Bryan's MITB win, vs. Barrett, Del Rio

WWE Money In The Bank 2011: Daniel Bryan vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Kane vs. Sheamus vs. Sin Cara vs. Wade Barrett

This isn't the craziest multi-man ladder match that WWE has put on over the years. What I mean by that is that there isn't a huge amount of those holy shit spots that could be put on video packages for years to come, but what I think this has most of those other multi-man ladder matches beat is the flow; right from the get go the thing just flows super well, and it continues to do so for the rest of its runtime. There's no dull moments whatsoever, it's just super fun action with everybody getting some proper time to shine -- one standout was Sin Cara's run on the offense; he looked very good with his flippy stuff, and then the way that said run ended by the hands of Sheamus was absolutely awesome in all of its glorious brutality. The finishing sequence with Bryan & Barrett also rules, and the result is a genuine feel-good moment. The post-match with Bryan getting overwhelmed by the crowds reaction to his victory is some heartwarming stuff as well. So it's a great match + the ending/result is fantastic, which makes it a really sweet deal all around. ****

WWE SummerSlam 2011: Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett

This is a very good & nice midcard match. Barrett isn't exactly a highlight reel when working on top, but his work is definitely very solid, and Bryan's crafty babyface performance is just all kinds of awesome. My favorite bits were him chopping Barrett down w/ them leg kicks in one his comebacks, and then him countering Wade's first Wasteland attempt w/ those repeated elbow strikes, getting the Guillotine in & then transitioning that into the LeBell Lock. That's some pretty great stuff there. Felt like the match got better as it went on too; like I said, this was a real strong midcard contest, in which both guys looked really good, and in Bryan's case, great. ***3/4

WWE SmackDown 08/19/11: Daniel Bryan vs. Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio had just won the WWE Championship prior to this, and Bryan was of course holding that MITB briefcase, so it was a fun, pretty major, cross-brand meeting. They get a good amount of time & deliver a very good TV-match; Bryan works most of it from underneath, and to no one's surprise, is great at that. Del Rio is also well spirited in this, showing good swagger w/ his work -- I did appreciate him going for Bryan's arm early on with some focus, which ultimately paid off in the end with that Armbar finish of his. ***1/2

Bryan vs. Ziggler x2 + vs. Ted DiBiase Jr

WWE Bragging Rights 2010: Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler

This felt like two younger promising, hungry mid-card talents going out there & wanting to put on a showstealing match. They ended up doing that successfully; it's an absolute banger of a bout, and both guys looked like million bucks against one another -- Bryan's offense is always killer, but it got that extra sauce to it here w/ Ziggler being in his peak bumping & selling form. Ziggler also delivered in the control segments of his own, and I liked the little story they got going early on with his amateur wrestling past coming out & wanting to challenge the world-renowned pro-wrestling technician Bryan on the mat. ****

WWE RAW 10/25/10: Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler

They had that fantastic match at Bragging Rights the night before, and this sure was an extremely nice follow-up to that one. I absolutely LOVED the beginning stuff w/ Ziggler taking Bryan to the mat, Bryan getting out of his control by picking limbs any chance he got, and then ultimately getting tired of Ziggler sitting there & stomping his face. That was some absolutely awesome stuff, and the rest of it rules as well w/ exciting action all the way through. ***1/2

WWE Survivor Series 2010: Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase Jr.

The match follows the classic structure of heel working on top & the babyface making comebacks, and ultimately getting the win of course. The disappointing part is that Ted Jr. wasn't very compelling at all working the heat; his control periods were just extremely basic stuff, and he showed no charisma or swagger in any of his "stuff". Bryan was wonderful as always, bringing the energy up big time every time he chained them comeback bursts together, making this a good, easy-to-watch match overall for sure. It's not like DiBiase was straight-up BAD, but he just offered nothing of note to the table. Easily the weakest PPV singles match that Bryan had in his 2010 WWE run. ***

Bryan's final dates in DGUSA, Submissions Count ANYWHERE!

DGUSA Untouchable 2010: Bryan Danielson vs. YAMATO

FOR SURE the weakest match of Bryan's 4-match career in Dragon Gate USA. There's nothing bad about it, and there's some pretty great stuff in there at points, but for the most part, it feels like "it's just there", you know? Kind of a 'by the numbers' Danielson vs. YAMATO match -- but that's completely fine, because it's still good & pretty fun to watch. ***

DGUSA Way of the Ronin 2010: Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley had been talking mad shit about Danielson leading up to this, which made the opening w/ Dragon just easily cycling through his signature spots, kicking his ass, feel all the more better. Moxley taking over was done well, and I loved how he went straight after the cut on Bryan's head when he noticed the blood there. His selling of everything Bryan did was super good too; Bryan blasting him with those deadly kicks, uppercuts n' forearms would be great in any situation, but thanks to Moxley's awesome, character-fitting selling, it was even greater. The finishing stretch with Bryan destroying him with those kicks, stomps to the face & ultimately the LeBell Lock rules as well. Great match. Moxley more-than delivered as the scrappy, violence lovin' street fighter looking to pull off the upset & Dragon was a rockin' babyface to go against that. ****

WWE Hell In A Cell 2010: Daniel Bryan vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz

This is a Submissions Count Anywhere match, so naturally there's a lot of submissions showcased. Morrison & Miz aren't exactly who you would call submission-savvy wrestlers, but I think that added to the thing, seeing them do Dragon Sleepers, Texas Cloverleaves etc -- stuff that you wouldn't normally see from them. Will always remember this match for being the one WWE main roster match where Bryan busts out his good ol' friend in the form of Cattle Mutilation, too. They do good use of the ANYWHERE part of the gimmick as well w/ them going to the crowd, and ultimately ending the match on the entrance ramp. It's very fun stuff all around. ***1/2

Dragon's WWE return + EVOLVE vs. Sawa

WWE SummerSlam 2010: Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Edge, John Cena, John Morrison & R-Truth vs. Nexus

The ending & the result are truly awful, but looking past that, this is actually a very good Survivor Series style multi-man elimination tag. The 35+ minutes they go fly by -- the action is solid throughout, and there's some flashes of greatness in there; Daniel Bryan was absolutely awesome for every second he was in there, and Bret Hart had a really nice short run too. He still threw one helluva punch, and I liked the way they eliminated him, even if you could argue that it made him look dumb. Also a shoutout to the future Ryback in one Skip Sheffield; I thought that out of the Nexus guys, he easily looked the best. Him throwing Morrison around was legitimately a lot of fun. I mentioned the ending being awful, and it sure is exactly that & left somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth, but all in all, the match is very good. ***1/2

EVOLVE 5: Bryan Danielson vs. Munenori Sawa

This was awesome & frustrating at the same time. Awesome pretty much solely thanks to Danielson, who was excellent as always. Frustrating because of Sawa, who brought the match down quite a bit with his lackluster performance; all of his strikes looked super weak, light as a feather, especially compared to those of Danielson's. Then as Danielson goes after his leg w/ some awesome submissions (absolutely LOVED all those counters he busted out, easily some of the best highlights of this thing), OF COURSE Sawa doesn't sell it at all. He just continues with his quick, shitty comeback bursts. Thankfully Bryan is the one leading on offense for the most part, and it's truly fantastic stuff when he is on the driver's seat, but my goodness, this is a yet another example of him carrying someone to something worthwhile. Makes me wonder how good this could've & would've been had Sawa been at least a bit better. ***1/2

WWE Night of Champions 2010: Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz

