TonyPulis'Cap

Another good show from MLW last week, and honestly, they are in a decent little groove at the moment. I think that's helped when it's the tapings from Cicero Stadium, as the Chicago fans are hot and it's a venue that looks good on camera. As others have pointed out, the Salina doing Mexican voodoo was great, and jut the right side of ridiculousness in wrestling. What with her vignette a couple of weeks ago with the grave site and she's on quite the roll. The Hammerstone/DBS match was way better than I thought it would be, with them showing some good fire and chemistry from one another. Bulldog Jnr works a lot better with other power guys than he does with lucha guys, when you compare that in general he's been solid in ring for MLW but was dreadful in the tag match with the Lucha Bros a few months ago. The finish as others have highlighted was weak, but the Hart Foundation/Dynasty feud has been really beneficial to everyone involved. I've often said that MLW feels like an old school territory with modern twists and the rivalry between the two 3 man units with all the different combinations of matches you can do between them feels very World Class. Echoing others thoughts, the main event was all over the place, but that's a compliment, as just like the ladder match the week before the fact it was chaotic and messy was just what you wanted. At times it looked like everyone was on different pages, but at others it was crazy fun with lots of big bumps, infused with the charisma of Dr Wagner and LA Park. MLW being able to exploit the links into Mexico through Konnan is very much one of it's USP's at the moment.

Pretty much in agreement with a lot of what El-P and Migs have said about last week's Fusion. The main event was a ton of fun, that was chaotic in a good way and benefited from looking rough around the edges. I appreciated them just hurling each other into the ladders rather then spending hours setting up intricate IKEA furniture structures to go through. I liked the dynamic of the Hart Foundation being much more element with the ladders and dominating when they were in play, while the Dynasty were having to use strategy to try and gain any sort of advantage and opening. The MJF being scared of heights was cute, but I thought could've got over just as well in a subtler way without it it being quite as campy, but the man is a star and is able to do something not many others are - wrestle in a way that is consistent to his character but without it detracting from the match. It's a rare skill. I enjoyed all the seconds and stable mates getting involved as well. Part of the fun of TLC 2 was the cameo's from Spike Dudley, Rhyno and Lita and this reminded me of that in a way with Aria Blake, Harry Smith and Hammerstone getting involved. I thought Blake was great in there and full marks to her for climbing the ladder and taking the bumps of it in those heels. The Mance Warner/Salina stuff was mostly entertaining, and as El P points out, I liked the use of the camera phone and facetime for a beatdown - for once wrestling trying to use modern technology - but agree the ending was a bit creepy and felt like something out of the Hills have Eyes with a creepy hillbilly stalking a young girl. On commentary in the final match they did say that she had managed to escape the building so hopefully that allays some of the fears of them doing something uncomfortable, so will cross fingers that next weeks episode doesn't start with her tied up in a basement somewhere...

With Slammiversary tonight, an interesting development that they switched the tag titles to The North on their show on Friday. Some speculation that LAX might not be long with the company which would obviously be a huge blow, although they probably did need to switch the titles onto someone soon as they were starting to look like a team that no one would buy into them losing. The card looks very decent on paper - as I've said in an earlier post in the thread - one's that been built to really well to where the matches are much more appealing if you know the angles than if you are just looking at it in the cold light of day. In general Impact has been delivering on their PPVs so should be a good show. There's also a fun little documentary on their Youtube channel about Tessa which I'd recommend if you have a spare 10 mins. She once again comes across really well. What with the Sami match and also some of the things she says in it about intergender wrestling (always a favourite discussion point for people...) it seems like she maybe being steered away from the Knockouts division into wrestling men more often but we will see.

