March 2016

At this point Emma is basically a Sheamus if Sheamus lived up to his hype. She stretched Paige while stomping on her hair and just beat her up. I don't really care for Paige's shtick but she's not terrible or anything. The finish was though, but I expected nothing more considering what it was setting up. Decent match.

I did not expect a generic WWE faux big guy to bust out a rolling headlock I don't remember seeing ever before. Almost the entire match was just Kalisto's comeback, he wiped out both members of the Ascension by himself while doing a bunch of cool offence, makes you wonder why they don't book their main event guys like that. It's a talking bout I'm going to beat into the ground but Kalisto really is the heir to Rey not just because he's a masked hispanic guy but because he's an amazing TV worker with a bunch of awesome shtick he can easily build matches around. Fun for what it was.

Remember when Hunico was a good C show worker? That has to be up there with Titus O'Neil and Wade Barrett being great for a few months as far as things no one is going to remember in five years go. He looked good here (cool armdrags and an asai moonsault), I'm sure him vs. Ryder would be fun. Match itself was nothing, a backseat to Owens' commentary to pop the reddit boys. And the match ends in a DQ because triple threats may have those when it fits their storyline. Ok.

The beginning was clunky, I was wondering if Rush was going to be able to carry Lashley to a good match but before I had time for serious contemplation he started going this amazing stalling which he wed into a transition into his control segment that was him just kicking Lashley around and all my doubts were removed. I have to say though, as much as I love Rush these German Suplex no sell exchanges he's started doing are sub-Kurt Angle level trash. I forgive him because he stomps on people's heads in the corner like Kazunari Murakami and he almost killed himself with the bump on the Spear. **3/4

I think I can now safely add Uto to the list of BJW regulars better than Sekimoto, he put on a really strong selling performance here. Of course for the match to work Suzuki had to deliver on offence too-and boy did he ever. He rocked Uto with brutal shots and delivered top notch choking and stretching, the kind of stuff you want Minoru Suzuki to do but he only does it two times a year. I also loved the way they played up the tired use of rope running for cheap transitions and used it to build to original and superior transitions. I'm starting to toy with the idea Suzuki may be the best wrestler in Japan right now. ***1/4

The build-up to the backdrop was really great, with Maruyama clinging on for dear life and finding ways to counter out, at one point, BITING him in the forehead. Maruyama is good in the cockroach role. The way he sells and scrambles, the stumble into the sleeper hold, his test of strength fake out. When Kamitani's finally had enough, he lariats the hell out of him before hitting an awesome backdrop for the satisfying win.

Both guys tend to dominate matches due to their size/weight. This could've easily been just another completely serious evenly worked match from the country of Japan in the year 2016. Instead Hama here is presented as the one dominating, and his character is almost Fujiwara-esque, in that he is ostensibly but will still crack jokes at times. Ishikawa's selling of Hama's corner Hip Attack had me in stitches. Ishikawa is of course big enough that he can believably come back just by doing what he normally does, still that he used it to as a means of comeback instead of domination made it feel very refreshing and he busted out a bunch of awesome headbutts, lariats and knees in…