I say that because as of me writing this column, ticket sales have been pretty meh for the WWE. Blame the economy, the market the show is in, people burned out and so and so forth. Whatever the reason, Summerslam has only sold a little over 22 thousand tickets. @Wrestletix on Twitter/X says the show is only set up for around 29,000 tickets to be sold. If you look at the ticket sales map, an entire half of the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis will not be used. Now if they were in an arena, 22 Thousand would be a massive sell out. In a stadium that holds over 72 thousand for football games…to say that’s disappointing would be an understatement.

First off, I don’t understand why Summerslam has to be a two day event. They did it last year and last year was forgettable to be honest. I know I can’t remember anything about that show that was special without looking it up. This year’s show is shaping up to be the same way. Hell in A Cell aside, is there really anything about this show that screams “I HAVE TO SEE THAT”. I’m being generous with the HIAC match too because I really don’t see a logical reason for it. Brock Lesnar all ready got his win back against Femi…so what’s the real point of this match?

Had they held off Lesnar’s return for a few months rather than having him come back right away for that Clash in Italy show, it would have made more sense. He could have attacked Oba after he won the King of the Ring and set up all of this. The story we have for this match is Brock is undefeated in HIAC matches and Oba is looking to end him once and for all. I will say this though. On RAW on Monday Night, Paul Heyman delivered a great promo video about the match. But when does Paul Heyman ever not deliver a great promo? Heyman can sell you a match. Question is will anyone buy it?

Moving along to more problems the WWE has with Summerslam, Rhea Ripley is out with some sort of injury. Instead of stripping her of the WWE Women’s Championship, the WWE is creating an interim WWE Women’s Champion that will be decided in a ladder match at Summerslam. Every other champion that gets hurt or whatever and can’t defend their title have been stripped. Why is Rhea so damn special that she gets to keep her title till she comes back. And make no mistake, she will be keeping her title no matter who wins the ladder match to become the interim champion.

I like Rhea, I really do. So I don’t want be one of these guys on the net who bashes her. But if she’s injured…just take the title off her. It’s not like she needs the title to be over. You know me, I prefer a good chase in my championship feuds. Have her be stripped of the title and have a good heel hold that belt while she’s in the hunt.

As of my writing this, so far it’s Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargil in the ladder match. I love Tiffy Time, but they made a huge mistake having her win over Jacy Jayne. She’s all ready the Women’s US Champion. What does she need to be in this match for? If you want a good heel to hold that title…look no further than Jacy Jayne. She did really well as NXT Women’s champion and with Fallon Henry and Lainey Reid would provide great interference for a Jayne title run while she fends off Rhea Ripley.

So yeah this “Interim” championship makes no sense to me.

One feud that does make some sense is the feud between GUNTHER and Nick Aldis. I don’t know if they needed a Summerslam match, but I’m glad Aldis is getting back into the ring. I always found him to be a really good wrestler and I think the WWE fans who live in a bubble and have never seen anything of his since it’s outside the bubble will be pleasantly surprised. Aldis should give Gunther a competitive match, but ultimately I see Gunther winning this one.

It’s funny how WWE Unreal has debuted over on Netflix and I’ve seen some comments from people saying the show proves how disorganized creatively the WWE is. Well, I’m probably being nice by saying that. As you have probably guessed by the tone of this column, the WWE is all over the place creatively. I didn’t even hit on CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes. In last week’s column I posted a link to a report RIGHT HERE on NoDQ.com about how the USA Network wanted Punk because they see him as a top star. Honestly between Punk and Rhodes…one of them needs to turn heel. Punk is so naturally a heel, it makes sense it would be him. But if the WWE really wanted to throw things up and shake em, Cody would turn heel on Punk. I know it won’t happen because the WWE makes too much money off all that Cody merchandise. You just know there is a heel dying to come out of Cody Rhodes.

Summerslam is a real test for the booking strategy of Triple H and company. If the show falls flat, what does that say for their long term planning for the rest of the year and beyond. RAW has been pretty ho-hum lately and Smackdown isn’t that far behind. I mean things can change. They always do.

On that note I am done for this week. I need to try and write more about AEW next time because being all WWE all the time can get boring. AEW Redemption is on PPV this weekend and from a wrestling standpoint it looks like it should deliver as a top notch show. As we know, wrestling isn’t AEW’s problem.

So yeah as always you can leave feedback down below, over on Twitter or e-mail me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: The Problems with Summerslam 2026 appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

So of course leave it to the WWE to telegraph Sami losing on RAW Monday night. At first they set up Cody Rhodes getting his rematch after he beat Jey Uso on Smackdown on Friday night. All weekend all we could think of was “Poor Sami”. Cody was gonna get his damn title back because of course he had to. Cody Rhodes is almost in late 2000’s John Cena mode at this point where he overcomes the odds and wins back the title. Well, luckily that didn’t happen Monday night on RAW. The WWE took a hard left at the proverbial fork in the road and decided not to put the belt back on Cody as Gunther beat him up at the start of the show and Cody ended up not being “medically cleared”.

I thought Sami Zayn got a reprieve. But no, Adam Pearce was all “I promised a championship match here tonight and that’s what they’re gonna get”. Here’s where it got stupid in my view. Around the mid point of the show, Pearce was all “I can’t find anyone to face Sami”. You mean you couldn’t find one guy in the locker room who wanted a World title match? This of course led to Nick Aldis swooping in to say he found someone and they are ready. Cut to later in the night and as Sami is in the ring, the crowd has been chanting a certain someone’s name all night since they were in his hometown. The music hits and of course it’s CM Punk.

