Parties

Rumble (#1-15): I've watched several Rumbles this week, and this is not the first time Jericho's been prominently placed. Cass-Jericho has to be among the worst 1-2 exchanges ever to kick off a Rumble. Boos in the bar for Kalisto, laughing at how long it takes him to run down the ramp. Perhaps the loudest boos of the night for Mojo. Loved Gallagher's umbrella and spot with Henry, which drew a surprisingly huge pop. Henry-Braun into Sami-Braun was good, but the refs should have been on Jericho more to get in the ring. You have to love Tye and Ellsworth getting big moments, and Braun deserves credit for being the catalyst story of the match so far. Corbin straight up turned face in this bar after lariating Braun. Very divided reaction for Miz. One critique of this match is that we've had too many guys out of the picture for long stretches, but I liked Kofi's big save.

Styles-Cena: As always, to hell with any time the champ enters first. Surprised by how much more amped this bar crowd is for this than Owens-Reigns. Styles' entrance was their biggest pop of the night, Cena the biggest overall reaction (mostly boos and singing along to "John Cena Sucks"). Really good exchange of power moves and near falls in the modern Center tradition. The Calf Crusher into the STFU suggest why these two are cut from the same cloth. Crowd was uproarious for the Crossface. Loved the Figure 4 tribute: really cool, smart moment. The closeup shot of Cena's eyes launched a thousand GIFs. Crowd was split about 50/50 on the finish but went ape in the final moments. Very cool match, even if I'm worried about the title changing two weeks from now. Consider AJ's year, from entering the Rumble last year to now.

Swann-Neville: To the credit of everyone on this show, everyone in the ring seems to be treating this like the second biggest show of the year. On the other hand, there was a fight in the bar I'm in that early on had more heat than this match. Crowd did pick up during Swann's big rana and 450, and this felt bigger than anything the division's done to date. The home stretch was very good: I've seen both guys live and never liked either of them this much, and people seem to buy Neville as a seething heel Tyrion Lannister.

Reigns-Owens: I liked the early shenanigans with the cage, and the brawl tribute to Austin-Bret was felt. The chairs were ridiculous, but give these guys credit: they set out to steal the show. Plunder brawling with Sabu-era plunder feels like cheating, but the crowd at this bar cheered loudly for the table splash and hard chair shots. And to give the devil who's sucked in-ring all year his due: Jericho was awesome in that cage. So campy, and thus so what the moment called for. People went crazy for Owens mocking the Superman punch, and later Owens flagrantly turning himself babyface with the Stunner and mudhole stomps. Hugo and Graves standing together waiting for a powerbomb popped me. Need to see where they're going with the finish, but yeah, that was something. I hope it's not the build for Reigns' match at Mania, but I don't know, maybe it'll work.

Charlotte-Bayley: I liked this more than the Charlotte-Banks 30 min Iron Man. First main roster match to feel like a Bayley match, with the chase and title stakes. Liked that Charlotte played up the size differential in things like Yakuza kicks and overpowering Bayley on the mat. Big crossbody to the floor: Bayley's been watching Cavernario matches. Loved the Figure 4, loved the moonsault, really loved the Savage elbow drop. The finish and Charlotte wiping blood off her teeth were rather savage in their own right.

I enjoyed Okada-Omega, but he came off like an oblivious primadonna in that interview, and has yet to contribute a hundredth of what Cornette has to wrestling. I can even at times agree that some of present-day Cornette feels a bit "old man yells at cloud", but if top gaijin stars have to have two on-air therapy sessions with Dave to come down every time they have a good match, it's not worth it. There are Heavenly Bodies matches that I haven't seen yet.

