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February Match Guide is out! In this month’s issue: Ulitmo Guerrero as the comeback wrestler of 2015; Bill Dundee and “old worker skills”; Is Tomoaki Honma wrestling’s best babyface?; Where Samoa Joe’s in-ring work stands as he embarks on the next stage of his career; And much, much more including Daniel Bryan/Roman Reigns, Harashima/Ibsuhi, and full star rating index of February matches reviewed at CrossArmBreaker.com! Download in three different formats right here. As always, any feedback is appreciated.

To be fair, it was a Cho Kibou-gun (Morishima's stable) produce show so it was probably lower budget than normal but yea, NOAH runs some odd looking venues these days.

Way too much extracurricular stuff for one match. I get what they were going for in each case and it wasn't like anything was a terrible idea on its own, but just far too much. The match probably would have been dull without all that stuff, but what happened wasn't any better at all. Jay lucking into the pin was a cute nod to the PPV theme but not sure it is ever a good idea to have the champion appear lucky in retaining his title. They way overthought that one.

That was a fun promo and the perfect place on the card for it. The 2004 cage match Joe had with Jay Briscoe was excellent and they had some other decent stuff in the 2003/2004 mini-feud Joe had with the Briscoes. I would be pretty psyched if they run that WM weekend.

I didn't see it as a huge deal but I am surprised they didn't do something about it. I was thinking they might have done something with Joe there, either have him team with Anderson which could have created a "is Joe in the Bullet Club?" question or pull Anderson from the match entirely. He could have made an open challenge which Joe would answer, have a hot brawl, and that would be that. As hammerva mentioned, if the idea was to have Bennett/Taven get a pin to set up a future IWGP tag title match (likely in the US in May), then Anderson needed to stay in the match and couldn't have Joe as his partner. Rocky Romero was there but you would have had the Bullet Club/Chaos issue with teaming them up. Not sure there was a great solution although I do agree having him wrestle alone was weak. Stuck in Detroit (he wrestled for OMEGA last night in NC) because of weather delays.

I am not convinced he should't beat Jay for the World title sometime this year, assuming he re-ups (I think his contract is up in June). It might be a bit too soon to put the title on him but at the rate he is improving he could theoretically be really good by the end of the year. That drop kick is awesome.

I thought Moose looked the best he has looked in his match versus ACH. He is so much more comfortable in the ring than he was nine months ago. The drop kick that knocked ACH off the tope rope was tremendous. He's done a nice job combining his power stuff with the more athletic/agility stuff. If ROH can resign him (I think he was on a one year contract that is up in June) he should be the guy to take the title from Jay Briscoe.

I've skipped around the Atlanta show a bit and still have a few matches to get through. Really enjoyed Strong/O'Reilly. O'Reilly's arm work and Strong's selling/reactions were done in a far more thoughtful way than you generally get from ROH/US indies these days. Strong is having a good year and this was one of O'Reilly's stronger singles performances. I enjoyed Sydal/Delirious far more than than I enjoyed any of their matches where they were taking their touring match around the indies in the early/mid-2000's. Average or so match but easy to watch. In terms of crispness and execution of offense, Sydal has been very good over the past few months compared to how he looked when he first returned to the indies. The main event had its moments and it was above average, but I don't think it was a particularly strong match. Some of it wasn't their fault (ie. the announcers did a terrible job explaining the stipulations to the point that I thought I just imagined the "different stips each fall" thing until the table bump ended the second fall). Some of it was their fault. Taven did a poor job wrestling as a heel. Far too many flashy face spots (springboard moves, comeback spots when he is supposed to be a heel, ect.). The third fall didn't take full advantage of the stips. There were some badly mistimed spots too. The effort was there, it went the appropriate length, and there were some good general idea but I thought they missed out on a lot of low hanging fruit. There was a lot of stuff they should have gotten right that they missed.

