Pune Panthers will face Maharashtra Tycoons in Match No. 12 of the World Legends Pro T20 League 2026 on February 1 at the 1919 Sportz Cricket Stadium, Goa.

Pune Panthers have won two of their four matches so far and will be keen to secure another victory, which would put them in a strong position to qualify for the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Tycoons have managed just one win in the tournament. They must win their remaining two matches to stay alive in the race for a semi-final berth.

PP vs MT — Match Details

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No one will remember the ‘most boring’ Arsenal team of all time if they win the Premier League title.

That’s according to talkSPORT host Jamie O’Hara, who took aim at the Gunners following their 4-0 win at Leeds on Saturday.

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Goals from Martin Zubimendi, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus, along with a Karl Darlow own goal, saw the Gunners open up a seven-point lead at the top of the table.

The result ended a three-game winless run, and saw Arsenal win a league game by more than one goal for just the second time since a 2-0 victory over Brentford at the start of December.

However, even after putting four past the Whites, O’Hara, speaking with Rory Jennings, lay into the Gunners, claiming that nobody is going to ‘remember’ this Arsenal side.

‘It’s so dull!’

“No one’s going to remember this team,” O’Hara started.

“When you look at the Arsenal teams over the years – the Invincibles.

“[Think of] the great sides that you’ve seen win the Premier League and you go: ‘Wow what a side’ –  the Man City teams have won the league, Man United, Arsenal back in the day when they won.

“No one’s going to remember this Arsenal team. It’s so dull!”

Jennings was quick to point out that some fans are calling this Arsenal side ‘icons’ and that Piers Morgan named four current Gunners stars in his all-time Arsenal Premier League XI, with Jurrien Timber, Gabriel Magalhaes, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka all featuring.

The Chicago White Sox signed Seranthony Dominguez to a two-year, $20M contract to be their closer. He has a lofty goal for his time in Chicago.

Scott Merkin of MLB.com reported that Dominguez is hoping to win the World Series with the White Sox. Dominguez had noted that he had been to the World Series twice and lost both times. He is looking to change that in the coming years.

Dominguez had a solid showing as a setup man for the Orioles and Blue Jays in 2025. He posted a 3.16 ERA and a 1.277 WHiP over his 62.2 innings between the two teams, striking out 79 batters with 36 walks.

Chicago White Sox are better, but can they contend?

On paper, the White Sox have gotten better. They have had a quietly impressive offseason, addressing several roster holes. Corner infielder Munetaka Murakami gives the White Sox a power dimension that had been sorely lacking. Former top prospect Luisangel Acuna will finally get a chance to prove himself, and outfielder Austin Hays improves the outfield. Pitchers Sean Newcomb and Anthony Kay should make the pitching staff deeper.

Likewise, the White Sox’s younger players should benefit from another year of major league experience. Catchers Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel, shortstop Colson Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth and pitchers Shane Smith and Mike Vasil are the beginnings of a solid core. Top pitching prospects Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith are expected to debut in 2026.

However, the White Sox did lose a major league record 121 games in 2024. A 19-game improvement last season is something to build on, but a playoff berth, even in a weak AL Central, is a tall order. Dominguez’s quest for a World Series ring may have to wait until his next contract.

After careless reflection, you’re right: I’ve become far too negative. From now on, it’s sunshine, lollipops and pom-poms!

For example, I think it’s a great thing that former Rutgers LB Mohamed Toure — he arrived at RU in 2019 — will return to play for Miami, his eighth collegiate season.

Miami lists him as a “graduate student,” which should make Miami proud, except it doesn’t note the graduate program in which he’s enrolled. Masters or doctorate?

Thus we’re left to conclude that this is another loophole exploited by a major college of higher learning that doesn’t give a damn if its athletes can read and/or write.

In the same way that players feel extra pressure to produce entering their last season before free agency, managers and front office bosses similarly feel the heat when entering the final year of their contracts.  The difference is that even if a player has a rough season, they’re usually still in position to land at least a one-year deal in some fashion for the next year — a manager or a GM could find themselves fired in the wake of a bad year, with no guarantee about when (or even if) they’ll get another shot at leading a dugout or a front office.

This list details the baseball operations bosses (whatever their specific title) and managers who are entering the final year of their contracts, as well as the personnel whose contractual situations aren’t publicly known.  Some clubs don’t publicize the terms of employee contracts, so it is entirely possible that some of these names signed extensions months ago but the teams have chosen to keep these new deals quiet for the time being.  And, of course, the length of a contract doesn’t always correlate to job security.  One bad season or even a poor start could suddenly threaten the status of a manager or head of baseball ops that seemingly seems safe right now.

