bradhindsight

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I really dug this match as these four went all out in the main event of Makabe's anniversary show. It was mainly refreshing to see less shtick than usual from Yano, especially given the spotlight. That and I guess a match that didn't end due to his low blows and general hijinks. Nice false finish with the Makabe powerbomb kickout after the low blow. Makabe gets his big moment, finally finishing off Yano. ***1/4

Shibata and Suzuki did indeed have their own little ***+ match within this greater tag match. Just great chaos from Suzuki as usual. Shibata got his shots in, but man did Suzuki take it to him. I liked the counter into the sleeper on Shibata as Tiger Mask is pinned and then post-match, even during Suzuki's promo you have Shibata still going after him.

Reconciling my 2017 ratings, forgot to post here. ****1/2 from me - loved this match.

I re-watched this because I realized i missed the first minute or so and was a bit distracted on first viewing. Just a small bump to **** so not far off from initial impression.

I thought it was interesting that early in the match they do this really weak shoving match sequence, like some kind of homage to shitty divas matches from 1999. Charlotte is terrific here, She covers for Bayley's rana flub through the ropes and then takes the big crossbody off the turnbuckle. Her transition with slamming Bayley's head on the outside of the ring and then kicking her into the steps - wonderful. Right into a great control segment. I never felt charlotte was in danger here, Bayley just hadn't done enough, but the crowd still bought into her kickouts -a testament to her underdog character. Loved the ending too. ***1/4

Here's your Ring of Honor title match sandwiched on the Wrestle Kingdom card. Initially watching this spoiler-free the morning of the show, it had heightened dramatics given the O'Reilly contract situation. So that story was the elephant in the ring throughout. I realize I'm high man on this one, but I really liked Cole here and thought this was an exceptionally sound, good match and a contrast to their match at Final Battle, which was centered around hardcore/No DQ stuff. Cole hits a couple finishers and wins this one clean as a sheet. ***1/2

A bit of a divisive match ratings-wise. There's a narrative out there that if you understood the Rocky/Beretta internal story about how Rocky couldn't get the job done, then the match is four stars - otherwise its 3 and 1/4. I completely see that story, and Rocky gets some big kickouts while Trent is KO'd outside after a missed dive. But Beretta comes back into the match, and RPG wins on a fluke roll-up. I'm all for weaving some fantastic story into the action, but this never reached the pre-described fairy tale. It was what it was (and I dug the springboard destroyer by the Bucks early) - a ***1/4 match.

I totally dug this match. I mean, its ***1/4, a solid good match with some excellent psychology and a great Nigel performance as he drops the belt. Lynn using Nigel's own submission on him throughout the match and then using it to counter into a final cradle piledriver because Nigel is so terrified of being put back in it due ot the pain of the torn bicep was just remarkable. I kind of sewed that logic together myself but it stuck out to me. Real smart match.

This is quite the spectacle with the wXw and Progress owners there for their respective champs. This is belt for belt being contested in a completely different promotion so pretty unique for 2017. Great introduction by Emil. The work here is, as expected, really good. Both guys are scrappy and intense on the mat, which always makes the early grappling better. Riddle gut-wrenches him three times into overhead/side suplexes before a fourth into a powerbomb. Starr hardways Riddle above the eyebrow with either a slap on the apron or a kick later (it's hard to tell because of Riddle's hair), but he is PISSED now. I loved the one-count sequences where Riddle is just hammering blows, he'll get a one-count, and then he does it again, mixing in forearms and kicks. Ref bump and Starr taps out and the shenanigans start. Riddle grabs the Progress belt and the owners can't even sell this, the wXw guy just stands there like its no big deal as Riddle clobbers Starr. He calls for a second ref, but Starr kicks out. That's fine, good little false finish. Riddle is pissed so he grabs the second ref into a tombstone but this guy, who i'm sure was a wrestler and is much smaller than riddle, reverses into his own tombstone, which Starr kicks his leg out on to execute. Utterly ridiculous spot - awful. Starr follows this with a big forearm to the back and a slick Destroyer for the pin. Starr celebrates with both belts...BUT in true 80s fashion, the original ref calls a double DQ because both guys hit him (? - or maybe both attacked referees, unclear) and Riddle destroys him and takes both belts anyway. ***3/4 for the whole thing

Class tag team roles and formula here. The Batiri are looking are undersized babyfaces who are a regular tag team looking for revenge vs. two guys who regularly tag, but also do more singles stuff. Tag team babyface fire to start, eventually the Legion of Rot (pretty cool name tbh) work over Obariyon and really build to the big hot tag. Hallowicked cuts this off a couple times, casually strolling over to the opponents corner to pull him off the ropes, and then back to more heat. Crowd is totally into this. Finally Kodama sees him coming and kicks him away to make the tag and we get a good sequence which sees both Hallowicked and Frightmare have to make saves on pin attempts. Obariyon is too hurt outside to do any tag team moves with Kodama, so we eventually see the bad guys take back over. Brief flurry by a resurgent Obariyon, but he gets dumped and they hit a tag team top rope ace crusher on Kodama (The Headless Horseman - perfect) and then Frightmare finishes him, and they play up the neck being hurt there with how his head bounces off the mat. Post match we get two Never Wake Up(s) from Hallowicked on the prone Kodama - really cementing the Batiri in the babyface role for the go-forward. This is really well done ***3/4

