ShittyLittleBoots

Even better than their awesome match few months ago. They took the best parts of that match & added even more awesomeness to this one. My goodness. ****

Two technical wizards going at it. Started off with them trading holds in friendly manner, even bantering with each other while they put each other in holds & escaped from them. These 2 are so smooth when it comes to that stuff so it was a true joy to watch. At one point though, ZSJ gets pissed off & just BLASTS Quack with an European Uppercut; Quack is like "haha, alright got me there nice one pal", but then ZSJ does it again - he blasts Quack with ANOTHER European Uppercut! Now Quack knows that shit is on so he slaps the taste out of Zack's mouth - and from then on they continue to trade those holds, but with much more intensity & aggression to them - no more smiling & banter, they were just destroying each other. Terrific match. ****3/4

This has to be one of the most "giffable" matches that I've seen. So many amazing moves - and the best part is that the execution of those crazy ass moves they busted out was 100% perfect. They also told a good story of Claudio dominating Quack because of his size & power advantage, while Quack busted out those sick comebacks. A very memorable match, that's for sure. ****

I remember in late 2014 thinking how awesome this match would be; I was super excited when RevPro announced it was happening & it did not disappoint me one bit. The first portions of the match are the 2 feeling each other out in fantastic fashion - great work on the mat, the two showcasing their technical wrestling skills. Eventually ZSJ gets the upperhand, he dominates KUSHIDA in fantastic fashion, being all cocky & getting to his face - KUSHIDA plays a wonderful face in peril & the eventual comeback of his was just great. From then on the match is more 50/50 with a great sense of urgency to it. This was fantastic. ****1/4

Ospreay came out w/ a taped up back, so Bodom went after that right away. Bodom's work over Ospreay's back was AWESOME, he came off as such a cocky bastard, his mannerisms while doing that work over the back were great. Ospreay countered that brutal back work of Bodom with his fiery comebacks - all the while still selling the back. Great stuff. One minor gripe is that I wish Bodom had sold Ospreay's leg work better, because Ospreay did go after his leg quite a bit in the match too. If he had sold that, this would've been even better than it ended up being & this was already great. ****

This has a pretty great reputation as being one of the best short matches of all-time & it sure was quite the banger. The opening was fantastic with Owen just DESTROYING Kid with that brutal baseball dive. Owen is looking to make quick work of the 1-2-3 Kid, but Kid, being the ultimate underdog that he is pulls of some great hope spots. Awesome, awesome stuff. Perfectly laid out, cleanly worked, perfect pace. ****

First of all, Hero's entrance attire = badass. That ski mask + the "Fighting Spirit" hoodie. Awesome. Then Reed Bentley came out to the old Kings of Wrestling theme - that was a nice heel touch. Hero goes straight for the kill, as he just wants to beat the shit out of Bentley - his beatdown of Bentley was tremendous. As a result Bentley knows he needs to do something to get back into the match so he picks up Hero's arm & starts working over it. He does a great job working that arm & Hero sells it fantastically. From then on Hero fights from underneath for quite a bit, he gets some absolutely tremendous comebacks in - his strikes came off as so deadly in this match. Ultimately Hero gets the advantage back & just destroys Bentley in the end w/ a brutal looking Stretch Plum. This was amazing. ****1/2

Io controls Koguma in early portions of the match due to her experience edge - Koguma focuses on every opening she gets & tries to put Io away as quick as possible by throwing big bombs at her w/ a wonderful sense of urgency. Fantastic match. ****1/2

Best sub 2-minute match ever? Yes. Ricky Marvin was a man on a mission - he wanted to finish KENTA early so he right from the get go dived onto him, threw him in the ring & gave him a brutal looking dropkick to the corner. Goddamn. The pace was set for the rest of the match - it goes w/ such a quick pace; smooth, hard hitting, intense action. Loved the transition to KENTA being in control - Marvin tries to fight back w/ those great counter hope spots till the end, only for him to get absolutely murdered by KENTA. Magnificent pro wrestling, right there. ****1/2

This was pretty damn great. This was a total Konami show - loved, loved, LOVED her performance here; she worked over Io w/ such focus & intensity. Her work on top was excellent & Io was very good fighting from underneath + selling the damage that Konami had done. ****

This match was brought to my attention today & because I had nothing to do I watched it immediately. And I do not regret that decision one bit, because my goodness, this was an absolute hoot. First time seeing the young lion, Kaito Kiyomiya, and he had one helluva performance here - great fire, loved him going after Marufuji right away w/ aggression, which lead to Marufuji being grumpy as hell & just punishing the poor young Kiyomiya. Marufuji just chopped the shit out of him in very compelling fashion - he has to have the best chops in wrestling now. So brutal. Kiyomiya got some hope spots in, which were then quickly cut off by Marufuji. Awesome stuff. Then the ending with Marufuji just completely DESTROYING Kiyomiya, goddamn. What a match. ****1/4

