I never get excited for WWE shows anymore as they've let me down too many times in the past, but I'm really curious to see what Smackdown on FOX looks like. They apparently want a more sports-orientated presentation (ironically probably very similar to Dynamite) so it might be very different to what they usually produce. One thing I loved about Dynamite that I didn't mention before was the lack of backstage bullshit and attempted comedy. One thing I liked about WCW back in the day was that 99% of the show was done in front of the audience. Interviews were almost all done on the ramp or in the ring. There were very few campy or silly backstage segments, and no "invisible camera" nonsense. That changed as WCW started trying to copy WWE towards the end, but the earlier Nitros (96-98 especially) really nailed that sports-style presentation and AEW seems to be going more in that direction.

TNT were projecting around the 500k mark for the first show so this is an absolutely massive sucess for AEW no matter how you look at it. Apparently the ratings in Charlotte and the Carolinas in particular were huge, which isn't a surprise as those were WCW hotbeds back in the 90s. I get the feeling a lot of lapsed fans tuned into AEW last night. I hope that what they saw encouraged them to continue watching going forward. https://www.thewrap.com/all-elite-wrestling-dynamite-ratings-aew-nxt-wwe/ Some more detail on the numbers here. AEW beat NXT in their key demographic (18-49) by 878,000 to 414,000! WWE were impressed/shaken enough to offer AEW a public congratulations which is pretty insane in of itself. Still got Smackdown's debut on FOX to come on Friday. What a week.

AEW: 1.4m viewers NXT: 890k viewers Great start for AEW. Anything over a million was going to be considered a major success, 1.4m is a significant number. Remains to be seen whether they can keep the momentum going.

I wonder what happened? Didn't sense he was close to leaving.

How Neil Harris gets sacked before Nathan Jones is beyond me.

You never know with Venky's. It's a spin-the-wheel scenario, but on the Venky wheel 95% of the possibilities are bad. There's always a slim chance of hitting the other 5% though.

Seems to be suggesting he's staying on now. Maybe nobody else was interested.

Yeah, 7pm on the ITV hub and 11.20pm on ITV4 on Friday I believe. Apparently ITV jumped the gun on the initial TV slot announcement.

There is that too. Very WCW-esque as this was often the case on the earlier (95-96) Nitros as well.

Jones' interview after the Hudds game made it clear that he knew it was over. I'm guessing the owners had told him it was a must win or he was out. Assume the delay is just lawyer stuff.

I don't think being sacked after one win in ten and dropping Boro to 16th in the table constitutes being screwed over. They were also dumped out of the cup by Accrington Stanley. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/24617321 Sounds familiar doesn't it?

I haven't watched NXT yet but I've always really enjoyed the Takeover specials so no doubt I'll enjoy the show. I think it's a bit harsh to compare NXT to AEW as NXT has much more experience and history behind it. AEW is starting essentially from scratch and debut shows are always hit and miss. NXT has been hitting its stride for some time now and frankly has some of the best and most recognisable talent in the world at its disposal so was always likely to be the better show overall. Random thoughts on Dynamite: - Love the intro and the overall design. Really nice, big time feel. With that said I'm not really a fan of the tubes coming out either side of the entrance. Feels too much like how TNA used to have their set. Would have preferred something closer to how Nitro's entrance looked. - Loved Schiavone bringing up Liger Vs Pillman as the opening match of the inaugural Nitro in 1995 during Cody/Guevara. Also seeing the TNT logo everywhere gave me good feels. - Thought the commentary team in general were fine considering it was their first proper show together. Am sure they'll improve as time goes on, and it was still really cool to hear Schiavone and JR calling a major wrestling show together on TNT for the first time in around 30 years. - First match should have been a bit shorter. It was really good but just went on a bit too long. Also think Cody should have had the chance to speak before Jericho attacked him. Promos in general across the show were either interrupted or not so good. Needs improvement. - Women's match was excellent, as was Hangman/PAC. MJF/Cutler was average, but MJF is probably the best heel on the show and got some mic time which was good. Main Event match was OK but a bit of an overbooked cluster. I was a bit confused as to why there wasn't a DQ when Moxley attacked Omega. Also wondered why the match seemed to suddenly stop dead whilst they brawled all over the arena. Don't get me wrong, awesome brawl with a great spot on the glass table at the end, but logically left a bit to be desired. I know Khan has said he doesn't want DQ's often if at all in AEW matches, but this took that leniency a bit too far. - Entrance music needs work. Really generic and uninspired, especially compared to NXT which has amazing themes for practically every wrestler. - Crowd was super into the show, which makes everything come across better. - Hager/Swagger surprise appearance was pretty cool and he got a decent pop. Ultimately I thought it was a solid if not totally spectacular debut, and there's a lot of promise there. It'll be interesting to see how the ratings compare.

