ROH DO OR DIE

 

ROH DO OR DIE 05/31/20

Matt Stryker vs. Tom Carter
This is hyped up as a technical rasslin' masterclass of some kind, and while there eventually is some nice work in the match, it really isn't very interesting at all, for the most part. As implied though, the action gets more interesting as the match progresses, and I feel like it ended at the exact right time, given that the last few minutes leading up to the finish were easily the hottest moments of the bout. So yes, pretty good stuff by the end, but more than half of the match wasn't interesting, so it was just pretty solid at best, all in all. **1/2

Homicide vs. Samoa Joe
Oh hell yeeeeah. These two brutalize each other in very compelling fashion from bell-to-bell. Joe's beatdown of Homicide is absolutely joyous in all of its viciousness -- Joe obviously brings it, but much of it is also of course thanks to Homicide's nutty bumping; my man made those signature suplexes of Joe look so much more terrifying than they already do. Bless that man. He also totally delivers when on the offense himself, especially towards the end after Ki comes out to fire him up, leading up to his last big rally, which was some truly exciting pro-wrestling. I do think they could've trimmed some minutes from that point on though, as it feels like the match doesn't maintain its kick-ass high all the way through after that, but it does pick up pretty quickly & ends in badass fashion, so that's a minor, minor complaint. Joe is the man & a helluva underdog performance from 'cide. ***3/4

FWA/ROH FRONTIERS OF HONOR

FWA/ROH FRONTIERS OF HONOR 05/17/03


James Tighe vs. Paul London
This was a very nice opener with some exciting sequences & offense in general by both men. In particular London as usual delivered THE GOODS & probably was the main reason why I enjoyed the match as much as I did, but Tighe also does hang in there w/ him and has a few nice moments. ***

Samoa Joe vs. Zebra Kid
Kind of a famous match when it comes to the ROH lore. And it's a good one. It's a beatdown by Samoa Joe for the most part, so of course it's good, but he also sells big when it comes time to do that during Zebra Kid's comebacks. Kid's comebacks aren't all that exciting when you lay them out on paper, but I thought they worked well within the context of the match, and Joe's selling of those + cut-offs were truly on point, so I enjoyed it all. ***

Flash Barker vs. Low Ki
This had some solid moments - Barker had some nice strikes w/ his punches, open hand ones, kicks, lariats etc, and then Low Ki is Low Ki, so that section of the match was def good. All in all I thought that the match was pretty damn boring though, and even after just watching it, I have a hard time mentioning anything else that happened in it. Some super forgettable work on the mat, and while the strikes they busted out were indeed nice, for most of the time the journeys into those striking sequences were just extremely boring here. **1/2

NXT UK makes SOME NOISE w/ WALTER & Ilja

WWE NXT UK 10/29/20: Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER
 This is one of those matches that obviously was great. It's one of those matches that obviously was great, but for whatever reason(s) that I can't even name, I just didn't enjoy it on a level that I enjoy matches that I would call certified great ones. It feels super weird & stupid to type that out, but that's how I felt when this match was going & once it was over. Maybe it's because I've seen them do this match quite a few times already, and I feel like WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov hit their peak at wXw Superstars of Wrestling 2018 when it comes to my enjoyment of the pairing, but yeah. It was great, but it really was "just" very good to me. That is not a complaint at all, because I am still rating this pretty high, but I also recognize that it definitely was better than what my personal rating suggests. A true war in the style of Ilja & WALTER, a match that should be watched. ***3/4

SAKURABA in 2020! (vs. Go Shiozaki)

