Darby/Riddle, WALTER/Ishii, 205 Tornado Tag

EVOLVE 110: Darby Allin vs. Matt Riddle
I haven't watched a Matt Riddle match since the OTT one vs. Ospreay - he has picked up some annoying indy tendencies in the last 1.5 years or so & that was a match that highlighted that, but here he was 100% THE Matt Riddle that instantly became one of my favorites in 2016. He's on his way out of the independents, but before that he wanted to make sure that Darby Allin will never forget his name - he gave Darby a vicious beating, that only got more & more brutal as Darby kept on surviving. There's nobody in wrestling who takes a beating like Darby, so Matt Riddle in his most vicious form vs. him is an instant hit. ****

RevPro Summer Sizzler 2018: Tomohiro Ishii vs. WALTER
They went with the Ishii underdog formula & it worked very well, with WALTER on top for majority of the match. He chopped the shit out of Ishii & Ishii's selling was glorious as usual. Very good stuff. Badass post-match moment too with WALTER wanting a handshake, but Ishii refusing to give him one & asking for a chop instead, and even after receiving one, a very deadly one from WALTER, still refusing to shake his hand. ***1/2

WWE 205 Live 08/21/18: Buddy Murphy & Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado

Very good stuff here. Really fun dynamic with Murphy & Nese dominating w/ their power advantage, doing some nasty work over the Lucha House Party, and then the Lucha lads, in particular Gran Metalik, busting out some really awesome, flippy comebacks. ***1/2

SUMMERSLAM

Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins

I did not sit through their Iron Man match, but this was just about exactly how I would envision a match between Dolph Ziggler & Seth Rollins going. And that is not a positive thing in my eyes - just forgettable wrestling from start to finish, with weak looking offense by both & the usual indyriffic big movez by Rollins. Not my kind of rasslin'. *

The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The New Day

Xavier Woods' FIP segment that started the match was painfully boring, but once Big E got the hot tag & he started throwing the Bludgeon Bros around, things got good & remained that till the end. **3/4

Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens

That was a solid squash - Owens sure bumps like a madman to make Braun's moves look even more violent than they already do. That Chokeslam was absolutely BRUTAL. **

Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair

Rough & awkward for the first half, but it did get going, and by the end it was a solid match. The post-match angle was definitely the highlight though. **

AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe

Got a kick out of the chants of "TNA!", gotta admit. Very cool seeing these two go at it for the richest prize in the biz in one of the biggest wrestling shows of the year, and they sure brought their classic chemistry to the thing - Joe with his all-time great offense work, and AJ with his legendary bumping. Very good match. ***1/2

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz

First things first; this did not come close to their NOC '10 classic, and they had a better match few months back at a house show in Newcastle, but it definitely still was one helluva bout. Great storytelling with both guys' characters inside the ring; Miz wanted to prove that he can hang with Bryan's rasslin', and Bryan had an answer & a way out of basically everything the man did, which of course then played into the finish perfectly with Miz having to cheat to get the W. The IT Kick hulk up & the slaps that followed were beautiful. ***3/4

Baron Corbin vs. Finn Bálor

Not a very interesting squash. *

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy

I was almost dreading the thought of watching these two go at it for over 10 minutes, but boy were those thoughts wrong, because this match absolutely rocked. Great swagger & charisma between the two brought a fun dynamic - Nakamura was vicious with his work on top, and Jeff was in his element fighting from underneath with his brilliant bumping & comebacks. Played into both of their strengths greatly. ***1/2

Alexa Bliss vs. Ronda Rousey

Best squash of the night goes to KO/Braun, but this was also OK. A couple of amusing moments & some killer offense by Ronda, but very bleh overall. At least Bliss wasn't booked to go 50/50 against Ronda, that is what I was most worried about. *1/2

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns

A very good, bombfest sprint. Really nothing else to add, since it was basically just a big move after big move after big move. Brock's selling was great as usual, as well. ***1/4

Takeover: Brooklyn

The Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain

The weakest of their trilogy, but still very good. Felt like somewhat of a blend of their previous 2 matches w/ some psychology over the knee of Bate, and then the red hot sequences, with everyone, in particular Bate, going crazy. Somewhat awkward in it's pacing at some moments, but that didn't eat away too much from the quality. Roddy & Kyle as the sleazy, yet vicious heels is just a blessing. MOTN. ***1/2

EC3 vs. The Velveteen Dream

This started off pretty great, but by the end, it was dragging like a motherfucker, so it's overall quality dragged down because of it. Loved the beginning w/ them telling the story of EC3 being the more powerful & experienced of the 2 - EC3 was very good on top, and Dream's bumping was like something straight out of the 80's. After the Dream gets back into things, he starts targeting EC3's neck, and after a while of that, the match starts to drag, as I mentioned. Pretty good overall w/ a great first half or so. **3/4

