SmartMark15

The MSG card really cements that ROH didn't sell out anything. NJPW definitely did the heavy lifting in terms of drawing power. That being said, the top three matches look like a whole lot of fun. I've enjoyed both Okada-White matches, and both pairings of Naito-Ibushi and ZSJ-Tanahashi have shown a lot of chemistry in the past. Hoping production can really capture the scope and scale of performing at MSG.

I thought this was better than the BJW match actually! Thought the pace kept up much better in this one and they really had me biting on some of the nearfalls towards the end. They basically never let up. All stiff strikes and hard suplexes and just all that big man beefy, beefy goodness. I'm still not too familiar with all four guys, so that's about the best I can give you for now. Altogether, just had a great time watching this. ****1/2

This was very much an Okada for all the positives and negatives that that entails. The first ten minutes or so of pretty lifeless mat wrestling was incredibly boring. The only point that made it worthwhile was seeing SANADA put Okada in the Paradise Lock and kick him in the ass. After that, things kicked into the typical Okada formula complete with the quick brawl on the outside and all the transitions that come with it. But then the finishing stretch kicks in and oh dear god is that where Okada can really shine. Not only did they trade some beautiful near falls but Okada created some small moments that are really worth your while. Clinging to SANADA's leg to keep him from hitting the Moonsault? Such a small, subtle bit of work to show his vulnerability. Then that beautiful climbing up the turnbuckles Bret-Austin counter to the Skull End only to turn it straight into a Tombstone? Fucking beautiful. Excellent finishing stretch with a lackluster, lagging first half. Cut off ten minutes from the start and this could have given the Ishii match a run for its money but let's face it, there was probably no topping that banger so soon after. ****1/2

This was truly fantastic. It's so rare that I compliment Okada's offense but the man had his working boots on tonight. He hit hard. And damn did it look good so much so that he was believable going toe to toe with Ishii. Loved all the little touches that made every act in the match memorable. We open with Okada going for an elbow as opposed to a clean break which is always a nice signal that things mean business. Then the segment where both men walked into each other's strikes made both guys seem like absolute worldbeaters. The final finishing stretch was just an extended bout of wonderfulness as they kept building and building to the excellent finish. Absolutely loved this match. ****3/4

Really enjoyed this with ZSJ being able to use his grappling to try and control Tanahashi but Tana coming back with powerful comebacks. Thought that the spot with Tana catching ZSJ in the ropes and just battering his leg was one of the best in the whole match. Then it was nice to see them trading roll ups at the end, really added a nice touch to the match as Tana was trying to one-up ZSJ at his own game. This also furthered the story of Tanahashi not using the High Fly Flow in the tournament as he tries to diversify his arsenal/finishing stretches. I thought that added a lot to it. Just really good action all the way through, and again helped a lot by not going overly long. Just a tight 20 minutes. ****1/4

Currently my MOTY but will probs constantly swap places with Balor-Lesnar all year. What a fucking fantastic pay off. nivvad said that this was an NXT-style match and well I rated three NXT matches last year with 5 stars so that explains my bias. Thought they wonderfully paid off all the stuff going on in the build, bolstered by those gorgeous video packages. I loved Jordan's punches and thought it was great to see a pissed WALTER go after his hand pretty relentlessly. So many great moments like Devlin finally hitting the Package Piledriver only for WALTER to roll out of the ring. I even enjoyed the more character moments like the stuff with the flag and the belt. I could even look past the very indie-style block-the-heel's way out spot. Hell one of my favorite matches ever in Nigel-Bryan has a block-the-heel spot. This was awesome. What a satisfying moment with a crowd that was ready for it and gave it their all. *****

Gave it a shot and HASHI just didn't do much for me as a compelling opponent. I liked his babyface fire going right for Ishii when Ishii ripped the shoulder tape off but then they did an endless Butterfly Lock spot that kind of killed the momentum for me. ***1/2

