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Really fun stuff here. I think Matt D hit the nail on the head with Dragon. It is somewhat on display even moreso in this run, but he puts on master classes in how to construct matches, do little things that set you apart, and work to highlight your opponents strengths. I thought this was put together really nicely. The reverses and counters to keep things more or less neck and neck where classic face v face, and they accented that with Dragon playing the dogged technical master and Matt playing Hardy-Babyface (I don't really know how else to put it). I love Dragon turning the tide with the running dropkick to the knee. The finish with the heel hook caught me off guard a bit, but I liked it a lot. This was a really solid wrestling match that was very enjoyable. ***3/4

Good to see people discovering this right now. I am going to try to be as active as possible with this over the summer.

I never got into caring about the business side. I have probably used it - as Loss said - to confirm my bias before, but I usually don't even care to know enough to do that. That is why "draw" has always been the least interesting analytic for discussing the relative strengths of wrestlers, promotions, matches, angles, etc.

In no particular order, names that come to mind.... Danielson Walter Sabre Reigns Sane Asuka Almas (Sombra) Styles Black Terry Hero Omega Okada Cesaro Zayne Starr Strong Sasha Rush Park Riddle Naito Casas Nakamura Trevor Lee Almost everyone on that list - for one reason or another - has some down (or completely absent) periods in the decade, but they also have strong work that I would consider noteworthy when the dust settles.

I actually absolutely believe that heels should win cleanly (at least sometimes). It drives me absolutely crazy when someone turns and all the sudden they can't win matches cleanly, like overnight. It also gives the faces a challenge to overcome other than cheating, which alleviates some of the intuition to start putting gimmicks around the match that should "even" the odds. I also draw a distinction between bending the rules a bit throughout the match to get an advantage or maybe even going past the line of sportsmanship and cheating to get the actual decision. The former is something that should be built into a heels DNA, the latter should be used fairly strategically. Heels shouldn't win clean ALL the time, but I find the pattern of heels only (or even the vast majority of the time) cheating to win super irritating. Spot on about the nature of Alexa's promos and who has come out stronger (or more accurately not) from her feuds, but I really attribute that to them not sticking with much long term for her (aside from Nia). To me, the Sasha feud left a lot on the table. Sasha and maybe even Bayley came out worse for feuding with her because it felt - at least to me - like things moved forward unresolved ultimately. I also think both of those two at least have been the product of waffling booking for a long time now so I am hard pressed to pinpoint a single thing that caused their decline in standing. Both were overdetermined in my mind. Bayley did get buried in those promos though, but that was at least part on her for not being ready for that.

Great stuff... good blend of matchups, systematic tags, and controlled chaos going into the final stretch. My biggest complaint with stuff like this is that some of the spots get really contrived in the modern WWE product and these felt fairly well done. Sure the three submissions to a domino break spot was that very thing, but it wasn't done in a way that was eye rolly. Great tv main event. ****

I am real high on this one. Drake is one of my favorite under the radar guys in wrestling right now and this match really delivered in a pretty big way here. He was chopping for blood like 2 minutes into the match, laying in shots and taking just as good as he gave. this moved a little quick for me in terms of getting to the next level. I thought they threw lots of bombs and probably should have given us a little more time to process the whole thing. That said, the match had plenty of personality and was largely very good in terms of exicution. The most memorable moments and spots came from Drake, but Riddle has really become great in the past 6-8 months at not just having great matches but at being the glue of a match and making sure everyone he is in there with gets a chance to shine. Hats off to both these guys. This was excellent **** - ****1/4

Seems like a combination of the two to me. I am guessing if she isn't a "Vince Project" she is someone Vince prefers to the majority of other women on the roster (just guessing from his track record). That and the fact that she can cut a promo and more or less give some personality to whatever feud they put her in is probably enough to secure the spot she has had to this point.

I feel like this one is being undersold, but maybe I am just a mark for both these guys. I don't think they are capable of a bad match. This fucking ruled to me. This was a bit slower than their PWG match or their Progress match and is still maybe my third favorite of their recent high-ish profile encounters, but I still thought this was top notch stuff. Sabre having real trouble denting the armor of Walter here was awesome as Walter either countered or shrugged off a lot of Sabre's offense. When Sabre did get something he really had to work for it. The story as I saw it was Sabre's game plan just not working out well as he takes too much trauma in the early and middle stages to out last Walter and catch him slipping later. Walter's offense - as always - looked brutal as he laid just about everything in. Especially in the final quarter of the match when Sabre was loopy and in survival mode. You could see his grasp on the match slipping, even when he kicked out at one. This was a more definitive and dominant finish than their Progress or PWG matches, which I thought was a nice touch, especially as this feud feels a bit like a changing of the guard as indy wrestling's ace. ****1/2 for me. I loved this match.

