soup23

I like this pairing of non LCO tag for Shimoda as she is clearly the leader and it gives her depth in being able to boss around Omukai. Hamada tandem was also a neat dynamic with Xochilt being defensive of Ayako being attacked and having some chunky offense with the lariats, sentons and powerbombs. Ayako and Mima are wearing almost identical gear on opposite sides throughout this match which made it a tad confusing to watch from a distance. Xochilt even covers herself over Ayako at one point to sacrifice herself up. This clips into a neat sequence of Mima and Michiko executing double submissions. Michiko overall is a unique worker. Pretty nondescript overall but not terrible either. A WAR replacement type joshi worker for 2000. Ayako is able to reverse into a submission and then make the tag where Xochilt really runs through some big girl offense. Things open up more with Ayako going for the asai moonsault on the outside and Mima smacking her with a chair. The tide returns with a clip of an Ayako palm strike and Xochilt getting the splash mountain on Michiko for the pin. Good match overall. *** (5.9)

An excellent match. The toe to toe battles between the two men were outstanding and Tenryu really stood up to Kawada and made him earn the victory. The leg work is the only thing that really prevents me from putting this as right up there as #4/5 in my MOTY discussion as I thought it meandered a bit too much and was ultimately proven to be meaningfulness. The final moments were really dramatic without being overkill. A wonderful match overall. ****1/2 (9)

A good finale to the show as all four guys worked hard here. Apolo in particular had some surprising sequences that looked good with both Banderas and Perez. Perez is the sleaziest member of the match and brings a rudo nature to the proceedings. Overall, some stuff feels kind of like a tag with Shane/Apolo pairing off against the other two but the action is consistent throughout. Finish was exciting with some high impact moves and Shane ending up winning after a frog splash to a huge pop. Overall this was a show that was a chore for me to get through but did have some highlights including the final two matches. ***1/4 (6.4)

A huge plunder brawl with the juice flowing. The crowd is really behind Victor and Chicky and give them a great chant when they come out. The match revolves around RF filming segments at the time of the four competitors wailing on each other with various weapons. Chicky really makes use of a board as he continuously beats either Vyzago or Anderson senseless with it. Vyzago and Andy end upu with a heat sequence and do a great job of cutting the ring off for Chicky until he makes the tag to Victor. Victor’s hot tag is really energetic and check out a dazed Chicky on the apron still selling the effects of the beatdown. Cheap finish with the rudos winning with the legs on the apron. Someone comes in and informs the referee (Boricua please save me with these names) and the match restarts. Quick rollup and Victor and Chicky retain. Celebratory promo after the match. This was the bloody garbage brawl that I expected from a Puerto Rico show that had some late 90’s hardcore beats mixed in. ***1/2 (7)

TNT is so over but again we have another pretty generic brawl and punch/kick style match with Ninjitsu so it doesn’t really connect to me. Ninjitsu’s manager tries to interfere but that gets stopped by TNT and he is able to recover and pick up the win. Afterwards, the whole Ninjitsu posse attacks TNT and they leave him laying. In an angle only from Puerto Rico, Tajiri sends the doctor away, performs some spiritual ceremony with a towel over TNT’s head and he wakes up then. **1/4

Unfamiliar with Rastaman but just based on this one match, he struck me as a Hillbilly Jim type of character for the promotion that reaches an archtype but doesn’t exactly shine in ring. The result was a clunky match and pretty poor brawl with Perez also not impressing me. The heat is still good here but the matches and show overall are starting to drag. **

Steiner brings a legit tiger to the ring. Madaja is pretty bad on the outside as she is supposed to trip Awesome early on and whiffs making for an awkward moment. Booker is out on commentary and him and Stevie completely filibuster that. Steiner continues to look strong as even with interference he is still able to muster up a comeback and locks in the Steiner Recliner to win right as we go off the air. They are building Steiner up well if nothing else. *1/4

