shoe

Live those headbutts were bad when he got the hot tag.

Alex Shelley, Tomoaki Honma and Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson We get a nice shine early. Honma in particular looked good. They use their size and cut off Alex. This turned into a pretty fun bout.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan © vs. Big Daddy Yum Yum Yum Yum snapping Tenzan's head in the rope was nice. It wasn't my cup of tea.

Liger vs Anthony Tharpe is such a joy to watch. I wonder if these NWA guys showing up on NJPW shows helps with getting more bookings in the states? Anthony shows some charisma. I'm liking Liger owning him on the mat. That looked like a stiff sliding dropkick by Liger. Nice follow with Liger going after Anthony's back after the guard rail bump. Tharpe sets up Anthony's heat segment. Anthony's running drop kick was nice. We get a ref bump followed up by a Tharpe low blow. Anthony goes over. Pretty territorial finish to protect local babyface.

KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask and Yuji Nagata I loved Nagata targeting Nakanishi. Nakanishi is so done at this point. He moves like a 60 year old. Kushida/Dorada need a singles match ASAP. Nice Tope' by Tiger Mask. A fun 6 man that didn't get enough time.

Takahashi/Hall vs Kojima/Captain NJ Hall looked like he was on the verge of killing Kojima by gripping him weirdly. Halls bump off a Kojima lariat to the outside was pretty great. Overall a pretty nothing match.

The opening 6 man was a blast. I loved the whole Southern tag feel it had. Had a Horseman vs Houston/Taylor/Bass feel to it. The opening shine was so much fun, and the schtick that set up the heat was so dripping with southern fried greatness. Also loved how the finish showed the clear pecking order of the teams.

They rushed everything. They could have trimmed a lot of the time on the interviews. Kept Barrett in the ring. etc I thought they'd been a little smarter with their time. As a show in general.

Barrett's work on top was awesome. Neville had a spirited comeback. Barrett cuts him off by attacking his back with Winds of Change. He sells a bit. Makes another comeback that builds to a real good finish. Strong match from both guys. Neville ate that Bull Hammer like a pro.

I'm loving Barrett's work on top here. Really good story telling that started in Neville's 1st match.

A nice Verne piece. Was it new or a retread from his HOF?

Barrett and Truth had some fun moments.

Won't hurt him either though, especially if he wins the whole thing (longshot, but you never know). Too fluke for me. If he wins with a better finish in the finals I have no problem with it.

I'm all for more Ziggler and Shemus though. Plus we got more blood and they're not shying away from shooting it.

Neville vs Shemus This was fun until the finish. I've seen worse finishes, but doesn't help Neville at all.

This could be fun, and the matches should get time.

Share your thoughts.

Drew Galloway vs Ricochet 1/10/15 Evolve 37 This feels like a low level MOTYC to me. My major complaint is the finish. I liked it on one hand, but felt it made no sense on another. Especially since the way Galloway was booked going forward. I enjoyed the early wow spots. It was fun table setting stuff. The main course was Ricochet's cocky work. His work on Galloway's bad finger was excellent and had a real nasty feel. Galloway's hope spots were well timed and were high impact. The finish which looked like an accidental eye poke Galloway was like it's an accident. Then follows up with a couple of killer moves that looked they killed Ricochet. In the moment the finish made sense for me. In the booking of Galloways as a face going forward no. Still I think the finish might bug people a lot more than me because it wasn't consistent with the match and the booking going forward. 4 1/4*

Man you're asking for trouble.

A true legend. I hope the Network will do something special for him and his memory.

Fred Yehi vs Slim J Hardcore Hell 2015 This has been pimped by Dylan and as has the series of matches. Holy smokes was this this all kinds of awesome. It's 2 out of 3 falls. It's basically some really great stiff looking mat work, sprinkled in with some elbows and other strikes that really escalated in the match. The 2nd fall finish was awesome and Yehi selling of the arm the rest of the way. Actually I Loved all 3 finishes. I loved the 1st fall was because Slim J got anxious and it cost him. In the 2nd fall I loved Yehi tapping quickly realizing this is just a battle not the war. I love that the 3rd fall was a flash pin. I haven't watched a Slim J match since 10 years ago and he was an insane bump taker. It's really great to see what he developed into. Both guys were awesome here. 4 1/2*

When they've used Caprice Coleman in that role I felt he's been great at getting the stories over in the matches. He makes some mistakes calling moves or the titles wrong at times. Overall I like him in the role.

reDragon vs The Addiction The live date on this is 4/4/15. I saw this live and thought it was tremendous. I waited till the tv aired and it's still great. We start with a little back and forth. reDragon strikes 1st and really works over Kazarian's arm. This was well done. Finally he gets the tag to Daniels and he's on fire. The Addiction begin working over Fish's neck. The work here was well done as well. So the body of the match is well laid out with good focus on body parts which I love to see. . The finishing run is simply amazing and kicks it into high gear. So much stuff going on. Both teams take the fan on a ride. We also get a payoff to the KRD angle which adds another element to the match. They really walked the line between story telling, hot moves, creative spots, awesome high spots, great build and a big payoff to a big angle. They show about 21minutes of a 25 minute bout. 4 1/4*

The Addiction vs reDragon tag is worth going out of your way to see. Live it was incredible, on tape I still feel it's awesome in the 4 1/4* range.

Now boys didn't Teddy Long manage Johnny B Badd starting in 91?