A lot of fans really need to accept that CM Punk is a character and that whilst Phil Brooks is likely more progressive than most people in WWE if he wants to be a top guy there he’s gotta be a company guy and work Saudi Arabia. Every blood money jibe is earned though and he’s gotta take them

Friday 5x5, taken before I listened to the new Turnstile album and spend the next week listening to nothing but that

Seeing all the videos from Bloodaxe fest has pretty much confirmed I’m going back to Japan to go to that fest next year, looks so insane. Also discovered View From The Soyuz in these videos and they’re about to become a new favourite of mine

The funniest part about the latest UKHC drama is it’s all over the most nothing band. Like I’ve listened to Blade and I couldn’t tell you a single thing about their music. Almost like they just wanna generate controversy cos they’ve got nothing else going on

Friday 5x5, it’s been another Poison The Well week

One of the best shows of the year though, just a showcase of everything AEW does that WWE can’t. Mania was WWE showing what AEW can’t do in terms of scale and celebrity but when the bell rings it’s just a different game

Gonna have to watch that back at not 5am when I’m really tired but that closing stretch was incredible and I honestly had no idea what way it was gonna go

Also for a cooldown match between Anarchy in the Arena and the main event that trios match was really solid. All 6 guys busted their ass off and the post match was stuff was fun

Yes please give me Fletcher v Tanahashi at forbidden door

SEEK MEEEEEEEEEEE CALL MEEEEEEEEEEE

Anarchy in the Arena once again lived up to its name. Just insanity from start to finish I couldn’t stop smiling, this is why I love wrestling

DROWNING POOL POP

Toni v Mina was great, no doubt about who was winning given the all in match but still really enjoyable. Mina has already felt like such a great addition to the women’s roster

Okada intercepts Bailey!! #AEWDoN ➡️ allelitewrestling.com/aewonppv

Maybe not a total lock in from Okada but still one of his best AEW matches so far. Him and speedball worked so well together and that dropkick spot for the finish was insane

Anyway Okada please lock the fuck in against Speedball

For what was the least interesting match on the card, hurt syndicate v sons of Texas was still surprisingly fun. Inessential but certainly not bad

Legit contender for best stretcher match, outstanding work from both Briscoe and Ricochet playing their roles to perfection and delivering so much great action and memorable spots. And an elite blade job from Briscoe

Nah Mark Briscoe polishing Ricochets head was a 10/10 spot, this match rocks

This heel turn has completely revitalised FTR, nice story to the match of them taking out Nigel and leaving Garcia isolated. Really strong heel work from them to help elevated a solid tag match

Banger opener from Mercedes and Hayter there that genuinely felt like it could go either way, great stuff from both women

Friday 5x5

World leaders can make as many statements as they like opposing Israel's actions in Gaza. Until they end the sale of weapons to Israel, they remain complicit in the mass murder of Palestinians. Stop arming genocide, now.

CINEMA

Mission Impossible on the big odeon screen time

Gonna take a few more listens to fully settle on how I feel but what a swing by The Callous Daoboys. This is the sort of thing that deserves attention

5x5 for the last 7 days, Scowl can’t be stopped

Seeing people go crazy for reheated Fightstar leftovers mixed with a low effort Sleep Token gimmick. God the current landscape for alternative music is looking bleak

If I still used twitter my current description of Sleep Token would have hit over there

So rubbish that this is what passes for a PPV now, these matches would feel middling on your average Raw

Friday 5x5, will Scowl ever not make it into this

Off to watch Blow Your Brains Out okay their first ever UK show. Didn’t expect to see them again so soon after that Tokyo gig but so glad they’ve been able to come over here

That’s my complaints about wrestling done. Time to kick off my first festival of 2025 with Incineration

There’s always something so gross about WWE boasting their record profits after a Wrestlemania they charged fans thousands for to then follow up a week later by firing a load of people cos budget cuts. And watching the mental gymnastics from people trying to absolve Triple H of blame is laughable

Thunderbolts has given me some hope for the MCU becoming actual movies again, I’m sure it won’t last but hey I’ll enjoy the moment. And we should all thank Florence Pugh and her Russian accent

Friday 5x5, I didn’t forget this week

Early stages with both but initial reactions to the 2 massive metal albums released today are Ghost album is great and Machine Head album is ass. Also having lived with it a few weeks the Employed to Serve album has grown on me loads and it’s great

Fun match but over way too quickly, more adverts and entrances than wrestling

Which corporate officer was Stephanie McMahon again?

The 45 minute hardcore set truly is unbeatable, especially when 25 of those minutes are Wake The Dead in full

Nah this is complete ass (not you Jacob and Knight) and I’m feeling more dead than the crowd in that stadium, I’m off to bed

That was a bad opener, Jey Uso is insanely over but the match just did nothing. Cannot blame Gunther for not bothering to show up

Best thing from the hall of fame

Triple H saying the internet isn’t real and don’t be a critic followed by giving Melo the participation trophy is a great bit. Most terminally online booker ever

5x5 for the last week including the new XweaponX that came out this morning. Big up those first 2 Poison the Well albums

Hilariously bad PR weak for WWE with Nick Khans were the underdogs, Triple H’s Trump generates heat / don’t ask questions just consume product and now this from Roman. None of it is surprising and it won’t damage them at all but like did they just all agree to publicly shit themselves

Once again, Takeshita is the best wrestler in the world right now. NJPW should be doing everything they can to make him their guy

Also like I have long made peace with the fact most of US professional wrestling is deeply republican, but again just trying to downplay what Trump is doing as generation heat is legitimately fucked

WWE has been pushing more right wing / MAGA content gradually over the past few months and this is the most mask off moment

Describing what Trump is doing as generating heat is insane. Throwing around wrestling buzzwords to downplay how fucked up things are