"20 best modern-day WrestleMania matches" P1

These are from WWE's YouTube list of "20 best modern-day WrestleMania matches". I am guessing by modern day they mean that everything from 2003 on, as there are no matches from earlier than 03 there.

20) AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon - WrestleMania 33

I definitely appreciate this a bit more than I did in 2017, but I still don't think it's a good match or anything even close to that. The beginning stuff with AJ paying for being too cocky & arrogant is legitimately pretty great, but as the middle-section of the match takes over, the match quickly loses me as Shane starts getting more & more offense in. It drags & isn't interesting in the slightest, but there's at least that one-armed Styles Clash spot, which is awesome. It really comes down to how much you can tolerate watching Shane do his thing w/ those killer submissions & devastating punches of his, and in my eyes, he had no business going 50/50 with a guy many call the best in the world. It's a shame the match ended up being like that, because the beginning had so much promise of some solid storytelling. *

19) Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H - WrestleMania 29

The first half isn't interesting at all, but eventually the match gets going. The highlight of that said boring first half was EASILY Michaels getting F5'd - he kept on getting Brock's attention to get HHH back into things, so him getting F5'd actually felt pretty rewarding/fulfilling. Really liked the drama of HHH softening Brock's arm with them chairshots, and then locking in a Kimura of his own - they milked that very well w/ Brock's selling of it being amazing. Overall it's definitely too long, and there's lots of dull/forgettable stuff + HHH from underneath just wasn't very interesting, but there was SOME very good stuff in there, especially that Kimura drama I mentioned. **1/4

18) Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker - WrestleMania 30

There's a real sluggish feel to this right from the get go - Taker gets to kick's Brock's ass for a while, but very soon Brock takes over & he is pretty damn dominant till the end. I liked Brock's beatdown throughout - he did some very good work over Taker's leg & mid-section. Now while I'm sure some of it (if not all) can be "credited" to the concussion Taker suffered, I thought that his selling was really good - he sold the exhaustion of being systematically destroyed by an entirely different animal, a BEAST if you will, fantastically. He did have some very nice hope spots as well. The match definitely felt very cold right from the get go, which is very odd w/ it being a Brock match, a Taker match, let alone a bout between them at WrestleMania, but overall I'd say it's actually a very enjoyable, good match. Prior to this I actually hadn't watched it since 2014, so it was pretty intriguing going back to it & focus more on the actual match rather than the gigantic moment that is the ending. ***

17) Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Sin Cara vs. Stardust vs. The Miz vs. Zack Ryder - WrestleMania 32

This was a very good spotfest, that more than served it's purpose in being the hot opener for the show. Everybody got some time to shine - Ziggler with his Superkick sequence, Owens & Zayn with them destroying each other, Sin Cara with his two big dives, Stardust with the polka dot ladder homage to Dusty & then Ryder with his victory, which was a very nice, feel-good moment out of nowhere. ***1/2

16) Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair - WrestleMania 34

This was full of competitive, intense back & forth action w/ a very nice feel of urgency to it. Some good psychology w/ Charlotte's shoulder & Asuka's neck as well. Loved Asuka's kicks & stomps + the Spanish Fly spot was pretty awesome. ***1/2

15) Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H - WrestleMania 34

This was pretty much perfectly laid out for Ronda's in-ring debut. Starting it w/ Angle & HHH was the right call to make the audience wait for Ronda to get her hands on Steph, and then Steph & HHH awesomely cutting her & Angle's tag attempts definitely added even more to that anticipation. Once Ronda gets the tag, oh boy are we in for a treat; she delivers one helluva hot tag & then the HHH deal w/ her delivering her finish to him was excellent. The whole finishing stretch with them kicking things up a notch was also awesome. Overall it's just an absolute banger - it somehow represents what WrestleMania is at it's best - a complete wild spectacle. Certainly didn't see something of this quality coming when looking at the match on paper as WM34 was looming on the horizon. ****

14) Seth Rollins vs. Triple H - WrestleMania 33

HHH works the knee for 25 minutes, but there is no payoff or anything to it. Just a couple of very solid selling moments by Rollins in the sunset flip attempt & then the post-Buckle Bomb selling, but overall his selling was suuuuuper spotty at best. Flying around like usual, if not even more than usual, making HHH's kneework meaningless. Not a good match at all. *

13) The Undertaker vs. Triple H - WrestleMania 28

The 14 year old me watching this live about 4 in the morning thought it was just about the GOAT, but now 7 years later, it's not so good. Or good at all, in fact. Slow brawling with long-ass chair beatdowns + overly dramatic acting by HBK. I am finding it hard to come up with anything I liked about it; I guess at least Taker’s punches looked good, and the post-match with him getting up, not having to be helped out was a good payoff to WM27, but yeah, this wasn’t my type of wrestling at all. *

