EnviousStupid

Shibata hit the GTW and then immediately slapped on a sleeper, as if to choke whatever hope there was of Goto no-selling his own move done onto him. It is one of the most disrespectful things I can recall watching from pro wrestling, as well as another reason why Shibata is the fucking man. Match was fantastic too, but holy hell did I feel something in that moment.

Stylistically not my cup of tea, but it's a really good example of the comparisons Belair was getting around the time to a John Cena. The clear top babyface of her division, wrestling in front of a crowd cheering for her heel opponent, not really having much hope of winning them over. All you can really do at that point is put up and shut up. Some great feats of strength coupled with the athleticism that no one else there really has quite like her. Maintains selling the damage done to her arm but never to the degree where it looks like smarkbait, giving Iyo that extra bit of focus whenever regaining momentum in a very back-and-forth sort of match. Interference was really badly executed though. They've probably got a better match somewhere down the line, however there's still enough here worth giving it a watch.

Obviously, a great big epic singles match guy, but he also belongs in the conversation for best tag wrestlers ever. Feels like a lock for top 10.

Rough around the edges, but this is about as much as one could give to Poffo in a match against someone far higher up on the totem pole. Risky bumps over the top rope and to the floor. Moonsaults and hurricanranas getting near-falls. Some noteworthy kickouts for 85 WWF. Funker comes off his crazy self both while stooging and when gaining the upper hand. It might not be to the taste of some, but no one else moves quite like him, and at least in theory, it makes his opponent seem like there's always that slight chance of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Still think the Hell in a Cell setting hindered these two from getting as violent as the feud warranted. Not to say that the match doesn't have its violent spots (Meteora into a ladder in particular stood out), but they are few and far between what is essentially a boilerplate gimmick structured for big spots over genuine heat and excitement. Don't you love a damaged arm worked on to be left alone in favour of more le epic weapon spots? Sasha at least kept the action creative enough. I do like Becky, but for me her run as a Stone Cold-lite badass left many of her match performances without the endearing qualities to her character that made me want to root for her initially.

Stone cold classic. Joe and Angle for the first time held that feeling of a super fight and maintained it throughout the 13 or so minutes it went for. It's never pretty or fluid, yet both men still understood the assignment and worked their ass off in a relatively short timeframe. Joe tries rushing Kurt as was his strategy in videos leading up to the match, and while it works out for him early on (busting him open in similar fashion to when Angle headbutted Joe a month prior), Angle is an entirely different beast who can keep with the pace or even outmatch Joe when push comes to shove. It also helps explain how Angle can often shrug off certain selling to hit his next spot - the environment justified a sort or urgency from both men. Really loved how the match went from eliciting "This is Awesome" chants to the crowd yelling "Make Joe Tap". Like others have already mentioned, the reversal from Coquita Clutch to Ankle Lock was awesome, but I love how it's Joe rolling through, then trying and failing to immediately charge at Angle that sealed his first ever loss at TNA. The strategy failed, the unstoppable force caused his own demise, and Angle was able to capitalise on a late-game mistake.

Great first few minutes, killer last couple minutes, and a lot of mixed feelings in between. Plenty of hard-hitting action, yet also choices made that either looked odd (Takayama's dive, Misawa's submission) or looked like shit (whatever that counter to the first apron Tiger Suplex was). Misawa's elbows still rock but holy crap can I not stand all the dead air around those thunderous flurries of offense. A little over 18 minutes and it still felt long-winded at times, which I think is reflected from how quiet the crowd is for half the match. Morishima is at the stage where he can hit mean lariats and clubbing blows but little else aside from the Backdrop Driver. I don't think he fits well in Misawa's formula - one that's prone to show little fire outside of the moments that definitely matter.

These two together just can't not whip ass. They throw their kicks, chops, punches and whatever else like epic broad strokes in a match fuelled on pride and pent-up aggression. Minimalist and cathartic in spite of the finish. Neither guy was intending to win by pinfall or submission.

