodes was going to insert herself into this match. That necessarily wouldn't have been a bad thing, but I hope she's improved since her days wrestling as part of the Impact Wrestling roster. Those matches left a lot to be desired in her regard. To be honest, I wasn't expecting Awesome Kong to do much here. She was vastly immobile and a shadow of her former self in her last recent returns to Impact Wrestling from back issues. She looked in her best shape to date though. I figure she must be working a part-time gig with AEW since she's still a part of the Netflix GLOW TV series. She didn't do much in this match outside a few big spots to put over some of the other girls and that's all she really needed to do to be honest. I really can't see her working a full-time schedule with AEW or anywhere for that matter.

Awesome Kong cleaning house as usual.

I wasn't surprised in the least at Britt Baker (AKA Mrs. Adam Cole) picking up the win. AEW has made it pretty obvious that they are looking to make her the face of their women's division and I can see why, especially given that she was their first female signing to the promotion. Outside of some weak as hell looking Super Kicks (Carmella along with the IIconics do some far worse though, so I'll give the ladies here a pass...) this wasn't a bad match at all. Nyla Rose was pretty forgettable to say that she was the other "big" lady in this match along with Kong, but Kylie Rae definitely got over with most of this crowd. I can't buy into her wannabe Bayley gimmick though. She comes across as that one chick in some social circles who tries to hard for everyone to like her. In terms of in-ring ability, she's going to get over just fine with the audience that AEW seems to be marketing towards.

On a side note, AEW botched that image for promoting this match, misspelling Nyla Rose as "Nayla Rose" instead. If this was TNA/Impact people would have given them shit to all hell, but of course, this is the new favorite toy of the smark crowd so everyone was pretty tight lipped about that. Just thought I'd point that out as everyone are always quick to point those mistakes on everyone under the sun, but I didn't see any mentions of it from the usual suspects.

Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta) defeated Angélico and Jack Evans

I don't know why this came to a surprise to so many people, but Jack Evans and Angelico have been doing crazy shit for YEARS now. In Evans' case, he's been at it for roughly two decades.

Here's the thing that got me during this match. Jack Evans and Angelico have been working on the indies as a tag team and against each other on rival teams/factions in Lucha Underground and people are losing their minds like this is something new. Jack Evans has been amazing since the early years of NWA-TNA when I first discovered him and Angelico's no slouch either. I'm glad these two have another great platform to showcase their talents.

I thought the Best Friends gimmick was stupid when I saw it in Ring of Honor and I still think it's stupid here. That's just my opinion. I just feel like it takes away from their in-ring talents. That being said, even in a losing effort, Jack Evans and Angelico were the definitely the stars and ones to watch in this match who got over huge with this crowd.

As for the interference post-match, I went like everyone else did and said, "WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE GUYS?" It didn't help that the commentary team was as confused as everyone watching in and out of the arena were. Excalibur did mumble something along the lines of, "Hey! I recognize these guys!" but didn't elaborate on it. Apparently it was the Super Smash Bros. tag team from the indies, according to reports after the fact.

That being said, AEW's tag team scene is fucking stacked. You got the Young Bucks, Lucha Bros. (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix), Best Friends, Private Party (graduates from House of Glory), SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, Scorpio Sky), Angelico and Jack Evans, then now these guys - whatever they are going to be called as you know Nintendo isn't going to allow them to be called Super Smash Bros. and they don't have anything to do with it.

Hikaru Shida, Riho Abe, and Ryo Mizunami defeated Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki, and Emi Sakura

Well shit at that deadlift German Suplex. 

Man, she straight up ragdolled a bitch right here.

If AEW wants to entice fans over to their product, they have to offer something on their line of wrestling that WWE, or anyone else for that matter, is offering in the states on a regular basis. If AEW is going to have joshi women wrestling featured on their product regularly, then definitely count me in. That shit can get over as big as the cruiserweights did back on WCW back in the day if booked properly and featured prominently on their programming.

There was one hiccup/botch in this match, but that was completely on the referee botching the three count, but I thought the ladies recovered well from it. I think once AEW has more shows under their belt, people will be receptive to this joshi stuff in the States. Fans will need time to familiarize themselves with these women and what they each bring to the table. I know I didn't know who anyone outside of Aja Kong was in this match but still enjoyed it for the most part.

Bret Hart Presents the AEW World Championship

During the show, I retweeted a comment from someone who said that their belt looks like the TNA Legends Championship made out with the current Impact Knockouts Championship. I hear a few other people say that it looks more influenced by New Japan's IWGP title and I can see that too. I was legitimately surprised that they got Bret Hart to come out here to present the championship. I heard that Ric Flair was actually their first choice, but with all of his health issues that led up to him backing out of appearing at Starrcast, they went with their second choice.

The star of this segment was MJF though. Much like his performance in the Buy In preshow battle royal, MJF excels at heeling it up to a crowd. I'm sure there's going to be people who instantly compare him with EC3's heel run in Impact Wrestling, but I think he's in his own vein already to say the guy is only 23 years old. He hasn't even hit his prime yet of doing this. I'm glad that he's getting the exposure here to showcase his talents that fans of MLW (like myself) have been raving about for a while now. Once again, I know Court Bauer has to be kicking himself that he doesn't have exclusive rights to this guy.

Cody (with Brandi Rhodes) defeated Dustin Rhodes

That iconic (rather cliched for wrestling) shot of the Austin-esque face of crimson while trapped within the sharpshooter against Bret Hart.