Writing this before I've seen Kings of Colosseum, as I've just been catching up on the past few weeks of Fusion. Overall I think I'm more positive about the company than some posters here, but I can definitely understand the criticisms. In terms of Cornette's level of input, then there's things that look like some of his hallmarks, although that slightly updated version of an old wrestling territory is the vibe they've been going for before he came, and I guess is why he's happy to be involved with them compared to other companies. I generally like the way they present things - a good example being, scrambling for an alternate match when the Teddy Hart/Richard Holliday match didn't happen, although as others have noted, their current talent pool is being stretched pretty thin. I really enjoyed the Contra vs Lawlor and Von Erich's match, when combined with the post match, loved the intensity of it. Personally I'm much more of a fan of this level of 'chaos' rather than people using staplers and other random weapons which really takes me out of things. I'm sure it's not a coincidence and the vibe they were going for, but it did remind me of a 6 man match you would've got in World Class with the energy and brawling. Just in terms of last weeks show then I'm more in The Thread Killer's camp than El P's - it was a functional episode of TV to build up the Lawlor/Fatu match, although I agree there was nothing must see or exceptional about it. The finish was tried and true in terms of being there to build to another match, although agree very much with El P in that it was massively boring and almost sent me to sleep. I'm still an interested weekly viewer of the company but do agree that they need to give some of the stale parts of the show a bit of an injection of life. I'm a big Aries fan and hoped he could be that, and a match with Teddy Hart is intriguing, but his return did leave me pretty uninspired, although not helped by him having to be in there with Adam Brooks who I've seen wrestle a few times here in the UK and is just a guy that does moves with no emotion or fire. Hopefully Aries can get back into the groove. I'm also missing the Konnan/Salina storyline of them being competing firms trying to dominate the pipe line of talent from Mexico which I was a big fan of. Finally on Contra, I like the guys together and appreciate them going all in to make them a threat, however they need to highlight what their actual motivation/end game is otherwise it's hard to get invested in.

You're not wrong. The look he gave was if he'd just forgotten he needed to get milk from the shop on the way home. Which is unfortunate as I thought other than that it was a good closing angle with a damned impressive over the top rope table bump that was giving me Awesome/Tanaka vibes. I've been a big fan of Impact ever since the new regime took over, as to me, their show is what a wrestling TV show should be - something that builds up the bigger shows and makes you want to see the matches on PPV. While if you looked at the Slammiversary card on paper you might think it looked OK at best, or not that inspiring, but if you've watched the TV and the build up you'd be very much into it, as most of the matches have been built really well. This week is a case of point - outside of the LAX/Laredo Kid vs The Rascals which was a really fun sprint, there weren't any other matches to write home about but the build up to matches was very effective. You never know what footing Impact is on in terms of people leaving (e.g. Kross/Scarlett) and the network they are on not even being able to air the show properly, but in terms of a TV wrestling product in 2019, I'm not sure too much out there that I enjoy more.

Just because your father is rich and you've had advantages in life to give you a leg up, whether you asked for them or not, doesn't then mean that you can't have a hard work ethic, mental acumen or talent to achieve in the field you've chosen to go into. As NotJayTabb outlines, his direct involvement in Fulham over the last year or so has been dismal - whether he was making all the day-to-day decisions or not, it's come on his watch - however I agree with sek69's point that criticism of him just being a fool parting with his money comes very much from the Monday Night War narrative of an evil billionaire media mogul trying to destroy an honest family business by throwing money around.

Feels like with all the AEW buzz that Impact has really slipped off people's radars, not that it was sadly on many people's in the first place... Have seen all their TV since Rebellion and think they continue to produce a rock solid, fun weekly show, however they feel like they are failing to create the kind of personal, engaging rivalries they were doing last year and which started to tempt people into giving them a chance. For the taping schedule at the ECW Arena I don't think they had Pentagon and Fenix which leaves a gap, and it feels like they aren't utilising people like Tessa and Sami Callihan as well as previously, as those have been two people that have carried feuds. Also feels like it's getting to the point that without the Lucha Bros, there is no-one the crowd buys as being on LAX's level, meaning it's harder to utilise them as a top act. Hopefully The North can be a good match up but they've already lost clean to them and have also lost to the old ECW guys which doesn't feel very forward thinking. A few other random thoughts... Given how sparse the crowd was meant to be for the tapings they've done a decent(ish) job of making it look not too bad, although it's probably a worry for them that when ROH tapes TV there it looks more impressive. While I didn't like the fact they have been putting people like Dreamer and Van Dam over, I do like them recognising the history of the building to give the show a different feel. I've never been a big Elgin guy but he's been really impressive since he arrived. For those that haven't seen them, would absolutely recommend seeking out his matches with Swann and then the tag match from this week with him and Johnny Impact against Swann and Wille Mack, it's really good and brings a fairly dead crowd to their feet. I'm looking forward to Taya vs Rosemary...however the undead realm stuff feels way played out now. I'm not even against the presentation of it, more that it's been going on for months and months and seems to be meandering to no definitive ending. I know they are trying to keep Tessa away from the Title for a little bit, but surely there's something better they could find than her feuding with Disco 'Bobby Riggs' Inferno. Fallah Bahh is a really fun wrestler. I loved his title match with Aries last year, but recently he's slimmed down and is having some fun matches. I'm not sure how much legs the 'Eddie Edwards' is a crazy person character has left, but he's an underrated MVP of Impact the last few years who basically pulls out at least a *** match every time he's out there. Does he wrestle much other places? I never seem to see him mentioned anywhere but he's a really versatile and solid performer.

