SmartMark15

Best main roster show of the year. Just edges out Evolution for me. Those last four matches were crazy good and I'm in the camp that has Bryan-Lesnar solidly up there with Lesnar-Styles. Were they formula-wise the same match? Yes. But the addition of Bryan's low blow made for the most believable Brock opponent comeback for a long damn time, even more believable than Reigns' attempts this year. Crazy good show.

Here are two guys I hadn't considered simply because I haven't seen enough of them. However both their matches with Omega have been excellent and I thought they brought new life to some of the Rush-Park trios matches too. Definitely need to look into them more.

Thought I'd get the ball rolling on this. I think Seth Rollins, WALTER, and Johnny Gargano have strong cases off of their match quality alone. Kenny Omega might be having an overall better year than Gargano simply for being booked better. Thoughts?

Easily one of the weaker Takeovers of the year. That being said, individually, I thought all the matches were fun and some were really great too. WarGames itself, I thought, was about the same as last year's all things considered. Dream continues to look absolutely amazing. Thought that title match did start slow but the finishing stretch was as excellent as anything.

Big strikes and heavy hits. What's not to like? Loved how they built to the big bumps like the Nodowa Otoshi and the Lariats towards the end. The visual of their reddening chests mixed with their selling created a strong sense of danger. ***3/4

This match felt huge. WALTER doesn't ever wrestle like he has something to prove. His fundamentals and basics are so sound that when he goes out to perform, he looks like he could be legitimately the best in the world at any given time. The dominance with which he handles Tyler Bate makes Bate's scrappy babyface offense and fire look even better. Bate really is easily one of the more sympathetic babyfaces in the world and that was on full display here. He's incredibly generous with his selling as WALTER just ragdolls him around but when he gets to those big power moves, the crowd just erupts. Fantastic title match up from bell to bell. ****1/2

Definitely better than the All In match since we're not bogged down with Penta's repetitive taunting. Instead what we get is Omega trying to dominated Fenix with his strikes and suplexes only for Fenix to use his agility, speed, and risk taking to sneak the advantage at points. It makes for very fluid, very exciting wrestling. The set up to the table spot was a little distracting but it didn't eat up too much time and once it did pay off, it felt earned and entirely shocking in the moment as well. From there, the finishing stretch was just the kind of goodness that Omega typically delivers and with a good counterpoint in Fenix who does much more high flying offense than most of the people Omega works with in New Japan. Makes for an exciting dynamic that allows both guys to shine really well. ****1/2

From what I observed on the website, this 4th match was the most universally praised of their matches here outside of the 3rd. I saw enough people on here saying they didn't like the original trilogy and were surprised by the 4th one and its quality. Not to invalidate your opinion, of course, this is just what I've seen.

While I disagree with Meltzer's 5 star rating, it's nice that his discussion of this match draws eyes to a small indie that wouldn't normally receive that attention. Lots to enjoy here. The opening grappling looks crisp and when Sabre bothers to stick to a hold, it looks damn painful. The strikes all look and sound fantastic and as is the case with many smaller indie companies in lesser known territories, the crowd is eating everything up. Particularly enjoyed the finishing stretch especially everything following the first Splash attempt. Very good stuff. ****1/4

I much preferred the Okada-Tanahashi from Destruction and I think you might think so too once you see it.

Currently have four matches listed at 5 stars on my own personal rankings. Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Almas (WWE NXT 1/27) Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa (WWE NXT 4/7) Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW 6/9) Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa (WWE NXT 6/16)

Outside of the finish, this was basically a repeat of their same match from a couple of weeks ago. That being said, I loved that match. We get Bryan's leg selling and the fun finisher counters down the stretch. The low blow by far got the biggest reaction as it should and I would like to welcome 2006 ROH Bryan back to the world. All critical thinking aside, I'm obscenely happy that my favorite wrestler of the millennium is holding the WWE Title again after 2 years of thinking he'll never perform again. Good on him. ****

Really enjoyed this. The constant sense of struggle here is the best thing they've got going. Commentary as well as the ring work really sold the threat of WALTER's power matched against ZSJ's ability to grab a limb and tie you into knots. Thought that story was told exceedingly well in the ring and some of the early exchanges were great because of that. I also liked that the early stages allowed WALTER to show off his ground game with some really gruesome looking holds particularly when he was going for a Crab. Personally though, I prefer the Drago-esque murderer WALTER from OTT to this more competition based PROGRESS version. That's a personal choice but it's also clear in the crowd atmosphere. The blurred heel-face lines means the crowd never got worked into a real fever pitch. Still, a really great display of how to make wrestling look constantly competitive and make every move feel earned. ****1/4

This is awesome. 1/4 looking even better than it was. Really excited.

