SmartMark15

A little slow to start but things really picked up Kawada grows more and more defiant in the face of impending defeat. It seemed to me that throughout this match, Misawa just came across as the better man, always matching and topping anything that Kawada dared to throw at him. You get the feeling that maybe if Kawada strung together just the right amount of offense together and with the right momentum, he could pull of the win. But once Misawa gets his elbows in, it's night night. Probably my favorite moment of the match was Kawada getting bombed on and just diving for a takedown as a last resort. ****1/2

The opening backdrop driver is a beautiful way to set the tone for this rivalry. From there, it does slow down a bit with the dueling limb work that doesn't quite pay off later on in the match. The final half of bomb throwing was something to behold though. Even going in knowing the results, there are moments that could make you believe. One that sticks out is Kawada just dropping into a Rear Naked Choke after going for powerbomb after powerbomb. There was a nice sense of desperation there that came across well. But when it comes to dropping bombs, few do it as well as Misawa and he blasts Kawada into oblivion by the end. Awesome match to start off a historic rivalry. ****1/2

Gauntlet matches are an easy sell for me because no matter how you look at the individual segments, they all bleed together to form a cohesive whole that allows one to affect the next and so on. Same goes here as this match had a very simple goal from the outset: convince us that Kofi Kingston can leave the Elimination Chamber as WWE Champion. Towards that goal, we had an excellent opening segment with Bryan and Kofi going back and forth. Bryan, of course, looks amazing on offense with his brutal strikes and submissions. I also liked the rising sense of frustration from Bryan as he allowed his offense to escalate the more pissed he was that he couldn't put Kofi away. I enjoyed Rowan's brief interference spots but those were made extra excellent with Kofi's insane bumping. Bryan gets hoist by his own petard as his interfering heavy allowed just enough time for Kofi to recover to nail a Trouble in Paradise to counter the running knee. Then, we get a brief segment where Kofi and Jeff trade high flying moves which was fun and didn't overstay its welcome. Joe comes in next and flexes his awesome badass douchebag character as he takes Kofi lightly the whole way through. We get more crazy bumps from Kofi off the top and to the floor. We also get the classic Hart-Austin '96 to finish to grant Kofi a believable win over Joe. Joe's attack allows for more character moments as AJ tries to give Kofi the chance to take forfeit and Kofi denies him in a fantastic moment that really gets you to believe in Kofi and his quest to believably take the title home this Sunday. It was nice to see AJ play the heel in this segment as the fresh aggressor against the worn down iron man. Some of the bumps in this segment looked brutal like Kofi taking that snap backbreaker on AJ's knees as well as missing his meteora and crashing into the ringpost and to the floor. AJ locks in one of his most brutal Calf Crushers to get the tap out victory, leading to a standing ovation for Kofi's efforts. The finish is exactly how it should have ended. They did it leading into the Royal Rumble and it's a nice lead into the Chamber as well. It's simple but the crowd was spent after Kofi's journey and it was a good close to the show. This match was all about Kofi and everyone played their roles perfectly to make him look like a legitimate contender. Excellent hour of TV wrestling and one of the best matches of the year. ****1/2

I really turned around on Jay White at the tail end of 2018 from his US Title loss to Juice all the way into his G1 run. This was not his best work and not even his best match with Tanahashi. There was no urgency, probably because Tanahashi was focused on selling the knee for much of the early going and also because the crowd didn't buy into White's offense quite yet. At the same time, that's because White didn't have the same snap and violence behind his offense today that made him really pop back in August last year. I had hoped that some of the more old school heel tactics actually worked but I guess that would get in the way of trying to put over Jay White as a legitimate threat. All in all, this felt very much like the Rainmaker Shock match in that it's clearly not as good as it might have the potential to be down the line. Not saying that White will be on the level of Okada but I do think there's possibilities for him especially as he continues to cement his spot at the top. Overall though, this was a disappointment. You could tell the crowd only woke up for a couple of spots down the stretch and of course for the finish. I doubt Jay's reign lasts long but I do hope he gets the chance to hone his work in the upper slots of the card because there's definitely room to grow especially if his progress in 2018 is any indication. ***1/2

It's looking like White vs. Okada in MSG and I do believe Okada will take the belt back there.

This is one of the well-beloved matches in ROH history that never quite clicked with me personally. I was never drawn into this match the way others have been. However, I do believe their 6th Anniversary match is easily one for the books and probably a top 2-3 ROH match.

