June 2018

The last match that would determine who the finalists of the tournament are. The match started somewhat slow, but with intensity as both guys knew each other very well. The leg work was there but minimal, so it didn’t really matter towards the finish. Doi no selling Gallaria had me jumping out of my seat. YAMATO eventually finishes it with a Ragnarok killing any chances of a Speed Muscle final. What we will get will be just as good though, ****1/2.

Unexpectedly, a pretty great match. Masamune is a masked indy guy who was trained in Mexico. I have no idea what got into them here, but they hit the mat and had an outstanding match. Starts with a bunch of cool amateur matwork and cradles and then develops really well into this intense battle that felt like it could have taken place in Coliseo Coacalco. I know Yasushi Sato is a Mumejuku regular so probably used to doing matwork heavy matches, but I was surprised by how well Masamune did here. Both guys had some brilliant holds, especially dug the whacky leglocks which were set up really well, and there were a number of nifty spots. Really loved Masamune catching Sato on …

These guys had a pretty great match in ROH last year, but surprisingly enough they topped it with this match on the final block day of the tournament. Not as flippy as one would expect but still quite a lot of cool moves. I liked Ospreay? s serious/nervous look here as he knew he had the chance to win his block as long as he beat Flip. Excellent chemistry between both guys with some cool spots and a great finish, ****1/2.

OZ Academy Openweight Champship: Yoshiko (c) vs. Hikaru Shida Great match. Shida is getting creative with those knee strikes lately, the lariat counters and the Kamigoye were awesome. There was stiffness and nice sequences, but the finishing run was lacking. Still, Shida winning the Openweight is one of my favorite moments of the year. ***3/4

This is Bryan vs Cass from the live event in Waco. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOv2TBvg_F4 There is not a June 2018 section, so I posted it here.

Considering this year's Best of the Super Juniors was miles better than last year's, it's only fitting that the finals would not only be a true MOTYC, but a bombfest of epic proportions. The tentative first minute or so really added to the big fight atmosphere: you truly believed these two were the absolute best in the division (aside from Will). Things broke down almost immediately with Taiji and Hiromu brawling into the crowd and we got an awesome shotgun dropkick to Taiji and a scary-looking hurricanrana that sent Hiromu down the stairs. Back in the ring, both guys took turns controlling the pace of the match before everything broke down into absolute chaos. The number…

The climax of the King Of Gate tournament between two former winners of said tournament. A wild ride for sure as YAMATO and Yoshino spent the first half of the match building it with some nice submission work before bringing in strikes and sequences for some great near falls. YAMATO had the momentum all in his favor towards the end, but none of his big moves could keep Yoshino down. He was so close too to almost hitting Ragnarok, but the ever so quick Yoshino just barely escaped with a great rollup for the tournament win. An interesting finish for sure, but still an awesome match to end the tournament, ****1/2.

This is for Toni's World of Stardom title. The pre-match for this is weird as both cut promo that are directed at English speaking critics rather than the match itself. The actual match does get off to a nice start as they do some quality matwork. Toni looked great here, especially in how she would mix in big moves in with her matwork. What her title run lacked in defenses it sure made up for in quality. Kagetsu's performance was a mixed bag, she was really spirited but her selling was lacking. Also, I really hope that every one of her title defenses doesn't have multiple ref bump/distraction spots in them. All in all, this was a very good title match. ***3/4

Tokyo Princess Cup 2018 - First Round: Mizuki vs. Yuka Sakazaki Great match with a focus on nifty technical wrestling and aerial techniques. The action escalated with Mizuki becoming more emotional and aggressive, and Yuka evoking the spirit of Mil Clown. ****1/4

Both men in this match are tied 1 to 1 in title matches, so this particular match would be for all the marbles after a great reign for Mochi and a great tournament for Yoshino. I wouldn’t say it was as good as their previous matches, but this was still a wild match with lots of strikes and fast sequences of course. The main flaw with it though is the finish. They tried going for a rollup sequence for a title change, but it wasn’t executed well and came off looking like a botch. Regardless, Yoshino goes into the Kobe main event as defending champion against the only man who pinned him in the tournament, Shingo Takagi, ****1/4.

A generational war has begun right in front of Misawa. I find it kind of funny that they're sticking Go with the younger guys even though he is only a class below Marufuji and Sugiura, but he's gotta fit in somewhere I suppose. Anyways, this was a kick ass tribute match in honor of Misawa, so of course these 4 men who have been fighting together and against each other in the post-four pillars generation would clash one more time for old times sake. Everyone was on their A game here, and I especially liked the Marufuji and Nakajima interactions, who suspiciously haven't had a singles match in a long time. Surprisingly enough, it was Go who pinned the champ, Sugiura, which …

This is what the NOAH youth is all about. Not as crazy as their title match in January, but still fast paced, hard hitting and full of urgency to make this number one contenders match feel important, especially on a Misawa tribute show. Both these guys have a special chemistry together, and I hope to see them doing bigger matches down the line, ****1/4.

