A cocaine spectacle before AEW dolled the style up and made it an entire Tag Division out of it, five of NXT's six biggest stars brought their no-selling indie selves out of retirement for one wild night in the Performance Center, with PC pet project Velveteen Dream coming along for the wildest of rides.
A Halftime Heat entirely divorced from the famous Mankind/Rock empty arena brawl 20 years earlier, this was kept to the right side of the railings but used just about every other inch of the smaller stage available as the six raced through a 60-minute epic in just over 16.
It was f*cking mental - a match that's "must-watch" simply because it has to be seen to be believed, the babyface and heel trios just about observe character traits in between head drops and mammoth pops. On commentary, Shawn Michaels surrenders his entire legacy to the excitement of it all - not since his post-Crown Jewel interview had he sounded so happy to be retired.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
