DOUBLE or NOTHING

HELL YEAH.

SoCal Uncensored vs. Strong Hearts

AEW's first ever (main card) match is a big hit! The company is off to a good start with it for sure, as SCU & Strong Hearts put on a super fun match with good high energy action from bell to bell. Everybody got time to shine, and everybody looked good; I wasn't familiar w/ El Lindaman & T-Hawk other than having seen their names, and both were pretty impressive here. El Lindaman in particular was really good. ***1/2

Awesome Kong vs. Britt Baker vs. Kylie Rae vs. Nyla Rose

The weakest match on the main card, but still a good one. Started off a bit awkward, with it feeling pretty heatless & not having much of a good flow, but as it went on, it got better, and by the end it was real good. Awesome Kong was a nice surprise addition, and all of her times on the offense were very nice, Kylie was pretty great w/ all of her big spots & awesome selling - probably the MVP of the thing, Baker looked solid, even though she easily was the most forgettable performer in the match + Nyla Rose had a couple of good spots - I liked what I saw from her here in my first time watching her wrestle. ***

Angelico & Jack Evans vs. Best Friends

Jack Evans, or actually Jack F'N Evans if I may correct myself, is just amazing. He was his usual timeless self here w/ that freaky athleticism & the man sure doesn't stop running his mouth, which is just the best. Was my first time seeing him in like 3-4 years I think, and I had almost forgotten how great he is. Also while his tag partner Angelico has never really done anything for me, I was quite surprised by how GREAT he was here - all of his strikes looked viciously awesome, and he busted out some neat submissions too. Excalibur informing the viewers that he has done some training under Negro Navarro certainly made those even more neat. Best Friends were excellent as well, especially Trent who reminded why is one of the current FIP greats in wrestling. He sure took a damned beating - that one sequence where Angelico counters his running attack w/ a brutal knee, which then lead to Angelico crucifix bombing him into the corner was just superb. Terrific match! ****

Aja Kong, Emi Sakura & Yuka Sakazaki vs. Hikaru Shida, Riho & Ryo Mizunami

A really good joshi showcase tag. Fun characters in a hard hitting & intense bout with a fast pace all the way through. Enjoyed it very much. ***1/2

Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes

Dustin having a big singles match was easily my most awaited thing on the whole show, and he sure worked his magic here, to say the least. You just can't fake this kind of magic & emotion - everything felt organic & real. I already got a bit emotional when the brothers were staring each other down & the crowd was chanting their fathers name very loudly, but in the end, with the "I need my older brother" line, I MIGHT'VE shed a tear or two. Those bastards. Was certainly worth the wait to see them FINALLY get the big singles match between 'em - I remember back in like 2011 posting on other wrestling boards about wanting to see the match at Mania, and that continued for years, every Mania-season. Now it finally happened & it sure was something special. Everything from the atmosphere, to Dustin's all-time great babyface work, to Cody being an asshole, to the bladejob - which is one of the most disgustingly effective & awesome ones I've EVER seen, to the CODE RED, to the post-match. Pure magic. Pure damn magic. Rhodes Forever! ****1/2

The Lucha Brothers vs. The Young Bucks

I feel like I've seen this match a thousand times before, so I wasn't very interested by it, and then I read that they went 25 minutes & that sure made me even more skeptical of the thing, BUT they had an absolutely awesome spotfest, for 25-damn-minutes indeed. Crazy scenes! Pure madness from start to finish with no downtime whatsoever. LOVED the nods to Steenerico & MCMG by the Bucks. Quality stuff & the fact that they had THIS kind of a match and made it compelling for nearly a half hour is a HUGE testament to their abilities. ***1/2

Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega

Almost on the level of their Tokyo Dome meeting. This was a fantastic all around performance by Omega; dude was sellin' n' bumpin' his ass off for Jericho, making all of Jericho's very forgettable offense look amazing in the process. That all wrapped up very nicely as he made Jericho's new finisher look like an absolute killshot. Of course Kenny himself is great on the offense, and I loved the table-stuff - some good callbacks to that Dome meeting of theirs, and overall it was a pretty creative use of the prop, I thought. Really good match & GREAT post-match. Double or Nothing ends on a high note. ***1/2