Not to dig up some old talking points from the time leading into, and coming out of Mania, but watching the Becky Lynch 24 episode on the Network that was recently put out just made me sad, in terms of what might have been, or rather what should have been. That's not to say I was sad about much of the content - I've been a huge Becky fan for years - nor the quality of the documentary, or indeed the ultimate conclusion in terms of her winning the main event, but there was a frustration that the final destination was messed up right at the last by the largely dreadful storytelling between the Rumble and Mania. When I watch a wrestling documentary or profile piece, particularly one put together by the WWE, I often think of what sort of traction or reception it would receive from non-wrestling fans if it was broadcast on regular TV or pushed heavily through a Netflix or Amazon service. I think if this had been, then people would be swept along by the Becky story and drawn in by her personality. She comes across fantastically in it, so likable but also vulnerable and at times melancholic in her times of struggle, but then also warm, engaging and with a charisma that draws you in. And then the story itself for the most part works so well, even if it was never mapped out; she sets out with dreams, goes to some dark places as it looks like it will never happen, gets a shot at redemption, but then toils away in the background, shoved aside for others, only to take control of her own destiny by becoming a captivating character unlike any other female previously in wrestling. From the turn on Charlotte at Summerslam, to letting loose as a bad ass, to winning the title, being the Man, getting the match with Rousey, suffering the punch from Nia and the concussion taking her out of that match, winning the Royal Rumble to the promo where she picks Ronda has her mania opponent and says "I always said I'd find my way back to you" the story is perfect. And if you just watched the documentary you would think it gets the ultimate payoff...but in reality Becky's win just didn't seem to hit the heights it should have done, to the point where she has already lost one of the titles and now feels just another cog in the soulless WWE machine. There's a few reasons for that; Kofimania seemed to steal a lot of the emotional limelight, the fans were exhausted at the end of an marathon of a show and the weird flat finish, but ultimately to me, if it was kept as just Becky vs. Ronda 1 on 1, and there was no suspensions, arrests, attacks with crutches, qualifying matches and McMahon involvement (something basically fast forwarded through and largely glossed over on the program) then it would've been the seminal moment it could've been and the moment that truly made Becky into the face of the company.

Watched Before the Bell: the story of All Elite Wrestling on ITV 1 last night. It was on just before midnight, so not exactly prime time, but the fact it was on the 2nd most watched TV channel here in the UK and on a channel available to everyone in the country with a TV set means that hopefully this will translate into some traction. The pre-show will be on ITV 4 tonight, a less watched channel, but still one readily available on a free platform so it will be really interesting to see how many people choose to purchase it through ITV Box Office. Feels like there's a real chance for them to make a noise in the UK, given that TNA back in the day managed to build themselves a pretty decent fanbase for a while here off the back of being on a channel called Challenge that was much more accessible than WWE being on Sky Sports. As for the show itself, viewing it as someone who watched All In, but who doesn't watch BTE, I'd say it wasn't the most focused package I've seen, jumping around a lot, but then it was trying to be both a preview of the matches and a history of how AEW has come into being in just 45 mins so willing to cut them some slack. I also enjoyed the way they were building up the matches, making it appear much more realistic in terms of people's motivations than WWE is currently doing. I've long argued, along with many others here, that there's actually too much wrestling on wrestling TV shows, and that big matches should be built to with video packages, promos and documentaries. On this level I enjoyed it. There also seemed to be a consistent story going in for people like Kenny and the Bucks that they had got off their game by sitting in offices and doing paper work (an amusing image) rather than getting out there round the world like for example the Lucha Bros. Overall, I'm willing these guys to succeed tonight and then for AEW to succeed, whether it ends up being something that I enjoy from wrestling or not. I know people are already taking sides - we live in a very polarised world where everything is either amazing or terrible - but as someone that has basically checked out of WWE and their presentation in wrestling since last years Mania, an alternative way of presenting pro-wrestling seems so, so important.