I really like the beginning with Bryan pretty much running circles around The Miz, and Miz only getting the advantage when Bryan wasn't fully focusing on him as the ref was telling him to back away. Miz's gameplan becomes clear when he gets that one bit of offense there; he gets the advantage by wringing Bryan's arm into the ropes, and after that, he starts doing a big number on Bryan's arm/shoulder. Miz's work over that shoulder is amazingly compelling -- I've always loved this match, but after this most recent re-watch, I am actually pretty blown away by his performance. He wrestled like he had something to prove, and it really is the best single match performance of his career. The whole thing in many ways reminds me of a Bryan Danielson ROH World Title match circa 2006, but the funny thing is that the role of Bryan Danielson isn't played by the man himself -- it's played by THE MIZ. He's excellent here, and Bryan is of course on par w/ his role, bringing the energy up big time in every bit of offense he gets with that vintage explosiveness & intensity of his. His selling of the arm is also pretty much perfect, and I'd actually call it one of his best selling performances ever, even. The arm feels like dead weight, and rightfully so, because Miz truly had a laser-focused target on it. Excellent bodypart targeting & excellent selling. How bout that? I'll always sing the praises for this match; it feels like it's almost criminally "forgotten" in Bryan's catalogue, and even when people discuss Miz's best matches, it doesn't get the full recognition it imo deserves. It would be a top-10 match anywhere in almost any year ever. ****1/2

The Last 3 Major Ones for Punk

WWE SummerSlam 2013: CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar

Looking back on this, it feels a little weird considering how much more dominant Brock got w/ the Suplex City gimmick just a year or so later, and then there's of course Punk's whole MMA stint. It doesn't affect my views on the match at all, but it's just funny to think about how much different this match would be now. Anyways, this is really great. Punk makes for a great badass underdog; loved him utilizing aerial attacks throughout, and that Triangle spot was pretty terrific. Brock also of course delivers big time; his beatdown of Punk is amazing - especially loved him busting out those bearhugs, and him talking trash while delivering that said beatdown rules. His selling is also tremendous -- maybe my favorite singular moment of the whole match is when Punk bites his way out of Brock's hold & then continues with a little kick-flurry which Brock just sells AMAZINGLY w/ that "I don't know where I am" look on his face while still having his hands pretty up, ready for battle. That's some truly amazing wounded-bear type shit. The final act of the match with Punk getting a little too focused on Heyman is also a brilliant way to cap the match off; he pretty much had the thing in the bag, but since Heyman interfered, he had to get his revenge, which allowed Brock to recover & put that final nail in the coffin, so to say. Still holds up as a classic & it surely is one of the finest matches of both men's WWE careers. ****1/2

WWE RAW 11/28/13: CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan, Goldust & The Usos vs. The Shield & The Wyatt Family

What a stacked line-up on paper. WWE delivered so many terrific multi-man tag matches in 2013, and this was no different. Just super fun action from bell-to-bell w/ THE highlight, for me, being Daniel Bryan's superb hot tag -- he was the best hot tag in all of wrestling in 2013, and this was a good reminder of that. Loved Rollins trying to come n' save Harper from his frenzy there, only for him to eat a German Suplex -- I also loved how that gave Harper a bit too much time to recover, resulting in him countering Bryan's running dropkick counter into a hellacious powerbomb. Definitely the best stretch of the match. Punk's hot tag later on was very good too, and so were the last few minutes with everyone getting their signature moves in. FUN! ***3/4

WWE Survivor Series 2013: CM Punk & Daniel Bryan vs. Erick Rowan & Luke Harper

Sadly not as awesome as I remembered, but it's still good. I think Harper & Rowan are a bit too basic with their control segments, as it feels like the crowd died during those, and the action sure wasn't very interesting. VERY resthold & elbow drop heavy, you could say. Thankfully & unsurprisingly things always picked up when Bryan & Punk got back into the offense though; especially Bryan made sure that the energy never fully died after those chunks of Harper & Rowan on top. I would low-key say that this was a bit of a carryjob by the megapairing of Bryan & Punk. ***

WM29 vs. Taker, the return, MITB

WWE WrestleMania 29: CM Punk vs. The Undertaker

Punk had been playing some big time mind games leading up to this, so it only made sense for Taker to start all hot n' fiery, and I love how Punk continues those mind games in the beginning w/ them slaps. The whole little cat & mouse game they play is pretty fun. Taker gets a nice lil' segment to kick Punk's ass in slowish, more methodical fashion, and it's solid stuff -- Punk gaining the control by reversing the Old School & then a minute later successfully doing the move himself was a great dick move. Punk on top is pretty good, but maybe not the most compelling he could be. I did really like his cut-offs of Taker's comeback attempts, and talking about those, Taker teasing the dive was such a great moment; I remember in 2013 thinking that there is no way he is gonna do that move, but they got me good w/ the tease. Another GREAT bit was the count out tease after Punk's Elbow Drop -- genuinely one of the better big match count out teases there has been. They kick the thing into its finishing gear after that, and it's all about them big time moves, counters & nearfalls; my favorite moments from that section of the thing are Taker rising from the ground & staring a hole through Punk while Punk had the Anaconda Vice locked in + the Tombstone kickout after Taker bounced off the ropes to do it. Now the match isn't as amazing as I wanted to remember it being -- it's still really damn good, but the wrestling isn't quite as compelling as I remembered. Def 100% worth the watch though, as it's definitely one of Taker's best WM matches, and all in all just a really nice big time WrestleMania style banger. ***3/4

WWE Payback 2013: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

This is better than I remembered. It's not great or anything, but comparing it to their 2012 PPV meetings, it's so much better. The atmosphere is fantastic & as Punk is coming back after a little hiatus, I really dig how they play that ring rust into the match throughout. Jericho is a bit meaner than usual too w/ the crowd obviously being 200% in favor of his opponent -- I can't tell if that's the sole reason, but for some reason(s) he just FELT so much more compelling w/ his work here than he did in most of his other matches during this time period. That little mean-streak sure helped. Overall the match sure is quite 'workrate-y' in its structure and all, but they executed that well without it getting too cute or into the overkill zone, I thought. And in many ways it played into the story of Punk's ring rust nicely. The Chicago definitely helped in the grand scheme of things as well. The February '13 match between the two remains their best, but this is a close 2nd. ***

WWE Money In The Bank 2013: CM Punk vs. Christian vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Sheamus

This was a lot of fun. Especially everything after that awesome Sheamus rampage run is some really good stuff. The absolute highlight for me is Bryan's fiery flurry where he takes out everyone. That ruled, and so did the rest of the match; they very much had the whole multi-man trope going w/ it mostly being two guys fighting in the ring while the rest of the competitors lay outside, but it's still good stuff. It feels like a scrappy fight throughout, and I felt like especially Bryan, Sheamus & Punk delivered great performances. The angle at the end w/ Heyman betraying Punk is executed pretty fantastically too, with Punk's excellent facial expressions really selling the deal. ***3/4

