Superstar Sleeze

Open The Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi vs Bryan Danielson - DGUSA 9/6/09 Bryan Danielson is on his Indy Retirement Tour and like all good rockstars (*cough* Motley Crue *cough*) this is a fake-out and 2010 ends up being his real Indy Retirement because of the infamous tie choke-out. Dragon Gate USA is Gabe's promotion after he left Ring Of Honor, but before he started Evolve I believe, he leveraged his ties with Dragon Gate, which was at peak American popularity. Naruki Doi is one half of Speed Muscle (see I know things about Dragon Gate) and I do believe he is the muscle because Yoshino is the leaner of the two. Open The Dream Gate is the Top Dragon Gate prize not to be confused with Open The Freedom Gate, the top DG USA prize. I think thats all we need for context. The match sucks. I am watching a bunch of matches for a new project that I dont want to jinx by announcing what it is and so I was going through a bunch of Observer Match of the Year Contenders (Thanks Mookie!). So this made the list. Normally, I can kinda see why someone would really love a match even if I dont like it. I am hard pressed to figure out why this match would rate highly (I can understand someone saying this is good or even great, but to call this a Top 100 contender is baffling to me). Meltzer gave it 4.75 stars. I can understand somebody who likes the workrate style giving this around ****, but 4.75?!? Bizarre. The reason I say that is I didnt find this very impressive from a pace or highspot perspective. I have seen balls to the wall spotfests where I am like I get it. This isnt for me, but I get it. This was worked at a standard pace and featured routine highspots. I think that is my problem with Dragon Gate is that their highspots tend to be more modified slams or do a normal move with a spin. To quote Shania, it don't impress me much. I much rather watch a Kota Ibushi or a Ricochet wow me aerially OR a KENTA go a million miles per hour and kick my head off. Rather than doing a modified slam. The Muscle Bomb is an egregiously bad finish. I thought Bryan was reversing into a victory roll, but decided nope I am just going to tuck my chin and fall. Why do the move to yourself? It was dumb. The moment I realized I was watching a really bad match was towards the end. I was coming up with ways of trying to write a positive review in my head while I was watching. Then Danielson is hitting his MMA Elbows to Doi on the top rope (granted he already hit ~15-20 on the ground and this put Doi out basically, it has been established that this move is deadly). Doi absorbs about 5 of these doesnt really do anything to counter and next thing you know Danielson is taking some sort of lame slam that is essentially just him doing a bellyflop to himself. So yeah fuck this match. I can give more examples. Danielson does his second anklelock has it in for a while too. Doi's next moves is to run a million miles an hour hit I believe a dropkick and then definitely a full speed canonball in the corner. It was ridiculous. That was the fundamental problem of the match there was no hook. Nothing was sticky. There was no take home message. Nothing mattered. The limb psychology was nonsensical. Danielson was trying his hardest to sell the leg. I mean he was basically wearing a "Kick Me" sign on his knee. Honestly, he should have just screamed at him to hit him in the knee. It was ridiculous. Doi was so oblivious. The one redeeming part of the match was at the beginning Danielson tortured Doi's arm in a way that would have made Dick Murdoch proud. That was a very, very strong control segment. Other than that, this match sucked out loud. The bulk of the blame is on Doi. it is clear Danielson had an idea of what he wanted to do and Doi was blowing off selling and blowing off Danielson's selling, which I think new level of sucking. Like everyone blows off their own selling, but I dont think I have seen a wrestler IGNORE when their opponent is selling and basically begging them to work a body part. This was bad.

ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries - ROH 12/29/07 How many concussions did Nigel receive in this match? Holy shit! This has to be in the Top 10 Hardest Matches To Watch. I couldn’t stop cringing. The fans were turning on Nigel because he had the audacity to take time off as the Champ yo heal a bicep injury. He deserves a fucking medal of courage for this performance. So Nigel was playing up this chump character by going to the safety of the ropes when ever Aries went for the arm. Aries has enough and slaps the taste out of his mouth. Nigel powders and soaks in the jeers. He has his back to the ring. Aries comes fucking flying out of the ring like has shot out of a canon to wiping Nigel out. Nigel’s fucking head SMASHES into the guardrail unprotected. He has this mast gash over his right eyebrow and is clearly fucking of it. This is FIVE minutes into the match. So he wrestles the rest of the match 18-20 minutes concusses out of his fucking mind while the fans screaming for Aries to fuck him up and Aries REPEATEDLY rocks him with elbows, slaps, punches and knees. It was disgusting. This was brutal to watch. They did get a rhythm going after five minutes after the initial blow to the head. This match easily could have been dueling arm psychology built around each man’s submission finish but Aries wouldn’t stop going for the head. Complaining about the match structure seems frivolous given Nigel’s head trauma but it was a total clusterfuck. Nothing made sense they were just throwing shit out there and trying to pop the crowd with dangerous shit (Aries took a couple nutty bumps) and highspots. I couldn’t stop cringing. They wouldn’t eventually use this to play into the Danielson match from 2008 match I love. Wrestling fans thought Nigel was the heel for being a pussy after this match...bad look for wrestling fans. Happy Nigel is still with us and collecting a paycheck from WWE. Dude deserves a medal of courage he is All Man in my book.

