Superstar Sleeze

NXT Tag Champions The Revival vs DIY - NXT Toronto 11/19/26 2/3 Falls First Fall: 5 efficient minutes. Demonstrate the quickness of Johnny G with cradles and roll ups. Dax as the bruiser, good chops. Like quick tag and the simultaneous dropkicks by DIY. Eye rake solid transition. Hard hitting. The Dax suplex Into Cash legdrop was cool. Johnny G hot tag leaves a lot to be desired. He has pretty bad offense. I like how he got caught with a fish Shatter Machine. Revival goes up 1-0. Good stuff. Second Fall: Man DIY Cant buy a good hot tag. I liked the heat segment on Gargano. Lots of good chicanery with two people messing with the ref using the ropes. The missed hot tag spot should be in all tag title defenses it’s such a good spot. They way they had DIY discombobulated and hit Hart Attack was great. Johnny G reversing the weight on a super belly 2 back Suplex was great transition to hot tag. I thought Ciampa would have a better hot tag than Gargano. Still too much do see do bullshit. Some good Nearfalls with the knee to the head and the crossbody from the top and Meet In The Middle wins the fall. I wonder what will win the match??? Tied 1-1. Third Fall: Both of these matches benefit from red hot finish stretches on bodies that are great but aren’t exactly special. Until Gargano hit his foot on the title belt on that awful kick this was pretty forgettable. But then it kicked into overdrive and it never let up. They run the Brooklyn finish but of course this time Johnny G gets the ropes. They run each other finishers But FTR hits themselves and Shatter Machine is successful but no three count. Great barrage of near falls. The double submission victory is a great fist pumping end. To paraphrase Bob Seger, “Today’s wrestling just don’t have the same soul”. This is a very solid body with a red hot finish stretches tacked on taking into great category. They make the right choices and incorporate a lot of what made 20th Century wrestling great but there’s something about the execution. It doesn’t have the same oomph or zing or charisma that oldies but goodies has. It just doesn’t have the same soul. HOWEVER they do excel at finish stretches and so many of those 80s matches you wish had better high octane fireworks grand finale finishes but they never happen. But we get that here. I think August match is better in all ways but this isn’t far behind. **** 1/4

IWGP Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan- NJPW 10/9/06 Twenty years to the day! Perfect booking coming out of the 2006 New Japan reset. You strap your hottest young talent have him beat the big, bad gaijin. Now you put against biggest traditional native star of the last 2-3 years. Follow that up with a defense against his major generational rival, Nakamura. The big 1/4 Dome show you go to the most obvious play in the puroresu interpromotuonsl against All Japan and the most recent ex-Triplr Crown Champion, Taiyo Kea. Then drop the title to a former Ace, Nagata, to set up a big inter generational rivalry. Thats pro wrestling booking 101 right there. Simple but oh so effective. If you were judging this match off points, Tenzan wins a landslide. But it ain’t about who dominated the match, it is who got the pin. It is who can win the ugly game. Who has the heart of the champion? This was perfect booking of a young champion. It is one thing to get to the top, it is another thing to stay on top. It is not like over night Tanahashi became this world beating sensation. He is still young and against a hard hitting bruising veteran like Tenzan he is the underdog. He is cast as such. Tenzan is a mountain for the plucky Tanahashi to climb and scale it be would. I have grown fond of the lunkheaded Tenzan the ultimate Nasty Boy. I loved him just letting Tanahashi bounce off him like a pest. Walking through all of Tanahashi’s offense. Every time Tanahashi was defiant he would blast him with a head butt and tell him with a Mongolian Chop. It was Tenzan in all his clubbering glory. Tanahashi play the role of plucky counter wrestler well. Almost every Tenzan submission was countered instead of a rope break. There was a smattering of roll ups and cradles as well. He tried his hand at clubbering but that didn’t go his way. I liked how Tenzan escalated from clubbering and submission to riding Tanahashi down like a surfboard into the railing and from the top. Hurling his body at Tanahashi with a spinning heel kicks. Tanahashi was still finding himself. There was no knee work. There was a Kojima style Ace Crusher, a Mutoh Shining Wizard, Kawada Enziguiris and a crazy Capture Suplex. There was still a barrage of Sling Blades a uniquely Tanahashi strategy but we were still watching him evolve into the Ace of the Universe which is really cool. Tenzan Driver into Anaconda Vice was a good near fall so to speak. Tanahashi moves out of the way of Tenzansault and as Tenzan was reeling from that. BANG~! Shining Wizard! That felt like a major turning