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Solid TV match. Hector has impressive high spots for 1979. This was heavily one-sided, but Rose's bumping and selling was enough to make it engaging. The babyfaces going after Rose's arm in their matches after the big angle with him and Jay Youngblood is a small detail I love. I do find it odd that after Hector controlled most of the match, Rose came back and won anyway, especially since the decision was reversed immediately.

The first several minutes consist of the heels pinballing around the ring for the faces, and the faces passing off their opponents' limbs to each other. Starr plays FIP for a bit, and is quite good at it. George Wells comes in hot, but The Army's revolving-door tags are too much and he eventually gets eliminated. The heels once again use the numbers game to eliminate Hector. Starr pins Brooks off of a misplaced knee drop from Wiskoski and everything breaks loose. Rose & Wiskoski end up turning on their fellow Army stablemates, leading to the match being ruled a no-contest. High-quality TV wrestling with a hot angle to boot.

Fun six-man tag with a bunch of vibrant characters. Rose & Wiskoski are only out for themselves, so they keep getting into situations where they accidentally hit Bass and try to calm him down. Mayne and Savage on the other hand, want to get their hands on Rose for trying to break Jay Youngblood's arm. The finish falls a little flat, being a TV time-limit draw, but it all leads to the post-match angle where Bass gets his payback by attacking Rose & Wiskoski during an interview.

Hayato vs. MUSASHI for the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title is now official for July 1st. This will be Hayato's first match since he faced Kengo on December 13, 2019.

Fujita Hayato, who has been battling cancer since late 2018, appeared after the main event of today's Michinoku Pro show between MUSASHI and Kazuki Hashimoto. He challenged MUSASHI to a Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title match. The date hasn't been set, but Michinoku Pro confirmed they're working on his official return. Personally, I think this is great news, and it's wonderful to see Hayato back in a ring.

The match felt like a battle of wills in the early going, with control weaving back and forth between the two teams. FTR played the subtle heels, which was established when Dax spit in Jay’s face. Dax lost his cool and threw a chair into the ring, but referee Paul Turner caught it. That momentary distraction was enough to allow FTR to regain control. FTR maximized their time in the corner, using the count of five to wail on Mark and stay on top. Things broke down, and Jay hit a topé suicida on both members of FTR, followed by an elbow drop off the apron from Mark. The Briscoes tried to get Dax and Cash to wrestle their style of match, and FTR launched Jay headfirst into a table, busting him open in the process. Too often, tag team matches devolve into an unstructured mess of white noise, but I think this sort of chaos is where The Briscoes shine the most. Most importantly, the match is only tumultuous in short bursts, and they never lose the thread. Dax works the cut by punching Jay in the head hurting his hand in the process. Dax riled up the crowd by giving Jay the finger as Cash had him on the ropes. Jay made the hot tag to Mark, who came in all fired up, taking out Harwood and Wheeler. The Briscoes turn the tables on FTR following a blind tag, and end up hitting Redneck Boogie for a nearfall. The match zigs just when you think they’re going to zag. FTR acts like they’re going to attempt the Big Rig, but Cash pops Jay up into a sit-out Powerbomb. It’s a tremendous way to subvert expectations. Mark makes the save, and The Briscoes hit a Big Rig of their own. Normally, I wouldn’t be a fan of teams stealing each other’s moves, but it added to the unpredictable nature of the contest. Dax goes for a Brainbuster, but Jay drags him over the top rope and hits a Brainbuster onto the floor. Three of the four have color, with Wheeler being the only one who hasn’t been busted open. Cash needing to hoist up Dax is a great visual, as he’s clearly rocked after the Brainbuster on the floor earlier. It all comes down to Jay and Dax trading blows in the center of the ring. The Briscoes go for a Doomsday Device, but Mark gets pushed off the ropes, and Jay eats a Big Rig. Sublime work, a rare dream match that delivered in spades. The action is animated, thoughtful, and visceral in the best way. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already watched the match. If you haven’t, well, what are you waiting for? Rectify that immediately!