12) Steve Austin vs. The Rock - WrestleMania 19

I've always love the staredown that starts the match off; it's intense, and you can feel something special is about to go down. It's one helluva brawl & bombfest - Rock was awesome with his heel work bell to bell, and Austin sure went out with a very strong performance. Superb atmosphere & energy too, but that goes without saying as it's Austin vs. Rock. A very fitting finale to their rivalry & the in-ring career of Stone Cold Steve Austin. ****

11) Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H - WrestleMania 30

Always been one of my favorite matches, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Everything from the legendary pre-match Monster video, to the entrances that show the differences in the two characters perfectly, to the actual match. The atmosphere is magical with the crowd reacting huge to everything Bryan did, thus making all of his comebacks even more amazing than they already are. Bryan's babyface performance is incredible - he took some absolutely BRUTAL bumps, and I loved him busting out some of his old ROH stuff, like that big dive he did to Triple H outside the ring. Might just be the best performance of HHH's career too - his armwork was focused & vicious as hell; the announce table spot was brutal, and the crossfaces + that Tiger Suplex were so awesome. Not only that, but his character work throughout was great too w/ his facial expressions. Gotta mention Steph as well - she was really great talking shit to Bryan the whole way through. Added quite a bit to the bout. It's all about as compelling as wrestling gets for me. Simply put, when I think about my favorite WWE matches of all-time, nothing comes to my mind faster than Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H, WrestleMania 30. *****

Gonna continue with the top-10 later on!

Tessa/Kylie, Bad Bones vs. Starr

Zelo Pro Milwaukee Meltdown: Kylie Rae vs. Tessa Blanchard

This was a really good 2/3 falls bout, with clear heel & babyface roles in the ring. Followed the classic dynamic of Tessa being the cocky, vicious champ working on top while Kylie made some awesome, high energy babyface comebacks. It's all some very good stuff, and my favorite stuff came right in the beginning w/ Tessa grinding Kylie down with that absolutely amazingly vicious looking side headlock of hers, which she then followed with some even more brutal arm manipulation. ***1/2

Defiant Loaded #16: David Starr vs. John Klinger

A 10-minute match full of some slugfest goodness. Starr of course rules as a babyface & Bad Bones was on his element with his slimy heel act all the way through. Definitely worth a watch. ***

WALTER vs. Devlin & Lucky Kid

OTT ScrapperMania V: Jordan Devlin vs. WALTER

Their first singles meeting was one of the very best matches of 2018, and they built the story absolutely fantastically, so the expectations for this one were VERY high, and because of that, it ended up being a little bit disappointing, but very, very good at the same time. Liked the start with them teasing a quick Devlin win right away, only for WALTER to survive & then start unleashing on him. The handwork was awesome - it's a shame it didn't become a more focal part of the match, as it was kind of forgotten after a while. The Irish flag deal was great; the image of WALTER wrapping Devlin into it, and then stomping him & the flag was fantastic. The WALTER DQ & count-out walkout tease was done really well too, and Devlin's one last adrenaline comeback after that to finish the match off was superb. So yeah, there was lots to love here, but it just didn't have the magic, the shock, the danger & the pure emotion/feel of their 1st encounter. ***1/2

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2019 - Finals: Lucky Kid vs. WALTER

This wasn't bad, but it didn't reach the heights it easily could've. Lucky Kid wasn't very interesting as the David to WALTER's usual Goliath work - wasn't really feeling his comebacks for whatever reason, and by the end, I thought he got a bit too much of the match to his name too, tbh. The ending with WALTER tapping out was a very good kind-of-payoff to his Carat journey that started on Day 1 vs. Starr though. **1/2

New WWE MOTY!

WWE SmackDown 03/26/19: The New Day vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura, The Bar, The Usos, Daniel Bryan & Rowan

First of all, that damn title was hard to write ^ up there. How do you even write down a handicap tag team gauntlet match like that?! Gonna make my MOTY list look real ugly 😉 

