March 2016

I think these two have had an amazing series of wonderful matches. Some people have described those matches as spotfests and frankly, there is a lot of truth in that. What I think made the matches work is that: -they sold a lot inbetween the spots and gave you time for their insanity to sink in -they did a wonderful job of using learned psychology and constantly added new moves and counters -and finally, the spots and sequences themselves were just mind-blowing This match was a reminder that they are 21 and 26 and just a few years into their careers. While they added a couple of new ideas they kind of hit a wall in terms of how what they could do and relied heavily…

Much more neat and concise than the 5/3 'spectacle' and is easily my favorite Nahito match of the year so far. He's the perfect weasel dick here here with that shit-eating grin of his, consistently cutting off and countering Ishii's attacks and building the anticipation for when Ishii finally gets his hands on him. The apron lariat spot was a super dramatic payback moment as the crowd explodes and Naito is slumped all dead-like on the apron. There's a few missteps and they fuck up the Destino counter spot toward the end but Ishii rectifies that by hitting a big Emerald Flowsion. The second half is a bit overkill but it was fun and exciting to watch, not a chore like the …

A step down from their 2016 classic but this was still mostly good. Sabre went for Strong's left limbs in both the arm and the leg while Strong used his power moves to try and knock Sabre's wind out. Not quite as tight and tense as the 2015 match as this match went much longer. I also didn't like the little digression about the boots. That was some of that PWG silliness that just gave it a tonal dissonance that detracted from it. Outside of that, all the offense looked great of course. Just issues with pacing and structure here. The victory itself was a great moment especially when Sabre just spilled out into the crowd after the bell rang. ****

This isn't the best Hideki Suzuki match of 2016 but it might be the one that would be the best to recommend someone not familiar with him in order for them to understand what makes him a special performer. Shinobu differs from other modern japanese juniors due to his ability to sell but he is still a modern japanese junior and will take too much if you don't reel him in like Suzuki did here. His submissions are great, he does awesome stuff like knee someone in the head while holding them in a cravate and his finishes seem to have a lot of variety while being gratifying and fitting the goal of the match. ***1/2

Great, great match, pretty different from much I have seen in wrestling before, almost like if Yoshiaki Fujiwara got a chance to work Brock Lesnar in a shootstyle match. Graves was desperate to grab a limb and twist, while Kratos was attempting to pound his head in with some of the most brutal looking ground and pound I have seen in a pro wrestling match. We also go some very cool shoot throws including Kratos nestea plunging with Graves on his back. At one point Kratos throws a shoot piledriver which didn't look smooth at all, but looked like how you piledrive someone in a streetfight. There was a running bulldog and top rope back elbow by Graves near the end of the mat…

This is Schneider’s debut in what is a rematch of sorts as they previously faced each other in a qualifying fight for the Team Tate vs Team Rousey season of TUF (Baszler winning by arm bar). Shayna grabs a single leg and they scramble on the mat as both try to gain control. Colleen manages to take her back, but Shayna blocks the German before a hammerlock take down forces the escape. Kicks are being pulled here or look like they have nothing behind them. Colleen grabs the arm, an axe kick to the head flips Shayna over and she looks for the cross arm bar. That was one cool little spot. She elbows Baszler in the chest trying to get her to release her grasp so she can …

This was totally awesome, maybe my favorite non-Matanza Cobb singles match ever. Bateman is woking one of the dozens of old-timey Sasparilla Brooklyn bartender gimmicks, but is a pretty skilled grappler and is willing to take a huge beating. He tries to keep Cobb at bay by ripping at his fingers and landing sharp 12 to 6 elbows, but Cobb keeps hurling him with nasty suplexes, especially loved Cobb chucking him neck first into the turnbuckle, finish was really great too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N85-typ-rY This is one of Syuri's last matches as a 'regular', as she's scaling back her wrestling career to focus on MMA. The start is exactly what you would expect from this two, kick exchanges mixed with submission-based matwork. Satomura eventually gets control but Syuri always keeps trying to comeback at her. When Syuri does get back on top, she goes on a great run that leads to some convincing nearfalls. Could have used a bit more variety from Satomura at the finish as she gets a bit too DVD-happy as she's prone to do at times. Other than that, this is a great match. One of the best women's matches so far this year. ****1/4

