SmartMark15

Lots of fun with the big table spots and Hernandez looking absolutely amazing after all these years. These guys brought a lot of energy and a lot of excitement with this garbage brawl and I thought all the spots were really quite well executed. Good stuff. ****

Thought this was match of the night and thought it was fantastic how it was able to follow the two crazed brawls before it. This felt very much like an excellent modern day championship match with Moose playing the big babyface against Aries' Flair-esque wily heel. Lots of great false finishes you could really believe in like when Moose nails the Spear at last but Aries gets into the ropes. Then there's Moose tossing Aries into the plants in the crowd for a great visual spot. But I thought the finishing stretch with Aries upping the aggression was by far the best part of the match. Great championship match. ****1/2

Fun, garbage brawl that goes for hardcore indie-style spectacle. In that sense, it makes for a great, fun watch. There are some fantastic moments in here. Loved Callihan's instant regret taking off his protective vest. Pentagon Jr getting blinded and breaking the ref's arm was hilarious and made for some great nearfalls. Gotta say that I see a lot of criticism leveled at Callihan on this forum. While I see where it's coming from, I can't help but praise his heel facial expressions. They're on full display as he's getting his head shaved. Classic arrogant, full of himself maniac brought low and humiliated. So satisfying. ****1/4

Really fun show with the top three matches delivering in a big time way. Thought the main event was excellent and the two garbage brawls beneath it were extremely fun.

Thought this was absolutely fantastic. The hand work to open with Naito able to redirect all his offense towards it made for some great drama. Thought Juice's hand selling was absolutely on point for when it was necessary although it does fade into the background as the match continues. But that's not too bad of a problem because that finishing stretch is hot, hot, hot. Incredibly exciting and an excellent match. ****1/2

Loved this match. They brought a strong sense of intensity and rivalry to it with my favorite spot being Naito just spitting at Ishii while he was chopping him down. Great story of Naito being up against a powerful force but persisting to get the big win at the end. Thought that Brainbuster-Destino counter was a wonderful false finish. ****1/4

Lots of fun on a TV match with some well executed three-man spots and a good chance to shine for all three guys. Thought McIntyre looked fantastic and Balor really shines when he's able to move at a quick pace and get his offense in. ***3/4

MAJOR spoilers ahead. You've been warned.

I'm sure there are still going to be some detractors here but after the US Title match in San Francisco and the G1 match against Okada, I'm pretty much sold on Jay White.

When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. After his Dome match with Tanahashi, I thought Jay White was the blandest, most ridiculous looking trying-hard indie loser on the whole New Japan roster. But the guy just keeps coming back with great performance after great performance and this was undoubtedly a great performance. I feel like White actually kind of outshined Okada on this particular outing. Okada and White both start hot with the near-hits of both their finishers and I enjoyed the fresh attitude Okada brought to the match along with the more stripped down red-themed version of his look. That new Okada did start to fade away as the match went on though and portions of this match just became another Okada-formula match. Possibly the worst segment of the match were the trading Cobra Clutches. You could feel the crowd back away entirely from the match as no one really buys into Okada's submissions at all. Where the match excelled, however, were Jay White's heat segments because my god, the heat is real. Using the vinyl ring apron to suffocate Okada, further abuse of the guardrails and his continued disregard for ringside staff, and absolutely everything about the finishing stretch was just such old fashioned heat that it played off fabulously. The live crowd rightfully detested Jay and completely bought into his character. I, for one, am sold and look forward to what he can bring to this G1 run. ****

Didn't see the ROH match. Thought they had a decent rhythm going in the opening minutes but once the ladder came out, the match completely fell apart. Incredibly disappointing. ***1/2

Great stuff. These two have fantastic chemistry together and they told a fun story in the ring. Suzuki destroy's Tanahashi's knee but the Ace just can't be kept down and hits a gorgeous Dragon Screw Leg Whip which only Suzuki can sell as beautifully as he does. They kept it short which means it stayed impactful and tense all throughout. ****

Best tag match I've seen all year.

Wild. An absolute tag team classic. Trent Seven puts in a career performance as the Ricky Morton when Roddy gets the early advantage with the knee breaker on the steel steps. This leads into an extended heat segment, and probably the best heat segment the Era have ever put together. Their attacks on Seven's knee were convincingly brutal and Seven sold the agony extremely well. The hot tag to finally get Bate in was nuclear hot and the story of Bate not wanting to tag Seven in was conveyed brilliantly. Loved that he had to get dropped into the corner before Seven could actually tag himself in. From there, it's a matter of the Era piling on the offensive until that fantastic finish. You really felt for both of the babyfaces and it's a brilliant story to move forward with. Probably the best tag team match I've seen all year. ****3/4

Great old school babyface vs heel match played out with more brutal spots. Loved the story working around Robinson's injured hand and how he wasn't allowed to use the cast as a weapon. All the guardrail spots felt fittingly brutal and added to the heat of the match. Cow Palace was absolutely eating up everything both guys did without being smarky or cool about it. They just booed the heel and cheered the babyface, what a joyous rarity in 2018. Even the little bit with Barnett didn't bother me so much as the crowd got seriously riled up and added to White's heat. Thought White was far more charismatic and natural in this match than I've ever seen him all year and he brought a decent chickenshit heel edge to this match. Juice was great to root for, his punches looked amazing, and I thought they played off the finish perfectly. Great title match and Jay White continues to build up some good faith on my end. ****

Is there anyone more familiar with The Elite saga stuff that can explain to me why the IWGP Title match from the Cow Palace turned out that way? The ladder seemed entirely unnecessary and killed the whole flow of the match.

