ShittyLittleBoots

WALTER defends the NXT UK Championship. You know what you get when these two collide, and as usual, it was some really good stuff. They did "the usual" between them, but also brought a bunch of new cool things to make it feel fresh enough. WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov always guarantees the kind of pro-wrestling where everything looks & sounds as violent and uncomfortable as possible. And it's awesome. I would put this on par with that last big NXT match of theirs. There is really no real reason for me to not call it straight-up ****+ great, but it's the same gut feeling I had with their last match where it's like one of the best "very good" matches of the year. ***3/4

At best, this could've been REALLY something. But sometimes you get what you get, and what we got here, in my eyes, was an extremely boring main event. Reigns' big control segment was an absolute chore to get through; the man offered nothing of note during it, as most of it was filled with headlocks, kicks, stomps, you name it. Most generic heel-on-top stuff you could imagine, and even more boring than that actually. Moved at a snails pace which is something his control segs usually always do; it's not necessarily a problem, but when those said segs are boring right from the get go, the mEtHoDiCaL pace sure doesn't help. And of course there's a bunch of talking as well. By the time Cena wakes up & starts busting out the hits, it all just feels very hollow & empty. A very disappointing main event to say the least, because as I implied, this easily could've been something pretty special. *3/4

I didn't like this match at all back when it happened. Now looking at it 5 years later, my opinion is pretty much the complete opposite. I think the match is great! It's mostly known about all the big movez & nearfalls, and it sure doesn't take them long to start putting focus on those, but the beginning with Cena's control period was really nice w/ him being mean & focused. Simple stuff like him throwing AJ full power into the corner or him punching AJ in the face after he was gloating + the back bodydrop where he absolutely LAUNCHES the guy, it's all pretty great. I didn't like Styles busting out the Clash so early & it being kicked out of, but it is what it is. That's where the match kicks into its "true" gear as the big moves, false finishes & the one-upmanship become the main focus. I remember in 2016 thinking they went waaaaay overboard with it all, but watching it now, I actually thought they didn't do too much, as they kept it within the limits of good taste, and the story they told with those wild big moves & nearfalls was something that truly worked & fit the match. The avalanche AA is a genuinely FANTASTIC nearfall, and while I wouldn't argue people calling Cena's reaction to it being complete cheese, I also kinda liked it? At least initially the whole "wait wtf" look on his face was awesome & sold the moment big. So yeah, I really loved this one. Damn. Great effin' match. ****

There's the infamous big turnbuckle backbreaker botch, and holy hell did it look & feel dangerous, but honestly? It kinda added to the match. Or at least it didn't take anything away from my enjoyment of it. Charlotte's attack was fully focused on the back afterwards, and it's really good stuff + Sasha sold that onslaught wonderfully. It had some big time Eddie vs. Rey vibes, and it's a dynamic that works fantastically with Charlotte & Sasha. Charlotte's work on top was indeed really good as implied, and Sasha's babyface work was simply pretty darn great throughout - that moment where she counters Charlotte's top rope big move attempt into that hurricanrana was superb in particular. Awesome match. ***3/4

This is a solid match with a pretty great Brock Lesnar performance. Everything he does here is on point; from the beginning where he does the usual Lesnar bullying, to then selling the "mood change" perfectly when HHH got one-up on him. His big heat segment on HHH was good too; they established & treated Kimura as a huge deal right from the get go, and him working over HHH was all about doing damage to that arm, of course to set up what was eventually gonna be the finish. It's good stuff & HHH sells being in peril really well tbh, even better than I would have expected. The way the momentum swifts to his favor w/ him attacking Lesnar's mid-section is awesome, and I can't praise Lesnar's selling enough. He sells the initial shock & the shots like they're killing him, and his selling remains perfect till the very end. It's a good match, but not great. Not all of it is very compelling to watch & there are points when it moves into straight-up uninteresting-territory, but it's still good & the performances by both men (especially Lesnar) were really damn good. The infamous post-match is also obviously hilarious. ***

Aw damn, my bad. No idea why I let that typo slip through

Doug Williams defends the ROH Pure Championship. This is for the Pure Championship, so it's under the usually-always-fun Pure ruleset. And sure enough, it's tons of fun! Some nice technical wrestling to start it off as one would expect from this pairing. As the match progresses, it's clear that John Walter is a man on a mission; he's focused as hell, even more so than usually, and it's a joy to watch him execute a nice onslaught on Williams, and it's equally as nice to watch the champ's reactions & answer to that. Love the finishing stretch where Walters' knee-targeting + the Pure rules came into full play. Really good shit. ***1/2

Roman Reigns defends the WWE Universal Title. This was great. The first third or so wasn't the most interesting stuff, but once Cesaro's arm becomes THE major focal point of Reigns' onslaught, it gets extremely compelling. Reigns is great at targeting that said arm; loved him talking trash to Daniel Bryan & going to town on that arm total DB style. Good shit. Cesaro's selling was of course tremendous too; really consistent + I loved the way it came into play in a couple of key moments like the Neutralizer try or the pop-up Uppercut attempt. Kinda surprising to see him lose 100% clean like that, but I don't think he came off worse out of it. If anything, he came out even better than he already was, because this was a great match & a great, well deserved showing for the man. ****

