Viking Hall

The Battle Royale from All In last night either A. proved how big wrestlers once were by the fact that the once fairly averagely sized Billy Gunn and Bubba Ray now look like Andre the Giant or B. showed just how small wrestlers have become.

I loved this show and while I get the wrestling might not have been to everyone's taste I think it will deservedly go down as a moment in wrestling history. Was it perfect? No. Did it matter? Not even slightly. Being in the UK and at an age where most 'firsts' weren't available to me I missed out on what are now considered the pivotal moments in pro-wrestling lore, but this certainly felt like one of those moments and I was glad to be able to see it live. I just hope this is the starting point of something real now. I've seen a lot of people talking about it as if it's the end game and I really hope this isn't the case. What Cody, The Bucks and everyone else who has been involved have achieved has been monumental and if they can capitalise on this I can only see the industry as a whole going from strength to strength. I await the next developments with baited breath.

Walter is definitely the right answer to this question, to the point I can't even really think why he's not doing more in Japan right now. Rampage Brown would be another one, but is another one that looks bigger because of the size of his opponents he generally works with in the UK. Dave Mastiff fits into the short but heavy category too, but can definitely go. Haven't see much of him but Jonah Rock seems to be gaining some plaudits too... but, they're few and far between.

This was fantastic, from the get go Bucanero plays the repulsive heel to perfection and with Satanico in his corner has enough back up for you to know Tarzan Boy is in for a rough ride. This prophecy is fulfilled by the fact that Tarzan is letting blood within seconds and from here on out he takes an absolute battering as the face in peril. The match isn't breaking any new ground in terms of structure but that doesn't matter as the duo play their roles to perfection. Bucanero certainly looks cool, but due to being a nasty, vicious piece of work, even with no background you realise this isn't a guy you want to root for. Tarzan Boy is the pretty boy, but shows great fire and dishes out his own retribution with great fervour and is easy to get behind when he starts to make his comeback. All in all, a well put together match which at a shade over ten minutes proves you don't need to go over half an hour to put together a match that comes across as an intense war. It's sharp and to the point, and while the blood certainly draws you in it's still a good enough match that it would have got by without it. Not a classic, but a really fun match to introduce me to two guys I've not seen enough of. Oh, and it contains some incredible Face Buster variations, which is another win in my book.

Easily one of the most entertaining matches of the year and equally one of the worst and best matches you'll see this year. Comically violent to the point of virtual farce, it is a hardcore match that is just sheer charm. As others have echoed, Pagano is the star man as he performs ridiculous stunt after ridiculous stunt to entertain his audience before finally (and probably rightly so) being stretchered out at the end. This was certainly one of those matches where the outcome didn't matter as it was all about the sheer spectacle and if you like your matches to be a car crash crossed with slapstick then this is the only match you need to watch this year. Unashamedly trashy brilliance.

I need a more structured way to view stuff rather than just dipping in and out. This weekends Triplemania has really piqued my interest into delving into some of the Lucha greats, but like most things it's a daunting task to undertake. When people talk about the Yearbooks and Projects is that something that's available to purchase or something that's being kept under lock and key in the depths of the internet?

The Omega vs Okada match was exactly what I was thinking of when I made this post. I know it's a great match in the same way that I know Schindler's List is a great film, but at the same time, I'm not going to sit down and put the Schindler's List DVD in the player when I need an evening's entertainment.

Here's something I was considering last night, should your taste effect match ratings? The reason I ask this is because I was trying to think how I would rate the six man Hardcore match from Triplemania this weekend which to my mind was one of the most entertaining matches I've seen this year but with the flipside being that I know that technically, it was pretty awful. I know I'm more likely to go back and watch that match again and be entertained by it than a lot of critically acclaimed stuff this year that is technically far superior but should that mean it gets a high rating or should it simply be put down to taste and move on? I sort of compare it to my taste in movies. My favourite film ever is the Van Damme film Bloodsport. Now, I'm well aware that it's not technically a great film in the same way as something like Citizen Kane is, but based purely on personal taste and enjoyment, you know it's going to be rated a lot higher in my list of all time favourites than something which is in every way, shape and form, superior. So where does the line become blurred between bad or average matches that were entertaining and genuinely great matches?

Also the six man hardcore match, which was as much ridiculous as you can cram into one match and the Konnan and Vampiro confrontation needs to be seen just for the sheer comedy value.

Vampiro stood like a gormless twat yelling repeatedly for his music despite the fact he's stood right in front of everyone is the most meme worthy thing in the history of wrestling memes.

Starting at roughly 1:30AM in the UK but I'm going to endeavour to stick with it as my first live Lucha show.

Park is also saying Rush backed out, it's all very Lucha.

