aaeo_

I strongly disagree!

At this point, it's awe-inspiring that with a roster that includes Suzuki, Goto and Ibushi, they keep finding a way to put their belt on the dullest wrestlers they can possibly find.

Very fun match between grizzled vet Shiozaki and callow rookie MAO. MAO annoys and mocks Shiozaki until Go catches him, chops him, dangles him out the ring while in a sleeper hold and spikes his head on the apron. After that, Go brings the violence. He knees MAO in the head and repeatedly clobbers him with big strikes. One tiny detail that I enjoyed was MAO defending a vertical suplex attempt by grapevining Shiozaki's leg, whereas most wrestlers would just squat and make a noise. MAO makes a couple brief comebacks but Shiozaki chops him down with uh... chops. MAO was amazing in this tournament, all his matches had an interesting spin of some sort. Shiozaki was also very good in the DDT environment overall, worked hard in every match and all that.

While every Shinya Aoki pro wrestling match we've had is interesting on some level, on paper this is one of his most interesting matchups because Takeshita is one of a handful of wrestlers in DDT who is significantly bigger than Aoki. It is also better than his previous tournament matches in practice, because during the tournament all of Aoki's matches were just stalling. And some of those were fun, Aoki armbarring Guevara after being given the middle finger is a great moment, but I'm glad this didn't fall into that mold. The grappling is good again, not as much as in the HARASHIMA match, but watching Aoki react to what the other wrestler is doing and cycle through submissions is fantastic. He does a weird spot to escape a headscissors via a headstand which was also intriguing. Just as I was really getting into this match, Takeshita gets an Acting Moment after Aoki gets a rope break out of a boston crab and his selling for Aoki's subsequent strikes is goofy as shit in the worst possible way. However, the finish is cool as Takeshita finally ragdolls Aoki with a chokeslam and a german suplex, which was my expectation coming into the match.

AAA has been allied with TNA almost going back to TNA's foundation. The CMLL-New Japan relationship as it exists now "only" goes back roughly a decade, when Liger had his CMLL run. CMLL actually used to work with AJ in the 80s. Hence, Kamikaze Misawa and all that. NJPW did book Dr. Wagner Jr. a lot in the late 90s but at the time Michinoku Pro was also booking CMLL wrestlers, it wasn't an exclusive relationship like nowadays. Similarly, NJPW used to book UWA/indie wrestlers before the UWA collapsed.

This follows the template of their very good May 2017 house show match, where HARASHIMA tries to keep MAO grounded and tied up. Except, now MAO is much better and HARASHIMA is perhaps more vulnerable due to the passing of time. The tied up part is quite literal at some points. HARASHIMA does an abdominal stretch while trapping MAO's opposite leg. It looked sort of precarious and he didn't hold it for long but it also looked gnarly. Half of the reviews for DDT matches I've done here are just me raving about HARA's grappling so I won't do that this time. What I really liked about this match is that unlike their previous bout, HARASHIMA can't keep MAO tied up for long. So MAO gets more offense, and he mostly hurts HARASHIMA with kicks and strikes. He may be more notable for his crazy plunder matches (which are also very good) but he's a very good wrestler in conventional setting. Eventually, HARASHIMA starts to overwhelm MAO. He sets up the somato but is unable to hit it. MAO counters with a bunch of roll ups, which felt like a great desperate move. And his win comes as suddenly as that. It's a really rewarding watch, towards the end of a DDT binge, at least. I'd love for these two to get a big show match, they have great chemistry.

I thought this was a really cool match. Aoki struggles with selling a bit but he's Shinya Aoki! It doesn't really matter that he's stonefaced most of the match. Aoki doesn't swallow up HARASHIMA either, they both look pretty good. HARASHIMA puts Aoki in a couple armbar attempts and a rear-naked choke attempt, and Aoki has to stand up and reset. He even gets him to use a rope break after reversing a leglock into an ankle lock. Aoki underselling a german suplex after that was the one moment where the match sort of disappointed me. Aoki does some things that I haven't seen anyone else do in pro wrestling, even something simple like when he gets out of a waistlock by threatening a kimura. But then they do a very complex 50/50 guard dueling leglock monstrosity, which was very cool. Aoki also does a handful of very creative pinning combinations, but he doesn't get more than a one count. I was bothered that the ref, Daisuke Kiso, was really slow to start counting and he missed one or two pinfall attempts. He's usually good but in a very different type of match. The ending sequence is good. After the aforementioned german suplex, HARASHIMA reverses a single leg takedown attempt into a piledriver (which is also very cool and not done enough). They trade a couple more submission attempts before Aoki gets the triangle choke. This made me think that we're really missing out by Hard Hit and whichever produce shows that have this type of match mostly being recorded exclusively by hard cam, seeing everything up close was much more rewarding. Aoki is great in this setting, against an opponent who can keep up. I'd recommend checking out this match if you like technical wrestling at all. I also want to thank bitcoin and the turkish lira for making this possible by putting Aoki into debt, and wish Aoki a speedy financial recovery.

