Rassle Inn #7

Good Friday Christ, there has been a lot of wrestling in the last four days alone.  I wanted to let it cool off before I wrote about some of it, but I couldn't even do that properly.  NXT starts in approximately 18 minutes.  Eh, I'm not expecting anything groundbreaking to happen.  So where do I want to direct my attention?  Fuck if I know!  I have way too many scattershot opinions on all things WWE, NXT, and AEW.  Should I...enumerate?  In?  List?  Form?

1) Pat McAfee proved me right.  The guy knows what he is doing in a squared circle.  The right person won, but what now?  I seriously doubt that this is the last we've seen of McAfee on NXT programming.  Here is a better question - what's next for Adam Cole?  Vince (with the much-needed help of his son-in-law) has, in effect, created his own territory system.  In the olden days, Cole would ditch this whistle-stop and traverse to the next promotion.  I don't see him winning the NXT strap again.  Is his future tinted in red or blue?  Speaking of which...

2) Poor Keith Lee.  Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Vince McMahon?  Why change his catchy, memorable entrance music?  Why change his fucking ring gear?  It's too soon to cry burial, but at least give me a reason to be optimistic.

3) Cody versus Mr. Brodie Lee was the most indelible match/segment of the entire weekend.  It's obvious that they are taking the defibrillator route with The Dark Order in the hopes that we will forget the bulk of their peculiar anti-push.  I'm on board.  My only gripe has to do with the way they are presented on television.  If you watch Being the Elite, AEW's YouTube "vlog" show, The Dark Order is a source of hilarity.  It's basically Bizarro World.  I get that it's 2020 and kayfabe has checked out, but why can't wrestling try to maintain a semblance of realism?  I watch BTE.  I dig it.  And yet, I can't help but think it hurts the product more than it helps.

4) More Anna Jay, please.

5) This fucking Retribution shit.  Is there a point?  Will this angle ever progress?  Has Vince decided on the group's membership?  They should have been shepherded by Roman Reigns, and the reveal should have closed SummerSlam.  That would have been an actual plot twist that most fans would not have seen coming.

6) Give Asuka a raise.  Not just a great worker, but a great workhorse.  Isn't that a Meltzer award?

In a few moments (perhaps several), I'm going to retire to my torpidity cubicle and watch tonight's edition of NXT.  I'll simply go ahead and review it now.  Io Shirai was splendid!  I give it 133 out of a possible 145 tests of strength.