January 2016

Match Link This is quite the rockin' tag match. It goes 20 minutes but the pace is really well done. Its pretty action packed but still lets the action breathe which you typically don't see in joshi tags. Everyone here turns in a really good performance which is promising for upcoming matches. ****

Good grief I should've just continued watching ZST. Terrible modern junior match. Opening is them doing bad looking arm wingers, wrist locks and hammerlocks and them chain wrestling manages to look more like a dance than the worst Will Ospreay flip flops. The selling is highly questionable-they sell in the moment but the damage is forgotten as soon as they move on to the next move. The finishing stretch is filled with modern puro tropes like "look at how strong and cool I am" fighting spirit no selling. And hey-this is pro wrestling. You can make everything work. But they don't since they're not good at wrestling. This is essentially a junior workrate match-so you're hopi…

This is within Callihan's 1st 15 matches back on the indies in a company that he had good history with but, he still feels like he's not quite back in the full swing of things when it comes to the non-WWE style can't blame the guy, after what I've heard from interviews he's done since he left NXT, it sounds like Demott actually really fucked with his brain when it comes to his confidence. Not sure who was on commentary with Prazak but I am not a fan he blew calls and has that thing where is sounds like his mouth is full of saliva at times. Now for the actual work, it was pretty a good #1 contender match, Hero hasn't had anything that even comes close to resembling a b…

Heavily influenced by World of Sport wrestling, This was a clinic in technical wrestling. AJ was understandable avoiding back bumps, so instead he gets his limps contorted in every possible way by ZSB. Even though the mat work was exceptional, I feel this needed more going for it to venture into ★★★★+ territory. Maybe if ZSB worked this as a sympathetic babyface, I would of enjoyed this more. Regardless, this is still essential viewing for any fan of intense mat wrestling that actually features a struggle. ★★★¾

This reminded me of an early 2000's ROH epic. Ospreay isn't afraid to risk hurting himself when he bumps and it puts over Scrull's offense well. Ospreay is one of the few natural babyface wrestlers still about. He's insanely athletic, can bump well and can garner sympathy from any crowd. I'm not usually the biggest Scurll fan, but he was great in this. A total dick who enjoyed torturing Ospreay in a manner of ways. This match holds up on a rewatch. Did it go into overkill? Yeah, maybe. But when you'd start questioning if they should start wrapping things up, they throw a cool counter or move into the works and you are back into it. My only other gripe with this match is h…

This is for Peter Avalon’s Hollywood Heritage Title, and in contrast to the current AEW version of Avalon, he is the hometown babyface champion. I like that Myers – as the ex WWE superstar – goes in over cocky and underestimating Avalon, so we get lots of fun underdog babyface shine at the beginning, before Myers has to cheat to get the advantage. Classic wrestling storytelling 101. Myers offence is basic and there’s a few too many chinlocks, but its good for building heat in a ‘small room’ environment and this is not a setting where a crowd are begging for a super workrate PWG style match. Avalon has good fire, and I like that as he is outgunned, his nearfalls come …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efiCL-ZrQ_U This is a rematch of their match from last March for the then vacant World of Stardom Title. These two don't waste time going as they go right at each other right at the bell exchanging nasty strikes and holds. The middle portion of the match is really well done with focused offense from both women as well as some solid transitions to keep the action going back and forth. The match does go a bit long, (and that with some slight editing done to the TV version) as your left kind of waiting for them to pick it up toward the end. The finish itself leans away from the main part of the match as it turns into more a standard pro wr…

Firstly-credit where credit is due-the commentator said Nakatsu's style is Data Pro Wrestling which was an amazing Prince Of Tennis reference. I like Ikuto Hidaka but he isn't one for rookie punishment matches. I enjoyed this when they started doing Battlarts Junior wrestling but the first half was inconsequential, uninspiring and unnecessary.

This was whatever. Opening was pretty boring with them doing uninteresting takes on basic holds, I've seen enough arm wingers for a lifetime, nothing Chris Hero does with them makes me want to see more. Commentary compared Tommy End to a K1 kickboxer, I don't remember ever seeing Peter Aerts do sound effect kicks. The sequence with End and Sabre Jr. avoiding each other's kicks was more eye-rolling than any of the recently debated flip GIFs and the one man Magic Killer was the type of embarrassing indy nonsense I'd expect out of Davey Richards. The Sabre in peril portion wasn't particularly interesting and all the striking quickly got repetitive. They kicked it up a notch …