Nice to see someone do the equivalent of those amazing FMW tags in 2016, this was insane, everyone knows how to throw a punch and you have vrazy Puerto Ricans throwing each other onto walls, hitting each other with chairs and trash cans and bleeding all over the place, what is there not to love? There were some indy moves I could've done without in the comeback but overall this kicked ass. ****1/4

Really entertaining main event-style tag match. Ohtani was great here, bringing the nostalgia in a more digestible way, while also embodying the 'never say die' dog-eared veteran with the crowd at his back. He counters Sato's rear chinlock by biting and gnawing on the thumb, and then he and Tanaka both do it from the corner. Some great strikes and collisions throughout, with Ohtani showing his old man spirit against Sato, taking kick after kick, and trying to fight the numbers game until he’s overwhelmed. The tired old facewash spot was pretty fun here as Sekimoto tries to escape and Ohtani keeps pulling him back in, slapping him a couple of times before doing it all over…

Match Link This is the return match for the controversial Yoshiko as she had been away from wrestling since the incident with Act Yasukawa last year. I liked the story that the match told. It was more about Yoshiko having to prove herself in order to move on with her life/career rather than trying to play off the past. Takahashi controls the early going of the match in such a way that it makes Yoshiko's comebacks seems earned. Finish does come a bit out of nowhere which was a bit of a jolt but didn't take away much from what they had built up to at that point. ***3/4

I like 2 out of these 4 guys so I didn't expect to be enchanted with it but holy cow it was an awesome match. Kofi goes to cut off Jericho moments before Jericho makes the hot tag but Jericho actually reverses him! That deviation from the formula of WWE tag matches was the first sign of this being something special, and from there on it was just insane. It says something when I'm biting on nearfalls in a match that happened two moths ago, I was shocked how perfectly handled literally every single big spot was, from Jericho throwing himself and Kofi onto Big E to break the pin, Big E pulling Kofi outside the ring after the Springboard 450, so many awesome sequences and all…

Nothing match, Kalisto did some fun spots even though Breeze was not a good base, matches like these make me wish WWE had proper enhancement talent. They might as well drop Breeze on their next cut.

Hey! I liked this a lot! It started out like your regular TV match but actually ended up being quite good, like a PWG match condensed into TV match time without it seeming like they were just trying to get all of their shit in. Pretty insane you get stuff like a Shooting Star Plancha on a throwaway TV match. I liked Neville's prolonged kick combo and his German Suplex bump was insane, usually when you have guys flip all the way it looks more like them doing a standing moonsault over the other guy than an actual German Suplex, here it looks like Neville was centimeters away from breaking his neck but it is ultimately a safe bump which is completely insane and something onl…

This was surprisingly fun. Ryback mocking the crowd by using Punk's corner knee and taunt was amusing and I really liked the finish with them punching each other out on the mat though the horrible camera work made it almost unwatchable.

LU Champion Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma vs Pentagon Jr - Lucha Underground 3/9/16 Second season of Lucha Underground my recollection is the buzz around Lucha Underground cooled off in the second season but I know Rey Mysterio did a couple matches for them so I am excited to see those. These three along with Johnny Mundo and Fenix are their big stars. I am not usually a fan of triple threats but this got good ratings and it is pretty short so lets give it a shot. Pentagon & Puma double up on the larger Muertes, pummeling him in the corner. They shoot the big man off, bad idea. They gave him space and clothesline to both challengers. Powerbomb to Puma and tilt…

Whenever a fat guy like Hama or Akebono shows signs of being good you'll get marks claiming they are these great performers (think Dylan saying Hama carried Okabayashi and similar nonsense). This match is a perfect example of why statements like those are so ridiculous. Hideki Suzuki is a better wrestler than Okabayashi yet couldn't get nearly as good of a match out of Hama as Okabayashi did. Maybe, just maybe, it could have something to do with Okabayashi's very good performance in his match vs. Hama. Hama is still the same wrestler. The reason this match doesn't work is they chose the wrong layout, one that showcased Hama's very apparent flaws. Him in control could work…