Meat of the match is this being Kobashi's last match before knee surgery, having to fight some of his most recent rivals in Akiyama and Vader. Initially I was confused over how much offense Akiyama took and making Vader the one to dish out most of the punishment on Kobashi, but I think there's good reason behind it: they expect Akiyama/Kobashi to continue once Kobashi returns and in 2001, Vader is easily the most limited competitor of the four. But what he can still do is roughhouse and make his stuff look painful, which is exactly what was asked of him here. Him working on top like so helped make a 20+ minutes feel shorter and with less dead space than there actually was. The issue came where Taue was the legal man, and despite liking him a lot, he garners nowhere near as sympathy compared to his partner here. Kobashi is instrumental to the storytelling, whereas Taue's moments are largely irrelevant.

One of the most tolerable examples of Zack Sabre Jr.'s wrestling style. More stripped down, not so counter-heavy, in a match that never really asks him to be sympathetic, although the circumstances in the promotion do make it easy to accept him as such. WALTER has obvious physical advantages, and Zack is recognised as an excellent technician who has a chance to win if he can keep it on the mat or maybe isolate a body part to home in on. Thing is, Zack is also arrogant, prideful, and very prone to fighting WALTER at his own game. He never wins that game. Despite ample chances and hope spots, Zack tried running head-on at a giant, only to get beaten down every time. As much of a cathartic release as I could hope for, as someone who never loved the scrawny brit.

One of those old matches where they're given plenty of time to play around with their grappling, leading to some very cool tricks and twists in how the match turns out. Tito in the one match shows how great a technical worker and fiery brawler he can be. Orton does a lot of classic cheating to get ahead, but he'll also break out these absurd-looking flying headscissors that had my jaw drop at first. Don't get the wrong idea though; it's a game of chess for both men, gradually figuring out a way to win. They spend a little too long taking their sweet time in certain holds for me to think of it as a MOTYC, but I'll take great wrestling from this era when it pops up.

Batista telling Rey Mysterio he was gonna rip his head off after a 4-way world title match in late 2009. I started watching in 2007. The first match I can remember seeing on TV was a cage match between Batista and Undertaker (the one where Edge cashed in afterwards). Cena was the top face at the time, but I had always been more a fan of Batista. That moment of him attacking Rey gutted me as a young fan.

Saw a twitter post yesterday about Cena turning heel to the tune of everyone cheering, and how fans care less about being part of that storyline than they do observing the product with a critical eye. Thought the example was dumb, but I get the concern. All that's to say that CM Punk tonight made me want to see him take on the world and come out of top. Not because he's a great wrestler and will rank highly come putting together a GWE list, but because I still believe in that man when he speaks with feeling.

Awesome match. Been loving a lot of Jake's pre-WWF run in the sleazy sweatpants. Never physically imposing like his opponent and others around the time, yet deceptively tall. Bit like Randy Orton in that you don't notice how much he towers over certain guys. This is a Lights Out match, hence why there's never a DQ called. Loved the opening stretch battling over a knucklelock transitioned into a bodyscissor from Garvin, and how the crowd were still so loud through all of the rolling around the mat. Jake leaves the ring once Garvin lands some punches, a nice thread continued on from the feud. The arm work from Jake not being sold afterward by Garvin bugged me at first, but looking back on it, it's more a way of keeping him grounded than being focused on damaging the arm, ended when Garvin tosses the Snake off. Immediately it's followed with the quickest tape spot I can recall watching, teasing at a submission win multiple times. Jake gets frustrated with failed attempts of putting Garvin away and takes it out on him outside the ring. That ends up coming back to bite with, as Garvin kicks off his fiery comeback with a chair in hand and dishes out one hell of an ass-kicking. Garvin stomps all over the body to a raucious crowd. Ellering tries to distract for Jake to steal the victory but ends up getting knocked out. Felt like a wholly satisfying conclusion to the feud. Garvin is predictably great, but man has Jake does wonders for me watching footage from this part of his career.

From the Omni show recently uploaded on WWE Vault. So much to appreciate about this one. Probably the best Jake Roberts match I've seen, with his performance largely making the match's structure and building to the payoff in Garvin's punches. I didn't realise his ribs were taped underneath the shirt before Garvin pulled it up, but he made sure to remind me every step of the way thereafter with his selling and general movement. Loved the way Roberts found unique and interesting ways to gain leverage and work on top before Garvin powered his way out each time. Ellering's interference spots were also always great. Cathartic last few minutes of Garvin landing his fists into that sleazy-looking Roberts before the snake struck the final blow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B-jsn9tXGg&t=2979s

