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I love matches like this and when you are thinking about someone like Akiyama as a WOTY contender, this works as a resume builder. We have seen him so far this year being a courageous underdog vs. Vader, telling Misawa it is his time and now being a bully to a spunky Shiga that took the most of his Korakuen signature opportunity by going after Akiyama from the start of the match. Akiyama even throws in those dismissive short kicks that are so prickish. Kobashi is looking on like a master watching his apprentice do wonders. Shiga gets some flashes with a submission and gets slapped straight down for his troubles. A Gotch style tombstone and Exploder put Jun in a position to win with a vicious side headlock. This was a hoot as the kids say. ***1/4

I do have a soft spot for this crop of AJPW mid carders and it is good seeing Ikeda mix it up with them even though he honestly should be doing more. The finish was cool here with Honda hitting some huge suplexes dumping both members right on their head and Inoue picking up the win with a torture rack. It says this match went 23 minutes of which we only got 9 but from the clips, it didn’t go above the serviceable threshold. **1/4

I was really pleasantly surprised with this. Sasuke comes in with a lot of fire from the get go and that really forces TM to bring more intensity than I generally expect from him. The back and forth tonal shifts of this match fit in and the big dives looked dangerous and brutal to take. After some big dives the finale of the match is a big slugfest and Tiger Mask looking for the Tiger suplex before Sasuke is able to lock in a great choke forcing TM to tap out. This is probably the best TM singles match I can recall seeing at this point and time. ***3/4

No idea what the heck happened but Hashimoto is busted open walking out to the ring. I don’t really know or like him and Ogawa as buddies teaming here either. BB Jones or the Yetay jumps him at the bell. Inside the ring, Tenryu and Ogawa have a fun sequence and I would like to see them mix it up more. The stuff in the ring here is really heated as Tenryu goes after Hashimoto’s cut once he enters in. Reese is hanging out on the apron which is a good thing. Jones does come in and the match grinds to a halt for me with him not doing a whole lot of evil moves to a wounded Hashimoto. Hashimoto is a complete mess with the blade job and the injured arm. Reese elbows the arm twice in awkward fashion and gets the pin. WHAT THE FUCK????? **1/2

TM in the gui distracted me throughout this. I suppose this was here for a novelty look but the actual action didn’t do much for me at all. It mainly consisted of Sayama throwing wild kicks and Fujiwara taking him down with leg submissions. Rinse and repeat and this sub 10 minute match felt like it would never end at points. Eventually, Fujiwara does gain the submission victory. *3/4

I keep waiting for the AAA stuff to heat up but even if the action is better, it is still surrounded by bullshit that I am not interested in at all. It really is a WWF vs. WCW situation to me at the same time except CMLL has been much better at pulling off the amount of hate and disdain among all the factions. The AAA stuff still seems to be drawing but I for the life of me can’t care. This was another match that tricked me by having 2 minutes of decent action before resorting to bullshit with run ins, Pena getting bullied around, and chairs getting swung. Some day AAA will do something to interest me. *1/4

The dads get a chance to shine in CMLL with a singles match. Ano showed a good bit of fire here and this was a different type of brawl we have seen so far with a backstage brawl and Pierroth doing a brutal blade job. This was a dismantling and seemed to be setting things up for later on but I enjoyed the action we got. **3/4

Really loved this podcast. Perfect length and good chemistry between the hosts. I also appreciated some of the kayfabe issues that were discussed such as the slow ref count and Tirantes dilemma and how they played out in regards to the match overall.

If the apuestas delivers for me like it has in the past, Villano vs. Atlantis really is one of the all time feuds in wrestling. This was a tremendous final taste before the big battle with the masks getting ripped, hate all around, the Villano Brothers rushing the ring showing their presence will be felt and overall anticipation that next week, this is going to be a war. Add into that Perro stepping into a CMLL ring for the first time in many years and Shocker and Bestia being great heel pricks and this was awesomely enjoyable and had me wanting to jump ahead to the 3/17 show right then and there. ***1/2

Liger's destruction of the juniors continues. I have enjoyed these for what they were besides the Kanemoto dome one. Here, Samurai is positioned as a lower level opponent but a long time foil for Liger and that is utilized throughout the match with Samurai taking a lot of chances and viciousness being on display in Liger dispatching Samurai. After the match, we get a clip of Chono looking on and he seems to have some words for Liger. **3/4