Adam Cole vs. Ricochet

A pretty good match - very indyriffic at parts, but also toned down nicely overall too, didn't go overboard. **3/4

Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane

A very good match w/ a simple, yet super effective dynamic. Shayna is an awesome bully, twisting Kairi's ankles, toes & everything in brutal fashion, while Kairi brings great emotion & fire with his babyface work. Nowhere near their MYC tournament finals classic, but a very good match nonetheless. ***1/2

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano

These two sure aren't afraid to beat the living crap out of each other, and I very much appreciated that in the first third (or so) of the match - great intensity & violence, especially on Ciampa's part; one standout moment definitely was the Angel's Wings on the steel steps. Brutal stuff. Shortly after that though, the match starts to drag & the drama start to felt way too forced. It's a good match, I'd definitely rank it over the NOLA one, but it didn't reach the overall greatness of their Chicago Street Fight. ***

G1 FINALS, 2K18

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi

I really wasn't feeling this one until the sequence where Ibushi went to that murder-death-kill -mode, and Tana showed great fire, while Ibushi was absolutely baffled by it. After that the match was just very good, bombfest-y action. On par with their IC Title match from 2017. ***3/4

Day 18: farewell B block '18!

Tama Tonga vs. Toru Yano

Solid stuff with Tama being a nasty bastard to Yano, who tries to straight up, cleanly, wrestle him. Far from the best stuff that Yano had during his tournament run, but very easy-to-watch stuff. **

Hirooki Goto vs. Juice Robinson

A very enjoyable & solid match. Nice work on the arm by Juice (good continuity from the Goto/ZSJ match) & some very good selling by both men. ***1/4

SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii

A pretty intriguing styles clash on paper, and it ended up being a good match. Fun counters all the way through. ***1/4

Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

An absolutely tremendous match. Loved Zack being so pissed off at Naito for some reason; he really sold his sense of dislike towards him brilliantly. Even more brutal than usual with some of his work over him. Naito was really great too, with his mind games, trying to irritate Zack even more so than he already is - some awesome work on the neck too during his comebacks, and Zack sold it greatly; great spot in that when he went for the Manjigatame, he couldn't apply it fully, because of the damage Naito had done to his neck. The best of the 3 matches they've had against each other so far. ****1/4

Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi

As expected, the Golden Lovers absolutely brutalized each other in an athletic, vicious back and forth match. Enjoyed it as much as their 2012 DDT meeting. ***3/4

Day 17: a good Canadian Destroyer spot!

Michael Elgin vs. Togi Makabe

Both guys had decent runs in the tourney, and they closed it off w/ a nice hard hitting sprint'ish bout. Good stuff. ***

Hangman Page vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Hey, a Destroyer spot that isn't stupid! Hell yeah! Not only that, but this was a really good match overall, too! Most of it is with Hangman on top, doing good work over YOSHI-HASHI & showcasing very nice swagger & charisma while doing so. YH was solid fighting from underneath, and Hangman brought some good fire out of him. Happy to report that both guys closed their tournament runs out with a bang. ***3/4

Bad Luck Fale vs. Minoru Suzuki

This was well on it's way to becoming one of the best matches of the tournament, but then the interference gimmick kicked in. Before that happened, this was such a wild, violent fight. Oh well - still a really good match overall, but it most likely would've hit the 4*+ status without such a long interference segment. ***3/4

EVIL vs. Jay White

Very good sense of urgency from Switchblade to start things off; he was pretty vicious with his work over EVIL & EVIL was a damn good FIP. Once EVIL's comeback starts, the match goes down in quality though, as it seemed like all the sense of urgency & standout physicality went away - still a pretty good one overall, but had they kept a couple of aspects from the beginning stages, this could've been something more. **3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

Tanahashi spends at least half of the match working over the leg of Okada, and of course he rules at it - the standout spot of the match was certainly the Cloverleaf one; they milked it to the max & it was such well done drama. Okada's selling was, well, certainly just as expected, which is not a good thing; he did the usual Okada limb "selling" where he does all of his movez like nothing, then grabs his leg a bit. Sigh. Another thing that disappointed me greatly was the lack of urgency from Okada, especially in the last 10 minutes or so; the whole thing about the match was that Okada needed THE WIN to go to the finals, Tana would be okay with the draw, but if I hadn't known that, by watching the final 5 minutes of the match, I'd feel like their actual roles would be reversed; Okada wrestled like he always does, but it was Tana who showed masterful levels of urgency. Great performance from him, "the usual" from Okada (which I am not a big fan of) & a very generic/expected match structure. **

