2020 – Page 11 – The Strong Style Smark

AEW Double or Nothing 2020: Every Match Ranked

Double or Nothing and the first full year of AEW shows is in the bag! All-in-all, I thought it was a pretty good show.

It definitely wasn’t the best show AEW has put out so far though, and there were a few matches on this card that didn’t live up to my expectations, but there was also a hell of a lot to enjoy. Even the matches that I’m about to say I didn’t like still have some sort of redeeming quality to them that made it an enjoyable watch. This show didn’t give us any kind of paradigm-shifting swerves or story developments. Still, a lot of the stories going into it progressed or concluded satisfyingly, and the excitement for what we’ve got in front of us going forward is pretty high.

Also, entirely unrelated, but following my predictions article, I only managed to pick the outcome of TWO out of NINE matches correctly. Which, even by my standards, is abysmal.

Still, let’s rank these matches.

9 – Dustin Rhodes def. Shawn Spears

Welp, there goes Shawn Spears being treated like a threatening heel.

I really don’t understand the point of this one. I get it on the level that it’s a little bit of comedy to break up the show a bit, but at the cost of a guy like Spears? Really? Throughout this whole show, it became evident that this PPV was designed to be a big happy celebration of AEW’s first year. Although apparently part of that process was taking any credibility Spears had built up as a heel to this point and tearing it to the ground.

I know that anyone can be built back up with the right booking, but it’s going to take him a while to live down being the guy who had his bare ass spanked by the former Goldust while wearing underwear with Tully Blanchard’s face on the front. The real kicker here was that I didn’t even think it was funny, it was very much not my the style of the comedy that I enjoy.

8 – Kris Statlander def. Penelope Ford

This was a match that had the unfortunate distinction of being changed with very little notice. So, while it may not be the fault of the competitors necessarily, the fact that they didn’t really get a chance to prepare for each other in this one showed.

I’m still not buying into Statlander after this. I just don’t understand her gimmick. It seems like a nice kind of quirky, but it doesn’t exactly have anything tangible other than commentary making a bunch of space/sci-fi jokes whenever she’s in the ring. Nothing about her performance screams “alien” to me. The nose-boop is the closest it gets, but that’s not exactly the most exciting of gimmick moves.

Other than that, there was a lack of chemistry between the two of them. The action was fine for the most part, but there were a couple of awkward moments where neither woman seemed quite sure what to do, although admittedly, they were fleeting. Ultimately, I don’t think this should’ve made the card. This was an almost 4-hour show, and while I understand why Baker’s involvement would justify a PPV match, once she was gone, this should’ve been bumped to Dynamite to save us some time here.

7 – Best Friends def. Private Party
(Winner becomes #1 contender for AEW Tag Team Championships)
(Buy-in)

I don’t know if it’s just me, but pre-show matches always feel like they have lesser energy than matches on the main show. That’s really what I felt this match was lacking: energy. Despite all of the cool looking flips and dives, the whole match felt a bit drained for excitement and drama.

The lack of a face/heel dynamic in this one seemed to be one of the key sticking points that made this suffer. It’s not always required – Omega & Page vs The Bucks from Revolution proved that – but given that there was basically no story going into this one, a face/heel dynamic was the only thing that would’ve given me some form of investment in the action. They tried a bunch of the classic tag match spots: the crawling for the hot-tag, the one team dominating a large portion of the match and keeping the other guy away from his corner. They all fell flat though because I had no reason to root for either team over the other. I’m not saying one team had to be a heel team, but there have been plenty of cases in the past in face vs face matches where one team has heeled it up slightly more than usual for the sake of making a compelling story.

Still, there was stuff to like about this match. A lot of the flashy offence was fun to watch, even if it lacked substance and I think the right team won. It definitely wasn’t a match that I hated by any stretch of the imagination and sure blows most WWE pre-show matches out of the water, but there was a lot that put me off about it.

6 – Cody def. Lance Archer
(TNT Championship)

This was a good match…however it was also a bit of a disappointment if you ask me.

First, the good stuff, mostly the middle section of the match. From about the 8-minute mark all the way through to roughly the 20-minute mark was great. There was clearly a lot of chemistry between these two, and they paced the story of the match really well throughout this section. I think Archer did a great job of showing off his pure power in the ring and showed that he does a really good job of things in a competitive match as well as glorified squashes. As cheesy as it was, I also enjoyed Cody pulling out all the classic NWA/WCW moves for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

My problems with this match come at the start and the end. It really struggled to get going in my view. It was abnormally slow, and it didn’t feel like it needed to be. I understand there’s value to be had in the heel slowly beating down the face in the opening of the match. However, the intensity going into this match felt really high, and I think the opening should’ve been something a bit more firey before we lulled into the beatdown phase of the match.

Then there’s the finish. Which just didn’t work. If the stuff with Anderson, Tyson and Roberts had happened a few minutes out from the finish, then it probably would’ve worked a lot better. The problem was that it happened immediately before the finish and it totally sucked the wind out of the action and killed the pace right before the most climactic moment of the whole thing. It just felt like a lame excuse to tease Tyson getting physically involved in the match when in reality there was absolutely no value in him being there.

I also think the wrong man won. I’m not going to rail on Cody “booking himself as champion” because he’s taken plenty of high-profile losses over the last year and has proved he’s a team player. I’m sure he’ll have lots of great matches that help elevate some younger guys. The problem comes from the broader picture in AEW. Lance Archer could’ve been an absolutely dominant heel champion, which would’ve done wonders for him and built him up as a legitimate main eventer; something AEW isn’t doing at all right now. What I think is going to be the biggest issue, though, is the fact that all four champions in AEW right now are faces. That isn’t good. There’s only so many heels to go around, and I think a lot of the stories in this next PPV cycle are going to feel quite similar because the dynamics are all the same.

Cody having the title isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I think a monster heel as champion would’ve been much more beneficial to AEW’s product at large; both in the long and short terms.

Oh, and the TNT Championship looks…ok, I guess. It’s not the kind of belt I wanted to see. It’s flawed, but I don’t hate it, and I think it will grow on me over time.

5 – Brian Cage won the Casino Ladder Match
(Winner gets a future AEW World Title Match)

This match ended up being a bit of a mixed bag if you ask me. I’ll get the bad stuff out of the way first because I think there’s more good to talk about.

The format of the match was alright, if slightly flawed. It suffers a lot from the same problem as the Elimination Chamber, where the time between new entrants feels a lot like the wrestlers currently in the match are just killing time until the next guy comes in and gets to do his 30 seconds of moves upon entering. Very little of note happened in the opening segment, and even a big spot like Allin leaping off of a ladder on a skateboard felt less impactful because we were all waiting for the timer to tick down in the corner. There was also a lot of interference in it. Best Friends, Marko Stunt, Penelope Ford and Jimmy Havoc all got involved at some point, despite none of them being a competitor in the match. That isn’t a bad thing on its own, but when you’ve already got nine wrestlers to play around with, adding a bunch more is incredibly unnecessary.

Now, the good, which was basically the whole match once the final entrant got in. At that point, the match became your usual multi-man ladder match affair, and it was really entertaining. The segment with everyone taking down Cage was terrific, and the way they all worked together to take him out of commission for a while was slightly comedic in just the right way. Orange Cassidy was a ray of sunshine like he always is and the last-minute change of Joey Janella definitely did a good job of making sure he wasn’t forgotten in amongst everything.

Looking at Brian Cage winning, I really don’t know what to think about it, purely because I don’t know anything about Brian Cage. People seem excited about him appearing, which is a good sign, but I’ve never seen any of his work, so I’m in no position to make a judgement on it. What I can say, is that it’s undoubtedly a good way to solidify a star on their debut.

4 – Jon Moxley(c) def. Brodie Lee
(AEW World Championship)

This wasn’t quite the match I expected from there two, but it was definitely one that I enjoyed.

I loved the fire from both guys right out of the gate. The build to this match had been excellent, and they definitely capitalised on that here. I found the fact that the Dark Order was nowhere to be seen a little odd, I would’ve at least liked to see Lee make a point of telling them not to get involved or something like that. Still, these two have worked together plenty of times in the past that their chemistry here made that clear. This felt like two guys who had always had to hold back when they worked together in the past, but now they can totally let loose.

I’m always surprised at how Moxley can play to the typical face style of wrestling while maintaining his badass persona because he does a great job of it. There was just the right balance between getting beaten up and tearing the house down from him that it made him even more of a compelling babyface than I’ve seen in the past. Lee meanwhile got to show his full range as a wrestler, busting out a bunch of brutal manoeuvres, while treating us with the occasional fast flurry of offence.

I think the finish left a bit to be desired, although it did an ok job at making Brodie Lee look good in defeat. A quick note on the kickout at one…can we please stop using it so much? I used to love it as a scarce tool used to put over someone’s resiliency and will to win, but over the past year, it’s become overused and boring, including twice on this very show. The Paradigm Shift through the stage was an unexpected spot and shows the differences in AEW and WWE’s booking philosophies. I guarantee you that in WWE, the referee would’ve called for the bell the moment they went through the stage, and we would’ve had a last man standing match three weeks later at the next PPV. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this one, and I believe the right man won.

3 – Matt Hardy & The Elite def. The Inner Circle
(Stadium Stampede)

In my predictions, I theorised that this match would be similar to WWE’s recent forays into pre-taped and out-there matches and…I was half right.

At the start, I had a bit of trouble getting into it (although, the charge to start off was terrific). I think the stuff that happened in and around the wrestling ring that they’d set up in the middle of the field (for some reason) was wholly unnecessary compared to what followed it. I would’ve liked to see that opening section cut and just get straight to the whacky stuff. Not that it wasn’t good, it’s just that it didn’t fit the kind of match this ended up as. It also added 5 extra minutes onto a match that, honestly, started to drag a bit by the end.

Everything from the moment Hangman Page came out on the horse was absolute gold though. The image of Page showing up in a bandana riding a goddamn horse is just one the coolest sights I’ve ever seen in wrestling, and I hope that horse becomes a recurring character going forwards because it sure got over with me. The leap off of the goalposts was a good visual, and the section up in the stands where Matt Hardy appeared as all the different versions of himself was really funny.