Six grumpy men beating the shit out of each other and flying around. This just kept getting better and better and climaxes in an amazing finish with Otani kicking the shit out of Casas and picking up the win. I was happy to see both Wagner and Kashin fit in here. In the case of Kashin, I didn’t think he was the weak line at all here and was really impressed at his sequences overall. Kanemoto has some weird low blows that he does directly in front of the referee which is odd. We have seen a lot of these guys so far paired up and this was another great entry with Casas bringing some freshness. ****

Tarzan Boy is flaunting the belt right in the face of the Infernales. They take to that about as expected by beating the shit out him. A crazy twisting dive by Bucanero and then a brutal submission makes short work of TB in the primera caida. I thought the tecnicos showed good fire in winning the second fall with Lizmark hitting a senton splash. Olimpico gets a unique roll up and TB does some mask ripping and peppers shot at Satanico. A humorous moment where we cut to a baby taking a bottle. Back from break, Satanico is obsessed with the hair of TB as he continuously pulls it and keeps scratching his head. Infernales try the same submission again but this time Olimpico and Lizmark are able to fend off. TB tries the same but gets caught and Satanico hideously headbutts him right in the nuts for the foul and the win for the tecnicos. More of the same for these guys but they found new ways to keep things going. ***1/4

I don't know quite what I witnessed here. It was entertaining to a degree but seemed to drift between shooty wrestling and overall thematic. Even more than Saitama Pro, I felt like I was missing some context. Mist is even used in this one. **1/4

This was at least more lively than the previous meeting here. Flair runs down North Carolina which helps. Hennig looks pretty spry here for this 2000 aged self. It was during this match that I thought about 17 years before and really young Curt Hennig and compare that to how old and dated he looks here even looking better and that is the age difference of Low Ki or Chris Hero now. Figure four reversals and Madden has a rare good point about the figure four being able to be broken by the original person that applies it. A weird finish with Total Package interference back firing allowing Hennig to hit the Hennig plex and win. Afterwards, the tandem beats down Hennig until Arn comes out and tells him to knock it off. **1/2

This cage looks really flimsy as Benoit gives Rock a dropkick and it almost pops open. I really enjoyed Benoit in this again working as an enforcer worker for HHH and Big Show. I didn’t think this was a downgrade at all because he is in there with Rock in a main event role. Benoit did a really good job of cutting off Rock at every angle leading to the climax of Rock hitting the Rock Bottom that felt well earned. The finish is spectacular as Rock hits a powerbomb on Benoit! And then has a big fist battle with HHH. Rock sends HHH into Big Show and is able to gain the win. After the match the heels team up on Rock and get him in the cage. HHH goes for a big chair shot and hits Show. HHH get slung into the cage and Shane flees by climbing over the top. Big night for Rock looking like the huge star he is. ***1/4

Dean Malenko is a really fun heel. Yelling at the ref and being relentless on Edge’s leg. Edge does some good selling too and for a 5 minute match, I enjoyed this greatly. I still don’t care at all about Terri and while King and JR had some good one liners at each other on commentary with Terri out there, the in ring action certainly took a back seat. Terri fakes an injury that has a concerned Edge checking on her allowing Saturn to gain the win on Christian. **1/2

This is probably the softest pop we have heard from Rikishi all year. The crowd overall seems down for this episode as even Rock doesn’t get the thunderous pop he has been getting. A decent match but solidly behind their SmackDown effort IMO. I don’t know if Rikishi was legit hurt but the combination of this constantly taped leg along with the mixing of more comedy spots has propelled him to not look quite as major league as he did a month ago going toe to toe with HHH. HHH targets the leg of course and is fine on top. The finish is a big schmozz and this is used to set up more of the WrestleMania angle we are leading to. **1/2

Angle continues to get good heat and the back and forth between him and Jericho is well done. Speaking of Jericho, no Chyna with him so we will see if that is done already. The match itself was good but short and used more as a storyline vehicle for the debuting Bob Backlund to come out and apply the chicken wing to Jericho. I mark for Backlund always so him being the mentor to Angle seems like a good fit to me. **

