SURVIVIN' THE SERIES'

Bayley, Mickie James, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks & Tamina vs. Asuka, Carmella, Mandy Rose, Naomi & Sonya Deville

The Asuka vs. Sasha battle towards the end was awesome, but everything else was pretty bleh. **1/4

Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

This felt & looked like a very generic, long TV-match. Really not sure what else I could write about since it was so forgettable I came away from it with just nothing. *

AOP vs. The Bar

What in the absolute WHAT was that ending? So random. The match was very, very basic w/ Cesaro being the FIP, which was mostly spent in a headlock, and then Sheamus got the hot tag & the match went into it's finishing gear. They kept it short, simple & forgettable - I wouldn't call it bad,  but oh so very, very forgettable. *1/2

Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali

This was good & it followed the same dynamic most of the Buddy vs. Ali matches have followed. It was all about Buddy dominating with his power, and destroying Ali while Ali fights from underneath, takes some sick bumps & does his flippy stuff. Nowhere near their best match together, but still good. ***

Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre & Finn Bálor vs. Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Samoa Joe, Shane McMahon & The Miz

This was fun action from start to finish, with the highlight being the awesome Finn vs. Rey sequence. Definitely the better of the 2 SurSer tag gimmick matches on the PPV. ***1/4

Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey

This was built pretty well, but I can't help, but to think that it ended just when it really got going. Some nice psychology throughout w/ Charlotte doing work over Ronda's legs to prepare her for the Figure 8 & Ronda's comebacks were very good as well. A bit longer and this would've been ranging from very good to possibly great (***1/2+). ***

Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan

The match gets me already during the entrances. Brock is walking down, Bryan with a cocky look on his face starts taunting him. Absolutely brilliant. Then the bell rings, Bryan charges at Brock's knee the same goddamn second. Then he quickly cements his character in this match as a little shit; he makes Lesnar chase him outside the ring, only for him to go inside & then mock his signature jumping taunt. That's when THE BEATDOWN began, and my goodness, it was the most brutal a Brock Lesnar beatdown has felt like since SummerSlam 2014, I'd say. W/ Bryan's history of neck problems & concussions, those German Suplexes looked even more brutal than they usually do. And Bryan's incredible selling helped there as well. Also you know that Brock is feeling the match when he is constantly talking shit, STARTING CHANTS & busting out BEARHUGS. Then kicks in the 2nd half of the match, and WOOOOO BABY was it a wildride; the low blow + Busaiku Knee SmackDown callback for a nearfall was legitimately one of the best nearfalls, if not the best nearfall of the year. Bryan's kicks look more brutal than usual as well; much of the credit goes to Brock for that, his selling is incredible, and for my money, he is a contender for the best salesman ever. And speaking of that, the sequence where Bryan does his charging corner dropkicks & Brock catches him on the F5 position, only for him to crumble down because of the work Bryan had done on his leg = just YESSS. That followed by the YES Lock where Bryan starts punching Brock in the goddamn face to keep it locked on, my GOODNESS. Best sequence of the year hands down. And even in the finish, Brock f'n Lesnar still SELLS. All of that capped off w/ that beautiful post-match shot of Bryan smiling like a madman. A gritty, violent masterpiece. The Match of the Year. *****

BOLA N2 stuff!

Marko Stunt vs. Trevor Lee

The promo before the match w/ Trevor acting like a total douchebag in his TNA SUPERSTAR mode, and then Marko answering accordingly was incredible. Then the bell rang & they went with the dynamic that was the most obvious one, and simply the best one for the pairing; Trevor just ragdoll bullies the much smaller Marko, and Marko does his flippy comebacks. So much fun! ***3/4

Darby Allin vs. Jeff Cobb

This was just Cobb throwing Allin around & Allin bumping like a maniac. What a damn awesome dynamic, exactly what the match needed to be. ***3/4

Timothy Thatcher vs. WALTER

Nowhere near the level of their January PROGRESS MOTYC, but this was indeed like a tournament version of that one. A very nice exhibition of struggle & beating-the-crap-out-of-one-another. ***1/2

Takeover live reactions

Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler
These 2 deliver as usual. The first fall was very solid w/ great fire shown by Kairi, she got a very good shine right from the get go. The 2nd fall was mostly about Shayna on top, and she sure is absolutely awesome twisting & straight up torturing Kairi. Kairi from underneath rules big time as well - there's this one super SCRAPPY striking exchange she started w/ Shayna & I so loved it. Also that big comeback of hers towards the end of the fall where she wiped out Shayna's buddies was superb. I think all the interference stuff was done pretty well in the last fall - they kept it to KIND of the minimum, and Io doing badass dives is something I can always dig. Very good action from Shayna & Kairi throughout it. Maybe their 2nd best match against each other so far. Still nowhere near the MYC Finals classic though. ***1/2

Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano

I feel like I have so much stuff to say about this, but at the same time, it left me kind of speechless. There I was, watching the show live happily in the cold morning hours when this shit happened. It didn't start off as bad; I was amused by Gargano's super cringe heel acting in the hype video & his entrance, and then the match began. It actually was OK, but then it went on & went on & went on. It was to be expected, and in it's structure, it was your basic 50/50 indy movez~! & sequencez~! -stuff - basically nothing that I haven't seen at least a goddamn million times already, right? Well, then their monologues got louder & louder & louder... I don't even know. I had it written originally that it was HBK tier stuff, but honestly HBK was never this fucking embarrassing w/ his "dramatic" acting. Gargano was already looking & sounding like the biggest nerd of all-time w/ his comicbook villain shit, and then Aleister Black starts w/ his edgelord stuff. I don't even know. This match kind of broke me. Perfect storm of the 2 things I think I hate the most in pro wrestling; shitty match structure & embarrassing acting & drama. I am writing this about 1 hour or so after the match happened & I still feel dirty (???) - it's kinda like when as a teen you would, while jerking off, watch something goddamn kinky and/or weird & then you have that weird disgusted feel after you nut. That's how I feel after watching this shit. First time I have ever been embarrassed about watching the graps. I don't even know my dudes.God bless. God fucking bless. DUD & WORST MATCH OF ALL-TIME

yes that is where my live viewing of takeover ended

ZSJ in Spain, AJ's face stomped in

Triple W Total Rumble 8: A-Kid vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

This felt like kind of a mix between "the usual" ZSJ match & then a generic "epic" indy match. It was very enjoyable for the most part, even though towards the end it started to drag badly. The atmosphere is something worth mentioning too, added some nice heat to the bout. ***

WWE SmackDown 11/13/18: AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan

A fantastic heel turn angle in the closing moments & then the post-match. You can argue it came out of nowhere, but I loved it. Fantastic acting by Bryan there, and him stomping AJ's face in, old school American Dragon style was goosebumps worthy. The actual match wasn't on the level of their October & April TV-classics, but it was still an absolute banger. They went with the dueling limb work story once again, and as always, it was a pleasure watching those two masters go at it. Bryan's arm work in particular was VICIOUS as shit. A match to remember for it's quality & then the angle that was executed in it. ***3/4

WALTER/ZSJ, MiSu/Ishii, Almas/Rey

PROGRESS Chapter 77: WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
I don't think this came even close to their previous PROGRESS meeting, which was a classic & one of my favorite matches of the year, but as always w/ WALTER & ZSJ, this was a very good time from start to finish. Love how they referenced to that NOLA match here w/ the commentators bringing up the fact that Zack's gameplan in that one was almost like a suicide mission, so here he had to try & change it up. And that he sure did, but it did not go according to the plan, at least not right from the start; WALTER dominated most of the match by not letting Zack get too close - gave the man a mauling, and those submissions by him just look absolutely brutal on Zack, due to their size difference. Aloved the cocky swagger he showed by imitating a few of Zack's signature moves, like the neck twist to a grounded opponent. Zack though, sneaky as usual, managed to get back into things by sneaking in his hard hitting strikes & a few submissions to try n' wear the big man down, so by the end, this was a full on war w/ both guys desperately trying to put one another out. Very good match by a pairing that always delivers. ***3/4

NJPW Power Struggle 2018: Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii
There were parts here where I thought to myself that "damn, this is looking like one of the best New Japan matches of the year" - but then they drifted it back into the generic NJPW & Ishii formula. Still a really good match, but had shades of something so much greater. Some of the standout moments were literally all of MiSu's times on the offense; I could watch him forearm people's faces off & knee people's ribs to oblivion all day long. Most of the strike exchanges that usually feel very masturbatory & filler are actually goddamn AWESOME, because of how amazingly violent MiSu makes them feel. Ishii had a solid performance too - loved his selling, one of my favorite moments of the match was when him & MiSu started their slapbattle, he did the delayed Kawada selling where he felt the effect of MiSu's slap, and that lead to MiSu laying into him w/ those deadly slap combinations. But yeah, while he was solid for the most part, I wasn’t feeling him on the offense really at all, so as a result this was pretty much a complete Minoru Suzuki show for me. An absolutely awesome one at that. ***3/4

WWE SmackDown 11/06/18: Andrade Almas vs. Rey Mysterio

Andrade is pretty damn vicious w/ his work over Rey, and Rey Rey of course still effin' rules fighting from underneath. A very enjoyable TV match. ***

80's NWA & 2010's NXT

NWA Clash of the Champions IX: Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk

Two GOAT's beating the crap out of each other is a winning formula. A total violent spectacle w/ AMAZING punches, red hot crowd, superb overall heat, stiff chops, phenomenal selling & psychology + classic Funker crazy old man character. Always been one of my favorite matches. *****

WWE NXT Takeover: Toronto: Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa

Superb energy, heat & pace throughout; great, classic tag team psychology done to borderline perfection w/ some neat callbacks to their previous Takeover meeting & amazingly well defined heel & babyface roles - simply phenomenal work by both teams there. One of the best tag team bouts of all-time. ****3/4

World Championship Match Like It Should Be

WWE SmackDown 10/30/18: AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan

This met the high expectations I had for it, but with it being a match between two of the very best in the world, and 2 of the greatest EVER, how could it not? This was 110% my kind of pro wrestling; a dueling limb work story told to perfection w/ both guys being vicious w/ a big V with their work over one another, superb selling & a great sense of urgency. A true war of attrition. Just 22 minutes of straight up pro wrestling like it was meant to be - I mean, it's a WWE Championship match w/ ZERO nearfalls (except if you count the Triangle) & the crowd is going goddamn crazy all the way through. That's pretty unheard of in this day & age. I think it was already clear from their previous match in April, but now it's even more clear: AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan truly operate on a entirely different level from everybody else in the business. Legends. ****1/2