AEW & NXT 01/22 stuff

AEW Dynamite 01/22/20: Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. SoCal Uncensored

I thought there was literally nothing memorable about this match except for the result. Extremely basic action all the way through from start to finish with none of it being gripping or interesting in the slightest. I don't want to call the match bad though, because there was nothing actually _bad_ about it, but it was just "a match". *3/4

AEW Dynamite 01/22/20: Jon Moxley vs. PAC

Really liked the whole dynamic revolving around Moxley's injured eye w/ PAC going after it constantly with them nasty crossface shots & all. Them Kawada Kicks looked even more vicious than usual because of that. Very good match, and and as a lil' sidenote, Jericho was also excellent on commentary. ***1/2

WWE NXT 01/22/20: Imperium vs. Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne

The whole match felt like a really hot stretch of awesome wrestling. Everybody involved killed it, and the thing got hotter & hotter as it went on, and then ultimately it ended just at the right time. Another quality tag bout for Riddle & Dunne. ***1/2

WWE NXT 01/22/20: Keith Lee vs. Roderick Strong

Really loved everything about this. Roddy as the douchebag true heel w/ his stablemates & all, going against the red-hot babyface Keith Lee was a wonderful setting already on paper, and they wrestled one helluva match, to say the least. Keith is great with all of his Keith Lee-shizzat, them power moves & that freaky athleticism, and the main-meat of the match, which was Roddy's work on the ankle, was fantastic. Roddy was his usual intense self w/ that laser focus as he went to town on that bodypart, and it was truly a joy to watch. Keith's selling was great throughout too. Just a superb match & a great title change. ****

Webster & Mandrews vs. Riddle & Dunne

WWE NXT 01/15/20: Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews vs. Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne

This was just outstanding. Mandrews & Webster were terrific babyfaces with their work throughout, and then to counter that, Riddle & Dunne were amazing dishing out the punishment in that vintage Riddle & Dunne fashion. Killer double team moves, fantastic structure from start to finish, great nearfalls -- EVERYTHING about this ruled big time! ****

Dynamite with 2 very good matches!

AEW Dynamite 01/15/20: Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. Best Friends vs. Proud-N-Powerful vs. The Young Bucks

This was exactly what it promised to be on paper, which is a pure spotfest. And a damn fun spotfest it was! One of the best of its genre in recent memory. Everybody got their shit in & looked very good. ***3/4

AEW Dynamite 01/15/20: Darby Allin vs. PAC

Darby kills it yet again. He was bumping & selling his ass off for PAC's explosive offense every step of the way, and he sure delivered on the offense himself as well. Very good stuff. ***1/2

Impact: EE/Elgin, Tessa/Callihan

Impact Hard To Kill: Eddie Edwards vs. Michael Elgin

Strikes & bombs galore with the natural dynamic of Elgin doing most of the work on top while Eddie fights from underneath. It's not terribly interesting, but what stood out was how both of the lads have grown as pro wrestlers throughout the years -- just a couple of years ago this could've & more-than-likely would've been an easy overkill puro cosplay match, but here they kept everything somewhat tight & didn't enter that overkill zone. **3/4

Impact Hard To Kill: Sami Callihan vs. Tessa Blanchard

Sami is such a great sleazy bastard throughout. A true villain with every movement he makes in this match, and Tessa was a good babyface to against that -- felt like a good ol', very genuine pro-rasslin' battle between good & evil. On par with their Slammiversary meeting from the year before. ***3/4

First Dan Makabe of the Year!

3-2-1 BATTLE! Hindsight: 2020: Daniel Makabe vs. Judas Icarus

This is a tournament finals match, and while I'm not familiar at all w/ Judas Icarus, it became clear right away that he was billed as the underdog here. They told a fun tale with that dynamic throughout w/ Makabe largely dominating with his always-terrific submission work, but Judas also got a lot of the match to his name w/ his offensive flurries. He wasn't all that interesting on the offense sadly, but I did really dig him going after Makabe's knee, and Makabe sold that fantastically -- especially loved the moment when he did it after delivering a Tombstone on the outside, basically sacrificing that knee for a big move like that. Real good match! Somewhat spotty in parts, as in, I wasn't feeling Icarus all that much when he was in the driver's seat, but Makabe sure was such a boss all the way through & Judas' work got better as the bout went on, too. ***1/2