My personal favourite section was the barfight between Page, Hager and later, Omega. The way they had did the classic “talk at the bar” thing before as they started fighting was a great joke, and it only got better when they started busting out pool cues before Page started matrix dodging all around the pool table. I like the touch of Omega being the one to come to Page’s aid, and they actually seemed to work really well together. I was expecting to do a bit more of the teasing for their tension, but I actually think this could work to that story’s benefit in the long run.

The final 5-10 minutes or so were where things started to drag a little bit for me. There were still some good bits in there. One of the Jacksons Northern Lights Suplexing Sammy all the way across the pitch (with some well-timed edits) was funny, and Jericho challenging the 2-count and demanding VAR was a genius joke, as wrestlers are always claiming “that was three!” I think it was more a victim of time than anything else. The show had already been running for three and a half hours by this point, and as much as I was enjoying the match, I was also hoping it would be wrapping up soon so I could go to bed.

Guevara’s last stand was a good way to build-up to the finish, and the One-Winged Angel off the stands felt like a big enough spot to be the exclamation point on the match. Overall, I’d say WWE’s pre-taped matches have been better than this, but this match was definitely a great one.

2 – MJF def. Jungle Boy

From the weird and whacky world of pre-taped matches to what was just a plain-old wrestling match. A damned good one too.

I really didn’t think this would be the way this match would go. I thought we were in for an all-out war between The Jurassic Express and Wardlow, but I’m pleased that they decided to play it as a straight wrestling match. MJF has already proved to be one of the best heels in the business right now, but I’d be lying if I said his character didn’t rely on his big matches having interference and underhanded tactics for him to score a victory. Needless to say, this match shut my mouth about that.

MJF is already extremely over as a character, so this match was focused around making sure he’s over as a wrestler too, and it totally worked. The fast pace of Jungle Boy was the perfect foil for MJF here, and the match was exciting right out of the gate as MJF did all he could to avoid getting caught up in Jungle Boy’s opening flurry. Once MJF took control of the match, things slowed down, but not too much. It didn’t devolve into 10 minutes of rest holds and body slams (like a certain other heel in a certain other company I keep comparing MJF to). Instead, it became a much more calculated game of chess between the two competitors, as MJF carefully worked around Jungle Boy to break him down as Jungle Boy took every opportunity he could for a comeback.

It’s such a basic wrestling formula, but this should be proof that the basics work just as well as innovative storytelling strategies. MJF threw in the occasional heelish thing to ensure the fans didn’t start cheering for him, but at the end of the day, MJF won this match because he was the better wrestler and nothing less. It’s these kinds of matches which add that all-important credibility to MJF as a wrestler, as well as a character, that will make his eventual world title match (and probable victory) feel all the more compelling.

1 – Hikaru Shida def. Nyla Rose(c)
(AEW Women’s World Championship)
(No Holds Barred)

I know. I KNOW. It was a slow-paced, weapons-based match. I hate those, right? Well, yes, but this one felt different.

For one thing, the video package that preceded the match did a fantastic job of building up a basically non-existent story and made Shida seem like the most deserving babyface on the planet. Admittedly, I already had a bit of a soft spot for her before, but this built her up even further.

The thing about this match being slow is that it was slow with a purpose. You take a look at a match like Orton vs Edge at Wrestlemania (which I hated), and you’ll see that it’s just slow for the sake of being slow. All the decelerated pace does is extend the match length and force the commentators to fill for time between the occasional big spot. Compare that to this match, and you realise that almost every moment of it had substance, which meant that the pace didn’t really make a difference to my enjoyment of it. There was no waiting around for over a minute while one wrestler sets up a spot. There was no lounging about doing a shitty job of selling. It was all meaningful movement and meaningful content.

The kendo stick being a critical factor that kept coming back throughout the match was some brilliant storytelling. The opening sequence with it, where both women wrestled for control over it, only for it to eventually be discarded was a tense way to start things off, and it just kept going from there. As they wrestled around ringside, I felt the impact of every spot because there was meaningful movement leading up to it. Towards the close of the match, where the kendo stick came back into the mix, it felt like the whole thing had come full-circle.

What I also enjoyed was that the closer we got to the finish, the weapons became less and less the focus of the action. The table spot was the last noteworthy weapons spot in the match, and it was perfect. It made every spot throughout the match feel like it had a purpose, and I felt the weight of it as Shida hit her finish for the win.

I know that I said in my predictions that I think Rose should win, but the title change was a delightful surprise. I know I bitched about all the champions being faces earlier on in the article, but I really like Shida as a wrestler, and I’m happy that she’s the champion, so suck it. Not to mention, the women’s division is pretty heavy on the heels right now, so I’m excited to see what Shida does with the belt.

And that’s your lot! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this review. Please, let me know what you thought of the show, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure to come back this time on Saturday, where I’ll be releasing the second part of my Doctor Who Series 7 rankings!

AEW Double or Nothing 2020: Predictions & Analysis

That’s right! I’m finally covering one of these shows.

In truth, I’ve been trying to watch more of AEW ever since the start of the year, but going into Revolution in February, I didn’t feel like I knew enough about many of the characters and the storylines going in. So I decided not to make predictions as I’d lack anything worthwhile to say. However, since Wrestlemania season I’ve dived back in and have done my best to follow the goings-on with Dynamite every week. Today I’m going to see how much I’ve learnt as I predict the outcomes for every match on Double or Nothing.

Private Party vs Best Friends
(#1 Contender’s Match for the AEW Tag Team Championship)
(Buy-In)

After making waves in the early days of AEW, it feels like Private Party have cooled down a lot since then. They got their upset victory over the Young Bucks in the tag team title tournament (which was great), but since then I can’t quite pick out anything particularly special that they’ve done. Best Friends, on the other hand, have seen themselves treated to quite the prominent role on a week-to-week basis, mostly thanks to their affiliation with Orange Cassidy.

Naturally, this match is almost certainly going to rock. I’ve always loved tag team wrestling, and AEW has really made a point of letting their tag teams run absolutely free and do incredible things. Even though this is on the pre-show, I don’t think that will lessen its quality in the slightest. I’m expecting lots of fun, fast-paced action and one or two hundred over-the-top dives that make the whole thing an absolute blast to watch.

As for a winner, I’m kind of torn. On the one hand, Private Party has felt like they’re just one match away from breaking through as a permanent fixture of the AEW tag team division and a match against Omega & Page would absolutely be that match for them, win or lose. Then you look at Best Friends and realise that if they’re not going to be challenging for the titles, then what else is there for them to do? With the Dark Order out of action for the foreseeable future, there really isn’t anything else for them to be involved with other than being Orange Cassidy’s backup. It’s a tough call, but I’m going to go with Private Party as I think they have more to gain from a match against the champions.

Dustin Rhodes vs Shawn Spears

Spears is a slightly curious case in AEW, as I’m not entirely sure what his role his compared to all the other wrestlers in the company. He came in with a head of steam and had a tremendous high-profile feud with Cody which he, unfortunately, came out on the losing end of, but he’s not really done much of note in the 6-8 months since then. The thing with Tully Blanchard looking to bring someone else into their faction seemed to have promise, but the pandemic killed those plans dead, and Spears has just been largely forgotten about since then. Lance Archer coming in and taking his spot as a top monster heel didn’t help things either.

Then we have Dustin Rhodes, who is putting arguably the best pure-wrestling work of his career right now. He has a clearly defined role in the company and does it very well. He’s a wrestler with a decent amount of credibility thanks to his longevity and has been consistently using it to help make new stars. Do I think these two will be able to put on a good match? Probably yes, although I doubt it’s going to be a match that we’re all shouting about come Sunday morning.

The winner of this one is a pretty easy pick for me. I don’t see any reason Shawn Spears shouldn’t win. He’s just come off of yet another loss to Cody in the TNT Championship tournament, and it’s not like Dustin has anything to gain from a win here. I just hope AEW can find a proper place on the card for Spears soon. Otherwise, things are going to start to look very similar to his time in WWE.

Britt Baker vs Kris Statlander

I’ll be honest, I don’t quite ‘get’ Kris Statlander yet. The whole alien thing is going a bit over my head at the moment, I don’t really see much difference in her performance or behaviour than any other woman. It feels like it needs to be more noticeably ‘out there’ to actually work; something along the lines of what Velveteen Dream is doing. In addition, I’ve yet to see her put on a match that puts her in line with the rest of the AEW Women’s Division. So hopefully, this will be that match.

Britt Baker meanwhile, has absolutely hit her stride in recent months. In the build-up to AEW’s debut show, it seemed like Baker was going to be the woman they pushed to the top right out of the gate, but instead, they held back and found something interesting to do with her character first. The role model idea is a great one to run with and fist in perfectly with her existing elements as a dentist. I know people are drawing parallels in Bayley’s current character in WWE. However, I think Baker has taken it in a very different direction, focusing more on being a brutal heel, rather than a schoolyard bully, which is what Bayley is doing.

Thankfully, I think this is a much easier pick than the previous match as I have very little doubt that Brit Baker is walking away victorious on this one. Statlander already had her title shot at Revolution, and I don’t see her getting a rematch anytime soon. Regardless of that, AEW has clearly decided that now is the time to get behind Baker as a dominant force in the women’s division.

MJF vs Jungle Boy

MJF is just the best. He’s everything that WWE likes to think Baron Corbin is. He’s smarmy, he’s a jerk, he’s in your face and can draw genuine heel heat from just about any situation. His performance is incredible, and the way he’s grown that bravado since beating Cody is absolute perfection. Jungle Boy and the Jurassic Express are also some great characters. Admittedly, I haven’t been quite as behind them as everyone else seems to be, but I still enjoy any and all of their matches.

I’m going to cut right to the chase here, MJF is winning this thing, no question. Jungle Boy is great, and I’m sure there’s a future in AEW for him someday, but MJF is the hot property in the men’s division right now, and nothing is going to stop him. The match will probably be a good one, I can see Jungle Boy getting the advantage with some quick action early on, only for MJF to try and recalculate and slow things down. There will almost certainly be some form of collision between Luchasaurus and Wardlow, and I have no doubt MJF will do something underhanded to get the win.

I don’t know how far a match with the champion is in MJF’s future, but I can almost guarantee that it’s some point before the end of the year. So this is the perfect place to continue to build him up.