A nice touch here as they added Mio Shirai as the ref for this match after Io announced that she was leaving Stardom. This is pretty much a standard three way although they did there best to minimize the typical drawbacks that this type of match. All three of them worked really stiff, especially Meiko, and busted out a few neat, different spots. At the same time though, they don't try to take the match to a level that it would be something special. Just solid performances all around. ***1/2

This was an AJPW triple crown title match. This match had a difficult hill to climb, While Kento is really over as ace Dylan James is not he is tag champ but has only been in the company for 4 months and did not have a great CC meaning that he was quite a weak challenger. They only drew just over 1000 people to Korakuen compared to the 4 1600-1750 Korakuen shows in a row for the company. The nobody believed that James had a chance at winning especially with the big osaka show coming up next month and Jake lee making noises about facing Kento. Faced with this challenge of not having anyone believing that Kento would lose the guys did a very admirable job of giving …

This rocked my world. 6 minutes of fantastic, gritty back & forth wrestling with a terrific sense of urgency + really great selling and amazing looking strikes. One of my favorite ones of the year. ****1/2

A dream match of mine happening in WWE developmental is weird to think about, but i'll take it anyways. This definitely lived up to the hype of both these technical brawlers in a match together. It was fast, physical, and had a hot crowd completely in Dunne's favor. I'd like to see what both men could do in TakeOver settings, but for now this was satisfying enough, ****1/4.

Talk about it here.

This is Io Shirai's last match in Sendai Girls. She's teaming with DASH Chisako, who she had a tag team rivalry with (each woman teamed with their sister) early on in their careers. These Senjo/Stardom tags are almost always great and this is no exception. The first half of the match has some really good back and forth between both teams before focusing on Chihiro/DASH. I wish DASH had gotten in a few nearfalls during the finishing stretch to set up her and Chihiro's upcoming title match better. Still, great stuff despite the bit of a flat ending. ****

Lars Sullivan is NXT's answer to Braun Strowman. This is one of those matches where you find yourself scratching your head how the babyface will end up making their comeback and getting the win. It's a rare yet welcomed feeling to get when you are watching as an adult as it takes me back to watch wrestling as a child and how one more big move is definitely going to do the heel in. After Black gets his shine segment, Sullivan had me convinced that he was winning this. Black's leg is worked and he sells it consistently. Even with the botched-to-high-heaven Black Mass finish, this was still brilliant. ★★★★¼

I've made it no secret that this is my favorite feud in wrestling today and that their last match was my match of the year. And while that still holds true, this match brought a different flavor to the rivalry that still felt like a valid progression from the last match. The brutality was there, the hate was there, the big spots and big bumps were all there. While at times it does get bogged down by WWE-style theatrics, I am still generally a fan of those kinds of theatrics so I can't really complain. Perhaps the biggest thing going for this match is the finishing stretch. I'm sure a lot of people were annoyed or upset by the ref bump and screwjob tone. I thought it …

I usually find Cross's act to be cheesy and not all that good, but it worked well contrasted with Baszler's MMA hardass character. Cross milks the mind games and Baszler's perplexed reaction to them is entertaining. You aren't going to find many epic spots here. It's the brilliant character work and compact running time that makes this Nikki Cross's best match in an NXT ring so far. ★★★¼

Red hot crowd & awesome hard hitting action from start to finish. Loved the Burch FIP segment, Kyle targeting his arm throughout the match was pretty great (loved that big Armbar drama), the ONEY HOT TAG was goddamn terrific & Roddy was his usual fantastic self, loved his facial selling & him on the offense is always a violent joy, and here he was going against two fellas who also bring it big time w/ their offense. Great match. ****

My dude Dream gets pro wrestling like no one. From straight up wearing Prince Puma tights to having a Hulk Hogan-based entrance, he is absurdly over, to the point where he outshines RICOCHET. Loved the reference to Rock/Hogan, too. The match itself was tons of fun, with Dream using some of Ricochet's spots early on, and getting overly confident. Ricochet showed that he can absolutely be an incredible all-around performer, as opposed to the shit he was doing with Ospreay a while ago. Reminder: Velveteen Dream is only 22.

Finally Season 4 gives us a match with great quality. Mil and Fenix always tear it up in the ring together, so there was no way this could disappoint. Throw in Crane (Sami) who excels in matches with no DQ stipulations, and it takes this match to the next level. Lots of brawling, weapons, and lore were in this match as expected. Just a signature LU style match full of signature carnage, ****1/2.

This is the match that should've happened at Dominion. Two very underrated guys just colliding in an all out bomb fest in classic NEVER fashion in a way we haven't seen in a long time. I could easily say Taichi interfering in the ref bump brough the match down, but Cobb also interfering pretty much balanced it out. The momentum wasn't stopped, and they continued to keep beating the hell out of each other for the rest of the 30 minutes. Not a surprising title change, but at least it gives us Goto vs Cobb very soon, ****1/2.