Really good violent sprint w/ a real sense of urgency to it. ***3/4

A super fun heavyweight clash. Batista's work on top, the work over Cena's neck was really good & Cena was good fighting from underneath. ***1/2

Without a doubt the best Cruiser match since WWE launched the division in September - this was so great. Loved the beginning with Gallagher overwhelming TJP w/ his technical work, which made TJP need to come up with something, so he came up with a fantastic strategy of going after Gallagher's leg. All the work he did to Gallagher's leg was just awesome, and I can't praise Gallagher's selling enough - superb selling performance by the man. All of his desperation hope spots were awesome as well; the headbutts, the big super backdrop suplex. ****1/4

This was great. Elgin dominated most of the match due to his size & power - he did a really great job doing that in compelling fashion, while Riddle rocked the fighting from underneath role very well too. ****

Two wrestlers w/ amazing looking offense beating each other up. I like it. They told a good story of Riddle being in constant trouble as WALTER got the size & experience advantage - every time Riddle made his awesome fiery comebacks, WALTER got something in his backpocket to bust out. WALTER was really great as the aggressor & Riddle was really great as the underdog working from underneath. This was great graps. ****1/4

What can I even say? This was so unbelievably out-of-this-world great. I was rooting for Shibata all the way through - but in the end, I wasn't mad/sad one bit that he lost because of how goddamn amazing this match. My immediate reaction was that it ranks right up there w/ the best All Japan classics of the 90's, and after re-watching the match I think there's only one match I'd put above it - 06/03/94. This match was full of amazing moments, character work & storytelling. Loved the early parts where Shibata kept Okada grounded with those amazing headlocks of his - love the somewhat WoS-esq stuff he has been pulling out lately. Shibata was simply making Okada his bitch at that point. Well, that made the young Rainmaker a bit upset, in his usual clean break spot he started beating the shit out of Shibata, which wasn't very wise as that lead to Shibata continuing to make Okada his bitch by doing exactly what Okada did to him, but twice as effective. Goddamn loved Okada's character work throughout the thing - he was getting beaten to death by Shibata, but he still is the new ace, the cocky youngster so he has to go & try to go toe-to-toe with him trading strikes. The whole finishing stretch was just a fantastic cherry on top of an all-time great cake - in the end Okada survived the ass beating The Wrestler gave him. This was so fucking phenomenal. *****

The official time for this is 1:56. 1 minute 56 seconds. KUSHIDA jumped Takahashi as he was making his entrance, he had a gameplan - he beat the shit out of Takahashi before throwing back into the ring where he tried to go for his Hoverboard Lock right away. Once that didn't work out, Hiromu basically just destroyed KUSHIDA in very explosive fashion. Who would've thought that in 2017 we'd see a New Japan title match that goes under 2 minutes. This was so good. ****1/2

Thought that this was fantastic. Zack just tortured poor Goto with those amazing submissions of his, he moved like a surgeon around him. Goto was also great outpowering the much smaller ZSJ. ****1/2

I liked the early parts, but once they did the whole big dance off deal the match fell off a cliff for me. **

If it wasn't clear before this, it is now; Darby Allin is an absolute madman. I loved their match from EVOLVE 79 (****), so I had pretty high hopes for this one, and while it was very good, it never hit that great ****+ mark for me. I thought it went on a bit too long & Ethan's work on top wasn't all that engaging - it was good & Allin gave an outstanding effort, but it just never clicked the way their previous match did. ***1/2

This was an outstanding fast paced, spot heavy tag bout. I was afraid that it would come off as too choreographed like every Ospreay match in ROH so far, but it actually was worked with a great sense of urgency & the sequences + big spots all felt very natural. ****

This was heading towards the ****+ GREAT territory, but in the last third of the match or so the match started to overstay it's welcome - it was still good, but the intensity dropped quite a bit. I loved seeing Jay Lethal just kick Cody's ass all over the place - it was phenomenal, Cody sold it well & Lethal looked awesome working over him. Both guys have some really good looking punches, which are important in matches like this. Cody did a good job cutting off Lethal - only for Lethal to start kicking his ass again. Classic babyface getting the revenge stuff. This ruled. ***3/4

Loved the beginning with Nia establishing dominance, she looked like a monster just beating up Charlotte, Bayley & Sasha. Loved it. Loved the Horsewomen realizing they need to team up to take her out - that was real great, and the whole beatdown of Nia was tremendous. After she was eliminated, the match fell off a bit, but it still remained good & as a result we got a very good, borderline great match. ***3/4

Best sub-5 minute match ever? Yep! This was absolutely tremendous. Easily the best match of the night - loved the beginning with Brock getting too hyped up about getting some of those glorious suplexes in, which lead to Goldberg inducting him to SPEAR CITY. Freaking awesome stuff. The whole ending sequence with Brock doing a goddamn LEAPFROG & then going full beast mode was so gooood. Amazing match. ****1/2