The last match between CM Punk & John Cena

WWE RAW 02/25/13: CM Punk vs. John Cena

Man, the story they told here is just amazing. Having just recently re-watched all of their previous major matches (MITB, SummerSlam, NOC) also sure helped with that too. Going into this thing, Cena hadn't been able to beat Punk in any of their previous major PPV meetings, and he sold that brilliantly right from the get go w/ his body language. Punk on the other hand seemed cool as a cucumber, oozing that arrogant confidence. That perfectly carries into the match too with Punk being in firm control, always having counters to Cena's attempts at mustering a real flurry of offense. I absolutely LOVED his first way of countering Cena's vintage comeback sequence -- he just ducked that shoulder tackle, making Cena fly out of the ring w/ it. Cena tried to go for that same sequence of moves again a couple of times, and both times Punk had answers to it; him countering the suplex part & immediately following it by locking in the Anaconda Vice was awesome, and then when Cena got a bit further with it & got to the U Can't See Me taunt-part, he just kicked him in the head. I thought that whole thing was absolutely genius tbh. It made the finish make all the sense in the world, because Cena truly needed something completely new & fresh to shock n' stun Punk, and that he sure did with that Hurricanrana. That finish is AMAZING, and the lead-up to it was just straight-up brilliance. Their 2nd best match against one another & one of the best WWE TV matches of all-time. Back then none us knew it would be the last CM Punk vs. John Cena match, but looking back on it, it was pretty much the perfect way to end one of the greatest in-ring rivalries in the history of the company. ****1/2

Punk vs. Rock (also vs. Jericho)

WWE Royal Rumble 2013: CM Punk vs. The Rock

I love the hype video package for this match, and Rock's pure babyface promo before the match is also really great. The match itself is pretty far from great, but it's not bad. I liked the fact they went after their respective weak spots -- Rock had a worked up mid-section going into the thing, so Punk tried to wear him down by targeting it. Makes sense, and Punk's work over it was definitely very solid. Then as he makes one mistake & seems to tweak his previously injured knee, Rock sees that and starts returning the favor by delivering a stomping to that knee. Rock doesn't really fully commit going after it though, and as the match becomes more even, it becomes more about the big moves & counters. It's okay I guess, but definitely very, very, very forgettable stuff; I 100% liked the first half (or so) much more w/ the slower build & all. Gotta mention that it's also a shame that the announcing table crumbled under them when they were going for that big spot of the match in Rock delivering a Rock Bottom to Punk through it. Overall I think it's a solid match, but it's also very disappointing at the same time -- it's only memorable for the result + for the fact that it's Punk vs. Rock. It was very fun to go back & watch it though, as I hadn't seen it since 2013 prior to today; as far as me getting worked up about wrestling goes, this match & its result is up there w/ the best of 'em. Was a massive (still am) Punk fan back then, and while I knew that Rock was 110% sure winning the belt, they got me good with that finish after The Shield interfered. Then a couple of minutes later I'm triggered so bad as Rock pins Punk after that People's Elbow. Good times :') **3/4

WWE RAW 02/04/13: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

Definitely MUCH better than their 2012 PPV matches. I really like Punk's heat segment on Y2J here; he is awesome with his facial expressions throughout, and he has a nice gameplan in going after Jericho's neck. His work over that neck w/ the cravate, those leg drops, neckbreakers etc is pretty great. That whole section is most certainly my favorite part of the whole thing. Jericho's full-on comeback isn't really interesting at all, and as that bit gets done, they essentially kick the match into its final act w/ it being more even and big moves & counters being bust out for them nearfalls n' all. Didn't care for that stuff too much - it's not bad though, and I do think that Jericho's last GTS counter into the Walls of Jericho was pretty neat. Good match for sure & like I said, miles ahead of their bad PPV matches of the past, even if it's carried by Punk's awesome work on top for the most part. ***1/4

WWE Elimination Chamber 2013: CM Punk vs. The Rock

Their Royal Rumble match was already disappointing, so the expectations weren't high for this 2nd meeting between the two, but even then, this was extremely disappointing. Like I said, the expectations weren't high, but I sure wanted it to be better than it ended up being. Punk pretty much dominates most of the match, and sadly & disappointingly, he just isn't interesting at all with it. Very uncharacteristic for the man, and then there's The Rock who just pretty much brings nothing to the table. If I had to say one thing I liked about this, it would be the count out tease after Punk's Rock Bottom -- that was some nice drama & worked well within the stipulation of the match. Other than that hot minute or two, the 20 or so these two went felt like 40. Not a good match at all. The Rumble match is far superior and that one is nothing-to-write-home-about either. *3/4

The CM Punk Chronicles: KOW reunion, Cena, Ryback

WWE NXT 08/23/12: CM Punk & Seth Rollins vs. Antonio Cesaro & Kassius Ohno

It's cool seeing Punk tag with Rollins, and it's equally or maybe even more so cool to see KOW tagging in a WWE ring, and both of those elements have always been the selling points of this match. I remember people being so hyped about it (myself included) in 2012 when it happened, and then being disappointed when it was revealed to be a dark match that wouldn't see the light of day. It's really cool that now it's available for viewing, and while it's not the über classic match that I thought it could be back in 2012, it's still a good little match. Punk & Rollins get a nice little shine to start things off, then there's a very good Rollins FIP segment w/ the Kings, especially Ohno, doing some good work over him, and then the thing is capped off by a good CM Punk hot tag & a solid finishing stretch. Very basic, yet good, tag stuff. ***

WWE Night of Champions 2012: CM Punk vs. John Cena

By the end, this comes off as a total heavyweight main event clash w/ a lot of bombs + nearfalls & both guys having to dig down deep to their arsenals since their usual signature moves weren't doing the deal. It's pretty great, and I also like how we got to that point; from the get go, they go with the narrative of Punk being one step ahead of Cena at every turn. They tell that story wonderfully throughout, as it's usually only when Cena resorts to his raw power that he gets any kind of a flurry going, but it's mostly Punk having a counter to everything he did & being that one step ahead. Then, as implied, the match eventually becomes more even w/ lots of bombs and solid nearfalls. I really liked the fact that both of the guys had to start coming up with different big moves (Punk with the Moonsault, Cena with that top rope German..) since the GTS, AA etc weren't getting them the win. Now the match is maybe not as great as I remembered, but it's still great. Tells a great story from start to finish, and as usual with Cena & Punk, the action is very compelling. As far as their PPV matches go, I'd put this ahead of the SummerSlam '11 one. ****1/4

WWE RAW 01/07/13: CM Punk vs. Ryback

This was solid fun. Punk took some big bumps and the whole dynamic of him being the weasel heel against the terminator like act that was Ryback, was pretty fun. Nothing overly memorable, but a good TV-match for sure. ***

CM Punk: Enter The Dragon Edition

WWE Over the Limit 2012: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan

The meat of the match is Punk's attack on Bryan's leg vs. Bryan's brutalization of Punk's ribs. It's just absolutely fantastic stuff; both guys are extremely compelling doing damage to one another, and the selling is really great throughout. Early on I loved how 'cause of the damage Punk had done to his leg, Bryan was slower than usual with his classic comeback sequence, which allowed Punk to gain the control back. Really love the whole idea of Punk pretty much dominating the early going w/ his focused attack on a specific bodypart, too -- in the indies, The American Dragon made a name for himself off of that shit, and here he is getting schooled by Punk. Felt like that thought came to his head when Punk had him on that leglock too, as he very angrily forearm'd the absolute shit out of him to get out of the hold. When he finally fully gets back into the thing, he sees a target in Punk's mid-section, and oh boy did he go to town on that. Him just wearing Punk down with submissions & kneeing + kicking the wind out of him was terrific, and like I said, the selling was great. Punk sold brilliantly & it created for some superb moments like him essentially sacrificing himself w/ that Macho Man Elbow Drop, and him recovering slower than Bryan after he got himself out of Bryan's Dragon Sleeper. Some other great moments in this all-timer of a match include Punk going back to that leg w/ that Dragon Screw followed by the Figure-4, "I have till 5" w/ a cheeky little smile; mocking Bryan's old ROH shtick, Bryan pulling the kneepad on his bad knee down & going to town on Punk with them knee-attacks on the corner. I really could just say that everything about this is just great. The day it happened I recognized it as something special, and here, years later, it still holds up as something special. One of my absolute favorite matches to ever take place. *****

