But the spectre looms in the distance... yes, we still have plenty to look forward to with 007: First Light and Marvel's Wolverine, but of course every eye on the industry is on the expected arrival of Grand Theft Auto VI.

Whilst that game will surely no doubt define the year, it's taking conversation away from dozens of great video games that we're hoping to see across the next 12 months. As such, here's a refresher (or, in fact, an introduction) into some of the game's most intriguing up and comers.

A film that deviates from the norm is both exciting and risky, with the potential to offer up a wholly original vision but also risk alienating audiences who wanted the movie they thought they were getting when they bought a ticket.

And there's perhaps no genre more open to subverting the audience's expectations than horror, which serves as a welcoming sandbox for filmmakers to unfurl their most twisted ideas.

While there are a number of genre archetypes that consistently hit well with audiences, horror fans tend to be an adventurous bunch who are happy to see something they didn't even know they wanted.

And so, these 20 horror films were ultimately all a far cry from the movie most people thought they were getting, and while they surely didn't please everyone, they did nevertheless deliver a decidedly more memorable and off-the-wall experience than anyone could've surely expected pre-release...

Often reviewers will gleefully dunk on a film that's nevertheless a mind-bogglingly massive hit with audiences, scoring wide viewer acclaim and hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

But before we go any further, because this is the Internet and nuance died a long time ago, it's always worth reiterating that opinions are nothing more than opinions - nobody is right, everything is subjective, and that's that.

Having said that, sometimes the gulf between critical and audience opinion is just so absurdly huge that it begs to be studied, to consider quite how such a schism between the two groups was forged.

And so, these 20 films were all widely panned by critics, and yet they nevertheless scored enthusiastic raves from most general moviegoers, demonstrating once again that critics and punters are often watching movies for very different reasons with a totally different set of expectations...

With the marketing machine for the franchise churning almost constantly, there are always behind the scenes facts floating around, as well as stories and rumours from the sets and beyond. Everyone knows that "He's a friend from work" came from a Make-A-Wish recipient in Thor: Ragnarok, and that Robert Downey Jr. improvised the iconic "I Am Iron Man", but what about the lesser known stuff?

Pulling from interviews, director commentaries, other bonus DVD featurettes, and heavily from Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards' in-depth look at the MCU, The Reign of Marvel Studios, this list will focus on those secrets that will hopefully come as new information to most.

There have been devastating knock on effects from an actor's on set injury, foreshadowing that absolutely nobody would ever notice by themselves, scrapped plans that have changed multiple projects, and many more behind-the-scenes secrets, some of which are bigger than others, that may shed some new light on the MCU.

In a genre with so many tropes and traditions, breaking the mould is never a bad thing and besides, a crazy ending is often just really entertaining. It was certainly a good thing in these following ten movies, which all had wacky conclusions that swung for the rafters like nobody's business. 

Not all of these flicks were good overall, but all of them were enriched and made considerably more memorable by all those WTF, out-there conclusions. Come to think of it, some of these movies would've been forgotten long ago had they not ended on such a demented note. After all, you don't always remember a story, but you nearly always remember how it ends. 

Kicking off with a recent, unexpectedly-great horror sequel...

These lists exist because Star Trek has given us a wide array of fabulous characters in its lifetime. In this, the 60th year of the franchise, we feel that now, more than ever, is the time to look to returns and reunions. Star Trek, according to so many different audience members, is about family and home. What better way to celebrate that than to bring those families home, together?

There are those names who, with each year, may seem even less likely to return and yet still live in our hearts and minds. Some have been teased, and in some cases even popped up to say hello, yet left us wanting even more. A return may not have to be confined to live-action, though; in saying that, a live-action return is a must for every name on this list. 

We are nothing if not ravenous, even at times demented in our hopes and dreams, but these characters from Star Trek inspire us to keep the candles lit, the flags waving, and our hopes hoping. How many of these names would you break temporal laws to see return?

Remember, this list is by no means a ranking - we want all of these players to pop back up. Thus, in no particular order, we begin.

But casting is a fine art all in itself, hence why the Academy finally introduced a long-overdue Achievement in Casting Oscar this year.

And while there are many casting choices that either obviously don't work or seem a little risky on paper, there are also those many slam-dunk casting decisions that you just know are going to work the second they're announced.

And these 20 recent movies have all certainly made some incredibly smart, shrewd, and even inspired casting calls, turning a whole lot of heads as a result.

Regardless of how these films turn out in their entirety, each has nevertheless made an excellent casting choice upfront, giving a terrifically talented actor the opportunity to flex their acting might.

It's often said that 90% of directing is casting, and in that respect, these films are already cooking up a storm, no matter what state the script might be in.

Above all else, expect these actors to be the easy highlights of their respective movies...

And so, sometimes a sequel might spend years, even decades festering in development hell due to various factors. 

Perhaps the actors need some convincing to come back, the creatives struggle to crack the script, or the studio just doesn't have enough faith in the project's commercial prospects to give it the greenlight.

Whatever the reason, these 20 horror films all took an absolute age to get made after being announced.

In some cases it's simply a victory that the film finally got made and released at all, regardless of its eventual quality, while others managed to somehow live up to such an outrageous amount of long-gestating hype.

These 20 horror films surely shouldn't have taken so damn long to come out, but as ever, it takes a village and enormous creative willpower to get any film over the finish line...

Over the years, the genre has become home to horror icons like Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield as well as cult classics including Grave Encounters, Noroi: The Curse, and Lake Mungo, all of which are required viewing for any horror fan.

Although found footage films aren't as ubiquitous as they once were, the rise of the internet era has given this genre a new lease on life, with Host, Deadstream, and Spree being just some recent examples.

This style of filmmaking isn't going anywhere anytime soon. As filmmakers keep finding new and intriguing ways to reinvent the formula, audiences can look forward to seeing a lot more unique and terrifying offerings.

The past few years have seen some of the best and most visceral genre entries to date, and there are a lot of exciting projects currently in the pipeline.

Then there are those villains and antagonists that flip this particular coin. There are heroes that everyone wants to see survive the conflict of the film, but what about the bad guys an audience actively wants to see die?

Death is a big part of cinema, in some genres and projects more so than others, and it can have a huge emotional effect. This can come from watching a beloved character die, while it can also be incredibly satisfying watching someone get what's been coming to them. Comeuppance is always sweet, and these ten characters all had it coming to them.

There have been those with relatively little screen time that made an impression all the same, evil businessmen who suffered deliciously ironic deaths, and even a supernatural villain who had to be killed again after surviving being killed the first time, all of which gave audiences wonderfully deserved death scenes.

Is WWE capable of actually putting together a really good, solid, and consistent episode of Raw from start to finish in 2026?

During the past year-plus, they have delivered some genuinely good-to-great episodes, even as the overall product has declined in quality and popularity. But more recently, the show has roller-coastered, producing some good and even excellent segments while falling tremendously short in other areas during the same episode.

Monday’s offering delivered a highly entertaining match, a fun squash, and an intriguing main event angle that could feed directly into the direction of a new Bloodline. But it also fell back into the trappings of lazy WWE booking tropes, produced some bland matches, prattled on with a lengthy and boring talking segment, called attention to the mass releases from the past weekend, and encouraged fans to sing along to “fire” a superstar just days after those cuts.

There’s plenty to enjoy about Raw this week, but there was also no shortage of gripes to lodge, which is part of the problem with WWE these days. Coming out of a disappointing WrestleMania 42, fans have a better understanding of the direction for several characters, but WWE doesn’t always tell the most compelling or even interesting stories along the way.

It would be great if they could string together some truly great beginning-to-end television again, firing on all cylinders and captivating fans throughout the show, rather than peaks and valleys.

Let’s get to it…

DOWNS…

6. Moves Happening In Front Of You

Roxanne Perez’s homecoming in Laredo, Texas, got the desired crowd reaction, but the match itself left something to be desired.

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria battled the Judgment Day with a future tag title opportunity hanging in the balance. Match dynamics were somewhat thrown off by the crowd cheering for Roxanne and Raquel Rodriguez, whose hometown is about three hours away.

However, the action never really clicked in the way one would have expected or wanted. Bayley and Lyra had some miscommunications that didn’t look to be part of the match story, and the match just kind of chugged along until Perez hit Bayley with a Pop Rox for the pin.

Of all the matches we’ve seen on WWE television, this certainly was one of them.

5. Time And Place

Joe Hendry’s Raw debut set him up with a good, potential midcard feud, but it also had one of the worst-timed “jokes” possible.

Just three days after WWE released 25 wrestlers, including several well-liked main roster superstars, Hendry was out there leading a singalong to “fire Logan Paul.” Yes, Paul is an odious heel, and getting fans to sing something negative about him shouldn’t be completely overlooked, but it’s just terrible timing to encourage the crowd to root for firing people right after it’s happened in real life.

Clearly, someone was asleep at the wheel, or they just didn’t care.

4. Just A Match

If you’re deeply invested in the El Grande Americano versus Original El Grande Americano mask feud currently taking place mainly in AAA, you probably were rapt with attention for the El Grande versus Rey Mysterio match on Raw.

But if you couldn’t care less – other than to hope there’s a way for both men to lose so both unmask – this was just a subpar angle masquerading (get it?) as a subpar match, with Americano and Rey going through the motions of a competitive contest until Rayo tried to load up El Grande’s mask with the steel plate. Original El Grande intervened, which allowed Mysterio to put Americano II down with a 619 and Drop the Dime for the win.

Both El Grandes brawled afterward, which might be a big deal for AAA fans and viewers, but this is no buys here.

3. "We Want Kairi"

Don’t be mistaken: Iyo Sky versus Asuka is a welcome addition to the Backlash card and very much should be a highlight of the upcoming PLE. It should have been part of WrestleMania 42.

However, there has to be some acknowledgement of the sheer stupidity of WWE’s inexplicable, callous roster cuts on Friday, and this is probably the best place.

Kairi Sane had been an integral part of the Iyo/Asuka feud, torn between her longtime friend Iyo and her torturous senpai, seemingly being put in a position to finally choose a side for good. But before the story could reach its climax, WWE released Kairi, short-circuiting the angle and forcing the announcers to give a ham-fisted “Asuka is very unhappy and it will be a long time before the sempai sees her charge again” to write her off.

The Backlash match will be solid, but this was one of those rare times when a special referee or other “neutral observer” angle could have worked. Instead, WWE ensured that fans will just chant, “We want Kairi!” whenever the two are on screen, as they did Monday.

Penny-pinching idiots.

2. Impromptu-Mania

OBA FEMI WILL TAKE ON GRAYSON WALLER TONIGHT #WWERAWpic.twitter.com/sZDY9bAZbZ

— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) April 28, 2026

WWE tropes and booking crutches aren’t always bad – in small doses. Unfortunately, the sports entertainment juggernaut and its cadre of writers rely on them so frequently that it’s laughable.

The impromptu matchup has been an epidemic in WWE for the past couple of years now, as long-term booking has gone out the proverbial window, and they rely more on shock matchmaking to pop a crowd rather than build anticipation to a pre-planned contest through actual storytelling that fans want to see.

Monday night, Raw featured five matches, three of which were made during the course of the program: Becky Lynch versus Iyo Sky, Rey Mysterio versus El Grande Americano, and Oba Femi versus Grayson Waller.

Two of these matches will get positive marks later, but that shouldn’t obscure the fact that it’s lazy matchmaking. A whopping 23 of the 40 minutes of wrestling took place during those three booked-on-the-fly matches.

They’ve established that midcard champions can declare an open challenge whenever they want, as Lynch did, and now Oba has launched his own personal open challenge. Is this going to substitute for actual matchmaking and storytelling? A series of open challenges to fill time on Raw, and eventually they will stumble into an angle.

If you want to do this, fine, but when it’s more than half of your show, that’s lazy, unimaginative writing that smacks of hackery.

1. So. Much. Talking.

When an opening in-ring promo segment makes you long for a bunch of masked goons dancing around to “protect” Seth Rollins rather than having to hear him talk, that’s never a good sign.

Rollins and Bron Breakker squared off Monday night to set up their match at Backlash, with Seth saying he gave Bron “everything” and the brash superstar repaid him by taking everything from him – and gained nothing in the process. Breakker said he and Bronson Reed were forced to listen to Rollins prattle on with the same lines every week and fight his battles for him because he didn’t have any friends.

