Superstar Sleeze

Waited ten years to mess with the memories here we are… WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles - WWE Extreme Rules 2016 No DQ My brother and I were at this live in Newark because the Payback match was so good convinced my whole family to do an NYC trip and went to Liberty Island. I thought the Payback match was always better but this is even better than I remembered! We were angled off behind the announce table that didnt get broken and these type of matches are actually hard to watch in person because sometimes the barricade interferes with your sight line which was true for the Roman spear through the barricade. I remembered the Phenomeal Forearm off the Kickoff Panel and the Back Body Drop through table and the Newark crowd chanting You Still Suck at Roman even though it was a badass spot. Watching these matches back to back the Newark crowd was way more hostile than Chicago to Roman. I was in a pro-Roman period but AJ is my favorite 21st Century wrestler so I was rooting hard for my boy! I think this match did a lot of things really well. They did not deviate from the Payback formula they just adapted the formula to a Street Fight. They also didn’t get caught in all the Feng Shui bullshit. They used the announce tables that were already there instead of setting them up and one chair. Not a million props. If they did take too long to set up something up the other made them pay for it. The high spots were all super big and memorable. It was an intense championship match with stiff shots but it wasn’t a hate-filled brawl because the storyline didnt call for it. I liked that they took time to re-establish the cat & mouse dynamic. If AJ sticks and moves, he could make in roads by catching Roman with some stiff sick rights. I love his punches thought these looked better than Payback. Anytime AJ stood flat footed and tried to tee off Roman made him pay. I loved that. AJ bumps so big so it made Roman look like real life Hercules out there. Roman chair shot to the stairs was a good transition to AJ taking over. That was another interesting wrinkle. There was no real control segments but it never felt my turn your turn or noisy. In fact that might be the most novel aspect of the match! Phenomenal Forearm off the kickoff table paid off the arena brawl well. I liked the rest of the match was just them trying to finish the match But it just took 10-15 minutes. It was like an extended All Japan finish run. AJ tries so hard to hit the Styles Clash on the exposed floor and the announce table only to eat a massive back body drop onto the English announce table which is my most vivid memory of the match. It proves my point that it was all about finishers but also AJ was going for a complicated move that required him to stand still for too long allowing Roman to hit a massive right. Im late for my 2pm meeting so we are going to speed run this. AJ taking out the leg and Roman roaring back with a pendulum swing into the Ring barricade and MONSTER POWERBOMB WAS SICK! ROMAN SPEAR THROUGH BARRICADE WILD! Roman Superman Ounch on AJ during Phenomenal Forearm! SUBLIME! That bump was crazy! The interference was meh but the only low point and not enough to hurt the match. The Styles Clashes after all that buildup and one on the chair was wicked! AJ going BEZERK with the CHAIR! ROMAN SPEARING AJ OUT OF THE FUCKING SKY WITH GROUND TO AIR MISSILE WHAT A BITCHIN FINISH! BOTH MATCHES ALL THE STARS ***** BOTH ARE TOP 10 WWE MATCHES OF ALL TIME! BEST MATCH I HAVE EVER SEEN LIVE!

WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles - WWE Payback 2016 A match so fucking good I convinced my whole family to drive from Boston to Newark to see the rematch at Extreme Rules. A match so fucking good that AJ Styles became a made man earning a John Cena feud and multiple world championships. A match so fucking good I thought it was the Best WWE I had ever seen. This was all ten years ago can a match live up to these memories yes because this match is so fucking good. Absolutely sublime performance from both men but Roman Reigns makes this match. There are so many details that come together to make this match but if there was one detail it was Roman’s selling. It was dual selling of both the head and the leg. He sold being knocked for a loop, concussed so well. You really believed AJ had a chance in this match due to his head rocking strikes. Which is also a testament to Roman BECAUSE THIS WAS THE FIRST PPV AFTER MANIA! He just won the title from HHH at Mania this is a throwaway defense everyone and their mother knew he would win but goddamnit did they get you to buy into AJ winning. The second selling component was the leg between the kicks and the Calf Slicer This set up AJ for big offense down the like. Roman’s comeback incorporates all this cool nuanced selling and it feels like he is overcoming all this pain to deliver big offense. You feel his back against the wall and he will not be denied. He wrestled KING-SIZED in this. AJ wrestles this match pitch perfect. After a rocky start to his WWE tenure with Jericho he gets this opportunity that would make him or break him. Talk about rising to the occasion. The beginning of the match is all about establishing AJ’s speed vs Roman’s power. Roman just stuffs AJ at every turn lock up, headlock, waist lock. Roman feels like a mountain. I have never felt Roman work this big before. Everything is snug. AJ Resorts to hit & run tactics quick kicks to the leg, powdering and forcing Roman to chase. It creates this amazing cat & mouse dynamic. The lariat from Roman is MACK TRUCK! Then Roman starts to show off. Powerbombs from crazy position. He is a Lion playing with his kill. UNTIL BANG~! The kick to the head on the Superman Punch that rocks him. I LOVE that Roman doesnt bump. AJ gives him a tornado of strikes but doesnt bump. It takes the Calf Crusher to set up Roman really selling the leg to powder and create the opportunity for the Phenomenal Forearm to the outside. I don’t see the McMahon restarting the match as a detriment au contaire it is an ENHANCEMENT because it serves as chapters. The first chapter ends with AJ winning the battle. Roman can’t even make it back to the Ring with AJ’s help because speed & guile has bested brawn. Roman took AJ too lightly and now with a restart looks like he will falter. AJ wisely knows too much time has elapsed to simply pin Roman so he wants a big move but Roman moves. So AJ hits another tornado of strikes but punctuates with a Pele Kick which gets me pumping my fist. He goes up top but eats knees on the 450. Now it is the scramble who can regain control and Roman accidentally maybe punches AJ in the nuts coming off the top. Was it accidental? Was it just in the heat of the scramble that he hit low OR was he so desperate? I love him when matches make you question like that. Again the restart acts a chapter. Now Roman has an advantage unlike after the first restart but his bell is still Ring and his leg is fucked. The way he throws AJ up top and knocks him was sick. His reaction was ALL MAN! I loved that! He was overcoming the pain. He didn’t stop selling. He was playing through the pain. AJ comeback on the outside with the knee drop on the announce table was sick. The Roman bump over the railing was gnarly. I thought Gallows & Andersons and USO’s added to the drama of the match. The Magic Killer and the Phenomenal Forearm was a great combo with Roman’s foot on the ropes. The best spot of the match was Roman’s insane no hands over the top rope plancha onto the pile but no AJ who pops up out of nowhere with the Phenomenal Forearm. The Springboard 450 I bit hard on. If Roman was more established I think AJ should won here and dropped it back at Extreme Rules but Roman was too fragile to play games like that. The Phenomenal Forearm into the Spear was a superb finish. AJ was game to the bitter end and Roman was stretched to his absolute opening but saw slighted opening and BANG~! ACCELERATED THROUGH THE HOLE FOR THE WIN! I thought this was more Japanese than a typical WWE match. I think most classic WWE matches have a very clear hook like you sum up why it is amazing in a sentence or two. This was incredible because they stayed true to their characters knew their roles and then reacted to what the match gave them. These weren’t out of