I thought this was great. Pete Dunne is stringing together some Wrestler of the Year worthy performances in quick succession and I hope he gets more room to shine especially with his ongoing feud with Roddy. This was just fun, fast-paced action coupled with a nuclear hot crowd. Thought the finish was awesome and a great variation on the wrist control spot that actually plays into the build up of the match. Lots of goodness in this match. ****

Great match. Undisputed Era matches are quickly becoming must-see television as they've been stringing together some of the hottest six and regular tag matches since The Shield's run in 2013. And while we may not have those bonafide classics like the Shield-Wyatts or TLC debut match, the recent string of matches that the Era have had have been absolutely excellent. I've been a big fan of O'Reilly since his indie days and I was a huge fan of him during his PWG World Title run as well as his long running feud with Cole in ROH both of which saw mostly as a face. Here as a slimy, skeezy, dork heel, he's pitch perfect. Mocking the Moustache Mountain pose, freaking out at Ricochet's wrath, and his ridiculous stupid belt air guitar. It's all so wonderful. Strong is really good as the muscle that strings together the big moves to help get the Era put their moves together. I thought that Bate and Seven shined as a really great tag team unit with great strikes and some exciting offense. But man, Ricochet as the hot tag? Insane. I've been a skeptic of Ricochet for a while but I think what separates a match like this from the usual PWG six-mans might be something as simple as a well defined heel/face line. It's just easier to get behind a hot tag when there's a babyface against a heel. Another incredibly strong match on NXT TV from the Undisputed Era and a great continuation of the Era-Mountain feud as well. ****1/4

This was probably my favorite of the Baszler title defenses. Although the matches are hit and miss for me, Baszler's persona has always impressed. I love this MMA destroyer sadist gimmick they're going for with her. Here it was on display wonderfully with Baszler just going straight for Storm and zoning in on a weakness. For her part, Toni Storm put in an amazing babyface performance selling her leg to perfection. I'm a huge mark for crumble spots and there were some lovely, lovely crumble spots here. Some good false finishes too especially with Storm just escaping the clutch long enough to set up the count out finisher. ***3/4

I'm going to disagree in that I really enjoy Dunne's face persona. He's the gritty ass kicker who knows how to put people down and will tough things out no matter what. Aside from that, I agree on everything. This match was amazing with Dunne selling his arm wonderfully and consistently all throughout. His transitions were exciting and impactful and they built a lot of drama around some wonderful hot spots such as the great suplex onto the floor, the Helter Skleter off the ropes, and the two submission spots. Great title match. ****1/2

I've said this before but O'Reilly and Strong might be some of the best chickenshit bumping heels in the world. They've translated their indie athleticism and energy into an insanely fun ability to feed into the babyface team's offense. This was about as classic of a tag team format as there is. Early heat segment on Trent Seven that leads into a huge hot tag from Tyler Bate and straight into a wild and fun finishing stretch. Thought that Bate looked fantastic with his strikes, energy, and continued freak of nature power spots (the deadlift German while O'Reilly was on his back looked amazing). Liked the story that one of Undisputed Era's biggest flaws is how often they miscommunicate as indicated by how often missed spots from them became huge transition points not just in this match but in their other Tag Title matches. Reminds of when The Young Bucks had their 15% transitions in PWG during their big run. Awesome match, a nice addition to their six-man tag from last night and I look forward to seeing more from both teams. ****1/4

Undisputed Era continue to refine their chickenshit trio shtick in wonderful ways. With British Strong Style being the overwhelming hometown favorites, seeing them absolutely thrash the Era was a wonderful thing to see. Strong, O'Reilly, and Cole bumped huge for all three BSS guys and it was great. Perhaps one of my favorite spots was Adam Cole taking a huge jumping bump off of a Dunne forearm. Speaking of Dunne, that man is so good at being a fired up, intense babyface. He really sells the hatred he has for Strong and all their interactions make me eagerly anticipate their inevitable singles blow off match. Great match here, fast paced, exciting, and with the right finish. ****1/4

Was this a CMLL show? Would like to know if it's up on YouTube.

Awesome match with Bryan and Big E giving us a hot, fast paced start with some great moments. Gotta love how Bryan having three fully viable finishes means he has so many ways to work towards the finish of a match, here being him getting a sudden win with the Running Knee. With Joe coming in to brutalize Bryan made for a good next step in the story and with a clever little twist to end the match in order to protect both guys. Bludgeon Brothers vs. Bryan has no interest from me but whatever I guess. Miz coming in for the quick win on Bryan is absolute brilliance and only stoking the fires for the inevitable clash. The Miz vs. Rusev was actually much better than expected with Miz showing off why he's really one of the best heels of our generation both in and out of the ring. Great TV match that built upon itself to make for a hot streak of action. Wouldn't quite put it over the RAW gauntlet earlier this year as that had higher highs but the compact, concise nature of this mixed with everyone playing their roles to perfection made for wonderful television. ****1/4

It's looking like an Okada-Ibushi final to me.