supersonic

Money in the Bank 2013: The Good Shit Tag Titles Match Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. The Usos Very good stuff here, with the Shield yet again cutting the ring in half on Jey. Before they got the heat though, the Usos did a good job of trying to disrupt the champions' rhythm when the match started. But the Shield are just too fucking good for that to happen for very long. Jimmy was a house of fire when he got the hot tag (who's the fucking moron that had it happen during the pre-show commercial break?) and did a great job of playing off of a hot crowd. But to nobody's surprise, despite some trios losses, the Shield still got the job done when it mattered most. ***1/2 World Title Money in the Bank Ladder Match Dean Ambrose vs. Fandango vs. Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger vs. Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow Holy shit this was quite the spotfest opener, and the hot Philly crowd certainly helped. What worked so well to me in this one is that there was never a dull moment - once some parties were down, others stepped in, similar to the Dragon Gate trios matches when they first came to the States. I also liked that in this match, there was a damn good reason why guys would be down for minutes at a time. The bumps they took were fucking hellacious. It only made sense both in reality and kayfabe for them to nurse themselves and regain their energy. Some of the most noteworthy spots that I remember include: Swagger yanking down a participant, and that participant getting a beautiful European Uppercut from Cesaro before hitting the mat. Cody grabbing Cesaro off of the ladder and giving him a musclebuster style drop on a ladder. The Usos and the Shield being outside the ring with numerous other participants as Cody pushed the ladder over and Ambrose fell out of the ring. Great finish too, with the crowd fulling behind Cody but the intellectually superior Sandow taking his friend out of the equation, being the smarmy opportunist and rewarded for a good little feud he had just had with Sheamus. With both the WWE and World Titles since being unified, I wonder if the MITB events going forward will be able to have the killer opening matches that we've been accustomed to. ****1/4 World Title Match Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler Crowd was hot once again, fully behind Ziggler. This lacked the simple story of the Payback 2013 match, but this had better pacing. Even when AJ Lee came down to ringside with her entrance music blaring, the crowd didn't die at all, still buying into the nearfalls. I can't stress enough just how believable the nearfalls were in this match. Perhaps the crowd was so supportive of Ziggler at this time that they were salivating at every chance he had to regain the title. Too bad Lee actually interfered, as this could've been a great match bordering on MOTYC. ***1/2 WWE Title Match John Cena vs. Mark Henry Perhaps his best match, this was the Mark Henry Show, just dominating the majority of the match with size and power. That's something Cena doesn't get enough credit for from supposed smart fans: the HOFer has never had a problem with putting someone over in matches and showcasing them. He doesn't have to do the job to get them over. Cena was also great in this one, failing on multiple occasions to lift the superheavyweight Henry, collapsing on those efforts. I must also mention again how INCREDIBLE this Philly crowd was, they got a great show and responded accordingly. Giving absolutely everything he had, Henry was still ultimately no match for the iconic Cena, who dug down deep and used his superior speed to lock on the STF for the tap out win. Very, very, very good match here. ***3/4 WWE Title Money in the Bank Ladder Match Christian vs. Sheamus vs. CM Punk vs. Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Daniel Bryan Great main event here, although it couldn't live up to the opener, which is the usual for the WWE Title MITBs compared to the World Title MITBs. Crowd of course went apeshit for Punk and D-Bry, as well as the returning RVD. This one had more resting in it, perhaps intelligently since every participant had held the WWE and/or World Title in the past on multiple occasions. I liked early in the match when Punk and D-Bry actually did some brief technical wrestling, causing the original hometown of ECW and ROH to pop. Don't get me wrong - I said this was a great ladder match, and for good reason. Some noteworthy spots include: RVD kicking the ladder and Sheamus falling awkwardly on its side with his left knee hitting (well no shit he needed time off after this). Orton giving Punk a T-Bone Suplex on a ladder (again, no fucking shit the guy has felt broken down and might never come back.) Sheamus was also pushed off the turnbuckle and crashed through a ladder that was platformed using the apron and commentary table. I also liked that D-Bry got his kicking spots in the match, allowing the crowd to get their "YES" pops in. The most important part of the match was the finish, which while deflating, set up the third and final act for what was just an incredible summer for WWE. Curtis Axel came out and knocked out D-Bry, but he was then the victim of a Go 2 Sleep from Punk. Paul Heyman came out and gave a tongue-lashing to the unconscious Axel, saying he wants Punk to win. Punk climbed up with Heyman cheering for him, only for his best friend to come into the ring, grab a ladder, and repeatedly smash Punk with it, causing the future HOFer's scalp to bleed. Punk's facial expressions were fucking FANTASTIC here, his soul completely crushed by the betrayal of his best friend, someone that he stood up for despite being warned for a year to avoid him. This allowed RVD to come in and climb the ladder, only for Orton to take him out of the equation. He checked around for anyone else, and brought the briefcase down for victory. ****

JOURNEY TOWARDS THAT $$$ STOP Raw - June 17, 2013: The Good Shit CM PUnk tells Paul Heyman that they'll always be friends, but no longer doing business together and needs his personal space. It appears that Punk did some soul-searching while gone, as his attitude has improved tremendously to offset his scalp and facial hair style decreasing. Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan This was destined to be good, but D-Bry's concussion and residual upper body damage prevented that, causing the match to get thrown out. Worth noting that Orton is all-class in this one. Later in the show, D-Bry tells Kane that he is now aspiring to be a singles star and needs the WWE Championship to validate himself as a legitimate star. John Cena's Championship Proclamation/Mark Henry's Major Announcement This is simply one of the greatest segments in Raw history. The first several minutes laid out the scenario perfectly. Cena says that he will be ready at any moment for his next challenger, especially with Money in the Bank 2013 coming up. He will no longer be taken by surprise going forward. Then Henry comes out, having left tweets earlier in the day that hinted at retirement. He left his boots at the entrance ramp, and walked down that aisle with a tremendous salmon jacket. He told Cena that he wasn't there to attack, to keep his guard down, and wanted the WWE Champion to stay for his major announcement. Henry then gave a tremendous speech, tears coming out of his eyes, the crowd completely hooked with chants such as "Thank you Henry!" and "One More Match!" He also put over Cena as a fantastic WWE Champion, and said his only regret was never winning that title. He then directly said he would retiring from the active roster, and that he was coming home to his family after all these years. Cena came back in the ring to give Henry a hug... Only for the World's Strongest Man to give him the falling powerslam to one of the biggest pops of the 21st Century!!! Henry then makes it very clear he ain't retiring and that he's coming for Cena's title. Why can't other wrestlers cut promos as convincing as The Rock, CM Punk, Mark Henry, and Paul Heyman? This was captivating from start to finish with a fantastic swerve that made 100% sense. As the show comes to a close, I get to the end of the Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk match. Del Rio walks away from the ring and gets ambushed by Dolph Ziggler, continuing their feud while allowing Punk to get a countout victory. Before he can celebrate, out comes Brock Lesnar, causing Punk to have his guard up, not knowing what the fuck was coming up. Lesnar grabs a mic and walks into the ring to say something to Punk's face, but then very suddenly drops Punk with an F5!!! Tremendous closing segment. SmackDown! - June 21, 2013: The Good Shit Renee Young interviews Paul Heyman to ask about the CM Punk and Brock Lesnar situation, but he completely dodges the question by bullying her about her personal life and bragging about Curtis Axel. Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan Good match here, with solid pacing and fun action, but not quite the epic yet that I knew they had in them. D-Bry is unhappy to win by countout, demanding the match be restarted, but the ref refuses. *** Raw - June 24, 2013: The Good Shit The Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan match gets thrown out when they are both counted out. D-Bry comes to Vickie Guerrero & Brad Maddox, demanding a rematch TONIGHT. Afterwards, Vince McMahon berries D-Bry for the first time on screen. Alberto Del Rio vs. Chris Jericho Good stuff here, with fun pacing to engage the crowd and limb work paying off. With both of them having lucha backgrounds, it seemed like these two could have a classic in them should they ever have a monthly supercard match in the future. Good counters too. ***1/4 CM Punk and Paul Heyman air their dirty laundry Another tremendous segment involving these two, going over their history dating back to 2005. Punk says he's coming for Brock Lesnar after what happened last week, simply stating that he's better than the former UFC World Heavyweight Champion. Heyman swears on his children he didn't provide orders to Lesnar last week to attack Punk, outwardly explaining why it wouldn't make sense for him to do that to their friendship. He tells Punk that by saying Lesnar needed help, he picked a fight with Lesnar. Punk, clouded by their history and friendship, totally buys into Heyman's bullshit. Great stuff. Hardcore Match Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan PPV quality match here, complete with both men taking stupid bumps, showing off their love for the business and entertaining the fans. This got pretty vicious at times, taking backdrops on the steel steps, multiple kendo stick shots, and going through tables. This had a particularly awesome finish. Orton used the kendo sticks to force D-Bry to break the LeBell Lock. Moments later, D-Bry locked it on again, but when Orton tried the same strategy, D-Bry grabbed the sticks and used them to pull back on Orton's neck, forcing a submission victory. Put this in front of a more vocal crowd than Charleston and this could've been a great match bordering on MOTYC. Orton congratulates D-Bry on the huge victory aftewards, shaking hands. ***3/4 SmackDown! - June 28, 2013 Hardcore Match Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow Another fun little match between these two, good pacing and elevating Sandow's stock in defeat. He really took it to Sheamus in this one, but the Celtic Warrior had too much experience in this type of environment to be taken down. *** SmackDown! - July 5, 2013 Christian vs. Randy Orton These two picked up where they left off after their 2011 feud, once again showing their natural chemistry that they've had since they first wrestled each other in 2005. Christian did a masterful job of avoiding the Ace Crusher, showing off his veteran experience. However, Orton is so crafty that he managed to hit one in sudden fashion for the victory. ***1/4 Raw - July 8, 2013: The Good Shit Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan Yet another good match for the summer of 2013. In this one, Sheamus tried using his size and strength to outmatch the red-hot D-Bry and his technical superiority. However, it did appear that Sheamus was losing his balance at times, which is a very bad situation to be in against D-Bry. The finish is great with Sheamus locking on the Texas Cloverleaf, but D-Bry using his technique to get out of it and win via small package. Sheamus shows respect and they shake hands. ***1/4 John Cena and Mark Henry verbal confrontation Henry uses this segment to say why he threw everything away to make sure he'd get a WWE Title shot. That certainly does put the championship over. Cena is still disgusted by Henry's lack of integrity, which I don't see as a burial of the belt. Many athletes have chosen to never cross a certain line that may have prevented them from winning Super Bowls, World Series, and other championships. Cena says that Henry has put himself in a position in which he must now win because of the lack of integrity. Henry retorts by saying that his lack of integrity makes him more dangerous than Cena. They almost come to blows, but Henry is playing mind games and about to leave, only to jump Cena suddenly and get the last laugh in this great segment. Also of note after the Kane vs. Christian match is the debut of the Wyatt Family, consisting of their leader Bray Wyatt (the former Husky Harris), Luke Harper (known on the independents as Brodie Lee), and Erick Rowan. They decimate Kane. This lived up to all their hype videos over the previous month or so, and come across as very different styles of characters from the rest of the roster. Kane would be pulled from the WWE Title Shot MITB Ladder Match due to this attack. SmackDown! - July 12, 2013 Christian vs. Daniel Bryan Outstanding PPV quality match here. Christian would use his veteran experience to gain occasional advantages, but just like Orton and Sheamus before him, couldn't overcome the red-hot and technically superior D-Bry. Christian spent the majority of the match with a wounded left arm, which of course paid off in the finish when he tapped out to the LeBell Lock. ***3/4

