Punker vs Powerhouse Hobbs

AEW RAMPAGE 09/24/21

CM Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
This was some real simple, pro-wrestling 101 shit. Powerhouse Hobbs is a large man, so that comes into the play right away with Punk recognizing this & firing at his left leg right out of the gate. The size dynamic is what dominates the match with Punk having to be the crafty veteran & Hobbs doing powerhouse-stuff fitting of his name, and I enjoyed it all quite a bit. In fact I would say that I enjoyed it just as much as I did Punk's match vs. Darby Allin, if not even more. ***

DANIELSON vs OMEGA

 

AEW DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 09/22/21

Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega
Everytime he wrestles, it's just further confirmation (for me) that Bryan Danielson is the greatest professional wrestler to ever live. I have said it a million times by now, but I just did again. This match was beautiful. They built it to the 30-minute draw wonderfully, as the action kept on upping itself with a perfect crowd to boot. They played their hits, but with that competitive spirit of wanting to prove who truly is THE best. It's a real natural story to tell & dynamic to play off of, and these two did it with ease. I could go on for a looong time about how great Dragon was here, but I also must say that Kenny Omega is at his finest when he is delivering simple viciousness w/ his amazing arsenal of signature moves, and there certainly was QUITE A BIT of that in here, to say the least. The way he also presented himself & treated this match helped make it feel like something special as well-- the most serious & focused Kenny since at least that Dome Main Event vs. Tanahashi, probably? Goddamn this whole thing was greatness all around, no better way to put it. ****1/4

Minoru vs Moxley II

 

AEW DYNAMITE 09/08/21

Jon Moxley vs. Minoru Suzuki
This was such a banger. They went about 8 minutes or so, and that left us with no time for filler. Meaning that this was an absolutely wonderfully action packed time bell-to-bell. It's a lot like their first meeting from last year, but in a lot more sprint-ish fashion. I loved it. Fantastic television main event. ***3/4

AEW ALL OUT 2021

AEW ALL OUT 2021

Eddie Kingston vs. Miro
This was a mean fight between one brute monster of a man & one true street dog. I liked it very much. Great selling, especially in some little moments by both guys, badass offense + staying more-than-true to their compelling characters. It all makes up for a hot-hot opener! ***1/2

Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima
Kojima usually always delivers nice effort in big singles match spotlights like this. I thought the match was a pretty fun little exhibition. Nothing very memorable, but both guys did their thing & put on a pretty well spirited bout. **1/2 

Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander
Thought that this was pretty rough & awkward in many moments, and overall it kinda failed to capture my full attention at any point. I did dig the Curb Stomp on the outside though, and the last few minutes were solid, I guess. *3/4

The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Brothers
This was the usual Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros spot-heavy craziness, but now with the promised extra violence of the Steel Cage stip added. I thought it was good. Their matches don't hit the same after you've seen them what-feels-like a million times, but there's still those sequences & moments that get me good. And I sure love The Bucks as heels w/ their ridiculous looks & thumbtack-Jordans, so yeah this was a good time. ***1/4

Casino Battle Royale
Ruby Soho's debut with the banger Rancid theme was fun. Other than that, this was a very generic battle royale; a bunch of nothing, but easy-to-watch & a solid way to kill some time.

Chris Jericho vs. MJF
This was rock-solid. Good performance from underneath by Jericho & a pretty strong showing by MJF as well. The restart deal was done really well, and actually brought the match up a notch, as everything afterwards was red hot. ***

CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
The match I was most looking forward to on this card for obvious reasons. Right from the get go, there's a real big match feel-- first of all I must say that major kudos to AEW for letting the entrances BREATHE here, as usually they don't let them do that. The image of Darby sitting in the ring awaiting CM Punk's entrance to begin was very, very cool. The match itself was good, I thought. At points it was boring & dragged, but for the absolute majority of it? Roooock-solid. Played well off of CM Punk's obvious ring rust & look, with Darby Allin you just aren't gonna get a match that isn't at least SOMEWHAT entertaining. He's the man. The Bret Hart spots were fun & fit the match extremely well given the whole dynamic of the thing + contrast in styles between the 2 men. It gets an obvious lil' boost by nature with it being Punker's return match, but as implied, I thought it was pretty darn good anyway. ***

Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage
I really liked their first match against one another on Rampage. This one felt like a waaaay less spirited version of that. Felt about twice as long, too. Some cool singular moments here n' there, but ultimately, very dry & left me with nothing. Not bad, but disappointing. **1/4

SMACKDOWN: BALOR vs REIGNS

 

 

WWE SMACKDOWN 09/03/21

Roman Reigns vs. Finn Bálor
I think I have enjoyed all of their previous TV-matches that I have watched. This one was pretty good too. The dynamic was set during Bálor's entrance when The Usos jumped him; it was gonna happen regardless, but this now set him to TRULY fight from underneath against the champ. Reigns was real good in his role here; that throw he started the match off with was badass + his signature uppercuts looked REAL mighty. Then on the other hand, I thought that Finn was quite the mixed bag (unsurprisingly) w/ his offense; his basic strikes looked really weak, but he also busted out some nice, high energy stuff, so he kinda somewhat made up for that. It's a pretty good match, but they obviously have a much better one in 'em, and we'll probably get to see it by the look of things. **3/4