WWE WRESTLEMANIA BACKLASH

WWE WRESTLEMANIA BACKLASH 2021

Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley
Most of this was your generic triple-threat action. Mostly a 1-on-1 match with the Rhea parts of it being pretty rough. I didn't care for it much at all, but I did think that Charlotte's double chop-block followed by that double Natural Selection was pretty cool. In general, as usual with matches of this kind, the action got better & better as the match went on, with the last few minutes being legitimately some pretty good stuff. Overall though, this wasn't memorable at all to say the least. Gentleman's **

Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs. Dominik & Rey Mysterio
This was some textbook tag team wrestling & a classic Rey Rey performance. He was selling his ass off through the entire thing & was just being the best babyface in peril in general. Absolutely lovely stuff by him, and the Dirty Dawgs were definitely on point as well; I thought that Bobby Roode especially had some awesome moments punishing Rey & cutting off Dom's hot tag run. Epic spinebusters & backbreakers to name a couple of things from the great, fun arsenal he showcased here. Gotta love the feel-good ending to cap this match off too; they told the story extremely well right from the start, and by the end, Dominic coming in & hitting that Frog Splash for the W certainly felt more-than earned. ***3/4

Bobby Lashley vs. Braun Strowman vs. Drew McIntyre
A very solid little big boys 3-way. Kind of a best case scenario for the three men involved you could say, I think. Not all that interesting for all of it, but some hot stretches & cool singular moments. **3/4

Cesaro vs. Roman Reigns
This was great. The first third or so wasn't the most interesting stuff, but once Cesaro's arm becomes THE major focal point of Reigns' onslaught, it gets extremely compelling. Reigns is great at targeting that said arm; loved him talking trash to Daniel Bryan & going to town on that arm total DB style. Good shit. Cesaro's selling was of course tremendous too; really consistent + I loved the way it came into play in a couple of key moments like the Neutralizer try or the pop-up Uppercut attempt. Kinda surprising to see him lose 100% clean like that, but I don't think he came off worse out of it. If anything, he came out even better than he already was, because this was a great match & a great, well deserved showing for the man. ****

AEW DYNAMITE: NAGATA, DANIELS, DARBY, MIRO

AEW DYNAMITE 05/12/21

Jon Moxley vs. Yuji Nagata
WILD THING, YOU MAKE MY HEART SING. Moxley coming out to that sure was the highlight of this entire thing. The match was very paint-by-numbers Yuji Nagata you could say. I thought it was a solid little sub-10 minute brawl, but I would've liked for Moxley to add some of his own signature touches into it to make it stand out. As it stands, it's a cool thing that happened, but the actual match wasn't memorable at all. **

Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson
I thought that this was a really good tag match. The Bucks got to really showcase why they're such lovely pricks, Kazarian looked good, getting plenty of time to shine on the offense + Daniels delivered big time selling his ass off w/ the blood; his whole "final stand" segment after he gets the final tag was certainly my favorite bit of the match. It was pretty great. ***1/2

Darby Allin vs. Miro
This was kinda like Darby's awesome match vs. Brian Cage from January, as in it's Darby getting destroyed by a brute for the most of it, but at the same time, this had a completely different dynamic & charm to it. It's also better. The pre-match attack by Miro was amazingly vicious; it was a complete crime-scene before the bell even rang & I loved it. Then the match officially began & the narrative continued with Miro indeed mostly just completely destroying Darby, and it rules. Miro looks like a monster between his awesome offense & Darby's willingness to make everything look twice or thrice as brutal. Darby's hope spots & comebacks also rule; the last-hurrah he had after the awesome Sting brofist-moment was especially awesome, as was the finish with Miro wonderfully countering his Armbar into that vicious finish of his own. This was absolutely great. ****

ROH TESTING THE LIMIT: Danielson vs Aries, 70+ minutes!

 

ROH TESTING THE LIMIT


Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson
It's the 70+ minute long boy. It's a real long one, but goddamn do they make every minute count. I have watched this multiple times before, and pretty much every single time I do watch it, I come out of it w/ something new to totally fanboy over. The big story that lasts the entire match is Danielson's attacks & how he changes 'em up as the match progresses; he goes after Aries' back, ribs, knee, arm -- all in a way where it feels natural for him to switch it up. And of course the work on the offense is amazingly compelling. Dragon is vicious, he is focused & he is creative - he even added some extra lil' nuances to some bits of his usual submission repertoire, and it sure was awesome to say the least. Every fall also ends beautifully & there's also some really great selling in there. They very nicely reference their exciting Survival Of The Fittest meeting in there as well. Now going back to the length, the match sure is A LOT, but man, it's always so beautiful. I love it all very much. ****3/4

SD CAREER vs TITLE: Bryan vs Reigns

 

WWE SMACKDOWN 04/30/21

Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns
Unsurprisingly great. Beautiful armwork-story with Bryan first starting out working the left arm, but naturally switching the focus to the right arm once opportunity presented itself when he countered Reigns' Superman Punch attempt w/ that kick to it. Bryan's work over the arm is obviously awesome, and Reigns' selling is rock-solid. Love the way the story played out in the end; the whole finishing stretch is so great with Reigns looking to put a blunt end to things, but Bryan just goddamn HOLDS ON to that arm with everything he got left, because he knows it's HIS. Then Reigns wisely simply switches it & ends it all. Simple, wonderful stuff that plays up to both of their characters perfectly. Overall it's probably not as amazing as their Fastlane match(es), but it's definitely great. They're a fantastic pairing. ****

SmackDown with a hot, hot, hot tag match!