Anyways, this rocked my world. The first segment of the New Day going against Gallows & Anderson was pretty short, but I liked what we got very much; everything looked good and it served as a good opener for the Gauntlet. The 2nd segment w/ Rusev & Nakamura was very solid too - I actually thought that Nakamura looked the most compelling he has since probably SummerSlam vs. Jeff Hardy. And then out comes The Bar & things kick up into higher gear - Sheamus has a clear strategy going in, as he immediately starts doing some work over Big E's left leg; Big E is an awesome FIP with his selling & hope spots - loved the usual crawling-towards-your-partner-only-to-get-cutoff -stuff - might sound weird, but I thought Big E did that pretty amazingly. Not cheesy or over the top at all, he created just the perfect amount of drama in those, and the cutoffs by the Bar fellas were awesome as well. Xavier rules as the hot tag as much as Big E does as the FIP; some awesome, high energy flippy stuff w/ a nice amount of urgency & intensity to all of it. The finish of the segment with Big E pulling Cesaro from the top & Xavier then rolling up Sheamus was brilliant, as was the post-segment beatdown. The brilliance continued as The Usos' music hits, and they come out looking like the badasses that they are - LOVED Corey's commentary during this; between that, the presence of the Usos & the beatdown the New Day just received, there was a real great feel of danger & sadness, even. But then! BUT THEN! Just when it looks like Kofi's WrestleMania dreams might be done for, The Usos FORFEIT, because of the respect they have for him + Xavier & Big E. An absolutely AMAZING moment; it could've been so cheesy & cringe, but the way they did it, and with it being The Usos who did it, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Then Bryan & Rowan come out, and start beating the crap out of the New Day - Bryan of course goes for Big E's leg right away - his torture of it is unsurprisingly great, and the moment where Big E finally rallied up some punches, but Bryan counters that into a half crab was superb. The rest of the action is red hot, and the finish was creative & brilliant - the crowd counting the count-out so loudly was an AWESOME final touch to the thing, and the post-match with all 3 of the New Day lads celebrating was a genuinely great, pure babyface moment. The whole thing was magic. ****1/4

WWE TV: Angle/Joe, Asuka/Flair

WWE RAW 03/25/19: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe

This was short n' sweet. They worked around Angle's limitations very well with the majority of the match having Joe on top - Joe was viciously awesome as usual, and I did really like all of Angle's suplex heavy comebacks. And how could I not mention the headbutt. You have no idea how happy that made me, legit gives the match a .25 bump. A perfect callback. Quality TV bout. ***1/4

WWE SmackDown 03/26/19: Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair

A tad bit below their WrestleMania 34 match, but better than the one they had on TV in December. Asuka brought her usual fantastic raw emotion to the thing, even more so than usual for whatever reason, and it added quite a bit to the overall package. There was already a very nice intensity to everything they did, but Asuka's great performance there helped loads. Some good leg psychology as well with a nice pay-off to it in the end. ***1/2

 

AJPW: Strong BJ vs Violent GIANTS II, Kento vs Nomura

AJPW Dream Power Series 2019 - Day 6: Strong BJ vs. Violent Giants

Definitely liked this better than their BJW match from January. They don't do it in an overly flashy, classic way, but Sekimoto & Okabayashi do some subtle invader heelish stuff, and I loved it. The stuff on the outside that lead to the Suwama FIP portion of the match was fantastic, and then big Shuji's hot tag that followed was great as well. Shortly after that, the match essentially kicks into it's 2nd, finishing gear, and there's PLENTY of awesome, BEEFY action to keep me interested. I won't lie though, I did think it overstayed it's welcome a bit, but overall it was really fun & the build to it was pretty amazing, so it's no biggie. ****

AJPW Dream Power Series 2019 - Day 6: Kento Miyahara vs. Naoya Nomura

This was very much your paint-by-numbers cocky champion vs. young underdog stuff, and it was pretty enjoyable. Just solid action from start to finish, nothing that truly grabbed me or made me invested, but nothing boring or bad either. LOVED the finish with Nomura escaping that first Straight Jacket German attempt & then Kento immediately grabbing him again, this time not letting him slip out. A very nice bit of flash urgency there. **3/4

NJ Cup: SANADA vs. The Ace(s)

NJPW New Japan Cup 2019 - Day 11: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA

Didn't care for this at all. There's legwork that gets absolutely no sold, and there's nothing else that stood out in the entire match. It's around 25 minutes of boring & generic big match New Japan wrestling. I came from it feeling absolutely nothing. *1/4

NJPW New Japan Cup 2019 - Day 12: Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA

The beginning hold exchanging wasn't the most compelling stuff, but I still liked it - SANADA especially brought some charm into things & him locking Okada in the Paradise Lock was legitimately an awesome moment. Then there's some dull stuff with Okada on top, and then shortly the match becomes your usual Okada big match counterfestival - you either like it, or you don't care for it, and unfortunately I am on the latter boat. *1/2

SD, 205, NJ Cup MOTYC

WWE SmackDown 03/19/19: Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus, Cesaro, Samoa Joe, Randy Orton & Daniel Bryan