Wow whenever I’m higher than ShittyLittleBoots or SmarkMark16 on a workrate match I feel weird but I enjoyed the hell out of this asskicker. GHC Jr Heavyweight Champion KENTA vs Davey Richards - ROH 4/3/09 This is probably the height of both KENTA and Davey Richards as workrate idols in their careers. KENTA’s last year probably and Richards first year until the Elgin match in 2011/12. My Davey Richards memory is that he Main Evented aN ROH Show in Detroit in 2009/10 and I forced my best friend from college to go with me. He loved Davey Richards still talks about how much of a badass he is. The best moment is I can’t remember who but somebody does a dive into the crowd into the section to our right, wipes out chairs and fans cleared out. My friend, who never been to a show before goes “Do the fans know that will happen?” And I go “No, I honestly don’t know, that could have been us.”. His expression was priceless and he just repeated “That could have been us” and then just screamed “Holy shit! This is so fucking cool.”. My friend didn’t become a fan but it is totally down to go a show whenever now. That’s my Davey Richards story. Theres always been a backlash against Richards from the anti-workrate which I get. This is a very workrate-Heavy bomb-throwing Match. It would fit into the CrossFit genre so to speak BUT this was NOT full-fledged 2010s workrate bullshit. There was no standing around waiting for movez and it was not overly cooperative. It was not glorified men’s floor exercise routine. It was an asskicker. They just kicked the shit out of each other. The kicks looked primo and it was just a relentless onslaught of stiff kicks. If you going to do a psychology-bereft spotfest this is the style I like a macho, shit kicking. The first five minutes got me excited because Richards actually tried to be a heel and KENTA tried to be a face. KENTA’s response to that first kick to the back by slapping the taste out of Richards mount was such a power move and I dug it. Richards has don’t well to establish he was the heel and it was cool he let himself be punked out by KENTA. The shine was great and I liked the dragon leg screw transition to heat. Of course KENTA made a One Million Mile An Hour comeback ending an illusion of a lost classic but it was a thoroughly entertaining asskicking match. I really liked the strike exchange and pretty much anytime there was kicking. I liked how economical the finish run was. Richards evades G2S twice, hits his big move to zero heat which made me laugh and the G2S win. Tight & efficient. No downtime, just two hard-hitting dudes rifling each other I dig. ****

ROH World Champion Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries - ROH 12/26/04 CM Punk mentions that Aries was not even in ROH a year ago and that is really key. Generation Next was the beginning of the Second Wave of US Indies workers. This match is an extension of the 90s US Workrate style with more puroresu influences because Joe is such a disciple of King's Road & Hahsimoto. That is not present here. Aries wrestles this match like an undersized Chris Benoit. He is pugnacious and he throws himself into every dropkick and forearm. I love how he lunges into everything. He really feels outgunned compared to the dominant asskicker Samoa Joe that is 21-months deep into a championship reign that is seemingly interminable. Also, love how Aries changes strategy three times in this match. My favorite thing about Flair is his ever-evolving strategy. Here we see that with Aries. At first he tries the bumrush approach, but the bigger Joe stops him in his track. Then in an escape of a hold, he manages to wrench Joe's knee in a nice, quick touch that can almost be missed. Joe misses a kneedrop and its the same knee. Now Aries goes to work on the knee. It is solid work including his power elbow. Joe quashes this with some wicked Kawada-like head kicks. That's the key is that Joe does not blow off the knee work rather he stops it in time before it takes too much of a toll. The reason Aries does not go back is that Joe knocks him so loopy over and over again with kicks and facewashes. Aries resorts to desperation offense. Just hurling his body at Joe whether it is a forearm or a dropkick you believe Aries throwing every single ounce of his body against Joe and more often than Joe is just absorbing and returning the pain. Then Aries ups the ante and starts to get nasty. He gouges Joe's eyes to avoid the Musclebuster so he can hit a 450 splash. He fishhooks Joe in a submission. The fishhook is such an underutilized gnarly move. He is doing every thing to win. It feels gritty and nasty. Aries to his credit is absorbing a lot of punishment including an Island Driver. He wriggles free of the choke and in a MuscleBuster is just able to wrestle Joe down with a Crucifix. Aries ROCKS Joe with a massive forearm! Aries absolutely SMOKES Joe with a wicked kick! Aries Nails a BRAINBUSTER! That was his third attempt of the match and it finally hit. 450! 1-2-3! New champ and a massive upset. It is feels thoroughly earned. Joe was in command the entire match. Aries got his hope spots in and never died. He just kept chipping away. That last minute was just a thrilling onslaught. Excellent work all around two men that played their roles to perfection. ****1/2

