Jordan

I want to give it a rewatch, but when I thought about it more, the tombstone reversal botch happening where it did actually made for a great transition and a moment for the story to slip into the reality of where Taker truly was. Like it divides nicely the story of the match between "Wow Taker still has some fight in him he can still do this" and "This really is the end." From then on it almost becomes this really gripping final struggle with Reigns laying in shots and Taker trying to survive. The sit-up attempt not being able to be completed is truly a great moment. Can already tell this'll be a match where the sluggishness and even downright ugliness of some of the execution actually makes it more compelling.

The finishing stretch where Reigns just destroyed him and Taker was trying to survive is what the whole match should've been. But I understand not wanting Taker to go out just getting eaten alive like that. Oh well.

Internet's gonna be all over that

They really didn't do anything with New Day

this feud as a whole was about as well done as you could ask for from something like this

Well they woke the crowd back up.

Goldberg taking his spear into STO territory

Oh god yes Reigns/Taker is the main event

the golf claps by the fans ringside on the outside RKO kinda made it worth it

maybe we can bump the memewrestling thread after this

LOL

alright then

Who has more dead crowd epics than Triple H? It truly is a gift. Oh yeah, and face Seth really is just no good.

Indeed, Miz stooging was great

well there it is

I'm almost disappointed that wasn't as dumb as I was hoping it would be. Kinda lingered a bit near the end but Shane really throws better savate kicks than Mutoh does.

LOL at this final fantasy banter

Watched this again a few days ago because it had been too long. From the jump when Casas just kicks Santo's left leg with such a lack of care for his well-being you know this'll be special. This is such a stream of consciousness brawl in the same vein as the Hansen/Kawada '93 match that I'm almost always shocked at how they manage to keep up the hate and vitrol for so long with no let up. And the violence. The stomps, the soccer kicks, the headbutts. Casas kicking Santo's arm off the ropes like he was trying to break it. They definitely found the right substitute for blood when it came to an apuestas match. And that dive Santo set up in this after dodging the dropkick made me stand up. The armbar to finish Casas off was nuts too.

Yeah this ruled, easily a top 2 Muto/Hashimoto match (I think the IWGP match they had in '97 is up there with this as well). What stands out to me is how tactical the matwork actually feels in this. Like Muto actually dives for takedowns with a purpose in this and actually goes about like he wants a sub win. Cagey describes this portion perfectly. And Hashimoto gets more involved breaking out armbar counters and the like. Plus that catch on the savate kick and subsequent submission was nice. I also think something as simple as character work such as Hashimoto walking around outside trying to shake off pain or getting pissed off when he's in a hold puts across the importance of it. Finally they actually transition well to stand up so you don't feel like your time is wasted. Hashimoto's heat segment/extended beatdown once again is off the charts and does the job of putting him across as this powerhouse while also building sympathy for Muto's comeback. The way the crowd completely erupts just from Hash getting into a stance to strike is incredible. I think it's funny that I've seen people (not really on here) complain about workers like Christian who clap to get the crowd involved as if that's some sort of cheap tactic and not an easy way to get an audience engaged. Hash does the same here when he practically demands Muto to rise after getting beatdown and then gets the crowd to do the same. Finally the finishing stretch in this is amazing. The drama milking, that DDT opening the cut moment, the near misses, how they work around the brainbuster counter not being nailed exactly right, just awesome stuff. That final staredown before Hashimoto rushes in to get spiked on the hurricanrana felt like something out of a movie. Too bad Muto can't seem to nail a moonsault finish for his life but that's not enough to dampen the match for me.

I'm fairly certain this match was the first time I realized wrestling could get this violent and involve no weapons. Like the first time I watched this I had to keep replaying so many of Joe's attacks that it took me probably twice as long to actually finish the thing. What I realized with time though is just how great AJ is in this as well with his nutty bumping and selling of the beatdown. Great performance from both.

Add me in as just wanting Reigns/Taker to be a demolition by Roman. Fairly interested in the show and think it'll be good, and if not there's stil a few matches that I wouldn't be surprised tilt into "so bad it's good" territory so I should be entertained anyway.

Muto's matwork has progressed here so this was an alright portion unlike some of his early 90s encounters with Hashimoto but it still feels like Hashimoto just hears the 15 minute call and decides to start headbutting Muto a bunch and wake up the Dome and get the match moving along. I will say however I felt like their transitions were a lot better by this point. Too much early 90s NJPW had the sort of obvious rope running counter ones or just a "well I'm in a corner and my opponent is running at me from far away I guess I'll duck" type of momentum shifts but they're much better at pulling you into the drama late here. This too has another good finishing stretch, which seems to be a theme of these longer Hashimoto/Muto matches. I've never felt disappointed in the last segment of them but the journey is usually not worth it. Muto completely spikes Hashimoto on the dragon suplex here and it's kinda disappointing that he overshoots him on the first moonsault so he has to run back to the middle rope and do it again. Think my personal favorite moment in this was when Muto randomly decides to break out these terrible looking savate kicks that are missing by a mile so Hashimoto literally just walks through them to attack him some more.

I remember seeing a clipped version of this (basically all the matwork taken out) and it seemed like a really good finishing run so I wondered why it was cut that way, and now I see why. Muto's matwork is just so blatantly filler that it's amazing he stuck with it as long as he did. I know in interviews he's said that was him keeping the spirit of Inoki's ideals alive or whatever but he's just not cut out for it. And "ground Hashimoto so he can't obliterate you with strikes" is a great strategy that Hase, Fujiwara, Regal, Yamazaki and others put to use in their matches with Hashimoto but the difference is they're just leagues above Muto on the mat. It just feels aimless, like he'll just grab a hold and then move on to another. Finishing run remains good but something like Hase/Hashimoto '94 is a better example of extended matwork nicely leading into a finishing stretch built around high impact moves and coming together to create a fully satisfying match.

Great 2 out of 3 falls brawl that manages to be superbly built around basically strikes and selling. Wahoo really looks ahead of his time with how diverse his strikes are in what I’ve seen. Add in blood and that sort of hateful lucha brawling that you’d love to see and this is just a great match that makes me glad I got NWA on Demand. Finish is fine and when you see it’s 2/3 falls you kind of expect something like it but man, this was awesome. My favorite moment has to be when Wahoo slaps Spoiler so hard outside that a woman ringside screams.

Nice match, we know Reigns works well underneath especially against monsters and that's gonna be amplified with somebody like Strowman. I really liked Strowman countering a lot of Reigns' bombs initially to set up the desire of seeing how they'd actually be hit later. However the "runs into post" transition has become an epidemic in WWE to a point where it's a drinking game if you watch a show but at least with Braun it looks brutal to see someone that size hit a stationary object. And they let him kickout of a spear, put an injury angle into play and had his loss be setup by him trying something out of his element so consider him protected as far as I'm concerned. He even started moving around instantly after the three count.