point. Tenzan would get one more Anaconda Vice but after that head rocking knee Tanahashi shows him his ability to use guile and speed to turn the match in his favor. He ripped him down with a sick capture suplex which you never see from him. Sling Blade barrage this time we do see the High Fly Flow for the win. The 2004 match of theirs is the classic but this is still great. Veteran vs Youbg Lion match done to a tee. Tenzan establishes himself as a mountain to climb and wrestles King Sized here. Tanahashi is finding himself and what works for him and wrestles a great plucky counter wrestlers match he finds a Shining Wizard and a Capture Suplex late and never looks back. Really strong stuff **** 1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Giant Bernard - NJPW 7/17/06 Vacant IWGP Champion To answer my question from 12-13 years ago, this is the match for the Vacant IWGP Championship. The resurrection of New Japan to MOTYC juggernaut begins here with Albert and Tomko lol. Antonio Inoki and Brock Lesnar have been ousted and New Japan abandons Inoki-ism and Shooters and guys with legit credentials opts to go the Sports Entertainment/WWE route. In a way, this was the route All Japan was currently practicing with the Voodoo Murders and relying on older native stars like Mutoh, Sasaki, Kawada and Tenryu. NOAH was still doing the All Japan Kings Road style turned to 11. I would say the key difference between New Japan and All Japan is New Japan had the youth movement with Tanahashi and Nakamura. Even Nagata and Tenzan didnt feel quite as old as the All Japan main eventers. This is a very WWE-ified New Japan match. In a way I guess it is fitting that Giant Bernard is in the match. Tomko trips up Tanahashi twice in the beginning and gets thrown out by the ref. There’s a ref bump and a visual pin by Tanahashi. This was smart because in America that is the death knell for the babyface if a babyface gets a visual pin in a match theres no way he is winning the title. A steel chair gets involved Tanahashi smashes it back in Bernard’s face and then has to fight off Bernard’s goon. Then wins with a barrage of Sling Blades. New Japan didnt become the darling of internet until 2012-ish again when they went for a modern take on 90s New Japan but it seems funny to trade in Inoki-ism for Vince-ism. I don’t know what the reaction was to this. I liked the bloody Nagata/Makabe match next year but that also feels American and the Tanahashi/Nagata story from 2007-08 is a bit more Japanese-style. It is a combo of WWE and more traditional puroresu I would say. Also I am really glad that Tanahashi added the High Fly Flow as a finisher as a barrage of Sling Blades is just anti-climatic. As for the body of the match I really enjoyed it. They had a match in June a month before this where Bernard bloodied Tanahashi but was hoisted on his own petard smashing his face into the exposed turnbuckle and Sling Blade Tanahashi wins. Bernard establishes his size advantage Bur Tanahashi gets on a run. His fast break offense overwhelms Bernard as I mentioned Tomko trips up Tanahashi twice and gets thrown out. I really liked the transition to heat. Bernard wiggles the top rope and Tanahashi falls on his nuts. Big Pump Kick sends him careening to the floor! I thought Bernard was going to try to bust him open again but opts for shoulder neck work on the post. He escalates to an F-5 which Tanahashi kicks out of which I am sure was a shot at Inoki/Brock as Brock still had their title and it would get reunified when Brock dropped his version to Angle and Angle lost to Nagata. Tanahashi kicks out of the Baldo Bomb, the Vader Bomb and the Last Ride. Bernard just using a smattering of famous super heavyweight finishers and Tanahashi kicking out of them was a neat idea. Tanahashi did dropkick the knee for a hope spot but Albert quashed that quickly. So no leg/knee work from Tanahashi who is still evolving. It was a lot of Sling Blades and fighting spirit. The finish was covered up. I thought it was a very entertaining David vs Goliath nothing earth-shattering but a solid addition to the genre. Trading in Inoki-ism for Vince-ism while strange, it was also a clear hard reset that New Japan desperately needed. Strap up the hot new young babyface that is polar opposite of Inoki-ism against a gaijin is a throwback to traditional puroresu while being very fresh in the context of rebelling against Inoki-ism. It would pay off as Tanahashi/Nakamura, Tanahashi/Nagata and Nagata/Makabe were all highly acclaimed IWGP championship matches. A very good start to rebuilding New Japan. *** 3/4

NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival vs DIY - NXT Takeover Brooklyn 8/22/16 After all these years, I finally watched this. I generally like The Revival/FTR. I am not huge on Ciampa & Gargano although the current angle with Zayn/Gargano/LaRae has made me a pretty big Johnny G fan as a character. I had an open mind to this match because I know this and the Toronto rematch have been hyped. I thought this was great and very fun. I didnt think it was spectacular or best match I have ever seen. I thought The Revival were easily better than Ciampa & Gargano. I preferred this version of Ciampa to the huffy puffy, super serious, ultra-intense guy we got now. Johnny G wrestled how I expected him to wrestle so I think I am pretty even on him. They immediately get great marks because they waited like 8 or so minutes before they went into heat. Already I am a fan of this match. I was worried I was going to have sit through a ten minute heat segment. I thought Shine was really well done. Ciampa & Gargano dont have all time great shine offense but instead they worked it around mini-battle where DIY kept winning. The Revival is supposed to be a throwback, but yet they were losing wristlock exchanges, chop/strike exchange and generally their bullying was not working. The best part was the Revival's catchphrase is No Flips, Just Fists, but yet when Ciampa & Gargano had their fists cocked and ready to fight The Revival bailed. That is just genius stuff. Exposing the heel and the heel showing ass is so refreshing. It proves that The Revival does get what made the 80s work and that is a selfless heel who is not afraid to look like a chump. The double dive was a good punctation mark on the shine. I thought the transition to heat could have been more emphatic. The slingshot-y back suplexes looked cool, but I would have liked something that really said ok Ciampa is fucked now. The heat segment was solid. Absent of any limb work, the chinlock and body scissors are ok. They didnt stay in heat too long and there was quite a bit of struggle. I liked how Dax cold-cocked G to prevent a tag. I wish G sold that more. Cash falling into the ring to distract the ref was a neat heel trick. The Johnny G hot tag is where this just kinda went south for me and prevents me from going ultra-high with my rating. His offense is just so indy-riffic. I just didnt find myself pumping my fist like I would if Rick Martel was taking that hot tag. The nearfalls did ramp up quite nicely. Even I started biting on them because I incorrectly assumed DIY won the titles here. So with each nearfall, I was biting harder and harder. I think what took this to the next level for me after the nearfall barrage was the chopblock on Johnny G with like two minutes to go, the nasty crash landing of Cash on the legs of Johnny G and then going right into the finish with the reverse figure-4 submission victory. I actually prefer this immensely compared to the leg selling for 10-15 minutes that people do a ll the time. First because it is fresh. Two minutes, three spots, bang victory. Efficiency is beautiful. Two is far more realistic. If your knee is fucked, you are probably going down in 2 minutes. This puts over the chop block way more as a nasty, heel tactic. It is heels that know they are about to be beaten so they flip the game board over and just do a nasty, low down tactic to win because they would rather win cheap than lose as warriors. I think it is a brilliant finish. Honestly as I write my review I come out with a higher impression of this match and I think the finish is so novel it should be rewarded. I think if they did arm work on Ciampa in the heat segment to give themselves a hook there and Johnny G just had better offense they would have had the all-timer a lot of people claimed they had. I think it is safely away from **** 3/4 - ***** territory which needs to move me emotionally. I will go **** 1/2 on the strength of such an innovative, efficient finish. I wish more and more wrestlers would think do something like that more. A late-game wrestling injury that leads to a quick finish. Very impactful. The way it was done as they were heels that were on the verge of losing that nearfall barrage made it look like it was only a matter of time for the Revival to lose or for them to do a low-down chop block enhances the finish even more. Genius stuff. **** 1/2

Sheamus vs Cesaro - WWE Clash of Champions 2016 I remember loving this series when I was watching it live in 2016 easily my favorite thing on RAW after the Brand Split. Just Bill Watts style wrestling two big uglies hitting each hard and throw each other around. This was like the 21st Century version of Garvin vs Valentine. This felt very much like a Crockett match. Everything is snug and tight, hard-hitting but it is also fast-paced with a ton of struggle. They work a lot of high spots that you don’t normally see out of them because this is the 7th match in a Best of 7 series. Sheamus hits a crazy spinning heel kick in the corner that feels more like a full body attack. Cesaro busted out the 619 and this crazy dive where he basically piledrove himself on the floor. The beginning set the tone for the whole match. So stiff so much struggle. I loved how Cesaro fought through Sheamus’ offense to earn his offense and really shone and showed out. Matches like this make