Kensuke Sasaki vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW G-1 Climax 8/14/04 Kensuke is going through a mid-life crisis busting out top rope corkscrew sentons and rolling cradle (came out terrible), hell at least it is different. Tanahashi does plucky young upstart well stealing the Northern Lights Bomb after getting his ass kicked at the beginning. Tanahashi is very inspired Keiji Mutoh offensively to this day, (all that legwork) but you can really see it in this match. There are a lot of things Tanahashi does better than Mutoh such as selling and psychology, but in terms of offense this is a very 90s Keiji Mutoh match. This is a pretty straightforward asskicking match from Sasaki, who beats the piss out of Tanahashi. I forgot how much I enjoy watching Sasaki kick ass, but on top of that he hits three dives so there is good variety. Tanahashi does hit 'n' run well and times is comebacks well. Very smartly, Sasaki never hits Tanahashi in the head so Tanahashi's comebacks make sense. I thought they got sloppy down the stretch and it did take away from the finish. The finish is part of the match's charm so I won't spoil it, but this is a great veteran vs young lion match that Japan does so much better than America and at the height of Inokiism this is a throwback to the 90s and Choshu-ism. ***1/4

I am surprised you all liked this match as you did. This seemed to get praised at the time as part of the Mutoh 2001 Renaissance, but I thought the 2001 match was much, much better. This match was filled with so many odd, odd choices. This felt like one of those Cena/Owens matches where it was just my turn, your turn but just with more pop up to it. Oh and Mutoh didnt fuck Kawada over. I could tell they were going for the Ganso Bomb and I think Mutoh had a mini-freak out. He is NOT Misawa and wanted to take it more safely. Then the second attempt he did the Ganso Bomb, but it was a safer version than the famous Misawa one. Of course, it didnt finish. It was a normal powerbomb that finished. AJPW Triple Crown Champion Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 2/24/02 Mutoh 2001 loves to work the knee. Kawada loves to sell the knee. This should be easy. At minimum it should be great and their ceiling is match of the decade. Somehow, they deliver something that is just peculiar. I hesitate to call it bad, but it is not great that's for sure. They did have a classic in 2001 so they have it in them I have seen it, but this match was not it. This reminded me of the Kawada vs Hashimoto match which I wanted to love so badly, but was just weird at times. This was just plain bizarre. The match was riddled with pop-up no-selling. I don't mean like I am nitpicking like for a good twenty minutes they just do pop-up no-selling. I mean you could just call that a no-sell was coming. It felt like Cena vs Owens at times in how they would use one wrestler's offense to create another's offense. Mutoh just got done hitting his standard 90s offense Back Handspring Elbow and Power Elbow. Then he can just sits. I am like ok. Kawada suplexes him. Mutoh pops up and Shining Wizard so that Kawada can do the All Japan fall out of the ring sell. That's just a microcosm of the match. They pretty much do this style for the next twenty minutes. It is just bizarre. I don't know what they were trying to accomplish. It being 2001 Mutoh there are 8 million dropkicks to the leg and dragon leg whips, which I love. I know it bothers a ton of people because it is so repetitive. It is actually the repetition that I like. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Then when the pattern breaks it becomes interesting. So I approve. I did think that's best part of the match. Kawada's selling in the moment was great per usual. However, he would keep no-selling and then he would be running around and kicking Mutoh in the head. The other thing is there were way too many Shining Wizards. I love that the idea behind the knee psychology is that the opponent struggles to get back to his feet and BANG SHINING WIZARD! But that should be a knockout blow not constantly blown off. I loved that Mutoh who is usually terrible at selling decided he was going to sell his own figure-4 (Kawada did reverse the pressure for a while). I am like neither one of you want to sell, but now you decided you are going to sell something that no one sells besides Flair in the 80s. The match was so bizarre. The cardinal sin of the match is not the weird pop-up no-selling head kicks and Shining Wizards, it was when Kawada did his glassy eye sell of the Shining Wizards. He died and it made it so that I couldnt believe in his comeback. I bit on the Moonsault because it seemed like the logical conclusion after a barrage of Shining Wizards because it was one level up. but when he kicked out. I knew Kawada was winning. It was so lame. Mutoh hits another Shining Wizard and Kawada sorta blocks it, but Mutoh sells like he is hurt. It was an incredibly lame transition. Then Kawada did a bunch of powerbombs including a Ganso Bomb. On the first attempt, Mutoh had some second thoughts and deadweights him. Mutoh is NOT Misawa and wanted to take the move safely. He hits the Ganso Bomb but it is safer than the Misawa one and of course just like in the Misawa match it is not the finish. Powerbomb wins the match for Kawada and he wins the Triple Crown for the fourth time. The curse of Kawada continues as he gets injured a month into his reign and is forced to vacate it. This match defies rating. It is utterly bizarre.

