SmartMark15

I thought that was absolutely awesome. This is the best I've seen Sabre on offense honing in on a single body part. This arm injury though hell in reality has done wonders for Tanahashi's performances. Here's a guy whose matches I (for the most part) just could not stand for a long time and now he's putting on great sympathetic babyface performances. Might just have to reevaluate my thoughts on his past work because this was a very convincing performance out of him. The aggression on the finish legitimately made me wince and want Tanahashi to end the match for his own good. ****1/2

Jack's debut popped the crowd huge and they go straight into a great brawl that's perfectly paced and hard hitting all the way through. Loved that Chyna even got her shots in as well as took some comeuppance for it. HHH bumps like crazy for Jack but Jack returns it in kind, doing some sick bumps off the apron to the floor (RIP Foley's hips). The fight felt very natural and organic with the only slight lull coming in the set up for the finish but the visual of that was so great that it was worth it. Strong case for Jack and a decent showing for HHH. Cactus Jack might just be Triple H's best opponent of all time. ****

Enjoyed this a whole lot but took a while for it to kick into high gear for me. It's the usual hit-each-other-til-someone-drops Ishii/Goto match and in that it was fun enough. I do liked them taking each other down with the double lariat. After a while, it gets repetitive though. ***3/4

The title change between Backlund and Sheikybaby. Story going into the match is Sheik had ambushed Backlund a couple weeks back and attacked his neck. Going into the match, it's clear the Backlund isn't at a 100%. Sheik is able to outpower him and wear him down with submissions while Backlund does his best to try to outmaneuver his bigger, stronger challenger. Backlund sells his ass off, barely able to get any offense in. The story of the match is that any time Backlund tries to get any offense in, his own body betrays him allowing Sheik to get the advantage. Backlund looks absolutely fantastic as a sympathetic babyface and Sheik was convincing enough as a brute of a heel. Boy does Backlund's performance just outshine's Sheik's here though. The finish and story overall were a great way to protect Backlund even while the title switched hands. ***1/2

Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler (WWE No Way Out 2012) Two guys who I felt would have a decent enough shot at making the bottom half of the list put on an incredibly technically sound match. I mean, all things considered, there's not much I can point to in this match and say was "bad" or "wrong." There are even a few things I liked. I liked how Sheamus' arm was the key to the transitions. I liked Ziggler's headstand headlock. Everything else though just felt entirely lifeless. No urgency. No emotion. Just...a blank slate of well executed and well laid out moves. Perhaps that's my own personal bias about the workers speaking through but that's how I felt about this particular match. ***1/2

From my PTBN GWWE match thread: 2. Ladder Match - Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho I'm not ranking Benoit but this match makes a strong case for Jericho. He does great on both offense and defense in this match, bumping like a madman for Benoit. He does a decent job selling his bad arm throughout the match and even pulls out some great creative spots like the Walls on top of the ladder. Well paced and organic unlike some of the ridiculous ladder matches we get these days. Really great stuff. ****1/4

Great old school style tag team match with The Shield playing brutal heels. Cody puts in one of his absolute best performances in the company by just having a strong babyface fire and passion that's lacking from his colder heel matches. Goldust is as impressive as ever, bumping like crazy for the younger guys acting as both a great hot tag and a fantastic face in peril. Loved the visual of his face paint coming off. Reigns already showing signs of greatness in this especially while trashtalking Goldust out of the ring. Incredibly hot finish that got the crowd unglued. ****

The 2017 MOTY Thread is a great place to start.

