AEW Fyter Fest

Christopher Daniels vs. CIMA

This has a nice charm of two true vets going at it. It wasn't very memorable though, but it was perfectly fine. Some solid back & forth, with a nice lil' story of Daniels working a bit over CIMA's back. **1/2

Nyla Rose vs. Riho vs. Yuka Sakazaki

Good stuff. Riho & Yuka brought a nice sense of urgency to the thing right from the start w/ them teaming against the much bigger woman in Nyla Rose, and that urgency increases very well as the match goes on - all resulting in that awesome finishing stretch. ***

Adam Page vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Jungle Boy vs. MJF

Good spotfest with everybody getting time to shine. Fun action from bell to bell, and even before the bell actually with MJF's awesome promo. ***

Cody vs. Darby Allin

Darby Allin, one of the very best wrestlers in the world, getting this big match & spotlight is absolutely WONDERFUL. The match was good too, and he in particular, unsurprisingly, absolutely killed it. Cody certainly isn't the most compelling dude when working a long-ass beatdown segment, but Darby's unbelievably amazing bumping & selling make it work. The energy picks up everytime he mounts comebacks too. Had Cody been more interesting on top, this more than likely would've been great. ***1/4

The Elite vs. Laredo Kid & The Lucha Brothers

The first half of this is terribly soulless, as its just full of generic & usual, super choreographed & weak looking sequences. It does pick up & get somewhat interesting at some point, and by the end, it's actually pretty good. Overall definitely nothing to write home about though. **1/2

Joey Janela vs. Jon Moxley

EASILY the best match of the night. Two great personalities clashing in a match that fits those personalities pretty much perfectly. Full of creatively fun violence w/ them constantly looking to one-up the previous big spot. ***3/4

Io, Shayna, Daisuke & Otani badassery

WWE NXT 06/26/19: Io Shirai vs. Shayna Baszler

It's your usual Shayna dynamic of her being the bully on top, while her babyface opponent makes awesome comebacks. Shayna is of course really good at delivering a beatdown, and I actually thought that she changed her "usual" a little bit here, by not being so totally focused on one limb, but instead just kicking overall ass a lot. Io sells great - she made everything look very deadly, and I especially loved how vicious those throws into the cage looked due to her incredibly awesome sellin' n' bumpin'. Her comebacks rule in their fiery explosiveness too, and the two big spots (German Suplex, Moonsault) are great. All the Horsewomen & Candice stuff added to the thing too, and greatly raised the drama for the bout without coming off as too overbooked or/and clusterfuck-ish. Also loved the finishing stretch - it first looked & sounded that the heat for the match was dying as Shayna locked in her choke, but as Io showed that she is still in the thing, they got the crowd back big time, and then the whole door-slam thing happened, and I thought it was totally great. Amazing finish. Pretty great stuff all around! Really good, borderline great match, and then there's also a fantastic post-match angle, which makes the whole thing even more memorable. ***3/4

ZERO1 06/22/19: Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shinjiro Otani

The big story of the match begins almost immediately with Otani going for a leg submission - there's this awesome bit in the beginning with him trying to fully lock in his sub, but Daisuke keeps on fighting, just trying to boot Otani away, but Otani ain't giving up his hold very easily, as he himself answers to Daisuke's frantic fighting w/ a couple of slaps to the stomach. Fantastic, simple struggle that really put over Otani's leg submissions as something to be scared of. Otani sure continues to go for those leg holds, and everytime he gets one in, Daisuke's selling is just amazing. His visceral roars & facial expressions are SUPERB. I thought that overall his selling was pretty outstanding all the way through. Like I mentioned, he sold the submissions fantastically, and everytime he got the control, he moved way slower than usual. A perfect example of that would be the moment where he is delivering some stomps to Otani in the corner. He is selling the fatigue & the damage Otani had done to his leg brilliantly. And talking bout brilliant stuff, the moment that actually followed was absolutely awesome - Daisuke had FINALLY got the match under control, and as he is looking to do something to a grounded Otani, the crowd starts cheering & chanting very loudly for Otani, which Daisuke also sells in terrific fashion w/ a real look of confused disgust & anger, and then he also yells something to the crowd. Not only is the old fucker doing a real number on him, but the crowd is also not giving him any sympathy. More great moments from a match that was full of them was Otani's own comeback; he worked that crowd magic to perfection by milking them to the maximum, asking for their energy before washing Daisuke's face in. Him stopping Daisuke's running lariat attempt with a goddamn SLAP to the face was absolutely wonderful as well. Then there's small moments like him trying to lock in a full nelson, which Daisuke answers to quickly by not letting that happen as he rams Otani into the corner, but Otani refuses to have that be the end of his plan, as he wants that damn full nelson in, so he goes to do it again, which Daisuke answers again by ramming him into the corner. They repeat that a few times in a row & it just low-key blew my mind in its simplicity. That's also when it hit me that the whole match was pretty much an incredible, almost constant struggle for Daisuke, and he TRULY shined in that role. Now going back to the selling - I've read that some people thought that Daisuke's selling of the leg wasn't good, but really the only few moments that somewhat annoyed me were the bridging pin & then the top rope splash, but those didn't annoy me enough for this match to be anything other than absolute class in my eyes. ****1/2