Having either or both the World and Universal won by new guys at the Feb PPVs feels like rushed booking. Six-month reigns for Owens and Styles aren't bad at all (esp. for Owens as a Balor replacement), but this is the annual problem of the Feb PPVs made worse by now running two. You either have to have your champ successfully defend at a moment when they should look vulnerable (in something like a Chamber match no less), or you're reshuffling the deck four weeks before Mania. I think you can change a title or two at Rumble, but doing it in February just feels like Vince casting aside the younger talent who've been carrying 2-4 shows all year so that he can play with his Taker/Brock/Cena/Orton action figures. Having Goldberg, Lesnar, or Taker win the Rumble feels like overkill and a waste. That said, maybe there is real benefit to Goldberg-Lesnar being for the Universal title, if it leads to someone like Reigns, Rollins, Braun, Joe, or Balor beating Goldberg/Lesnar for the title at Summerslam or elsewhere. I don't think your biggest stars need titles, but beating Owens or Reigns for a world title doesn't give anyone a rub right now. Beating Goldberg or Lesnar does. Orton-Bray doesn't feel like a world title fight to me, and I say that as someone who'll probably like the match and thinks a babyface Wyatt could still be a top star. I could see Orton getting the Boo-tista treatment if he wins the Rumble. Cena should beat Styles on Sunday if he's beating him at all. Reigns somehow losing to Owens at the Rumble, and then possibly losing again at Fastlane and Mania feels like heel turn or bust. Put over the story that he's been blowing his chances all year and has now blown it at Mania, and have him lay out Taker post-match in front of a lot of people who want to jeer him anyway. It seems odd for Elimination Chamber to be a SD show if an SD guy is winning. Are your Mania challenger and champ both then also meeting in a 6-way match? Does the Rumble winner sit out of the EC and say, "I get whoever's champ coming out of EC"? If so, you can still book the shock of Joe winning the Rumble, which remains their best option and a road to a Cena-Joe match at Mania that could steal the show. I can't fairly complain until we see the Rumble and assess where they're going. If nothing else, this is the most wide-open Rumble in years, with several guys who stand roughly equal chances of winning, plus the possibility that Cena, Hunter, AJ, Reigns, or Owens could end up appearing in the match as well.

CZW “Awakening”, 1/14 - David Starr vs. Alexander James: Really good opener to this show. James is pretty good working as the sleazy aristocrat, taking all these shortcuts and maintaining Tully vibes even after doing a piledriver on the apron. Starr was a lot of fun live in EVOLVE, and here you get a sense of his fast topes, bumps, and quick slams. Told a good story for a rematch in the finish. Bonus points if you’re following David Starr on Twitter and read his political views, giving this match an added lens of a tenacious Bernie Bro looking to uppercut a Hamiltonian snob who looks like he could be Mitch McConnell’s grandson. Anthony Henry vs. Sean Carr: Overblown. Henry was flying around setting up a ton of spots, but it all looked telegraphed and odd. A series of kicks and flips, and Carr seemed like a real scrub, which is unfortunate as he appears to be all over upcoming northeast indies. Ace Austin vs. Jimmy Floyd, and then Tim Donst vs. Tony Deppen were both mediocre in different ways. Donst-Deppen is more just kind of indistinct, bad only because it’s boring and rote and not of anything they were doing technically wrong. Donst gets at least one good running splash in the corner, so they got going for ‘em, but this match was long and felt that much longer. Austin-Floyd was watched to get a further sense of Austin, who I saw live at Battle Club Pro the previous night, but he and Floyd quickly go to an interference no contest that was pretty weird and almost uncomfortable in putting over the interfering tag team. I kinda half-heartedly watched the rest of the show, but to be honest this was so listless and dreary that it isn’t worth going through. From what I gather on YouTube and elsewhere, CZW has a pretty bad rap, but I’ve never watched enough of their stuff to understand why. In even the camerawork and production, it feels grimy and third-rate in all the wrong ways. This was the wrestling equivalent of porn with the lights on and raccoon-eyed performers who look miserable, or one of those shows that play at 4AM on MSNBC about how boring it is to be a meth addict.

Shibata vs. Riddle [british Title] (RPW “High Stakes”, 1/21): Dream match delivers - my favorite yet of 2017 thus far. (Seems like the whole card looks real good, actually.) Even the nitpick things that I initially thought problems actually worked, like the stretch where they alternate armbars, or Riddle’s loud selling. This goes into a whole other gear in the second half, starting with a massive showdown of strikes. First a huge run by Shibata, then the tide turns for Riddle and we gets crazy kicks and suplexes. Tremendous finish and post-match stuff from both – I won’t say how this ends beyond that it came as a cool surprise to me. Would not mind seeing this rematched at next year’s Dome show.

Interesting that at a time where the company has more small dudes on top than ever, this is practically an all-Hoss Rumble of giant heavyweights. Outliers like Zayn and Kofi aside, there's Goldberg, Brock, Big E, Braun, Corbin, Taker, Cesaro, Sheamus, Bray, Harper, Big Show, Cass, and Rusev all announced, plus the rumored Joe appearance and possibly Crews, Rhyno, or Rawley from SD.

