The Phantom Rant: The King of The Ring and AEW Forbidden Door all this weekend

Greeting conversationalists all across the world wide web. It is I, the one and only “Phantom Lord” Joseph Davis and this is The Phantom Rant. I am coming to you as always from New York City and the good news is The Knicks and by proxy…Danhausen won the NBA Championship since my last column. Danhausen is now forever a New York Legend. If he could uncurse the Mets and Jets, he might be in line for Sainthood.

So the King and Queen of the Ring finals are set and to say its uninspired would be an understatement. I am honestly not interested in seeing Oba Femi vs. Jey Uso. Oba Femi vs. Je’Von Evans would have been a much more interesting match to have. They had a match in NXT that was really good. So I would have liked to see them run it back. Jey Uso is no where near King of the Ring material. The fact they have him in this final is a joke to be honest. There was a time when I liked Jey Uso. But now, with this Bloodline 2.0 in full effect I don’t want to see the possibility of Jey Uso main eventing Summerslam to take on Cody Rhodes.

This King of the Ring is Oba’s to win and honestly he should run through Jey Uso like he was tinfoil. But I’m sure it will be a ahem “competitive” match where Jey uses the spear and Uso splash to get near falls. But like I said, I’m honestly not interested in this match and this might be the weakest King of the Ring final in a very long time. Though I guess nothing could be as bad as King Mabel in 1995.

As for the women, it’s no better for them. Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky should be a Women’s World Title match on it’s own. It doesn’t need this Queen of the Ring backdrop. But with the Women’s World Champion in the damn tournament…how does she lose? Iyo beats her and turns around and challenges her for the title at Summerslam. Unless they are going to have Iyo challenge Rhea Ripley at Summerslam. Liv losing would make her look pretty weak as a champion so I can’t see her losing this.

It’s clear I’m giving this way more thought than they did. Probably why I feel a headache brewing. I mean everything about both of these tournaments was so rushed as usual. But Triple H says we shouldn’t take it so seriously.

I don’t think I’m taking it too seriously. It’s just something I like watching and I think it could be better. I think that about a lot of movies and tv shows I watch. The problem is, the WWE hates it when the fan is right. Think way back to Wrestlemania 30. It was supposed to be Batista vs. Randy Orton in that main event. But the WWE fans through such a fit (and rightfully so) about it and Daniel Bryan getting screwed over in the Rumble that they had no choice but to do a course correction and change those plans. Bryan ends up winning a match against Triple H, gets put into the main event later that night and wins the title. Everything was right for that moment.

But the WWE is gonna have a situation on their hands with this King of the Ring potentially because according to some very reliable sources, the Oba/Jey Uso match is still up in the air. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???

I’m doubling down on what I said. Oba should win in like a blink of an eye. King Kong Bundy squashes SD Jones type quickness. But I guess because all the kids love saying YEET, Jey Uso has to have a fighting chance. We shall see what happens at King of the Ring. Now did you know that there’s more wrestling this weekend? Oh yes, on Sunday it’s jam packed with action.

AEW is presenting their Forbidden Door PPV at 8pm EST on Sunday night. Not to be outdone, WWE NXT is jumping their gun an hour early at 7pm EST on Sunday with The Great American Bash. So the two companies that are pretty much equal in terms of viewing and ratings will be head to almost head. To be honest, AEW seems to have a weak Forbidden Door this year. Not to say there won’t be good matches because as we know, AEW PPV’s over deliver. But this one doesn’t seem as special as ones in years past.

Now to be fully honest, I don’t pay much attention to New Japan anymore. But I’m wondering where the hell the IWGP Heavyweight Championship is on this card? It’s nowhere to be found. Now, “Shooter” Shota Umino is defending the Global Championship against Pac on the show, but that’s not really the top title. Apparently there’s visa issues going around so it’s possible a lot of talent just couldn’t get into the country.

I am looking forward to Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr. That should be a really good match. Kenny needs a good match to really get cooking again. Another match I’m looking forward to is Will Osprey vs. Swerve Strickland. I think it’s a given Osprey is winning because Osprey main eventing All In at Wembley Stadium in London seems like a no brainer. I’m sure it will be a good match though. The main event is a six on six cage match with Team DCMJF (Don Callis Family & MJF) vs. Team Briscoe. Mark Briscoe gets a shot at the AEW World Title if his team wins the match. Mark is a sentimental favorite for a number of reasons so I really hope he does win this match to get that shot against MJF.

I don’t know if Mark Briscoe would be able to win the AEW World Championship though. I think AEW is pretty dead set on MJF vs. Osprey at All In: London. It’s all about the story though and Mark getting the shot would make for a compelling one.

I haven’t been watching too much of NXT lately so I couldn’t tell you what’s going on there. I know the former EVIL…now known as Naraku used the old exploding contract gag on NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo. I like Tony, but ever since he went “legit” and The D’Angelo family imploded he seems like he’s been missing something. He’s a good enough wrestler, so I can’t fault him for that. I can’t really predict this match, but if I had to guess he’ll retain over Naraku.

Lola Vice is defending the NXT Women’s championship against Kendell Grey and that should be a good match. Lola is so good at what she does and she’ll be a huge star for them if they don’t screw her up on her eventual call up to the big time. Someone else who is rumored to be getting that call up soon is Tatum Paxley and she is going up against Zaria for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. Tatum is so awesome at what she does, but if she’s getting a call up soon look for Zaria to retain the championship.

It should be an exciting and possibly infuriating weekend of wrestling depending on how things go at King of the Ring. Forbidden Door will be less stressful watching so that’s a plus.

On that note I’m done for this week. As always thanks for reading and you leave feedback down below, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com