Kofi Kingston running the GAUNTLET for like 50 minutes & it not being boring at any point of it is something I wouldn't have expected to say a few months ago, but here we are. This current storyline with him vs. Bryan & Vince is absolutely fantastic, and the crowd is invested in it big time & that elevates his babyface work everytime he steps into the ring. All of the matches in this Gauntlet followed pretty much the same formula of Kofi getting beat up & making some comebacks - it's all solid TV-wrestling, nothing memorable for the most part to be honest, but nowhere near anything bad either. During the segment vs. Randy, there's a couple of pretty brilliant moments, such as his awesome "he ain't your guy, trust me!" & "stupid!" comments + I loved Kofi's Trouble in Paradise hope spot - the way he sold the exhaustion there was brilliant. Unsurprisingly the surprise Bryan segment is the best overall thing of the whole package, as the heat picks up there & Bryan is definitely the most compelling of Kofi's opponents when it came to delivering a beatdown to him. Kofi gets a few really good hope spots in too + a couple of great nearfalls & his selling of the exhaustion of wrestling almost 50 minutes was awesome. Really liked the finish too with Bryan recovering very well from what-looked-like-a-botch in the corner springboard deal. Definitely not as good as the Elimination Chamber Gauntlet, but still a really good hour of television rasslin' & killer build for the inevitable, red hot WrestleMania meeting between Bryan & Kofi. ***1/4

WWE 205 Live 03/19/19: Cedric Alexander vs. Tony Nese

They do some meaningless stuff in the first half, and then they kick it into the 2nd gear, and go all indy 50/50 "epic" with it. It's not interesting in the slightest and goes too long, too. It's kind of what I expected looking at the participants, but I still wanted to give it a shot given the hype. I'd say it's definitely worth a watch, because of that exact reason, but for me, this was far from what I like in wrestling. *1/4

NJPW New Japan Cup 2019 - Day 10: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

This felt kind of "all over the place" in the first half, but I enjoyed their work during it nonetheless. Some good dueling limb work, and then in the 2nd half things pick up & get pretty great with Zack being his awesome smug self, and Tana answering with his terrific comebacks. One thing I really liked was ZSJ subtly selling his neck from the damage he got from those Twists & Shouts. Real good stuff there & the finish with Tana basically out-ZSJ'ing ZSJ was great as well. Definitely the weakest of their singles meetings so far, but still really enjoyable. ***1/2

NJPW New Japan Cup 2019 - Day 11: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Holy FUCK! This was just absolutely amazing from start to finish. I already loved the opening lock-up, and then the match just quickly explodes. Okada being a dick is always great, and it's especially great when he does it against his grumpy stablemate in the STONE PITBULL himself. Ishii answering to that by doing those exact same playful little kicks to Okada's head was superb & then the whole punishment section of him chopping the shit out of Okada was just WONDERFUL. Okada getting things back to his side w/ that DDT was great, and my goodness Ishii sold that thing like a boss. That of course did big damage to Ishii's neck, and that immediately becomes a big target for Okada's attacks; LOOOVED the whole sequence of Ishii waking up, Okada reacting to that immediately, Ishii showing that his neck is hurting & Okada then caving his forearm into that thing. I really could just make a long-ass list of my favorite moments in the match, and for the rest of it I am actually going to do just that:

- the macho-battle with them both marching towards forearms, just eating them
- Okada with that signature neckbreaker on the knee of his, cementing his dominance by going after the hurt neck
- the great callback to their G1 '16 match w/ the Rainmaker pose -> Ishii popping up, but this time Okada was ready for it
- Ishii's goddamn BOMBS; lariats, headbutts, you name it
- Okada with one of the sickest German Suplexes I've EVER seen - dat damn height!
- Ishii with the Nakamura-esq Armbar counter!
- JOHN WOOOOO after Ishii's epic fiery pop-up no-sell moment!
- That finishing sequence w/ the spinning Tombstone & Rainmaker

What a BADASS match. ****1/2

Catching UP!

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2019 - Day 2: Fenix vs. WALTER

WALTER delivers his usual great mauling & Fenix busts out some awesome flippy comebacks. Already a winning formula + then you add WALTER's disrespect of the mask(s) & you end up getting one really good & memorable match. ***1/2

NJPW New Japan Cup 2019 - Day 7: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

There's some of your usual legwork by Tana that gets no sold, but everything other than that was sooo much fun. The Korakuen is firmly behind Taguchi, so Tana reads the room & goes a bit heelish. Loved him refusing the fist bump at the beginning - set up what was about to come very well. Him using Taguchi's signature hip attacks against him was great, and while I did not like Taguchi's selling of the legwork, watching Tana go town on a limb is always compelling. Tana's character work was really impressive throughout, too - first he is cocky as hell, being a dick to this comedy act, but as Taguchi rallies up in the last third of the match, Tana gets desperate & that shows in the constant wacky pinfall attempts he busts out. Also loved the finish with him getting a rare Dragon Suplex win. ***3/4