WWE Telly

WWE RAW 06/24/19: Daniel Bryan, Rowan & The Revival vs. The New Day & The Usos

Loved this. Bryan pretty much goes borderline full-on babyface here due to the reception he received here & the night before, and it of course RULES. The finishing segment between The Usos & Revival is really good too. ***1/2

WWE RAW 06/25/19: Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. The New Day

Another day, another quality tag bout. Xavier continues his FIP streak from Stomping Grounds w/ a yet another showing here, and Bryan n' Rowan are pretty compelling working the heat on him. My favorite moment was probably when he was trying to rally up a comeback by booting Rowan, as the vintner was running towards him, but Rowan just no sells that shit & lariats the soul out of him. Quality stuff. ***1/4

Stomping Ground STUFF

Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese

I am not sure can I say this was disappointing, because I never have positive expectations for a match involving Tony Nese, but it still kinda was. Very underwhelming, at least. There were a couple of neat singular spots & the finishing stretch was really good, but overall this was very forgettable. **

Big E & Xavier Woods vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

This had a textbook quality tag match formula with Owens & Zayn working a lengthy heat segment on Xavier to start it off, followed by a very good Big E hot tag, and then to finish it off, an exciting finishing gear & stretch. Really good stuff. ***1/2

Ricochet vs. Samoa Joe

The beginning with Joe just slapping Ricochet on the back of his head set up the dynamic right away. Joe was the awesome, dominant & vicious bully that he is, while Ricochet had to fight from underneath with his really good comeback flurries. It was the most natural & expected route they could've gone with the match, and I am glad they did, because it was a really good one, indeed. ***1/2

Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. Heavy Machinery

This was just so much fun. Bryan was unsurprisingly excellent, Rowan was good & the Heavy Machinery fellas impressed as well - especially given the starting setting of the match w/ the Washington crowd being 110% behind Bryan. Really liked Tucker's FIP seg with Bryan working over his leg a bit, and I LOVED how Bryan went right back to that briefly worked over leg as they were in the ring together once again towards the end. When he has a target, he doesn't goddamn forget it. The exchanges between Bryan & Otis were pretty fantastic, and I also enjoyed the HOSS showdown between Otis & Rowan. Heavy Machinery, overall, looked really damn good w/ their explosive power moves & Otis' wacky gimmick shtick was pretty fun. The sequence where he gets FIRED UP as Bryan is kicking him RULED. So much to love here, and of course one of the best things about it was the finish. I'll never not love Bryan continuing being Mr. Small Package. Absolutely awesomeness, the whole thing. ***3/4

DGUSA Mercury Rising 2010 - 2 matches!

Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush vs. The Young Bucks

Jigsaw is a very familiar face as the FIP, and there's a good reason for it. He rocks the role well here as usual, and his eventual comeback, leading to Quack also coming in & kicking some ass was very fun. Good match. ***1/4

BxB Hulk, Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. CIMA, Dragon Kid & Gamma

This was quite lengthy, and as the result it drags a lot, but it also has some fun moments in there, and I thought Dragon Kid's overall work in particular was pretty strong throughout. It's a solid, yet forgettable & too long match. **

DGUSA FEARLESS (2010)

CIMA & Super Crazy vs. Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush

Enjoyed this one a lot. The big story in it was the building heat between CIMA & Quack, and they played it off excellently. Jigsaw's FIP bit was very good too, as was Quack's hot tag, and the whole finishing gear they kick the match into just rules. Awesome stuff. ***1/2