Just catching up on the last few weeks of MLW, and after the massive letdown of the big Lawlor title win over Low Ki, it feels they are hitting their stride again and I really enjoy the flow of the shows at the moment with the right balance between segments and matches. Battle Riot II was much better than the first version of the match. It had less surprise entrants than last year, which although getting a quick pop when they came out meant the match was all over the place, but was much better at advancing existing feuds and playing off previous interactions. I was surprised both Lucha Bros went out so early to little real fanfare, but then I guess they were wrestling multiple matches over the next few days. I haven't really been impressed with LA Park's matches in the last few weeks as he just looks way out of shape, but his charisma is still magnetic and I'm intrigued about what him and Lawlor can do. I also thought MJF was tremendous in the match and he had me buying he could win coming in not knowing the result. Co-sign on El-P's praise for Cornette on commentary. Despite generally enjoying him, I was hesitant when it was announced he was coming in due to his disdain for so much of modern wrestling, but I agree with the point that he is doing a good job of getting over stuff he doesn't like - e.g. Jimmy Havoc - bit still getting him over in the match and not shitting on him. On a commentary note, does anyone know if Tony is done now with MLW? If so I'll be gutted as I've really enjoyed his run doing Fusion.

This. And this. Wrestling TV shows have too many wrestling matches. I wouldn't want a return to the Kevin Nash booked Nitro of an hour of skits, but more time needs to be devoted to exactly what SomethingSavage says: "Utilize more interviews, mini-docs, training montages, and video packages to introduce, debut, and spotlight your key characters." Build to matches that matter rather than having matches for matches sake, and matches to fill time. It also makes it harder to burn through the same combination of guys wrestling over and over again.

Anytime you got Jody Fleisch vs Jonny Storm, but in particular their match at CZW Best Of The Best in 2002 when they tore the house down in the ECW Arena.

Think this is one of the most sensible takes I've seen on the situation. It's that incredibly difficult line to take in terms of how far someone with mental health problems - if this guy has them as is being speculated, or it is indeed known at this stage - can be held responsible for their actions. But as TTK highlights the safety of others - in this case Bret - has to come first, and even if the guy does have mental health issues he still needs to be held accountable as he endangered someone, and thank God it wasn't worse. In a heat of the moment situation it's incredibly difficult to say that if someone you cared about was attacked that you wouldn't be prepared to use your full force to protect them, or indeed take some sort of retribution out on them. Should some of the guys taking shots at him have done it? It's not for me to say - it's a natural human emotion to want to lash out at anyone that's done someone you care about harm. In general though, I've never been a fan of having fans at the HOF. Despite our reputation, not all wrestling fans are completely incapable of being respectful and basic social etiquette, but it's just always seemed really awkward to me to have them there. Just another little point on the HOF, which in particular I thought about when watching Torrie Wilson's speech, was how I think a lot of the discussion from fans about who 'deserves' to be in there sort of misses the point. Wrestling isn't real sporting competition therefore judging someone on how many titles they might have won is redundant. Likewise, while how influential someone is or how much money they drew are clearly barometers of 'success', to me the HOF is simply a chance for someone to get recognition and respect from their peers, and really, given all the things wrestlers sacrifice in terms of entertaining us shouldn't we just be happy for them to get a day in the sun rather than sniping as we go down their CV? Torrie is a classic point. Was Torrie Wilson a great wrestler? I don't think so, but really, she was never given the chance to be one either. Maybe she could have been one, maybe she wouldn't even given opportunities...but while you can argue the merits of what she was often required to do on TV - and that's on the company not her - you can't deny that she was on the road 300+ days a year, away from friends and family, made countless sacrifices, would have worked hurt, worked hard with anything she was given, trained to improve from just being a valet to being able to work a competent match. Plus in terms of her profile in the height of the WWE Divas having calendars and DVDs etc she was probably a bigger 'draw' than others in the HOF. But again, that's not really the point to me - a HOF induction is a chance for all the people that go in to get a little something back for all the missed weddings and their kids birthdays they never get to and I don't begrudge anyone getting that.

