ShittyLittleBoots

Bryan vs. HHH (WrestleMania 30) Bryan vs. Lesnar (Survivor Series 2018) Styles vs. Lesnar (Survivor Series 2017) Zayn vs. Nakamura (NXT TakeOver: Dallas) Shield vs. Bryan, Kane & Ryback (TLC 2012) Bryan vs. Cena (SummerSlam 2013) Cesaro vs. Zayn (NXT ArRival) Wilder & Dawson vs. Ciampa & Gargano (NXT TakeOver: Toronto) O'Reilly & Strong vs. Seven & Bate (NXT TV 06/11/18) Michaels vs. Taker (WrestleMania 26) Bryan vs. Sheamus (Extreme Rules 2012) Punk vs. Cena (MITB 2011) Ohno vs. Regal (NXT 2013) Cesaro vs. Regal (NXT 2013) Cena vs. Lesnar (Extreme Rules 2012 & SummerSlam 2014) Strowman vs. Reigns (Payback 2017) ^ Off the top of my head, those would be my picks, but obviously I would need to re-watch quite a lot to actually put the list into order & all.

Trevor Lee defends the CWF Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title. The match was amazing, unsurprisingly. Even though Trevor has more than proven himself to be the master of putting on super lengthy matches, I still always have my doubts when I see a match going to such monster minutes as this one, but as was the theme of his title reign, he completely sucked me into the battle that was done inside that squared circle. The 75 minutes flew by as if they were 15; it built & built & built & BUILT, and by the end, the drama was just so perfect I got them goosebumps. Trevor pretty much completely ate Cain alive in their first meeting back in January, and that was the case for much of this one, too; Trevor straight up dominates, with him stretching Cain all over the place, with his, always oh-so-great looking holds. Cain makes some brief comebacks, but every single time the champ shut him down very quickly. I interpreted the storytelling very much as Trevor making Cain go from a boy he trained to a MAN who's ready to be the forefront of the company - Cain proved he had a lot of heart in the 75 minutes, as he survived Trevor's brutal onslaught on him, and as the match went on, he got more & more into those comebacks of his; the last 20 to 25 minutes are crazy amazing w/ it's drama - the nearfalls & especially the drama revolving around their submission finishers in the Twist Ending & STF is top notch stuff, and while I probably would've let Cain win, I loved the finish. Trevor was absolutely BRUTAL with those Danielson stomps, and those were a good reminder of why I went & gave Trevor in CWF a shot in the first place; I saw someone compare his work in the match vs. Andrew Everett from 2016 to that of Danielson's during his ROH World Title Reign, and that sparked my interest, and I am so glad it did, because Trevor ended up becoming one of my favorite wrestlers. And he made sure to leave his territory with one of his greatest masterpieces. ****3/4

Bryan vs. Kofi to start things off was very good. They got to have a pretty lengthy singles bout there, and it was awesome; Bryan brought the goods on the offense with his usual awesome submissions, knees & kicks. My favorite bits of their segment were the LeBell Lock, where they put just the right amount struggle to it, with both guys being active in their respective pursuits to keep it locked in & getting out of it + the chop exchange, which Bryan won by headbutting Kofi down & then punishing him with those kicks. The finish was great too w/ Kofi catching Bryan w/ the Trouble in Paradise. Kofi vs. Jeff wasn't interesting, but they kept it pretty short so it wasn't bad. Kofi vs. Joe wasn't as good as I probably had hoped, but it was still pretty good all in all - Joe was, for the most part, pretty boring w/ his submissions, but the one neck/head -crank one looked very vicious, and that I did like very much. His lariats looked real good too, and much credit for that goes to Kofi for bumping like a motherfucker for those. Kofi vs. Styles was my favorite segment of the whole thing; LOVED Kofi getting fired up about AJ not wanting to wrestle a man who had already wrestled 3 matches beforehand - those pushes & slaps were fantastic, and AJ answering aggressively was tremendous; his offense was so on point, with every kick & punch of his looking absolutely amazing. Oh & that backbreaker gotta be mentioned, too. Then the knee psychology was also terrific w/ Kofi selling it in great fashion throughout, and AJ being very brutal targeting it & eventually getting the finish w/ a fantastically violent looking Calf Crusher. Orton's bit afterwards was perfectly done too, because there was no need for him to actually wrestle a real, lengthy match vs. AJ after Kofi's whole story surviving the gauntlet, so it ended at the perfect time. Really good hour of TV wrestling. ***1/2

