April 2016

Not really shocking this was better than their Raw match that had to build to that terrible Wrestlemania match. Anyway. I enjoyed this mainly due to Emma's performance, she continues to build her case as a top 5 WWE worker in 2016. I loved the move where she went to roll up Paige but instead just slammed her into the corner, it looked vicious as does everything she does. Paige and her three moves are ok I guess but don't look especially good even if Emma does her best to make them look so. Fun three minute match, really no reason why all other short TV matches shouldn't be like this.

All Japan house shows can be depressingly heatless and that was the case here, I would have probably rated this higher if it happened in Korauken. I am not Sekimoto's biggest fan but he does have a good sense of how to traditionally build a match and fits well into the Nu King's Road matwork>strikes>big moves formula with bigger teases in the firs two thirds. Akiyama is one the rare guys who actually knows how to sell which held all the strike exchanges together and there was a neat moment when he DDT'd Sekimoto on the floor and as I expected the dreaded 20 count he went back outside the ring and blasted Sekimoto with a Knee and a Piledriver as well before bringing …

Champion Carnival match: Solid chop exchange to start with nice selling by Omori. He reminded me of Tenryu with grimaces and a desire to stop getting smacked in the chest once he know he's beat. Takao works so well in keeping Zeus' defeat a reality despite being like a Japanese Scott Steiner. I mean that positively and negatively. In essence, Omori keeps the pace slower and makes Zeusy take his lumps before he can shrug it off and do his power moves...which are cool but, they could use a little teasing or struggle before busting them out. For 2016 "Indy" AJPW Champion Carnival, they pulled out quite a few stops here. I highly recommend checking this out.

Good match but much like their match from last year's Champion Carnival it is more a fun sprint than a match of quality similar to their 2014 classic. I think that's probably because of how even both matches were worked, I'd have liked to see longer control segments. For what it was it was fun, both guys have good offence and the finishing run with both of them unloading on each other with vicious knee strikes was very cool. ***-ish

Look if it's questioned whether or not a match is a work or a shoot in the first place it can classify as pro wrestling. I'm not really sure what was going on in the grand scheme of things but as soon as I saw this was announced I was hoping "special grappling rules" were a euphemism for pro wrestling. I'm not gonna go into the Sakuraba-Wanderlei interactions and what was going on there, but you have a tag team match with a 15 minute time limit that ended on a draw just as we were getting a banana split nearfall. And there's also literally a point in the match where the ref tells the guys to tag out. And Takada is at ringside commentating and booked this. Takada. And then…

This is a match for Stardom's six-women titles pitting Threedom (Io, Iwatani, Hojo) versus the Rookies (Watanabe, Kyona, Mimura.) The thing about this match that I liked the most was how the Rookies were able to earn their offense throughout the match. Usually in this type of setting, veteran(s) vs. rookies, they get their openings for offense through the arrogance of the vets. Even during the finish, it never feels like Threedom just flip the switch and put the Rookies away instantly. It comes off as them having earned their win. ***1/2

It's hardly an astute observation but during my latest mini Akiyama binge I have started to think about how incredibly lacking pro wrestling criticism is. It may be due to so few people paying attention to his stuff, and I know it sounds incredibly pretentiosu but sometimes I do get the feel no one else is really giving Akiyama a completely fair shake, both regarding his positives and his negatives. I don't remember anyone bringing up how he uses suplex sequences and unoriginal rope-running counters as transitions which is pretty evident and lord knows how many other examples and maybe better examples for all other wrestlers out there exist. I liked this match a lot conce…

A feeling out process with referee Wada getting involved when Miyahara won't release the hold in the corner which starts up the body of the match. This was a nice touch. Tiger is focused on Kento's arm with kicks and some great looking armbars. This was a short match so there was no drawn out selling intended, Tiger was just going for the kill. Kento fought back with his kicks and knees and this turned out to be a intense match with good strikes and suplexes in the end. Highly recommended match

I guess Social Outcasts is more catchy than "Guys we won't re-sign once their contract runs out". Another match that wasn't interesting nor did it make Crews look especially good. Him taking out Rose and........what's the other guys name, Axel, with a Moonsault off the apron was a cool spot almost instantly nullified by Heath Slater getting a close nearfal on him. Inefficient.

