cactus

This still holds up as one of the greatest carryjobs of all time. Bulldog is completely fooked here, yet there's never a moment where you can tell. Face vs face matches were still a rarity at this time and Bret never sabotages his face character for the sake if this match. Instead, he garners negative reactions from the crowd by wrestling a touch more rough with the Bulldog. He escapes an arm wrench by planting a nasty elbow jab right into the Smith's nose and the audience starts booing the normally babyface Bret. It's all very subtle and it's a testament to who great Bret Hart was. ★★★★¼

I don't disagree with this point in general, but I think for this match in particular they did a great job of building up the Triangle for Hiromu and the Crossface for Ishimori. Both guys had been getting wins with those moves throughout the tournament. Just one night previous to this match Ishimori tapped out YOH and Hiromu tapped out KUSHIDA. I think knowledge of that helped me and the crowd buy into those submission spots as potential finishes. Yeah, I can see that being the case. I didn't watch any of the tournament with the exception of the first night and this match obviously. If I followed the whole thing, I could see myself being able to invest in them more.

I wasn't feeling this as much as others. It felt too long. There's some great moments here mind, I'm a big fan of the crowd brawling. Himoru's shotgun dropkick and tumble down the stairs was disgustingly brilliant. No can deny that Takahashi is over and that the crowd were completely invested in him as a babyface. I didn't even mind the no selling reverse frakensteiner spots. Ishimori carried himself well too, and he has an insanely brilliant physique. I struggle to find myself buying into 95% of all big submission spots in NJPW main events. They very rarely feel like they will end the match. I just felt bored during portions of this match, although I can see that I'm going to be in minority with this opinion. Still a good match, with a nuclear hot Korakuen Hall crowd. ★★★½

That hometown reaction Cedric Alexander received as he entered the arena was pathetic. I felt sorry for him. Great, but a complete Buddy Murphy carryjob. This is the first I've seen off since he's arrived at 205 Live. He's come leaps and bounds since he was in that obnoxious dub-step cowboys tag team. He carries himself in a legit manner and I loved the way he was teeing off on Alexander with soccer kicks after taking control of the match after dumping him onto the announce table and ring apron in a brutal fashion. Cedric didn't detract from this match, but any cruiserweight could of taken his place. The only thing that impressed me was how great his elbow strikes sounded. Give it a watch. Even the half-emptied arena eventually came around and started getting invested in this after seeing how hard these guys were trying. ★★★★

PWO Monday Match Madness Rules: I'll start by posting a match with a write-up for everyone to watch and leave their thoughts. Anyone is welcome to participate. At the end of the weekend, I will nominate a poster who rated my match to post a match of their choosing for the next week's pick. At the end of of that weekend, the nominated poster will choose another user to take over and so on. Hope that all makes sense. Also, always include a link for the match that you will be nominating. Week 3 (as nominated by joeg): Leon Spinks vs Atsushi Onita (Martial Arts Cage Match) (FMW 5/24/92) I thought I'd go with a very, very puroresu.tv type of match I find this match to be a very polarizing match which makes for great discussion. Spinks is a former heavyweight world champion boxer, and thus he has a great looking right hand and some beautiful combinations. However his best days athletically are behind him and his complete lack of wrestling experience leave him a fish out of water. Onita though bumps and bleeds, and bumps and bleeds some more. Onita makes Spinks look like the animal who beat Ali back in 77, as opposed to the punchy, middle aged, has been coming off of losing 7 of his last 9 fights. The match is awkward and clunky the way any match with a non worker would be. But it also features some of the all time greatest selling and bumping by Onita to make that non worker look like a monster. The way Onita snaps his head back when the jab connects, staggers when a hook or body shot connects, and flops when the straight right connects is the best most realistic selling of punches I've ever seen. The match features the trade mark Onita comeback. Despite the clumsiness and and awkward moments in the match, the crowd stays hot and Onita has them in the palm of his hand. Onita firing up is reminds me in many ways of Lawler. Anyways, I've found in discussions about this match people either love it because of Onita's selling and how he fires up on the comeback or they hate it because they can't get over the awkward, clumsy moments caused by a non worker being in the ring. I'll go 83% or 4 and 1/4 stars for a match that doesn't neatly fit into any ratings criteria. Previous weeks:

Adam Cole has his stablemates at ring side and it's established straight away that they will try and interfere with the match. Dunne hits one of his beefiest elbows minutes into this and then proceeds to wreck havoc on Cole's digits. The tide of this match shifts when Cole shoves a distracted Dunne of the turnbuckle, catching his knee as he hangs off the ringpost. It's a cool idea, but the execution left a lot to be desired. There's a few spots in this match where I thought Cole would win this. One of them being when he catches Dunne with a superkick after Dunne is done dealing with O'Reilly & Fish. Any DQ finish in a title match is almost always a tad irritating, but it allowed for the story of Dunne and Roderick Strong forming an unlikely tag team to blossom smoothly. ★★★