you wonder how they missed Cesaro. He has such a great offensive arsenal. He figured out how to make power-based, strike-oriented offense fun for a shine. This was a tremendous shine. Nasty bump on the top rope when Sheamus sweeps out the leg. Sheamus injured Cesaro’s back in the second match and This becomes the target for the rest of the match. Whenever Cesaro mounts a comeback, Sheamus Irish Curse back breakers or Texas Cloverleafs that ass. There was a crazy Irish Curse Backbreaker from an Argentine position. Cesaro of course hit the big staples of his offense like the Swing, Sharpshooter and the Neutralizer. When Sheamus does back pull up which is such a crazy spot Cesaro just Rocks him with Uppercuts and Dropkicks. I was going wild. Sheamus fights him off. Battering Ram to the floor NO CESARO UPPERCUT!!! Crazy! White Noise on the floor! Just as it is getting real good. Cesaro clothesline over the barricade and they call the match because both wrestlers are toast. BOOOOOOOOO Wicked lame finish. I am not against a no contest finish. But that was just a lame way of going about it. Make it more emphatic. More creative. Yes that was hard-hitting and a physically draining match BUT you want the match to reach a rousing climax. Go through the Ring, jump of something high, something a little extra not just a clothesline over a barricade which we have seen a million times. A kickass match and series. Loved this and love it now! This would lead them teaming together in The Bar in a run that I remember enjoying and look forward to revisiting. The finish makes the match feel incomplete and knocks it down a peg. **** 1/4

WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs Cesaro vs Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens - Extreme Rules 2016 Was at this live in Newark because of how good AJ vs Roman was at Payback and needed to the see the rematch live. My brother says this stole the show but I didn’t think so then and definitely dont think so now. The crowd heat was off the charts but this was a match that was better live and in my memories than on rewatch. It is a very good spot fest but not among the all-time greats. Cesaro looked like the Superstar of this match! His offense was firing on all cylinders and he just felt King Sized in this match. The Uppercut Train hell all the Uppercuts especially the one that stopped a Zayn Helluva Kick were insanely good. The Swing, Sharpshooter and Neutralizer all came off great. He looked like the Cant miss star of the match. The Bar was not a bad trajectory to go with him but they should have elevated him after. Kevin Owens played the role of spoiler well interrupting crowd pleasing spots like the Tower of Doom, first attempt at the Swing and a Helluva Kick. Owens went on to have his best year Kayfabe wise winning the Universal title and main eventing RAW against Rollins and Reigns. Zayn was sort of the afterthought of the match and his best work came reprising his great 2013 feuding with Cesaro. He had the biggest crowd support but they did the least with him in 2016. Finally the Miz was the opportunist hitting SCF when he could and when Owens/Zayn got too distracted beating each other up he swooped in and pinned Cesaro after a Helluva Kick. He would continue to have the best year of his career in the Dolph feud. Very good match but not emotionally stirring. Entertaining mindless fluff. *** 1/2

WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE No Mercy 2016 I am not surprised this match is considered better than Backlash but in my mind the Backlash match is the clearly superior match. But this match has the more pronounced leg work, more bells & whistles during the finish and Maryse in White WOAH oh and the babyface gets the big triumphant victory. However, it think the body of the Backlash match is far more interesting. They work with more urgency and the character work is better in Backlash. The Hair Spray finish is more tasteful as well, I thought the first ten minutes were fine but more in a routine Smackdown match way. I liked all the callback psychology. Ziggler lands on his feet on the catapult. He avoids the clothesline in the corner on the Danielson dropkicks. He avoids the Slingshot Powerbomb not once but twice. I thought the transition to heat was weird. I really liked Miz punting the ropes into Zigglers nuts but then Ziggler snaps off a dropkick. So then a Bret Bump in the corner settles us into heat. It was off. Miz is not as interesting in what and there are less hope spots. I thought the cutoffs and hope spots were all over the place. I liked how Miz had to earn the Slingshot Powerbomb using the exposed Buckle. Miz getting done by his own hubris with his shitty It Kicks resulting in the Zig Zag was a great spot. Strong Nearfall liked the tenacity on the Sleeper. The Hair Spray and Skull Crushing Finale hitting too close to the ropes was a little too cute. Though Miz going all Bockwinkel and attacking the leg that wronged him was cool. He rips off the boot and Superkick with da stinky feet! Here comes the Spirit Squad. I am all for extracurriculars but this was lame. Kenny never gets hit and they don’t do anything and the ref just throws them out. Why didn’t he just do that to begin with? He kicked out of Skull Crushing Finale for one last near fall. Superkick win. They give this the big main event treatment even though it was an IC match. But didnt really land. They really went for EPIC but their reach exceeded their grasp. it is safely great But what makes the September match a classic is they are present in the moment reacting to each other trying to win the by product is a classic match. When try for Classic the by product is usually falling short. ****

WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler - WWE Backlash 2016 Two boys from Cleveland proving they can do it just as well as anyone has ever done it. Holy fucking shit! I can’t believe how good this was! This was the most Crockett match I have seen in the 2010s. This is how you do a fast explosive upbeat match BUT it is not a spot fest or overly choreographed dance routine. The two minutes where Ziggler wrestles like Kent State Golden Flash Nick Nemeth was amazing. He was a tornado of violence. If he wrestled like that his entire career he would one of my favorites of all time. It was amazing amateur grappling with right touch of hate. Miz kept up so well. Miz played the traditional heel to a tee. Taking the those short cuts. He is not going to wrestle he is going to kick you in the knee, punch you in the face, side step you (great splash bump by Ziggler into the corner), throw over the top rope to the floor and from the Midnight Express School of Heeling a Fucking Slingshot Powerbomb. Nothing fancy, but oh so delightfully effective. Ziggler doesnt keep up the Kent State Golden Flash But instead morphs into best 1980s White Meat Babyface the 21st Century has ever seen throwing dropkicks like his life depended on it, wrapping sleeper holds in desperation, selling the leg for all its worth. I don’t think I have seen Miz work so well on top. Bow & Arrow, Surfboard with knee stomp. This was during the weird Talking Smack feud with inactive Daniel Bryan so he was stealing his shit for heat like running dropkicks in the corner. I love how all of Ziggler’s high spots miss at first but then he goes back and gets them all like Rocker Dropper and his version of DDT. They throw in some short But sweet leg work that Miz does really well and Ziggler sells well. Which plays into Miz using the Figure-4 which works as a strong “nearfall” late in the match. Ziggler has a shit super kick but he sells how badly he wants to hit it so well so even though it looks like shit Ziggler and Miz get it over with their selling. Miz trying to get counted out and Ziggler wrestling him back in so good. Then the cherry on top, the hottest woman in recorded human history besides my wife of course does the Precious Hair Spray gimmick into the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. Be still my beating heart. I knew this was fucking good because I remember it coming out of nowhere But I was not prepared how fucking good it would be. And this isnt even the one every one points to as good. I don’t know how they top this. This is like the best possible Jimmy Garvin w/ Precious vs Kevin Von Erich match. WOW just wow! **** 1/2

Kota Ibushi vs Brian Kendrick - WWE CWC 8/26/16 Another excellent 90s workrate match in 2016. I don’t know if they boys were putting these together or if there was a specific agent but man if every Penta match or AEW spot fest was this good I’d never complain. I thought of the big Ibushi matches in Thai tournament this really showcased him as an offensive dynamo. On three occasions his kicks made me audibly go wow. The Pele was killer! He was going off with moonsaults and missed Phoenix Splash. The German from the apron over the ropes into the Ring showed off his strength. Yet it never felt like overkill. They let the spots breathe. On the flip Side Kendrick added his salt & pepper took this match to the next level. He filled in the gaps with absolutely massive spots starting with the big transition the reverse neck breaker on the exposed buckle. Ibushi looked like he was running away with the match and now Kendrick was in it. He let Ibushi shine But he made sure he got his with well-timed high spots like Sliced Bread, ripping Ibushi by the neck into a Bulldog Choke and a NASTY BURNING HAMMER! The missed Phoenix Splash into a Bulldog Choke ruled so hard. I love Ibushi’s reaction on escape play time is over bitch HEAD KICK-> LAST RIDE POWERBOMB! These are like the best possible Nitro Cruiserweight matches but reaching heights they never reached! Another banger! **** 1/4