This is part of the ‘Old School’ vs ‘New School’ angle which dominated most of 2002 in the FWA. These guys would be feuding on and off throughout the year, trading the FWA British Heavyweight Title and that would culminate in Jody beating Flash for the title at British Uprising in October. The two have really good chemistry, with Flash acting as an excellent base for a lot of Fleisch’s highflying and springboards, and Jody making Barker’s offence look really impactful through his crazy bumping. This is about 10 mins long and is all action, but without it feeling overly spotty. Through his size Flash dominates a lot of the match, but the fans are kept invested through Jody’s excellent selling and exciting hope spots. For his part, Flash was a guy that was deceptively agile and quick for a guy with his build, meaning he can equally bump really well for Fleisch’s offence. Towards the end of the match the FWA’s rather lax rules when it comes to weapons and DQ’s plays a part with a chair getting involved and Jody getting a good nearfall after springboard drop kicking the chair into Flash’s face. I enjoyed the psychology in the finish which plays off the arm that Jody broke the previous year; coming off the top, Flash smashes his arm with a chair and then Pillmanizes it with a leg drop on the chair. He then gets the win by making Fleisch tap to an arm bar. (***)

Thought this weeks episode of Fusion was pretty good with a lot more energy to events. So far I'm enjoying Mance Warner and you could tell that both he and Cornette were enjoying the back an forth's between them. Next week with him against LA Park should be fun. As other's have said, I'll need to be won over by the Contra angle and what their motivation is meant to be. As EL-P says, they are a random set of people, but I enjoyed their debut - I'm a sucker for a beatdown post match in a cage when security and officials are locked out - and this week with all the bottles and rubbish flying into the ring like it was a 96/97 episode of Nitro was pretty cool. As I say, I'm on the fence at the moment as to whether this has any legs behind it, but from his couple of appearances Jacob Fatu looks like an absolute Beast. The splash he did from the top of the cage a couple of weeks ago was impressive and then this week he was absolutely nailing the double jump moonsaults. He looks to have a ton of potential. I was really digging the main event as well before the DQ ending but the addition of Hammerstone to MJF and Holliday looks promising and should lead to some fun six man tags with the Hart Foundation. I don't know if Teddy Hart puking in the ring was legit or not but given the storyline was all about him wrestling with broken ribs, it added some visceral realism to things and I thought, even with the unsatisfying ending that this was a much better match than the Hart Foundation/Lucha Bros title switch which was largely a mess. In particular thought Davey Boy Smith Jr looked miles better here than his performance trying (and failing) to work with Pentagon and Fenix.

This is a really interesting point, and one I've also been thinking about, particularly with the reviews of Fastlane last night. I know that online/Twitter, and indeed any discourse about anything these days is increasingly polarised - things are either amazing or terrible with nothing in between. But there definitely seems to be something of an increasing disconnect, particularly when it comes to modern day WWE, between a lot of fans online (admittedly this very anecdotal) and what we call wrestling journalists or media. Looking at feedback on last night I was seeing from people on Twitter there seemed to be lots of positivity and that people thought the way the show was booked pushed forward storylines in an interesting way. Yet the reviews from some of the more 'established' names or writers for news sites are saying that the current booking to Wrestlemania is at WCW 2000 levels of storytelling, which I presume is not being highlighted as a positive.

