Makai Club #1

Love this match! Inoki punched a bloody Saito into oblivion while Riki Choshu could only watch on while his mentor is dying. Amazing theatre.

Austin was electric in this. He embodied the crazed madman in his offence and attitude. He pushed his weight around, cheated and bullied his way to victory. My favourite part of the match is where he recklessly throws Benoit hip first into the corner of the announce table before posing to boos. Benoit was on point as well with his excellent selling that milked sympathy from the crowd and when he went on offence, he looked like an absolute king. While watching this, I felt like Benoit definitely could've been the top face of 2001 if only injuries didn't stop his momentum dead. He was that good. This was magic. Outstanding work on the ribs, the face and heel divide was great and the finish made Benoit come off like Austin, almost, getting his hands on Vince while Austin looks like a crafty heel who took the opportunity when he came to him. My only gripe with the match is with Michael Cole’s commentary. He constantly repeats how Benoit being hurt is the same as the crowd being hurt. Once is fine, but anything after that is force feeding. ****1/2

I skipped half way into the Tama Tonga /Taichi match and it still felt way too long. Ridiculous.

In an odd way, this definitely came off like a Handicap match between singles wrestlers. And I mean that positively. A lot of handicap matches with singles wrestlers have fluid tag team wrestling but that's not entirely plausible. This was very unstructured and erratic. I can't recall Regal or Angle doing a single double team move that's not them stamping or punching Jericho. Jericho ramped up his urgency to fight against the two well and sold really well. A solid performance for Jericho. Benoit saves Jericho after the match when Regal and Angle put the boots to him. ***

I currently got Bockwinkel sandwiched between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Stone Cold. I just find that to be amusing. He's currently in my top 20 and he could rise easily.

Austin Aries had a great two match series with Jamie Noble when he was on ROH under James Gibson. Most of the time Aries is against someone bigger, which he great at, so seeing him against someone who is his equal, size wise, was a treat.

He was good in those 94 Junior Tag League matches but I can't think of any other time that I thought he was at least a good wrestler. Unremarkable at best.

Excellent match. HARASHIMA had two great stretches of offence - him picking apart Higuchi’s knee and his comeback in the end. HARASHIMA was great on the mat, taking Higuchi’s base away from him initially. Loved him digging the point of the elbow into the patella as it reminded me of Billy Robinson teaching his students to put the elbow into the side of the shin for extra pain. Higuchi didn't really sell it initially as they were trying to put him over as a monster, along with him no selling headbutting the post, which was an awesome spot btw, but in the finish, as HARASHIMA there wicked kicks to the knee, it got better. ****

PROGRESS Title No Disqualification Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Marty Scurll - PROGRESS Chapter 25: Chat Shit Get Banged 24/01/2016 Nothing says British Wrestling than every American style finish you can think of packed into one match. And you'll find that it's not an exaggeration either. There is a ref bump in the middle of the match, Scrull almost makes Ospreay pass out via the Chicken Wing twice, surprising roll ups, a big babyface comeback following a beat down and handcuffs are used. It was quite excessive but they never lost the crowd or their heat for the match. The action was always moving along and these two know each other well enough to come up with incredibly tricked out counters that came off as fluid despite their complexity. The early parts of the match were mostly brawling on the outside and they were surprisingly able to make it work despite your first impressions. They made great use of the environment, using the balcony, with Ospreay hitting a lovely moonsault off the balcony after Scrull tried to faceplant him into the wall, the stage, with Scurll putting Ospreay through the announcers table and the crowd itself. There was a lot to talk about in this match as it was very dense and filled with moment creating spots. It could be too much for some people but I thought the match itself was big enough, by British Wrestling standards, to warrant such an epic layout. ****1/4

He was a solid wrestler most of the time. Lacking real crowd connection hurt his run a ton, especially when he was a babyface. He had some cool matches against Christian, Big Show , Rey Mysterio, etc. He peaked real high with Dolph Ziggler of all people, having one of the better WWE matches of the 2010s but there isn't much else. Not fit for a Top 100 but he's more appreciable when you look beyond that.

I'm sure if I look at my match spreadsheets, I'll find a few really good (sometimes great) Randy Savage matches against Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Ricky Steamboat, Warrior, etc but when I think of Randy Savage, I don't have much emotion towards him. I don't hate him or love him. He's just there for me - a permanent fixture of that era of wrestling. Obviously he's insanely talented but he's never someone I've connected with outside of his promos which aren't really a factor here, and that's only because his voice is funny to imitate. Compared to Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Rick Rude and other wrestlers of his time period, I have concrete thoughts and love/dislike for them. With Savage, there is nothing. So I'm not entirely sure where I stand with Savage.

His serious matches with Takeshita and HARASHIMA have been really good. I have really enjoyed the comedy matches myself, but they are usually never going to win points with the mass majority.

This is where my problems with Austin heel turn comes. In the closing stretch, Austin tapped out to the Sharpshooter while Vince had the referee distracted. No way do I buy Austin tapping out. All that's changed is that he's a heel and now he's someone who'd tap in the same submission move that he famously passed out to? That's not plausible. All they had to do is make Austin way more violent. Not weaker. That's the type of thing that bundled the heel turn entirely. The match wasn't all that great either once the match got into the Cage. The brawl on the outside was fun with Austin ping balling himself about like it's 1992 all over again and Rock showing all kinds of spit and fire. Once the match went in the ring, it felt very restrictive. I don't think these two really work together when they are stuck in the ring. Some spots looked awkward to me, like the float over DDT, because of the cage. Vince constantly interferes in the match, giving Austin a steel chair, Austin gets thwarted at first but eventually Austin gets the advantage and then out comes HHH. He teases going against Austin but then he attacks The Rock along with Austin and Vince and he Power Trip debuts. Yay. Thoroughly disappointing match with a fine but uncreative angle. **3/4

It depends on the wrestler. Maki Itoh had the idol (anti idol, really) character to draw people in despite not being very good most of the time outside of a few carry jobs. But people like Mayu Iwatani, Miyu Yamashita and Takumi Iroha are genuinely good wrestlers. STARDOM to their credit has used foreign wrestlers, like Toni Storm, really well to draw in the western based fans who recognise the name and then keep and expand that audience with good wrestling even among the idol-y presentation.