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs Naomichi Marufuji - NJPW 10/10/16 I LOVED their G1 Climax match this match is really hyped up. So I was pretty stoked for it but it fell flat for me. I thought G1 Climax was the far more interesting match. I don’t think this is bad I just think it is very good. Im a bit confused what makes this. MOTYC. There are some bigger high spots for this one I enjoyed most taking place on the outside. That Bulldog on the railing by Marufuji was nasty. He kept going for the head after that I thought we were going to get some nifty psychology but that was dropped. Okada just kinda took over with back elbows. Ok. Okada got this sick crossbody over the railing. Marufuji just kinda came back with kicks. Ok. Marufuji got this sick Piledriver on the apron and a sick springboard dropkick as Okada dove in the Ring. Okada Flapjack and runs through this normal comeback sequence. Ok. Marufuji grabs a crazy submission hold then it is Rainmaker Sliced Bread Heaven. The finish run is a lot of fun even if I hate the Sliced Bread. I did pop when he finally hit because it took like four tries across two matches to do it. Rainmaker out of Sliced Bread was cool. TOMBSTONE~! I do love me an Okada Tombstone. Okada hitting Emerald Flowsion on the NOAH guy was pretty sick and Rainmaker for the win. A match is a lot more than the finish run. Stellar finish run takes this up a notch But everything before was just good, solid, fine you get the drift. *** 3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs Naomichi Marufuji - NJPW G1 Climax 7/18/16 Will wonders ever cease? Marufuji is one of my least favorite wrestlers. Is he the one I have to blame for those terrible Question Mark Kicks? Okada is someone I think who can be carried to a great match but not someone I expect to have a great match when I think he is better wrestler. Well KO and behold this is a great match But the catch is my Okada Theory holds true Marufuji was the better wrestler on thsi night. Pretty standard Okada opening he goes to set Marufuji on the top rope for his dropkick but Marufuji kicks him off and like Ohtani/Samurai crashes down on Okada’s arm as he is holding the top rope. They never look back. Okada’s selling is pretty good and consistent throughout which is his contribution to the match but Marufuji runs this match like a pro through the arm. Really enjoyed the outside Arm work to establish Okada’s bad wing with the post and railing. Okada seems to get the advantage when he puts Marufuji in motion back body drop and Flapjack but it is never for long as Marufuji just keeps working that arm. There is a great slingshot over the top rope crashing down on the arm to the floor loved it. Marufuji wrestled this match weighty as a heavyweight and kept his annoying junior tendencies of the 2000s to a minimum. Even though the obligatory strike exchange is better because Okada crumples to the match because of his bad wing. Oh interesting note they worked the right arm which is Okada’s dominant Arm his Rainmaker arm. Great springboard dropkick to the arm. Really crashing into it. Marufuji goes for Sliced Bread twice and both times fails why because he deviated from his strategy gave his back to his opponent and gave Okada precious space. Loved that psychology. The first time Okada hit White Noise and Top Rope Elbow but the bad arm! Grits his teeth through a tough RAINMAKER POSE~! What a hero But Cant hit the Rainmaker and Marufuji goes back to Sliced Bread this time we do get the Dropkick to the Back on top rope. Nice how they worked that in there. Goes for the Tombstone, nope! DROPKICK~! Can The Champ pull out the Rainmaker Nope KNEE TO THE BAD ARM! Ugh question mark kick and knee to head! Crazy Emerald Flowsion thing for Marufuji the win! Shock upset to start the G1 Climax over the reigning Champion! Great finish! 2016 is all about heating up new challengers now obviously Thats Omega and Naito but they needed one challenger for October and who better than an outside invader with some name cache who wins one match at G1 Climax and bang you got yourself and October Title Defense Main Event! Great booking! Such a great first match. No Rainmaker. No Sliced Bread. So you leave yourself a lot to work with on the rematch. Arm psychology was great and the finish run was efficient and logical! Awesome match! **** 1/4

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn - WWE Battleground Remember really liking this in real-time felt like both guys needed this match. The feud seemed to have been going on forever and was growing long in the tooth. Owens had stalled out after the Cena feud and Zayn like Bayley couldn’t figure out how to translate the Heart & Soul of NXT gimmick to the main roster. So both needed a big time match. Owen’s would have his Kayfabe best year after this headlining the RAW brand as Universal Champ and having that killer angle with Jericho. I don’t feel like Zayn found his footing until many years after doing that Che conspiracy victim gimmick which is he tapping into now on Smackdown 2026 Main Event scene to great success. This match aged very well and they have a great story going