July 2016

This was easily Miyahara's best title defense, and probably his best match of the year so far. It's still a Kento Miyahara match though. Still the same "ace" tropes, the convenient selling, the no-sold superplex rush, but the dynamic between he and Akiyama made this feel special. The grizzled ace that never was, love tapping Miyahara on the face like "let's do this, kid." And the new cocky ace returning the favor like, "here we go, old man." The danger of the front necklock was built well into the match as Akiyama does a number on Kento's neck in preperation. I love his elbow strikes to the neck. Miyahara's selling was okay at best, but he sold in other ways that helped f…

WAR tag matches fucking rule and I'm glad to see the Suzuki-Nakanoue feud bring them back, this wasn't as good as the 5/30 tag but few things in life are as good as PRIDE stomps to the head and that match had those. This one wasn't that crazy, but it was still the kind of japanese wrestling I fell in love with and continue to love, no bullshit "uwaaaa who has better weak looking forearm strikes between the two of us" everything here is very rough, you have guys pushing each other into corners, taking each other down, knocking each other off the apron, it's neat and the escalation of the violence is done extremely well too. Suzuki's takedowns are a thing of beauty in parti…

There was nothing pretty or flash about this. It was raw and brutal at times, and told a compelling narrative of the baby-faced Kamitani scratching and clawing his way to the title. Big boss Okabayashi was perfect in his role as he tries to break Kamitani’s spirit (and body), derailing any momentum Kamitani starts to build. The early lariat spot was sold like death and even when Kamitani recovers from it, there’s still a long uphill battle ahead. Plenty of stiff shots, like Yuji going ape shit on Kamitani with chops in the corner, and Kamitani’s nasty face slaps. The final stretch was a lot of fun, despite a minor hiccup or two, with Kamitani switching on survival mode, b…

So this was another pick sent to me for The Secret Santo Match trade from Laz. It's Dragon Gate which I've never really watched outside their exploits when coming to ROH back in the day mostly. So it begins and we have Shingo(who hasn;t changed at all in the 10 years since i last saw him) and YAMATO. This match was a fantastic big match feel struggle with Shingo being a bit of a bastard to go along with his tank like arsenal. YAMATO was a really slick ground tactician and had a great touch of aerial ability to compliment his all around style. Everytime YAMATO overcame Shingo's cheating and bull power tactics along dealing with Shingo's cohorts outside the ring…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra8NmNGxhMY Match starts at 1:57:50 This is a continuation of Nakajima's feud with SEAdLINNNG, specifically Nanae Takahashi. To be upfront about it, this is 25 minutes of pro wrestling nuclear warfare. The hatred between these two teams is palpable from start to finish. It isn't enough for one side to simply beat the other, they have to break them both mentally and physically. The work in the match carries a nasty edge the whole way through. The only real knock I have against the match is that there are a few messy moments in the middle that take away from it a bit. Overall, though, this match provides a unique experience. Like the …

Opening was kinda boring as they quickly dropped the matwork to do boring armwork and irish whips into the guardrail, because that's what the people REALLY want to see Match was fine once they transitioned to hitting each other hard-Nakajima's technique and Shibata's brutality never cease to impress me. Still the match was filled with lazy mirror spots and had a stupid suplex sequence, so a couple of minutes of nice violence will only get you so far. ***

This is Hojo's first defense of the Wonder of Stardom title that she won back in May. This match is worked differently than Viper's match with Io Shirai for the Red Belt back in February. That match was more of a traditional title match, where as this one has a clear face/heel dynamic. Hojo's over-the-top personality help make the match as her body language really put over Viper's size and sell her offense. Very entertaining match with a great performance from Hojo. ***3/4

After Zayn cost Owens the IC title at Mania, they had a match at Payback and then this here is the last time they wrestle for a while. They had just had the draft for the second brand split that week and I remember people being surprised that they'd both been drafted to Raw. Zayn picks up the win here but their careers would soon take quite different paths on Raw. KO would be Universal Champion within a couple of months where as Zayn seemed to be forgotten about a bit as I recall. This match is really popular. It's the 3rd highest rated WWE match of 2016 on cagematch, 13th overall. At the time I think I ended up watching it twice because it really didn't click with me the…

Two of the hottest acts of the last few years in WWE facing off. I remembered this being a really entertaining sprint and it is pretty good. The focus of the match is Woods and Wyatt, Woods becoming completely entranced every time Bray makes eye contact with him. Bray's been involved in a lot of silly supernatural stuff that really didn't work but it does here and it's a pretty great moment when Woods snaps out of it and attacks him with flailing fists. Also notable that it's Rowan and Strowman with Bray here - no Harper, who for most of the earlier Wyatt Family 6-man tags would be the worker of the group. Early days for Strowman who still looks a bit green at a couple of…

Strowman is awesome and this squash ruled. The jobber was good enough, selling his hand when he punched Strowman and bumping nicely but this was all about Strowman throwing him around and treating him like a punching bag. Less thigh slapping midgets more wrestlers tall enough to play at least a power forward that refuse to bump please.

