WingedEagle

Arguably. Its either this or the Tanahashi G1 win in 2013. That match and win really cemented him as a player who could be taken seriously at the level needed to get here, but this was the IWGP champion and head of his stable. Can't go wrong calling it for either.

Not a whole lot to add to Superkix's comments. Ishikawa is a tremendous world champion and his strengths along with excellent pacing and timing more than made up for Higuchi's limitations. Really good match. ****

Full speed brawl with all four punching away right from the start. Really odd with the play by play seemingly being called over the stadium loudspeakers. Weapon shots to Invader. Colon dumped over the top but he returns to save Invader from a 2 on 1. This feels like an ECW style brawl in a packed stadium. More good blood. Loved the cameraman climbing the turnbuckles to film from above as they brawl at ringside! Manager or cornerman for Colon & Invader throwing heart punches at one of the Sheepherders and he's damn near dead in the ring. Perhaps Ayala as the second? Prepping a stretcher for the Pastores as Colon & Invader are given the win and he'll be carried out in an ambulance. Hot, quick brawl. Fun while it lasted. ***1/4

This is a a few weeks after Starrcade. I'm a huge fan of Flair, Dusty and Flair vs. Dusty -- I think their Starrcade '85 match is a legit MOTYC and at a minimum always enjoy them working together. This was no exception, but definitely not higher end Flair/Dusty. The shine with Dusty throwing punches and elbows while hopping around and talking trash is great. Always. Textbook Flair with some solid work on the leg to set up the figure-four, and Dusty was always great at selling this. Really poor finish holds this back but it was a lot of fun to see them do their thing in a different setting for a pretty hot crowd. ***1/4

Lots of punching, which makes sense with the taped fist gimmick. Still a huge fan of Ayala's motion and pacing. Some odd production and camera changes here that make you think they're editing the match even if that probably wasn't the case. Still those weak transitions! Looking forward to hopefully a lot more Ayala as I get deeper into the set. **1/4

JJ Dillon is managing Abby, but the real highlight here is an incredible entrance for Colon to "We Are the World," running to the ring surrounded by kids. Moments before before he's about to bleed. They're throwing punches right away and Colon quickly puts Abby down. Quick shine and bailing by the heel. Still trying to make sense of this layout that seems common in PR where there's a seemingly never-ending shine where the heel taking over is routinely cut off. Finally we get to the heat with Abby biting & using taped fists to draw blood, but it feels like we move to the comeback incredibly quickly. JJ Dillon gets involved and bleeds as well before the double countout. The action again here is solid and to some extent sounds better than it plays out, as the lack of transitions and flow held this back from levels that the effort and stuff they actually did should produce. **1/2

Sheepherders! Lots of flag waving and heeling to work the crowd before they even enter the ring, and it is all great. They really take great advantage of the large ringside areas at many WWC shows to brawl all over the place. It looks like we even get some Bushwhacker comedy bits here. It takes a while for the blood to spill but we get it eventually. Shortly thereafter this becomes pretty out of control with everyone brawling all over the place. Transitions here are again generally non-existent but the intensity is strong. Fun, chaotic brawl that is definitely helped by the blood. ***1/4

Baseball stadium show. These always look like great, incredible atmospheres in Puerto Rico. Lots of brawling in close quarters as everyone wants to avoid the wire. Finally we get blood, but then also the absence of any meaningful transitions. The Sheepherders are bleeding a ton, and that is a good thing in a barbed wire match. Points for the blood here, but not a whole lot else to speak of the finish wasn't what you'd expect from this type of match. **1/4

We start with an awesome Savage promo. The voice, the attitude, the cadence. Great stuff. So this match was the biggest surprise to me on the opening disc. I knew the name Hercules Ayala but had never really seen him. Really big fan of how he carries himself, working as a legit powerhouse with the press slams and tossing Savage around like a good home court babyface. The pacing here was great as nothing was rushed yet there were never spots where they were standing around simply waiting to jump into the next spot. Everything flowed and built well. Meanwhile, Savage delivered a textbook heel performance with the selling, stooging and bumping. Just putting Ayala over as a force of nature. Blood, psychology, storytelling and a logical finish. This was a really good match that probably would've been my favorite on the disc had it gone a bit longer, but what we got was really god. ***1/2

I'm not religious, but Boricua, you are doing the lord's work here. An incredibly enriching read that has me stoked to cue up disc 2 this weekend. The context and history is beyond invaluable. Keep it up!