Payback 2013: The Good Shit Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow Fun opener here to showcase Sandow, not sure why he's fallen off. The Chicago crowd cheered for his every offense on Sheamus, who was hated by them. I'll take a guess and say that the Windy City doesn't have high tolerance for Diet Cena. Just a fun little match here all around. *** IC Title Match Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Curtis Axel Oh this was fun, just constant action throughout. Much of the story was Paul Heyman telling Axel just to be an opportunist, but Barrett and Miz caught on to this quickly. There was a fantastic pop when Axel got a nearfall via fisherman's suplex. Hot crowd, good pacing, and a great finish. Miz had Barrett in the figure four, and the IC Champ fell down. Axel then swooped in and covered him for the three count to a great reaction. Great sentimental moment with this show being on Father's Day to pay tribute to his father. ***1/2 Divas Title Match Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee This was great storytelling, with Kaitlyn furious over Lee's manipulation of her with a fake secret admirer. The champ would use her strength and power, but Lee's intelligence, speed, and technique were too much. The key moment was with the ref fixing the apron, Lee smacked Kaitlyn with her shorts belt, and also Kaitlyn having Lee beat but not going for the finish, caring more about vengeance than retaining the title. That came back to bite her when Lee clamped down with the Widow's Peak. Another great pop for this title change. ***1/2 World Title Match Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio More great storytelling here, and a somewhat karmic one to boot. Ziggler came into this just cleared from a concussion, and Del Rio went after his head over and over and over again. The crowd, already rooting for Ziggler, completely turned on Del Rio, but he didn't give a shit about their reaction or playing borderline dirty. Ziggler was great with his occasional hope spots, finally using his home run style moves at the appropriate times. Del Rio won and then came back out afterwards to say how happy he was to be the champion of the people just to troll the crowd. Perhaps this was karma for Ziggler, not because of his MITB cash-in, but because his girlfriend mentally fucked with the head of her opponent, and now he physically got his head fucked with by his opponent. ***1/2 Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk The hottest match of the night for obvious reasons, and this probably should've just been the main event due to the heat. It started off with a feeling out process due to Punk being gone for a couple months, but his skill came through early when he worked on Jericho's left arm and shoulder. The pace just keep gradually picking up as the match progressed, much like a puro main event. The selling was top-notch too, with Punk selling the back after Jericho had gone to work on it. Punk managed to use his technique and experience to get out of the Boston Crab, then used Jericho's body to lift himself up and lock on the Anaconda Vise, even getting enough leverage to lock it on completely, planting Jericho's back to the mat, and paying off the earlier work on Jericho's left arm and shoulder. Jericho of course got to the ropes, and after some more work, Punk got the Go 2 Sleep on Jericho which was a great nearfall. The action kept going for several more minutes, leading to a phenomenal finish when Punk gave Jericho a Go 2 Sleep, Jericho fell back and bounced off the turnbuckle, and Punk gave him one more Go 2 Sleep for good measure, earning the bragging rights of the Best in the World moniker. **** Tag Titles Match Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton & Daniel Bryan This didn't work as a match by itself, with Orton and D-Bry intentionally lacking chemistry as the story of the match. This should've just been after Dean Ambrose vs. Kane, as this match also suffered from following the excellent Jericho vs. Punk match.

THE SHIELD & DANIEL BRYAN SHOW~! Raw - May 20, 2013 The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Kofi Kingston Excellent trios match as one, a genuine contender for the Shield's best match. While I don't remember everything about this match because there are so many featuring these guys I've watched in the last day or so, this was some truly outstanding shit. Once again, the ring gets cut in half by the Shield, a trait I'm sure Arn Anderson has taught all of them as a producer. There were also two or three hot tags, all of them getting great reactions. Fantastic action of course as expected. This was about the time that the Shield carried themselves with unquestionable confidence, just stealing the show and walking around like they own every spot they walked into. Also important is that this is where Daniel Bryan REALLY started to get over both on offense and when selling. **** SmackDown! - May 24, 2013 The Shield vs. Sheamus, Randy Orton, & Kofi Kingston More good shit here of course. Cut the ring in half. Adhere to tag legalities, with even the wrestlers remembering. Intelligently worked and done in exciting fashion to boot. ***3/4 Raw - May 27, 2013: The Good Shit Tag Titles Match Seth Rollins & Roman Regins vs. Team Hell No Much better than the PPV title change match, since this had about twice or triple the length of time. Once again, the Shield look like unstoppable, strategic bad-asses, preying on the cracking chemistry that was showing in Team Hell No due to D-Bry's insecurities. Those insecurities though were causing D-Bry to bring out a fiery side that was allowing the audience to genuinely connect with his work. Loved this match. ***3/4 The Highlight Reel Guest: Paul Heyman A great segment in which Chris Jericho trolled Heyman into agreeing to have CM Punk come back at Payback 2013 in Chicago. Heyman was great at trying to avoid discussing his best friend, with a great potshot at Bret Hart (this episode was in Calgary) but Jericho would have none of it. Tremendous back-and-forth here from two of the best promo men ever. Raw - June 3, 2013: The Good Shit The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Randy Orton Not up to par with the usual greatness of the Shield, but this was still good and had a much different purpose in mind, which it accomplished incredibly well. The finish, which is what mattered most, came when the Shield had Orton and D-Bry collide, taking full advantage. D-Bry blamed himself to an irrational degree, whereas Orton said it was just an honest mistake. *** Ryback vs. Daniel Bryan This was booked when D-Bry, still upset over the trios match loss, ran into Ryback and challenged him to a match. Easily one of the best matches Ryback will ever have (shocking that's against Bryan Danielson, I know), this did a great job in showing off his power. But most importantly, it showed that D-Bry's technique, talent, and tenacity could go toe-to-toe with someone of great size and power. No matter what Ryback did through, he couldn't put down D-Bry. The former World Champion also did a great job of taking away the base, going after the legs, bringing back memories of his classic series against Takeshi Morishima. The finish came when Ryback, who was frustrated while also mainly concerned with sending a message to John Cena, brought a table into the ring and powerbombed D-Bry through it. *** Raw - June 10, 2013 Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan More good work between these two, picking up where they left off four years earlier in ROH. There were admittedly moments in which the crowd was noticeably quiet, mainly during the submission work. I believe that if D-Bry plans to keep using the surfboard as a signature move, he needs to do the "Woah" like he did on the indies. It'll cause the crowd to become more engaged, which is why they're always so happy when he throws strikes now, so that they can yell "YES~!" Rollins was great once again at being a troll, slapping the head of D-Bry when he locked the surfboard on first. He put forth such a competitive effort that it didn't decrease his stock whatsoever when he fell victim to the small package. I expect these two to feud over the WWE Title in the future. ***1/2 SmackDown! - June 14, 2013 The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Randy Orton This wasn't quite up to par with the very best of the Shield's trios matches, but it was still good stuff with a magical moment in WWE history. In this one, the Shield never got a true advantage, failing to catch their groove as they were accustomed to doing. D-Bry's intensity set the groundwork, not allowing himself to turn into Ricky Morton. The finish came when Reigns attempted a spear but Kane moved out of the way, having the Tag Champion ram through a barricade. Kane then chokeslammed Dean Ambrose on top of Reigns, taking both out of the equation. That left Orton to deliver an Ace Crusher to Rollins, who then found himself locked in the LeBell Lock, and almost immediately tapped out from the back-to-back punishment. This got a fantastic reaction from the crowd, and Lilian Garcia acknowledging this as the Shield's first trios loss when announcing the winners made this even more meaningful. It was time for the Shield to show vulnerability as a stable, especially with Kane getting a US Title shot while Orton & D-Bry would be challenging for the Tag Titles against the trio that weekend. ***1/2

Extreme Rules 2013: The Good Shit Hardcore Match Big Show vs. Randy Orton Good brawl here, although would've been better with both men just pummeling it each other instead of occasionally moving through quicksand. Hot finish too with Orton going over in the STL. *** WWE Title - Last Man Standing Match John Cena vs. Ryback A great brawl and power matchup, as both men pummeled the fuck out of each both with weapons and power moves. I liked that both men pulled out the powerbomb successfully, with Ryback throwing Cena down beautifully and with such force that it looked believably painful. Ryback had a few selling issues of course to keep this from reaching greatness (I actually don't mind the finish so that didn't keep this from the greatness), as I wasn't fully convinced he'd have an adrenaline rush for 1-2 minutes after being Death Valley Driver'd through a table. This was some really good stuff, and probably the best match Ryback will ever have. ***1/2 Cage Match Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H This had the potential to be a classic, but ended up being just very good. Lesnar attempting to knee HHH against the fence, only for the Cerebral Assassin to duck was fantastic, especially Lesnar's selling of the pain. HHH of course went to work, but the former UFC World Champion put up a great fight, too much beast and anger in him. This was some seriously engaging shit, a brutal affair that we don't get to see in cage matches that often anymore. So what kept this from being a classis? That the finishing stretch was a lowblow from Paul Heyman, sledgehammer to HHH's face, and an F5 victory for Lesnar. I'm all for selling, but that finishing stretch was about 2-3 minutes and felt like 2-3 hours. It killed the crowd, who gave zero reaction to the finish. ***1/2