Things I liked: Cesaro's Suplex counter to Rusev's Camel Clutch and that whole sequence between them (tho I find it laughable someone could go crazy over 2016 Cesaro and shit on everything in New Japan when stuff like the no-sell Lariat Cesaro busted out here is such an obvious rip from that style), Balor inexplicably targeting Rusev's balls and Owen's bigger moves (Fireman's Carry Neckbreaker and his Air Raid Crash variation both looked great). Things I didn't like: The brawling (Rusev's and Cesaro's punches in particular are lackluster, Rusev's strikes look good any time he's doing wacky forearm smashes and he should stick to them), everyone having to get all of their …

Boring, meaningless match that shouldn't have lasted more than thirty seconds. Nothing was bad tehnically-they're trained pro wrestlers who can hit their spots clean but there was zero reason to care about anything here. Why is a jobber whom the commentator are making fun of taking so much of a showcase match for a returning face? It doesn't make Neville look sympathetic, it makes him look incompetent and you think no wonder this guy's never going to amount to anything in the fed.

Awesome squash, Nia Jax looked great here, overwhelming the jobber with her power and throwing her around, I particularly loved her smashing her face into the canvas and the corner splash. Not big on the Legdrop finish at all, I was hoping she'd use the Headbutt to finish her off once she broke up the pin on the first Legdrop as it looked great. **3/4

I liked how this was structured a lot more than the previous fatal 4 way, everyone going after Reigns in the beginning made for an interesting dynamic, only problem was that I don't think anyone in this match other than Reigns is a consistently good wrestler in 2016. What this match did give us was some interesting cut-offs, Jericho breaking up Sheamus' 10 punch combo with a Springboard Dropkick, Sheamus using the Brogue Kick to break up Jericho's Boston Crab and to cut off Reigns while he was cleaning house, Jericho countering Zayn's Springboard DDT by just pulling him down, all really cool ideas that were executed well. Reigns not allowing Jericho's midlife crisis cover…

I like this match so damn much. It's, in my opinion, the best singles match Finn ever had in NXT/WWE, and actually one of his best matches overall. It's simple, short, and yet so effective. The story is very clear and it starts very quickly - Roman's power is immense, with him just throwing Finn across the ring with ease. Balor, on the other hand, has to resort with quickness and a bit of leg work to keep a safe distance. Not only that, but it also puts a guy who was publicly shamed by his superiors - Steph called Reigns a loser after getting pinned by Ambrose at Battleground - against this plucky guy fresh off NXT. Reigns also showed a little more vicious side in…

I don't think sloppiness is inherently bad but with the kind of workrate matches they're attempting to have they are a clear obstacle that I don't see going away any time soon unless they start doing crazy AJW dojo excersises which I don't see happening on road life. Sttill there was a lot of good stuff in here that gives me hope a month of reversal could be enough for these two to come up with something really good. Sasha's straight jacket looked great and using a pin to set up the Banks Statement was something you'd expect from Dick Togo and not a random Raw match. I really love how they follow through on their bumps, it made Sasha's Baseball Slide and Meteora from the …

Excellent match. Mostly focused around StarBuck working on top, working over the injured arm of Jessica, and it was great. 'Buck was terrific, his heel work was tremendous & his work on top was indeed excellent. Love sold well & did a really fine job working from underneath in general. Great, great, great match. ****1/4

Naito was in top “smug weasel” form, taking advantage of Shibata’s injuries and generating a lot of drama around the leg locks, especially toward the end after Naito avoids the PK. Hot opening, Shibata’s got no time for Naito’s shenanigans and takes him on a guardrail tour around the ring. Naito bumps hard off that big boot apron spot before snapping on Shibata and attacking the injured shoulder and knee. Loved Naito’s aggressive back-and-forth limb work and the way he uses his shoulder to crank the reverse armbar. Even when he badgers Shibata to a breaking point, he’s still able to worm his way out and go back to an injured body part. Shibata wins out on the elbow battle…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOLTkNu5LJ8 This is a match that had be building for a few years since Satomura first showed up in Stardom back in 2012. The opening is great as Satomura is in full beast mode at the start. This makes Yoshiko have to muscle her way back into the match. The middle portion is a nice war with the two exchanging hard shots. Finish is nice as Meiko switches off from DVDs to a sleeper depending on what opening Yoshiko gives her. A really well worked match. ****

This is a tag match set up to preview the next two singles title matches. This is the best performance from Storm so far as she has some really good exchanges with Shanna and does a great job of working over Hojo. Chelsea looked good getting beat down in the early going and hitting so nice offense down the stretch. Shanna had some neat sequences although her execution was a bit iffy at points. An entertaining match that had some fiery performances from everyone involved. ***3/4