Indeed, given Arn would still maintain kayfabe on WWE documentaries when he was a talking head, I'm not sure you'd get too much behind the scenes or inner working stuff. Although I guess a podcast where he would take you through angles and matches where he was 100% in character and which was more like an audio book piece of fiction would be entertaining in a different way.

This is the final of the tournament to crown the first MLW World Champion on the first MLW show. For why it’s a three-way match, see my review of the semi-final of the Vampiro vs Taiyo Kea match that went to a time limit draw, only for Douglas to come out and make it a three way. Most of this review is going to talk about the aftermath and the booking, as there is nothing to this match at all, with barely 2 mins of ‘action’. Having already wrestled twice that night, Douglas looks knackered and basically sells for a minute and half as it initially looks like Vampiro and Kea will work together. But very soon Vampiro catches Kea with a kick when Douglas moves, who then hits his belly to belly for the title. (N/R) If you’ve read through my reviews of all the matches on their first show, MLW were clearly and obviously just in ECW rehash mode for their first show. It was in the former ECW arena, it had a load of ex ECW guys on the show, the final was turned into an impromptu three way and then after the match we get a reprisal of the infamous birth of Extreme angle with Douglas throwing down the MLW Title just like he did with the NWA one back in 1994. Unlike the original angle which was ground breaking, edgy and had a point to it, this just felt like a cheap rip off and his promo to go along with it doesn’t make much sense. There’s plenty of swearing and shots at the likes of Vince, Heyman, Flair and The Kliq but nothing about why he doesn’t want the title. The show finishes with referee Jim Molineaux basically squaring up to Douglas and telling him that if he doesn’t defend the title – which he never did, and I don’t think appeared for MLW again – he’d be suspended from wrestling in Pennsylvania by the State Athletic Commission. It’s a terrible ending to a pretty uninspiring debut show from MLW, although I think things start to pick up from their second show when they started to try and forge a bit more of their own identity rather than being a straight ECW tribute rip-off. Most of the matches on the first card are solid, but nothing stands out or even reaches ‘good’ levels, although I will say there is a satisfying amount of clean finishes, and no run ins or cheap endings. There’s a contrast with ROH, which had a great main event on its first show which helped build buzz and the fact that they took till several shows in to crown a champion when they had established some guys and storylines. Will look forward though to seeing how the company progressed at the time moving forward.

This is the second semi-final in the MLW World Title Tournament. Vamp beat Christopher Daniels in the QF, while Kea defeated The Wall. Like his earlier match against Daniels, Vampiro is slow and methodical in his approach, but without someone in there with speed to move around him, it means this comes off as lethargic and devoid of energy. Kea again looks good with his kicks and some brutal sounding chops, keeping to the basics, but neither of the guys brings anything compelling to the table and there is no real story to the match for you to get invested in. Because of this, even when they do try to throw in some big moves like a blue thunder bomb and snap hurricanrana, the crowd is pretty dead. Whether it’s legitimate or not, Vampiro looks to be carrying a head or neck injury as he is clutching it after everything he does, but it’s not something that Kea is really focussing on. The two look like they are just going through the motions and killing time, which is backed up by the timekeeper ringing the bell out of nowhere to a confused crowd. I guess this is a 15 min time limit – although the match is only about 12 mins at that point – but that’s never really explained, only that the ref signals for a 5 minute extra time period, until Shane Douglas – who won the first semi-final and who is due to meet the winner comes out to turn the final into a three way match. A not very good match, with a really crappy ending – didn’t enjoy this. (* ¼)