I honestly think wrestling fans (especially WWE fans) can forgive competitive matches that defy they eye test. Sure she is being booked pretty poorly as a babyface. She should be a walking tall, take no shit babyface not a smiley, inspiring one. It isn't a matter of archetypes either, it is skillset. That is related to, but not determined by her body type. Right now with the skill set she has she should stick to simple, high impact, memorable spots. That is what got me on board with her as a worker a few months or so back anyway. She might evolve and get a more diverse skillset down the road, but right now they are trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. What strikes me as the real issue is her beating everyone over the head with the "anyone can do it" anti-bullying thing. I actually liked the slant on the feud going into mania, but it didn't have a long shelf-life, certainly not this long. That and - despite how true and genuine the message might be - Women's wrestling in the WWE has been over-saturated with "you can do it" speeches and personas that sort of hang their hat on that even for a short time. There have been a lot of feel good moments and many of them deserved to be held up and celebrated, soaked in even. It now sort of feels contrived (especially since if it isn't being overdone genuinely it is being overdone mockingly by heels to get heat). It just feels like its time to let the action speak for itself, let the moments speak for themselves. The division is very well respected and that is still trending in the right directly I think. I completely understand the desire to stop and smell the roses and to send positive messages to little girls given how long women's wrestling was treated with such disrespect from so many corners of the industry, but it feels like the general audience is souring on it, especially when it feels so scripted.

My God! What a thread... what a reveal.... I loved all of this so much. This was the most "pro wrestling" thread in pro wrestling message board history, at least to my modest knowledge.

Finally catching up on some stuff that I didn't see live from Mania weekend. Yep... This is really really good stuff. This is up there with some of my favorite matches from the entire weekend to be honest. This was pure back and forth struggle, really good pace mixed with the right amount of selling and letting stuff breath. This felt like two equals playing a game of human chess. I loved the callback to how Sabre beat Riddle before at the end with Riddle reversing it into the bro-mission and dragging Sabre's arm across to keep him from getting the ropes. It is a bit of a struggle to see the drama they are producing in spite of the weirdly lackluster crowd. TThis is is a MOTY contender for me ****1/2

Fuck me running. These two are fucking crazy people. I didn’t like this quite as much as their NYC match, but this was still a ton of fun. This felt a little more like they were moving form thing to thing. On the other hand, it also felt a good bit more brutal on the hole. Janela wound up with a nasty cut down his back, I believe from the barb wire. Havoc did a fucking top rope double stomp on to tacks with no shoes on. Both men walloped each other with some chairs and pans and the like. This was a ton of fun and moved at quite the pace. All the cringy moments where there and both men looked absolutely insane during different parts of the match, which was more or less what we were going for here. The funny thing is I felt like Janela was the star of their first match and he lost. I thought Havoc was the star here and he lost. That is really the sign of good wrestling in a way. Even though I felt this was a touch more aimless than NYC, they never lost the plot as they integrated death-match tropes and brutality They even did some fun callbacks to their other match, like a cinder block spot that looked like it probably fucked Janela’s shoulder up pretty bad. This was just a lot of good stuff. **** This doesn't really go into my rating of the match, but this segment as a whole was top notch wrestling. After a very good and wild match, Havoc cut one of the most believable and subtly visceral promos I have seen in a really long time on Jim Smallman. As that was coming to an end Will Ospreay came out and challenged Havoc to a match at Wembley in Sept. The challenge itself was pretty good and then Havoc does some psycho Flair bumps on fucking tacks. This really did set some anticipating for their match. Everything flowed seamlessly here. We got a really good/fun match, a great promo, and good set up for a future match... that is a quality wrestling segment.

Well, I can’t say I expected these two to be in the finals of this tournament.... NJPW contracted Sabre vs a WWE (NXT) contract Ohno in the finals of the biggest indy wrestling tournament in all of Europe, but here we are. The story of the tournament might have been Hero sort of slowly but surely getting his wheels back under him and improving in each round, looking a little more crisp and a little more ready to go. Sabre was Sabre all weekend, defiant and in people’s faces, being a real prick about everything and beating everyone despite it. Hero starts hard here and gets going early. Of course he is somewhat slowly broken down until Sabre can start to work the legs. Sabre actually works both legs, more chipping away at each, almost alternating which he worked on. He doesn’t go in for the kill on just one leg like you usually see. He, instead, works over both to just keep him week, especially in the thighs. I wish that was built up more in the commentary. Whenever i see someone work more than one body part I kind of like the logic of it, but it rarely gets talked up and if it gets mentioned it is almost in a questioning manner. It really came back in the pin when Sabre bridges back and Hero can’t use the power in his legs to kick out. Both men work with a fair bit of urgency and you can see them almost hitting their 2016 stride with one another. Here is the thing and this is the thing that just kept bugging me a bit. I am very mixed on Sabre’s selective selling, those moments where he just ignores massive strikes to be cocky. In some places I think it makes sense. I reads perfectly to me with what he is trying to do. Him no selling some stuff at the end of the three day tournament on the other hand doesn’t resonate with me. There is a place he takes a boot to the head and just gets up and attacks Hero. It isn’t really fighting spirit. It isn’t a momentary boost of adrenaline. He just stays up. That can work sometimes (against Walter in Progress and more so in PWG), but other times it feels like it lacks a clear rhyme or reason. Maybe I am just missing the point, but that is that caps this in the very very good range. This is still quality stuff built around one of the better indy feuds of the past decade. It had some low key emotion to it as well. ****1/4

