AEW FULL GEAR 2022

 

AEW FULL GEAR 2022

Eddie Kingston vs. Jun Akiyama
Eddie Kingston manifesting this match into reality is some king shit. Seeing Akiyama in a singles match like this in AEW is so cool. It was a solid match. Not a MOTYC or anything like that, but obviously really fucking good. Hard hitting, big impact, that kind of a deal. You know the deal. Akiyama is one of the best ever, Eddie is one of the best today. It's a sweet deal. ***1/4

Jack Perry vs. Luchasaurus
Smaller bloodied up scrappy babyface hero getting thrown around by a large dinosaurus-villain inside a cage? Hell yes. Jungle Jack & Luchasaurus understood the assignment wonderfully. They rocked this shit. Great stuff all beautifully building up to the epic finish. ****

The Elite vs. Death Triangle
Nothing you have not seen before. I knew what I was getting when looking at this match on paper, and it's exactly what I ended up getting. A soulless Elite 6-man exhibition. Bleh. I can appreciate a few moments of nice, vicious, explosive offense by Kenny & PAC, but as an overall thing, this did not do a thing for me. *1/2

Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Sammy Guevara
Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli are incredible professional wrestlers, and this was a yet another reminder of that. The match also played to Guevara's strengths, and as a result he had one hell of a showing. Really fun multi-man shiet. ***3/4

Catching Up on the Greatest Wrestler Ever

 

AEW DYNAMITE 09/07/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Adam Page
This was really awesome. Big stakes match-up not only because of the championship tournament, but also 'cause of the history the two have. They wrestled accordingly to that mentioned big-match-history they got, with there being a great feeling of familiarity between the men. Danielson was a straight up menace wrecking Wangman's arm throughout, and Hangman certainly held up his part of the deal in selling it extremely nicely. There's a couple of periods in this match where it feels like the vibe & the flow is a bit... off? and that's what prevents it from being a bona fide top-something contender for the year, but yes sir, it certainly still is an absolute banger as implied.  ***1/2

AEW DYNAMITE 09/14/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho
This was a solid-enough slugfest for the first half; I mean seeing Bryan dish out punishment in the form of hard strikes is always a joy, and while some of Jericho's stuff looked pretty weak compared to his, they actually worked that nicely into the story in a few bits. Where this match *really* shines though is the foot-angle. Danielson sells his ass off to make it as wonderfully dramatic as possible for this match, and Jericho looked fantastic really twisting those submissions in, putting in that torture. They milked it low-key perfectly. It's a really good match. ***1/2

AEW DYNAMITE 09/21/22 - GRAND SLAM

Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley
Kind of an anti-climatic ending, but this was great. A tad below their terrific Revolution match, but still great. To say that Danielson was on fire would be low-key an understatement, as he was just firing on all cylinders here, delivering a BEAUTIFUL performance on the offense, just bringing an absolute onslaught against Moxley. He made every moment he spent as the aggressor fucking amazing, to put it simply. Moxley didn't quite match that, but he still had cool moments of his own, and his overall selling in the match was really good throughout. It absolutely is Danielson who makes this thing as great as it is though. ****

AEW ALL OUT 2022: THE stuff!

 

AEW ALL OUT 2022


Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho
I thought that this was really good. Against many other opponents, a Chris Jericho match of this kind wouldn't have worked (for me), but against my favorite wrestler of all-time, I enjoyed it a lot. Go figure. I thought that they told the narrative of their story thus far really nicely throughout, with both guys nicely matching their characters with their work inside the ring. Danielson kicked ass as always with his phenomenal offense, and Jericho had some genuinely really awesome moments in there as well, with some rugged, ugly moments of pro-rasslin violence. ***1/4

CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley
This was great. Big match atmosphere. Two amazing big match wrestlers who know how to convey that said atmosphere perfectly. Terrific work by Moxley as the aggressor working over Punk's cut & the foot injury, which Punk obviously sold all like he always does, which is excellently, and overall portrayed the hometown triumphant babyface wonderfully. ****

Danielson/Garcia II & III

 

AEW DYNAMITE 07/27/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia
This was Bryan's comeback match after the reported concussion he suffered at Anarchy In The Arena, and the match 100% revolves around that said injury. Garcia dominates most of it targeting Bryan's head, aaand that's what killed the match for me. Garcia is EXTREMELY uninteresting, uncharismatic & offers no swagger or charm whatsoever with his work on top. His output was straight up weak looking & boring. Bryan's selling is of course really great & his comeback moments, especially that first big one with the explosive forearm shot after Garcia's first control period, are really awesome, but it's not enough for me to call this good. **

AEW DYNAMITE 08/17/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia
After not enjoying their first two singles meetings, I am very pleased that I loved this one! The GOAT was fully on his murder-shit-up-mode with plenty of punishing, beautifully violent looking offense as well as superb selling (much like in their previous match). Garcia also showed up way bigger than he did in those said previous matches of theirs, as he also nicely stood-up - I say 'stood up', because I don't wanna lie & say 'matched' - to Dragon's pure intensity & fire. This was an absolute banger. On some jedi master taking on a new padawan type shit. All hail the greatest professional wrestler to ever live, The American Dragon Bryan Danielson. ***3/4

SUMMERSLAM 2022 stuff: Becky/Bianca, Lesnar/Reigns

 