This is the kind of squash match I want to see, Fandngo gets a cuple of chops in and then Corbin just WRECKS him, kills him under a minute, throws him onto Ziggler, stomps Ziggler a little more, gets Fandango back in the ring and beats him, then killls Ziggler after the match once again. Let's call this kind of match that perfectly accomplishes what it set out to do relative five stars shall we? Sounds better than Matt D five stars.

It's hard to take WWE heels seriously when I'm laughing at their trash talk for three minutes. Look I know "Come on Ole" doesn't sound funny when you write it out on a message board but with Jericho's serious condenscending tone it was the most hilarious thing ever. If you're gonna talk about the inconsistency in wrestling physics Jericho's Triangle Springboard Dropkick is as good of an example as any, he takes a bump he shouldn't just to set something up. You know what WWE submission finishers would be a lot more dramatic if there weren't only two options guy almost instantly tapping out out or reaching the ropes. Whenever a guy starts crawling towards the ropes it's don…

Not sure exactly why I watched this but. Here we are. I don't know whether or not random crowd member was laughing at the early chop exchanges or something one of his lads said but the chop exchanges were indeed worthy of LOLing, luckily they don't build huge portions of the match around them. Ambrose busting out the Low Ki top elbows was cool. Owens has a good back elbow. Ambrose might have the worst Suicide Dive out of anyone who doesn't completely botch it. It just looks like crap. Holy shit Owens' Frog Splash is now a regular spot and looks amazing. IDK how else to talk about this kind of match where they just DO STUFF until the finish where they DO MORE STUFF and als…

This didn't really feel like a pro wrestling match as much as an exhibition and a chance for these guys to blow through a bunch of cool spots. Every criticism ever thrown at lucha about it being too fake/cute/choreographed/ and lacking struggle could be correctly thrown at this match. They'd literally apply a hold and just let go of it after a couple of seconds for no reason. It did produce a lot of great GIFs though.

I'm shocked they got so much time (~15 minutes on TV) but it was totally the right call. Man Miz is just fucking good right now. He can stooge and feed the faces so much because he's good enough that his character doesn't need to be presented as especially strong to be able to take big portions of the match if needed. When AJ goes for his Dropkick sequences Miz cuts him off and quickly slams him. This is smart, but also sets up a revenge spot of AJ Bodyslamming Miz later in the match AND builds to AJ successfully hitting the Dropkick. When Miz gets in the ring before AJ does he'll jump him as soon as AJ gets in there. And there was an awesome spot where he used Maryse as …

I love this match up so much, watching Ryback throw Kalisto around is great and they're awesome at incorporating the size difference into their matches. Kalisto took the nuttiest corner shoulder bump ever and the finishing stretch was an awesome battle with both of them countering each other's finishers in unique but logical and dope ways. ***1/4

In my free time I watch Jun Akiyama beat up young boys in front of 100 people. This is a really neat version of that match, Nomuta is an insane bumper, watching Akiyama throw him into the guardrail five times was a thing of beauty. Akiyama pushing Nomura onto the ropes while Nomura was elbowing him was badass, you could totally imagine him mumbling "come on kid lay it in", I liked Nomura's running elbows and his spear/jacknife pin, still this is all about Akiyama brutalizing him. Akiyama going repeteadly going for pins to tire out Nomura and changing them up a few times as well as knocking Nomura back down whenever he tried to use his hands to push himself up when Akiyama…

House show match not worth going out of your way to see unless you're a gigantic fan of both guys. I prefer Sato to Miyahara-more convincing when in control and a lot more likely to bust out something I like, whether it be a cool kick, submission or a nice throw. Miyahara knows how to do finishing stretches right but I am not sold on him at all outiside of that and he hasn't really figured out exactly *who* he is as a wrestler yet. Their above average acting made the chest slap exchange suprisingly solid but couldn't cary long control segments of *stuff for the sake of stuff*. **1/2

