Timbo Slice

My favorite thing was that after the tornado reverse DDT spot, the match still had another FIFTEEN minutes to go, whereas so many matches would be looking to finish up in 5 or less. Very rarely nowadays do you see me thinking a 30 minute match is worthwhile, but this was that and then some. They knew how to do the sequences right. They showed how much they knew each other to the point where when they hit a big move, it was earned. When Johnny kicked out of the DDT, I thought for sure he was gonna take it, and Candice neutralizing Zelina made me think more, but after the toe on the ropes during the second Gargano Escape, you kinda figured out what was coming. I don't know how you don't have these guys match up again this year, but it's now the match I want to see again more than anything else. Unreal piece of pro wrestling here.

Great main event this week with Velveteen Dream and Gargano. Strap the rocket to the Dream, baby.

So All Pro Wrestling runs the Cow Palace and they draw pretty well without The Elite. They've run Cody on top before and drew in the 1-2K range. That's just local in a big market, and not even a huge wrestling-frenzied market at that. I'm sure they lose money a bit, but still, it's somewhat of a template. The money making thing is spot on, though. I also think when NJPW comes stateside that their ticket pricing is going to be used as a model for what they try to do. There's a vague template here, but it's not going to be wildly profitable. Don't know how much they'll paper, but it might come into play, although I hope I'm wrong.

I assumed the Bryan thing since it was September. I also feel like it's a situation where Bryan could straight up leave with one month to go. In fact, that would be a much bigger deal. And Meltz doubled down on protecting Elgin after his allegations last night on Twitter and pretty much burned up his credibility. The backlash to it will be ongoing and they're gonna have to distance themselves from it.

They need to run Center Stage more regularly. It absolutely kills Full Sail from a setting standpoint. Hotter crowd, too. Doesn't hurt to change it up every once in a while.

It will be at some point this year.

I have major issues with the piece on a lot of levels, especially given the access Bruce had to the situation, but it's pretty obvious that the majority of people, if not everyone involved or knowledgable of the situation, isn't talking. Then the Meltzer Tumblr thing happens tonight and you realize it's systemic, not just limited to Bruce, and has been the case for a long, long time. Dylan's comment makes me even more upset with how Bruce wrote the story.

Yeah, the September 1 date is not a coincidence. Bryan's contract would be up by then. That's one of the draws. Jericho and Rey would be easy gets. There's a chance this is a PWG co-production, which would mean Long Beach, and probably the same arena the NJPW USA show would run. Here's the thing I'm gonna be looking out for: How many guys get signed in the next seven months. Because there's a good chance WWE comes calling for a good amount of the talent this show will be looking to add, and spiteful Vince is always the most aggressive Vince. I don't think you can headline the show with Jericho at all. I think it has to be Danielson/Omega. Punk/Jericho has a history and with Jericho's history of surprise, Punk being his surprise opponent would be worthwhile. The other thing is that I don't know how much they'll be able to hide. And with what happened to Meltzer tonight, a lot of that publicity is going to probably have to come from elsewhere. I'm rooting for it to succeed, but they have some pretty big hurdles ahead of them.

Non-Young Lion NJPW talent under 30: Page, Owens, White, Juice, SANADA, Henare, Finlay, Scurll, Ospreay, Hiromu, SHO, YOH So coming out of WK12, SANADA gets to whoop up on Okada and White gets major face time with him in the presser. Not hard to put 2 and 2 together there. It's looking like Oka really has to hit as a Young Lion on the native front, although it's obvious they're putting more resources towards it. This is part of the reason why I think Naito should have gone over: Hard for Okada to always win without ANY generational rival.

The one thing I was trying to figure out was who was going to take the fall between Kansai and Aja and having Aja take it to really put Crush 2000 over was a big play, of course, but this was a great sprint, even if the near falls went into overkill towards the end. The Towerhacker Bomb near fall was fantastic, and the sense of urgency towards the end for Crush to try and get the win was terrific. Aja and Kansai dominating was great, really made the end pay off, even if the booking was not in doubt. Fun match.

This is going to be fun because I feel like 1996 might have the toughest decision for MOTY of the 1990s.

One of the best top to bottom they've done in a long time. Without a couple big names on there, too.

