TonyPulis'Cap

I thought this was tremendous and should've been the match they had at Bound For Glory, although potentially being on Impact meant it got the time to breathe that it might not have done on the PPV. This had a fantastic intensity to it - everything the two guys did was full force with no holding back. I loved Edwards dives to the outside, and the brawling around the ring looked intense and not contrived. Moose can sometimes be a bit too passive when I watch him wrestle, where the action feels detached, but his performance in this match is why I think he has a lot of ability and can be a top of the card player for Impact. He really brought his A game here, and both conveyed hatred without taking you out of the action to set up convoluted structures to put people through. Everything felt organic in terms of the violence and the escalation and they absolutely ripped into each other with some brutal chops. The tossed power bomb from the ring to the ramp had me out of my seat. Would very much recommend this to anyone to check out, and the ending leaves things nicely poised for another match between the two. I hope if we get that and they try to ratchet things up even more that we don't get a cliched plunder brawl, but that they continue to bring this level of intensity and aggression. Great match (****)

Thought the latest episode summed up the up and down nature of MLW - crazy main event trios match but then a really lethargic way past his prime Tommy Dreamer match. I can understand a lot of the criticisms, but as a 50 min weekly show, I enjoy it, and as I've said in this thread before, to me the presentation is what I think a weekly 80s territory wrestling show would like if those companies had survived into 2018. I'd recommend people check out the main event from this past week though and the absolutely insane amount of punishment that Marko Stunt takes from the Hart Foundation. I've always been a Teddy Hart mark, but for a lot of his MLW run so far he's been somewhat underwhelming. Not in this match, thought the Hart Foundation really looked good and there's a lot of mileage in them wrestling trios matches every week. I'm also enjoying the Salina De La Renta/Konnan angle, and both of them trying to be the supply line for getting the best Mexican/Latin talent into US promotions. I like that's essentially what Konnan's role has been in real life, but now in story line there is a young upstart with money trying to get in on the act. It's like two football teams trying to assemble their squads and stealing signings from one another.

Yeah, I agree, I've long thought that Styles/Orton would be a pretty good marquee match that to my knowledge they haven't done before, at least not with big stakes. I know we can all go back and fantasy book, but Styles really should never have lost the WWE Title to Cena at the Rumble in 2017, and with Orton winning the Rumble that would've been your title match rather than the abomination of worms on the ring canvas that we got. Indeed, you could very much make the argument that we should be approaching a a two year title reign for Styles, as that whole Cena > Bray > Orton > Jinder run of title changes was awful.

This is a pretty fun, story line development 6 man tag, with it succeeding in building interest in future singles matches but without giving away too much. As Vinnie says, Marafuji is a glorious dick in this, showing so much disrespect and just begging to be punched in the face, and there's a great reaction when he finally gets taken down. Shiozaki plays the fiery young boy role well and everyone brings a fair degree of intensity in their interactions without it ever feeling like too much. Rikio doesn't show too much interest in doing much outside of targeting Kobashi when he gets the chance and I really enjoyed the segments where the two brawl round the building and take things backstage. The brawling after the match has finished also helps whet the appetite for Rikio challenging Kobashi for the title.

Maybe funding this new wrestling company is why Shahid Khan's pulled out of his plan to buy Wembley Stadium: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/17/wembley-stadium-deal-off-fa-shahid-khan Given he was prepared to drop £600m on that deal, he's clearly got a few quid lying around to invest in things. Then again, if he hadn't pulled out of the deal we could've been looking at All In 2 at Wembley as the spiritual successor to Summerslam 1992.

