January 2019

Daisuke Sekimoto defends the Zero1 Heavyweight Title. Sato is a disgusting wrestler, he looks horrible, is stiff as fuck and the noises he makes when he hits or gets hit are nauseating. This makes him captivating to watch you cannot look away. This match was what you would want from these two it was stiff nasty and all sold very well. There was no kickouts just some stuff back and forth with an escalation and struggle as the match went on. The only negative would be that they did start very slow and didn't do much for me, beyond that it was a really good match and a great encapsulation of zero 1 and it makes me sad that they barely ever make tape. **** Another g…

Overall I thought this was a great match w/ some pretty unique'ish storytelling to it. At first Hino isn't taking Otani seriously as a legit threat; the match starts off with him doing the sarcastic slapping to the chest after a clean break on the ropes, which then lead to a badass spot in Otani immediately going & getting the takedown on him. After Hino gets out of it, he starts effortlessly mauling Otani w/ chops & he even fucks with him a little bit by doing the facewash, but after a while of that, Otani gets FIRED UP & we get a tremendous bit w/ him eating Hino's chops, diving into them chest first - "AGGRESSIVE DEFENSE!", as one of the commentators put it…

Coming into the match, Hama has beaten Sekimoto and Okabayashi with the Ookido press (just a simple splash) in the build up to this, so Daisuke and Korakuen know he has to avoid that shit like his life depended on it. I love how Sekimoto sells the big moment from the get go, he makes you feel like he's gonna have his work cut out for him, and indeed it is. It's basically 15 minutes of "how the fuck is Daisuke gonna pull this one off?", with Hama doing a great job as the big fat ball of lard that can't be moved. There's a couple of incredible nearfalls that had Korakuen going insane, and the last few minutes with the whole place rallying behind the champ was just the cherr…

First show of the year and we already have a good ol' sub 13 minutes 6 man tag that will make you smile at how fun it is. This was mostly Okabayashi being a fucking beast and having dope exchanges with Suzuki and Nomura, which is exactly what you want to see. For some reason, Abby Jr. has taken a "mentorship" role for Moon Vulcan (Suzuki and Uto) which is hilarious because those two are now using chairs and low blows - they also did it on the 12/30 show - and you can tell they have no clue how to actually pull it off, just pure fuckery. I died at Yuji beating the fuck out of Nomura outside the ring and the chopping Abe to death when he tried to save his buddy, my man Yuji…

The first 20 minutes of this are worked very smartly. Every exchange was compelling and every transition for one of them to work on top made sense. Loved Kento's work on KAI's head and his selling of the leg was really good considering KAI didn't spent much time working it. The challenger was great throughout this match, sold well, showed great fire when he had to, the crowd was really behind him and every cut off he made was well timed. The last 8 minutes is like Miyahara flipped a switch and forgot to sell, I think his matches should never have leg work because his whole offense is based on his knee and speed and he clearly does not care about changing it up when it com…

Some Korakuen magic to start 2019. The match itself isn't some out of this world action. It's a very basic tag match with some sloppy exchanges from Omori and Nomura (who needs to get better at striking, is the only thing lacking on his repertoire) but Korakuen is fully into it so everything they do is elevated ten fold. The last few minutes are fucking awesome, so when you have a good enough build up with a hot crowd and you give them a very good finish, the match becomes a lot more special than it seemed it was going to be. I liked Nomura as the FIP and Aoyagi as the flashy guy that came in to turn the tides or make a key save. Black Menso~re kept things fresh too, as O…

I actually liked this better than everything on the Dome card the day after. Liger & Tiger are cocky, grumpy veterans stretching & beating the crap out of the young lions, but they also sell for them amazingly when the time comes for that. If you like grumpy old men, and I mean who doesn't, then this one is a must watch. TREMENDOUS performances by Liger & Tiger. ****

Clocking in at just under 10 minutes, this was an absolutely awesome sprint. Reminded me a bit of the great Eddie vs. Benoit match from Nitro, which was also about 8-9 minutes long, and much like this, it featured some great limb work & equally great selling. Starlight Kid's attack on the knee was terrific - that running dropkick to it was superb, and Utami's selling was fantastic all the way through. Even in the post-match. ****

An absolutely AWESOME sub-5 minute competitive squash. Barthel was such a delight on the offense; lovely, violent stuff on the ground - totally popped big time for him putting his foot on top of his opponents face during the beginning when he took him down by the wrist immediately. Gave me some Regal vibes. Aichner was very good w/ his power moves too, and the two jobbers were goddamn great with their short comeback bursts - such great, scrappy energy behind everything they did, in particular w/ Stanley Watts. They also bumped their asses off for Aichner & Barthel, and truly made them look like the most interesting tag going in their TV debut. Well worth the watch! **…