Davey Richards vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

Out of the 3 matches Davey had in DGUSA, this is the one that tries the least hardest to be an epic, and that's a big reason why it's my favorite out of those matches. There's some annoying stuff in it like the dueling limbwork that is sold pretty poorly, but even that is much better here than it was in Davey's matches vs. SHINGO & YAMATO. Mochizuki was pretty awesome with his control period working over that knee w/ his holds & little kicks. But as implied, Davey's selling was super spotty at best - initially he sells fine, and even has a couple of singular pretty damn good selling moments (which low-key surprised me), but once it's time for Davey to do his shit, he sure does his shit without selling much of the damage that Mochizuki had done to his knee. Even with that, it's still A LOT more interesting than those SHINGO & YAMATO matches - sure there's your bombs that aren't very captivating, but I definitely liked the two just kicking the crap out of each other. More selling & this would've been from good to very good to maybe even great, but as it stands, it was "just" pretty good. Def a lot better than expected though. **3/4

Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. SHINGO & YAMATO vs. The Young Bucks

This actually felt very 'tame', which wasn't expected looking at the line-up. It never seemed to kick into a 2nd gear. The match was just THERE for the most part, but I did enjoy some of the beginning stuff with SHINGO & YAMATO just running through everyone w/ relative ease. **

BxB Hulk vs. Dragon Kid

Some exciting action, as you'd expect from the two, with a clear & nice dynamic of Kid having to fight from underneath while the champ looked pretty dominant. A good ol', well executed underdog tale in a championship match. It's a good one. ***

DGUSA Freedom FIGHT (2009)

Gran Akuma vs. Hallowicked vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Lince Dorado vs. Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson

This was a very solid & fun multi-man spotfest. With it going under 10 minutes, there wasn't any dead moments either. The highlight was The Bucks teaming up, which then inevitably lead to them having to fight against each other, which is always fun to see. ***

Brian Kendrick vs. BxB Hulk

I absolutely loved this. Thought that Kendrick's work was VERY compelling, with him being pretty bitter & vicious in control, slowing the explosive BxB Hulk down, refusing to let the Dragon Gate flow through him, so to say. Hulk also was real good as the babyface w/ those explosive & quick offense bursts of his. Made for an interesting dynamic between the two, and it ended up being a really good match. ***1/2

CIMA vs. Jorge Rivera vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Super Crazy

Rivera being in this brought a nice lil' maestro charm & dynamic to the thing. Played very well off of Quack & CIMA. Other than that, this was a pretty solid spotfest for sure w/ everybody getting some of their shit in. Far from the best of its kind, but far from the worst as well. **1/2

Davey Richards vs. YAMATO

Davey of course works the arm, which YAMATO doesn't sell well, and then YAMATO of course works the knee, which Davey doesn't sell at all. Can't say that I'm surprised, but goddammit. The rest of the match is just generic epic sequencez~! & bombs. It doesn't go into the overkill territory like Davey's match vs. SHINGO, but it's still extremely uninteresting & boring. *

Dragon Kid & SHINGO vs. Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi

Dragon Kid works a nice FIP segment - he sure is pretty good at taking a beating, and the WORLD-1 fellas are good at being the ones delivering it. SHINGO is a solid hot tag too, and after that the match kicks off into the crazy 2nd gear w/ them wrestling at a very high energy pace with exciting movez all the way through. Good match. ***

BxB Hulk vs. CIMA vs. Gran Akuma vs. YAMATO

CIMA was fun for the time he was there, and I very much enjoyed the whole setting of Akuma & YAMATO teaming up against the babyface in BxB Hulk. The whole 2-on-1 section of the match was fun w/ Hulk eventually overcoming, bringing the match to a fulfilling finish. Good stuff. ***

DGUSA Untouchable STUFF (2009)

Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino
Very similar to their previous DGUSA match, and it's on par with it. It's not very interesting, but it's not bad either. I think the most memorable thing for me was how brutal one of Yoshino's holds looked, because of Kid's small body frame. So that's at least one memorable thing in an otherwise forgettable bout. **


