Opinion
Mitchell’s Wednesday Night War Phase 2 Review!
WrestleMania Week marks the end of Phase 2: New Year’s to April Fools’ Day!
The Wednesday Night War rages on!
Phase 1 was a great start, and it continued into the New Year! But now with WrestleMania 36 being “too big for one night” and AEW adjusting to global circumstances, let’s take a look back at the last three months! How did both companies do from New Year’s Day to April Fools’ Day?
Well first, a look back at Phase 1.
AEW did incredibly well for the new promotion on the block, but NXT earned its spot as WWE’s third brand.
PHASE 1 SCORE GRAPH

PHASE 1 FINAL SCORES: NXT – 9.11; AEW – 9.08
As you can see, it was neck and neck, with NXT only pulling out victory because of their inclusion in Survivor Series season and going above and beyond during those crazy circumstances. Hopefully everyone recalls the situation after that particular Saudi Arabia event where the SmackDown superstars couldn’t return in time (apparently that retroactively counts as a hostage situation?) and so NXT stepped up! NXT shined bright that Friday Night and even brighter for both WarGames and Survivor Series. In fact, NXT took over Survivor Series with a winning record that night.
Now, to Phase 2!
Because AEW took the Christmas holiday off, I exempted NXT’s parallel episode, so the #HappyHolidaysNXT episode doesn’t count to any score. By the way, that episode only got an 8.5/10.
PHASE 2 SCORE GRAPH

PHASE 2 FINAL SCORES: NXT – 9.01; AEW – 9.22
TOTAL PHASE 1 & 2 SCORES: NXT – 9.06; AEW – 9.15
Phase 2 Analysis
Well NXT definitely had some lower lows in this phase. Ironically, NXT didn’t take Christmas off but they sure went easy on New Year’s Day. That was the End of the Year Awards for 2019 episode, which with just match replays and award ceremony promos, was like a precursor to the pandemic days we’re going through. The more recent drop towards 8/10 was the very first NXT after the pandemic started. It was an episode of just promos, but good promos, which kept it afloat out of the high 7’s. But they’ve also been able to rebound a bit, with just last night giving us that literally TakeOver level Triple Threat for the NXT North American Championship.
Now NXT still held strong in the middle, with TakeOver: Portland being a separate event and truly shocking me with how great Worlds Collide could be. Of course, it helps when it’s NXT VS NXT UK, two halves of a great brand under Triple H and Shawn Michaels. And I loved that it gave the NXT Cruiserweight Championship some real crossover cred as it now belongs to Jordan Devlin of NXT UK. When the world returns to normal, I hope we get even more of that. I’ve always said that the WWE should’ve handled the Cruiserweight Division differently than they have, and HHH started the groundwork for that here.
Meanwhile, AEW just kept going strong no matter what. New Year’s Day was a great episode, the build to what would’ve been Blood & Guts has been great, and even in needing to delay Blood & Guts hasn’t slowed AEW down. In fact, their adjustments to the pandemic shut-in orders have also worked very well, in that almost nothing changed. Unlike the WWE with Raw and SmackDown replaying old matches, AEW kept giving us new matches and material. They still gave us the debuts of The Exalted One, Brodie Lee, and BROKEN DAMASCUS Matt Hardy to keep stories on pace. Kenny Omega alone gave us great material, from defending the AAA Mega Championship to having a great singles match with Trent Baretta. AEW Dark gave indie stars great opportunities in a time when those independent promotions had to shut down because nothing else (WrestleMania particularly) was happening.
AEW also fast-tracked their midcard championship, the TNT title, and the tournament will keep things going despite the limits on the size of groups that can gather. They’re also still keeping Blood & Guts alive. Between Chris Jericho and Matt Hardy going back and forth in promos to using the Young Bucks’ recovery as a story, there is still plenty of new and original material to fill for time when they can only have so many people in one place.
Phase 2 Conclusions
That .11 gap for this phase is definitely indicative of how the two companies operate. NXT being WWE, a publicly traded company, they have to let on the gas at some points because of stockholder concerns of the general public. At the same time, NXT can afford to let up a little after riding so high. AEW keeps riding high because they’re not beholden to stockholders. They’re also the new show so they need to keep going to stay strong, but also have talent that is motivated to do anything and everything to keep fans entertained. NXT takes phase 1, AEW takes phase 2, and AEW is leading overall with that 9.15 compared to NXT’s 9.06. But just the fact both shows are still riding in the 9’s, you can’t take anything away from either one.
Phase 3 Preview
Well, a lot of this will be determined by the world’s circumstances. The stretch on the calendar is still going to be the next thirteen weeks, from 4/8/2020 to 7/1/2020. This will bring both shows firmly into the Summer, and then Phase 4 perfectly fits into the lead up to AEW Dynamite’s 1 year anniversary in October. Both shows will be just fine for the start of Phase 3 with NXT rolling out more of what would’ve been on TakeOver: Tampa, and AEW having a NO HOLDS BARRED AEW World Championship match of Moxley VS Hager. The real concern is that hopefully this coronavirus pandemic stops being a pandemic, and stops being something that freezes so many of us with fear so that we can finally have FILLED Arena episodes of everything again!
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Opinion
Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions,
The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight.
This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail.
The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions.
After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama
gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania.
It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company.
We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!
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Opinion
Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call.
Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story.
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line.
In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years?
Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus.
I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?
Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!
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Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)
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