DDT's Sumo Hall shows never sound loud from what I've seen. A good comparison point would be the KUDO-Sakaguchi match from 2015, where the crowd actually didn't care at all. Match was good, CIMA's early leg work was good. I also liked them going back to the exposed turnbuckle a few times. Takeshita's selling was the same as always but... better? He's still always gonna hit all the suplexes and the thigh-slap knees and kicks but I don't think he ever stops selling the leg for more than 30 seconds in this match. It's confusing. It is what it is, they just shouldn't be building matches around him selling a leg but if they do, this is what they should be. His bump off the entranceway ruled too.

I really like KENTA's second match against Takayama.

A very concussed Henry Corrales cut the promo of the year ten minutes later:

Also watch the promo he cuts post-fight to dead silence. Scott Coker is the greatest booker of all time.

I gotta watch their main event from last night. AAA is a deathmatch company now

I actually like Savinovich and Guillén. It's not an edifying listen or anything but they aren't too annoying, which is more than you can say for a lot of wrestling announcers, and sometimes they are even pretty fun.

A huge number of promotions are not economically viable as is because they're passion projects (or money laundering fronts). Don't know if that's a viable argument against unionization.

I loved this match. Kuishinbo Kamen taking shoot stuff for his comedy bits is extremely my shit. The two that really got me were referee Matsui dragging them back to the center of the ring when they were under the ropes, and Sakaguchi casually checking Kamen's leg kicks. The other thing that makes this work is Sakaguchi being embarrassed about falling for Kamen's nonsense, he makes for a really great comedic foil. On the other hand, Kamen looks pretty decent when boxing with Sakaguchi early on in the match! I don't want to recount every joke but there's a whole lot going on in this match, Kamen has a book, there's rounds for some reason, Takeshita is ringside while nursing an injury (he was actually supposed to wrestle Kamen in this show), etc. I'd definitely recommend seeking this out if you're into comedy wrestling in any capacity.

Really well-crafted, unique match for these two. Katsumata targets the leg, and Bailey gets to bully him because of the size advantage, which is very rare for him to be able to do. He kills him with shoulder blocks, and various strikes, all the while selling the leg. Bailey doesn't do all his offense, which is good for the match, but he does do stuff like a cool pinfall attempt counter to Katsumata's casadora. This took place a day after Katsumata had the goofiest "fans bring the weapons" match against Violento Jack, Shunma is the best.

don't worry WrestlingFan, the gamer nerd and the christian family men surely go on huge ragers

Azealia Banks? of 212 and chicken slaughtering fame? very intrigued about this story, please share

I find the way MAO incorporates shoot submissions into matches very rewarding. While other high fliers struggle to fill time doing faces or running the ropes to throw a forearm or whatever, MAO is trying to put you in a triangle choke. It is great. He also does a nice hip toss. It reminds me a lot of HARASHIMA, who never finishes matches with submissions but is always working towards an armbar or a rear-naked choke while grappling. It's a shame that you can't really find information on the DDT Dojo because between this and the spread of the butterfly guard in Tokyo Joshi, I think Hara might be the best trainer of the decade. But maybe he isn't involved with training at all and MAO and the Tokyo Joshi girls got that stuff somewhere else, who knows, truly. Loved Paulie in this match, he's so entertaining to see. Endo works his ass off. Bailey does a kimura and fucking kills Endo with the moonsault knees at one point. Everyone is good and thus, it is a good match. Would also love to see DDT return to Endo & Paulie as a tag team later on, great fit.

the quote I read said "top employees" would get full benefits. That probably means something different to "anyone who works for them". How about CIMA though?

Hope Kushida gets a little indie run abroad. Him being around for something like Bloodsport is probably the best thing he could do all year, but realistically he's probably already worked out a deal with the WWE.

I'm jumping off but I'll do those two matches I got

I've started watching the show. I did like the gauntlet and the Ibushi-Ospreay match was pretty good until or despite the finish. Ospreay has done that elbow strike before. I really hate it, he slaps his thigh, it's an extremely unnatural movement and he seems to concuss people every time he does it. If he was reckless with conventional strikes, I'd probably be fine with it but this shit just looks horrible.

My pick would be Jun Akiyama in all white. It just makes him stand out and isn't super elaborate or anything. I also like BUSHI coming out with 43 masks on top of each other for his ringwalk. Other LIJ members have too much stuff going but it works for BUSHI imo. Rush's ringwalk mask is also really cool.

If AEW guts New Japan, maybe that leads to the best of all possibilities materializing: Goto main events Tokyo Dome.