Well that’s just great. Sami Zayn was doomed. Now don’t get me wrong, the match was pretty good. It’s just the wrong guy won. Sami Zayn did not deserve to be a short run transitional champion. Now apparently according to the very reliable Wrestle Votes over on Twitter, NBC Universal has wanted Punk on Smackdown for a while now. They view him as a premier star. Well, duh…no kidding he’s a premier star. But just because he’s a top guy doesn’t mean he needs the title belt right off the bat.

I’ve seen criticism of Sami’s loss on twitter and elsewhere and it makes sense. How come Sami had to defend his title right off the bat? Rhea Ripley has been out over a month and she hasn’t had to vacate the title. Liv Morgan hasn’t defended her title at all (at least on tv…but house shows don’t count). Point is Sami Zayn was screwed over royally.

I think the WWE is blowing a golden opportunity here mostly because of their stupid perceptions. The big one that they have is that Sami Zayn is not a money player. That is a load of you know what like you wouldn’t believe. I’m thinking back to 1994 when the WWF at the time made a similar mistake. Come back with me to Survivor Series 1994 where Mr. Bob Backlund defeated Bret “The Hitman” Hart to become the new WWF World Champion. Now of course me back then, I didn’t have the advantage of seeing things in hindsight. I’ll admit when I was at Madison Square Garden three days later for that fateful night of Backlund vs. Diesel, I was rooting for the big man to win.

In hindsight though a lot of people would argue the WWF made a terrible decision to squash Backlund in eight seconds and give the belt to Big Daddy Cool. It’s not that Diesel didn’t deserve to be champion. It’s that Mr. Bob Backlund deserved better than three days as champion. Of course his moral heel persona was way ahead of it’s time for 1994 into 1995. We’re in the same situation with Sami Zayn now having lost the title. And knowing the WWE, they will push Sami Zayn to the backside because “he’s not a money player”. So we’re going to get Punk vs. Cody…because that’s been the plan all along.

Maybe Gunther vs. Cody will delay that match for like a week, but it’s clear it’s the plan and it takes something monumental to get the WWE to pivot from one of their plans. As I’ve said in the past, I have nothing against. Cody. I just want to see something different for once. Sami Zayn was that something different. He didn’t need a super long reign. He could have held the title till Summerslam and they could have still had Punk win then.

Ah well we shall see what happens on Smackdown going forth since it’s going to be CM Punk’s show. Me personally I would keep Punk and Zayn feuding. Shift Cody to face Gunther for a while.

On the otherside of the wrestling, Kenny Omega is the AEW Champion once again having defeated MJF on Dynamite. I thought it was a pretty good match. AEW is going to go full tilt into promoting Omega vs. Osprey at All In: London at Wembley Stadium. MJF vs. Osprey would have been better from a story standpoint, but it’s AEW. We all know they care more about the wrestling action over story telling. But AEW backed themselves into a corner with the stip that Omega had to win or he would never get another World title shot in AEW again. They did that to Adam Page and he hasn’t been seen since. But Omega vs. Osprey should be an amazing match when it happens next month.

On that note I am done for this week. I wish Sami Zayn was still champion, but it wasn’t to be.

As always you can leave me feedback down below, on Twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: Sami Zayn Deserved Much Better appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

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

The post The Phantom Rant: The King of The Ring and AEW Forbidden Door all this weekend appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

In other news, I have not liked the King of the Ring tournament for the WWE so far. At first I was excited, if not perplexed by the opening matches. I thought it was old school with one on one matches. Turns out I looked at the graphics wrong and they are 4 way matches. So far Oba Femi and Dominik Mysterio and Je’Von Evans have advanced to the semi finals.

Oba vs. Dominik will be a weird match. It can only go one of two ways. Oba destroys Dom in record time or Dom uses every trick in the book to steal a win…which I’m sure would annoy people more than Oba losing to Brock at Clash in Italy. So they have kinda backed themselves into a corner with this semi-final match. Je’Von Evans just won his 4 way match against Seth Rollins, Talia Tonga & Ricky Saints. Rolls was set to win and perhaps win the whole tournament, but The Vision got involved with this match so I guess the Rollins vs. Breakker feud will continue. The final match is the only unpredictable match that I can’t predict a winner with the 4 way with Jey Uso vs. LA Knight vs. Royce Keys vs. Finn Balor. LA Knight needs a huge win here, but I don’t see that happening. I can see Finn Balor winning giving us a Finn vs. Je’Von semi-final. This whole tournament is a mess. I haven’t even got to the Queen of the Ring brackets.

Liv Morgan is inexplicably in the tournament. Rumor has it the WWE just doesn’t know what to do with her while Stephanie Vaquer is out with injury. I don’t know…me personally, I’d just find someone else for her to feud with. They seem to be putting more effort into the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (not by much though) than the Women’s World Championship. As I write this, it’s been 51 days since Liv won the title much less defended it. It’s not like they don’t have worthy challengers for her. They are just being lazy to be honest. I mean hell, I could have whipped up a gauntlet match or something for a challenger for her. But alas I’m not booking this stuff.

