WingedEagle

Balor/Drew seemed like a wild disappointment. Slow, poorly laid out and a weak finish add up to a very underwhelming match.

That was a ton better than I expected. They made great use of Liv/Sarah, the gimmicks and incorporated some big bumps to put together a fun match.

Its disappointing, yet not at all surprising, to see Balor presented as part of the job squad here.

Stop teasing me.

Do you have a link to their YT page? For some reason couldn't easily find it on a search.

Bryan's promo is threaded here. His work since turning heel has him a a lock for Best on Interviews on my ballot. Just blowing away everything else this year.

Everyone should check out yesterday's Tana/Ospreay vs. Golden Lovers main event. Another outstanding tag from New Japan's singles crew. While not exactly a focus of the promotion as these outings are never part of the tag title picture, the company has quietly put on a ton of spectacular tags this year.

This would place on my short list (as in short enough to count with one or two hands) of the greatest matches ever. I absolutely get why some may hesitate to view this as one match, but the story, psychology and booking throughout the entire affair are so comprehensive that I have no trouble doing so.

Let's hope. A bit worried they could shoehorn Goto in and make it a threeway. Anything worth checking out on this tour yet? I popped in for a couple of the Tana/Okada tags, which were all fine, but have yet to hear of anything in the tag league that is appointment viewing.

Echoes my thoughts as well. This was a must listen for a while but quickly became one I avoid unless I see multiple people here tout an episode as an incredible. There's no reason to sit through Conrad reading old results while Bruce rants about Meltzer or others who just don't know anything. One trick pony.

Anything worth watching this week?

After last week's death by a thousand papercuts to my eyeballs, I'm officially sitting out Raw this week and next. Will watch some recent shows from Japan on Monday nights, whether DG, Stardom or AJPW. I'll be back in 2 weeks post-TLC for the Rumble build heading into Mania season. Still tuning into Smackdown every week, and I've got this on DVR so if by chance something gets rave reviews I can always catch it but this feels like a well earned break.

If it had some GIFs of the girls I would've been able to talk the wife into reading it but still fun. How did you not at least include a Jack (Mr.) Pf(i)effer reference in a wrestling article?!

Could also have Asuka win to set up Charlotte/Ronda at the Rumble and Becky winning the women's Rumble.

I know it goes back a long way and I've probably blocked out a number of contenders, but that felt like one of the worst Raws ever. It started out horribly and alternated between the slow and fast lanes to wrestling hell for the next 3 hours. The only thing I found remotely amusing were Alicia Fox's antics during her entrance. That's it. Raw has been pretty bad for most of the year and noticeably worse since Roman had to step away. Most PPVs have been a chore. But watching this show was the first time I told myself to find something better to do next Monday night. I could rewatch some MOTYCs. Play a video game. Watch MNF. See if I still remember my wife's name. Give myself papercuts. If there's anything worthwhile on Raw the DVR will have it. But old habits are hard to kill. We'll see what happens in 6 days.

I don't believe anything's been pushed for the final night beyond Goto/Ibushi as noted above. Fingers crossed that leads to Ibushi/Ospreay for WK. There are a couple 6 man tags any day now featuring Tanahashi & Okada working together. Absolutely checking those out, but otherwise no plans to dip in here unless I hear something is particularly compelling. Its still so odd to me that the company almost books itself cold 6 weeks out of its biggest annual show.

Daniel Bryan is an unbelievable performer.

I'm in if only for the Golden Girls references. Don't let me down!

That's definitely an open question and concern, especially with Charlotte going full heel. But that was one tremendous piece of wrestling business from start to finish. Incredible intensity and struggle, blood & bruising, a finish & post-match that worked. Straight fire.

As noted above, such rules to not apply to Brock Lesnar.

So the show may be a big meh thus far, but that heat for Nia. We need her vs. Becky at the Rumble and Nia has to bleed. The women's roster isn't deep, but there are enough obstacles there en route to Rousey at Mania that could realistically have her be the hottest act in the company at that time. What a world.

Yep. This is why he's likely my prohibitive #1. Never his biggest fan in recent years as I had issues with his selling, screaming and spot-heavy work, but he hit home run after home run this year. Not only an incredible mix of opponents, but he worked a ton of different styles across these matches. Just an all time year.

Pretty confident that I've Ospreay, Walter, Okada and Gargano in a class of their own way ahead of the rest of the pack. Perhaps I'm overlooking someone but can't imagine anyone else sneaking into my top 3. Will have to look back at how I rated things to determine the order, but my gut is that Walter falls to #4 as the others likely have higher highs which I value quite a bit.

A strong counterpoint to my thoughts on Omega-Fenix. This featured a fraction of the high spots and bumps as that match and was rather worked around incredibly vicious chops & strikes. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. It worked here because every single strike sounded brutal in Korakuen Hall. Sure, they each did a brief Kobashi tribute with rapid fire corner chops, but just about every other strike was sold or featured that brief, subtle pause so that the impact would resonate and convey the damage that both were absorbing. Just a terrifically simple and effective match. One of the early Global League highlights along with Sugiura vs. Shizoaki from 10/30. ****