WingedEagle

Jushin Liger vs. Kushida I absolutely loved this. The 2016, 74 year old Liger can still bring the Thunder. He wrecked Kushida's knee with dropkicks before dropping it on the railing and posting it. If you need Kushida to sell it every step of the way you'll be disappointed, but I thought it was very solid and was even ripping at Liger's gear while trapped in a hold that I thought was a great touch. What's more, I loved that there were clear strategies on both sides here. Kushida was going after the arm from the early stages to set up the Hoverboard Lock, while Liger worked the leg like a killer and pulled out all of his traditional big spots. They did such a great job building Liger's challenge until absolutely faking out the crowd on a near fall. A title change here probably doesn't make any sense at all, and I don't know how often Liger can pull off this kind of performance (or how many other opponents could get this out of him) but they had you dying for another Liger title win. Very interested to see if we get Kushida in the G-1 this year, but think he'll be mixed in at that level eventually. An easy **** and I could probably talk myself higher.

Minoru Suzuki slaps and ducks.

Its semantics. Some will argue that a match taped in front of a couple hundred people in 2015 is a 2015 match even if a couple hundred thousand people see it in 2016. Both are valid depending how rigid one is. You just don't want to work with or for the 2015 crowd

More nominations: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/2016) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/2016) Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll (No DQ, Progress Chapter 25 1/24/2016) Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe (NXT Takeover Dallas 4/1/2016) Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll (RPW High Stakes 1/16/2016) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW New Beginning 2/14/2016) Mil Muertes vs. Prince Puma vs. Pentagon Jr. (Lucha Underground 3/9/2016) Mil Muertes vs. Fenix (Lucha Underground 3/16/2016) Will Ospreay vs. Kushida (NJPW Invasion Attack 4/10/2016) Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto (NJPW Road to New Beginning 1/30/2016) Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (CMLL 3/4/2016) Volador Jr. vs. Caristico (Lucha Libre Elite 4/6/2016) Kushida vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/2016) AJ Styles vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (RPW High Stakes 1/16/2016) Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio (2/3 Falls, Fastlane 2/21/2016) Charlotte vs. Natalya (Roadblock 3/12/2016) Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW 3/4/2016) Aztec Warfare (Lucha Underground 3/23/2016) American Alpha vs. The Revival (NXT Takeover Dallas 4/1/2016) Cesaro vs. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho (Raw 4/4/2016) Kushida vs. Jushin Liger (NJPW 5/3/2016) All should be on a list for the year. Certainly top 50 as of this point but hopefully not by year end.

Couple of classics here that never disappoint -- Arn's spinebuster and Jumbo's lariat. Hansen's gets a lot of love, but Jumbo always seemed to punctuate his in such brutal fashion. Just terrific impact. Not sure that I'd attribute it to any particular wrestler, but I always pop for a suplex that follows a real struggle to execute the move. Whether German, buttefly, vertical or otherwise it almost doesn't matter. Teasing the block before finally getting an opponent up for great impact on the bump is just a great visual and hopefully audio as well.

Undertaker is a possibility until he isn't. Joe and Balor? The latter certainly isn't at the level of interest of the other names due to the built-in history they all have, but with the right intro and depending what direction they take things it could be just as fresh and intriguing a program. Then you've got the next level of names that could get a one-off on network or TV including Cesaro, Zayn, a rehabbed Rusev, probably a couple others. They're not lacking for things to do with him, and that's without officially turning him heel and riding out this Cena 2.0 character.

I'm through Nagata/Shibata on Dontaku and will watch the rest tonight. Thus far it feels very similar to Invasion Attack in that there was really nothing that stood out on the undercard for better or worse. The 10 man opener was geared towards giving Ospreay a spotlight at the end which makes all the sense in the world. Junior tag titles was yet another change and in no way bad, but I expected the Ricochet/Sydal team to have an Ospreay like impact and at least light up buildings with spotfests if not have solid matches. Thus far they've been rather muted and are far from the babyface Young Bucks that seemed intended. Speaking of which, the Bucks/Omega vs. Tanahashi & co. six-man was a better iteration than last month with Elgin really coming off as a superpower and few impressive spots as they build toward the IC Title rematch. I'm optimistic about the ladder match as they never use any kind of gimmick so presumably this will be well received. They also won't have to resort to non-stop spots with the ladder if they don't want to and can instead incorporate it sparingly throughout the match. I thought the Februray title change was great and expecting another big match from them. Elgin is also super over and they absolutely have to build towards him turning on Tanahashi. I'd go as far as to say that should be the 2nd or 3rd match from the top at Wrestle Kingdom, though it may benefit from Tanahashi being IC Champ by that time. Shibata/Nagata was shockingly quick and clean. Seemed like a really fun moment for the old-timer but I'm curious about the direction with that title. The match itself was okay with a reasonably heated finishing stretch, but didn't approach what you might see from them in the G1 and yet another match that was just okay. Looking forward to the rest of the show.

I don't think I buy that. This is a simulated fight. I don't think anybody is pushing for intergender fights in UFC. This is a pretend fight that I believe is art. Why can't women fight men the same way Nancy and Frank Sinatra sing a duet? Really depends on the presentation. No issues with it in Lucha Underground. A lot of others times I see it it's exploitative and tries to appeal on men on women violence. I think the reason you don't see a whole lot of intergender violence in movies, wrestling or other ventures (where the protagonist doesn't end up receiving quite the comeuppance) is because people don't find it entertaining and won't spend their time or money on it. If they did, you'd see it in spades.

