February 2017

First 2 legitimately great matches vs. Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards... and now a borderline great one vs. ol' Brother Nero?! I am absolutely shocked by how good Bobby Lashley has got, for real. Just like in those matches vs. The Wolves, his performance was awesome, he was awesome during his control segments, and Jeff was solid, taking some good, brutal bumps. Bobby freakin' Lashley! ***3/4

This ruled. Worked as a sprint - all action from start to finish w/ no dull moments. Kong looked incredible as the big man just kicking the champ's ass all over the place - and Callihan was tremendous with his selling, facial expressions & tactics of trying to chop down the big man. Super well wrestled David vs. Goliath bout. ****

This is better than anything & everything I saw from ROH in 2016. Lio Rush is such an impressive wrestler - with him getting PWG booking, I am sure that more people will start noticing him this year, and I truly am glad about that. He showcased his great athleticism and smooth wrestling w/ a touch of urgency here, and that was the perfect opponent against Bobby Fish who was working the role of veteran-teaching-rookie-some-respect, which he did wonderfully. Definitely one of Bobby's best performances. Great match. ****

This was a match given to me in the secret santo project by migs The Briscoes vs the young bucks roh honor reigns supreme 2017 tag titles 2/3falls So a two out of three falls match with a team of bullet club members vs a team of massive homophobes in roh. This could be really dreadful it has the makings of a really long boring match. First fall: this goes about ten mins, we start off with some back and forth, it is fine then we have a nose to nose stare down which looks silly when the partners join in. One of the young bucks gets worked over for a few mins, complete nothing section of the match no real sustained heat and his comebacks are not good.…

This match starts off with some slick matwork but then the intensity picks up when Konami hits a cheap highkick on Io when they are in the ropes. Obviously, this pisses Io off. Once she recovers she's firing right back while getting in her own cheapshots along the way. Io's over aggression does get the better of her which allows for Konami to get a leglock to slow Io down. The leg attacks force Io to get crafty and that ends up paying off as she catches Konami with a rollup for the win. Pretty good short match. ***1/2

This was really good. Great showing by Juice, who impressed vs. Cody at WK, and continued to impress here vs. Goto. His early shine was super good; highlight of the match. Goto's heat segment was really good too, and after that, most of the rest of the bout went to Juice, which was nice, as because of that, he managed to come off as a winner with his strong performance even though he lost the match. ***1/2

Suzuki's leg work was so fantastic - his performance was all around one of the best that I've seen. Perfect character work & his work on top was just superb. Okada's selling was for the most part really great, as in when he was taking that beating he sold super well, but every time it was time for him to get some comeback moves in, he kinda dropped the leg selling & that it ultimately what prevents this classic from being a stone cold 5-star classic. ****3/4

A feeling out process to start. No one seems to gain an advantage. Barrage of kicks and chops from Bailey. Sabre strikes with a kick to the leg. He uses some leg lock.s. ZSJ even using leg locks in the crowd. Bailey is selling the leg, but is firing off kicks . ZSJ is just tearing up the leg. Bailey with a kick right at the ear. Bailey mounts a comeback. ZSJ catches him in a kneebar, ohhh rope break.The crowd has been pretty mediocre. Bailey with a standing shooting star. Enzurgi, followed by a moonsault block to the floor by Bailey. Shooting star by Bailey right into a lifter, followed by a brainbuster, and then the PK for a near fall. Palm strike from Bailey. ZSJ turns …

These 2 have a really good chemistry with each other. This was a really good David vs. Goliath battle - mostly just Nia dominating Bayley with her solid looking offense, with Bayley getting some really good, well timed hope spots in. I thought that Bayley's selling & bumping were really great here, she made Nia look like a true killer. Awesome match. ***1/2

Reigns was my most awaited main roster opponent for Joe, and I thought that their first meeting truly delivered. Physical, Joe looked fantastic when he was working the heat on Reigns w/ his killer offense, and Reigns did some really great selling, and I loved every hope spots of his, and the big comeback towards the end was great, too. These 2 have a classic ****1/2+ PPV match in them. ****