THE JOURNEY KEEPS GOING Raw - April 8, 2013 This is simply one of the greatest Raw episodes EVER, such a shame a medical emergency kept me from attending it. John Cena trolls the crowd with his shitty jokes. #heelturn The Miz and Wade Barrett have a ***1/4 IC Title match, with Barrett winning it back to a raucous crowd that is happy because of his British heritage and he comes across as far more of a man than Miz. The Shield interrupts Undertaker's promo, causing Team Hell No to come to the rescue. Sheamus and Randy Orton have a dull, tedious, forgettable match, and the crowd shits all over it, doing waves and chanting for RVD, HBK, JBL, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Randy Savage. Big Show interferes to turn it into a no-contest after what felt like 15 hours instead of 15 minutes if it wasn't for the tremendous crowd. "Thank you Big Show!" Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger have another match that is nothing special, with Swagger injuring the World Champion's ankle. Out comes Dolph Ziggler to successfully cash in his MITB contract to a huge pop. One of the best moments in Raw history. In the main event, Ryback comes out to save Cena from a Mark Henry post-match mugging. Moments later, he betrays Cena to another huge pop from the crowd. Raw - April 15, 2013: The Good Shit 3MB comes out to call out the Shield. They get Brock Lesnar instead, and he destroys them in EPIC fashion. Just a fucking ass-kicking. Paul Heyman then lays down the challenge to Triple H for a rubber match, this time in a steel cage at Extreme Rules 2013. Only Paul Heyman could make the steel cage, which has been decreased in perceived value thanks to Hell in a Cell, War Games, and Elimination Chamber, as well as companies watering them down by booking them too frequently with unsatisfying finishes, mean so much in 2013. His promo was so engrossing that the crowd popped huge at the challenge. IC Title Match Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston Not much here, just a showcase of what they could do together. I wouldn't have booked the title change here, but whatever. CM Punk comes out with Paul Heyman, devastated over his defeats to the Rock and Undertaker. He abruptly goes silent mid-promo and leaves. SmackDown! - April 19, 2013 Jack Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio I'm shocked, but I was engaged by this match, and I wonder why the fuck these two don't show this kind of dedication to their craft this well on a consistent basis. The story was Del Rio's injured left knee and Swagger's injured left elbow. They went to work on each other, showing incredibly submission work. The psychology and storytelling in this was just outstanding. The match also had very good drama, although the pace was a bit too steady to keep it from reaching true greatness. But the work they unleashed on each other was like some good shit from the ROH golden age. ***3/4 Raw - April 22, 2013 Hellacious Destruction vs. The Shield Not quite the epic many touted this afterwards, but a very good trios match nonetheless. Once again, the Shield did a phenomenal job of cutting the ring in half on Kane and D-Bry. They frequently managed to find a way to get the numbers in their favor. Rollins was also top-notch in this one, taking a moment to talk straight shit to Taker. Taker's facial reactions to that were excellent, fuming in such a way that CM Punk couldn't even get out of him the month before. Rollins is going to be a star in this federation. Of course, with the babyfaces being an iconic bad-ass, a HOF bad-ass, and one of the greatest in-ring technicians EVER, they managed to get enough advantage to keep this from being a complete squash. With the clout that Taker has, I don't think it's a coincidence that D-Bry's journey to singles stardom started shortly after this. ***1/2 Raw - April 29, 2013: The Good Shit Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes Another very good match from these two, as they have natural chemistry. The counters in this were awe-inspiring, and I loved the matwork they did on one another. A nice, solid finish too to get the crowd to have its climatic pop. ***3/4 Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston These two are also natural opponents, since they both have a video-game style to them. Nothing too special, but they once again showed why they've been booked against each other so many times. *** John Cena & Team Hell No vs. The Shield Another good trios match for the Shield, although nowhere near their best. Just good, solid work with sound stroytelling, psychology, and cutting the ring in half. *** Main Event - May 1, 2013 US Title Match Kofi Kingston vs. Cesaro THIS is when I would've booked the title change. They got about 20 minutes, and Cesaro brought his fucking working boots in this one, showcasing what has made him one of the top grapplers of the 2010s decade so far. He went to work on Kingston, finally getting some damage on the champion's right knee when it got stuck in the ropes about halfway in the match. But Cesaro didn't make this great all by himself. Kingston put in enough hope spots and did a masterful job with his facial expressions to get babyface sympathy. Cesaro was just tenacious in going after that right knee, locking in a half-crab multiple times, whereas the champion had to dig down deep to overcome the adversity. Once Kingston got his chance, he hit the Trouble in Paradise with that bad leg, much like athletes in other sports do - you give them just one small crack, and they'll run through that door to the narrowest of victories. Excellent gem of a match here. ****

WrestleMania XXIX: The Good Shit Undertaker vs. CM Punk Red-hot match from almost beginning to end, with Punk trying every tactic possible in order to pull off the impossible. This had the story of Taker going after Punk at the beginning, pissed over Punk's disrespect, only for Punk to use an arm-drag when Taker tried the vintage arm-twist ropewalk chop. Other top moments include both men countering each other's finishers, Taker turning a simple pinfall attempt by Punk into a Hell's Gate, and the nearfalls that had the crowd erupting. If this does indeed turn out to be Punk's last ever WrestleMania match, not a bad one to finish with and his best ever on the Granddaddy of 'Em All. ****1/4 WWE Title Match The Rock vs. John Cena Another hot match, although not as hot as Taker vs. Punk. This was a significant improvement over Rock's previous matches since his return. They played off of their previous match, with Rock delivering a mockery receipt. Later on, Cena faked an attempted People's Elbow. This became a finisher fest, which was fine for the story told. Ultimately, Rock being predictable and trying so hard to finish Cena off with the Rock Bottom cost him the most prestigious prize in the company. Post-match, Cena allows Rock his time in the spotlight, in what could have possibly been a farewell for the Great One. If the Rock never wrestles another match again, this was one to be proud of as the finale. ***1/2

THE ROAD KEEPS GOING Raw - February 18, 2013: The Good Shit The Shield vs. Sheamus, Ryback, & Chris Jericho Nothing too special here, which was just fine for Raw. A good match though that only solidified what an outstanding unit the Shield is, and marking the only time [as of this review being initially posted] Jericho has mixed it up with any one of them. ***1/4 The Rock's Championship Celebration Another phenomenal segment from the Rock, coming out to the local university's marching bad, pumping up the Lafayette crowd. He then retires the spinner belt and debuts a bad-ass title belt. The show ends with Cena on-stage to remind the audience that their rematch of the century could be on the horizon, only for CM Punk to ambush Cena from behind with the spinner belt, claiming that he wants the new one. Raw - February 25, 2013 WWE Title Shot Match John Cena vs. CM Punk What made this match work so well is what Michael Cole said once it was over. This match had emotion, drama, and tension. It also had an unbelievable electricity, an atmosphere that felt like a legitimate PPV main event. Punk started off trying to dominate the match with basic submission holds, such as the sleeper and abdominal stretch. However, with a career-defining rematch on the line for Cena, he was able to negate Punk. Frustrated and also starving to be in THE main event at WrestleMania, Punk quickened the pace, only for Cena to be on par with him every step of the way. As the match got to its last third, the crowd was in a frenzy. While everyone had to have known Cena would win this, the work these of two men made one believe that maybe we actually were going to get Rock vs. Punk III. They both had to pull out new shit they hadn't used in years, if never in their careers. For Punk, he used a beautiful piledriver, and when Cena kicked out, his face told the story, not knowing what he needed to do next. For Cena, he used a sitdown powerbomb on the smaller Punk, and as the match closed, pulled out a head-scissors. That it wasn't picture-perfect was understandable - these men had given EVERYTHING, so Cena was running on desperation and wouldn't logically to be able to pull that off perfectly. But it got the job done. This match did its job in reminding the younger audience that Cena would indeed have a chance at redemption against the Rock. But with Punk hardly resorting to cheating (he may not have done so at all actually), it re-established him as a force to be reckoned with after all of the breaks he had gotten the previous several months, so that when his WrestleMania XXIX opponent would be announced, the audience would buy into it. One of the greatest matches in Raw history. ****1/2 Raw - March 4, 2013 The Rock and John Cena verbal confrontation Another excellent segment from these two, with Rock getting in Cena's head when it was over, completely confident and negating all of Cena's talk. Raw - March 11, 2013 Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler These two have natural chemistry, although I'm not sure this says much about Ziggler. You have to be absolutely pathetic to not have chemistry with Bryan Danielson. ***1/4 Raw - March 18, 2013 IC Title Match Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Chris Jericho Another fun match here, just good action all around. ***1/4 Raw - March 25, 2013 The Rock and John Cena verbal confrontation Yet another excellent segment that should've been the go-home segment for WrestleMania XXIX. All of the legends did an excellent job in bringing a new dimension in having Rock and Cena explain why their rematch of the century was so important to them. A flawless segment.