Cody with the Stardust throwback for even more call backs to their WWE runs in this match.

Arguably the best match of the night, but from my observations live on social media, people weren't getting the point of this match. This was straight up a recreation of a classic NWA Dusty Rhodes match in their father's prime. The heavy blading, the babyface going through hell and back to keep fighting against everything the heel threw into his way - c'mon it's hard NOT to get behind this kind of classic, yet VERY effective storytelling. You rarely see that in WWE anymore and this is exactly what AEW needed to do tonight, show that they can bring a true alternative to the table.

Really? Was that even necessary?

The whole bit with Cody destroying Triple H's throne was just petty to me and completely unnecessary. Double goes for all of the promotion leading into this match about "killing the Attitude Era". For me, the Attitude Era died at two points - first during the last episode of WCW Monday Night Nitro, along with everything that followed afterwards from that flop that was the Invasion angle to WWE dragging most of the WCW influx of talent through the mud and making them jumping through hoops until they got over on their own. Then the second was when the Streak ended - not that mess with HBK, Triple H, and The Undertaker called the "end of an era". I saw this match as cashing in on what they should've had during the height of their brother versus brother program back in WWE, where they were robbed of a WrestleMania match that year. This match delivered and then some, even though Dustin was a bloody mess by the time it was over. The Dream was definitely smiling down on his boys here tonight with pride. I thought they did one hell of a job selling his old school style of wrestling - more importantly, storytelling - to fans old and new.

By the way, my thanks and personal credit goes out to Jason Solomon AKA Solomonster to pointing out that Cody's speech at the end was a recreation of this moment. No wonder the guy was tearing up. Imagine the pressure on his mind and body after that excellent match to deliver this promo like their father did those many moons ago. Just great stuff here from bell to bell.

The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) defeated The Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix) Tag team match for the AAA World Tag Team Championship

The more I see Fenix in action between Lucha Underground, Impact Wrestling, MLW, and the various events on the indies, the more and more sad I get thinking about the fact that we never got a proper Rey Mysterio vs. Fenix program between them while they were in Lucha Underground together. 

Good grief, that was an awesome sequence. 

Can't believe we're at the point now in wrestling where people are doing Canadian Destroyers on and off the ring apron.

This was the only match I was tuning into this show to see if I was perfectly honest from the promotion going into this show. It definitely delivered for the most part but goddamn I grew sick of all of the near-falls from the big moves towards the end.

Breaking one of the Bucks' arms and he was STILL able to hit the Meltzer Driver with one arm was impressive but at the same time, it irked me in the same manner where Lucha Underground did that match where Pentagon broke both of Brian Cage's arms, did a curb stomp through a cinder block, a Pentagon Driver through some chairs and some shit through a table to garner only a damn near fall until another normal Pentagon Driver ended the match or some shit. All four of these guys are hella talented in the ring, but there has to be some restraint on these damn 101 near-falls in "big" matches like this by not just AEW, but across the board in wrestling.

Chris Jericho defeated Kenny Omega

Winner faces Adam Page (Casino Battle Royale winner) in a future AEW World Championship match

Good lord, Kenny. That damn landing, yo.

His entrance for this match was truly something else. He had several different actors playing him at various stages of his career (Lionheart, the List of Jericho, and finally the light up jacket version) before coming out decked out in all black to his own "Judas" song. The older Chris Jericho gets the more he surprises me on how he continues to adapt to change with the times. The guy isn't really blowing me away with his in-ring performances either, but him and Kenny Omega put on a decent match here, save for a few sloppy moments on execution. It felt like a few steps shy of their match at Wrestle Kingdom a year ago.

That double foot stomp spot looked like it sucked like hell for both Jericho AND Omega. I've read reports that Omega's broken nose happened earlier in the match, but I was under the impression that it happened here as it looked like Omega banged his face on the ramp coming down so hard off the landing. Say what you will about that guy, but major props to Omega working the entire main event with a broken nose.

I don't even what to make of Jericho winning off that plain looking spinning elbow that he's calling the Judas Effect. I get it, Jericho's getting older and has to work even safer, but talk about bland (or rather unceremonious) ending to this match after how much shit they did to each other to get to that point. It got to same problem as the match before this. Doing too much shit to the point you're devaluing the finish.

With Jericho going over here, it's going to be him against Adam Page at a future event to crown the first ever AEW World Champion. I'm fine with Jericho going over to be the first champion as the guy to beat as they head into their first show in October on TNT. Chris Jericho is a household name in terms of wrestling, so that will get old and new fans to tune into their product with him as the first holder of their top prize in the company. Not to mention, Jericho's name value adds a lot of prestige to that title right off the bat. You can easily make Page, Omega, or even Moxley into bigger stars by having them chase for it, even doing a title change on that first card on TNT.

Speaking of Moxley, I thought the post-match attack of him showing up through the crowd and laying waste to both Jericho AND Omega was the right note to end on with a shot out of a cannon.

https://wrathofasukacity.tumblr.com/post/185144947351/goodbye-dean-ambrose-welcome-back-jon-moxley-he

For a lot of people, this was the "gunshot heard around the world" to kickstart another Monday Night War and I firmly believe we don't need to get ahead of ourselves on that regard. Dean Ambrose made a name for himself in WWE over the last few years as a byproduct of their own system. I'm anxious to see what Jon Moxley can do now that he's unchained and unhinged from that ball and chain in a new environment.

