BRYAN/JOE/cass, Murphy/Cedric

WWE SmackDown 05/29: Big Cass vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Samoa Joe

A fantastically paced 3-way dance that flowed perfectly. Daniel Bryan's pure babyface fire is absolutely unmatched & that was on full display when the match kicked into it's finishing gear. ***3/4

WWE 205 Live 05/29: Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy

For most of it, this was a complete Buddy Murphy carryjob in my eyes. His targeting of Cedric's back was wonderful & his strikes actually looked good unlike those of his opponents. Shitty selling by Cedric & the awful thigh slapping "epic" strike sequences during the finishing stretch brought the match down a notch, but it was still a good one & a great showing from Buddy Murphy. What an absolute lovely revelation that man has been in his 205 run. ***

WALTER/Starr, Io/Mayu, BOSJ

PROGRESS Chapter 69: David Starr vs. WALTER

For the most part, this was a very good ***1/2-***3/4 match w/ really good leg psychology, but the finishing stretch put it on that next level - Starr goes HAM on WALTER's leg that he has been working on throughout the thing, WALTER is in real trouble, but manages to bust out a CRADLE to get the win. Such fantastic storytelling; Starr had WALTER scouted big time, here in their 10th singles match against each other, and while WALTER does unleash some of his murderous offense on the man, Starr has a counter for almost everything, which resulted in WALTER kinda having to fight from underneath! What a fantastic twist in this amazing rivalry. Absolutely amazed at the match-by-match psychology they bring. ****

Stardom Cinderella Tournament: Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwatani

A really good, very enjoyable, physical bombfest sprint. Goddamn those submissions Io locked on Mayu looked fantastic. ***1/4

NJPW BOSJ - Day 6: Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi

A spotfest that went on way too long. It wasn't bad, I would say the match was just fine overall, but it going & going until I couldn't wait for it to end hurt it a lot. Probably should've ended after that shitty no-sell strike exchange sequence, then it would've been around the 3-star region for me. **

NJPW BOSJ - Day 8: KUSHIDA vs. SHO

It's such a shame that this ended up happening on a single-cam show, because I feel like w/ multiple camera angles to capture the action & emotion of the match, this EASILY could've hit that ****+ mark. Such a lovely match - very similar to KUSHIDA's matches vs. Kyle O'Reilly in that it was all about both guys just looking to destroy each other's limbs by kicking the crap out of them & stretching them w/ submissions. Enjoyed it big time - a really good match that I, indeed feel like I would have liked even more w/ normal NJPW production instead of single-cam. ***3/4

NJPW BOSJ - Day 8: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

This was so good. Though it was also a yet another potential ****+ amazing match that didn't reach it's full potential because the single-cam setting just didn't capture the full emotion & overall feel of it. Even with that unfortunate camera angle situation, it's definitely still one of my favorite matches of the tourney - flowed so good & Taguchi was on absolute FIRE. Love that man. ***3/4

Riddle/Ospreay III, Kento/Marufuji II

OTT ScrapperMania IV: Matt Riddle vs. Will Ospreay

By far the worst match in their trilogy. Too long, too much Ospreay on the offense & too many "cute" "epic" sequences. Super generic indy 50/50 crap. The only saving grace of the thing was that Riddle on the offense is always a joy. **

AJPW Super Power Series 2018: Kento Miyahara vs. Naomichi Marufuji

So much better than their Carnival match. The story in this one was so good; Marufuji is the crafty veteran who is clearly one or two steps ahead of Kento, and the champ is in real trouble trying to figure him out. The headlock sequence was absolutely wonderful, as was Marufuji chopping the soul out of Kento & I loved the couple of British -esq escapes Marufuji had for Kento's attempts to do his German. The match does have quite a few of the typical, generic puro championship match tropes by the end though & those eat away some points, but it was still a very good one. ***3/4

205 goodies + Kagetsu/Io

WWE 205 Live 05/22/18: Drew Gulak vs. Gran Metalik

Very good dynamic with Metalik doing his flippy stuff while Gulak tries to ground him. Not on the level of Gulak vs. Kalisto that happened a few weeks earlier, but still very enjoyable. ***