The Rey De Reyes graphic looks like a King of the Ring reject. Albrije Mini gets launched to the outside by Abismo Negro in a brutal move. Charly Manson’s character is oddly bizarre and he has a good bit of charisma to him that makes him one to watch. Negro gives a huge splash mountain to Manson to eliminate him early on. That is a bummer. Albrije’s second is interfering at will and almost allows Cibernetico to be pinned but Cibernetico thwarts that off and ends up gaining the submission. This leaves Negro vs. Cibernetico to work the lions share of the match overall. Halfway through, our shit buddy Tiger Steele comes out tossing something to the crowd and gets in the ring. How fucking awful is the officiating in AAA. This allows the match to be given to Negro because he gets attacked. If I was Cibernetico, I would be pissed. Antonio Pena comes out and is yelling at Steele but why they decided to put all of this heat on him, I will never know. Steele takes out Pena’s henchman then beats up Pena. The crowd does seem pissed at this as trash starts to come down. All the tecnicos are trying to get to the ring from the back. Cibernetico says something to Steele and he attacks him. He almost unmasks him and now everyone is beating up Steele. What the fuck is going on here. Pena gets attacked again going to the back and its straight mayhem out there. This is the second biggest AAA show of the year and they have made a mockery of it with this cheapness. I could accept this building to a show like this but this is the blowoff. IN addition, the characters just aren’t as engaging and the action doesn’t feel as frantic as their CMLL counterparts. We cut back to the ring with Tirantes explaining Negro as the winner. This was a shame as the action in the beginning was setting up to be hot and interesting but the overbooking got in the way. Negro gets crowned Rey De Reyes on a technicality and it feels so cheap. **1/4

This is billed like a mixed tag in a way but the seconds only came in to deliver weapon shots that ended up being backfired. Oriental and Pentagon did most of the other work and it was mostly solid with a few awkward spots here and there. Nothing terrible overall but nothing that felt really consequential either. I also guess this was a hair match which makes it feel worse in retrospect that the intensity wasn’t there. Rossy Moreno shaves their hair as they get interviewed. **1/2

Interested in others thoughts on this. It felt to me like a Minoru Tanaka match in that the work was technically sound but the action and other ancillary factors weren’t really engaging. That is probably a blame levied at Tiger Mask as he is someone that has consistently failed to capture me with interest in any of his singles output. As a result, this was 15 minutes of work where I wasn’t regretful I saw it, but it is unlikely to be something that crosses my mind again. I can see others getting more out of it. ***

The team of both Aguyao’s, Kanemoto, Otani, and Casas may literally be my favorite five person unit in wrestling history. We get about half of this and it is a ton of fun and something well worth seeking out. Each fall built to a big spot that was the finish which I appreciated. This really felt like the type of matches you see at FantasticaMania nowadays. Would love to see this in full. ***1/4

We see the RNR Express jump Rick Michaels before David Young can chase them off. Here come the RNR’s with Bill Behrens as their manager. I love seeing them as heels. This was a treat to watch. Bad Attitude has a quick flash before the RNR take over on Michaels’ leg and they destroy it. Really engaging and the commentary really carries things with Getz running down everything and Martin not being the over grating straight man. Hot tag to David Young was excellent and it looks like Bad Attitude might have the match won when Bill throws a chain in the air that Robert Gibson catches wonderfully and then he smashes the knee with the chain. A double dropkick and we have new tag champs in the Rock N Rolls. Ricky adds one more dick move post match with a chain shot to the knee of Michaels. A big brawl breaks out and the Rock N Rolls are great heels. ***1/2

Really excited to see this as it is AJ in a long match against a capable opponent in Onyx. AJ looks really good starting out a house of fire and then taking a nasty bump to the outside to take over the heat. Really big back body drop of Onyx into the fans. I like how Wildside has a heel fan section that helps Onyx back in. Getz is good on commentary bringing a heel perspective to everything. Bailey takes off his loafer and quickly hits AJ with his $279 Bruno Mali shoe. The dropkick by AJ to start his comeback looked absolutely incredible with huge air and impact. Styles also hits a lot of air on the lionsault and Getz on commentary actually points out that he overshot his target allowing Onyx to take over again. Every time it looks like AJ is gaining control for good, Onyx takes over. Onyx misses the swantom bomb. AJ’s finisher looks to be the 450 at this point and it looks like AJ has the match won until Ed Golden takes the referee out to cause the DQ. Ed Golden has some great punches and we get a big brawl with everyone out there as Jorge Estrada helps save Styles. Good stuff. ***

Pre match promos from Road Dogg. It is weird he was able to do this much stuff. Lance laughin at Road Dogg was humorous and Dave West calls him Dr. Suess which made me laugh. Match itself was a five minute brawl but something I enjoyed with weapon shots and hate. A frantic call off the air happens with Road Dogg being handcuffed and the KAW guys going for the kill against Lawler. **1/4