As always, thanks to Cot’s Baseball Contracts for reference information on some of these contracts.

Angels: It’s pretty unusual to see a newly-hired manager already on this list, yet that is the situation Kurt Suzuki finds himself in after signing just a one-year guarantee to become the Halos’ new skipper.  The deal has multiple club option years attached, and while one would imagine Suzuki wouldn’t be let go so quickly, the Angels’ manager’s office has been enough of a revolving door in recent years that it is hard to guess what owner Arte Moreno might do next.  GM Perry Minasian is also entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, with a club option for the 2027 season.  Ten consecutive losing seasons has led to a lot of discord in Anaheim, and an eleventh sub-.500 year might get both Suzuki and Minasian sent packing by next offseason.

Astros: GM Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada are each entering their final season under contract, with Brown hired in January 2023 and Espada in November 2023.  Earlier this month, Astros owner Jim Crane didn’t entirely close the door on the possibility of an extension for either Brown or Espada, but said “I think we’ll go through this year like we always do, evaluate it and then make the decision at the end of the year.”  Reading between the lines, it certainly seems like the spotlight will be on Brown and Espada, especially since the Astros are coming off their first non-playoff season since 2016.  While the team’s laundry list of injuries is a valid excuse for their 2025 letdown, some personnel changes might well be coming if Houston can’t get back into the postseason hunt this year.

Athletics: General manager David Forst’s contract has already expired, as his most recent deal with the team was up following the 2025 campaign.  Owner John Fisher has stated that “conversations are ongoing” about another extension, and since it has apparently been business as usual for the A’s this offseason, it seems like it’s just a matter of time before Forst formally extends his long stint in the team’s front office.  Forst only officially took over the baseball operations department in the 2022-23 offseason, but he has been with the Athletics since 2000, first working as a scout and then becoming one of Billy Beane’s top lieutenants.

Blue Jays: GM Ross Atkins and manager John Schneider are both entering the final year of their contracts, as the Jays exercised their 2026 club option on Schneider’s deal back in November.  This duo was facing heavy pressure heading into the 2025 season, yet Toronto’s AL pennant and near-miss in the World Series has entirely changed the narrative for both Atkins and Schneider.  The Blue Jays already extended team president/CEO Mark Shapiro a few weeks ago, and extensions for Atkins and Schneider should follow before Opening Day.

Brewers: Pat Murphy is entering the final season of his three-year contract, but it is hard to believe the Brew Crew won’t have the manager soon locked up on another deal.  Murphy has been named NL Manager of the Year in each of the first two seasons, won consecutive NL Central titles, and this October led the Brewers to their first NLCS appearance since 2018.  October also saw Matt Arnold receive a promotion from GM to president of baseball operations, even though Arnold has already been the Brewers’ top baseball exec for the last three seasons.  Arnold’s specific contract situation hasn’t been made clear for a few years now, but it would surely seem like Milwaukee’s continued success and his new job title probably landed the PBO an extension at some point.  Regardless, Arnold seems in no danger of being fired even if 2026 is his last year under contract.

Cardinals: Oli Marmol is headed into his final year, but the manger and the Cardinals have already started discussing an extension to retain Marmol beyond the 2026 campaign.  It seems like something should be finalized in due course, with St. Louis continuing to entrust Marmol with the reins as the team now moves into a full-on rebuild phase.

Diamondbacks: Torey Lovullo has quietly become one of baseball’s longer-tenured managers, as Lovullo has been running Arizona’s dugout since the 2016-17 offseason.  He has signed multiple extensions (none for more than two guaranteed years) since his initial three-year pact, yet while 2026 represents the final year of Lovullo’s current deal, the Diamondbacks are reportedly are going to let Lovullo enter the season without an extension in place.  Owner Ken Kendrick did praise Lovullo’s efforts in keeping the D’Backs competitive amidst a swath of pitching injuries and a partial trade deadline selloff in 2025, but it is intriguing that the vote of confidence wasn’t backed up by another contract.  This will be a storyline to watch as the Diamondbacks’ season progresses, and a change in the dugout might well be coming if the D’Backs can’t get back into the postseason.