Biff and Mox have both been on quite the tear in 2022, so I was hyped for this match. The electricity in Fair Park is palpable. The opening mat work was perfunctory, with Mox largely relying on takedowns and Biff grinding him down with submissions. Mox locks in a modified STF and follows it up with stomps to the head. A big knee strike sends Biff flying to the outside. Biff gets busted open after a suplex on the floor, and the juices start flowing. The match gets visceral from here on out, with both swinging for the fences and color pouring from Biff's head as Mox tries to choke him out. Thunderous slap exchanges follow, and Mox's resiliency causes Biff to fire up and lay him out with a wicked uppercut. The match is at its apex when they're wailing on each other and swinging wildly for any shot that'll land. Mox sticks with the knee strikes that have worked so well for him, and in one last ditch effort of defiance, Biff puts up the double birds. A final knee strike knocks out Biff, and the ref calls for the bell. The opening minutes were fine, if a bit basic at times. Regardless, this match is teetering on the edge of greatness and is well worth seeking out if you're a fan of Biff or Mox. It's succinct, violent, and hard-hitting, three of my favorite qualities in wrestling.

It doesn't take long for things to get scrappy, as Thatcher lights up the larger competitor with knee strikes, and Kratos responds with a slap. Kratos is deceptively quick on the mat, but Thatcher softens him up for the Half Crab by kicking at his knee. Thatcher's as expressive as ever, looking as if he's enjoying inflicting pain on Kratos with a cheesy grin on his face. Kratos hits a deadlift suplex on a downed Thatcher and tries to wear him down with a chokehold. The ever-valiant babyface, Tim, tries to trade strikes with Kratos, and it proves beneficial. At this point in the match, Thatcher's dazed, on his feet selling shines. A shot from Thatcher busts Kratos open, and the behemoth levels him with a clothesline. Thatcher goes for the arm, but gets caught flush by a diving Superman Punch, and Kratos picks up the win. The crowd is livid, and what a giving match for Thatcher to return with. Every offensive flurry was designed to make Kratos look like a monster. Mission accomplished.

A byproduct of Stardom joining the Bushiroad banner is its matches becoming increasingly New-Japan-like. Whether that be increased match length, dancey counter sequences, strike exchanges, or prolonged mat work that is ultimately meaningless. There was more than a little of that here. Saya didn't sell long-term effects of the early neck work, which lasted a good 5+ minutes. The strike exchanges were ineffectual at best and downright ugly at worst. For many, the wrist-control spot is a prime example of the eyeroll-inducing, hollow "storytelling" that plagues NJPW's matches. Whereas in Okada/Tanahashi that moment was meaningful, one of defiance and a refusal to give up, here it felt like Tam and Saya pulled out that spot because they were going through a Big Match Checklist. The match was also surprisingly one-sided, with Saya being swallowed up by Tam at times. As someone who's not a very dynamic seller, that worked against her. There was an attempt to infuse emotion into this match, but it didn't resonate with me for the aforementioned reasons.

A wonderful display of power vs. technique. It's a simple story where Sakaguchi uses his submissions to try to take down his larger opponent. Nozaki peppered him with some mean strikes here and it felt like an uncooperative fight.

This was full of fluid mat exchanges and great strikes. Izuchi gets two straight downs with a flurry of kicks, only to get caught in a flash armbar that Hara was working towards the entire time. Efficient and snug wrestling that doesn't waste your time.

You won't see any forearm exchanges here, just a bunch of slick grappling and realistic striking. Izuchi caught Sasaki off-guard early and downed him with a high knee, but would ultimately be on the back foot for most of the match. I enjoyed Izuchi ramping up the intensity in the latter stages of the match and nearly eking out the win.

