SmartMark15

Not sure if this has been put up here yet but one of my favorite takeaways is that the television presentation will focus on the immediate ringside area instead of constantly cutting to backstage segments. That has me pretty excited as a concept.

Awesome bombfest where there was a heightened sense of competitive struggle to everything. Felt less cooperative than the Ricochet matches but still with that same high-flying spectacular edge. Really enjoyed this piece of work, kept a breakneck pace, and everything looked fantastic. Hard to complain. ****1/4

A bit of a shambles. The crowd weren't quite feeling it but there were some peaks. Omega's offense looked great but structurally this didn't hold up. The pacing never went at the pace to really grab the crowd or me despite the high points. Where it all fell apart was when they botched the One Winged Angel-DDT counter. It looked even worse since they did the exact same spot again. Horrible. I get that they did it as it was the lead in spot to the finish but damn did it look really bad. As for the Judas Effect, I liked it. Thought Jericho hit it well and Omega sold it great too. Hell, the crowd even popped for it so I can't be mad at that. Definitely a disappointment on this one. That post-match though... ***1/2

I noticed someone that mentioned the crowds needed to be mic-ed better on this show and I'm not quite sure where that comment is coming from. I thought the crowd easily enhanced most of this show by being invested and incredibly loud all throughout the night. They made so many workers look like genuine stars, Cody and MJF included. This was better than any WWE crowd of the past year even.

This is truly a thing of beauty right here. Blood has become so rare on the mainstream wrestling stage that Dustin's gusher immediately created a striking image and a compelling hook to base the whole match on. Cody was at peak smarmy old school heel mode, even putting a Figure Four onto his brother like he was Ric Flair reborn instead of Dusty. Dustin's selling was otherworldly in this match. Moving around and flailing like a blinded Jerry Lawler. My god was that initial heat segment after the cut a great one. A lot of wrestlers can learn from how judiciously Dustin popped out his high spots for this match. The sliding tiger feint kick at the start made for a nice hint at the athletic ability still left inside of him. But then when he popped that Code Red onto Cody? Insanity. A somewhat abrupt finish but nothing that could truly taint the wonder that was this match. The post-match with Cody choking up as he asks for his older brother, that's the stuff that makes wrestling moments iconic. I'm HYPED for Bucks vs. Rhodes Bros. ****3/4

Was there live and of course, there's no beating the atmosphere of a live wrestling match. It will always, always, always top the video experience which makes the video critical for a more balanced perspective on the match. Since, statistically, most viewing of wrestling in the world happens via recording, this is significant. That being said, there's still going to be some bias reflected in this rating. And I can easily see that this rating will be much, much higher than what I might have normally given it. There's a lot of good in this match. I liked the early grappling, the atmosphere translates well since Tajiri really just is a top of the line superstar. I liked Fabio trying to move out from under Tajiri's shadow but the vet being just one step ahead. Also, those chops looked amazing in person and they look great here too. The piledriver was great to act as a highspot. It's great that that move still holds a treasured place among local fans. Nice to see the mist always. Production wise, the video quality is top notch and the angles are quite refreshing compared to the monotonous presentation of mainstream wrestling like the WWE. I would say though that much of this felt like a greatest hits of Tajiri, which is honestly all it really needed to be to satisfy the live crowd. They came to cheer Tajiri, see a kick, and see the mist. And the match delivered on that, nothing wrong there but on video nothing to write home about either. The commentary was still a little rough around the edges too. I know two of the commentators personally but let's call a spade a spade. Not very good. ***1/4

Watched this just now and it was an amazing old school face-heel story. Big Christmastime style chicken soup for the soul.

Last night's Kouraken show featured both blocks as well as a crazy good double main event in Ospreay-Bandido and Shingo-Lee. Both are definitely worth seeking out.

*CHEAP PLUG INCOMING* To add to all the Daniel Bryan love (and I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to put this), I recently did a video essay arguing for him as a Greatest of All Time. By all means, let me know if I should redirect this post elsewhere.

For those wondering whatever happened to Chilly Willy. Here's a recent interview from the Philippines. Saw him in action the other night in his masked gimmick, Blackzilla. It was awesome, bumped and moved like a boss.