Ring characters like Hulk Hogan the Superman or Stone Cold the take no shit badass. These were wrestling roles a power wrestler versus a tactician great at strikes and aerial assault. As power wrestler negates the tacticians ability to land his offense the tacticians comes up with ways to negate the power wrestlers offense through head rocking strikes and leg attacks. Now the Power wrestler has to overcome a weakness and the tactician has to figure out how to hit his bombs in a way that the match gives it to him. So it is very detailed oriented and very technical. So rewarding. Bravo! Is it the greatest WWE match of all time? No I think Bret vs Stone Cold is. It is definitely Top 10, it might be Top 5 I’d have to look. This match is so fucking good. *****

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

Genichiro Tenryu vs Kazuchika Okada - Tenryu Produce 11/15/15 With all the glowing reviews and praise I read in the past ten years I somehow deluded myself into thinking this would be amazing traditional pro wrestling. It is so different than most pro wrestling. Tenryu wrestles exactly like a 65 year old man would wrestle old as shit. Father Time comes for all us. Perhaps this is the most human match of all time. We all have to face our own mortality and that we will not be able to do what we always could. My wife told me that her father came to realization this year at 74 he may never swim again because of how difficult it is for him and she told me how sad it made him. It broke my heart. Just like watching Tenryu do that enziguiri. He could never Powerbomb well so that was just par for the course. 😛 He could still chop like a bastard and fucking bear paw swipe that punk bastard Okada the one to get out of the Rainmaker was great. Those chops looked so gnarly. Okada played his part well bumping for the Old Man and letting him get his shit in. Some of those kicks and punches looked legit and Okada’s face had the marks to prove they were. That Elbow Drop on the Old Man made me cringe. Those Dropkicks just felt like Elder Abuse. Rainmaker Mercy Killing. Okada felt like a weird pick for the match but in some ways they are kindred spirits both are irreverent punks who hold the world in contempt they just come at it from two different angles. I hate for the cop out but a match like this defies rating. In some ways it is the greatest match I ever saw because I cried and felt real human empathy. In some ways it is the worst match I have ever seen elder abuse is not fun to watch. So I choose not to rate it Bur just experience it as a truly unique human experience and encourage everyone to watch it. Tenryu Forever!

Kenny Omega vs Hirooki Goto - NJPW G1 Climax Finals 8/14/16 They had me cheering hard for the One Winged Angel to end this borefest so they did get me to pop for the finish. I always thought the Naito match was the finals. Since I watched the Naito match I thought maybe I was too harsh on Omega but this match brought him back down to Earth. It is not necessarily his fault Goto is a poor man’s Kensuke Sasaki or Hashimoto. They try to present him as an asskicked but very rarely does he reach elite levels. So I knew Omega’s had his work cut out for him. Goto is very bland both selling the neck and his offense. At the same time, it is not like Omega put on this other worldly performance. His knee selling was all over the place. His control segment on the neck was uninspired. The Rick Rude hip swivel on the Rude Awakening was an unexpected surprise. I can usually pinpoint oh this why everyone else likes this match but this ain’t working for me brutha but that doesn’t really exist in this match. Theres actually not a lot of high flying. Theres plenty of high spots it is 2016 but it is not really a spot fest either. I am kinda surprised this is as hyped as it is as because the finish run is pretty tame. Goto’s offense doesnt really have the juice for those ultra hot finish runs. So Omega has to manufacture it by scaling the ropes and falling back to escape a sleeper. That raised the stakes. It is the usual Omega with the Snap Dragons and the V-Trigger threw in a Styles Clash before the One Winged Angel. I mean usually you can at least point to the finish run as that is exciting but it was just alright This far inferior to the Naito which is shockingly great. In a large part Naito match is expertly laid out. Every transition is very well-thought and fits the match. They take what the match gives them and there’s a constant sense of progression. This match the transitions were not emphatic and just felt like ok it is my turn. There was no fist pumping for a comeback. There was no oh that’s how he gets out of this hole. There was a lot of stuff but none of it emotionally moving. It was not very interesting. I will say unlike many matches from This era there was no point where I said “Fuck this, this is dumb”. I do think it was a good match mostly on Omega’s part I think he had enough good cocky heel moments and overcoming the knee to make this good. This felt like sub par All Japan for the most part. The Naito match is the one to watch. I would skip this as it is not very essential ***

