ZSJ in Spain, AJ's face stomped in

Triple W Total Rumble 8: A-Kid vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

This felt like kind of a mix between "the usual" ZSJ match & then a generic "epic" indy match. It was very enjoyable for the most part, even though towards the end it started to drag badly. The atmosphere is something worth mentioning too, added some nice heat to the bout. ***

WWE SmackDown 11/13/18: AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan

A fantastic heel turn angle in the closing moments & then the post-match. You can argue it came out of nowhere, but I loved it. Fantastic acting by Bryan there, and him stomping AJ's face in, old school American Dragon style was goosebumps worthy. The actual match wasn't on the level of their October & April TV-classics, but it was still an absolute banger. They went with the dueling limb work story once again, and as always, it was a pleasure watching those two masters go at it. Bryan's arm work in particular was VICIOUS as shit. A match to remember for it's quality & then the angle that was executed in it. ***3/4

WALTER/ZSJ, MiSu/Ishii, Almas/Rey

PROGRESS Chapter 77: WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
I don't think this came even close to their previous PROGRESS meeting, which was a classic & one of my favorite matches of the year, but as always w/ WALTER & ZSJ, this was a very good time from start to finish. Love how they referenced to that NOLA match here w/ the commentators bringing up the fact that Zack's gameplan in that one was almost like a suicide mission, so here he had to try & change it up. And that he sure did, but it did not go according to the plan, at least not right from the start; WALTER dominated most of the match by not letting Zack get too close - gave the man a mauling, and those submissions by him just look absolutely brutal on Zack, due to their size difference. Aloved the cocky swagger he showed by imitating a few of Zack's signature moves, like the neck twist to a grounded opponent. Zack though, sneaky as usual, managed to get back into things by sneaking in his hard hitting strikes & a few submissions to try n' wear the big man down, so by the end, this was a full on war w/ both guys desperately trying to put one another out. Very good match by a pairing that always delivers. ***3/4

NJPW Power Struggle 2018: Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii
There were parts here where I thought to myself that "damn, this is looking like one of the best New Japan matches of the year" - but then they drifted it back into the generic NJPW & Ishii formula. Still a really good match, but had shades of something so much greater. Some of the standout moments were literally all of MiSu's times on the offense; I could watch him forearm people's faces off & knee people's ribs to oblivion all day long. Most of the strike exchanges that usually feel very masturbatory & filler are actually goddamn AWESOME, because of how amazingly violent MiSu makes them feel. Ishii had a solid performance too - loved his selling, one of my favorite moments of the match was when him & MiSu started their slapbattle, he did the delayed Kawada selling where he felt the effect of MiSu's slap, and that lead to MiSu laying into him w/ those deadly slap combinations. But yeah, while he was solid for the most part, I wasn’t feeling him on the offense really at all, so as a result this was pretty much a complete Minoru Suzuki show for me. An absolutely awesome one at that. ***3/4

WWE SmackDown 11/06/18: Andrade Almas vs. Rey Mysterio

Andrade is pretty damn vicious w/ his work over Rey, and Rey Rey of course still effin' rules fighting from underneath. A very enjoyable TV match. ***

80's NWA & 2010's NXT

NWA Clash of the Champions IX: Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk

Two GOAT's beating the crap out of each other is a winning formula. A total violent spectacle w/ AMAZING punches, red hot crowd, superb overall heat, stiff chops, phenomenal selling & psychology + classic Funker crazy old man character. Always been one of my favorite matches. *****

WWE NXT Takeover: Toronto: Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa

Superb energy, heat & pace throughout; great, classic tag team psychology done to borderline perfection w/ some neat callbacks to their previous Takeover meeting & amazingly well defined heel & babyface roles - simply phenomenal work by both teams there. One of the best tag team bouts of all-time. ****3/4

World Championship Match Like It Should Be

WWE SmackDown 10/30/18: AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan

This met the high expectations I had for it, but with it being a match between two of the very best in the world, and 2 of the greatest EVER, how could it not? This was 110% my kind of pro wrestling; a dueling limb work story told to perfection w/ both guys being vicious w/ a big V with their work over one another, superb selling & a great sense of urgency. A true war of attrition. Just 22 minutes of straight up pro wrestling like it was meant to be - I mean, it's a WWE Championship match w/ ZERO nearfalls (except if you count the Triangle) & the crowd is going goddamn crazy all the way through. That's pretty unheard of in this day & age. I think it was already clear from their previous match in April, but now it's even more clear: AJ Styles & Daniel Bryan truly operate on a entirely different level from everybody else in the business. Legends. ****1/2

DANCING SKELETOR

MLW Fusion Episode 28: LA Park vs. PCO

It's exactly what it promises to be on paper - two crazy old men having a crazy old men battle. Their combined age is over 100 years old, and here they beat the absolute crap out of each other w/ some ridiculous spots. Hell yea! ***3/4

MLW Fusion Episode 25: LA Park vs. Pentagon Jr.