This match was about the journey of Adam Page. I’ve always liked Page but felt he had a potential that he hadn’t quite reached, whether that’d be due to questionable booking or match length. Here, he was on point in athleticism, emotion, and selling. The early portion of the match sees Bryan playing mind games and working over Page’s mid-section. It was a nagging injury for Page, as he’d often grab his ribs after taking a knee or a kitchen sink from Bryan. The true highlight of the match comes after Page takes a wicked bump by flipping off the top rope and landing on the apron, at which point Bryan hones in on the arm. Too often, apron bumps are used as transitional moves, but they felt like potential match-enders here. They later return to the arm work when Page misses a dive and comes crashing through a table on the outside. Eventually, Page gets a gusher by headbutting the post. The match slows down briefly, but this is where Danielson’s heel work shines, as he belittles the crowd and does jumping jacks. Bryan works over the cut with nasty uppercuts and elbows. Eventually, Danielson’s overconfidence comes back to bite him, and he kicks the post. Page’s leg work is gruesome, as he places Danielson’s leg in the guard rail and kicks it. Bryan doing one-legged jumping jacks to sell the leg damage from early on is just another reason he’s the G.O.A.T. The match escalates with Bryan kicking Page’s head in, but Page gets payback by landing some stomps of his own. The bad guy getting his comeuppance after acting so self-assured is quintessential pro wrestling. After a back-and-forth flurry, Page hits the Buckshot, but Danielson rolls out of the way and time expires. This felt like a more natural progression than the end of Bryan’s match with Kenny Omega, as he merely survived. Intrigue, intensity, emotion, and a sense of struggle; everything you could want out of a main event title match.

While their first match in St. Louis Anarchy was good, it felt like Makabe and Wyatt were just riffing on what they were capable of together. This match felt like a more tidy, self-contained story. Makabe constantly goes for the Makabe Lock, and Wyatt tries to set up the Cross Face. Makabe weaves in and out of holds seamlessly, grabbing his ankle to gain leverage when Wyatt has him compromised. The offense gets downright nasty at times, as Makabe bridges out of a pin attempt and gets elbowed back down to the mat for his efforts. The turning point sees Makabe miss a corner dropkick, and Wyatt sends him arm-first into the post. From there, Wyatt’s target is clear, and we get some dueling limb work. Both competitors are mindful of their injuries, constantly shaking out their arms in-between spurts of offense. A frenzy of pinfall attempts follows, and Wyatt steals the win with a roll-up. A wonderful match that packs a lot into its sub-fifteen-minute runtime.

I wasn’t expecting much from this match, but I ended up enjoying it a fair bit. I’ve found Okada’s recent work to be tiresome and dull, evoking the worst aspects of New Japan. The long-winded nature of his matches hasn’t helped matters, as NJPW continues to chase record-breaking match lengths not as an earned accomplishment, but to pad stats. This match isn’t without its issues. For one, the big moves could be spaced out better. Shingo hits a Death Valley Driver on the ramp and while the count-out tease is well-done, the first move after they get back into the ring is a Superplex. While the original wrist control spot from the Wrestle Kingdom 10 battle between Tanahashi and Okada felt justified and a symbol of Kazuchika’s stubbornness, it has since felt forced and merely been something Okada does in marquee matches. Then you have the dancey counter sequences, which are beyond tired at this point and only serve the purpose of filling time. I also think the finishing stretch dragged a tad bit too long. There’s less dead air here than in recent Okada matches. The early back work from Okada to Takagi is sold well, and the neck work added drama to the Money Clip attempts late in the match. Okada even does a wild dive over the guard in an attempt to win me back. Okada brings a sort of frenzied energy that has been sorely lacking from him in 2021. As is often the case with his best matches, Okada is fired up and has something to prove. Things get spicy once the match escalates, with Okada and Takagi putting force behind their strikes and blasting each other with elbows. After a back-and-forth closing stretch, Okada eventually finishes off Takagi with a dropkick, Landslide, and a Rainmaker. Firmly their best match together for my money. While I still firmly believe that less is more when it comes to New Japan, as a certain match earlier in the card displayed, there’s a lot to like here if you’re a fan of the style. If you’re not, this will do nothing to change your mind.