NOLA Preview on the Road to NOLA Elimination Chamber 2013: The Good Shit World Title Shot - Elimination Chamber Match Kane vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho vs. Mark Henry vs. Jack Swagger vs. Randy Orton A good Chamber match here, but lacked the exciting pace to make it truly memorable. It was truly laughable to see Swagger get such a strong push, especially considering the lineup for this match. ***1/4 The Shield vs. Sheamus, Ryback, & John Cena Now this one holds up. The babyface juggernauts got a triple vertical suplex right at the beginning, almost equivalent to a football team getting a kickoff return touchdown. But from there, this was all about the Shield. They masterfully cut the ring in half, constantly getting the numbers advantage in their favor. It was non-stop domination, but what made this so compelling is that because of the strong booking of the babyfaces, especially for Cena after all of his years as the face of the industry, it still seemed like at some point they would find a way back in. Cena was tremendous playing the Ricky Morton face-in-peril here, and I laugh at anyone who questions this guy's wrestling ability. His selling both in body language and facial expressions was splendid. His hope spots were also great in making the audience believe that his team still had a chance. But the Shield were so focused, never once letting up, finding ways to bail each other out at the slightest hint of trouble. What a finish too to not only get this unit established as a force to be reckoned with, but to build up Roman Reigns. Oh yeah, since this is the big leagues, there weren't any of the stupid tag legalities I see in TNA and the indies. An instant classic. ****1/4 WWE Title Match - No Champion's Advantage The Rock vs. CM Punk This was a bit better than the match in Phoenix, probably because Rock was three weeks removed from wrestling rather than 10 months. The storytelling was solid, but with Rock being so focused on his Hollywood career, that takes away his ability to truly be in the standard of ring shape that he set during his prime. I don't blame him for that though. I'm glad we got to get see these two wrestle, as it was a genuine dream match for me since Punk came to WWE. Hope that Rock vs. Cena II is as good on broadcast as it was live. ***

MY NEXT ROAD STOP Raw - January 27, 2013 The show started with a decent segment, CM Punk coming out to ironically bitch about being screwed. Certainly elevated the importance of the WWE Title. Later in the show, Punk interrupted the Rock's celebration, spewing a totally twisted narrative and demanding a rematch. All that really matters on this show is the closing segment, in which Vince McMahon reveals video evidence that Paul Heyman had been in cahoots with the Shield and Brad Maddox in the recent few months. Vince was just great in brow-beating Heyman, while Heyman was tremendous in being a sleazy carny who knew the shit was about to hit the fan. Right when he's about to get fired, out comes Brock Lesnar to get in Vince's face, closing the show with an F5 to the chairman. That was just a completely terrific segment that clicked on all cylinders, with impressive acting and the audience being glued as these three men played their roles to perfection. This needs to be included on the upcoming Heyman documentary/compilation. Raw - February 4, 2013: The Good Shit CM Punk opens the show with another fantastic whiny promo. MizTV Guest: Paul Heyman Miz and Heyman have some fantastic chemistry here, with Miz being the lone guy to directly call out Heyman for the bullshit that spews out of his mouth. Vickie Guerrero comes out to announce that she's the one that got Brock Lesnar to return the week before, and has a hilarious attempt at a prayer with Heyman for Vince McMahon. After Miz throws enough criticism, Lesnar gets fed up, crashes the segment, and beats the living fuck out of Miz. Tremendous segment. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk This couldn't measure up to their matches in Toronto, Miami, and Chicago, but that's fine. This was just a good Raw match with some occasional nice counters and star power. ***1/4 The final segment is Brad Maddox calling out the Shield, and he of course gets destroyed. Sheamus, Ryback, and John Cena come clean house, fed up with these assholes and get the upper hand, forcing a powder. The babyface portion of the locker room then blocks the Shield, forcing them to collide with the three juggernauts and take another powder to close the show. Good, solid booking here. Raw - February 11, 2013: The Good Shit The show once again begins with a terrific segment. The big media story of the time was the Pope resigning from his position. So Paul Heyman announced that out of fear and intimidation from Vince McMahon, he will resign. This brings out CM Punk, who convinces Heyman to cancel that idea and they verbally jerk each other , pissing off the crowd in the process. Amazing shit here. Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho This is an Elimination Chamber qualifier for Jericho, so it was obvious he'd win this. Good but nothing special match, typical for Raw. There were nice counters and submissions, but it lacked the intensity to be something special. I'll throw this suggestion out there: when Jericho finally calls it a career, his farewell match should be on a PPV/supercard against D-Bry. I want these two in a position to deliver an epic. ***

THE JOURNEY'S NEXT ROAD STOP Royal Rumble 2013: The Good Shit World Title - Last Man Standing Match Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show Not as exciting as their first LMS match, but still good due to the storytelling. I loved that Del Rio outsmarted Show again. Del Rio really was showing signs for a very brief period of being a top marquee babyface for the WWE. *** The 2013 Royal Rumble Match Excellent Rumble match, one of the best ever. This just had so much going for it to make it a classic. Most important is that the match was NEVER dull. That should be so easy to do for this gimmick match, but we've seen so many times that doesn't turn out to be the case (1999, I'm looking at you.) Chris Jericho's return after being fired several months before was a truly amazing moment, and probably the last time he could ever come back to a huge ovation. Jericho and Dolph Ziggler as the starting entrants were excellent lasting to almost the very end, but there were of course other splendid moments as well. Godfather was a great nostalgia entrant, walking down as the master pimp, stepping in the ring, and immediately being eliminated, landing safely on his feet and receiving a standing ovation as he departed from ringside. Not a bad way to cash them checks. There was also the surprise appearance of Goldust, which of course drew the attention of his brother Cody Rhodes (they were still not friendly at the time of this match.) In a nice piece of storytelling, Cody did the Goldust get-on-your-back-and-throw-an-uppercut to Ziggler, sending a message that only HE could bully his brother. What also made this match work so well is that the stars were spread out. Jericho to start the match, Sheamus about 10 entrants later, Cena about 10 after that, with other big names such as Rey Mysterio, Ryback, and Randy Orton spread out as well. In addition, Kofi Kingston had a cute spot when he jumped on Tensai's back and ended up on the Spanish announce table to avoid elimination. He then used JBL's chair as a pogo stick to get to the apron. However, being the nitpicker than I am, why didn't Kingston just use ONE foot to move the chair (which had rolling wheels on its legs) to the apron and then he could simply step back into the ring? The last six were quite stacked for its time, although over a year later, wouldn't be quite so epic right now. Jericho, Ziggler, Sheamus, Ryback, Cena, Orton. And when the finale became Cena vs. Ryback, it was fantastic storytelling, even with the winner being obvious. It was simply best for business for Cena to go on to headline WrestleMania XXIX. A genuine MOTYC. ****1/2 WWE Title Match CM Punk vs. The Rock Before the match, Rock cut a timeless Dusty Rhodes styles promo, one of the absolute best of his career. Sure, he was glancing at a card or teleprompter, but I don't mind that. His delivery was just unmatched, explaining why this match, and more importantly the WWE Title, meant so much to him. With this being one of the best promos that the Rock has ever cut, and the Rock being one of if not THE best ever on the stick, this is easily one of the greatest promos in the history of the business. The match itself has lost its luster to me, although I still enjoyed it. The match was all about the moment, which was the Rock bringing Punk's historic reign to an end finally, and gaining something that still meant so much to him despite moving on to a Hollywood career. As for the work, the storytelling was fine with Punk working on Rock's ribs and midsection. This was great because not only had the Shield mugged Rock days earlier, but Punk could use that to wind down the rustier Rock. The Shield of course interfered on Punk's behalf with the lights turned out, and Vince McMahon was about to strip Punk of the title, but Rock demanded it to be restarted, insisting on earning the championship. That's when the portion of the match that really mattered happened, very basic yet effective sports-entertainment. One of the most historic moments in WWE history.

CONTINUING THE ROAD Raw - January 7, 2013: The Good Shit Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena Don't love this as much as I did a year ago. However, the crowd was hot and the action was crisp. Just seemed to lack enough substantial storytelling to go with Ziggler's fantastic pacing. ***1/4 WWE Title - TLC Match CM Punk vs. Ryback Whereas Ziggler vs. Cena had pacing with little storytelling, this had the storytelling but lacked the pacing. Ryback did his job in showcasing his strength, with Punk of course being the ring general and outsmarting the simple-minded challenger. I didn't mind the Shield's interference because it served multiple storylines. It was obvious that Punk's days as champion were numbered. *** CM Punk and The Rock confrontation Punk comes out first to go on a VERY long rant that was fantastic. Just a miserable prick, likely using reality to fuel the gimmick, bitching about WWE being a business over art, and then tying that into how little the fans matter. That of course brought the People's Champion out, and they had a fantastic verbal confrontation. Neither man was afraid of each other whatsoever, both just oozing very different flavors of confidence, only for Rock to leave Punk with a Rock Bottom. Tremendous segment. SmackDown! - January 11, 2013: The Good Shit CM Punk and Paul Heyman have a series of promos filmed at SunLife Stadium, just doing a simple yet fantastic job of trolling Miami, Punk believing that The Rock has no chance against him. Awesome. The Rock's Return to SmackDown! Another incredible segment here, with the hometown Miami crowd amped to see the Great One, for the first time in a SmackDown! ring after a decade-long absence from the show that had its named inspired by him. Then the Rhodes Scholars come out to have an absolutely splendid verbal confrontation with Rock. This segment worked on every level, and how did the Scholars as I write this become such afterthoughts? World Title - Last Man Standing Match Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio I'm not the biggest fan of LMS matches, because whereas the drama is in the ten-count, that means there can be a bit too much resting and lack of pacing for what I'm accustomed to. However, the story was very good here, and the finish was very, very well-done to get Del Rio over as a babyface while keeping Show strong. ***1/4 Raw - January 14, 2013: The Good Shit The show opens with Vince McMahon in the ring, and he's interrupted by Big Show, who gets dressed-down while whining about what happened three days earlier. Big Show is just a fantastic heel, so fantastic that I watched this entire segment despite Alberto Del Rio inserting himself into it. The Rock & Mick Foley have a brief backstage reunion, only for Vickie Guerrero to interrupt and disrespect them. Foley is shocked to see Rock allow himself to be dressed down. Cage Match Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena I really just don't care for this series as much as I did a year ago, and I believe I have one reason why Ziggler has become an afterthought: based on this series and his matches before 2013, Ziggler generally seems to base his moves all on high-impact shit. It feels like he is always swinging for a home run, rather than doing the basics, getting on base, and getting some RBIs. Hot crowd as usual though. I am interested in seeing Ziggler as a babyface to see if that work holds up and if his burial was justified or not. ***1/4 The Rock Concert IV Another amazing segment from the Rock, a sports-entertainment style piece of pro wrestling that any fan or non-fan would enjoy. He's so damn talented at being an entertainer, and delivered an unforgettable receipt to Vickie for her disrespect towards him. This was genuinely amusing without the slightest bit of feeling like low hanging fruit entertainment. THEN, Rock flipped a switch and showed how much all that time in Hollywood has paid off, becoming completely serious and calling out CM Punk. As Punk would try to laugh off Rock, the challenger was dead serious, oozing an unbreakable confidence when he said Punk's historic WWE Title reign would end at the Royal Rumble. The show even ends with a brawl, which I don't mind. Punk was easily gotten to and with Rock being such a huge star/bad-ass, it was good that although Punk had major chickenshit tendencies, he actually COULD throw down, and perhaps his ego with the expectation of casual fans watching and making an even bigger name for himself at a bonafide movie star's expense gave him the fuel to not back down. Wow I can't wait to rewatch the good shit at the Royal Rumble now.

