November 2018

Available at powerbomb.tv Talk about it here

Jordynne Grace defends the Black Label Pro Title, falls count anywhere. Available at powerbomb.tv. Talk about it here

Jericho defends the NJPW Intercontinental Title. Talk about it here

Three Way Finals of the 2018 Super Junior Tag League, Sho & Yoh vs.El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs.Shingo Takagi & BUSHI. Talk about it here

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Tomohiro Ishii defends the Rev Pro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title. Talk about it here

LU Champion Marty Martinez vs Pentagon Dark - Lucha Underground 11/7/18 Street Fight "Cero Miedo" is super fun to chant live and I got to experience that when I saw like three or four Pentagon matches over Mania Weekend 2019, I even got to see him against La Parka! That was an awesome moment! I fast forwarded to Season 4 and it looks like Lucha Underground has lost its luster. The New Temple looks too sanitary and the promotion does not have the zip it used to. Jack Swagger being the last Lucha Underground Champion is comical and somewhat fitting way to end the strangest promotion of the modern era. Money In The Bank is such a terrible concept but now every promotion…

I thought this was tremendous and should've been the match they had at Bound For Glory, although potentially being on Impact meant it got the time to breathe that it might not have done on the PPV. This had a fantastic intensity to it - everything the two guys did was full force with no holding back. I loved Edwards dives to the outside, and the brawling around the ring looked intense and not contrived. Moose can sometimes be a bit too passive when I watch him wrestle, where the action feels detached, but his performance in this match is why I think he has a lot of ability and can be a top of the card player for Impact. He really brought his A game here, and both conveyed…

I'm actually really shocked how exciting this match was. Higuchi has always been a beast, but damn did he feel more like a monster in this NOAH match than he usually does in DDT. Not only that, but he brought out the best of Shiozaki which is a difficult thing to do. The chops in this match were fucking gnarly with each sounding like a gun shot. There was instant chemistry, and it's easy to say this was the match of the tournament up to this point, ****1/2.

Maybe it didn't live up to the hype that I saw this match being built up for, but certainly a great match that elevated Kenoh to a serious GHC contender again. Marufuji's offense did nothing for me in this match to say the least. He's still praised as one of the best in the world, but nothing about his offense except doing cool sequences is exciting. Kenoh on the other hand was awesome here as his selling and intensity were really great and pretty much made the match. Not to mention that flipping diving stomp looked especially brutal, ****1/4.

Available at Highspots Wrestling Network. Talk about it here

Really good stuff here and, in my opinion, the second best Strong Title match of the year behind Suzuki/Nomura. Suzuki hasn't had quite the year he had last year as champ but this was a cool tale of two different matches that kinda dissolves somewhere in the middle. Sekimoto's been teaming with Suzuki, wrestling more of an old school 70's-inspired style because he takes no breaks so the match starts off in that style, which, of course, Suzuki is the modern master of. You know, the traditional strong style. They give the struggle for the opening wristlock some credence and Sekimoto's facials are great as always as he tries to figure out how to escape Suzuki's holds. He use…

AJ Styles defends the WWE Title. Talk about it here

I am completely stunned by this match. I cannot get over what I just saw. When this was announced, I thought it would be nothing more than a novelty. However, Arquette played his role perfectly here, as the scrawny guy completely over his head. He was willing to bump his ass off but had some convincing hope spots. He even did an insane tope through a chair to the outside. Gage kept ramping up the violence and we got a Joey Ryan and Messiah run in that actually worked with the story. Then Arquette took a tube shot and this thing just ramped up big time. Gage carved him up with a pizza cutter. Finally, Arquette looked like he really had enough, tried to leave, then came bac…

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Shayna Baszler defends the NXT Women's Title in a 2/3 falls match. Talk about it here

Tomasso Ciampa defends the NXT Title. Talk about it here

Daniel Bryan is the man and a motivated Brock Lesnar is one of the best in the world. Loved the atmosphere these two were able to create especially with Bryan actively taunting Brock to start, something we haven't really seen anyone do to Brock since his return. Then we went into the Suplex City horror show before kicking one of the greatest comebacks in wrestling all year. The low blow created a believably vulnerable Brock and Bryan's added aggression in his kicks made it even more believable that he just might sneak the win out. Bryan crossfacing Brock in the Yes Lock is one of my favorite spots all year. Yes, it more or less follows the same formula as the AJ match las…

Those two guys deserve probably the biggest props of the night. The crowd was dead when the match began, and they finished things up with the crowd losing their minds, chanting "this is awesome" for the first time in the PPV. It's just impossible to not have the crowd react to Mustafa Ali, who's an incredible underdog, die for our sins at least 3 times per match, and to Buddy Murphy, who's just this juggernaut, and one of the guys with the best timing in the roster. Couple this with absolutely batshit insane spots such as the Spanish Fly from the table to the floor, the reverse Rana and that wild superkick/double powerbomb combo, and you get maybe the best match in a…

Rousey rookie of the year vs. the motivated Charlotte Flair makes for some magic. These two go out and earn their lost spot as the WrestleMania main event. Rousey is just so scrappy every time she goes out there. There's struggle behind every movement that even her collar and elbow tie ups look absurdly aggressive. Despite that aggression, she also has some of the best bumping and selling in the game? It's a spectacular combination that creates a match where everything felt earned and there seemed to be a feel that anyone could nab the advantage at any second. Not because of any your turn-my turn booking but because both workers were just so determined to just dog it out.…

This was FN terrible...loser must wear the Turkey Suit. Team Fallah Bahh (Fallah Bahh, KM, Dezmond Xavier, Kikutaro & Alisha Edwards) vs. Team Eli Drake (Eli Drake, Jake Crist, Rohit Raju, Katarina & Glenn Gilbertti). Talk about it here. (Taped on 11/12/18, Sam's Town Casino, Las Vegas)

This is for Jungle's and Tora's Goddesses of Stardom tag titles. The main story throughout this match is the continuation of the Jungle/Utami feud. Every interaction between these two is fantastic. Natsuko Tora had possibly the best performance of her career in her first Korakuen Hall main event. Not crazy about the booking here but with that said this match could be the precursor to a run of very strong tag matches in 2019 for Stardom. ****1/4

Handheld footage, Seth Rollins defends the Intercontinental Title. Watch it while you can!!!

I'm still not entirely sure where I sit on when it comes to Orange Cassidy. I sometimes think he's too much and then I see a match like this and he completely wins me over. David Starr is playing this one straight and doesn't have time for Cassidy's lazy shtick. Cassidy tries to do his comedy spots and Starr roughhouses him with some seriously stiff shots, turning Cassidy into a blood orange. Starr belittles Cassidy for not treating wrestling with the respect it deserves, but when Starr fails to replicate Cassidy's famous no hand's kip-up, the tide changes. Starr has just proven that Cassidy is better than Starr at some things. What follows next are some of the most gri…

Behold, a match Nishimura cannot save with all of his talent. (well this and that one promo he had to cut in some dingy hotel room at midnight but I'm not counting that lol) Dory's last match (listed on Cagematch anyway, he's had matches after this, somehow) is predictively with one of his best known students in Osamu Nishimura for a 10 minute wrestling showcase. By this point Dory is basically part-cyborg, with padding all over himself including weird gloves/sleeves for his arms. The first few minutes of this were painful: they both either very gently grabbed the arm and patiently waited until the other person did something or very slowly moved to the ropes. They ev…