They volleyed a few more times, with Rollins getting a pretty nice dig against the C+ players of The Vision - Austin Theory and Logan Paul - but this just kept going and going and going, all to arrive at Breakker declaring Seth was a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer and the “best professional wrestler in the world… at being number two.” Rollins responded by calling Bron “Baby Steiner” and saying he wasn’t even number two in his own family.

This was endless drivel, with two guys who supposedly were such bitter rivals that Breakker cost Rollins a match at WrestleMania 42 and Seth gave him a receipt with a chair last week that left him with nine staples in his head… but they were content to just trade bad line reading for 15 minutes two feet apart Monday night.

Sign us up for this match!... said no one after sitting through that.

UPS…

6. LA Knight: Voice Of Reason

“You guys are sitting at the table again? This whole thing with Bloodline… you guys had power. You were landing rough shots on everybody. That power… that power eventually corrupts, and it becomes my business.”

LA KNIGHT TELLS THE USOS NOT TO SUPPORT ROMAN REIGNS ?#WWERawpic.twitter.com/f3EQDAM5CS

— EliteRockerz ? (@EliteClubS0B) April 28, 2026

As the Usos seemingly stumble right back into the trappings of the Bloodline, they need someone in their ear warning them of the dangers of following the Tribal Chief again.

Enter, their WrestleMania 42 tag partner, LA Knight.

Knight, playing a role that also could have been filled by a healthy Kevin Owens, knows what it’s like to face a corrupt, power-hungry Bloodline, so he made a point Monday to approach Jimmy and Jey to remind them of who they are and what they have accomplished without Roman Reigns.

The brothers responded by telling Knight to stay in his lane, that this was family business, but LA was quick to point out that power eventually corrupts, and that’s when it becomes his business.

Good, simple stuff here with Knight serving as the Cassandra, warning of impending doom, but invariably will not be believed.

5. Penta Uses Wrestling As IC Scene Heats Up

Fans can easily make the case about how Rusev’s first year back with WWE has been mostly a waste, but he had a perfectly serviceable match against Intercontinental Champion Penta on Monday night.

Rusev controlled right at the bell, but Penta came back with some kicks, a dropkick, and a tope before he got into it with Ethan Page at ringside. Rusev countered a Mexican Destroyer with a backdrop and seemed to be on the verge of winning with a flurry, but Penta avoided the Accolade and then used a really smart wrestling move to pick up the win, feigning a springboard and then rolling up an off-balance Rusev.

That on its own was solid enough for an “up,” but afterward, Rusev began battering Penta. Page got in the ring and prepared to join in, but a stare from Rusev chased him off. Once Penta began a comeback, Rusev welcomed the assistance from Ethan, which triggered a dazzling Je’Von Evans save.

All of this points to a four-way feud and match for the IC title, which is perfectly fine if the action we’ve seen so far carries through.

4. Oba Obliterates Waller

If WWE’s goal is to continue to build Oba Femi up for an eventual main event run and world title program, they might as well keep him front-and-center on television, squashing poor, hapless souls.

In that spot last night was Grayson Waller, who whined to Raw GM Adam Pearce about not having any opportunities, only to find himself facing Femi as a consequence. Waller managed a necksnap on the top rope and went for his rolling stunner, only for Oba to catch and launch him, setting up the Fall from Grace for the easy win.

Afterward, Femi declared that because new United States Champion Trick Williams was refusing to continue the US open challenges, and the world champions were tied up with their feuds, he was offering a solution: his own open challenge. Oba welcomed anyone in the back looking to prove themselves to step up, but he promised to be merciless, unforgiving, and relentless.

This was an incredibly simple and direct way to book Femi – and it worked. They’ve set the expectation every week that he will pull a Goldberg, strutting to the ring and waiting for some poor shmuck to step up and get stepped on. Fans will enjoy seeing a parade of geeks and (eventually) bigger stars trying their hand and falling short, until Oba stumbles upon someone of note and we’re off to the races.

3. Proto-Bloodline

Decisions, decisions...

What will @WWERomanReigns decide?! ? pic.twitter.com/gfUrsgAQyn

— WWE (@WWE) April 28, 2026

They aren’t using the term yet, but the Bloodline got its informal rebirth Monday night when Roman Reigns and the Usos opened Raw by sitting at a literal table in a pre-recorded segment.

Reigns lamented Jacob Fatu challenging him and disrupting the family. Jimmy said he agreed with Fatu wanting to provide for his family, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of the Tribal Chief, while Jey reverted to the hothead, flatly calling Jacob “dangerous… unpredictable and unhinged.” Jey said there needed to be consequences for Fatu daring to step to Roman.

Those are not the words of a benevolent Bloodline. Reigns might not be putting his cousins down and subjecting them to servitude – yet - but he definitely is leading an ego-driven, privileged family that doesn’t like to be challenged. Anyone thinking this is going to be a babyface stable needs to buckle up.

2. Lynch Gets IC Workrate Match

Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch is still one of the best wrestlers on WWE’s roster, but she really has not been able to ply her trade to the best of her ability for quite some time.

In the past six months heading into Monday, Lynch had had nine televised matches. Five of them were against Maxxine Dupri, and two were against AJ Lee, meaning all seven of her singles matches were largely carry jobs by Becky.

Monday night, Lynch issued an open challenge and had a real fight on her hands (in the best possible way) against Iyo Sky. Both women seemed to revel in getting plenty of TV time to empty the tank, trading control, countering each other’s signatures, and coming close to ending the match on several occasions.

Sky landed a sunset bomb on Lynch, but she would come back with a superplex and DDT combo. A Manhandle Slam was countered with a rollup, and then Iyo whiffed on a head kick but hit a rebound thrust kick, followed by a butterfly backbreaker for two. Her moonsault hit knees, though, and Lynch landed the Manhandle for a close two count.

Asuka would cost Iyo the match, but 95% of this was great fun, a reminder that Lynch still can have a really, really good match, and Sky is much more than Rhea Ripley’s sidekick. Mission accomplished.

1. Fatu Throttles Reigns

The contrast between Roman Reigns and his cousin Jacob Fatu was on display Monday night when the World Heavyweight Champion attempted to sidestep a challenge for his title but was physically goaded into accepting the match.

Reigns processed down first, talking about how the World Heavyweight Championship was made in spite of him, to take away his shine when he held both world titles, and that the title doesn’t make the man, the man makes the title (where’s the lie?).

After hyping himself and how he made the WHC relevant in just two weeks, Fatu stalked down to ringside to inform Roman that he had his mind made up the moment he challenged the champ last week. He suggested that Reigns has been “stuck in [his] main event bubble” and didn’t understand what it was like to grind for 12 years, to be broke, and to struggle to make ends meet. He even threw a kind word to Solo Sikoa (which can’t be an accident) for calling him.

That’s when Roman turned up the arrogance, insulting the Usos’ younger brother and saying that Jacob only came to WWE because he okayed it. He started to tell Fatu that he hadn’t earned a title match, that it would be nepotism to grant it… when Jacob throttled him with a Tongan Death Grip. Reigns would accept the challenge once he regained his voice.

Fatu might be the first title challenger for Roman, but he’s far from conventional. He could be the catalyst for revealing the true nature of this new Bloodline. He could be forced into joining the group against his will. He could also be part of a resistance against it.

There’s a lot of intrigue surrounding this feud and whether it leads to more than just Jacob acknowledging Roman and moving on. There’s plenty of contrast on display between the two cousins, and that makes for an interesting story moving forward.

Whether it's through new information coming to light or the show going off in new, unexpected directions, some moments end up having far greater significance than is first apparent.

And despite the best efforts of fans to analyse every frame of every scene of every episode (and every bit of behind the scenes content!), there are still things that go over people’s heads.

For instance, think you know everything that was going on in the Fourteenth Doctor’s head? Think the Timeless Child’s friend was just a stranger? And think the child Doctor in Listen was just cast at random? Think again.

There are also hidden depths to stuff you’ll literally never have thought about, like Wilfred Mott’s hat and Jackie Tyler’s age (it’s almost too exciting, we know). Plus milestone moments that might have passed you by.

Basically, brace yourself. Because in each of these cases there’s much more going on than meets the eye.

WWE couldn't have booked a weaker lead-in to WrestleMania 42 than last week's edition of SmackDown. The 'go home' segment creative chose was a sickening love-in between Cody Rhodes and CM Punk, but pretty much nothing on the show worked to inspire confidence that the company was going to knock it out of the park across 2 nights in Las Vegas on PLE.

Thankfully, Sunday's portion earned huge plaudits, but Raw on Monday (despite some interesting debuts) was another mediocre slice of WWE TV. As you can probably tell from the 'Ups' and 'Downs' counts alone, Friday's SmackDown was a lot stronger. When Triple H and staff do the simple things well, the product is a lot more palatable.

A staggering 23 workers just got their release papers ahead of the show, and there's no way it's a coincidence that WWE is calling so many wrestlers up from NXT at the same time. Here, 3 fresh stars hit the women's division hard (and there's another coming soon), and the likes of Ricky Saints was also teased as coming to the blue brand.

Further, only Friday's main event fell a wee bit short of greatness. The status quo appears to have stabilised due to healthy reactions towards reigning WWE Champ Cody Rhodes as well, so it'll be interesting to see whether or not that persists. If it does, then just build a statue of this guy - his babyface sustenance is unbelievable!

Here's all the yay and nay from what turned out to be a really solid Smackers to sit down and watch.

Downs... 

2. “I Should Be Talking To Roman Reigns!”

Jacob Fatu nailed it when he interrupted all of the talk from The Usos, Solo Sikoa, the MFTs etc to say just that. He's right when he says he should be addressing the 'OTC' himself, not his cousins or any other family members. Also, Jimmy and Jey sort of played heel in this segment, which was interesting but a bit all over the place because of Roman’s presentation.

The match between Roman and Jacob at Backlash is ostensibly babyface vs. babyface until further notice, but with The Usos adding a bit of a rogue element that doesn't seem necessary. It really feels like been there, done that on the issues between Fatu and Solo too - they feuded over the United States Title before, and the results were mixed back then.

Fatu was fine on the mic (again) and did line up a main event, but this was a fairly weak opening segment that was missing the key ingredient. In other words, Jacob having a war of words with Jimmy, Jey and Solo isn't going to come anywhere close to touching a staredown between Fatu and Reigns. That's the real meat in the sandwich here. Everything else will just fall by the wayside.

Predictably, that's what happened.

WWE must sort out what they want The Usos to be, man. They can't have Jimmy tell Jacob not to listen to clowns in the audience, then have both he and Jey pander to those same people with their "YEET" business. That's messy. This whole revolving door promo was, to be perfectly honest.

1. Main Event Fails To Cap The Night Off

Then, in the headline slot to close the show, Jacob Fatu vs. Solo Sikoa meandered from the opening bell and didn’t really pick up the pace nearly enough until the final stretch. This definitely wasn’t a slow-burner like CM Punk vs. Roman on Sunday night at 'Mania. It was a dull TV match that was more of a vehicle for what happened afterwards than anything else.

It looks like that's a wrap for Jacob on SmackDown for now, and this wasn’t the best match for him to go out on. Personally, and not to press repeat, but this fan isn't into the bizarre heelish edge The Usos are showing around Fatu either. Generally, this week’s headliner didn’t hit the heights Triple H surely planned it to, and that must owe something to the fact that fans don't really buy Sikoa as being on Jacob's level nowadays.

Admittedly, the post-match stuff was better and fits Fatu’s recklessness, but that wasn’t enough to pull the nose up on the match itself. The writing team made the 'Samoan Werewolf' look powerful enough to take on Solo and the MFTs by himself (he neither wanted nor needed help from Jimmy and Jey), but it would've been nice had that story been packaged into a better bout between these dudes.

Strangely, Fatu and Sikoa don't seem to have much chemistry as opponents. On paper, every match between them should be bruising and entertaining, but this one certainly wasn't. It's a bit of a shame that it's the scrap that sends Jacob on over to Raw. Not the best goodbye to team blue!

Ups... 

7. Routine But Fun Tag Title Defence

Now that The Wyatt Sicks are history, it's over to Damian Priest and R-Truth to carry SmackDown's tag-team division. They won't be getting any backup from the Motor City Machine Guns either, and it does feel like a missed opportunity that Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin burned bright then fizzled out in WWE. The creative team defo seems more comfortable with a wacky alliance like Priest and Truth than anything else.

