July 2017

This has got lots of bad reviews, but I thought it was really good. It was mostly centered around Lethal's injured ribs & I thought he did a really good job selling that. ***1/2

Both guys were fired up & played their roles greatly - you got Juice as the fired up babyface against Zack 'the torturer' Sabre Jr. Loved watching Zack on the offense & Juice sells super well, he's such a good sympathetic babyface. ***3/4

This was my favorite match of day 1 of these G1 Special shows. Thought it was a very charming match up that had somewhat of a old school vibe to it, especially with the 'World Champ vs. World Champ' billing & all. Loved it. ****1/4

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Talk about it here.

Impact World Champion Bobby Lashley vs GFW Global Champion Alberto El Patron - Impact Slammiversary 2017 I wanted to watch at least one match from Impact in 2017 which seems like a real nadir for the promotion in terms of match quality which is saying something. After AJ left at the end of 2013 to the reboot in 2018 under D'Amore/Callis, TNA looks completely irrelevant on paper and it may be a coincidence but it does coincide with Lashley being on top for those four years. This seems like a very TNA main event having two WWE upper midcarders main event their second biggest show of the year. Interesting announce team of ESPN's RoFlo, a well-known wrestling fan, who di…

Such a wacky match up on paper, had really no expectations at all for it, but I thought it ended up being a very strong match. Very simple structure w/ Gunn on top for most of it, while Tana works from underneath w/ his terrific comebacks. Both guys gave strong performances. ***1/2

A year ago these two facing off in a multi-man ROH/NJPW taping got a lot of buzz from the crowd (and me). Lethal's ribs are ailing and Omega goes right for them - cheapshot and then he kicks him outside the ring to use the apron to work them over. There's a great formula switch early here - Omega goes for the OWA, but Lethal rolls through and then goes for and HITS the Lethal Injection, but Omega (who doesn't have much damage) rolls quickly to the outside. Loved this sequence. Lethal works the knee, and credit to Omega as he sold well. Lethal consistently tries again for his finish as he knows how tough an out Omega is, good psychology. Some big forearms to Omega, but Let…

My favorite match of the weekend. My goodness Zack & Ishii killed it - fantastic dynamic & storytelling with Zack trying to match Ishii's striking & toughness, but failing to do that, so he goes back to what he does best - torturing his opponent w/ those submissions. Ishii's selling was perfect. Can't wait for the re-match in the G1. ****1/4

Queen's Quest (AZM & HZK) vs. Team Jungle (Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora) This was an awesome slugfest; action-packed. AZM connects gnarly kicks, and puts on her best performance yet. HZK brings the hate, Kyona brings the explosiveness, Tora continues to look impressive -- great match! ****

This is the title match that Yamashita received after winning this year's edition of WAVE's Catch the WAVE tournament. These two have had a rivalry that goes back the last couple of years to when Yamashita made her debut with the company which was around the same time that Mizunami made her return from being out over a year with an injury. After taking the first minutes or so to exchange holds, this turns right into what you think that it would be, a slugfest. These two spend most of the match running into one another in super physical ways. Both of them sell the toll of the match tremendously, this isn't your typical Japanese "Strong Style" match where both wrestlers be…

Hana Kimura vs. Takako Inoue I thought Takako did a good job leading the rookie, and her work on top was crisp. I liked the STF struggle, and how she was clawing Hana's thigh during it! Hana also put on a strong showing with much stiffer elbow strikes than her ACE match with Hiroyo, and her front dropkicks and brainbuster were great as always, and I really enjoyed her selling (oversight to not have her take Takako's stun gun!). ***1/4

Lee's title defenses are always great and this is a unique dynamic as he can be X-Division Trevor Lee and really work underneath to the bigger Elgin. And that's what this entire match is based around - Elgin's power, Trevor trying to counter and get an edge, but Elgin continuing to pummel him. They slug away on each other to start, good intensity and Trevor's selling throughout is really good. There's a thread in this match around the German suplex - they battle over it early before Elgin eventually fires a bunch off. It's somewhat Lesnar-esque, but Lee's comebacks are good and all feel natural. Elgin himself comes off scouting Lee really well; he gets big power moves lik…

What a great match! The perfect mix of long-term story, in-ring story, and outside the ring story in one match. The long-term story is the Strong life story/quest for the NXT title tale that has unfolded over the last month or so. If you haven't watched NXT TV regularly lately please watch the pre-match video for the Coles Notes (Canadian expression) recap, because knowing the context going in is important. The in-ring story is great, with Strong hurting his leg early on and struggling through the rest of the match, as Roode (as has been the story of his success over the months) capitalizes on the injury and targets it throughout. The outside the ring story is that both S…