The Wrestler is back with a bang. Despite some trepidations about his return, I was delighted when Shibata announced that the match would be contested under standard pro wrestling rules. There’s a fairly obvious teacher vs. protégé story here. Narita reminds me a lot of Shibata in terms of his mannerisms and poise. If all goes well, he has all the makings of a special talent. From the jump, we get the kind of buttery-smooth, hard-nosed grappling Shibata’s known for. His transitions in and out of holds are seamless, logical, and give attention to the little details. Take, for example, the moment where he places his arm behind his head to block a submission from Narita, or how he places his boot on Narita’s head to grind him down to the mat for a Figure Four. Shibata turns a pin attempt directly into an armbar to put Narita away, but Narita has too much heart and catches him with a grotesque-looking Narita Special. From there, they briefly transition to leg work. Shibata’s selling of the leg is subtle, but a nice touch to add to the idea that Narita may have a chance to win. Narita gives as good as he gets, stomping Shibata in the corner, refusing to let go of the hold, and shoving the referee A nice struggle over the Kanuki Suplex ends in a Cobra Twist from Narita, but Shibata’s immediately able to turn it around. Narita escapes from a kick at one, which feels suitably defiant and not shoehorned in like one-counts often do. The match gets progressively more violent, as Narita starts wailing on Shibata with kicks, trying to break his guard. Eventually, Narita succumbs to a Penalty Kick. Short, sweet, and to the point. Many wrestlers in New Japan could learn a lot from this match. Less is more and all that.

Page comes out swinging right away, frustrated that he couldn’t put away Bryan in their previous encounter. Bryan plays mind games early on, doing jumping jacks and evading all of Page’s offense. Page throws himself into a topé suicida, but Danielson evades him again and sends him crashing arm-first into the barricade. Page gets color after being sent into the steps, and Bryan works away at the cut by grinding it into the side of the stairs, hitting brutal uppercuts, and using those trusty elbow strikes. Danielson’s work on top is phenomenal, as he even makes a point of mocking the judges as Hangman’s being attended to by the doctors. Bryan gets busted open himself following some gnarly headbutts, and the violence ramps up as Page pulls him into the post multiple times a la Danielson’s legendary battles with Nigel McGuinness. Page gets some sweet, sweet revenge, throwing in a few jumping jacks of his own as the medical staff attends to Bryan. My biggest issue with this match is with the arm work. I would’ve liked Page’s injury to inhibit his feats of strength a bit more, making them shakier to give a sense of struggle and weight. Instead, he hits a top-rope fallaway slam, catches a dive from Bryan, and hits a Deadeye on the outside with ease, like he hadn’t had his arm worked over for a significant portion of the match. Hangman goes for the Buckshot, but Bryan collapses and suckers him for a near-fall and a Cross Face attempt. It ends with both battered, neither willing to give an inch, trading headbutts. Page eventually keeps him down long enough to hit the Buckshot and that’s all she wrote. A lesser version of one of the best matches of 2021, but still great in its own right and very much worthwhile.

This is a façade of a match, a contest for people who claim to enjoy technical wrestling but don’t want the nuance or thought that goes into making those bouts enjoyable. There’s a tentative start with some mediocre at best grappling. Dar loosely targets the arm, but it doesn’t amount to much, as would be a running theme throughout the match. Dar sets A-Kid on the top rope and charges at him but gets sent flying over the ropes to end the second round. A terrible kick-evading exchange occurs with many strikes that don’t come close to connecting. Dar locks on the Nova Roller to snag the first fall. A-Kid eats crap on a suicide dive when Sha Samuels pushes Dar out of the way but he’s able to beat the ten-count. A-Kid hits a springboard moonsault/DDT combo for the second fall. At this point, they start doing a lot of stuff that has no bearing on the early mat work. The submission attempts in-between moves are floaty, and there’s a long sequence where they let each other grab holds for the sake of creating artificial drama. All of it takes a backseat to the moves, though. The submissions feel hollow because none of them are sold or carry any weight. They merely exist in a vacuous pit, a pit where dreams go to die. After a series of moves that sees jumping superkicks, some ugly back elbows from Dar, and frankly pointless distractions from Sha Samuels, the match ends on a wet fart of a finish. A-Kid traps Dar in a final submission with both tied at 1-1, but the bell sounds for a draw. A deeply frustrating match, one that in typical WWE fashion takes a popular thing from yesteryear, dumbs it down and distills it until it’s unrecognizable.