Dodgers: President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman first came to Los Angeles on a five-year, $35MM pact covering the 2015-19 seasons, and he signed an extension back in November 2019.  Terms of that deal weren’t known, yet it is clear that if Friedman hasn’t already signed another new deal in the last six years, the Dodgers are almost surely keen in retaining the executive.  The Dodgers have reached the playoffs in every single season of Friedman’s tenure, have won three World Series championships under his leadership, and have become baseball’s dominant franchise due to both their record-high payrolls and their ability to draft and develop minor league talent.

Guardians: Chris Antonetti gets an obligatory mention since the Guardians haven’t publicly addressed his contract status since he signed an extension with the team back in 2013.  Following the 2015 season, Antonetti was promoted to the president of baseball operations title, and his decade in charge has seen Cleveland make seven postseason appearances.  As the Guards are coming off their sixth AL Central crown of Antonetti’s tenure, there is no sense ownership is looking to make a change, or is there any sense Antonetti (who has turned down overtures from other teams in the past) is looking to leave.

Mariners: Dan Wilson’s contract terms weren’t made public when he was hired as manager in August 2024, and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s status hasn’t been addressed since he signed a contract extension of an unknown length back in September 2021.  It may very well be that Dipoto has quietly signed another deal in the last four-plus years, but regardless, the Mariners’ success in 2025 very likely means neither Dipoto or Wilson are going anywhere, even if the M’s don’t feel the need to publicize any extensions.

Marlins: Previous Miami GM Kim Ng was signed to a three-year contract with a club option for the 2024 season, and the Marlins chose to pass on that option in order to hire Peter Bendix as the new president of baseball operations.  Terms of Bendix’s contract weren’t disclosed, so given the length of Ng’s contract, it is possible Bendix could also be entering his final guaranteed year if Miami pursued the same structure with another first-time front office boss.  While Ng’s dismissal caught many in baseball by surprise, Bendix’s job appears to be a lot safer, as the Marlins’ surprising surge to 79 wins in 2025 is a promising step forward for the team’s (latest) rebuild.

Mets: Carlos Mendoza is entering the final guaranteed year of his three-year contract, and New York holds a club option on the manager’s services for the 2027 season.  The Mets have overhauled both Mendoza’s coaching staff and a good chunk of the roster in the wake of the slow-motion collapse that left the team outside the playoff picture in 2025, so far more is expected than just an 83-79 record this year.  The club option probably means that the Mets will wait until after the season (if at all) to discuss an extension, and given the Mets’ high payroll and expectations, even a slow start might put Mendoza’s status in jeopardy.

Orioles: Mike Elias’ contract terms were never publicized when he was hired to lead Baltimore’s front office in November 2018, though he did receive a title change from general manager to president of baseball operations last offseason.  Elias’ specific contract status remains unspecified, and it is possible he could be facing more heat if the O’s have another subpar season.  Consecutive playoff appearances were followed by the thud of a 75-87 record in 2025, though ownership appears to have given Elias some support in the form of bigger budget, as the Orioles’ busy offseason has been highlighted by the blockbuster Pete Alonso signing.

Padres: Reports in early November suggested that A.J. Preller was close to signing a new extension to remain as San Diego’s PBO, though close to three months later, there hasn’t been any word of a deal between the two sides.  It could be that a contract was signed but simply not publicly announced, or perhaps Preller and the team agreed to table the negotiations until after most of the Padres’ offseason business was complete.  Considering all the reports of discord within the Padres’ ownership situation and some possible tension between Preller and team CEO Erik Greupner, a contract extension probably shouldn’t be considered a sure thing until a deal is actually done, though things still seem to be leaning in the direction of Preller getting re-upped.  For all of the off-the-field drama that has frequently defined Preller’s long tenure in San Diego, the Padres are coming off their fourth playoff appearance in the last six seasons.

Reds: As Cincinnati is coming off its first playoff berth since 2020, president of baseball operations Nick Krall looks to have a decent amount of job security, and might be in line for an extension depending on his current contract status.  Krall has been in charge of the Reds’ front office for the last five seasons, and he received an extension of an unspecified length when he was promoted to the president of baseball operations title following the 2023 campaign.

Tigers: Scott Harris has now finished three full seasons as Detroit’s PBO, so if a four-year contract might be considered the usual minimum for a first-time president of baseball ops, 2026 might be Harris’ final year under contract.  It’s all speculative, of course, since Harris’ terms weren’t made public, and it might also be a moot point since Harris could be an extension candidate, if anything.  The Tigers have made the second round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, though the team’s late-season collapse in 2025 and the uncertainty over Tarik Skubal’s future remain areas of concern.

