May 2019

I came in with big expectations of a big hoss battle with bombs and chops being thrown and these two flipped the script. I did enjoy this and both men gave great effort this is probably the tamest performance I've seen from either of these two and it was a nice change in pace.

Royta Nakatsu (c) vs Ryuichi Sekine - Union Pro MAX Title Match BASARA is a promotion that always has little bangers that go under the radar because it’s a niche within a niche within a niche, but even this match blew away my expectations. This wouldn’t be out of place in a top-level company. It’s even better than a ton of the matches in those promotions, in my opinion. Ryota Nakatsu doesn’t look like much, a bit of a goofy look but he pulls in a pretty great performance in this match. The work on Sekine’s right arm is so good. The submissions look really nasty, and the other little things he does such as ramming Sekine’s arm into the post are just superb. Not just …

A highlight of what was a pretty great tournament. HARASHIMA as the fading ace continues to be one of the most compelling wrestlers around. Sasaki attacks HARASHIMA before the bell, dropkicks him out of the ring, and then does his great suicide dive. Then, he beats him up on the outside and does the russian legsweep onto (on top of?) the chairs, which also looks pretty good. After they get back in the ring, he chokes HARASHIMA out with his T-shirt, ignores Matsui's five-count and has to be physically removed from the ring to let go. This is stuff that I've seen Sasaki hundreds of times but I'm still not tired of it. While some of the exchanges aren't as good as you'd expe…

Kofi Kingston defends the WWE Championship in a Wrestlemania rematch THE GOAT IS BACK. This was excellent. Not Mania level, but not many matches are. Kofi got a proper shine to start things off & it was very good. Eventually Bryan gets the control as Kofi crashes to the outside, and so starts the clinic of working the arm by the man; every kick he lashes out is targeted to that left arm, and I also loved how he threw Kofi arm first into the barricade. The way he countered Kofi's springboard attack attempt into the Danielson Special might've been the highlight of the match, too. Kofi sells the armwork very well throughout - loved him selling the damage during the …

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Michael Elgin vs Rich Swann - Impact 5/17/19 Elgin recently debuted in Impact less than a month ago taking out the new champion, Brian Cage. Elgin is being pushed very similarly as Cage as a hybrid athlete, an athletic jock meathead. Cage is the babyface version and Elgin is the heel version. Elgin is hospitalizing wrestlers including Cage. Swann stood up to him and that's how we got here. This is coming from the ECW Arena, but there is no Hat Guy so it doesnt feel like the ECW Arena. Very much a 21st Century workrate match with not much in the way of hooks but a whole lot of noizzzze. Elgin could be a great wrestler but he is too busy trying to prove he can han…

Was there live and of course, there's no beating the atmosphere of a live wrestling match. It will always, always, always top the video experience which makes the video critical for a more balanced perspective on the match. Since, statistically, most viewing of wrestling in the world happens via recording, this is significant. That being said, there's still going to be some bias reflected in this rating. And I can easily see that this rating will be much, much higher than what I might have normally given it. There's a lot of good in this match. I liked the early grappling, the atmosphere translates well since Tajiri really just is a top of the line superstar. I liked…

It's something to see Suruga, Gatoh Move's super spunky 20 year old rookie, come bouncing out to Satomura's entrance theme. That dynamic between them plays out during the match as Suruga uses her speed and energy to throw off her opponents while Satomura was all about physical striking and grappling. Suruga has a bit of success in the match but ends up getting worked over a fair bit but manages to survive via her instincts. Sareee and Yuu work well together as a team while both are able to go toe to toe with Satomura individually. This is yet another high quality random team tag match that Sendai Girls has had this year. ****1/4

Their match on Maji Manji #1 might have more to it but this was insanely fun, stiff and fast paced. Takeshita's nose gets fucked up at some point, and him bleeding over Higuchi's face while he gets a sleeper hold is a great visual. The lariat which ends the match is great.

Seth Rollins defends the WWE Universal Title. Talk about it here

Rematch from their excellent match last month in New York City, at the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow (4/4/19). Talk about it here

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Brother against brother! Talk about it here

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) defend the AAA World Tag Titles against Pentagon & Fenix. Talk about it here

An awesome match here, very match in the vein of CHIKARA's best stuff with a strong babyface-heel dynamic and a great attention to detail. Dasher works as the much larger rudo with the years and experience as an advantage while Boomer has the speed and the nerve to go up against his father. Quack sets the narrative perfectly and does a great job catching the little things that really help to make the match work. Boomer was a great bumping babyface and his selling made him sympathetic but it was his comebacks that really made him look great here. Big offense and his continued return to the Guillotine Choke really worked well to establish the narrative of the match. Dasher …

This is the best match I've seen from either two this year. Takumi focuses all her offence on Nanae's neck in the first 10 minutes where she surprisingly dominates the match. Much stronger psychology than I'm used to in Joshi matches. Nanae gets a good fightback just before the halfway point. There is an unfortunate moment in the match where Nanae gets Takumi in the corner, stops selling anything and does her usual posing and chops like she's beating up some rookie. Didn't fit the context at all. But it's over within 30 seconds so only a minor complaint. Still I much prefered Takumi's performance here, she gets the level of selling just right pretty much the whole match. …

Strong BJ 6 man tag at Korakuen is pretty much a guarantee of a fun match, this one does not disappoint. Match also has the added condiment that is building up for Yuji defending the title against Nomura the young gawd and they do an awesome job making you want to watch that match ASAP. Hyodo's human wrecking ball gimmick is fun to watch and he showed some nice moves at the start against Kikuta. Kawami is used for what he does best - short spurts of beating the fuck out of someone - and Sekimoto is basically reduced to cheering for his guys and bumping for his opponents. You watch this to see if Okabayashi and Nomura can work their magic, and they sure as hell do. Some of…

I didn't expect to see a solid Match of the Decade contender at this point, but this was it. Just an incredible match, if CMLL did this kind of story based intense pro wrestling more often there would be no stopping the company. The psychology was sharp as a knife, early Virus working over Metalico with shots to the head followed by a control switching dive sequence felt straight out of 90s AJPW. The struggle and nearfall sequences where top tier and as good as it gets in lucha. I realize I'm sounding a little generic here, but they worked so many fine details into the back and forth, combined with a determined Metalico giving it all to take down the trickiest wrestler in…