Life threw a few painful curve balls at me last summer, so it's taken me a while to get back to this series, BUT! Here is the second time Kevin and Adam Cole shared the ring, at Ring of Honor Underground, in January 2012!

HHH in the background smirking as Dom's music hits...

Rhea and Iyo's entrance: cute, or the cutest ever? Discuss.

Charlotte and Asuka have such great chemistry in the ring together. That counter from the Natural Selection into the Asuka Lock was so smooth!

Ilja Dragunov's got a hella crisp enzuigiri... (Also note the ref doing his job of providing background emotional impact to a move!)

Oh, those loud "SAMI" chants do my heart good! It's so great to see him back out in front of the audience once more...

Sami's glance certainly appears to define what he considers "better days."

Ilja Dragunov is kind of the ultimate in sheer stubborn cussedness--hurt him all you like, he's just going to hang on even tighter.

Yes! More playlists of wrestling to watch, to supplement cool new histories! MOAR!

It must be so satisfying to deliver a line like this and know that you've played a major part in making it true. 🤍

Yes, we can have little a skanking Sami, as a treat.

This was seconds into the match for the US championship and was a pretty good sign of the intensity these two were going to bring.

Sign of the Night on Raw this week, as far as I'm concerned. 💚

Thank you so much! That’s everything I’ve ever hoped to get across, I’m so thrilled to hear that. 🥹

Fantastic news! You’ve made my day! (And I hope you like it!)

Dom gets hurled into a table with a majestic grace (he even throws in a bonus swoon at the end!)

The upcoming Tokyo show I'll be attending has Shinsuke teaming with Jey Uso on the card, which mystified me until last Smackdown and seeing him come charging back to fight the heels (and maybe even try to assist Sami!)

Sami's face when he hears the opening bars of "The Rising Sun" and realizes Nakamura is about to accept his challenge!

Iyo's suicide dive is one of the most terrifying in wrestling.

Bronson making sure to stagger to the right spot to get planted squarely on the STOP sign was a nice touch.

The Perth crowd popped so hard for Seth destroying the Prime display that he almost became babyface again for a second.

Usually I appreciate wrestlers radiating terror through a move, but here Black's blankness is perfect--the lights are on but nobody's home, he's just kind of confused at finding himself flying through the air.

When I think about how Sami fans went for *years* wondering if we'd ever see his Arabian Press again, and now we see it almost every week... 😭

I love a matchup between a passionate and a cerebral wrestler, it just makes for a great bell-to-bell story. The way Sami comes at him wildly while Black's all cool and collected!

This match really showcased one of Sami's greatest skills, that of getting dramatically destroyed in the ring.

Jimmy playing the Greek chorus in the background--he knows being drawn into Roman's orbit again is unlikely to lead to anything good for Jey's psyche.

Giulia's got an excellent Evil Laugh™.

Sami's pleased smile as he realizes Je'Von Evans has arrived to challenge him for the US title.

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"

It's a bit underrated compared to the Blue Thunderbomb, but don't sleep on Sami's Michinoku Driver, which is the perfect balance of graceful and brutal.

I thought Carmelo and Sami had great chemistry, as shown in snappy spots like this takedown.

I know it's probably just an unanticipated side effect, but I really want to believe that Jimmy knew he was holding up that table and deliberately let it sag down to accentuate the three-count.

Gotta say, AJ Lee's form when taking the Manhandle Slam is crisply immaculate.

Blue Thunderbomb Gets the Pin Count now stands at 4! (twice against Styles, once against Miz, once against Hayes) Admittedly with a short-range Helluva Kick before to soften the opponent up, but it's a wonderful thing to see him get the win with one of his most beautiful moves.

A Sequence of Ominous Hugs, by Bayley (I really like how pulling in her old character is being used to make her look unstable and unnerving--and how everyone seems equal parts delighted and disturbed by getting hugged).

Sami stops by NXT for the first time in a decade to give Je'Von Evans a pep talk--and from the look Je'Von gives that US title, I wouldn't be too surprised if he showed up for one of Sami's open challenges in the future.

Underdog No More [Thread] I mentioned this briefly earlier, but I wanted to expand more on the way this match with Fenix represented something new for Sami: a pacing and structure that positioned him as the dominant wrestler against the scrappy underdog.

Sami's triple-arm-drag sequence is always a joy to have on my screen.

A weary but radiant Sami Zayn celebrates his victory over Rey Fenix. This match was fascinating to watch because it made me feel like this title run is an exercise in establishing Sami as not-underdog: he was definitely framed in fighting-champ terms by the match.

Assuming this was a missed spot (which I guess we could debate, but I feel like it was) I'm always endlessly impressed with great wrestlers' ability to seamlessly improvise something to keep the flow of the match going.

Cena paying tribute to his most respected opponents that he can't face again on this final run, like Edge and Angle... then pulling out Kevin's pop-up powerbomb specifically in a match with Sami... still has me all up in my feelings.

I know Cena is kind of infamous for obviously calling audibles, but as a person who enjoys glimpsing the nuts and bolts of a wrestling match I often enjoy that--like here, where you can see Cena take in the "RKO" chants and decide on the fly to work one in with Sami.

Lyra Valkyria showing off some impressive core strength as she pulls off a sunset flip to Raquel!

I really liked the way Sami took Cena's GTS here--that recoil!

Seth and Becky selling their little heelish hearts out for AJ Lee's return. 🖤

The Kabuki Tango with Kairi Sane and Asuka!

This match was actually full of moments of wrestlers 100% committing to their own annihilation.

Seth Rollins and CM Punk's differences are many, but I believe in this moment we can glimpse one thing they have in common: a disdain for Logan Paul's Prime bottle and a desire to cause its destruction.

I always have a lot of admiration for wrestlers whole-heartedly following through on moves that are going to be thwarted (and possibly hurt quite a bit!)

Indigo link for Canadians who may not want to use Amazon: www.indigo.ca/en-ca/fight-...