I love the visual of Ultimo Guerrero-CMLL headliner and El Satanico-bona fide legend-grappling in a half empty arena with kids playing in the background while their dads smile and enjoy some REAL LUCHA. Lots of nifty takedowns, escapes and holds as you'd hope from thse two, I like Ultimo much more when he's working the mat in indy matches like here or in the Black Terry match than when he's Ultimo Guerreroing in CMLL. ***1/2

I thought this was a fantastic tag build for Dontaku. Shibata/KUSHIDA made a solid team, complementing each other's style and working together to target Liger's arm. KUSHIDA is in full arm killer mode, which is great. I like that even when Nagata breaks up a hold, KUSHIDA is quick to get right back on the arm like a pitbull. The strike exchanges between Nagata and Shibata were heated, especially those angry Shibata elbows. The flash finish made sense and builds into the 4/27 tag match, where the veterans get their revenge.

Incredible sprint. It's easy to imagine an under 10 minute sprint with a bunch of bomb throwing falling apart due to questionable selling and transitions but luckily Akiyama is here and he is about as good as you'll get when it comes to japanese wrestlers and structuring matches. Every transition here felt logical and satisfying AND managed to accomplish what they were going for in the match. Loved how the initial onslaught was vindicated in the finish. And I must say The Bodyguard has a badass Powerslam. ***1/4

More of an angle than a match, Sasaki cashes in DDT's version of the MITB contract. The two minutes are pretty much just finisher attempts, and the highlight of it is HARASHIMA's selling of passing out at the end. Exciting for what it was.

Another neat HARASHIMA title match. I really like the way he uses matwork to establish the pace of his matches and the matwork itself is always interesting, I can't really think of a proper comparison for it. He demolishes Higuchi's leg here, kicking away at it and twisting it in all sorts of ways. Higuchi looked good as well, he did a solid job of selling the damage and had some great power spots which was enough for HARASHIMA to get them to a very strong match. HARASHIMA is probably the best ace in Japan right now. ***1/2

This is a ladder match. I thought all 3 guys looked good. I thought all 3 guys did a good job of coming across as wanting to hurt one another. I loved how Dalton destroyed Sammy's leg. I thought Sammy sold it really good until it was time for him to do a holy shit spot. So he'd shit can all the good work here and there. I liked the finish because it captured Dalton pretty good. O'Reno had really good facials and kind of was the glue here. Their were issues with the psychology of the match at times, but overall I liked it a lot. 3 3/4* http://inspireprowrestling.com/video/free-match-inspire-pro-j-crown-ladder-match-sammy-guevara-vs-andy-dalton-vs-steve-oreno/

I am totally in the bag for Jack Gallagher he is the best grappler in the world right now and really delivers some awesome little touches, countering a suplex by slipping into an guillotine choke, delivering a kneecap kick float into an ankle lock, he is just doing things on the mat no one else is pulling off. I do want to give some love to Pete Dunne though, what a marvelous dickbag. His meathead faces, his little ponytail, his Bruiserweight nickname, his nasty cheap shots like digging his knuckles into Jack's neck or twisting his fingers, just a complete asshole. I thought his bar brawl bullshit melded really nicely with all of Gallaghers mastery.

I am not 100% sold on Sabre Jr. yet, but he has been in some of my favorite matches of 2016. In those matches he mostly plays game underdog who takes a beating and uses his guile and craft to sneak advantages. This however was Sabre working on top as a Fuchish torturer of a young game kid. He was really nasty here, he threw a Tiger suplex which looked like it dislocated Webster's shoulder, he had some neck cranks which looked like he was trying to twist the kids head off. Webster showed some spunk, and had some ok highspots, although he didn't have the vertical leap to really make them look great. I liked heelish Sabre Jr. a bunch, and hope we get to see more of that from…