Afterthoughts

This is where I'm going to piss a lot of people off with this write-up on the event. While I enjoyed a lot of this show and I thought it was a great (if not amazing with the last three matches) first effort for a new promotion, I do have a lot of concerns going forward.

Presentation

I couldn't believe that the same people who criticize WWE for all of their knee-jerk camera angles and reaction shows (as per Kevin Dunn) were praising this show from start to finish in terms of cinematography. There were points of this show where it was as nauseating to watch as a WWE broadcast in terms of all of the camera cuts and reaction shots. Call me old school, but do less of that. One of the main things that definitely set Lucha Underground apart from everything else in wrestling at that time was how it was shot, how it was lit, to how the backstage segments were shot, to just about everything about it was far away from what WWE was doing and still doing. No one else in wrestling was shooting stuff like how Lucha Underground was and it was part of it's unique charm. Not everyone was a fan of it, but that established it's identity right off the bat.

I applauded AEW for bringing back set pieces for their stage for a wrestling production, but genuinely laughed at AEW when I saw people coming out of the two separate entrance tunnels like during the early years of TNA/Impact Wrestling. You can't tell me that they don't have people on payroll who don't know how to film a wrestling match, especially with how much money is involved in this project. Don't get me wrong. The poker chip set piece was great, but in terms of that coupled with the other aspects of their visual presentation, this still came across as an indie show with a bigger budget. The proof in the better production values is in how this was well-lit, shot well for the most of the program, excellent video packages/promotional videos, and there weren't any audio hiccups that absolutely ruined the broadcast at times (looking at you, ROH). If they can keep those finer points of their production, then they are going to be just fine in that regard.

Commentary

This image alone sums up the commentary team in a nutshell for the night.

Jim Ross, Excalibur, and whoever that Alex Marvez guy was were stumbling and fumbling throughout this entire show for the most part. Let's face it - JR is not what he used to be. I have seen that back when he was calling New Japan on AXS, but he still has the ability to deliver his golden moments, especially when he was calling the main event on this show and aftermath with Jon Moxley. I think he'll get better once he has time to familiarize himself with all of the AEW talents, but for this first show, boy did he seem lost for majority of the show. Excalibur was hit or miss as well, but I think him and JR will need time to mesh well over the live broadcasts. As for Marvez, I think they would do better without him in the conversation at all on commentary as didn't seem to contribute anything in the least. It could have been nerves or anxiety, but that guy was just awful here from start to finish. Bad commentary will turn people off to your product just as quickly as bad booking would, so that's something to keep in mind too.

"Curtain Call"

Cody, Brandi Rhodes, the Young Bucks, and the rest of their entourage did this at the beginning and the start of the show, where they address the crowd as themselves but not their wrestling personalities since they have stakes in this company as some of the leading staff members in this new promotion. It's comparable to Triple H's circle-jerking at the top of NXT TakeOver events as the "daddy of NXT" and COO of WWE, but I didn't like this vibe that they have to stand out in front of the crowd and the top and end of the show and pat themselves on the back as if this is the end of an episode of In Living Color or Saturday Night Live. I know there's going to be the people who say "Kayfabe's dead already!" but whatever. You want people to buy into what you're selling in terms of storylines and what not, but not going to sell what you put on the show beforehand? That irked me to no end at the end of the show that they dragged Kenny Omega back out for this when even he said that he should be getting proper medical attention. I didn't need to see this on-air. It could have been something for when the cameras went dark after the show and saved for a DVD/Blu-Ray extra.

While we're on this subject, all of the petty bullshit and potshots at WWE weren't called for either. AEW needs to be worrying about their own shit instead of "clapbacks" to WWE. That goes double for WWE too as they have far more important problems than taking shots at other companies. I hope that doesn't turn into a regular thing as it never did TNA/Impact Wrestling any favors over the years.

Delusions of Grandeur

The biggest takeaway in this regard was all of this talk that "OMG THIS WAS THE BEST WRESTLING SHOW EVARR" talk on social media that night of and the days that followed. There's a LOT of people drinking the Kool-aid of this thing and while I thought this was a great show in terms of in-ring quality, I think some people need to calm down a bit. In time this could be a serious contender, but as it stands, this was merely an indie show with a big budget behind it. Let's not forget the asking price for this show on PPV - $49.99. I'm not ashamed to admit that I pirated a stream to watch the show on. Hell, I was pushing it WrestleMania weekend for MLW and Impact Wrestling's cross-promotional event for $20. I definitely wouldn't have paid $60 to watch G1 Supercard on iPPV if I weren't already paying for New Japan World at the time. With their follow-up shows, AEW isn't going to have that aura of mystery surrounding it that this first show had. I'm sure that their return to Chicago in August for AEW's second PPV, ALL OUT, is going to bring the fans out in droves expecting CM Punk to make an appearance out of curiosity. I'm just skeptical about casuals wanting to continue paying that much for another PPV at the $50 price tag, especially when alternatives like the WWE Network is $9.99/mo. and New Japan World is $7.99/mo.

I guess the folks who weren't around for the Monday Night War back in the '90s want it to be recreated so badly that they are willing to believe anything at this point. AEW is competition for WWE, but not in the scope that so many of AEW's early supporters and adopters are foaming at the mouths for. Anyone who goes "head to head" with WWE on Monday Nights are dooming themselves to fail. We saw how that turned out for TNA/Impact Wrestling when Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan twisted Dixie Carter's arm around with that foolish idea. ALL IN was a massive success and I thought tonight's show was too (even more so in some aspects), but anyone who thinks that AEW can topple and/or challenge WWE right now with Being The Elite/leftover gaijin Bullet Club guys, Chris Jericho, and a ton of talent that isn't instantly recognizable by casual fans then you're out of your mind. I would love to have whatever you're smoking.