The Queen of the Ring is a bit more predictable at this moment with Liv winning her match and last week we saw Iyo Sky and Raquel Rodriguez qualify for the semi finals. I don’t know who will in the final quarterfinal match on Smackdown this week, but it’s clear to me they are setting up a Iyo Sky vs. Liv Morgan final. The funny thing is unless Charlotte or Jade Cargil win this final match, Smackdown will be shutout of the tournament. Same thing goes for the men’s side. If RAW does a clean sweep, in the immortal words of Jerry Reed “Well, she got the goldmine (She got the goldmine) I got the shaft (I got the shaft)” Smackdown will really be up a certain creek once again. It’s funny how Smackdown, despite having the better matches always ends up on the losing end of these sorts of things.

Now, I remember a time when the King of the Ring was prestigious damn it. You used to have three matches in one night for the winner. Now the tournament aspect is an afterthought. I like the winners getting a title shot at Summerslam, but it’s just it should be bigger. Not so rushed like it is now. So yeah I’m not excited about the prospects of either of this years tournaments. I mean for the men, unless something of monumental stupidity happens…it’s clear Oba Femi is winning the King of the Ring. We might get a Oba/Finn final (that’s my best guess for a best outcome), but this is Oba Femi’s tournament to lose at this point.

As for the Women in the Queen of the Ring tournament, as I said it’s pretty clear they will do a Liv vs. Iyo final. I would imagine Iyo would win in that case to give us Iyo vs. Rhea at Summerslam. Honestly for both of these tournaments they should have had it split down the middle. One side is RAW and one side is Smackdown. You could have still done the stupid four way matches, but at least here everything would have been even for both sides.

Smackdown really is the middle child of the WWE. Raw gets all the glory. NXT gets all the praise. Smackdown gets the leftovers and is expected to deliver. I like Smackdown (even if a three hour show can be a chore to watch). But they need more than just RAW’s leftovers to succeed. Right now like I said it looks all but certain to be a clean sweep for RAW in the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments. That’s a shame for Smackdown because they do deserve so much better than they get.

There was an interesting article on the main page of NODQ about the Road Dogg Brian James and how the WWE has become more about the money in the wrong way. Road Dogg was working on Smackdown and people would give him grief for how things were going. But honestly it wasn’t his fault. The WWE has a corporate monster above them nit picking every decision that is made. Oh sure, the WWE is making money, but at what cost? We have too many commercials during the shows. Merchandise is over priced and don’t get me started on ticket prices

The King and Queen of the Ring is just an example of the lazy booking that is plaguing the WWE. But TKO doesn’t care so long as they get that money. Hey, I’m a capitalist. So I’m all about making money. But I’d rather it would be enjoyable to watch if I’m giving my money for it.

I guess on that note I am done for this week. As always thanks for reading and if you want you can leave me some feedback down below, on Twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: The weak King & Queen of the Rings appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

The rest of the card delivered though…especially the war between Mike Perry and Nate Diaz. In another life, Nate Diaz would have been an amazing professional wrestler. He got a nasty gash on his head during the fight an tapped over a 1.0 on the Muto scale. So if your a bloodsucking freak like me who loves a good crimson mask in the worlds of Gordon Solie…check out that fight. Okay, enough with the MMA talk. Someday they’ll admit it’s a worked shoot…but that day hasn’t come yet.

In the world of wrestling, no one stays retired forever. Well, Jack Brisco did…but he was a rare acceptation to the rule. This past week on RAW, the WWE got us good when it came time for the Oba Femi open challenge. We were expecting another squash from Oba. Instead we got a squash from BROCK LESNAR. It was totally unexpected and I thought it was awesome. Brock’s “retirement” last month at Wrestlemania was seemingly perfect. But we all know The Beast wasn’t going out like that.

The one thing I don’t like about this return is it’s so painfully clear we’re probably going to see Brock get his win back. “Okay Kid, I put you over at Mania…now it’s time to return the favor”. There’s nothing wrong with someone getting their win back per say…it’s just Oba is a sure fire hit. Everyone loves doing that damn strut when he’s walking to the ring. Oba losing back to Brock Lesnar so quickly would really hurt his momentum. As we know the WWE is notorious at killing guys momentum. It is called 50/50 booking. One week you win…the next I do….after that we’re back to square one.

I’d say that’s been the WWE’s biggest problem for what’s going on decades now. They start someone hot and they pour water all over it and cool them off. The WWE would be stupid to do that to Oba because Oba Femi is what Brock Lesnar was in 2002. The rocket is fueled up. It’s time for liftoff. Now he got the big win at Mania. That’s great. But this open challenge thing just was not working. Sure it’s fun to see Oba launch someone up into the sky, but we need something with substance to keep the rocket flying.

I’m thinking back to when Brock debuted in 2002 and he was just laying waste to everyone. Yeah, he was a heel with Paul Heyman…but that didn’t matter. People liked this ass kicker and he went from rookie phenom to World Champion pretty damn quickly. I want to see the same thing happen with Oba. He needs to dispatch Brock once again and put himself in a position to win the World Championship. I really don’t want to sit through another four years of Roman Reigns as World Champion.