From main eventing British Uprising II the previous year, 2004 was not a good year for James Tighe. Well in kayfabe terms. In ring, he was one of the company’s strongest performers. In a storyline sense, his failure to capture the British Heavyweight Title led to him losing a lot of matches, often in upsets to guys lower on the card than him. I don’t think a losing streak gimmick has ever really worked in wrestling, but it was with the goal in mind of building his frustration at losses to a heel turn. Given how impressive he was in 2003 and in the title match with Doug Williams I feel the FWA should’ve kept pushing him as face challenger at the title level, but with his lack of charisma, it was probably right that the fans would end up picking more outgoing and flashier personalities over him. Tighe faced off with Styles at Vendetta in July, in a match that began sportingly but that saw Tighe getting increasingly desperate to win against a big name - to well and truly snap his losing streak. In the match, Tighe was able to go toe to toe with AJ for large parts, but, starting to feel he was being outgunned, resorted to trying to use a chair. The end result would actually see Styles on the end of a very dodgy referee call – whether intentional or not a recurring theme for Styles’ matches in the FWA – and he ended up as the one getting disqualified giving Tighe the much needed, if tainted win. Which is pretty much the reason for this being a 30 minute Iron Man Match – to decisively find out who was the better man. As I’ve noted in the reviews of other matches on the show, British Uprising III was mainly booked on the basis of matches built on feuds, but the fairly clear aim was for this to be the workrate match to carry that requirement of a big indie show. This is the main event of the show and has the task of following the controversial end to the FWA Title match which initially has an impact on the atmosphere, but the massive pop that AJ gets brings the crowd back. The first 7-8 mins are wrestled very cautiously, but I enjoyed the feeling out process given that the match is going a half hour and it doesn’t make sense to go too hard too quickly, I could see some finding the opening stretch dull, but I liked the struggle in the holds and every counter being fought over. This is shown in them fighting over the headlock, including Tighe snatching one when AJ is going for his patented drop kick. AJ’s tactic is to up the pace, and following getting the drop kick, able to follow Tighe out, jump the guardrail and catch him with the superkick. This leads to a period of AJ dominating, until being caught and driven face first by Tighe. But just when Tighe is starting to feel confident and in control, he takes his eye off the ball going for a suplex and gets caught in a crucifix for the first fall. I liked that as Tighe is protesting, he almost gets rolled up for a good close near fall. Following a period of back and forth, they both fall to the outside on a hurucanrana that didn’t look very smooth, but added to the sense of struggle in the match. This leads to a double count on the floor during which AJ takes a nasty over head suplex into the guardrail, which is enough to allow Tighe to sneak back in and level things at 1-1. I really liked Tighe smelling blood and going in for the kill and secure that big career defining win; he doesn’t want the draw. AJ is finally able to break the momentum with the Pele kick and then hits a brutal looking brianbuster for 2, knowing he has to bring out the big guns. AJ then going for a chink lock didn’t really fit the storyline but the flurry of strikes is more like it and just as in their first match, Styles manages to once again break Tighe’s nose. As the clock ticks down, AJ is the one going for the win while Tighe is just trying to survive. With 3 mins on the clock he desperately fights out of the Styles Clash on multiple occasions, as the crowd go nuts knowing that it’s a kill shot this close to the end. Sadly for him a kick out from a powerbomb puts him naturally in position for the Styles Clash and AJ goes 2-1 up with 2 mins to go. With 10 seconds to go Tighe gets a great nearfall with a roll up to try and tie at 2-2 – the equivalent of a late chance in football – but Style sees the last few seconds out by ducking and weaving as the clock strikes down. Not a typical babyface way of doing it but very smart. Post match, Styles tries to show respect but gets a Tighe low blow for his troubles. Jody Fleisch, who had made a big non-wrestling return on the show after more than a year away tries to make the save but gets taken out by Tighe’s tag team partner Mark Belton. We then get the big return of Jonny Storm to the FWA as well, and after the tease of a confrontation with his long time friend/rival Fleisch, we get AJ as the peacekeeper and a reunion handshake to a big pop. In terms of a match, I think this is very good. Some may think the opening segment doesn’t have much going on, but I liked the struggle and the building of the match. The little stories interweaved without having to resort to big moves and kick outs is very much appreciated by me, although I did think the match had a higher gear it could’ve found as it went into the final stretch. The main downside is that for the second year in a row in the main event of the biggest show of the year, and as he often did when facing the top names, Tighe loses the big match again. (*** ¾)