Kota Ibushi vs TJ Perkins - WWE CWC SEMIFINALS 9/14/16 When I watched TJP in Korakeun Hall in 2024 dude was wicked over especially with the ladies. This match was definitely the high water mark of his career. I remember him debuting on RAW shortly after this and he was DOA. But no one can take this match from him I thought he wrestled the match of his life. The match ran through TJP and his counter offense. Ibushi was this offensive machine. Emphasis on machine. TJP was the human element the under dog story. The counter wrestler whose strategy was part takin a lickin but keep on tickin and part surprise offense. Ibushi wrestled perfectly as this offensive juggernaut who could kick TJP head in, take to the skies with aerial assault and THROW TJP DOWN! BUT TJP kept finding those counters. Loved the early wrestling. Good chaining. They establish TJP checking the lethal kicks and TJP looking knee bar. I like that the first kick came in a cross cross scramble. Just as Ibushi looks like he is going to pour it on with a moonsault he gets kicked in the ass. Ibushi comes roaring back but then we get Dragon Leg Screw on a kick catch but which works on multiple levels because TJP’s move of choice is the knee bar. Ibushi uses a dropkick to set up for his big dive. From there Ibushi rifles TJP with kicks. TJP starts a comeback but a Pele starts the finish run. Ibushi tries a Powerbomb but countered into a DDT. Another Pele Kick this time countered into a KNEEBAR! That high spot popped me! Ibushi stands up through it and wrangles him into a strike exchange. POWERBOMB! 1-2-NO! I love the timing! Ibushi is the favorite wrestles as the favorite. That kneebar rang the alarm bells in Ibushi’s head! Time to stop fucking around and hit the damn Powerbomb only for a kick out! Love the psychology! What is the only way for Ibushi to one up the Powerbomb take to the air with a Phoenix Splash! Crash & Burn! Didnt love the crazy piledriver by Ibushi so soon after that. Crazy head kick by Ibushi! Powerbomb but reversed into knee bar with the a face lock for the SHOCK tap out! Ten years later still feels like a surprise upset! I knew TJP wins the Tourney but I thought this was the final. He beats Metallik in the Final. Still even though I knew he won it still felt surprising! Ibushi was presented as a real offensive juggernaut a real monster to overcome. When fighting a monster, you need to overcome a lot of pain & suffering and have a smart counter strategy and TJP had both. I didn’t love the head kick being no sold to get into knee bar. I think there was a better way to transition there. Great character work by both and a great story, makes this an easy thumbs up, excellent match **** 1/4

Kota Ibushi vs Cedric Alexander - WWE CWC 8/10/16 Crusierweight Classic along with Mae Young Classic and NXT UK Tournament were most brilliant use of the Network and really put over the idea of the WWE Super Indy. The CWC launched Ciampa and Gargano but the actual Cruiserweight Title was DOA. I think weight limits have a place in wrestling only in the hands of the most deft Booker. Anyways it looks like this is most heralded match of the tournament and it is only 15 minutes THANK GOD! 2016 is not kind with short classics. This is closest I have felt to watching 90s workrate wrestling since I have watched 90s workrate wrestling. lol. The high spots are high but they let them breathe. They don’t wrestle in fast forward. They sprinkle in hard hitting strikes. This would have been right at home in ECW or WCW. Ibushi in WWE seems weird. Could they not come to terms with a contract with him? He was clearly the one they wanted. I have always like Cedric Alexander and wish he got a better shake in WWE but this match got him a contract. They do some nice Stampede style chaining to start and a good tumbling pass to whet the audience appetite. The side headlock work is well-done. I love a good back elbow in a baby face vs babyface match to say NOW IT IS ON! Ibushi scores with a thunderous kick but it is too early to go for a dive and crashes and burns which allows Cedric to hit the first dive of the match. Terrific psychology. Alexander hits a springboard clothesline for two. Ibushi fires back with a dropkick to the head which feels like an emphatic transition and gets that dive to hit. They lose me a bit with Alexander pop up driver transition. You can argue the reason Alexander could land on his feet was because Ibushi didnt get the Frankensteiner right but that also looked bad. I didn’t care for the Brainbuster and head kick back to back near falls because Ibushi looked toast and next thing you know he rolls out the way and Kick -> Powerbomb win. Offensive execution was great and I liked the efficiency of the match but needed an editor down the stretch. A very good 90s workrate match in 2016 *** 3/4