Darby Allin vs Colt Cabana vs Orange Cassidy vs Rey Fenix vs Scorpio Sky vs Kip Sabian vs Frankie Kazarian vs Luchasaurus vs ???
(Casino Ladder Match)
(Winner gets an AEW World Championship Match in the future)

I’m starting to feel like WWE have hoarded all of the worthwhile gimmick match ideas. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this will still be an entertaining match, mostly due to the people involved, but the format seems somewhat convoluted. It puts me in mind of when WCW would come up with over-complicated gimmick matches just for the sake of it.

This one’s sort of a Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank hybrid, where competitors have to climb a ladder to retrieve a casino chip which grants them a future opportunity at the AEW World title. The catch is that only two people start in the ring at once, with more competitors entering as the match goes on. Which means that it’s technically possible that one of the first two people could win the match before the other competitors even get a chance to enter…which seems dumb to me.

Still, it’s a multi-man gimmick match, so let’s run through each participant’s chances.

Colt Cabana – While I know that he’s a guy who’s been around forever in the indie scene, I don’t actually know all that much about Colt Cabana. I’m not as well versed on indie wrestling as I should be and Cabana is one of those names that I’ve heard all over the place, but never actually seen all that much of. Since coming to AEW, he’s not done all that much of note, he can undoubtedly wrestle in serious situations when needed, but he seems to be more of a comedy guy than anything else. It doesn’t seem like AEW have any interest in building him up to the main event, so I don’t think he’ll be winning this one.

Kip Sabian – Sabian is a guy will all the potential in the world right now, but I don’t think AEW are looking to capitalise on that potential just yet. The main event scene in AEW is one that’s very crowded with all the factions and top guys being signed from all over, and it doesn’t feel like Sabian has a place amongst them at this time. He’s not had enough high-profile wins over guys on his level yet to be considered for a title shot if you ask me, so I think he’ll come up short on Saturday.

Luchasaurus – As I mentioned earlier with Jungle Boy, I’m enjoying the gimmick of the Jurassic Express, even if they seem a bit too gimmicky for my liking. Luchasaurus is by far the standout of the group though, and I think he’s got all the makings of a mega-star given the right circumstances. Much the same as with Kip Sabian though, I don’t see him getting into the main event any time this year. It’s for the same reason too, it’s a really crowded scene, and I don’t see a place for some like Lucharsaurus until some more room has been made at the top.

Rey Fenix – Another competitor I sadly know very little about, unfortunately. I really enjoyed the lengthy feud that The Lucha Brothers had with The Young Bucks last year, but there was very little in there to do with character and almost entirely to do with how many flips they could do. As such, I’m unfamiliar with Fenix as a singles wrestler and don’t have much reason to expect him to win. The only justification I could think of for Fenix winning this is because of how The Lucha Brothers aren’t doing anything right now. I don’t know if that’s because Pentagon can’t travel thanks to the pandemic or just booking, but it’s still the fact of the matter.

Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian – Lumping these two together because they’re a part of the same faction and this is the time that I have to confess…I don’t really care for SCU very much. Don’t get me wrong, as wrestlers they’re great, and Scorpio Sky has all the potential in the world to be AEW’s top guy in a couple of years. However, their gimmick goes right over my head. I watched their segments on Being The Elite, and while the joke was funny at first it got old really fast, and now it just seems like they’re holding onto it for no real reason other than it pops a crowd. I think it’s possible that Sky could win this, but I don’t think it’s likely.

Orange Cassidy – I know that saying this could get me in a lot of hot water with Jim Cornette and the fun police, but I really like Orange Cassidy. His style of comedy wrestling is something that I’ve never seen before, and it’s absolutely fantastic. Not only that, but he’s proven in matches like his Revolution bout with Pac that he can definitely make it work in a dramatic and ‘proper’ wrestling match. Do I think he’s got the AEW title in his future? I’d say the jury’s still out on that one, but I certainly think he’ll be getting a title shot at some point over the next few years. As for Saturday, I don’t see it happening. Cassidy getting a title shot would only work with a heel champion and (spoilers) I don’t think we’re going to have one of those for a while yet.

??? – AEW has decided to keep us in the dark as to who the final participant in the match could be, which means they have a pretty damn good chance of winning the thing. As for who it could be, I honestly have no idea. The 90-day no-compete on the recently release WWE wrestlers is still active, so it can’t be any of them. I’ve seen a few people throw around Sting as a potential candidate, which I guess is possible, but quite the stretch. I think MJF or even Wardlow is reasonably likely, especially if MJF vs Jungle Boy goes on earlier in the night, which it probably will. What I think is most likely though, is that it will be one of AEW’s younger stars that haven’t quite gotten the spotlight they should’ve yet…or Sammy Guevara, that’s a possibility too. I can’t really give you a reliable name as to who I think this will be, but I think their chances of walking away victorious are quite high.

Darby Allin – It’s gotta be Darby, right? Ever since he had his match against Cody at Fight for the Fallen last year, Darby Allin has been waiting to breakthrough as a main event star. I had him pegged as one of the top contenders for the TNT Championship, but this is a good substitute. He’s got everything AEW needs in a top guy. He’s young, he’s athletic, he’s got a definite character and the crowd love him. A match against Moxley would be a perfect way to raise his stock to that of a main-eventer in the company, even though I don’t think he has a chance in hell of winning the title during that match. Much like with Private Party, I think there’s the most to be gained from Allin winning this thing, so he’s my pick.

The Inner Circle vs Matt Hardy & The Elite
(Stadium Stampede)

Again, what’s a Stadium Stampede match? Who knows? Who cares? I’m sure it’ll be fun, though. Given that Matt Hardy’s involved, I imagine it’ll involve a lot of pre-taped and ‘cinematic’ stuff like that of what we’ve seen from WWE recently. Although I think they’re probably going to mix it in with standard wrestling stuff too, around the stadium and such like.

Speaking of Matt Hardy, I’ve loved his work since joining AEW. I know a lot of people wanted him to be The Exalted One, but I much prefer the way things have turned out. The star of this feud has undoubtedly been Jericho though. His promos that he’s cut against Hardy, The Elite and Vanguard One, in particular, have been amazing. They’ve been comedic in just the right way so that it doesn’t take away from the intensity of the match being promoted. Hardy’s gimmick is an inherently ridiculous one, so trying to play to it entirely straight would never have worked, and it’s clear Jericho understood that and helped to create an enjoyable and unique build.

I’m quite torn on a winner though. On the one hand, this is Matt Hardy’s PPV debut, and Omega & Page are the tag champs, so they probably shouldn’t be losing a big match like this. On the other hand, The Inner Circle have been loosing A LOT recently. Guevara has lost just about every high-profile match he’s been in since joining the faction, Hager is coming off of a loss against Moxley, as is Jericho. I’m going to go with The Inner Circle. I think a single match between Hardy and Jericho could easily be built from this match. Meanwhile, Omega & Page are going to be defending their tag titles in what will undoubtedly be a fantastic match, so I don’t think they have much to fear from taking a loss here.

Nyla Rose(c) vs Hikaru Shida
(AEW Women’s Championship)
(No Holds Barred)

If I had to level one major criticism against AEW in its debut year, it would be the handling of its women’s championship. While I love Riho as a wrestler, the fact that she was barely ever on TV while the champion was a catastrophic move that severely harmed my interest in the title. Even though the few title defences she had were generally great matches. Thankfully, since resting on Nyla Rose’s shoulders, the belt has seen a lot more prominence week-to-week, but not as much as it should have.

It’s evident here, as there’s minimal story behind this title match. Hikaru Shida got the title shot purely because she’s been winning a decent amount as of late and that’s really it. I know several of the men’s title feuds have started because of that, but with the men’s division, they make match early on in the build cycle and then form a story around it. Instead, this title match was only made official last week, and realistically, there’s only been one week of build between the two women. I have a vague idea of both of their characters – I know who I should cheer and who I should boo – but I don’t know why. I have no concept of any character motivations other than “X wants the championship”.

I’m also not entirely sure what the match is going to be like. I know that both Rose and Shida are good wrestlers, but I’ve yet to actually see a performance from either of them that makes me sit-up and put them on the level with the best women’s wrestlers in the world. Hopefully, this will be the match that convinces me, though.

I’m pretty confident in picking Nyla Rose to win this one. She’s been at the forefront of the women’s division even before she was champion and given how relatively short of a time she’s been champion so far, I don’t see AEW taking the title off of her just yet. In addition, I think the best way to build the women’s championship up as a title to one that people care about is to give Rose a long and prestigious reign, where she has a whole bunch of strong and entertaining title defences.

Cody vs Lance Archer
(TNT Championship)

Not counting the two men who have been AEW World Champion so far, I think Cody has easily been the best member of the AEW roster for this initial year. I know there’s some criticism to be had about him pushing himself so hard when he plays a large part in the booking of the shows, but I don’t mind at all because he absolutely justifies his high position on the card with every high-profile match he has. Cody’s stories are almost always the most well-written on any given show, and they always lead to some standout matches. I don’t think this match is an exception to that statement either.

The entire tournament for the brand new TNT Championship has been fantastic. Week after week there were great matches as the tournament progressed and it means that this new title already has a whole heap of prestige going into the match to crown the inaugural champion. It was also paced very well so that we knew finals a few weeks out from the show and there was time to build some story and tension between Cody and Archer too. Jake Robert’s initial promo to Cody where he claimed he was just coming for Cody’s slice of the pie was amazing, and the chemistry he’s had with Archer had been fantastic.

Roberts was always a great heel promo, but he’s proven over the past month that he hasn’t lost a step. He says horrible and uncomfortable things, and it works so perfectly to confer all of that heat onto Archer, who has been a total monster every time he’s stepped in the ring. This is one of the things AEW has been very good at because I had absolutely no idea who Lance Archer was before he signed with AEW, but in the space of a month and a half, I’m totally invested in him as a wrestler.

What I know for sure here is that Lance Archer needs to win this match and have a totally dominant reign with the TNT Championship. Not only will with make the title an extremely prestigious prize for whoever is challenging him, but it will cement Archer as an unstoppable force in the company. If this title reign goes well for Archer, I could absolutely see him claiming the world title for his own before 2021 is finished.