It has been a while since I did a match review proper, but I got a new idea for a project so here we go... Chris Benoit vs William Regal - Brian Pillman Memorial Show 5/25/00 I got the Hard Knocks Chris Benoit DVD for Christmas when it came out and I remember watching the hell out of it. This was a match I didnt watch too much, but I put it on a re-watch list. Unfortunately, I totally forgot about it, which is a shame because this is excellent. Benoit vs Regal have excellent chemistry and they had a ton of ultra-stiff TV matches in the mid-2000s, but I would hazard to say this is actually the best of the bunch. I have been watching a ton of 2019 wrestling. I just needed something mindless and that's what 2019 wrestling is. This was so refreshing so interesting and so intricate. I appreciated the amount of physical contact in this match. There was actual chain wrestling and struggle. There was a natural flow that made sense, but they also worked hard for everything. They hit those cool spots you want to hit at the beginning, the bridges, holding onto control through a reversal attempt, good stuff. Of course, it being Benoit vs Regal there are shoot headbutts and they are early. Benoit busts Regal open in a knucklelock with those shoot headbutts. Regal sells this so well ala BattlArts-style and Benoit just keeps moving forward in true Benoit fashion. The Regal drop toehold and hopping right into the Regal Stretch was genius. Regal was clearly in a hole and needed something that could do damage, but allow him to catch his breath and even potentially finish Benoit. It was too early though and Benoit had enough fight left in him. I loved the transitions in this match so much. Benoit breaks up a surfboard with a stiff elbow to the cut head of Regal. Or Benoit taking too long to get to the top for the diving headbutt and Regal clubbing him with a left and then a Super Buttefly Suplex! Regal busted out a lot of cool shit in this match: standing dropkick, Super Butterfly Suplex and a modified Blue Thunder Bomb. This was his big comeback match so it makes sense that he wanted to impress. Benoit busting out the Dragon Suplex and immediately pouncing on Regal with the Crippler Crossface for an quick tapout was a perfect finish. Just great pure pro wrestling! No running, no overly chereographed spots, no cooperation, just two men trying to earn a victory in a gritty, nasty match. ****1/4

Jerome is totally right. I saw Muta/Tajiri/Pentagon Jr vs Low-Ki/LAX over Mania weekend live. I damn near shit myself during Muta’s Entrance and just being like “That’s the Great Muta! That’s Great Fucking Muta in front of me”. It was Mark Out City brutha. The Dude can barely move. He’s great for a nostalgia pop but it would be impossible to work a Main Event. This is the make it or break it PPV so you want two dudes that are physically capable of performing and making people say that they will come back for more.

CM Punk left with a boo-boo face because he didnt get to main event WrestleMania. He can say all he wants that he doesn't care. But methinks he doth protesth too much. He is trying to convince himself more than anything else. That's my take on it. He didnt waste his physical prime at all. You can main event Wrestlemania well into your late 40s even early 50s. He saw how Brock and Batista came back and got slotted in the main event. He can be pissed about it all he wants, but he is shrewd enough to know "two can play at that game". It is all speculation, but it is fun.