I think the biggest part of why this recent turn has so much traction and attention stems from how so many fans had been clamouring for Cena to go heel for years, being denied such for years, to the point that everyone more or less stopped believing it could happen, better appreciating in hindsight how well he played the top babyface hero role for so long while he reaches the final chapter of his in-ring career, and swerving everyone when they finally pulled the trigger. Could it have worked 10 years earlier? Maybe. It's all hypothetical, but there's probably a few key points (vs. Taker, vs. Rock) where the moment could have had similar magnitude. But the reality is, Cena turned here and will face the current top babyface for the world title in the main event of WrestleMania. The full segment on YT hasn't even been up for a day and has nearly 3.5mil views. I've already seen and heard plenty of non-wrestling fans asking about the turn and why it is such a big deal.

I get the feeling that the Raw Women's title picture will see a triple threat at Mania with Rhea, Iyo and Bianca. For as good as all of those women are, I can't see that being as exciting to me as any singles matchup between them.

Surely that was the biggest heel turn since Hollywood Hogan, right?

Can't get over how Ricky is doing that pose after everything now, compared to when it was just part of his entrance before.

I can still vividly remember back last decade how the Heavyweight title was exclusive to a handful of top guys, with someone like Goto always being on the outside. Never thought New Japan would pull the trigger on him, but I'm so very glad that they did.

I think there's a strong case for him being one of the best AEW wrestlers ever since he's signed there in 2023. I know I'm in the minority, but I found him easily the MVP of 2023's Continental Classic and would've at least been in my top 3 from last year's tournament. Has racked up plenty of fun performances both across singles and trios matches. Is always a likeable character on TV that still has such recklessness to how he moves and bumps for others, which gets more impressive when you realise he is now 40. He's in that same category as a Claudio Castagnoli or Roderick Strong now, where they might not be doing the most eye-catching spots every night (Darby Allin) or getting marquee matchups time and again (Bryan Danielson), but their consistency for what they're being given and reliably making something great out of it shouldn't go understated. And to top it off, this is only covering the last few years of his near 25-year long career. We should be talking about him more.

Let Billionaire Tony waste money on guys sitting at home earning the easiest paycheck of their careers.

I expect from these two, at best, an entertaining spotfest that keeps up the pace and doesn't overstay its welcome. Not my preference of style and structure, but I'd like to think I can still appreciate a fireworks show from guys doing flips that I couldn't dream of doing. This ended up being a lot more frustrating than fun. Part of it falls on just how often I've seen these moves done (usually better with the other guy not obviously waiting for it to happen) and not enough connective tissue to keep the match together. But some choices are just baffling to me. A weak-ass leg submission that Laredo just lets go off is sold hard by Vikingo, then is helped back up to his feet and they go into a strike exchange that feels completely out of place with the rest of the match? They both play to the crowd at times, but the fan's cheers are never as loud to counteract all the egregious horns. Laredo wins with a second Laredo fly, as it was first used for a nearfall, just before he'd also kick out of Vikingo's finisher. Not my kind of lucha.

Never seen the match before today, but I kept hearing things about it being AJ working like a Southern heel. I get the comparison, though I find the level of restraint AJ has after the early dropkick that reopens Naito's forehead cut to be the most outstanding part of this. He'll target the wound until blood flows down Naito's face, then rarely makes contact with the head again. Partly to give himself a kayfabe reason for losing, but also so that every time he does go back to it, even if just a counter, it immediately shifts the momentum of the match back his way. Outside of the Springboard Forearm, he never hits a high-flying manoeuvre and never tries to outdo Naito, at a time when the kid still only really has flashy offense. When on top, AJ always slows the pace down so that once Naito gets his comeback, it's more eye-catching and effective. After a failed attempt at the Styles Clash from the second rope, AJ grows desperate alongside the frustration of not having won yet and ends up feeding himself directly into a handful of Naito's signature offense for the surprise yet earned upset.

Great multi-man tag in a TV setting where all the competitions on each team feel distinct enough whilst working well as a collective, especially the Dangerous Alliance. I think in terms of heel stooging I prefer the style and production from 80s WWF, but when you got guys like Eaton, Zbyszko, Anderson and Rude doing the job and putting in the effort you won't hear me complaining. Spot of the match for me was Anderson clapping his hands behind the ref to act like it was a legitimate tag, then gloating about getting away with it to the live crowd. Wonderful way of doing something minor and maximising it.