Jon Moxley(c) vs Brodie Lee
(AEW World Championship)

What a difference a year makes…

I don’t think many people would disagree with me when I said that, since leaving WWE, Moxley has been one of the hottest wrestlers on the planet. Going on a tear in New Japan Pro Wrestling and winning their US title was just the first step in Moxley reinventing himself to show everyone that what they saw of him in WWE was just a taster for the amazing stuff he can really do when he’s let loose. He came into AEW with a head of steam and put on a great match with Kenny Omega at Full Gear and has flourished creatively, showing every interesting facet of his character. I thought the match where he won the title from Jericho at Revolution was brilliant and has kicked off a title reign that has so far been really enjoyable.

Brodie Lee is a very similar story, although since he only left WWE very recently, we’re yet to see the full potential of what he can really do. His character work since revealing himself as The Dark Order’s Exalted One has been really enjoyable. The skits that were definitely not poking fun at Vince McMahon (wink, nudge) were fun and didn’t overstay their welcome either. Once it was time for Lee to get down to business and build a story with Moxley, he did a great job of it. It can be hard for heels to seem credible in the face of Moxley’s heated attitude, but Lee decided to formulate a character that is almost the perfect opposite of Moxley. He’s calm, collected and authoritarian, every word he says is dripping with this inherent heelish hypocrisy that just boils my blood and makes me want to see Moxley get his hands of him.

I really think this is going to be the match of the night and maybe even a match of the year contender for AEW. Moxley has already proven himself as a top-level wrestler, and we’ve seen enough glimpses of what Lee can really do during his WWE run that I have all the faith in the world that he’s going to put on a stellar performance here. While I think it’s possible they could hot-shot the belt over to Brodie Lee, I think keeping it on Jon Moxley is the right call for now. He’s only just won the title, and I don’t think it would be overly exciting TV if we went straight back to a heel faction on top of the company. Brodie Lee should look fantastic in defeat here, and he will absolutely come away from the match looking like a credible top heel for AEW, even if he loses.

So there you have it! Those are my predictions for AEW Double or Nothing. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, please let me know what you think will happen, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure you come back this time on Sunday, where I’ll be giving you my review of the show!

Every Minecraft Update Ranked (Part 2)

A few weeks ago, I covered the bottom half of the Minecraft updates. The updates that didn’t really give us much in the way of amazing new features or impressive mechanics. So, in the second part of this list, it’s time to tackle the top-half of those updates and look through the absolute best of what Mojang has given us over the years.

8 – Version 1.0 – Minecraft’s Official Release

Release Date: 18th November 2011

While it might not be the best update, version 1.0 is easily the most important. Taking place at the very first Minecon event, version 1.0 marked the official release of Minecraft to the world, 2 years after first becoming publically available in alpha/beta version.

Much like 1.1 and 1.2, most of the features added in this update have become such staples in the almost 9 years since it’s release, but are absolutely huge in terms of scope and more than worthy of being the landmark features that carried Minecraft into a new age.

First up, is The End dimension, The Ender Dragon fight and the credits. While I’ve just ragged on the original fight a little in my previous entry, it was still a huge deal for Minecraft to finally have an endgame boss at the time of Minecraft’s release. While the appeal of the game was always the ability to do whatever you wanted for as long as you wanted, it was a huge incentive for many players to actually have a clear goal to work towards that forced them to partake in all of the major features that were in the game at the time.

Enchanting was another major feature of this update and once again, it’s something modern players arguably take for granted. These gave your endgame tools plenty of extra buffs and functionality, that allowed you to make some of the more boring tasks in the game – like grinding for building materials – go a hell of a lot quicker. Alongside this was the addition of potions and the ability to brew them, a feature I never use nearly as much as I should, but it gave players to give themselves extra advantages in some of the more dangerous areas of the game if they were willing to work for it.

The Nether also got the only major update it would get until 2020 came along with the addition of Nether Fortresses, that became home to the brand new Blazes and Magma Cubes two mobs which are staples of the game today.

Minecraft 1.0 was an absolute landmark for the game that only helped to further Minecraft’s meteoric ascension into the mainstream; not just in the gaming pop-culture, but in the world’s pop-culture.

7 – Version 1.5 – The Redstone Update

Release Date: 15th March 2013

Ok, so I’ll level with you, I know VERY little about Redstone in Minecraft. I can make some very basic machines, but that’s really about it. It’s just not something I’ve ever felt a desire to put much time in to. So if you’re someone who knows tonnes about the stuff and things this should be higher up the list then…well yeah, fair enough.

What I do know is that this updated added tonnes of items that expanded the possibilities for Redstone contraptions exponentially. Hoppers were a huge part of this, allowing for items to be pulled out and pushed into containers which are very useful features if you’re trying to set up a sorting system and I’m told it can allow for some ridiculously complex contraptions that can check for all sorts of things, but you’d have to ask an expert about that. By a similar token, Comparators and Daylight Sensors are blocks that I don’t understand in the slightest but are apparently brilliant and essential tools for anyone who wants to make something more complex than a piston door.

Quartz was the only other block of any major note that was added with this update and while it was nice to have a reason to go to the Nether, how hard it was to obtain was quite the turn-off and I find myself very rarely using it in survival builds.

Outside of that many of the changes were a bit more technical. Texture Packs were thrown out in favour of the far superior Resource Packs that allowed for a greater variety of changes that were possible to be made to the atmosphere of the game (not to mention, it removed the need for Optifine to be installed to use HD textures).

Finally, the lighting engine for the game was overhauled in a major way. I know this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but anyone who was playing Minecraft before this update will be all too aware of the horrific lighting glitches that occurred all over Minecraft worlds making the vast landscapes look painfully ugly. While this didn’t quite fix it entirely, it greatly reduced the problem, to the point where it eas barely noticeable and was eventually removed entirely with future iterations.

This is another update that isn’t especially flashy, but the things it established and made possible within the game are absolute landmark features for the game and deserve all the praise they get.

6 – Version 1.7 – The Update That Changed The World

Release Date: 25th October 2013

Up until 2013, one of the longest-running in-jokes in the Minecraft community was the major flaws of the world generation system. It seemed ridiculous that you could be in a sweltering desert one moment, only to take a few steps and be in an ice-cold tundra. Even outside of that, many of Minecraft’s world generation algorithms seemed flawed when you looked at the final product of what they produce. You don’t have to look far online to find some absolutely ridiculous looking generated terrain and the oceans in the world were simply far too large and far too frequent to make worlds interesting to explore.

So when this update claims to have “changed the world” it means that in quite a literal sense.

The generation algorithms for Minecraft worlds were seemingly rewritten in a major way. Not only were the frequency and size of oceans shrunk dramatically, but a new “climate” system was implemented that controlled what types of biomes were allowed to generate next to each other. So “hot” biomes could only generate next to other “hot” or “medium” temperature biomes and “cold” biomes could only generate next to other “cold” or “medium” biomes. It seemed like such a minor change on the surface, but it went that extra distance in making Minecraft worlds feel that bit more realistic.

It wasn’t just the algorithms that helped make Minecraft worlds more interesting though, as a whole host of brand new biomes were added and they each come along with their own fun additions. Savanhas helped add a bit more variety to the “hot” biomes and gave us Acacia trees to add a tasteful splash of orange to our builds. Roofed Forests added a bit of a fairytale feel to the world with the thick trees giving way to the giant mushrooms that could usually only be found on a Mushroom Island biome, alongside the Dark Oak trees, which have easily joined Oak & Birch as my most used wood types in the game. Then we had Mesas & Red Deserts, taking full advantage of the new Hardened Clay/Terracotta blocks to create a truly unique biome that allowed for some incredible looking aesthetics and has been home to my main survival world for many years now.

That’s not even all, as we also got some variations on existing biomes, like the snowless Taiga biome with the huge Spruce trees dotted all over the place and mossy cobblestone generating out in the open for the first time ever. We also saw Birch Forests, Flower Forests and Sunflower Fields which all brought us a whole host of brand new flowers to spice up the look and feel of our gardens, along with making many of the dyes in the game a lot easier to craft.

Version 1.7 was the update that turned Minecraft worlds into what we recognise them as today and it’s no surprise that everything added here has stood the test of time and become widely used features of the game to this day.

5 – Version 1.3

Release Date: 1st August 2012

To me, this was the first major update to Minecraft that actually felt like a huge deal. SO MUCH was being added that the excitement within the community at the time was palpable and I found myself caught up in it the whole way through. It was the early updates like this that really set the standard for what we expect an update to be in the modern-day.

To start off with, Villagers would no longer be totally useless creatures that may as well not even exist as trading was added into the game, in all its exploitable glory. These exploits would later be reigned in big-time but it finally gave players a reason to bring villagers over to their own builds other than aesthetic purposes. Finally giving the villagers functionality like this was such a welcome change and made so many resources in the game a lot easier to get. Speaking of resources and trading, we saw Emeralds added to the game. They’re pretty limited when it comes to functionality, but they look nice.

Exploration would suddenly become a whole lot more interesting with new structures being added to the game that had a chance to spawn out in the world. Those being the Desert & Jungle Temples that add a little bit of spice to those biomes and a neat little boost in your resources should you get lucky with the loot. Speaking of exploration, Tripwires further expanded the abilities of redstone, allowing mapmakers to accurately track players’ movement when needed.

Ender Chests were a fun new feature that allowed you to have a bit of a portable inventory to carry around with you. Although the Shulker Boxes added in later updates would vastly outmatch them, the Ender Chests have the nice bonus of having a player-specific inventory, preventing anyone from accessing and taking anything you’d stashed away inside.

The rest of the major additions were all technical in nature, but extremely welcome nonetheless. Adventure Mode stopped players from being able to place or break any blocks which was perfect for adventure maps (which were very popular at the time) as players could no longer potentially mess up or cheat by breaking block they’re not supposed to on the map. Creative Mode also saw a bit of an update as the menu was organised into a bunch of different tabs that separated out blocks and items, which was far superior to the literal laundry list of everything in the game that was there before then.

Finally, we saw the addition of commands that could be accessed in the singleplayer game. This allowed players to do things like change gamemodes, change the time of day or give themselves items on the fly if they wanted to. This was extremely convenient for many players (myself included) as, before this, the only way to access such features was to install the “Singleplayer Commands” mods.

Version 1.3 added so many features to this game – so many I couldn’t even list them all in this entry – and absolutely all of them were massive hits with players and have remained beloved features to this day. It set the standard for what a major Minecraft update would look like and many future updates would follow in its footsteps.