SUMMERSLAM 2022

Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair
Their WrestleMania match is one of the best matches of the year, so this certainly had a world of potential. I think the Mania match was pretty much a perfect big-title-match-thing, and this one tried to replicate that magic, but I didn't feel it at all. Seemed like it never kicked into another gear & there was no real catch or hook to get you (or at least me) truly into it. A spot or two that were pretty cool, but even that feels overly nice to say tbh. *1/2

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
God DAAAAAMN. This was some mighty epic shit right here. It took them over 7 long years, but Reigns & Lesnar finally had a yet another banger. I usually don't particularly like LMS-matches, but the gimmick fit them like a glove, as it allowed their usual bomb-throwing look & feel more gritty n' violent than usual - of course helped by the fact that both guys can be absolutely incredible when it comes to selling. Such a super fun, big atmosphere heavyweight arsenal showdown all the way through, with the whole ending section after the, and I mean THE spot, being simply incredible big time WWE drama fitting the 2 characters clashing perfectly. Shout out to big Michael Cole for delivering a helluva performance as well. ****1/2

AEW x NJPW: FORBIDDEN DOOR

 

AEW x NJPW FORBIDDEN DOOR

Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, Shota Umino & Wheeler Yuta
What a terrific way to kick off this show. All 6 men were firing on all cylinders and delivered red hot performances-- Eddie Kingston is a star in just about any match he's in, but he truly was the MVP here, and that's saying something, because as I said, everybody rocked the shit outta their roles! ***1/4

FTR vs. United Empire vs. Roppongi Vice
This was quite fun. Cash got to shine as the FIP when Dax went out, O-Khan was awesome as usual with his uniquely funky offense, and both of the RPG Vice lad had really solid showings as well. I would say it dragged a bit towards the end after Dax returned into the match, but all in all, I thought this was pretty good. **3/4

Clark Connors vs. Malakai Black vs. Miro vs. PAC
This got better as it went on, which is the norm for multi-man matches like this anyways. I wasn't really feeling it before the table got introduced, but everything from that moment onward was some good shiet. A pretty good, solid fun match overall. **3/4

Darby Allin, Shingo Takagi & Sting vs. El Phantasmo & The Young Bucks
STING kicking the match off with that badass entrance was amazing. The whole match was superb fun all the way through - classic Bucks 6-man tag pacing bell-to-bell, and predictably Shingo in particular matched up perfectly with it alongside his awesome explosive offense. ***

Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm
This wasn't anything. No heat at all & the action wasn't anything memorable whatsoever. A match that happened. *

Orange Cassidy vs. Will Ospreay
I don't like to say it, but this did absolutely nothing for me. It's THE Orange Cassidy big match, you know what that means, now with Will Ospreay as his opponent. Nothing new or interesting about it. I can recognize a few singular moments of greatness where Ospreay's already-nasty offense looked all the more brutal, 'cause of OC's willingness to let himself look like a ragdoll, but yeah, ultimately this just simply wasn't for me. *3/4

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
The pop Claudio got = goosebumps. He was always the most perfect man for this particular spot, and I am oh so glad it actually happened. The match absolutely rocked too. They did the most natural story they could, with Double C using his superior power game to dominate Zack, and Zack was focused & hyena-like in his compelling attack on Claudio's arm. A beautiful debut in every way for an exceptional wrestler. ***1/2

Adam Cole vs. Adam Page vs. Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada
This was never going to be my type of a match, but I thought it was actually was pretty solid. Certainly nothing memorable whatsoever, but the overall energy & great atmosphere kinda carried it - awkward ending aside, this was perfectly alright. **

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jon Moxley
This, to me, felt like it never really got flowing or going as it should. It's unfortunate because Tana vs. Moxley should be a banger, and especially so in 2022 when Moxley is killing it against just about everyone, but yeppers, this was more about the moment than the actual match. **

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING: the interesting stuff!

 

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2022

MJF vs. Wardlow
This was just about exactly what it always should've been. Wardlow completely demolishes MJF in under 10 minutes. **3/4

ANARCHY IN THE ARENA
This was absolutely FUCKING insane. Anarchy in the Arena INDEED. Holy hell. Simply perfect for what it was; pure carnage with plenty of funky (in the best way), unique touches. A heavy contender for MOTY honors without a doubt. ****3/4

Adam Page vs. CM Punk
CM fucking Punk winning the Worlds Heavyweight Championship in 2022 is SO damn cool, but the match failed to grab me at any point. Not bad though, but just extremely forgettable (other than the result) & honestly? Quite boring. *3/4

WHEELER YUTA IS FORGED IN COMBAT

 

AEW RAMPAGE 04/08/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Trent Beretta
A couple of WWE Superstars 2011 heroes going at it. You love to see it. This was a classic very-giving heel Danielson performance - if I had to describe how my ideal Trent vs. Dragon match would look like, it would probably be very one-sided, but this was certainly extremely good as well, with Trent dishing out some very nice explosive n' mean offense & Danielson being Danielson, aka the best. It was a good one. The finish was beautiful in its violence. ***

Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta
This kicked so much ass. I've been loving this whole little story between the BCC & Yuta. It's been an absolute home run, and this match was perfect for it. Sure you could argue that by the end they went into the overkill zone with the 2nd Paradigm Shift kickout, but I thought it fit the match well, because Wheeler motherfuckin' Yuta went into Terminator mode & was not going into that good night. The blood was an incredible addition, Yuta kicked ass right from the get go & Moxley was wonderful dishing out punishment to the kid. A hit in every way imaginable. This in some & many ways reminded me of the famous Nigel vs. Tyler match from 2008, where you could feel that a new star was born out of a youngster by having him go toe-to-toe (& some more) with an established ace-level star. Just terrific stuff, man. ****1/4