From the outset, there’s a great atmosphere that sets the tone for the match. The crowd is firmly pro-Mack, with some fans even going so far as to bring signs with his face on them. He can be a jerk sometimes, but he’s their jerk. The crowd erupts into a “this is Mack’s house!” chant before the bell even rings. They eat up every word of his signature pre-match promo, echoing some of Mack’s key phrases. Shelley is delightfully smug in the pre-match, talking trash to Mack and the fans, quickly establishing his role here. Shelley goes after Mack’s arm, trying to take away the Mack-10. His work is brutal and disdainful, snapping Mack’s arm across the canvas and throwing him limb-first into the post. Shelley eggs the crowd on as he stomps the arm and delivers uppercuts. Mack goes for body shots, but can’t capitalize because of his bad arm. The locker room empties as everyone pounds on the apron to cheer on Mack. AC catches his second wind with an enziguri and a pair of suicide dives, but it always comes back to his bad arm. AC eventually catches Shelley with a swinging DDT but has to throw his body over Alex for a pinfall in a nice little detail. Shelley goes to the well one too many times with the Shell Shock and Mack kicks out and reverses into a roll-up to snag the title. I love this match for its simplicity. At its core, it’s a tale of morality, one of an outsider the crowd loves to hate and a hometown hero overcoming the odds. All of the tropes that could’ve come off as tired, such as the locker room surrounding ringside, came together to create a genuinely special moment, one that will hopefully stay in my memory for a long time.

Entertaining bomb fest between two ladies who are willing to throw themselves into their offense. That offense isn’t always the prettiest, but it adds to the match, giving things a bit more spice and a grittier feel. Masha in particular takes a wicked bump on a German suplex. Some of the powerbombs have a real nice crunch to them. They keep a brisk pace, dump each other on their heads, and bust out some grotesque headbutts. Well worth 12 minutes of your time.

From the outset, this match felt like a fight. Maria scrapped and clawed her way out of holds and took potshots at DASH by scraping her boot across the back of her head. Maria immediately went for the arm, which wouldn’t become a focus until later. DASH responded with forearms that sounded like gunshots, but Maria gave as good as she got. There was a certain combativeness to everything they did. Take, for example, DASH kicking at Maria while she was on the mat. Maria caught DASH’s arm and kicked it while it was in-between the ropes. DASH did well to remind us of her injury, shaking feeling into the bad limb as she peppered Maria with strikes. DASH’s cut-offs were well-timed as well, as she checked Maria with a headbutt for good measure. Maria fought with all her might, but DASH added insult to injury by putting her away with not one but two Michinoku Drivers. A delightful, bite-sized banger full of hatred and spitefulness.