4 – Version 1.13 – The Update Aquatic

Release Date: 18th July 2018

After Microsoft first acquired Minecraft in 2014, there was a lot of worry surrounding what it would mean for the constant content updates for the game. Mojang continued to work like they had been, but many of the more underwhelming and negatively received updates released immediately following this purchase in the form of versions 1.9 through versions 1.12. Unfortunately, this led to the belief amongst the community that Minecraft would never again see the revolutionary updates it used to see and the game was destined to stagnate into the foreseeable future.

Then version 1.13 came along and booted all of those worried right out of the window. For the first time in years, we had an update that we could really sink our teeth into. Not only did it had a ridiculous amount of content, but it directly addressed one of the biggest complaints players had had about Minecraft for the game’s entire lifespan. That complaint being that oceans were extraordinarily boring.

So how were those complaints addressed? Well, first off we had a whole host of mobs introduced. Schools of fish would now swim around in the ocean, after spending many years being totally non-existent in-game, despite fishing being a major feature. Dolphins showed their heads too, as a relatively functionless, but extremely adorable mob that helped breathe life into oceans, alongside Turtles, which follow much the same lines. Finally, a variant on the Zombie known as the Drowned was introduced in order to add a small level of danger to proceedings when you’re exploring the ocean blue.

The layout of the oceans was also overhauled, with various biomes being added that both visually and functionally changes many of the game’s water mechanics. Like their land counterparts, oceans were now given temperatures the decided what could spawn around it alongside plenty of new blocks and vegetation that could only be found in the depths of the ocean. Coral & Coral Reefs are an absolute natural beauty in the game, especially at night, alongside Kelp & Seagrass that add a little bit of visual character to the otherwise plain ocean floors.

There was even brand new stuff to explore in the form of sunken shipwrecks that hit chests with varying degrees of loot, one item of which was buried treasure map that allowed you to find the brand new Heart of the Sea. This item could be used to create a conduit in the ocean, allowing the player to breathe underwater infinitely provided they were within its range. What was even better about all of this is that exploring them was so much more fun and easier than it used to be as the swimming mechanics were entirely reworked to be a lot more fluid and fun to play around with.

Not only did version 1.13 totally rejuvenate a previously completely uninteresting area of the Minecraft, but it restored people’s faith in Mojang to pump out the high-quality updates that they used to. You could even argue that it was largely responsible for the resurgence in popularity Minecraft saw in 2018, which is an incredible achievement.

3 – Version 1.14 – The Village and Pillage Update

Release Date: 23rd April 2019

Following the gargantuan update that was 1.13, version 1.14 had the important job of keeping that momentum going and assuring the community that the quality and volume of the 1.13 update wasn’t just a one-off and once again, the team at Mojang knocked it right out of the park. Continuing the theme of focusing on areas of the game that players had long-since needed a new motivation to care about, the concept of “Village and Pillage” was devised in order to completely overhaul just about everything to with Minecraft’s Villagers, including a few other welcome additions.

As you’d probably have guessed, the most major changes and additions in this update had to do with the villagers themselves. Trading had been a feature of the game for almost 7 years by this point and the system wasn’t very intuitive. Villagers had vaguely defined jobs that dictated what they could sell, but they were assigned upon their generation into the world and if you wanted something specific then you’d just have to go hunting and hope you got lucky enough to come across one. This whole system was inherently flawed, so Mojang decided to throw it out and start again.

Now, villagers were given clear and strict schedules as to what they would do all day. They would sleep, work, socialize all at scheduled points which served a great purpose when it came to making villages feel more alive, especially when combined with the brand new generation of their home in the village, which made the whole place look so much nicer than they did before.

The changes went deeper than that though, as the “job” system was overhauled in its entirety. No longer did a villager become assigned to a job upon generation and then was stuck with it, instead so-called “job blocks” were added, that causes a villager to take up a specific job when they detected a specific block nearby. Along with a general expansion of the number of jobs that were available, it became so much easier to get the kind of villagers you want and as a result, the whole world of Minecraft felt so much more active and alive.

That’s nowhere near the hight of it though as the idea of “Illagers” that was added in version 1.11 now got expanded as these hostile mobs would now form raiding parties and patrol the landscape, attacking any villagers they came across. They could be found in their patrol towers and if you were unlucky enough to wander into a village quickly after attacking one of them, a massive raiding party would show up in an attempt to wipe out the villagers living there. Plus they have crossbows…I like crossbows, they’re cool.

Taiga biomes saw some new features too after being voted on to receive an update at a Minecon a few years prior. Foxes were added to the game and are absolutely adorable, alongside berry bushes that provided a new source of food when you’re scavenging out in the wild. On top of that, we also a brand new biome in the form of a bamboo jungle, which features tonnes of bamboo canes, which could be used to create scaffolding, a block that made building big structures in creative mode infinitely easier. Pandas were added too and pandas are just great.

Version 1.14 proved that the success of 1.13 wasn’t a fluke and that the new standard Mojang set for themselves was one that they were going to uphold into the future. Much like The Update Aquatic, it took a feature of the game that wasn’t very interesting in the modern game and completely reworked everything about it to the point where it’s an absolutely huge part of the game today.

2 – Version 1.4 – The Pretty Spooky Update

Release Date: 25th October 2012

When I was first putting this list together, I honestly didn’t expect this update to land anywhere near this high. Wasn’t it just that minor Halloween update that was quite inconsequential? In short, no, it wasn’t just a minor Halloween update, it was an absolutely massive update that was arguably the turning point from the classic version of Minecraft, to the modern version we know and love today.

Let’s start with the mobs. Bats were added and while they’re pretty inconsequential, it’s always nice to come across one in a cave; Zombie Villagers created an added threat when it comes to hostile mobs attacking villagers since now they could convert those that they kill; Witches are quite the unorthodox mob that a bit of variation and character into the challenges of the night; and finally, we have Wither Skeletons and The Wither boss itself.

Wither Skeletons are quite the intimidating mob that only spawn in Nether Fortresses. Their dark colouring means they blend very well into the background fortresses and they don’t let up when they run full-speed at you with their swords raised, incurring the brand new “Wither” effect when they hit you. Then there’s the dreaded Wither boss. This was the second boss added to Minecraft after The Ender Dragon and it’s far more destructive and deadly than the dragon in question. With regenerative health, the ability to fly erratically in any direction and a rapid-fire of explosive projectiles, The Wither is a foe that requires careful planning in order to take down.

If the player can do it, however, they are rewarded with a Nether Star, a crafting material that can be used for a Beacon block. This is an end-game item that requires a literal pyramid of Iron/Gold/Diamond/Emerald in order to activate, but once you do you will be able to broadcast permanent potion effects to any player withing range, making plenty of things so much easier than they ever were before. Whether you wanted to make sure you always had health regeneration active, or create massive mining areas with the Haste ability, the beacon was a suitable reward for taking down the toughest mob in the game.

A bunch of new blocks & items were also added to help out with making worlds look nicer, such as Walls, which were a stone variant on fences and Item Frames which allowed you to display various items up on your walls, as well as being a useful tool for identifying the contents of various storage blocks. On top of that, new food was added in the form of Potatoes and Carrots which helped make your Minecraft diet more varied and your farms look a little more interesting that just rows upon rows of wheat.

Anvils were another major addition that made tools so much more versatile, as you could now customise your enchantments through the use of enchanted books, alongside being able to repair your enchanted tools, so you never again had to experience the disappointment of your most valuable possessions shattering in your hands.

The biggest addition though is one that truly revolutionised what was possible in the game. It didn’t impact Survival very much, but when it came to what could be created in terms of adventure maps and server challenges, the Command Block is what makes all of it possible. This was a block that allowed you to have pre-set commands in them that would activate when it received a redstone signal. I’m not going to pretend to know very much about how they work or the possibilities they hold, I just know that it was an absolute revelation in terms of creating amazing projects within the game. Every great adventure map that has come out in the years since has utilized the Command Block and it’s variants in some way to create some truly special experiences and it pushed the limits of what was possible in Minecraft into the stratosphere.

All that and more is what makes version 1.4 reach so high in this list. So high, that until about a month ago, I had it set to be in the number one spot. Then, as 2020 got into full swing, it was usurped from that top spot by an update that is absolutely incredible in terms of its content.

1 – Version 1.16 – The Nether Update

Release Date: TBD

You might say that this one shouldn’t count because it’s not actually been released yet, I’d argue that the fact it’s easily the best despite not being finished is all the more impressive. Throughout the entire development cycle for this update, I keep looking through the snapshots and being blown away by the quality and quantity of new content. Every week, I think to myself “surely they’ve reached the limits of what they can do now?” and every week a new snapshot comes out that adds a whole host of new features that blow me away once again. Not only were updates like 1.13 and 1.14 an indicator of great things to come, but it was also just the beginning of the increasing quality we have seen since.

Pretty much since it’s inception, The Nether had been…not that great. It was cool when you first explored it and necessary in order to get things like Blaze Rods and potion ingredients, but it never had any longevity. From my own personal experience, whenever I enter The Nether in a survival world, I tend to explore very briefly, see if I can find a fortress, then I quickly leave and only ever come back when I need some Glowstone or Quartz, which isn’t all that often.

So, Mojang decided they were going to fix The Nether by…basically stripping everything out and redesigning the whole dimension from scratch.

I don’t even know where to start. Let’s go with the biomes. Before, The Nether was just a barren wasteland with very little visually interesting about it. Now, four new biomes have been added in order to give The Nether a greater variety. These are:
– The dangerous and bloody-looking Crimson Forest
– The brightly coloured and relatively safe Warped Forest
– The cramped and dark-feeling Soul Sand Valley
– The grey and desolated Basalt Deltas
Each of these new biomes has an incredibly distinctive feel to them that makes them so much more special than the original Nether now I biome called ‘Nether Wastes’.

With these new biomes comes a whole host of new blocks and items. Basalt & Blackstone are a new aesthetic block that I have been crying out for the game to include for years. There are so many more ideas that I can make a reality in my survival worlds now a dark grey/black block with a stone-texture has been introduced. There are also two brand new wood types. These Crimson & Warped Roots have a colourful, yet slightly muted look to them that’s perfect for creating creepy, worn-down looking structures in either dimension. This is topped off with blocks like Crying Obsidian, giving the previously boring-looking Obsidian block a new paint-job; Shroomlight, which allows the lighting in builds to have a bit more variety; and Chains, which are a bit more limited in their potential, but a welcome addition nonetheless.