WWE No Way Out 2012: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

This is some very solid fun, even if it isn't anything very memorable or straight up 'great'. The highlights were Daniel Bryan going crazy on both of his opponents w/ them repeated kicks, and then I also surprisingly really enjoyed Kane's brief control segment on Punk. ***1/4

WWE Money In The Bank 2012: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan

Everybody knows about the match these two had at Over the Limit, so this kind of goes somewhat forgotten at times, but I've always thought that it's brilliant. It's completely different from that said OTL bout of theirs, as it should've been; going into it, the feud between the two had been growing deeper & more heated, and the thing had a No DQ gimmick attached to it, so it only made sense that they beat the absolute shit out of one another here, to put it bluntly. There's lots strikes throughout & both guys deliver big time on the offense delivering those strikes -- all the chops & kicks look superb. Especially Bryan went really kick-heavy here, even more so than usual, and I loved it. They also take good care of that no dq gimmick w/ them hard chair, and especially kendo stick, shots. Now there's also that special guest referee gimmick with AJ Lee, but that doesn't take anything away from this, as they handled that in a way where it didn't come into the way of the actual match quality, I thought. Fantastic feud-ender. ****1/2

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho 2012

WWE Elimination Chamber 2012: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston vs. R-Truth vs. The Miz

It's hard to come up with any major highlight moments for this match, because it really is super forgettable. It's definitely not a bad match though, as the action is pretty solid from start to finish & it doesn't go on for too long or anything. **1/2

WWE WrestleMania 28: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

My favorite things about this was the opening section w/ Punk kicking Jericho's ass in every department, and then the finishing stretch w/ the Anaconda Vice stuff, which was legitimately pretty great. What happened in between was such a bore though, sadly. Jericho isn't interesting at all when on top + the whole DQ-stipulation created for some cringe "drama" w/ Punk contemplating DQing himself and all. They pretty much move into a "workrate-y" section in the last third of the thing too, and it's just not good -- that kind of stuff is something that Jericho was always bad at in the 2010s, and it certainly isn't something CM Punk is the best at, either. Disappointing match. **1/2

WWE Extreme Rules 2012: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

This starts off hot, but much like at Mania, once Jericho properly takes over, things go dry. He was good at receiving the ass-kicking from Punk early on, but once he was working the heat, it just wasn't interesting at all. They really lost me at about the bit where Jericho starts pouring beer on Punk, and everything after that just drags badly. 25-minutes for a match like this was just completely unnecessary, and it truly felt like they didn't have enough material for that duration. They get me back for a second w/ that awesome Elbow Drop through the table, but everything after that is once again pretty damn uninteresting. I was ready to call this better than their disappointing Mania meeting during the first 10 minutes or so, but like I mentioned, things quickly got very dull & remained dull for a very long time. **

Early 2012 for the Punker

WWE Royal Rumble 2012: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler

I'd put this a bit ahead of their RAW match from November. Laurinaitis was a ringside referee, so the match obviously had some shenanigans involving that stip, but they handled that whole thing well & it didn't go into fuckery levels. The best bit from the early going is Punk just manhandling Ziggler & throwing him to the ropes, resulting in Ziggler falling out of the ring, followed by CM Punk launching himself there w/ a great looking suicide dive. Really just loved Ziggler's all around ragdoll bumping & selling here, made all of Punk's offense look super lethal, especially both of those Go To Sleeps he dished out. That spinning sit-out powerbomb counter to Ziggler's Fameasser attempt was awesome as well. Good match. ***1/4

WWE RAW 01/30/12: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan

It's the first singles meeting between the two since 2005, and it's kinda cool that now they're the World Champions in the biggest wrestling company in the world facing off. It's a very neat little tease of what was about to come between them later on in the year, too. A helluva TV-match w/ compelling wrestling all the way through. Bryan is all kinds of awesome on the offense w/ terrific strikes, some Regal-esq work with those knee drops to the face and continuing working the hand & arm while having that knee on the face of Punk -- him twisting & bending Punk's arm all over the place was of course extremely enjoyable, and Punk's selling is really good, unsurprisingly. I really liked how he had to switch to the better arm in that signature move-combo of his in that running knee into the bulldog one. The finish w/ Jericho kinda comes just when the match was kicking into another gear, but hey, I can't really complain about it knowing that Bryan & Punk got to have those PPV matches later on in 2012. Like I said, this more than did its job as a teaser for those matches that would eventually happen. ***3/4

And so begins CM Punk's title reign!

WWE Survivor Series 2011: CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio

First of all, Punk having The Fink as his personal ring announcer for the match ruled. The match itself is overall very good, but it also had a pretty dry and dull middle-section w/ Del Rio on top. He just didn't grab me at all with his work, and it sounded like the crowd would agree with me, because they went pretty dead for that section of the match. I definitely can appreciate the fact that he went after the arm though -- even if his work over it was EXTREMELY basic & uninteresting, it's always nice to see stuff that makes sense, ya know. What helped that tremendously was the fact that Punk's selling was absolute top class. Made it feel so much more important & better than it was. Things thankfully also really picked up after Del Rio's heat segment is done, and the last third of the match is legitimately pretty great. I'd say that the thing had a good start, dull middle, and then a great last third to cap it off. ***1/2

WWE RAW 11/21/11: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler

A good TV-match. Ziggler actually controls most of it, and the whole dynamic of him, as a hot mid-card act pushing the new World Champ to the limit, was fun. Such good energy surrounding the whole thing & the action is solid from start to finish. I'd say the highlights for me were Ziggler's GTS counter, and then a bit later on Punk paying him back w/ that Fameasser counter. ***

WWE TLC 2011: CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. The Miz

Everything from when ADR first handcuffs Punk on is such awesome action. They use all of the gimmicks well with a couple of great, big table spots, ladder smacks + ADR going crazy w/ the chairs during his little (awesome) rampage run. I also really love the finishing stretch w/ Miz handcuffing Punk again -- it's some creative, very good stuff. Definitely a quality TLC bout. ***3/4

The CM Punk Chronicles feat. HHH, ADR, Cena

WWE Night of Champions 2011: CM Punk vs. Triple H

Prior to this, I actually hadn't watched this match since it happened in 2011, and I am VERY surprised at how great this thing actually was. They showcase their pure disdain of one another brilliantly right from the get go as Punk jumps HHH during his entrance, and from then on, it's just a pure fight all over the place w/ nothing cute or lame about it. It's just them going at it, and I think what surprised me the most was that there wasn't any dead, dull moments in the thing -- in almost every lengthier WWE No DQ main event match like this, it feels like they could be trimmed quite a bit, but here Punk & Trips filled every second they got greatly. You can just feel the bitterness they feel for one another, and it's awesome. I actually also really enjoy all the shenanigans, starting from the Awesome Truth run-in -- they work in the context of the storylines going at the time, and I enjoy the super chaotic feel of it all. Kinda reminds me of Foley vs. Austin in that sense. Now the result is what it is -- it's what the match is mostly known for, and it sure is the wrong result in every way imaginable, but the actual match is pretty damn great in my eyes. ****

