Boss Rock

It's inevitable that the two best wrestlers in CMLL and two of the absolute best wrestlers in the world would have such great chemistry with each other. While I think I would rate their CMLL match this year just a hair higher, this was still an excellent high-octane match with unbelievable and occasionally dangerous spots. Not much more to say. ****1/4

Really good spotfest where everyone got their time to shine. While this was a great showcase for Io in her Takeover debut, Bianca was the star here. The spot where Io and Kairi are about to gang up on her and instead of looking worried she's just like "Alright, let's do this" was particularly awesome. So the fact that Biance not only took the fall but actually tapped out was extremely frustrating. Still, very much worth watching. ***3/4

On the one hand, the amount of superkicks, no-selling, and finisher kick-outs was extremely excessive. On the other hand, the culmination of Johnny overcoming a year of shitty booking and actually overcoming the odds led to some excellent drama and created a genuinely feel-good story. When looking at the match on a meta-level like that, I think it worked extremely well. And even when looking at the match in a vacuum, it's still enjoyable if knocked down a few pegs by the most excessive of indy wrestling's worst habits. I also credit Cole and Johnny for making a 38-minute match feel shorter than that. So yeah, I thought this was really good if not quite the best match of the card due to the aforementioned excess. ****1/4

Great clash of the titans match between two of the best and smartest workers in the world. Shuji working over the abdomen was great and led to some really creative spots like the suplex stomach-first on the apron. You just don't see stuff like that. It seemed that Yuji would make comebacks a bit too easily (like the Fire Thunder on the apron) but he still did a great job selling the accumulated damage. Shuji shutting down the comebacks rather quickly also made things more believable. All in all, one of the best "big man vs. big man" singles matches I've seen in a long while. ****1/2

Can't believe it took this long to get a match between these two but I'm not complaining as it more than delivered. Two excellent technicians working their craft and smacking the heck out of each other in between painful submission holds. Really gave off the feel of an urgent struggle. Technical wrestling isn't always my cup of tea but when it's good it's great, especially when both wrestlers are hitting each other with knockout blows on the feet. ****1/4

Contender for sprint of the year. Sort of reminded me of the Suzuki-Nomura match last year where it starts with competitive grappling and just completely boils over into a heated fight. Takeda also got to prove he's more than just a great deathmatch worker. Would love to see a rematch between these two. ****1/4.

Typically most WWE No DQ stipulations rely on plunder, so I was pleasantly surprised when this ended up being a really good brawl across the stadium. Even before the huge superplex spot this was just an awesome spectacle of a fight. I'm still not crazy about Miz being a face but he really delivered in this type vengeful role. Don't think I would have had Shane win here but I'm guessing it's to extend the feud. Very much worth watching. ****

Yep, pretty much where I am. Although I did like the Rush-Dalton squash and the street fight was more fun that it had any right to be. Went too long for freaking Bully Ray though.

Probably the best choice.

The main event and Bryan-Kofi are the only matches I'm really excited about. Although I am kind of looking forward to Joe-Rey and A.J.-Orton. And like most Brock matches, I have a bit of a morbid curiosity in his match to see if it will be another glorified squash or if he'll actually make an effort. Still think Rollins loses though. Batista-Triple H also has the potential to be high comedy.

Ballots are due when WrestleMania ends! Make sure to get yours in today!

Awesome!

Mixed bag of a show, but the NJPW stuff overall I think was really good. Cobb-Ospreay was insane, Ibushi-Naito was awesome if somewhat uncomfortable with all the neck bumps, the Junior Heavyweight Title match was tremendous, the tag title match was really good even if the wrong team won, and I might be biased but the main event delivered as well.

If you give it 1-3 good paragraphs then yes, it automatically moves to the list of nominees.

The elimination match is in the nominee section. Aja-Toyota has just been moved.

Yes, sorry still doing some catch-up. But yes, everything in the Nominees section is eligible to vote for.

Mania 30 remains my favorite and the most invested I've ever been in a wrestling storyline. Bryan's whole saga, even if a lot of it wasn't intended due to Punk leaving, is still some of the greatest storytelling I've ever seen.

Another great Kawada match. He seems to have a lot of hidden gem sprints.

