WRESTLE DYNASTY
Lucha Gauntlet
Hechicero vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Soberano Jr. vs. Master Wato vs. Mascara Dorada vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Titan vs. El Desperado
It's a fun gimmick, especially for a big show like this. The match was nothing very memorable, but a solid little, pretty fun opener with everybody, especially the lucha guys, putting in good shifts. **3/4
Special Exhibition
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata
One more time in the Dome :') Man this was a blast. They made the most out of the exhibition rules - just watching them chop it out with their signature competitiveness against each other, it's awesome. A little treat fitting for the Ace's retirement tour. ***1/4
NJPW Strong Women's Championship / RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship
Mercedes Mone vs. Mina Shirakawa
Not really getting the hype with this one unfortunately. The meat of the match is Mina's work over Mercedes' leg, and I thought that the said legwork was largely very meh. Did not care for Mercedes' work from underneath either. Some good moments here & there and I can appreciate the match as a whole with its runtime & structure, but I just thought it was kinda there for the most part. **
Did not care for this whatsoever. Had no heat or juice to it at all, and the action was extremely generic with neither Brody or Finlay offering anything that would've caught my eye in any direction. *1/2
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shota Umino
Pretty much nothing to it. Claudio, while still a beast, with the most generic work on top possible & Shota completely falls flat as the babyface with his weak offense and zero swagger and fire to him. *1/2
AEW International Championship / NEVER Openweight Championship
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Yeah, this shit rocked. Ishii is still that motherfucker, man. Brilliant selling by the man & all the machismo-moments by him were perfect. Over the years I have grown to find myself to be a little bored by his formula at times, but when it works like it did here, it's just beautiful. Takeshita looked like an absolute beast with his marvelous offense as well. ***3/4
Gabe Kidd vs. Kenny Omega
Took a while for me to get into this, but by the end you just can't deny
the raw, authentic emotion that was showcased. Brutality with a
beautiful story being told. Gabe's last big comeback moments with the
crowd & the commentary screaming their hearts out for him were
absolutely terrific. ***3/4
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet
Was in a bad spot having to follow Gabe vs. Omega, but I thought that this was a perfectly fine match. Got better as it progressed. Nothing very memorable for sure, but a really damn solid match bell to bell. ***
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