But wait! That’s still not all! There are also a bunch of new functional blocks that help with exploring the expanses of the new Nether. Lodestones now make it possible to find your way home when you’ve wandered far off the beaten track, while the Respawn Anchor makes sure you don’t have to go all the way back to your bed in the overworld should you die in The Nether.

New mobs are also wandering through The Nether. Previously known as Zombie Pigmen, the Piglins that wander the Crimson Forest are an incredibly complex mob that gives so much more flavour to The Nether. Normally, they’re hostile and will attack on sight, unless you happen to be wearing a piece of Gold Armour, at which point they will leave you alone unless you provoke them. You can also give them gold in order to get a bunch of different Nether resources, many of which can be quite hard to come by in other ways. Hoglins are also around them, although these are pretty wild beasts that can be very dangerous if you’re not protected against knockback. Finally, while we didn’t get Lava Boats, we did get The Strider mob, which we can sit atop as they walk us along the many lava oceans that greet the Nether floor.

THAT’S STILL NOT IT THOUGHT! I haven’t even got to what I think is the most monumental addition that has totally changed the progress structure of the game. As there are now Ancient Debris blocks deep under The Nether’s ground-level. This Ancient Debris can be crafted, with gold, into a brand new material: Netherite. Netherite is a material that can be used for tools and armour that is stronger than Diamond. This marks the first time since Diamonds were introduced into Minecraft roughly 10 years ago that there has been any kind of material superior to it in the vanilla game.

I think it’s so cool that Mojang aren’t afraid to change things up in a major way like this; even things that have been a part of the game’s systems for over a decade. This new version of The Nether absolutely puts the old version to shame and it makes me wonder how we ever put up with it for so long.

I didn’t even get the chance to cover everything this update added, but I’ve got to stop talking about it as this entry is almost 1000 words long by itself now. The craziest thing is that after I release this article, it’s likely that Mojang will add loads more features that send this update even higher up in my estimations. Mojang have done an absolutely incredible job with this update and I hope it’s exemplary of the kind of work we’re going to be seeing in whatever idea they have for the next update.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, please let me know what you thought of these updates, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure to come back next Friday, where I’ll be covering AEW Double or Nothing!

Money in the Bank 2020: Every Match Ranked

Woah…ok. That sure was a night of wrestling.

It’s easy to forget given the…something…that was the main event, but there were actually proper wrestling matches on this show, and almost all of them were pretty good. The lower number of matches than usual did feel a bit weird, especially when some of them didn’t get to go very long, but much like the two-night Wrestlemania, I think it was actually a good idea. Things felt like they were paced a lot better because of it and my interest never wained in the show because it didn’t drag on for an hour longer than it needed to. Sure, I would’ve prefered it if more high-profile talent got a spot on this show, but I’m thankful that they didn’t stuff this show with guff.

So, let’s get on with the matches.

7 – Bobby Lashley def. R-Truth

Oh yeah, Bobby Lashley is a thing…how did I forget about him?

Not a whole lot to say with this one. Truth and MVP’s promo was kinda fun but not really all that intriguing, I guess it probably would’ve been a bit better if I knew anything about basketball, but that’s my problem. As for the bait-and-switch, I’m ok with it, since I don’t think MVP vs R-Truth would’ve been all that great.

Admittedly, this match wasn’t anything special either, but I certainly didn’t hate it. When you get matches like this that are just slightly extended squashes, you have to look at them through a different lens than you look at a regular match through. I think Truth’s antics of trying to escape kept this thing going through Lashley’s relatively uninteresting offence.

That said, it was still a standard squash match, so I can’t bring myself to put it any higher than this.

6 – Bayley(c) def. Tamina
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

I really wanted to be optimistic about this one, but it just didn’t work.

It had it’s moments, mostly involving Bayley heeling it up, but the match ended up being quite slow for the most part and wasn’t able to carry the 10 minutes it got. I wish I could be positive about Tamina here, but there really wasn’t anything to like from her here. Her wrestling style is that of your standard “big-guy” in wrestling only she seems to have even less mobility than many of her counterparts. She can do a good superkick though…so there’s that I guess? Bayley didn’t seem to be at her best here either. I enjoyed her taunting Tamina throughout, and that aspect of her character has remained consistent, but something about her in-ring stuff just felt a bit flat to me; not to mention one of the worst knee-bars I’ve ever seen.

As for the finish, it’s about what I expected. It would’ve been nice to see a bit more of something between Sasha and Bayley (if that’s where we’re headed…it bloody well should be). Although, I understand that subtlety isn’t exactly WWE’s strong suit and they’re probably looking to keep this building until Summerslam, so maybe it’s a bit early. If Tamina does carry on pursuing this title, I can only hope it’s in the form of a multi-woman match, because I really don’t fancy sitting through another singles match between these two.

5 – Jeff Hardy def. Cesaro
(Kickoff Show)

You know, given that they spent a month hyping up his return, I really would’ve thought they’d have put this match on the main show…

As it stands, I enjoyed this one. Admittedly there’s not really all that much to say about it, as it generally filled the role of being a slightly above average TV match than anything else. I don’t wonder with matches like this whether I would’ve enjoyed it more if there was a crowd to react to stuff, even if I feel I’ve gotten used to the lack of background noise by now. I don’t really know what else to say here, there was no story going into this match since Cesaro and Sheamus have now disassociated from each other.

It was an enjoyable match from two great wrestlers, and I’d love to see more of this from both of these guys going forward.

4 – Braun Strowman(c) def. Bray Wyatt
(Universal Championship)

The fact that the lack of a crowd means we can very clearly hear the wrestlers talking in the ring is something that I don’t think has been taken advantage of nearly as much as it could’ve been up until now. Bray Wyatt was the perfect character to play to this, and he did an excellent job. From his ramblings to commentary and the camera during his entrance, to his comments to Braun throughout the match, Wyatt was able to tell the story absolutely perfectly.

I wasn’t actually all that interested in the story going into this one, but thanks to the work done between the two of them in the ring, I came away more invested than I came in. The injection of the puppets was the only thing that didn’t quite land for me. I know they’re supposed to be Wyatt’s tools for indoctrinating people into the funhouse, but they’re so disconnected from what Wyatt and Strowman had in 2015/16, that they felt a bit out of place. Everything else was really well done though, from Bray’s pleading with Braun, to Braun’s tricking of Wyatt, making him believe that he had actually convinced him to come back. In a way, this even justified the decision to had Funhouse Bray wrestle the match rather than The Fiend.

When it comes to the action, it wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was entertaining enough and served the story like it was supposed to. This wasn’t much of a competitive match, which tends to be where Wyatt shines best, so there was only so much interest it could have. That said, his more reactionary role in the pacing made for a more compelling story.

3 – The New Day(c) def. Lucha House Party, The Forgotten Sons, The Miz & John Morrison
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Multi-team tag matches are always great.

This match followed the simple, yet effective, formula that most matches of this elk do. That being it started out pretty slow, with standard action between the two legal men, throwing in the occasional tag and double-team move. Then about 5 minutes in all hell breaks loose and the following 10 minutes of the match is a barrel of fun.

Lucha House Party ended up being the MVPs of this match if you ask me, one of them was almost always involved in the action, and they did a really good job of it too. This kind of chaotic and fast-paced match is perfect for their style, so everything they did felt very natural and compelling. Miz & Morrison were great too. It wasn’t quite as overt as it was in their previous matches, but they filled their role of picking their spots and only getting involved when they stood a chance of gaining the advantage to great effect.

The Forgotten Sons were, unfortunately, who I was most disappointed. They got a few notable spots in there, but nothing all that consequential. They’re one of those rare cases where I don’t think we saw their full potential in NXT and I was really hoping that we’d start to catch glimpses of it here. The New Day was great though, and I think the match was structured in such a way so that you really felt they deserved the win by the end. Kofi took a battering like he always does, and Big E ran through the whole thing with a head of steam in the way that only he can.

I’m not entirely sure where the feuds will go from here. My guess would be a regular two on two match between New Day and Miz & Morrison just to finally put the cap on that, but The Forgotten Sons may get that featured spot instead. Either way, I think we’re in for a good match at Backlash.

2 – Drew McIntyre(c) def. Seth Rollins
(WWE Championship)

Ok, when it comes to regular wrestling matches, this was far-and-away the best match on the show, but come on…

It seems Money in the Bank is just going to be the show where Seth Rollins had a brilliant singles match for a world title, his brilliant match with Styles was at last year’s show too. Given how dominant a champion Drew has been over the past month, there was a risk that making this too much of a competitive match might take away from some of that aura, but I think they did a great job of balancing it. Drew felt like he was in control for large swathes of the match and even in his more vulnerable moments, he never felt diminished because of it.

Rollins meanwhile has done an amazing job of making his fast-paced, high-flying offence – a style that typically only works for faces – into something quite methodical and heelish. The sequence where he did a bunch of flying knee strikes to Drew on the outside, in particular, felt very heavy and brutal, even though it’s usually a crowd-popping and exciting move.

Everything in this match worked to the benefit of both men. Rollins shows once again how he’s able to continually adapt and evolve his style for what his role is, and he genuinely looked like a credible threat to Drew’s championship. Meanwhile, Drew was able to look vulnerable without ever looking weak, and the handshake at the end solidified him as the top guy on Raw. Partly because it makes him look noble and honourable, but Rollins accepting it gives Drew a boost too, because Rollins’ whole point in this feud was his belief that Drew wouldn’t be able to handle leading Raw.

Combine all of that stuff with a sizable helping of exciting back-and-forth action, and you’ve got yourself a match of the year candidate right there.

1 – Otis and Asuka won the Money in the Bank Ladder Matches

Ok…ok. Let’s all take a breath…now let’s break this thing down.

First thing’s first, this whole thing was so incredibly dumb, but it was also absolutely brilliant. Let’s be honest here, the idea of a race through an office block to grab a prize on the roof is an absolutely ridiculous concept, so leaning all the way into that ridiculousness was the perfect way to play this match.

