Maciej

This is a good example of limb work not necessarily being involved in the finish, but still being an important part of the match. It's a strategy that makes sense for Kento to be pursuing and the fact it doesn't all the way work doesn't make it less sensible. Also, I was pretty surprised the ending came so quickly after Suwama got so little in throughout the match, but it wasn't a bad surprise. ****

Another great match in what is shaping up as one of my favorite title reigns in a while. Kamitami just using his big boy strength to try and tear Hideki's head off and run into him a bunch is great, and I agree with everything said above about the wonderful Hideki Suzuki. Also, I really love wrestlers making faces that indicate they've just realized things are about to go wrong, and Suzuki makes a terrific one here as he's trying to hold Kamitami's arms extended behind his back (like some sort of double-arm octopus, maybe, except he's in front of Kamitami; I'm sure someone here could describe this better than me), but then loses his grip on one of the arms and shows on his face that he realizes how bad that is right before getting clobbered with a lariat to the back. I love it. ****1/4, if you told me that I'd like both of Suzuki's first two defenses even more than the two Sekimoto matches I wouldn't have believed you, yet here we are.

This was quite good, though I don't think it necessarily stood out or did anything too different or special to get to that next level. Both of these guys are such fun athletes, and it was a capper to a great night of wrestling (one so great that, having seen it live and now re-watched it, this was probably my fourth favorite match, maybe?). **** Side note: I really like a lot of Riddle's matches but I would really love it if he dropped the Bro to Sleep.

I liked this quite a bit, as expected. Hiroyo really shows off her unique size/speed combo early on, and I love when a wrestler seems to have a plan that pays off. Her nice, long (for a modern Japanese match) control segment in the first half was great, and Chihiro's comebacks, which even in battles for vertical suplexes and superplexes take advantage of her wrestling ability to effectively shift and use her center of gravity, were solid. The failed bridge on the German Suplex was indeed a terrific spot. Soup is right that the crowd seemed to be a little shocked at that last backdrop being the finish, but it made a ton of sense to me and a little less heat there didn't really kill it for me. ****1/4

This is the final of the Gran Alternativa tournament and it's a great showcase for Soberano. He looks super impressive here and UG is a wonderful base for him. My favorite moment is right at the beginning of the third fall where Soberano gets the best of Sanson in a slick rope-running sequence and Ultimo comes into the ring and just runs straight into him, which Soberano takes as a gnarly looking bump under the middle rope, bouncing off the floor. There are a few things with Caristico in the final fall that drag this down for me a smidge, but overall it's easily one of the best CMLL matches so far this year. ****1/4

I guess I'm higher on the two PPV Jericho matches than most but I do think they're pretty damn good and for me his best non-Zayn matches in WWE. Wrestling about friendship is a soft-spot of mine for sure, and him being able to yell annoying shit like "we were never friends" and recreate paintings for rope breaks while being fairly violent is a perfect use of Owens. And I don't think the slightly comedic nature of that angle neuters his ability to be a threatening ass-kicker (though lots of other WWE booking has, to a certain extent, done that).

Not sure if folks read these, but figured I might as well say hi before I'm littering match threads with nonsense. I'm 31 and I live in Brooklyn, NY. I started watching wrestling in the early 90s, and my earliest wrestling memories include the Undertaker putting a jobber in a bodybag, seeing the Patriot on ESPN, and Papa Shango making the Ultimate Warrior vomit. I watched wrestling loyally through the Monday Night wars, with an interest in Mick Foley and the WCW cruiserweights, occasionally finding the airings of ECW where I could and watching some lucha on Chicago's Spanish-language stations. In the early 00s I started buying and trading some tapes and watching some Japanese stuff and more lucha and indie wrestling with help from compilations from the likes of Phil Schneider and Scott Mailman. When I went to college I stopped watching wrestling obsessively, occasionally tuning back in here and there. A few years ago I realized how easy the internet had made it to watch stuff from all around the world and am now again watching wrestling obsessively. I like all kinds of wrestling. For most stuff, I'm probably less likely to watch whole shows than I am to just rely on watching wrestlers I tend to like and recommendations for good matches (for which this board has been very helpful). My current favs include Fred Yehi, Barbaro Cavernario, Chihiro Hashimoto, Sasha Banks, Dick Togo, Mayu Iwatani, and Hechicero. I don't like Marty Scurrl very much and don't quite get all the love for either Tanahashi nor Okada. I fairly regularly attend Evolve shows in Queens, and I made my first trip down to CHIKARA last month and had a bucket of fun.