It takes them about minute & a half to get to the mask ripping, and then it's just awesome brawling w/ them using every weapon they can find in the arena. Insert some more classic lucha sleaze in it, and it would've been a classic MOTYC. ***3/4

WWE Evolution

20-Woman Battle Royal

Ember Moon's booking in this was really good, but other than that, this was quite the sloppy mess until the final 5 or so. Ember really brought it up a notch w/ her stellar performance. **

Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm

Twas a great showcase for Io & a very good match. Was great seeing the crowd get more & more into it as it went on. Very fun, high impact sprint w/ very good pacing. Io is so, so smooth with everything she does. ***1/2

Bayley, Natalya & Sasha Banks vs. The Riott Squad

Some damn solid trios match psychology in this one - Sasha rocked her FIP segment, and the Riott Squad were absolutely awesome doing some brutal work over her. The finishing stretch was real good as well. ***1/4

Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler

The dynamic of the emotional, high impact offense, babyface Kairi going against the torturous limb destruction of Shayna just WORKS. On par with their Takeover title match & the best match of the night. ***1/2

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair

Boring pace, "epic" "big" spots, melodramatic "STAY DOWN! " yells, kendo sticks + chairs & a 1 hour runtime. Also known as every WWE Last (Wo)Man Standing match ever. You either like them or don't, and unfortunately, for most of the time I don't, (there are exceptions though - most recently AJ & Nakamura had a very good one even with those usual tropes that I mentioned + Asuka & Nikki Cross had one of the best ones in history last year) and here I just couldn't get into this. A couple of minor positives: the start with Becky & Charlotte trying to outswag each other was cool and the leg drop through the announce table was actually a really good spot. **1/2

Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella

Nikki wasn't any interesting in control, but at least they gave the control to her in the match in the best way possible, which was via Brie's interruptions. Really dug Ronda's bully antics, and she was a blast on the offense, as usual. Pretty good match. **3/4

WALTER/Bate + OTT greatness!

PROGRESS Chapter 76: Hello Wembley: WALTER vs. Tyler Bate


I am not seeing the MOTYC hype in this one, sadly. Went far too long for my taste; I feel like if they had shaven 1/3 off of it, it would've been a far better match. BUT with that being said, it was still a good one - WALTER delivered with his monster offense & Bate had a few very, very good babyface moments. *** 

OTT Fourth Year Anniversary: KUSHIDA vs. Tomohiro Ishii
This is a match I've been wanting to see for years, and I'm happy to report that KUSHIDA & Ishii meshed up very well together, just as I expected. KUSHIDA was great in the beginning w/ his cocky character work, getting a few over Ishii - that rock solid character work continued in the later stages of the match too w/ him becoming more desperate due to Ishii refusing to go down & becoming more dominant. Some very good targeting of the arm, and Ishii of course sold it very well. Would LOVE to see a re-match for the NEVER Openweight Title in Japan some day. ***1/2

OTT Fourth Year Anniversary: Minoru Suzuki vs. Timothy Thatcher
Two nasty hard hitting, master grappler bastards having a match w/ stiff strikes & great work on the mat. Gritty just like Timothy Thatcher vs. Minoru Suzuki should be. A dream match that totally delivered. ****

OTT Fourth Year Anniversary: WALTER vs. Will Ospreay

An absolutely epic David vs. Goliath bout w/ WALTER delivering a main event level mauling & Ospreay bumping like a madman. WALTER being even more brutal than usual, because of the dynamic between him & the OTT crowd was awesome - great monster heel work by the man. The restart deal was a bit silly & they went a little overboard with the nearfalls by the end, and those things did take a bit away from the overall greatness of the match, BUT it still kicked ass big time. ****1/4