WRASSSLEMANIA NIGHT 2

 

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 38 - NIGHT 2

Street Profits vs. Chad Gable & Otis vs. Randy Orton & Riddle
On paper this looks like a low-key perfect opener. And it sure was quite a lot of fun! RK-Bro has their shtick down wonderfully, with Riddle taking most of the match getting the heat on by the other participants, and then Randy comes in as the hot tag, a true house of fire. Good shit. I also like what Gable & especially Otis are doing, and the Street Profits work extremely well in matches like this with their explosive & exciting arsenals as well. ***

Bobby Lashley vs. Omos
This reminds me of Kane vs. Khali from Mania 23. I thought it was solid for what it was; Omos did his basic dominant giant-thing and Bob Lashley was a solid little badass underdog. So a pretty solid little number with a fulfilling finish is how I would describe the entire thing as. **

Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn
This was AMAZING. Perfect for what it was always gonna be. Sami fucking Zayn, man. What a damn professional wrestler. One of the very best & the exact dude to perfectly do a match of this kind. ****

Carmella & Queen Zelina vs. Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks vs. Natalya & Shayna Baszler
This was honestly way better than I would've expected. Everyone involved were out there to deliver clear big match efforts, and we got some really neat spots in there with Rhea & Sasha in particular being consistently really good from bell-to-bell. **3/4

AJ Styles vs. Edge
I thought that for the most part, this was very good. A hell of a match, really. It was a slow-burner, which was to be expected given the participants, and I thought it worked extremely well between 'em. Styles is a helluva babyface & Edge looked very good being the heel working on top, focusing his attack on two particular body-parts. AJ sells like he does, which is excellently, and overall his babyface work between that great selling of his & the comeback bits, it was awesome. Now with matches that build like this one, it usually ends with a nail-biting finishing gear where they go all out, and they clearly tried to go for that here too, but that's where the match fell a bit flat. There was a cool sequence/spot or two in there, but ultimately, it just didn't feel juicy. So yeah, with a better last third this easily could've been great, because even without it, it was pretty damn close. ***1/4

Austin Theory vs. Pat McAfee
Holy hell, this BANGED. The whole presentation w/ the Seven Nation Army setting the tone, Cole going crazy on commentary all match long, Theory's wonderful selling & bumping for McAfee, McAfee's genuine holy-shit superplex, the upset victory. Everything that happened afterwards was simply gold as well. Joyous! ***1/2

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
This match oozed importance with its billing, video package, the entrances, the aura & demeanor by both men. This could've & should've been something so damn special... but it just wasn't. It was the usual post-WM31 Brock vs. Roman match. Signature moves galore. Suplex, suplex, suplex, Superman Punch, Spear, F5, F5, Spear, Spear. I still enjoyed it though; I would actually say that it's one of the better versions of the match, as watching 2022 Cowboy Babyface Brock do his thing, throw bombs, sell his ass off, you know the deal, it's extremely fun & feels fresh + Reigns definitely can throw bombs as well, but MAN, this really should've been something so much more. The ending in particular was so damn cold. ***1/4

WRESTLEMANIA 38 NIGHT 1

 

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 38 - NIGHT 1

The Usos vs. Rick Boogs & Shinsuke Nakamura
I actually thought that this was very solid. It was essentially tag wrestling 101; you got a good starting shine by Nakamura, followed by an okay heat seg, and then a solid hot tag by Boogs. The finishing stretch with Nakamura fighting alone was really good, definitely a very strong way to finish the match off, as it was probably my favorite section of the thing. A pretty good opener! **3/4

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
Not bad, but about as memorable as one would expect. A passable little number, but certainly nothing anyone will remember for a long time. I will say that it was probably better than I would've expected, clearly a bigger-match effort by both McIntyre & Corbin, and it showed. **1/2

Dominik & Rey Mysterio vs. Logan Paul & The Miz
Haha, this ruled! You could see how Logan got more & more comfortable as the match went on. Him hitting the 3 Amigos & Frog Splash was so awesome. I also thought that Dominik had one of his best individual showings so far, and of course Rey was great. ***1/4

Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair
Yeah, this was damn great. They wrestled it like a Big Title Match, which is more than fitting, because that's exactly what it was. Excellent flow, big time feel, both women upped the intensity & violence + busted out stuff that you would in a match of this caliber. I loved it. Excellent performances by both Becky & Bianca in an excellent match. ****

Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins
Cody's entrance & the reaction he got gave me goosebumps, thinking about how everything after his exit from the company in 2016 has lead to this. Then the bell rang. It was exactly the kind of a "worst case scenario" between Cody & Rollins, except that it's kind of what I would expect from them. Plodding, uninteresting action w/ no interesting hook or any soul to the thing whatsoever. *1/2

Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey
Wow, what an anti-climatic finish. Other than that, I thought that this was good. Sure it had its share of outright awkward & rough moments, but in some ways some of those added to the rugged feel of the bout. Ronda always brings something unique to these big singles matches, and such was the case here. ***

Kevin Owens vs. Steve Austin
This whole thing was just a shitload of fun. Austin's still a master at his profession, and KO was a brilliant foil for him. A more-than feel-good end to this show.

