In NJPW, WWE escapee KENTA turned on friend and mentor Katsuyori Shibata to join Bullet Club as his shocking G1 Climax came to an even more shocking conclusion, but the payoff between those two hasn't come in time for Wrestle Kingdom, so will it come at all? Meanwhile, AEW delivered the predictable (in the best way) MJF switch at Cody's expense, but many posited that it actually came too soon - a feeling confirmed somewhat by how they've faltered on the immediate follow-through.
Kai's brutal assault of tag team partner, best friend and WarGames comrade Tegan Nox was perhaps the biggest booking victory of NXT's entire year. Both the New Zealander and Welsh star had lost time to injury before post-Summer returns, and had tagged together in a spirited loss to The Kabuki Warriors to establish that they at least had each other as support through testing returns to the ring. It all changed in plain sight whilst everybody else looked another way.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 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 over 70,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast.
He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and 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. 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.