It amuses me greatly that one of the major reasons CM Punk left was to generate enough buzz on his return that he could main event WrestleMania. He leaves to avoid HHH and now he is being programmed with HHH Jr and almost assuredly wont get the Main Event spot against Rollins. It is all speculation but all the rumors of Vince being "pissed" or "irate" seem like disinformation. If it made it on TV even if it was in response to chants, I feel like there is a high likelihood of it happening. Now I could be wrong, but I would definitely bet on CM Punk wrestling at WrestleMania.

Got to see Thatcher/Kingston live....living in Mass has its perks! Glad you like Thatcher vs Ki and Kingston. At 6’ 3” surprised WWE has not snatched him up. They got Biff and Gulak after all. The prospect of Biff returning to Beyond has me salivating.

Speaking of Red Death, he was booked last night against John Silver (I finally get his name...its a play on Long John Silver because he is so short! LOL!) and MY GOD was that a barnburner of a match. So stiff, tons of body on body contact, and great escalation. That lariat out of the corner by Silver was EVERYTHING I LOVE ABOUT PRO WRESTLING! I fucking flexed when he hit that shit I was marking out so hard. I thought this was more of a return to form for Beyond. Dirty Daddy the Asskicker returned and am excited to see him kick Chuck The Fuck's ass. Solo Darling is being utilized in a prominent role. Thomas Santell and Nick Fuckin' Gage are the best tag team of 2019. Nick Gage is the realest muthafucka in the world. Shit feels like a shoot out there because you are so emotionally connected to him. He is just so earnest and authentic. I will NEVER get tired of shouting "MDK ALL FUCKIN' DAY" The Starr/Mercedes match I left early because I know his propensity to go long. The Thursday night switch was a bad move for me personally, I have a lot of meetings Friday morning and I live an hour away from Worcester. Santell/Yuta I was late for. I caught like the last 5-7 minutes, which was a bummer.

Low-Ki vs Timothy Thatcher - MLW Fusion Episode 83 11/11/19 WOW! Does this one live up to the hype or what?!? I was shocked by the size discrepancy even though I have seen both men live I thought they were about the same size. I guess I thought Thatcher was smaller and Ki was bigger. I looked it up and it was mentioned that Thatcher is 6' 3" I cant believe he is 3 inches taller than me. The match is a great throwback to the days where matches were built around body contact and limb control, not stupid running spots. Loved the collar & elbow tieups and loved how they built from the feeling out process into the meat of the match. Thatcher won a Greco-Roman Knucklelock bridging sequence (check out that knee to the head) that earned him control over Ki. Ki tried to fight from the back but Thatcher caught him and turned into a Single Leg Crab. Thatcher pretty much owned Low Ki and was transitioned at will from limb to limb with different jointlocks. He looked great doing it. Often, I think of Low-Ki as a great worker on top, dictating pace and offense. Here he was great underneath selling different body parts and also selling the emotion of being overwhelmed. He sold that he was in a desperate situation. I liked how Ki kept trying to use strike to re-assert himself in the match but to no avail because Thatcher can play that game. So it made the strike exchanges make sense and mean something. I really liked the suplex struggle. Thatcher was channeling Fujiwara with his snarling and heavy breathing. The Tidal Wave was a great desperation Hail Mary from Ki that ended having him rocked by a HUGE Thatcher European Uppercut. Ki sold like a million bucks. Anybody has watched enough Puro and this feels like an Old School UWF or NJPW match knows more often than not "He who controls the match is he who loses the match". So I fully expected a Ki victory, but they still caught me off guard. Thatcher went for a catapult, a big mistake as Ki jumped on the middle rope and came right back down with a DOUBLE STOMP! I marked out hard for that. What a GENIUS transition! The first time Ki got real offense. I expected that to lead to the finish, but Ki got cocky and started showboating with his strikes leading to a nice throw by Thatcher to get a nearfall. Then Thatcher went for some sort of Suplex, but Ki crawled along his back and got an inverted Triangle Choke that looked gnarly as fuck for the submission. What a cool finish! Total Throwback to Original UWF/80s NJPW, in a way early ROH/JAPW with Ki and Danielson. Tons of body contact not a lot of movement. Incredibly compelling, hard work & struggle and tremendous escalation. The Uppercut on the Tidal Wave and the Double Stomp were two stand out spots and the finish was just perfect for their match. Check this out! ****1/4