NJPW New Japan Cup - Day 7: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

These two always bring such fun, fiery & competitive chemistry against one another inside the ring. This was a yet another banger between them. Zack is awesome with his submission work & I loved the way he set up traps for Ibushi in this one, with him baiting him into striking exchanges, only for him to catch him w/ submissions out of nowhere. The biggest target of Zack's attack was Ibushi's leg, and while Ibushi certainly isn't a good limb seller, I thought his work here regarding that was inoffensive & Zack getting the win via Orienteering With Napalm Death definitely helps too, as the legwork paid off in the end. ***1/2

NJPW New Japan Cup - Day 8: Minoru Suzuki vs. SANADA

The beginning back & forth is good, and I loved the way Suzuki eventually established control by baiting SANADA into thinking he has the Paradise Lock in, but then immediately escaping as SANADA charged, and then going after the leg. Suzuki works a mean heat segment with the main target being that leg of SANADA's - now while SANADA's selling was FAR from perfect, it was definitely better than I expected, and during the actual submissions his selling was GREAT. The match definitely drags quite a bit at times though, and that's what holds it back from being a great one overall - there's some really dull & uninteresting stuff in the middle, but it picks up in the homestretch with the incredible drama that was SANADA's Skull End vs. Suzuki's leglock battle on the mat. That whole thing was absolutely amazing & one of the best New Japan finishing stretches in recent years. ***1/2

ROH 17th Anniversary Show: Bandido vs. Rush

Kind of a generic workrate match with established babyface & heel roles. There's plenty of good Rush nastiness for it to be solid though. **1/4

ROH 17th Anniversary Show: Brody King & PCO vs. The Briscoes

Now this was the insanely brutal brawl it promised to be! The Briscoes were working their asses off, PCO was the crazy bastard that made him blow up in 2018 & Brody delivered some good violence to the dance as well. A fitting main event for the Anniversary show. ***3/4

NJPW New Japan Cup - Day 9: Tomohiro Ishii vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Ishii straight up bullies YOSHI-HASHI into showing some damn personality, and it works in some short bursts - the moments where HASHI actually answered right back at Ishii's trashtalk & showed some fire were good, but for the most part, this was the same ol' boring ass non-charisma having YOSHI-HASHI that I've come to expect in pretty much all of his matches. Some points for Ishii being Ishii & HASHI actually showing SOME personality in a couple of moments, but yeah, this wasn't good. *3/4

16 Carat Day 1 pickings; Kid/Thatcher, Starr/WALTER

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2019 - Day 1: Lucky Kid vs. Timothy Thatcher

They had a real banger at Carat the year prior, and this might've been even better. Very one-sided with Thatcher just destroying Kid throughout, and as a massive Dirty Tim fan, I of course absolutely loved it. Kid got just about the perfect amount of time on the offense himself, having some bursts of energy, but Thatcher always cut him off in his brilliant, vicious ways. The finish was amazing too & really put over the match as a pretty huge upset. ****

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2019 - Day 1: David Starr vs. WALTER

It's David Starr vs. WALTER, so of course it's very good. Loved the beginning with Starr going right after WALTER, and after that the match was your very good, yet usual David vs. Goliath action w/ the intense indy pacing that I've come to expect from the pairing. It was honestly kind of disappointing too, because they didn't offer anything new to the dynamic, other than the finish which I loved. They had a couple of stronger matches just last year, but judging from the finish, there's still quite more to the story they're telling & I am here for it. ***1/2

Taichi/Ishii, Archer/Bill + ISHIKAWA comes to Germany

NJPW New Japan Cup - Day 5: Taichi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

There are some very silly things in this like Taichi no selling a piledriver, but overall it was a good match that told a good story. Taichi at first is looking to be the cheating scumbag that he is, but as Ishii keeps on talking shit & challenging him, something changes & he drops the cheating shtick to show that he can hang with Ishii & his bulldozer style. They trade a lot of strikes throughout; Taichi with his kicks & Ishii with his chops. It's all pretty brutal stuff. Then as Ishii isn't going down to Taichi's signature bombs, the Dangerous T goes back to his cheating ways, as he realizes he probably can't beat the man, straight up. As I said, indeed a good match overall w/ some solid storytelling throughout. ***1/4

NJPW New Japan Cup - Day 6: Lance Archer vs. Will Ospreay

Definitely one of the most memorable matches Lance Archer has been involved in. Ospreay bumps like a madman for him from start to finish, and makes every power move of his look extra brutal by getting insane height on them. It's a good one. ***1/4

wXw Inner Circle 7: Shigehiro Irie & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Timothy Thatcher & WALTER

