The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
This is a Paul Heyman we have never seen before — and it tells us plenty about The Bloodline story.
Throughout his Hall of Famer career, Heyman has always exuded a sense of control and certainty over every situation he is in. There was always an almost smug confidence about the superstar he was managing from CM Punk to Brock Lesnar to Roman Reigns.
Heyman knew what would happen before it did, so sure of it he would give you not predictions but spoilers.
What’s been building since Roman Reigns lost the Undisputed WWE Universal championship to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40 is the unraveling of Heyman in the position he now finds himself where he is no longer in the loop, no longer in control.
Solo Sikoa has grabbed the reins of The Bloodline in Reigns’ absence, making decisions like the violent Sonny Corleone about who to bring in and who to attack without Heyman’s input or guidance under the guise of being in communication with Reigns — which Heyman clearly is not.
Heyman tried to slyly bring Sikoa back under his wing and was rejected and asked who’s “we” when the new leader said we have Rhodes in check. All likelihood is “we” is the “Final Boss” Rock because none of this sounds like Reigns.
Heyman has pretty much told you that Reigns is not at the center of these Bloodline decisions, saying on multiple occasions that he and the Tribal Chief decided against bringing the dangerous Toma Tonga and Tonga Loa, while this week on SmackDown referencing background checks to insinuate a criminal element to the new members.
“They’re not even people,” Heyman said in the ring. “They’re blood-thirsty, sadistic thugs,”
Heyman is already distancing himself from this group, setting up both he and Reigns to redeem themselves as babyfaces down the road.
What we got in the ring after Heyman pleaded with Kevin Owens to back off the Bloodline because Sikoa doesn’t respect him as Reigns did, was the Wise Man showing the desperation, fear and frustration around his current situation.
All the certainty and smugness are stripped away and replaced with someone feeling unsure and useless as he awaits the true king to return in Reigns and make him relevant again.
Heyman’s history with Owens makes him unable to believe he could be making a genuine attempt to act in his best interest. He believes Heyman is still pulling the strings and is just trying to instill fear. Owens, who has flipped between heel and babyface multiple times in his career, doesn’t think Heyman can be redeemed even as he insists he is.
“Maybe I’m nor trying to help you, Maybe I’m trying to save you,” Heyman said,
It sets Heyman over the edge because what good is he everyone is just ignoring him. A wise man’s currency is his wisdom, and right now he has to feel bankrupt, and he lets us know it in a rare exacerbated rant.
“A man can’t redeem himself after all these years?” Heyman said. “How many times have you redeemed yourself? But me, oh no. Let’s not think Paul Heyman can ever redeem himself. Not Paul Heyman! Not Paul Heyman! He can never redeem himself.
“Why won’t you understand what you’re up against with these thugs? Why won’t you understand what I’m trying to do for you, right now. I’m a frickin’ Hall of Fame wise man. But no! Let’s not listen to the Hall of Fame wise man. Let’s just sit here and think I have some vision for the future of Solo taking over the entire Bloodline. Why won’t anybody listen to me!”
We’re listening Paul. We hear you. Thank you again for taking us for another ride — that maybe, just maybe is your road to redemption.
A.J. Style’s “retirement” angle with Rhodes to close Smackdown was such a blatant ripoff of the famous Mark Henry one with John Cena from June 2013 that’s just semi-lazy creative as the American Nightmare’s story continues to feel similar to Cena’s around that time with losing then winning WrestleMania, a feud with Brock Lensar and now this.
Styles wore a powder blue suit compared to Henry’s pink fit. Both called out the champion and attacked them after they raised their hands and both men talked about returning to family. You could see Styles wasn’t genuine — and did a fine job laying it on think — from a mile away. Henry did praise the segment, and at least we may get another five-star match out of this.
Will Ospreay winning the gauntlet match and getting to face Swerve Strickland for the AEW world championship at Forbidden Door likely works two ways: Strickland’s reign is cut way too short, or the more likely scenario is that not using the Tiger Driver 91 catches up to Ospreay in defeat. He gets in a rut and loses the International championship, too, fights his way back to win the Owen Hart tournament and beats Strickland at Wembley Stadium for the title by using the Tiger Driver.
Mercedes Moné is already raising the level of the women’s matches in AEW, but it was a shame they used the mystery attacker angle to hotshot an unannounced match on Dynamite against Skye Blue, which ended up being very good.
We posed the question last week if the Dominik Mysterio-Liv Morgan kiss was going to lead to WWE leaning more into sultry romance, which is exactly what they did. Morgan in bright red lipstick and high books caresses Mysterio multiple times seductively and he shows a slight interest.
WWE even had Pat McAfee do an unnecessary slow-motion telestrator segment with it later in the show before Morgan came up to defend Mysterio from Braun Strowman. Let’s see how far this goes, and Finn Balor has been doing an excellent job playing defense for Mysterio so far.
WWE sure is dragging out Otis and the Alpha Academy turning on the authoritative Chad Gable with very small tweak to the situation they are being put in. Fans at Raw thought Otis was finally going to put his coach in his place, but it was just before another slam of Sami Zayn. Is WWE risking the actual moment — likely at Clash at the Castle from having the same emotional impact — especially with Gable praising his teammates afterward?
The Young Bucks as EVPS feel powerless if Tony Khan has already undone their firing of Christopher Daniels — their biggest heel more so far — and empowered him as an honorary EVP. While Perry should win the TNT championship tournament anyway, the Bucks simply giving him the belt may have generated even more heat.
As a big fan of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa’s work I’m NXT, I’d love to see them get a tag team championship run on the main roster. But something feels missing from their booking that’s keeping the audience from truly investing in them. They need more wins maybe less silly segments with Miz and R-Truth. Beating WWE tag team champions A‐Town Down Under last week is a start.
It took just one promo for the Kris Statlander‐Stokely Hathaway heel combo to already show me some potential. There is already a rapport there, and Statlander looks ready to sink her teeth into being the bad guy.
The New Day-Final Testament story has me greatly intrigued and maybe falsely hopeful it leads to Big E’s return. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are clearly outnumbered and need help, or does WWE dare break up the New Day?
Finally, finished “Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage” by Jon Finkel, and it really is an excellent portrait of a complex man. One thing that stood out from the ring was Savage’s love and treatment of kids, including during events for George Steinbrenner’s children’s charity in Tampa for many years.
Logan Paul vs. L.A. Knight is long overdue and it leaves Jey Uso to have to shoot for being Mr. Money in the Bank as he stated on Raw. WWE has pretty much roadblocked any other meaningful creative avenues for him right now.
Matt Riddle, MLW
The former WWE star outlasted 39 other competitors in MLW’s Battle Riot on Saturday to earn a golden ticker for a shot at the MLW World Heavyweight championship at a time of his choosing. It was a title that eluded Riddle during his brief run in MLW from 2017-2018. His post-WWE run continues to progress positively as he could now become the face of the promotion.
Roxanne Perez (c.) vs. Jordynne Grace, NXT Battleground at UFC Apex (Saturday, 8 p.m., Peacock)
Grace’s appearance on NXT television sent shockwaves through the industry as it took TNA and WWE’s loose brand partnership to the next level with many hoping for more collaboration across the two companies. Grace, TNA Knockouts world champion, is one of the best and most accomplished female performers in the industry. So how does NXT handle her here, especially with a heel champion in Perez? It feels like all options are on the table, including her actually winning.