Bryan Danielson vs. Naruki Doi

Nobody brutalizes a limb more compellingly than Danielson & that truly shows here as he destroys Doi's arm in the most vicious & enjoyable fashion. That of course came as an answer to Doi's brief attack on Danielson's knee - Doi doesn't work over it a ton, but he does some stuff over it in the beginning, and it shows till the end as Danielson does some awesome subtle selling with it. Good examples of that would be him falling down, holding the knee after delivering a big move to Doi, and then a while later after he had delivered a yet another big move, he couldn't capitalize & cover because the knee was hurting, as he had to rest for a few seconds on the corner. He doesn't exactly sell it dramatically, and those two moments sound more dramatic when I write them than they actually were. I'd say it's really good selling, because like I mentioned, Doi's attack on the knee was pretty short lived, and he never really came back to it as the match went on. I also really loved the slugging-it-out portions of the thing, which were mostly all about Doi's quick slaps vs. Danielson's lethal kicks. Really good & hard hitting stuff w/ both guys bringing their own flair to the bits, making them standout from your usual generic indy/puro strike standoffs. Danielson was fantastic all the way through, but Doi was really good as well. He didn't do much with the arm that Dragon destroyed, and he was pretty great on the offense himself. There's definitely lots to love here from the viciously amazing armwork by Danielson, to his knee selling, to the strike exchanges, to the finishing stretch which had two absolutely awesome nearfalls just before Doi gets the job done with the Muscular Bomb. Great match. ****

Davey Richards vs. SHINGO

Shingo does some work over Davey's leg, Davey does some work over Shingo's arm, neither sells. Other than that, it's a painfully generic, dull & soulless bombfest w/ around 2000 nearfalls. Pretty overkill if you ask me. I can appreciate Davey getting the win w/ the Kimura though, as that makes the arm targeting he did somewhat matter, but overall this was a complete bore. In some ways, it was like a shitty epic mode!! version of Danielson/Doi from the same show. A big BLEH. *

Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito vs. The Young Bucks

It's good spotfest action as you'd expect, and there's also a very solid Matt FIP segment in there. I also really liked The Bucks working over Genki's HAIR, and I'd actually say that what elevated this match to some memorable heights was in fact the work of Genki Horiguchi. He was a really wonderful slimy heel throughout. That's not to undermine his partners, Ryo Saito's work, because he was really good too, but Genki was the obvious star here. ***1/2

Then There Was A KING

Glory Pro Anniversary - Phoenix Rising: Eddie Kingston vs. PACO

This is a really great 2/3 falls match that builds fantastically from the moment Eddie & PACO start brawling till the very end. The meat of the match is PACO's attack on Eddie's leg, and Eddie's selling is absolutely terrific all the way through. ****

HMW Fight Fire With Fire: Eddie Kingston vs. Thomas Shire

This is Eddie doing his Kings Road tribute shtick, and it's fucking awesome. His opponent captivates too in my first time watching him; Thomas Shire is a tall, lanky dude, who is apparently trained by Dory Funk Jr. He does a lot of sweet suplexes + uppercuts, sells well & overall puts on a pretty great fighting from underneath performance, as Eddie just keeps on brutalizing him in an EXTREMELY compelling fashion. Badass match. ****

DGUSA Open The Historic Gate (2009)

BxB Hulk vs. YAMATO

This starts off very well - great atmosphere, and they just do some very nice back & forth wrasslin'. Eventually YAMATO sees a target in Hulk's right leg, and he goes to town on it. YAMATO is really solid working the leg w/ kicks, stomps & some holds. His whole control period is pretty enjoyable. Of course eventually BxB Hulk gets back into the thing, and what is his first real comeback move? A picture perfect springboard missile dropkick, of course! Now I can't say I'm disappointed, because when YAMATO started attacking that leg, I certainly wasn't expecting Hulk to sell it much at all, but it's still always annoying to see that kind of stuff, and it definitely made the match quality drop quite a bit. He sold fine when he didn't have to do any of his movez, but when it was his time to do his thing, he didn't sell. OH WELL. Everything other than that shitty selling was pretty fun though - YAMATO looked real good in control & other than the no-selling shizzat, Hulk was fine too. Great atmosphere, great energy, solid match. **1/2

Amasis, Hallowicked & Team FIST vs. Jigsaw, Mike Quackenbush & The Colony

This was solid, yet very forgettable, but it more than served its job as a great showcase for all the CHIKARA guys. They all got to do their flashy stuff & the crowd seemed to be loving it, so can't hate on that. **

Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino

Athletic, high speed action from bell to bell. Kind of similar to the CHIKARA tag in that while it was perfectly okay, it was also very forgettable at the same time. **

CIMA & Susumu Yokosuka vs. The Young Bucks

Matt has a solid FIP segment, which is of course then naturally followed with a Nick Jackson hot tag, and that is when the match goes balls to the walls & delivers some pretty exciting spotfest, finishing stretch action. Far from the best Bucks stuff of that kind, but with them it's usually always at least solid, and such was the case here. **1/2

