Moonsault Marvin

This was solid in terms of moves, but neither guy was compelling in terms of character, charisma, or whatever you want to call it. They pulled off some big moves and had plenty of headdrops toward the end, but the match never felt like it really escalated. **1/2

I liked the amount of struggle in the initial matchups against Murakami, and he was good in convincingly taking a beating. Nagata dragging him to the corner to goad Ogawa into coming in was funny. Ogawa easily stood up to both his opponents and was giving out the STO right and left. The match ended quickly, as Nagata was beating Murakami while the masked man choked out Nakanishi. This led to a fun pull apart brawl. Everybody looked good and the brawl built up a potential rematch. Good match. ***

Kanemoto was on fire with the vicious kicks and slaps. CIMA's demonstrative manner puts him above the rest, as he brings so much more than just doing moves quickly. The match kind of broke down in the end, with Otani getting the win rather easily. Good match. ***

Muta attacks Sasaki with the crutch to start, and Hokuto gets the green mist in the face after an exchange with Muta. Muta works the arm and hand with the test of strength and armbars. I liked his going to the cross armbar after the kickout from the moonsault to follow up on the previous arm work. After an excursion outside the ring, they have a finishing stretch that ends with Power Warrior blocking the red mist and delivering his own green mist. The surprised Muta falls prey to a lariat. Fun ending and Muta kept the match interesting throughout. ***1/2

It used to be a reference to Bob Ryder.

Fuyuki bled a lot in this one. Kurodo leaving the underwear on his head for such a long time took me out of the match. The match seemed to be building to a Kurodo comeback, but then Fuyuki won, so I was surprised at the finish. **

While the match never seemed heated between the two, there was some nice violence displayed. I liked Gannosuke using the spike on Sabu's forehead and then dragging his face across the ropes. The jumping piledriver off the apron through the table was a cool spot. I wasn't expecting the fireball from Gannosuke at the end. Fun match. **3/4

It felt like they walked miles to get to the next spot. Yamakawa taking the light bulbs from the fixtures was hilarious and the best part of the match. Everything took too long to set up, and they were into overkill territory with the big moves and kickouts at the end. **1/2

This started off slow, and Tanaka isn't compelling when working from underneath. It picked up when they switched to working with the table, which played more to Tanaka's strengths. Hayabusa hit everything cleanly in his middle of the match comeback, though when you have seen a Hayabusa match, you know none of his spectacular flying moves ever put anybody away. Watching Hayabusa's neck during the overshot throw onto the table was painful. The headdrops and the kickouts gave it a big match feel, but Hayabusa and Tanaka lacked the selling to really push this to a great match. ***

The match started off with some fun brawling around the ring, but it never found a flow. Apache threw some nice punches. I don't know what the Fake Sasuke was saying at the end, but the crowd thought it was funny. **1/2.

The Infernales bring out the triple teaming to dominate the first fall. Mr. Niebla was really bouncing around in the second fall. Niebla seemed to have Satanico beaten in the third, but Ultimo Guerrero cleverly rips off his own mask to trick the referee to get the disqualification win. A fun match that made you want to see a rematch with a more definitive ending. **3/4

This was super fast with no variety in pace. I'm not sure what Togo was trying to do off the ropes when Super Delphin was in the figure four, but it looked like he missed it by a mile. Togo crams in a bunch of finishers of other wrestlers in the closing stretch. I didn't get into this one. **

Brazo de Oro lost the first fall quickly after nicely bouncing off the turnbuckle and getting dropkicked. He turned it around in the second, and he did that bouncing pin that I never understand why it doesn't count as getting the shoulders up. They took a little more time in the third. Brazo had Valentin in the figure four, but he jumped up quicker than Brazo when it was broken. I guess it didn't hurt. Valentin clearly puts his arms up before Brazo reaches for them in the final hold, but with Brazo knocking Valentin's head into the mat as he swung him, the match had a fun ending. This felt really short for a hair match and lacked any real intensity, even though it had blood. **1/2.

Angel Mortal gets the jump in the beginning and sends Sevilla flying in the barrier, which allows him to go on to win the first fall convincingly. He bloodies Sevilla in the second and does the traditional biting of the cut. I was confused about whether Sevilla's second was throwing in the towel to end the match or if he was doing it to trick Angel and distract him. Sevilla was lucky he didn't break his neck with the tope gone wrong. The submission was a fulfilling ending, and I liked the post-match fighting to make sure there was a haircut. Very good match.

This one started off with some lackluster matwork, and it didn't improve from there. The next two falls were all about Chicana's second and his interference. Garza wins via roll up. Maybe this would have been better if we had seen the buildup. Below average.

Otani and Liger had a super fast pace going in their exchange, and Liger hulking up against the double dropkick was fun. Too bad we don't have this match in full, as Otani gets a big victory over Liger.

The clipping makes this more of a collection of spots, as it removes the transitions. The press slam off the steps onto the table below was a crazy spot. Blinding by powder is always fun, and this match was fun even if clipped.

This was a solid short tv match. Styles messed up jumping onto the ropes, but Taylor improvised quickly by tossing him across the ring. They continued the angle of the bad guys recruiting Styles.

The aluminum monster getting fired up after the can was smashed and thrown was funny stuff. I look forward to seeing what kind of monster Tobita will fight next.

The editing threw off the pacing of the match, but if you are a death match fan, it was worth watching for the big powerbombs through the barbed wire and light bulb covered tables.

Nice exhibition of comedy from Wagner and Super Porky in the opening fall. The match seemed to cut after the second fall to Wagner and Santo brawling in the crowd. The intensity in the match was building, but then Felino's interference unfortunately ended the match. I liked being able to hear the crowd as they cheered and laughed, since on the tv matches, the sound of the crowd is always so low in the mix. Fun match.

Villano takes a beating, getting assaulted with a baseball bat by Pierroth. We got brawling all over the place. I liked the good guys fighting fire with fire in the second fall with Perro repeatedly kicking Pierroth until they got disqualified. Villano shows he still has some rudo in him with the feet on the ropes at the end. Everybody looked good in this one. Very good match.

This started with Salvaje nicely brawling with Niebla, but the match turned into a fast paced, high flying bout. Zumbido shined with his crisp dives, but the other guys didn't look quite as good. I wasn't crazy about the tie up finish being a submission, but overall, it was a fun match with a lot of action.

This took forever to finally start. I get bored seeing guys hit with light bulbs over and over again. The match never builds to anything and ends with run ins. The crowd seems to enjoy this stuff, so maybe it is more fun to watch live than on video. Poor match.

Kanemoto seemed much more over with the crowd than usual. I liked Saito using the eye poke to stop Otani's no sell. Lots of back and forth action in this one, and it had a surprising ending. Good match.