BOSJ Day 7 pickingssss

Jonathan Gresham vs. Titan

This was extremely fun with great energy behind it all the way through. Both Gresham & Titan brought the goods on the offense too, and I liked the story of Titan falling for Gresham's traps, which ended up ultimately costing him. ***1/2

Marty Scurll vs. Shingo Takagi

Marty had an energy to him here that I haven't seen in a loooong time or maybe even EVER. All of his stuff looked way better than usual & he was just completely fired up from start to finish. The dynamic of him dominating Shingo could've easily been a big time miss, but thanks to his wonderfully lively performance, it worked excellently. Shingo was great too w/ his suffocating smashmouth comebacks, and I loved Brody King's interference as well - mostly because the payoff to that w/ Shingo beheading him w/ that damn LARIAT was very satisfying. Kickass match. ***1/2

El Phantasmo vs. Will Ospreay

This was heading towards to being something special, but then it just went on & on & on. I shouldn't be surprised, and I am not, but I sure am disappointed by it. The beginning with Ospreay going destruction-mode kicking Phantasmo's ass all over the place was wonderful; Ospreay's offense looked truly brutal & Phantasmo was selling his ass off for him. Even every dive he hit looked extra vicious. The whole crowd brawl was awesome & talking bout dives looking extra vicious, how bout Phantasmo's moonsault off the top of the crowd entrance. Great stuff. Phantasmo overall really impressed me here & while I had issues with the match length (by the end), this sure was a great showcase for the lad. Still a good match, but with some serious trimming it could've been really, really great. ***1/4

MITB

Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. The Usos

Bryan is awesome with his work over Jey Uso during his FIP segment - he's just choppin' n' kickin' the crap out of him & it rules. That was the highlight of the bout alongside the finishing run, which also rocked big time. Not a fan of the result, but this was still a very good match, especially for kickoff standards. I'd put it a notch above their SD title switch. ***

Women's Money In The Bank

This was really fun. Clocking in at just under 14 minutes, they started it at a pretty wild pace & it never let up till the finish. Very good flow & action from bell to bell. Everybody got to shine, and I thought Mandy Rose in particular looked really impressive. ***1/2

Rey Mysterio vs. Samoa Joe

As always, these two are quality together, but the match ended very quickly out of nowhere so I can't rate it. NR

Shane McMahon vs. The Miz

Their Mania match surprised me in how good it was, and here they make it 2 for 2. Shane is pretty great as the obnoxious heel getting his ass kicked, and The Miz was pretty damn awesome ass the babyface-seeking-revenge kicking that ass of his all over the ring. Enjoyed it very much, and I thought the finish was pretty perfect for Shane's current character. ***

Ariya Daivari vs. Tony Nese

This wasn't very interesting. Some points for Daivari's punches during his control segment, those looked real good, but overall this fell pretty flat. Nese is amazingly cold babyface. *1/2

Becky Lynch vs. Lacey Evans & Charlotte Flair

Putting them together here, because I don't have much to say about either one. Both happened. *

AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins

They had the usual Seth Rollins workrate match w/ bombs, counters & nearfalls galore, but I'll give credit where it's due, as they made it look a lot more interesting than oh so many others. Rollins actually surprised me with how impactful & vicious he made his usually-shitty offense look - he definitely matched AJ in that department here, and that is something I wasn't expecting. I even really liked that inverted superplex -> falcon arrow spot that I always dislike when he does it normally. AJ of course brought it on the offense too & made all of Rollins' stuff look extra good w/ his legendary bumping & selling. So yeah, technically this match was pretty great indeed, but I just didn't care about its layout at all. Like I said, it was your usual Rollins workrate match, and matches of that & this kind just don't do it for me, unless I am truly invested in the participants or something, I guess. That is why I can't give it much love, but I acknowledge the fact (in my eyes anyway) that they took a very dull match layout & made it look more interesting than it would've been in most other cases. **1/4