I checked earlier to see if she had a thread and I was stunned that she didn't, so I'm glad that she has one now. She probably won't be in my top 100 because there are so many great wrestlers, but she was awesome in her own right. She was great in the JBA, being the clear better of the two (not to knock Tateno, and she was fun in all the singles matches I've seen of her too. Her JWP run has some cool matches like the Dynamite Kansai match.

Awesome match. Yamazaki isolates Kansai’s leg and works on it, wrapping it around the ring post and then proceeding to elbow the knee joints. It was really cool, skillful work on the part of Yamazaki. And Kansai’s selling was rock solid as well. Kansai had to rely on pure power to get her out of trouble, leading to a simple but exciting finish. ***3/4

This was really good. Once the match peaked, they slowed down but then they peaked again. Impressie. The first half of the match is built around Honma and the question of “can he hit the kokeshi”. After many attempts, he did it and the crowd popped. There were a lot of elbow exchanges in this which can be a turn off but it was done in a competitive way that kept the match going instead of stopping it to a crawl. A cool match. Holds up well. ****

Their past is one of the more notable stories of the time period. Tana and Shibata still have a bit of heat of Shibata leaving New Japan years ago (think Nagata vs Sasaki when Sasaki left New Japan briefly). The stylistic differences are clear. Even aesthetically, these two are polar opposites. So there was some lure in that regard. Tanahashi was willing to fly around a bit more to create a wider contrast. But there wasn't much that really stood out as great to me. The strike exchanges are probably necessary for the story they were going for but I found them entirely uncompelling and unconvincing. Shibata should be killing Tanahashi and Tana is going toe to toe with him. Compare this to Suzuki vs Okada strike exchanges where Suuzki is clearly winning every strike and Okada is only still on his feet through stubbornness. Here, it's presented as equal. When Shibita was throwing more strike combos and working the leg, the match worked much better for me. The crowd carried the emotion of the match, as did Tanahashi. But there was something very lacking in this match. Consider me underwhelmed. **3/4

That Saito/Kandori match is amazing. Definitely check it out if you like Kandori's work. Kandori is my #1 Joshi, I'd say. There was something evidently special about her. Her aura of legit toughness is hard to match, and that's something that'll always get me on someone's side. She was quite charismatic as well. She's not just great submission and throws. The Brock Lesnar comparison is interesting as he's similar. There is a massive personality underlying there that doesn't necessarily get captured on first look and when it comes out, it's amazing. Kandori is quite adaptable as well. The Hokuto matches come off like dramatic fights (they are also my #1 & #2 Joshi matches), the Kudo matches are weapon brawls, the Hotta is more shooty based. And she somehow keeps her style and who she is alive despite the type of match she is wrestling in.

I knew this was coming as they are all well regarded. I mean the Dec 1990 match. I watched the Super Libre match that they had already. I've been putting off watching this one .

I'm puzzled when it comes to Becky. She is the most likeable when it comes to the Horsewomen but I think she is by far the worst of the four and is flat-out average on her own. During her hot run, none of her matches or individual pefrormances stood out as impressive to me - those Charlotte matches consistently underwhelmed me. Something was there but it wasn't connecting with me in a way that I connect with Sasha or Charlotte, who is the most flawed out of the 4. I really like the Sasha match in NXT and maybe the Natalya match at I think Summerslam, but it's slim pickings otherwise.

My #1 Luchador. Sensational wrestler. His peaks are among the best Lucha has to offer. And I haven't gotten around to watching the El Dandy match that everyone raves about yet. I'm not sure where I'll rank him but it's going to be high.

I love that he does that. The fact that he can make a compelling match doing very little and prolonging the match by struggling to put on the Scorpion Hold or a simple suplex is a plus.

NWA World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Steel Cage Match: AJ Styles vs. Abyss This was incredible. I personally think that the match should've ended after the Styles Clash into the tacks but the actual finish is also excellent. Masterful even. The crowd brawl was excellent with AJ exploding out the blocks and hitting a great looking forearm smash from the crowd. Abyss has probably at his peak as the monster act in this. He complimented AJ wonderfully. The aforementioned inish was great. Abyss throws the re into the cage, causing AJ, who is on the top, to almost all and in prime position to be hung. AJ is in desperation mode and starts biting and goes all out to hit a sunset lip to score the win. ****1/2

Lance Russell did a great job explaining why the Piledriver is legal for this match. This was a great showcase for Nick Bockwinkle. He schools Lawler on the mat with his insistent holds that manipulates Lawler’s movements. Lawler does show some shine of skill but Lawler's best out is his punches which were as great as they usually were. Lawler’s hope spots and Bockwinkel’s subsequent cutoffs were well done. The drama raised high once the straps came down and then it grew even more when Bockwinkel sent Lawler crashing to the outside floor. Bockwinkel cheats to win, keeping his title safe for another week and protecting Lawler who’s pissed. ***3/4