The Nostalgia Trap in Fort Wayne
Pour a double of the cheapest draft in the house and pull up a barstool. We need to talk about the booking car crash that just rolled out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. While the rest of the world is packing out the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens for AEW Double or Nothing tonight, or gearing up for the UCL Final in four days, WWE decided to resurrect a classic brand.
They packed 10,714 fans into the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for Saturday Night's Main Event. That is the first time TV cameras have rolled into that arena since 2014. The company made sure to leave a massive pile of booking headaches that we need to sort through before Clash in Italy next Sunday.
WWE is walking a weird tightrope right now. The company is heading to Turin in a week, and they are trying to build massive stakes on a house show setup. It is a bold move, but it also results in some incredibly lazy finishes.
We got disqualifications, illegal brass knuckles, and champions getting pinned like jobbers in tag team matches. It is classic three-card monte, and the fans in Indiana bought every single trick. Let's break down the madness, the triumphs, and the absolute booking disasters from last night.
Penta is the Midcard King and Ethan Page is a Choke Artist
Let's start with the good stuff. The main event was a brutal fight. Penta faced Ethan Page in a physical war, and these two went out there to destroy each other.
Page is a massive, physical bully who spent the entire match trying to dismantle the champion. He threw Penta onto the announce desk with a nasty back body drop that probably cracked a couple of ribs. He even tried to rip the mask off Penta's face on the top rope before hitting an avalanche Powerslam.
Penta kicked out of the avalanche move. Page followed with his Confidence Breaker finisher, but Penta kicked out again. Page then went full old-school heel by exposing multiple turnbuckle pads to set a trap.
But that is where his plan fell apart. In a beautiful twist of poetic justice, Page got shoved face-first into his own exposed steel turnbuckle. Penta capitalized instantly, hitting a springboard Mexican Destroyer to get the three-count.
The win was a blast, and it showed exactly why Penta is the hardest-working champion in the company right now. Since winning the title from Dominik Mysterio on the March 2 episode of Raw, Penta has been on a legendary run. He has racked up 7 successful title defenses in under 90 days.
That is the kind of work ethic that makes a championship feel prestigious. He is not hiding behind a stable or ducking challengers on Monday nights. He is out there every week taking bumps and putting on bangers.
If you want to see a champion who actually respects the gold, look no further than Penta. But we have to look at the flip side of this match. Ethan Page looks like an absolute idiot here.
The guy exposed turnbuckle pads, ripped at his opponent's mask, landed his finisher, and still could not get the job done. Instead, he ran face-first into his own steel like a cartoon character. Page is incredibly talented, but this loss cements him as a midcard gatekeeper who chokes when the bright lights are on.
If WWE wants us to take him seriously as a threat, they need to stop booking him to get defeated by his own cheating tools. Let's move on to the women's division. The Becky Lynch vs. Sol Ruca finish was a complete comedy show.
Becky Lynch Uses the Referee as a Meat Shield
Sol Ruca was absolutely rolling, setting up for her signature Sol Snatcher finisher. Becky, realizing she was about to lose her crown, did the unthinkable. She grabbed referee Jessika Carr and dragged her directly into the path of Ruca's airborne assault.
It was a hilarious, desperate move that earned Becky an instant disqualification. Becky did not stop there, laying into Ruca with a post-match assault after the bell. The attack leaves the young challenger flat on the mat and sets up a massive rematch next Sunday.
This sets up a massive rematch where Becky Lynch will defend against Sol Ruca in Turin. Ruca has the athletic tools to be a superstar, and Becky is the perfect veteran to elevate her. But let's be honest about the finish.
This DQ finish is a massive cop-out. WWE does this far too often when they do not want to book a clean finish on a television special. It protects both competitors, but it also cheats the fans who paid good money to see a decisive winner.
Sol Ruca deserved better than a cheap disqualification win that does not actually give her the title. The biggest head-scratcher of the night, however, came in the opening match. We got a massive six-woman tag team match that ended in disaster for the champion.