I thought that Switchblade looked like a star in this. Great swagger & charisma shown throughout. Loved his trashtalk while he went to town on Tana's knee. His work over that knee was really good, and while I wouldn't say that Tana's selling was good, it wasn't offensive. He still did his High Fly Flows without showing the damage done to the knee in his movements, but those were just a couple of brief moments, so it didn't bother me too much. He was very good w/ the knee work of his own, too. Then the whole sequence with White avoiding the Slingblade was real neat; White came off as a very smart, cocky prick w/ his great expressions, while Tana was awesome being frustrated & angry as hell about him not getting the moves in. Badass finish in the catching Bladerunner & of course I gotta mention Gedo's hilarious bumping for Tana during his bits. Overall a very good match & better than I expected, honestly. ***1/2

^ That's definitely a must-watch if one wants to watch all of the most pimped ROH matches. #2 favorite behind Nigel/Bryan.

For Sleaze I'd recommend these: Danielson vs. Low Ki (Round Robin Challenge) Danielson vs. Paul London (The Epic Encounter) Styles vs. Paul London (Night of the Grudges) Styles vs. Danielson (All Star Extravaganza, Main Event Spectacles & Dissension) Joe vs. Punk trilogy Danielson vs. Nigel (Driven/Domination, Rising Above 2008 & 6th Anniversary Show) And of course the Danielson vs. Morishima rivalry, which is perfect David vs. Goliath wrestling. The 6th Anniversary Show match between Bryan & Nigel is my favorite match of all-time. It's much more story driven than any of their other ones.

This goes 73 MINUTES, so it's a real long boy, but if there's one man I trust in wrestling to have an awesome, super lengthy match, it's the Carolina Caveman himself. Having just watched it, I can confirm it was indeed an awesome one. Some very good storytelling throughout with the three heels in Attitude, Royal & Wilkins working together to try and eliminate the babyfaces. High-key felt like a trios tag match for the majority of it, but the babyfaces did go at it w/ each other too; Trevor had some really fun exchanges w/ Kool Jay in the beginning, and then the final battle between him & Cain was of course great. I'd say for like 95% of it I was thinking it's a really good match, but not really 4*-level great, but oh man, I can't deny the FEELS I was FEELING during & after it. THAT is what puts it over as a great 4* match. I remember a while ago Chris Hero tweeted something along the lines of "Wrestling still moves me. I think it always will." - and that tweet instantly came to my mind when I finished watching this one. An emotional ride starting from Trevor's entrance to his post-match speech. Was in near tears listening to him talk about calling his dad after Regal offered him an NXT contract. Now next up in a couple of weeks is him vs. Cain, 1-on-1, End of an Era. That should be quite emotional too, and I loved their first match from January, so I'm really excited. This was great. ****

Starr has a taped up shoulder, but Thatcher doesn't go for it right away. They do some lovely work on the mat; it's all very tight & has a great sense of realism to it, as both Starr & Thatcher are among the best in the world. Loved Starr trying to actively fight out of Thatcher's single leg boston crab attempt, and Thatcher answering to that by kicking him back & then applying the hold. It's the little things folks. Thatcher eventually gets tired of this back & forth shit, and goes after the taped up shoulder - Starr sold his desperation there brilliantly, as when Thatcher grabbed a hold of that arm for the first time, he just started rapid fire punching him in full on panic-mode. He tries to go for his signature lariat, but Thatcher headbutts the arm, and then it's a full on arm torture-show. Dirty Tim's armwork is really great, super compelling to watch with brutal stomps, uppercuts & holds. Starr excels in the FIP role w/ his terrific all around selling. His comeback attempt with those chops was awesome; Thatcher just absolves them, because Starr had no power behind them w/ his shitty arm. It has probably happened in some other matches too, but I first saw it done in Danielson vs. Shiozaki, and it's one of those spots that has stuck with me ever since I first saw it there, so it's safe to say I popped big time for it here. Another great Starr comeback attempt moment was when he once again tried to go for that signature lariat of his, but he did it with the bad arm, so there wasn't much impact to it. Thatcher just absolves it like he did the chops, and tries to put him in a chickenwing right away. Oh & yet another awesome comeback moment by Starr was when he countered Thatcher's suplex/bodydrop attempt into a crossbody, he got Thatcher stunned for a bit, but he can't capitalize, because of how much hurt has been put into the arm. That cartwheel spot was absolutely amazing too with that arm giving up & Thatcher going to it immediately like a shark. And the finish was real lovely & pretty creative; great scramble & struggle with the counters, and Starr gets the flash roll-up victory. Fantastic ending to a truly fantastic match. Really tight psychology & amazing performances by both. All in under 10 minutes. The first high tier MOTYC of 2019 for me. ****1/2