This match was great! It was, to me, a very good blend of WCW multi-man fuckery with lots of highspots, and of WWE produced drama, with a bit more storytelling. There were some few stories coming into the match: Mustafa Ali's spot at first belonged to Tony Nese, who got injured days prior. As such, Ali had a match in that same day against Daivari to determine who would get that final spot in the match, and there was doubt if he could have enough gas to go through two matches in the same day. Noam Dar and Cedric, still feuding, had some pretty heated exchanges in the ring, and costed each other the chance of facing Neville at Fastlane. However, the highlight w…

Lashley does it again, my god. This started off with Eddie shine, and he was great, laying those awesome chops in. Lashley's work on top was excellent, and Eddie rules working from underneath. Loved his comeback, which was cut off by Lashley in awesome fashion. The whole Davey deal was a bit annoying, but this was still an absolutely awesome match. ***3/4

Physical, super action packed. I have not seen much of David Starr, but he was really solid here. His offense looked pretty good, but the real star of the match was (unsurprisingly) Matt f'n Riddle. What a stud that man is in the ring. It's always so much fun to watch him on the offense, and that was the case here too. Great match. ****

Fuck yeah this RULED. Yehi started it with super fire, but that didn't last long as the match transitioned into Cage just throwing Yehi around. You could see the desperation in Yehi from his great facial expressions - he tried to target Cage's limbs in his brief hope spots, but those never lasted long as Cage always got the advantage because of his size & strength advantage. This is the best Cage has ever looked - he looked like a true monster because he didn't do too much stuff & just threw Yehi around. It was wonderful. The ending was great, because it showed that Yehi had to use FIP's unique no-rope-breaks rule in order to beat the monster that is the man they …

An absolutely wild match. These 2 always go balls to the walls when they face each other - and this match was no different, they put on one helluva spotfest which was filled w/ some sick, dangerous looking spots. My favorite spot of the whole match was when Hiromu started slapping Lee, and then Lee busted out a sick looking Armbar. They probably went on a bit too long for my taste, I would've preferred if it had gone just a tad bit shorter, but it was still a very good match. ***1/2

My most awaited New Japan match up in a quite some time. I loved all of their interactions in their multi-man tag matches, and this singles meeting between them sure was as spectacular as expected. Fantastic styles clash with Ospreay first trying to ground Shibata, only for Shibata to get out of everything he tries. Ospreay used his amazing flips to avoid Shibata's deadly strikes. He tried to go toe-to-toe with The Wrestler a few times w/ the strikes, only for him to get absolutely destroyed by him. This had everything I expected it to have - fantastic sequences, intensity, great counters, memorable moments + really good storytelling with Ospreay getting more & more f…

Typical New Japan main event 'epic'. The first half was completely forgettable, the work Naito did on Elgin's leg was sold pretty badly by Big Mike. The match only got interesting once they kicked into the finishing gear w/ them just throwing big bombs at each other, but even then, it wasn't very interesting. *

Jason Kincaid vs Chase Owens This is no time limit, anything goes. Quick exchanges to start. This is a 5 year run for Kincaid. Superkick party by Owens. Owens slams him on the apron. Kincaid counters the package piledriver. A cutter on the ropes by Owens. Two topes and then a suplex on the floor by Kincaid. Commentary mentioning Owens bad neck. Kincaid throwing all his big moves with this. Kincaid stomping on his fingers. Kincaid slaps the shit out of Owens. Reverse sleeper by Kincaid. Crowd doesn't seem hot for this. Owen's hits a Style Clash for a great nearfall. One Winged Angel gets 2. Roaring elbow into a package piledriver. 2 3/4*