although they don’t stick the landing. Every time Zayn tries a high risk maneuver it costs him. Rope walk he gets crotches and canonballed. Top rope Split Leg Asai Moonsault lands shoulder first on apron. Top rope dive super kick into Crossface. Dive through buckles for DDT, super kick -> Cannonball-> BullFrog Splash! The other thing this match had going for it was a really strong violent Owens performance. This was not the spot happy Owens of the Cena feud. He was working snug and tight. Trying to kick Zayn’s ass. One nitpick is that Brainbuster on the apron was absolutely meaningless. Given that the Powerbomb on the Apron is so iconic from the NXT turn and it was teased in the match. I thought the Brainbuster on the apron should have the turning point of the match that led to Helluva Kick win not some random spot in the middle. The other thing that bothered me was the Zayn comeback. All of sudden he is fired up and hitting all his spots. He didn’t really earn it. Just felt like my turn. I liked Owens getting the kick on the charging Zayn on the Helluva Kick into Pop Up Powerbomb helluva nearfall. Then it was just Super Sami no selling and kicking ass. The two Helluva Kicks was a great finish. Figure out a way to make Zayn’s come back be more organic this is a MOTYC but still a great match and terrific Owens performance. **** 1/4

Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE NXT 4/1/16 I actually watched this in real-time and remember being unimpressed. I stopped watching NXT after this show because I wanted to have a normal social life in my 20s. I can admit when I’m wrong and this match is definitely great. I don’t think it is a classic but I do think it is a lot better than I remember. It is pretty shocking the Nakamura-WWE relationship still exists after 10+ years. I didn’t think it would go well back in 2016 and sadly I was right and I don’t know why it still it exists. In 2018-19, after watching a lot of Nakamura in New Japan and watching a lot of Nakamura on Smackdown weekly that it just wasn’t going to work. Nakamura is not a high spot wrestler. The WWE house style actively works against him. My recollection was that New Japan presented him as the best wrestler but into a badass way like Hashimoto or Sasaki or a shoot-y way like Takayama or Fujita but as a counter wrestler. He was a problem Tanahashi and later Okada had to solve because he could change the complexion of a match on a dime. WWE house style doesnt really work with a counter wrestling defensive style because they present an high spot vs high spot narrative. This match is the exception that proves the rule because for one night before the producers and agents got a hold of him Nakamura presented a New Japan Nakamura match in a WWE ring against a game Zayn. It didn’t hurt that this was peak NXT and the crowd was rabid for this match before it even started and stayed molten throughout. One thing I need to get out of the way what others call charisma with Nakamura I just find weird and off-putting. For that reason I am not and never have really been a Nakamura guy BUT I have rated some of his matches very highly so I can look past it. I do think this match succeeds in spite of his weirdness. The opening is nothing too exciting but they do establish that Nakamura is the superior counter wrestler. Time and time again, Nakamura slips a kick or a knee to Zayn’s face when he least expects. They set it up in different ways but the result is always the same Nakamura foot ends up in Zayn‘S mush. Also both wrestlers are babyfaces and they handle it well. Working a very symmetrical match. Zayn gets a couple big dives to kick off the excitement. They work one of the best stand and bang segments of the 21st century because they dont wait to get hit and sell how tough they are. Instead, they hit through each others offense and go for maximum damage where Nakamura ends up with a bloody nose. The best part of the match is when Nakamura incensed wins the strike exchange STOMPS a mud hole in Zayn and walks it dry. That actually felt like an Inokiist spot! The crowd did chant King of Strong Style which while lame if you’re going to do it that was the time. From there they work a really smart babyface symmetry match. Sami’s Koji’s Clutch Vs Nakamura flash flying cross arm breaker. Each needs a counter to use their secondary moves…Blue Thunder vs Landslide. Great kick to counter the Sami DDT through the post I forgot about that Sami spot. I liked the last gasp of Zayn trying the exploder to set up the Helluva Kick but Nakamura beats him down. There finish is excellent Kinshasa to the back of the head and then one to the front. Great Nakamura match that felt like New Japan in a WWE ring. Unfortunately his WWE debut was the Peak of his WWE run. Mundane front half means I can’t go higher than **** but after the strike exchange this thing cooks.