Boss Rock

Just referring to the fact that Angle, who's probably more beat up than Bryan, is being booked for a match and Bryan can't even post videos of himself doing bumps.

I could be mistaken but I was under the impression that Bestia is...not good.

If I could be a fly on the wall when Bryan calls Vince about this.

Spoilers ahead: Dragon-Matanza was pretty good. Great high-flying work by Dragon and Matanza was excellent in throwing him around (seriously, what happened to Jeff Cobb?). Dragon is thrown through the cage but Dario decides to make it pinfall or submission only. I get that Dario has always been a heel, but I preferred when he wasn't so outwardly so and was an opportunistic businessman. Or at least if he were an outward heel, then the babyface would be able to overcome (a la the Crew-Team Havoc match). Black Lotus returns and does a dive off the top of the cage to cost Dragon the match. She then attacks Matanza and forces Dario to confess that Dragon Azteca Sr. was innocent. Matanza lays out Lotus. I liked this development and that they were able to continue this story, but I'm confused as to why Lotus cost Dragon the match if she knew Dragon Sr. was innocent. I get that they fought last year, but still. Overall a pretty good and violent cage match. Cage-Crane-Muertes: Holy shit was this awesome. Dario made this an elimination match at the last minute and boy was this violent. Not quite as violent as Hell of War, but there were still some pretty brutal spots. This was also very long, so huge props to all three for never losing steam for a second. The ending was a tad abrupt but very good nonetheless. Mil got the gauntlet and right as he does his pose...lights out. One light comes back on...KING CUERNO! Cuerno is back as he lays out Catrina and Mil and takes the gauntlet for his own. I'll admit I read the spoilers a while back and knew this was coming, but man was this a great return. The lighting really added to the surprise and suddenness of it all. He is a hunter after all. Think Striker could have done a better job of playing up the surprise of Cuerno's return, but I'm not complaining either way. Mundo-Puma: Watching this match reminded me of their very first encounter in season 1. Lots of cool, athletic things happening but just couldn't keep me invested. I dunno, I LIKED this match, but I often found myself not paying attention at times. That being said, it was a good match and lots of high stakes drama. Worldwide Underground interferes after a ref bump and Jack Evans can talk again! Taya drags Rick Knox into the ring and even though he can clearly see Puma getting beat up on, decides to count anyway instead of calling for a DQ. Maybe the timing was off, I dunno. But Angelico returns YET AGAIN to save the day and Rick Knox hits Worldwide Underground with a tope! Probably my favorite part of this match and the crowd went nuts. Puma eventually won after a well over 20 minute match. "HOLD ON!!!" Dario announces one final match. Pentagon told Dario last week that he wanted to exchange Gift of the Gods and face the winner of the match. Dario didn't announce it ahead of time because rules, like bones, are meant to be broken. OK, sure. He also adds the caveat that it's career vs. career. Pentagon breaks Puma's arm almost immediately, but Puma pops it back into place and wraps it up. He's still in bad shape and does a great job selling the arm. Like their other matches, this was good but not great. I also though Pentagon gave up way too much on offense considering Puma just had a match and was fighting with one arm. I understand resilient babyface and all, but this was close to 50-50. Vampiro saves Pentagon from a 630 and one package piledriver later...new champ. Finally great to have Pentagon reach the top of the mountain, but I thought this could have been done better. I get having Vamp interfere to show he was in cahoots with Pentagon and Pentagon is technically heel, but it still felt a bit cheap considering how much offense Puma got. Not to mention Pentagon is a de facto babyface, with the crowd firmly behind him the entire match and even briefly chanting "Nah nah nah hey hey goodbye" to Puma. I did like how Pentagon wave off Puma while saying "Bye!", though. Closing vignettes: MAJOR SPOILERS Puma unmasks (without seeing his face) and walks off. Great visual on Puma's mask. Thank God we tied up some loose ends here. Sexy Star gets another spider in a box, although I seriously wonder if they bring Sexy back if they get a season 4. And despite never being a Sexy Star fan (especially after Triplemania) I really liked how we got some continuation on this story considering they had seemingly just dropped it without explanation. Cuerno has the gauntlet in his trophy room. Looks like he doesn't fully understand the power it holds. Daga is back! He cuts off Pindar's head while Drago looks on disapprovingly. Looks like he wants out. Fenix and Melissa drive off with Catrina and Jeremiah both looking on. Confirmation that Fenix is still Catrina's true love and that Crane is gonna want to take him out. Grave Consequences 4, perhaps? Vamp's master turns out to be a Skeletor-looking dude. Speculation that this will be Kevin Kross. Apparently, the plan was to cause Puma to fail and Pentagon to succeed so this new guy can take him out. Not sure why Puma needed to be brought back from the dead unless there was some kind of prophecy about Vamp's students fighting to the end. Matanza is in his cell and...OH HAI Rey! Really wonder if Rey would come back for another season considering he supposedly wanted to go back to WWE. But with that door closed, maybe? Agent Winters shoots Dario for his failures and says the Temple is under new management. Dario calls his father before passing out. As much as I haven't liked the more heelish characterization of Dario...there's no way they can kill him off. Like, absolutely no way. A lot of interesting prospects here that really make me hope season 4 does happen. Overall, I thought Ultima Lucha Tres was a huge turnaround compared to the disappointment that was Ultima Lucha Dos. Better matches and for the most part better booking. I thought season 3 as a whole really delivered in the in-ring department while seriously lacking in storytelling until the very end.