Jo and Okuda cut a classic "we're not done with each other yet, but we're teaming up to face the invaders" promo before the match and proceed to absolutely deliver. A great coming out performance for them, and a wild, chaotic tag team brawl I'd expect more from WWC of whatever indy decides to book LA Park, but it is back in Korauken and suddenly the days of Tarzan Goto blasting people don't feel so long ago. The key here is the modern puro strike exchange-usually a dreadful sight as two people exchange strikes for x amount of time. There are several differences here which make it work. There's a hierarchy-Jo and Okuda are severely outclassed. Murakami and Sato take their…

The build up hypes it as "MMA vs pro wrestling". The idea of Takaiwa trying to bulldoze through Aoki who would in turn try to grab flash submissions sounds great, but it's not exactly what we got here. A promising opening had Takaiwa desperately avoiding Aoki's submission counters and Aoki pinning himself on a sleepr, but the middle of the match wasn't as creative, as it mostly consisted of Aoki grabbing submissions over and over again. He wouldn't lock them in completely and then hold them for two minutes, but it never seemed like he could actualyl win with one of them nor were Takaiwa's escapes especially interesting. Aoki's strikes and kicks were disappointing, and the…

Thought that this started off well & only got better & better as it went on. The last 10 minutes or so were absolutely amazing with the emotion & drama being through the roof. Excellent match. ****1/4

When they were trading submissions, focusing on the arm VS leg, and generally grappling this was really good. When they weren't it was hit or miss. This is a minor quibble but there's a spot where they trade hip swivels and neither guy really commits. I don't mind getting a little goofy but don't bother if you aren't going to go full Rude or at least Ultimo. It ended at the right time with a satisfying finish. Overall a good match that I wanted a little more out of given their rivalry.

This was all about Dijak scouting everything Marufuji did & trying to avoid those deadly chops. Dijak showed great heart in everything he did & I thought Marufuji did a good job selling Dijak's work w/ his facial expressions going like "oh shit, this kid's actually great". Great story of the younger, hungry fella going against the veteran. ****

Yet again Lesnar proves that, whenever he shows up, he is the best guy in WWE by a mile. Great performance where he was able to display his resourcefulness and toughness while constantly projecting vulnerability and putting Joe over as a huge threat. He sold the hell out of all of Joe's offense and was very consistent with the selling, basically from the prematch ambush to the end. He even sold when he was on top (for example selling in between executing suplexes). I liked him busting out new stuff like the sideslam or the between the legs switch around which showed he was being forced to dig deep. Joe was good too with the relentlessness and the cheap tactics which p…

These thirty minutes just flew by for me. Cesaro & Sheamus are on top of their game with the heel tactics. I can understand why The Revival haven't been that featured on Raw with these two guys working matches like this. Matt and Jeff bumped like nuts for the heels. Loved the ring post count out finish. That was really unexpected as I thought The Hardyz might even things up at that point. Cesaro & Sheamus trying to kill time and leading into the crazy good last five minutes or so of the match really took things into overdrive. Just a very, very good match here. ****1/4

YES. Just yes? I'm sorry, that's all there is. Rough, stiff violence from both guys. They constantly upped the intensity and made believable transitions that got you to buy into Roman potentially winning. You had the classic ringpost transition which works particularly well after the Tag Title match early in the night. Roman Reigns sells his ass off (again) but really, did we expect anything else? Then you had monster among men Braun Strowman putting in a fairly decent sell job on his arm...before turning it around into one of the greatest heel comebacks possible. The violence on the stage area was stiff, going through the screen was a wonderful visual. Then, th…

Paul London is still one of the best when it comes to getting the shit beaten out of him! LOVE seeing him still killing it - he gave a wonderful performance here selling & bumping his ass off for Muertes, and those SSP nearfalls, goddamn those were good. Muertes was also terrific as always on his role as the ultimate, terrifying monster. Fantastic match. ****1/2

Coincidentally, these two were going to have a match last year in Stardom's 5*GP last year but Sane got injured and had to pull out. This was the best that I've seen Tessa look, mainly because she looked calm and focus rather than her typically being skittish. As a result, she ended up being a great showcase opponent for Sane because Kairi was able to just go through her regular routine and have it look good. Great TV main event. ***1/2

I was looking forward to this because Santana is usually, solid and occasionally great, while Niven is always fun to watch. This was clearly the best laid out match of the first round. The whole thing flowed really well with some nice transitions and worked in both of their offenses in smoothly. The finish was nicely done to considering they were working a TV length match. Very good stuff. ***3/4