Like many wrestling fans, I’ve been horrified to see the many stories and allegations that have been told by women, men, and non-binary wrestlers alike during the #SpeakingOut movement. When you’re a younger wrestling fan, you tend to look at things like you do in comic books. The bad guys take advantage and often cheat to win. One day, the good guy comes and overcomes everything and we cheer and celebrate. When you get older, the veil starts to come down a bit. You still see some of the beauty,

Welcome to the first edition of the Thursday Morning Headlock. Let’s discuss some NXT, AEW, and whatever comes to mind in the wrestling world — shall we? NXT Tag Picture Logjam: The Breezango v. Imperium match was solid. Fandango was the star of the match. The ending came off a little sloppy, but I did not foresee Imperium giving up the titles just yet. The men’s tag team division is pretty full. You have Indus Sher, Lorcan/Burch, Breezango, and Imperium. Another interesting, seemly random pai

The best thing that the NXT television edition did for me was to get me excited about the brand’s future. One of the prevailing criticisms of the black and gold is that wrestlers often overstay their welcome. To the point, where they often lose the shine that they grow into. NXT’s cupboard is full — while that may be a good problem to have from a personnel standpoint, it’s bad for the talent. However, post-In-Your-House, we have some intriguing storylines in place that will lead us into Summersl

Connections are an essential backbone when it comes to human lifespans. We crave it. We can’t live without it. With connection, there are things like love and friendship. These are both instances that help our lives gain meaning and purpose. In the age of social distancing, digital connections are more apparent and vital than ever. Zoom, Facetime, Instagram Live - you name it. It’s all we have at the moment. A temporary substitution to being physically together again. I would bet any amount of m

On May 23rd, 1999, I did what I always did when a Sunday night wrestling pay-per-view came on. I begged my parents to use their special cable box to watch. That night was then named WWF’s Over The Edge. If you’re a wrestling fan, these men and women personify something larger than life. Our suspension of disbelief becomes enabled when we start veraciously cheering for the hero to conquer the villain. On this particular night, it was Stone Cold Steve Austin somehow beating the odds against the Un

At Summerslam 2018 at the Barclays Center in New York, Becky Lynch took out her long-building frustration on Charlotte Flair at the end of their triple threat match. If you’ve been a long time wrestling fan, you’d come to expect the quintessential “why I did it” promo the night after. Easy money, right? Lynch, the then presumptive ‘heel’ But as Lynch tried to turn on the fans, the fans in the crowd wouldn’t allow it. They cheered her from the beginning of her walk to the ring to the end of the p

The end of the first episode of The Last Ride showed a limping, weathered Mark Calloway walk down the locker room ramp after his Wrestlemania 33 match with Roman Reigns. Anybody who watched that match and saw the ceremonious “gear in-ring” and fist raised thought it was the end. Even though it may not have been his best, he did what he could to leave all that he had in Orlando, Florida. When it comes to sports, we wish for our heroes to have the elusive ‘fairy-tale’ ending. Where the old wester

AEW Dynamite is live again and we get two NXT-Takeover-like championship matches. Here are some notes on both the shows": • None First off, it’s good to finally have an actual show that has some Double Or Nothing II consequences to it. These were hitting a constant ‘WWF Superstars’-Esque formula for a bit. Major match - couple squashes - then a major match. The ongoing pandemic has seemingly thrown everything into creative and logistical disarray — but AEW has a PPV in three weeks. Let’s get to

SCU vs. The Dark Order (The Buy In): This was a fine tag match mostly serving to progressing the storyline. Who is the Exhalted One? Well, rumors pointed to Matt Hardy, but his contract is not up until tomorrow. The delete is not free. Colt Cobana got a nice pop and Chris Daniels did a nice tease coming to the defense of his SCU partners. For some reason, this match didn’t really get into second gear for me. Chalk it up to it being Jake Hager’s first match in a long time (last match was August