That's definitely a thing.

George Scott, yeah. Don't know why I thought Young. I was talking more from NOAH's beginning to the Dome Shows. I thought that was still all Misawa at that point.

Do Don Owen or George Young make the list? What about Misawa with NOAH's rise? The Matsunaga Brothers with AJW?

Shayna was the MVP of the tourney, and I'm not a fan of the booking dictating her loss so that they had a reason for Sane to debut on NXT. Her winning and calling out the Four Horsewomen would've been a bigger deal. Sane's excitement was fun, but it did take away from some points in the match that it seemed Shayna was much more interested in making worthwhile. Her facials were terrific, as were her little nuances throughout. She'll be two years in as a pro in two weeks. Very few have been as good as her in their first two years ever.

Last four episodes had some really good matches on it, but the commentary remained absolutely terrible. An amazing production mess up from start to finish.

They didn't expect Jazzy to get over to the degree she did in that first match. It was done to make Kimber take down a bigger opponent, and it was basically like the Tessa matchup with Kairi, where they like both of them but want to push who they're gonna push in the tourney. Also, Jazzy is 35, and while she'll get a look, there's a lot more young talent here in the tourney that they'll have a priority on. The commentary is definitely bad. JR was slow on the uptick for most of the matches unless the action picked up, and people who were calling for Prazak to be a part of it to at least be the Mike Tenay of the team would have added something to it. Would have let everyone do better work. That's just a broadcaster being a nitpicker, though.

Well shit, now I can't wait to watch this because this sounds exactly like the Jake Lee match from Day 1 of the Champion Carnival.

I'm gonna go YES on Omega/Okada II, as I liked it more than the Dome match because of the post towel antics. I didn't really get everything beforehand because i don't think Okada was really THAT dominant until he hit the elbow drop, but his near-term selling was brilliant here. I don't know if they were playing off him having matches with guys like Shibata and Fale beforehand and he had been hit with big blows so Omega was trying to do exactly that, but if what I inferred was true, he played Omega's big shots off big time. He was much better here than he was at the Dome, where it was such a great Omega performance he got overshadowed. Logic says Omega can take the belt in the third match, but I also think New York comes calling by 1/4.