Naruki Doi vs. Shingo Takagi

The legwork by Naruki Doi was, of course, completely pointless & lead to nowhere, and the rest of the match is your usual bomb heavy Dragon Gate big match action. Shingo can be more interesting than many others when it comes to that, so I wouldn't say the match was bad, but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea either + the bad selling was annoying. **

RAW: New Horizons edition

WWE RAW 06/17/19: Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins

Been a while since these two met! I don't consider myself a Seth Rollins fan at all, but him & Bryan have a long history of having great matches against each other. It goes all the way back to their very first singles meeting in ROH, so I was pretty excited for them going at it again. Wasn't disappointed at all - it was a very good match, and while the whole beginning DQ deal felt very unnecessary, it helped the "2nd" match get a very sprintish vibe, and I very much liked it. Man, Bryan was such a joy to watch (as always), viciously dissecting Rollins with his lovely kicks & holds - I, in particular thought that both of his LeBell Locks looked even more brutal than usual. And that actually brings me to the ONE thing that I disliked about the thing, which was the VINTAGE SEFFFTH shitty superplex no-sell spot - not a fan of Bryan being a part of it, but at least we got that goddamn awesome LeBell Lock out of it instead of your usual shitty Falcon Arrow. ***1/2

Best NOAH Match I've Seen In A LOOOONG Time

NOAH 06/09/19: Go Shiozaki vs. Naomichi Marufuji

Go is coming into the thing w/ a heavily taped up shoulder, so naturally Maru goes to town on it w/ some pretty vicious work, and he is acting cocky as hell all the way through, which made his onslaught even more compelling. Stuff like those little arrogant kicks to Go's head + pouring some drink at him was AWESOME. Maru is great at being a smug veteran systematically breaking down his opponent with a focused strategy. Go's selling was VERY surprising too - I certainly wasn't expecting to see one of the finest limb-selling performances of the year come from NOAH, but goddamn his selling was outstanding all the way through. The moment of him getting up on the corner w/ the help of the ropes, only for him to stop assisting himself with the other rope because it's killing his shoulder that Maru had been destroying, was so good. Might just be one of my favorite single match moments of the year. They kept the expected-in-NOAH soulless bomb throwing to the minimum, which I very much appreciated & was somewhat surprised at, but there still was a bit too many equally or maybe even more soulless strike no-sell exchanges that didn't interest me in the slightest. I guess that's what I'd say prevents this match from being GREAT rather than "just" a very, very good one. It's still indeed one hell of a match though - I don't watch much NOAH, but from the little amount of stuff that I've watched, this is my favorite match I've seen from them since Marufuji vs. Kiyomiya from January 2017. ***3/4

10 YEARS :: MISAWA FOREVER

AJPW 03/09/85: Tiger Mask (Misawa) vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi

This is a pretty damn wild match for 1985. I mean wild as in it's fast paced, high energy action from start to finish - something that wasn't very common back then. A really enjoyable sprint'ish bout with good atmosphere to boot. ***

AJPW 05/21/93: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen

The beginning scene of Hansen rushing to brawl with Misawa during the introductions while the streamers are still flowing to the ring is pretty epic. Everything that follows is absolutely great, too - Hansen is looking to gain control right from the get go indeed, but Misawa finds ways to escape & lash out hard hitting and vicious offense of his own, which then forces Hansen to go & figure out a new strategy, and that he sure does by attacking Misawa's elbow arm. Hansen's work over the arm is brutal; he puts it in holds, he stands over it, he sends it to the post - all very compelling & violent Hansen-like stuff. Misawa has a real mountain to climb now, and I love how the first few comeback attempts he gets in, Hansen is there quickly to shut them off - it makes Misawa's eventual BIG comeback that much more amazing. That finishing elbow was absolutely sick, too. Great match. ****

AJPW 07/18/04: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Satoshi Kojima

In short: Misawa's elbows rule, Kojima's lariats rule, this match rules. Plenty of elbows & lariats indeed in this one, with both main weapons of the wrestlers coming majorly into play in the finishing stretch, which was just tremendous. The Emerald Flowsion kickout felt pretty damn big, as the crowd erupted for it. Sure there were a few rough spots in the thing, but overall I had a lot of fun with it. The whole dynamic of Misawa, THE KING, returning to All Japan to take on Kojima was very interesting & it played out in very compelling fashion inside the ring. ***1/2

Forever

 

GULAK Rocks WWE TV

WWE NXT 05/29/19: Drew Gulak vs. KUSHIDA

This is charmingly competitive & vicious work on the mat all the way through w/ a nice sense of urgency to the thing. Loved everything about it. The Hoverboard Lock struggle during the finishing stretch was so great. ***1/2

