April 2022

After an arduous journey battling injury and a trial series of sorts, this was Shiozaki's return to the GHC Heavyweight Title picture. Following a lengthy losing streak, he picked up wins over Manabu Soya and former AXIZ tag team partner and rival Katsuhiko Nakajima to get here. Meanwhile, Kiyomiya looked to prove that he once again belonged at the top of NOAH. Working the first five minutes of a match around a side headlock is an ambitious task, especially by modern standards, but Shiozaki and Kiyomiya succeeded. Every time Shiozaki got back on offense, Kiyomiya was there to bring him back down to the mat. Kiyomiya worked the headlock with intensity and purpos…

This was a pure tag team masterclass. That's the simple way to put it. No cute smarkbait stuff a la FTR vs. The Bucks 1, but a straight-up, tag team warfare. Intense, perfect, naturally flowing professional goddamned wrestling where all 4, and in particular Dax Harwood, came off as some of the very best wrestlers in the world. Bless. ****1/2

This kicked so much ass. I've been loving this whole little story between the BCC & Yuta. It's been an absolute home run, and this match was perfect for it. Sure you could argue that by the end they went into the overkill zone with the 2nd Paradigm Shift kickout, but I thought it fit the match well, because Wheeler motherfuckin' Yuta went into Terminator mode & was not going into that good night. The blood was an incredible addition, Yuta kicked ass right from the get go & Moxley was wonderful dishing out punishment to the kid. A hit in every way imaginable. This in some & many ways reminded me of the famous Nigel vs. Tyler match from 2008, where you could…

At its core, wrestling is about people of all shapes, sizes, and styles coming together to compete. Makabe and Hoodfoot’s methodologies could not be more opposite. Makabe’s known for his technical prowess, while Hoodfoot’s more of a fighter. Hoodfoot gets the better of an early mat exchange, showing off some of his amateur background and proving he can go with the best of them. Hoodfoot gradually frustrates Makabe into wrestling his kind of match, as they start throwing hands and spill to the outside. Hoodfoot grabs two chairs, culminating in the best bar fight spot I’ve seen in a minute. Hoodfoot lights Makabe up with chops but gets caught in an armbar. He swipes and kic…

DDT does these big, all-star tags better than pretty much anyone. Our, ahem, HERO! goes for a handshake at the beginning, but gets blown off. Takeshita and Sakaguchi begin in a battle of power vs. technique. That's not a match we've seen much of, to my knowledge, so it's nice to get a glimpse of it here, however brief it may be. HARASHIMA & Akiyama continue where they left off at CyberFight Festival, having a gripping mat exchange. Every time HARASHIMA goes for a tag, Honda hops off the apron until Antonio's former Happy Motel stablemate, Endo, comes in. They trade punches, and Honda collapses in one fell swoop, but he baits Endo in for a strike. Endo kicks…

Tanaka defeated Sasaki with a high kick in the latter's first GLEAT match to date, leading to this tag bout. Watanabe shoves Sasaki before the bell, setting the tone for the match. A cagey start follows, with both competitors relying on kicks. Neither was able to gain the advantage, and wholesale tags were made. Tanaka had to rely on his technique to overwhelm the brute force of Nozaki, forcing him into the corner to make a tag out to Sasaki. Sasaki and Tanaka become entangled in a battle of leglocks, forcing Hitamaru to use the first rope break for his team. Back inside, Nozaki overwhelms Soma and shows off some impressive mat work of his own. One minor quibbl…

Classic dueling limb work structure, as Punk goes after the knee of Rhodes, and Dustin targets the arm. Dustin takes his signature bump, spilling to the outside and further damaging his bad wheel. The selling from both is wonderful. I feel like these Punk matches are going to hold up better than a lot of stuff from AEW because they rely on sound fundamentals rather than athleticism. There's a moment late in the match where Dustin lands his corner punches and goes to jump down off the ropes, but the force of the landing hurts his knee even more. Punk's arm gives out on a GTS and he sinks in a deep pinfall to snatch the win. Great match.

At their worst, I find The Young Bucks overbearing, but when there’s a team like FTR to rein in their worst instincts, they’re capable of creating magic. That magic was on full display here. The early stages of the match are playful, with newly-minted babyfaces FTR mocking The Bucks. A hockey fight breaks out, with all four getting in the ring. The common theme early on is that FTR’s always one step ahead of The Bucks. That is until the brothers Jackson begin to isolate Cash Wheeler. Everyone’s on their game here, but I especially want to single out Wheeler as the babyface in peril. He delivers right hands with vigor, sells his butt off when the time calls for it and…

Great start as they effectively teased the Summerslam 2021 finish. Lynch's initial frustration at being unable to put Belair away immediately was well done. I liked the story of Becky settling into a groove and seemingly having Bianca's number at every turn until Belair fought her way back, leading to a more back and forth finishing stretch. Though, I wish Bianca had shown more urgency during the momentum shift. There were a few rough moments here and there but actually blended well into the hard-fought nature of the match. The match wasn't paced/structured quite as well as Belair's WM match the year prior (but that's a testament to Sasha Banks more than anything), even i…

Man, WM31 really has lightning in a bottle, wasn't it? These two have followed up one of the all-time heavyweight bouts with nothing but poor to mediocre efforts. This was somehow far worse than WM34. Notwithstanding all those ridiculous F-5 kickouts in that match, at least it had a few cool moments, violence, and some resemblance of a structure and story. This was just boring. Nothing but suplex and finisher spamming and a lame, anti-climactic finish. Awful match. *3/4

This was a hoot and a great example of sports entertainment done right. Thanks to Knoxville's documented toughness, the kick-outs made sense without hurting Sami's credibility. On offense, Johnny was of course more limited (though that tornado DDT was cool) and that's where the gimmicky attacks and assistance from his crew came into play. Zayn sold the absurdity of the events well. It wasn't all smokes and mirrors as both took some big bumps too. An impressive achievement. ***1/2

This was a mess. A complete lack of structure coupled with weak, meandering action. Both wrestlers just seemed to be going through the motions. Just when they teased something interesting, for instance Ronda breaking up the Figure 8 by targeting Charlotte's susceptible ankle, they went back into autopilot mode. And all this was before that nonsensical finish. You know things are bad when the referee takes the most memorable bump of the match. **1/4