Bate vs. Devlin

WWE NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II: Jordan Devlin vs. Tyler Bate

I haven't been following the feud at all, but based on the video package, this was billed as the meeting of the two young aces of the brand, and I gotta say the match played out exactly like that. Bate & Devlin had a nice little epic, which didn't go into the overkill mode, as almost everything seemed to fit into the story of the bout very nicely & naturally. Quality match. ***1/2

EVIL & Shingo vs Ishii & Goto

NJPW New Year Dash !! 2020: EVIL & Shingo Takagi vs. Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii

For the absolute majority of this, it's your usual stuff & exactly what you'd expect from the four men involved. It doesn't do much of a thing for me, but after the double team assisted GTR (which was a fucking killer move btw) things pick up BIG TIME w/ them busting out a shitload of LARIATS to destroy one another. It rules so much, but sadly, like I said, most of the match is too much of your "paint-by-the-numbers" tag action featuring EVIL, Shingo, Goto & Ishii, and it's just not all that interesting. **3/4

NECRO BUTCHER & LOW KI goodness

ICW No Holds Barred - Vol. 1: Necro Butcher vs. SHLAK

We are only 8 days into the year & I already got a Necro Butcher match to watch. BLESSED. This was a total trash-fight-spectacle & I loved every second of it. Necro got busted open like one minute into the thing & overall he got the shit beaten out of him by the monster that is SHLAK. YEA YEA YEA! ***3/4

ICW No Holds Barred - Vol. 1: Low Ki vs. Masashi Takeda

Low Ki eats Takeda up for most of the match, and it's awesome. Good scraps on the mat & the strikes are hellacious throughout -- the finish is absolutely brutal too w/ Ki delivering the Warrior's Way to the back of the neck, with Takeda having his hand tied & all. Super enjoyable match. ***3/4

WRESTLE KINGDOM 14 DAY 2

Hiromu Takahashi & Ryu Lee vs. Jushin Liger & Naoki Sano

Unreal to think that this is Liger's last match ever. What a legend that man is. One of the very best pro-wrestlers we have ever had. This was a wonderful sendoff for him -- he got to play the hits & the youngsters in the opposing team, especially Hiromu, fired him the F up, making him showcase some of that vintage nasty-side of his. Thunder Forever! ***3/4

El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Roppongi 3K

Thought this was totally great. Classic tag match structure w/ the babyfaces getting a nice lil' shine in the beginning & then the heels taking over, leading into them working one helluva heat segment vs. SHO -- Ishimori & especially Phantasmo were SUCH compelling, athletic assholes there. The rest of the match is good too w/ the eventual YOH hot tag & the whole finishing stretch, but that whole SHO FIP segment was the easy highlight, because of the awesomely charismatic & compelling work by El Phantasmo & Ishimori. ****

SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Far from their best match against one another, but still a good one. They did the "usual", and what I mean with that is that the match was filled with smooth, competitive "technical" wrasslin' from start to finish. I can appreciate that, and the lads usually always make it somewhat interesting when they are facing off, so yea! Good match. ***

Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson

This was pretty heated; Moxley & Juice definitely put over their history from 2019 w/ the emotion shown here, and I really liked that. They sure beat the crap out of each other, too, and in very compelling fashion, at that! ***3/4

Hirooki Goto vs. KENTA

My pick for the best match of the night. As you'd expect, every strike looks & sounds pretty damn hellacious, and the overall dynamic of KENTA doing most of the work on top while Goto fought from underneath worked extremely well, I thought. Both guys definitely delivered in their roles. ****

Jay White vs. Kota Ibushi

These two had the best NJPW match of 2019, and while this, their 2nd singles meeting, was nowhere near that level, it was still VERY good. Simple & true, pure heel vs. pure babyface dynamic that works -- White was very good w/ his work on top & Ibushi was Ibushi; he took some mad bumps (unsurprisingly) & of course delivered on the offense. Will always love him entering THE ZONE. The highlight of the entire match was when he did that here & just straight up bullied young Switchblade. ***3/4

Chris Jericho vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

A rock-solid match between two veterans. Both guys have some presence for sure, and most of the match it was fun watching them play off of their charisma & personalities. ***

Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito

Wasn't feeling the first 10 to 15 minutes or so, but once the shit got going, it sure GOT GOING. Okada being a dick w/ his facial expressions & going after Naito's worked over knee was all kinds of awesome, and it made Naito's big nearfalls feel all the more bigger. On the same level as their previous Dome main event. ***3/4

WRESTLE KINGDOM 14 DAY 1

Team Liger vs. Team Sano

SO MUCH FUN! Everybody got time to shine, and everybody looked great. Was marking out all over the place. Liger is the best. ***3/4

Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Suzuki-gun

A very paint-by-the-numbers multi-man tag. Things picked up when Shingo came to wreck some shit + ZSJ & SANADA looked good as well. **

Bullet Club vs. CHAOS

Better of the two usual faction vs. faction multi-man tags. Everybody looked pretty good with the exception of maybe Yujiro, but he didn't get to do much, so it's all good. Fale, Ishii, Chase & Goto were the 4 strongest performers I thought. **1/4

David Finlay & Juice Robinson vs. Guerrillas of Destiny

This was really good! Juice was a great hot tag, the 2-on-2 section w/ Finlay fighting against the Tongans ruled & so did the whole finishing stretch. Quality tag team rasslin. ***1/2

Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer

Fookin' loved this. A wild fight with Moxley fighting from beneath w/ some badass comeback attacks, and Archer was completely awesome brutalizing him on top. The big table spot was great & I loved the plastic bag suffocating + the spike-HELMET. The lads sure made sure to get good use of the Deathmatch gimmick. ****

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay

A couple of your usual silly Ospreay moments & a few too many nearfalls for my liking, but all in all, this was really damn good. Ospreay did a good, compelling job being the aggressor, targeting that neck of Hiromu & all. Hiromu was a real good babyface as well, with some very nice counters & that finishing move he busted out was terrific in all of its brutality. Good to have ya back, Time Bomb! Oh & the Sasuke Special sequence that is getting GIF'd to death was legit very, very cool too. ***3/4

Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito

Definitely a bit too lengthy for its own good, but I enjoyed most of it very much. White is very compelling on top, doing the damage & in particular targeting Naito's knee, and Naito, surprisingly, sold pretty damn great for most of it. ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi

My thoughts as of now are that this is the best Dome main event since the last Tana/Okada, and an instant classic. Slow build like in every big Okada match, but they make every headlock & all feel super compelling, and once the thing explodes & Ibushi goes into that fucking killer mode?? OH BOY. Those damn punches! That finishing stretch was something else too -- that V-Trigger got me good. What a goddamn match. ****1/2

2020 MOTYC (****+) LIST

★★★★★


★★★★¾


★★★★½

Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak (WWE, 05/11)
AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE, 06/12)

★★★★¼
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa (wXw, 03/07)

Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak (WWE, 03/08)
Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher (WWE, 05/27)

Kota Ibushi vs. Taichi (NJPW, 10/16)

★★★★
Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer (NJPW, 01/04)

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW, 01/04)
Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews vs. Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne (WWE, 01/15)
Keith Lee vs. Roderick Strong (WWE, 01/22)
Daniel Bryan vs. The Fiend (WWE, 01/26)
Cesaro vs. Drew Gulak (WWE, 04/04)

Daniel Bryan vs. Sami Zayn (WWE, 04/04)
Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE, 04/17)
Jon Moxley vs. Mr. Brodie Lee (AEW, 05/23)
Minoru Suzuki vs. Will Ospreay (NJPW, 10/07)
Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW, 10/10)
Minoru Suzuki vs. Shingo Takagi (NJPW, 10/16)

The Blade & The Butcher vs. Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall (AEW, 11/11)

Timothy Thatcher vs. Tommaso Ciampa (WWE, 12/06)

AJ Styles vs. Drew McIntyre vs. The Miz (WWE, 12/20)

Cody vs. Darby II -- first wrestling of the DECADE!

AEW Dynamite 01/01/20: Cody vs. Darby Allin

A good way to kick off 2020 when it comes to rasslin! This was about on par with their first singles meeting from last year. Darby gets put over pretty big in defeat & as usual, he looked real great out there w/ a very strong performance all around. ***