WWE 205 Live 05/22/18: Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami

Hideo was really good in this one. He was on control for most of the thing, and I thought he did such a good job telling a story w/ his work over Tozawa; he was very methodical & that embodied his dislike of Tozawa & his goofy antics very well. His offense looked absolutely great, especially those corner dropkicks in the finishing stretch - brutal stuff. I thought Tozawa was lacking in most of his comebacks though, really wanted those to have more energy behind them. Him busting out that headlock was legitimately baffling. Oh well. Overall still a good match, but with a better performance from Tozawa, it could've been something great. ***1/4

Stardom Queen's Quest Produce Golden Week Stars - Day 2: Io Shirai vs. Kagetsu

Kagetsu works the crap out of Io's leg, Io sells it excellently until her comeback starts. Then it's her running around, doing 619's & dives. The selling stopped there, and the match quality, in my eyes, got hurt big time by it. Great 1st half, disappointing after Io's comeback kicks in. It's still solid bombfest action, but the no-selling annoyed me a lot. **3/4

BOSJ Day 4: Sabin/SHO, KUSHIDA/Scurll, Despy/Hiromu

Chris Sabin vs. SHO

Fun, slick, competitive back & forth to start things off. Eventually Sabin gets the control for a while, as he starts targeting SHO's leg. Sabin does some very solid work over it, but once it's SHO's time to get on the offense, it's like his leg hadn't been worked over at all. He is running at full speed & showing no signs of damage. SHO is great on his control segment, mainly focusing on working over the arm of Sabin in very enjoyable fashion. Sabin is a very good FIP & his eventual big comeback was awesome. It's a shame that the selling of the worked over limbs wasn't there, because other than that disappointing aspect, this was such a good match. Could've been great w/ if there was indeed some of that selling. ***1/4

KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll

This was absolutely beautiful. Fantastic, super compelling chain wrestling & when Marty eventually got the upperhand, he was simply awesome working the crap out of KUSHIDA, all around. KUSHIDA was a rockin' babyface as usual - one of my favorite moments of the match was when he got that comeback going, he sold the exhaustion of being worked all over by Marty so, so, SO well. KUSHIDA gets some of that vintage arm work of his in as well & as always it's pretty fantastic - I loved the sequence where he got Marty stunned on the top turnbuckle, he goes after the arm again (once again selling the fatique perfectly), which leads to Marty doing the finger spot of his, which then resulted in KUSHIDA not being able to lock the Kimura. Fantastic stuff, fantastic performances by both - especially KUSHIDA & an overall fantastic match that had a real unique feel to it. ****1/4

El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi

A very good match. Hiromu was very explosive with his offense - loved all of his comebacks & the start with him going right after Despy was terrific. Despy was very good w/ his work on top as well. All in all this was pretty much what I'd expect out of these two w/ a nice lucha feud touch in it. Very good stuff. ***3/4

Bryan vs Jeff

SmackDown 05/22/18: Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy

This was such a super fun, energetic back & forth match. Jeff looked very good w/ all of his stuff & Bryan on the offense was an absolute joy to watch. The knee psychology towards the end ruled & Bryan actually getting the win with a Heel Hook is superb. Bring on Bryan vs. Joe next week! ****

ZSJ returns to Germany

wXw We Love Wrestling Tour: Frankfurt

Lucky Kid vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

A very good match. Fantastic finishing stretch and the meat of the match with ZSJ stretching the crap out of Lucky Kid while Kid got some brief offense in was very fun as well. ***1/2

wXw Shotgun #353

David Starr vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Not on the level of their excellent PROGRESS match that happened a few weeks after this one, but still an absolute banger of a match. My favorite thing about the match was definitely the early exchanges on the mat; I thought Starr did such a fantastic job portraying his amateur wrestling background into those, and it worked like magic w/ ZSJ. After that the match becomes more of a slug/bomb -fest with some nice leg psychology in there, and yeah it rules. ***3/4

wXw We Love Wrestling Tour: Hamburg

WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

As usual, these two beat the crap out of each other in a fantastic David vs. Goliath bout. They went with the simplest of all psychologies in that kind of a setting; ZSJ went after WALTER's leg, which WALTER sells excellently & puts on an overall amazing wounded-yet-still-dangerous-monster -performance. ZSJ is great working the crap out of that leg & his cocky character work as he realizes he has the big lad in trouble was a joy. Fantastic performances by both guys & a fantastic match. ****