Really loved this show honestly. Two great matches and a decently intense main event. Add a couple of fun matches as well as an incredibly moment, and this was one of the highlights of the year for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqXr9D8bG_s Much has been written on this forum about Trevor Lee and his historic title reign as the CWF-Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion and here we have yet another piece of the puzzle to show us Lee's diversity and flexibility in the ring. In this match, we have ourselves a No Disqualification, No Time Limit environment since Lee wanted to beat his challenger, Nick Richards, at his own game. The opening moments set the tone for the match with Richards hitting his signature cutter twice right out of the gate. From there the action is intense but incredibly well-paced. Too many hardcore matches suffer from trying to do too much too quickly. You had the fantastic double trash lid spot that showcased both Trevor's dominance and skill at selling. His timing on such sequences really show his smarts as a performer: showing his dominance as the Ace of the territory without negating the offense that was thrown onto him. Most of the hardcore spots felt organic rather than obvious and set up. My favorite example would be the Cutter with the chair spot. I thought that played out beautifully and I never actually saw it coming. The only real moment where the match dragged was when Richards spent a whole lot of time building his chair bump spot but that at least paid off with a spectacular high spot. After the bump through the chairs, Lee and Richards up the intensity with some hand to hand that looked and sounded brutal. All of this building to a particularly gross STF that was a fitting end to what was a hard fought match. Trevor Lee, man. We are in the midst of a historic reign and it's only looking up from here. ****1/2

NOMINATING: Trevor Lee vs. Michael Elgin - CWF Mid-Atlantic 6/3

Great match. Elgin made a believable monster redwood that Trevor had to chop down. Trevor sells his ass off once again and he makes such a fantastic babyface in peril instead of the more Ace-like position he embodies against a guy like Day. Loved the multiple PKs on the apron and Elgin just dropping before the sixth. The finish was hot and once again CWF-Mid Atlantic crafts another crazy good finish that ends exactly when it needed to. Never felt repetitive and always felt like it escalated. ****1/2

Fun while it lasted. I have not much else to say about it other than that. I liked Joe's pre-bell outburst, and the struggle in the ring was decent. The low blow was a nice touch. ***1/2

NOMINATING: The Hardys vs. Cesaro & Sheamus - WWE 7/9

These thirty minutes just flew by for me. Cesaro & Sheamus are on top of their game with the heel tactics. I can understand why The Revival haven't been that featured on Raw with these two guys working matches like this. Matt and Jeff bumped like nuts for the heels. Loved the ring post count out finish. That was really unexpected as I thought The Hardyz might even things up at that point. Cesaro & Sheamus trying to kill time and leading into the crazy good last five minutes or so of the match really took things into overdrive. Just a very, very good match here. ****1/4

NOMINATING: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman - WWE 7/9

YES. Just yes? I'm sorry, that's all there is. Rough, stiff violence from both guys. They constantly upped the intensity and made believable transitions that got you to buy into Roman potentially winning. You had the classic ringpost transition which works particularly well after the Tag Title match early in the night. Roman Reigns sells his ass off (again) but really, did we expect anything else? Then you had monster among men Braun Strowman putting in a fairly decent sell job on his arm...before turning it around into one of the greatest heel comebacks possible. The violence on the stage area was stiff, going through the screen was a wonderful visual. Then, that glorious post-match angle. i don't care if it's a double turn or what it is. It's fucking awesome. Best ambulance match ever? Easy MOTYC and another amazing chapter in what's turning out to be a classic feud. ****1/2

I thought this was really great. The Tag Titles were hot and fun, the Ambulance match was CRAZY GOOD, and the main event had a big fight feel. Overall great stuff.

Am I cynical enough to think they did this to get a modern match on the Unreleased DVD? Either way, I don't mind it. It's kind of a cool move.

Just a joyous power vs. speed match. Marty bumping like his life depended on it was awesome. The height he got on some of those drops were legitimately impressive and frightening. Then you add in the simple tag heel tactics like choking on the ropes and Fuji's interference all building up to that dastardly finish and you have a really great old school tag team match. Loved this. ****1/4

Just a fantastic Hogan-formula MSG house show match, if you ask me. For anyone who says Hulk Hogan doesn't sell or can't sell, just look at this match. Hogan is incredibly generous in this match with his selling right from the moment Perfect is able to kick Hogan who's setting up for a back body drop. Hogan gets huge sympathy from the crowd and Perfect looked great on offense. Then you had the antics with Genius which was great (how was Perfect not DQ-ed when Genius put the boots on him? Was it cause Hogan brought him into the match first?). Perfect bumps like an absolute nut for Hogan, even bumping on his nuts like thrice. What a trooper. Gotta love the production value of WWF that they got that close up of the knucks in Perfect's tights so that you could have the announcers actually try to deduce what went down. A DQ finish but it's fine to build heat and really the match before it was just entertaining all throughout. ****

