AEW Dynamite; Danielson-Bandido, KUSHIDA-Darby

 

AEW DYNAMITE 01/18/23


Bandido vs. Bryan Danielson
Such a super-fun styles clash match-up. Bandido got a lot here, as this was designed like a true coming-out-party for him (not that he needs one at this point) -- he got to showcase his freaky strength, amazing athleticism & innovative offense, all while the crowd is going bonkers for him. Love to see stuff like that. Bryan was great at eating all of that, and obviously also great at roughing Bandido up, leaning a bit over to his heelish side. 'twas a banger. ***1/4

Darby Allin vs. KUSHIDA
KUSHIDA is like a shark on his usual arm-targeting-shiet. It's usually always good, but you just KNEW it was gonna be good-good when it's Darby receiving that punishment. A really good, fun TV title defense. Not far off from Bandido vs. Danielson as far as bangers on this Dynamite episode go! ***

WRESTLE KINGDOM 17

 

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 17

Francesco Akira & TJP vs. Lio Rush & YOH
A very tame, run-of-the-mill lil' spotfest jr tag opener. Absolutely nothing offensive, but also absolutely nothing that I'll remember. *3/4

KAIRI vs. Tam Nakano
I love me a good violent sprint, and this was that, but goddamn it would've been awesome if they got more time. It is what it is I guess, but aye, this was indeed a good get-your-shit-in sprint with plenty of badass offense by both women. ***

FTR vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
FTR do their thing in the Tokyo Dome, baby. It goddamn rules & Bishamon were rock solid dance partners for them with Goto in particular (unsurprisingly) mashing really well with Big Match Cash & Big Match Dax. ***

Ren Narita vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
This was good. You could sum it up to "both guys did their thing", which was the case & it created for a pretty neat dynamic + overall made for a match that told its narrative nicely n' effectively. ***

Karl Anderson vs. Tama Tonga
The Gun Stun finish-mess is very unfortunate, but this was actually a super solid match otherwise! Very surprisingly. I thought that both guys rocked their roles pretty damn well -- Machine Gun being a very good dick throughout & providing good work on top with a couple of truly awesomely vicious big match moments + Tama's fighting from underneath had a nice little spark to it. Especially those forearms. A simple, honest 10-minute heel vs. babyface match with rock solid wrestling & a story to it. I liked it. ***

BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Keiji Muto & Shota Umino
Muto, Tanahashi & Umino really is the perfect squad for this particular match. This was pretty fun. Obviously nothing blow-away great, but it didn't need to be. Cool seeing Muto in the Dome. **3/4

El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Master Wato vs. Taiji Ishimori
Master Wato had a few pretty cute nearfalls, but other than those, I wasn't feeling this one much at all. Very generic four-way action all the way thru with none of the guys really bringing the heat. *1/2

Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
Not gonna lie, I wasn't feeling the first half (or so). It wasn't until Ospreay got busted open & Omega went into nasty murder-mode that I got into it, but oh boy did I love that shit. Kenneth was looking like a killer out there, and Ospreay was selling like a king. Cringe overselling is always a possibility with him, but here he was truly fantastic; selling just the right amount of big, you know? Moments like Kenny smashing Ospreay's head onto the table repeatedly, all the beautifully brutal V-Triggers, the Croyth's Wrath & the whole sequence leading to it w/ Will's amazing selling = *chef's kiss* beautiful goddamn stuff, beautiful goddamn stuff. There was stuff that I disliked too, though. I thought that all of Will's comeback bits towards the end were pretty bad & actively brought the match down. Especially that Hidden Blade after he had just ate the V-Trigger; wrist control stuff like that just feels like a parody at this point. It's still a great damn match, but yeah, it would've been on an entirely different level had I liked Will's work on the offense more. Or cared for the first half. Just says how otherworldly great Kenny brutalizing Ospreay was when it's still overall such a banger even with those factors. ***3/4

Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada
A very generic NJPW main event sadly. Super long & not much of a catch or hook to it. White offered nothing of note & Okada was Okada: always good, but these IWGP Heavyweight Championship main events rely so much on his opponents & what they have to offer against him. **

NOAH '23 Presents: The Return of KENTAFuji & SHINSKAAAAAY

 

NOAH THE NEW YEAR 2023


KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Satoshi Kojima & Takashi Sugiura
Seeing KENTAFuji back together as grizzled vets warms my heart. Had to give this a watch. It was a pretty good, "paint-by-the-numbers" kind-of a match. Four dudes just bringing the beef and smacking each other. Ya know the deal. Nothing more or nothing special, but it really didn't need to be. **3/4

The Great Muta vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
First of all, it's super cool seeing Nakamura back in Japan. He came off as the ol' Swagsuke of the past right from the gate with that awesome entrance. The match was exactly what one would expect from the two in one of Muta's retirement matches. You get his hits, Nakamura sells for him big throughout & brings the physicality with his kicks. It's good fun that gets a lil boost due to all the classic puro retirement match pageantry, emotion, atmosphere & shine. ***

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