80s, without any second-guessing. I can't think of many places where wrestling improved in the 90s outside of like, northeast indies. Kings Road/WAR/BattlARTS are great, but I wouldn't even trade them for the Japanese scene of the 80s, and those are probably the chief highlights of the 90s for me. I know OJ and others call the 80s an underrated decade for movies, but to me it's almost analogous to 80s wrestling = 70s cinema (coked-up wannabe tycoons taking innovative artistic risks, making genre fiction and regionality into something subversive and distinct), while 90s wrestling = 80s cinema (which has great stuff of its own, but needs to be found on the grittier outskirts away from an overblown mainstream).

Rampage Brown vs. Matt Riddle [Atlas Title] (PROGRESS, 1/15): Starts with good grappling from these two after a long feeling out process, followed by a long struggle for position on a German that the two abandon to start chopping one another in the throat. Some interesting moments where Riddle hurt his foot and Brown capitalized. Palm strikes and chops aplenty, along with the signature Fisherman Buster from Riddle. The finish is meant to feel a bit MMA, but the result made this feel too short and abrupt for me. With every Riddle match being a possible MOTY, it likely creates an unfair expectation, as this was quite good, but maybe not the transcendent moment from two of the best workers of recent years.

My reviews of these are in the UK and WK threads, but I can dig them up if need be. YES to: Bate vs. Dunne Shibata vs. Goto Naito vs. Tanahashi Okada vs. Omega NO to: Dunne vs. Andrews Kushida vs. Hiromu Nominating: Drew Galloway vs. Bully Ray (WhatCulture, 1/6/17) This is a match where the face joins the crowd for a beer. It is one of multiple nut shots. Of a long heel promo in which Liverpool is praised and promises to be broken are made. Of mugging to the crowd and foreign objects. Whereas Rhodes-Ricochet in the match prior to this seemed to have no story, this is all story. A wild brawl through the crowd, with Bully doing hardly more than throwing punches and gouging eyes. Timeless characters played very well by both: Galloway is less obvious, but he is a killer babyface here as he gives Ray a ton and sells so believably. Not sure who the two small money mark looking dudes were at the end, but this also had an ending and post-match angle that felt big and crazy yet totally worked, presenting a big star who seems way better suited as a heel than his usual role as a face.