The best thing about Dynamite is that it feels "big league", which is something TNA was never able to manage with Impact. Also really cool to hear Tony Schiavone calling wrestling on TNT again you can tell he was enjoying himself. JR and Excaliber were great too.

A nice bit of karma at the end

Certainly makes all of those "forever a bluebird" tributes seem a bit hollow.

You're telling me Gandhi Babu doesn't have his finger on the pulse of modern football?

He was unquestionably a mistake and set them back far more than anybody could have predicted. He doesn't seem to be doing much better at Scunthorpe. 1 win in 11 so far. One thing Hurst proved was that a lot of the fans had no idea what they were talking about when they celebrated his appointment. They wanted different to Mick McCarthy but he was basically a lower league MM with far less intelligence, experience and man management skills. They just saw "young manager" and instantly thought they were getting exciting, attacking football, when in fact Hurst's teams are functional and attritional. I had no sympathy for the majority of Ipswich's fanbase when they got relegated as they largely brought it on themselves, even if most of them still won't admit it now. They got it right with Lambert but if they think he won't go straight to the Mick McCarthy playbook of grinding out results when they're back in the Championship with a shoestring budget then they are in for a rude awakening.

Hurst's recruitment would have been decent if Ipswich were in League 1 at the time, as a lot of the players they bought were stand-out L1/L2 players and unsurprisingly are doing well now they're at their level. Unlikely they'll be able to make the step up when Ipswich are back in the Championship though so more recruitment will definitely be needed to avoid another relegation.

Ipswich fans have pretty much always liked Lambert tbh. He's great at PR so he got the fans onside immediately and has had their loyalty ever since. With that said what he's doing at the moment doesn't impress me much. League 1 is really poor so I was always expecting a team like Ipswich to be up there challenging. The test for Lambert will be when they're back in the Championship with the same anaemic transfer budget.

Dack is the only natural goalscorer in the entire first eleven. None of the others regularly contribute. The closest we have after Dack is Armstrong who is extremely inconsistent when it comes to performances and goals. Graham is no longer a regular starter and is now rusty from lack of game time so can't count him. Our style of play is pretty stodgy and insipid as well which doesn't exactly lend itself to scoring goals. It's not often you see Rovers score more than two, especially in this division.

I honestly don't think it would have gone any worse for them if they had kept Lambert on.

Meanwhile the man who was in charge when Stoke were relegated from the Premier League will likely be passing them in the opposite direction if Stoke do fall through the trap door again.

What's funny is that Stoke dominated the match in terms of shots on goal. Huddersfield only had 4, but they scored one, whilst Stoke scored none of their 18 attempts. Statistically they've already given themselves a big hill to climb to avoid relegation this season.

Unless Mowbray finds the courage to let this team off the leash we're stuck in mid-table purgatory until Venky's lose patience and the whole thing collapses again. Much like under Bowyer we have assembled a squad that can compete at the top six, but we probably don't have a manager with the attributes to deliver it. It's a shame because Mowbray has done a lot of good here, but he's going to need to completely change his mindset to deliver success beyond finishing mid-table every season.

Would a bookie even take a bet on 0-0 HT at Ewood at this point?