This is the first semi-final in the tournament to crown the first MLW Champion. Douglas defeated Corino in the QFs, while Lynn got past LA Parka. On his way to the ring Lynn is confronted by Christopher Daniels who says that he wants to “cleanse him of the sins of his past disappointments” and that all the companies that Lynn’s ever worked for have never treated him with any respect. This is foreshadowing the heel run that Lynn would have in MLW. Douglas gets the jump on him to start the match after faking him out with a handshake – it’s pretty ambiguous throughout the tournament if we are meant to be behind him or not, but is consistent with the Franchise character, I guess. There’s not too much to the match, but it has a decent flow to it. Lynn keeps it relatively interesting, wrestling at speed around Douglas to compensate for Shane’s lack of mobility. If you watch the whole tournament, then in contrast with what you see in modern wrestling, there’s not lots of unbelievable kick outs of big moves, so it gets a good reaction in this match when each kick out of the others finish; Douglas out of the cradle piledriver and Lynn out of the belly to belly. A bit like the Lynn/LA Parka match in the round before, just as it’s starting to look like hitting a big closing stretch, Douglas catches Lynn in another belly to belly to advance to the final. Solid stuff. (** ¼)

Joey Styles on commentary says this a first time ever match and plays up the fact that it’s two former ECW and NWA champions, something that will play into the conclusion of the tournament. Douglas gets the biggest pop of the night coming out, leaning heavily of course on his ECW past. Before the match we get promos from both guys, who both have great delivery, but a lot of the content is very early 2000s with plenty of ‘shoot’ and insider comments which do not age well. Corino’s promo is pretty good, presenting himself as a defender of tradition and how proud he was to wear the NWA Title compared to Douglas who threw it down, but that makes it unclear who is meant to be the heel and face in this, as he veers between being sympathetic and antagonistic. In the end Douglas sucker punches him to start the match. Douglas gets an initial shine and there’s nice punch exchanges from both guys, but outside of that there’s not much to get excited about or invested in. You can see some of the influences that going over to Japan with Zero 1 was starting to have on Corino with him building in things like the facewash in the corner. Douglas in return, outside of punches and the odd suplex, doesn’t bring much of anything. Even by 2002 he feels like something of a relic that wrestling has now passed by. There is a storyline that could’ve been told between the two, of Corino being a younger version of Douglas in terms of his accomplishments, but this never really gets played up in the match. Even the ringside brawling is largely lifeless and non-descript. Douglas ends up winning when he counters the Old School Expulsion neck breaker into his belly to belly. Solid, but disappointing given I thought it would be more heated. (**)

This was meant to be Kea vs Bam Bam Bigelow, who apparently no showed and is replaced by The Wall. Because of this Bam Bam gets a mild dose of the Mike Awesome treatment from Styles with a bit of a burial on commentary. With his WCW background and the fact that big muscle guys weren’t very en vogue at the time - with the implication they couldn’t work and were ‘too WWE’ - The Wall gets crapped on by the crowd with plenty of “we want Bam Bam” chants. To be fair he doesn’t do much – or doesn’t get the chance to do much – to win anyone over. Kea is from All Japan and is the protégé of The Great Muta. MLW’s strap line at this time was ‘hybrid wrestling’ with the idea that it would be a melting pot of different styles and guys from different parts of the world, and they would build a relationship with All Japan which would be seen by the run that Satoshi Kojima gets as their champion eventually. There is little to no chemistry between these guys with little in the way of energy. Kea has a clear game plan in trying to work over The Wall’s legs, which makes sense, with some drop kicks to the knee and a dragon screw leg whip. He’s got some nice strikes and chops but doesn’t seem to mesh with The Wall’s standard big man offence of punches and stomps. The Wall hits a couple of decent, if rather basic power spots but after just four or five mins, Kea hits a quick flurry of kicks and finishes with a northern lights suplex. Nothing to see here. (*)