Battle Club Pro (01/21/17, Bronx, NY) On their excellent Exile on Badstreet episode about current indies, Kris and Dylan talked about NYC as a potential scene of some note for indie wrestling. This is a company that calls their show "Fight Forever", but at times feels like Lucha Vavoom minus the dancers and with aspirational dashes of ECW. In assessing its unique qualities, I'd point to other NY comedy, music, and performing arts, in which the crowd heckles and can even rile some workers, but also create an amped environment for workers to utilize. It can be both a tough crowd and an enthused one, and when you’re over, you’re really over. This show took place at “The Point”, a CDC in the South Bronx. Kind of a cool venue: the empanadas for sale were solid, and the relatively small room and low ceiling seemed to raise the crowd’s volume. Wrestler's Laboratory “All Outta Bubblegum” Pre-Show: AJ Evers vs. Trey Miguel: Unmemorable stuff with Evers as a trash-talking heel and Miguel as some guy. They were trying, and had kind of a decent, simple strike-heavy juniors approach, but neither guy impressed. Probably the worst match of the night, if only for being bland. Fatal 4-Way // Isaiah Wolf vs. Ari Alvarado vs. Moonshine McCready vs. A Gentleman with a Fro and Short Purple Short Shorts Whose Name I Did Not Catch: Crowd popped for Moonshine's airplane spins and brown jug that he woozily brings to the ring. Otherwise it was lots of multi-man spots, chop exchanges, and comedy that wasn’t particularly funny. “The Vagabond” Ryan Rogan vs. Trevor Aeon: Rogan, a Canadian worker who asked the crowd to throw their change at him, draws “Hobo Jesus” and “Chris Zero” chants. He’s a better version of Elias Sampson and kinda looks like someone you’d see in the ROH midcard two years from now. I cannot recall a thing about Aeon other than him making some cyborg-looking gyrations during his entrance. Joseph A'gau vs. Ace Austin: Austin is capable if generic: I need to check out his match on CZW Awakening to see if he’s much better. Comes out to “Ace of Spades”, kinda looks like Mandrews, and works a modern NJ-wannabe style of leaping kicks. Like, this was really kind of weird all night long to see guys who seemed clearly influenced by Wrestle Kingdom. A'gau was actually very cool as a Memphis heel not in terms of shtick, but in his offense, a la Koko Ware or Bill Dundee: small tank who hits hard and can stare down the smark crowd. Battle Club Pro: Facade the Neon Ninja vs. Myron Reed vs. Zachary Wentz: Façade’s name is really just Façade, but because his billed nickname is “the Neon Ninja”, I insist on combining the two a la Crash the Terminator or Nord the Barbarian or Toad the Wet Sprocket or some other old-school late 80s/early 90s handle. He has a unique look: Mad Max: Fury Road crossed with the Dynamic Dudes. Myron Reed was absolutely insane on his bumps, botching a top and then hitting a tope con Hilo into the guardrail. I get the feeling he’s pretty young and could be someone to watch if he doesn’t wreck himself. Wentz is a pretty complete performer in terms of look, character, bumps, and offense. I could see Façade being brought somewhere just for looking so much like a 1991 WCW character with his fitness-stripper valet Danni in tow. Surprisingly wild and well-worked: I hate triple threats and this rightly got a standing ovation as a hell of an opener with three unique talents. Caveman vs. “The Abominable” CPA: Ring announcer David Adams (also of House of Glory and other Tri-State area shows) is damn good and has his own Cesaro Section. Caveman's "Ooga Booga" chant is amusing. CPA is an IRS imitation, with the variation that he's terribly afraid to be in the ring, as if an actual accountant has been suddenly thrust into the match. All comedy, but funny and well sold by both with each move: they got a ton of reaction, and it was actually quite believable in its portrayal of how a CPA and a Caveman really would fight one another, if that makes sense. Logan Black interfered to smash both guys and cut a decent promo about how he's so violent that the commission won't even let him fight, due to having prior matches stopped for violence. The Crist Brothers vs. Massage NV (Dorian Graves/VSK): Dual male masseuses (including one in a lucha mask) is a great gimmick. Massage NV apparently work all over (AIW, Tier 1, Beyond, etc.), but this was my first look. Really good stuff, with quick tags and heel control from the Crists, and clever spots from NV using various massages and oil-based offense (complete with Dudleyesque "Get the Oil!" late-match battle cry). In some ways this was MOTN if you value match structure and crowd control over spots, but all of the fun weirdness of these first three matches on the main card represented the peak of the night. Matt Macintosh vs. Rude Boy Riley: Macintosh (w/ “Apple Corps” written on his tights) berates the crowd and praises his native Jersey as superior. This was the most NXT/ROH of the matches thus far, and I kinda mean that as a negative. Macintosh is a solid heel who can at least trash the audience and get a reaction, but Riley strikes me as a lame local hero just doing a bunch of faux-Alpha cursing on the mic. Finish sets up a rematch, but this felt more like a cluster than the latest chapter of a feud. Unlike the tedium of Evers-Miguel, this could be called the worst match of the night by being overblown and dumb. 7-Man Gauntlet: Craven Varro looks like a homeless Edge. Marc Hauss has great homemade entrance music playing off "Run's House". Matthew Jacob Feinstein's a good gimmick, and J. George is New York's current guy who can't work much, but who everyone still likes 'cause his theme is “Never Gonna Give You Up” and he wears Rick James gear. Chris Payne is drably indie, like a smaller, less talented Baron Corbin. Mario Bokara is working a Euro strongman vibe and gave everyone a bunch of German suplexes, for which Feinstein took an epic bump. Some of the eliminations were kind of lazy, but I can cut them a break if they’re seven falls in like ten minutes. Darius Carter vs. Jordynne Grace [Tier 1 Wrestling World Title]: “Urkel” chants for Carter. Crowd seemed either fatigued from the Gauntlet shenanigans or not into the intergender stuff, but in a sense they told the story well as Carter was willing to play a creep who you wanted to see get his comeuppance, while Grace looked like a credible contender. Nice suplex from Grace, and Yakuza kick from Carter. This was hurt by a badly executed Dusty Finish that the crowd didn’t even respond to as big as they could have. A match where the booking got in the way of two good performers. Dan Maff vs. Brute Van Slyke: Maff seemingly wearing a small pillow as a pad on his left elbow. Brute (also known as Punisher Van Slyke) feels like a JAPW trainee who Maff brought for the ride, as he was gigantic but not very good, but evidently he’s a champion in Grand Slam Wrestling who’s been around since 2010. Kind of akin to the higher side of a present-day Tenzan match: aging heavyweight hitting heavy chops and throws against a younger opponent, but Maff is still a lot of fun and his dives into the corners were massive. I believe Brute hit more Rainmakers here than Okada did at the Dome. Crists came out after the match to jump both guys and challenge Da Hit Squad to a future tag. Desmond Xavier vs. Shane Strickland: "Killshot" chants for Strickland, who pulled a Sandman and danced his way around the ring for almost the entirety of Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody". So many workers pounding the mat to get crowd claps going throughout this show. I swear it may have happened in all but the final match of the night. First half of this was some sub-Ricochet imitation weakness with two nerds Cirque de Soleiling around. Once they started slapping each other in the face and hitting Brainbusters, the crowd started chanting "This is Awesome" and it became a spectacle. If I was the booker I’d have to recognize this as the most over match of the night. Drew Galloway vs. Anthony Bowens (WhatCulture Title): So this night had 34 total workers over 13 matches, on a show that went 4 hours if you include the pre-game. There was an 11:00 curfew in place, or at least that was their excuse for this being so short. Galloway seemed shoot pissed to be going on after what he later called "3 hours and 19 matches", and mocked the ref for starting to count only as the two of them were getting back into the ring after they'd been on the outside for several minutes. They'd been behind the curtain having a brawl backstage, which Adams told us to check out on social media. This went for a minute or two and seemed weird live, until I in fact saw the brawl later that night on Galloway's Twitter, which is actually pretty effective use of a wrestler's phone in 2017. Vicious chops and piledrivers from Galloway. Galloway asks the ref and/or crowd what time it is at 10:58, audibly says "Fuck", then quickly rushes to a finish of a superplex followed by his DDT finisher. Bowens really didn’t get to show much here as it almost felt like they had to skip his shine due to time constraints. Galloway was pretty good natured in his post-match promo, saying he’d wrestle Bowens again, would be back to BCP, and was heading to get shit-faced in New York City. Even with abbreviated time, Galloway came off like a killer and affable star. I’ve seen him live several times over the last couple years and he never fails to bring it: dude's already had two of my favorite performances of 2017 in this and the Bully Ray match from WCPW.