WWE Hell In A Cell 2011: CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena

Hot damn what a complete bore this was. Easily one of the most dull Hell In A Cell matches there have been. Most of the match falls into the 3-way trope of 2 guys fighting while 1 rests outside; now that said trope CAN work very well, but here it just annoyed me. Just didn't fit the HIAC gimmick at all or the wrestlers involved. It created for some extremely basic & forgettable exchanges, but then again, even in those rare times when all of them were going at it, it wasn't really interesting. If I had to name the most memorable things about this, I guess I would go for Punk kicking Cena when he went for the You Can't See Me taunt -- always love Punk not letting that happen, and then there was the bit where Del Rio slapped a CHINLOCK on him. Felt pretty baffling to see such thing inside the Cell, but hey, at least it was somewhat memorable in all of its absurdness. Bad match. *

SmackDown; Bryan & friends at it

WWE SmackDown 03/20/20: Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Daniel Bryan & Drew Gulak

These 4 + Sami Zayn being involved with each other & wrestling every week on SmackDown gives me life. This was such a good TV tag w/ lots of charming technical rasslings - as one would expect - and then there's an awesome Bryan FIP segment, nice Gulak hot tag & a very nice finish. ***1/2

Punk vs Cena - the Summer of '11 edition

WWE Money In The Bank 2011: CM Punk vs. John Cena

It's a 30+ minute epic, but when you have such a hot angle, or THE hottest angle of the 2010s may I say + the perfect overall setting, it all called for that 30+ minute epic. Does it have a shitload of big movez & nearfalls? Sure does. All of those big movez & nearfalls felt like they happened organically though, and most importantly, they felt earned. And the bombs they bust out are actually really fucking great all the way through -- nothing looks CUTE; it feels tense 'cause of the stipulation & everything is done w/ the purpose to try and put the opponent away. The whole sequence where they go from Punk's GTS attempt to Cena's STF, which Punk ultimately counters into the Anaconda Vice is something that could be oh so cheesy, but they milked the drama from it excellently, and it felt like a real struggle. It's one of my favorite bits of the whole match. Now is the wrestling a little sloppy at times? Absolutely. The most notable points would be Punk's crossbody where he lands on Cena's knee, and then the AA reversal where he doesn't quite land on his feet -- the thing is, those DEFINITELY didn't take anything away from the match. If anything, it made it feel all the more scrappy, organic n' intense. As an overall package, this thing really is just pure magic; the lead-up, the pre-match video package, the entrances, the unreal atmosphere the entire way through, the absolutely superb in-ring action by both men, the ending. Pure magic. *****

WWE SummerSlam 2011: CM Punk vs. John Cena

MITB certainly wasn't just lightning in a bottle. They were never gonna match or top that match when it comes to the overall magic of it, but their PPV rematch here was absolutely great. It feels like two titans clashing with all the counters throughout, and that feeling is especially on play after the count-out tease bit with Trips throwing them both back in the ring. It's some damn great big time main event wrestling. The finishing sequence w/ Punk absolutely CHARGING Cena with that ugly, yet goddamn awesome knee, followed by Cena getting fired up & punching n' pummeling Punk up, all leading to Punk eventually getting him with that GTS, is so awesome. Maybe my favorite bit/sequence/thing of the whole match. ****

WWE RAW 08/22/11: CM Punk vs. John Cena

This is pretty much a sprint version of their 2011 PPV matches, and I'm definitely here for it. It's some mighty fine stuff, especially for a TV match. The great atmosphere provided by the Edmonton crowd was definitely welcomed, too. ***3/4

Everything Interesting from the 16 Carat '20 Weekend

wXw Inner Circle 9: Chris Ridgeway & Daniel Makabe vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Yuki Ishikawa

This was exactly what you'd expect from them. There's the awesome dynamic of two younger dudes taking on two absolute veterans of the game -- Makabe & Ishikawa bring some extremely nice mat work in their exchanges, as expected, and then Ridgeway & Ikeda bring the heavy hits in their strikes. It's really fun, good stuff from start to finish. ***1/2

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 - Day 1: Daniel Makabe vs. Eddie Kingston

This was absolutely banging, to no one's surprise. At least it shouldn't be a surprise if you know both guys, because you just know their styles would click immediately, and they sure did here. Makabe goes to town with them submissions while Kingston chops, lariats & drops him. Makabe also throws a couple of HELLACIOUS German Suplexes, and then there is the sweet finishing sequence with him first avoiding Eddie's back fist, only for Eddie to spin again & do it. Hell yea this was a good time. ***3/4

AMBITION 12: Ethan Allen vs. Luke Jacobs

Going into this match, I had no idea who these dudes were, but that's what made this match even better. It's two young, hungry wrestlers wrestling like two young n' hungry wrestlers should. They grapple like they mean it w/ nice urgency, and every strike looks pretty darn great too! Fit the AMBITION card like a glove. ***1/2

AMBITION 12: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa

Two 50+ year old mad men from Japan might just come to Germany to beat the absolute piss out of each other. What a WILD effin' time this match was. Brutal kicks, slaps, forearms, punches, headbutts galore. And then throw some viciously tight looking submissions in there as well. A Super Fight, indeed. ****1/4

AMBITION 12: Chris Ridgeway vs. Daniel Makabe

Right from the get go they establish Ridgeway's strikes as something to fear w/ him delivering some leg kicks, which Makabe sells big. It's not long after when he starts to just kick the shit out of Makabe, to put it bluntly. And it's great. Really, really great. All of his kicks look super lethal, and as Makabe annoys him w/ a lil' slap, he changes it up & delivers a much more brutal looking n' sounding slap of his own, and then quickly after that, he just destroys poor Makabe with some absolutely devastating forearms to the mid-section. Absolutely LOVED his work as on the offense here, as he came off as a complete killer. At least 50% of that is of course due to Makabe's superb underdog performance -- he really sold every strike he got hit with amazingly, and he just truly FELT like a true scrappy underdog throughout. Both guys delivered big time in their roles to say the least. Greatttttt match. ****

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 - Day 2: Eddie Kingston vs. The Rotation

Eddie just straight up bullies The Rotation throughout, and it's awesome. I won't get tired of watching him smack & throw people around, that's for sure. The Rotation also gets a very good big comeback run towards the end, and then ultimately the match ends w/ Kingston destroying him in lovely fashion. ***1/2

wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 - Day 3: Daisuke Ikeda & WALTER vs. Timothy Thatcher & Yuki IshikawaSuch a badass match on paper, and it didn't disappoint. Every interaction in the match is awesome, and the whole energy surrounding the thing was very nice with it being billed as Thatcher's last wXw hurrah before going to the E. Like I said, every exchange was some GOOD STUFF, but if I had to point out my favorite bits, I'd go for the ones between the Ringkampf fellas in Thatcher & WALTER. Then there's the post-match which is genuinely pretty touching. All in all, an extremely fitting wXw farewell for Thatcher. ***3/4