Just when it looked like Hell of War would run away with being the best match of Ultima Lucha, Crane, Mil, and Cage said "Hold our beers". Not sure if I would say it was better, but practically on the same level.

Nominating: Kento Miyahara vs. Suwama (AJPW 10/9) Great bomb-throwing title match. Suwama starts working the knee of Kento early to take away his mobility and running knee (he even kicks his knee out to avoid the deadlift German). Kento responds in kind by going after Suwama's knee and we eventually get to a crazy bomb-throwing stretch. Kento is super resilient and keeps Suwama offguard with his speed only for Suwama to cut him off with a huge strike or clothesline. It ultimately comes down to who has a deeper tank and can land the bigger blow. Only issues with this match are that Kento is still able to hit the running knee despite Suwama working it over early and the fighting spirit spots (Kento is basically immune to German suplexes). But other than those, really great selling by both men. ****3/4.

Saw the preview for tonight's episode on Youtube. The three-way for the gauntlet looks to be a bloodbath.

Well, this was an awesome match. Usos/New Day has not only been the best tag team feud this year by a landslide, it's also one of the very best feuds overall. Started off rather light-hearted with New Day using multiple, brightly-colored trombones but quickly escalated into some unbelievable violence. Absolutely jarring visuals such as pinning Jey to the cell with three kendo sticks and Xavier being hoisted onto the ring post with handcuffs. Proof that you don't necessarily need blood to sell a violent match. The Usos continued to prove their the best tag team in the world not named the Revival but Big E and Xavier showed incredible resiliency and fire. Great nearfalls and incredible drama make this one of the best WWE matches of the year. ****1/2

Was really bored by this match. Way too many chinlocks to try and build heat. Nakamura's comebacks were decent but not enough to save this trudge. Ending was also pretty underwhelming considering the Singh Brothers got sent to the back and Nakamura STILL lost clean. **, and that's being generous.

Ultima Lucha Tres pt. 3 Sexy Star vs. Taya was a pretty solid and violent affair. Not great, but not bad at all. Reptile Tribe vs. Mack, Killshot, and Dante Fox was a lot of fun. Great chemistry between the new trios team and Dante and Killshot had flips for miles. GOTG ladder match was a bit disappointing. Too much setting up of the hardware to build to the spots but still had some cool moments. Only vignette was right as the show ended, and let's just say we got an interesting development in the Puma-Vampiro story.

Definitely their best match this year, and the best since last year's Dontaku. As much as Ishii's known for his bullmoose strong-style, his best matches are always when he's playing the unsinkable underdog who, despite having no chance of winning, makes you believe for just one second he can pull it off. Some cool learned psychology as Ishii interrupts Naito's lay down pose and counters Naito's leg work with some of his own. Great selling and a great finishing sequence. ****1/2.