FTR vs the BRISCOES is fucking AMAZING

 

ROH SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2022

FTR vs. The Briscoes
This was a pure tag team masterclass. That's the simple way to put it. No cute smarkbait stuff a la FTR vs. The Bucks, but a straight-up, tag team warfare. Intense, perfect, naturally flowing professional goddamned wrestling. Bless. ****1/2

WM WEEKEND INDY STUFF: BLOODSPORT, WRESTLECON

 

GCW JOSH BARNETT'S BLOODSPORT 8

JR Kratos vs. Timothy Thatcher
So good to see Thatcher back in action. And this was some classic Dirty Tim storytelling all the way thru. Simple & perfectly executed. He manages to smother & suffocate Kratos w/ his grappling game, but he makes little mistakes like trying to suplex him or challenge him to a strike-off. I loved it. Thatcher is always compelling to me, and I thought that Kratos was great against him here as well. ***3/4

Biff Busick vs. Jon Moxley
The juice of this match, no pun intended, is in Biff's crimson mask. It created for some incredible visuals & definitely boosted what was otherwise a pretty good match. It kind of took it from that pretty-good territory into the really-good waters. ***1/4

 

WRESTLECON MARK HITCHCOCK MEMORIAL SUPER SHOW

Timothy Thatcher vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Thatcher tried to make this different from the usual Ishii outing, but by the end, this was the usual Ishii outing. And it was that with Ishii giving an understandable not-so big match effort. I thought it was solid, but it definitely could've been much more given the wrestlers involved. **1/4

Biff Busick vs. Minoru Suzuki
Much like the Moxley match, this was a yet another example of Biff bleeding enhancing a match. This was a touring Suzuki slow-beatdown style bout, but Biff rocks the FIP role well, and the visuals with his great facial expressions under that bloody face were very nice. A pretty good match, I'd say. **3/4

AEW Dynamite: Latest from Punker & Dragon

AEW DYNAMITE 03/30/22

CM Punk vs. Max Caster
This was a serviceable match all in all, but ultimately it was pretty much nothing. One of those TV-matches that totally happened & were there, but offered nothing TRULY interesting. And that's ok. Fun to watch Punk have a little sub-10 minute tv outing like that regardless of how I felt about it being interesting. *1/2

Jay Lethal vs. Jon Moxley
This was solid. The classic TV formula of them nicely teasing that this guy who is isn't featured on TV very much, but is respected as an in-ring threat, could actually beat Mox, as he put him in some pretty real peril. The legwork was solid for sure & Moxley's selling of it was nice. Nothing to truly write home about, but a welcomed enough addition to a weekly show. **

Bryan Danielson vs. Wheeler Yuta
These two were featured in a great tag match a few weeks ago where they set this match up perfectly. A 10-minute match which was all about young Wheeler Yuta standing up & showing fire against the greatest professional wrestler to ever live. It's a classic story to tell, and I usually love it every single damn time. Bryan was obviously fucking great at his role, dishing out punishment & being a little extra-dickish to his opponent. Yuta was also awesome, rocking his role pretty damn excellently; he showed just the right amount of emotion for a match of this kind. Him stealing the Danielson elbows & then spitting at Danielson before getting his head stomped in = such good shit, my god. What a banger of a TV-match, a brilliant little angle. ***3/4

WATCHING MANIA MAIN EVENTS (1-5)

WRESTLEMANIA I

Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Paul Orndoff & Roddy Piper
This is a very WrestleMania-like spectacle. It's a bit messy at parts, maybe even for the large majority of the first half or so, but I still enjoy it all due to the amazing atmosphere, the presentation & the excellent work put in by the heels. Orndoff & Piper were feeding their asses off for Hogan and T, which made for some really fun, easy-to-enjoy action. I think in many ways it really is the perfect main event for the very first WrestleMania. ***

WRESTLEMANIA II

Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy
I think this is solid in all of its simplicity. Very much exactly what you would expect a Cage match between Hogan & Bundy to look like. The beginning with Hulkster's shine was legitimately pretty awesome w/ all dem punches n' shiet, then the Bundy control seg that followed wasn't very good at all, but the Hogan comeback followed by the finishing gear where they up the drama is extremely solid & pretty interesting because of how dickish he got towards Bundy. Overall the match is nothing to _really_ write home about, but as I implied, it's pretty darn enjoyable in all of its simplicity. ***

WRESTLEMANIA III

Andre The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan
Simply iconic & larger than life. It's a Big Match. They wrestle it like it's a Big Match, and it works wonderfully. It certainly is past Andre's best days in the ring, but he is still who he is & that carries a lot of weight. I'd say he still rocks his role well enough here. A LOT of it is thanks to Hogan's excellent babyface performance for sure, as he was selling the shit out of Andre's output to say the least plus even his facial expressions throughout were really great, sold the entire ride perfectly & didn't enter the overly-cheesy territory. The whole thing just works, man. It's a simple spectacle meeting between two titans of the industry at the biggest event of 'em all. Well worth its reputation & something every wrasslin fan needs to watch at least once. ***3/4

WRESTLEMANIA IV

Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase
This sadly isn't much. A sub-10 minute match where most of the focus is on the bigger angle unfolding w/ Hogan & Andre involved. It really isn't much at all, actually. Sure all the offense looks crisp & good since it's Macho & DiBiase, but it isn't enough to make this any interesting. *