All of this crap I'm seeing on social media from the hardcore of hardcore marks of the Elite guys and AEW who can't take a single shred of criticism on this company are in for a rude awakening when AEW gets on TNT and really have mainstream eyeballs analyzing every fiber of this thing under the microscope. I'm critiquing this first effort because I want to see them succeed and do better the next go round, not settle for the bare minimum just to get by. We've seen TNA/Impact Wrestling do that time and time again over the years and they aren't even in this "competition" conversation anymore, despite the fact I still enjoy watching their current product. I want AEW to trim the fat and leave nothing but the juicy, good bits of the meat they are bringing hot off the grill to sink my teeth into.

Closing Thoughts

I don't want to shit on AEW's parade of having a great event for their "coming out party" in a sense with their first PPV event. While I feel like this is one of my shorter write-ups, I thoroughly enjoyed this show, so don't come at me like I'm trying to bury the product. I'm just pointing out that AEW has some kinks in the machine to work out and iron out before they can call themselves healthy competition for WWE. Truth be told, there's no need to rush those improvements either. Contrary to popular belief, they don't have to be ready to stand up and oppose WWE like the indie smark crowd wants right here and now. They can take it slow and gradually build this thing into something that truly cannot be ignored. For a first event, AEW definitely knocked out of the park, I'll say that much. It reminded me of the same vibe from the first NXT TakeOver special where everyone there had something to prove to everyone around the world with the eyes on their product.

WWE Money in the Bank (May 19, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Money in the Bank (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event, produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. It took place on May 19, 2019, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the tenth event under the Money in the Bank chronology.

Twelve matches were contested at the event including one on the pre-show. In the main event, unannounced entrant Brock Lesnar won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match, while Bayley won the women's eponymous match that opened the main show. Later in the evening, Bayley cashed in the contract to win the SmackDown Women's Championship from Charlotte Flair, who herself had just won the title from Becky Lynch after Lynch had just retained her Raw Women's Championship against Lacey Evans. In other prominent matches, Kofi Kingston defeated Kevin Owens to retain the WWE Championship while Seth Rollins defeated AJ Styles to retain the Universal Championship.

Results: 

Kick-Off Show: The Usos def. SmackDown! Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowan in a non-title match

Bayley def. Nikki Cross, Mandy Rose, Naomi, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Ember Moon, and Natalya to win the Women's Money in the Bank briefcase

This was miles above and beyond the original Women's Money in the Bank match along with the one from last year, but damn I was cringing watching the ladies take some of these spots here. I thought Mandy Rose legitimately soccer ball kicked Carmella's knee out of the socket from that one spot, especially after how Carmella told her to back off - pretty loudly after the fact before she was checked out by the medics at ringside. Naomi's Bumblebee (from Teen Titans) outfit was spoiled a bit from her tweets earlier that day, but still cool nonetheless.

Ember hits the Eclipse from off the ladder onto Nattie.

The highlight of the entire thing was that Eclipse from Ember Moon off the ladder to Nattie though. Holy shit off that.

In the end, Mandy Rose had the match won when Sonya Deville carried her up the ladder on her shoulders after she was laid out by the returning Carmella (who Mandy "injured" earlier in the match), but Bayley shoved both of them from the top and grabbed the briefcase for herself. Can't say that I saw Bayley coming out of this as the winner, but whatever. I thought she was pegged to be in line for a shot at the SmackDown! Women's title anyway whenever Charlotte got her dirty hands on it again. We never got a proper finish to that feud anyway. From what happened later in this show, it looks like we're going to get that anyway.

Rey Mysterio def. Samoa Joe for the United States Championship in a squash

Joe's nose was broken in the opening spot of the match so they rushed to the finish and had Joe do the post match attack while his son Dominic looked on in horror. I haven't been keeping up with any storylines since the Superstar Shake-Up started post-WrestleMania and I think this sounds stupid right off the bat.

Shane McMahon def. The Miz via over-the-top escape (Steel Cage Match)

This match was a massive waste of time. Can someone explain to me why they are still continuing this Miz versus Shane McMahon feud post-Mania anyway?

For the love of all things holy, can Shane put his goddamn shirt back on? There's children watching for Christ's sake (laughs). I don't need to see Shane's oily, sweaty face on my television attempting to kill himself in these matches.

Cruiserweight Championship -- Tony Nese (c) def. Ariya Daivari via pinfall to retain the title

No offense to Nese and Daivari but this was a pre-show match from start to finish. I don't understand why this was on the main card when the vast majority of people who tune into WWE programming don't even watch 205 Live. This was also nearing the time where WWE was about to compete with the Game of Thrones finale at 9PM so they were doing a great job of giving their viewer base the easy decision to tune out.

Sami Zayn hides from Braun Strowman, gets attacked

They were playing this up like Strowman did it, but I personally couldn't buy into it. Since when did Strowman start stringing up guys like he was Spider-Man or Batman? C'mon now...

Raw Women's Championship -- Becky Lynch (c) def. Lacey Evans via submission to retain the title

Even back on NXT, I never thought Lacey Evans was a bad wrestler. There were some interesting moments here and there in this match, but ultimately, I don't think her and Becky click well in terms of in-ring styles. It's not either woman's fault - it's just something that happens in wrestling from time to time and there's nothing one can do to avoid it. Not everyone can adapt or work around every style underneath the sun. Perfect example? Gail Kim and Mickie James. Go watch any of their matches from WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling and you can see they really don't click at all to say as good as as they are individually as in-ring talents.