So great. Really fast paced and action packed with Bobby Eaton bumping like a nut. The Steiners looked like absolute killers on offense but I liked how MX still brought some tension with Cornette's outside antics as well as their tag tactics that always play in nicely to a match. As a TV match to put over The Steiners for a big PPV blow off, this was absolutely fantastic. Everyone here looked awesome and Midnight Express matches are pretty much as pro wrestling as pro wrestling gets. ****

HUGE DISCLAIMER: I do not follow New Japan closely. So don't take the following as gospel but as mere observations from the outside looking in. I won't even separate them into strengths vs. weaknesses since I don't have that strong of an opinion on Gedo. Please feel free to correct, discuss, or expound on Gedo! 1. Title Exclusivity - Possibly coming as a response to the dark days of early 00s New Japan when the belt was hot potatoed, the IWGP Title has been heavily protected in the past few years with only Tanahashi, Styles, Okada, and Naito breaking the barrier to claim the title. This has lent the title a strong sense of prestige but it also potentially robs credibility from several challengers. Just look at how Omega's title prospects seem to have deflated since drawing with Okada as well as winning the US Title. 2. Rigid Booking Patterns - A fair amount of unpredictability has been zapped from New Japan booking because of the patterns that the schedule follows. For example, the IWGP Champion's presence in the G1 is almost entirely ceremonial. The IWGP Champ's chances in the G1 are pretty much zero. The King of Pro Wrestling card after G1 is similarly inconsequential with the Tokyo Dome main event almost always set in stone once the G1 finishes. 3. Big Match Feel - Having only 4 or 5 title defenses a year, the IWGP Championship matches are always a big deal. This year alone, it's produced a MOTYC almost every time as well as two of the most (controversially) acclaimed matches in recent wrestling memory. Even smaller B-level title defenses like the Okada vs. Cody match led to a very enjoyable bout that had several good angles sprouting from it. And even that had the unique selling point of having the ROH World Champion vs. the IWGP Champion--a dream match in name though the talent involved could have been better. 4. Repetitive Booking - Closely related to the point on title exclusivity, there are always a solid crop of workers at the top of the heap that Gedo goes to the well with for his big cards. It used to be Nakamura, Styles, Tanahashi, and Okada with Naito pressing in on the edges. After the WWE raid, it's become Okada, Omega, Tanahashi, and Naito with those four men being in the same two marquee matches of the year's two biggest shows (WK and Dominion). With how the G1 is looking, it seems likely this pattern continues with Tanahashi-Omega and Okada-Naito looking like the likely top matches for next year's Dome show. Peak angles: I feel like Tanahashi-Okada and Okada-Omega are the two most illustrative feuds that embody Gedo's booking style. Both were highly competitive storylines that played out over several 30+ minute matches. An emphasis was placed on balanced win-loss columns as well as goal-oriented milestones (Okada never beating Tanahashi at the Dome, Omega yet to have a decisive victory over Okada).

I wonder if this was a problem of Gabe's booking at the time considering that he did admit that around the time of Nigel's reign, he was scheduling way too many shows or if it was a problem of roster depth? Perhaps it's because Gabe never really capitalized on the people who got over in the midcard after their hot angles. For example, Jimmy Jacobs never went anywhere after his hot Age of the Fall debut and feud with Aries. BJ Whitmer never broke through despite his featured role in the CZW war. But still, I felt that Danielson had a similar title defense schedule to Nigel and about the same roster of guys to work with as well. How come Danielson's reign never felt as stale or killed as many contenders? In a more general sense, do you guys prefer having consistent and regular title defenses or the much more pared back approach of a Japanese style promotion?

This is a trademark of classic All Japan that continues with Gedo's set 5-6 defenses every year. It also translates to WWE booking Lesnar. Personally I enjoy the idea that the rarity raises the stakes of these matches but does that really translate in NJPW where the title scene is so highly protected and guarded? I might follow this up with personal observations of Gedo's booking but I can't speak to that in much detail.