Kevin Owens vs. Kofi Kingston

I appreciate Owens' psychology of going after Kofi's mid-section; I really liked the two Boston Crabs he busted out, and now thinking back at it, the whole thing was good continuity of Kofi's WM bout vs. Bryan. Too bad that Owens is incredibly dull for the most part on top & his constant trashtalk shtick has got seriously old & annoying. Not a bad match by any means, but neither is particularly intriguing w/ their roles, Kofi from underneath & KO on top. **

Men's Money In The Bank

Man, I love BORK, he's one of my all-time favorites, but the ending w/ him winning dropped a real turd on this one, and it's an extra shame because the other 7 were busting their asses & created one of the more compelling multi-man ladder matches there has been. The highlights were Andrade's absolutely SICK sunset flip powerbomb to Finn onto that bridged ladder, Ali's Spanish Fly to Andrade from the ladder(s), Corbin destroying Ali & Bálor w/ chokeslams + McIntyre throwing Ricochet out of the ring straight through a ladder. Brutal stuff all around. ***1/2

BOSJ Cherry Pickings part1

DOUKI vs. Ren Narita

DOUKI does some super basic, very meh work on top - it's not interesting at all, but at least Narita brings the heat w/ his comebacks - dat dropkick! So yeah, not a good match at all overall, but at least Narita salvaged it somewhat. Not a good first look on DOUKI, that's for sure. *3/4

Robbie Eagles vs. Rocky Romero

Not interesting in the slightest on paper, but they actually wrestled a very solid match here. The big story in it was Rocky's knee, which Eagles worked pretty well throughout. The highlights were the 450 to the knee, and then the sequence where it buckles as Rocky is attempting to deliver a (FOREVER! ) running lariat to the corner, which then Eagles immediately capitalizes on & delivers a very nice springboard dropkick to that knee. I do think the match dragged a bit, which is also funny to write out because it also got better in some parts as it went on; at first Eagles' kneework wasn't much, just your basic stuff, but then those two moments that I mentioned above happened & he got more creative with it, so I started digging it a lot. Rocky's selling certainly wasn't the most consistent, but overall I'd say he did a solid job w/ it, and all in all this was a pretty solid match INDEED. **1/2

Jonathan Gresham vs. TAKA Michinoku

This was a very neat match. TAKA as the veteran dominated most of the thing, doing some nice asshole'ish work w/ the stomps & all. He also continued where he left off in the match vs. Tiger Mask w/ that ZSJ-esq submission work too, and it was awesome. Gresham also got plenty of time to look good w/ his attack on the arm, and with him having to fight from under, it made all of his offense feel much more important. Good stuff. ***1/4

Tiger Mask vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

This is all about Kanemaru working Tiger's bum knee, and it's really good from start to finish. Kanemaru is super focused on the attack & Tiger sells well + busts out awesome comebacks. And then there's the awesome beginning w/ them going at it right as Tiger gets into the ring during his entrance - him beating Kanemaru down w/ that sweet ass entrance jacket of his still on & then throwing that said jacket onto Kanemaru was all kinds of awesome. ***1/2

Dragon Lee vs. SHO

Didn't care for the beginning Ishii vs. Shibata cosplay act - it came off as very forced + the million forearms they threw didn't look good. What I did like though was the dueling armwork; both guys did some awesomely vicious work over one another, and both also sold pretty damn well throughout. Now the match definitely went on for way too long, there was no need for it to go 27-damn-minutes, but overall I was sports entertained, which is something I wasn't expecting given how it started. ***

Ren Narita vs. Robbie Eagles

Narita THE HOMETOWN KID brings the heat! His times on the offense are awesome, and Eagles is a tremendous opponent for him in front of this particular crowd, as he does some basic, yet compelling enough work on top, and then sells big for Narita's stuff. Both guys smashed it. Awesome match. ***1/4

Rocky Romero vs. Will Ospreay

I was dreading the concept of Rocky Romero & Will Ospreay going 25 minutes, but goddamn they actually killed it. The match built pretty well throughout the whole duration of it, and then in the finishing stretch of the last 5-7 minutes of it, it all clicked big time w/ Rocky getting a few TREMENDOUS nearfalls, fantastic counters, the crowd going crazy, the one last armbar by Rocky.. So much good stuff there. Also hats off to Caprice Coleman who added a lot with his pure passion on commentary regarding Rocky almost pulling off the upset. This is definitely gonna be remembered as one of the highlights of the 2019 BOSJ and rightfully so. ***1/2