There's a pretty big amount of people on the EVOLVE roster I don't care for (hence me not keeping up with the company) but there are also some guys that have been getting praise that I've never seen. So I figured I'd give them a chance. And. Maybe I shouldn't have. This wasn't any good. Probably the most useless skill a wrestler can have is executing a move correctly. I'm sure Lance Storm is a solid trainer but he wasn't even nominated for the GWE which is very telling with the long career he had. That's what this match was essentially. They grab a wristlock, a bodyscissors, something. Then move on. Some wrestlers can execute moves so beautifully that's enough on its own,…

Another good showing for Riddle, I liked his takedowns, the palm strikes he busted out on the ground and he hit a nice fisherman's suplex. Kaasa took too much of this short match for it to be especially good, he looked like a generic indy guy I'd rather not watch ever again, I think Riddle vs. a guy who does Corkscrew Shooting Star Presses could work in theory but this convinced me Kaasa is a shitty wrestler who does Corkscrew Shooting Star Presses. **1/2

This is my first time seeing Matt Riddle and I have to say he looked very impressive here. The opening amateur-style battle for the waistlock was a million times more interesting than the mundane pro-style holds in the previous Evolve bouts and he seems to have an actual character which is-you know, the kind of thing that was crucial in the original Battlarts stuff being as good as it was. He didn't do any stupid thigh slapping, him being barefoot provided an easy target for Yehi and his kick from the bottom looked really good. Yehi also looked much bettter here, his slams looked great. Flash submission finish ruled. This looks like a match-up that could provide a MOTYC w…

I have to say I was was surprised by how much I disliked the first Sabre Jr./Callihan tag, I was more expecting Evolve matches to be good but a bit dry and not kind of shit like that one was. This was a much better and more interesting match, I liked that they utilized the format of tag matches to do cool stuff like Sabre pushing TJP back into the ring after his fake dive and Gulak pushing Callihan off the top rope when had TJP in the "ten punches" position. The most interesting thing in the match by far were Zack Sabre Jr.'s flashy matwork sequences. Callihan and TJP didn't do much memorable and Gulak seems like someone whose ideas about pro wrestling are much closer to …

An amazing sprint, not sure I can think of a better lightning match. Very accessible and easy to get into even for non-lucha fans due to it being all action and the nature of the match gave the nearfalls even more urgency and credibility, especially if you're familiar with both guy's offence. The chain wrestling opening bit was short but really well done, loved Virus' flash submissions and they more than delivered on the highspots.

Ryota Hama is awesome, wrestling needs more fat guys. Let's face it-he isn't going to do much, but there are efficient ways to work around that. They chose the right one-having long, meaningful control segments that both established Hama's dominance and size. Hama's weight was so impressive the audience left out a collective OOOOOOOH when it was announced, and it makes the simplest moves look like killer. Okabayashi's gradual comeback was very well done, played off of what they had established and hit the sweet spot in its duration.

Tracy Williams sucks. I can't remember seeing a praised wrestler that has as poor slap throwing technique as he does. And while I have nothing against guys doing dives against Riddle the way they it was set up here was shit-not to mention doing it early on minimized its effect and shock value (well, indy guys doing dives isn't really shocking and so far I'm of the impression anyone who's compared Evolve to Battlarts has no idea what they're talking about). He's also incredibly dull when in control of the match-he can execute MOVES right but not good enough that I'm going to actually be impressed by his Dropkicks and Knee Drops and good grief is he bad at tying them toget…

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3o67vi I'm surprised someone hasn't already made a topic for this, as a lot of people love it a lot more than I do. Man, sometimes I feel like I've seen every spot imaginable that can take place within the confides of a pro-wrestling match, then a match like this comes along and reminds me that I haven't seen shit yet. There's not too much I can say which hasn't already been said. I do feel like in the later parts of the match descended into the guys just getting their shit in because the crowd was buying it, but it was all high-drama action, so you can't hate on it too much. I still hate that C4 move though. ★★★★

Neat little maestros match, a couple of escapes were a little awkward but other than that this was a blast.

PROGRESS Title No Disqualification Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Marty Scurll - PROGRESS Chapter 25: Chat Shit Get Banged 24/01/2016 Nothing says British Wrestling than every American style finish you can think of packed into one match. And you'll find that it's not an exaggeration either. There is a ref bump in the middle of the match, Scrull almost makes Ospreay pass out via the Chicken Wing twice, surprising roll ups, a big babyface comeback following a beat down and handcuffs are used. It was quite excessive but they never lost the crowd or their heat for the match. The action was always moving along and these two know each other well enough to come up with incredibly…