The grappling between Thatcher & Ishikawa is definitely the highlight of the match for me; great teaser for the singles match that happened a few days later & overall just great, great stuff. Thatcher puts all of Ishikawa's holds over big time with his fantastic facial expressions, and Ishikawa of course looks like a killer just schooling both Thatcher & WALTER on the mat. And just when I was thinking that Irie had been left kind of in the background of the match, out he comes & does some real compelling work on the mat against the Ringkampf lads. A really good match; maybe a bit too lengthy, but they filled like 99% of it with some real good wrestling. ***1/2

wXw AMBITION 10: Timothy Thatcher vs. Yuki Ishikawa

This was absolutely fantastic. There's a fun "dad vs. son" dynamic to the thing, with Thatcher taking on the man he idolizes & someone who he has trained under a bit. The matwork is fantastic as expected, and they tell the story of Ishikawa pretty much owning Thatcher there, which then lead to Thatcher having to resort to some brutal strikes to try and get the advantage. Much like in the Inner Circle tag, Thatchman puts all of Ishikawa's work over big time by selling every hold like they're killing him. It of course helps that all of Ishikawa's holds look uncomfortable & brutal as hell. ****1/4

NEW JAPAN CUP ROUND 1CHERRY PICKINGS

Day 1: Taichi vs. Tomoaki Honma

This was good. A bit clunky in a few spots here & there, but overall good. Taichi does a great job being the piece of shit heel that he is, targeting Honma's head & neck viciously throughout. I really liked his performance, all of his stuff looked pretty damn devastating. Honma's comebacks are solid too, and he sells all of Taichi's big stuff pretty huge. ***

Day 1: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata

They kicked, chopped & forearm'd the crap out of one another with their absolutely brutal looking strikes, and the arm targeting by Nagata was superb, but with the match going over 20 minutes, I felt it was dragging at points, so that's why it's not quite in the MOTYC status for me. Still a really good smackfest though, with the great stuff in it being really, really great. ***3/4

Day 2: Bad Luck Fale vs. Will Ospreay

They played up the size difference with Fale being on top for most of the thing & Ospreay fighting from underneath, and it was really solid. Could've done without some of Ospreay's goofy over the top facial expressions & vocal "selling", but other than those, this was indeed pretty fun. **3/4

Day 2: Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin

Some promising ideas in the beginning with Kevin Kelly bringing up Elgin's past success with the Crossface, as he kept on working over Okada's neck & arm, but then as Okada took over, the match got very boring & remained that until the end. Boring work on top by the man, and while I did dug Elgin busting out that Crossface of his, all of his other work was pretty damn boring. Then a generic Okada finishing stretch to boot. Over 20 minutes of dullness. *1/4

Day 3: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino

The most interesting looking match up of the whole round 1, and they sure delivered a very fun bout. Good, classic storytelling with Umino the young lion pushing one of the company's biggest legends to the limit & hanging with him all the way through. The post-match with Tana showing respect to him was awesome too. ***1/4

Day 3: EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

This was solid, but sadly also pretty boring for the most part. Followed about the same dynamic as their superior New Beginning meeting from the month before, but wasn't nearly as captivating. **

Day 3: Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

Not quite as crazy as some of their previous meetings, but still really good. Naito gives Ibushi's neck a hellacious beating throughout - that Tombstone on the apron spot was an absolute holy shit moment, and Ibushi's explosive comebacks were very good. Always pop for him using the Boma Ye. ***1/2

Day 4: Minoru Suzuki vs. Satoshi Kojima

Two veterans who do not like each other beating the crap out of one another. Oh yes! MiSu is an absolute killer with his forearms & Kojima's lariats are always a thing of beauty. ***1/2

Day 4: Hirooki Goto vs. SANADA

I liked this more than their G1 28 match. SANADA brought a great flow to the thing w/ his always impressive athleticism & awesome neck targeting, and Goto definitely was good too answering right back at him w/ some neck targeting of his own. Quite a charming match. Definitely a good one. ***

FASTLANE

Shane McMahon & The Miz vs. The Usos

A big time upgrade from their previous match, and sort of a surprise in how good it was. Good energy & atmosphere from bell to bell (& after w/ Shane's heel turn) - Usos were really good as usual, Shane didn't do anything annoying & all of his spots were actually pretty good + The Miz was on low-key FIRE with this being in front of his hometown fans. Awesome way to kick off the PPV. ***

Asuka vs. Mandy Rose

This wasn't much. The whole Sonya interference kendo stick deal was a bit confusing, but at least Asuka looked really good as always with her offense, and Mandy looked good with what she did too. Felt like a fine, yet overly booked TV match. *3/4

Aleister Black & Ricochet vs. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable vs. The Revival

Didn't care for this at all. Just a collection of very choreographed looking spots with very little heat. *

Andrade vs. R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Samoa Joe

This was really goddamn good - awesome action from start to finish, with everybody getting time to shine. I thought Rey & Joe especially looked great during this; Rey with his amazing smoothness hitting those highflying spots, all the while making them look really impactful & then Joe with his bulldozer work, especially in the beginning. ***3/4

Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax & Tamina

This only went like 7 minutes, so they didn't get to do much, but for the time they got, they worked a solid lil' match with their usual dynamic. Bayley especially put in a lot of effort. **

Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens vs. Mustafa Ali

This was a great three way dance. Just great spotfest action, with some great bursts of 1-on-1 action, especially by Bryan, in between the big spots. Bryan was great with everything he did, receiving & giving an asskicking, Ali was in his element bumping like a maniac & busting out those gorgeously vicious dives of his & these kind of matches definitely fit Owens' move-set & wrestling style very well. Dat finish! ****

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair

The match revolved around Becky's bum leg, and while it wasn't bad, it certainly wasn't very compelling either. Oh well. At least this time she didn't forget which leg to sell. **

Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley & Drew McIntyre vs. The Shield

I am gonna be honest: I didn't care for the match at all until it spilled to the outside, and I got them Shield vs. Evolution flashbacks with their all-over-the-place chaotic brawling. That's when the match started to RULE, and it never stopped ruling big time after that. The sequence Corbin & Reigns had inside the ring while the other four were outside was great, as was the whole Triple Powerbomb bit w/ the heels first trying to do it mockingly, only for The Shield to PUNISH them with the real thing. The finish with the boys just destroying Baron was superb too, and I won't lie, I got them goosebumps when Rollins got fired up yelling "one last motherfucking time!" when they went for the Triple Powerbomb to get the finish. Awesome stuff. ***1/2

NJPW: Trent/Juice + Anniversary Show

NJPW The New Beginning in USA - Day 2: Beretta vs. Juice Robinson

As expected, this was unnecessary long w/ it going almost 30 minutes, but I understand it. This was an NJPW show, and with the visa issues of Japanese wrestlers, it was the only real NJPW match on the card. They filled the 27 minutes pretty greatly, with it not feeling masturbatory at all, as they told a solid story w/ Trent's ribs; he very much had Juice in trouble, but Juice time & time again went back to that mid-section to gain the control. Trent's selling was pretty solid throughout, too. It did indeed start dragging by the end, but as I mentioned, I understand it, and the effort to make it as compelling as possible was there, and I did very much enjoy it overall. ***1/2

NJPW 47th Anniversary Show: BUSHI & Shingo Takagi vs. SHO & YOH

The start was great w/ Shingo being badass on the offense; obvious highlight for me was the bit with him & SHO just slugging it out, absolutely loved that lariat exchange they had. Then a bunch of stuff happens in the middle, and I just don't care about it, very forgettable & generic stuff, but at least the finishing stretch was great - that Rebellion nearfall was legit really, really good. The start & the finish were good, but the actual meat of the match was very meh. **

NJPW 47th Anniversary Show: Jushin Liger vs. Taiji Ishimori

It's LIGER in a big match, so of course it ruled. He played his greatest hits, which is always fantastic & Taiji was great bumping his ass off for him. They created a real compelling battle w/ some great drama revolving around Liger pushing the younger champ to the absolute limit. ***1/2

NJPW 47th Anniversary Show: Jay White vs. Will Ospreay

The first half or so was pretty great. Some good mind games w/ White being a dick & Ospreay showing off with his athleticism - then the ribs of Ospreay become the main target of Switchblade's onslaught, and it's FANTASTIC. He's really vicious working over Ospreay + has some awesome rib-targeting-cut-offs to Ospreay's comeback attempts. That's when I thought this match might be heading towards something really good, but as Ospreay gets more of his shit in, he drops the selling except for a few coughs here & there, and the match adopts the more typical NJPW main event formula w/ counters & finishing stretch-wrestling. It's not interesting, but the first half & White's work there was so good that the match couldn't be bad overall, even with a very boring 2nd half. **3/4

STARDOM: Konami/Mayu, Momo/Jungle

Stardom New Years Stars 2019 - Day 9: Evening Show: Konami vs. Mayu Iwatani

Konami's performance was pretty wonderful. She was super focused attacking the taped up leg of Mayu w/ her submissions and kicks to it - a couple of mark out-moments in the match included her countering Mayu's German attempt into what looked like it was gonna be a roll-up, but instead she locks the leg into a submission, sticking to her gameplan + the moment where after she had been torturing Mayu inside the ring for a while, Mayu ends up outside the ring, and as she beats the ref's count, Konami immediately gives her leg a vicious kick. Mayu's selling during the first half of the match was pretty damn great, but as expected, once she started to get more of her shit in, it became extremely spotty. More selling from her & this would've been great, but with how it went, it was still very, very good w/ a really great performance by Konami. ***1/2

