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
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