MikeCampbell

This almost seems like something of a hidden gem. A five or so minute match, which is seemingly there just to give Lawler an excuse to tell Polish jokes abouty Ivan Putski, and it's almost shockingly engaging. Shelley shows some good mat skills, and Brian take a couple of overdone bumps, to let him look good in Canada. But, when Brian takes over, Shelley sells like Brian is damn near killing him. There are at least two spots that would have made great finishes, thanks to Shelley's selling. The full nelson facebuster, and a bit later after Shelley splats on his dive. The missed dive is the beginning of the end anyway, because he looks like he's out of it, and it doesn't take long for Brian to get another opening and quickly end things with a reverse DDT and the Tennessee Jam.

Overall, this was a rather unremarkable match. 'Busa was in control for a bit and then it was Shinzaki's turn. The only thing that I really took away from it, was how good 'Busa was with his selling. Especially toward the end with those last few big spots, it almost seemed tragic that poor Hayabusa was enduring so much pain. By the time it was finally over, you almost felt relieved for him because he wasn't going to be hurt anymore.

They do some nice things here, but like Jetlag said, the spot-fu (a term I haven't even thought of in probably 15 years now) is a bit overdone. There's just no reason for TAKA to barely get to his feet by the count of 9 and get spiked with his own Michinoku Driver and a big head kick, and then still beat the count, let alone be able to dart behind Tanaka do his own German suplex right afterwards. TAKA's selling is great, and Tanaka looked good for most of this, and they've got a decently smart finish with TAKA finding a way to keep Tanaka off of his bad leg and keep his sleeper on to retain. So, this certainly isn't a bad match.

If Loss and Will were still doing yearbooks, then this would absolutely make the cut. This is a classic for all the wrong reasons.

I have to wonder if there's legit heat between them due to Maeda getting shitcanned over the 9/2 match. Takada almost goes out of his way to try to make Sayama look bad here. When Sayama lands his first big kick to the gut, after Takada answers the ref's count, he just springs back to life as though he's fine. Takada does the same thing later, after they'd built up some nice heat with Sayama's single leg crab. Takada gets the ropes to break and then he just jumps back up and tries to take over. Hell, after Takada taps, he just gets up and walks to the corner. He couldn't even be bothered to sell the leg, and do the customary post match handshake with Sayama.

Mid South was added on Thursday, and Mid Atlantic was added on Friday. I'm hoping that the recent additions of Thunder and Mid Atlantic are a sign that the uploads of NWA World Championship Wrestling, and the Clash of Champions specials are being added sooner rather than later..... For anyone who may be in the know. On the original WWE Network, the last match on Clash VI was Flair/Steamboat, was there a reason that the Road Warriors/Varsity Club title change was cut off?

Someone on Twitter pointed out that three of the four shows that have topped 1 Million viewers were main evented by Darby.

This was praised to the moon when it happened. I never understood why at the time, and watching it all these years later, I honestly still don't. I suppose that, compared with some of the absolute shit that HHH had to deal with during this year as far as the matches with Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash, this looks great in comparison. But, even without the screwjob finish, this didn't do much for me. They get nearly half an hour to work, but they spend a huge chunk of that time trading punches and chops instead of actually wrestling. They both take big bumps to the floor that don't mean a thing. HHH working Shawn's back, and Shawn working the knee, ultimately just wind up being filler. Granted, it's some fun filler. The crowd goes apeshit when HHH is cranking that abdominal stretch, with Flair helping from the floor, and Shawn's figure four is a great revenge spot for that. But, Shawn kips up and HHH stops selling the knee, and they just go about their business. The finishing run is the usual overbooked finish with ref bumps, near falls from props and cheating, and when it seems like Shawn has overcome it all and won the title, no, he actually didn't. It's not a terrible match or anything, there is some fun stuff to see. But, for me, this doesn't rate much more than 'watchable.'

Thanks for this info! I thought that last night was a one time only thing with them moving to Friday. Funny note, for those who watch on Fite. In lieu of commericals, we just get the logo with the full Dynamite theme song playing until the show comes back. One of the lyrics to the song is "Acting like it's Friday, but it's really only Wednesday!" Well, last night instead of the actual song, they just looped the music and didn't actually have the singing.

What do you call the Omega/Moxley feud that’s been going since January?

Just to be clear. I’m not advocating anyone being cut. I’m just saying these people are used so sporadically that most people probably wouldn’t notice or really care.

I think one of the biggest issues with AEW's booking is that they have so many guys on the roster, and only two hours of TV. And before anyone starts talking about Dark, it does a fraction of what Dynamite does as far as views go. Dark Elevation's numbers are a bit better, but still a long way off. If Dynamite is Raw, Dark and Dark Elevation are Heat and Velocity, not Smackdown. My cousin and I came up with a list of people that AEW could probably cut tomorrow, and most fans probably wouldn't bat an eyelash about it. Joey Janela Sonny Kiss Dr. Luther Serpentico Pineapple Pete Billy Gunn (as a wrestler, keep him in the school or have him manage his kids) Peter Avalon Leva Bates Bear Country Jack Evans Angelico Christopher Daniels (again, only as an active wrestler, keep him backstage doing that stuff) Michael Nakazawa Mel Big Swole Evil Uno Stu Grayson Colt Cabana Ivelise JD Drake

I said the same thing on Twitter, apparently their TV deals actually bring them in more money than their PPVs do. So, I can understand. But, it still feels like something that could attract interest in the PPV and drive up buys. I'm an admitted huge fan of Death Triangle, so I'm pulling for them to take the tag titles next week. I honestly wouldn't be shocked to see Moxley show up and do something to cost them the tag titles. The Elite/Mox feud continues, and the tag titles can slide over to be part of the renewed Death Triangle/Best Friends storyline.