Jordan Devlin defends the OTT Championship against WALTER. Devlin being so heavily protected in OTT and his reputation as the Import Killer makes him a top of the line babyface with a deep connection to the Irish audience here. Now he's up against his biggest threat yet, WALTER. And boy what a match this turns out to be. WALTER uses his power and striking ability early as Devlin doggedly tries to chop down the big man. It's a great performance and display of babyface fire and persistence against seemingly insurmountable odds. It's probably been said elsewhere on the forum but WALTER might be the best offensive wrestler going in the world today. Everything he does is executed with such power and impact that it could conceivably end the match. The OTT crowd absolutely makes this and so does commentary by the way, giving it a very organic sports-like feel. That's added on by having Starr and Thatcher at ringside as seconds. Awesome title match.  ****1/2

I remember people really enjoying her promos in the run against Alexa Bliss and I'd agree that around that time, both women started really shining on the mic.

I can only imagine he takes down Omega at Dominion or some other early year PPV.

Personally was a big fan of the shenanigans. It added a layer of extra doubt surrounding the finishing stretch where it really could have gone either way and it upped the atmosphere as well. Really liking Ospreay's development into a much more clever worker, with a strong babyface performance here and spacing his big spots nicely. Great match, felt like something ROH might have put out in the mid 00s. ****1/2

This match came off better live and didn't really hold up to the transition to the footage. It's still a fun midcard match to help the crowd get going though. Both Quatro and Emma bring some good looking offense here and there's enough big spots spaced throughout the match to keep everyone invested. The crowd noise does let this down when you're watching the footage though and it's clear most people weren't invested until the bigger moments like that wild backstabber out of nowhere from Quatro. Overall, nothing much here but a fun match that doesn't overstay its welcome. ***1/2

A fun and fast junior heavyweight match. Shingo looks like an absolute monster and his stretch of dominance is probably the most memorable part of the match. Outside of that, it's a lot of fast-paced, well-executed junior heavyweight action that makes for a satisfying end to the tournament. I look forward to the rematch in the Dome. ***3/4

This was great. I really enjoyed their match in the New Japan Cup and this was just as much fun. Probably the highlight for me was ZSJ's neck selling down the finishing stretch as his stinger meant he couldn't get the proper grip on his submissions. That's the kind of interesting selling you don't see too much of and it told a very good story here. Great match. ****

Loved this. Big strikes and both guys looking like the absolute man. Agreed that it goes a little too long and there's a little too much downtime during some of the strike exchanges. But man, this was great when it was great. Those elbow smashes were just...cringe in the best possible way. Simple match but down to a high level. Great stuff. ****

This came out better than I expected. Thought Jericho spaced out his fun spots well enough like the table bump and the Lionsaults. He continues to bring some good character work to the table and his brawling remains fun. Love the DDT on the table. Some pacing issues but this went just about the right length and it was fun. I'm glad to have seen it and I think I'll have a better view of Naito-Jericho for the Dome. ****

Really enjoyed the top two matches as well as the Super Junior Tag League finals. Jericho-EVIL was way better than I expected and I think Jericho got the most out of everything he did.

WWE World Championship Match. AJ Styles defends against Daniel Bryan My love for both these guys has been made clear on this forum and I particularly enjoyed their TV match from earlier in the year. This paid off the potential of that match and thank God we got this outside of that horrid Saudi debacle. AJ Styles is the hometown boy which means he is solidly cheered throughout the match. It's interesting how both guys played slightly different roles from what their used to in this match. For AJ, he rarely works with people smaller than him so this match allowed him to show off his talents in the offensive Ace role as opposed to the bumping underdog he's used to. Bryan, meanwhile, has to play the de facto heel against the hometown boy. So much goodness in this match from the early limbwork paying off for both guys to Bryan slightly adjusting his aggression and offense to work as more of a heel. Loved Bryan fishhooking AJ to try and get out of the leg bar. Also loved Bryan turning the Moonsault Reverse DDT into a cravat knee attack. AJ was on his game here though with the brutal knee offense paying off with that final Dragon Screw at the end which led straight into the finish of Bryan going for the arm but AJ reversing into the Calf Crusher. I mean, what's there to say? Two of the best in the world wrestling. It's gonna be awesome. ****1/4