NJPW THE NEW BEGINNING 2021 IN NAGOYA

NJPW THE NEW BEGINNING IN NAGOYA 01/30/21

Great-O-Khan vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
I liked what I saw from the Great-O-Khan in his Tokyo Dome match against Tanahashi, and this was a yet another good showing by the lad. As a pure single individual showing, I'd say it was about on par, but as an overall match, this was even better than that said neat Dome bout. Liked just about every bit of offense O-Khan showcased here, and the strategy of weakening Tenzan by the neck was nice. Tenzan definitely more than showed up too - what a lovely, fiery performance by the veteran. Of course with the stipulation and all, much of the match is centered around them Mongolian Chops, and it of course RULES, because both fellas sure throw 'em with everything they got. This was just a real sweet deal all around tbh. Loved it all. ***1/2

Satoshi Kojima vs. Will Ospreay
Didn't find this to be very interesting. The spot where Kojima lariats Ospreay off the top to the outside through a ladder was really nice though, but other than that, they had a hard time getting me into the match. Ospreay's facial expressions & talking always very cringe too, unsurprisingly. *1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi
Fun starting feeling-out process, which is something Tanahashi does exceptionally well especially compared to most of the other New Japan main eventers. Pretty compelling legwork by both men, inconsistent selling of that said legwork, but that is to be expected & there was a few pretty neat moments revolving around Shingo actually selling the knee. The drama also increases as the minutes go & the boys start busting out bigger bombs, and it's pretty exciting stuff, even though I do think that the match, unsurprisingly, started to drag towards the end, especially in the last 10 minutes or so. All in all it's kind of a generic big New Japan match w/ the usual "problems" (which aren't really problems, but are more about my preferences in wrasslin'), but it's TANA going against a man like Shingo Takagi, so in most cases it wasn't gonna be anything less than very good, and such was the case here. It was a good one. ***

Getting It On With '21 Even More! WHITE vs IBUSHI edition

WWE NXT 01/20/21
Timothy Thatcher vs. Tommaso Ciampa
This wasn't as interesting as their TakeOver match or Thatcher's previous Fight Pit bout against Matthew Riddle, but I still had a fun time watching it. There was really nothing cute about this, as they had a nice, pretty rugged fight with their always great, basic offense. ***

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15 - Night 2
Jay White vs. Kota Ibushi
I have loved these two together in every match of theirs that I've seen thus far, but this one ended that streak. There really is nothing _wrong_ with it & there's actually a bunch of good, cool stuff in there at times, but it's just SO damn long. Unnecessary long. Holy hell how long. It's almost a cliche to say at this point, but the 48-minute runtime felt like it was at least 3 hours, because of how uncompelling & uninteresting the work was for the absolute vast majority of it. At least we'll always have the G1 Finals 2019. Gentleman's **

AEW Dynamite 01/27/21
Eddie Kingston vs. Lance Archer
This was exactly what it needed to be with these two - two badass mofos having a badass pro-wrestling fight. Both guys have such great arsenals, it's a joy watching them beat one another up. Archer served more than well as the babyface going against Eddie. Wonderful sub-10 minute STUFF. ***1/2

Let's Fucking Get It 2021

WWE NXT 01/06/21
Finn Bálor vs. Kyle O'Reilly
There was quite a few legitimately GREAT moments in this match, and all in all it really was the kind of a match that I love. However there's one big factor which, in my eyes, prevented it from reaching true greatness. And that factor is Finn Bálor. Most of his work here lacked tenacity & simple MEANNESS; stuff like his stomps, headlocks, crossface -- it all fell a bit flat because of how robotic & soulless it almost all felt. Thankfully he did have some badass moments in him though; him busting out the abdominal stretch to briefly counter Kyle's onslaught on his arm was awesome, and it was even more awesome when he went back to it at the end after that big liver kick, which also was an awesome callback to their previous meeting. Great finish. Kyle on the other hand was absolutely wonderful throughout w/ real good selling & very nice amount of that said tenacity, meanness & grit in his work on the offense. If this exact same match would've been him going against say like Drew Gulak or Timothy Thatcher or Matt Riddle, it probably would've been a bona fide TV classic, but as it is, it's "just" a good match. ***1/4

AEW DYNAMITE 01/13/21
Eddie Kingston vs. PAC
These two don't like each other very much, and that shows pretty wonderfully throughout this very nice lil' sprint-feeling-having affair. Simple & straight to the point. It's not the kind of a match of which there will be highlights played or remembered, but it's two absolute pros going out there & doing what they do, resulting in a real enjoyable piece of business. ***1/4