Low-Ki vs Timothy Thatcher - MLW Fusion Episode 83 11/11/19 WOW! Does this one live up to the hype or what?!? I was shocked by the size discrepancy even though I have seen both men live I thought they were about the same size. I guess I thought Thatcher was smaller and Ki was bigger. I looked it up and it was mentioned that Thatcher is 6' 3" I cant believe he is 3 inches taller than me. The match is a great throwback to the days where matches were built around body contact and limb control, not stupid running spots. Loved the collar & elbow tieups and loved how they built from the feeling out process into the meat of the match. Thatcher won a Greco-Roman Knucklelock bridging sequence (check out that knee to the head) that earned him control over Ki. Ki tried to fight from the back but Thatcher caught him and turned into a Single Leg Crab. Thatcher pretty much owned Low Ki and was transitioned at will from limb to limb with different jointlocks. He looked great doing it. Often, I think of Low-Ki as a great worker on top, dictating pace and offense. Here he was great underneath selling different body parts and also selling the emotion of being overwhelmed. He sold that he was in a desperate situation. I liked how Ki kept trying to use strike to re-assert himself in the match but to no avail because Thatcher can play that game. So it made the strike exchanges make sense and mean something. I really liked the suplex struggle. Thatcher was channeling Fujiwara with his snarling and heavy breathing. The Tidal Wave was a great desperation Hail Mary from Ki that ended having him rocked by a HUGE Thatcher European Uppercut. Ki sold like a million bucks. Anybody has watched enough Puro and this feels like an Old School UWF or NJPW match knows more often than not "He who controls the match is he who loses the match". So I fully expected a Ki victory, but they still caught me off guard. Thatcher went for a catapult, a big mistake as Ki jumped on the middle rope and came right back down with a DOUBLE STOMP! I marked out hard for that. What a GENIUS transition! The first time Ki got real offense. I expected that to lead to the finish, but Ki got cocky and started showboating with his strikes leading to a nice throw by Thatcher to get a nearfall. Then Thatcher went for some sort of Suplex, but Ki crawled along his back and got an inverted Triangle Choke that looked gnarly as fuck for the submission. What a cool finish! Total Throwback to Original UWF/80s NJPW, in a way early ROH/JAPW with Ki and Danielson. Tons of body contact not a lot of movement. Incredibly compelling, hard work & struggle and tremendous escalation. The Uppercut on the Tidal Wave and the Double Stomp were two stand out spots and the finish was just perfect for their match. Check this out! ****1/4

He is the one who beat Christian Cassanova at the end of Season 1 to win the Discovery Gauntlet. I missed the premiere episode of Season 2 because I was in Ireland for work, but I believe that's when Deppen beat him to win the Gauntlet. Red Death was an instant hit with me & the live audience at large. When I took a friend to Beyond, she was very impressed by him. He reminds me of Fujita Jr Hayato, an undersized asskicker. I would definitely be a fan of more Red Death.

You are doing the Lord's Work brutha! I fucking love THE NERD! He was an instant hit with me and love his throwback style. He is like the coolest possible Dory Funk Jr. I ended up attending all but three episodes of the First Season. I have only missed two episodes live this year. I really should add my comments. To be frank, I did think the past two shows were the weakest I have attended. The Halloween episode was filled with a lot of comedy wrestling that didnt hit my funny bone, but they drew a monster crowd and they loved it. So thumbs up there! Then this past episode, I really liked the Jay Freddie match. He is an Asskicker to the MAX! Such a throwback to 90s workrate and just absolutely love it. I thought the Remix dude was going to be a generic flippy dude, but he acquitted himself well. Other than that, it was a pretty weak card. The best match of Season 2 has easily been Thatcher vs Kingston. I was in MARK OUT CITY watching that unfold live. I have been pretty bummed Dirty Daddy, the co-workhorse of Season#1, has been stuck in pretty lame tags with the "Suck Me" guy. Then Solo Darling, the co-workhorse of Season #1, has not been on a lot of the episodes I have been to, but I did really like match with Dick Holliday (it is right there, babyfaces), what a hellacious powerbomb that was!

Thatcher vs Low-Ki is enough to get me to watch this episode. That has me drooling.

I know he faced Taka Michinoku at WrestleMania XIV and the run as Essa Rios, but is he famous in Mexico? I don’t really ever see him crop up on the major Lucha shows in the 2000s. Isn’t he a pretty obscure LuchaDor?

HAHAHAHAHAHA when I saw the notification...I was like is this about JOHN CENA following me!?!? It’s pretty cool, but in reality he follows close to 52,000 people. So it’s not like he will see what I tweet. I have no idea why he chose me. I’m a huge Cena fan as a wrestler and even moreso as a human/modern day philosopher so I definitely MARKED OUT hard this morning. I have already been telling everyone at work, my friends & family about my close personal friend, John. :p I think it will definitely come up more than once at the club this weekend.