WWE NXT 06/04/19: Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak

These two are somewhat of a natural opponents to one another with Gulak's tight holds & vicious strikes going against Tozawa's explosive comebacks. This was a yet another banger between the two. ***1/2

WWE NXT 06/11/19: Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. Oney Lorcan

The loud 205 chants felt so deserved as the four were putting on such an entertaining match. Gulak & Oney destroying everyone with their strikes was very fun, and the exchanges they had against one another were great. Maybe my favorite bit of the whole bout was the brief Gulak control segment inside the ring where he straight up dominated everyone; first slugging Oney out of the picture & then mauling Humberto & Tozawa. Following that, Humberto & Tozawa teaming up to try n' take out Gulak was extremely fun as well - especially the sequence where Humberto first top rope dropkicks Gulak, and then Tozawa follows it up by LAUNCHING himself pretty brutally into him. Very good action from start to finish. Extremely good match. ***1/2

DOMINION: The Judas EFFECT Edition

Jon Moxley vs. Shota Umino

4 minutes of exactly what I wanted out of this pairing - Moxley gets to viciously dominate while Umino gets to bust out some high energy, explosive bursts of offense. The post-match w/ Mox carrying Umino to the back ruled big time as well. ***

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shingo Takagi

This was full of hard hitting smacks & they played up the Junior vs. Heavyweight dynamic really well throughout w/ Cozy having the upperhand & refusing to take shit from the smaller dude - it all was demonstrated perfectly when he didn't leave his feet when Shingo did his signature lariat on him. LOVED that lariat counter of his own by Kojima there as Shingo tried to go for another one. This might've been my favorite Shingo singles match in New Japan so far. Definitely makes me more intrigued for his upcoming G1 run. ***1/2

Jushin Liger & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.

Suzuki & Zack being arrogant dicks stretching & striking the crap out of their opponents is almost always fun, and that was the case here. Pretty fun stuff - I especially enjoyed the Liger vs. Suzuki interactions. **3/4

Chase Owens, Jay White & Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi

This was absolutely nothing. Extremely underwhelming & dull even for NJPW multi-man undercard tag standards. *

Taichi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

I'd put this a bit under their New Japan Cup match. It's pretty much your usual NEVER formula of two guys beating the crap out of each other, trading chops & kicks all the way through, but since it's Taichi, it also has an unique charm to it & it's wrestled at a slightly different pace than the usual NEVER & Ishii matches. Definitely liked it quite a bit. ***

EVIL & SANADA vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

This was way better than I expected it to be. The long EVIL FIP segment could've been VERY boring to say the least, but I actually liked it. Tama in particular did some very nice work during it. SANADA's hot tag was also excellent. Definitely could've done without the Jado stuff, but at least he was a part of that awesome hot tag by SANADA, as he got to eat a beautiful pescado by the man, so even he did something worthwhile. Good match. ***

Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay

Didn't care for this one bit. Feel like a broken record in saying this, but it was your usual, dull, generic & soulless Will Ospreay big match bombfest. Of course there had to be a DRAMATICALLY-TURNS-AROUND-TO-SHOW-HE-LANDED-ON-HIS-FEET -spot too. At least the dive by Dragon Lee that took out both Ospreay & poor Milano was pretty awesome, but overall this was just bleh, meh bleh. *

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

This suffers from the same thing that matches like Okada vs. Shibata & Danielson vs. McGuinness do where there's that one spot that's so filthy, disgusting & horrifying that you (or at least I) just feel dirty for praising the thing, but oh well. I thought this was great. Naito's long-lasting, storied relationship w/ the Osaka crowd ended up adding a ton to this, because he decided to act extra nasty & mean throughout due to the partly negative reaction he got. Stuff like him refusing to let go of a submission, him rapidly stomping Ibushi's neck, him spitting on the refs face, the cocky pins & him doing his usual poses w/ extra swagger & arrogance - all just really awesome stuff. Then these two crazy fucks did their "usual" by absolutely destroying each others necks in very brutal & compelling fashion. I couldn't help but love it, even if that apron German spot took me out of it for a minute. Please never do that again. This was scary & great. ****1/4