Love this as a topic and love your list as well. Like you, in the late 2000s Smackdown as my go to for some great wrestling but without all the pressure to be the 'A show' that RAW seemed to have. I will absolutely endorse the Rey vs Morrison IC Title match as something everyone should check out, just a superb match. A few little favourites of mine that I think people would enjoy checking out: Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio (April 2004) - this is right after Wrestlemania 20, and before Eddie thought he couldn't carry the title and before him and Rey had their ultra personal feud the next year. Just a great face vs face match with a superb flow. World's Greatest Tag Team vs Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman (August 2003) - yet another Rey match - he really was a Smackdown MVP - and the sequel to their tag team title match at Vengeance a couple of weeks before this. Rey and Kidman rarely got to team up in WWE, but as massive Filthy Animals mark from WCW, these guys had ridiculous chemistry as a team. Haas and Benjamin make good bases for them. Undertaker vs John Cena (June 2004) - coming a year after they feuded when Cena was a heel and Taker was still in biker mode, this is a great match that I never hear get any praise, probably due to it being in the time frame when JBL was becoming the face of Smackdown and the show's undercard was serioulsy weak. This was also during the time when Cena was feuding with Ironside Kurt Angle as a heel GM and Taker was being controlled by Paul Heyman or something. Forgettable build up, but a fun match that is great because it's worked so simply. Becky Lynch vs Alexa Bliss (November 2016) - this is from Glasgow which gives it a cool vibe, and is in my opinion the best match the two had. Becky carries herself like the champion that she's finally being allowed to be now in 2018 while Bliss is great at trying to take constant shortcuts. A match where the two wrestle it in the style of their personalities if that makes sense.

Having now finished watching the 2nd round matches, I think the tournament is ticking along nicely and feels like it's building to match up's you really want to see. Looking at the final 8, it's hard to argue with any of them, outside of Lacey Lane who feels out of her depth. I think a far more compelling story would've been Conti dispatching and bullying around two inexperienced girls only to get her comeuppance when she tries that with Meiko. Alas, not to be. While episode 5 had the two best matches in Meiko vs Martinez, and Storm vs Matsumoto, I thought episode 6 was really consistent, and I enjoyed all the matches outside of the Lane/Conti match for the reasons I've already outlined. Xia Li showed a ton of potential in her match with Deonna, and you feel that if she keeps developing she could definitely be someone that could make an impact. Kaitlyn vs Mia Yim felt like two words colliding in a way; one who was making her way on the main roster during the end of the 'Divas' era while the other had worked all over the Indie scene, but it combined for a really good match. I loved the limb work they were both going for and the carry over storyline of Yim's injured hand. Loved Kaitlyn going after the wrist in nasty fashion, while there was some great selling when she collapsed going for a suplex because of the work on her leg (which nicely also played into the finish). There was also a great nearfall on the spear as well. I'm happy Yim went through, as I'm a big fan, but Kaitlyn did more than enough here to show that she could make an impression in wrestling again if that's what she wants to do. I'll be intrigued to see where she chooses to take things over the next year.

Maybe making up for the fact the US didn't qualify for the actual World Cup this summer just gone... agreed though, with the diversity in their roster in terms of people from different countries, it's a shame to me they couldn't have 8 different countries represented.

I absolutely loved this match, one of my favourites of the year. Had such an old school NWA vibe to it, and in my opinion, miles better than the Rollins/Ziggler match, without the multiple falls for falls sake and a match that had very few dangerous 'movez' and head drops. It was just fantastic storytelling. I could see the criticism that the first 10 mins or so was a little bland, but I enjoyed that they were establishing parity and that with it going a guaranteed 30 mins, they didn't want to expend energy too quickly. I know a lot of people are down on Lethal, and while he may not be the most compelling wrestler in 2018, he's a had a damn good year in terms of his match quality. As SmartMark said, he came across as the ace of the company in this match, totally confident in his abilities and not rushing in. Gresham in turn is just so super smooth with his technical wrestling and the way he was trying to keep Lethal off balance with his unorthodox approach. This times a million. Gresham's face when he gets the tap is one of the best moments in wrestling I've seen in years. Managing to convey so much: knowing that he has just 3 or 4 mins to hold on to become champion and trying to keep composed when he just wants to let out his emotions. It all feels so fucking real, like a football (soccer) team going 1-0 up against the bigger team with just a few minutes on the clock. On a personal level it reminded me as a Crystal Palace fan going 1-0 up in the FA Cup Final in 2016 with just around 10 mins to go against Manchester United, the heavy favourites. You got that sense, hang on, this could happen! Alas as it was for Palace, Gresham suffered that late heartbreak and again as we did in 2016 in the Cup final losing in extra time, Gresham is pinned in the sudden death period. Maybe that's why the match resonated so much for me - it felt like a genuine sporting emotion that I've had myself. The way Gresham tried to hang on in the figure 4, knowing he had just 120 seconds to do so to become champion, but then it being just too painful. Echoing Wahoos Leg on the commentary - I thought it was tremendous - an amazing call by Ian and Colt, for my money the best commentary team out there at the moment. Absolutely tremendous stuff - **** 3/4. Too high? Maybe, but I loved it.