3 AMAZING Bryan Danielson Matches in ROH

ROH Glory By Honor IV: Bryan Danielson vs. James Gibson

They open it up w/ some wonderful technical rasslin' -- it's pretty even throughout, but to use somewhat of a commentator cliche here, I'd say that if it was scored on points, Danielson would be in the lead. There's a true feeling of competition in everything they do, and I like the little playfulness in their exchanges; it demonstrates that feeling of competition & one-upmanship perfectly. I also like how, as the match progresses, things get meaner & meaner between the two; stomps, knees to the face, trashtalk, etc. One spot that I absolutely adore is when Danielson goes to drop an elbow on Gibson who is on the ground; Gibson ducks, so Danielson looks to go for another one, but as he is going for it, Gibson keeps on rolling away & starts to get up, so Danielson stops himself from doing that elbow drop & instead blasts an uppercut to Gibson, who was now standing. It's so brilliant in all of its simplicity. Gibson gets the first real work-over segment of the match, and he's really great punishing Bryan -- he nastily drops him rib-first on the guardrail, launches him into the corner w/ a lot of force behind it, busts out some excellently brutal looking backbreakers & neckbreakers. They swift the momentum to Bryan beautifully -- just a bit earlier, there was a moment where Gibson started striking Bryan, which essentially woke Bryan up to strike him back & almost win the exchange, so here Gibson makes that mistake again after getting a bit too cocky about his control; once again, as Bryan is on the corner, Gibson goes to strike him, but he took his time with it, which he pays for as Bryan strikes back & gets back into things. Now Bryan is pretty much in control, and oh man is he brilliant. His main focus goes to Gibson's arm, and he is superb going after it w/ all kinds of violent work over it. Goddamn I also love the bit where he goes to pin Gibson multiple times in a row, just to tire Gibson out some more. And of course the whole finishing stretch rules w/ Gibson escaping the Cattle Mutilation, only for Bryan to lock-in his new ultimate weapon of choice in the Chickenwing. Brilliant wrestling all the way through. It's the kind of a match where I find something new to love about it every time I watch it. ****1/2

ROH Better Than Our Best: Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm

This sure has some beautiful technical wrestling throughout. I like how Bryan tried to get into Lance's head by being mean w/ that slap early on, but to the champs surprise, Lance just shrugged it off & gave him one back. Bryan continues to be lil' nasty as the match goes on by using the lace of his boots to grind on the side of Lance's face, choking him, trashtalk n' slaps. It's very good stuff and it showcased Bryan's frustration very well, because he sure wasn't liking how Storm was hanging w/ him, and even showing him up in their exchanges. If I had to pick one singular moment to point out as my favorite from the match, I'd probably go with the Surfboard bit. Loved how much fight & struggle Lance brought into it, as he never stopped trying to fight out of that thing. It's a real good, borderline great match overall. ***3/4

ROH Unified: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness

One of my favorite matches of all-time. Everybody who knows about this match knows about the last 5-6 minutes w/ Nigel getting busted open hard way as Bryan pulls him repeatedly into the post. It's one of the most brutal things I have ever seen, and knowing everything that happened to the two years after the match, it's extremely uncomfortable as well. I don't want to call it stupid (even if it is), because ultimately, it was their choice to do it, and they're the artists painting that picture, you know. And it sure created for some unforgettable art, to say the least, as those last 6-minutes or so are indeed some of the most magical I've witnessed in a wrestling ring w/ Nigel rising like a zombie after beating the refs count, roaring & shaking like a maniac while the crowd goes crazy. The actual finish w/ Bryan absolutely destroying him with those elbow strikes is one of the most legendary scenes in ROH history too, and for a good reason; it's an amazing visual, and I think an underrated part of it is the ref having to come in & stop Bryan from continuing with them elbows -- it's not the usual heel like stuff w/ him just being a dick to continue beating his opponent after the bell, but it felt like he had to dug so deep to finish this English madman that he was just doing anything & everything to put him away, and he was so focused on that. It's a very powerful ending imo, and very fitting for one of the greatest matches of all-time. Even before the ringpost-spot, everything is extremely compelling all the way through w/ them playing up to the Pure rules amazingly & busting out callbacks to their previous 2 meetings. It all excellently builds to that bloody, brutal climax. *****

RevPro High Stakes '20

RevPro High Stakes 2020: Eddie Kingston vs. LA Park

This has a solid amount of FUCKERY in it, but my GOD it's such a blast. A legit dream match that delivered. ***3/4

3 INSANE El Generico Matches in ROH

ROH Return Engagement: El Generico vs. Kota Ibushi

Generico looks to slow Ibushi down as his gameplan -- he is lovely just dropping him w/ those great looking backbreakers & Michinoku Drivers. Ibushi sells every move well, and all of his comebacks are intense, fast-paced + come with a nice sense of urgency. He basically does those IBUSHI THINGS, ya know, and it's great. After they come face-to-face, things get even more intense & essentially the match kicks into its finishing gear, and it's pretty damn fantastic. Such a banger of a match. Ibushi ends his ROH tour on an absolute high note. ****

ROH Final Battle 2010: El Generico vs. Kevin Steen

The culmination of a year-long build. I would honestly call this one of the greatest grudge matches of all-time; it just feels like everything simply clicked here. The build was amazing, the atmosphere was amazing, and both guys delivered some of their finest performances. Steen is such a compelling nasty bastard throughout with his sadistic beatdown - might actually be his best performance ever now that I think about it, and then there's Generico, who's selling of that said beating is simply masterful & all of his times on the offense feel so fulfilling, especially that ending where the story from Final Battle '09 to Final Battle '10 comes to a full circle. Extremely compelling storytelling in the form of pro-wrestling violence all the way through. ****3/4

ROH Best In The World 2011: El Generico vs. Christopher Daniels

This has such an honest heel vs. babyface dynamic to it, and I can't help but love it. Daniels is a wonderful dick throughout; him on top is great, as he puts so much soul into everything he does, and stuff like him raking Generico in the eyes to get the advantage, dropping him throat first into the ropes, chanting "I still got it!" at himself, acting like he was gonna do a springboard 450, etc, it's superb stuff. Absolutely loved his performance here, and then you of course got El Generico, who is an awesome babyface w/ his great selling & fantastic times on the offense. That whole finishing sequence was so damn good too. Great match! ****

3 PHENOMENAL AJ Styles Matches in ROH

ROH Hell Freezes Over: AJ Styles vs. Matt Sydal

Definitely one of the top matches that Matt Sydal has ever had. They tell a great underdog story throughout, and as they do that, they even play up to the size difference in some nice, subtle ways. Styles is just wonderfully NASTY all the way through, and Sydal sure knows how to take a beating in compelling fashion. Love the finish too -- it in some ways perfectly sums the match up imo; at first Sydal looks to do something BIG from the top, but AJ easily counters that into the Styles Clash set-up, which Sydal counters w/ that ultimate rana, from which Styles rolls through to get the pin. Sydal busted out some fantastic counters throughout, but just like in that finish, Styles was one step ahead the entire time. ****

ROH All Star Extravaganza VI: AJ Styles vs. Adam Cole

Cole controlling things isn't very interesting at first (what a surprise), but when the focus of his attack goes to AJ's knee, his work gets more compelling to watch -- mostly thanks to AJ being his wonderful & fantastic self, selling his ass off & all. By the end, it's a good match. That top rope Bloody Sunday as the finish RULED. ***