This was some textbook tag team wrestling & a classic Rey Rey performance. He was selling his ass off through the entire thing & was just being the best babyface in peril in general. Absolutely lovely stuff by him, and the Dirty Dawgs were definitely on point as well; I thought that Bobby Roode especially had some awesome moments punishing Rey & cutting off Dom's hot tag run. Epic spinebusters & backbreakers to name a couple of things from the great, fun arsenal he showcased here. Gotta love the feel-good ending to cap this match off too; they told the story extremely well right from the start, and by the end, Dominic coming in & hitting that Frog Splash for the W certainly felt more-than earned. ***3/4

Darby Allin defends the TNT Championship. This was kinda like Darby's awesome match vs. Brian Cage from January, as in it's Darby getting destroyed by a brute for the most of it, but at the same time, this had a completely different dynamic & charm to it. It's also better. The pre-match attack by Miro was amazingly vicious; it was a complete crime-scene before the bell even rang & I loved it. Then the match officially began & the narrative continued with Miro indeed mostly just completely destroying Darby, and it rules. Miro looks like a monster between his awesome offense & Darby's willingness to make everything look twice or thrice as brutal. Darby's hope spots & comebacks also rule; the last-hurrah he had after the awesome Sting brofist-moment was especially awesome, as was the finish with Miro wonderfully countering his Armbar into that vicious finish of his own. This was absolutely great. ****

The Young Bucks defend the AEW Tag Team Championships. If Daniels & Kazarian lose, they will never tag again as a duo. I thought that this was a really good tag match. The Bucks got to really showcase why they're such lovely pricks, Kazarian looked good, getting plenty of time to shine on the offense + Daniels delivered big time selling his ass off w/ the blood; his whole "final stand" segment after he gets the final tag was certainly my favorite bit of the match. It was pretty great. ***1/2

It's the 70+ minute long boy. It's a real long one, but goddamn do they make every minute count. I have watched this multiple times before, and pretty much every single time I do watch it, I come out of it w/ something new to totally fanboy over. The big story that lasts the entire match is Danielson's attacks & how he changes 'em up as the match progresses; he goes after Aries' back, ribs, knee, arm -- all in a way where it feels natural for him to switch it up. And of course the work on the offense is amazingly compelling. Dragon is vicious, he is focused & he is creative - he even added some extra lil' nuances to some bits of his usual submission repertoire, and it sure was awesome to say the least. Every fall also ends beautifully & there's also some really great selling in there. They very nicely reference their exciting Survival Of The Fittest meeting in there as well. Now going back to the length, the match sure is A LOT, but man, it's always so beautiful. I love it all very much. ****3/4

No chance at making my ballot. He is one of those extremely generic indy wrestlers w/ zero appeal (to me) whatsoever. And the sad thing is that he probably is one of the better ones on the current scene.

Unsurprisingly great. Beautiful armwork-story with Bryan first starting out working the left arm, but naturally switching the focus to the right arm once opportunity presented itself when he countered Reigns' Superman Punch attempt w/ that kick to it. Bryan's work over the arm is obviously awesome, and Reigns' selling is rock-solid. Love the way the story played out in the end; the whole finishing stretch is so great with Reigns looking to put a blunt end to things, but Bryan just goddamn HOLDS ON to that arm with everything he got left, because he knows it's HIS. Then Reigns wisely simply switches it & ends it all. Simple, wonderful stuff that plays up to both of their characters perfectly. Overall it's probably not as amazing as their Fastlane match(es), but it's definitely great. They're a fantastic pairing. ****

This was simply a red hot tag match with the action being super energetic w/ an awesome, compelling pace start to finish & very good work by each men involved. The perfect opener for any wrestling show ever, pretty much. ***3/4

This ruled. The big goal of it was obviously to showcase Kyle O'Reilly after his big match vs. Adam Cole, and he sure got to look real good in there against the best opponent possible. Good matwork in the early going w/ Grimes selling wonderfully for Kyle's control there + then Cameron also continues that trend of wonderfulness in his control seg where he displays that signature smash-mouth offense of his; loved that clothesline, his kicks are always awesome & that throw into the corner (which Kyle ate like he was on his Hitman shit, hell yes) was a thing of beauty. One little thing that I really loved as well was Kyle swaying Cameron's dizzy punch-attempt before delivering that comeback strike combo of his own. All around this was some really good stuff! Love seeing both of these lads kill it like this. ***1/2