Agreed - awesome stuff that made me a Sato fan, and one of the first Joshi matches that I saw/liked.

205 Live (1/17): Cedric-Gulak was a good little match. Pretty impressive selling from Alexander, and Gulak got in some cool stuff despite being on the defensive a surprising amount of the time. He’s still being booked as kind of a schlub, but it sort of works as a heel and he can’t ask for more if he can’t cut promos. Nese-Ali had zero heat: liked Nese’s cool fireman’s carry into a gutbuster, but little else to report. I don’t find either guy charismatic, but Nese had a bit more vigor than usual this week. Gallagher-Daivari's "I Forfeit" match was quite fun, and an oddly compelling tribute to 1999’s Halftime Heat w/ Rock-Mankind. Gallagher’s character work and usage of the umbrella got over with me.

Cody Rhodes vs. Ricochet (WhatCulture, 1/6/17) Will Ricochet be the first wrestler to have an entire career without working any actual feuds? I like some of his matches, but he is the poster child of an end to face/heel dynamics, matches-as-fake-fights, matches-as-something-you-don’t grin-through-nonstop, etc. It’s not necessarily wrong, or even un-sports when you consider how many pro athletes approach their work, but I do continue to wonder why I should care about anything in his matches, or if “caring” (meaning emotional investment) is even the point. Totally forgettable match of highly choreographed spots and dull brawling outside the ring: this was the worst post-WWE Cody that I've seen. Bad food, and such small portions: this felt abbreviated even for indie darlings collecting a paycheck. Drew Galloway vs. Bully Ray (WhatCulture, 1/6/17) This is a match where the face joins the crowd for a beer. It is one of multiple nut shots. Of a long heel promo in which Liverpool is praised and promises to be broken are made. Of mugging to the crowd and foreign objects. Whereas Rhodes-Ricochet was no story, this is all story. A wild brawl through the crowd, with Bully doing hardly more than throwing punches and gouging eyes. Timeless characters played very well by both: Galloway is less obvious, but he is a killer babyface here as he gives Ray a ton and sells so believably. Not sure who the two small money mark looking dudes were at the end, but this also had an ending and post-match angle that felt big and crazy yet totally worked, presenting a big star who seems way better suited as a heel than his usual role as a face.

To tie all three together: Meltzer's talking point after attending one of those WrestleMania Fan Access day Q&A sessions was that of the unscripted dudes, Cesaro and Roman were the two who stood out as being way more charismatic and at ease than usual.