A fun bombfest. Don't have much to say outside of that. The Stomp-Clash counter was great though. ***3/4

I started watching wrestling in 2006 and I've always been a Survivor fan so I have a soft spot for Ashley. I remember her best for her run with London & Kendrick feuding with MNM. She also played in a top 3 Survivor season despite being an early boot. Real shame, far too young.

My favorite reality game show of all time, De Mol, featured a challenge in their 2018 season where two players had to learn to perform three lucha libre moves out of a possible twenty. Their fellow contestants had to memorize those twenty moves and identify which three were utilized in an exhibition match.

Gotta cosign the love for Reliving Wrestling. Just recently discovered his videos, extremely well done.

Bryan's final match for DGUSA and it plays to the strongest facets of his indie and WWE run. For the indie side, you get the hot opening babyface shine with Bryan easily cycling through his signature hooked arms finishing sequence of the Cattle Mutilation/elbows combo. But when Moxley is able to take things to the outside and bust open Dragon, things become far more equal. Bryan plays a great selling babyface for Moxley and Moxley does a good job upping the character work and focusing on the brawling to maintain the advantage. When Bryan gets going as a fierce babyface though, there's really no stopping him. My favorite moment might be when he's hyping up on the mat before going into a kip up. It foreshadows how skilled he became at channeling a crowd's energy as a babyface that would pay off in spades in the WWE. Fun brawl with a satisfying finishing stretch. ****

We truly don't deserve him.

For those wondering about Chilly Willy, he is currently residing in the Philippines helping to train the fresh batch of indie workers that took root here starting in 2014.

Maybe that was just us assuming this about Kofi though? I don't recall any news outlets saying that Kofi was meant to stay a transitional champion.

Oh look @ShittyLittleBoots and I showing up to praise a Daniel Bryan match. Shock of all shocks on PWO. Yeah this was excellent. Though it wasn't a better match, I thought that Kofi's performance here was much better than it was in the Mania match. He went out of his way to really put in a great match here, bumping and selling like an absolute maniac. The first crazy bump comes as Bryan's transition from the babyface shine into the heat segment when he tosses Kofi right over the ringpost and down to the floor. From there, the arm work is laser focused and engaging and Kofi sells it very consistently all the way through to the end of the match. Great moments like Bryan fishhooking Kofi to add damage to the Lebell. Again, gotta show some love to the Kofi performance here as he pulls out another insane PCO-esque bump, going straight over the top and right down to the floor. Insane to do that for a Raw match that won't be talked about much in the coming months. I'm sure I've talked Bryan up to death around here which is why I was genuinely surprised to say that Kofi really upped his game for this match. The performances felt far more equal and yes there are still moments of sloppy offense, there's no doubting that Kofi felt like a top guy during this match. ***3/4

I'd agree with this but I think Bryan gets the win because he's never been known to politic his way into a win unless I'm forgetting something.

I wouldn't go so far as to say this. Very mechanically sound was Go but I do agree that the differential in charisma was off the charts. Even as a stoic fiery babyface, Go didn't quite catch the crowd the way Dragon did with his smug character work on top. Loved the arm work and how it all played into the finishing stretch and I didn't mind all the bombs being thrown because it makes sense that Go would go to the well that has worked for him in the past (I assume, might be filling that blank in for myself). Great match. ****1/4

An underrated classic. I can understand how some would find the opening half slow but I think that when placed against the essentially time killing stuff done in main events these days (particularly in New Japan), the difference is clear. Bryan and Gibson infuse so much struggle and thought into each move that I couldn't help but be enthralled. There's so many little things in this I liked, from the way they manipulated the pace to maximize the crowd reaction to the little near misses. I loved when Bryan went for an elbow drop but stopped because Gibson had rolled away. Didn't look like a botch, didn't look planned either, it just felt like an organic moment that would happen should two wrestlers be competing. There's a real intensity to the finish as Bryan clings to the arms, switching up his game plan to try and put Gibson away. To go for the Crossface Chickenwing instead of the Cattle Mutilation to get the win was a stroke of genius. ****1/2

Definitely not watching a 38 minute SANADA match. No thank you. Dominion, however, is looking amazing.

Saw some reports that Bryan is cleared again and could be back as soon as next week. Even if he's not written back in til after MITB, I'm just glad the guy's okay. There's so much left for that guy to give us.

BOSJ looks great this year with the debuts of Shingo, Jonathan Gresham, and El Phantasmo. Thinking Shingo and Phantasmo are probably looking good to win the tournament.