Daniels is the only guy in the tournament that wasn’t a former WCW or ECW ‘name’ (I know he was in WCW briefly, but he was essentially a guy that was making his name on the Indies). Because of being a key part of the first few months of ROH – there’s probably a fair crossover with the crowd from the early ROH Murphy Rec shows – there’s a buzz when he comes out and the crowd are behind him in this match despite him ostensibly being the heel. Vamp has lost the dreadlocks and face paint from his WCW run here, and Joey Styles on commentary is trying to put over the story of him being a more serious character and training in MMA. In the early exchanges there is a lot of mat work, and it’s wrestled at a very deliberate pace. Perhaps surprisingly – given he was coming off a run in WCW where he was involved in lots of garbage matches and hokey supernatural storylines – Vamp looks good in the mat work and he more than holds his own with Daniels. You can tell that there’s probably a mix in the crowd between fans who had been going to the early ROH shows and were starting to get into more technical wrestling and those that had been ECW fans, as you can sense some getting restless at the beginning but it never spills over into any “boring” chants. Daniels is so smooth in his movement and exchanges and you can already see how polished he is. The match is fairly low key until Vampiro takes it to the outside, where as more of a brawler he has the advantage. It’s clear that MLW is going down the ECW route of not really having DQs as Vamp uses a chair and then the timekeepers hammer to hit Daniels low. As I mentioned, I think Vampiro was meant to be the face here, but it’s Daniels who the crowd seems to be behind especially when he starts to bust out some of his big moves like the Best Moonsault Ever. This gets a good nearfall, before Vampiro takes the match with a belly to belly suplex off the top rope. (** ¾)

What with the return of MLW in 2017, I thought it would be fun to go back and watch the initial run of shows from the company and compare it with the other Indie companies of the time that were all striving to try and fill some of the void left by the closure of WCW and ECW the year before. This is the first match on their first show, and it’s a quarter final match in an 8-man tournament to crown the first MLW World Champion. As with many companies at the time, MLW chose Philadelphia as the place to launch and their first show comes from the artist formerly known as the ECW Arena. As I think we’ll see, MLW would lean on a lot on both the talent and concepts from ECW, and this show has it in spades. Joey Styles being the announcer another clear link. Jerry Lynn was just about to start a strong period in his career, being one of the pioneers of the early days of the X Division and one of the big positives about TNA in their first couple of years. He gets a big pop here and looks very good in the match. LA Parka interestingly is now a featured player in MLW some 17 years later but here he looks positively svelte. I dug his white suit and sombrero look with his normal gear. LA Parka dominates the early stages, being a great dick heel with plenty of kicks and slaps and lots of his trademark taunts and dance moves. He doesn’t do too much, but he doesn’t have to – his charisma and personality carries his offence. When the pace picks up its Lynn that is able to take control, and through his time in WCW and ECW he’s got plenty of experience of course with working with luchadors. The two work well together, and there’s plenty of smooth sequences, but just as it looks like the match is about to kick into high gear it ends rather abruptly via a Lynn Tornado DDT. This was fun for what we got, and with a one-night tournament the first-round matches can’t go too long, but if they had some more time this could’ve been really good. (** ½)

Thought this week's episode of Impact was really strong. I like it when they brand an episode with a title and look to build to a card with a cluster of big matches, as with only a couple of PPV's a year it gives some nice additional peaks throughout the year. Starting with the Taya/Tessa street fight straight out of the gate really got the show off to a hot start and I loved the intensity they both brought - the two have really good chemistry and seem comfortable with enough to just really go out and hit each other hard. As tallmike says, the match was nothing revolutionary, but was carried by the fire they both brought and as the escalation to a good rivalry. Agree on all the people praising Tessa - she just carries herself like a star and walks the line perfectly between being a badass but not too much of one to get cheered over the babyface. It's something that not a lot of people can carry off. Taya is also someone that I think is doing a lot of good work in Impact. She has that cache in Mexico and she's an excellent brawler. The 'World Cup' match was both spotty and sloppy at times, but was never dull and again, there was lots of fire and energy to the match. I think all wrestling companies could use elimination matches better, in terms of telling some compelling stories and not just going for quick fire eliminations, but I liked the interactions between the guys on the Impact side, and it both got the home town pop and help build up an Eli Drake/Eddie Edwards match which has to be considered a success. Sami vs Rich Swann for the X Title also has the potential to be a good match. I thought the main event was hit and miss - I'm over watching these 4 guys compete after seeing all the different combinations over the past few months. It looks like Cage willl still be in the title picture but it would be good to get some fresh blood into the World Title scene. There's been a few comments in the thread speculating if Aries is going to return. I know he's got a reputation, but given I've never met him, I'll to some extent just judge him on what he brings on-screen, and I think he's just a terrific pro wrestler, who like Tessa just carries himself like a compelling star. It would be great if they could get him back.