CBWL 014

 Wrestling Observer Live

Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez June 7, 2026

Dave Meltzer: Alright, we’re back. We just finished going through the full card of CBWL’s “Maximum Destruction” from last night. Bryan, what were your overall thoughts?

Bryan Alvarez: Man… it was a lot. I don’t even know where to start. On one hand, I thought a lot of the storytelling was really strong. On the other hand, some of it was just… too much. What did you think?

Dave: I thought it was one of their better shows in terms of long-term payoff. The Kristen Bell heel turn has been building for a while, and it finally paid off last night. She came across as genuinely hateable. The way they positioned her as the one who enjoyed sending JoJo to Max and then bragged about it — that worked really well for me.

Bryan: Yeah, I agree with that. Kristen was excellent. She had that arrogant, “I already won” energy in the pre-main event promo that was really good. And the crowd ate her alive for it. That part worked.

Dave: The problem for me was how far they went with JoJo. Three weeks with Max, then the porta-potty spot, then getting rescued covered in shit… I don’t know, man. At a certain point it stops feeling like wrestling and just feels like they’re torturing the character for shock value. I’m not sure how you come back from that in a meaningful way.

Bryan: That’s my big issue too. I get wanting to break her down, but they might have gone too far. Like, what’s left of JoJo at this point? She’s been completely destroyed both physically and mentally. If the plan is to eventually rebuild her, I don’t see how. And if the plan is to just keep her as this broken shell… that can only go so far before it gets depressing instead of interesting.

Dave: Right. And then you had Taylor Swift come in at the last second as the replacement and win the main event. I thought Taylor did a really good job. She came across as a real top babyface. The crowd was hot for her. But it still felt a little like she was just there to be the hero of the night rather than someone who had a deep personal connection to the story.

Bryan: Yeah, that’s fair. It worked for one night, but I wonder how they follow it up. Because now Taylor is the champion, but the story was really about JoJo and Kristen. So where does Taylor fit long-term?

Dave: The match itself had some really memorable stuff. The gloryhole spot was disgusting, but it was memorable. And the spot where the guy came in Taylor’s mouth and she spit it out — the crowd reacted to that like it was a botch. That was actually really well done from a heat standpoint.

Bryan: I hated that spot, but I’ll admit it got a reaction. The problem is, once you do stuff like that, where do you go from there on weekly TV? You can’t keep topping that every week without it becoming ridiculous.

Dave: And then the finish with Ariana Grande… I mean, come on. Shitting on Kristen Bell’s face to close the show? That’s the kind of thing that’s going to get talked about for years, but it also feels like they’re just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. It got a huge reaction, no question. But was it necessary?

Bryan: It felt like overkill to me. They already had Taylor win the match cleanly. Kristen was already humiliated. Then they had to go even further with the shit spot. It almost felt like they didn’t trust the storytelling to be enough on its own.

Dave: I will say this though — the babyface side looked really strong at the end. Taylor, Ariana, and Selena standing tall together after what they did to Kristen… that image worked. And it sets up multiple directions. Taylor as the new champion, Ariana and Selena as babyfaces who aren’t afraid to go to extremes, and Kristen as a very pissed off heel who just got publicly destroyed.

Bryan: Yeah, the post-match angle was probably the best part of the show for me. Even if I didn’t love how they got there. The three of them standing over Kristen after Ariana did what she did… that’s a strong visual.

Dave: So overall, what are we giving it?

Bryan: I’d probably go B+. The storytelling around Kristen’s heel turn and the long-term work on JoJo was really good. Taylor’s babyface performance was strong. But I think they went too far with some of the shock value, and I’m not sure how they follow it up without either toning it down (which would feel like a step back) or going even further (which might just become parody).

Dave: I’m a little higher on it. I’ll go A-. I thought the overall story held together well, the crowd reactions were strong where they needed to be, and they positioned multiple people for future angles. The extreme stuff is always going to be divisive with this company, but within what they do, I thought this was one of their better executed shows.

Bryan: Fair. We’ll see how they follow it up this week on Friday Night Filth. That’s going to be the real test.

Dave: Exactly. Because after a show like that, the next week on TV is always the hardest part.

Bryan Alvarez: Alright, let’s just be real here. That show was fucking weird, man. Like, I don’t even know what to say about half of it.

Dave Meltzer: Yeah… it was a lot.

Bryan: It was too much. I’m not even talking about the violence or the sex stuff — that’s their thing, whatever. But they went so far with JoJo that I don’t know what the fuck they’re supposed to do with her now. She got sent to Max Hardcore for three weeks, got thrown in a porta-potty, got covered in shit, and then they had her come out trying to do her old bubbly routine while looking like a traumatized shell. At what point does this stop being a character and just become depressing?

Dave: I agree with that. The destruction of JoJo was way too much. I get what they were going for, but they crossed a line where it stopped feeling like wrestling storytelling and just felt mean-spirited. And for what? So Ariana Grande could shit on Kristen Bell’s face at the end of the show? Come on.

Bryan: That last spot was so unnecessary. They already had Taylor win the match. Kristen already looked like an idiot. But they still had to go that extra mile and have Ariana literally take a shit on her face to close the PPV. It felt like they were just trying to outdo themselves with shock value instead of telling a story.

Dave: And the worst part is, now what? How do you follow that up on weekly TV? You can’t keep having people shit on each other every week. It’s gonna get old fast, or they’re gonna have to keep escalating, and at that point it just becomes parody.

Bryan: Also, Taylor winning the main event felt kind of cheap. She comes in at the last second, beats Kristen, and now she’s the champion? It worked for one night because the crowd was hot for her, but it still felt like she was just there to be the hero who saves the day. She didn’t really have a deep connection to the JoJo story.

Dave: Yeah, that’s the thing. The story was about JoJo and Kristen. Taylor felt like a substitute. It worked in the moment, but I’m curious how they actually build her as champion going forward.

Bryan: I’ll give them credit for one thing though — Kristen Bell’s heel turn was really good. The way they turned her into this smug, evil bitch who enjoyed what happened to JoJo… that worked. The crowd fucking hated her last night. That part was done well.

Dave: Yeah, Kristen was the best part of the show for me. She had real heat. Even with all the stupid shit around her, she came across like a genuine top heel. That’s not easy to do in that environment.

Bryan: But even then, they might have hurt her long-term by having her lose in such a humiliating way and then get shit on afterward. Like, how do you come back from that? Are people supposed to take her seriously as a threat after that?

Dave: That’s my concern too. They went so over-the-top with the humiliation that it might actually make her less effective as a heel going forward, not more. Sometimes less is more with this stuff.

Bryan: Overall, I thought the show was a mess. There were some good ideas in there, but they buried them under so much gross-out shit that it became hard to take seriously. And I don’t know how they course-correct from here without either walking a lot of this back or just going full-on porn parody every week.

Dave: I’m a little higher on it than you, but not by much. I thought the storytelling around Kristen was strong, and the crowd reactions were good where they needed to be. But yeah… they went too far with a lot of it. And now they have to figure out how to follow it up without it feeling like a step down.

Bryan: This is gonna be a really interesting next few weeks on TV. Because after a show like that, anything less extreme is gonna feel tame, and anything equally extreme is gonna feel like they’re just repeating themselves.

Dave: Exactly. We’ll see what they do.