The best part of AEW is that everything is over. It is a positive feedback loop. The fans want the company to succeed and they actually go along with the storyline. They aren’t actively fighting against it or “hijacking” the show. It is so refreshing. It is because AEW has goodwill and delivers a product for the audience. So the positive feedback just grows and grows. It was most evident when Britt Baker came out. She got a huge pop! The crowd leaned into the Pittsburgh love. WWE does that and no doubt in my mind she gets booed out of the building. WWE gets accused of pandering and trying to force a not over star down on our throats. One of the many ways the WWE’s machine is critically broken. The negative rep they have built up stops them from working with the crowd. That’s why I like AEW just because the crowd goes with the flow and doesn’t fight against. The style of wrestling isn’t really for me. I find it mindless and too easily digestible. It goes in one ear out the other so to speak. There’s no hook. There’s no stickiness. I was at Young Bucks vs Pvt Party live in Boston. Loved the match! I’m not anti-spotfest at all. I just think a good spotfest is a lot harder to do. I have become a big Young Bucks fan actually! I think they are the best spot monkeys of all time because they go balls out, their spots are actually eye-popping, they pace & escalate well. They carried the Best Friends to the best match of the night. The Best Friends are a perfect example of serviceable spot monkeys. Lots of modified slams ala Dragon Gate Ooooo Aaahhh who cares? They hug!?! Okada Rainmaker Go Wide! That’s it! The best part was Bucks not selling Orange Cassidy’s bullshit and kicking him out. Oh yeah so my point was I was at Young Bucks vs Pvt Party and when I saw star making performance. I was scratching my head. The one With the cool hair had an ultra hot dive sequence during the shine. During the finish run the Frankenstein’s into an Ace Crusher was fire and the finish was great. But I didn’t see anything super special. This was not Benoit vs Eddie on Nitro or Rey vs Psicosis on Bash at the Beach when you thought you seeing something original. Pvt Party is just another act. They were totally exposed against the Lucha Bros...sloppy...green...very little character work. I love Pentagon Jr & Fenix both are breath-taking but they also kick ass. The difference between the Bucks & Luchas is the Luchas are going to get themselves over and they always do. The Bucks try to make sure their opponents look good too. I think that’s a huge feather in the Bucks’ cap they got so many people into the Pvt Party. Theres way too much running in pro wrestling. Why is Omega always running away from his opponent? It is fucking stupid. Yes he gets caught 50% of the time but why keep doing it! This is a WWE, AEW, Beyond, you name it, less running and more body on body. I remember Rousey vs Nattie on a random December RAW we need more of that. Actual wrestling that leads to more wrestling and builds to a satisfying finish. The pro wrestling in the middle show was easily the best show. Jericho vs Cody was pure fucking old school. It was pitch perfect. That’s the stuff that will keep me watching. Loved how fiery Cody was! That’s the babyface energy we need! I can’t believe Cody Rhodes is the best Ace Babyface since Cena in the US but he is! He is great! Jericho rules! I love his Seb Bach look. Growing his hair back out has helped so much. Loved the sparkle jacket. I popped for MJF and DDP. I hope they don’t turn MJF at the PPV. If you want to talk star making performances the one that happened in Boston was MJF. I still they should have closed with MJF not Darby. Everyone and their mother (my mom was literally there!) thought MJF was turning on Cody and when he officially turned Face and stayed with Cody. The crowd erupted! The way he let the crowd in and motherfucking vibes with us in Boston that’s motherfucking pro wrestling! Loved the mid-show angle. I wish they went all the way with their version of the Concession Stand Brawl but that would have been the A+ the way it was still an A. So I have my favorites Jericho, Cody, The Bucks and Luchas. AEW >>> WWE, but I think AEW is still playing it safe. More angles and more character development is needed. As long as those 6 are featured, they have me as a loyal viewer. Also im a huge Tony Schiavone Mark. He was the voice of my childhood on Nitro. AEW announce team blows every WWE team out of the water. They actually talk about strategy which can be hard at times with the wrestling they are talking about but they make do. Love that too!

Boston was far from a sell out. Only 3/4ths full. Hard cam side was very empty.