Rhea Ripley is Getting Pinned Like a Jobber
Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab took on Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and Alexa Bliss. The crowd was hot, especially when Ripley and Flair briefly put aside their massive history of violence. They shook hands and embraced in the middle of the ring alongside Bliss.
It was a cool moment of unity, but it lasted about three seconds. Cargill shoved Ripley face-first into her own partners. She followed up with a vicious superkick and hit Jaded to pin the Women's Champion clean.
That is now 2 consecutive nights that Cargill has pinned Rhea Ripley. Let that sink in. The most dominant women's champion in recent memory is getting pinned on consecutive nights in tag team matches.
This is atrocious booking. Ripley is supposed to be the final boss of the division. Pinning her should be a monumental moment that launches a wrestler into superstardom.
Instead, Cargill is pinning her in random tag matches to build heat for a feud that is not even fully cooked yet. It dilutes Ripley's aura of invincibility. If the champion can get pinned this easily on a Saturday night in Indiana, why should we care about her title defenses?
Cargill is a physical freak and a future star, but she is still green in the ring. Giving her two straight pins over Ripley feels like WWE is rushing the process. They are forcing the spotlight on her before she has earned it through high-quality singles matches.
Meanwhile, Michin and B-Fab are just along for the ride, acting as window dressing for a storyline that is moving way too fast. WWE needs to protect their top champions, not use them as stepping stones in tag team openers. Let's talk about the tag titles.
Logan Paul and Austin Theory Cheat to Retain
The Vision, consisting of Logan Paul and Austin Theory, defended the WWE World Tag Team Championships against the Street Profits. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins had the champions on the ropes. The Profits are one of the most explosive teams in the business, and they were flying all over the arena.
But as always, Logan Paul had a trick up his sleeve. With the referee's back turned, Paul pulled out a pair of brass knuckles and blasted Ford in the jaw on the outside. Ford staggered back into the ring, completely out on his feet, and Theory covered him for the cheap pinfall.
It was a classic, frustrating heel finish. Paul is a parasite who uses every dirty trick in the book to keep his titles, and it works every single time. But the real story came after the match.
Bron Breakker charged down the ramp and absolutely leveled the Street Profits with a pair of devastating spears. Why is Breakker targeting the Profits? He is a human wrecking ball who does not care about alliances or tag team divisions.
He just wants to destroy anyone in his path. This post-match assault suggests Breakker is inserting himself into the tag title picture. That could make things very interesting moving forward in the tag division.
However, this finish also highlights a major issue with the tag team division. The Street Profits are constantly booked to look like chumps who cannot handle heel tactics. They get cheated out of wins, beat up after the bell, and never get their proper revenge.
It is a frustrating cycle that makes the babyfaces look incredibly weak. If WWE wants the tag titles to mean something, they need to let the babyfaces win clean. They must stop relying on Logan Paul's brass knuckles to end every title defense.
Clash in Italy is Looming Large
With Saturday Night's Main Event results in the books, all eyes now turn to Turin. Clash in Italy is just a week away, and the card is looking absolutely loaded. The event will air live from the Inalpi Arena, and the stakes could not be higher.
Penta will have to defend his Intercontinental Championship again, and you can bet Ethan Page will be looking for revenge. Meanwhile, the Becky Lynch and Sol Ruca rivalry is about to explode in an environment where there are no referees to hide behind. The Fort Wayne crowd got a great show, but they also got a lot of unresolved questions.
WWE is masterful at building tension, but they need to start delivering clean finishes. The fans are getting tired of constant DQs, run-ins, and cheap wins. If Clash in Italy is going to be a success, the company needs to let their athletes wrestle.
They must let the best competitor win clean. Tonight, AEW has the wrestling world's attention with Double or Nothing in Queens. But next week belongs to WWE in Italy.
The Ring General GUNTHER is coming for Cody Rhodes, and the women's division is on a collision course. Grab another drink, barflies. This road to Turin is about to get extremely bumpy, and we have a front-row seat for the ride.