There was a lot of talk in this thread last fall that Joe had a case based on his pre-TNA work and his early TNA run, but that being stuck in TNA for six additional years without much to show for it greatly diminished his chances. At the very least, Joe now has an opprtunity to add to his resume. It will be interesting to see what he has left in the tank. Styles showed that it is possible for a wrestler to turn it up significantly once he leaves TNA, but just because Styles has had a great post-TNA run does not necessarily mean that Joe will have the same. Joe was my favorite wrestler in 2004. He certainly has a case for best in the world that year as well. The Jay Briscoe cage match, Homicide matches, October Danielson match (disappointing but still good), Liger tag match, Punk trilogy, and Aries title switch is a heck of a resume and that’s just ROH. I am not sure anyone that year had a resume like that, even though there were a few guys (Eddie, Takayama, ect.) who had very strong 2004’s. Joe was still a top flight worker from 2005 – 2008. He had two very good matches in 2005 between the Kobashi match and the TNA 3-way. I didn’t like the TNA match as much as Meltzer (he gave it the full 5-stars) but the Kobashi match more than held up last time I watched it. I’d have to think about it, but I would be surprised if he wasn’t at least in my top 10 each of those years (2005-2008). He was good during his pre-peak years (2001 – 2003). I think that is enough to get him on the lower end of my list but I am not certain. A good twelve month run would probably be enough to cement a spot. He doesn’t need to be Styles or anything. I am more interested in seeing if he is immediately one of the top 3 or so guys in ROH (my guess is that he will be). If he goes to New Japan/NOAH, I want to see how well he does in what would be the first extended Japan run of his career. FWIW, Joe had an okay singles match versus Rampage Brown for PROGRESS last year. Joe looked good – better than he typical did in TNA – but if his upcoming output is at that same level than I don’t think his status as a borderline candidate Is not going to change much one way or another for me.

I watched Zeus/Go and it didn’t do much for me. The match was emotionless which was especially a problem given the way it was structured. Zeus dominating and Go selling big time for him, throwing in a few well timed hope spots, and then making a spirited comeback would have worked. Zeus dominating and Go showing frustration/anger by bailing out of the ring, making a pissed off comeback or whatever else would have worked. Zeus dominating the match and being a prick would have worked. Instead, what we got was Zeus controlling the match almost robotically while Go just took the offense and gave no reason at all to care about his comeback. It was sort of like they took an outline of a Lex Luger match if neither Lex nor his opponent were heel or face. If a match is going to be structured around a comeback and a guy fighting from behind, they actually have to build to that comeback in a meaningful way. They didn't at all. On the plus side, I would agree that it was a relatively good performance from Zeus in as much as his offense was well executed (I loved the dive) The fact that he simply had enough semi-interesting offense to fill a long match like that surprised me.

Not yet. Wasn't too eager to get to it given the wrestlers involved, but I'll check it out.

Ultimo Guerrero/Hechicero/Magnifico vs. Trauma I/Trauma II/Negro Navarro from the 1/31 Cara Lucha show was really good and a borderline MOTYC for me. Great mat work from UG and Trauma II. The match was focused around those two and all of their stuff was excellent. Hechicero paired up with Navarro and that was good too. Longer first fall with shorter 2nd and 3rd falls which was also the case for the good 1/1 Cara Lucha trios (Carta Brava Jr., Drago & Super Fly vs. Fly Star,Guerrero Mixtico Jr. & Rayo Star). Los Guerreros del Infierno (Ultimo Guerrero/Neibla Roja.Euforia) vs. Super Sky Team (Mistico, Volador Jr. & Valiente) from the 2/13 CMLL Arena Mexico show was also very good and a match I'd have as a borderline MOTYC. It it was easily the best CMLL trios in a long time. First fall got a ton of time to breathe and featured great ground work with UG and Valiente. UG is having a resurgent year. Still a really small sample size, but he's off to a good start for WOTY consideration. Mistico looked excellent. He hit some high difficulty moves relatively flawlessly. The near falls in the third fall were the one part of the match that kind of faltered. Felt like they maybe went to the save well a few too many times which sort of messed up the flow of that section. They might have been better served throwing a few more kick outs in there to break up the monotony. Small nitpick though as this was very good and a rare CMLL trios that stood out from the pack structurally. The match was not entirely built around big spots and flying like the ROH trios, but the big spots and flying that the match did I have were better than the big spots/flying from the ROH match. I also have Reigns/Bryan has maybe my second favorite match of 2015 so far. Loved the structure and all the little things that Bryan is so good at.