Here, the unlikely allies beat MFT’s Tama Tonga and JC Mateo in around 10 minutes. The match was a vast improvement over Priest and Truth's lifeless defence vs. Kofi Kingston and Grayson Waller last week, that’s for sure. There was more energy in the building generally than there was in Las Vegas for last week’s SmackDown, but that bout really was the pits.

Putting the belts on Priest and Truth was an inspired decision, at least. They can always ride it out in matches like this to help the show, and guys like 'Ron Cena' are always going to get some sort of reaction out of a live crowd. Yep, it's a tidy spot for the pair as they fend off various squads before hopefully settling into a proper feud as champions.

As the subheading says, it was "routine", but that isn't meant as criticism. Sometimes, all a show needs is a couple of matches that hit the 6/7 out of 10 mark without trying to be too flashy or complicated. Weekly challenges like this one will fill the void left by the United States Title open season too.

Good stuff.

6. Danhausen & The Miz Just Work

It's always nice to report on WWE comedy done right. The promotion has sought laughs in crummy pre-tapes or by using toilet humour aplenty over the years, but Danhausen is genuinely funny and endearing. What's more, The Miz is fabulous foil for him, because his delusional arrogance and self-aggrandising behaviour is a neat fit for Hausen's OTT spookiness and silliness when giving bad guys comeuppance.

Skits involving both at Miz's house, including a welcome cameo from Maryse, added nice levity to SmackDown. Then, their match out in the arena (whilst short) was another barrel of laughs. This guy has to admit he got it badly wrong when he said that Danhausen would be demoted to NXT by now after a poor Elimination Chamber debut. He deserves a lot of praise for how over he’s been getting, and WWE/TKO will be loving the merch sales.  

There was another giggle-worthy moment when Joe Tessitore called it “a quickhausen” after the finish too. Everything the duo tried here was overtly silly, but that’s the point, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the company reaching for some silly string when it feels natural and isn't forced against fan wishes. People seem to adore Danhausen, so why not use him in this fashion?

It's way, way, way better than the old 24/7 Title guff, put it that way.

Getting Kit Wilson in on the act and maintaining his promising double trouble thing with The Miz was also sweet to see. This is working out well for everybody, and that doesn't happen often enough in wrestling. Got to love it when everyone wins and gets some character development.

5. Sami Zayn Is The Gingerbread Man

In theory, Sami Zayn revealing that he sneakily dressed up as the Gingerbread Man to ambush Lil Yachty and Trick Williams would've been played for giggles too, but one gets the impression that things are about to get real serious between Sami and Trick. They pulled off a double turn before and during WrestleMania 42, then put the United States Title on Williams to boot.

Speaking of boots, Zayn planted one in Trick's face with his Helluva Kick after revealing that he was wearing the mascot outfit all along. Mercifully, none of his gumdrop buttons fell off when he was performing the move. He didn't show off that he was wearing a thong either. Mind your business, Pinocchio. Anyone else want to rewatch Shrek after all of this?!

What a well-worked segment overall.

The promo Williams cut with Yachty made him look like a star, then his Gingerbread Man mascot attacked with the candy cane and it was revealed to be Zayn. No, that's not a sentence anyone thought they’d be typing, but here we are. WWE were always going to extend this feud to lean deeper into Sami's heel turn, and it worked a treat.

Fingers crossed that's now the end of the gingerbread stuff and they can get a lot more feisty, because Sami’s attack warrants anger from Trick rather than more mascot nonsense. They've done that, so draw a line under it and move onto a gimmick-based grudge match in time for Backlash. Also, give 'em more time than they got at 'Mania and everything will be just dandy.

4. Hopefully This Reignites Tiffany Stratton

It's 'Tiffy Time' again. Well, sort of.

Stratton beat Giulia to become the new Women’s United States Champ on Friday night. Being fair, Giulia is blatantly about to split from Kiana James (some of the dirty looks both gave one another during a backstage promo beforehand gave the game away on that) and will probably be used to get Kiana to the next level. The former champ is a bit dead in the water on SmackDown, being honest.

Meanwhile, Tiffany has needed something/anything to get her going again, ‘cause she’d fallen off big time since last year. The actual match itself was a fab watch. That’s the thing about both women: They can go in-ring, but they just haven’t been very interesting as characters or have been forgotten about by Hunter and staff for the longest time. Maybe less so for Giulia recently.

What a lovely moment for Tiffy regardless. Presumably, both were miffed about being left off the WrestleMania card, so they brought it and Stratton’s win got a noticeable pop. Giulia reversing the moonsault tease into a submission was awesome too; that tricked the crowd into thinking they were about to be robbed of a possible title switch in their hometown.

Then, WWE came through on it and everyone cheered. All's well that ends well. Maybe rumours about Stratton starting to fall out of love with pro wrestling and WWE as a whole have been greatly exaggerated. Only she and management will know what's really going on there, but this was her best performance in ages.

3. You’ve Got To Give Cody Rhodes Credit

Has...has Cody Rhodes survived the recent lull he had heading into WrestleMania 42?! The reigning WWE Champion was super over as a babyface on SmackDown, but there was a bit of spice to his words too. Personally, this writer still reckons Rhodes would benefit from going heel, but he was on fire this past Friday night. There's no denying it.

Whilst doing these 'Ups' and 'Downs' articles, it's wise to strike a balance between looking at the bigger WWE picture and analysing matches/segments/promos on an individual basis. “I’m easy to find and I’m hard to beat” was one hell of a line from Cody, and it'd be daft to ridicule him or the company for buying some time with this sort of promo.

A rematch vs. Randy Orton will surely happen at Backlash if Rhodes is medically cleared in time. The fact remains that he isn’t for now, so this was the best use of him possible. Leaving the main man off SmackDown entirely would've sucked, and all Trips had to say was: 'Bring the fire, champ'. Cody 100% did, and he successfully managed to skirt the fine line between using TKO as an excuse for lame content and bashing them for poking their nose into a system they know precious little about.

2026 will be the last year of Cody's remarkable 4-year face stretch, surely. If so, then he obviously plans to go out on a high. Somehow, he's avoided catching strays due to over-exposure and unhappiness about Pat McAfee's involvement in the 'Mania biz with Orton. Onto the next.

2. Fatal Influence Debuts

Nick Aldis must've got on the blower to Adam Pearce and asked to borrow Dominik Mysterio's old heat-seeking machine from Raw, because the live crowd were on for Fatal Influence's debut and Jacy Jayne's duelling promo opposite Rhea Ripley. Firstly, Jayne and her pals Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid took their main roster bow by wrecking a match pitting Paige and Brie Bella vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss.

That was a vehicle to introduce Jayne and the rest of Fatal Influence to SmackDown. Can’t say fairer than that. Jacy has deserved this debut for a while, but seeing Reid and Henley come with her is another positive, especially when the group appears to be gunning for the Women’s Tag-Team Titles as well as singles gold.

Again, Influence got great heat from the live crowd, who chanted “YOU SUCK” and jeered hard. It's all about how WWE follows up on this, of course, but it was a strong debut and one of the strongest for an NXT act in a while. Influence should be really proud of that, and chuffed that all of them got to do some talking during the bit with Ripley later on.

Henley and Reid coming after Paige and Brie sounds good, as does seeing the newcomers match up vs. Flair and Bliss. That babyface pairing will almost definitely campaign for another title shot after all of this, which is cool. This is the best use of workers like Charlotte, Alexa, Paige and Brie imaginable.

WWE is dead set on clearing out and building towards the future.

1. WWE Keep Jacy Jayne Strong

What a night this was for Jayne specifically.

She got to hang with Rhea Ripley in a hastily-assembled Women’s Title match, and the incoming NXT star didn’t even have to do the clean job. Instead, her Fatal Influence pals interfered for the DQ. Everyone won big here. Rhea got that first title defence under her belt, Jayne and faction look like a threat from the off, and the women’s division on Fridays just got a nice shakeup. To that point, Blake Monroe is incoming too.

This was a really good experience for Jacy, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, and it’s clear that Ripley will work as the division’s focal point. IYO SKY’s absence could be considered slightly surprising, but she’ll be along to help Rhea at some stage. Those crocodile tears between friends on Raw will look even more odd in retrospect, especially once IYO sprints out to help 'Mami'.

Or, perhaps her absence will be used to slow burn build towards a Women's Title war between tag-team partners. Who knows? In the short-term, it's Fatal Influence who will take the fight to Rhea whilst simultaneously going for the Women's Tag belts held by Paige and Bella on top of that. These ladies are about to be real busy.  

This match will be used as a reference point for more to come between Jayne and Ripley in the future, and that's a positive. Honestly, the Influence trio's debut couldn't have gone any better. This is what they would've dreamed about doing on the main roster, and now they're all here living it.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling content like this, check out 15 New Directions For WWE After WrestleMania 42 and 10 Way Too Early Card Predictions For WWE WrestleMania 43!

Some actors are just too damn professional to give anything less than the best of their ability, and when it's in the service of a poorly written or flatly directed film that just doesn't work otherwise, it's tough.

And where horror films are concerned, it's certainly common for actors to commit harder to a limp part than anyone could've conceivably expected them to.

It's certainly a net positive for the movie, and each director must've been thrilled, but most came away from these films feeling like these actors' hard work was totally squandered.

From veteran actors taking a blatant paycheck role but refusing to phone it in, to hungry young actors giving it their all to a lousy part, these films would've been even worse without the presence of a performer who clearly cared a whole lot about what they were doing.

No matter how bad the movies might be, these performances ably acquitted themselves...

It's often said that 90% of directing is casting, because you can have the best script and most skilled filmmaker in the world, but if the casting fundamentally doesn't work the film doesn't either.

But great casting can compensate for slack writing, bad direction, and so many other issues, a captivating performance helping downplay or even downright trivialise these problems.

And sometimes a piece of casting is so perfectly on-point that it's tough to picture anyone else playing the part. Sometimes it seems like the actor cast was basically born to play it in their bones.

But where these 20 horror movie roles are concerned, we almost ended up with these actors playing them instead.

In some cases it's easy to see what the filmmakers and producers were going for the first time, while in other instances it's extremely difficult to picture the other actor doing the job at all. Either way, it almost happened...

While shock value for shock value's sake doesn't usually work, there's absolutely something to be said for a surprising scene that jolts the audience out of their complacency and assures them that anything can happen.

And that's absolutely true of these scenes in these 20 recent movies, each of which caught every single one of us off guard. That is to say, if you saw these scenes coming, you're probably lying.

They range from the outrageously WTF to the unexpectedly hilarious, insanely violent, and everything else in between. 

Each of them dared to do something nobody could've anticipated from the plot or marketing, and in an era where it feels like we know way too much about movies before we watch them, that's a damn fine thing.

And so, remember that there's always the opportunity for a film, good or bad, to bamboozle you with something insane totally out of nowhere...

Given the incredible highs and unforgettable low points of Hogan's career in his career and his private life, there is an eye-watering amount to be covered in Real American. While it leaves few stones unturned, there is undeniably a bias on display and an agenda to restore the reputation of one of wrestling's biggest ever names in the wake of his passing in 2025.

How good a job does it do in covering the life and controversies of Terry Bollea and selling the legacy of Hulk Hogan? Come with us on the Ups and Downs of Real American to find out. 

UPS

Nostalgia Is A Hell Of A Drug 

As wrestling fans, we are willingly blinded by nostalgia. When done correctly, the magic moments that happen in the squared circle literally stay with the audience for a lifetime, and Hulk Hogan has more of them than 99% of performers.

Real American has Hogan saying, “some people hate me, but I’m definitely the greatest wrestler of all time” in its opening minutes. While that is stretching perception to a laughable extent, this series does a wonderful job of selling Hogan’s greatest moments. The coverage of him leading the charge of promotion for the first WrestleMania, body slamming Andre the Giant at WrestleMania 3, and particularly when showing the enormity of his 2002 WWE comeback, is all fantastic.

Sure, there’s still some trademark Hulk-tinted bias that gets in the way. The pile-on about The Ultimate Warrior’s lack of skills cheapens the magnitude of WrestleMania 6’s main event, and the tone deaf madness of Hogan likening Hulkamania’s success to the cultural significance of World Wars 1 and 2 is bananas. Nevertheless, you’d have to be made of stone not to fall into warm and fuzzy feelings reliving some of The Hulkster’s finest hours. 

