A confession here - your writer is choosing to trust consensus over his own thoughts on the micro-bloodbath between Finn Bálor and Kyle O'Reilly.
On initial viewing, it felt heavy at 28 minutes with an uneven and half-told story with finishing sequence that seemed to suffer as a result. The stiffness came at a cost with both awaiting injury updates, and much of the narrative felt swallowed up by the Ridge Holland/Adam Cole angle at the end. It was a better watch the second time around, and in the interest of balance, the online response to it was overwhelmingly positive.
They hit really f*cking hard (and might have paid the physical price), worked at an exhausting and physically remarkable level from bell to bell, and had a match that was - at very least - worthy.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. 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 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