I know Vince wants to push Lacey Evans to the moon, but an instant title shot against the most over female - or rather talent - they have from over the past year isn't going to do her any favors. Not to mention, the comparisons to Charlotte Flair aren't helping either.

SmackDown Women's Championship --  Charlotte Flair def. Becky Lynch (c) via pinfall to win the title

I didn't like this from a creative standpoint. I get that they wanted to play up that Charlotte took advantage of Becky being worn out from beating Lacey Evans and their "alliance" is what did Becky in at the end of the match, but it makes Becky's win at WrestleMania look like a fluke now since she didn't pin/force Charlotte to submit. Charlotte still gets to stay that a "Queen" reigns supreme over The Man and all of that hype for Becky over the past year didn't mean squat since she's still coming up short over her rival. On top of all of that, Charlotte is at title reign number 9. Vince must really be jizzing his shorts over Flair's daughter, huh? She's got two up over Trish Stratus' record now. Soon, that's going to be an afterthought.

If that wasn't bad enough, Charlotte beat the piss out of Becky and Bayley like they were some jobbers before she rammed herself into the corner post.

SmackDown Women's Championship -- Bayley def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall to win the title after cashing in Money in the Bank

Bayley took forever and a day to make up her mind to cash in the briefcase. I was half-expecting Charlotte to kick out of that Diving Elbow Drop, but she didn't and Bayley managed to pick up the win.

I'll give WWE props for this booking here though. When they try, they actually make these special "feel good" moments like this truly mean something. They got it right with Daniel Bryan at the height of the Yes Movement. That was echoed throughout Kofi-Mania leading up to his win at WrestleMania this year. Same goes for Becky Lynch once her "The Man" gimmick caught fire.

For a lot of people, this moment felt like redemption for all of the times WWE dropped the ball with Bayley over the last few years, notably with how unceremoniously her and Sasha Banks lost the Women's Tag Team titles to the IIconics at WrestleMania. A lot of people on social media are calling this move a F-U to Sasha Banks who has been sitting at home on sabbatical from the company.

While I'm happy that Bayley got to dethrone Charlotte on her shortest Women's Championship reign to date, I'm holding my breath on celebrating for her until I see what the long-term plans are for Bayley. As far as we know as fans, Bayley could lose the title right back to Charlotte on SmackDown! Tuesday night, only to hot potato it back and forth with her like Sasha Banks did a few years ago over the course of several months. One more thing to note though is that after this title win, Bayley is official a grand slam champion for WWE, holding both RAW & SmackDown! Women's Championships, NXT Women's Championship, Women's Tag Team Championships, and winning the Women's Money in the Bank briefcase over the course of her career. Only accolade she hasn't won yet is the Women's Royal Rumble match.

Roman Reigns def. Elias via pinfall

After what felt like an eternity for that Elias segment, Roman hit a Superman Punch and followed up with the Spear for the win to close this out in like a minute flat. I don't see how anyone expected anything more here.

Elias might as well be El Kabong at this point...

On a side note, I'm sure people are going to be making memes of Elias sneaking up behind Roman for months (or rather years) to come. That was just begging to be made into a meme.

Universal Championship -- Seth Rollins (c) vs. AJ Styles

When this match started, I had a sense of deja vu from AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura last year, whereas there was a lot of hype and anticipation for that match, given their history in New Japan. In the same vein of that match there was a lot of anticipation for this match as well, given that this was Rollins and Styles first match against each other in WWE. I thought this match started out pretty tame, but they won me out by the end.

I still don't think it was wise to give this match away on one of this throwaway PPVs between one of the Big Four PPVs (WrestleMania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble) though. Maybe they are looking to stretch this out over the summer and make a program out of this "dream match" sorts. Then again, this could be an one and down feud just like that.

Lars Sullivan destroys Lucha House Party

As soon as they handed a live mic to Kalisto, I went to the bathroom once I heard Lars' music hit. From carrying piñatas to the ring and tossing candy to kids in the front row, I'm surprised that WWE doesn't have them selling tacos and nachos in concessions at this point. This act is dead in the water.

WWE Championship -- Kofi Kingston (c) def. Kevin Owens via pinfall to retain the title

I was happy for Kofi getting his moment at WrestleMania but let's all be real here. He sucks in this role. The honeymoon period is over and let's go ahead and put the belt on someone else. Kofi is one of those babyfaces that does better chasing rather than actually having the belt.

Color me surprised though as I thought Kevin Owens was pegged to take the title from Kofi here, but Kofi squeezed out a win in his first singles title defense - without the help of the New Day in his corner to boot.

By the way, what the fuck is up with that dent in Kofi's chest and that huge bump on his abs?

I still don't get what was the point of Kevin Owens removing Kofi's shoes and tossing them into the crowd. My best guess, like I jokingly mentioned to a friend last night, was that maybe KO thought they were the source of Kofi's powers like Hammer Man? (Shrugs) Who knows, I don't write nor book this shit...

Hammer Man for those not old enough to remember that SatAM cartoon...

Brock Lesnar wins the Men's Money in the Bank contract def. Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Randy Orton, Andrade and Ali

"Brock wins LOL" is starting to become the new meme that needs to be on a T-Shirt or something.