Speaking of Roman Reigns, the WWE has another rocket wanting to take off and that’s Jacob Fatu. I thought that at Backlash, Jacob should have won the title outright. But since that didn’t happen we need to see him win the upcoming Tribal Combat match with Roman. Is it for the title or just acknowledgment of one’s Tribal chief? Well, I just looked it up and apparently it’s for both. Jacob needs to win this match because where do he go from here if he doesn’t? The WWE always backs themselves into corners like this with people.

Seriously, what is Jacob Fatu going to do if he loses the Tribal Combat match? He has to acknowledge Roman as his Tribal Chief and he’ll have lost another chance at the World Championship. This is why Roman should have lost the title at Backlash. Jacob is screwed if he loses this match. I can’t think of any scenario where he loses and it’s a good thing for him. So I hope for his sake we see Jacob Fatu win this Tribal Combat match.

Honestly, Jacob should have stayed on Smackdown. He could have went after Cody. I mean we all like seeing Cody get mauled…so why not give the people what they want. Instead for some reason they moved GUNTHER over to Smackdown to beat up Cody. Was Jacob Fatu vs. Cody Rhodes even ever considered for post Wrestlemania? I just hate when people are shifted around in the WWE for no reason what so ever. Jacob Fatu showing up on RAW felt so random. Luckily for them though, the feud with Roman has worked and it’s gotten Jacob over even more. They just need to do something right for once and have Jacob Fatu win.

Now as for why Gunther moved over to Smackdown, supposedly (and this is just speculation)…Gunther is supposed to face Brock Lesnar in Lesnar’s real last match in his hometown of Minneapolis at Summerslam. If Gunther wins the WWE Championship at Clash in Italy, I could see him defending against Brock at Summerslam. Lesnar is a “free agent” so he can go to any show in the WWE that he feels like.

How we’ll get Gunther vs. Brock…I don’t know. What I do know is Gunther should definitely win the WWE Championship. I would much rather see Homelander Rhodes have to work his way back up than him being at the top of the mountain.

So to circle back to my earlier points, we have two rockets ready for flight. Oba Femi and Jacob Fatu are primed and ready to go. If the WWE was smart, they would hit the launch button now.

On that note I am done for this week. I think next time around I’ll cover AEW just because it’s been so long since I have and this weekend they have their Double Or Nothing PPV live in Queens, New York. It looks like a really good card and AEW has been slowly but surely regaining their footing. AEW PPV’s always over deliver so I’m sure it should be fun to watch.

As always if you want to leave feedback you can do so below, on Twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: Oba Femi and Jacob Fatu are rockets ready to launch appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

I could go super negative about the show as a whole, but there were probably a few good moments in the show. All of those were over shadowed by the main event. This whole Pat McAfee thing was trouble from the start. I get WHY the suits at TKO did it. It made for some nice corporate synergy between them and ESPN who sunk a lot of money into being the sole provider in America to carry WWE PLE’s. Thank God for VPN’s by the way…just saying. But yeah they spent a lot of money to carry the WWE and damn it they want a return on that investment. So we got Pat McAfee because he’s on ESPN.

Corporate synergy is the name of the game. I mean if you watched ESPN at all in the last two weeks you can see all the damn coverage they gave them. I’m sure it drove “real sports” fans nuts seeing all this rasslin stuff on the network…but they were just trying to make back their investment. So after all that I have to ask. TKO…was it worth it? Was it worth having one of the worst Wrestlemania main event’s in modern history? The match itself was all right, but the story is was drives the match and the story was crap.

Originally I think they were going to go with a story that Randy Orton was talking to himself. I think Orton with a Dissociative Identity disorder could have been some fun stuff to watch. It would have made perfect sense for Orton to be talking to an Alter personality rather than Pat McAfee. But alas that would take true creativity and honestly that is something the WWE hasn’t had in a long time. I know I have praised Triple H in the past for his creative vision…but I think all that praise has run out. Now I know all the McAfee stuff came from above him and he had to make due. I just don’t get how they could drop the ball. Pat McAfee is a very unlikable person. And I say that as someone who does like him. So him being a heel for this should have been easy.

Now, as I said I thought the match was all right. They took care of McAfee being a disruption right away when he tried to attack Cody only for Cody to get the upper hand and Cross Rhodes his ass. As an added bonus if you can call it that…Jellyroll magically appeared and he ended up elbow dropping McAfee through the announce table and they stretchered him out much to the delight of everyone watching. But apparently Randy Orton had an injured back (probably from carrying the load of the entire first night) or he’s really good at acting. Either way Orton was wrestling as the underdog in this match and it felt odd to be honest while watching.

I was happy when we got some blood courtesy of Randy Orton hitting the post. That was a nice little thing this match desperately needed. Later in the match Cody Rhodes got busted open the hard way with a punch over the eye and he was bleeding a ton. He also cracked open the back of his head when he went for that Super Cody Cutter only for Orton to counter it into an RKO. So I was not disappointed with the blood in the match. That’s for damn sure. What I was disappointed with was the ending when McAfee came back out in a referee’s shirt after Orton RKO’ed Lil Nat’ch. They could have stacked the deck against Cody by “corporate” making Pat a special guest enforcer before the match but again that would have taken creativity. It would have made perfect sense for him to be a referee at that point and to try and screw Cody out of the WWE title with a fast count.