MY ROAD TO NOLA CONTINUES TLC 2012: The Good Shit Hardcore Match Team Hell No & Ryback vs. The Shield https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w4Dq4yjB8c&t=14s Highly suggest everyone go back to rewatch this, not just for storyline reasons, but because wow Reigns was f***ing green here. This match also had some pacing issues, with the red-hot Brooklyn crowd sometimes becoming silent. HOWEVER, this match was absolutely chaotic and brought back memories of the TLC pioneer days during the Attitude Era. What this did was showcase what an unf***able unit that the Shield was, getting 3-1 on one advantages constantly and being so entertaining and violent in doing so. That bad bump Seth Rollins took through those tables sure seems like it was worth it in hindsight. This was a great choice to start my rewatch. **** MITB Contract - Ladder Match Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena Like the other standout match of the evening, this match also had some pacing issues, with patches of silence from the Brooklyn crowd. This was still very entertaining though, Ziggler bumping like a pinball to the crowd's delight. I'm also always a sucker for anytime a crowd turns into smarky/bizarro world and treats a match like it's The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8. Their reaction to AJ Lee betraying Cena to hand Ziggler the win was hilarious too. ***1/2

(Disclaimer: These reviews written in March 2014.) Getting ready for NOLA, so here are three matches I've never watched before. Unforgiven 2002 WWE Title Match Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker This won't get a special star rating for me, but that didn't matter. The story both told was very good. Rare is it to see Taker get manhandled. On the other hand, Lesnar had been established as a legitimate bad-ass, wiping through everyone, so it meant something for Taker to manhandle him in return. The fuck finish shouldn't have been on a $35-40 PPV event, but I understood the story here. Undertaker in a September PPV main event that has a fuck finish, leading to a HIAC main event for the October PPV. Sounds familiar. No Mercy 2002 WWE Title - Hell in a Cell Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker With this match taking place in Little Rock, I wonder how many in the SEC region will have been blessed to see both this and the upcoming WrestleMania XXX match in NOLA live. Going into this, Lesnar had broken Taker's hand with a propane tank, so the Dead Man was permitted to wear the cast, which played as both a gift and a curse for him. Taker, furious over Lesnar and Paul Heyman prying into his personal life, of course used the cast to dominate the former National Wrestling Champion early. Lesnar took a fucking beating in this one. However, he was able to return this beating tenfold, working on Taker's broken hand. It's a very, very, very rare sight to see Undertaker be put in a position in which he has to deliver hope spots, but he was fantastic here in doing so. He really had the crowd behind him, while the WWE Champion did a great job in making sure Taker was sympathetic. But Taker wouldn't go down without a fight, showing primal instinct and fighting off Lesnar to prevent the cast from being torn off. Lesnar eventually was successful in removing it, going right to work on the bare hand of the Phenom, which felt odd to see since Taker wears gloves in every match. I also loved Taker grabbing Heyman by the tie through a hole in the Cell, bouncing him on the grating steel until the former ECW owner bled. That showed what Heyman was willing to sacrifice to make sure his meal ticket Lesnar could get time to recuperate and gain an advantage. And speaking of blood, holy shit there was a fuckton in this match. Not only was there a moment in which Taker was down on his knees to gasp for breath, his crimson face pouring buckets of blood on the mat (I'm sure Jay Briscoe had to have gotten that idea for his ROH cage match against Samoa Joe from this), but as the match came to its conclusion, his blood was just dripping everywhere, including different parts of Lesnar's body. It was like Undertaker's head/face was a broken faucet. Absolutely fucking disgusting, and yet beautiful to watch unfold. What a finish too, with Taker about to hit a Tombstone, but likely dazed from the all the punishment and blood loss, losing balance to Lesnar, the WWE Champion then hoisting the WWE icon on his shoulders and dropping him for an F5 to bring this classic to an end. A phenomenal Hell in a Cell match that defines the genre, just drenching with storytelling and psychology. We're in for a treat at the Superdome. ****1/4 SmackDown! - October 4, 2003 Brock Lesnar & John Cena vs. Undertaker & Kurt Angle This was a good TV main event, nothing all that special, which was just fine. The majority of the match was Lesnar being a bitch, while he and Cena took turns on Angle. Taker was great when he got the hot tag, a house of fire going back-and-forth on the heels. The most memorable spot of the match by far was when Taker gave Lesnar a big boot to knock him out of the ring. Unfortunately, Lesnar fell like he was diving into a swimming pool, appearing to hit the floor headfirst. No wonder the dude got away from WWE so quickly. ***1/4