Kenny Omega vs Tetsuya Naito - NJPW g-1 Climax 8/13/16 Kenny Omega’s coming out party. I gotta watch Kenny Omega for the next ten years here goes nothing. I will say this Omega absolutely goes for it in this match. He knows this is his big opportunity that the rocket is getting strapped to his ass and he absolutely gives it his all. I will never disparage effort. Is he a total ham? Yes he is. But I rather you ham it up rather under sell or give me nothing like Naito. I have never been a huge Naito guy but again his total dispassionate take on wrestling is not for me. This was the Kenny Omega show through and through. In a way Naito’s total lack of fire made Omega pop even more. The other thing I noticed is Omega has to be the most staccato wrestler of all time. I love staccato riffing hello Judas Priest & Ratt and staccato singing. I would cite Bret Hart and moreso Chris Benoit both also PrairieCanadian as other staccato wrestlers who put a lot of snap in their movements. I think the biggest difference is Omega doesnt just do it on on a chop or high impact spot every movement has snap. The way he runs, the way he sells, executes offense. I have watched a lot of him in AEW but the way I watch week to week TV is totally different than how I write these reviews. So call this a working theory of Omega which I am totally willing to retract but it is almost like watching a video game character when you have to hit the d-pad to move him as opposed to holding down the button. It is so much stutter stepping. I have no idea if I like it or hate it. But it is unique. I believe this is nominally heel Vs heel Bullet Club vs LFI. Naito hits Tranquilo. They take turns spitting on each other. Naito dropkicks Omega’s knee and Omega sells like his knee just exploded. I was very wary of two workrate guys going so early to the leg selling well but I have to admit until the very end they made it work. Naito worked the leg pretty well and Omega was very over the top with his selling but he incorporated it well into the match. I like how he had an early break to hit a slingshot Plancha and landed on his feet which jammed his knee. What really makes this match work is how shockingly well thought out each transition is until the very end (it does devolve into a mess at the end). Like Omega using his weight to drive Naito into the railing and Bodyslam on the apron was really good way to transition onto offense. Omega worked the neck well but when he went for the moonsault his knee acted up and Naito dropkicked it. Naito worked a great submission here. Omega’s dropkicking Naito off the apron worked even if it sounds like it didnt. I loved the Powerbomb tease on the apron only to do it through announce table which always looks a thousand times better than an apron bomb. Omega out of control crazy springboard cannonball sea dive to floor wiping out Naito looked great and showed an Omega that was willing to go for broke. Transition back to Naito is well done again with head rocking DDTs. We get a terrible New Japan Strike Exchange breakdown which I won’t hold against them because everyone sucks as these. The two best spots of the match besides the crazy swandive canon all center around Omega not being able to hoist Naito properly for the One Winged Angel due to the bum wheel. First while I hate the Destino BUT Here as a counter to the One Winged Angel it looked nifty. Then they top it off with a anklelock roll through. Honestly if Omega tapped I think I would have called this match a classic but after that spot the match just unravels. The match goes off the rails after the Dragonrana by Naito onto Omega. That was the first egregious case of nope my turn as Omega counters the next Destino with a piledriver. Omega eventually gets him up only drop him into a German Suplex which totally under cuts all the awesome Omega Cant hoist him up work they did. UGH! They were wrestling such an interesting and controlled match but they couldn’t help themselves they had to get their shit in. One Winged Angel wins it. At pretty close to 30minutes it is very breezy. Each control segment is well-worked it never drags. Transitions are interesting and well-worked. There are enough crazy high spots worked into the dueling body part psychology. Two things hold this match back from all-time classic: the finish run felt like it was shoehorned on and didn’t fit with the body of the match and second I was not emotionally moved by the match. Still this was far better than I expected. **** 1/2

