SmartMark15

They'll be stretching it out, it seems.

Certainly a story of two matches here. Opening with a standard Southern tag formula with Dustin playing Ricky Morton against the incredibly douchey Bucks. Cody makes an awesome hot tag, absolutely rag dolling the Bucks which then transitions into the heel/face roles switching as the Brotherhood attack Matt's arm. Both Dustin and Cody look fantastic making all their offense look great. The Bucks make their own comeback with their flashiness and sadly, this is where the match falls apart. Drags on with too much double spots in the ring, back and forth MOVEZ!!! exchanges, and completely forgetting what makes a Southern tag works: tags. Still really loved the majority of this match and Dustin and Cody both put in fantastic performances. Cody is easily the AEW MVP so far with three straight excellent performances. ****

This match was awesome, all the offense looked awesome and they kept a fantastic pace. Even to open, trading off the various pinfall counters, helped to create a sense of big time urgency that shows they really wanted to get the win here. Endo showed off some heeling tactics like having the turnbuckles removed and it was nice to see him get the comeuppance of being crashed into it. Despite this, Endo became incredibly sympathetic after he took that leg wrap German onto the apron. Following that up with the suplex into the edge of the apron made me and the crowd really want to see him pull out the win. They really sold the effects of the match down the edge, their exhaustion shining through even as they grasped at bursts of energy to pull out big offense. Tense, exciting, and felt like a huge deal. I say this who knows literally zero about these two. ****1/2

White's gimmick of smartest counter wrestler in the game makes for some really compelling work? The man has turned lying down to avoid taking a spot a genuine signature heat-getting spot. That's fucking amazing. I love all his little heel work in the match from letting Gedo distract Ishii to ramming Ishii's brain into the post. Then you had some great New Japan style counter spots like Ishii going for a standing lariat, White sitting out and Ishii redirecting into a Sliding Lariat. Lost my mind for that one. This one was absolutely fantastic. Started slow but built into something really special, easily in my Top 3 matches of the G1 so far. ****

It's not even fair anymore, guys. How can one person be so good at all aspects of wrestling?

This was awesome. Just a hard-hitting, tightly packed, and concise match to put both guys over. Simple stuff like how urgent every move felt and how each wrestler seemed to really struggle to be able to get into an advantageous position made this really stand out. There's honestly so much to love about this match but I think Sleave pretty much covered all the best points above. I popped particularly hard for Cesaro popping Black off his shoulders for the Uppercut. ****

Yeah, this is about where I was too. I did enjoy the first quarter though, thought it had a nice intensity to it that just wasn't sustained.

Catching up on the recommended matches. Black vs Cesaro was so awesome and concise. The three-way tag was elevated by the presence and work of the greatest wrestler of all damn time, plus a nice intense finish with Big E too.

Reports coming out now that this may have been the case after all.

I think he needed time to figure out how to work around the fact that their charity show for victims of gun violence might end with a catchphrase that is essentially him firing a shot at the crowd. He played it off horribly because Omega can't just be cool outside of New Japan.

This is so far the main takeaway for me. Legit looks awesome.

Another awesome promo from the Rhodes Brothers. Their easy charisma together, the relaxed banter, that's that good stuff. Can't wait for this match.

A video essay I made discussing this match and the Okada-Tanahashi tropes and formulas.

Speaking as an outsider who doesn't know too much about either worker: probably Taven. He has even less innately interesting things about him than Credible did. At least Credible had the Impact Players act to lean on.

This is what the Okada-Tanahashi formula looks like boiled down to its essentials. Lots of slick counters, a big bump to the outside, and a fun sense of history and rivalry that adds a little gravitas to the whole thing. This is their touring match, their comfort zone, and it's pretty damn good. Nice to see Okada finally get the G1 win over Tanahashi. I can definitely gripe that their progression in matches felt a little odd but if you consider that Okada's on an upward trajectory since the start of 2019 and Tanahashi has decidedly been on a downward one, then it fits well enough. Loved the continued trend of Tanahashi having none of Okada's Rainmaker pose and the wrist control segment was a nice little callback to their last Dome match. Again, they played the hits, but the hits are so damn good. ****

Archer-Ospreay definitely gets MOTN for me by a pretty wide margin although I enjoyed Tanahashi-Okada as a greatest hits touring match. Lacking substance? Sure. But it's compressed which makes up for A LOT.

My thoughts exactly.

Awesome match, here's a video I did with a more detailed analysis. https://youtu.be/bOjt_W4rfm0

A more melodramatic take on the WALTER-Starr feud as compared to the more action sprint they ran at the 16 Carat Gold. Where Starr went with an unrelenting pace in the 16 Carat Gold, he's decidedly more cautious in this match. He chooses to take things slow, picking his shots, and then chipping away at WALTER's knees. The desperation and consistency with which Starr attacked the legs was really quite brilliant. I liked how Starr's attack and WALTER's selling progressed through the match with Starr getting small shots in, annoying WALTER, until he was all out battering the legs making WALTER limp. WALTER put in probably the best selling performance I've ever seen from him in this match, really putting over how badly Starr damaged the leg. I loved how the little shenanigans with Foxy built up through the match, first with the announcers reminding everyone that the referee has his discretion over the count (and thus the match). Then, turning into Foxy waving off what Starr believed was a tap out (this again connecting to how Starr tapped out WALTER in WXW while his foot was under the ropes). This then climaxes into the Eddie false finish, Devlin's run in, and Starr taking his eye off the ball. The finish might put off some but I enjoyed the shenanigans and the crowd got absolutely fired up for it. Honestly, felt like a great progression of this feud as the inevitable conclusion appears to be a three-way. This was great. ****1/2

Holy fuck, this was great. Watched this off the recommendations in the midyear awards thread and it didn't disappoint. Every moment bursting with stiff strikes, hard suplexes, and lots and lots of struggle. Oh boy did it feel like these two just wanted to hurt each other and win at any cost. Awesome stuff here. Particularly liked the finishing stretch with Riddle selling the back while trying to get all his offense in. This was awesome. ****1/2

Picks like this are the best part of opening discussions like this.

Slow start but the plunder towards the end was great. The thumbtack spots were awesome, yes, but my favorite spot was probably the Russian Leg Sweep through the barb wire board. The sudden energy of it really stood out as opposed to the longer set ups of the others. Fun garbage match. ****

Loved this match, thought Cody looked awesome working just some basic holds to start the match (great headlocks) and try to bully Allin into a loss. Allin meanwhile brought his unique physicality and fantastic bumps to this match. Allin is fond of hand psychology and he does it well but it all comes down to how it's sold in the end and I thought Cody did a particularly good job with that here. You could see the struggle when he locked in the double underhook and he constantly sold the hand in small moments that made Allin returning to it even more satisfying. The trust fall bump was excellent and looked far safer than the Ibushi German if you ask me. Just a solid back bump right to the mat. Wish Cody had injected a bit more urgency as the time ran down but his facial reactions did the sell the moment quite well. Lots of great to enjoy here. ****

There's a pick. Best matches?

Agreed. He's become a surprisingly reliable big match worker.