2006 Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 - September 3, 2006 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Quarterfinal Chris Sabin vs. El Generico One of the finest openers prior to the company's golden age. The action and mat wrestling were all great with tons of sweet reversals, but that didn't really matter. The primary story of the match was Generico teasing the Top Rope Brainbuster. Sabin did a masterful job of avoiding it and made sure that story didn't outshine him, as he controlled the majority of this match. But once Generico landed his finisher on Sabin, the crowd erupted with joy, and here's a crazy concept - it was the actual finish. Rating: ***3/4 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Quarterfinal CIMA vs. Kevin Steen Steen shows off during his intro and does sit-ups, so CIMA tops him by doing sit-ups on the top rope. Steen tries to copy it but fails miserably even with the ref's assistance. Already enjoying this match and they've yet to lock up. CIMA almost finishes Steen off early with a crucifix pin, and Steen returns the nearfall favor about 30 seconds later. They had some nice mat wrestling to follow up, and the big story became CIMA selling as he struggled to lift up Steen's heavy frame. The tide turned when Steen charged at CIMA in the corner, but ended up having his left shoulder eat the ringpost. CIMA then followed that up with a successful scoop slam that caused all three men to bump to the crowd's uproarious approval. He then dropped Steen with a Saito Suplex for a nice nearfall, and it was incredible to see CIMA selling his back, not because of the work Steen had implemented on him, but showing that his adrenaline was wearing off. Steen caught CIMA and took him down with a swinging modified Schwein of his own for a nearfall. They exchanged blows in the corner, resulting in Steen taking him down to deliver a gorgeous moonsault for another nice nearfall. He went for another one which was a huge mistake against someone with the accomplishments of CIMA, resulting in Steen eating a lung-blower while climbing the turnbuckles, landing the majority of the damage on Steen's neck. CIMA got a double knees to the chest along with a followup guillotine choke DDT, then a figure four scoop slam for another nice nearfall, willing to cause further pain on his back. Steen lariats him when he runs the ropes for another nearfall, then attempts the package piledriver. CIMA evades it and lands a superkick, then counters another lariat attempt to finish off the former PWG Champ with a rollup that consisted of a Hammerlock and visually similar to the small package. Really good stuff. Rating: ***1/2 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Quarterfinal Dragon Kid vs. Roderick Strong The forgotten great match of the evening here. After being shoved around by Strong early, Dragon Kid avoids a chop and they have a nice sequence to follow up. Strong follows Dragon Kid to the outside after dropkicking him out of the ring, then makes the same mistake as he'd done against the likes of Matt Hardy, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson. He went to clothesline Dragon Kid on the outside, only to be evaded and have his right arm strike the ring post. Dragon Kid was phenomenal in following up on Strong's wounded right arm, landing all kinds of blows and locking on various submissions, including a stunner on the right shoulder and then delivering a knee drop on it. He was actually relentless on the right arm and shoulder, taking full advantage against the bigger and strong opponent. Strong would catch him sliding underneath the legs and land a backdrop suplex and then a butterfly suplex, but still sold the damage on his right arm afterwards from sucking it up for those moves. Because he didn't chop the ringpost as he had done in his major ROH matches, Strong was still able to land a chop on Dragon Kid, but it hurt him like a motherfucker still. He locked in a submission that I've yet to identity, working on the neck, arms, shoulders, and legs of Dragon Kid, then landed a knee on the back. Dragon Kid still landed some hope spots including a spin kick, but Strong got pissed off from that and tossed Dragon Kid towards the turnbuckle and then tossed him with a followup fallaway slam. Strong went back to work on the back, not only perfect for his repertoire, but to sabotage Dragon Kid's acrobatic work. Dragon Kid still went for hope spots while in a bearhug, only to be tossed overhead and then dropped with a vertical suplex afterwards for a nearfall. Strong went back to work with another submission I can't identity, harming the neck, shoulders, back, arm, legs, knees, and ankles, then kept implementing his will. He landed a chop which still felt uncomfortable, but didn't cause unbearable pain by this time. Strong went for another bearhug, but Dragon Kid reversed a lifting move with a DDT to regain control. He did an absurd extended head-scissors than hit a moonsault on Strong to the outside as the crowd was getting crazy for this action. Back inside, he blocked Strong's cutoff attempts, hitting a springboard Buff Blockbuster style blow on Strong's right arm and shoulder while holding onto it. He ducked a chop while running the ropes, then locked an Octopus hold on Strong to follow up on the right arm and shoulder. Strong managed to escape it and pancake Dragon Kid, but had to now use forearm strikes rathern chops with his right arm. That control would be short-lived though, as Dragon Kid cut him off while crotched on the top rope and slammed Strong's right shoulder on the rope, then landed a springboard Arabian press inside the ring for a nice nearfall. Strong would still block a hurricanrana and position Dragon Kid for a suplex, only to be hit with a Stunner. Dragon Kid went back to immediate work on Strong's right arm, but Strong lifted him and dropped him on the turnbuckle in a style visually similar to when Brock Lesnar countered CM Punk's triangle choke with his running powerbomb. Strong lariated Dragon Kid, resulting in a stupid head-drop bump for a nearfall, and he's slow to follow up due to his exhaustion and pain in the right arm. This delay allowed Dragon Kid to hit a crucifix bomb while in the fireman's carry position, but it didn't quite have the epic impact of Austin Aries landing it on Samoa Joe on that magical night in Philly. That's just a nearfall and Dragon Kid is slow to get up after all the damage he's also taken. He does a roll-through hurricanrana (that's almost blocked) for a nice nearfall. When he runs the ropes, Strong catches him with a military press gutbuster for a nearfall, and Strong is continuing to sell the right arm, only using it for forearm strikes. Strong runs the ropes and eats a drop toehold followed by a missile shotgun dropkick on the apron, then rolls back in. Dragon Kid springboards off the top rope to finish off Strong with his patented hurricanrana, only for Strong to channel Chris Jericho and reverse it with a Boston Crab, to which Dragon Kid almost immediately taps out. I love that realistic quick submission which I'm sure they learned from the Chris Benoit vs. Dave Finlay finish a few months earlier at Judgment Day 2006, and as the video chapter fades out, Strong is continuing to sell his right arm. Excellent match with tremendous psychology that is more than deserving of inclusion on the next edition of Sells Out. Rating: **** 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Quarterfinal Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries Aries still has his abdomen taped up due to the botched reverse hurricanrana at ROH's Unified. They have good matwork to start with Aries still getting the advantage despite his injury. They work on each other's left arms and Richards gets a crucifix pin nearfall. Richards continue working on the left arm of Aries, which I always love since Aries is left-handed. They continue to exchange more quality mat wrestling with Richards blocking the typical dropkick escape from the head-scissors, but Aries rolls forward for a headlock. Richards locks the head-scissors back on, only for Aries to use the momentum to hit his patended dropkick escape. Aries controlled a bit more, including hitting a suicide dive and goes back to work on the left arm of Richards as well as a bit of the shoulder, which can be great for his finishers but also the Rings of Saturn as he'd used in the past for victory. Richards blocks a brainbuster to return the left arm favor, but gets a Finlay roll followed by a frogsplash attempt. However, Richards gets the knees up, causing further pain to the damaged ribs of Aries. Richards followed that up by working on the ribs and abdomen, including an abdominal stretch. Aries would cut him off a few minute later for a comeback, including a nice roaring forearm with his left, although I'd have like a bit more selling on that joint from him. As I suspected, he went for the Ring of Saturn on Richards, following on that left arm work, but he couldn't lock it in fully, actually at least selling the pain in his ribs and abdomen, which Richards went back to work on a bit. They have more nice back-and-forth work with Aries getting the upper hand. Not learning from his frogsplash attempt, he goes for a 450 splash but Richards rolls out of the way. Richards follows up the enhanced pain on the ribs of Aries with a fireman's carry gutbuster. Aries tries to use his veteran experience to take out Aries with a classic schoolboy pin, but Richards locks in a Cloverleaf-like submission that focused on the ribs of Aries, giving Richards a major singles victory. Rating: ***1/2 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Quarterfinal Jack Evans vs. Genki Horiguchi Pretty good spotfest here that Evans controlled the majority of. I was really impressed with how crisp the early sequence was, and the evidence was clear for the improvement of Evans thanks to his time in Dragon Gate. Horiguchi actually showed some nice psychology on his back, having difficulty following up with a pin attempt after landing a trademark move, reminding me of the trios masterpiece at Supercard of Honor. In the end though, the younger Evans had more explosiveness behind his acrobatic work, that was combined with his improved body part work, resulting in him advancing. Rating: ***1/4 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament Semifinal CIMA vs. El Generico The most acclaimed match of the night and deserving of it just as much as DK vs. Strong. In light of all the awesome action in this, I really appreciated CIMA continuing to sell his back from his earlier match against Steen during his pre-match stretch. They had nice technical wrestling early as usual for the evening. They reach a stalemate as their legs are locked up and they roll over on their necks for a very brief slap exchange, and CIMA is selling his left leg. Generico gained control for some time, only for CIMA to land a lung-blower. CIMA followed up on Generico's lower back, which Excalibur is kind enough to point out in commentary would sabotage the top rope brainbuster. CIMA then decides to play heel when gouging Generico's eyes during an attempted comeback, then tells the viewer to fuck off. CIMA goes for an abdominal stretch and gets a Full Nelson aftewards, working on the neck. He places Generico's neck in a vulnerable position in the corner, hitting a lowered shotgun dropkick on the ass, which caused Generico's neck to jam into the turnbuckle. Generico made a comeback and hit a top rope Quebrada to CIMA on the outside, but continued selling his pain and exhaustion. As CIMA is about to get back into the ring, he is surprised by Generic's trademark through-the-ropes tornado DDT for a wonderful pop. That not only is perfect for popping and rallying the crowd, but softens the neck for the top rope brainbuster. CIMA is still able to kick out in the ring after a splash, and now Generico is selling his back too. CIMA baits Generico, evading a Yakuza kick, but winning the cutoff battle by kicking him in the gut. That's then followed by a springboard stomp and then a springboard shotgun missile dropkick on Generico's neck, softening up that body part for the Schwein. Generico still manages to cutoff a suplex and guillotines CIMA's throat, but his springboard move is countered with an Ace Crusher for a nice nearfall. CIMA goes for his guillotine choke DDT, but Generico hits him with a modified Falcon Arrow for a wonderful nearfall. CIMA evades another Yakuza kick attempt, then walks into a big boot. CIMA sucks it up and lands an uppercut to Generico, then hits a modified Iconoclasm. CIMA goes for a frogsplash and gets the same result as Aries earlier in the evening. This allows Generico to finally hit the teased Yakuza kick and then a half-and-half (Nelson) suplex for an awesome nearfall as the crowd's giving them a standing ovation. CIMA cuts off a top rope brainbuster, then hits a top rope tornado DDT, which Excalibur is kind enough to point out in commentary is similar to Jushin Liger inflicting upon Owen Hart. CIMA follows that up with the Schwein, and the crowd is stunned to see Generico actually kick out! "THIS IS AWESOME~!" CIMA blocks a last-ditch cutoff attempt, and finally finishes off Generico with a second Schwein. I've no problem with Generico kicking out of the Schwein as it elevated his stock for the PWG fanbase. This was an incredible match with quality selling and fantastic counters as well as storytelling. Worth every bit of praise it has gotten over the years. Rating: **** The rest of the tournament matches were disappointing thanks to selling issues from Davey Richards, who defeats CIMA in their lone singles match to date. Because Super Dragon was to win this tournament but got concussed earlier in the evening, a rewrite was done. Richards won but was granted his request to join SD in attempting to regain the Tag Titles. I'm sure SD wouldn't make Richards regret such a selfless act by his former fellow tag champ. Despite the last couple tournament matches being disappointing, this show easily gets my highest recommendation thanks to SIX quality matches of varying flavors, including a couple classics, one highly acclaimed and the other sadly underplayed. Easily the best PWG event since Astonishing X-Mas and comparable to some ROH events at the time.

2006 Battle of Los Angeles Night 2 - September 2, 2006 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament 1st Round - Hardcore Match Super Dragon vs. Necro Butcher Necro is wearing wrestling boots which was a good idea based on this match's brutality. Way too much dangerous shit between these two as expected, but nonetheless a very good brawl. In the midst of all the crazy stunts these two pulled including numerous unprotected chairshots, and a wooden table breaking underneath their combined weight, there was plenty of psychology and storytelling largely thanks to Necro. On the outside, SD smashed Necro's right hand with a chair on the apron. This caused Necro to be in severe pain when delivering right hand punches, even delaying him to go for pin attempts after dropping SD with devastating maneuvers, including a Tiger Driver. But that also sabotaged his attempts to get out of a head-scissors, and when he finally did to follow that up with punches, he had to nurse his wound. This allowed SD to land some Kawada kicks but Necro sucked it up again and dropped him with a right hand when running the ropes. They also set up a table inside the ring which didn't break as expected upon impact; the ring also had a folding chair and non-folding chair inside, adding to the atmosphere of this chaotic main event. Perhaps most surprising was a great nearfall in which Necro almost put SD down with a classic O'Connor roll, showing that he's more than a garbage stuntman that he made himself known for. He also showed great fire in the closing moments as SD went to work on him, digging down deep to hit some right hand punches despite the pain. But after taking a chairshot with another chair already folded around his head, a curb stomp, and Super Psycho Driver onto a chair, Necro had nothing left, bringing this war to its appropriate climax and closing the evening with a thunderous audience that pounded on the apron with great enthusiasm. Splendid surprise here. Rating: ***3/4

2006 Battle of Los Angeles Night 1 - September 1, 2006 2006 Battle of Los Angeles Tournament 1st Round Rocky Romero vs. Roderick Strong The closest thing to a substantial match on this first night of triple-shot action. The action was decent enough to be on an episode of televised wrestling, but nothing close to being memorable, and based on this, I'm not as excited to for the rest of their PWG trilogy as I had assumed I'd be. This never kicked into an adrenaline-rushing gear and Romero's selling was nonexistent. If he had been willing to sell around this time, he could've made himself more emotionally engaging to the audience against the bigger, stronger Strong. Rating: ***

