April 2019

Having not been familiar with their work outside of AEW, I stumbled upon this match and I definitely enjoyed it more than I originally expected. Some solid hard-hitting spots, including Hayter being squashed between the ring and the wall (you'll see what I mean by watching the match) or a stiff chop exchange about the middle of the match. Of course, this wouldn't be a Sakura match without a few comedy spots and the crowd was really into it, so this definitely help my enjoyment of it. The play-by-play guy seemed to imply the issue of the match could have an implication for Wrestle Queendom at that point but I'm not particularly aware of the timeline, other than Hayter had …

N°1 Conteder's match for the Big Japan Strong Heavyweight Championship. Yuji gives Daichi an awesome match once again first exchange is Okabayashi trying a simple arm lock but Hashimoto is able to reverse it and work Yuji's biggest weapon. That lasts like 2 minutes. From that point forward, it's all about Oka being awesome doing great strengths spots and brutal chops to decimate his opponent. Daichi is game, taking the beating and showing good fire and good strikes (with some beastly kicks). Crowd goes from complete respectful silence to LIT for the last few minutes. Can't blame them, this was great.

An outstanding crowd pleasing return from Harper and another solid showcase for Dijak. Both guys go all out to prove their worth and stake their claim. Worked like an indie dream match, exactly what you want from a small stage show on Mania weekend. ****1/4

In some ways this was better than Satomura/Saiki and in some ways worse. The opening exchanges were very good, and the match soon turned into an absolute slaughter with Satomura using her skinny opponent as a kicking bag. Sareee also took some brutal suplexes. Sareee is a fairly generic female worker, but she held her own with some sick crowbar dropkicks that seeked to shatter Meikos face. Satomura basically worked this like a pissed off Jumbo, angrily walloping her opponent around whenever she had enough and landing brutal throws. Meiko also whips out a super fast spinning toe hold and looked like it would dislocated your knee in another great spot. The problem was that…

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here

Kota Ibushi defends the IWGP Intercontinental Title. Talk about it here

This wasn't a hoss battle, this was a damn KAIJU BATTLE :mark:. 16 minutes of two fright trains clashing against each other until one proves which one is the strongest. The go full Kobashi/Sasaki with the chop battle, I think they spent like 3 straight minutes just chopping the fuck out of one another :lol:. In the beginning it seemed Zeus was going to work on top for Yuji to comeback eventually, but that was not the case at all, this was more of a sprint with a bunch of strikes and suplexes and excess. Only part I found too much was the suplex exchange part, but eventually they sold the fuck out of the exhaustion this type of effort would require so I can't get too mad a…

From Concord, North Carolina, Nick Aldis defends the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Talk about it here

X-Division Champion Rich Swann vs Sami Callihan - Impact Rebellion 2019 Hardcore Match Interesting that in all my viewings of TNA/Impact that not many X-Division matches have piqued my interest or been recommended to me, I think that shows how it had fallen to being a midcard title. This is a blood feud that goes back to Callihan taking Swann in after his personal tragedies. No dancing from Swann tonight. It is OVE rules match similar to a Ravens Rules or a Hardcore match. I thought this was the best Callihan match I have seen so far for two reasons: 1. Pacing was way better 2. They had a really clear story that was woven throughout the match. They start off wi…

This was so goddamn great. Absolutely badass underdog story with Suwama completely dominating for the most part with his awesomely grumpy brutal veteran work. Nomura doesn't go down without a fight though, to say the least, and that sure annoyes ol' Suwama, who shows that brilliantly by slamming the mat angrily after Nomura has the NERVE to suplex him, and then later on when he gets a big nearfall. Those were some little touches that I LOOOOVED big time & added LOTS to the already-totally-great -match. I still haven't watched the finals, but I will be surprised if it tops this as the match of the tournament. ****

Gail Kim vs Tessa Blanchard - Impact Wrestling Rebellion 4/28/19 I have seen Tessa Blanchard once before at a SHIMMER event with PWO's own Jimmy Redman! For the entire card, Tessa was by far the stand out worker. Crisp, ferocious and engaging, she was the girl with It Factor. It seems like she can be her own worst enemy but AEW's anemic women's division could really use her. Also, Tessa vs Charlotte writes itself folks. Well they should really do Charlotte/Tessa as a tag team and then do the break-up angle for maximum effect. Anyways, I am not too surprised that she got pushed to the moon winning their Men's World Championship, she is a great wrestler. I enjoye…

Impact World Heavyweight Champion Johnny Impact vs Brian Cage - Impact Rebellion 2019 SGR: Lance Storm This match up got 8 bajillion times better by having Impact turn heel. After one of the worst matches I have seen in a long time at Homecoming, Morrison turned heel and it made this so much more entertaining. In the video package, we see Morrison's wife, Taya, ballshot Cage, Morrison throw his lot in with former Aries' cronies, Killer Kross & Moose and the coup d'grace referee John E. Bravo joined Morrison after chop blocking Cage during a title defense. I love big circus matches and I think they could have leaned into it a little more, but still with Taya…

Impact World Tag Team Champions Pentagon Jr & Fenix vs LAX (Santana & Ortiz) - Impact Rebellion 2019 TLC (Full Metal Mayhem) The only nice thing I have to say is that it was cool to see a tag team match main event a pay per view. I think we have come a long with women, plenty of work to do but the fact that Women have main evented WrestleMania, it would be nice to see more love paid attention to tag teams. This was a full Feng Shui borefest. They really should rename these type of matches to Interior Decorating matches. The first two matches were way better. The video package gave me hope we were going to see a violent match because Pentagon/Fenix disre…

Impact Women's Champion Taya Valkyrie vs Jordynne Grace - Impact Rebellion 2019 I am working the night shift and something came up between finishing watching this and writing the review. Lets see how my memory is. I attended a lot of Beyond Wrestling in person last year and got a good taste of Thick Mama Pump! I love the look, I am a sucker for big set of arms. She hits hard, athletic and I just love power wrestlers and she is a good one. Never seen Taya before I know she is Johnny Mundo's main permanent squeeze. Good presence lots of cockiness. She seems like she would hold the power advantage in most situation except against someone like Jordynne. Impact's wo…

This is the first match on this stream: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1gqxvVzvOZzxB Somewhat disappointing that this is a single-cam show but this match ruled. I love Umeda's clinch knees and his arsenal of kicks. He is in control for most of the match and really kicks the shit out of Higuchi, but there are brief moments where he just gets ragdolled. The tide turns for good when Higuchi catches a high kick, chokeslams Umeda and then lands a disgusting lariat. And after that, the last couple of minutes are a demolition. Umeda takes some hard bumps, and sells really well during the last stretch. Good stuff.

Strong BJ 6 man tag at Korakuen, of course this is fucking piff it's basically a preview/buildup of the Daisuke vs Yuji title match in Yokohama, and it has 10 times the intensity and urgency that match had. Both Sekimoto and specially Okabayashi are awesome as the "captains" of their teams, Kamitani did his thing, Nomura was of course dope and vicious when needed, Daichi was seemed more motivated than usual and Hyodo is the newest young lion out of their dojo, and he gets some pretty nice spots as a human wrecking ball. I guess most people would only see this as a "recommendation", but whatever, I dare y'all to not have fun watching it!!