Last two matches were good. Definitely the best Bryan has looked since returning. I thought the match was structured well, with the power vs. speed/wrestling acumen storyline coming across naturally. Loved the flying arm bar (well, almost) from Bryan and the submission attempts. Both guys laid in their stuff hard down the stretch. Reigns looked good and only part of that was Bryan's doing. Very good match and probably the best they were going to have under the circumstances. With better booking leading into the match and a more engaged crowd, that same match could have been great. They should really run Rusev vs. Bryan at WM. Not only would it have the chance of being excellent, it would be one of the more over matches they could run at this point. Never going to happen since that would leave Cena out in the cold (and Cena should have a major match on the show), but still . . .

Yea, this is how I saw it. Sin Cara didn't botch anything and the match was above average/good, but I didn't think there was anything that pushed it to the next level. I enjoyed the fact that it got time to breathe but I didn't think they did much with that time to make the match stand out in any significant way. It was the sort of solid match I'd expect from these two when given the time. The arm work was good. Sin Cara's comebacks and high spots were solid. It was a solid TV match. It wasn't so much that there was anything wrong with it as there was not anything exemplary about it. The way the stage spot was handled was a big momentum killer for me. I loved everything before that and I liked everything after it. The stage stuff, particularly the way they got to it, was so disconnected from the way the rest of the match was worked that it brought it down a notch or two. I watched both Harashima/Ibushi and Honma/Ishii twice. I definitely liked Harashima/Ibsuhi more despite the stage segment. Could have been a potentially great match had that part been handled differently.

Not only that, but I love how Dynamite throws angry temper tantrums every time TM beats him. His post match whining/cheap shots fit his persona to a tee, and it's those little things that enhance character work. Dynamite comes across just like that little shit in high school who came from a bad background and had an eternal chip on his shoulder, but who everybody knew not to fuck with because he was crazy and could really handle himself. Probably because that really was Dynamite. He came across like he was genuinely befuddled and frustrated that he couldn't best this weirdo in the mask. That kind of intense character work will always get over with me. You'd really like Jim Breaks then.

Okay first half. Opener wasn't anything. The second match was fine but White and Tiger Mask didn't look too sharp. Junior six-man was fun and Dorada continues to look good in New Japan. He's over and that's also nice to see. Liger match was the typical solid current day Liger match but any number of US indie guys could have done the same or significantly better than Owens in this role. Lots of junior titles floating around in New Japan now. Wonder if they will do anything with that? NWA title match was poor 75% of the way but the crowd rallying behind Tenzan late saved it. Guess the NWA is sticking around after all.

I understand not seeing much in Fale but over the past year+ he has been booked more than strong enough to work a short term feud with Okada. Since the start of 2014, he has singles wins over Naito (twice), Nakamura, Ishii, Tanahashi & Shibata. His finisher is probably one of the more protected finishers in wrestling in 2015. He has won far more than he has lost over the past three years and I am guessing the vast majority of his losses are tags where he doesn't take the pin. He spent a good portion of 2014 feuding with Nakamura and in the end it was a harmless digression. The reality is that Okada is the only wrestler under 30 on the New Japan roster who is at or seemingly could get to that true top tier level. There is a good chance he is going to have to shoulder most of the main event workload for a several year period in the near future. As long as guys like Nakamura and Tanahashi are viable main eventers, it makes sense to back off on Okada's push here and there. Otherwise you get three years down the road when those guys are slowing down and 30-year old Okada might already feel stale. I think it makes sense to preserve him for the future now by giving him the occasional mid-card feud against someone like Fale who is at least protected by the booking.