But perhaps I’m just being too nice here. I really wanted Randy Orton to win and it didn’t happen. As I said in previous columns, I believe Cody is better at the chase for the title than actually being champion. But if you’ve listened to the crowd for the last few weeks, it’s clear something is turning and people are getting sick of QB1 Cody. He’s getting more boo’s than cheers and a change is needed. I think the problem is the WWE just is not comfortable with a heel being a champion that is cheered for like a face.

The WWE has always been a company where the face stands tall. The bad guy can’t win. People have to go home happy. Well who the hell went home happy after this mess last night? What made the events of last night even more infuriating was Orton taking out Pat McAfee. Does this mean Orton did a double turn. He still ended up beating up Cody Rhodes after the match and standing over him with the title in his hand…just not as the winner. I’m sure NoDQ will have plenty of updates on WHY things happened in the coming day and days, but at this moment I’m just shaking my head at what could have been.

On the plus side perhaps the rumored Backlash main event of Orton/McAfee vs. Cody/Jellyroll is now off. Or it could be worse. McAfee could want revenge and we get Orton vs. McAfee. I’m sorry I put that out into the universe just now. Let’s hope I didn’t will it into happening. My point it is they don’t know what they are doing and honestly I can’t wait till they cover all of this on Unreal just to see how they spin this mess of a show.

I can only hope night two of Wrestlemania is not this bad because if it is, I’ll have another column to write. Punk vs. Roman is a pretty straight forward I hate you…you hate me story so it’s not like it’s hard to screw that up. I still can’t believe we got such a lousy first night of Wrestlemania this year. Short matches and too many commercials. Well like I said there were a couple of positives on this show. The big one was the return of Paige where she came back to the WWE and got a Wrestlemania moment with Brie Bella as they won the Women’s tag team titles. I fully expect them to lose the tag titles rather quickly, but it was great seeing Paige back. It boggles my mind how AEW had her (like they had others who are now in the WWE) and they really did nothing with her. But AEW mess ups is for a different column and right now I am rather exhausted.

So barring anything on a colossal scale of terrible happening that over shadows even the events of this first night of Wrestlemania, I shall be back next week. Until then, thanks for reading and as always you can leave feedback down below, on Twitter or actually e-mail me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: TKO…Was McAfee Worth It? appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

We know that right now tickets for Wrestlemania are not selling like they should for a two night event. Then again how could they sell with the prices they are charging for tickets. The big money match with CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns is set. I would assume that’s the main event for night two simply because it’s the bigger match. The WWE Championship match was always going to be the lesser of the two. So I guess they had to load up the first night of the show with Cody vs. Orton. I just didn’t like how the match between Cody and Drew went.

For starters, what was up with Lil’ Nat’ch Charles Robinson during the match? At one point Cody has Drew in the figure four and Drew reaches the ropes…but Robinson doesn’t call for a break. Did I miss an announcement that this match was no disqualifications? Later Drew puts Cody through a Slim Jim table (still can’t believe they sponsor the tables). I thought for sure there would be a Dusty finish when Drew shoved Lil’ Nat’ch into the way of Cody. Second referee comes out and counts the win only for the original referee to overrule him and say Drew was disqualified. Cody gets the win…but doesn’t get the gold. It’s a time tested finish that’s been done more time then I can count.

We didn’t get that. What we got was Drew taking out the second referee only for Robinson to gather himself long enough to count the three and presto changeo Cody Rhodes is WWE Champion…again. It’s stuff like this that puzzles me about WWE Creative. Things honestly used to be simpler and more concise when Vince was in charge and Pat Patterson was the only guy bouncing ideas off him. Now there’s God knows how many people in the writers room. Before anyone says it in the comments or else where…I don’t want to see Vince McMahon back. I was just saying things were simpler back then.

There was an interesting article on the main page of NoDQ the other day about how the WWE is “listening” to online criticism. I got a good laugh from that notion. The WWE has never and I mean ever cared about what those of us in the IWC have to say. If they did the last twenty five years of the company would not have ever happened.

Compared to Vince McMahon as head booker/producer of the WWE, Triple H’s run as executive producer has been night and day. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been problems along the way. This thing with Cody having to be on top is an example of where the WWE doesn’t understand us on the internet and how we really feel. I have no problem with Cody being in the main event. My problem is just because he’s in the main event doesn’t mean he has to win it all the time.

I’ve said this more than once. The Chase is better than The Catch. It’s not just a great Motorhead song. Cody was better at the chase for the championship. It’s funny, for a company that is supposed to be so enamored with Cody’s dad…The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, they sure do the opposite of what he would do. Yes, Dusty was the top good guy and he was always chasing Ric Flair for the World Championship. But of the few times when Dusty would catch Flair and win the title, it would either be reversed quickly or he would only hold the title for a short time.

There was no reason for Cody to win the WWE Championship on Smackdown other than they have no idea what they are doing rolling into Wrestlemania. All they know is CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns is the top match. Everything else under that they really don’t care about. Sure we’re getting Liv Morgan vs. Stephanie Vaquer and Jade Cargil vs. Rhea Ripley. But aside from the four matches announced that is pretty much it. I read somewhere that they want a total of like fourteen matches for the show. Oh yeah there is Brock Lesnar with an open challenge. But that’s only like that because they don’t know what to do with Brock either.