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - NJPW 8/12/16 G-1 Climax I have grown to really love this series. But after four year of fighting each other they needed some time apart. They had a terrific match this year at the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show but New Japan wisely didnt book them in another singles match until 2018. I enjoyed this match as a really excellent greatest hits matches. It has all their usual stuff: Tanahashi’s knee work vs Okada’s crazy Lucha submissions; Okada Dropkick vs Sling Blade; Terrific outside work started with an Okada dropkick to an opponent perched on the top Rope and a beautiful High Fly Flow to the outside; Battle of the Tombstones (Okada won 2-1 by my count but the last one might not have counted); High Fly Flows from every direction and a lot of do-see-do on the Rainmakers. Their Greatest Hits are great in and of themselves but there were enough great sequences to take This above great. I thought opening flurry from Okada with White Noise Knee and Top Rope Elbow teased a sprint and threw you off the scent of the draw. I thought Outside Work with Tanahashi leg work on the railing the High fly Flow and the Okada Tombstone was tremendous. The work to get the Texas Cloverleaf was so good. Every variation of High Fly Flows belly flop, eats knees, to the outside, to the back, being dropkicked out of the sky, crossbody and normal was great. The finish run for a 30 minute draw was still high octane with all the finishers flying. I loved the dropkick to High Fly Flow kickstarted all the Rainmaker bullshit which was really well done so many good feints but ultimately Tanahashi pulled ahead and hit two High Fly Flows but it wasn’t enough as the clock expired! The thirty minutes really did fly by. The booking made sense as it paved the way for Omega, Naito and Goto to shine. Okada needed new challengers. Not essential viewing But very entertaining viewing. **** 1/4

WWE Champion Sheamus vs Roman Reigns - WWE TLC 2015 TLC Match Man I remember being really pumped to go see this match live in Boston. Sheamus has been a favorite since 2012 and I was really excited he won the belt even though I kinda knew he didn’t have much in the way of heat. I was definitely on the Roman Reigns train since his badass match with Brock at that Mania. I think the match disappointed me and I tried to Will it to be good in my mind to my Dad and brother but looking back on it now ten years later they just didn’t have the juice. I think it is a very good match. I just don’t think it is great. It is a pretty heatless match. Any other crowd I would be pissed about a We Want Cena chant but in Boston as a Bostonian HELL YEAH WE WANT OUR HOMETOWN BOY! We want Cena should be as Boston as Yankees Suck. Did I hear we miss Rollins I am sure that pissed me off ten years ago. I will say as restless as the crowd was they didn’t need to chant pointless shit but the guys weren’t exactly whipping the crowd into a frenzy so I get it. The match peaked in the first two minutes which is not exactly high praise. Roman ABSOLUTELY CLOCKED Sheamus with a right who walked through it and PUMMELED ROMAN! It was giving me Roman/Brock Mania 31 vibes. Then it just downshifted into this war of attrition. I am not a huge war of attrition guy. It is a lot of melodramatic selling. A lot of staggering. A lot of selling fatigue. I felt like they went to that well too early and got kinda stuck there. I prefer uptempo matches but I can get behind a midtempo rocker. This was not a great grind out match. I appreciate they went for violence and stiffness over high spots. That high spots were well set up. I love a ladder throw and a chair throw. How Sheamus back body drop looked more brutal because there happened to be a table there. The White Noise through the table looked killer as did Roman’s Backlund style Powerbomb onto the ladder. I am sure my Dad lost his shit for the Samoan Drop ladder break but the only high spot he talks about from This show is the other Ladder Break with Kalisto and the USO. The Superman Punch Sheamus off the ladder through the table should have been the finish. The Whole League of Nations bullshit with Rusev and Del Rio was lame. He breaks free But eats a Brogue Kick. He is left looking like a bitch on the bottom rung looking up at Sheamus winning the match. Deflating. I said it before I will say it again the WWE took the wrong lesson from Daniel Bryan. Bryan didnt get over because he lost all the time and came up short. It was because we thought The McMan was holding him back. Those logic doesnt work for a Golden Boy, a Chosen One. Theres no grassroots Roman movement. No hard cores clamoring for Roman. We don’t think Vince is holding him down. In fact we know you want him to be the Man so damn bad so just dont it. All the losing was killing him because it was stopping the babyface fans from cheering him and the smart marks from really letting it rip. This was such a bad booking era for WWE. The finish blows. The match is a stiff match but it never really gets out of second gear. *** 1/2