Agents of Change

Everything's about to change
I feel it in my veins, it's not going away
Everything's about to change

WWE Over the Limit 2012: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan

6 years ago to the date I was amazed by this match, watching at live on 5 AM. 6 years after, I am still amazed by how great it is. It's a match that I will never think of anything less than as one of the greatest of all-time. Everything from the atmosphere, to Bryan mouthing "no you're not" while Punk yelled "BEST IN THE WORLD!" during his entrance, to the absolutely amazing offense of both men, to the brutally focused work on the leg by Punk, to the mauling Bryan delivered to Punk's mid-section, to the callbacks to their indy matches, to the CURB STOMP, to the "I HAVE TILL 5!", it's just perfect stuff in my eyes. One of my favorite matches. Just a couple of indy schmucks having a battle to prove who is the best, for the most prestigious championship in the business. *****

BOSJ Day 2: Hiromu & Marty steal the show

Dragon Lee vs. SHO

Started off in a very nice, sprint'ish fashion. The match remained hard hitting w/ a very good pace for the first half or so of it, but then it just went on & went on. A potentially very good sprint ruined by getting stretched big time. **

El Desperado vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

Despy's work on top was very enjoyable, but it's the awesome, very hype offensive outbursts of Taguchi that make this match so, so good. There's some usual Taguchi ass-related comedy in it, but other than that, this was a very good time. ***1/4

Chris Sabin vs. KUSHIDA

Coming into the tournament, I thought this was one of the most intriguing looking match ups on paper. Sadly it wasn't a very interesting one. Very awkwardly structured & there wasn't much of a flow, I thought. I still enjoyed it though, I thought overall it was pretty good, but I definitely wanted it to be better than it ended up being. **1/2

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Marty Scurll

Well goddamn. I thought their RevPro & NJPW (did not watch the ROH one) matches from 2017 were trash, so I definitely didn't have positive expectations of any kind going into this. I am very positively surprised by what they put together here though - a really good match! Really liked Marty on top in the first half of the match, he was pretty damn awesome on control & Hiromu was good fighting from underneath - LOVED that sunset flip powerbomb to the outside comeback of his. After that the match becomes more of a bombfest, but doesn't drift into the overkill at all & remains very enjoyable in it's structure & the way they continued to tell the story they had been telling since the start of it. Loved the finish, too. MOTN. ***1/2

SOLID STEEL

3-2-1 BATTLE! All Deeyocks Go To Heaven: Daniel Makabe vs. Alex Zayne

Highflying vs. Technical Work is a dynamic that works super well 90% of the time, and it certainly did here. Daniel Makabe is an absolute stud in the ring - his work in this one was just outstanding. Fantastic work over Zayne, especially liked that leg targeting & he sold all of Zayne's highflying offense in superb fashion. I do think the match dragged a bit towards the end, but it was still a really good one. Borderline great, even. Daniel Makabe rules. ***3/4

A great way to kick off BOSJ!