Meant to say so over the weekend, but this was a great show that completely blew up my YouTube subscriptions. People say it all the time, but this is the best time ever to be a fan.

Day One: Trent Seven-H.C. Dyer was a spirited opener. At first I thought Seven a little goofy for my taste in a way that I’d compare to Marty Skuril, but he had nice chops and lariats, and cool selling that I’d compare to Jim Duggan or someone in that ballpark. Jordan Devlin-Danny Burch had the wrong winner. Burch clearly outclassed Devlin the whole time and looks to have everything WWE would want with the clear exception of height. Very kinetic, exciting guy in-ring though. Two matches in this tournament feels like a 1993 episode of RAW in the best way possible, and give this crowd credit for coming out fired up. Saxon Huxley-Sam Gradwell didn’t hold my attention: an embryo vs. a Brendan Fraser character without much action. Roy Johnson-Pete Dunne was solid, after Dunne hadn’t impressed me in the couple matches of his I’d previously seen. Johnson had at least one nice power suplex, and Dunne’s got heel heat and a mastery of his character. Tyson T-Bone-Wolfgang was interesting. T-Bone’s punches sucked, but Wolfgang could really move and had a throwback vibe like some Scottish version of an ECW Pitbull. I’m pleasantly surprised that rather than just being a CWC redux, this is a tournament of bruisers. Joseph Conners-James Drake was the least interesting match of Day 1. Two identical looking guys doing a derivative Adam Cole 2X match that you could see in a number of American companies. Mark Andrews-Dan Moloney was a one-sided showcase for Andrews’ highspots, but I think it’s good to have at least one squash on shows like this. Plus his moves look cool and he’s over. Tyler Bate-Tucker was quite fun and the best match of the day: good to have one of these go long. Bate was the most impressive guy of the first round: clear star potential at age 19, and a throwback in an appealing way (albeit one with a sick Tiger Driver). Day Two: Dunne-Gradwell saw both looking better than they did on Day 1, but this was still rightly a one-sided rout. Andrews-Conners put into perspective how small Andrews is: he felt like more of a goof here than he had the day prior. This improved as they went on, but I won’t be disappointed to see either guy exit the tournament. Seven-Wolfgang got it done. Wolfgang’s moonsault off the barricade was dumb/awesome, and I didn’t like Seven immediately shaking it off to hit a tope, but the ending was pretty savage and pleasantly surprising. Bate-Devlin felt quick and decisive, but Bate’s intensity and acclaim with the audience is the story of the tournament so far. Andrews-Dunne was the best either guy has looked thus far: Dunne has to sell more (and is excellent at it), while Andrews uses his flight as a projectile rather than breakdancing prior matches. Some of the highspots are overkill, and it seems odd to think you could catch an opponent mid-shooting star press while lying on your back, but there it is. Bate-Wolfgang is a cool pairing: early on Wolfgang’s chops and slams stood out, and the finish was great work from each. Neville-End was a very good showing for both: Neville’s shown he can wrestle like a heel, while End’s big dives and character moments got him over. Dunne-Bate was a tremendous conclusion, in which they paid off the heel’s injury angle while still allowing for a competitive match where the face shows grit. What a straight jab from Bate, and a hell of a finish. This is how you create a star (or maybe even two or three) in two days. I would much rather watch a show of these guys than the current Cruiserweight division. Would also agree that the Nigel/Cole team was very good, and that Cole hasn't sounded so motivated in years. Best matches of the tournament: Bate vs. Dunne (Final) Bate vs. Tucker (Opening Round) Bate vs. Wolfgang (Semi-Final) Neville vs. End (Special Attraction) Dunne vs. Andrews (Semi-Final) Wolfgang vs. Seven (Quarter-Final) Seven vs. Dyer (Opening Round) Devlin vs. Burch (Opening Round)

Thunder Rosa vs. Shotzi Blackheart (Face/Heel, 1/7): I reckon that Face/Heel Wrestling is the same group out of Texas who promote as Wrestle Circus? I quite liked the Victoria crowd and the building they were in. This had a good spirit to it: neither is a great technician, but they work hard and the crowd digs it. A fan even helps with one of the spots, illustrating one of the bigger difference between indies and WWE right now. Rosa cuts an odd promo up top, but there’s some humor to it, and it’s like they show good instincts of what to do dramatically in the moment even if the mechanics of it are still being developed. Shotzi's gimmick is a bit too AJ Lee for me, but there's some charisma there that could get her working in bigger promotions in time.