Maybe the best Jr. Heavyweight match in New Japan history. Some very good, very grounded work to start off things - after the first third, what would become the big story of the match kicks in; Benoit's tight Sleeperhold. He makes it look about as vicious as a Sleeperhold can look in a pro wrestling match - Eddie's hope spots get the crowd going, and the way Benoit cuts him off just at the perfect times to get heat on him is simply masterful. My favorite part of the match is when Eddie gets his first somewhat extended comeback in after the Sleeperhold festival began, and just when the crowd is going crazy for his energetic, highflying offense, Benoit cuts him off & puts on that tight ass sleeper once again to big time boos by the crowd. Absolutely brilliant. Eddie's selling of the whole thing is rock solid, too; he would look all dizzy & tired while getting his stuff in. They bring out the big bombs in the finishing stretch, and there's some really great storytelling in there, too with Benoit kicking out of all of Eddie's signature moves (Frog Splash, Black Tiger Bomb) - which meant Eddie had to bust out something real big to get the job done, and that he sure did with that Super Brainbuster. A masterpiece. ****3/4

KUSHIDA's selling was pretty awful. It's a shame, because other than that, this was super compelling. Loved all the matwork, the dueling limb work, Tana heeling it up a little & KUSHIDA answering to that by slapping the taste out of his mouth + the atmosphere was great throughout & they also played up the Jr. vs. Heavy dynamic real great with KUSHIDA not being able to put on a show on the mat as well as he usually does, because of the size difference. Some more leg selling by him & this could've and probably would've been a MOTYC. ***3/4

Utami Hayashishita vs. Starlight Kid (Stardom New Years Stars 2019 Day 2) is a recent great one. Great selling performance by Utami & Kid was awesome w/ her legwork.

Brock Lesnar is a goddamn legend. Finn's offense looks weak & soft as hell, but Brock does such a perfect job selling for him all the way through that the match couldn't be anything less than a banger. Loved the post-match attack on Finn by Lesnar too - that's some great character work there w/ Lesnar being mad about this little man pushing him to the limit by going after his mid-section. If Finn was more interesting on the offense, this would've been great, but it says something about the match when even though he wasn't interesting on the offense, the thing was still borderline great. ***3/4

I think Daniel Bryan is the greatest wrestler of all-time & AJ Styles is not far off from that, so imagine my reaction to waking up & checking a few Rumble reviews & seeing 1-STAR & DUD ratings to this one. Very fascinating! I thought the match was fantastic myself, but the lack of heat from the crowd definitely hurt it quite a bit. The place made no noise for Bryan busting out Dragon Suplexes or vicious stomps, and most of all, it killed almost all of AJ's comebacks. The two Calf Killer spots & the headbutt-bit were something that should've got huge reactions, but instead got absolutely nothing. Those were still awesome comebacks, but they would've been so much more great if the place had actually reacted to them. Very unfortunate. The finish was also AWFUL w/ Rowan. Other than that though, yeah, the match was terrific. Great start with them being very cautious with each other, not making any mistakes, but still bringing the intensity & dislike of one another w/ some fantastic looking punches. Eventually AJ crashes into the ring post hard & starts clutching his arm - Bryan of course sees that & goes to town on AJ's arm immediately. It's a Bryan torture show & there's not many things better than that; he brutalizes AJ's arm, busts out vicious looking kicks, and then notices that AJ's nose is bleeding & goes to that immediately with some brutal punches. Some little touches I also liked such as Bryan trying to keep the Danielson Special Armbar locked in by delivering some calf kicks to AJ, crossfaces to the face & then working the nose to get LeBell Lock locked in, Bryan doing his vintage stomps to the face & his leg giving out due to the damage he received in the Calf Killer, and of course "I HAVE TILL 5!". A clinic on the offense by the man, and AJ was really good throughout too with his selling & comebacks, even if they did come off as somewhat underwhelming because of the crowd reactions. Definitely not their best match, but still a yet another banger between two of the greatest wrestlers in the world. ****