WRESTLEMANIA V

Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage
I don't like this as much as I would like to, if that makes any sense. It's definitely a good match, with Savage's heel character being pretty fun to watch, but it's just missing that one true catch in its in-ring action to take it to another level. ***

AEW REVOLUTION 2022

 

AEW REVOLUTION 2022

House of Black vs. Death Triangle & Erick Redbeard
This was a pretty fun trios match. Being on the buy-in, it meant that the crowd was gonna be fresh & energetic as hell, which obviously boosted the overall energy of the thing. It was kind of what you would expect from a match like this. Went a tad bit too long for sure, but that usually comes with the package. I thought that BIG RED was an absolutely awesome addition; the whole backstory of PAC bringing him in to combat the House of Black's big man in Brody King is already badass as hell, and he wrecked shit up in the actual match. THE VINTNER. DEFINITELY my favorite dude in the thing. He was great. Love to see it. **3/4

Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston
I spent my years disliking the crap out of Chris Jericho & what he had to offer, but in recent times, I've really come to appreciate the work he is doing right now. I think he's been consistently pretty damn good in these non-main event AEW PPV matches, and here he was going against one of the best wrestlers in the entire company, so I kinda knew that this would rule. And rule it did. Both guys understood the assignment, as they say: Jericho going heel, being a smacktalking, ref-confronting, orbital-bone-injury-exposing confident veteran was awesome, and Eddie shone like a motherfucker doing his work as the lovable street fighter underdog busting out his super energetic & explosive ass bursts of offense. Badass strikes & big throws galore, as usual with him. An absolute banger of a PPV opener. ***1/2

Jurassic Express vs. reDRagon vs. The Young Bucks
The big story here is the relationship between the reDRagon fellas & The Young Bucks. Worst case scenario, it could've completely overtaken this match in the corniest way possible, but thankfully that didn't end up happening. This was fine. Fine, yet very nothing-saying by the end of it. I thought that the champs were by far the MVPs of the thing; Jungle Boy being his athletic charismatic self + Luchasaurus kipping up at seconds notice, doing wild ass moonsaults & most importantly, throwing fools around, it was all some good shiet. Fish & O'Reilly on the other hand actively brought the energy down; my interest deffo went down every time they tagged in. Very inconsistent duo, those two. The only good & cool thing about them here was hearing Excalibur call THE NIGEL for the first time in years. The Bucks were The Bucks. Always good, but not necessarily very interesting. **

Christian Cage vs. Keith Lee vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks vs. Wardlow
This had a fun dynamic with one half of the match being regular-sized human beings, and then the other half being 3 very large men. It was a solid match. Offered nothing new or stand-out when it comes to multi-man ladder matches, but that's kind of the starting-expectation anyways going into these things. It didn't overstay its welcome & it was designed brilliantly to put over Wardlow, so it certainly wasn't bad. **

Jade Cargill vs. Tay Conti
This was thankfully kept short. Felt messy for the most part, but I can appreciate the sprint'ish nature of it and there was _some_ good bits of offense here n' there. So basically it's not a good match by any means, but the length made it an easy viewing. *1/2

CM Punk vs. MJF
PUNK LOOKING LIKE HE HAS A FIRE INSIDE. MISERIA CANTARE. THE JACKET. THE SHORTS. An entrance I won't forget anytime soon, my god. This was pretty damn great. Exactly the type of violence that a Dog Collar Match should offer. Defined heel-babyface roles w/ both roles being rocked excellently, great hate-filled feeling throughout the entire thing, great offense, great selling, big moments that are treated as big moments, fantastic crimson mask by Punk, a feel-good ending. It didn't have the insane first-viewing impact on me that their first match did, but it still was undeniably great in my eyes. Love Your Hate & that stuff. ****

Britt Baker vs. Thunder Rosa
This was definitely better of the 2 women's matches on the card. With that being said though, it definitely suffered from having to follow Punk & MJF, as there wasn't much heat from the crowd for the thing. To be fair though, Britt & Rosa managed to get them pretty into it by the end. The fuckery at the end is unfortunate for a PPV match, but it is what it is. All in all, this was just a basic, solid pro-rasslin match. Nothing particularly good, certainly nothing memorable, but perfectly fine. **

Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley
Oh hell yeah, baby. This is what we're here for. It was exactly the kind of violent, gritty pro-wrestling it promised to be. Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley style. The crazy thing is that even though it was so fucking great, it easily could've been even greater if it was a bit tighter package & the crowd was more into it, I feel. But as implied, that's really just a minor note, because this was absolutely awesome. Full of gnarly output by both men; moments like Bryan's crossface shots during the LeBell Lock, Moxley blocking the incoming headstomps in awesome fashion, all the slaps, Bryan's work over Moxley's mid-section throughout w/ them vicious kicks n' knees, the whole finish w/ the Triangle where Bryan punched the shit out of Mox's face. So damn lovely. Now they've bled together in this beautiful thing. The post-match too, my goodness. The match was just what I wanted out of it, and then you give me THAT as well? Just a beautiful thing, the whole thing. ****1/4

Andrade El Idolo, Isiah Kassidy & Matt Hardy vs. Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara & Sting
Dumb fun. Darby takes punishment in wild fashion, Sammy does some pretty crazy shiet, Andrade throws people onto guardrails, Sting does splashes through tables. It was the kind of an almost-perfect match to be had before the main event. Didn't captivate me too much, but I thought it was pretty good for sure. **1/2