Tiger Mask vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Tiger Mask had a legitimately awesome run in last year's BOSJ, so I am very interested to see what he brings to the table now, one year later. Looks like we're in for another banger of a run from the man if this match is any telling - a very good performance & a very enjoyable match overall. Kanemaru was very hit & miss w/ his work, there were times here where I thought it was just fine, but there were also times where I thought it was so dull. Tiger Mask however was on point for the entirety of the thing; he was awesome fighting from underneath, all of his offense looked fantastic - that brief leg targeting & the armbar spot in particular were superb. A lovely way to kick off the tournament. ***1/4

ACH vs. Flip Gordon
What a fantastic performance by ACH! He gave Flip an absolute ass whooping on the offense & sold everything Flip did fantastically. Flip was very good too, he didn't do much of his annoying stuff & all of his FLIPS looked very good. ***1/2

BUSHI vs. YOH

A good match where both guys played their roles very well - BUSHI as the veteran of the two, spending most of the match on top, being cocky & YOH fighting from underneath w/ good hope spots. ***

Taiji Ishimori vs. Will Ospreay

This ruled. Definitely the MOTN. Great pace from start to finish - started off in a very explosive fashion & eventually slowed down a bit as Ishimori started to go town on Ospreay's banged up neck. Loved all the neck targeting - pretty much EVERYTHING he did was done to punish that neck. Ospreay's big comeback was really good & the match got a real nice sense of urgency from that; Ospreay busted out big bombs to try & get the job done before Ishimori would destroy his neck. Really good stuff. ***3/4

Bryan/Miz House Show Fancam

05/17/18 Newcastle House Show: Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz

These two are perfect against each other. I saw some reports saying that their matches on this house show run have been "PPV level", and my goodness, based on this match, those reports were 100% correct. What an absolutely fantastic piece of pro wrestling; starts with Bryan getting the better of the feeling out process & owning Miz, which causes Miz to be frustrated & stall in classic heel fashion. His bumping off of Bryan's shine was fantastic & Bryan was equally fantastic on the offense, of course. Eventually the match goes to the outside & Miz gets the control by being a nasty bastard, throwing Bryan face first into the steel post. It's Miz on control for quite a while after that; he is really good at working the heat on Bryan, focusing on the neck & Bryan is a wonderful FIP. Bryan starts mounting a comeback w/ some fantastic punches, but it gets cut off by the Miz very quickly. After that Miz starts targeting Bryan's knee, and he does so in an AWESOME, focused fashion. There's a great spot where Bryan starts mounting a comeback w/ those lovely punches of his again, but Miz once again cuts it off quickly by turning a suplex attempt into a chop block. After working the crap out of the knee, Miz goes for the Figure 4 & it's fantastic drama - after Bryan counters it in the classic Figure-4-counter -fashion, they start trading strikes while on their knees, eventually getting on their feet; Bryan starts getting the better of the exchange, and then BOOM! Miz kicks that worked over knee. Miz is still on the control, but eventually Bryan does finally get his big comeback in; he kicks Miz's ass all over the ring, all over to the outside. He runs wild on Miz for a while & Miz is great selling + bumping for his offense. Bryan does go for the diving headbutt, but Miz moves out of the way, thus gaining the control of the match again. This leads to my favorite moment of the match; with an amazing, cocky asshole smile on his face, Miz starts going for the "IT" kicks - before he started kicking him, I thought to myself "goddamn, Bryan needs to no sell those" - AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED! As Miz starts unleashing the first kicks of the sequence, Bryan starts hulking up & then gets up and just stares at Miz for doing that. I can imagine in their future big PPV meeting they'll do that spot again and I can't wait for that. The finishing stretch is full of good drama & momentum swifts aka a fantastic way to cap off a brilliant match. One slight negative is that I thought Bryan could've & should've sold the worked over knee more in his comeback & the finishing run, but it didn't bother me THAT much, because of how they built the whole thing & executed it. I was getting some 80's Flair, Steamboat, Lawler vibes from it. Absolutely can't wait for them to do this thing on a PPV setting. ****1/4

Lion's Gate brings the goodies!

