Tiffany’s Weekly Takes: April 12-18, 2020

Tiffany takes a look back at the week that was in the 4/19/2020 edition of Tiffany’s Takes!

This will hopefully be a new thing for me since life as an essential worker in this brave new world of the coronavirus is exhausting. This is going to be a collection of opinions, observations, rants, and ravings. So let’s see what’s going on this week.

WWE

First of all, YES, I’m going to talk about WWE, at least some of the time. I keep up with what’s going on on RAW, SmackDown, and NXT if for no other reason than few habits die harder than watching and caring about WWE for thirty years. Some of this is going to be a hodge-podge of observations that aren’t bound by this week in particular.

• I HATE the Monday Night Messiah gimmick. I’m not sure if it’s my Evangelical Christian upbringing rearing its head, or my own squeamishness, but I’m not a fan of this gimmick and I’ve loved just about every one of Seth Rollins’ gimmicks. I will note, for the record, that the Undertaker’s Lord of Darkness/Satanic gimmick is the one gimmick of his I can’t stand, so it might just be a personal inclination against religious gimmicks.
• I’m PISSED about the release of Sarah Logan since a Riott Squad feud seemed like a lot of fun.
• WrestleMania without a crowd is weird and I hope this is the only one of those we have.
• Having Becky Lynch beat Shayna Baszler with a roll through pin is bizarre.
• I am ALL for Dakota Kai staying a heel for the rest her career! Holy shit, it’s been cool!
• Using Taynara Conti, a legit black belt in Judo on top of being absolutely gorgeous, as a jobber is one of the saddest things WWE could’ve done with someone with her credentials.
• Is Candice LeRae a heel now or did her low blowing Ciampa make Gargano a face again? Also, anyone thinking Gargano and Ciampa are done with each other haven’t been paying attention.
• Money in the Bank on the roof of WWE headquarters is a TERRIBLE idea. I love Money in the Bank, but I’m not here for that.
• I’m not feeling this Otis/Mandy storyline. I’m just not.
• I know it LOOKS like WWE is FINALLY going to give us Sasha vs Bayley, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
• I’m not going to come down TOO hard on WWE for ALL the releases this week, but insisting that the released talent not compete for 90 days when almost no one is hiring or running shows, seems like an insidious way to continue to hoard talent. I know that it’s fairly common, but right now, it looks bad.
• RIP Howard ‘The Fink’ Finkel. No one could say ‘And NEW’ and ‘Hulk Hogan’ quite like you.
• I wish WWE would have a Championship History option like NJPW World has. It’s divided by titles, you click on it and it gives you  a full history of the matches in that title’s history, where and when it happened, who was involved, and a link to go to that match. It would make finding specific title matches easier to find and enjoy.

AEW

• I cannot wait to see Matt Jackson vs Nick Jackson on Being the Elite.
• Britt Baker’s heel run has been AMAZING. Been loving EVERY minute of it.
• Jon Moxley vs Jake Hager went on a little too long and really needed an audience. Two guys doing MMA stuff with no one in the crowd to appreciate it just didn’t work.
• Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho are great on commentary.
• I’m kind of sad that AEW Dark is only about 20 minutes a week, but I know they’re trying to make all the matches they taped stretch.
• I’m BUMMED about Double Or Nothing basically being cancelled as far as Las Vegas goes, hopefully things will be in a better place next year.
• I’m not sure what to think about Dustin Rhodes threatening to retire if he can’t beat Kip Sabian. I’d like to think his final match would be a bigger deal than a match in a title tournament, but in the present climate, it might just be all we get.

Miscellaneous

• I wish TNA would use this slow time to step up their uploading of their past Impact episodes instead of the slowpoke way they’ve been doing. Seriously, HURRY UP!
• I LOVE Tessa Blanchard as World Champion. Her match with Sami Callihan was FANTASTIC!
• I’m glad Ring of Honor has committed to making their entire catalog of shows available, including the PPVs, but it’s another thing I wish they’d hurry up on. I know this stuff takes time, but if you’re not running shows, use the time wisely.

That’s it for Tiffany’s Takes! Let us know if you enjoy this and I’ll be back next week.