Threemendous - July 16, 2006 Cape Fear vs. Kings of Wrestling Good tag match as would be expected but not the potential classic for a number of reasons. Cape Fear truly shined in this match while KOW was a bit sloppy, but they were 24 hours removed from that work of art Cage of Death finale on the other side of the continent. That explains why they took shitty arm drag bumps, as well as Castagnoli's head bleeding quite easily. While the match had its obvious flaws, it is a testament that after a rough performance for KOW in the first act, they got on track with Cape Fear, providing well-timed counters and double-teams galore. The highlight to me was near the end, as Hero thought he had escaped a Yakuza kick from Generico, only to turn around and eat one to the crowd's approval. I must point out that for some reason Castagnoli got the winning pin counted on Generico despite Hero being the legal man. Overall, this match was the best it could be given its circumstances. Rating: ***1/2 PWG Title - Cage Match Joey Ryan vs. B-Boy I had heard many things about this match over the years, with them being polarizing of course. I'll be honest: I dreaded watching this match because Ryan is inconsistent and can have a tendency to over-rely on shallow smoke-and-mirrors to keep the audience engaged, while B-Boy's severe lack of charisma makes him a peasant's version of Homicide. And unfortunately, my dread was warranted. I'm gonna go through the positives first: both men did work hard to make this match stand out, but this feud never had the heat to be the epic they wanted it to be. They took bumps, involved weapons, had blading, all the things on paper that a blood feud ender would want. But that's what a smarky know-it-all pre-teen would grab watching Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker from Bad Blood 1997, and this match seemed to be a shallow attempt at recreating that. The audience did at least get into all the interference in the last several minutes and rallied behind B-Boy to dethrone Ryan's shallow reign, absolutely molten-hot when they were convinced they'd see the title change. However, now I get to take the dump on this match that it truly deserves. Granted, this DOES feel as great as HBK vs. Taker, Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer, and Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA (all that were very violent flavors of the cage match genre) if one wants to compare this to the god-awful piece of shit cage match between Adam Pearce and Frankie Kazarian two years prior. I'll give this match that much credit at least. But this is still an overall terrible cage match, especially one that's supposed to end a supposed blood feud. The match itself went on for over 30 fucking minutes, which along with the brawling outside, interference, and referee violence, indicates that these two thought they could pull off something on par with that work of art in October of 1997 I keep mentioning, and I ain't referring to Age in the Cage. These two men simply aren't good enough to go that long and keep it organically engaging, especially with each other. While HBK was a major douche-bag with years of credibility established at the top, Ryan here was strictly a chickenshit heel relying on smoke-and-mirrors after being established as a choke artist beforehand. Meanwhile, B-Boy lacked the credibility of Taker, who had been made out as a legitimate bad-ass for many, many years before stepping inside that first-ever Cell. The violence Ryan inflicted on referee Rick Knox must also be addressed too. While HBK hurt the ref inside that Cell match because he was looking to escape the epic beating from Taker, Ryan exchanged blows with Knox simply as a transparent attempt to get heat, rather than rely on his work, body language, and facial expressions. It certainly took away any hatred he supposedly had for B-Boy that the commentators were so desperately trying to force the viewer to buy into. There was also all kinds of dangerous shit in here, and because there was no real meaning behind any of it, no fluidity or rhythm, I'm not going to bother going into further detail on them. But shit would happen that would end a PPV main event and then the match would keep on going, without any honest selling of the pain these two men dished out on each other. But that's not all, folks. There was also the ludicrous amount of interference in the closing minutes, first beginning with Scott Lost to help out Ryan, and the crowd didn't even react, leaving me to make the educated assumption that they were rolling their eyes at it. When several more heels and babyfaces came to ringside, the crowd at least then got heated, but it was for the smoke-and-mirrors spectacle, rather than the interference itself adding a subtle wrinkle to the match like between Xavier and Paul London at ROH's One Year Anniversary Show. While in that match the interference from Allison Danger and Alexis Laree was quick and a way to get Danger out of the equation, and added heat to the possibility of London finally winning the ROH Title, this was just pure cop-out TNA main event booking bullshit that took away from what really mattered, which was Ryan and B-Boy putting their issue behind them with the company's biggest prize on the line. That said, I had mentioned the crowd went crazy when they believed B-Boy was gonna dethrone Ryan, but that of course didn't happen, much like London not beating Xavier in that ROH match I mentioned. But that match gave Xavier credibility, showing how he took advantage of the situation as well as London's disadvantage of having just competed in a hard-fought title shot match. In this match, it soured the crowd completely on the match, with them genuinely feeling ripped off because it was time to finally bring the charade of Ryan's megapush to an end. I can only imagine how frustrated fans must have felt going home after this show. I know I'd have reservations about attending PWG's upcoming Battle of Los Angeles triple-shot. What hurts this match more than anything really isn't how badly it pales in comparison to other matches from the past that it wanted to be. As mentioned, these two men supposedly hated each other, but I never once bought that from what I had seen from the two interacting on this rewatching project of mine. But while this half-assed excuse of a feud was going on, there was the greatest feud in the history of independent wrestling unfolding on the other side of the continent, ending 24 hours before this in the Cage of Death match I mentioned earlier in the tag match review. That match was a massive payoff of all the little things, with tremendous timing, teases being delivered, false finishes, a layered arc, and swings in momentum. This was just just a smoke-and-mirrors dog-and-pony show between two guys who looked like they watched Mick Foley tapes and thought they could do something magical by having blood and bumps aplenty. In short, this match, when especially compared to the Cage of Death just the day before, was like the overall laughable final season of Dexter compared to the simultaneously airing masterpiece that was Breaking Bad's high-octane final season. This match on its own would already have glaring weaknesses, but that something within the blood feud genre that was so perfected also took place simultaneously only further exposes what a shoddy cage match this truly is. Rating: less than ***

From Parts Well Known - June 24, 2006 B-Boy's PWG Title Shot at Risk Guest Ref - Human Tornado B-Boy vs. Scott Lost Good but a little too long since neither has the charisma and timing down to have a killer main-event quality match. Tornado was also annoying with his babyface biases. Everything was smooth in here, but as I mentioned there wasn't anything in this that was worthy of emotional investment. Jade Chung tried interfering on Lost's behalf but Tornado had Candice LeRae use a char to chase her to the back. B-Boy eventually won since I guess people were supposed to get a raging hard-on to see Joey Ryan vs. B-Boy in 2006. Good match but whatever. Rating: ***1/4 Cape Fear vs. Chris Sabin & Kevin Steen The unsurprising MOTN with ZERO TAG LEGALITY PLOT HOLES TO BOOT~! Really good action with various segments of cutting the ring in half. The highlight had to easily be a bunch of moves one after another on the outside, just crazy shit that was timed and executed perfectly to earn the enormous pop it got, ending with Sabin jumping off the apron and giving Generico a head-scissors into empty folding chairs. After a tremendous third act that was packed with action, Steen put down Quicksilver with a 450 Splash. Man, Sabin & Steen really could've been a special team but it's all good knowing who their primary partners in the business would turn out to be. Rating: ***3/4 PWG Title Match Guest Ref - Human Tornado Joey Ryan vs. Davey Richards I should note that the absurdly long reign of Richards & Super Dragon as Tag Champs ended at Enchantment Under the Sea to Ryan's Arrogance buddies Lost & Chris Bosh. IIRC it wasn't a clean end to the reign and may have been the beginning of the former X-Foundation becoming Arrogance. I don't care enough about this faction to bother confirming that. The Embassy gave indy fans the the same deal at this time but with much better pizzazz, charisma, and work ethic. Because of that though, I believe it's why Richards started the match with a tope con hilo to Richards on the outside. He dragged Richards outside and into a locker room, beating the shit out of him. This became an extended squash, with the chickenshit Ryan getting the heat back through cheating or maybe interference from Arrogance. Tornado takes himself out when he launches himself at Arrogance, causing Rick Knox to officiate the rest of the match. Ryan eventually wins by cheating/interference. Whatever. Post-match, B-Boy and Frankie Kazarian come out to force Arrogance to take a collective powder. I can't make out anything B-Boy says due to the shitty acoustics, but I do catch Kazarian saying he wants a shot at the PWG Title when B-Boy wins it. Oh goody. What I do know is that Ryan vs. Lost on the next event is a cage match. That sounds like it has all kinds of potential to unintentionally amuse me with indy bullshit.

Enchantment Under the Sea - May 20, 2006 Human Tornado vs. Scorpio Sky This is a battle of Dark & Lovey, and Scorpio is accompanied by Chung. I will be as gentlemanly as possible (unlike the commentary) and mention she provided a head-turning presence at ringside. This started off hot and spilled to the outside. Tornado grabbed a nearby basketball, slam-dunked it on a nearby hoop, and used the slam-dunk position to execute a hurricanrana on Scorpio. Very creative, entertaining spot that was perfectly positioned. Then in a moment of foreshadowing Tornado's character, he attempted to assault Chung by throwing the basketball at her and chasing her around the ring while doing so. I don't recall her doing anything to have justified THAT much comeuppance from Tornado, so when she helped out Scorpio later, I was ethically sympathizing with her (not because of her beauty.) Tornado also attempted a jumping move to the outside and hurt his right ankle, reaggravating a recent injury in that region. Scorpio went to work on it and applied numerous ankle lock submissions as well as a figure-four leglock. If only Kurt Angle had watched this to see how to soften an ankle, maybe his work wouldn't be so heavily criticized in the past several years. Tornado was able to get some good comeback spots, managing to mix in his signature stuff. However, doing so caused more pain to his right ankle, which he sold very well. Also, Chung helped Scorpio out enough times, an unidentified attractive young white lady appeared to brawl with her, marking the PWG debut of Candice LeRae. Scorpio went after LeRae but Tornado prevented domestic violence. With the ref trying to keep LeRae outside the ring, Chung tried to capitalize with a lowblow on Tornado, but she instead hurt her hand due to his being so large in the phallic department. This caused him to merely scratch his genitalia moments later to take away any discomfort in that region. Scorpio was able to overcome a Dat ..... Dead in the end, taking out Tornado with a beautifully executed DDT. That paid off some pain that was undoubtedly caused on Tornado's neck when he took an inverted DDT on the apron in the middle of the match. This isn't necessarily great or anywhere near MOTYC territory, but I have zero complaints about this. Selling, storytelling, psychology, character work, great positioning and execution, with very, very good sports-entertainment meshed in. Rating: ***1/2 Briscoe Bros. vs. Cape Fear Easy match of the night here, and a great tag match. Sure, this had spots as would be expected, the highlights being some hurricanranas, dives, and running sunset powerbombs to the outside. But what stood out above everything was that tag legalities were never forgotten about by any of the wrestlers. NOT ONCE. Excellent match with great pacing, cutting the ring in half, comebacks, and amazing action. Rating: **** B-Boy vs. Matt Sydal This would've been much better as undercard match since this lacked personality. Overall, the wrestling was good even with a botched head-scissors early, but B-Boy's heat segment just couldn't be as engrossing as Sydal's. With the commentary pointing out that B-Boy is owed a PWG Title shot in the future, it only made sense to go over after landing a discus lariat and G2S. Rating: ***1/4