Chris Jericho vs. Kazuchika Okada

I absolutely loved this & that is something I wasn't expecting to type out. Everything just clicked for me - loved how it was a bit different from your usual Okada big match formula w/ there not being a crazy finishing stretch or anything. Jericho dominated most of the thing, and I actually found pretty much all of his work on top very good & compelling; his beatdown of Okada was gritty, and he fantastically came off as the bitter, egoistic, cocky veteran that he is, punishing the young poster boy of the company. I also interpreted the STORY™ of the whole bout as Jericho slowly gassing out as he pulled out all the brakes to try and beat Okada, while Okada barely even left his first gear. That might be the case of me completely making shit up, but that's how I interpreted it anyway, and they told that story pretty fantastically throughout, all climaxing in the finish w/ Okada completely catching Jericho off-guard in vintage Bret Hart fashion. I personally LOVED it because I feel like the Rainmaker, as a finishing move, has been let kicked out of & been spammed a bit too much in the last 2-3 years. Also I am gonna forever defend that first Codebreaker by Jericho on the outside - it wasn't pretty, but my goodness it was the most vicious that move has ever looked performed by him. THIS WAS GREAT. Maybe it's the Judas Effect in me talking, but hell yeah I enjoyed this a ton. ****

Chris Dickinson TRIPLESHOT

Beyond Uncharted Territory Episode 7: Chris Dickinson vs. Eddie Kingston

This was the slugfest it promised to be on paper. Hellacious strikes + gnarly & vicious bombs throughout. Pretty much exactly how I imagined a match between Chris Dickinson & Eddie Kingston would go. Extremely enjoyable. ***1/4

Beyond Uncharted Territory Episode 8: Chris Dickinson vs. Erick Stevens

This was pretty good, but also nothing very memorable or anything. I thought that Erick Stevens clearly showed some ring rust in the beginning, but the match & his performance got better and better as it went on. Lots of strikes & bombs all the way through - I thought that the chops & lariats looked viciously awesome in this one, in particular. I also really dug that one sequence by Stevens towards the end where he locked Dickinson in a side headlock. **3/4

Beyond Uncharted Territory Episode 9: Chris Dickinson vs. Tom Lawlor

The match really gets going once they're on the outside & Dickinson lariats the shit out of Lawlor who is leaning on the ringpost, and then in a classic twist, Dickinson hits his lariat arm on the post, which then gives Filthy Tom a clear target. His attack on the arm is very good, and I loved him on top, overall. His strikes looked GREAT. It's when Dickinson fully gets back into things that the match kind of becomes your usual, generic, indy slug/bombfest, but it's still good & compelling because both guys definitely bring the heat with their strikes. Came away from this very impressed w/ Lawlor for sure. ***1/4

BOSJ Finals: Tana/White, MOX/Juice, Shingo/Ospreay

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White

Jay White's attack on Tana's elbow & the arm as a whole is quite possibly the best heat segment he has worked in his young career so far. Very compelling & some neat stuff there like him putting the bad arm in a hammerlock before suplexing Tana + the shaking of Tana's hand & arm he did while in full control, mocking the shaking people/wrestlers do when trying to get feeling back into hurt bodyparts. Pretty terrific asshole move there. Things didn't remain as interesting when Tana got back into things, but it was still interesting & good enough to keep me hooked - I did like how some of the brief work on the leg came to play when Tana was trying to do something to White from a waistlock, but wasn't able to until White's briefly worked over knee buckled a bit, which gave Tana the opening to bust out a big straight jacket German Suplex. Definitely their best match against each other yet & a great showing by Switchblade. ***3/4

Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson

As far as his punches & general offense go, I don't think Moxley looked THAT much better than he did as Dean Ambrose in his last few years in the WWE, but what I do think is that the match was A LOT more creative AND interesting than anything & everything he did there in the past few years. At first his forearms, knees & that suicide dive all looked pretty bad and super weak, but Juice Robinson sold his motherfucking ass off to make all of them look impactful, to say the least. Bless that man. Moxley's stuff thankfully got better looking as the match went on - he started putting more stank to them forearms once they started brawling in the crowd, and Juice continued to sell like a boss for him. I liked the brief legwork too w/ Mox working over it against the ringpost, and then slapping on a half crab & STF for good measure. It came more into play later on in the match when Juice sold the leg once he hit Mox with a gutbuster. Once again, bless that man. What a badass performance all around. Really liked the classic Bret Hart Figure-4 ringpost spot as well - definitely added to the leg psychology of the thing, and it's an awesome spot anyways. Another good leg psychology bit came in the finishing stretch as Juice was all fired up looking to deliver a big left hand to Mox, but Mox stops him by kicking him right into the worked over knee. Good stuff there & talking bout the finishing stretch, I absolutely LOVED the Dirty Deeds kickout. The way it was followed by a sick smile on Mox's face, which was then followed by him essentially '91ing the move was SO GREAT. Absolutely lovely stuff there, and all in all, I thought the match was pretty damn great. Positively unique for a big NJPW match. You couldn't have asked for a better guy to go against Jon Moxley in his first post-WWE match -  Juice put on a tremendous performance, bumping & selling his ass off for everything Moxley did, including his shitty looking offense at the beginning + he sure delivered when it came time to kick some ass on the offense himself. Moxley, as mentioned, looked rough in the beginning, but once their fight got to the crowd, everything he did looked great & did so till the end. Definitely a pretty damn fantastic way to start his post-WWE career. ****

Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay

I didn't even watch like half of the tournament matches from this years BOSJ, but it feels like I saw this exact same match at least 10 times. Yawn. Just another super generic & dull, overly long bombfest that I feel like I've seen a million times in the past few years. Not interesting in the slightest. *

 

BOSJ Korakuen! Day 9

SHO vs. Tiger Mask

Grumpy old vet Tiger Mask swallows SHO on the mat, and then continues to dominate by kicking the absolute shit out of him. That's quite wonderful! SHO really had to dig down deep & earn those intense comebacks of his, and he sure did earn them by receiving an awesome asskicking & selling that said asskicking very well throughout. Loved this match. ***1/2

Ren Narita vs. Will Ospreay

A quality bout w/ the classic young-lion-pushes-the-top-dog-to-the-limit -dynamic. Ospreay is good at dominating, but he is even better selling Narita's counters & offense when it came time to do so. ***

Dragon Lee vs. Titan

Pretty solid, but also not anything very memorable & it sure dragged, too. I did like the somewhat unique friendly competitive story they had going. **1/2

El Phantasmo vs. Rocky Romero

The middle-section of the match drags quite a bit, but by the end, they had me 110% into it. They told a pretty damn great underdog tale of the veteran in Rocky Romero looking to get a big win in his first Korakuen singles main event, and El Phantasmo was a great dance partner, as he played the role of the overly arrogant asshole looking to spoil the party excellently. It's good stuff the whole way through, but things kick up to another level or two when the Red Shoes bumps happen - after that's it's pure Korakuen underdog magic & it just rules. The best match of the tournament up to this point. ***3/4

TAKEOVER 25

Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong

This was a BANGER, and how it could've not been that? Riddle & Strong compliment each other pretty perfectly with their in-ring styles meshing up wonderfully. Brutal, hard hitting, back breakin', explosive action from bell to bell w/ no dull moments whatsoever. Helluva way to open the show, and actually ended up being my favorite match of the night. ***3/4

Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Street Profits vs. The Forgotten Sons vs. The Undisputed Era

Such good shit, pal. Everybody went crazy & took hellacious beatings - especially O'Reilly who just got DESTROYED throughout. Thought the Ryker segment was really awesome too, with them milking it to the max, which made the eventual teaming up of Burch & Lorcan, Street Profits and The Undisputed Era feel very fulfilling. ***1/2

The Velveteen Dream vs. Tyler Breeze

There were quite a few dead moments in the match where seemingly nothing interesting happened, but overall I thought that The Dream & Breeze had a fun chemistry, and all the sequences flowed nicely with a neat feel of competition & swagger to 'em. Good match. ***

Io Shirai vs. Shayna Baszler

Their Stardom 2017 match is what made me a believer in both of them, so I was very much looking forward to this, and while it didn't quite reach the great heights of that Stardom bout, it was still a very good one. Shayna is awesome w/ her work over the arm, Io sells well & is great w/ her comebacks. Felt like the crowd & the match got hotter & hotter as it went on too - it helped the choke in the end feel sooo dramatic, in a very good way. ***1/2

Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano

A BIT better than the 2/3 match, but still awful. The positives are that I liked some of the knee & arm targeting by both guys; the kneework by Cole actually made the set-up for the Panama Sunrise logical & good for once during the finishing stretch, as Gargano sold it dramatically there. Also dug Cole's facecrusher to the knee from the Burning Hammer position. Now what I DIDN'T like was the fact that they had to have around 400 nearfalls once again, the shitty superkicks, the generic indy strike sequencez, especially that one with Cole spamming shitty bicycle kicks, no selling of shitty strikes, finisher stealing because muh STORYTELLINGZ~!~! etc. Wasn't a big fan of the thing. Save_Us.Riddle *1/4