The first fall is all about Barbaro delivering a quick, vicious beatdown to Dragon Lee. It's awesome & continues right away in the 2nd fall, but then in the final fall Dragon gets back into things by busting out a fantastic comeback right as the fall starts. He has great intensity w/ his dives, and so does Barbaro w/ everything he does in this, really. Great urgency & brutality (that powerbomb on the apron, damn!) - truly feels like anyone's game in the last fall. They built well to Dragon's big comeback in the final fall w/ the first 2 being all about Barbaro being nasty & vicious. Intense pace & great urgency all the way through makes it a very good pack…

Chris Jericho defends the NJPW Intercontinental title in a No Disqualification match at the Tokyo Dome. Talk about it here

Cody Rhodes defends the IWGP U.S. title. Talk about it here

G.O.D. (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defend the IWGP Tag Team Titles in a 3 way match from the Tokyo Dome. Talk about it here

No title involved in this special challenge match. Talk about it here

Kenny Omega defends the IWGP Heavyweight Title at the Tokyo Dome. Talk about it here

Kota Ibushi defends the NEVER Openweight Title at the Tokyo Dome. Talk about it here

Kushida defends the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. Talk about it here

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

This followed the classic joshi underdog formula, and it was a lot of fun. Meiko is a beast on the offense, and Reika shows solid fire in her very good comebacks. No better place for a match like this than the good ol' Korakuen Hall, too. ***1/2

This is something that I've been wanting to see since I first discovered Cain Justice in early 2017. Since then I've thought that Cain Justice should be the one to end Trevor Lee's reign, and now after seeing them battle over it for the first time, that feeling is even stronger. This is at least 90% Trevor on top, working over Cain's arms, back + both legs - including the right one, which he apparently injured recently. Trevor of course delivers on top, and there's this awesome teacher vs. student dynamic to it, as Trevor trained Cain, and they play it borderline perfectly for my tastes. Cain gets a few hope spot submissions, but Trevor always finds a way out & contin…

After a long wait one of my most anticipated matches of the first week of January finally aired and it was really good. Ashino is a guy who just oozes charisma and confidence, he is a model ace who can play as both a dickhead heel and as a technical babyface. Here he worked the later against the invading #STRONGHEARTS faction representative T-Hawk. T-Hawk was always one of my favorites in Dragon gate when I watched and I never got the hate he got as he was really good. This was worked from the off with some stiffness from the chops of T-Hawk and Ashino Quickly learning that he would have to avoid them and get into his usual tactics of taking a limb apart. Ashino…

Impact World Heavyweight Champion Johnny Impact vs Brian Cage - Impact Homecoming 2019 Brian Cage scooting his ass in the middle of the ring to get in position for a Shining Wizard only to duck to get into the next move IS everything wrong with professional wrestling in the 21st Century. There is a great story about the GOAT, Eddie Van Halen and when he came in to do the solo on "Beat It". He did not just come in and shred. He listening to the song, to the rhythm section. He said if we change the bridge to my solo, I can do this, it will sound better. He took the time to create an organic transition so that his solo would have the most impact. Pro wrestlers SHOULD NO…

LAX (Ortiz & Santana) defend the Impact World tag titles against the Lucha Bros. Talk about it here

Su Yung & Allie vs Jordynne Grace & Kiera Hogan - Impact Homecoming 1/6/19 So since Bound For Glory, Allie has transitioned to the Dark Side and has become Dark Allie complete with dye job and face paint joining Su Yung in the process. Kiera Hogan needed back-up enter rookie supernova, Jordynne Grace is a phenomenal powerhouse. I looked it up Jordynne Grace has been wrestling since 2012 WTF, mate?!? Still her first major break was in late 2018 as part of Impact so I am sticking with rookie supernova. Not a match I expect to remember tomorrow, but a fun little tag. I have come to hate Tree of Woe spots but Su Yung does a nifty one where Kiera Hogan sits …

Impact Women's Champion Tessa Blanchard vs Taya Valkyrie - Impact Homecoming 2019 SGR: Gail Kim Gail Kim in that referee outfit...Shawn Michaels eat your heart out...WOW! Impact being a well-booked company actually set up the troubleshooting referee well with Tessa getting two retentions because of a questionable refereeing and the other being her slugging the ref. So we need a badass ref like Gail Kim who can impose her authority and not take shit. I dig. I am glad Taya dropped the Viking Queen aspect of her gimmick and embraced being Wera Loca. I liked this match and was close to loving it, but fell out of love with it by the end. Taya used a Lucha Armdr…