Hogan’s Contribution To Wrestling Is Undeniable

The accepted history of the growth of the WWE is that Vince McMahon's decision to go national, in spite of the gentleman’s agreement of the territories, made the promotion the global force it is today. This is entirely possible, but it’s undeniable that Hogan was the secret sauce that took wrestling to the promised land. Love him or loathe him, without Hulk Hogan’s entertainment savvy mindset, look, and marketing, wrestling as we know it might never have reached where it is today. 

Hogan’s decision to film his part in Rocky 3, despite Vince McMahon Snr’s decision to fire him for doing so, is covered excellently here. It’s true that Thunder Lips destroying Rocky in that movie sold Hogan himself as a larger-than-life superstar, but it also exposed the world to the concept of professional wrestling as we know it (with Hulk as the poster child of the art form, naturally).

In episode 2, some of the biggest names to ever enter WWE all unanimously admit that Hogan was the reason that they made substantial money and achieved their goals as a roster. For all of his many, many faults, his immeasurable contribution to creating the global industry that wrestling has become cannot be diluted.

The Doc Is At Its Best When Going For The Jugular

The whole reason that Hogan’s legacy has been jeopardized is because he is a very flawed human with questionable morals. 

Hogan is a cultural icon bigger than wrestling itself, so not everyone knows his backstage politicking is such a source of anger for fans. The documentary’s best moment comes when addressing these criticisms head-on. Watching Hogan openly admit to sabotaging Bret Hart becoming WWE champion at WrestleMania 9 is one of the few moments when Real American feels like a genuine documentary and not a puff piece. Hulk admits to being in the ears of all the decision makers about how Bret wasn’t the right guy, and even in his interview footage, compares Bret to “seeing a movie that you thought would be better than it was”. 

As always, Bret Hart is pure gold through his “no BS” approach in these documentaries. As well as saying he knew more about wrestling when they met in the Georgia territories than Hogan did in his whole life,  Hart calling Hogan a “backstabbing, knife-wielding piece of shit” for purposefully derailing his career is comfortably the best moment in this series. More of this kind of honest approach to Hogan’s life story would have made Real American a much better documentary.

DOWNS

Hogan Sabotages His Own Documentary

If the aim of this piece is for Hogan to receive forgiveness for his social crimes, Hulk himself continues to be the biggest obstacle to achieving that.

Instead of owning up to things, he constantly attempts to weasel his way out of them. Hogan’s leg drops are blamed for his immobility in later life, more than his admitted steroid use. He blames the journalist for covering Hulk declaring that he "understood OJ Simpson murdering someone" in the aftermath of his divorce, rather than admitting this is not something he should think privately, let alone say publicly in an interview with Rolling Stone. After admitting to ruining Bret Hart’s WrestleMania 9 coronation, he makes excuses when faced with the accusation of refusing Bret Hart’s handshake on the day of the event.

In Real American’s most emotional story beat, Hogan tells a story about lending his estranged brother money, which he then used to buy drugs and consequently overdosed. It is a gut wrenching moment where it’s easy to feel for Hogan, and one of the few times we see him emote for somebody other than himself. Instead of allowing himself to be vulnerable, Hogan shuts down the interview and refuses to get personal when the filmmakers begin to ask about the impact this had on himself and his family. 

This kind of behavior and dated concept of how to protect his public image means Hogan continually botches his attempts to make himself seem more human and relatable.

Vince McMahon Is Featured Half-Heartedly

It’s a curious choice to feature the voice of Vince McMahon at various points in this documentary with what are clearly newer interviews, yet he is never featured onscreen. This is for obvious reasons, but when the documentary is happy to parade Donald Trump as a close friend of Hogan’s in front of the camera, hiding Vince McMahon feels like a pointless endeavor when both of these men are accused of similar disgraceful acts.

Real American would have been a much better documentary with more involvement from the disgraced billionaire. When talking about Vince McMahon’s decision to fire him in the mid-90's, Hogan has the gall to go with the “but I thought we were friends..” defence, directly after admitting to stabbing his "friend" Bret Hart in the back. This section really required hearing what Vince had to say on the matter in greater detail to have real value.

Hogan would also later gloat about his Hollywood Hogan run showed Vince that he was wrong to fire him. Leaving aside that his red and yellow WCW run went terribly, entirely justifying McMahon’s decision to rebuild WWE without him, who is to say Hogan wouldn’t have tried to use his political stroke to assassinate Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H to ruin the most popular period in the history of WWE in the same way he did Bret Hart in 1993 and future legends like Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho during his time in WCW? This question deserved to be asked, and the only answer you could get on this would be from McMahon. 

Hogan Knows Best Is Scapegoated For His Divorce

The portion of Real American that focuses on the Hogan Knows Best reality show fraudulently scapegoats the program for being the reason Hogan's family fell apart. The idea that the show was made purely to give Hulk’s family better opportunities also doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. 

Hulk can’t sell himself as a savvy businessman who uses every tool he can to keep himself at the forefront of entertainment, and ignore that he did this show at a time that his in-ring career was winding down, and when celebrity-based reality shows like The Osbournes and Jessica Simpson’s Newlyweds were all the rage. 

The coverage of the show is used to paint Linda Hogan as a money-grabbing leech and his kids as fame-hungry brats. It feels like a smokescreen of justification for Hogan being caught having sex with one of his daughter’s friends, when the focus should have been on that incident’s impact on his life and public reputation. That there is more coverage of Linda’s post-divorce relationship with a 25-year-old friend of their son Nick’s than Hogan's adulterous behavior that ended their family unit is a scandalously transparent attempt to suggest Linda was as culpable as Hogan himself. 

Again, this feels like blame shifting and spin instead of addressing the real issue.

Real American Is Pure PR

Real American has a clear aim and that is to restore the legacy of Hulk Hogan. It uses cheap parlour tricks to attempt to sway the audience. It is the anti-Dark Side Of The Ring. Upbeat rock music and playful classical are employed throughout Real American in an attempt to lower the senses and warm the audience to Hogan.

Then there are the narratives that are pushed; Linda Hogan’s tales of romance and a whirlwind love story paint Hulk in a favorable light. Showing Hogan meeting Make-A-Wish children and fans with health complications, attempts to sell Hogan as a compassionate man. Jimmy Hart has a spin for everything, always casting Hogan in an angelic light every time he opens his Mouth From the South. A lot of footage in Real American shows Hogan as a fragile old man. Whether it’s creaking in his home gym or looking back through his belongings, memorabilia, and diaries, it’s all designed towards painting Hogan in a light that lowers the audience’s defences.

All of the above is designed to provide a side of Hogan that’s the counterargument to fans who remain firm in their rejection of Hulk in the wake of his racism and political leanings. Some moments address his failings, but this documentary really feels like a piece of pro-Hulk Hogan propaganda, more than a serious exposé of Hogan’s entire story.

Hogan’s Actions Will Continue To Define Him As Much As His Wrestling

The most galling thing about Hulk Hogan being caught making racist remarks is how badly he interprets what he did wrong. Hogan is happy to suggest that he got caught "using a bad word" and was dragged over it further because he “couldn’t keep his mouth shut”. It’s gross that he suggests that being caught using a slur was the problem, when the world has told him that not only should he not have used that slur, but the views that he expressed about his daughter dating a black person were inexcusable.

Real American doesn’t have the balls to tell the audience what he said directly. It’s yet another attempt to cover up why fans refuse to forgive Hulk Hogan, and in shirking this responsibility, it will do absolutely nothing to change public opinion on who Hulk Hogan is. After half-heartedly covering how he was caught in his racism scandal, Real American then uses jaunty piano music to introduce Hogan meeting his second wife, introduces a nauseating and unconvincing story of him finding religion, him being reinstated to the WWE Hall Of Fame, and meeting a disabled Hogan fanatic. It attempts to show that he’s a better man than reality suggests and fails spectacularly. 

The following section on him endorsing Donald Trump as something that “jeopardized his fan base” is, again, lies and spin. People had already labeled him a racist and a bigot, and the reality of jumping on Trump’s train is that it was a desperate attempt to appease the only audience who might still support him and his lifestyle. 

There is a suggestion that Hogan was booed on Raw’s Netflix debut "because LA has its own vibe". This is laughable. It’s impossible to imagine his reception would have been any different in a landscape removed from US politics, such as the UK. People were booing Hulk Hogan for his actions, not because of geographical bias. To suggest this incident was merely a regional representation of Hogan’s popularity is insulting to fans around the world who have denounced him as a consequence of his actions, something that is thankfully addressed by Booker T, Cody Rhodes, and Natalya Hart.

For all the great memories and matches and moments Hogan has given fans, and his enormous contributions towards creating the world that fans love so much, Real American’s putrid and feeble coverage of his racism only shines further light on why fans refuse to forgive Terry Bollea. Today’s media-savvy audience will not be swayed by this documentary's tone. The filmmakers and Hogan himself had the perfect platform to atone for his sins with an honest appraisal of all of the situations that led to his reputation being tarnished. Both failed to do so in dismal fashion.

“Orbitals, is an anime you can play” is what I was told enthusiastically (and in unison) by the developers of Orbitals, the upcoming co-op space adventure game, when I visited their Tokyo studio earlier this month. And you know what, they are 100% right.

Inspired by the 90’s kids anime shows millennials all watched growing up, not only does the game look authentic in its cutscenes, but in its gameplay visuals and narrative too. During my visit to Shapefarm, I played the game for an hour with my girlfriend, who is also a games journalist,  and spoke to the main men behind it: Game Director Jakob Lundgren and Creative Director Marcos Ramos. I also got to speak with the former head of PlayStation Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, in a “turns out meeting your heroes is lovely actually” moment.

When launching into Orbitals, two things strike you instantly. Firstly, the game is clearly inspired by 90’s anime with an entirely authentic visual style and soundtrack (the theme song slaps). Secondly, it would be easy to mistake this as a Hazelight production, the highly-acclaimed developers of A Way Out, It Takes Two and Split Fiction, and there’s a very good reason for that:Jakob Lundgren, Orbitals’ game director used to work at Hazelight!

During our interview, I asked Lundgren about how his time at Hazelight working on A Way Out and It Takes Two inspired his new project.

“There's a lot of learnings of what works when it comes to co-op gameplay and what doesn't work. Back then, when we started making A Way Out, we didn't have a lot of references for other co-op games. It was kind of unique in the way that we were doing co-op. So at that point we were kind of learning as we were going, but we found more of our footing with it. A lot of the same sort of learnings of what makes people communicate, what makes them laugh, what makes them like, engage with each other. I think a lot of those learning are going to translate into Orbitals as well”

And that shows, during part of our playthrough, my partner and I ended up, through our own volition, in a western duel. Standing back to back, taking paces forward before turning and blasting each other with our equipment. The interaction between our characters, seeing my Omura’s scrap hook pull Maki to the ground (and securing my victory) highlights the true charm in making your own fun in a Hazelight-esque co-op games.

The magic doesn’t just come from co-op experience, either. Shapefarm are also experts in working with anime IP, having previously worked on Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time and Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker. They may not have known it at the time, but it truly feels like the studio was building to this moment.

The game follows two protagonists, Maki and Omura, on a space adventure inspired by the narrative and emotional beats of anime series like the original Dragon Ball and Evangelion. Likeable young heroes who get caught up in a long journey full of weird and wonderful characters - and, apparently, very much like in those 90’s anime series, hard hitting narrative beats and emotional losses.

The first level we experienced took place on a hub ship, surrounded by weird and wonderful ship workers, all either slacking off or working on fixing little bits and bobs. This level introduced us to Maki and Omura’s own ship and using tools to fix the falling apart vessel, in typical Hazelight co-op style puzzles. Things changed when we ended up flying the ship, with something about it feeling so Star Wars as my partner ran to pilot the ship and I moved to the gunner position. Sadly our demo didn’t allow for any space combat, but the b-roll footage sent to us did feature this. 

Something that stood out instantly, and was highlighted in a presentation by Lungdren and Ramos, is how the game authentically recreates the artistic style of fast-turnaround weekly anime, with anything that either moves or can be interacted with popping out more than the scenery, as if it was painted on real celluloid. As much as this was seen as a negative back in the 90’s, it’s now a nostalgic feature that lends itself incredibly well to game design and player readability in the world.