Things started off silly as Asuka did a dance on the balcony before leaping off of it onto all of the other women, meanwhile, the men fought in the gym, a sequence which featured Corbin being absolutely traumatised when he accidentally broke one of the mirrors. Then Asuka got into an elevator and seemingly danced the whole way up in it as the men ran past a bathroom, in which Brother Love was taking a piss for some reason.

Next up, then men fought into an elevator, which opened in the exact same place where the women had just started fighting. Some great spots included Asuka and Aleister Black doing shifty eyes like they’re in a Scooby-Doo cartoon before sneaking off. Meanwhile, Otis got carried away, cheering along with Daniel Bryan’s “Yes!” kicks and also…there was a clown…I don’t know why there was a clown, but the was a clown.

Moving on, the women fought their way into a conference room that, for some reason, had a fake Money in the Bank briefcase hanging from the ceiling. After all the other women were laid out, Dana Brooke, for some reason, thought that the briefcase above the conference room must be the real one, despite every advert for the past month saying it would be on the roof. At this point, Stephanie McMahon appeared in one of the worst editing jobs I’ve ever seen (it didn’t even slightly look like Stephanie was actually in the room with Dana) to tell Dana that the real briefcase was on the roof.

We then revisit AJ Styles, who’s hunting down Rey after Rey left him trapped under a set of weights in the gym and we get a rare bit of continuity in WWE as AJ becomes traumatised by a photo of The Undertaker. Which makes sense when you consider The Undertaker buried AJ alive last month…you would’ve thought that would’ve come up a bit sooner, but oh well.

Then we get to the stupidest, but also the best part of the match. As Paul Heyman was sat down at a table full of food, both the men and the women ran into the room and stared each other down. Otis then picked up a sandwich and started having a fit. Everyone else in the room put on their best melodramatic “oh shit” faces until Otis called for a food fight and chaos ensued. Some of the highlights of this segment include Rey Mysterio being choked out by Shayna Baszler, then literally squashed by Nia Jax and the music being absolutely perfect. That isn’t the end of the food stuff though, as Otis went into the kitchen and found a row of pies laid out. At which point, MOTHERFUCKIN’ JOHNNY ACE rolls in on a scooter and takes a pie to the face.

Dana then manages to slip on a wet floor (we never see her again in the match after this) and Nia throws Shayna into a wall, we’d never see Shayna again in this match either. The men have managed to fight their way into the main conference room, and after a small skirmish, Styles and Bryan stumble into an office that just so happens to have Vince McMahon writing on a clipboard. Styles and Bryan then look at each other like school children that have been caught messing around and leave the office with their tails between their legs. After that, another skirmish happens where Corbin comes out on top and declares “I’m going to the roof!” to absolutely no-one.

We finally get to the roof, and this is where things get a bit more tense and series. The women get to the roof first, and there aren’t any major ladder spots on the roof, just vague fighting and attempting to prevent each other from climbing the ladder. After Asuka and Lacey fought on the ladder for a weirdly long time, Asuka was climbing to the top. Corbin appeared and tried to stop her from grabbing the briefcase for some reason. Seriously, WHY did Corbin give a shit about Asuka winning the women’s briefcase? The men’s briefcase was RIGHT THERE, if he had just left Asuka alone, he could’ve won the match in seconds. Anyway, Asuka kicked him in the face and retrieved the briefcase.

We’re not done yet, though, as now the rest of the men emerged onto the roof. Corbin decided that the best course of action would be to launch both Mysterio and Black off of the roof (I know there was actually a crash pad about 10 feet down, but they shot it to look like they went off the roof). The men fought for a bit and eventually Styles and Corbin found themselves at the top of the ladder, the briefcase came off of the hook with both of them holding it until Elias of all people showed up and smashed Corbin in the back with a guitar. That left AJ with the briefcase and the win, right? WRONG. Instead, AJ managed to fumble the briefcase, which knocked it perfectly into Otis’ hands. Seriously, they showed the slow-motion replay, and it’s the most perfect fumble I think I’ve ever seen.

GOD, this was brilliant. The Boneyard and Funhouse matches were great because of their uniqueness and the cleverness of the writing and filming involved. This was great in the way that it’s so bloody stupid I can’t help but love every second of it.

As for the winners, as much as I would’ve preferred Shayna to win, giving it to Asuka is still a great choice and I hope they make something good of it. In regards to Otis, it’s certainly not who I would’ve picked, but given that this was a comedy match, why not have the comedy wrestler win it? I don’t think he’ll ever actually get to cash-in as I stand by my belief that there is no world championship in his future. However, right now, I can’t help but smile at it. Like the match as a whole, it’s incredibly dumb, but also beautiful.

That’s all folks! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this article, please let me know what your thoughts on the show are, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure you come back this time on Saturday, where I’ll be releasing the second part of my Minecraft Updates list!

WWE Money in the Bank 2020: Predictions & Analysis

2020 just keeps being…really bloody weird, doesn’t it? While it’s still extremely odd that we’re having all these wrestling shows with no-one in attendance, I think most of us have at least gotten used to it by now. Unfortunately, the one person who doesn’t seem to have gotten used to it yet is Vince McMahon and it’s showing. As a whole, I think WWE has largely been stagnant since Wrestlemania. None of the feuds going into this match feel like they have any real weight behind them, even the one or two they’ve actually been trying to build properly.

There is at least some level of intrigue surrounding the Money in the Bank Ladder matches, as now everyone’s going to be fighting their way to the roof of Titan Towers in order to get the magic briefcase. In addition, both the men’s and women’s matches are going to be happening simultaneously. Which I guess makes sense, otherwise, you’d just be doing a really similar concept twice in one night, but it’s all going to be just a little bit mental.

Will it be a good kind of mental or a bad kind? I honestly have no idea, but I’ll at least try to predict the winners of the matches.

The New Day(c) vs The Miz & John Morrison vs Lucha House Party vs The Forgotten Sons
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Talk about stagnant…

After the rather excellent ladder match for the Smackdown tag titles at Wrestlemania, I thought there would be a really fun singles feud to be had between Miz & Morrison and The Usos. Instead, a couple of weeks later, The New Day got the tag titles back, leading The Miz & Morrison to pursue them in a feud we’ve already seen a lot this year, meanwhile, The Usos have just vanished. Don’t get me wrong, I like The New Day, but they only just lost the titles at the start of the year and I was really enjoying what The Miz & Morrison were doing with the belts.

As for Lucha House Party, I honestly couldn’t care less. I know that both Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik are great wrestlers, but WWE has spent years treating them like an absolute joke, so my opinion isn’t suddenly going to turn around them because of one decent victory. Then there’s The Forgotten Sons. After being…well…forgotten in NXT, they showed up on Smackdown and immediately got themselves a title shot. I’m a little torn on it if I’m being honest, I never cared that much for the stable when they were in NXT, but they’re something new and at least vaguely interesting, so I don’t think I’d be against them winning the titles.

Do I think they will? Maybe. There’s no way Lucha House Party are going to win and although it’s a real possibility that Miz & Morrison could regain the titles and play hot-potato with New Day for a couple more months, I just don’t quite see it happening. I think the safe choice is picking The New Day to retain, otherwise, what was the point in having them get the titles back in the first place? That said, I always go with the safe choice and I’m almost always wrong, so sod it, The Forgotten Sons are going to win, why the hell not?

Bayley(c) vs Tamina
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

Please WWE, just have some restraint, don’t do the turn yet.

So, following the five-way at Wrestlemania, the woman who gets the one-on-one title shot the next month is…the first woman eliminated from that match? How do you figure that one? I know Lacey Evans already had a singles match with Bayley earlier in the year, but I really enjoyed their final-two sequence at Mania and would’ve liked to see the feud continue at least another month.

I’d like to say that I don’t have anything against Tamina, but I do. Admittedly, she’s improved a great deal since the last time I saw her wrestle, but I really don’t think she’s all that good. I’m pretty confident that this match will follow the classic ‘big wrestler vs chicken-shit heel’ that we’ve been seeing in WWE for pretty much the entire televised existence of the company. Tamina will spend the early stages totally mauling Bayley before Bayley uses some underhanded tactics to get the advantage and probably the win too.

Since I skipped ahead a bit there, yes, I think Bayley is going to retain, because I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to handle Tamina as Smackdown Women’s Champion. My main worry with this match is that they’re going to have Sasha turn on Bayley on Sunday. I think it absolutely should happen soon, but I think Sunday is just a bit too early, I don’t see a way to keep the interest in that feud going all the way to a big Summerslam match, which I hope is where all this is leading.

Braun Strowman(c) vs Bray Wyatt
(Universal Championship)

Of course, the problem with Bray NOT wrestling as The Fiend means it blindingly obvious who’s going to win.

I’ve liked most of what I’ve seen in this feud so far, but I also think there’s been a lot of wasted potential. While the idea of Wyatt bringing Strowman into WWE has been the key point of this feud, I haven’t really seen it being played to enough, especially when compared to how much Wyatt & Cena played off of their shared past in the build to Wrestlemania. I also don’t think it helps that Strowman doesn’t feel like that legit of a champion right now. I know he beat Goldberg, but given that we’re all aware he wasn’t supposed to even be in that match, the whole thing feels a bit hollow.

Looking at the match, I think it will be a good one. I can’t quite picture in my head just how these two are going to work together, but as long as it isn’t finisher-spamming, then I think we’re in for a sleeper-hit here. The main problem comes that the result is so very predictable. The only reason Bray wouldn’t be wrestling as The Fiend for this match is that WWE wants Braun to retain, but doesn’t want The Fiend to lose. It’s so very dumb and it probably just an excuse for Bray to demand a rematch where he actually does wrestle as The Fiend. So there you go, Braun Strowman is going to win, which is fine, I guess.

Drew McIntyre(c) vs Seth Rollins
(WWE Championship)

Ah yes! Who could be more deserving of a world title shot than the guy who…lost his match at Wrestlemania…twice? Yup, basically anyone, but oh well.

Thankfully, Seth Rollins’ character work has been consistently great since he turned heel and he hasn’t slowed down much going into this feud. I don’t think it’s been anything particularly special, but the build to this match has been relatively enjoyable, I thought the contract signing segment from a couple of weeks ago was particularly good.