I was sort of shocked at how good this was. I have honestly not been a huge fan of Lee lately. It is just a preference and connection thing I think because what he is doing is working for him. I prefer when Lee truly works like a big monster. He did that here in a way that I think made him look bigger, but also made Angelico look bigger. Because Angelico is actually taller than Lee, this winds up feeling like a real clash of titans, larger than life kind of stuff and that is all due to how they build the match up as they go. Lee has to work hard to get those double chops in and once he does they don't over do it. Angelico really works his range when he is getting offense in. He hits a KO knee at one point that looked like hot death, really fine stuff. This was the first match to really over-deliver and surprise me in terms of its layout and construction of the entire tournament. ****

I cosign most of what has been said here. I also need to revisit this feud, but this might actually be my favorite of their matches. It is a little reigned in and I think a lot better for it. Tanahashi avoiding he Rainmaker for so long was really nice. They played up how well they knew each other and how well they were able to counter and then put each other into somewhat new, bad spots. MOTY contender - ****1/2

Shibata and Barr are easily the top for me (as of matches I am thinking of right now).

Yeah, he has been on a bit of a roll lately in the ring, especially in that Braun match. They need to mix up his character a bit. A face turn against a heel Sami to start could be really good for both. KO continues to be an integral part of the WWE fabric and continues to be a good week to week performer and even at his worst remains unoffensive to me.

Fucking brilliant... absolutely fucking brilliant showing from Parka here. He is really the glue that holds everything together personality wise and whips the crowd into a frenzy. This match is so much better than the sum of its parts. So many of these exchanges were solid and had real teeth to them. The best lucha brawls feel out of control, like anything could fucking happen as these dudes get carried away beating the shit out of each other and this had that feeling in abundance. The third fall was - as Elliot said - a bit abbreviated and as a result it didn't really hit that next level of intensity. This was absolutely excellent. I want to rewatch this at the other angle because I feel like I missed some stuff on the ringside view, but this is a solid ****1/2 to me right now, could be higher which is bonkers given who is in the match.

Recorded: 4/22/2018 I just watched this after finishing SSS16, where I thought they had probably the match of the tournament. I wound up liking this a good bit better. While I thought it was fun and unique for them to build around the lariat of Starr in SSS16 you can see that it was part of the match here, but not the focus. I might even venture a guess that this match inspired the shift to the lariat later on. Regardless, this was a really tight back and forth match. Starr keeping up with Sabre on the ground and forcing Sabre to step back and strike before reengaging the grappling was a nice touch, really sets Sabre apart as a master tactician here. Starr sold the leg work really well and then it ultimately contributed to his downfall. They threw in a lot of unique counters and positions that worked well. There was almost no down time and both men worked with a lot of urgency and fire here. Thier slap exchanges weren't contrived and were really visceral. Sabre's sort of cockiness is on display in some of the best ways possible. This is somewhat of a little hidden gem here I think, stacks up with some of the best I have seen of the year. ****1/2

Yep... just watched that WXW match and totally agree.

I loved this. It was my favorite match from night one. I thought it delivered in very predictable, but well executed ways. They had a nice back and forth that actually made me get a little lost in their story and believe Williams might win. That is just great wrestling. Both guys set the tone for night one that would continue to elevate as they went. ***3/4

I liked this one a lot as well, but not quite as much as SLB. Ohno worked Bate over hard and Bate is such a natural work-from-below babyface. I thought his comebacks sort of hulking through things were a bit much and then - presumably because of the injury - the finish sort of fell off the rails just a bit. That all said, it was a still a great match. Both guys looked great and you could see Hero improving with every outing. ****

Probably the best match of the tournament (this or the final). This was a really nice little back and forth struggle. This was also the first match where I didn't feel like the winner was pretty predictable. It was interesting to build so overtly around the lariat, but I thought that wound up being a good little touch here. This was a match worked with lots of urgency and malice. Very good stuff ****1/4

KO gets a lot of hate, but I like the little things he does like shaking his head when whipping Braun into the ropes to try the pop up powerbomb. Conveying the sense of "I'm not sure this is going to work, but it's my best shot" is the kind of thing you don't see much of in wrestling anymore. I actually very much like KO and think the hate on him is overblown myself (but that is another conversation for another time). Regardless, I completely agree. He ads lots of little things that I think actually bring a lot to the show. Admittedly, sometimes they are misses, but he was hitting out of the park on RAW his week. I could also watch Braun run over him all day. The first shoulder tackle he took made me gasp as he nearly pinned his head on top of the damn guard rail. That triple threat match at the end of RAW was dope too. I wont get to SD til tomorrow, but Raw set the in ring bar for the week pretty high.