Lion's Gate Project 12

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura

This was very fun! Love the hunger both men showed & the match had a very nice sense of urgency to it from start to finish. Very enjoyable back & forth rasslin. My first time seeing both guys in action & I am definitely gonna check out more of their stuff from now on. ***

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shota Umino

This ruled pretty damn hard. Daisuke was very good w/ his work on top, bringing his hard hitting offense to the youngster & cranking that Boston Crab in hard. Shota looked so good too; great fire, great selling & great comebacks. Really good match. ***1/2

MiSu & Ishii come to RevPro

RevPro Epic Encounter: Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Chris Brookes & Travis Banks

Much better than the disappointing match Zack & MiSu had vs. Moustache Mountain in January. Chris Brookes wasn't on the offense much, which was 100% the right call to make. Travis hits hard so he meshed well w/ MiSu in that department, and him & Zack have always had a pretty damn good chemistry with each other. Fun stuff. Hard hitting strikes + ZSJ & MiSu stretching folks. ***

RevPro Epic Encounter: Keith Lee vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Their 1st meeting was a really good, classic Ishii underdog structure style smackfest. This one wasn't any good, though. When I see two guys like Keith Lee & Tomohiro Ishii having a match on paper,  I want to see them have a max 15 minute bout. This was a very generic top title match w/ how it was structured; it had it moments, but ultimately it was a match that felt super stretched out & dragged like a mofo. A good example why I prefer Ishii in the NEVER title picture rather than the IWGP Heavyweight picture. *1/4

PWG Comes to ROH, Cody/Liger

The Young Bucks vs. The Super Smash Brothers

Of course this was great. An absolutely amazing spotfest with the SSB being fantastic nasty bastards, the Bucks playing some of their vintage greatest hits, Matt Jackson continuing his hellacious 2018 FIP-run. Pure mark out festival from start to finish. ****1/2

Cody vs. Jushin Liger

This was very fun. Good stuff early on w/ Liger overwhelming Cody, and Cody only getting the advantage with the help of the greatest manager of all-time, BURNARD the BUSINESS BEAR. Bless. Cody was very good on top & I liked the brief leg psychology they went with. Liger of course rules as a babyface w/ his selling & comebacks. ***1/2

AJ/Nakamura V, Rollins/Owens

SmackDown 05/15: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

This started off very nice & tight w/ fun work by both parties involved - loved AJ's bumping off of Nakamura's strikes. As it was going, continuing to be very nice, I was ready to say it might've been the best match they've had so far in the E, but then something happened. The pace went from very fun to very slow & boring, and the match died a very disappointing death. Couldn't wait it to end in the last half of it or so - the last 5 minutes felt like they were 20. With that being said though, I thought it was still overall a better match than what they did at Mania & Backlash, but yeah, still very forgettable & disappointing. If I hadn't watched that match w/ my own eyes, I certainly wouldn't believe these 2 had a classic just a few years back in the Tokyo Dome. **1/4

RAW 05/14: Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens

Owens with that super dull work on top while Rollins wasn't any interesting fighting from underneath going against that. Yawn. *

PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 - Day 3

Angelico vs. Chris Brookes vs. Chuck Mambo vs. David Starr vs. Jordan Devlin vs. Kassius Ohno vs. Roy Johnson

An absolutely awesome, super fun spotfest w/ everybody looking good getting their shit in. The highlight of it all was Ohno killing everybody w/ elbows. ***3/4

M&M vs. Mark Haskins & Morgan Webster

A fun squash w/ the heels displaying some very good looking offense. Mark Haskins seems waaaaay more interesting as a heel than as a generic babyface based on what he did during this SSS16 weekend. **

Keith Lee vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

This looks to be the final match up between these 2 for at least a while, and just like every time they have met, they delivered an awesome one. Keith with that awesome work on top while ZSJ works around him like a spider monkey w/ those submissions. It's quite something when this is, imo, the weakest match they've had against each other since Keith Lee arrived in EVOLVE. Tells what kind of a great chemistry they have w/ each other. ***3/4

Kassius Ohno vs. Zack Gibson 

Fun technical work in the beginning, good work on top by Gibson & of course Ohno is great on the offense. That finishing elbow looked absolutely VICIOUS. Good match. ***1/4