I completely agree, but I’m wondering if Tony would even listen to them? Before AEW ran a single show, Tony already made the statement that nobody will write his TV except him.

I think the answer is rather obvious, Loss. It was "The competition!"

I loved the angle at the end with MJF and his new buddies laying out the Inner Circle, and I liked the start of Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage, which I assume will be the main event for Double or Nothing. But, holy christ on a cracker, they need to slow down with the angles and turns. There's no reason why they couldn't have held off for a week or two in having Bunkhouse Butch and Blade decide to sign with Matt Hardy. Make a storyline out of it where they look at what Kingston did as showing weakness and have them turn on him. The Pentagon/Cody thing makes no sense to me. There's no real plausible reason for Pentagon to suddenly be calling out Cody. It's not like Cody won the ladder match. It just comes off like a lazy attempt to give each of them something to do, since Pac and Fenix are headed for the tag titles match and the Shaq thing is done. I actually do like a program with Sting and Archer, especially with Jake and Sting having their own sordid history. But, first off, Archer was being a babyface all of two weeks ago, and the execution was pretty mediocre. Sting cuts promo, Archer and Jake interrupt and Sting just leaves. No confrontation or anything. The Scorpio Sky heel turn could have been slow burnt for at least another week. Have him win a singles match, and keep showing off his heelish tendencies, and have Darby Allin doing color commentary and put over how great an athlete Sky is, and how much he's looking forward to wrestling him. To paraphrase a friend of mine, say what you will about Dixie Carter, but she never fancied herself as a booker or TV writer.

This is quite the hidden gem, tucked away as the opening match of an episode of Raw in what has to be one of the worst creative and artistic periods for the WWF. The body of the match is Owen working over Sid's leg (after a chop block on the floor thanks to a distraction by Davey Boy), and Owen and Sid wind up putting on a pretty compelling match as a result. Sid has never been a great seller, since his character has never really allowed for that, but he does a damn fine job of making it seem like Owen has him hobbled. Sid even makes his comeback by standing and trading strikes with Owen, rather than bumping him around with power spots, so that you're never quite sure if he leg can hold up. Owen runs himself into Sid's choke slam, and before we can find out if Sid has it in him to do the powerbomb, Bulldog runs in for the DQ, and Shawn makes the save. This isn't anything blowaway amazing, but, it's an extremely fun and well put together match, and it shows just how far a couple of capable guys can go just doing simple and effective work. The only thing that I would have liked to see is a bigger payoff to Owen working the leg, in the form of him giving Sid the sharpshooter. Sid is such a tall guy, that it wouldn't have taken much for him to get a rope break anyway.

I knew it was coming, because of the video last week. But, I still marked a bit when Pac came out. It's a ready made program between King, Blade, and Bunkhouse Butch and the reformed Death Triangle, now that the feud between Moxley and King is done, and they look to have wrapped up the storyline with Allie and QT. But, I'm a little bit worried that they'll screw it up by trying to be too cute and have Fenix side with Pac and Pentagon torn between his brother and his supposed best friend.

For real! The only time I'm recalling any sort of spoiler leakage was the tag titles change in January on the boat.

This is definitely one of my favorite UWF matches from this year, and it really says a lot about how great the year 1989 was from an in-ring standpoint. This is pretty much the Fujiwara show. He busts out a ton of cool shit, and some great moments like taking the kick and going down and then jumping back up at nine, to show that he really wasn't hurt that bad. Him going for the ropes and then changing his mind and rolling away from them and countering the heel hook with one his own was another. Yamazaki is great as always. He usually comes across as the stoic and caclculating bad ass, but Fujiwara manages to bring out a little bit of emotion in him. And, as great as Yamazaki is, Fujiwara is just a tiny bit better. And Fujiwara's fisherman's suplex into a float over is all kinds of awesome, and something that I wish of the AEW boys would steal.

That's the first thing that popped into my head, actually. Okada wins the G1 and wins the titles from EVIL. It's just like last year when White upset Tanahashi a month after WK, and was just keeping the strap warm for Okada.

After a second viewing, I can't say that much has changed as far as my feelings on it. It's got tons of simple and smart work from both teams, some cute throwbacks in the form of the slingshot suplex and the vege-matic, and the intensity as the match wears on is perfectly believable. The match genuinely feels like it could have gone either way. And, FTR winning the match in a totally clean manner puts them over even more, because Daniels and Kazarian put them through the ringer, and they still managed to pull off the win. Honestly, the only thing that I didn't care for was the spot where Kazarian stoped Cash from coming off the top, while Daniels countered the super plex into a near fall. It looked too coreographed and rehearsed. It'd have been better if Daniels had done it first, and then Kaz ran over to cut off Cash before he could try to break things up.

I'm literally headed out the door right now, so I'll write more later. But, the short of it is that this is easily the best match I've seen all year!

This is easily the best UWF Miyato match that I've seen so far. There's not much of that to attribute to Miyato, which is even more remarkable, since it was still Suzuki's rookie year and only his second UWF match! Suzuki quite literally wrestle circles around Miyato, and his mannerisims honestly aren't far off from what we'd see from him nowadays. Miyato basically stays in the match by sheer force of will to not let the rookie show him up by beating him. Miyato winds up winning when he figures out that Suzuki is susceptible to suplexes, and getting a few lucky shots when they were both throwing wild swings at each other. After a year of snoozefests with Nakano and Anjo, this is certainly a breath of fresh air. With the new blood coming into the company in the form of Suzuki, Funaki, and Tamura, I'm wondering if/hoping that this match is the catalyst for bringing something fresh out of him that he can keep up.