 

WWE SMACKDOWN 04/23/21


Cesaro & Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso & Seth Rollins
This was simply a red hot tag match with the action being super energetic w/ an awesome, compelling pace start to finish & very good work by each men involved. The perfect opener for any wrestling show ever, pretty much. ***3/4

NXT with a COUPLE of real sweet looking match-ups!

WWE NXT 04/20/21

Kushida vs. Oney Lorcan
This was a fun little tight sub-10 minute match. Kushida is always great at working the arm w/ his lovely kicks n' all + Oney brings the feeling of physicality like only few do in the company, and those dynamics mixed really well in this one. Definitely liked it & would like to see these two tangle it up more in the future. ***

Cameron Grimes vs. Kyle O'Reilly
This ruled. The big goal of it was obviously to showcase Kyle O'Reilly after his big match vs. Adam Cole, and he sure got to look real good in there against the best opponent possible. Good matwork in the early going w/ Grimes selling wonderfully for Kyle's control there + then Cameron also continues that trend of wonderfulness in his control seg where he displays that signature smash-mouth offense of his; loved that clothesline, his kicks are always awesome & that throw into the corner (which Kyle ate like he was on his Hitman shit, hell yes) was a thing of beauty. One little thing that I really loved as well was Kyle swaying Cameron's dizzy punch-attempt before delivering that comeback strike combo of his own. All around this was some really good stuff! Love seeing both of these lads kill it like this. ***1/2

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 37: NIGHT 2

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 37: NIGHT TWO

The Fiend vs. Randy Orton
I find it interesting that people are calling this a WOAT-tier Mania match or whatever -- I mean it wasn't GOOD, but it was also like 5 minutes long. Give me it over all the actually bad matches that are LONG, very much including their previous meeting at Mania. Okay I definitely get the criticisms though, as it's a bit silly that The Fiend loses to one RKO after surviving ungodly amounts of big movez in the past. This was a Fiend match with a ridiculous ending, it wasn't good, but I also had some fun with it because it was such a short lil' number. Harmless Fiend fuckery. Also Bray's Harper tribute at the start was pure love. *1/2

Natalya & Tamina vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
Not good, but not that bad either! Probably better than expected. They got a surprising amount of time & there was a few legitimately nice sequences there. *1/2

Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
THESE TWO having THIS MATCH at THIS STAGE. Neat as hell. It was classic Zayn vs. Owens stuff; bombs bombs bombs with everything looking magnificently dangerous & destructive. A badass 9-minute sprint. ***3/4

Riddle vs. Sheamus
These guys compliment each other so well. This was so awesome. Both of 'em have such amazing arsenals of badass offense, and that was on full display here; beautiful bombs, counters, very nice sense of urgency & feel of pure physicality. The finish was great & I also loooved the way Sheamus instantly recovered from that White Noise botch by delivering a vicious knee drop from the top. ***3/4

Apollo Crews vs. Big E
This was a yet another extremely good sprint on this card. Let's goo! Pure intensity right from the get go with the kendo stick duel; both guys showed so much charisma throughout & the whole thing just ruled. Big E's big Spear spot was awesome, as was that Uranage. A really good use of the stipulation, even if no drums were harmed. Weapons stuff in WWE can be very hit or miss, but I thought the way E & Apollo implemented them into this match, it was very much a hit. The interference ending probably isn't something you'd expect or want in a Mania match, but I thought even that was well done, especially the initial moment it happened out of nowhere, so it didn't suck much juices at all from the really good match they had imo. ***1/4

Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley
This was pretty solid, but sadly nothing to write home about really. A couple of pretty sweet moments, but most of the match was just there. Very forgettable. **

Roman Reigns vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan
This is an all-time great three-way dance. It felt like a big match with its phenomenal build, and it lived up to the hype & then some more. There was absolutely ZERO downtime, it was absolute nonstop, great action from the opening bell till the finish. Some silly Edge facial expressions of course, but honestly even those didn't take anything away, as it all added to his "crazed old man on a mission" character. Speaking of characters, I looooove the differences in all 3 men here. It made the whole dynamic so compelling even before the match had started, and they played up those differences in their characters wonderfully throughout the match. Great damn shit, all of it. Some of my favorite moments were Bryan's kick counter to Reigns' Superman Punch attempt, Reigns getting "Roman Sucks" chants & answering by dumping Bryan through the announce table, the sequence w/ the chair-struggle between Edge & Reigns, the whole Crossface bit & the aftermath w/ Bryan destroying Edge, that legitimately superb nearfall after Edge's Spear to Reigns. Love the finish too! It's the first time Roman Reigns actually feels like THE ACE that he has always been positioned to be. Took them a while, but it has happened. ****1/4