Everyone seemed like they saw the Women's Money in the Bank earlier in the evening and said, "Hold my beer" in terms of crazy and stupid bumps to take from bell to bell. I thought Finn Balor either had a death wish or must have pissed in all of the boys' Cheerios to get beaten like a drum in this match. His spine has to be in turmoil after the sick bumps that he took in this match.

Dat bounce, yo. 

My back hurt watching that.

Ali and Andrade trying to kill themselves here.

Going into this match I was pulling for Andrade to win this 200%. Anyone else seemed like a waste of time. Drew McIntyre doesn't need it as he can easily shift into the main event picture by the end of the year. Finn Balor is a former Universal Champion and current Intercontinental Champion; they aren't moving him up the ladder anytime soon. Randy Orton can jump back into the main event scene anytime he pleases. Mustafa Ali can play up the underdog role and slowly move his way up the ladder to recover some of that lost momentum that he gave towards Kofi's cause earlier this year. WWE can pull the trigger on Ricochet anytime since he's new to the main roster and they haven't beaten the tar out of his credibility (yet). And Baron Corbin... (Busts out laughing) Just no. They tried that already and John Cena personally made sure that WWE avoided that travesty. To be fair though, Corbin did a hell of a job thrashing guys in this match. I'll admit that much. He's a good hand to have around if you just need a big guy throwing around guys into furniture. I wouldn't want him the ring general for any of my matches though.

Afterthoughts: 

I think Chris Jericho's sarcastic tweet hit the nail on the head concerning the finish of the Men's Money in the Bank match in a nutshell.

Awesome to see @BrockLesnar win the #MoneyInTheBank match...even though he wasn’t officially entered! Brock is the future of the biz and this perfect example of genius booking shows why @WWE will remain on top FOREVER! #GoBrockGo

— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) May 20, 2019

As funny as this meme is, it's also a very sad, yet very true symbolic representation of the booking in the main event. 

As much as I laughed hysterically at the finish, it's a bad look all around and shows that Vince McMahon has absolutely no faith in pushing new stars, despite having the largest talent roster in company history.

I didn't mention it earlier in this write-up but BotchaMania's Facebook page has a wonderful post on all of the referee fuck-ups and botches from this PPV.

REVIEW -- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a dark fantasy action-adventure game developed and published by the British video game development studio Ninja Theory. Self-described as an "independent AAA game", it was created by a team of approximately twenty developers led by writer and director Tameem Antoniades. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 in August 2017, with an Xbox One version in April 2018. The game features support for virtual reality, which was added in an update in 2018. A Nintendo Switch version was released on 11th April, 2019.

Inspired by Norse mythology and Celtic culture, Hellblade follows Senua, a Pict warrior who must make her way to Helheim by defeating otherworldly entities and facing their challenges, in order to rescue the soul of her dead lover from the goddess Hela. In parallel, the game acts as a metaphor for the character's struggle with psychosis, as Senua, who suffers from the condition but believes it to be a curse, is haunted by an entity known as the "Darkness", voices in her head known as "Furies", and memories from her past. To properly represent psychosis, developers worked closely with neuroscientists, mental health specialists, and people suffering from the condition.

The game blends several genres, including hack and slash, puzzle solving, and psychological horror. Voice acting is an integral part of the game, while its cutscenes combine motion capture by Melina Juergens, and live action performances by other actors. Hellblade was a commercial success and was well received by critics, who praised it as a work of art and applauded its uncommon choice of revolving around psychosis, the quality and uniqueness of its approach of the condition, and its story and main character.

Plot: (SPOILERS!!)

Crazy how some of the best games over the last few years have been influenced by Norse mythology as of late. First, this game, then God of War (PS4) and I'm sure there's a few more that touch on that subject manner as well. 

Set in the late 8th century, the game starts with Senua (Melina Juergens), a Pict warrior from Orkney arriving at the border of Helheim in a quest to save the soul of her dead lover, Dillion (Oliver Walker), from the goddess Hela. Senua believes she suffers from a curse, and hears "Furies", voices in her head commenting her every actions, notably one, the Narrator (Chipo Chung), who is aware of the player's presence and talks to them. She is also followed by the Darkness (Steven Hartley), a dark entity at the core of the curse. She carries Dillion's severed head to use it as a vessel to his soul, and is also guided by her memories of the stories of Druth (Nicholas Boulton), a former slave of the Norsemen well versed in their legends, now deceased, who became her friend and mentor during a year-long self-imposed exile. To enter Helheim, Senua defeats both the fire giant Surt and the spirit of illusions Valravn, but as she crosses the bridge to Helheim, is attacked by Hela, who defeats her with a single blow, shattering her sword. Barely surviving the encounter, she follows visions of Druth and a man-shaped light she believes to be Dillion to a great tree where she faces four challenges linked to her past, and is rewarded with the legendary sword Gramr, strong enough to kill gods.

Meanwhile, Senua's backstory is unveiled through her hallucinations, revealing that her mother Galena (Ellie Piercy) suffered the same curse she did, but did not believe it to be dreadful. However, Senua's devoutly religious father Zynbel (also performed by Hartley) did, and burned Galena alive. Senua witnessed the event at age five, which caused her psychosis to worsen significantly and led her to convince herself her mother died willingly. Her father, convincing her that her condition was a curse, abused Senua emotionally and physically and isolated her from the rest of the world until she met Dillion when he visited her village. The two fell in love, and Senua left her father to be with him, as he saw her as different and misunderstood instead of cursed. However, after a plague killed many in Dillion's village, Senua, believing the fault to be hers, left in exile. When she returned a year later having hopefully left the Darkness behind, she found everyone killed by Norsemen who had invaded, sacrificing Dillion in a blood eagle to their gods. Remembering the stories of Druth, Senua departed on her journey to save Dillion's soul from the gods of the Norsemen.