BOSJ Day 1

TAKA Michinoku vs. Tiger Mask

Two guys that I love starting off the tourney. Can't complain! And the match was very good too, unsurprisingly. TAKA goes to attack Tiger's bum knee very quickly, and the becomes the big story of the match. TAKA is awesome on the attack w/ nice submissions & dickish stomps to the knee. Tiger sells very well for the most part - in particular there's this really great moment after his first comeback attempt where he had delivered a big kick to TAKA's stomach w/ the bad knee, so immediately afterwards he collapses to one knee & sells the hurt on the knee big time. Very, very nice bout. ***1/2

Titan vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

They kept this basic & simple, and it ended up being a pretty solid match. Kanemaru jump Titan during the entrances, and that set ups the Kanemaru-dominates-while-Titan-makes-high-energy-and-impact-comebacks -dynamic right away. **

Jonathan Gresham vs. Marty Scurll

Both guys did their shtick here - Gresham with his typical matwork & Scurll with his finger stuff and all. Didn't care for it much at all, and the strikes of both men looked pretty bad throughout too. Not a good one. *1/2

Shingo Takagi vs. SHO

Extremely generic & dull. They went with the boring "wow, this is epic!!" layout w/ a bunch of bombs & nearfallsthroughout, and I gotta say I didn't care for it one bit. It's something I've seen a million times, so it doesn't do a thing for me unless it's some truly exceptionally great looking offense, and that's something Shingo & SHO didn't offer here. Bleh, meh, bleh. Of course it went 25 minutes too; it certainly felt every second of it & some more. *1/4

Dragon Lee vs. Taiji Ishimori

When they opened this with the usual generic puro forearm exchange, I knew it wasn't gonna be very interesting for the rest of it, and that sure ended up being the case. Boring stuff in a match that would've improved big time had it not gone for as long as it did + annoying no-selling to boot. *1/4

DownSmack: Tag Titles, WWE Title

WWE SmackDown 05/07/19: Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. The Usos

This was pretty good. Jimmy's FIP segment was more than solid w/ Bryan doing some nice work over him & Rowan delivering a neat monster mauling. The finishing run was red hot & great as well. Very solid TV bout. Very much looking forward to the reign of Bryan & Rowan! **3/4

WWE SmackDown 05/07/19: AJ Styles vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Sami Zayn

This was good. AJ looked incredible with his amazingly vicious looking offense, and Kofi returned the favor w/ that nasty splash from the top. Good stuff. Zayn looked real good too, unsurprisingly. Quality TV match. ***

Bryan & Kofi kill it again

WWE RAW 05/06/19: Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston

THE GOAT IS BACK. This was excellent. Not Mania level, but not many matches are. Kofi got a proper shine to start things off & it was very good. Eventually Bryan gets the control as Kofi crashes to the outside, and so starts the clinic of working the arm by the man; every kick he lashes out is targeted to that left arm, and I also loved how he threw Kofi arm first into the barricade. The way he countered Kofi's springboard attack attempt into the Danielson Special might've been the highlight of the match, too. Kofi sells the armwork very well throughout - loved him selling the damage during the "New Day Rocks" clapping-bit. The cherry on top of the cake is that the finishing stretch ruled as well; they kept it short, but also kept the sense of danger in the thing w/ both guys barely escaping their killshots in Busaiku & Trouble in Paradise, only for Kofi to bust it out again to get the win. Great stuff. ****

Kento/Jake, Ishimori/Dragon Lee, Ishii/EVIL

AJPW Champion Carnival 2019 Finals: Jake Lee vs. Kento Miyahara

This took me a long time to get into, but by the end, I was digging it. They milked the most drama out of pretty much every exchange & the KNEES that were thrown sure were brutal throughout. As I implied though, I wasn't into it for a long time, so I can't call it good overall, but it certainly wasn't bad either. **1/2

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2019 - Day 1: Dragon Lee vs. Taiji Ishimori