People seem to think that we’re getting Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi at Wrestlemania. I don’t think they’re doing that. I just can’t see Brock getting squashed by Oba Femi at Wrestlemania. Brock is probably in the last year of his career and logical thinking says he’ll retire at Summerslam since it’s in his hometown of Minneapolis. That’s when we’ll get Gunther vs. Brock one would hope. That match writes itself…but they have to get there first. That’s the problem with WWE Creative in a nutshell. They have all these potential good matches. Just no way of getting there.

Now take what just happened on RAW last night. They had a women’s gauntlet match for a shot at the Women’s Intercontinental champion AJ Lee. Was this match for Wrestlemania? No it’s for next week. I don’t understand why we even had this match. Odds are Becky interferes next week in the match and it’s Becky vs. AJ Lee once again at Wrestlemania. Sucks for Bayley because she deserves a match at Wrestlemania. I’d much rather see AJ Lee vs. Bayley at Wrestlemania than AJ Lee vs. Becky again.

No offense to Becky, but her whole act bores me as much as QB1 Cody bores me. She needs some time off tv to recharge and come back fresh. At least there’s one thing going right and it’s the build for CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns. I enjoyed Punk’s promo that turned into a promo with him and The Uso’s. The Uso’s are so much better when they are being serious. Jey was all YOU BETTER APPOLOGIZE for what Punk said about Roman’s dad last week. Oh he apologized all right. Apologized for Roman and all he does in making the Uso’s look like a couple of young boys for him.

So I’m very interested in where this is all going with Punk and Roman when he shows up. I hope for the WWE’s sake on Smackdown they pull out something huge to make people care about Cody vs. Orton. Wrestling wise it should be a fine match. But who knows if they can pull it off storyline wise.

Well I guess that’s it for this week. As always you can leave some feedback down below, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: Creative Issues With WWE appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

Elimination Chamber has just finished and it was an all right show. I would have put up a column on Friday night, but the WWE decided to screw with me and they called an audible on the audible they had to call on Jey Uso winning the final spot in the chamber last Monday night. They had a chance to right a wrong and put Jacob Fatu in the chamber…but instead they went with Logan Paul. Now I’m not one of these people who’s like “Oh Logan Paul…he’s just a youtuber” I appreciate the unlikable person that he is and I think he’s a great heel. But everything that happened at Elimination Chamber could have been saved for RAW. I know…I know…we need “moments” Seth Rollins return at the Chamber was a “moment”.

Apparently Bronson Reed getting hurt on RAW threw everything into chaos and the WWE decided to call an audible and unmask the masked man on Smackdown as some random jobber (no offense to said random jobber). They had another one scale the chamber tonight as a distraction allowing Rollins to saunter in and take out Logan Paul before he unmasked himself. Now I know nothing about sports medicine so I have no idea if Seth is actually cleared to wrestle anytime soon. I guess they are hedging on Rollins being ready for Wrestlemania to face Logan Paul. Bron Breakker, I believe won’t be ready but at this point who the hell knows anymore.

The men’s Chamber match was good though and despite Logan Paul getting the lion’s share of the elimination’s in the match, thanks to Drew McIntyre trying to cost Cody Rhodes the match and failing, the final two of Cody and Randy Orton traded finishers on Drew before Orton caught Cody with an RKO OUTTANOWHERE for the win. In the original column I was writing, I had said this was Cody’s match to lose. The betting favorites had Cody winning so if he didn’t win I would be shocked. Well consider me shocked. I know Drew vs. Orton has been done before, but you now what…I am bored to death of QB1 Cody Rhodes. I know he has to be the face of the company and all, but we’re getting the same problems we had with Cody Rhodes in AEW. Cody overcomes almost all the odds and gets handed everything.

To illustrate this point, they kept making note that the chamber was the last chance Cody had to get a shot at the WWE Championship. Well, after the events of Elimination Chamber…Nick Aldis had other ideas and gave Cody another shot at the title next week on Smackdown.

I don’t expect Cody to win on Friday, but at this point…who the hell knows. Things need to change with Cody Rhodes. But they won’t. They’ll stay the same and we will be still complaining about this Cody for a long time to come. It’s like with John Cena during his prime as Super Cena about fifteen years ago (wait…even longer ago). People were begging for something to change and it never did. I fear we’ll be with this Cody Rhodes until he finally decides to sell his soul to The Rock and then it will be too late.

Okay, that Rock thing won’t happen but it would be nice to see some damn continuity.

In the other Chamber match things weren’t as set in stone with the women. It was a much more intriguing match with better possibilities for a match with Jade Cargil at Wrestlemania. Well that is until the ending when it came down to Tiffany Stratton and Rhea Ripley. I like both of them, but if I had a choice I’d rather see Tiffany vs. Jade at Wrestlemania since that is a rematch they have been sitting on for months now. But they went for the the bigger money match with Rhea. They just had her and Iyo Sky lose the Women’s tag titles on Smackdown. So I guess this was a thank you present for that run. On paper Rhea vs. Jade looks good. I mean it’s two powerful women fighting each other. I honestly can’t pick a winner in that match. On the one hand…Jade Cargil needs a long title reign. On the other Rhea hasn’t been champion in a while so she’s probably due. I’m sure it will be an interesting match to watch.

