WingedEagle

I found this incredibly disappointing. I didn't love the ROH match over Mania weekend, so the fact that this was similarly bloated without any real hook other than a couple illogical big spots made it a very inferior sequel. Not sure what the thinking was, as you've got two world class personalities, along with one world class performer and another who can certainly hold his own in the ring. Yet rather than capitalize on those raw materials they tried for an epic world title affair that completely missed the mark and dragged like nails on a chalkboard after the first 10-15. Perhaps I'm being overly harsh, but matches that go wildly and unnecessarily long are arguably my least favorite around. And I'm someone who's generally doing backflips over most NJPW main events.

its not an error, but since the board underwent a facelift it has taken a really long time for pages to load, whether clicking on a fresh thread or going back to a previous folder.

Are any of the interviews with NJPW talent from this weekend worth listening to?

Does anyone know if this weekend's Rev Pro shows will be posted on NJ World, and if so in full or only select matches?

Enjoy! I actually haven't dug too deeply into the archives as I've found searching for historical items difficult because of search results due to language issues and/or difficulty scrolling through the archives (you'll see what I mean as I'm sure its like the Firestick app). But its fantastic for staying on top of the current product, and they put out a ton of shows every month even if its not G1 season, so its a pretty great value at roughly $9 per month.

Agreed, but even in commentary they refer to it as the WWE UK Championship.

Essentially. They don't prorate, so for value purposes its best to sign up early in the month. Of course, if you're signing up for the G1, it doesn't really matter when this month you sign up as everything you're really paying for gets busy mid-month.

Were these NXT or WWE shows? NXT ring and announcers, but it was all about the WWE UK Championship.

I am a big, big fan of the possible road to Bryan/Miz that looks teased from the Smackdown open.

What'd folks think of Rollins/Ziggler this week? It seemed to pick up after the first (second?) commercial break, but I felt that they were out there looking to kill clock until then, and didn't care at all for the finish even if the post-match was a bit interesting.

Roman/Lashley vs. The Revival was a lot better than I expected when it was set up. It actually got time to develop and they didn't paint The Revival as pure jobbers but rather a cohesive unit taking advantage of working against singles wrestlers. Very pleasant surprise.

It seems to be doing that for me. Just click on the link to the left of any unread thread.

Now that is a wonderful idea.

Got it, so its a chat feature rather than a thread. Everyone stay away and keep your comments permanent

Good luck! Will the current address auto redirect to the new one? What's a shoutbox? (Says the apparently old man from his rocking chair)

I'd have loved to see a wild surprise outsider in the fold, but its still a stellar lineup with big matches up and down the field. A few thoughts on potential finals/winners: -- Ibushi/Omega feels like an absolute lock to go to a draw. It leaves open a big match singles outing down the road, title or no title. Its also easy to see Omgea dropping two matches along the way -- Naito on night 1 is probably a given, along with perhaps Sabre, Goto or Ishii to set up another fall title defense -- while Ibushi only drops one (including avenging last year's G1 loss to Naito) and thus advances on the draw. -- Jay White is definitely upsetting Okada on night 1. If I could get odds on it I would. Whatever you think of White, they're invested in the guy and he's going to have a big tourney. -- So big, in fact, that I could even be tempted to have him coming out of the block ahead of Tanahashi and Okada. Is a White/Ibushi final with Ibushi setting up the Golden Lovers title match at WK that inconceivable? -- To answer my own question, yes. This is Okada's promotion. If he's not involved in the top program in the company on their biggest show of the year, what's he doing instead? I don't have a very good answer to that question, which leaves me with him going over Ibushi in the finals en route to Wrestle Kingdom 13. Naito over Omega at KOPW to set up a rematch at WK seems logical and a more than distinct possibility, but I wouldn't lock it in just yet. I could see a Naito/Jericho rematch on that show leaving us with Okada/Omega V, especially since they're kept apart here. That's more than enough intrigue at the very top of the tourney to make things super interesting, and is also without even discussing Tanahashi or the plethora of likely incredible matches we'll get over the month. Really looking forward to it, as always.

Loved the gauntlet and the finish, as I was absolutely positive Miz was winning at that stage. It'll be a ton of fun looking forward to a fresh title program, even if only for one PPV.

Also, I absolutely loved the finishes to Bryan/Big E and *especially* Bryan/Joe. That latter one was just phenomenal.

Let's discuss the vital issue of the day -- is such a gauntlet one match or multiple matches? I generally feel pretty strongly that its a series of individual, separate matches, but with Bryan and his story dominating an overwhelming portion of the entire presentation I'm open to considering it as one package.

I was surprised to see so many people so high on this match, but that kind of dichotomy is always interesting. While I enjoyed the opening as it quickly felt more urgent and violent than their previous outings, this very quickly started to drag and felt interminable for much of the next 20+ minutes. That last 5+ or so minutes really bailed this out as they were just terrific with big spots, timing and a real uncertainty that was amplified by the LMS stip, but it would've been the best if that finishing stretch came about 10 minutes earlier. ***

Go with WCW up to where you started on the Death of thread. Its far enough back that it'll feel new while also easily accessible.

Perhaps its crazy, but Yano seems vital in the G1. He's an easy opportunity for everyone in his block to essentially get an extra off night working a shorter comedy match without the need to kill themselves. Not every match clicks, but he's usually good for a few fun outings every year and rarely goes long enough to be actively bad.

A very good match where I appreciated how they approached it differently from the first iteration in April. Between their gear and the combination of utterly predictable spots and a few less so, they succeeded in getting over the stipulation and the visceral hatred needed for such a blood feud, even if blood wasn't permissible. I didn't mind the ECW tribute or other staple spots we've seen from similar matches, and thought they did an excellent job working in callbacks to their prior match and angles. Where this really fell off for me was in the last 8-10 minutes (for all I know it was shorter, but felt like an eternity) where they spent too long dragging things out on the stage, setting up the big spot and then a few days loading up the stretcher before finally making it back to the ring. It was all too forced and long, even if they made good use of the exposed boards at the end. This was well short of the first Almas and Ciampa matches before that, but probably in the range of the Almas TV rematch and perhaps higher with a stronger and tighter close. I may have liked the tag match better, but between the long-term investment in this story and heightened stakes its tough to argue for anything else as match of the night. ****

Sounds like a win. I love a detailed, qualitative match review as the best give me something to think about on the match at hand as well as impact what I look for thereafter, but absent some type of rating -- stars, letters, numbers, whatever works for the author -- it can be difficult to differentiate and distinguish. Needless to say this sounds like a great way to address everything.

Really great review. Looking forward to seeing more, especially as you dive into material and eras you haven't looked at in depth here yet. Are you shying away from star ratings?