Fell asleep during Becky vs. Asuka last night. Watching the show now, and I certainly am very intrigued by the response Bryan & AJ have got online. Seen a few DUD's & 1-stars being thrown around at it. Ronda vs. Sasha was good. On the women's Rumble now.

Pretty disappointing. They went with the competitive, back & forth structure with Asuka & Becky trying to one-up each other all the way through. Certainly wasn't the most compelling story they could've told, and went a tad bit too long too. Didn't really click with me or grab me at any point. **

Not only the best in-ring wrestler in the world, but also the best promo in the biz. The GOAT stays killing it.

Most stacked wrestling show in a while. The card looks absolutely great: Rumble matches are always fun. Bryan & AJ will produce magic like they always do. I am not a Balor fan, but I love Brock & he always works well with smaller dudes, so the match will at the very least be very fun. Both of the women's matches look really good on paper too. Hoping for a great night of wrestling!

An overly long PWG-style spotfest. Some people like that kind of stuff, but I sure goddamn don't. And the thing about bad PWG spotfests is that they usually never go 2-fuggen'-5 minutes. My least favorite match of 2018 was Gargano's match vs. Black from Takeover, and this was a couple of storytelling!!1 dialogues away from being on the level of that. Not the kind of wrestling that I like to say the least. *

Let's get to the brief positives first: Roddy & Kyle sure excel at bumping their asses off for their babyface opponents' shine & comebacks. Hanson's hot tag with that cartwheel spot was also really good. Sadly the match just wasn't overall very interesting. It didn't have half the energy UE's matches vs. Burch & Oney + Moustache Mountain had. Neither did it have the laser focused psychology of their matches vs. AOP & MM. Also the Rowe FIP bit surprised me, because of how bland it was. So far I've LOVED every other heat segment by Roddy & Kyle, but my goodness were they just straight up dull as hell working the heat here. Kyle's offense looked super weak too - it's something that wasn't unusual for him pre-WWE, but I think he has kept it very nice & tight ever since the UE run started, so it surprised me here quite a bit. Not a good match, and very disappointing because the Kyle & Roddy pairing is one of my favorite things in wrestling right now. **

The first fall was great, explosive action w/ the highlights being that picture perfect RANA w/ Rey jumping from the top rope to Andrade on the outside & then the absolutely crazy finish. Perfect, pretty execution, but also with a superb impact to 'em. The 2nd fall was quick, but also perfectly executed; Rey survives the first, brutal powerbomb Andrade throws, so Andrade gets frustrated & caught up by that goddamn amazing Destroyer by Rey. The final fall is one big finishing stretch, and it's just outstanding - that sliding sunset flip powerbomb into the barricade & DRAGONRANA though. There was quite a bit of moments that stood out in this one, but maybe my favorite out of all of them was when Andrade had been doing some brief work over Rey's arm, he then kinda drops that gameplan & does his signature Hammerlock DDT - only for Rey to survive it by putting his foot on the ropes. What does Andrade do next? He goes to the arm he had been softening up right away & does a very nice, vicious looking Fujiwara Armbar! Great stuff there. They recovered from the botch perfectly too, and it didn't feel out of place in the match at all. Definitely liked this a tad bit better than their bout from last week. ***1/2

Looks like the clip has sadly disappeared from there. Checked their YouTube channel & it's not there either - at least not yet.