Things really kicked off in the second level that took place in a dark matter cave on the search for a reactor cassette (something pivotal to the plot), where we took control of a floating platform that was controlled by us running left and right across a central panel, making the platform itself then tilt in those directions as it progressed through a winding tunnel full of obstacles to dodge.

“It's very easy to fall into this trap where a lot of the co-op is you're relying on the other player, but most of what you're doing is you're just holding a door open for them where you're just like you're not interacting with the game while you enable them to play,” stated Lundgren “But we always want both players to be active simultaneously, both active at the same time, and making sure that it's not that sort of start stop co-op”

This mentality was very clear during this segment, as my partner and myself had to switch places several times through the tunnel. Sometimes she would have to use her beam cannon to hit crystals to help light up the cave, other times I would have to step forward to use my scrap hook to grab onto objects to manually spin the entire platform around corners - all while the other directs left and right. 

This section offered a good level of challenge without ever feeling frustrating, with extremely generous checkpointing, something the developers highlighted as purposeful design. Shapefarm wants Orbitals to be friendly to newcomers, in a way It Takes Two was. There is, of course, a challenge, but the game builds up to it and the checkpoint system means there’s never too much repetition of difficult segments once they have been progressed through, even if you fail on the next hurdle. The developers see it as the perfect game to play with a non-gaming partner or friend.

Something that stands out from Hazelight’s co-op games is the option to swap tools. In games like It Takes Two and Split Fiction, each level’s gimmick would see each player take on their own unique abilities, with players locked into these and no way to swap without just trading controllers - something not possible during online play. In Orbitals, you pick your tools from the ship before you head out and can drop them on the fly, allowing the other player to pick it up and swap. This is perfect for those times when one player has a clear skill advantage in specific situations, and could ease up on any big arguments that some couples experienced in Hazelight games, when someone wasn’t as good as the other in certain aspects.

Herein lies This comes my only major worry with Orbitals: the potential lack of variation in player tools. Part of the charm with It Takes Two and Split Fiction were the wild fantasy abilities that kept the gameplay fresh, with no level or area playing the same as the previous. Can Orbitals’ tools stay fresh and interesting throughout a full adventure? It does appear there are more than we experienced in game - but in our section the ship only had three stands for tools, meaning one was always left behind. I’m interested to see if Shapefarm has any other tricks up their sleeves to change things up as the game progresses.

The final section of our hands-on moved into a side-scrolling section, with both players on the same screen, each navigating a series of platforming puzzles. On top, I needed to activate platforms to help her move across, while she controlled gravity spirals on the bottom to fling the me across gaps. I would jump into these to stay in the air while being spun around until the she let go, sending me flying in the direction I was pointing towards at the time. It's a fun little gimmick that forced communication and timing. 

Following this was another similar section with the bottom player controlling a vertical beam of gravity that the top player floated in, only in this situation the bottom player is moving the beam from the left to the right while having to jump over a deadly obstacle rolling back and forth, and the top player must move up and down the beam to dodge moving mines floating in the path. Let’s just say, we nailed this first time, although the PR told us it took her and another player almost 30 minutes to complete, failing multiple times.

Our one hour hands-on showed a strong range of creativity and layers of difficulty to expect.

The game is full of fun little bits, from drawing doodles on a sleeping crew member’s face, or picking up a cat that reacts differently to either Maki or Omura, due to the personality of each character (for example Maki is over-excitable and grabbed the cat too aggressively!). There’s also minigames that can be discovered during levels that can be played on the ship (I kicked ass at the punch bag mini game). The ship is sort of a hub for the player between levels to kick back and play these mini games. It offers a chill place to calm down after anything intense that happened, either in game or narratively, giving you a place to be silly and experiment.

Oh, and of course there are emotes — be ready to see your friend laugh any time they find a way to bring upon your demise. 

During my interview, I raised a potential concern in matching the anime style so faithfully, and that the “on twos” style of animations the player characters play in, much like the Spider-Verse skin in Insomniac’s Miles Morales Spider-Man spin-off that was animated on twos similar to the movie. This caused some players to feel nauseous, and I felt it was a bold decision to create an entire game in this style.

It's been a lot of back and forth and kind of finding what works for us” said Lundgren “But I think one thing that we have going for us is that it marries itself with the rest of the style. But for example, in the Spider-Man game, it's kind of a stark contrast to everything else that's going around you. But I think players that like it feel more natural here. Also because pretty much everything that moves in the environment either moves at 12fps or 24fps, so it's not this thing that sticks out from the rest of the game.”

Shuhei Yoshida, the former head of PlayStation Worldwide Studios, has been working with publisher Kepler Interactive (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) as an advisor on the game, and during our short chat shows great love for the project.

“I've been playing Orbitals for the last two years. I call myself a tester for Orbitals,” said Yoshida.

“I've seen that game make progress. It’s really fun to play, and it's great to play with your family, with your friend, even if your partner is not good at gameplay. In my case, oftentimes it was my daughter who found out the solution of some of the puzzles. She was very proud to help me to overcome challenges, so look forward to playing Orbitals with someone you like.”

Orbitals is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, releasing in Summer 2026.

Never before has the 2-night format for WrestleMania struck such a divide down the middle of WWE. The market-leaders hit Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium for the second year running last weekend.

Discourse surrounding CM Punk and Roman Reigns' epic clash over the World Heavyweight Title, Oba Femi squashing Brock Lesnar in a meat-slapping hoss fight, and Rhea Ripley guiding Jade Cargill to her finest performance to date resulted in significant and heartfelt praise being thrown towards a historically scolded Paul Levesque. The problem, and it really is a problem: All of that was on the Sunday, sitting neatly alongside a brilliant Intercontinental Title Ladder match, a fun Sami Zayn vs. Trick Williams fight, and a fine 'Street Fight' between Dominik Mysterio and Finn Balor.

The Saturday was garbage. Rotten, chewed-up and spit out, 2019-like garbage.

Mercifully, the Raw after WrestleMania has somewhat returned to its glory years, with the arrival of fresh faces, the teasing of major first-time matches, and a level of optimism for the future not seen for almost 2 years. 

Forecasting the immediate future of WWE hasn't been this easy for a long time - and, omitting newly-crowned champions for obvious reasons, it starts with one of NXT's biggest success stories in history...

These story-related goofs vary in nature, with some being much worse than others. Certain films - the Robert Langdon Trilogy, The Village, Now You See Me - have been completely obliterated by their lapses in narrative coherence, while others, such as these following twenty films, survived their disturbances in logic with barely a scratch. 

They're all just really strong movies in their own right, so much so that their head-scratching moments just feel like minor inconveniences above all else. Furthermore, all of these plot holes facilitated some truly exceptional stories and as such, in a weird way, you might find yourself feeling thankful for them. The bottom line is, when films are as good as these, any gaps in logic - however big they might be - feel like a small price to pay for quality entertainment...

And so, though the 2020s have been a banner decade for horror so far, it's also fair to say that not everything has hit how we wanted it to. 

These 20 horror films, for one reason or another, are the most disappointing and underwhelming to release throughout the 2020s so far.

Perhaps they were a long-awaited, franchise-concluding sequel that went spectacularly off the rails, saw a beloved filmmaker come up short, or simply failed to capitalise on an incredible premise.

Whatever the reason, it was tough not to walk away from these films feeling more than a little short-changed, like somewhere in the creative process the best version of the movie just never really came together.

In most cases, it was simply an isolated let-down, though in a few instances these horror movies risked more than just disappointing fans - they could have derailed their entire franchise...

Legends such as Kevin Nash bemoaned the visible lack of fans travelling internationally for this past weekend's WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas. Wait until the former Diesel gets a load of the situation in Saudi Arabia next year. Far less people will travel out to Riyadh than Vegas, but the locals in Saudi will go wild for such a huge WWE PLE in their home nation.

Meanwhile, TKO will be busy counting the cash they're raking in from such an adventure.

Recent reports speculate that even WWE's overseers know they've been ripping it with the ticket prices lately. Those are set to come down over the summer, but there's no chance in hell they'll be modestly priced come 'Mania 43. If anyone believes that, then we've got some magic beans to sell them.

Attractions will be front and centre of the marketing charge though, and Triple H has already teased what's to come on the episode of Raw after 42. There, firm friends came face to face with the looming prospect of a WWE Title showdown between them. That might take place in 2026, or maybe Hunter's prepared to play the waiting game.

This article also predicts major bouts for stars like Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Oba Femi, Rhea Ripley, Jade Cargill, Bron Breakker and others.

It'd be bold to say that every single one of these matches will happen in Riyadh next year, but most of them seem like plausible combinations for the first time the 'show of shows' goes truly international.

For this reason, the notion that a hero would fight side-by-side with the very person who's trying to kill them sounds downright non-sensical.

And yet, there are times where such an alliance is absolutely necessary. Even when the forces of good and evil are at odds, circumstances can compel them, not just to a ceasefire but a team-up. 

Sometimes, the pair put their differences aside in order to take down somebody far more menacing. Other times, they work together, oblivious of the other's true intentions. In certain films, the protagonist has to carry out their enemy's bidding in order to save somebody close to their heart.

Getting chummy with a serial killer, a cannibal, or a frickin' alien may sound unthinkable, but there are times where the hero is left with no other choice.

WrestleMania this year will be remembered for many things – the arrival of Oba Femi, the potential retirement of Brock Lesnar, the stellar main event between Roman Reigns and CM Punk, the Randy Orton entrance that is still going, and the never-ending stream of ads between matches – but the real fun in the wake of a Showcase of the Immortals is diving into the details and pulling out some snippets that sound too good or too strange to be true.

This year, many of the facts and figures grew out of the very troubling – and very real – concern that matches were truncated to the point of feeling secondary (or even tertiary) to the pageantry and commercialism of WrestleMania. That online sentiment took on a life of its own, but rest assured, the facts bear this out, and we’ll dive into that throughout this column.

For now though, grab a flat white or a Steveweiser and soak up a few nuggets that will impress your fellow nerdy wrestling fan friends.

Let’s get to it…

This was the premise of the CM Punk Vs. Roman Reigns match heading into night two of WrestleMania 42. While the two men did express their contempt for one another at various points, they mainly feuded over their suitability for the top spot. Punk complained that Roman wasn’t around enough to warrant it; Roman countered that Punk is too old and too likely to self-implode. Roman wanted to reclaim his place at the head of the table. Really, Roman has been telling variations of this story for almost six years.

Meanwhile, in AEW, Swerve Strickland outright told Hangman Page that he was coming for “the spot you don’t even want”. This one at least mutated into a proper blood feud, but elsewhere, the “feeling” of AEW and who is best positioned to “restore” it drives storylines as much as intense personal conflict.  

Value to the brand and the desire to represent it: this is the new pro wrestling vernacular. We have moved away from the “personal issues draw money” maxim and into the field of business studies. To be the top guy is not to become the World Champion in the company that happens to contract you; it’s to be a mascot for that company. And to get to the top, you must not beat your competition in a fight, but prove more popular and reliable. 

While this stuff is often a total eye-roller, it’s believable, at least. This sort of thing is not without real-life precedent…

Roman Reigns wasn't fibbing when he said he'd be around a whole hell of a lot more often during the WrestleMania 42 post-show fun. The new World Heavyweight Champion is someone creative badly needed to commit, and he has. On Raw, in front of a giddy crowd in Las Vegas, Roman revealed what's coming next.

He has a run-in with family. This time, it's Jacob Fatu.

The difference between 'Mania 42's first and second nights was clear for all to see over the weekend. Saturday felt like too much TKO meddling and like matches filling in gaps between ads/Hulk Hogan documentary teasers, but Sunday earned huge plaudits for pulling the nose up and making sure fans were in high spirits coming out of the PLE.

Raw didn't quite continue the party atmosphere, but it did have a few notable tidbits. Fatu confronting Reigns felt big, and so did Oba Femi announcing to the world that he's going to be a focal point around these parts for a long, long time to come. Several NXT stars also got to make a splash on the main roster, and more are on the way next week.

Back on the negative side, something just felt off throughout the entire show. CM Punk no-selling his Sunday night loss was a...choice, so was WWE pretending that the brand split means anything in April 2026, and a few feuds continued when they should've ended on the grandest stage days ago.

Here's all the yes and no from a Raw after 'Mania that didn't feel like the Raw after 'Mania.

Downs... 