Day 16

Juice Robinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Most of the match is just a complete slugfest w/ Juice & Ishii trading chops, forearms & punches, and both of them just happen to excel at that, so of course it's a very good time. ***1/2

Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Goto is always good when he fights from underneath, with his hard hitting comebacks & ZSJ of course rules on top. ***1/2

Kota Ibushi vs. Tama Tonga
Most of this is with Tama on top, because of the sneak attack he did on Ibushi during his entrance, and while he does a very forgettable job at it, Ibushi's comebacks are very good. All the interferences were done pretty well too. An OK match. **

Kenny Omega vs. Toru Yano

A super fun comedy match; definitely the best Omega vs. Yano bout yet. ***1/2

SANADA vs. Tetsuya Naito

A very good back & forth match between two stablemates - very good flow & swagger to it. ***

Hangman/MiSu RULES

Bad Luck Fale vs. YOSHI-HASHI

The David vs. Goliath dynamic in this one brought some personality, fire & charisma out of YOSHI-HASHI - he put on a very good fiery underdog performance, and I usually always enjoy Fale's Goliath work on top, and such was the case here. Good match. ***

Hangman Page vs. Minoru Suzuki

He got called a boy multiple times in this match, but after the match, Hangman Page is now a made MAN in New Japan. I am not sure what I was expecting this match to be like, but one of the best matches of the year sure wasn't that; Hangman put on such a phenomenal babyface performance, and Minoru played his role perfectly. Loved the quick start w/ Hangman going right after Suzuki, not waiting for the entrances to be complete - that Moonsault was simply beautiful. This of course pissed Suzuki off, and you could see from the first wristlock on that Hangman wasn't gonna have it easy this night. His beatdown was even more grumpy & vicious than usual; brutal work over the arm & those strikes of his are beautiful in the most violent way possible. Hangman's selling was pretty damn great, and his brief comebacks ruled; I love me a good, well timed & done SPIT SPOT, and here the one Hangman delivered to Suzuki was just awesome. Another thing I loved about the match was Suzuki's amazing selling of Hangman's lariats - Hangman throws a good one in general, but here Suzuki helped to make them look truly devastating. The finish too, so, so, so good. Perfectly done upset victory. Excellent stuff all around. "COME ON FUCKING BOY!" ****1/2

Jay White vs. Togi Makabe

This was actually very enjoyable with Switchblade being a total dick to Makabe, and Makabe answering with his bruiser offense. ***

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Elgin

A very solid dynamic with Elgin being the obviously more stronger of the 2, and using that against the always-banged-up Tanahashi. They built the match with that, and then by the end, it turned into the usual dramatic big movez back & forth -fest. A good one. ***

EVIL vs. Kazuchika Okada

Started off in very good, energetic fashion, and it continued to be very good & energetic until about halfway through; that's when things started to drag, and it felt like another generic New Japan main event. Far from the worst example of that though, as overall it was pretty good. **3/4

Day 14 - very kudt!

SANADA vs. Toru Yano
What an absolutely awesome comedy match. Everything w/ the Paradise Lock & Rocky was legitimately hilarious, and the overall contrast between the characters of SANADA & Toru Yano was so cool, they played off of each other perfectly. ***3/4

Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga
Absolutely nothing interesting about this one. *

Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Without a doubt one of the best looking match ups in the entire tournament - I mean, it's Juice Robinson, coming in with a banged up hand going against Zack Sabre Jr. There was no way it wasn't gonna rule; Zack delivered, as usual, in the top-side of things, indeed specifically targeting that hand & arm of Juice's, and Juice was on point w/ his selling & firey comebacks. Very much looking forward to the US Title re-match that was heavily set up w/ this match. ***3/4

Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
There's some generic New Japan big match stuff in the middle, but overall the match had such a great dynamic & Ishii's underdog performance was so amazing that it can't be denied. Omega being a cocky prick to start things off was wonderful, and Ishii's response to that was absolutely priceless with him just playing with Omega's hair to show that he can play those games too. The damn crazy Cruficix counter too, what a great moment. This match also showed the improvement of Kevin Kelly to the maximum; dude went from being one of my least favorite commentators to quite possibly my favorite one - what a phenomenal call in "I'm telling you he's unbeatable, Omega is UNBEATABLE!". What a damned match! ****1/4

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

Great match. Thought that Naito was incredibly compelling with his work on top - he didn't do anything overly heely, but his arrogant facial expressions & overall body language were off the charts good. Very vicious with his work over Ibushi's neck & leg; unsurprisingly, Ibushi didn't sell the leg work at all, but if we ignore that, his overall selling was very good. The no selling of the leg work did annoy me a bit though. Thankfully & unsurprisingly his sudden pop-up comebacks were pretty damn great, and the finishing stretch was of course NUTS. ****

DAY 13!