I actually loved Brody promo before the match. If he was regularly doing that I can totally see why he was over everywhere. Nice start with brawling before the chain can be attached. Shine. Punches. Shots on the floor. Back to the ring. Colon chain shot running ropes for transition. Brody wrapping the chain around Colon's neck and face! Stiff chain shots outside. Choking. Carlos selling the choking and struggle. Back to the ring. Crowd is into it but those are really weak transitions, which is a thought that came to mind more often than usual on this disc. No idea why that would be commonplace from the territory. Lot of stalling and dead time as they build and work the finish. Post-match is very heated with Brody & another heel jumping Colon's second until Carlos makes the save. More blood & violence, less stalling! **1/2

Another Puerto Rican outing that left you wanting more. Andre looks even more monstrous towering over Abby. Andre's offense and strikes look so violent here. He goes down surprisingly easy from a jab to the throat -- don't let anyone say he didn't sell. That continues with Abby controlling with chokes and more throat shots. Andre eventually blocks one and fires back with shots that look like absolute death blows. They disappear in a chase to the back but this was super fun while it lasted. ***

Landell plays a great heel here, bumping & stooging to put Apollo over strongly, even as the bigger man. Crowd already much hotter than the Steinborn match. Nice work around a side headlock on the mat. Apollo's comeback gets the crowd fired up and he seems pretty capable of working the local crowds. Nonsense finish, but much better than the Steinborn match and it may have been a little too quick, but always a fan of a match that doesn't overstay its welcome. **1/2

Steinborn almost looks like a young Dick Stockton. Some quick mat action revolving around trading headscissors. Really basic but fast action. Apollo comes out ahead on most exchanges. Steinborn armbar but Apollo throws a few dropkicks to send him outside. Steinborn throws punch from headlock that sets up a nice chinlock. Apollo wins with a jumping forearm. This was a solid few minutes with sound action, but absolutely nothing that stood out in any way and a finish out of nowhere that didn't feel like a finish. **

So I wanted to love this match, and if you read a blow by blow it might sound like you should, but I still liked it. The structure was odd as it was almost all shine for Colon with a few cutoffs of attempted heat from Tully, but never sustained. The finish was also terrible. Okay, all of that out of the way, you've got Colon and Tully doing loud, expressive things here which they both shine at. Tully's a disgusting, contemptible heel while Colon is a fiery babyface and easy to get behind. Just weighed down here by a really strange layout and a lot of stalling and dead time which didn't feel natural in the flow of a match. Still a fun watch. **1/2

So Pierre Martel looks absolutely nothing like Rick. Scruffy and bulky. This was a fun studio tag with a super hot crowd. Dellaserra throws some dropkicks with little height that the crowd eats up as though it was Okada or Styles. Martel is busted open on the floor, with the heels then working and biting the cut. Not exactly sure about the finish but looked like some sort of DQ. Fun match that leaves you wanting more but was never quite enough to be great, although one hell of a showing for TV. ***

Not sure how often it happened, but it stood out to me that Flair was announced hailing from Minnesota here. Some really great, focused work on Flair's arm that sees him selling it very well along the way. Even where Colon's attacks or holds on it weren't necessarily the strongest, Flair still put it over very well. The single minded focus on the arm and Flair's dedication to selling it along the way really made this match, although curiously it didn't get particularly heated until very late in the process. It was really fun and neat to see Flair sell a limb in this fashion for so long. We've all seen him work a leg and this was most definitely not that standard outing. Flair's heat was pretty formulaic, but some nice highlights including great punches from Flair. Colon's comeback finally brought the crowd in to it, including an awesome sunset flip spot that they teased the hell out of and made as big a moment as almost any high spot for a great near fall. I legit popped for the finish as I had completely forgotten about this so that was great to see. Really dug this match as a different take from Flair and more than solid showing from Colon. If the arm work were paid off or sold a bit more down the stretch, or Colon's offense was a bit more intense I could go even higher here, but this was still a very good match and my #1 on disc 1. ***3/4

Boricua, thanks so much for the background info. Quite interesting and always great to have these details fleshed out. Much appreciated!

How come so many matches are available with English commentary? Didn't expect nearly that much coming into the set.

Could not agree more with this. Best heel character on the roster by a mile, and one of the best overall performers.

I kind of like this. If they're going to run Brock-Goldberg, this still leaves open the possibility of more interesting pairings for one or both (if Goldberg sticks around for a second match) for Mania. I doubt they set Joe on that course if he is indeed called up shortly after the November Takeover, but whether its him or someone else the opportunity is there for something fun and different if they want to do it.

Flair, Jumbo, Bryan and Liger are the first 4 names that come to mind. Essentially ruling out Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi/Taue because I can't quite point to them as true heels at any point the way I can with Jumbo, and that diversity seems a prerequisite for this particular question. If you want to make the case for it, slot them all right there at the top as well. Funk is on that next rung.

Couldn't disagree more on this match. Thought it was brilliantly laid out to take advantage of both of their strengths and didn't feel like it went anywhere near a half hour. Elgin was incredible selling his leg most of the way, showing more depth and personality as a performer than he's ever approached domestically. Meanwhile this was definitely good Naito, absolutely keyed in on the leg, focusing on chopping Elgin down from that angle while neatly incorporating a number of big spots. Even with the interference they kept the finish hot and fresh while not feeling remotely cheap with the title win coming across as a big deal. Easily the best New Japan match of the year outside of the G1 and Tanahashi/Okada from Wrestling Kingdom. ****1/2

This strikes me as revisionist history. Its been a while, but I don't recall anyone clamoring for it or even speculating it would light a fire under business.

Great call. Still amazing how they can use someone that limited so effectively.