RAW: Wouldn’t call Rollins-Strowman good – like most RAW matches, it was arbitrary and pointless – but both played their roles well, and they’re trying to do something with Braun. Nice frog splash from Rollins too. Gallagher-Gulak may have been my favorite WWE match of the week, and it only went three minutes. Gulak finally got to be Gulak on TV, and Gallagher continues to be unexpectedly over and a hell of a worker mixing stiff strikes and headbutts with WOS spots. Cass-Jinder was nothing. Neville-Dorado was another three-minute Cruiserweight match that was way better than anything on 205 Live. Smart to have Neville develop a submission finisher for his heel run rather than the Red Arrow. Sheamus-Gallows was good, albeit with the usual bad distraction finish at the end. Hoss brawl where each guy is throwing big strikes, colliding tenaciously, and checking to see if they still have all their teeth. Charlotte/Jax-Sasha/Bailey made me wanna see the title match at the Rumble. Sasha’s new injury-prone gimmick seems forced, but the eventual heel turn makes sense. Kofi-Titus was skippable. Reigns-Owens/Jericho was stunted by being 2-on-1 handicap, a stip that hardly ever works or makes sense. The ending was particularly lumbering and sloppy in Jericho’s execution. NXT: The Royce/Kaye beatdown of Asuka, then jobbers, then Asuka again felt forced, but they need new women and have to push some. These two don’t seem like killers yet, but maybe they'll grow into the role. Samson-Cruz was a decent squash: the Drifter is hated by that crowd. Lorcan-Almas was the best match I’ve seen either guy have in NXT, such that I was amazed to hear this only went five minutes. Heated WCW style clash, albeit one with Lorcan as Cactus Jack doing a Blockbuster from the apron to the floor. Almas is much better as a heel and has a nice approach as a villain dressed in white doing floating dropkicks as arrogant high-flyer. Vicious uppercuts and suplexes from Lorcan, too: NXT needs new stars and this guy should be one of them. The DIY-Revival rematch was very good and I'd have to call it WWE's MOTW, but couldn’t possibly live up to the first two matches. Over the course of the match you start to see its purpose: to conclude the feud and start the next one. I wish it had been a bit less repetitive (this tells the same story in fast forward as the 2/3 falls match from November), but it’s interesting to see how much better Gargano seems here than he did on indies, and there’s plenty of Dawson excellence in the way he’s breaking up pins, finding teamwork opportunities, and illustrating how tags are unique.

Smackdown: The Nikki-Natalya brawl was good enough, but the story of that match that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere yet was Charles Robinson copping major feels on Nikki during the refs’ pull-apart. Dolph-Kalisto was good. Ziggler’s much more natural as a heel, and I liked him adding his old amateur matwork, as if having YouTubed some Bockwinkel or 60s/70s heels. Also enjoyed Kalisto’s bumping and selling here – he’s underrated as an expressive, sympathetic babyface in the vein of Rey, and the finish was well done. Alpha-Wyatts was decent if disappointing: stiff offense and cool spots (with Orton doing a Stun Gun variation on Jordan) and both teams throwing crazy tackles, but the finish was quite lame and this feels like the type of PPV-level matchup that they shouldn't bother doing for five throwaway minutes on TV. I didn’t even think Carmella-Thunderkitty was that bad, aside from some lame old-timey-style punches akin to what makes Vaudevillain offense look dumb. I was surprised to not like Cena-Baron. They were overly telegraphing everything. It’s good to play to the cheap seats, but this had a lot of stalling and rest for such a short match, plus Cena pulling down the rope five seconds before Corbin goes over it and Baron giving slams that look like he's in training on Tough Enough. Good reaction for Cena though. 205 Live: Boring episode. I like the structure of having 3 singles matches in an hour, but found all 3 to be dull. I like Noam Dar as rat-faced heel, but even he’s low-rent among this otherwise charisma-free cluster of dudes. I’ve never liked Swann, but even from a character perspective having him as your champ seems like an odd, tossed-off choice. The dueling promos to close the show were good: heel Neville’s been a revelation as the new Bad News Barrett, and as he's likely the next title holder come Rumble, the division will at least structurally make a bit more sense. Main Event: Sin Cara/Darren Young vs. Shining Stars was simple and fun. The Colons, particularly Eddie (he has one bump in the corner that has to be seen to be believed), are pretty terrific as stooge heels clowning around with Backlund. Young still seems lost out there, but Sin Cara had moments to shine and the whole thing felt like it had a beginning/middle/end story in a way that lots of current WWE TV matches don’t.