6. There’s No Need To Continue This

Sorry, but why is this rivalry still continuing after Dominik Mysterio lost to Finn Bálor's 'Demon' offshoot at Wrestle-bloody-Mania? If anything, that comprehensive 'Street Fight' win for Finn should've drawn a line under his split from Judgment Day. There's pretty much nowhere to go coming out of 'Mania, but WWE seems intent on feuds that will not end.

So, after Bálor beat JD McDonagh in a blink and you'll miss it match, 'Dirty Dom' ambushed his old stablemate Finn just because he could. Michael Cole explained away JD’s lack of fight as due to injured ribs from the weekend's ladder match. Fair enough, but this wasn’t much of a match and it's clear that these guys are capable of so much more.

Dominik going after Finn post-match then Bálor sending him packing anyway felt a bit lame too. Again, does anyone really get why this is still going on after Mysterio lost to Finn’s ‘Demon’? It's become a worrying Triple H trope that nothing seems to be blow off - rivalries must proceed even when they shouldn't. Maybe WWE stick that at the top of every whiteboard or note passed around during creative meetings.

If anything, Bálor should've been moving on to pastures new coming out of the win over Dom. Similarly, doing the J.O.B to Finn constantly won't do anyone who is left in the creaking Judgment Day group any favours. Unfortunately, it looks like we're set for Mysterio vs. Bálor sans 'Demon' guise, which feels a tad backwards to be honest.

5. The Vision’s Promo Falls Flat

The only thing of note that anyone in The Vision had to say was Paul Heyman admitting that he owes Gunther a favour for beating Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. That could well be securing a match against the seemingly retired Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, but WWE can afford to take their time on that plot point. Beyond it, these dudes had nothing to offer Monday's show.

Logan Paul talking about how he and Austin Theory are still tag champs after the 6-man at ‘Mania made no sense when the belts weren’t on the line, and there wasn’t much movement on his issues with IShowSpeed either. This segment didn’t pick up until Bron Breakker arrived, which is concerning for The Vision - they really don’t carry much menace whenever Bron or Bronson Reed are absent.

Further, The Street Profits feel like boring challengers for Paul and Theory too. How many times can Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins be wheeled out for this sort of nothing spot? It's been rinse and repeat with that squad for far too long. Yes, it's cool that WWE booking has avoided the usual split then feud thing, but we've missed out on some cool singles stuff from Ford for years now, and for what?

This sort of thing?!

The Vision better hope that Breakker is full steam ahead and that Bronson can launch his own comeback soon, because they feel seriously weak when it's just Heyman, Paul and Theory. The latter duo vs. Street Profits will make for a decent match, but it's tough to get properly excited about it for now.

4. A Puzzling Decision For Liv & Sol

Liv Morgan celebrated beating Stephanie Vaquer to become Women’s World Champion, but not for long. NXT’s Sol Ruca interrupted her to call Liv an inspiration and someone she greatly respects. Somehow, that led to a non-title match between them, then Liv beat Sol. Nah, this wasn't really the greatest showcase for what fans can expect from Ruca, so WWE are real lucky Las Vegas was in a good mood for Raw.

Look, most will get that Morgan was never losing after dethroning Vaquer, but between Sol’s respect chat, the suddenness of the match being made by Adam Pearce and Zaria’s run-in, something felt off. It would’ve been better to find out what’s actually next for Morgan instead of a glorified exhibition and knocking off a newcomer who could’ve been built as a proper challenger.

Then, they shoved Sol into the background with a Vaquer staredown with Liv anyway. Oh, so it turns out that Stephanie Vaquer is what's next for Morgan after beating Stephanie Vaquer. The 'all feuds must continue no matter what' concept is a creative noose, man. Someone needs to tell WWE higher ups that it's alright to move on from things, especially after landmark/tentpole PLEs like WrestleMania.

It's disappointing that Sol didn't get to show how flashy she can be in-ring here, and that she was apparently only in the house to build to an NXT match vs. Zaria. Also, what claim does Steph have to the title she just lost? Running back her vs. Liv at Backlash sounds rather boring.

3. Crocodile Tears For A Non-Existent Brand Split

Sometimes, the lack of self awareness is staggering.

Rhea Ripley was crying backstage with IYO SKY because she got word that she has to leave Raw and “go be the champion that SmackDown needs”. Right, this might’ve worked if WWE actually honoured any kind of brand split, but they don’t. So, Rhea and IYO acting like they’ll never see one another again is silly and unnecessary. What's stopping them from dropping by on any given Monday or Friday?

The flaw in WWE's logic here was blown wide open by “SmackDown’s” Jacob Fatu getting involved in the main event picture on Raw in the very next segment on the show. Like, that was literally next after Ripley and SKY were getting all emotional and Liv Morgan was saying "see you around" to Rhea before they shared a frosty glance. Maybe "see you around" means, 'see you in a few weeks, Mami!'.

Do the writers really believe that people buy this sort of brand extension stuff in April 2026 when they've spent years only pretending it matters when there's a Draft coming up? What next: Rhea donning a blue t-shirt and fighting for SmackDown's honour the next time someone from Raw gatecrashes the show? She'd be doing that every other week if so.

Skits such as this one only make the roster look daft. It's the kind of thing Kevin Owens would ridicule during one of his switched on promos, then everyone would praise him for looking at things logically. Whomever scripted this should know they caused intense eye rolling. Intense!

2. CM Punk…Brushes It Off?

Firstly, yours truly gets that CM Punk saying WrestleMania wasn’t his night and then moving on was the crux of why Cody Rhodes interrupted him to check if he’s alright, but this fan was personally expecting more than that. Punk had to address his body giving out on him at a crucial moment vs. Roman Reigns on Sunday night, but he didn’t.

The ex-World Heavyweight Champ just went the cocksure route and brushed it all off before lining up a future WWE Title bout vs. Cody instead. Hmm. On the plus side, it was a good thing that this pair didn’t just compliment one another like they did on SmackDown heading into last weekend's supershow, but we didn’t feel the weight of Punk’s loss to Roman here at all and that’s a pity when it would’ve been the most natural story to tell.

Where were the puppy dog eyes? The wobbling spirit as a man came to terms with his own mortality? All of that potentially excellent storytelling was washed away in an instant because Punker was just sort of like, 'Oh well, onto the next chapter of my WWE life'. Beaten former champions simply have to be more serious and reflective than that.

A heel turn for either Punk or Cody is likely on the cards. It's either that or this was an in advance teaser for next year's 'Mania 43. Whichever way you cut it, ol' CM here had to acknowledge that his body is slowing down and he might not be able to hack the pace at WWE's top table anymore.

Nope. Wasn't even mentioned at all.

1. Raw Didn’t Feel Must-See

This is undoubtedly the biggest ‘Down’ from the entire night.

Rightly or wrongly, the Raw after ‘Mania comes with certain expectations that WWE simply didn’t meet here. Maybe Triple H and TKO don’t view it the same way fans do, but there was a real lack of oomph to most things on the show. In short, it just felt like another week rather than “the most important Monday of the year” as several said on camera. Did anyone feel the weight of importance when tuning in?

Throwaway segments like LA Knight confronting Gunther and those crocodile tears from Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY for literally no reason told the full story of a creative team plugging holes with meaningless filler rather than looking ahead at the broader picture. In terms of surprises, they were limited to Ethan Page (who admittedly shone brightly), Sol Ruca and Jacob Fatu getting in Roman's face.

Some of that was cool, but it didn't feel nearly enough to elevate this into 'episode of the year' territory. On commentary, both Michael Cole and Corey Graves spoke about how newsworthy the Raw after WrestleMania can be, but there was scant evidence of this being a night that'd shake everything up. Yep, just another Monday in a long line of them.

Conversations need to be had about the way WWE opens up TV too. There's no energy to those cold arena flyovers set to middle of the road music, and the lazy arrival scenes need to be binned as a general rule. Or, at least, shelved for a while. They're too formulaic.

Ups... 

5. All Ego’s Raw Debut Clicks

Onto the good. There was plenty of it.

Ethan Page was revealed as Raw’s newest signing by Adam Pearce during a backstage segment. He confronted Je’Von Evans with a smug look on his face, which led to a match between them. That turned out to be a great watch before Rusev ran-in, distracted Je’Von and that led to the win for Page. All in, this was a tidy debut for ‘All Ego’, and Rusev targeting Je’Von after the ‘Mania ladder match made sense.

Page then paved the way for Rusev to get the upper hand on Penta as well. It's really nice to see one of NXT’s finest in the title mix on the main roster already. WWE's writing team didn't waste any time when seeking ways to get Ethan in on the action, and now it looks like he'll actually team with Rusev vs. Evans and Penta on Raw soon. This is a fabulous spot for the former AEW star.

That jump from Tony Khan to Triple H looks more and more like an inspired decision with each passing day. Page's 'All Ego' character is a great fit for WWE's product, and he proved he can go in-ring vs. Je'Von as well. Creative got everything spot on throughout his proper debut: He's confrontational, annoyingly good at what he does, and they gave Evans an out due to Rusev's interference.

More matches/segments should adhere to these simple rules and have the same depth of care. When WWE show that care, they make sure that everyone wins big. So to speak.

4. Oba Femi’s Simple Statement

What a WrestleMania weekend for one Oba Femi. He blasted through Brock Lesnar like 'The Beast' was Eric Bischoff in WWE 2K26 before developers patched the game, and he looked like a million bucks before the PLE by rough-housing Lesnar on episodes of Raw. Come Monday, fans eagerly anticipated seeing Oba for the first time since he became WWE's new made man.

Femi kicked off the night by saying, “The ruler has arrived”. One mic drop later and the powerhouse looked like an even bigger star than he had before Monday's show started. This is really all Oba needed to say, to be honest. This is worth repeating: The man looks every bit a star from head to toe, and he's poised to become WWE’s focal point after beating Brock at ‘Mania.

Before addressing his adoring public, Oba soaked in cheers and chants from the live crowd, then said his bit and left. His segment on Monday didn’t need to be some 10-15 minute speech anyway, but what Femi does next in-ring is important. That's going to be key. The company must follow up on his win over Lesnar with something else that feels just as massive. No mucking about in the undercard for too long, please.

Roman Reigns has his match for Backlash, so Oba isn't getting that spot. However, WWE has plenty of top names who can go after him, which means there are loads of workers Femi can mow down en route to the top titles. He looks ready, doesn't he?

3. Bron Breakker Downs Seth Rollins Again

Booking Bron Breakker this strongly is logical.

He fought off a Seth Rollins steel chair attack from behind (thanks partly to his stablemates), then left Seth laying after a few spears. The accidental blood on Breakker only made him look more badass. Also, having Rollins fight from underneath against such a physical marvel is the right way to go, and fans seem right into the idea of them having a few grudge matches. It looks like the first of those is incoming at Backlash.

All going well, Bron vs. Seth will be a straight up singles affair on the next PLE. Then, after that ends in dramatic fashion (either as a double countout/disqualification or with a screwy win for Rollins due to miscommunication within the ranks of The Vision), then we can power towards something else. Steel cage? Hell In A Cell? Nothing is off the table for these former stablemates.

Breakker's intensity is practically unmatched when he gets going. The way he wiped blood from his face after destroying Seth on Monday made him look every inch the killer. It's a simple tale: Rollins is a first ballot Hall Of Famer in the making, but he's physically out-gunned by someone he handpicked to be one of his attack dogs last year.

Injuries have wreaked havoc on The Vision's story, but WWE can still win out of this by sticking Bron and Seth in the ring multiple times for 20-25 minutes and letting them cut loose. The blow off gimmick bout (assuming there is one and this rivalry doesn't run until 2046) should be outstanding.

2. High-Calibre Tag Match (And More)

Apparently, this will be the last time you see Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY team up for a while. That is, of course, unless the aforementioned backstage skit with them crying and bemoaning Rhea going to SmackDown isn't immediately trashed by IYO performing a run-in on a coming episode of blue brand telly. Watch this space for that.

Ripley and SKY vs. The Kabuki Warriors was a zippy, fun match on Monday's Raw, at least. This quartet work incredibly well together, and everything went off without a hitch throughout. IYO scored the pin on Kairi Sane with her moonsault, which was also smart. That meant Asuka could berate Kairi post-match, and it means SKY is finely poised to come for Rhea’s newly won title eventually.