The thing when comparing Ross and Triple H in their scouting/development roles is that they operated in totally different wrestling environments. You can even add Johnny Ace into the discussion. Ross had WCW and ECW around for much of his tenure and had guys that WCW (and ECW) developed available for his entire tenure. Ace had the last remains (if any) of WCW/ECW and an indie scene that was still developing at the start but was pretty mature by the end . Triple H was given the head of talent relations title in 2011 and had the indie scene as his main source for established talent. Ross started pre-US MMA boom so in theory at least, he would have had a wider range of top flight amateur wrestlers interest in pro wrestling. Ross also had the job during a hotter period for wrestling than the other two. However, Ace was right after the last hot period in theoretically he should have benefited from it a bit as well. There were plenty of high school kids during the Attitude Era who would have been coming of age in the 2004 time frame to potentially be recruited. Ross definitely had some advantages the others had. I think the MMA point bears out as it is almost impossible to imagine Angle and Lesnar going straight to WWE if they had come along a few years later. That’s only two guys out of a bunch Ross brought in, however. Ross had WCW and ECW around to develop guys and pluck them when the time was right to move to WWF, which Triple H and Ace didn’t have. The increase in profile of the US indies has offset that impact somewhat, but not a whole lot. Ross picking guys like Edge, Christian & the Hardys out of the indies should count for something. The indie scene was different than, those guys didn’t have significant connections, and they didn’t have the physical attributes that tend you noticed. Those were good pickups. Realizing there was potential in guys like Crash Holly and Val Venis (who weren’t exactly can’t-miss-guys while working California indies and CMLL, respectively) is deserving of credit. Just because guys worked somewhere else before doesn’t mean the guy doing the hiring doesn’t deserve credit for recognizing their potential. I do think it is much easier for them to identify indie talent now. It is really easy to pin point the top guys. Regal can go to PWG or whatever, see 10 top indie guys in one night, and send back a report. They can bring those guys in a work them out. If someone in the talent department is so inclined, they can hop on You Tube and watch matches of wrestlers they are interested in. It is not like Ross could take a trip to a super indie in 1997 to catch Edge and the Hardys on the same show. He couldn’t get on You Tube and watch some OMEGA. There were advantages Ross had that Triple H didn’t but the opposite is also true.

They did take great advantage of the rules. Easy to just do submissions in the ropes and call it a day, but they put a lot more thought into it than that.

It is possible they have limited interest but are also trying to use their interest in Sonnen & Silva as attempted leverage in their negotiations with Brock. Meltzer thinks that Brock is likely to re-up with WWE because getting back into MMA at this stage would be tough on him physically and require a greater commitment. At the same time, Brock probably knows that WWE really wants to keep him so he could ask for a lot. Perhaps this is all largely a negotiation tactic by WWE to show Brock that he can be replaced and they will move on if his demands aren't reasonable. Like everyone else has said, I can't see them actually running a Sonnen/Silva pro wrestling match. That would be so against the current WWE grain.

Should have went all the way with the Generation Next reunion deal and got Shelley & Jack Evans as the opponents. Or if Shelley is on the New Japan shows going on at the same time, Sydal & Evans. I get what Gabe is going for with Uhaa/Ricochet as the opponents, though, even if it wouldn't have been my first choice. Based on the January shows it seems like a lock they do Hero vs. Thatcher on one EVOLVE show and Hero vs. Busick on the other. A round robin deal also seems like a possibility given Gabe is a fan of that concept. ROH has enough relatively important wrestlers currently working without contracts (Strong, Jacobs, Bennett to name a few) that it wouldn't be wise to strong arm any of them into not working for WWN. They aren't in the position to be throwing around their weight like that and I think they know it. If they gave an ultimatum, they might lose. I think the main reason WWN guys still aren't allowed to work ROH is because contracted ROH wrestlers still aren't allowed to appear on iPPV's for other promotions. With iPPV's being WWN's main distribution channel, that is as good as saying they can't be booked on WWN shows. If WWN wrestlers worked for ROH, then the only way you could see ROH and WWN guys wrestle each other would be ROH shows. ROH would gain and WWN really wouldn't.

