Toni Storm is going to be one of the most over babyfaces inside Arthur Ashe Stadium next week, and looking at the ticket advances, the show’s gonna need the noise she brings.
Her victory and performance wasn’t enough to drag a mostly-heatless and sloppy Number One Contenders match over the line, but it must always be said that the wrestlers involved in matches for this division are only ever half to blame at a maximum. Here, they can shoulder some for a couple of timing issues during the multi-woman spots and Baker not really connecting at the all-important conclusion.
Beyond that, the booking can yet again be held to account. The Hikaru Shida/Britt Baker tension feels manufactured and has twice now been deployed illogically. When they were tag partners, Shida raged at Britt not tagging her in. As opponents, she raged despite Britt not tagging her in the face with a kick. The latter made ‘D.M.D’ look gullible too, especially when she took the brunt of something resembling a beatdown from her former friend afterwards.
That whole scene was all a bit of a mess too, and wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t helped by…
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