That’ll surely be the story soon whether they're 'on different brands' or not, but tagging RHIYO back up in a match of this quality was fine for now. It was just really strong stuff from beginning to end. There honestly isn't enough praise one could lavish on IYO in-ring, and the same goes for Asuka. Both play their respective roles as backup (SKY to Rhea) and leader (Asuka to Sane) extremely well no matter what they're asked to do on shows.

It was sweet to hear some Japanese wrestling context from Michael Cole on comms too. The voice of WWE did a stand up job of explaining the power structure between veterans and proteges in Japanese wrestling culture. Bringing that into the story properly was the right call. Let's see more of it.

What a match.

1. Jacob Fatu Levels Up

There's no doubt that going toe to toe with Roman Reigns on the mic and lining up a PLE main event vs. the 'OTC' at Backlash is a good thing for Jacob Fatu. Admittedly, there was a slight low energy feel to the main event segment involving Roman and The Usos before Jacob's music hit, but the most important thing is that WWE are putting Fatu in the main event picture after his win over Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania.

Obviously, he’s never beating Roman at Backlash (they ain't ending that World Heavyweight Title run this early!), but even getting this spot is a big deal for Jacob, and you just know Reigns will do everything in his power to make sure Fatu shines. It's in his best interests to go hell for leather with the 'Samoan Werewolf', and not just because Jacob is family.

Both Raw and SmackDown need some fresh stars near the top of the tree, and Fatu is someone WWE has been high on for a long time now. They're finally ready to take the training wheels off, and his United States Title hiccup from last year is yesterday's news. That definitive win over Drew in an "Unsanctioned" war has Jacob at boiling point.

Best of all, Reigns didn't do his usual chuckling or looking down on an opponent. No, he was all business and sold the threat Fatu poses to his newly won title. Some of the facial expressions Jimmy and Jey Uso shot off behind Roman were top tier too. They'll have something to say about all of this themselves.

Nice finish to the night, all things considered.

What did you think of this week's WWE Raw? For more wrestling, check out 6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE WrestleMania 42 - Sunday (Results & Review) and 15 New Directions For WWE After WrestleMania 42!

The destruction of the Enterprise in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock couldn't erase the need for another Enterprise to zoom off, leading to the christening of the Enterprise-A. Thus began a lineage of ships, all introduced out of order, expanding on the history of the name.

To rank these ships, we're doing our best to put our own personal preferences aside. Some would have the aircraft carrier as the number one slot, what with its colourful place in Star Trek's history, but this list is confined to starships only. When we're comparing warp cores here, it's only fair!

There will also be an honourable mention, which will hopefully make sense when seen.

Enterprises have arrived, departed, returned, made cameos, and popped up in unusual places through the years. Only one has been constant to every timeline in Trek, though, does that make it a saucer section and nacelles above the rest? 

Place your bets now on which of these classic ships will come out on top. Until then, engage warp engines and get ready for the fighting words in the comments. 

Make it so!

Well, that was better.

Before WrestleMania 42 even began, the two cards pretty much signaled that the second night was going to be much better from an in-ring perspective and a more entertaining show.

Thankfully, WWE delivered what, overall, was a really good, solid show. They put over the two newer, big stars in Oba Femi and Trick Williams. The six men in the ladder match put the throttle down and had a blistering performance. Danhausen provided the requisite silliness.

And then there was CM Punk and Roman Reigns, who delivered an incredible main event that was a legitimately brisk 34 minutes with brilliant pacing and great action throughout. Punk turned back the clock a bit, but his ego got the best of him, leading to Reigns toppling him and capturing the World Heavyweight Championship.

Not everything was great, however. While Trick’s United States Championship victory was a big deal, they dropped the ball with the execution of the match. Even then, it’s hard to consider it a significant negative. It just could have been better.

Overall, the positives were huge, and the negatives were more of a disappointment than a major transgression.

Let’s get to it…

DOWNS…

3. Meh Women’s Championship Match

On paper, Jade Cargill versus Rhea Ripley was a huge attraction that could main event a B-level PLE.

In practice, the WWE Women’s Championship match was… a match that happened. It wasn’t bad, but considering the star power of Jade and Rhea, this should have been an epic confrontation between two megastars. Instead, it was a 10-minute, back-and-forth match that basically amounted to a move exchange, with both women countering each other’s finisher.

There was no true struggle or real heat to the match until Michin and B-Fab ran interference, and Iyo Sky got her WrestleMania moment as Ripley’s sidekick. That artificial heat bumped up the volume a bit and fed into the best part of the match: a swanky finishing sequence.

Jade hit a subpar One-Winged Angel for two just before Iyo took out the Baddies. Rhea went for a Riptide, but Cargill escaped and nailed a pump kick. She went for Jaded, but Ripley smoothly rolled through while clutching Jade’s left hand and seamlessly transitioned to a Riptide to win the title.

While this wasn’t a bad match and had a banger of a finish, this is WrestleMania, and the biggest show of the year should require a bit more than what we got.

2. Dropping The Ball

The anointing of Trick Williams as the new United States Champion should have been an incredibly easy story to tell, especially with Sami Zayn trending toward heel and Trick becoming a de facto babyface week by week.

The template already existed: Bret Hart versus Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13. Sure, they weren’t going to do a bloody submission match, but it wouldn’t have been hard to have Sami gleefully and brutally attacking Trick, leaving the upstart to appeal to fans for help.

They even had Lil Yachty and Williams’ parents on the outside for Zayn to torment for heat. They got it right with Sami wiping out Yachty with a throw into the barricade and the brainbuster on the apron, but then they just abruptly rushed to the finish, with Yachty getting involved to put Sami down (undercutting Sami’s heel attack) and Trick countering the Helluva Kick with a Trick Shot for the win and the US title.

This sub-nine-minute match should have been so much more, with Trick suffering for long enough and Sami reveling in the punishment to get fans to solidly turn against him, successfully executing a double-turn.

Instead, the title win was an abrupt, anticlimactic moment that still got a nice pop, but it could have and should have been so much bigger.

1. "Thank You, Brock!"

Cards on the table: Brock Lesnar did business and delivered exactly what was needed in establishing Oba Femi as a legit threat. The build to their match was nearly perfect, with Brock doing his part to put the feud over.

But for f**k's sake, fans chanting “Thank you, Brock" when he took off his gloves and boots was just about the worst thing. After all, Lesnar was ostracized from WWE for nearly two years after being named more than 40 times in a lawsuit former employee Janel Grant filed against Vince McMahon and WWE, alleging sexual abuse and human trafficking.

In reality, he should have just disappeared and vanished into the ether forever.

To everyone chanting their thanks to Brock, have some pride, people.

Also, it’s worth noting that Brock got a bigger sendoff in presumably retiring than Goldberg, so expect to hear Bill complain about that soon.

UPS…

6. A Cursed WrestleMania Moment

Whatever you think of the Miz, you’ve got to admit that he’s game for just about anything when it comes to entertaining the fans.

Sunday, Miz and Kit Wilson interrupted John Cena while he was announcing the totally real attendance of 55,000-plus. Miz called himself the locker room leader and said he wasn’t leaving without his WrestleMania moment. Cena ceded the ring to the duo, but before Miz could get any farther, Danhausen appeared with a legion of mini-hausens and drove a coffin truck to the ring.

Kit declared that Danhausen was toxic and shoved a mini-hausen to the ground, which led to the minis punching Wilson low and dogpiling him. Miz then ate a Cursed You Can’t See Me and was carried off by the mini-hausens.

As if that wasn’t enough, Danhausen faced off with Cena and told the 17-time world champion that he couldn’t see Danhausen. There was a poof of smoke, but Danhausen was still stationed in the ring. He then scrambled out of the ring and crawled under the ring – all in plain sight of everyone.

It was pure camp and a great, silly moment, even for jaded wrestling fans.

5. Demon Demolishes Dominik

Heading into the Finn Balor versus Dominik Mysterio match, the expectations centered on Balor’s Demon getting an epic entrance and Dominik crapping himself in response, then getting his comeuppance in the match itself.

And on those notes, WWE delivered quite well. The Demon’s entrance came off incredibly well, while Mysterio huddled and hit behind the announce desk, clearly not wanting to get into the ring. The match itself was a bit surprising in that Dominik got a fair amount of offense, but the Demon rose up after a frog splash to thrash Mysterio and put him away with a Coup de Grace through a table.

The match was somewhat cathartic for Balor, shaking off the last vestiges of his Judgment Day self, embracing the Demon persona to defeat Dirty Dom. Despite being a plunder match, they kept it somewhat short - less than 15 minutes - so it didn’t overstay its welcome.

Where Finn and the cursed Dominik go from here remains to be seen, but this was a good match for what it was.

4. Redemption

If you’re a conspiracy theorist, you could easily make the case that WWE tanked night one of WrestleMania 42 to make night two look better.

That’s bollocks, but you could see how people might feel like that.

Saturday’s card on paper was noticeably weaker, but even then, they dropped the ball on the execution of the event, both in the ring and in presentation.

While not the best night of WrestleMania ever, Sunday provided fans with everything they could have wanted: a meaty men slapping meat match, a crazy spotfest, some cinematic entrances, a bit of silliness, and a fantastic main event.

Was it enough to “save” WrestleMania 42 from being a disappointment? In many ways, yes. It won’t go down as one of the best 'Manias, but the second effort was enough to rescue it from a dismal start the first night.

3. Ladder Match Madness

WWE is not known as the professional wrestling company, but there is one match type that is their specialty: the multi-man ladder match. It’s exceedingly rare for them to botch one of those.

Thankfully, the Intercontinental Championship ladder match was not one of those misses.

All six men fired on all cylinders in a blistering 15-minute match that had zero lulls and an absolute minimum of slow climbs. Everyone had a good night, which is a rarity in these matches. Je’Von Evans had a few true high spots, including an OG Cutter to Rusev, who was on the ladder reaching for the title. As the non-luchador or smaller wrestler, Rusev played the role of brute extremely well. Rey Mysterio dialed it up for at least one more night.

There are too many spots to really highlight here. Suffice it to say, this is worth checking out. Penta retained, which was a perfectly acceptable result.

2. A Letter-Perfect 'Mania Debut

If you drew up the perfect WrestleMania debut for Oba Femi, it very likely would look exactly as it did Sunday as the opening match for night two.

Femi was the first wrestler out, strutting down the long ramp to 50,000 fans chanting his name. From there, it only got better, with Oba no-selling Brock Lesnar’s clotheslines. Brock dragged Oba outside and, in a show of desperation, drove him into the post and steps before hitting a series of German suplexes.

Lesnar hit the F-5, but Femi shrugged it off and rose up to plant Brock with a chokeslam, then followed it up with a Fall from Grace to vanquish the Beast.

It was a masterful job, avoiding any finisher spam or kickouts and just letting Oba dominate and look invincible. Femi came out of that match as the clear Next Big Thing and a massive star.

1. A Truly Incredible Main Event

Does anyone think that CM Punk and Roman Reigns saw the abysmal main event from night one and decided to go out and kill it on Sunday?

Regardless of whether that happened, Punk and Reigns clearly went out and outshined and outclassed Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton with a tremendous 34-minute World Heavyweight Championship war that never dragged and certainly didn’t feel like a half-hour. The entrances alone were worth the price of admission.

Punk got cocky a few times too many throughout, mimicking Roman’s shtick and going for big, home run swings, and he got battered as a result. At one point, Reigns tripped Punk up in a tree of woe and walloped him with a series of Superman Punches and the ring steps, which led to Punk bleeding.

Both men countered each other’s finishers with their own, and then they proceeded to swing for the fences. Punk went for a spear, but Roman caught him with a guillotine, which led to a series of submissions, reversals, and roll-ups.

Toward the end, Punk got his receipt for Roman using the steps, hitting a low blow on Reigns. He then decided to counter the Old Man Punk insults by diving off the top rope to drive an elbow to Roman through the announce desk.

Punk landed a GTS, sending Roman into the ropes, and he fell onto Punk’s shoulders to set up a second GTS, but the Second City Saint was too gassed and collapsed. This allowed Roman to spear Punk twice to capture the world title.

Absolutely fantastic match that breezed by and came across as an epic battle, a war of attrition between two of the biggest stars in the company.

Night one of WrestleMania 42 is in the books, and after all the chatter about flagging attendance, poor builds, and disappointing storylines, WWE delivered a mostly inoffensive event that had some genuinely great, warm moments.