Roddy is someone who can be painfully bland when he's not being a dick or being ruthless. Thankfully Dunne is the perfect dance partner to help Roderick to level up the violence. Dunne added a lot more to his arsenal in this match, including a perfectly executed Liger Bomb. He also hits a beautiful arm bar within seconds of the bell ringing, was not expecting that. The hand selling here was consistent, even when when the match reached it's back-and-forth finishing stretch. ★★★¾

The opening matwork is good. It eventually breaks down to them throwing more strikes with Dunne mockingly kicking Bate in the head in an attempt to get under his skin. Dunne's facials are great. I love his smackable smirk. Bate on the other hand, can look a tad hokey. Many of the spots here are recycled from their last match. I love that X-plex to standing shooting star sequence so much that I can't really say that them redoing it here is a complaint. Also that superplex on the outside was something I don't think I have seen before. Great match, although it's missing the magic of their previous two encounters and them going into overkill territory with the 2.9 counts didn't help things either. ★★★★

Not sure where to post this, but I'm thinking of trying something we used to do on Puroresu.tv back in the day. Basically, someone picks a match and we all review and rate it. The next week the person who picked the last match nominates someone who reviewed their match to pick their own match and so on. It is quite similar to the match review trade thing we've also got on here, but this way allows for more eyes on each match. Would anyone be interested in doing this?

Gargano always throws in little touches to his matches that helps them reach that next level, things like the drama with the Dunne's discarded mouth guard, although I'm not sure if these things are Gargano's or the producer's doing. Dunne escaping the submission by chewing on Gargano was a neat bit too. You've got WWE's most despicable heel taking on WWE's most lovable babyface. You can't go wrong with this. ★★★★

I do love me some Santino. That segment with Sheamus and Kozlov in the UK cracked me up. I also feel like I'm the world's only Wataru Inoue mark. When I first got into puroresu about five years back, everyone seemed to despise the guy. I think he brings a lot of fire to the matches he's in and worked well as Nagata's significantly less talented second.

Wolfgang had a couple of decent spots, but this match was nearly all Pete Dunne. Wolfgang attempts a body slam at the very beginning of the match. He gets it, but Dunne holds onto the arm and the momentum sends Wolfgang over too, with Dunne in complete control of his opponent's arm. It was neat spot that allowed Dune to call the match in a believable manner. The finish comes out of nowhere, after Dunne hits The Bitter End. The post-match stuff is brilliant. Cole and his indy darlings rush the ring and attack Dunne. Wolfgang saves him, Dunne rolls out and the stable beats down Wolfgang. Dunne runs back in the ring only to grab his belt and to leave again, and he has the most smackable face as he's walking to back. ★★★¼

Where to even start with this? Bate is a fantastic plucky underdog. Dunne is vile prick heel. Dunne works on the hand of Bate and twists it in way it should not be twisted. That slugfest. Dune's elbows. Bate's barrage of aerial attacks in the lead up to the finish. J.R. sounding like he's actually enjoying the wrestling he's watching. It's the complete package. All this needed was a bit more of backstory/build-up to get the ★★★★★ treatment. WWE MOTY by a country mile. ★★★★¾

They start this match with a lot of chain wrestling. Mark Andrews is no Jack Gallagher, but Tyler Bates squeezes something decent out of him during the opening exchanges. Andrews eventually uses his high flying to try and neutralize him, but it's to no avail as Bate can match him in that department too. We see a lot of sequences that look like they are straight from that BOSJ Ospreay vs Ricochet match. Eventually, this breaks down into a full on spotfest. There's plenty of tip-top spots here, even if they do have a tad too much downtime in between some of them. These guys don't have the best chemistry and it shows. There's a couple of moments where they both look lost. It's still a fun match for what it's worth. Just don't expect another Bate vs Dunne. ★★★

Tyler is back in Full Sail and he's sporting more rugged look. Gallagher is criminally underrated as a technical wrestler. He grabs hold of Bate's wrist and refuses to let go. This is pure WOS-inspired grappling. They use strikes sparingly in the finishing stretch and they always feel like a big deal, especially Gallagher's headbutt that knocks both men out. Bate manages to catch Gallagher off-guard with a surprise wheel kick and picks up the win. Stop sleeping on this hidden gem and give it a watch. It's well worth your 15 minutes. ★★★★¼