Wow, I had high expectations for this and it smashed them. They really committed to the strength vs. technique thing, but just because it was expected doesn't mean they didn't make it really interesting. The holds here feel actually worked for, not just Suzuki (or Yuji) rolling around and then applying every hold the way it always looks, but rather actually making it look like something that came from a specific, distinct situation. I think maybe Okabayashi doesn't get the same love as his buddy Sekimoto because he doesn't have as loud of facial expressions, but he still shows emotion really well and works really nicely as a foil for Suzuki's stuff. Fav men's match in Japan so far this year, probably? ****1/2

The actual match portion of this is pretty good, I think, on par with their Takeover match more or less. Cross especially is just a ball of viciousness, which brings out good stuff in Asuka, and Ruby holds up her end of the deal too. As far as throwing a rating on it, I don't really have a standard for this sort of thing. Bell to bell it's recommendable for sure, but after it gets thrown out (which is a bad "ending") it really turns into an excellent arena brawl with Asuka and Cross. That brawl includes not only punching and getting thrown into the usual walls but Cross hilariously dunking Asuka's face into a water cooler and then pretty organically making their way over to the final table spot. I really dig the way the hate between Cross and Asuka has grown not really out of traditional WWE face/heel dynamics but organically out of their characters (I guess this is more or less heel vs. heel at this point considering how the Asuka/Ember stuff was shaking up). Like, of course if you put this rabid maniac and this woman who (rightfully) believes she's completely unbeatable in close proximity they will intensely brawl. I think bell-to-bell I'd put this at like ***3/4 or so but who is that rating for? Who is gonna watch this match and then hit stop at the bell, right? If you include the post-match, this is up there with my favs of the year so far, and I really hope their rematch in a few weeks delivers.

This was my favorite match of the weekend: a solidly structured three-way without an annoying amount of one on one segments (where it seems like the third person is dead) and with some great bumps and good heeling from Jinny. ****1/4

I think maybe I don't enjoy Travis Banks matches very much. I watched most of SSS16, and I'm liking Progress more and more these days, but while he's obviously a terrific athlete, and even one that makes that athleticism translate into cool offense, the sum of all the moves in this match (like in the Flamita match) left me unusually cold. I kind of want to watch more of him to better be able to explain. Does it seem like he does more running than most other wrestlers, even in this particularly runny style? I dunno.

I absolutely loved this match. Kyona and Hojo just lay into each other here (as they did in a singles match earlier in the year). Jungle as the rising star willing herself to the next level, Hojo & Bito as the relative veterans who aren't going to let the youngster ascend just yet, and Matsumoto as a sort of big sister all play this perfectly. It's one of the most emotionally satisfying wrestling matches I've seen in a while and, as it stands, it's in my top 5 for the year anywhere in the world. ****3/4, if pressed.

First time posting here so why not about a match with all-time fav Dick Togo. I finally signed up for DDT and am running through some fun-looking stuff for this year, and I hadn't heard all that much about this match, which was handily my second favorite on the card. Oyama is an MMA guy in his first, as far as I can tell, wrestling match, and he's the story here. I thought he was quite impressive, more so even in his head/neck selling than his grappling. Togo is his usual masterful self and KUDO is a fine change of pace for Oyama. There's a Takayama/Oyama rapid punch exchange at the end because of course there is, and maybe Oyama's worked punches aren't great at this point, but this is still overall a terrifically fun match. ****