WingedEagle

I haven't seen much LCO and its possible that once I do the act won't be as impressive. But we're not there yet, and this was so much fun. Absolutely loved the strong heel routine that they carry throughout the entire match, even when Korakuen Hall got behind them. Between the brawling around the building and little touches like Mita repeatedly pulling one of the pawns up before a three count, this was a textbook destruction. A ton of fun with a presumably unusual finish that worked well. ***1/2

I did watch it again! Thanks for the reminder -- will post my thoughts tonight.

My thoughts on this this match seem similar to many Riddle matches I've seen. Everything is very sound but missing something that takes it that next, great level. Its interesting that some seem to overlook the no selling and trading forearms that are often criticized in Shibata/NJ. I didn't think they were overdone here and generally don't have an issue when that's the case, but also didn't find that they were incorporated in any particularly unique or gripping fashion. My biggest issue with the match is that I found it lacking any logical progression or escalation. Its as though they got a time cue and decided to abandon some of the early things that were working and go into finishers, counters to finishers and no selling. It may sound as though I'm down on the match, but that's definitely not the case. Loved the opening headlock action from Shibata which was worked & sold very well, in addition to showing great technique rather than an opportunity to stand around. They also worked towards establishing a nice dynamic where Riddle was throwing a lot of shots at Shibata that he was able to match with essentially one big shot. There was a great match in here, I just think they got away from it. Shibata's always comfortable going the no sell route and while I think Riddle is a fantastic seller in the moment, he also seems much too quick to move past it and not register any sustained or callback selling throughout a match at this stage. Those are the type of things that make this a pretty good, efficient match rather than a great one. ***1/2

If it is indeed Taker/Reigns, hopefully they've decided to try rehabbing Reigns as a heel. It seems so easy and a natural fit at the moment, but they haven't been willing to go there. On the other hand, the prospective Smackdown Title match at Mania leaves me quite apprehensive and is killing the major buzz I had for the Rumble this weekend.

I'm at a point now where Styles losing on Sunday would be an incredible upset. Cena's been strongly put over him in angles and on the mic in recent weeks with AJ getting almost no shine at all. Just can't see taking that approach and having him drop it at the PPV.

Probably have to give Bret the nod here when weighing entire careers, but peak Martel smokes him in my eyes.

We could adopt a five-tier approach and go Classic, Great, Very Good, Good, Worth Watching For Other Reasons if you think that would be easier to read. Ha I appreciate it but its perfectly easy to read -- just need to figure out how to fit and balance everything from here alongside all the other wrestling I try to catch a bit of during the week. First world problems!

Outstanding. One other request -- next month try to have Tier 2 a little smaller. Overwhelming!

Very excited for this! Unless I'm missing something, I don't see the list of match recs at the link above.

70s -- Brisco vs. Baba (12/5/1974) 80s -- NJ Gauntlet (4/19/1984); with reservations to swap in Flair/Steamboat Clash 6 as I haven't watched it recently enough to put it over the top. 90s -- Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kawada & Taue (6/9/1995) 00s -- Misawa vs. Kobashi (3/1/2003) 10s -- Tanahashi vs. Okada (1/4/2016) I need to watch a lot more 1970s.

Solid match that seemed like the Japanese equivalent of a TV main event designed to build an upcoming PPV between the various squads. While the juniors did most of the heavy lifting and Kobashi's presence was felt, Takayama made the strongest impression during his limited time in the ring. Between the force of his explosive knees and the way he'd sell without going down to put over his size, you saw pieces of what would make his matches with Misawa & Kobashi over the next couple years true classics. There was no way to tell from here that he could translate these moments into a complete singles match, let alone become one of the decade's best workers before injuries took their toll. But you could see that there was potential for more than simply being the big half of a tag team. ***1/2

It is all very subjective and goofy, but still fun. Handy reference for checklist purposes and such.

Plus, he's clearly secured an incredibly favorable work schedule for Brock. The man knows how to negotiate a work/life balance without compromising compensation.

Amazing that "publishing" anything online automatically seems to give it a certain level of credence. Then again, perhaps its not so amazing.

Always enjoyable to follow you through the year and see your recaps. Looking forward to '99.

Is that the one where Evie worked on Mayu's back quite a bit? If I'm remember it correctly it was quite the performance and one you didn't necessarily expect to be so terrific. Just love how she can turn on the fire almost out of nowhere and bring the crowd with her after selling for so long. Mayu's absence on the latest show due to injury was definitely notable as she's one of the best sellers and babyfaces on the roster. You know there's another big Mayu/Shirai match, if not more, in the pipeline this year.