Adam Cole vs. Adam Page
I will say that I am pleasantly surprised that this wasn't the usual overkill Cole main event, but with that being said, it still was very much not for me. It was probably better than I would've imagined, I mean Hangman was really good throughout between his solid selling & usually-always good, hard-hitting offense, but most of it just comes down to me not caring at all about what Cole has to offer. While, as mentioned, I can appreciate the fact that there wasn't as many epic movez sequencez nearfalls as usually in his matches, those were still the meat of the match without a doubt, and it's just not for me. Don't care for the reDRagon interference stuff either obviously, but I did enjoy the finish with Hangman putting a stamp on the thing by using Cole's own move against him before finishing him off w/ a very nice buckshot lariat. I usually really dislike finisher-stealing, because it just feels cheap, but I thought it worked really well here. So yeah: was this better than expected? Yeah absolutely, sure. Good? No, not really. A #VeryOk Main Event. **

DANIELSON vs DANIELS 2022 :: FOREVER YOUNG

AEW DYNAMITE 03/02/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels
There is quite literally no better way to follow-up the announcement Tony Khan made than with this match. CODE OF HONOR TO START IT OFF, BLESS UP. It was a good match. Bryan got to continue to showcase his mean streak en route to Revolution in this story with Moxley, and Daniels more-than showed that the 51 year old vet still brings the heat. A fun little TV-number. ***

A Bryan Danielson Match.... Misses?!

 

AEW DYNAMITE 02/23/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia
I believe that this is the 2nd ever Daniel Garcia match that I've watched (with the first one being vs. CM Punk), and I have to say that I am not impressed by his showing here at all. He is against my favorite wrestler of all-time, so it would be easy for me to enjoy this, but I just didn't. Garcia was incredibly bland. He came off as a dude pretending to be a nO giMmiCkS nEeDeD Pure Wrassler!1 or whatever, and my goodness. All of his control work over Bryan fell so flat. No intensity, no rawness, hell, his stuff wasn't even overly smooth in a way some touted technical wrestlers (Malenko, Lance Storm, ZSJ etc) do it. There was just nothing to it. Bryan was good as usual, but there's only so much he could do in a match like this. **

Wake Up Babe, a new Danielson Match dropped

 

AEW DYNAMITE 02/16/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Lee Moriarty
This was exactly what it needed to be. A beautiful young boy match. Danielson is a juggernaut torturing Lee Moriarty with his amazing arsenal of offense, all the while giving him the perfect amount of shine to do his stuff. This was my first time watching Moriarty in action (I'm pretty sure at least), and while Danielson is obviously the reason why this match was so fucking good, he was a good counterpart in this particular role & match. ***3/4

AEW Dynamite fucking RULED (Punk n' Mox, Hangman/Archer TEXAS DEATH MATCH)

AEW DYNAMITE 02/09/21

CM Punk & Jon Moxley vs. FTR
Classic, tag wrestling 101 sequences galore a la Cash n' Dax; they basically did their usual FTR thing, and while it can be a little hit-or-miss depending on who they're up against, it mixed extremely well with their opponents here. The selling of both Moxley & Punk was top notch, especially Punk, and I absolutely loved Moxley just throwing the lads around. And then maybe most importantly, the energy in this thing was just so much fun throughout, I couldn't help but to really love it all. A very good match. ***1/2

Adam Page vs. Lance Archer
This was pretty much the best-case scenario for this match-up. God it ruled so much. It's the kind of a match where the more I think about it, the more I like it. Just straight carnage from start to finish with no bullshit in the way of it. Insane spot on the steps, insanely epic finish. Awesome visuals with the blood. Hell. Yes. ****

2022 MOTYC (****+) LIST

 

★★★★★

★★★★¾
CM Punk vs. MJF (AEW 02/02)

Angelo Parker, Chris Jericho, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager & Matt Menard vs. Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley, Ortiz & Santana (AEW 05/29)

★★★★½

Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson (AEW 01/05)

Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood vs. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe (ROH 04/01)

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (WWE 07/30)

★★★★¼
Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley (AEW 03/06)

Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta (AEW 04/06)

★★★★

Adam Page vs. Lance Archer (AEW 02/09)
CM Punk vs. MJF (AEW 03/06)

Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair (WWE 04/02)

Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn (WWE 04/03)

CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley (AEW 09/04)

Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley (AEW 09/21)

Jack Perry vs. Luchasaurus (AEW 11/19)

Bryan Danielson vs. Dax Harwood (AEW 11/30)

CM Punk Is One Of The VERY Best Of All-Time

 

AEW DYNAMITE 02/02/22

CM Punk vs. MJF
Okay now. This is what we're doing now. You know, sometimes when I see a match that I find to be so-damn-great, I struggle to put how I feel about it into words. Most recently, my 2021 MOTY in Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns was like that.

This was better than that match.