Twins: Derek Falvey’s shocking decision to step down as Minnesota’s president of baseball (and business) operations has unexpectedly made GM Jeremy Zoll the top voice in the team’s front office.  Zoll was promoted to the GM role in November 2024 to become Falvey’s chief lieutenant, and the length of Zoll’s contract isn’t known.  It is fair to guess that Zoll might’ve gotten an extension after becoming general manager, so he probably remains under team control through at least 2027 even after this sudden elevation to the head of the baseball ops department.

White Sox: Chris Getz has been the team’s GM since August 2023, and his tenure has included a record 121-loss season in 2024 and an improvement to “only” 102 losses in 2025.  Getz’s contract term wasn’t publicized at the time of his hiring so this is just a speculative entry in case his first deal was only a three-year pact.  There doesn’t appear to be any sense that ownership is displeased with the Pale Hose’s progress during the rebuild, so if Getz actually did sign a three-year deal, the Sox might look to extend him at some point this season.

Yankees: Brian Cashman is the longest-tenured front office boss in baseball, acting as the Yankees’ GM since February 1998.  That remarkable 28-year run has included 28 winning records and four World Series titles, though the team hasn’t won the Series since 2009.  Owner Hal Steinbrenner appears to trust Cashman as much as ever, so it seems very likely that Cashman’s tenure will stretch into a third decade barring an utter disaster of a 2026 season.  Cashman’s last deal covered the 2023-26 seasons, but since the Yankees’ aversion to extensions also extends to personnel as well as players, he might not sign his next contract until after his current deal actually expires.  It’s a sign of Cashman’s job security that he has waited until December to sign each of his last two contracts to remain with the club.

WWE Royal Rumble 2026 goes down this afternoon from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Things get started with the Countdown to Royal Rumble pre-show, which gets underway at Noon EST. / 9am PST.

That will lead directly into the main premium live event card, which kicks off at 2pm EST. / 11am PST., featuring a four match lineup.

Advertised for today’s highly-anticipated show is AJ Styles vs. Gunther with Styles’ career on-the-line, Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship, as well as the Women’s and Men’s Royal Rumble matches.

The following are WWE Royal Rumble: Riyadh results for January 31, 2026. The report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live on the ESPN App from Noon EST. – 6pm EST.

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE RESULTS – JANUARY 31, 2026

As always, ‘WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.’ kicks things off as always. Michael Cole then welcomes us live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for ‘Countdown to Royal Rumble: Riyadh.’ We see a nice shot of the special stadium built specifically for today’s show, which Cole mentions is the size of 17 football fields.

From there, a special cold open style video package airs narrated by Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque. When it wraps up, Cole welcomes us back live as images are shown from key moments that have taken place in Saudi Arabia over the years in WWE. The usual Superstar arrival shots are shown as the crowd reacts in the background.

Wade Barrett and Big E. join Cole as the camera shot settles at the pre-show panel, with an enormous crowd shown in the background. And they are fired up and loud. Real loud. Real, real loud. They break out in various chants, including for Cole and AJ Styles. We check in with Cathy Kelley, Byron Saxton and others on the broadcast team.

CM Punk Sits In For Entire Countdown Show

From there, after Wade Barrett makes a not-so-subtle tease for a surprise in the Royal Rumble, Cole mentions to the incredibly fired-up crowd that joining them now and sitting in for the remainder of the Countdown pre-show leading into today’s premium live event is none other than CM Punk.

“Cult of Personality” by Living Colour plays and the Riyadh crowd sings, again, very loud, as the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion takes his seat. Cole mentions how crazy the crowd is. Punk says he isn’t a drinker but they’re gonna have a drinking game.

Every time they chant “CM Punk” you have to chug. They chant it and Punk chugs some Pepsi. Cole mentions Punk being announced as the cover star for the new WWE 2K26 video game. He asks Punk what it means to him to be on the cover. Fans chant “You deserve it!” as Punk talks about how cool of an honor it is.

Paul Heyman Confronts Adam Pearce In Intense Moment

After some more back-and-forth banter, the Countdown to WWE Royal Rumble pre-show moves on as the next guest is introduced. WWE Raw General Manager Adam Pearce joins Michael Cole, Wade Barrett, Big E. and CM Punk at the panel, but doesn’t get to say much at all.

