Childs

The cruiser tag seemed pretty fun, though my feed went a little funky in the middle of it. The crowd didn't shit on it, which is a win in itself.

This wasn't nearly as special as the Rumble match, where everything just clicked. I quite enjoyed the first 2/3 of it, which featured intense brawling and some brutal spots around ringside. It's a minor shame that Foley's stunt bumping overshadowed his facility as a toe-to-toe fighter. Anyhow, the whole thing lost steam once he broke through the side of the cage and they did the inevitable climb. I get why they felt the need to do it, but the fall through the cage and the crashing through the mat came off as such a gimmicked attempt to recapture the magic of the Foley-Taker match. And there was no way they could do that. The actual pin, which was supposed to carry such storyline weight for Foley, felt anti-climactic. I don't know. It was still an above-average cell match, just not a classic.

I liked the set-up for this, and Ki is one of my favorites. But Montoya wasn't very dynamic once the actual wrestling started. I know that fit his character. And I did enjoy the few garbagey little mat reversals he hit. But this topped out at pretty good.

This was deeply underwhelming, considering the build. Yes, Satanico looked good and yes, humiliation was probably a more fitting comeuppance for him than a bloody beatdown. But what a flimsy fucking match after two months of hot confrontations. They didn't build much drama in any of the falls, including the third. I was just annoyed when it ended.

Thesz-Gagne was going to be my answer,

The Funk match from the NWA Houston footage is genuinely great.

Shane looks like he's going to have a heart attack every time he's active for two minutes. He's not in better shape than KO.

These Shane cell matches are so boring. Just do your death wish spot and release us you entitled prick.

For me, there is no more loathsome heel than Shane the wrestler.

If Dolph wants to do this gimmick right, he should come out in the old Mike Tyson gear.

Mahal-Nak was okay, but I don't get the thinking behind that finish. Just makes Nak look bad for the sake of a guy who isn't going to matter in six months. But nothing new there, I guess.

Natalya and Charlotte kept the good vibes going. The nastiness felt genuine, and Charlotte sold her ass off. The finish made sense for continuing the feud.

Wow, apparently no one is watching this show. Halfway through and we're not even on page two of the thread.

Yeah, that was a legit good match.

This show has actually been good. I'm enjoying this U.S title match, which I had no expectations for aside from the AJ factor.

This reminded me of the great 1997 run of television in the way they effectively brought together three or four different storylines. They earned the nuclear crowd. From a pure wrestling standpoint, Benoit vs. Rikishi was the best segment, but everyone got to look good here. It's always astounding how over Too Cool was in this period.

Finally caught up and watched this. Overall, I liked Night 1 better than Night 2, though Gunner vs. Riddle was probably match of the weekend. Night 1 featured a steady stream of good matches and a lot of diversity. Tank vs. Riddle and Janela vs. Darby were my favorites. I was actually hoping for a little more from Garrini vs. Royal. They didn't click quite as perfectly as I thought they might, though it was still a cool match-up. The final was action-packed but a bit superficial. Thought it was too much of a superhero performance by Riddle. In general, the tournament was a step down from the great 2016 SCI. I like tight work, but the tourney matches this year were relentlessly brief. And Hero and Rave were such great glue guys last year. The narratives this year didn't come together with as much punch. I don't mean to be negative. It was still a lot of fun, and kudos to the organizers for pulling off a third good one in three years.

I really think he and Lawler were the co-MVPs of the territory, and I can't think of another announcer who was that essential.

I thought Brock gave a fine selling/bumping performance, but he's gotten so lazy on offense that he's lost a lot of the aura he had when he first came back. The Cena and Reigns matches were great (in part) because even the basic strikes he threw were terrifying. But now it's one run of suplex city, maybe a kimura, one F5 and he's out. Joe pushed him into a more rugged, brawling style, but that's not really Braun's bag. I'm shocked anyone thought the Braun match was great. There was genuine excitement for a battle of the titans going in, but they lost that vibe after the first few moments. And the ending was a total wet fart that left both the casuals and the hardcores deflated.

I also really liked this when I watched it for Ditch's 2000s project, Chad. I believe it made my top 100 for the decade.

I'm digging the mix of stuff on these New Japan shows, even if they weren't churning out classics. This feels like the year when Sasaki finally came into his own as a top guy. I can't imagine him working effectively in a match like this in say, 1995. But he was on point with everything from selling to pacing to matwork. Frye also did fine in what was very much a pro wrestling match.

These guys were always good against each other, but this one leaned too heavily on the garbage spots for my taste. The hot opening was terrific, and it was cool that both guys bled. But god, the finishing spot took forever to set up and didn't even look that devastating. When there's more furniture moving than wrestling over the climactic five minutes of a match, there's almost no chance I'll like it, even though it was catnip for the ECW crowd.

Dog shit seems a little harsh. I really liked the beginning of this with the super-intense lock-up and the way HHH put over his panic at Benoit's quickness. Hunter's control section felt a little more paint-by-numbers, but ultimately, they did a good job setting Benoit up as a serious new player in town. His offense looked sensational as always. And the combination of HHH visually tapping and then having to cheat felt like the right finish.

I'm finally jumping back into the 2000 stuff after a long hiatus, and "black suit" Liger was definitely my favorite thing from the first few matches of February. What a nasty little boss. He brought some much-needed aggression out of Tanaka, and I'm eager to see more interactions between those two.