AEW DYNAMITE 01/13/21
Brian Cage vs. Darby Allin
This is REAL one-sided, and rightfully so because there aren't many, if any people in wrestling that take a shitkicking like Darby Allin, and that allows Cage to look real good in the process as well of course. The big man just throws Darby around like its nothing, with some real big, brutal looking spots being busted out. On paper that sounds absolutely wonderful & for the most part it is exactly that, but I do think that some of the spots should've felt bigger than they ended up feeling. For whatever reason, some of the big throws on the outside & all didn't register as those big moments that they could've & should've (for me anyways). It's all good though, because the match still totally rules. My favorite spot of the whole thing actually was Cage falling on those steps - that shit felt real blunt & impactful. Real good stuff on the attack by Darby overall as well of course; he brought that signature explosiveness & creativity into everything, and as pretty much always, it's awesome. A very good match. ***1/2

WWE NXT UK 01/14/21
A-Kid vs. WALTER
There's a real lovely cat & mouse dynamic to start this off, and both parties play their roles wonderfully. A-Kid more than brings it throughout with his arsenal of chops & especially those kicks, and WALTER sells BIG time, to say the least. That knockdown as the result of those repeated leg kicks was a great moment. WALTER's big selling & A-Kid's excellent, almost perfectly executed gameplan of using his quickness & weakening the champ by going after his leg was such compelling stuff -- the way the whole match played out made each time WALTER got his hands on A-Kid feel so fulfilling, which is kind of weird to write out loud because he was & is the heel champ, but it felt like that. Watching him unleash his murderous onslaught was awesome. Extremely good shit, this match was. Almost felt like one of those big Wally vs. ZSJ bouts. ***3/4

BRYAN vs CESARO

WWE SMACKDOWN 01/15/21

Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan
It's always a damn joy watching Cesaro & Daniel Bryan wrestle each other. I'm not sure did I like this bout more than their excellent also-TV-match from last April, but yeah, it's a yet another absolute banger between 'em, of course. Fun n' great armwork vs. legwork story that plays off naturally, wonderfully, logically & it's compelling all the way through with some creative spots & moments in there. Beautiful pro-wrestling between two masters. ***3/4

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 15 NIGHT 1 (CHERRY PICKINGS)

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 15: NIGHT ONE


KENTA vs. Satoshi Kojima
This was a textbook two out-of-their-prime veterans having a rock solid bout, match. Nothing extremely memorable, but a good little match. ***

Great-O-Khan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
I enjoyed this quite a lot. Was my first time seeing The Great-O-Khan (at least with this gimmick), and I really liked a lot of the stuff he did here; the beginning with him trying to take things to the mat ruled, and then later on he brought a nice amount of struggle in some of the bigger bombs he busted out, such as the reverse suplex thingy. Masterful performance from Big Match Tana as well all around with his awesome comebacks, great selling & charisma. One negative about this is that it did drag -- they most definitely shouldn't have gone 15+ minutes; with some trimming it could've been even better than it was, and it already was really, really good. ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
I really liked the match they had during G1 where Ospreay turned heel, so I was somewhat hopeful about this one, but yea, this wasn't really for me. Went over 35 minutes & certainly every single second of that long duration was felt -- there was nothing outright 'bad' or annoying about this, but it was just so unremarkable and forgettable for the absolute majority of it, save for a singular spot here n' there. Not a bad match, but very forgettable other than the fact that it happened in the Tokyo Dome. **

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito
These two have had some crazy-ass, legitimately great matches in the past, and while this one didn't reach the peaks & heights of those, I thought it was still a very good, consistent match. They fill the 30+ minutes nicely. Usual neckwork by Naito, and he's pretty mean with it at points, making it a pretty sweet deal to watch unfold. It's not a total Tokyo Dome main event level epic spectacle overall, but a good enough match which I did enjoy watching. ***1/4

First DANIEL BRYANS of the year

 

WWE SmackDown 01/01/21
Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Daniel Bryan & Otis
A quality TV-tag. Good FIP segment w/ Bryan rocking the role + Naka & Cesaro doing a real good job working the heat on him, awesome hot tag by Otis with him running through people n' throwing 'em around, and then a nice finishing run to cap it off. ***

WWE SmackDown 01/08/21
Sami Zayn vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. King Corbin vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Adam Pearce
This thing is completely carried by the legitimately great match between Nakamura & Bryan. Nakamura looked & felt more spirited than he has in at least 90% of his main roster matches; him & Bryan already had a nice little TV-match last year, but this was even better. If I were to rate it as a singular match, I'd give it ***3/4. But as it is, I would go *** on the overall gauntlet, and that's still a helluva score considering none of the other segments in it were anything, really.