Stardom World in Nagoya 2019: Jungle Kyona vs. Momo Watanabe

The match had a BIG FIGHT FEEL w/ the camerawork during the entrances - always have loved the shots of wrestlers backstage moments before going through the curtain, it adds so much to the feeling of the thing, and it did exactly that here. The match itself was a good, intense bombfest w/ a real good atmosphere to it w/ it being in front of Jungle Kyona's hometown fans. It didn't click with me in the way of getting me to go "wow, this is really good/or even great", but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Def worth a watch. ***1/4

Eddie Kingston, Trevor Lee & Tim Thatcher goodies

EVOLVE 122: Angelo Dawkins vs. Eddie Kingston

A notch below Kingston's bout vs. Montez Ford from EVOLVE 120, but still a very enjoyable & lovely bout. Had pretty much the same dynamic as that said bout Eddie had vs. Ford w/ the NXT prospect "having" to prove that he is a man, that he can go toe-to-toe against one of the biggest indy vets in a slugfest, and that sure Mr. Dawkins did, indeed. Kingston's character work was really great & subtle throughout, with him going from a cocky prick to being in big trouble by Dawkins' onslaught, which meant he had to resort to some sneaky tactics to get back into things. Both guys, especially Eddie, have some really good looking strikes, and the match had a really great feeling of a fight throughout. Another show, another Eddie Kingston banger in EVOLVE. ***1/4

AAW The Final Stand: Eddie Kingston vs. Trevor Lee

There's lots of WRSTLING interference stuff by Curt Stallion & Jake Something, but it's not done in an overly annoying way, as those actually worked pretty well in the context of the match & Kingston's character. Everytime Trevor stunned him, there was Stallion & Something helping Kingston to get the advantage back. Eddie is real good on top, and Trevor works that babyface magic of his - popped for that GORGEOUS moonsault he busted out. The match is full of wonderful comeback moments like that by him, and like I mentioned, Eddie on top rules; he's wonderfully vicious with his chops & mid-section targeting. Great AAW sendoff for Trevor. ***3/4

wXw Road to 16 Carat Gold 2019: Bielefeld: Ilja Dragunov vs. Timothy Thatcher

Pretty similar to their PROGRESS banger & just as good. A smackfest through & through with Thatcher brutalizing Ilja on top, while Ilja makes some explosive, hard hitting comebacks. ***1/2

PROGRESS Chapter 83: Timothy Thatcher vs. Trent Seven

A clinic on the offense by Thatcher. Just something about everything he did here looked even more brutal than usual, and his whole demeanor in the match was pretty fascinating; he was playing to the crowd wayyy more than usual, and it was pretty darn awesome. His knees, kicks, uppercuts - all were just violently beautiful. Trent rocked the FIP role well too, but GODDAMN this was the Timothy Thatcher show! ***3/4

Stardom, AJPW, NXT UK & NXT (not UK!)

Stardom Queen's Fes: AZM vs. Hazuki

An intense, fast paced sprint w/ good action throughout. Hazuki throws some very nice looking forearms & AZM's arm targeting was pretty solid; that La Mistica was awesome. Good match. ***1/4

Stardom Queen's Fes: Arisa Hoshiki & Mayu Iwatani vs. Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita

Solid, hard hitting, bomb heavy joshi action bell to bell with a good flow. Enjoyed it, but there wasn't much that stood out in the thing. ***

AJPW Excite Series 2019 - Day 10: Kento Miyahara vs. Suwama

Suwama does a number on Kento's neck, and while Kento doesn't sell it too much, a worked over neck is hard to straight up no sell like a knee (shout out to Kento's performance vs. KAI from January), so I thought it was fine throughout. Some good comebacks by him, and that said neck work by Suwama was pretty great. I did think that Kento came off as world's biggest Kenny Omega fan in a few spots though, with his over the top goofy facial expressions before & after his knee strikes. Pretty amusing in my eyes. Good match. ***1/4

WWE NXT UK 02/27/19: Kassius Ohno vs. WALTER

Pretty disappointing, but it wasn't a bad match though, as they told a good narrative of Ohno not letting WALTER strike first, but being the egomaniac that he is, still wanting to strike the big lad himself, which then bit him in the ass. Ideally this would've been a full on great 8-minute slugfest war, but that it wasn't, BUT what we got was still good. ***

WWE NXT 02/27/19: Dominik Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee

Very similar to their EVOLVE WM weekend match from a couple years back. Dijak & Keith did their THING, with hard hits & plenty of freaky athleticism throughout. Enjoyed it very much. ***1/2

WWE NXT 02/27/19: Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler

I've known about her for what feels like forever, but this might be the actual first time I am watching a Mia Yim match. Happy to report that her performance was really good, with her selling the ankle Shayna went to work on the whole time through. Really liked that sequence of events where she gets a big comeback, and does quite a bit of her offense w/ that bad foot, and she sells it like it's killing her. Another thing I really liked was her desperation attempts at going after Shayna's hand; made for some good drama down the stretch. Very good match. ***1/2