WWE Clash of Champions: IC Triple Threat, Jey Uso vs Reigns

 

WWE CLASH OF CHAMPIONS 2020

AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Sami Zayn
I'm not big on ladder matches in general, and they especially DO NOT work well in this era of empty arena matches. So unsurprisingly I didn't care for like 99% of this, but I can appreciate the big bumps they took, because gawd damn, the lads sure went into town when it comes to those. And I guess the best thing I can say about the match overall is that I sure love to see Sami Zayn shine and wrestle according to his character so flawlessly. The finish & the whole lead-up to it was fun too, but yeah, as a whole this wasn't exactly my cup of tea. **

Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns
The video package highlighting this feud before the entrances was really great. Got me pretty pumped for the match. Sadly the match itself was really damn yawn-inducing. 20-something minutes of Reigns talking trash in cringe fashion -- at first I thought it felt natural, but by the end with all the "CALL ME DA TRIBAL CHIEF" stuff, geeeeez. He dominated pretty much all of the match too, and his actual work doing that wasn't any interesting either. Just very generic & forgettable. Certainly not a match of my liking. There were a few positives though, such as I did like Reigns jawing Lil Naitch, and that one comeback bit by Jey was pretty nice w/ that Superkick & that finish splash of his. *1/2

The G1 2020 BEGINS WITH ISHII & MINORU

 

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 30 - DAY 1

Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii
This kinda goes exactly as one would expect, and I for that reason wasn't really looking forward to watching it, BUT as usual with going into Ishii matches in general, I have my doubts about my interest in them, but usually always by the end, I come away with something I really loved. Such was the case here. Him & Suzuki brought the violence big time, with it being most in display in that absolutely wonderful sequence where Suzuki destroyed Ishii with those deadly forearms -- those strikes looked & sounded awesomely brutal, and Ishii's epic selling complimented them peeeerfectly. All in all, I really loved this. Sure it felt a bit long, as in it could've used some trimming, but come on. That is to be expected. Comes with the territory. This ruled. ***3/4

AEW ALL OUT 2020: FTR vs. Hangman & Omega

 

AEW ALL OUT 2020

Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood
Extremely disappointing. The lack of a "real-real" crowd hurt this so much, especially since they went around 30-minutes. Most of the more major moments of the match didn't register at all because of that, and talking about the length, man it felt very unnecessary for them to go this long. The whole first half or so felt like almost complete filler. OH WELL - all in all I sure wouldn't call this a bad match though, as I do think that in the last 10 minutes or so the action actually got some hook to it w/ FTR seeing a target in Kenny's knee, and that reaching its apex in the last few minutes with that pretty great finishing stretch. Shame that the road to that compelling section of the bout was such a bore. **