I don't think I buy that. This is a simulated fight. I don't think anybody is pushing for intergender fights in UFC. This is a pretend fight that I believe is art. Why can't women fight men the same way Nancy and Frank Sinatra sing a duet? If they can get you to suspend your disbelief they absolutely should be able to. If they can't present it in a fashion you take it at all seriously its time to move on to something you'll buy.

Definitely agree here. You know a turn is coming but it can go any number of ways and stretching it out like this makes it all the better. Not to mention they can integrate a number of different pieces from the roster if they want to.

Everything is political. Plus, it's more fun to think. Not everything is political. In the cases where its not, its imagining rather than thinking. But whatever works. you don't think Hulk Hogan waving the flag of the United States and fighting the evil foreigner heels is political ? You don't think ethnic babyface Bruno Sammartino is political ? You don't think JYD being made a blakc babyface in the traditionnaly racist South is political ? You don't think Korean born Riki Choshu and Akira Maeda representing the rebel forces in 80's New Japan is political (I asked the question before, no one answered) ? There's so much political and social comments we can make out of pro-wrestling. It's actually fascinating. I said not everything is political. This means certain things can be political. But just because something in wrestling was political doesn't mean everything is political. What's more, whether anything is really political depends on how broadly you define it. I don't think the examples you bring up are "political" in the sense that they're designed to make any kind of statement or exert any influence -- at least socially or politically. These are economic decisions made to generate sales and bump the box office that can be connected to the local or national political climate at those times. If promoters can capitalize on certain hot topics of the moment outside of the wrestling bubble, they'll do it. If not, they'll ignore it.

Outside of combines and the draft process, to an extent, bodies aren't going to dictate opportunity in sports other than conclusions that teams may draw about a player's ability to maintain their fitness and skill level over time, which is an absolutely valid concern.

Everything is political. Plus, it's more fun to think. Not everything is political. In the cases where its not, its imagining rather than thinking. But whatever works.

Park(a)'s and Rush? Sign me up.

Can't we just watch wrestling, sports, movies or other entertainment apolitically? Why actively seek out a coronary before it gets to you? Enjoy something.

Does NXT support for the women's matches and characters have anything to do with feminism? It seemed like they were just the best acts on the roster and responding to quality more than any type of statement.

Are Flair and Misawa, Hashimoto and Bockwinkel, Savage and Chosu such as different as the Beatles and GZA? I'd never have thought they were that far apart, but perhaps that is the case until someone is immersed in them.

Wanted to give this another look as a number of folks were touting it as one of All Japan's best from the 80s. Really strong start with some work around holds and an amateur exchange where Kerry looks credible while Jumbo looks confident and ready for the NWA World Champion. Great butterfly suplex following Kerry's struggle to block it. Some nice arm work from Kerry follows but Jumbo counters with a crossbody for a nice near fall. Big fan of how he throws some nice wrinkles into amateur & power offense. Our first tease of the Claw comes with Kerry fighting out of a kneebar. Jumbo blocks it so he grabs the stomach and sells it well when they' standing. Enough of this feeling out -- backbreaker, jumping knees and the backdrop suplex take the first fall. Clean as possible with the challenger going over strong with clear, measured escalation is exactly how this should go. Jumbo strikes in the second open Kerry up! The blood adds quite a bit of drama with Jumbo furiously looking to put him away in 2 straight falls. Really hot start here and fired up Jumbo is a great version of this great wrestler. This falls apart a bit for me as he hits a piledriver for a 2 count, and then they transition to Kerry throwing punches that set up the Claw for the finish. Just out of nowhere. After relentless Jumbo control for so long and the blood loss, I'd expect a more compelling or creative way to put Kerry on top. No real issue with the flash finish off of the Claw, but it was as though they just switched roles on a dime without showing us how that happened. The third fall has the awesome work by Jumbo on Kerry's hand, just brutalizing it with strikes, stomping it, smashing it into the turnbuckle & cable. Jumbo is not waiting for a motorcycle accident in the states a few years later -- he wants Kerry losing a limb tonight. Kerry is just phenomenal here as well, selling the damage and follow up armbreakers for all he's worth. Inconclusive finish as apparently they weren't about to have Jumbo take the loss here even against the NWA Champion. This was a really good match. I loved the start, the blood and the limb work. But they really missed an important beat on the second fall transition, and as great as the hand work was, it really needed a failed Claw or some similar exclamation point to seal its effectiveness but instead it didn't even play into the finish or a key spot down the stretch. ****1/4

Yep, this was a money finish away from being a true classic, but still an incredible find. One of the rare times you wish the video feed cut out a little early

Then you just don't get it and need to stop watching. This was a great show. Great main event. Until that point it was a sub-par Raw.

AJ Styles, WWE Main Event Run lives another 3 weeks!

They put together some really nice near falls there. Totally suckered me in. I love that.

Even with the family nonsense, that was a great match. Nonetheless bitter at what it could've been without it.

This could very well be a legit MOTY without the shenanigans. Fantastic chemistry and a great spotlight for both of them. Love how Reigns was booked here as well.