David Starr got his pick for any first round opponent that he wanted. So he picked the man he just can't beat: WALTER. To start off, Starr went right after WALTER with relentless offense. It's this strategy, barreling forward at 100% that acts to both Starr's benefit and his detriment. While it does mean he absorbs WALTER's offense and keeps on coming, it also means that his risks don't always pay off. His suicide dive crashes and burns, he makes the same mistake WALTER has a million times and chops the ringpost. It's that same tenacity that makes Starr go for that Rear Naked Choke at the finish to try and put WALTER away. But The Ring General just knows the lay of the land too well. He tapped out with his foot beneath the rope, making Starr hesitate and break the hold. That's all WALTER needed to get control back and put Starr away yet again. Brilliant match. Simple story told well with some great spots and moments all the way through. ****1/4+

This was a fun hoss fight. I thought Taylor looked a little sloppy but he brought some good power offense here. As for Cobb? He looked amazing. Brutal offense, stiff strikes, and surprising offense. That lariat that knocked him clean out of the ring? Fantastic. Not a lot of connective tissue in between all the bombs but as a bombfest, it was great! Didn't overstay its welcome either. ****

Even the grimy, low-rent production of early ROH had more compelling character to it. Now, of course, this might just be my nostalgia talking but the cameramen at ringside really took you into the ring to highlight what ROH always wanted to highlight: the in-ring action. It made the strikes sound harder, made the crowd sound like they popped louder too. It's part of the reason NJPW stuff works so well too, you get a lot of really close up shots from right at ringside. ROH now with its much wider shots and poorly mic-ed crowds and ring actually significantly takes away from the action sometimes.

This has to be one of my favorite pairings in wrestling. They just work so well together especially with ZSJ's psychology of taking strikes in order to grab a hold. Ibushi's selling actually felt a lot more consistent in this match especially when his comebacks would be delayed or stalled because of the limbwork ZSJ tortures him with throughout. There was a consistent logic to this that Ibushi needs to overpower and outstrike Zack in order to get the win but closing the distance against Zack Sabre Jr. is one of the most dangerous things you can do because once he grabs a limb, he's on you like crazy. Probably my favorite match of the tournament so far. It was tight, fast, and exciting all the way through. I'm excited as all hell for the Tanahashi-ZSJ rematch just because now I can't quite tell who will win. ****1/4

It's actually so vindicating to see that so many of the independent guys who had a big stigma on them in the 00s for not being charismatic enough to make it to the big leagues became some of the best talkers in the industry. Daniel Bryan, of course, has put in two? three? legitimately top level promos in his career since turning heel. One could even make the argument that ever since being GM, he's been doing the best promos he's ever done. Not too diverge too far from the thread topic, but Joe is another guy who came in from the "no charisma" indies to become one of the great talkers in WWE.

Owens is always great for a bombfest and when you throw in an idiot bumper like Ali (I mean that in the best way possible) and the best in the world Daniel Bryan, you're going to have a really great match. I mean, Bryan is great. We know this. I have talked about it a lot on this forum. But I honestly feel Ali was the star of the show today just for how hard he (literally) throws himself at his performance. The amount of batshit insane bumps he takes in a single match just to win the crowd's sympathy is truly awe inspiring. Not to mention, probably one of the best match finishes all year? Wow. Fantastic stuff. Even Rowan fit in nicely as a dummy to take some cool offense. Great stuff. ****

Ever since the turn, Daniel Bryan has shot up my GOAT rankings and when his career does finally end, I wouldn't be shocked to see him standing at the top.