This match is a masterclass. CM Punk's performance was legendary; from the badass old-school babyface opening to obviously the selling & his overall babyface magic, he was simply undeniable. This was a damn near 40-minute match with most of it having him in peril & it could've EASILY become uninteresting at many points given the length, but Punk's perfect selling & portrayal of his character made it damn sure that I was glued to my screen the entire time. He never, and I mean never forgets that he is hurt, and it's beautiful how he showcases it throughout. Obviously you have the big moments where MJF is on it like a shark, but I think what I adored the most about all of that is the little moments where Punk did small adjustments to continue the narrative of his arm being fucked. Or later on the knee. 7 years out of leaving the business, grey-bearded Punk getting systematically picked apart by this 20-something year old punk. But he damn sure tries his hardest, and he gets MJF a few times in the middle of this vicious attack, he gets him good, but the work by Maxwell shows beautifully in those moments, as you can clearly see that the juice has been sucked out of him, and in particular a couple of specific parts of his engine. Goodness gracious what a beautiful story to watch unfold. CM fucking Punk, man. There's so much to it that I loved. Even when MJF botches the ring post Figure-4 Bret Hart spot, Punk immediately saves it by kicking his way out of the hold with the leg MJF couldn’t lock in. So good.

As I said, this is a beast of a thing with its length, but it never feels like it's _actually long_, because of how compelling the wrestling is. I think this even outdid both of the Hangman vs. Danielson matches when it comes to that, to be honest. A single match performance by CM Punk that I could never do proper justice, and MJF definitely delivered in the biggest match of his career up to this point, to say the least. My immediate reaction is that it's my favorite match to happen since Kofi vs. Bryan, Mania 2019. ****3/4

ROYAL RUMBLE 2022

 

ROYAL RUMBLE 2022

Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins
This was a good match. They told a good narrative of Seth having Reigns' number early on, which is what the build to this has suggested too. I thought that Seth did a surprisingly nice job doing his thing; most of his offense looked nice, and there were a couple of legitimately really cool moments such as that whole sequence that started with the Hero elbows & ended with the great Curb Stomp nearfall. Reigns was also awesome smashing him around when it was time for that - this was thankfully no boring headlock dialogue Reigns, and well, well, well, he was really good. Just wrecking Rollins with his smashmouth-strikes & throwing him around with his power. Awesome shiz. Now I don't know what to truly make of Seth's cringeworthy Joker-inspired character work, but it's certainly nothing positive, and holy shit did I hate the whole ending melodrama shit. It's a pretty damn respectable sized stain on an otherwise really fine title bout. "HE WON'T ALLOW ME TO LET GO!!1" -- for FUCKS SAKES. ***1/4

30-Woman Royal Rumble
This was not a top-tier Royal Rumble or anything close to that, but as with most Rumbles, it was still solid fun to watch from bell-to-bell. Ronda was a great surprise. **1/2

Becky Lynch vs. Doudrop
One of those filler title matches with no heat whatsoever. Absolutely nothing to it. I guess they went for the classic physically bigger challenger going against the smaller heel champ dynamic, but absolutely none of it was any compelling here whatsoever. *

Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley
This sadly wasn't much at all. Felt almost like the least interesting Brock Lesnar match possible. Definitely just about the most uninteresting Brock vs. Bobby match possible. Obviously the biggest focus was in the finish of the thing. *3/4

Beth Phoenix & Edge vs. Maryse & The Miz
Completely nothing. *

30-Man Royal Rumble
This had its moments; I thought that Ridge Holland's little run was a complete joy with his terrific offense left n' right to everyone + Omos had a nice stay in there as well with him doing big monster things as guys like Ricochet bumped their asses off. There were some weird booking decisions though, such as some of the people I thought would be more of a key players in the match being dumped out unceremoniously (Styles, Priest, Theory..), and while I love Brock, him winning fell very flat. Extremely predictable after he lost the title & the way we got there was uninspiring at best. **1/2

RANDOM PURO RE-VIEWINGS

NOAH GREAT VOYAGE 2013 IN YOKOHAMA VOL. 2

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. KENTA
Going over 30 minutes is very long for any wrestlers, but I think it especially stands out with wrestlers like the two we have here. KENTA & Katsuhiko Nakajima simply don't have the material to work a compelling 30+ minute match against one another, but there's still plenty of stuff to like in this one here n' there. In particular the kicks are deadly, unsurprisingly. The sequences where they're just kicking the shit out of one another are very enjoyable, and there's quite a bit of other neat offense in there too, it's just that with the runtime & them being who they are, there's just too much dead periods of time where it feels like complete filler to pad the time. Oh well, I still enjoyed watching it! **3/4

NJPW KING OF PRO-WRESTLING 2016

Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji
The first & only time (before this) I watched this back when it happened in 2016, I didn't like it at all. Now though, the 2022-me got goosebumps during the finishing stretch when Okada busted out the Emerald Flowsion. It is quite possibly the single coolest & coldest thing he has ever done. I goddamn loooove it. It certainly helps that everything leading to that insanely amazing finishing stretch was simply phenomenal as well; Marufuji was just firing on all cylinders, he laid all of his shit in, upping the brutality w/ all of his offense, in particular those chops. The damn chops. Chops are so overdone in wrestling these days, but hot damn I can watch Marufuji chop fools all day long-- especially if one of those fools happen to be the ace & king of his rival company. There's also plenty of legitimately awesome counters here as one would expect in a big Okada match, and with all praise I've given to Marufuji, I must say that Okada also definitely brought the heat. The story they went out to tell was told perfectly via his output. It's a really special match. I am glad I finally decided to re-watch it. That Emerald Flowsion, man. ****1/2

