WingedEagle

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. ****

This was an inevitably solid match because it featured two willing, athletic and highly capable performers. Not sure just how big of an audience it got because of the live stream / VOD availability, but they obviously worked it like a big match for one of their home promotions rather than a spot show. That being said, this was basically all out spots and box checking for both of them. Because they can check so many boxes it was entertaining and solid, but that approach (which is all too common these days) only goes so far with me and is the wrestling equivalent of a quick sugar burst. I couldn't recall more than a couple spots even immediately after it was over as most of it just blended in as they skipped along to the next spot. ***1/2

These first 3 are pretty much a lock for the top of my ballot, with the order of 2/3 being an open question: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (2/3 Falls, NJPW Dominion 6/9/2018) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi (G1 Climax 28 Finals, NJPW G1 Climax Finals 8/12/2018) Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Almas (NXT Takeover Philadelphia 1/27/2018) After that I could see the rest of a top 10 coming from this group, all of which I had at 4.5+ stars. Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW G1 Climax Night 14 8/4/2018) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo 1/27/2018) Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW G1 Climax Night 17 8/10/2018) Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT Takeover New Orleans 4/7/2018) Matt Riddle vs. Will Ospreay (WWN Mercury Rising Supershow 4/6/2018) Io Shirai vs. Meiko Satomura (Sendai Girls 4/19/2018) Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll (NJPW Sakura Genesis 4/1/2018) Walter vs. Will Ospreay (OTT 10/13/2018) Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair (Last Woman Standing, Evolution 10/28/2018) Walter vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Progress 10/28/2018)

The highlighted note above is what has stood out about her since day one. Her pacing and matches have a natural flow to them. She's never in a rush yet never has to stop and figure out what to do next so you're immersed in the match and story being told. She sells and has comebacks without overdoing it or exposing her inexperience. An incredibly promising talent.

Fun and entertaining for at least that long, but since Summerslam she has indeed been the best promo in the company. Knocking it out of the park every time and out, and doesn't need a full quarter hour to get it done.

Has anyone seen this? Sounds pretty interesting and I've heard some positive feedback but curious to see what folks here think.

Stay away from Twitter Dave Meltzer. Its a marketing tool and little more.

Did this ever go anywhere? Was it supposed to lead to anything? Ranger Ross did a great job impersonating Muta.

The show reads like an absolute slog thus far, and the booking quite a ways below that. On the other hand, booking be damned, I'm absolutely stoked for the title match at Survivor Series.

Anyone have a list of must-see matches from the show thus far?

Don't encourage me. I'm juggling enough viewing projects as it is and don't need reminders to put myself through this in addition to all of those.

You'll be fine, I'll buy you a salad and we'll keep the ticker in check. On the other hand, you gave me a few things I want to go back and watch again on the show, and I definitely don't need that kind of trouble every month. You even made a couple of the matches more fun to read about than watch! Job well done.

This needs to happen for every PPV. I really liked the show, thought Charlotte/Becky was terrific, Toni/Io a ton of fun if way too short and was blown away by how great and how much I loved the 6 woman tag. But this post may have topped it all.

This. It wasn't that long ago PPVs were 3 hours, yet even now nearly 3.5 feels like a breeze. No match outside of Charlotte/Becky went very long, and that one worked precisely because it was unique both for how long it went and for the style being so different from every other match.

That was a pretty flat main event. Even the opener seemed hotter and more interesting. Just a lot of smoke & mirrors but none very interesting.