This match was the prime example of fighting harder with your friends than you do anyone else. The Violence Princess duo started with competitive mat work, but neither was able to gain the advantage. Things quickly escalated and they ended up fighting on the apron. Normally, I’d not be a fan of them heading to the so-called hardest part of the ring so quickly, but this felt like a battle of wills. The match got suitably more violent, and Nakamori bounced Nakajima’s head off the ring post a few times, but she got too confident and ended up falling off the apron to eat a dropkick. This overconfidence would likewise cost Arisa as she came off the top rope, only to eat a gnarly-looking kick. From that point on, Nakamori honed in on Nakajima’s arm, snapping it across the ropes and yanking at it. Nakamori would wear her down with arm drags and later come back to the injured limb by applying a Fujiwara armbar. Arisa’s selling wasn’t great or anything, but a subtle reminder that Hanako may have a fighting chance at capturing SEAdLINNNG’s top prize. Hanako brutalized Arisa with knee-strikes. Nakamori dumped Arisa on her head with a driver, but went to the well once too many times and nearly got rolled up for her efforts. Some may view this as overkill, but I liked Hanako’s desperation as she willed herself on to win the title. The finish was a delightful callback to their previous title match. Nakajima got Nakamori in position for a dragon suplex. Nakamori went for a headbutt, but this time it was reversed into a dragon sleeper. I’d argue Nakamori got one too many kick-outs, as that would have been a suitable finish, but Nakajima put her down immediately with one more half-and-half suplex. Despite some qualms with the finish, this was a great match in its own right and properly visceral at times.

The definition of all killer, no filler. A wonderful little spot fest that fits a show like Shotgun Saturday Night perfectly. Things started hot with Teioh and Funaki attempting to double-team Papi. Their plan backfires, and Funaki eats a diving senton through the ropes. Casey dispatches of Teioh and assists Papi with a wild topé over the ropes. The action remains frantic, but it’s Kaientai’s stooging that puts everything over the top, with both constantly colliding with one another due to miscommunication. Casey gets a brief chance to shine, stacking Teioh and Funaki up in the corner and hitting a monkey flip. Eventually, the Kaientai duo rallies and dumps Casey on his head with a DDT for the win. Five minutes of pure, C-show goodness.

Kosuke and Kazuki kick things off, trying to grind each other down with arm wringers. Wholesale tags follow, and things largely stick to the mat. Back in the ring, Kosuke wants Kohei, but his youthful exuberance costs him, and one forearm shot from Hashimoto downs Sato. K-Hash and Kohei dismantle the poor youngster, wearing him down with submissions, but Kosuke’s resiliency is the story of the match. Hot tag to Nomura, who batters Hash with elbows in the corner. Kazuki goads Nomura into a kick battle, which proved to be a mistake. Kosuke Sato’s on fire, unloading a bevy of dropkicks and headbutts, but once again, it’s one headbutt that topples him. Kosuke stands up to his fellow Sato, eating kicks from Kohei like they’re candy. Kosuke tries to take them on two-on-one, and yet again, he’s struck down by his overconfidence. Kohei hits a piledriver, and with the break-up just out of reach for Nomura, Kosuke takes the fall. Everyone played their role to perfection here, with Kosuke being the fiery rookie, Nomura the steady hand to guide him along, and Kohei & Kazuki being the veteran butt-kickers. More bite-sized tag matches like this, please!

Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP World Heavyweight Title Standard fare as far as New Japan’s main events these days are concerned. They start with some mat work, but it’s quickly forgotten about and doesn’t carry much weight. This also isn’t 2020 anymore, so the magic this pairing once created is long gone. Without a cheering crowd living and dying with every near fall, it all falls into the trap of most Okada matches, which is to say it rings hollow. This is relatively brisk by modern NJPW standards, clocking in at just 27 minutes. Naito targets the neck to set up the Destino, and it’s fine and all. I can’t shake the feeling that the New Japan of several years ago, which excited me and had me optimistic about the future, is a completely different promotion than the soulless husk it is currently. There are issues here, so deeply entrenched in the epic main event formula that simply allowing crowds to cheer again won’t fix overnight. For one, they could do a better job of spacing out the high spots. Okada hits a DDT on the apron, and rather than capitalizing on it, immediately hits another DDT on the floor. Whether New Japan will overcome these obstacles remains to be seen. But for now, we’ll have to rely on small glimmers of hope like sporadic guest appearances from Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Tatsumi Fujinami, or STRONGHEARTS freshening up the undercards. The crowd audibly popped when Naito hit a Stardust Press in the closing stretch, which felt like being transported back in time a few years when things were better and it was undoubtedly the high point of the match. Hold on to those moments, because for the time being, they are few and fleeting.