WWE John Cena vs AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt vs Baron Corbin vs The Miz (Elimination Chamber 2/12) I'll go YES here because of the stretch run, which is AJ Styles becoming the master of a match in his debut match. It was also about as clear a message you could possibly send that Bray Wyatt was The Man here, with him pinning both Cena and Styles to end it. The Miz/Cena interactions here were tremendous and paid off well for the showdown at WM. John Cena vs AJ Styles (Royal Rumble 1/29) || 3 yes || 0 no || Easy YES and probably a Top 5 match this year. Just a bomb throwing extravaganza with a genius and decisive finish. Styles was absolutely incredible here, and Cena adds another notch to his big match belt. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (Wrestlemania 4/2) || 3 yes || 0 no || Best sub-6 minute match ever. Easy YES. A total of four moves done in this match, all of them ruled. Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman (Payback 4/30) || 4 yes || 0 no || Another easy YES and all the credit in the world to both guys for going so far out of their way to just destroy each other. Just an epic brawl that makes me want to see these guys match up for the rest of their careers. WWE NXT Shinsuke Nakamura vs Bobby Roode (Takeover 1/28) || 3 yes || 1 no || ​Going YES here, but it's on the lower end of the spectrum. Liked the first match better, and while I do like how Roode crafts finishes, felt like there could have been more here. This is probably the match that made me think Nak was getting bored with NXT and that he knew his time getting called up to the main roster was nigh. #DIY vs. The Revival vs. Authors of Pain (4/1) || 3 yes || 1 no || YES, and although I know people wished it was AOP vs. DIY at the end, giving the Revival one last shot to try and take down the new guys was a good booking move. Also loved them subtweeting the Young Bucks here with their attire. DIY and Revival working together out of mutual respect was great, and them doing each others finishers trying to get AOP out of the match was one of my favorite moments of the year. Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne (Takeover Chicago 5/20) || 2 yes || 0 no || YES. I'm pretty sure this is my MOTY right now because they took what you would think is an indy epic and added some incredible selling and pacing down the stretch. Every big move was a big deal here, and both men sold like their lives depended on it. The finish was fantastic, super simple and super believable in the grand scheme of things, and they better do the rubber match at Brooklyn. The Authors of Pain vs. #DIY (Takeover Chicago 5/20) || 1 yes || 0 no || YES. AOP with their best performance here, and DIY died for our sins on that double splash. Johnny Wrestling was on another level here. Ciampa is incredibly underrated and gets to be more nuanced alongside Johnny, and got some good chances here to shine. Post-match was heart-wrenching and invigorating all at the same time. When it comes time for them to lock up, it's going to be nuts. WWE UK Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate (1/15) || 7 yes || 0 no || Easy YES where they used the tournament stip to their advantage and passed off Bate as on the level as Dunne, who was the de facto favorite. Really tremendous story here with the arm, although I do wish that Dunne worked it more into his finishing run. Bate's selling was tremendous, and it was truly a shocker that he won here. Pete Dunne vs Mark Andrews (1/15) || 4 yes || 2 no || ​YES, and I think people are throwing NO's up on this because in hindsight it wasn't thought of as high as the final, but watching it live, I wondered if there was going to be another match anywhere close to this in the tourney. I'm not the biggest fan of the Stundog Millionaire normally, but it works with guys who use vertical suplex style moves and it countering the X-Plex was a legit pop for me. Good stuff. US indy Trevor Lee vs. Chip Day (CWF Mid-Atlantic 3/25) || 3 yes || 0 no || =3 YES, and it's between this and Dunne/Bate II for MOTY for me so far. A sensational performance from Day, and I want to see Trevor Lee vs. virtually damn near anyone at this point. Stretch run was my favorite of the year until Dunne/Bate II. NJPW Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto (1/4) || 6 yes || 2 no || A slight YES here because it was cool to see these guys square off and give Shibata another big stage. It was as stiff as you'd think it would be. Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi ( 1/4) || 9 yes || 0 no || YES. Naito's best performance I've ever seen. He'll take it easy on occasion, but he shined here against Tanahashi, who wanted to show he could still go. Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega (1/4) || 10 yes || 3 no || YES, but not in a MOTY way. It was epic, it had some great moments to it, the but the logic never really hit with me, especially when Okada looked like he was really finally taking control. Omega's performance was electric, but they could have easily shaved 10 off this and it would have been better off. Also firmly in the Dragon Suplex Should Have Been Saved For A Finish camp. Hiromu Takahashi vs Dragon Lee (2/11) || 3 yes || 0 no || YES. Good lord, guys. I mean, this might be the 6th or 7th best matchup from these guys, but they're so incredible together it's tough to not enjoy when they bring it on a big stage. Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW Sakura Genesis 4/9/) || 6 yes || 0 no || NO. Don't care how epic you make the stretch run if that headbutt happens. Hard pass.

Nominating Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kento Miyadera for the Triple Crown from 5/21. An absolutely tremendous stretch run and a capper for a hell of a run for Big Shuji, who has emerged as 2017's most unlikely top hand you'll see. Kento took a hellacious beating and dished it right back, but Ishikawa was having none of it. Better if you see some of Shuji's Champions Carnival work beforehand. Nominating Kento vs. Jake Lee from Day 1 of the Champions Carnival, 4/15. Was there live for this and it was extremely good, with Jake Lee looking like a future world beater. Really pushed Jake giving his teammate a run for his money, and his near fall off the backdrop had me off my feet. Kento looked and performed like a true ace here.

The first 10 minutes were really fun and then they started going all spotty down the stretch and they lost me. The arm never came into play again once they started throwing bombs. Yeah, the arm was weak for the lariat, but it would have been better had he not hit it at all, to be honest.

It slipped my mind that you were living in Tokyo! I'd recommend it for sure. Really neat experience.

Couple things on this. First, a podcast I did with Mark Coale on The Winter Palace talking about my trip to Japan and the wrestling stuff I did. https://winterpalacepodcast.squarespace.com/podcast/2017/4/26/episode-sixty-dangerous-va-k-tion Second, I wrote an article about it for Place2BeNation. http://placetobenation.com/checking-off-the-puroresu-bucket-list-tims-trip-to-tokyo/ Hope you guys enjoy!