This is for Mizunami's Regina di WAVE title as she takes on her tag partner Ohata. There is some nice matwork to open things up as Ohata tries to neutralize Mizunami's power by going after limbs in order to try to slow her down. This works for awhile but eventually Mizunami is able to stay upright long enough in order to get some offense in. This match then gets super stiff as the two of them really lay into one another. One of the best things about this match is how they both sell the physicality of the match. It never turns into a 'fighting spirit' no-sell contest that matches like this can deteriorate into. The finish is pretty good to as Ohata finds a lot of nifty way…

Often times in booking the best stories leave both guys strong, and I get what they were going for here, but felt this really exposed Max. He's a super heavyweight and this is a pretty long match all things considered. TD is fantastic fighting as the undersized guy, while still slamming Max and getting in other good power moves. Smashmaster has some ok power stuff, a decent punch, and can do the swanton, but he looked wiped out here. And a lot of basic stuff like throwing whiffed clothelines off the rope, or charging at TD outside looked painfully bad. Bakabella works hard here to cover for this, drawing TD away and even getting hit with a nice looking forearm for his tro…

So Huckabee is the ref turned wrestler who is the scrappy guy who outworks everyone. He's got a 70s throwback type gimmick, from the ring jacket to holding his arm behind his back as he waves to acknowledge the crowd. It's a little Backlund-esque (credit to Chad for this analogy). So I expected this to be a lot of just masturbatory ground grappling exhibition stuff, but this is actually a good little story driven contest. They do mat stuff but Huckabee finds unique ways to reverse or get out of moves, which just pisses Silver Ant off and he starts seemingly shoot-suplexing him around. They play up the time limit remaining stip (for the hour of Power) and Huckabee makes ki…

I don't generally care a whole lot about modern DDT, but the implication of HARASHIMA/Funaki as a matchup (and to my knowledge their only encounter) was way too curious to ignore. They start off, and it's a lot of tentative grappling as HARA pulls guard and sits on his back most of the time, with Funaki slowly trying to grab something. It's not particularly good, and it felt like just being there for the sake of it to get a slow start. The Sakaguchi/Akito bits ruled though, Saka threw these really nasty sharp kicks until he tried going for one on the apron and Akito caught his legs and basically slammed them knee-first as a sort of modified shin-breaker on there instead t…

What is 2017??? So much crazy shit happening in the world of the graps, such as Kurt Angle having a great match! I didn't have any expectations coming into this, I am not a fan of Angle, and Alberto can be a hit-or-miss, but here the man was a clear hit. He was so awesome, the match was mostly centered around him working over Angle in very heelish fashion, and it was very enjoyable. Angle basically worked it from underneath, busting out his greatest hits, so his performance was enjoyable as well - definitely very different from your usual Kurt Angle big match, which is a BIG positive. Thumbs up big time for this one. ****

Becky Lynch vs Mickie James - WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 Mickie/Becky ruled! Great tie up to start. Nice shine with Becky coming off apron but as she gets back into the ring Mickie strikes with a nasty single arm DDT. Heat segment ruled! Mickie's cut offs with those nasty kicks was great. Becky's selling awesome! Great hope spots! Loved extended comeback from Becky and smart transitions. Great selling and fire from Becky. Loved finish Mick Kick was a great nearfall then goes for DDT but Becky counters she knows it is now or never so she goes for Disarmor, but ends up in a rollup battle. LOVED THE DRIVE IN THOSE LEGS BY BECKY ON ROLL UP! Awesome opener. Becky is the bes…

I gotta say that this one never fully clicked for me. There were stuff that I enjoyed; AJ Styles being the bumping & selling machine that he is, Baron Corbin coming in & destroying people, The Miz doing his Daniel Bryan shtick, Styles & Cena interactions when they + Wyatt were the final 3 - BUT in between those moments that I enjoyed, there were lots, and I mean LOTS of dull action that did nothing for me, which is why I can't rate this highly overall. Solid match, but far from the best Chamber match that I've seen. Great performance by Styles. **1/2