WWE Tag Team Champions New Day vs USOs vs Lucha Dragons - WWE TLC 2015 I was at this show live with my Dad and brother. This is my Dad’s favorite match he ever saw live and still brings it up multiple times a year. He LOVES the Destino from Kalisto onto Jey USO through the ladder. He can’t get over them breaking the ladder. I don’t have the heart to tell him it is a fiberglass ladder. That spot still hits big and there are enough other fun high spots like the monkey flip 450 onto a ladder, Jimmy’s splash to the outside. The finish is fun with Woods throwing the trombone at Kalisto and Kingston ripping him off the ladder for the win. Theres really not much more to this match. There’s nothing bad or blown but outside the ONE spot theres also nothing Thats spectacular. It is a fun car crash match especially live but leave the memories alone. My brother and I were at this show and Royal Rumble 2015. It is crazy how over the New Day got in a year. Philly innovated New Day Sucks which morphed into New Day Rocks. They had such GO AWAY heat at the beginning of 2015 and by the end of 2015 you could say they were the most over act in the company. This match is peak New Day in terms of their gear, their act they did their stand up comedy routine before the match and they are in the middle Of their year plus tag title reign. This is the most remembered match of that reign I reckon but to me it is just a good solid ladder match that lives and dies by that ONE spot but it is a helluva spot just ask my Dad. *** 1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW 8/3/16 I dont know what is going on with me but these 2016 Ishii matches are not clicking with me at all and I remember really liking the Okada one from three days later and re-read my review and it sounds like a banger but this was just so disjointed. I felt like they were trying to wrestle an Ishii match and a Tanahashi match at the same time. I love Tanahashi to death he is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers But I don’t want to see him in this many strike exchanges. His strikes are the weakest part of his game and the fact he was going toe to toe with and sometimes besting Ishii at his own game was silly. No one thinks Tanahashi is beating Ishii in Power Slap but happens here. I would much rather watch Tanahashi come up with creative strategies to beat Ishii rather than be sold this incredulous narrative that Tanahashi can beat Ishii in Power Slap. On the Tanahashi side, at first I thought they were going to invert the Tanahashi formula with Ishii targeting the leg twice but that gets dropped. Tanahashi targets the leg as he normally does twice but drops it both times. It felt really disjointed and like there was no momentum. They just kept going back to the strike exchange. After Ishii Powerbomb they go into finish run which means at least no more strike exchanges. I liked how hard Tanahashi worked to wriggle out of the Brainbuster. Tanahashi missed the High Fly Flow so at least it felt like the match was going somewhere. They used Ishii sliding lariat as the prelude to Brainbuster to get me excited. Then the moment where I was like this match went from being a mess to trash. Ishii POPS Tanahashi under the chin real good with a Headbutt. Tanahashi immediately floats over on the Brainbuster attempt fresh as a daisy and hits a Dragon Suplex and two High Fly Flows to win. Fuck that noise. They had a CLASSIC at the 2013 G1 Climax watch that instead.

NEVER Openwwight Champion Katsuyori Shibata vs Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW 2/11/16 They managed to have an even worse match than 1/4 which is impressive. The beginning where Shibata taunts Ishii to hit him but always strikes first was actually entertaining dick character work and then match is derailed into the Pain Olympics. Each man takes turns hitting the other. They take it a step further. Each allows the other to hook the other up and suplex them repeatedly. I have never come closer to turning off a match mid-match and walking away. In fairness to the match and them I kept watching. Nothing was egregious as that but there was nothing redeemable about this match. They had a cool undercurrent of Shibata being the better the counter wrestler using flash submissions like the Triangle Choke on the Powerbomb and a flying armbar after a sliding clothesline but other than that. This was just Bloody Knuckles wrestling. Who could tolerate the most pain? There is no more cynical and nihilistic take on pro wrestling than Bloody Knuckles wrestling. This was so cynical and nihilistic that it was almost impressive. Key word almost. Absolutely wretched pro wrestling, I loathe this match and everything it stands for.