May 2018

As usual, these two beat the crap out of each other in a fantastic David vs. Goliath bout. They went with the simplest of all psychologies in that kind of a setting; ZSJ went after WALTER's leg, which WALTER sells excellently & puts on an overall amazing wounded-yet-still-dangerous-monster -performance. ZSJ is great working the crap out of that leg & his cocky character work as he realizes he has the big lad in trouble was a joy. Fantastic performances by both guys & a fantastic match. ****

I'm not sure I've seen Riddle work this kind of match before, one where someone attacks a body part and he has to sell that for the majority of the match. Strickland does that here, taking out Riddle's left arm, and Riddle does a terrific job for the rest of the match, selling well and getting in as much stuff as he can with his right arm and legs. Strickland doesn't seem like a regular wear-down-a-limb guy either, so it's fun seeing him attack the arm with submissions, but also with moves that take advantage of his agility. His arsenal of stomps, low kicks, and trips is all-around great, too, even when he's not targeting the arm, and it's actually a really clever way for…

SHO hits it really hard with his first ever BOSJ singles match. This match was just really great with both guys mixing several different styles in one match. My favorite part was probably the arm work they did on each other as it built the drama very well. I've noticed it before, but SHO really brings an intensity to matches he's involved in, and he really let it show here. Dragon Lee was as great as always albeit a bit more sloppy than usual because of his leg. Here's to hoping both guys pull out some more great matches, ****1/4.

Well goddamn. I thought their RevPro & NJPW (did not watch the ROH one) matches from 2017 were trash, so I definitely didn't have positive expectations of any kind going into this. I am very positively surprised by what they put together here though - a really good match! Really liked Marty on top in the first half of the match, he was pretty damn awesome on control & Hiromu was good fighting from underneath - LOVED that sunset flip powerbomb to the outside comeback of his. After that the match becomes more of a bombfest, but doesn't drift into the overkill at all & remains very enjoyable in it's structure & the way they continued to tell the story they ha…

This is the Muscle JK Strikers first defense of the Tokyo Princess Tag titles. Both Saiki and Mizuki looked great here. The match got off to a nice start then those two worked an awesome stretch in the middle of the match that ramped things up some more. Marika and Ito respond and pick things up as well. Neither of them are as developed as the other two but the combination of Ito's charisma and Marika's ability to hit really hard make up for it to a degree. All of this ends up producing the first actually great match in TJP this year. ****

Two former tag team partners go at it once again for the KOD title. This started out a little slow with some ok outside brawling, but once they got in the ring is when things got good. Irie worked very well on top with his physical style, but I think it was Ishii who stole the show with his come back. You could feel the emotion between the two from the start of the match till even afterwards when Ishii refused to shake Irie's hand, ****1/4.

Keith Lee's final EVOLVE match in a title match against arguably his greatest rival, Matt Riddle. If you've seen the other matches between these guys, then you should know how physical match this would be. There was also plenty of callbacks to previous matches, even their PWG match, to build a great story from start to finish. Hate to see Lee go, but what a match to bow out on, ****1/2.

It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that ACH is really bringing it in this year’s tournament. Of course, being injured isn’t something I would wish on someone like ACH, but it has really allowed him to show his more physical side instead of relying on his athleticism. Very good match with Ospreay being as great as usual, and ACH really hanging at that level with him, ****.

For the most part, this was a very good ***1/2-***3/4 match w/ really good leg psychology, but the finishing stretch put it on that next level - Starr goes HAM on WALTER's leg that he has been working on throughout the thing, WALTER is in real trouble, but manages to bust out a CRADLE to get the win. Such fantastic storytelling; Starr had WALTER scouted big time, here in their 10th singles match against each other, and while WALTER does unleash some of his murderous offense on the man, Starr has a counter for almost everything, which resulted in WALTER kinda having to fight from underneath! What a fantastic twist in this amazing rivalry. Absolutely amazed at the match-by-…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJt9-oI8Vjs Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, Southeast Asia and the Philippines in particular, has cultivated a wrestling community by and for internet fans. The people with the capacity to find and consume all different kinds of wrestling are the ones who have the capacity to fund and partake in putting on wrestling shows. This match, which takes place at Philippine Wrestling Revolution's biggest show of the year, seems to be the peak of that kind of zeitgeist. Spots taken from Shibata, Okada, Omega, and countless others permeate the match, not in a sense of natural progression or organic fluidity but more as a point of re…

This is a prelude to the Io/Momo title match that would be happening a few days later. If your looking for a new "Kick the shit out of your opponent" tag team then you'll want to check out Momo and Konami. They put a beating on AZM to the point that AZM's screams start to get a bit unsettling and they are not afraid to take to Io either. In the end, the match actually ends up being fairly one sided as Io/AZM never really get any momentum in the match. Still a well worth a watch given the display that Momo/Konami put on. ***3/4

I might not love this match as much as others, but it was still a pretty good brawl of a match. I will admit the first 5 or so minutes are really hot with Hiromu and Desperado beating the hell out of each other. After that though the match slows down for Desperado to work on Hiromu, and this is where the match doesn’t live up to the hype imo. Basically, both guys just did moves, and not in an exciting way. I’ve never been a fan of the typical SZGN shenanigans either, so the finish was pretty lame imo, especially for a main event. Very good stuff, but could’ve been way more heated, ****.