I could just say that this is the greatest match of all-time and leave it at that. It's to me what Austin vs. Bret is to many people - the absolute apex of American professional wrestling. They go into it w/ a special agreement that Danielson won't target Nigel's head, because of the concussion Nigel suffered a few months earlier vs. Austin Aries. The fans had been slowly turning on Nigel in his time as the champ, and here the crowd was at least 95% on Danielson's side, with a few chants of "NIGEL!" here & there. The whole atmosphere is something special; the random yells of "you fucking PUSSY!" & "BITCH!" to Nigel throughout are amazing, and add to the whole package of the match. The match starts w/ your usual competitive wrestling between the two; Bryan does a great job doing his usual offense, but instead of targeting the head, he goes for the body instead. The turning point comes when Bryan hits a belly-to-back suplex & Nigel complains to the ref that he wants Bryan to be DQ'd, because he hit the back of his head there. The ref doesn't do that, so Nigel hits him to get the DQ he wanted. He leaves, but is greeted by Aries & other ROH wrestlers who are not letting Nigel disrespect the championship like that. I thought that added fantastically to the whole Anniversary Show atmosphere, and it was perfectly executed. The match gets restarted, and Nigel is angry & intense as hell, even more so than before; he does quite the number on Bryan's arm, which is vintage Nigel, but this truly was some of the best arm work he did during this run. Bryan's comebacks are absolutely terrific w/ him going after Nigel's mid-section, and the big one where he puts him down w/ punches to the body, teasing the 10-count KO finish was amazing. Nigel is starting to get desperate - he has done everything in his power to try & defeat the challenger, so what does he do next? He fucking HEADBUTTS Bryan! Maybe my favorite single match moment of all-time. Bryan's reaction to it is superb; not over the top in the slightest, he just sells the shock perfectly. Nigel keeps on headbutting Bryan - it's essentially the biggest dick move of all-time because of the "Bryan will not target Nigel's head because of the concussions he has suffered" clause, but also because of Bryan's bad eye, which Prazak & Lenny brought up brilliantly. The finish is simply perfect too w/ Nigel first killing Bryan with a brutal lariat & then busting out Danielson's own signature elbows against him - at that point Bryan is out of it, but Nigel in a true egomaniac moment still has to put him in the London Dungeon to get his first non-count out 1-on-1 victory over his greatest rival. It's perfect storytelling from start to finish, and the execution of it by both men is on another level. Like I said, THE greatest match of all-time in my eyes. *****

Nigel defending his ROH World Championship here. It is a great match. I do not love it as much as I used to, but I do still think it's great. Nigel's legwork is a good twist to his usual arsenal - he isn't as naturally vicious with it as he is with his signature armwork, but he still brings it in terms of nice focus & moments of nastiness. Bryan's selling for the most part is pretty great, as he spends most of the match fighting from underneath after Nigel starts targeting that knee, but I do think that he could've sold that said knee a bit more in a couple of key moments. His comebacks are great, especially the one towards the end where he delivers those fiery slaps to Nigel. The blood added quite a bit to that & the entire finishing stretch. ****

This is an all-timer. The early mat work is tremendous - loved Danielson just grinding Nigel's ear with his fist while Nigel had him in guard. So simple, yet so amazing. He also busts out some brutal strikes to Nigel's nose later on in the match, and it's just so good. It's a clinic of Bryan on the offense - he also works over Nigel's back quite a bit, and while Nigel's selling is fine, I do think that it could've been better, and it's something that ultimately makes this a 4.75* match instead of the full fiver. ****3/4

The wrestling is competitive & amazing throughout - both guys, especially Bryan, really brought it on the offense (as always). Loved how good his STOMPS looked. They bring some very neat callbacks to their previous meetings & play up the Pure rules brilliantly. Then of course during the last 6-7 minutes of the match, the drama kicks off into legendary atmosphere with the infamous ring post spot, and Nigel then delivers some of the most magical babyface work I've ever seen in a pro wrestling ring. It's the perfect match. The ring post spot & the headbutts afterwards always make me cringe, but oh man, these two sure were willing to do some brutal stuff for the sake of the art, and I would be straight up lying if I said it didn't add a ton to the already-classic match. *****