I'm in two minds about the ratings thing. Part of me agrees that people (myself included) are rating stuff possibly too highly, but the flipside of that what's the point in rating something less simply because there's been a lot of other great stuff recently? If something is of high quality, what's happening around it shouldn't matter, a great match is a great match whether it appears on a card with ten other brilliant matches or finds itself as a diamond in the rough. I mean, read a music paper and look at their reviews of albums out that month, a lot will be rated highly. Does that mean every single one will end up becoming an iconic album? No, probably not, but does it diminish their quality as a piece of work? Not really either. Hype (for want of a better word) certainly adds to the situation, something that's fresh in your mind is always going to be at the forefront, but on the other hand perhaps our gut reaction is our most honest one? I'm sure a lot of us could rate something less if we go away and pick it apart, but that doesn't change our initial enjoyment of it either. The other thing is taste, if your taste isn't what's currently in fashion then you will naturally not rate a lot of the current product as highly as others, but that's just a fact of life and not really a true comment on the trend of ratings. For example, I'm a big fan of horror movies so I'm probably not going to pick a rom-com as my movie of the year, just in the same way the rom-com fan isn't going to pick some violent slasher either. So, if your taste is old school brawling for example, then a typical indie cruiserweight match just isn't going to flick your switches. And rightly so, because no one should bow down to trends if they really don't enjoy them. Maybe we really are in an era where we're experiencing a conveyor belt of great matches... or maybe given a few years the sheen will have worn off and a lot of those formerly great matches will look distinctly average. But, in the meantime, that's something only time will tell.

Coming from someone who used to really dislike ZSJ matches it's fair to say he's come on in leaps and bounds over the past year or two. The holds actually look a bit more nasty now and like he's actually trying to hurt people rather than test their flexibility and while there's still some way to go I do feel he's slowly starting to get it more. I can only assume his time around Suzuki is starting to pay off in that department. This was one of the best matches I've seen him in, not perfect by any stretch but engaging and a strong clash of styles. I agree with above that there were times in the match where I wanted ZSJ to just take a breather for a second and really cinch in a hold but the flipside of that is that I wanted times where Ibushi was struggling more too after coming out of holds. The leg lock from the Moonsault to the floor was easily the spot of the match and looked brutal with it too. A really great match despite the minor flaws and another step into bringing me around onto Zack Sabre Jr.

Absolute insanity. Came for Pentagon, but ended up absolutely loving the entire match. A real lowbrow, violent brawl with some incredibly well done spots. If this is what Impact are aiming to bring then they may have just found themselves a returning audience member. Certainly not for the faint of heart, and certainly not politically correct in any shape or form but an absolute spectacle from start to finish. A bloodied **** from me too.

There's definitely a cultural thing here I think, in the U.S. wrestlers tend to go to college etc first which means they're well into their twenties by the time they start training. If you're lucky you'll need say five years minimum before you start to gain a buzz and then you might get a shot at the big time, the likelihood being that by the time that happens you'll already be heading towards 30 or surpassed it. However, in the UK you'll find that a lot of wrestlers are training and making their debuts in their teens which means their formative years are coming much earlier which gives you the likes of Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Will Ospreay, Noam Dar etc being ready for the big stage at a far earlier age than their North American counterparts. As for other young UK wrestlers who could be destined for bigger things I'll go with Flash Morgan Webster (27), Chris Ridgeway (25), Zack Gibson (27) and Chris Tyler (21), all of which I'm sure are already on your radars.

Coming from someone who is a massive fan of Stranger Things and Orange is the New Black the second season of GLOW is the best thing Netflix has produced yet.

I can honestly say that was one of the wildest matches I've ever seen. I think with all the footage of Hardcore and Deathmatch wrestling there is out there now it's easy to become numb to this kind of match and just see it as more of a stunt show than an out and out fight. That isn't the case here though, from the outset this feels like a visceral fight with absolutely no pantomime involved. The shots are hard and heavy and although some of the offense looks a little sloppy at times it actually adds to the 'real fight' feel of the match. Ozaki and Kansai clearly have great chemistry though and the little and large dynamic works really well here with Kansai using her power to cut off Ozaki to great effect. Ozaki's work with the chain is terrifying at times and really helps even the odds, especially when she's using it to strangle Kansai over the ropes. Kansai is more than up for dishing out the punishment herself though and comes into her own when they're brawling in the crowd as she uses her power to great effect once more. Back in the ring, the brief bits of straight wrestling they showed certainly had me ready to look up more in-ring work from these two with Kansai in particular impressing me with her super fast kicks. However, soon after that it does bring me to my one only real complaint about the match which is the two blading spots. Both were incredibly obvious, which is in part down to poor camera work really, being a little more subtle would have ramped it up another notch for me and the way it was done just took me out of the moment slightly. However, having said that, great respect for both women in putting it on the line, as both have the famed crimson mask by the end. The end of the match kicks up a gear in terms of intensity and speed as both try to put the other away and really gives a feeling of this could end at any second. The Piledriver through the table just before the end is one of the most brutal looking things I've ever seen in a hardcore match and caused an audible gasp to come out of my mouth and I was more than glad to see Ozaki get up from it and really summed up this crazy, crazy match for me. These two put everything on the line and give this more of a legitimate feeling than just about any other match I can think of. A downright gritty and nasty match, but one you can't take your eyes off of.