Why? Because “The Oracle” storms the set and gets right in the red brand shot-callers’ face. He asks him what he thinks he’s doing. He keeps ranting about how he doesn’t believe the draw was random. “You’re really gonna make him number two?!” He argues number two is just as bad as number one.

“You wanna play F.A.F.O. with me? I’ll play F.A.F.O. with you!” Heyman says in an intense, face-to-face moment to wrap things up. Pearce says he’s off to have a conversation and throws his microphone down. He stands up and storms off and the pre-show continues.

The show moves on again and after some more video packages and commercial breaks, we go on a special meal and fun visit in Riyadh with Peter Rosenberg, Jackie Redmond and The New Day. They ride the record-setting rollercoaster and eat some fancy food.

Back live, the new WWE Saudi Superstar is interviewed in broken English. We check back in at the panel briefly, and then Punk and company mess with Peter Rosenberg as he gives us a first-hand look of what it’s like to make the walk to the ring at today’s Rumble. They dare him to do a somersault and mock him all the way.

A cool video package narrated by Tom Rinaldi airs regarding the WrestleMania sign. We then see the unveiling of the WrestleMania Vegas sign inside the stadium in Riyadh ahead of today’s Royal Rumble show. The package wraps up and then Drew McIntyre is interviewed backstage live.

McIntyre takes some shots at CM Punk, the other champion from the other brand, before talking about his title defense against Sami Zayn tonight. He says it’s gonna end with a hell of a kick, but it won’t be Zayn’s. Back at the panel, Punk reacts.

Punk responds to the comments made moments ago by McIntyre, taking shots at him for not being on every show of the recent WWE tour. We then move on, where Zayn has a special sit-down interview, where he gets emotional talking about a promise to his family.

A ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin package airs highlighting his record three Royal Rumble victories, with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes looking to try and tie that record with a potential victory today at the 2026 Royal Rumble match. The panelists then talk about the Rumble records and chances of them being broken.

We get a quick check-in with Byron Saxton and then the talk shifts to the AJ Styles vs. Gunther match, where Styles’ career is on-the-line. From there, the panelists get somber while talking about today possibly being the end for “The Phenomenal” one. They give Rumble predictions and wrap up. It’s time, folks!

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Contracts expiring, wrestlers finding new homes. Oh yeah, yup, this is the good stuff.

Fresh off the departure of Powerhouse Hobbs and his imminent arrival in WWE, former two-time NXT champion and multi-time tag team champion Tommaso Ciampa inked a deal with All Elite Wrestling less than a week after his 10-year run with WWE came to an end.

This is why it’s important for wrestlers to have options. It affords them a refresh they might need, or more appropriately — historically — prove their true value to themselves and the people who might have undervalued them.

The Past Lives of Ciampa and Hobbs

That sounds like a bad movie, but the reality is both were stuck in holding patterns that in my opinion were not going to go anywhere, were not going to improve and summarily, although Hobbs had probably more upside with his spot in AEW relatively speaking, Ciampa was very much relegated to working alongside Johnny Gargano in the tag division. Given that he’s turning 41 in a few months that probably wasn’t going to change, and while Hobbs had at least been consistently on AEW television, Ciampa hadn’t worked a televised match since Dec. 15, a tag match in which #DIY lost to Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes. Previous to that he dropped a U.S. title match to Dragunov the week prior, and although he and Gargano did defeat Fraxiom two weeks before that, they had been mostly working the NXT Live circuit since August/September.

Putting yourself in his shoes, you can guess we’re looking at a similar situation to Hobbs where the question is asked “where am I headed here and what’s my ceiling?” and more succinctly, “is it time to move on?” The answer in both cases was “yes” and that’s fair considering their situations. I’m not honestly sure how much farther Hobbs was going to go in AEW, and conversely I don’t think Ciampa was going to go much farther in WWE without heading back to NXT.

In both their cases each is getting a fresh start in their new homes and that’s welcomed as we assume Hobbs based his choice on similar terms. Ciampa flatly stated in the Sports Illustrated interview released Thursday, the need is there and always lingering to want and desire to test themselves to see, in Ciampa’s words, if “I’m as good as I think I am.” The same is true for Hobbs, and I think both are sound bets; these moves are the wrestling landscape reshuffling itself into where the wrestlers have the opportunity to work in the place that best fits them. And I think Hobbs and Ciampa are both where they fit best now.