Bad Luck Fale vs. Michael Elgin

One of Michael Elgin's better performances; he kept it simple with his babyface work from underneath, and goddamn he rocked it. And Fale was awesome as usual being the monster that he is. I have loved most of the BCOG run-in's in this G1, but here I actually thought that it took away from the match - without the interference hitting at the point it did, this could've (& most likely would've) reached the very good, to even great mark. ***1/4

Hangman Page vs. Togi Makabe

This was actually good, and that is something I wouldn't have expected to write when looking at the participants on paper! Just good slugfest-y action from start to finish. ***

Jay White vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Just as dull, boring, uncharismatic & uninteresting as it looked on paper. *

EVIL vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

This was so good. EVIL being awesome with that work on top, targeting Tana's always-banged-up -shoulder, and Tana is Tana. An absolute master at fighting from underneath with his emotional selling & perfectly timed comebacks. ***3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki

This was a weird match for me, because I LOVED, and I mean LOVED everything that MiSu did - an absolute pleasure watching him beat the brakes out of Okada. But then on the other hand, Okada always coming up w/ his comebacks really annoyed me. Other than the big JOHN WOO, I didn't like ANYTHING that he did in this match. Felt like "okay your turn is over now buddy, let me shrug that off & hit my shit" kind of stuff. In particular the Rear Naked Choke -spot is up there w/ Stephanie McMahon successfully defending an Armbar from Ronda Rousey at Mania. It's a good match overall, because, hey, I am always up for Minoru Suzuki beating people up w/ his devastating forearms, knees & submissions, but from their battles this year, the Draw in Downpour has it beat easily. ***

Day 12; a 1-match -show

Tama Tonga vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Some very dull work by Tama on top, but Ishii's comebacks & overall all the times on the offense were absolutely tremendous. A solid carryjob from the man. **

Juice Robinson vs. SANADA

Very odd structure, with them starting with the classic "we're equals" back & forth shtick, but they actually went with that all the way through. I don't think it worked too well with this pairing, as there were more than a few awkward looking sequences, but the match definitely wasn't bad overall - just very, very, very forgettable. **

Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano

Pretty disappointing in all honesty. Toru Yano has been great all G1 long, and Naito is Naito, and with their characters I thought this one would be very fun, but sadly the end result was very different than what I had imagined. Much like Tama/Ishii & Juice/SANADA, this wasn't bad, but it was something that I won't remember in a few months. **

Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

The battle between the best bout machine & Kenny Omega was one of the most exciting looking G1 match ups in this year's tourney, and they delivered one of the best matches of the whole thing. They told the story of Zack's dangerous ground game vs. Omega's superior power & flips wonderfully; it went on for about 15 minutes, and that was the absolute perfect length for it. If it went on longer, I could see myself getting annoyed by Kenny's selling of the work on his injured foot by Zack, but here I thought that even though he was still running around doing his thing, he employed the idea of "I can't show him that I'm hurting really bad" very well. ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi

As dry, dull, boring & soulless as a match between Hirooki Goto & Kota Ibushi could be. Even the finishing stretch was very tame by NJPW standards. Just nothing interesting or good about this one; too long, uninteresting pace - just an absolute bore all around. Really wish we could've got a midcard smackfest between them instead. *

Day 11

Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe
An ugly, scrappy fight between the two, aka exactly what it should've been. A good time. ***

Hangman Page vs. Jay White
Dragged by the end, but overall this was very good, and certainly WAY better than I expected it to be. Some very nice chops & lariats + very strong psychology w/ Switchblade viciously targeting Hangman's back, which Hangman sold pretty damn well. Miles better than their first meeting. Hangman has some real potential as a babyface. ***3/4

EVIL vs. Minoru Suzuki
Hard hitting strike exchanges, as one would expect, and mostly Minoru on top, giving EVIL a beating. EVIL was such a good babyface fighting from underneath to go against that. ***3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI
A very charming babyface vs. babyface match. YOSHI-HASHI pushed Tana to the limit - Tana sold pretty much the perfect amount for him. ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin

Slow, plodding, downright boring for the most part with some generic BIG MOVEZ thrown in there. Not good. I guess if I had to take something positive out of this watching experience, at least some of the wrist control stuff was pretty cool, but that's it. Okada was tremendously boring when he was in control, and Big Mike's big movez were as generic as possible, as I already mentioned. *