Ultimately, Senua fights against the influence of the Darkness and defeats the beast Garm. She then realizes the Darkness is a representation of her father's abuse and beliefs, and frees herself from the Furies. Soon after, she faces a legion of Hela's warriors in a hopeless fight, and is killed. In her final moments, she recalls Dillion telling her of the importance of the acceptance of loss. As the imagery of Helheim fades away, Hela drops Dillion's head into the abyss, but as the camera returns to her, Senua is standing in her place, with a dead Hela in place of Senua's body. Having accepted that it was never possible to bring her lover back, and that she is not responsible for his death or anyone else's, Senua frees herself from the Darkness' influence, and accepts the Furies not as a curse, but a part of who she is. She invites the player to follow her, while the Narrator says her goodbyes to the player.

The Verdict: (Some Spoilers Discussed Here)

The fiercest battles always start in the strongest of warriors' minds well before they step onto the battlefield. 

When this game was first announced, I was thinking that it was going to be sequel/spin-off to Ninja Theory's launch title for the PlayStation 3, Heavenly Sword. As much as I enjoyed that game, I'm so happy that this game wasn't that. Hellblade is it's own creature entirely - physically and mentally speaking.

Right off the bat, I feel that this game is best experienced with a headset on. The voices that Senua hears throughout the game are echoed in surround sound if you play with a headset on. There were several instances where I found myself stopping to look around in my room as if I wasn't going nuts. These voices will encourage you when you are doing well and discourage you when you make mistakes and stumble along the way. It is best described as Senua's self-doubts and conscience given a voice that echoes throughout everything that she does in the game as a result of the player's actions. That being said, the main novelty of this game is portraying how one deals with psychosis/mental illnesses.

Truth be told, I live with a case of anxiety that runs in my family. I used to take medicine for it while I was in college, but I have gotten to the point in my adolescent years where I can manage it for the most part without relying on medication to keep it under control. Playing a game like this where the main protagonist, Senua, is physically and mentally battling her own demons concerning her own mental illness, really hit a home to me at the core. This isn't a very long game - maybe 6 to 8 hours tops if you're really taking your time exploring all of the environments and looking for the lore markers, but there were points of this game that really cranked my anxiety to eleven and I literally had to take a break and calm myself down. No video game that I have ever played has ever done that to me. It literally triggered my anxiety. My hands were shaking and heart rate was elevated - not in a bad way, but in terms of I could physically and mentally relate to what Senua was feeling. I think everyone who has some sort of mental illness will be triggered during the several "trials" that Senua must overcome without any weapons or abilities/skills of any sort about halfway throughout the course of the game's narrative, especially that damn "blindness" trial that got me on edge. Between that blindness trial and the trial by fire, there's a flood of topics on Reddit from players who talk about how those sequences affected them mentally or hit them pretty hard in terms of a roadblock as gamers. Not in a bad way either, but just as genuinely great sequences in gaming.

Mental illnesses used to be a sort of a taboo or subject manner that was a tad bit off-limits in gaming at one point. With this game, I can confidently say that this subject manner is handled in a tasteful and respectable manner. I would like to credit that to psychological analysts that Ninja Theory had on hand to offer their insight and feedback on portraying psychosis/mental illnesses in this medium. I cannot stress enough to my fellow gamers that they check out the Making Of featurette on the main menu after finishing the game. It details the process that Ninja Theory went through during development of this game and thorough research and feedback from psychology professors who were shown the game. The behind the scenes featurette highlights the method that the voice actors recorded the "voices" in Senua's head along with talking with the actors behind the voices of the several characters that Senua met her journey.

Melina Juergens' extensive work on this game as not only Senua's voice actress and motion capture model, but Ninja Theory's video editor assigned to this game was a happy accident. She was asked to fill in until they were going to hire someone else, but they were so happy with her performance as the character that she landed the job. I can see why, really. Just look at her.

I can look at this gif a hundred times and still appreciate Melina Juergens' subtle nuisances to play up Senua's mental state, not just here but in the game as well. 

It goes without saying that Ninja Theory are among the top (if not the top for me personally) in the gaming industry at motion capture and visuals. Melina Juergens' performance is top notch here and she deserves every ounce of praise that she got for her contributions in-front of and behind the cameras to the benefit of this game.

If I played through this game again, it would be mainly for experiencing it's combat again. I was disappointed that Ninja Theory didn't have more of it in the game.

Combat-wise, I thought the gameplay in Hellblade was simple and bare bones, but pretty straight-forward. It's easy to pick up and master over the course of the game, but there's not enough of it to say that how good it is for this title. All of your actions are slow and methodical as you tackle your foes one by one and strategically move around the battlefield for you won't be cornered, surrounded, or blindsided by attacks from other enemies. Senua has light and heavy attacks with her sword, a kick to break the defenses of shielded enemies, a running option that she can combine with any of the previously mentioned attacks, and most importantly a guarding option that can parry incoming attacks if hit at the precise moment of impact. I thought that parries were a little overpowered if you mastered them early on. Senua gets an upgraded sword, Gramr, at one point of the game's narrative that allows you to charge up her heavy slashes to dispel the shadows around particular enemies that they use for protection. Alternatively, you can dispel that same barrier of shadows around these enemies by parrying their attacks without even having to charge up Senua's blade. I could count on one hand how many times I actually used that ability before relying on parries one hundred percent to dispel the shadows instead, especially towards the end of the game where you have at least 3-10 enemies engaging you at once. Your Focus ability (indicated by the rune that decorates Senua's hip that glows when it is available for use) slows down time/freezes some enemies in place, allowing you to get more hits in to dispatch them quicker or for strategic means. This ability recharges insanely fast off successful parries; thus giving players another reason to master that skill. I know it's used to "reveal" or "weaken" particular bosses as well, since the voices in Senua's head will constantly shout for you to use it.