It is super refreshing to see a straight up technical match in a New Japan ring again. Ever since KOR left, KUSHIDA hasn’t had anyone up to par on his technical level, but thankfully he had Scurll to be up against (even if the latter was still more goofy than usual). It wasn’t all chaining any ground work though as both guys got very physical. There was some great arm work from Scurll on KUSHIDA’s arm too with the latter selling really well. A little anticlimactic with the finish, but still a great match, ****1/4.

This was such a super fun, energetic back & forth match. Jeff looked very good w/ all of his stuff & Bryan on the offense was an absolute joy to watch. The knee psychology towards the end ruled & Bryan actually getting the win with a Heel Hook is superb. Bring on Bryan vs. Joe next week! ****

An awesomely violent and hate-filled match that drove home how much these two hate each other since the Junior tag feud. Hiromu jumps Desperado at the start and brawls with him all the way up to the higher-level seats where he nails a fantastic shotgun dropkick. Back in the ring we get some wonderful mask-tearing before Desperado mounts his comeback. From there, it's an absolute bombfest with both guys going for broke in trying to kill the other. Desperado eventually reaches the point where he realizes he can't beat Hiromu in a fair fight and tries every dirty trick in the book to put him away. And yet Hiromu still kicks out of nearly everything and looks like he might be…

The rematch between two greats from two different (yet similar) worlds clashing once again. This match was very similar to their first Champion Carnival finals match, but with some slight differences. Marufuji was much more cocky this time around, which would probably lead to his inevitable loss later on. Also there was a lot more selling from both men in this match than in the previous one. Unfortunately for Marufuji, the dream of being Triple Crown and GHC champion at the same time was thwarted by Kento’s undying resilience to hold onto his title, ****1/2.

Ok, I'm finally getting the hype behind YOH. His first two matches in the BOSJ weren't as impressive as SHO's first two matches, but here against Ospreay he was able to shine really well. It wasn't a super exciting performance by YOH, but it did show that he has the potential to hang with a top junior like Ospreay, who was just as good as he usually is. One of the better matches of the tournament, ****1/4.

(I’m pretty sure folks will enjoy this match no matter what, but watching a Park/Rush brawl, like the MOTY from MDA last year, and either watching some main event CMLL trios or at least taking my word for it that this level of wild brawling is unusual in CMLL might help). So after Los Ingobernables attacked his family Volador & Flyer last week, LA Park made an absolutely shocking return to CMLL, and all of a sudden he’s main eventing Arena Mexico in, I feel pretty safe in saying (though I’m far from an expert), the most intense trios match in CMLL in a very long time. I was wondering how Park and Rush were going to translate the energy of their indie brawls to…

It's a Hiromu vs Dragon Lee match, what you should expect? Fucking magic! Seriously though, these guys tore the house down in yet another explosive match in this worldwide rivalry where the definitive winner will be the one who isn't dead by the end. Lots of head drops and bombs as you would expect, but I would even dare say this match wasn't as dangerous as some of their previous encounters (New Beginning 2017, etc.). Lee beat Hiromu once again proving that he still the latter's number, ****1/2.

Big Match Honda strikes again. Although there's far less big moves and athletic spots here than on the average Takeshita main event bout, to me this might be the best singles match he's had. A huge chunk of this is Takeshita in control, which is good. Takeshita really doesn't hold back at all, and Honda is a great face in peril. Honda's comeback is started by a shockingly emotional Gongitsune story. Takeshita falls out of the ring after the eyepoke and Honda launches into his still shockingly good tope suicida. Honda can't do some of the stuff he tries afterwards but seeing him go for a hurricanrana and then fuck it up and end up pulling off a cradle has its charm. To his…

This was so good. Though it was also a yet another potential ****+ amazing match that didn't reach it's full potential because the single-cam setting just didn't capture the full emotion & overall feel of it. Even with that unfortunate camera angle situation, it's definitely still one of my favorite matches of the tourney - flowed so good & Taguchi was on absolute FIRE. Love that man. ***3/4

It's such a shame that this ended up happening on a single-cam show, because I feel like w/ multiple camera angles to capture the action & emotion of the match, this EASILY could've hit that ****+ mark. Such a lovely match - very similar to KUSHIDA's matches vs. Kyle O'Reilly in that it was all about both guys just looking to destroy each other's limbs by kicking the crap out of them & stretching them w/ submissions. Enjoyed it big time - a really good match that I, indeed feel like I would have liked even more w/ normal NJPW production instead of single-cam. ***3/4

Travis Banks defends the Defiant Internet Title in a three way match

Momo has steadily been growing into a big role and has already had a very good title match with Io this year, so doing this again so quickly feels like it might be a little rushed. That said, Momo did just win the Cinderella tournament and did a lot to really establish her B Driver, so it is just a little more realistic thinking she might win than it was in February. Momo comes out aggressive yet again, and Io regains the upper hand yet again, really laying her strikes in. Theres a really cool moment where Momo goes for the B Driver on the apron (which was very useful in the Cinderella tournament) and Io crawls out of it to a sort of upside down full nelson with her legs …

I'm surprised there's no thread for this yet. This was my MOTY for 2018, and I think it would have done well in best-of lists for that year if people still paid attention to NOAH. Nakajima and Kitamiya are collectively known as The Aggression, and in this match at least, they're like a modern-day version of the Holy Demon Army. Shiozaki and Kiyomiya are GoKai, and they're the latest iteration of the venerable veteran/rookie pairing. The Aggression come in with a gameplan to target Shiozaki's injured leg while neutralizing the youngster Kiyomiya, and they execute it to perfection. Great selling from Shiozaki (collapsing when Kitamiya tried to ram him into the turnbuckle is…