This has a reserved start with Bate and Seven getting into a shoulder block trade-off which Seven ultimately (and predictably wins). WWE are missing a step for not haven Seven be a full-blown heel. He's super unlikable and him working as a quasi-comedy tweener leaves a lot to be desired. This was the Tyler Bate show. My praise for this kid is endless. The way he throws himself over the ropes is magnificent. Nobody in WWE currently has a better plancha then he does. There's a spot where Seven hits his finishing Lariat and I legit ably thought he had this won, even though I knew who wins this match. They could of done a bit more to establish the size and weight differences between the two wrestlers, but when Bate finally manages to hit the Tiger Driver '97, it's still an impressive moment that serves a great finish to this back and forth showcase for the UK talent. ★★★½

Tyler Bate's shoulder is naff after working through 3 previous matches in the past 24 hours. His injury is going to make it hard for him to hit the Tiger Driver, a move that has won his all his past matches in this tournament. Dunne's mission is to rip of Bate's arm from the rest of his body. Everything is set up perfectly. The crowd are so into this. There's no dueling chants and the look on their faces when Dunne hits the Bitter End is priceless. Everyone is rooting for Bate and seeing the entire building gradually rise to their feet when Bate summons to the strength to escape from the triangle choke is one of those rare moments where you can overlook the lack of selling being shown because what you are seeing is just so damn awesome. A trilling climax to a great tournament that still holds up a year later. ★★★★½

My main vice would have to be alcohol. Big fan of craft beer. IPAs, stout, all that jazz. I tend to get drunk every week, have a week cold turkey, then climb right back on. Hoping it will cut down by the time I move out.

Just a great match where everyone contributes something. Kikuchi is the world's greatest babyface who can throw a meaty forearm, Liger is one of the most expressive wrestlers ever even though his face is covered and Tanaka is as arrogant as he is athletic. Hell, even Kanemaru shows a lot of fire saving his downed buddy and when he's trying to unmask Liger. Throw all that in front of a molten-hot crowd and you got yourself something brilliant. ★★★★

This is fun. My favorite TV shows in no order: 1. Simpsons 2. Extras 3. Breaking Bad 4. Curb Your Enthusiasm 5. Black Mirror 6. King of the Hill 7. Fawlty Towers 8. Only Fools & Horses 9. Bottom 10. The Man in the High Castle Music: This is a tough one. I love me a good singer songwriter like Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake. I'm quite into punk/hardcore too. Ramones, Against Me!, Minor Threat and Code Orange are some of my favourite bands. I have soft spot for a bit of dad rock, 80s pop and shoegazing music. I'm currently obsessed with the new Childish Gambino track.

This starts off fairly strong with emphasis being placed on the height difference and Bryan going for Cass's previously injured leg was a nice bit of psychology. That's all I can really say about this as the rest of the match was very plain and vanilla. Bryan carried Big Cass to an average match. That's an achievement in and of itself. ★★

KUSHIDA's a right brutal bastard here. Ospreay's screaming convincingly puts over how much pain he is. Some big moves here, but my favorite moment of this match would have to be one of the simplest ones; KUSHIDA clocking Ospreay with a nasty closed fist. This match shown KUSHIDA as versatile worker and Ospreay as a great plucky underdog champion. ★★★★¼

Wasn't expecting this to be as exceptional as it was. Miz has grown into a great heel worker. No BS big spot spamming here. I loved that the leg work actually went some where and it affected every move Rollins went for after he connected with ring post after a failed Revolution Knee attempt. Every finisher attempt felt like it mattered and could end the match. The best non-NXT WWE match so far this year. Shame the show went right down the shitter after this, eh? ★★★★¼

Omega's bloodied-up curly blond locks may be a throwback to the fiery brawls of the 80's, but there was nothing hellish about this one. Page busts up Omega's face after dropping him on the table and then proceeds to beat him down for the next 10 minutes, with little in the way of heat in the building. One of my main gripes of modern NJPW is that always have to make their big matches go long, even if it's completely unwarranted. This could of been a decent hotfooted brawl if they went for 10 minutes. Soon after Omega makes his comeback, this spills into a typical NJPW finisher teasing main event. There's a few decent transitions here and there, but there's nothing to save this from mediocrity. ★★

They hold off the big spots until later into the match. Ibushi is trying to wrestle this one cleanly, while Cody attempts to antagonize him from the get-go. Cody looks like a midcarder trying to cosplay as a main event player. I like him in doses, but I can't buy him at the top of the card. The best part of this match would have to be the foot stomp through the table. That must of stung like hell. After that Kota hits a dive that looks like it hurt him more than his opponent and then it prematurely wraps up. This is one of those matches that has a solid slow burn build-up that ultimately doesn't go very far. It reminds me of Rollins vs Triple H in that regard. ★★¾