NOAH N-1 Victory 2020 - Day 3: Go Shiozaki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
A very solid sub-10 minute bout. Saku wrecks Go's arm for most of it, and it's of course some good stuff. Especially those kicks to the arm looked pretty deadly. And even when he wasn't attacking the arm, Saku still brought the goods - for an example with them knee-drops to the mid-section, which actually imo were the best offense he delivered in the match alongside those said kicks to the arm. Go's selling was pretty solid for the most part. Not the best selling I've seen from him, but solid enough for this match, and him going to town on Saku's face/head at the end to put him down was vvvery nice. Good match! Some awkwardness sure, but that was kind of to be expected, and while some of it was just plain awkward, some of it also brought some unique charm into the thing. Definitely had a solid time watching the match, all in all. ***

ROH ROUND ROBIN CHALLENGE II

ROH RETRIBUTION: ROUND ROBIN CHALLENGE II 04/26/03


Christopher Daniels vs. Paul London
It's probably unfair to compare this to the finals of the OG ROH Round Robin Challenge finals, but yeah, it doesn't even come close. It's still a really nice match though. Maybe the hottest heel in the company going against the hottest babyface in the company was always gonna be appealing on at least some level, and since they both indeed are studs in that ring, they did deliver a good outing. London's selling was once again on point, and the best moments of the thing centered around him selling the damage Daniels had done to his mid-section. ***

Doug Williams vs. Samoa Joe 

Holy hell what a gem. They pack so much compelling, excellent wrestling into the 12-minutes or so that they go. Williams' focus on Joe's arm was really fantastic; he was like a snake with the ways he targeted that bodypart, always going after it any & every chance he got. Joe sold being in trouble brilliantly throughout, as any time he was on the offense himself busting out some sweet stuff, he never forgot to sell the damage Williams had done to his arm. And talking bout that sweet stuff, the finish w/ him countering Doug's Chaos Theory attempt into some GENERAL SAMOA JOE BADASSERY was aaaawesome & a truly superb way to cap off a great match. Everything about this ruled. ****

WWE HELL IN A CELL 2020

WWE HELL IN A CELL 2020

Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns
I thought that this was better than their previous match, but not by much. I wasn't a fan of how dialogue-heavy the last match was with its cheesy acting & cringe lines, and in the last 10 or something minutes, THIS match sure went off the rails w/ that stuff, to say the least. It was actually pretty hard to watch with all the super cringe lines, using shoot names n' all + Roman's absolutely cringe acting/whole shtick. Everything after the Guillotine to Jey was just not for me. Before that though, I can appreciate the physicality they brought into the thing, and while there still was some TALKING! in-between them beating each other up, it wasn't as bad as it would be a few moments later. It wasn't the most compelling action, or very compelling at all to be honest, but I thought it was an upgrade from that said previous match of theirs, where I thought the actual action was straight-up really boring for the majority of it. It was better here, but it still wasn't very interesting, and the TALKING~! ACTING~! DRAMA~!~! bring it down a lot for me, so yessir. Safe to say I didn't like this much at all. *3/4

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks
I felt like this was kind of like Sasha's HIAC match vs. Becky, in the sense of, while I obviously think it was a good & a solid one, it didn't provoke much other emotions or thoughts out of me. Just solid action all around with them making nice use of some gimmicks. Pretty neat callback to their TakeOver match at the end too. ***

RANDOM REWATCH: SAKU vs NAKA

 

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 7: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
They start it off with some nice grappling stuff -- it's certainly not the best grappling ever seen in a pro-wrestling ring or anything close to that, but it's slick n' nice, aaaaand it also comes with a GREAT sense of caution & danger, which help make it all extremely enjoyable. The match really explodes once Nakamura decides to deliver a lil' disrespectful slap to Sakuraba, to which Saku answers accordingly by going on a huge strike-flurry. It was a great way to transition into the 2nd stage of the match I thought, and everything that followed was just superb. Everything Sakuraba does has such a fantastic feeling of danger to it, Nakamura sells his ass off & they make every bigger move and submission truly feel BIG. It's some terrific Tokyo Dome worthy drama, but with its own, unique charm. I love it. Saku vs. Naka is such a beautiful match that holds up on every single viewing of it. ****