Thought this week's Fusion was just an excellent hour of pro-wrestling TV. I enjoyed the show long brawl between Havoc and Callihan, as I'm a sucker for a show long angle, and it built up to a match between them without giving away too much. You then had a hot opener between two fliers, some good little packages to build other matches for upcoming shows and then a great and vicious main event. Loved the presentation with the blood, and the beating that Fenix took and a nice finish with the mask being taken off leaving him vulnerable to the stomp off the top given he couldn't see it coming because he was trying to hide his face. I can see why people have issues with Low Ki - if I was a promoter or had tickets to a show that he no showed - but I bloody love him as a performer. He carries an aura of menace and danger that not a lot of guys have these days. In an age where so many matches are a 'your turn/my turn' exchange of movez, I really like his dominating work where he just beats down on his opponent. Fenix continues to be a masterful babyface.

This said it better than I could!

Echoing all the love for Melissa Santos here - she is tremendous. Does the Observer still have an award for best non wrestling personality? If so, she should win it hands down. I know doing live TV is different, but the way she is able to emote through subtle mannerisms and inflections in the way she announces things puts her on another level to most other people in wrestling. Last season's storyline with her and Marty which lead to her competing in the ring was so well told and she adds a great dimension and depth to any storyline she's involved in.

Haha, actually you're right now you've pointed it out, the common theme in pretty much every interview was "last year I was happy to be here, now there's going to be no more being nice this time"!

Now, we've finished the first round, I'd say overall the tournament gets a thumbs up so far. I don't think we've had too many 'stand out' matches, but thought that Satomura vs Killer Kelly, Yim vs Kay and Evers vs Matsumoto were all very good. Compared to last year, I think that MYC I had some higher peaks in the first round but that MYC II has had better consistency. I also think they have set up the key players well and built some really great looking matches for the 2nd round, which is what you want. You don't want the tournament to peak at the beginning, so happy to have the better matches as you get into things. In terms of presentation, I like the variety in the tournament in terms of different looks, backgrounds and in ring styles, although a mild criticism would be a few too many 'happy to be there' vibes from the personality profiles, although I think that's a general issue I have with WWE presentation of these things - you don't feel people are allowed to come across too much as horrible people. Last year, Baszler really stood out as she showed real attitude rather than "I'm going to give 100% and this is such an honour to be here". As I say though, I put that on WWE rather than the wrestlers, as I imagine that's the vibe they want them to give off. Commentary has been solid. It's not a hot take to say that Cole, away from the over produced setting of the main roster is very good, and he really seems in to being there. I like Renee a lot, and feel that she brings a human vibe to things, even if you aren't going to get much analysis. I like Beth as well and think she'll get better as the tournament goes on, but at times she does sound like she's reading directly from the WWE corporate speak manual, but again that's something that I'm sure is mandated down. I did enjoy her giving a shout out to Gail Kim and Ashley Rayne's husband 'Josh' over in Impact land though.

While clearly still very raw, I thought Conti showed more than enough to suggest she could be a real star. She has an aura about her, and if she continues to develop has a ton of potential. I loved how vicious she was with the arm work and LOVED the abuse she was giving to Elaban's fingers on the rope. Right from her entrance onward and throughout the match she gave off this great vibe of knowing she was better than her opponent and was toying with her. In a tournament you don't need all the first round matches being 50:50 affairs, so it was good to see a presentation where one girl knew she was better than the other and was enjoying proving that.