I think overbooking can be great if it tells a good story and has a logical and satisfying conclusion. Two matches in particular stand out to me. Bayley vs. Eva Marie: The story leading up into this match was that despite Eva Marie sucking, she was the "ideal" women's wrestler to "management" (Vince). Therefore, "management" decided to give her every advantage: crooked referee Charles Robinson, Nia Jax in her corner, etc. Bayley naturally outclassed Eva in-ring but ref bumps, distractions, etc blocked her path. The match was full of shenanigans but told a simple yet effective story of the babyface overcoming the odds and winning. Jushin Liger vs. Taichi: Liger, in his final Best of the Super Juniors, went winless in his first seven matches and faced the heartbreaking prospect of finishing with zero points. Taichi on the other hand, used every dirty trick in the book to earn eight points and have a shot at the finals. Taichi and all of Suzuki-Gun jump Liger as the match starts and cheat relentlessly to deny the legend his last chance at a win. Things look hopeless for Liger after a ref bump as Suzuki-Gun cut up his gear and mask while continuing their beatdown. Taguchi and KUSHIDA finally run in and chase Suzuki-Gun off, allowing Liger to defeat Taichi in a fair fight. Simple, yet effective story of the good guys evening the odds so the aged legend can get one last victory over the tournament's biggest villain.

Any of the Grave Consequences matches from Lucha Underground. If you only have time for one then watch the first one, but all three of them are fantastic.

I didn't watch the whole show, but New-Usos was fantastic, easily the best match of their feud. The U.S. title match was boring when it was just Tye-Corbin but A.J. saved the day in that final seven-minute stretch. WWE Championship match was another mediocre Jinder-dominated match. Main event ran too long but I thought it was very good with a legitimately awesome ending.

So far I'd say Ultima Lucha has delivered as a whole. Most of the matches have been good and the booking has been a complete turnaround from last year's.

Ultima Lucha pt. 2 Battle Royale was extremely short but featured the grand return of Pimpinella Escarlata! Mack won and earned a shot at the Trios titles for next week. The twist: his partners will be Killshot and Dante Fox. Catrina vs. Ivelisse was heavily edited and therefore ran shorter than I expected. A decent and very bloody brawl. Marty vs. Fenix was the clear match of the night. For all of his good character work (even if I think it's been over-done at times), I've never thought Marty was a very good wrestler. But man did he deliver the performance of his career while Fenix was great as always. Tons and tons of blood. And I mean tons. Next week will be the trios match, GOTG ladder match, and Taya vs. Sexy Star. That leaves Matanza vs. Dragon, Cage vs. Crane vs. Mil, and Puma vs. Mundo for the final night.

Need to catch up on Ishikawa's CC run (although I wasn't crazy about the finals with Doering), but his run as champ and in Royal Road were very good. I would still say Kento is the best, even if he overdoes the fighting spirit a bit (although I'd wager AJPW does more finisher kickouts than NJPW).

Along with Mundo, Matanza's the only one who's consistently been able to get heel heat from the crowd. I think a lot of it comes down to him beating all of the crowd's favorites, this time being no exception.

And speaking of the Five-O brawl, I still laugh every time I think of the "Smell of burnt hair!" line from Striker.

Agreed 100% on the thematic brawls. The nunchaku match last season in particular was one of my favorites. Campy in the best possible way.

Wouldn't surprise me.

Looks like Fenix-Marty will be the third match this week as they have a Marty promo on Youtube. So that leaves for the next two weeks: Cage-Mil-Crane Sexy-Taya Dragon-Matanza Pentagon-Havoc Puma-Mundo Trios match? Looks like we may not get a two-hour finale unless the matches they choose are really long.

I only just recently got into classic Memphis, but Lance was great. My favorite moment of his will always be him arguing with Funk during the Empty Arena Match.

Next week has Catrina-Ivelisse and a Unique Opportunity battle royal. Most likely will include another match but not sure which one.

Hell of War was absolutely insane. Easily the most violent match LU has ever done, even surpassing Pentagon-Vampiro. There were some issues with selling, but overall an incredible spectacle match.