Speaking of things that was interesting to watch, we got the big reveal of WHATS IN THE CRATE at the Elimination Chamber. Unlike the betting on Cody and Tiffany winning their matches, if you bet on Danhausen debuting…you won. Yes, the worst kept secret in wrestling was finally opened as Danhausen made his WWE debut after being trapped in limbo for the last year or so of his AEW tenure. I’ll start off by saying I like Danhausen. I don’t get what the whole gimmick is supposed to be, but he makes me laugh and not everything needs to be serious in pro wrestling. From a money standpoint…Danhausen knows how to make it. Just like The Schwartz in Spaceballs, the guy has merchandised everything he could think of and with the WWE machine behind him I’m sure he’ll make a killing.

But things did not go to plan with his debut. The Chicago crowd was honestly “meh” to him and by the time he and his gaggle of dancing girls got to the ring they were loudly booing him. All I could think of in this situation was Dancin Homer on The Simpsons. Danhausen’s act works great in the small time. But this is the big time and the WWE all ready has a Capitol City Goofball in R-Truth. That might be harsh, but it’s the truth. Hopefully Danhausen can finally show off what he’s capable of. Underneath the painted face and cursing people… he actually is a decent wrestler. I mean you have to be with such an off the wall gimmick.

I just know that it’s a good thing Vince McMahon isn’t there anymore because he would take one look at Danhausen and be all WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS? Or maybe he would laugh his ass off. I’m guessing that’s how Triple H sees the gimmick. If he’s lucky, we’ll get a new Santino Marella.

On that note I am done for this week. Once again I apologize for the delay. But with the Road to Wrestlemania ramping up, we now have seven weeks before the big show. A lot can happen between now and then.

As always thanks for reading and you can leave feedback down below, on twitter or email me directly at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: Elimination Chamber thoughts and Danhausen too appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

While we might not have liked the outcome, it was the right one and I’m all for Super Villain Gunther as he destroys people. It looks like the next one they’re setting up for him is AJ Styles. AJ is looking to retire in 2026 so it would be really interesting if Gunther took him out into retirement. There’s also rumors that Brock Lesnar wants to retire next year and people are salivating at the prospect of Brock vs. Gunther potentially at Summerslam 2026. I would love to see that match if it happens and Gunther would be a great choice to retire Lesnar.

We shall see what happens in 2026 as it comes to pass. Right now I wanted to write about something a bit more serious and that’s the message that his Lordship (I’ll always call him Lord) William Regal had about necks and wrestlers on Sunday over on Twitter.

He started off by saying “I stay off here, but I was alerted to something today that has alarmed me. I don’t read any comments, so don’t waste your time trying to argue or justify your very wrong opinions on this.”

First off I wish Mr. Regal would allow replies on his twitter because the overwhelming response would be how right he is. Now, I can only assume Mr. Regal is talking about the bump that Kyle Fletcher took at AEW’s World’s End on Saturday Night vs. Jon Moxley. For those of you who didn’t see it (you should as it was a solid PPV), Fletcher and Moxley were on the top rope and Mox went for what they call a half and half suplex (I think) and upon impact landed on the top of his head and it bent a bit to the left. It was horrifying to look at first and the replay was even more horrifying. Luckily by the grace of God, Kyle was fine. But it was a huge risk to take and it wasn’t even the finals of the damn Continental Crown tournament.

Kyle Fletcher is by far one of the breakout stars of 2025 for AEW and I really hope that bump was a wake up call that you don’t need to do these stupid bumps just for likes and views online. I continue with Mr. Regal’s statement.

“I broke my neck twice — 9/93 in the ring and in a car wreck in ’97 — and stupidly never told anyone. I was taught properly how to bridge and not land on the top of my head. It’s a skill that maybe 99.9% of people don’t know or will ever learn anymore. I kept going somehow, but I knew all the tricks that, again, people don’t learn now. They just watch film and copy. After Misawa-san passed from his neck problems, I thought this nonsense would stop, but it’s gotten worse. Whenever I talk to people about doing this stuff, the response is always, ‘Well, it doesn’t hurt…’ Believe me, it will.”

For those that don’t know, Mitsuharu Misawa was a Japanese wrestler…probably one of the most important wrestlers in Japan of the 1990’s. Well I’m sure you’ve seen videos of the Ganso Bomb or the Burning Hammer. He was on the receiving end of both of those moves and it kinda became a trademark of his to land straight on his head. In 2009, decades of ring wear and abuse finally caught up to him and what should have been a simple back suplex that he did thousands of times in his career turned into something far worse. Officially the cause of his death is not known because his family asked that it not be released to the public. But it’s believed to be a cervical fracture. There’s news footage of that night and the paramedics desperately trying to revive him. Chris Hero was there was night so he saw this up front and in person. But Mr. Regal is correct. Even after Misawa died, people still drop themselves on their neck’s and head.

I look at a guy like Will Osprey and all the crazy stuff he did in Japan and now in AEW and look where it got him. He had to have the big neck surgery. Regal also mentions Bryan Danielson in his post who by his own admission has a slew of neck problems. Danielson has said in an interview that even a simple thing like traveling on an airplane is a problem for his neck because of how you sit.

“The vast majority of fans don’t know the difference between a vertical suplex and a brainbuster, and that’s a far tamer move than many I see now. I’m 57 and become less relevant every day, but fame has never been my thing. Most of you doing this STUPID stuff aren’t going to listen to me, but hopefully a few will. Stop it now if you want a decent quality of life after wrestling, because that part of your life will be over before you know it. Wrestling done right is hard enough. Broken necks or death are not something you should think is tough or cool. It’s idiotic thinking.”