Couldn't agree more. As a match, it was a bit all over the place, and suffered as a lot of multi man matches - particularly those in an enclosed space - can do when you have a lot of guys in all at the same time, but I liked some of the stories they were trying to tell and I also enjoyed that they were able to flip the heels win the coin toss, but still book the match in a way where the faces were at a disadvantage. It wasn't polished in any way, but considering it's a War Games match that's not necessarily a bad thing - it should be rough around the edges. Since they started making their shows non region specific on Youtube I've watched all the episodes of Fusion and really enjoy it as a weekly show, and MLW as a company. I've seen some criticism about the quality of the matches on a weekly basis, but I don't need 5* classics every week - story line development is more important (as long as when the blow off matches come they hit the standard). I know that ever since Court Bauer presented MLW back in the day he deemed it 'hybrid' wrestling in terms of mixing styles, but to me it's a perfect hybrid of the best bits of modern wrestling, mixed with an old school territorial feel and also a real sports appeal.

This x 1000. Great line. Feel like quite a few companies in the wrestling business have suffered from trying to be WWE lite, when they'd do better to do their own thing.

I think this is a great point, and one of the appeals of the early Knockouts division - TNA were hiring women from the indies that in 2007/08 would never get hired by the WWE. Now with things like NXT and the Mae Young Classic, women from the indie scene and who don't fit what was seen as the prototype 'Diva' look can get signed and thrive in the WWE, but back at that time was when you still had the Johnny Ace hiring models from the swimsuit catalogue model. The Knockouts all looked different, and as I say they gave chances to people that the WWE were turning their nose up. For someone like Velvet Sky, it's no surprise how much she values this time, given I think she actually applied for one of the Diva Search contests and got fairly close to appearing in the TV part, but her indie 'bad habits' and the fact she had some wrestling training/background probably counted against her in their eyes at the time.

I caught the Impact Wrestling vs UK show from the Mediacon in Manchester at the weekend and thought it was a really fun show, with a hot crowd. Because it was shown on a channel with a much wider reach than WWE, for us in UK, we've always had something of a love affair with the artists formerly known as TNA. As it's available on their Twitch site for free I would definitely recommend it to check out - it's a breezy couple of hour watch and you get to see a lot of fun matches. In particular, the LAX vs Jody Fleisch/Jonny Storm tag match is a cracker. As any that have read some of my FWA reviews on the site will know I am an unabashed, fully paid up member of the Jody/Jonny fan club, and it's absolutely awesome to me to see them still out there and tearing it up in dream matches with the teams of today. I was also there live for their match in London at ROH against the Young Bucks which is also worth seeking out. Yes, this match has a lot of spots and the tag legalities are stretched (an understatement), but it's a great balls to the wall action throughout. The other tag matches on the show are also really good, and I was pleased to see guys like Adam Maxted, Robbie X, Nathan Cruz and Justin Sysum, who don't get used by the more high profile and 'cooler' UK companies get a chance to shine. Don't skip them if you watch the show. The interactions between Eddie Edwards and Moose in their tag match give me a lot of confidence for the singles match that should be upcoming between them. Elsewhere you also get a really solid women's match between Su Yung and Lana Austin, which I'd actually argue was better than some of Su's more recent outings on Impact. I really like Lana Austin and she more than holds her own here, and I don't think would look out of place appearing for Impact again. The main event between Sami Callihan and Jimmy Havoc will be an acquired taste with the blood and hardcore spots, but they go all out and there's some absolutely violent moments. It also doesn't get too 'schticky' and I enjoyed it (if you can ever truly enjoy a man having lemon juice sprayed on an open wound and then stapling it to close it himself).

Yeah, unless you've watched all the Ten Pounds of Gold videos you would be a bit puzzled - but Shaw appeared in a couple of the earlier ones and I think is fairly heavily involved in the production of the videos and working with Dave Lagana. Aldis' corner men was a bit of a random group - Jarrett obviously made a lot of sense given his own NWA title reigns, and the fact he's always been high on Aldis, and then Tim Storm being there given he was the champ at the beginning of the Corgan era, but Shawn Daivari was pretty random but I think that's just a case of him being Aldis' buddy and a face that is somewhat recognizable. It was just a shame given Mickie James is under WWE contract you couldn't have had her out there to counteract Brandi and add another layer to the presentation.