The wrestling itself wasn’t as good as it could or should have been, but there weren’t any really bad matches. Most of the criticism actually centered on the main event, the short matches themselves, and a reliance on outside interference.

Unsurprisingly, Match of the Night honors fell to the match with the shortest and simplest build, Seth Rollins versus Gunther. The main event delivered an overbooked mess, with Pat McAfee, Jelly Roll, and a referee bump clouding up the finishing sequence.

This was the kind of PLE where it was fine on the night, but it’s not going to go down as a great night, nor is it going to age well and be something that fans go back and rewatch regularly. That perhaps is the biggest telltale sign that this was a bang average WrestleMania.

Let’s get to it…

DOWNS…

7. A Lackluster Opener

It’s clear why WWE chose to open WrestleMania 42 with the six-man tag involving two YouTube sensations and the guy with a Yeet-along entrance. They wanted all the clicks and attention while the PLE was broadcast on free television.

But as a wrestling fan, the match was a big letdown, a whole lot of nothing going on, and nothing to really rally behind. The entire match was premised on IShowSpeed doing something spectacular, and the finish seemingly came out of nowhere, with heel miscommunication leading to a BFT on Austin Theory for the three count.

Afterward, we got our viral social media moment, with Logan Paul turning on Speed, and the Usos and LA Knight coming to his aid and setting Paul up on the announce desk for Speed to frogsplash off the ring post.

It was a great moment that will do incredible numbers on social media, but it’s hard to give positive marks to one flashy move. Let’s call this a tepid “down” overall.

6. Trouble Trouble

LIV "POPSTAR" MORGAN ? @YaOnlyLivvOnce

Stream #WrestleMania LIVE RIGHT NOW on the @ESPN app!

➡️ https://t.co/jKAIj8nxxtpic.twitter.com/UM0FSfaOXl

— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2026

WWE managed to do a laudable job building the feud between Liv Morgan and Stephanie Vaquer, peaking last week when Morgan jumped the Women’s World Champion as payback for Vaquer’s attack the previous week.

Then we got to WrestleMania, and Morgan came out to a full performance of her “hit” song – and new entrance music – “Trouble.” Liv thrashed and danced about with backup dancers, mimicking the moves from her music video, which debuted on Raw.

It’s bad enough that the song is abysmal, but after convincing fans that this is a vicious blood feud, Liv completely undercut the heat and emotion surrounding their rivalry.

In the grand scheme, this really didn’t matter much (as we’ll see later when talking about the match), but the dance routine was somewhat jarring.

5. Interference Galore

WrestleMania is supposed to be WWE’s season finale, the big show where the biggest wrestlers compete, and feuds reach their climax.

But WWE repeatedly fell back on the crutch of interference numerous times throughout the show, which is not a good sign that they believed that the matches could stand up on their own.

Consider: Nikki Bella took out Charlotte Flair with a literal crutch in the women’s tag; Becky Lynch grabbed the referee and used an exposed turnbuckle to beat AJ Lee; Bron Breakker speared Seth Rollins, allowing Gunther to put him to sleep; the Judgment Day repeatedly interfered to help Liv Morgan capture the Women’s World Championship; and Pat McAfee got involved in the main event in a fruitless effort to help Randy Orton.

That’s a ridiculous amount of shenanigans on the biggest show of the year, and that doesn’t exactly suggest that WWE had a lot of confidence in the product on the night.

4. Two Tales Of One Match

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/2045681039389900891

— Tweet

The main event really was a tale of two halves: a slow, plodding, boring affair that played out largely to silence, and a bloody, ga-ga-infused spotfest. Let’s talk about the first half.

Once the Pat McAfee Show ended and the retired NFL punter was stretchered out of the stadium, the match began proper, and heel Randy Orton was in full effect, sloooowwlly going through his shtick. Every so often, a good match was threatening to break out, but Orton pulled it back down.

How slow was this first half? The match itself clocked in at about 23 minutes, but it felt much longer because the McAfee silliness and glacial sequences early on made it feel twice as long. One would think a feud between two guys with 20 years of history would have a lot more juice behind it, but alas, it wasn’t to be.

3. An Overbooked Mess

ELBOW THROUGH THE TABLE ?@JellyRoll615 takes out @PatMcAfeeShow!

Stream #WrestleMania LIVE RIGHT NOW on the @ESPN app!

➡️ https://t.co/jKAIj8nxxtpic.twitter.com/mdXA7P9qF0

— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2026

The second half of the WWE Championship match is likely to be more divisive than almost anything on the night.

For some, the overbooked ga-ga will be a welcome addition that sent fans into a frenzy. But for others, it was just a mess. Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton stole each other’s finishers; a blinded Orton RKO’d the referee; Pat McAfee ran in as a ref; both men bled; and Cody hit a low blow.

Afterward, Orton blasted Cody with the title and punted him to close out the show.

There’s so much that happened here, but for a main event that should have been a simple match between two longtime friends, they poured about a gallon of booking into a pint glass.

2. McAfee The Referee

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/2045681889923481697

— Tweet

No matter how many times Cody Rhodes insisted that the WWE Championship feud wasn’t about Pat McAfree, the retired NFL punter and talk sports show host, WWE couldn’t stop talking about him.

Essentially, McAfee has become the WWE version of Poochie, constantly onscreen and referenced by others whenever he isn’t.

During the main event, McAfee was all over the place, getting his own entrance before Randy Orton, then grabbing the mic from Alicia Taylor to introduce Orton. Pat then blindsided Cody Rhodes before the bell to try to take the champ out. That backfired and led to Cody obliterating McAfee and setting him up for Jelly Roll to splash him through the table.

McAfee would then do a stretcher job and be wheeled out of the stadium – all before the bell even rang.

After a ref bump, McAfee returned, wearing a neck brace and a referee shirt to try to tip the scales in Orton’s favor. Inexplicably, Pat slow-counted Randy’s pin attempt in a match where, if the Viper lost, McAfee would leave professional wrestling. Orton repaid McAfee with an RKO.

That is an insane amount of time spent on Pat McAfee, a guy who has generated nuclear anti-heat, during the main event of WrestleMania.

1. A Night That Won’t Age Well

Watching Saturday’s offering of WrestleMania live, the show was not that bad on the night.

However, this is likely to be a show that isn’t going to age well. Short, inoffensive matches might play well live, but it’s not the kind of event that you’re going to go out of your way to watch again. Aside from the unsanctioned match between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu, and the bout between Seth Rollins and Gunther, the action was average at best and disappointing or boring at worst.

That is a damning indictment for the biggest weekend of WWE’s year. Four of the seven matches lasted less than nine minutes, which again is insane for WrestleMania. A couple of short matches is more than fine – and probably preferred – but more than half the card? And two other matches clocked in at about 15 minutes.

From a pacing standpoint, the first three matches lasted about 30 minutes, which is less than the gap between the end of the Women’s World Championship match and the start of the WWE Championship match. How do you have more downtime between two matches than your first three contests? Again, that’s just ridiculous.

Time will tell, but odds are that people won’t be clamoring to fire up the ESPN app in a few years to rewatch this night from start to finish.

UPS…

6. Plenty To Talk About

A PUNT ???@RandyOrtonpic.twitter.com/NQJz4us23h

— WWE (@WWE) April 19, 2026

Just to quickly offer the other side of the main event closing sequence, there certainly is an argument in favor of everything that happened.

Put simply, a lot happened. Cody Rhodes tapped into a darker part of himself and didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on Randy Orton. Meanwhile, Orton didn’t take losing too well, waffling Cody with the title and punting him, which sets up another confrontation between them.

Plus, both men bled, so there was that.

By the time Raw and SmackDown roll around, there should be plenty to discuss and unpack, which is a good sign in many ways. Plus, the fans in the stadium reacted pretty strongly to everything, which has got to also count for something.

5. EST +1

After missing an entire year, Bianca Belair made her return to WWE, joining John Cena in the ring after the 17-time world champion announced the totally real attendance for the night.

Fans have clamored for details on Belair’s prolonged absence, and she provided at least a partial update, informing fans that you can’t have WrestleMania without a few surprises. She unbuttoned her oversized coat to reveal a protruding stomach, announcing that she is pregnant.

Cena thanked her for sharing the great news with everyone at Allegiant Stadium, and the crowd responded by showering her with love. And really, that’s all there is to this: It was a true, warm, feel-good moment for everyone. While it’s a shame selfishly that we won’t see the EST in the ring for the foreseeable future, this is still welcome news for Belair, Montez Ford, and their families.

4. Fatu Comes Through

.@jacobfatu_wwe claims VICTORY at #WresleMania after an impressive performance!!

Continue watching #WrestleMania LIVE on the @ESPN app now! pic.twitter.com/M8iE4ZdUHN

— WWE (@WWE) April 18, 2026

When WWE books an unsanctioned match, you have to accept from the jump that it isn’t going to be the kind of violent, bloody affair you might see in AEW. But that shouldn’t count against this match, which delivered a hard-hitting plunder battle.

Jacob Fatu and Drew McIntyre both wielded chairs, but McIntyre took the prize when he continued his WrestleMania tradition of grabbing a cell phone and tweeting from the floor, but this time he used the phone as a weapon, which was tremendous fun.

The match served to put Fatu over, and it accomplished that very well. Jacob just effortlessly sprang around the ring with the Best Moonsault Ever twice, the second of which put Drew through a table for the win.

Like most of the matches on the night, this didn’t overstay its welcome and wasn’t offensive, so it merits positive marks.

3. A Legit WrestleMania Moment

Watch enough WWE programming, and you’ll hear them talk about WrestleMania moments as if it’s a Super Bowl and World Cup victory rolled into one. They will suggest that any kind of unique move, victory, return, or highlight is a 'Mania moment that will be immortalized in the annals of WWE history.

Saturday, however, they legit delivered one of those moments when Paige returned to WWE as the surprise replacement for an injured Nikki Bella, teaming with Brie Bella in the Women’s Tag Team Championship four-way match. And really, there was only one acceptable outcome once she was revealed as the super-substitute.

Paige sat on the apron for the bulk of the match, unable to tag in until Brie finally broke loose and made the hot tag. The former Divas Champion ran wild, squared off with former partner and rival Charlotte Flair, and finished off Alexa Bliss with a RamPaige to capture tag gold in her return match.

As a match, the tag battle was fine, but the entire thrust of the match was setting up Paige’s comeback and victory, and they delivered.

2. AJ Up For A Scrap

Since returning to the ring, AJ Lee has largely been protected in multi-person matches or paired up with a reliable dance partner in Becky Lynch.

Saturday, Lee and Lynch squared up one more time for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship. They delivered a brisk, no-fat title bout that didn’t mess about. Becky renewed her rivalry with referee Jessika Carr, who didn’t take any of her verbal abuse. AJ bumped like a madwoman for Lynch’s offense but caught The Man unaware a few times to stay in the match.

Lynch nearly cost herself the match when she lunged at Carr, who ducked, sending Becky right into an AJ Manhandle Slam. But Becky got the last laugh when she pulled the ref into Lee’s path and used the distraction to ram AJ into the exposed turnbuckle. One Manhandle Slam later, and Becky had regained her IC title.

Kudos to WWE for not messing about with the match, getting right into it and not leaning on long, drawn-out drama or too many gimmicks. Instead, they kept up the pace, let AJ bump like crazy, leaned on Becky’s heat with Carr, and put forth a perfectly solid match.

1. No Story, No Problem

The abridged build for Seth Rollins versus Gunther centered on a very simple premise: Who is the best?

Rather than fuss about with a lockup or slow burn of technical wrestling, the two just threw hands and lobbed bombs at each other, trading clotheslines and chops, and going for their knockout punches repeatedly. Gunter powerbombed Seth several times, and Rollins delivered a few stomps, including one on the announce desk after the two tumbled outside for a fantastic brawl on the floor.

Rollins looked to be in control after that stomp, but a returning Bron Breakker cut him down with a spear, allowing Gunther to put Seth to sleep.

In contrast to the WWE Championship feud, which got mired and buried in a mountain of unnecessary nonsense, this ultra-short and simple feud clicked in a very un-WWE way, and Gunther and Rollins wrestled accordingly: no frills.

On a night when the wrestling and moments weren’t spectacular, this stood out as the best (in-ring) moment of the night.