Love your enthusiasm but first quarter is a historically hot period for WWE with the Mania build. Things go off the rails in the last half of the year.

Thought Suzuki-Sanada was the best of the bunch. I don't think I can understate how cool Tanahashi and Okada are as a team. They do feel genuinely special together and the interactions together do feel incredibly exciting such that even stringing together their signature moves feels like a big deal.

KENTA just requested and has been granted his release. In a perfect world, he gets a G1 run this year.

A little too heavy on the matwork for my personal taste but that was probably to be expected given the face vs face dynamic these two had going for them. The matwork was good though and the limb psychology did remain throughout the match and even played into the finish. A few miscues when they started trading the bigger blows meant that the pacing was a little thrown off. Some fun moments in there though. ***3/4

We don't deserve that man. Legit the best in the world.

A perfect opener, if you ask me. A slow but steady start that led into a pretty hot finishing stretch that didn't burn out the crowd. Perfect pacing to get the crowd nice and riled up for the night of action to come. Great finish too with Asuka bridging on the Asuka Lock. Showed a real urgency to the match that she had to adjust her arsenal to take out Becky. ***3/4

Brock has been great for this category in his career. Some of the early TV matches in 02-03 against Rey and other SD Six people. Then in the late half of his career, the two Goldberg matches plus this Balor match.

This is my best case scenario as well.

From being one of the most uninteresting characters on TV in ages to being a believable challenge against the Beast himself, Finn Balor has never looked better in his WWE run. This match was brilliantly paced, toying with the Lesnar formula match by pretty much excising the traditional suplex heat segment and turning it instead into an extended babyface shine for Balor. The stomach psychology (has anyone ever done STOMACH psychology) added so much to story and allowed Brock to flex those Top 10 All Time Selling muscles he's been hiding from us for a bit. Brock being unable to hit the Germans was a great hope spot followed by the triple topes that had me entirely invested in the win. MOTY, Brock and Finn showed up Tana and Omega with only 8 minutes. Fucking fantastic. *****

They had some very good TV singles matches in the Shield era.

The men's Rumble was very bland, yes. But it's honestly gonna be hard to top this as a show of the year. This was wildly entertaining with 3 MOTYC-level matches.

Match of the year? I'm very close to calling it.

Bryan's work was immaculate and in an isolated setting, that match work was as good if not better than TLC. But the pacing was all wrong for the spot on the card. I had it at 3.75 despite pretty much living everything they did.

Even with a somewhat tired crowd, seeing Bryan work is something else. His offensive game has been on point since the turn.

I listened to their Top 15 of the Top 50 Wrestlers of 2018 (just don't have the time to do the whole list, forgive me). I last heard their list for 2016 and I gotta say my favorite thing is always discovering new guys through this guy or seeing names I've heard of discussed from a much more expanded and in-depth perspective. For example, I discovered Trevor Lee's CWF Mid Atlantic Title reign via these guys. Great listen every time.

ROH posted it for free on their YT channel today.

Rey Mysterio is an unreal animal. What I do enjoy about this match versus other spotty high flying matches is that you can almost see the wheels turning as they try to outmaneuver each other. It gives a nice sense of struggle to everything and it doesn't ever feel overly cooperative. There are spots in this that I don't think anyone imagined Rey Mysterio would be doing in 2019. A top rope hurricanrana to the floor? The return of the West Coast Pop? What about that insane sunset flip powerbomb to the barricade (kudos Andrade for taking that crazy bump). I loved how the 2/3 stip allowed them to really sell the impact of some of their more dangerous spots like that wild powerbomb off the top and Rey's gorgeous Destroyer counter. The third fall had some nice wrinkles with a short heat segment on Rey's arm plus their botch that they recovered from nicely making it seem like the wear and tear of the match was getting to them. Just awesome wrestling wall to wall here. ****1/4

Amazing, honestly truly amazing. From someone who knows the bare minimum about these four guys, they completely sucked me in with a simple babyface-heel story told on an elite level. Perfectly paced to draw the maximum heat for the finishing stretch. Sekimoto's selling, Okabayashi as a hot tag, Ishikawa and Suwama being monsters, everything worked at its peak here. Absolutely fantastic. ****1/2+

Agreed. The decline of ROH was one of the most frustrating things to observe as a wrestling fan in the last two decades. There was a time in late 2000s where I looked to ROH as the peak product in the world and now they're synonymous with bland, lifeless creative.