For the Grand Chikara Championship. The entire show is built around Mr. Touchdown looking to prove himself after the events of season 16. He works a very good babyface match here. He looks to be in control but jams his knee, which Hallowicked works over for the rest of the match. TD still gets in his big power stuff, and Hallowicked gets a big kickout of his finisher, before ending TD's valiant attempt with his really sweet cradle DDT finish. TD sells the knee even harder post-match, which is a nice touch from a guy posing as a pro athlete. The adrenaline was fleeting and it started to lock up after he fought through on it for so long. This was a very good main event. ***1/4

This is a sneaky really good match. First, unlike many CHIKARA matches, these guys use stiff strikes, including a nice punch from Lobster early with sends Ophidian down. Ophidian is real crisp here - corkscrew enziguri with a lot of spin, big double knees. There's a reversal of the ropes where he goes from a wheelbarrow into a big facebuster. Really solid offense. And Rock Lobster is game - couple unique things from him. He reverses rolling over Ophidian's back and to the outside by spinning back and hitting a sweet arm drag. He hits a bulldog through the ropes to the outside, stunning Ophidian. They tease the big dive to the outside about three times, which all plays into the finish as Ophidian's big Asai Moonsault causes a double countout as Lobster holds onto the leg since he knows he can't beat the count. A coupe more minutes from these guys and this cracks 4 pretty easily. I was safely at ***1/2 here, which may even be a touch low.

So I watched this on January 4th, mid-morning spoiler-free, awake and fully engaged. I knew the story going in but didn't actively follow NJPW. A couple notes I had made: - the first 20 minute or so didn't bother me. It was a mix of anticipation, but also the idea that this was the first time these two had locked up. There was an extended feeling out with Omega working the back/neck, aiming to weaken Okada for the one-winged angel later. It's a stamina game and Omega knows Okada has long main events, and Omega feels he's the best wrestler in the promotion. - I liked Omega's first heat sequence in the early going, it teased to bigger stuff later and was a good bridge into the middle portion of the match with the big outside stuff. Introducing the table was a callback to the build to this match. - Into the second half, which is fantastic, and detailed already in the thread. My lone issue with the match was some of Omega's selling late (in particular the Rainmakers that Omega would quickly rollover after, while Okada was motionless selling the entire matches' exhaustion. An all-timer for me - ****3/4

All three parts are a great listen - one of my favorite podcasts ever.

Loved the kayfabe psychology elements talked about here - great first episode. You can watch the match within the PTBN post also (or YouTube).

That was a fierce tope by Ospreay, only to be out-done by Dragon Lee later on the card. Those guys were like missiles at full speed delivering those. Unreal.

I left off my FantasticaMania rankings there - I enjoyed those three shows quite a bit. Culminated with Volador Jr/Ultimo which I thought hit ****. Atlantis/Rush ***1/2, Volador/Mistico vs. Ultimo/Euforia ***3/4 were other highlights.

Suzuki never stops going after Okada, it's really fantastic. He's frantic and the camera misses a bit of it at Osaka during the 3-on-3 match. Their main event of the first Road to New Beginning Show was a solid house show main also.

Yeah I think Microstatistics summed up the scale I use myself perfectly.

I subbed to NJPW for the first time this Wrestle Kingdom. Had followed the promotion via AXS, ROH crossovers and individual big matches prior. So far this year I've watched everything they've put out and it has been an outstanding start to 2017. Omega/Okada ****3/4 Dragon Lee/Takahashi ****3/4 Elgin/Naito ****3/4 Tanahashi/Naito ****1/2 Goto/Shibata ****1/2 Okada/Suzuki ****1/4 KUSHIDA/Takahashi **** Ospreay/Shibata ***3/4 Juice/Goto ***1/2

Yeah the camera setup wasn't ideal in Atlanta, hopefully they do it differently next time. I liked Corino as an announcer, but he didn't have a strong 2016. I actually didn't particularly care for Cabana, but Marty Scurll did a great job of getting the TV title contender match over.

Absolutely insane. It's almost impossible to recite from memory all the dangerous spots here, but these guys nailed it. Diving sunset powerbomb to the outside was so fast. Lee's running rana to Takahashi outside on the apron. The huge senton into the guardrail. We even get the mask pull off and get a decent glimpse for half a second at Dragon Lee. The ref piece with that was weird, really my only minor nitpick.Elevated reversal of the powerbomb into a destroyer was fantastic. Real destroyer was super crisp and natural to set up the Timebomb finish. Whew, best match on the show for me - ****3/4. Edit: thanks to Chikara it just dawned on me that the ref bump was to cover for the "Mask pull off = DQ" lucha rule (maybe)

Really good showcase for Ospreay, who completely delivered in this big spot up the card. Ospreay also made the little things count; he'd go back and kick Shibata outside if he wasn't stunned enough for his dives. Killer tope. Story is interesting as its really all Ospreay. Shibata did a little of everything but not for long; worked the arm, then would work the leg off a reversal, back to strikes, back to the arm on the top rope. It was an interesting dynamic because Ospreay was seemingly on offense a lot. He certainly out-quicked Shibata. Shibata would kick out, or shrug stuff off and then reverse, but there wasn't ever a stretch with Shibata was dominating and Ospreay had to tough it out and make big kickouts. It was essentially an inverted Juice/Goto match from the week prior. Ospreay KOs Shibata with the kick against the ring post, and gets a little frantic as the count goes on. Killer sequence when he rolls him up to his shoulders to dead lift and dump Shibata in the ring. That two-count was good, but the better one was off the inverted 450, which I bought as the finish. It almost seemed deflating that Shibata wins quickly right as Ospreay seems to have it, reversing the Os-cutter into a sleeper and then hits the PK for the win. ***3/4

I need to re-watch this one as I dozed a bit in the middle (not the matches' fault), but the Code Red on Styles early was brutal. AJ seemed content to just bump with his head the entire match.