A worthy and physical offering, Liv Morgan and Carmella made so so much more of the reduced role WWE gave them.
The former SmackDown Women's Champion cut a promo before the match that reeked of the usual risible old-dudes-scripting-young-women energy hanging around WWE like a bad stench at the moment, but the in-match trash talk was infinitely better than the planned verbiage.
It genuinely built acrimony between them, and the crowd were totally on the hook by the end. Fans completely bought into the fistfight towards the end and lost their sh*t further for Thesz press/enziguri/stomp three-fer from the former Riott Squad member. The near falls flowed, the volume continued to increase, and Morgan's victory actually felt like it mattered!
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
