I honestly don’t have much to say about this other than what others have already said: It was fantastic. I’m not even a guy who likes death match wrestling and it was fantastic. I had problems with the match — serious structural problems that lie at the heart of Tony Khan’s failings as a wrestling booker — but at the end of the day, who cares? The experience as a whole was incredible, and greater than the sum of its parts.

I think my favorite visual from Strickland vs. Page was a blood-covered Strickland, against whom Page had been making liberal use of the staple gun, grabbing the staple gun and shooting himself with it to prove that he was beyond pain — beyond human. Swerve Strickland is a monster, a demon in human form, and for just a moment, as he reveled in the feeling of the staples piercing his chest, you could see it in its entirety, see right beneath his skin to the horrifying, blood-crazed maniac within. And while I wish very much that this match had been at least five minutes shorter (fits the narrative better) the most important thing is that Strickland won. He’s now 2-0 against Page (none of this “50/50 booking” s***) and has just finished putting on, and winning, what some are already calling the best death match of all time. He’s finally being treated like the star he is, and it’s incredible to see.

Now go win the world title, Swerve.