My personal favorite boss out of the entire game, Valravn - Master of Illusions. As you can see, a perfectly timed parry/counter knocks him to the floor for additional damage.

Speaking of bosses, this game only features about three "major" boss encounters while everything else that Senua combats against are normal demonic soldiers (single blade, sword/club & shield serve as "common" foes while dual axe wielders and foes with huge clubs serve as mini-bosses). Those three bosses are tons of fun to fight against and to test your understanding of Senua's skills against. The game recycles them again once you confront Hela during the game's climax, but at that point, you have Gramr, which already increases Senua's offensive power, and Senua's willpower (due to the narrative at that point) increases her power even more that most foes that she faces during the game's final battle go down with at least a single blow in most cases. The bosses put up a fight here, but they are don't hold a candle to their former glory when you encountered them in the story for the first time.

Puzzles in this game primarily involve searching out patterns/motifs such as this in the environment and lining them up properly with your Focus ability. 

The other half of gameplay consisted of puzzles. I thought a lot of them were hit or miss since they either mostly involved searching for objects in the environment to fit a designated pattern or motif or lining up specific "shattered/broken" objects to be repaired from a precise camera angle in combination of Senua's "Focus" ability. Most of these are a little too easy to spot as the game clues you in very early on that the voices will aid you in locating these patterns with subtle hints while at the same time, Senua's senses will be ripe with the pattern in the air (as show by the image above) if you are close to the object in question. Other puzzles won't be as simple as there's a few where Senua will be forced to juggle between the light and dark worlds to manipulate objects in the environment to progress further. Another will have her distinguish between reality and illusions in Valravn's forest or find a means to traverse around or through the flames without being burnt alive in Surt's region. These puzzles aren't really groundbreaking material or anything but they each tend to fit the theme of the environment that they are attached to, such as the illusion puzzles in Valravn's realm, the fire puzzles in Surt's domain, Senua's struggles with "blindness" in the dark within the confines of the blindness trial and Garm's dungeon that follows shortly after that point in the narrative.

If this game had one major flaw or rather a very minor gripe that I had with it is that there's far too much "slowly" striding around environments for my taste. Even when I had running ticked on to be toggled on and off, I still felt the general movement in this game for general traversal from point A to point B was at a snail's pace. To be fair, it wasn't at the game's detriment though as the slow movement(s) left Senua to her thoughts and more importantly, the voices in her head as the game went on. The funny thing is that the slow, methodical movement worked to an outstanding degree in the combat portions of gameplay, but within the general movement, it felt more like a crutch to extend the gameplay time an extra hour or two otherwise. I will admit that the slow movement to traverse from point A to point B added to the powerful portrayal of the seemingly never-ending battle that Senua engaged in with the voices in her head.

I have to repeat that this isn't a very long game either as I'm sure if one was to sit down and play this in its entirety over the course of one afternoon if they were pretty quick to get a grasp of the combat (namely parrying) early on and solve majority of the puzzles with minimal effort, the game can be completed within six to eight hours. I think my total game time was roughly around seven to eight, but that was mainly because I was fumbling around with solving the various puzzles.

The game offers you this warning with a truth within a lie.

Before I end this review, I want to mention one thing that's regarded as a massive spoiler in terms of the narrative but tied to gameplay. Senua is "infected" early into the story by a rot that grows little by little with each failure all the way up to Senua's head if you continuously die/fail objectives in the game. The game scares you with this warning even further by saying that your save file will even be deleted from excessive deaths. I'm here to say that concept is complete bullshit. If you watch the infection throughout the course of the story, it grows on it's own throughout the game. I only died early onto the game in the opening realms, but by the time I got to Garm's dungeon and the final confrontation against Hela, the rot was all the way to Senua's shoulders out of nowhere. The "rot" is merely a plot device and is an artificial device to add more stress and better yet, anxiety, to both the player and Senua on this journey. I'll admit that it worked up to the point where I realized that it was complete bullshit. As part of the narrative, the rot consumes Senua completely to the point where she is on the point of death, but she powers through her inner darkness and summons the courage to keep on fighting.

This game deserves the wealth of praise that it's gotten. 

The biggest question on everyone's minds if you haven't played this game is that does this game deserve all of the praise and awards across the board that it's received since it's initial release? I can confidently say, "YES!" To say that this game was made by a team of a mere twenty individuals on hand is a feat on it's own, but to see what this game manages to do firsthand is something that I cannot recommend enough for my fellow gamers. Simply words cannot do this game justice in a sense.

Play It or Don't Bother?

With it's re-release on the Nintendo Switch and the physical edition landing on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, now is a better time than ever to check this game out. It's definitely high on my list of games every gamer must experience that's for sure. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to experience it myself, despite having it for free on my PlayStation 4's hard drive for at least a year or two now.