Yoshihisa Uto is a Big Japan young boy most famous for pissing off Jun Akiyama in a tag match. Judging by this match he is also the proud owner of the world's worst diving back elbow. I watched this mainly to see Big Dog stiff him-and the match delivered on that part, but they did work it more evenly than I would've preferred. I didn't care much when Uto was in control but it did Ishikawa an excuse to just blast him with brutal strikes in the finishing stretch and bust out his amazing indian deathlock-repeated shoot headbutts finisher which is appearantly now permanently entrenched in his move set. He also did a running shoot headbutt here which came out of nowhere and lo…

Strong BJ vs The Big Guns brings you the HOSSFIGHTING OF JAPAN PRO WRESTLING. Akiyama vs anyone from the Big Japan team sounds great, and here he focuses on destroying Daichi, and as you might know Akiyama vs young punk has been the best match in puro for the last 10 years and it delivers once again as Akiyama just kills Daichi with brutal knees.

This is the last hurrah of the team of Sera and Narumiya, who had a long run with these same titles in 2014, as Maki was close to retirement. Was really impressed with Sera, as I really enjoyed her 2014 work but she wandered off the radar a bit in 2015. Enjoyed her wobbly leg selling, especially on Nakajima's strikes. The match is essentially a short, action packed sprint but not at too quick a pace that any sort of selling is ignored. There are moments of sloppiness that does effect some of the big spots and double teams but nothing that hurts the momentum of the match. Best Friends continue to be a highly entertaining tag team. ***3/4

This is Watanabe's the first single's title challenge and main event of her career so the match is really a showcase for where she is at as a worker at this point. Momo gets off to an aggressive start as she attacks Iwatani during the intro and manages to get a nearfall off while Mayu is still wrapped up in streamers. Iwatani plays the role of arrogant veteran which actually allows them to build up Watanabe for a potential upset as anytime Mayu takes Momo a bit too lightly she pays for it. In fact, during the stretch run they manage to pull off some really convincing nearfalls that get the crowd to buy in. Watanabe lacks that home run finisher though so she can't put Iwat…

One of my favorite matches of 2016. If you have a chance, I would check out there first match also (bottom link). A really big feel with a these being for multiple champions, a undefeated strong, good crowd dynamic, and strong history. The work was also great in this match. Really creative ending as well. Match Rating - Great stuff (There match earlier) (GPA's promo) (Match Itselt has a embeddeding problem)

I think it's pretty undeniable at this point that Triple H is a pretty self-conscious worker. I don't even think that's an inherent negative honestly. I liked the Reigns match more than pretty much anyone else and I was starting to wonder if the micromanaging and his status of a demigod within the company would finally allow Triple H to turn into a good worker. They did not. This was boring, played to the cheapest instincts of the most shallows wrestling crowd. Uninteresting and very basic quasi-matwork that was all heatless headlocks that they transitioned away from only when the crowd started chanting their names out of boredom after failed CM Punk chants. Triple H's mo…

Average TV match. I liked Miz cheapshotting Owens and his sneaky Small Package but that was cancelled out by them messing up a few spots and a weird sequence that consisted of like 5 clotheslines. **1/2

LU Champion Mil Muertes vs Fenix - Lucha Underground 3/16/16 Catrina now has bitchin' bangs! I almost didnt recognize her. More bangs in wrestling. I had high hopes for this because of how good Grave Consequences. Initially I thought this was a meaningless clusterfuck of pointless moves and way too many fancy Ace Crushers (two is two too many, brutha). Then Mil ripped Fenix's mask and slammed a chair into his head on suicide dive and this got a whole lot better. Violence always helps. Fenix taps a gusher. Mil works and bites the cut. He doesnt got back to that enough in this match like Grave Consequences but it was a nice touch. I liked when Fenix was going to …