I’m watching with my Mom. She goes “What was that face?” With a mixture of disgust or confusion. I said “I think he was trying to convey intensity” lol

You know what no one talks about (or at least I dont think I have ever seen this complaint) is WWE does angles way too fast and way too slow at the same time. This to me is the #1 problem with the show. There is no reason to watch every show because 3 times out of 4 nothing happens! There is no continuity. They shoot three weeks worth of angles in one 15 minute segment and that dont have shit to do for the next three weeks of TV. People wonder why what nothing happens it is because everything happens all at once and nothing of consequence after it happens. Easy Case Study is Sasha Banks' return. Using the parameters they set up with Sasha interrupting Nattie after Summerslam. She returned, turned heel, beat up Nattie and fought Becky in 15 minutes! You need to spread that shit out over three weeks and here you go. Week One: She returns, she is sympathetic to Nattie, but she is also kind of self-centered. She talks about her own problems and how that makes her relate to Nattie, but really all she cares about herself and she comes off disingenuous. She wants to partner with Nattie to go for the tag titles. Week Two: Sasha is far too selfish in the tag match and when the going gets tough, she walks out on Nattie. This plays into the Sasha "takes her ball and goes home" gimmick. Nattie calls her out in a backstage segment. Sets up the match for next week. Becky notices the return of Sasha in her promo on the episode and hints at wanting a match because it would be a big time match. Week Three: Sasha instead calls Nattie to the ring to apologize for last week, but instead turns heel and brutally attacks Nattie. Becky Lynch now saves and runs off Sasha. Becky now really wants the match and challenges Sasha for the PPV. Week Four: Go home show, The Boss vs The Man Dueling Promo. "The Man will be the Boss' Bitch" was a good line and this where the trash talk goes. This is JUST ONE EXAMPLE! They do this shit all the time. They run the angle in one 15 segment and then there is ZERO Plot or Character Development in the three following weeks. To me this is the biggest problem. Think about what you want to do. Break it down into THREE steps and play those three steps over three weeks. Fourth week is go home and dueling promos. It is NOT rocket science.

NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii vs IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kota Ibushi - NJPW 5/25/14 I get why this was the #12 ranked match overall for VOW poll in 2014, but I thought it was overkill down the stretch that hurt my enjoyment. It is just your basic gritty badass vs. flashy pretty boy match where the flashy pretty boy proves his mettle but ultimately comes up short. Ibushi tries to play Ishii's game early going strike for strike with him. This was much better than your typical New Japan strike exchange because there is actual character work. On every chop, Ibushi left clutching his chest while Ishii registers no pain. Ibushi is fighting through the pain to keep beating on Ishii to no avail. He is earning respect for taking his lickin' but he keeps on tickin'. Also, it sets up the story that they are playing by Ishii's rules and Ibushi does not have a great chance playing this game. I thought the best representation of that is Ibushi is fighting out of the corner and hits about three strikes and with one Ishii chop he fells Ibushi who is left clutching his chest on the mat in the corner. It was just a perfect way to establish the story. From there, Ibushi gets a little smarter and starts to use what brought him to the dance. He is embracing who he is rather running away from it. The dropkick gets him his first serious score sending Ishii scurrying, but it is too early to go up top as Ishii cuts him off and hits his delayed Superplex which is a thing of beauty. Ishii hits a nasty powerbomb and looks in control. Ibushi takes advantage of a running Ishii and hits a pele kick and then a nice hurricanarana to keep Ishii off balance followed by his trademark moonsault on the outside to wipe Ishii out. That's what Ibushi needed to do. Take advantage of the element of surprise and string a series of quick moves together. Ultimately he eats knees on a moonsault, but when he regains control again it is a Pele Kick and Hurricanarana off the top rope this time. That combination working for him because it is a serious blow to the head but it uses his altheticism to deliver pain rather than wow the crowd. That second Pele Kick was particularly vicious. Ibushi really tries to press his advantage with a Phoenix Splash but crashes & burns! Sliding Lariat...1-2-NO! BRAINBUSTERRRRR!!! 1-2-3! ****1/2 MOTYC...WAIT Ibushi didnt take the Brainbuster there was more wrestling... Yeah, so the last 3-5 minutes or so they kind of lost me with endless strike exchanges and suplexes. It looks like Ibushi really fucked Ishii up with a headbutt cut him real good under the eye. Ishii BLASTED him with a Zidane style headbutt that I think he was hoping would draw blood. Ibushi getting his nearfall off a Dragon Suplex seemed weird. It didnt feel big enough. Ishii hit some MONSTER TRUCK LARIATS and did win with the Brainbuster. I really liked the story they told for the first 15 or so minutes and I felt they lost their way with the overboard stif-fest finish run, but still very entertaining stuff and the fundamentals of pro wrestling storytelling were there. ****1/4

Hell Yeah Brutha!