Well, I for one think William Regal is still a very relevant person in Wrestling. That said everything he said in his post on Twitter was correct. If I were a wrestler, I would take his words as the gospel. It looks cool now, but it won’t be in twenty years or so when you can even turn your head to look at something. I’m being generous with saying twenty, because it could be a lot sooner for some guys with the way they wrestle. I’m looking right at you Darby Allin.

Sure, a crazy bump gets people like me in the crowd to go Holy you know what over and over. But it’s really not worth what will happen down the road. So heed Mr. Regal’s words children. And while you’re at it, stop with the damn Poisonranna. Someone is going to die someday taking one of those and that’s if they are lucky and don’t end up a paraplegic.

I guess that is it for 2025. I hope everyone enjoyed The Phantom Rant this year and I shall be back in 2026 for more takes on Pro Wrestling. I can only hope that 2026 will be a good year for everyone. If you haven’t read it all ready, check out Skitz’s extravaganza of wishes that I was glad to take a part of. I have three simple wishes for 2026 so lets see if they happen.

On that note have a good New Year’s and as usual you can leave feedback down below, on Twitter, or actually e-mail me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: William Regal is Right About Everything He Said appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

So in the last column, I was hoping for a Penta vs. Gunther final with Penta winning. I had read over and over that Gunther was the choice the WWE was going with for the final match, but sometimes they do pivot when it’s called for. Well, it’s official now with Gunther winning the Last Time Is Now tournament after beating LA Knight on last week’s Smackdown. I thought the match between them was really good. LA Knight would have made a good opponent for Cena in his last match for a number of reasons. But I can see why they went with Gunther. Gunther beat Knight by submission and as Smackdown was going off, he said he will make Cena give up and tap out.

Now that Gunther is the guy to face Cena in his last match, the question is what happens next? Do we get one last Super Cena performance? Does Gunther chop the living crap out of Cena for fifteen minutes? I think the match is going to be pretty straight forward with Cena getting beat on for a while before he makes his big comeback and everyone can be happy as he rides off into the sunset. I think that’s what everyone wants anyway. No one wants to see Cena pummeled into a heap (well, maybe a few of us do). Gunther has a lot of pressure on him to make this final match something special. I think they’ll have a decent match together. It’s just a matter of how much time it gets and how it’s laid out. I expect Cena will bust out some special moves he hasn’t done in a while. Will it be a match of year? Depends on your view of what a match of the year is.

But honestly I think the whole The Last Time is Now tournament was pretty much a bust. There could have been so many more interesting matches made for this tournament. Where were Ethan Page and Trick Williams from NXT? Both would have made good choices for tournament action. As I said in the last column, I was pulling for Penta to win. That didn’t happen. I would have been happy with LA Knight winning. But it’s clear the WWE has some sort of vendetta against him right now as they wrote him off tv this past week after a Tsunami on the roof a car by Bronson Reed.

Gunther was the safe choice to face John Cena in his last match. By safe I mean he was a choice of someone who wouldn’t over shadow Cena. The last thing they would want is someone being cheered over Cena in his last match ever. Will it be his last match ever though? I think Cena is telling the truth unlike every other wrestler ever when they said they are retiring. John Cena is pretty well set financially, so it’s not like he’ll need the money when he’s pushing 60 or something.

I admire Cena going out while he’s still in top form. Some wrestlers flame out too early and others as we know stick around well past their expiration point. John Cena is leaving at just the right time for him and I hope this final match is one for the ages. Most wrestlers don’t get to have a proper final match that they can say this was at my best. So for John Cena to bow out at this point in his career is admirable.

With John Cena gone after SNME, the big question is who will replace him in the pantheon of the WWE? A lot of the guys I’ve mentioned like LA Knight, Penta, etc…are all over 40. So them being around for another twenty years is highly unlikely. NXT has plenty of guys who could fill the role right now, but it’s a question is when they get the call up from NXT to the main roster will they be handled right? I mentioned it in the last column about Je’Von Evans and Oba Femi. Two talents who have all the tools to be main stars on Smackdown or RAW. But what happens when they get to the main roster? Is it 50/50 booking where they’re strong one week and weak the next? That’s a problem the WWE has had since John Cena’s debut over twenty years ago. They start and stop so many people that it’s impossible for anyone to gain traction.

So where will things stand in a year? I hope someone grabs for the damn brass ring that the WWE always likes to speak about. Someone needs to take the reigns and fill the void that will be left by John Cena. Now, granted…it won’t be a fast start for whomever that is. But in the long view of things we’ll see who that was down the road.

Overall John Cena will be looked at like Bruno Samartino, Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Cena’s era lasted a lot longer than others and his spot in the WWE will be cemented in stone. John Cena was the ultimate good guy and despite the heel turn everyone wanted him to do years ago being a total bust in his last year. John Cena will live on in videos, memes, and people’s hearts for generations to come.

I’m sure in the next column we’ll have a lot to discuss about how this all went. I’m sure everyone won’t be happy because who ever is totally happy? In any event that is it for this week. So until next time take care. As always you can send me feedback by leaving it below, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com

The post The Phantom Rant: Abyssinia, John Cena appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.