December 2018

Yoshino defends the Open The Dream Gate Title. Talk about it here

While every Shinya Aoki pro wrestling match we've had is interesting on some level, on paper this is one of his most interesting matchups because Takeshita is one of a handful of wrestlers in DDT who is significantly bigger than Aoki. It is also better than his previous tournament matches in practice, because during the tournament all of Aoki's matches were just stalling. And some of those were fun, Aoki armbarring Guevara after being given the middle finger is a great moment, but I'm glad this didn't fall into that mold. The grappling is good again, not as much as in the HARASHIMA match, but watching Aoki react to what the other wrestler is doing and cycle through submis…

Los Ingobernables de Japon vs Guerrillas of Destiny in the finals of the 2018 World Tag League Tournament. Talk about it here

Goto defends the Never Openweight Title. Talk about it here

#1 Contender's Match for the Never Openweight TItle. Talk about it here

Mostly dominated by Bryan as Ali fights from underneath. It was the dynamic that was to be expected, and it was a dynamic that worked greatly with the 2. Loved Bryan's work over Ali, in particular the leg destruction towards the end was really awesome & Ali's comebacks were terrific; the first one w/ him delivering 2 superkicks was oh so good - even the superkick back to the head, which usually looks like crap when delivered by most of other wrestlers (hello Marufuji) looked like an absolute shotgun shot or something. Very good stuff even w/ the commercials killing the thing's flow at times a bit. More of these two against each other please. ***1/2

Very fun match between grizzled vet Shiozaki and callow rookie MAO. MAO annoys and mocks Shiozaki until Go catches him, chops him, dangles him out the ring while in a sleeper hold and spikes his head on the apron. After that, Go brings the violence. He knees MAO in the head and repeatedly clobbers him with big strikes. One tiny detail that I enjoyed was MAO defending a vertical suplex attempt by grapevining Shiozaki's leg, whereas most wrestlers would just squat and make a noise. MAO makes a couple brief comebacks but Shiozaki chops him down with uh... chops. MAO was amazing in this tournament, all his matches had an interesting spin of some sort. Shiozaki was also v…

Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian defend the ROH Tag Titles in anything goes Ladder War. Talk about it here

I expected this to be really good, but damn did they blow my expectations away. This started hot, and remained hot until the last second of the match with the crowd really behind Page to pull off an upset. Cobb was pretty good here too as he finally brought a fire that many of his ROH matches so far have been lacking. Then again, it's not like he had many serious challengers to begin with. The match played to the strengths of both men really well which made for a great sprint of a match, ****1/4.

This was absolutely awesome. Gresham has done very little for me outside of the ring but when the bell rings, damn is he great. But if you ask me, ZSJ is the one really taking things to the next level here. His bully tactics of shoving and slapping are such excellent spikes in energy to contrast the mat work that it creates a real sense of heat and intensity in a match that had very little personal stakes. All the mat exchanges looked pretty great for the most part, maybe some sloppy moments from Gresham but that plays into ZSJ being just that little bit better than him. Awesome match. ****1/4

Golden Lovers reunite at Korakuen Hall!! Talk about it here

This is a battle between to J.A.N. (Jungle Assault Nation) teammates with Tora questioning her future in the unit. This story runs throughout this match with Tora looking to prove herself as someone who can hang with Jungle. Even when this match ends in a draw Tora doesn't seem like she's found any of the answers that she's looking for. An overall outstanding performance Tora in what is the best performance of her career so far. Jungle is amazing here to, which is something considering the year she is having. While it's not one of the best matches of the year, it's definitely one of my favourites. ****

Head Drop is the promotion of one time PWO member ‘Big Rob’ aka Rob Brazier and this is from their debut show back in December. The match is billed as ‘the past vs the future’ although looking at them both you would struggle to work out who represents what as Breaks is a real throw back to the World of Sport era of the past. I know nothing about the guy in regards to whether he’s any relation, but he does where the black and yellow ring gear. No knee pads for him either. For roughly the first ten minutes they only go off their feet once and it’s really good; chain wrestling, counter wrestling and a variety of smart, nifty escapes which is right up my street. There wa…

Becky Lynch defends the Smackdown Women's title. Excellent match. Talk about it here

This is not a stipulation match. Daniel Bryan defends the WWE Title. Talk about it here

This is not a stipulation match. Ronda Rousey defends the Raw Women's Title. Talk about it here

Opener of the PPV for the Smackdown Tag Team Titles. Loved that Corey Graves questioned New Day's strategy to use Xavier Woods to team with Kofi Kingston rather than Big E because E could've matched up better with Cesaro & Sheamus' power than Woods would've. The chemistry between the Usos & New Day is well documented but The Bar definitely gel with both of them as well and I thought the match overall was well paced enough to let things breathe and allow everyone to get their stuff in; which is somewhat hard to do in multi-men/multi-tag matches and those have a tendency to become a clusterfuck. This one was also helped by not having a gimmick attached to it (even …

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*Broadcast date 12/19/2018 This was a really exciting hard-hitting match. Joe Coffey just beats the hell out of Travis but can't seem to put him down. The moment Travis gets a bit of momentum and attempts a baseball slide he gets hit with an uppercut on the outside, dragged across the floor and swung into the barricade by Coffey, showing no regard for his wellbeing at all. Good stuff on an otherwise very boring show. ***3/4

Taped on 11/28/18 in Winter Park, FL. Talk about it here

I'm on a quest to find the ultimate japanese indy sleaze match. This is part of a weird 3 vs. 3 match that starts with a singles match then a 2 vs. 2 tag and the a 6 man tag, but this match is good enough to watch on it's own. Hiroshi Watanabe is a guy who has been around since the early 90s and never really got a shot due to being undersized even by indy standards. Yamada is a guy who barely makes tape and doesn't really get to do anything working HEAT UP undercard matches and Gatoh Move. And here they are, working a really good MUGA match. Maybe these two have some kind of Z-level indy Solar/Negro Navarro feud going on. Anyways, Yamadas unorthodox attacks ruled and due …

High Speed Championship: Mary Apache (c) vs. Hazuki High paced, intense affair. Mary made counters that were punctuated by heavy hits and Hazuki gave her usual surly big boots. I thought they built tension well with the near falls leading into the finish where Hazuki almost bumps her neck into sawdust with a Shooting Star. ***1/4

Goddesses of Stardom Championship: Queen's Quest (Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita) (c) vs. STARS (Saki Kashima & Tam Nakano) Saki & Tam develop chemistry as the match goes on while Momo & Utami are a well-oiled duo. This was a really fun match with strong sequences and drama built around Saki's flash pin. ***3/4

WWE Raw Women's Champ Ronda Rousey vs Natalya Neidhart - RAW 12/24/18 I thought this was really unique and cool on multiple levels. They played up the friendship aspect really well and how hard it can be to go against your best friend. As I have said many times the name of the game is to pin your opponent for three not to hurt them. Notice Ronda's offensive choices early on they are all takedowns and jntense pins. Nothing that will hurt Nattie. It will win her the match without injuring her. Here's the big thing I want to key in is the amount of physical contact time in this match. No Irish Whips, no bullshit rope running. Flesh on flesh and real deal chain wrestling…

Nice title defence for Rhea Ripley going into the Takeover show. Atomic German Suplex from Deonna looked really good as was the strike exchange towards the end of the match where they're blocking/dodging slaps. Felt like the match was just starting to get really good but then the finish comes out of nowhere and that's it. ***1/4