ROH Final Battle 2015: AJ Styles vs. Jay Lethal

AJ's coming into this with some well known back problems, and that ends up being the big story of the match. Lethal first goes to it as he drops AJ on the apron, and after that the target is clear. Lethal's work over the back is really good, and AJ's selling is just faaantastic. During this time period, this was a very different type of a match for Styles, with him being the Bullet Club leader & top heel in NJPW; but here he was the babyface who was forced to fight from underneath because the champ took an advantage of his injury. It created for such a great struggle for AJ throughout; he was so good at gaining that sympathy from everyone, selling that damn back like the legend that he is. Really can't praise it enough. He got some really great counter hope-spots too, some examples of those would be the forearm smash to Lethal as he went for that 3rd dive, evading Lethal Injection & giving Lethal a good ol' Pele Kick, etc, etc. AJ's performance was just absolutely top tier in every way, I thought. I also love how just when it looked like he created somewhat of a 2nd gear flurry for himself & he went for the Clash, Lethal just DUMPS him outside the ring through that table. What a brilliant spot, and what a brilliant match. ****1/4

Bryan vs Cesaro EMPTY ARENA MATCH

WWE SmackDown 03/13/20: Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan & Cesaro having an empty arena match for the WWE, with Triple H on commentary + Drew Gulak, Sami Zayn & Nakamura hanging at ringside. WILD. This was a goddamn blast, to no one's surprise. They got like 5-minutes, but every second of those 5-minutes or so was filled with great, intense wrestling. The lads just beat the crap out of one another, to put it simply. Gotta love the ending too, with Cesaro trying to be cute n' sneaky w/ that crucifix pinfall attempt, but he sure wasn't prepared for MR. SMALL PACKAGE making him pay for that, baybay. This won't be making mine or probably any MOTYC lists, but for more reasons than one, it will be one of the more memorable matches from this year, at least for me I'm sure. ***3/4

3 AWESOME Tyler Black Matches in ROH

ROH Bound By Hate: Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega

At first Tyler kind of seems out of place in this, but by the end, he sure redeems himself, as that last big flurry by him is great. Bryan is the biggest deal in the match, and he sure is treated like one -- the best bits of the thing sure were him just beating Tyler & Kenny up, wrenching their arms, putting them in double Cattle Mutilation, kicking n' just striking the shit out of them. Very fun stuff, and it's quite a fun match to look back at, seeing the big success all 3 have had since 2008. ***3/4

ROH 8th Anniversary Show: Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries

This is painfully uninteresting for like 90% of it. It does get better as it goes on, and the last few minutes are pretty good, but overall this was far from good. Aries' work on top is extremely boring & forgettable + Tyler from underneath, and as an overall babyface, just doesn't click here, as he shows no charisma or fire in his times on the offense. Certainly one of the most underwhelming ROH World Title changes -- it happened too late & the match is a complete miss. *3/4

ROH Salvation: Tyler Black vs. Kevin Steen

This is Steen at arguably his most nastiest & violent form, and here he was looking to change Black forever. Him opening up the match with that stiff sounding SLAP was great, and it very well set the table up for what was about to come in the next 20+ minutes. Steen is awesome on top, delivering a beating to Tyler & even bloodying him up -- eventually Steen himself gets his face bloodied, and I gotta say that both of them rocking that color definitely made this match even more memorable than it already was. Tyler's babyface performance is also all kinds of very good w/ him busting out some awesome hope spots, comeback flurries & he sold for Steen's beatdown quite well, gaining that sympathy of the crowd. It's a great match, and probably one of the best singles ones of both men's ROH careers. Somewhat of a "gem" I'd even say, as it's usually not talked about at all. ****

3 WILD Kevin Steen Matches in ROH

ROH Border Wars 2012: Kevin Steen vs. Davey Richards

The Canada crowd being fully behind Steen & fully against Davey created a fun dynamic w/ Davey heeling it up a little bit, and it made his all around performance here stand above most of his other ones from that time period. Like I implied, I really liked him embracing the crowds reaction, his little target on Steen's knee was a solid gameplan to watch throughout, and surprisingly I also thought that his selling was really good from start to finish. Especially those facial expressions were on point. Steen on the other hand wasn't compelling at all. He didn't sell much at all, and his times on the offense were generic all-over-the-place stuff w/ no real focus or anything, which then obviously dragged the match down quite a bit for me. **1/2

ROH Final Battle 2012: Kevin Steen vs. El Generico

Generico's initial shine is awesome; him just doing GENERICO STUFF & smacking Steen w/ that ladder rules. Steen taking over & starting to sloooowly beat Generico down w/ some generic smacktalking thrown in there sure doesn't rule though. It's high-key really damn boring, but thankfully once Generico comes back w/ them half-nelson suplexes the match wakes up a bit. After that brief comeback by Generico, the match kind of "dies" again though. It feels lengthy & it also just feels like there isn't much, or anything, going on in-between the big spots. I would still call it a good match overall for sure, as there is plenty of good stuff in there even w/ almost most of it being lifeless, but considering it's these 2, it's also very disappointing. Certainly not up there w/ their finest bouts against one another. ***

ROH War of the Worlds 2014: Kevin Steen vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Both guys feel like absolute rockstars here. The Hammerstein crowd eats everything they do up, and honestly, so do I. This was a kick ass match. They play off of each others personalities excellently, the action is bomb-heavy right from the get go, and it's just lovely. The match being under 15-minutes is just about perfect too. And I absolutely love the finish w/ Steen kicking out at 1 from the sliding Boma Ye, and then Nakamura finishing him off w/ a standing one right away. ***3/4

3 BRUTAL Samoa Joe Matches in ROH

ROH Joe vs. Kobashi: Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi

What could be said about this that hasn't been said? I've watched this a shitload of times, and it's still as magical as the first time I did it. It's the ace of ROH going against Kenta fucking Kobashi in front of one of the hottest crowds ever. Literally can't go wrong with it. *****

ROH on SBG #184: Samoa Joe vs. Kyle O'Reilly

Samoa Joe's first match back in ROH since 2008, so it's kind of a big deal. It's a quality pairing on paper too, and the match is good for sure. Joe pretty much just runs through all of his signature stuff during his times on the offense, just bulldozing through O'Reilly, and Kyle tries to focus on Joe's arm in his attacks. ***

ROH Supercard Of Honor IX: Samoa Joe vs. Jay Briscoe

Looking back at this, it sure was quite disappointing. Their original ROH World Title match from 2004 is one of the most memorable ones in ROH history, and while I sure didn't expect them to top it here 11 years later, I still expected a bit more. It just seemed like this never really kicked off; it was just them doing some moves at a slowish pace, with not much substance to those moves. Looked like Joe hurt his knee in the early going, so that might be one of the reasons why for sure. **

3 EPIC CM Punk Matches in ROH

ROH 3rd Anniversary Celebration: CM Punk vs. Alex Shelley

A very good match w/ some very nice dueling body part targeting; Punk early on went for the arm to soften Shelley up for the Anaconda Vice, which Shelley countered by unleashing an absolute beating to Punker's mid-section. Shelley's all around performance was pretty terrific -- his focused attack on that mid-section was all kinds of awesome, and he sold the arm really well; I especially liked how he couldn't fully lock in the Border City Stretch at first, 'cause of the damage Punk had done to that arm. That was some good shit. Punk was rock solid with everything he did in the match as well, but I do think he could've sold the mid-section a little bit more, but it's not like his selling was bad or anything, so it's all good. It's just something that could've potentially pushed this match from being very good to GREAT. ***3/4