(Please Don't Call It) The OC - May 6, 2006 TJ Perkins vs. Rocky Romero Good stuff but nothing memorable. The pacing and mat wrestling were all fine, but the selling was minimal and there was no emotional connection developed with the audience. I seriously don't remember who even won the match. Rating: ***1/4 Chris Sabin vs. Austin Aries Another good match highlighted by great character work from Aries. He dressed flamboyantly like his Starr gimmick in TNA and begged off early from the dominating Sabin, sparking "Macho Aries" chants. Since Aries was still a babyface, he gave the paying audience what they wanted with numerous Savage mannerisms, including the sledge and elbow drop along with taunts. Aries would win by holding the tights too much like WWF era Savage. You see how I actually remember finishes when the match actually tells a story? Rating: ***1/4 Kevin Steen vs. Bryan Danielson With this being the day before Steen's before, he says Danielson should sing "Happy Birthday" to him, to which Danielson agrees if Steen wins, but should Danielson win, then Steen is finished with PWG. This was another good match for the night, with very good wrestling itself that unfortunately wasn't all that psychologically engaging. After Steen countered a Cattle Mutilation with his own shitty Cattle Mutilation, he found himself positioned for a Tiger Suplex, with Danielson then using the positioning to turn him over the victory. Steen begs Danielson not to hold true to the stipulation because he would only have CZW left to earn anything resembling a decent living in the business. Danielson says Steen can stay but he had to sing "Happy Birthday" to him since Danielson's birthday was later in the month, AND Steen had to simultaneously booty-dance. The post-match made me realize what this match needed to hit an emotionally unforgettable level. Since Steen was working in CZW during this period and was months removed from his violent feud against Super Dragon, inserting him into ROH for its feud against CZW would've been a great way to get him a spot in that federation, and had Steen challenged Danielson for the ROH Title, that could've been some hot shit. Rating: ***1/4

All Star Weekend 3 Night 2 - April 9, 2006 Matt Sydal vs. Roderick Strong Spectacular match. They do some nice exchange wrestling, with Strong constantly getting a hammerlock on, including a unique one I hadn't seen before. Strong would get to work on Sydal's back, just decimating the smaller of the participants. About mid-way through he brought Sydal's hope spots to an abrupt halt with a back-drop suplex on the outside ring apron, devastating the back even more. Sydal though would show much heart and determination, even after being press-slam tossed onto a bunch of chairs on his back. He blocked an attempted powerbomb on the floor, using what strength he still had in his back to back-drop him. He'd suck up whatever pain he had after an extended heat segment, getting Strong to the outside and landing a corkscrew plancha. He would also manage to block an attempted Liontamer from Strong. Strong blocked an attempted earclap hurricanrana while on the floor, following up with a Yakuza kick than Sydal taking a head-drop style bump for an awesome nearfall. After more great work, Sydal found himself on the turnbuckle, landing a picture-perfect springboard DDT to position Strong for a Shooting Star Press. This got Sydal a huge victory in PWG, making a star being born in the company, and hopefully he could carry that momentum into his singles pursuit in ROH. All this match needed was a bit more selling from Sydal to be a MOTYC. But this was without a doubt a fantastic match, one of the best PWG hosted before its golden age. Rating: ****

All Star Weekend 3 Night 1 - April 8, 2006 Matt Sydal's PWG Debut Kevin Steen vs. Matt Sydal Hell of a debut for Sydal here, as he continued the roll he was on in 2006. They have a nice exchange early and then Steen stalls. This prompts a fan to chant "We want wrestling" and Steen seats himself next to him to join in on the chant. He gets back in the ring and they have more exchanges. This got really impressive in the finishing stretch. Steen went for the package piledriver, lifting Sydal for it only for Sydal to counter it with a hurricanrana pin. But Steen kept the momentum to roll forward with it and get leverage, getting to still drop Sydal with his finisher. Sydal also did a very good job of selling Steen's work on his left arm, more than he would've needed to make this an impressive debut. Steen puts him over strong post-match. Rating: ***3/4 Apparent Lucha Rules Match Los Luchas vs. Cape Fear I say apparent because guys came and went mid-way in the match, so Disco Machine on commentary assumed it must be a Lucha Rules match with this including Los Luchas. This was a phenomenal spot-fest tag, and that someone actually acknowledged why it broke down into that style is what makes this click. An explanation from someone is all that I ask for. Rating: ***1/2

Beyond the Thunderdome - March 18, 2006 Tag Titles Shot Match Cape Fear vs. Chris Bosh & Scott Lost Really good stuff here, without any of the bullshit booking from their match at the prior show. Just good tag wrestling, mostly smooth transitions, action-packed, with the crowd in a fucking frenzy at the end. I was genuinely shocked to see an Arrogance match in which tag legalities were remembered by the workers, not just the referees. This was right on the border of being great, but I'll explain why I don't put it in that category ultimately despite the crowd reacting so incredibly well in the closing minutes. Bosh & Lost had some nice-looking double-team moves, but they didn't look as crisp as Cape Fear's double-team moves. I think had they studied Roderick Strong & Jack Evans doing double-team moves, in terms of timing, pacing, and teasing, they'd have looked much smoother AND gotten this crowd to have a collective hard-on before the third act. Still really good stuff though. Rating: ***3/4 Tag Titles Match Super Dragon & Davey Richards vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels I want to preface this match review. Years ago, I had been provided with a custom-made comp of the SD/Richards Tag Title reign. I had never been so close to quitting on wrestling. Their reign was very tedious to sit through, with matches that went long for the sake of going long, made worse by Richards being incredibly green as he had less than two years in the business and it was very obvious that their colleagues were usually taking it easy. In particular, their match against the Kings of Wrestling, something that would look and sound absolutely stellar on paper, was fucking dog-shit, just a worthless pile of feces without any peaks or valleys whatsoever. But this match right here, as well as SD & Richards's prior defense against Strong & Evans, somewhat pacified me. Sure, the Strong & Evans match turned out to be a fun but meaningless spotfest in hindsight, but what about this match? The challengers were putting aside their professional rivalry that had spilled over into numerous federations, and did a fantastic job in their unity, forcing the green Richards to pay his dues and play the Ricky Morton role. Styles in particular was a hard-ass on him, but Richards held his own with footwork and strength since both have compact, muscular frames that mirror each other. Years before their singles matches, Richards and Daniels also showed a very good chemistry, and make no mistake, for all the times that Daniels has phoned it in for PWG, he brought his working boots on this night. That was very clearly displayed when Richards gave him a Saito Suplex, which all these years later I don't understand for someone who had a notorious neck injury and usually don't take risks. He and Styles just did a great job tagging in and out, wearing down the smaller, greener half of the champions. SD of course made his presence known, even though this match was designed to be the coming-out party for Richards. He came in to break up a Styles pinfall attempt on Richards. Styles was fucking annoyed, got up, and the two former PWG Champions had a brief fisticuff, with Styles shoving him in charging fashion and giving him a double leg takedown. Later when SD did the same thing, he then dared Styles to retaliate by giving him extra slaps to the back of the head. Styles of course got irritated and went after the troll again. That Styles had dethroned SD just a couple weeks shy of a year earlier I'm sure was a deeper layer for these two having tension, not that they needed any extra motivation to piss each other off. I must also mention that like in the earlier tag match on this night for a shot at the titles, pinfalls and submission were only counted when involving the legal men. Such a crazy concept, and it was yet another little thing that genuinely made me realize that this match was in the same league as many of the classic tag matches involving KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji. Daniels got taken out at the end, showing that the dream tag team on this night was ultimately inferior to the champs that had been teaming for several months by this point. Once Styles took a super lung-blower from Richards while being held captive by SD, everyone just knew it was over. What an incredible match this was, and it might by team for those in charge at PWG to get it included on a compilation. This was the first genuinely great match in the SD/Richards reign. It was the first great match to go on the resume of Richards, with literally less than two years in the business. It told a great story and allowed Richards to shine and sell to provide a star-making performance. It's no coincidence he would get booked by ROH shortly after this. This is my pick for the best match of my retro PWG viewing so far. This is better than anything in SD's feud against Kevin Steen. It's better than the hard-hitting classic Styles had against Samoa Joe. It's better than the acclaimed singles encounters Bryan Danielson had worked with the usual suspects up to this point in the company. I also wanna mention this, just as a what if. I mentioned KENTA & Marufuji. One of my big dream matches back in 2006 was to see KENTA & Marufuji vs. Styles & Daniels, since it would have put two great teams (consisting of natural rivals) against each other, with all four men having established themselves as stars in their scenes and the opposing forces never colliding. But I also wish we could've gotten KENTA & Marufuji vs. SD & Richards booked for ROH in 2006. That could've had some REALLY interesting dynamics in it. Rating: ****1/4

Hollywood Globetrotters - March 4, 2006 Cape Fear vs. Chris Bosh & Scott Lost Before the match, Bosh lays down a challenge that Cape Fear should perform oral fellatio on him in the ring once Arrogance wins. Quicksilver accepts. The match is good stuff, paced very well, pinfalls only counted on the legal men, etc. It was on its way to be very good, but got thrown out when Joey Ryan and Super Dragon randomly interfered, then went at each other. Strange booking that really seemed to serve no purpose. A rematch is agreed to on the next show in what seemed to be deemed as a Tag Titles shot match. Hopefully that one was booked with some kind of logic. Rating: *** Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley Really good stuff here, just needed some more selling to become a great match. They started early with their typically good counter wrestling to establish their familiarity, then got vicious with the kicks and neck work throughout the rest of the match. That was of course brilliant to soften each up for their Cradle Shock and Border City Stretch Finishers. And I didn't mind that Shelley was done after getting hit with the former just one after the work that had been done on him. Just have Sabin sell his own neckwork and this would've been ****+ easily. Rating: ***3/4 Tag Titles Match Super Dragon & Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong & Jack Evans Most will enjoy this way more than I did; this had some great action with a good pace, but ultimately didn't serve any kind of substance. I reflect back to Strong & Evans challenging Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer at ROH's Manhhatan Mayhem the year before, which was significantly shorter and with superior pacing and execution. While this was the main event for this show, that didn't mean this match NEEDED to go 25-30 minutes in order to be great. It could've easily shaved off 10-15 minutes to be just as good as Jacobs/Whitmer v. Strong/Evans. Evans took a beating in this one as he should have, and I imagine it was a dream pairing for indy fans at the time to see the vicious dick SD unleash punishment on him. But at no point did Evans sells any limb work or even exhaustion from his beating later. This match also seemed to suffer from too many attempted hot tags, as there were several of them and none of them got a huge crowd pop. I'll never understand SD's mentality during his reign with the green Richards that it was necessary to work such ridiculously long tag matches like they were in fucking mid-90s All Japan. Make no mistake, the action in this was very good and pretty. I definitely suggest watching it once as the mileage may vary for each viewer. Rating: less than ***