While I don’t agree with the circumstances surrounding how it came to be, I do think that Rollins is arguably the best choice for Drew’s first opponent. Not only was Rollins Universal Champion for the majority of 2019, but when it comes to in-ring consistency, there are few better on the Raw roster right now. Speaking of, I think the quality of this match could easily rival the best of what WWE’s produced so far this year, Drew’s been full of fire in the ring as of late and Rollins very rarely puts on a bad match (as long as he isn’t wrestling Baron Corbin).

Naturally, the winner is a foregone conclusion. Outside of some surprise Money in the Bank shenangians (which I don’t think we’ll see), I don’t see any scenario in which Drew McIntyre doesn’t walk away as champion. I know I’ve praised Rollins’ work a lot recently, but him winning the world title would absolutely be the wrong move and completely destroy everything Drew’s built up this year. Admittedly, this pandemic has reportedly made Vince McMahon even more temperamental than usual, so I suppose there’s a chance he could wake up on Sunday and decide he hates Drew’s guts, but outside of that rather specific scenario, Drew’s winning this match.

Carmella vs Shayna Baszler vs Nia Jax vs Asuka vs Dana Brooke vs Lacey Evans
(Money in the Bank Ladder Match)

Right…the ladder matches.

I’d love to sit here and speculate on the multitude of whacky shenanigans we’re going to see during the course of this fight through Titan Towers, but if the Boneyard and Firefly Fun House matches are anything to go by, what I devise will pale in comparison to what we actually get. I think the idea of both Money in the Bank matches happening simultaneously is a good idea given that both of them are going for the same concept; doing it twice would probably be quite repetitive and boring.

Still, let’s got through each of the competitors and see what I make of their chances.

Dana Brooke – I’m very glad that she got a chance to feature in this match after missing out on Wrestlemania due to self-isolation. Many people have been jumping on the Dana train as of late, calling her one of WWE’s most underrated talents (which, if everyone’s saying it, is rather paradoxical). Unfortunately, I don’t think tonight’s her night. She’s someone who needs some substantial build before getting a push like winning this match would be.

Carmella – I’m not entirely sure why, but I’ve taken quite a liking to Carmella as of late. I wasn’t all that big a fan of her as a heel, but since she started running around with R-Truth and the 24/7 Championship, she’s grown this real playful and fun energy that I can’t get enough of. Once again though, I don’t see her winning this. She’s already done it once and while I would be in favour of another championship run as a face for Carmella, I think there are other people who could benefit a lot more from the briefcase.

Asuka – Again, I’d be thrilled if Asuka got the win here, I just don’t think it’s going to happen. She got her big singles feud with Becky at the start of the year and I don’t see WWE investing in her as a singles star over the summer. They absolutely should, but it just doesn’t fit with the direction of the Raw women’s division right now.

Lacey Evans – I don’t think it’s all that likely that Evans will win, but I do think that there’s an outside chance of it happening. Like I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed the stuff between her and Bayley at Wrestlemania and it’s clear she’s come an absolutely huge way as a performer since her matches against Becky Lynch this time last year. It’s honestly hard to say whether or not she’d actually be ready for a run at the top, but I certainly wouldn’t be against giving it a go.

Nia Jax –Now we get to the two wrestlers I’ve been stuck between all week. Nia Jax has a lot going for her that makes her a pretty compelling candidate. She’s just returned from injury and seems to have a head of steam behind her. She’s being booked like a monster heel again, which would be a perfect briefcase holder that could truly threaten even a dominant champion like Lynch. Finally, Lynch vs Jax is a match we haven’t actually seen since Becky’s rise to the top. They have a bit of history after Jax broke Becky’s face and it seems like they’ve just been waiting for an opportunity to rip into each other.

There are a couple of reasons I didn’t pick her to win though, they mostly have to do with the circumstances surrounding the last women in this match, but also, something about Nia holding the briefcase doesn’t really feel right. I don’t quite know how to describe it, because it’s more of a gut feeling, but I just can’t quite picture her holding it.

Shayna Baszler – If her Wrestlemania match with Becky hadn’t gone down the way it did, I’d be much more confident in picking this, but I’m getting real ‘Asuka losing to Charlotte at Wrestlemania 34’ vibes here. Looking at the storyline, it absolutely makes sense. They’ve already established the fact that Shayna isn’t done with Becky and, as it stands, Becky doesn’t really have anything else to do right now.

All signs are pointing to a Shayna vs Becky rematch happening at some point over the next few months and what better way to do that than Shayna winning the briefcase? While I would be happy with her doing the usual heel tactic of cashing-in when the champ is down, I think it would go a long way to reestablishing Shayna as a badass if she came right out and declared the time and place she would cash-in as soon as she won it.

I have my doubts due to the way their Wrestlemania match went down was very worrying to me in regards to Shayna’s future, but I’m going to take this leap of faith and pick Shayna Baszler to come away with the briefcase.

Otis vs Aleister Black vs Daniel Bryan vs Rey Mysterio vs AJ Styles vs King Corbin
(Money in the Bank Ladder Match)

Well, I’ve already talked about the circumstances, let’s just talk about the wrestlers.

Otis – While I came around to Otis during his time in the storyline with Mandy, I have absolutely no desire to see him any higher than the midcard and I don’t think anyone in WWE thinks any differently. I think he could have a very successful run for himself over the next couple of years, but I don’t see a world title being involved at any point during that run, so Money in the Bank is sadly going to be out of his reach.

Rey Mysterio – Mysterio strikes me as one of those guys that’s going to be used as a bit of an everyman while he remains in WWE. I don’t think it’s likely that he’ll ever hold another world championship during his career, it’s still a possibility. Maybe under different circumstances, I could see Mysterio walking away with the briefcase here, but he just doesn’t feel like he fits into any of the world title scenes right now.

Daniel Bryan – Not going to lie, I’m a little bit scared seeing Daniel Bryan being in a multi-man ladder match, where dangerous and nasty looking spots tend to be the order of the day. That said, I’m sure he’s going to go out of his way to put on an incredible performance. I don’t think he’s going to win though, much like Mysterio, the world title scene just isn’t built for his input right now. I’m not entirely sure what he’s going to be doing over the next few months as, over the course of this year so far, he’s failed to win both the WWE and Intercontinental titles, but I’m sure that whatever it is, it doesn’t involve the briefcase.

King Corbin – If it wasn’t for past events, I think I’d be a lot more likely to pick Corbin for this match. As it stands, he’s done nothing but lose since the start of the year (although that’s never stopped WWE from giving someone the briefcase before) so he’s in an extremely weak position on the card right now. That said, I still think he’s the kind of guy that WWE are seconds away from strapping a world title to at just about any moment, purely because he’s a very strong heel who gets a lot of heat. The biggest problem I have is his 2017 run with the briefcase, which ended in him unsuccessfully cashing-in on Jinder Mahal of all people, only to be humiliated by John Cena at the next Pay-Per-View.

If I thought Braun was going to be Universal Champion for the rest of the year, then maybe I’d still be convinced by a Corbin argument, but given that by the summer, it’s likely Roman Reigns will be holding the blue belt, I can’t see Corbin fitting in anywhere there.

Aleister Black – This is the first competitor in the match that I see with some real potential of winning. I’ve said a lot so far this year that Black desperately needs something substantial to do, otherwise, people are going to start to get bored of him quick and what better than a face run with the briefcase? I know it doesn’t quite fit with Drew as a face champion right now, but if I’m being honest, I don’t see Drew holding the title all the way until next year, so there’s some good potential for some interesting stuff to happen with Black as champion in the autumn/winter.

The main problem with picking Black to win though, is I don’t quite feel confident that WWE is ready to push Black up to the top of the card like that. I absolutely think that’s where he’s going to end up at some point over the next few years, but I think it might be a bit early, especially considering he hasn’t even had a reign with a midcard title yet.

AJ Styles – I’d like to pretend this was a difficult decision, but honestly, he’s the only competitor in this match that actually fits into any storylines. I know he lost to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania, but Rollins losing and then getting a world title shot immediately after if proof enough that it doesn’t matter. Pile on top of that the fact that Raw has a strong, face champion right now and you’re looking at the perfect foil for Drew in the form of AJ Styles. I genuinely don’t think there are many credible threats to Drew’s title on Raw right now, not those that are heels at the very least, so giving a multi-time world champion like Styles the Money in the Bank briefcase just makes all the sense in the world to threaten him.

I’d even go as far as to say that Drew vs Styles for the title would be the perfect match for Summerslam this year, not to mention a match that would be absolutely incredible to watch. Even considering the way in which he entered the match, taking Apollo Crew’s place after making a surprise return, it just seems like WWE are deliberately building Styles up to be the focal point of this match. It’s true that I might prefer someone like Black or Brayn to win the briefcase, but the argument for AJ Styles to win is far too compelling to ignore and I can’t deny it’s the best option going.

So there you have it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read these predictions, please let me know what you think is going to happen at Money in the Bank, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure you come back here this time on Monday to read my review!

9 – Dustin Rhodes def. Shawn Spears

8 – Kris Statlander def. Penelope Ford

7 – Best Friends def. Private Party (Winner becomes #1 contender for AEW Tag Team Championships) (Buy-in)

6 – Cody def. Lance Archer (TNT Championship)

5 – Brian Cage won the Casino Ladder Match (Winner gets a future AEW World Title Match)

4 – Jon Moxley(c) def. Brodie Lee (AEW World Championship)

3 – Matt Hardy & The Elite def. The Inner Circle (Stadium Stampede)

2 – MJF def. Jungle Boy

1 – Hikaru Shida def. Nyla Rose(c) (AEW Women’s World Championship) (No Holds Barred)

Private Party vs Best Friends (#1 Contender’s Match for the AEW Tag Team Championship) (Buy-In)

Dustin Rhodes vs Shawn Spears

Britt Baker vs Kris Statlander

MJF vs Jungle Boy

Darby Allin vs Colt Cabana vs Orange Cassidy vs Rey Fenix vs Scorpio Sky vs Kip Sabian vs Frankie Kazarian vs Luchasaurus vs ??? (Casino Ladder Match) (Winner gets an AEW World Championship Match in the future)

The Inner Circle vs Matt Hardy & The Elite (Stadium Stampede)

Nyla Rose(c) vs Hikaru Shida (AEW Women’s Championship) (No Holds Barred)

Cody vs Lance Archer (TNT Championship)

Jon Moxley(c) vs Brodie Lee (AEW World Championship)