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 13

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega
Been wanting to re-watch this for a good while, and finally decided to do so. I've always been fascinated by the whole story of this match. The battle of two vastly different pro-wrestling ideologies-- it's a classic tale, and here Tanahashi & Omega did a hell of a job with it. You can feel the dislike & pettiness through their work right from the get go, in particular with Kenny who was just a total dickhead to Tana throughout. It really sold the storyline, and the nastily brutal output by both guys certainly helped as well; I love Kenny going after Tana's back, and while Tanahashi's selling certainly could've been better, I do think he does a pretty great job being the face-in-peril overall. Omega is a monster on the offense delivering the vicious punishment. The big moments where they go for each others signature-things with Tanahashi trying to splash Omega through a table, but instead crashing & burning for it, and then later on Tana kicking out at one after Omega went for a big "fuck you" by using the slingblade & the HFF-- I thought those 2 great, great moments really encapsulated the whole story they were out there telling very beautifully & effectively, as well as the differences between the Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kenny Omega characters. It's some mighty great stuff. And it's a mighty great match too, the almost-40 minutes it goes just flies by. Sure there's some periods where it isn't as compelling as it is for the majority of it, and as already mentioned I thought Tanahashi could've sold his back better, but it's still one helluva match to say the least. ****

HANGMAN vs DANIELSON II

 

AEW DYNAMITE 01/05/22

Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson
Yeah, make that two in a row for Hangman vs. Danielson, then. A yet another TV-wrestling classic with no hyperbole. Much like in the first meeting of theirs, Danielson was just a complete tour de force here; he was an absolute marvel bringing the big time punishment to the champ, and you couldn't ask for a better man to put you over than him here between his always-great selling & the way his whole AEW run thus far has built up to THIS. Hangman got to escape from every submission he has established as a match-ender as well as kickout of every move he has used as a finisher in the company leading up to this bout. And you know that Bryan doesn't let his big moves go to waste, so it's damn sure that every single one of those big kickouts & escapes by Hangman felt earned. None of it was cheap. It was all earned through this intense war that they put each other through. Danielson's strategies right from the start get me hooked, and his brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT onslaught on the offense keep me there, and then you have the blood; this match is the perfect example of blood upping the levels when it comes to a pro-wrestling match. Bryan's attack on Page's cut is wonderful, and then when he gets busted open himself, the intensity & overall urgency of the bout kicks up to another gear in lovely fashion. Not to mention the cool visuals it creates. A very early 2022 MOTYC, and I suspect it will stay pretty high up for me till the end of the year. It's a perfect sequel to their first match. ****1/2

Tanahashi & KENTA in the DOME

 

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 16 IN TOKYO DOME - NIGHT 2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA
Eeh, not sure if I can call this disappointing, because my expectations for these two together in 2022 - under these circumstances in particular - aren't very high, but ayyye, this wasn't very good. Sure there's a few pretty cool spots here n' there, such as KENTA's signature dropkick featuring chairs + the finishing sequence is genuinely fucking sick in the best way possible, but most of this match is sadly a slow-ass moving hitting-each-other-with-weapons -stuff. Like a very generic big Triple H gimmick match, and that's no good. That finishing sequence though, amazing. **1/4

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 2022 N1: the somewhat interesting stuff!

 

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 16 IN TOKYO DOME - NIGHT 1

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Ren Narita
THE KING IS BACK. Man what a beautiful surprise it was to see this turned into a full-on no gimmicks pro-wrestling match. A true feel good moment. Narita was a good first opponent back for Shibata, as he matched his intensity & aggression very nicely in this cool little return bout. Shibata played his old Shibata hits & looked as sharp as he always did. So fucking awesome to see him back. Hell of a moment & a good match. ***

Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi
Off the top of my head I can't think of a Tokyo Dome main event that has felt less like a Tokyo Dome Main Event Match than this one between Okada & Shingo right here. Wow this shit was empty. Of course it was super long; 35+ minutes (which felt like an hour) where at least 25 of it was slow-paced wrestling that said absolutely NOTHING. No interesting narrative being told whatsoever-- okay, I'll give them the moment of Okada getting angry at Shingo mocking his signature taunt, because that was pretty neat, but other than that, what was there? Absolutely nothing. Usually when I don't like these generic New Japan house-style main events, there is still usually at least _a FEW_ things that I liked or found interesting in them, but here? Nothing. Noooothing. Sure they kicked it up to the "epic" gear in the last 5-10 minutes, but I've seen both of them, in particular Okada, do that a million times before & it offered nothing new + to be honest, it didn't even feel that epic by the standards of the wrestlers or the company. And of course more importantly, the build to that section of the match was so boring that it didn't provoke much of any feelings in me. Look, I can sum this up by saying that I have seen a LOT of NJPW main events that I didn't like, but I don't remember any of them being so absolutely-nothing like this one was. *1/4

WWE DAY 1: Usos/New Day, Bork

 

WWE DAY 1

The New Day vs. The Usos
This is a tag team match-up pairing that usually always works, so on paper it's certainly not a bad way to kick off the new year. I thought that this was one of the lesser matches of theirs that I've seen, though. It was a very basic tag match, with performances from both sides that I didn't find very interesting at all. The Usos weren't grabbing me with their work on top, and the New Day's comebacks weren't energetic or explosive enough to do anything for me either. Some soulless nearfalls in there as well of course, which also had no impact on me whatsoever due to the wrestling leading up to 'em being so meh. *3/4

Big E vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
The addition of Brock definitely helped make this match better than it was probably gonna be. It was a solid sub-10 minute bombfest sprint with no filler at all. Good moments on the offense by Big E, Lashley & Lesnar + the little story w/ Owens & Rollins teaming up was nicely executed, as well. No-nonsense fun. ***