Caught in the hinterland between Vince McMahon's departure and Triple H taking his chair, this was a show orchestrated by one and promoted by the other. And for mostly better, it showed.
Triple H has yet to prove that he can polish a turd quite as well as his Father-In-Law, and he's got some way to go if the incredible Last Man Standing main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar is anything to go by. Reflecting on that with any happiness at all seemed impossible when the graphic dropped - no paring in wrestling was as tired as this one - but a tractor tipping the ring half into the f*cking sky was as absurd a visual as has ever been crafted in wrestling, and WWE presented itself wisely as the only place insane enough where such a thing could occur.
Elsewhere, the hope of a new dawn under 'The Game' was realised in a thrilling post-match angle following Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair's superb WrestleMania sequel. Lynch returned to the babyface side in defence of her now-former Rival, Bayley returned from injury, Dakota Kai returned from the unemployment line and Io Shirai was called up from NXT and dropped directly into what looked like a main event angle. It wasn't to be, but we didn't know that then.
Beyond the huge bookending scenes, Logan Paul and Pat McAfee both shone in midcard matches that would have cancelled lesser stars out by virtue of their proximity to one another, and The Usos and Street Profits brought some finality to their longstanding feud in a choice outing since forgotten due to the great match churn wrestling gleefully provides.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