Jimmy Havoc vs. Joey Janela 

There were moments in this where I thought that it was absolute garbage, but honestly, that ended up adding to the appeal of it. Garbage deathmatch wrestling w/ shitty selling & some disgusting spots. GOOD TIME. Also holy shit did I mark out for the return of I HOPE YOU SUFFER! And that post-match segment w/ Ospreay & Havoc, just wow. ***

Toni Storm vs. Charlie Morgan

A very good match. Intense w/ a great pace. Both women brought very good looking offense. ***1/2

TK Cooper vs. WALTER

A very enjoyable, pretty solid WALTER KILLS squash match. **1/2

Kassius Ohno vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Can't go wrong with these 2 going against each other. This one had such a different dynamic & vibe than their previous indy meetings, in particular the classic stuff from 2016-2017, but as I mentioned, you can't go wrong with Hero vs. ZSJ. They slugged it out at such a good, energetic pace. Very good tournament finals match. ***3/4

PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 - Day 2

Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson

I thought there were a few moments where Dunne could've let his moves breathe a little before going into the next one + there was one really awful sequence that involved no selling a Codebreaker & a couple of other moves, but other than those complaints, I thought this was very enjoyable. Gibson was very good w/ his work on top & Peter's comebacks were very good as well. ***

Chuck Mambo vs. Jordan Devlin vs. TK Cooper

A very fun, good spotfest w/ it going just the perfect amount of time, not too short or not too long & the comedy in it wasn't any annoying. Good match. ***

Chris Brookes, Joey Janela & Mark Andrews vs. Jimmy Havoc, Mark Haskins & Morgan Webster

A very generic multi-man tag match w/ no interesting structure. I thought the babyfaces were incredibly boring on the offense - team heels, in particular Mark Haskins, looked actually pretty damn good when they were working over them, but that sadly didn't ever last long, as it was your typical 50/50 deal where the control went to the other team very quickly. *1/2

Angelico vs. Keith Lee

Very typical Keith Lee match w/ him working on top for most of it while his opponent makes comebacks to stun him. It started pretty slowly & there was a lot of SHTICK~!, which wasn't any entertaining. Angelico was very boring on the offense, and while I always enjoy Keith Lee throwing people around & blasting them w/ his hellacious strikes, it wasn't enough to carry the match to 'good' -levels. BUT with that being said, it certainly wasn't a bad one. **1/2

David Starr vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Now we're talking! This was absolutely phenomenal. Some very fun back & forth work on the mat to start things off - eventually Zack starts busting out strikes, and Starr is more than happy to answer back w/ some of his own; my GOODNESS did his lariats look absolutely amazing. Zack starts going after his leg(s) in vicious fashion, kicking the crap out of them & Starr does a very good job selling that. I especially liked his sell after he did the Project Ciampa, he sold the damage Zack had done to him very well. Both guys brought it big time in this one, ZSJ w/ that brutal work over Starr & Starr with that awesome babyface performance, very good selling & amazing LARIATS. ****1/4

Laura Di Matteo, Millie McKenzie & Sierra Loxton vs. The House of Couture

A super fun tag match. Good spotfest-y action w/ some solid FIP work in there. Very good stuff from start to finish. ***1/2

Kassius Ohno vs. Tyler Bate

I had pretty high expectations for this one & I am happy to report that it did live up to all of those! Fantastically structured match w/ Ohno being the classic big man bully that he is, beating the crap out of Bate & making fun of him while doing so. Bate was an amazing babyface fighting from underneath to go against that - LOVED his comebacks, in particular that punch flurry he busted out at one point. They built to the big German Suplex spot super well too, which helped build into the finish which was unreal. A motherfucking UFO sighting. What a way to end an absolute banger of a match. ****1/4

Travis Banks vs. WALTER

This was very good. WALTER did his deal, murdered Travis around quite a bit, including putting him in some of the most painful looking Boston Crab & STF I've ever seen + Travis was very good on the offense as well. The two have a great chemistry going just as expected & I am very much looking forward to their next meeting. ***3/4

  

PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 - Day 1

Hello, randomly decided that I wanna make a blog where I write about my wrestling opinions & stuff, so here it is. Gonna start this thing off w/ a PROGRESS review, since it's the first show I'm watching since starting it!

