It's a head-to-head (sorta) weekend in the wrestling business on Saturday, with both WWE and AEW putting on PPV events. Of course AEW had this date booked months in advance and WWE decided to try and cockblock them because their product doesn't have the momentum it had 18 months ago. Thus they threw together this little number out of nowhere and even half-assedly resurrected the name Wrestlepalooza from a now-defunct promotion they bought during the first year of the Dubya administration. Hey guys? The whole "palooza" thing isn't relevant anymore. Hasn't been in decades. 'Course if you've taken a look at this lineup it does feel a bit like a late 90s WCW show.
This will be the first WWE PPV broadcast via ESPN+ and supposedly if you have cable or YouTubeTV you get to watch it for free, but apparently that part hasn't been sorted out yet. I can't wait to hear about all the pissed-off cable viewers who either didn't get to see it or had to pay the thirty bucks. For the record I will not be going back to spending $30 to watch a WWE PPV. Not now, not ever. There are some potentially good matches on this card but the main event isn't one of them. More on that in a bit...
Side note: Zero black wrestlers on this show.
Women's World Championship: IYO Sky vs. Stephanie Vaquer
Welp, that whole Naomi push went up in smoke in a big hurry, didn't it? Naomi announced a few weeks ago that she's pregnant, so they had to cancel her scheduled match with Stephanie and vacate the title. This should easily be the best thing on this show, like by a lot. Both of these women are far too talented to wrestle for a promotion that doesn't value good wrestling.
Pick: I think Steph wins her first main roster gold, and then she probably won't be seen again on PPV until the Rumble. Nor will IYO.
The Usos vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
This match should also be good, as Breakker is a helluva hand and while Jey and Jimmy Uso aren't really any good as singles wrestlers, they're a fine tag team. I think the Seth Riders probably win here to keep building their credibility.
Pick: Bron & Bron
CM Punk & AJ Lee vs. Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch
Watching WWE drones gush over AJ's return like it's 2011 and The Rock just came back has been quite the embarrassing proposition. Guys, AJ was good and all, but she wasn't a major draw in 2013-14 at the top of a terrible women's roster, what makes you think she's gonna move the needle now? Seth and Becky will do their damnedest to make this match good but since AJ hasn't wrestled in a decade and Phil can't run the ropes anymore without gassing, I dunno how solid it'll be. I'm sure it'll be rife with fucking "cinema." Gag....
Pick: Mr. & Mrs. Brooks
WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre
For the second time recently crowned WWE Champion Cody Rhodes has no credible challengers to work with. Drew is a very fine talent but he's lost every major feud he's been in since 2021. He's right up there with AJ Styles and Kevin Owens in the Damaged Goods Club. This match should be very good but there will be very little crowd heat since they aren't in France and there's no suspense over who's winning.
Pick: Cody retains
John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
Oh good, we're getting a rerun of a match from eleven years ago that won't be anywhere near as good, featuring a sex trafficking accessory. Lemme lay it out for ya: Brock shoves Cena into a corner and shoulderblocks him a buncha times, German suplex, German suplex, German suplex, pause, German suplex, German suplex, F5, kickout, shocked reaction from Lesnar, German suplex, German suplex, F5, kickout, shocked reaction, F5 attempt, Cena escapes, Attitude Adjustment, AA, AA, kickout, shocked reaction from Cena, AA attempt, counter into F5, kickout, F5 attempt, Cena hits an AA off the second rope, pin. Stop letting Paul Heyman book these shitty matches.
Pick: Cena
I'm not sure how much running this show will hurt AEW's buyrate, especially since AEW moved All Out to 3pm eastern and will no doubt run the show long so it cuts into WWE's start time. I'm leaning toward this show not having that big an effect and I think even if AEW ran head-to-head they'd still have topped 100k buys. How many diehard AEW fans are really gonna skip an AEW PPV to see Cena vs. Brock for the thousandth time? Anyway, someone can let me know how this show is, I won't be watching it.
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