Didn't care for this in it's lengthy duration one bit. Of course with this being a non-tournament NJPW main event, it had to go AT LEAST 25 minutes, and that didn't suit the explosive junior heavyweight style of these two at all. It slowed things down big time, and neither one of them was interesting in the slightest during their times on the offense. Bleh. *

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2019 - Day 2: EVIL vs. Tomohiro Ishii

A very generic Ishii slug & bomb -fest. I did appreciate some of the knee targeting in the early parts, which then were followed with the Scorpion Deathlock stuff, but that was done very quickly, and was replaced with the seen-it-million-times strike exchanges & bombs. A big time YAWN, was this one. *

All the INTERESTING stuff from CC

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuji Okabayashi

As usual with these two fellas, they brought the BEEFY stuff & it was very enjoyable from start to finish. Most of the match saw Shuji do the work on top while Yuji busted out some hard hitting, explosive comebacks. Good stuff. ***1/4

Kento Miyahara vs. Zeus

Not bad, but didn't care much for it. Your usual Kento antics, and a formula of two guys smacking the crap out of each other w/ Kento doing some work on top while Zeus busted out comebacks and ultimately the win. *3/4

Kento Miyahara vs. Shuji Ishikawa

This felt like a tournament version of their epic Triple Crown meetings of the past. HOW FITTING. It drags a little by the end, but overall it's good, hard hitting bomb-heavy fun. ***

Naoya Nomura vs. Yoshitatsu

Neither guy offered anything of note in their respective roles - Yoshitatsu with his basic, dull work on top & Nomura with his equally basic & uninteresting comebacks. It wasn't bad though, but low-key disappointing because this actually looked pretty intriguing on paper. **

Dylan James vs. Yuji Okabayashi

30 minutes of pure BEEF. Just two big boys busting out chops, lariats & other big, hard hitting bombs against one another. Really like how it slowed down in the last 10 minutes too - good selling of the fatigue from the past 20 mins. ***

Yuji Okabayashi vs. Zeus

Explosive bombs & slugs being traded all the way through. It's good fun w/ great energy to it + an awesome atmosphere to boot. ***1/4

Dylan James vs. Shuji Ishikawa

About on par w/ Dylan's match vs. Okabayashi. Two heavyweights brutalizing each other with knees, forearms, lariats & bombs. It's the good stuff. ***

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Zeus

An absolutely AWESOME heavyweight collision! Loved how at first Zeus is low-key dominating Shuji, but then Shuji gets back into things w/ his brutal comeback flurries, and as that dynamic goes for a while, it eventually escalates into a full-on bomb warfare. Definitely one of the highlights of this year's Carnival. ***1/2

Kento Miyahara vs. Yuji Okabayashi

I didn't care for Kento at all in this. He wasn't interesting on the offense & I very much dislike his over the top goofy facial expressions. Thank goodness for the awesomeness that is Yuji Okabayashi though - this was HIS show. Loved him just bulldozing Kento throughout. Those cutoffs of Kento's comeback attempts were especially awesome; just when it looked like Kento finally got his big comeback in, BOOM, here's big Yuji with a big powerslam to put that to an end. Awesome stuff. Also loved Yuji not (at first, that is) going down to those flying knees in the finishing stretch. Good match. ***1/4

Naoya Nomura vs. Suwama

This was so goddamn great. Absolutely badass underdog story with Suwama completely dominating for the most part with his awesomely grumpy brutal veteran work. Nomura doesn't go down without a fight though, to say the least, and that sure annoyes ol' Suwama, who shows that brilliantly by slamming the mat angrily after Nomura has the NERVE to suplex him, and then later on when he gets a big nearfall. Those were some little touches that I LOOOOVED big time & added LOTS to the already-totally-great -match. ****

Jake Lee vs. Naoya Nomura

At least 2/3 of the match is high-key dominated by Jake Lee, and understandably so because Nomura is coming off of his war vs. Suwama. Now the sad thing is that Lee's work on top was incredibly meh; literally can't name one thing from him in this match that I would consider interesting, BUT Nomura's comebacks RULED w/ an awesome sense of urgency & desperation to them, and the match told a very strong narrative that I really liked, so I'd say it was a good one overall. ***

Will be reporting back w/ the thoughts on the FINALS very soon!