PROGRESS Super Strong Style 16 - Day 1

Doug Williams vs. Pete Dunne

What a lovely way to kick off the tournament! Starts off w/ some nice back & forth technical work, in which Williams gets the upperhand. Williams continues to borderline dominate Dunne with his technical savvy, but eventually Dunne gets sick of it & starts being less respectful & starts being more like the PETER we all know & love by biting his way out of submission holds & manipulating Williams' fingers. Great technical master veteran vs. young superstar match. An absolutely awesome time from start to finish. ****

Chuck Mambo vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

I have never seen or heard about Chuck Mambo before, so I had no idea what to expect, but he was going against a man who can have a good match with pretty much anyone & one of my favorite wrestlers in the world, so I was very curious to see what the end result would be & it sure was one damn fun match! Mambo gets to shine in the early stages of the match w/ his highflying move-set, but it's when he goes for the Surfboard that he pisses off the best technical wrestler in the world, which results in ZSJ escaping that said Surfboard in very cool fashion & delivering a nasty, vintage ZSJ-style beating to the lad. Vicious strikes, especially those stomps + nasty submissions. Mambo gets a couple of big comebacks in, which are good, but it's ZSJ's pretty damn tremendous bumping that are the best part about them & the way he countered Mambo's springboard Frog Splash was awesome. A fantastic, very giving (to say the least) performance by Zack - he certainly made Chuck Mambo look like million bucks in this one. ***3/4

David Starr vs. TK Cooper

This started off well w/ TK jumping Starr during the introductions & Starr then just kicking his ass w/ some very good looking offense, but once TK no sold a German Suplex, this match went all downhill. Typical indy 50/50 action from that point on w/ the only saving grace of it being that David Starr does indeed have some very good looking offense. It was not a bad match overall, because they didn't go too long & the first half or so was very enjoyable, but it certainly wasn't good either. **

Angelico vs. Mark Andrews

Not interesting at all. Mandrews can be very good fighting from underneath, but when the work on top is as dull as it was here, it can't save a match. *

Jordan Devlin vs. Tyler Bate

A disappointment. Devlin was quite good with his work over Bate, good work on the arm & solid all around heeling, sadly though other than the fantastic moment where he blocked those kicks w/ his shoulder (great, great visual), Bate's babyface performance disappointed me greatly. Spotty selling & it felt like he was on a comedy mode for most of it. At least his new theme (the first time I've heard him use it, at least) is 5.5 stars. SLEDGEHAMMER~! *1/2

Joey Janela vs. Zack Gibson

Not gonna give this one a rating, because the official time for it was about 15 seconds, but I thought it was a well done segment from start to finish. Very fun promo work by Gibson.

Keith Lee vs. Morgan Webster

These two had a very fun match in November & this was even better than that one. Very good David vs. Goliath action w/ Flash jumping big Keith right from the get go & getting to run wild on him for a while - that doesn't last for very long though, as soon Keith gets back into things, and then it becomes more like a typical Keith Lee match. Keith throws Flash around & hammers him with those clobberin' blows of his, it was very enjoyable & so were Webster's hope spots. This little 2-match series between these 2 fellas was quite fun. ***1/2

Chris Brookes vs. Kassius Ohno 

Kassius Ohno in a indy setting again sounds absolutely fantastic & I was very much looking forward to it. Not too hyped about his opponent, though. Chris Brookes is a guy (alongside his tag partner, Kid Lykos) who I just haven't "got" at all, so far. I thought he was looking very good in the early stages of this match though, controlling Ohno w/ his technical work, keeping him grounded by the wrist & all. Very good stuff. Eventually the match molds more into the 50/50 offense trading, but I still enjoyed it a lot - can't say I enjoyed Brookes during that, but I am such a huge Ohno fan that I still had a blast watching it. I mean, I could watch him elbow & boot fools every day of the week and not get tired of it. ***