ROH Death Before Dishonor III: CM Punk vs. Austin Aries

This is one of those classic ROH World Title matches + also one of the greatest moments in the history of the company. I've always loved it. The whole package -- from the presentation of the deal w/ it being billed as CM Punk's last ROH match, to the atmosphere, to the in-ring work done by the two, to the legendary post-match stuff. It's that mid-2000s ROH/indy magic that cannot be re-captured. Punk controls the first portions of the match -- everyone knew Aries had a banged up neck going into it, so Punk naturally goes after it w/ them dropkicks, headlocks, bulldogs. It's good stuff! Once Aries takes over, he definitely ups the nastiness though; that DVD on the apron was pretty sickening, and his overall work on top is really great. He wonderfully plays the dickhead who wants to spoil Punk's one last hurrah, and the crowd reacts 110% accordingly, which made it all the more better. Punk FINALLY mustering some offense in the form of that irish whip reversal into the lariat to the back of the head was a great moment after Aries' long heat segment. And talking about great moments, I do love me some well done & timed kickouts at 1, and that Pepsi Plunge one has always been a very good one. To sum it all up; like I said, I've always loved this thing, and I think I always will. ****1/2

ROH Escape From New York: CM Punk vs. Roderick Strong

Punk is such a great cocky heel prick in this. Between his in-ring work, the taunting to Joe & Gibson + the way he controlled the crowd throughout, this truly was a terrific performance by the man. Roddy was a great opponent to go against him too -- I looooooved the way they built the match up from the beginning w/ Punk avoiding Roddy's chop-heavy onslaught for as long as he could, so once Roddy finally got to unleash those sick chops of his, it was like a true "finally!" moment. Great match. ****

Elimination Chamber 2020: GULAK vs. BRYAN!

Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak

This being a 15-minute WWE PPV match is pretty mindblowing. And it was exactly everything I would expect from a match between these two outstanding individuals -- to put it simply, it just LOOKED like how a Bryan vs. Gulak match should look like + the storytelling was superb throughout; the whole story leading up to this was Gulak informing Bryan that he knows the weaknesses in his game, and they played up to that story here pretty much perfectly. Even when you look at it without paying attention to the smaller details, it's mostly Gulak just dominating Bryan in every department & that's exactly how it should've gone. They do an amazing job with Gulak countering any & every move or hold Bryan went for, and one of my favorite things about the match was the whole head-scissors deal; at first, Bryan escapes Gulak's head-scissors w/ a little headstand, right? Well then when Gulak puts on the head-scissors for the 2nd time a bit later on & Bryan tries to do the same, Gulak does the little short-piledriver to stop that from happening! So good. This is easily my favorite match of 2020 up to this point & the first match since Bryan vs. Kofi from Mania that's actually made me want to re-watch it a couple of more times the day it happened. Bless this match for being a thing that happened. Pro-Wrestling, yay! ****1/2

Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo

They had to follow one of the greatest opening matches in WWE history, but they managed to do that pretty damn well. Andrade was lovely roughing Humberto up w/ his excellently vicious looking strikes, and Humberto was real good himself, having to fight from underneath & busting out some very, very nice comebacks, as in him flying around. I have not watched any of their previous matches against one another, but this sure was very good. ***1/2

Tag Team Elimination Chamber

Lince Dorado's SSP sure was pretty wild. Other than that, the obvious highlight of the thing was Heavy Machinery's whole run & mainly Otis looking for that sweet revenge against Ziggler. After they got eliminated, the match lost a ton of heat & got uninteresting for a bit, but thankfully the last few minutes w/ JoMo & Miz vs. The Usos was solid. Good match. ***

AJ Styles vs. Aleister Black

Too long for sure & it had its dead moments + everyone & their mother knew that this was all happening for Taker to come out and further set-up the match vs. AJ at Mania, but all in all, I thought this was a nice lil' match. AJ was pretty compelling with his vicious attack on Aleister's leg, and while Aleister's selling got pretty questionable towards the end, he did sell pretty fine while AJ still had that big target on the bodypart. ***

Street Profits vs. Murphy & Seth Rollins

The only match on the show that didn't make me feel anything. Felt like a total RAW match. *3/4

Braun Strowman vs. Cesaro, Sami Zayn & Shinsuke Nakamura

This was actually very solid fun for what it was! Sami is a great chickenshit cocky prick & his new look w/ the longer hair + them pants & that hat = AWESOME. Him winning his first main roster championship is a big positive too. **3/4

Women's Elimination Chamber

This was all about Shayna Baszler, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Her coming out & destroying the first 3 competitors in quick fashion is when the match really kicked off, and I enjoyed all of it -- in particular her completely destroying Natalya & then later on Liv Morgan was pretty great. The build-up to the final showdown vs. Asuka was very good too w/ that Asuka constantly talking shit through her pod, and they had a fun little, yet a bit rough in parts, fight to end the thing. The better Chamber match of the two we saw on this night. ***1/4

AEW Revolution

Dustin Rhodes vs. Jake Hager

Hager isn't very interesting when he first gains control, but as the match goes on, his work gets better & the fact that the crowd was so into the bout all the way through definitely helped. Oh and of course the fact that Dustin is an all-time great babyface helps, too. The highlight definitely was Dustin's big comeback towards the end. I also thought that they did a good job establishing Hager's new finisher in its & his AEW debut -- first Dustin gets out & kicks out of both of his former WWE signature moves in the Gutwrench & the Ankle Lock, but then he goes out to the Arm Triangle. Good opener! ***1/4

Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara

Frantic pace is set right from the get go as Darby attacks Sammy immediately, wasting no time. The pre-match fight outside the ring goes on for quite a bit, and it's pretty good stuff -- they do stuff that you'd expect Darby Allin & Sammy Guevara to do, and that 630 through the table was quite a segway into the match officially starting, as they finally went to the ring after that. What follows is 5-minutes of some good, pretty explosive, sprint'ish, spot-heavy action. Good stuff. Definitely can get behind them going this route with this match. ***

Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. The Young Bucks

First of all I gotta say that I thought the 30-minutes or so that this match went flew by. Sure there's some cheesy/corny stuff in their STORYTELLING (insert TM logo here), but all in all this was pretty darn good. All 4 guys delivered great performances & they played up to their whole angle leading up to this excellently throughout -- some of the highlights include Kenny's epic kickout at 1 of The Golden Trigger, Matt going after Kenny's taped up shoulder like a mean bastard + Hangman getting the W for his team by destroying both of The Bucks w/ that Buckshot Lariat of his. Very good match. ***1/2

Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander

They were in the worst spot possible, having to follow that tag team title match, and as a result, this felt like it was completely nothing w/ no heat and nothing memorable about it. *

Cody vs. MJF

It wasn't as energetic, fiery & intense as it could've and probably should've been, but I really enjoyed this from start to finish. Cody sure knows how to kick ass as a babyface & MJF's performance was very good. I really liked his early focus on Cody's arm + all the stomps to Cody's broken toe were awesome, and the way he portrayed his character throughout was pretty great. Good match for sure. ***1/4

Orange Cassidy vs. PAC

I knew I was gonna love this & that's exactly what ended up happening! This was just goddamn awesome. PAC was the perfect opponent for OC; his reactions to & selling of everything OC did were pretty much perfect. And of course he also delivers when dishing out the punishment. So much fun! ***1/2

Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley

This was my favorite match of the night. Had a BIG FIGHT FEEL to it, and they sure had one helluva fun fight for that World Title. Liked all of the early brawling everywhere, it fit both of the wrestlers & once they made it to the ring, things remained lovely w/ Jericho being absolutely awesome working over Moxley's eyes & being a nasty veteran all the way through. Mox was (& is) such a good babyface too -- one of my absolute favorite moments of the match was his blind/drunk Terry Funk-like swinging at Jericho. Great, great match. Also a great moment in the title change, making it a very sweet all around package. ****