Man, sorry about this, been so wrapped up with the World Cup that wrestling took a backseat. I'll get reviewing again.

Sounds fantastically ambitious. Colour me excited.

Have to agree with the above that the crowd made a good match great here with just how into Tanahashi they were. Really fun, well paced match I thought with some cool moments (none cooler than Tanahashi getting into Okada's face). One of my favourite matches of the year so far, from a match I wasn't expecting to enjoy so much. A ****1/2 from me too.

Was really looking forward to this one as from a purely taste driven perspective it has a great selection of wrestlers involved. Vader is an all time favourite of mine, and someone who I can watch all day everyday while Tenta is someone who could perhaps make a claim for being one of the top 10 Super Heavyweight in-ring workers ever and one of the few 'legit' guys who perhaps doesn't get the respect he deserved. Albright, I haven't seen so much of but have seen enough to know he was a total badass and one of the best Suplex machines to ever step into the ring while Yamazaki isn't someone I remember seeing at all before now, so all in all, this should be an interesting match up. First off, Vader looks like a total rockstar in the pre-match interviews, and everything I want from a nineties wrestler, the three English speakers do a great job of hyping the match and making it look legit. By the time all four are in the ring it becomes clear that there's some heat there, the crowd are pretty rabid to see Albright and Vader go one on one and the audible awestruck roar for Tenta (who looks massive even compared with Vader and Albright) during the introductions is a cool moment. His slightly modified Earthquake attire looks pretty great here too, nice to see it being recycled. The match itself was a slow burn to begin with but did a great job of showcasing each wrestlers background, Tenta gets some awesome looking sumo slaps in early on before he and Albright both show off their amateur and mat based credentials. While this didn't do much for me, it was an interesting contrast to the usual Super Heavyweight brawling we were used to in the early nineties and lends to the legitimate feel they're trying portray here. The pace picks up once Yamazaki hits the ring and he goes about putting on a great plucky underdog display with some great looking strikes, Tenta instantly switches into monster mode and the two trade back and forth nicely with Yamazaki in particular coming across as a fearless fighter despite the massive size difference. From here it doesn't take long until we're treated to our first piece of Vader action and there's only one way to describe it here and that's terrifying. Each shot, whether it's against Yamazaki or Albright looks like it could end the match at any second and it's easy to see why he was just about the most feared man in all of wrestling at this point. It seems to be a role he relishes as he dishes out the punishment with swift brutality and the crowd eat it up. By the time Albright and Vader face off the crowd are white hot and the pair reward them by quite simply beating the crap out of each other. All in all, after a slightly slow beginning this descends into a really entertaining and incredibly hard hitting shoot style tag match which is only enhanced by a fully invested audience. All four wrestlers put in a great shift and do their jobs to perfection with a great contrast of styles. As you would expect, Vader looks like a total monster and legitimately dangerous with it, his punches and forearms look like they could knock down walls and even in defeat he loses absolutely none of his aura. However, the MVP has to be Yamazaki. He takes an absolute beating throughout and how he wasn't knocked out by some of the bombs Vader was throwing I'll never know. Despite this he looks great on the offense too, throwing some spectacular kicks and some heavy shots of his own and off of the back of this I'll be looking up more of his stuff. ***3/4

Cheers for this mate, looks like I've got some watching to do. I actually watched the 6-Man last night after posting this, and while you can certainly see the years catching up with Park he was still able to do some cool stuff and the crowd were absolutely crazy for him. The heat between him and Rush was red hot too and the spot where he's getting whipped with the belt had me cringing, especially when it looked like his face was whipped. Looking forward to digging deeper into someone who I've always found pretty fascinating but lost track with since his days in the U.S. looks like I'm in for a treat.

What do you mean by recently? Last year or two? Last 5-10? You tell me... is there a point where he's kicked up a gear in the past couple of years? I know his matches with Rush have been pretty crazy and the CMLL/AAA deals certainly sound really interesting, just wondering if this is a recent rejuvenation or if he's been doing crazy matches for years now and it's just gone totally under my radar.

What do I need to be searching out for L.A. Park recently? Sounds like he's having a bit of a renaissance but I never know where to start with Lucha.