Bryan Tanahashi Devlin in OTT WALTER Jake de Leon

A hot start and a hot finish and some good bumps in the middle. Naito's weaknesses as a worker have become more and more apparent to me now that Omega's not around to work with him anymore. He doesn't have very good heat segments at all and his strikes are some of the weakest on the roster, heavily relying on thigh slapping to make his kicks look good. I don't mind thigh slapping as much as others here but when Ibushi is laying those kicks in, it makes a difference. Otherwise, mostly fun, and very much aided by not going past the 30 minute mark. ****

Absolutely excellent. Don't know much about Nagata but he looked fantastic in here. Another grumpy old man to add to the list of great grumpy old men. His strikes were all crisp and stiff and he looked like a believable threat to the battle hardened Ishii. All this was back and forth stiff strikes and big moves so in that sense I felt like it did go on a little too long for that type of match. But there's no denying that the action was all fantastic from bell-to-bell. It also helped that Nagata started bleeding from the mouth halfway making his armbar look even more deadly when he locked it in. Great stuff. ****1/4+

I think this is the differentiator that separates really great matches of this style. There were consistent and exciting plot beats in this match. In the opening for example, White just disrespecting Ospreay with a slap or rolling out of the ring instantly were enough to create some good heat and tension to push the match forward.

Agreed with nivvad's assessment of this as White's best NJPW match, possibly even his best match ever. Thought that they told a great, simple story with Jay going after the midsection. This was helped by the fact that Ospreay was able to take the bumps needed to make White's offense look murderous. I particularly loved the suplex toss into the ringpost and the multiple gutbuster variations that White pulled out. Thought that Ospreay sold pretty well despite still leaning on the Lex Luger grunting school of selling. But he did keep the midsection in mind, allowing it to slow him down at significant parts of the match. It also made for some of the best spots in the match such as White sending Ospreay crashing into the top rope. The finishing stretch was hot and exciting despite the crowd not quite deciphering the final counter of White, basically hitting a modified Blade Runner to catch Ospreay off the Oscutter. It took a little wind out of the sails of the finish but didn't hurt the match overall if you ask me. Awesome stuff here. ****1/2

Ciampa is hurt, expected to have surgery and vacate the belt at the next tapings. There goes my hope for that long delayed blow off. Oh well. WALTER-Dunne should main event in Barclays unless I'm being naive about how over they'd be to the NY audience.

I only started watching OTT matches last year and that was because of their absolutely amazing, top-notch level hype video packages. Thank god they posted the two WALTER title matches from last year onto YouTube for free because they're highlights of the year and have built such a strong mythos and storyline that is very compelling. I think that when it comes to promotion, OTT has mastered the art of the "big fight feel." The way the Ospreay-WALTER match was booked and hyped, the way the Devlin-WALTER title match was, the way the Devlin-Starr match, all the builds and videos made it feel like you MUST see those matches. And across the board, they all delivered. They're doing the same now for Devlin-WALTER II and I couldn't be more excited.

Amazing. Devlin is just a fantastic babyface ace, coming out all business and no games. Meanwhile Starr decided to play /all/ the mind games, coming out to the tag theme song, wearing the Irish tights, and appropriating the Irish language too. That Devlin had none of it and just went after him was amazing. The crowd brawling was a little off but they made up for it with the moonsault and the initial visual of Devlin just tossing Starr into the chairs. Once they got into the ring, Starr was great in his heat segment as a smarmy heel with some great looking ground offense as well as striking. From there, they nicely escalated the action to the hot finish. Nice touches like Devlin kicking Starr to keep him down for the Moonsault or Starr constantly rolling outside to avoid the pin absolutely elevated this beyond just a spotfest. This was great. ****1/2+

I've really detested the psuedo heel turn for Johnny but I'm just glad that it's all back on track to where it should have been in the first place. The pay off will have been tainted a bit by the horrid detour we took but I think it will be enjoyable (and even great) nonetheless. Perhaps I'm just easy to please.

For my money, that'll be Ember Moon or Naomi. Facially, while Ember is prettier, neither are strikingly attractive in that sense. Also, Carmella looked fantastic in her heel run singlet and how high it was cut.

A really awesome match that kept the pace high and the intensity strong. For the first time, Kawada's aggression and intensity earns him the majority of the offense in the match but that elbow and Misawa's bombs can always get the job done. Lots of action packed into a tight match that adds a dramatic shift in the dynamic between Kawada and Misawa. ****1/2