This echoes a lot of my own thoughts on the show. I thought it was an event that was great fun and had an energy and spirit to it that a number of shows (both WWE and non WWE) just don't have. I don't watch BTE, but the fact that from what I've read from other people that they paid off angles and inserted jokes/storylines from it in the show is great - rewarding people for being fans and following along. Not to simply ape what others have said, but it did have that Barely Legal vibe, in that while none of the matches were absolute blow away - although I thought the main event could've been given some more time - everything was entertaining with a sense of purpose and excitement behind it. I'm glad there's someone else out there who actually liked the Okada/Scurll match. I'm definitely a big Marty apologist and like him a lot more than most round here, and while it probably could've done with a few mins shaved off, I found it pretty compelling the whole way through, given from the buzz immediately after the show it sounded like it was going to be a 45 minute snoozefest, when I enjoyed it. Omega vs Pentagon was great fun, and I thought Pentagon looked really good in it and super competitive with a guy that could be perceived as being above his level. I could leave the arm break spot being used in this one though - that's actually a move that feels much more at home in the Lucha Underground universe. I think I'm in a minority of one (must be another case of bias towards a UK guy) in not actually minding Aldis - I've liked him as the NWA champ - and so I found the NWA Title match pretty compelling, even if it was a bit disjointed at times, and I know it had all the bells and whistles to get around the fact that neither guy is super compelling and dynamic in the ring (not that I think either is bad though) but in terms of presentation with the seconds, that is exactly how I want to see big title matches in wrestling presented. People talk about 'big fight feels' but the entrances definitely gave you that. I'm just listening to the review of the show that Post Wrestling did and they make the point that the way legends were used on the show was perfect - enough to get that nostalgia pop but without overshadowing the guys and girls of today.

Yeah, I can agree with a lot of that - I was thinking that the payoff to Su's reign ending would be the return of Rosemary to take back the belt, but maybe they think they can still do that feud without the title needing to be part of it. Tessa's character also suits being the champion a little more, and she's been an absolute highlight the last couple of months. She had a really strong No DQ match with Keira Hogan that I liked a lot and in my opinion carried Alisha Edwards to a damn near *** match. Definitely agree with SomethingSavage's point about her out-Flairing Charlotte, in terms of being that modern incarnation of a four horseman. Just watching her at All In, she carries herself like a real star and has great presence.

A large part of me still thinks that Becky winning the title at Summerslam - given the natural story of redemption and her being a true babyface the crowd wants to actually get behind was the way to go...but, I have to say, it's definitely true that her turning on Charlotte has, as Loss pointed out, suddenly turned her into this unbelievably hot and dynamic character, perhaps more so than if she had actually won the title but still stayed as Charlotte's lovable sidekick. I've long been a big Becky fan, and the last two weeks on Smackdown she feels so authentic as the hardworking character that tried to play by the rules for so long only to be passed over every time for the darling of the company with the famous last name, that now she's snapped and channeling that to take on the world. As Mad Dog says, I think so many people are reacting positively because they saw her beating Charlotte down as a moment when the downtrodden and oppressed finally stood up for themselves, rather than 'boo!, she sneak attacked her'. Even the commentators haven't - for now - seemed to go all in on what a despicable act it was as they normally would do. I really liked Byron saying two weeks ago that it was all a big shame it had to turn out this way - not supporting the action but in some way understanding it, which is the approach I think they should take with this. If (and this is a massive if) they don't try to fight too much with the crowd, and don't turn Becky into a 'your local sports team sucks' generic heel, I think they could have something really special here with her.

Alongside trying to keep up with the modern UK scene, my main project which I need to get back on is the FWA rewatch that I've been doing. I've worked my way through the pretty awful MY TV run they had on local TV in Portsmouth in 2001 up to British Uprising III the biggest show the company ever did in November 2004. It's been excellent so far - although I'm yet to hit the company's downturn - but reigniting my love for all things Jonny Storm, Jody Fleisch and Doug Williams. I've been putting the reviews of matches in the newly re-branded PWO Database Plus if anyone wants to follow along. Still plenty of shows to work through! Alongside that, I'm really digging Impact these last few months as well as on a weekly basis try to catch the weekly ROH, NXT, MLW and Lucha Underground TV. Basically the main thing that has fallen off this year has been WWE watching. The last third of Wrestlemania left a really bad taste in the mouth and aside from some fun Smackdown's I've not watched a PPV since Mania. If you have the time, and the inclination having a project and some structure to watching matches for a specific wrestler or working your way chronologically through a promotion can be a really rewarding way of getting fully immersed in what you are watching.