This was a lot of fun. The "blink and you'll miss it" approach to early falls is one thing I really don't care for, so it was great to see the first fall here feature a sustained heel beatdown on Tarzan Boy with blood, antics from Satanico on the outside and a satisfying, non-flash finish. Not so much on the second fall, where after continuing the heat for a bit Tarzan Boy grabs a small package counter that felt very contrived and poorly executed to even thing sup. The blood seemed to come out of nowhere for both men, but natural or otherwise I'm not one to complain about double juice in an isolated brawl and it worked well here, as Bucanero in particular bled a lot. I also really dug his face paint. The Satanico interference is paid off in a final fall that features some nice bombs even if the path there was a little awkward. But again, blood and violence can overcome a lot. Felt like a hot finish for the crowd invested in the promotion. ***1/2

I've been slowly marching through Danielson's career and am in the midst of this ROH run so its really interesting to see him at this stage. What stood out most was just how impressively and naturally both men looked simply moving around the ring, as well presenting a compact match with flow and progression rather than simply hopping from spot to spot. While you can see how raw they are from strikes and the execution, or lack thereof, on certain spots, they seemed confident and at ease at every stage -- quick opening, chops, holds and finally working towards big spots. You can also already see that Kendrick may be a bigger fan of certain showmanship aspects than benefits his character. They bring the crowd with them through to the unsatisfying finish. It'll be fun to see how quickly and notably both develop. **3/4

Nice! Let me know if there are any under the radar matches worth checking out. I tried to hit anything big based on recs from Donsem here and other spots, but there are undoubtedly a lot of blind spots. Still getting my lay of the land as far as the entire roster goes am curious to see how they work in outsiders or other promotions to keep things fresh.

Definitely going to the March MSG house show. As noted previously I had a blast last month and with the return also a Smackdown show (plus Lesnar) it was an easy call. Only question is if I force the wife to join this time.

Very much agree with this. You can quibble quite a bit with how they've booked some things on the undercard, but its the undercard. That's just not driving business or storylines and is there as filler.

If you want to get up to speed quickly but catch the big stuff, I'd recommend: Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani vs. Meiko Satomura & Kairi Hojo (3/21/2016) Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwatani (5/15/2016) Io Shirai vs. Kairi Hojo (9/3/2016) -- Legit MOTYC From there go right to the Year End Climax show (12/22/2016), and watch the video packages between matches, particularly the main event. That'll get you into 2017 where I believe you'll only have 2 shows to catch up on. Happy to provide more recs if you'd like but don't want to overwhelm someone right away. Enjoy!

I've now watched all 3 Korakuen Hall shows and each was fun and easy to get through. There are no great matches, but the entire tour feels designed to be fun and light rather than great, if that makes any sense. That being said, nothing is bad as most matches are short. If you skip through pre & post match shenanigans you can easily get through these shows in under two hours, and there are probably a couple matches on each show that aren't your fancy. There's something very charming about watching the New Japan regulars not only mix it up with CMLL, but how much many of them truly enjoy it. It sure seemed like this was an absolute highlight for Okada in particular, as he looked to be having the time of his life dancing and wearing a mask on various nights. Don't go into these looking for classics but rather storyline advancements as they build towards the New Beginning shows and let the roster work like its Arena Mexico for a night. If you're looking for highlights, I'd recommend the Tanahashi & friends vs. LIJ, as well as Okada matches from all 3 nights. Volador & Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia from night 2, as well as the singles pairings involving these pairings on night 3 are also worth your time.

The 80s seem like an easy call. This decade has a sneaky case based on sheer volume and diversity of promotions around the world.

I'm with Muta Liger that the latest Stardom show didn't live up to the December outing, but that also had a legit MOTYC. The HZK/Wolf/Konami match was a surprisingly good triangle match that was well laid out and worked at a great pace that didn't go too long. Lot of fun there. I'm not as sold on the Nixon/Ray tag team as some others apparently are, but that was also a fun match with some big spots. I'll probably rewatch it this week, but I thought Shirai/Viper was actually pretty great, maybe even ****. Shirai did a great job putting over Viper as a monster and making the size difference an effective part of the match before a strong, decisive finishing run that didn't go on forever as can sometimes be the case in joshi. We'll see what happens when she faces Shayna Baszler in February, as I haven't been impressed by her at all. That might be a challenge. All in all it was still a really fun, fast show that Stardom World makes so easy to watch with the translations and how matches are posted.