Just curious: does anyone here think interjecting Renee into Miz/Ambrose is going to be a good thing long-term? It's fine and fair to say "wait and see", but where do you go with it? Best case scenario, the heels find some dastardly way to get heat on the faces, and the faces find some clever way at revenge. You could see Dean and Renee having something of a Savage/Liz vibe, albeit a Liz who talks more and has her own life. But even in ideal booking, what's the end result of this storyline? She goes back to being lead anchor and they have the other panelists make nudge-nudge-wink-wink jokes about their relationship once in a while? People are already talking about a mixed tag at Mania or at least Renee getting involved in the ring somehow, which sounds like a disaster. The whole thing just feels like Vince's usual blood lust for embarrassing romantically involved talent, with a bit of Ryan Ward booking on top to make the bad taste go down smoother.

KUSHIDA-Hirumu: Lot of charisma in both guys. Early on I thought there were some cool spots, but I initially couldn’t get into this. It got more exciting with Takahashi on offense. KUSHIDA’s Hoverboard Lock could have been better applied, but I liked the struggle and counters. The finishing stretch of this is definitely vicious and exciting. I still think something was missing here as I wanted there to be more jeopardy, suspense, and perhaps more of a back-and-forth swing. And as I’ve said elsewhere: there were too many title changes on this show. If every champion loses as often as they do in NJPW, it doesn’t create parity among the roster so much as a hot potato effect. For a company that gets praised for its prestige booking in comparison to WWE, there’s actually probably about as much 50/50 booking in New Japan as there is in WWE. Shibata-Goto: Gritty fight, really well done. Shibata’s stomps and kicks were great throughout, and there were some brutal moments like Goto just whiplashing Shibata’s head to the mat. The big stretch at the end here was fantastic: this was worked differently than their matches last year, as this removed a lot of the bad moments where they took turns giving each other free shots to prove their toughness and instead felt like a match they both were eager to win. Tanahashi-Naito: Different, methodical pace from Omega-Okada. I enjoyed Naito both looking and working like late 80s Roddy Piper. The sequence of the Dragon Screw followed by the Sling Blade from Tanahashi was sharp. All of the mutual leg work and big offense in the second half paid off well. This feels like Styles-Cena, in comparison to Omega-Okada being more akin to something like HBK-Taker. Lots of great work here, though I’ll say I didn’t really like the last 4-5 minutes where it felt like them just trading stuff back and forth. Omega-Okada (Rewatch): The first few mins were actually better than I remembered as the matwork’s tighter than you’d think and they’re striking each other pretty hard from the get-go with forearms and elbows. Everything in the first quarter or so of the match is well-paced and interesting. I like that they do the traditional spot of having the face chase the heel outside and have the heel beat the face back into the ring, but with the twist that the face for once manages to still catch and cut off the heel with a big boot to the face. One thing that people might not be liking in Okada is that he’s not facially expressive. He isn’t even stoic so much as he’s just kind of blank. Wherein I said this was the best possible HBK-Taker, I mean that to say that while I’ve never really liked any of the Michaels-Taker stuff, this match was fantastic. Omega’s bumps remain fantastic on second viewing. Dude took a real beating here, getting thrown around and rag-dolling himself to death throughout. There was even a lot of payoff selling as late in the match he was trying to lift Okada and couldn’t because his lower back was destroyed in the big spots, which were as impressive the second time around. Omega’s big kickout out of the Rainmaker was excellent, and the crowd bought it. Really all of the pins at the end worked. People may take this the wrong way as I’m not equating them in quality, but there are aspects to this that I would compare to Chi-Town Rumble, in terms of the frenzied energy of the performers, particularly in the finish. (There were probably a lot of longtime fans who’d grown up in another era and at the time thought Chi-Town Rumble excessive as well.) Still easily the best match of the night even after seeing Naito/Tanahashi and Goto/Shibata. Lastly I’ll say that calling the Rainmaker some needlessly elaborate move to set up and contrasting it to a Hansen lariat doesn’t work for me here, especially in the last three minutes or so, which is build around Okada hitting the move quickly and violently twice, and in between each time hanging onto Omega’s wrist and refusing to let go with the jaws of life even as he’s taking barbaric knees in the face. I agree that the twisting do-si-do on the Rainmaker isn’t a good thing, but particularly in the finish, Okada was altering it into essentially a Jake Roberts short-arm clothesline and stiffing the hell out of Omega with it.