CMLL, NOAH, NJPW, PWG..

CMLL Super Viernes 02/22/19: El Barbaro Cavernario vs. Titan

Barbaro makes quick work of Titan to get the first fall. Then in the 2nd fall, he delivers a vicious beatdown to Titan throughout, but Titan makes a wonderful comeback to even things out. The first two falls were already great, but then in the 3rd one, they go all out; Titan is a house of fire to start it off, and there's plenty of awesomely impactful & vicious looking dives. Barbaro in particular makes everything look nasty from suplexes to dropkicks to those aforementioned DIVES. His cutoffs of Titan's offense bursts were great. So was the match overall. ****

NOAH Great Voyage in Yokohama 2019: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Naomichi Marufuji

This match is rock solid from start to finish, but the crowd being borderline dead didn't help it at all. And of course with it being a NOAH main event, it goes on for waaaaaay too long too & ends up dragging a lot by the end, but there's plenty of Marufuji-punishing-this-young-boy -goodness in it, so I thought it was pretty good overall. Loved how he still treated Kiyomiya as the same young lad he was in 2017, dominating him with his awesome veteran work, with great smug facial expressions to boot. Kiyomiya's selling was pretty good too, but I admittedly didn't care for his comebacks much at all. I came here to watch Marufuji be the cocky veteran, and there was plenty of that indeed, so while the match had it's issues (the crowd, the length), it was pretty enjoyable. **3/4

NJPW Sengoku Lord in Nagoya: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Zack's attack on the neck was pretty solid, and I enjoyed how it came to play in the late stages of the match - in particular I really loved how he countered Ibushi's deadlift suplex attempt into a guillotine. Another standout moment was Ibushi catching Zack's leg, only for Zack to SLAP him, which lead to Ibushi calmly putting down Zack's leg and smacking him down. With that being said, I thought this wasn't nowhere near as good as their previous meetings though - just missing some of the energy & that competitive spark that they usually have. **3/4

PWG Hand of Doom: Jeff Cobb vs. Trevor Lee

Loved this. Trevor plays through all of his PWG character arc greatest hits with the 1st half of the match feeling like the scrappy underdog that he was in his first few years there, but then he eventually switches back to the heel dickhead Trevor, trying to cheat his way into victory. Loved it all. Cobb delivered some nice, nasty smacks & throws throughout, as well. Also thought that the kickout-at-1 -moment was done very well, with Trevor just having gone to a full on fiery dive rampage before Cobb hit him w/ that Tour of the Islands he kicked out of. The post-match farewell speech was also terrific & emotional. I gotta wonder did Cobb's shoulder get legitimately fucked up in the match, because he sold it BIG throughout, and Trevor's work over it wasn't THAT focused or brutal. If it didn't get legit hurt, then I gotta applause his selling. Awesome match & a wonderful PWG sendoff for Trevor. ***3/4