My current ***** list: Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW 9/23/1981) Greg Valentine vs. Roddy Piper (JCP Starrcade 11/24/1983) Yoshiaki Yatsu and Riki Choshu vs. Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW 1/28/1986) Stan Hansen vs. Carlos Colon (WWC Bull Rope Match 1/6/1987) Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 12/16/1988) Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW Chi-Town Rumble 2/20/1989) Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (WCW Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin’ Cajun ⅔ Falls Match 4/2/1989) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 6/5/1989) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (WCW Great American Bash 7/23/1989) Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (WCW Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockdown I Quit Match 11/15/1989) Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW 12/6/1989) Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto vs. Masanobu Kurisu and Kendo Nagasaki (FMW 4/1/1990) Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue, and Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW 10/19/1990) El Satanico vs. El Dandy (EMLL Hair vs. Hair 12/14/1990) Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue, and Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW 4/20/1991) Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. El Samurai (NJPW 4/30/1992) Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat (AJPW 5/25/1992) Dynamite Kansai and Mayumi Ozaki vs. Manami Toyota and Toshiyo Yamada (AJW 11/25/1992) Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 2/28/1993) Shinobu Kandori vs. Akira Hokuto (AJW 4/2/1993) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 4/16/1993) Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 7/29/1993) Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta (AJW 1/24/1994) Shinobu Kandori and Akira Hokuto vs. Aja Kong and Bull Nakano (AJW Queendom 3/27/1994) Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 5/21/1994) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 6/3/1994) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue (AJPW 4/15/1995) Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 6/5/1995)\ Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 10/25/1995) Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 5/23/1996) Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind (WWF In Your House: Mind Games 9/22/1996) Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 12/6/1996) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 1/20/1997) “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (WWF WrestleMania 13 3/23/1997) Mima Shimoda and Etsuka Mita vs. Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe (AJW Rage in a Cage 9/21/1997) Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker (WWF In Your House: Badd Blood 10/5/1997) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 10/31/1998) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 6/11/1999) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi (Pro Wrestling Noah 3/1/2003) Necro Butcher vs. Samoa Joe (IWA: Mid-South 6/11/2005) Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and CIMA vs. Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid, and Ryo Saito (ROH 3/13/2006) Team ROH vs. Team CZW (ROH Death Before Dishonor IV 7/15/2006) Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH Unified 8/12/2006) Super Dragon vs. Necro Butcher (PWG Battle of Los Angeles 9/2/2006) Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH Sixth Anniversary Show 2/23/2008) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 10/8/2012) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW G1 Climax 8/4/2013) Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 10/14/2013) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 1/4/2015) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW G1 Climax 8/13/2016) #DIY vs. the Revival (NXT Takeover: Toronto 11/19/2016) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 1/4/2017) Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW Sakura Genesis 4/9/2017) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW Dominion 6/11/2017) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW G1 Climax 8/12/2017) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW G1 Climax 8/13/2017) Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas (NXT Takeover: Philadelphia 1/27/2018) Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs. the Young Bucks (NJPW Strong Style Evolved 3/25/2018) Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa (NXT Takeover: New Orleans 4/7/2018) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW Dominion 6/9/2018)

I thought this match was quite similar to their match at New Beginning last year. Sort of tepid first act but incredibly dramatic and engaging second act. Some awesome reversals and exchanges with a ton of emphasis placed on the danger of the Skull End. One thing I don't think Okada gets enough credit for is how much he sells for his opponents. Sure, his victory is usually a bygone conclusion, but there are those moments where you think "Oh my God, is he actually going to lose?". This match was full of those moments. And SANADA again proved he is on the same level of NJPW's regular cast of main event workers. Ultimately, this didn't need to be 30+ minutes but the closing stretch really helped everything feel earned. ****1/4

Excellent!

I actually thought Juice-Owens was a vast improvement over their last match. That one felt like a 10 minutes match needlessly stretched out to meet 20+, whereas this one I felt the length was a bit more warranted with Juice's aggression. A bit too much BC shenanigans but it was refreshing to see the face actually overcome the odds and not look like a dink. Really liked the final match. Was similar to the New Beginning match last year where it started off a bit slow but the second act was super dramatic with SANADA looking like he had a legitimate chance of winning.

NJ Cup has been a bit of a mixed bag but the semi-finals were awesome. Okada-Ishii in particular is a MOTYC.

A bit of a slow start but still a really good match. Tanahashi continued the trend of trying to finish off opponents without the High Fly Flow by focusing his attack on the leg even moreso than usual. SANADA's comebacks were good but his selling of the leg continues to be almost non-existent. Thankfully it wasn't too much of a detraction considering Tanahashi didn't hit him with like 30 dragon screws or wallop his leg with a chair or anything. But I just think SANADA could make more of an effort with some of his more athletic maneuvers. With that being said, the structure and pacing of the match was very good once we got past the 5-7 minute mark. In particular, there was a lot of urgency near the end with SANADA desperately trying to put Tanahashi away with the Skull End (similar to the Suzuki match from the second round). There were also some insane near-falls with the pinning combinations. What seemed like a clear-cut win for Tanahashi all of a sudden became a toss-up. Even if his selling needs work, SANADA continues to prove he can compete with the top stars at their level. And Tanahashi continues to be one of the best big match wrestlers in the world. ****1/4

Probably the best Nomura match I've ever seen. Similar to KAI, he really seemed to step his game up in this kind of big match setting (even if I think he's much better than KAI to begin with) Really enjoyed the story of Nomura coming at Kento with loads of fire and aggression only for Kento to still be one step ahead in the moments where it really mattered. I just wish Kento would mix things up a little bit in these matches. He has a formula and it definitely works, but it still felt like more of the same with the big Blackout and German suplex comebacks that we've seen in his last 3-4 title matches. With that being said, he did a tremendous job selling for Nomura and making it look like there was a chance he could lose even if the result was never in doubt. Ultimately everything you'd expect from a Kento title match, but that means it's still really good. ****1/4