The Sports Illustrated Chit-Chat 

“It’s something I’ve been leaning towards for quite some time,” Ciampa told SI. “I don’t know that I can say there’s one sole factor that led to it or caused it. I think it’s one of those things when your contract is coming to an end, you naturally have discussions.”

There are quite a few quotes from Ciampa, and if you’d like to read the full article, you can find it here, as well our own rundown of what the former NXT champion said here. The heart of what he said zeroes in on style and what is ultimately the best fit for him, Hobbs more recently, and any one wrestler across the world. It’s a matter of philosophy, and he makes that point.

“If I wrestled in the 90s, I’d wanna be a part of ECW… Early 2000s, you wanna be a part of Ring of Honor. I was lucky I got to do that a little bit. 2010s, I think for me at least, I wanted to be part of NXT Black and Gold. And when I looked at the landscape of professional wrestling in the 2020s… the answer was AEW, man. That’s what I want to be a part of.”

Straight away you can see his mindset was fixed on the style of wrestling and storytelling he wants to help convey, calling back to the original ECW and ROH specifically prior to his arrival in NXT. Like it or not, even if AEW doesn’t measure up to those 1:1 in the modern day, it fills that void in the wrestling space. As time goes on that’s more clearly understood, from a pure philosophical level, much like Hobbs finding his way to a place where I think he’s going to excel, the same is true for Ciampa in AEW.

The identical is true for anyone else who finds themselves gravitating to one or the other depending on what they want out of their careers. Neither is wrong, it’s just a matter of fit. It doesn’t mean that either is necessarily guaranteed to succeed, that depends on them, but the point is they owe it to themselves to find a place that fits how they view wrestling (in this case) and embrace that.

Beyond that, in the article he made the point that it’s a matter equally so of opportunity and presenting yourself exactly as you see yourself and either succeeding or failing on those merits. And I was watching the actual interview after it was published, Ciampa said something that was kind of interesting that wasn’t captured in the articles. I’ll paraphrase him, but he said he spent so many years on the independents and the last 10 years in WWE, and now was his chance to take everything he’s learned throughout his career, and especially from his WWE tenure, and apply that with no safety net. With a chip on his shoulder, proving what he believes to be true, much like I’m sure Hobbs is doing as well for his own reasons, and become the definitive version of “Tommaso Ciampa” the wrestler.

“For a long time, I had to listen to people tell me, not so much directly to my face but more so online, that 2018 was prime Ciampa. I’m a hundred times better now than I was then. That was nothing. That was absolutely nothing. I’m physically better. I’m mentally sharper. My storytelling, my psychology is on a whole different level than it was back then… what people are about to see is going to blow their minds. It’s gonna shock the world, because I finally have a shot to find out if I’m as good as I think I am.”

That reads as a mission statement, and it comes off as though he knows what he wants from this last period of his career. For what’s it worth, based on his impression, AEW is on board with him. That’s indicative in how well his debut came off on television. What that means over the long term of his contract remains to be seen, and we know how this has gone before with AEW. However what’s clear to me from watching his interview with SI and reading the articles is that there’s a fire there to prove people wrong and himself right. To me, that’s half the battle right there.

A Dynamite Reaction

The tangible thing we do know is his excitement, passion and the reaction from the crowd once they knew for sure it was him stepping down the aisle were organically authentic. That’s not something you can fake and manufacture, and it’s the product of caring that much combined with having earned fans’ respect. It’s the end result of putting in the time, working hard and having that acknowledged.

In the last couple of days I’ve rewatched his series of matches from NXT with Johnny Gargano and I’m reminded of a time in wrestling where story and combat blended perfectly into a tapestry of violence that to me has stood timelessly. Most of those matches were over 7 years ago–the unsanctioned matches, the street fight, and the last man standing match for the NXT title. I remember that as clearly as their reunion when Gargano won the NXT championship, and ultimately once they started teaming again.

These journeys resonate with people. I think as fans when it’s someone who has sacrificed the time and put forth the effort, that clicks and that passion is reciprocated back to the wrestlers — in this case Ciampa — who have earned that respect. His debut Wednesday was a moment in time, one he and the fans in attendance likely won’t forget. However, that reaction only has value because of the effort he has put forward the last 20 years or so and the equity he has earned from busting his ass (…and most of his body), working hard on his character, and understanding who he is while making a connection — positive or negative depending on whether we were supposed to love him or hate him — with the fans.

The response was a product of something organic from an audience who has invested in him, and walked with Ciampa in the shadow of his story.