Given that they intended to keep it quiet, my guess would be the intent is to continue running the promotions separately and try to make NOAH as strong as possible. Meltzer has indicated in the past that New Japan views their roster as being too full and are having trouble making room for everyone. NOAH's roster is thin, as evidenced by just how fresh adding Suzuki-gun to the mix has made the promotion fill. I'd imagine most of the interaction between the two promotions would involve New Japan sending their guys who have nothing else going on over there for a little while. They can also use Marufuji, TMDK, ect. on New Japan shows from time to time. I'd be shocked if there wasn't a NOAH junior or two (hopefully Zack Sabre Jr. is one of them) in the BOSJ this year. Of course, there is always a chance that keeping NOAH afloat turns into my trouble than it is worth and New Japan poaches the guys they want to keep. I do think their intent is probably to keep the promotions separate, however, based on what the Observer has reported so far.

January 2015 Match Guide is up! Currently available in both PDF and iBooks (epub) formats. Epub 3.0 reflowable and Kindle formats hopefully coming soon if we can work out a few kinks. The Match Guide includes full length writes up on over a dozen notable January '15 matches, a full index of all January matches reviewed on the site in January, plus more. Go here to read more and download a copy! Feedback and/or discussion on matches is welcomed.

I think they are banking on two results from the Bryan/Reigns match: (1) Bryan makes Reigns look good which would theoretically take some of the heat off of Reigns from those who feel he is not ready in-ring wise and therefore undeserving; (2) From a story line perspective they can then acknowledge that Bryan had his chance but couldn't get it done. While I think most of the backlash is from a meta perspective (ie. Bryan is better than these other guys and should be getting a push), there is still a booking element. Part of the issue last year was that Bryan wasn't in the Rumble and didn't even have an opportunity to go to WM. From a story line perspective, he had a right to complain because was screwed over a bunch of times and then not given a chance in the Rumble. This year he was given a chance in the Rumble. Now he is getting a second chance by virtue of not losing the title in the ring. If Reigns goes over him cleanly, Bryan can't complain about not having a WM title match because he was clearly given the chance and clearly didn't earn it. It will likely take a little edge off of his support. Maybe everyone is too smart now and they'll see through both of those things regardless, but I am not sure. I think it is worth a shot. I don't think it is likely that they come out of Fast Lane worse off than they are now in terms of fans rejecting Reigns and wanting Bryan. The upside is that Reigns has a great showing thanks to working with Bryan which gets the fans off of his case a bit and they close any story loopholes regarding Bryan have a legit claim for a title match.

I think that if people only watch modern wrestling and don't go back to revisit classic footage, they are going to have a hard time putting the current stuff they are watching into perspective. A match might be really good relative to everything else in 2014/2015, but how does it compare to historical matches of similar style? Even if I've watched a match before, if it was years ago I can easily forget how good the match actually was. Likewise, if people mainly watch old stuff, it is going to be difficult to put a current match into proper perspective. There is something to be said for modern matches that are maybe not historical classics, but are much better than their modern day peers. If someone is only watching a few current matches here and there, it is difficult to have a perspective on how much better or worse the match is relatively to everything else happening currently. You are also potentially missing out on some good stuff. So I think its a balancing act. To determine if a match is historically great, I feel like I need to watch similar, hyped historical matches. To determine if a current match is better than its peers, I feel like I need to watch enough modern matches that are similar so I have a basis of comparison. In the end of course, its just about watching what you like. If new stuff did nothing for me, I wouldn't watch it and I wouldn't comment on the state of modern wrestling. If specific older matches/styles/promotions did nothing for me, I wouldn't watch them but I also would try to avoid praising a current match as an "all time great" because I would not have the perspective to make such a claim.