This is an all-time great three-way dance. It felt like a big match with its phenomenal build, and it lived up to the hype & then some more. There was absolutely ZERO downtime, it was absolute nonstop, great action from the opening bell till the finish. Some silly Edge facial expressions of course, but honestly even those didn't take anything away, as it all added to his "crazed old man on a mission" character. Speaking of characters, I looooove the differences in all 3 men here. It made the whole dynamic so compelling even before the match had started, and they played up those differences in their characters wonderfully throughout the match. Great damn shit, all of it. Some of my favorite moments were Bryan's kick counter to Reigns' Superman Punch attempt, Reigns getting "Roman Sucks" chants & answering by dumping Bryan through the announce table, the sequence w/ the chair-struggle between Edge & Reigns, the whole Crossface bit & the aftermath w/ Bryan destroying Edge, that legitimately superb nearfall after Edge's Spear to Reigns. Love the finish too! It's the first time Roman Reigns actually feels like THE ACE that he has always been positioned to be. Took them a while, but it has happened. Amazing stuff. ****1/4

These guys compliment each other so well. This was so awesome. Both of 'em have such amazing arsenals of badass offense, and that was on full display here; beautiful bombs, counters, very nice sense of urgency & feel of pure physicality. The finish was great & I also loooved the way Sheamus instantly recovered from that White Noise botch by delivering a vicious knee drop from the top. ***3/4

THESE TWO having THIS MATCH at THIS STAGE. Neat as hell. It was classic Zayn vs. Owens stuff; bombs bombs bombs with everything looking magnificently dangerous & destructive. A badass 9-minute sprint. ***3/4

Bad Bunny was in there for most of the match which is a surprising route for a celebrity to take, but goddang it was awesome. The man was selling his ass off & busting out big moves beautifully, with the biggest one of 'em all being a mothafucking CANADIAN DESTROYER. Unbelievable. JoMo & Miz gave such selfless performances too, giving the man so much of the match & selling everything he did perfectly. The perfect guys for this spot. The whole match really was a WrestleMania moment™ tbh, one of the most memorable celebrity-spectacle-matches they've done. ***

When you lay it out, this was an excellent way to put over Bianca Belair, as the storytelling of the bout was on point. They put over Bianca's strength & athleticism over wonderfully; she really dominated a lot of the match with Sasha getting a big crafty counter here n' there, but it was always Bianca who got them bigger grooves going. It was one of those "you can't deny this title change" type deals. Sadly I didn't like the match much at all. I thought that Bianca's work was extremely uninteresting & the best bits were Sasha's big moments, but even most of those were just "there", and not anything REALLY-really compelling or interesting. Bianca's sell of the 450 kickout was also like the worst of Shawn Michaels' cheesy reactions, but even worse lol. The whole dancing routine finishing sequence also wasn't for me, but I did like the actual finish w/ Bianca's KOD putting a blunt end to things. Not a bad match, as while I didn't find it compelling, I can appreciate the strong storytelling, even if the actual action didn't hook me in at any point. *3/4

This was a pure workrate bout w/ a sprint'ish feel to it. It was good! Cesaro is obviously a total king, and most of this was designed to put him over big by letting him play his hits & kick a lot of ass, so it's not a surprise this ended up being a good match. Seth was good too! Lots of neat offense by both men. That finishing sequence w/ the Uppercut counter to Seth's Curb Stomp attempt -> UFO -> Swing -> Neutralizer was badass. Also Cesaro's reaction to the win + him bringing back the old HEEEEEEY's, oh man. So awesome. ***1/4

I really enjoyed this one. Beautiful tag team storytelling with the more experienced team cutting the ring in half for a long period of time, totally isolating AJ. Kofi & Xavier were really good controlling things, and watching AJ try to figure out how he could get the tag, but time after time get shut down by the New Day lads was extremely fun. Omos of course eventually got the tag & came to wreck shit up; that Bane-like backbreaker to Xavier was awesome, as was the forearm by AJ off his shoulders. Very fun tag number! ***1/4

Blood usually always boosts matches like this, and such was the case here as both women rocked the crimson mask & created some pretty memorable scenes with it. And by all means it was indeed a damn awesome, big-bomb-driven grudge match; really nice use of all the weapons, a couple of great bigger spots, and most of the standard offense, such as Britt's forearm strikes before that superplex, looked real good as well. A hit in every way, pretty much. ***3/4

Man, the big post-match explosion being a complete (to say the least) dud is such a damn shame. That face turn angle w/ Eddie Kingston would've been absolute magic had they not butchered it. And while it happened after the match was over, it still does suck a lot of juices out of the thing when looking at it as an overall package. I also wasn't a fan of the Gallows & Anderson run-in finishing stretch at all -- usually I don't get bothered by stuff like that in wrestling, but here I was enjoying the action between Moxley & Omega so much, I felt like things went downhill big time for the last some-minutes when the Good Brothers got involved. Nice finish with the One Winged Angel on the chair, but yeah, I thought that the energy & the pure raw feeling of a WAR the bout had died down pretty effectively. Without those two major negative factors, this really could've been one of the best things AEW has done thus far, because everything that Mox & Kenny did up until that run-in, it was legitimately some really goddamn great stuff, truly making the gimmick justice. It was easily the best match of the night, but aye, as implied, I can't help but to feel that it should've been more & really one of the best pieces of pro-wrestling for the entire year, but by the end of things, it just wasn't. ***3/4