Easily the best thing Vampiro has been involved in this year. A perfectly good hardcore style match that highlights the good points of Crowbar. He bumps around like crazy and keeps things focused on the ribs of Vampiro. Vampiro looks lazy and unmotivated at points but does add a few character points with the crazy eyes right before the chokeslam finish. I could do without the druids coming out to set up the table but this greatly exceeded my expectations. *** (6.1)

A rock solid match that serves as a good palate cleanser when watching a lot of stuff on days like today. Basic rudimentary mat work but stuff matters and the callback to the early arm work that Kido lays out plays into the finish in the end. I don’t know if we had one rope running exchange the entire 9 minutes of the match. I can see some being bored to tears by this and it wasn’t dynamic Volk Han type grappling but it was nice to see a commitment to a desire style. **1/2

Fuchi and Kea come out to Danger Zone giving zero fucks about being in enemy territory. Match starts with a quick pace and Fuchi and Chono brawling on the outside where Fuchi gets crotched on the guardrail. Goto gets a nice bit of offense on Kea and looks to put him away with a lariat but Fuchi breaks up the count. Fuchi then kicks away on Goto as Chono is still recovering. Goto fires off against both until the numbers game becomes too much. Kea hits a kick to Goto and one to Chono on the apron. Kea then hits the Kea Krusher finisher on Goto and gets the quick pin. Wow, 2 minute win for the AJPW invaders. ½*

I probably liked this better than Brennan but damn it was it a let down every time Yone tagged in. I thought Tanaka was a great punky little snot here with his kicks vs. Hidaka and Otsuka. Yone in comparison looked weak and completely awkward. This got too much time and had too much Yone to be good but was really on the brink of that without his presence. **3/4

Liger is continuing his squash tour of juniors and here he faces one of his biggest rivals throughout the years in Otani. We cut to Liger dominating with about 10 slaps rapid fire across the face of Otani and a brainbuster with Otani gaining some fighting spirit in firing back. Otani goes for a dragon suplex from the apron to the floor in a panic movie. He ends up getting a German on the apron that looks awkward. Otani hits his dropkick and is feeling cocky now. A palm strike from Liger stunts all offense from Otani. A flurry of those and a powerbomb and the hits keep on coming with Liger demolishing the junior division one by one although this did get 9 minutes in full. NR

Sasaki can’t get to his feet as both factions are still all in the ring jawing at each other. The match starts and Sasaki goes for broke rushing over with a dropkick. Chono tries to retreat to the outside but Sasaki musters up a suplex back in the ring and then looks for the same submission that put Chono away in the first match. Chono gathers his bearings and cheats his way through to gain more of an advantage. Sasaki again pulls off the one armed powerbomb and goes towards the submission but his legs give out. Chono regains and is able to lock in the STF. Sasaki puts up a fight but Chono syncs in the hold and adjusts putting more torque on the injured leg. The camera pans to Helen Hashimoto who could throw in the towel for Sasaki. After a few more seconds, Hashimoto throws in the towel and that is it giving Chono the win. The final moments were dramatic and it could have set up a lot of interesting stuff between Hash/Sasaki/Chono if politics wouldn’t have intervened. *** (6)

This is the finale match of a NJ vs T2000 battle throughout the show. We clip to Chono gaining control and things getting tense on the outside with the surrounding members of each faction lingering around. Chono looks for the STF and then runs through a variety of leg submissions weakening those limbs so he can properly apply the hold. Sasaki is selling the leg damage well hobbling around even when he locks on a quick STF of his own for a second. Sasaki muscles him up for the brainbuster but has to recover a bit. He then locks on the submission and gains the victory ending the series in a tie. We got less than half of this but it looked fun in full and sets up the playoff match well. NR

Have a Nice Day is what really forwarded the worked botch narrative.

Hino bearing Shuji is a surprise. Is this the tourney they pull the trigger on Zeus?

Enjoyed Bloodsport as concept and kickoff for weekend but agree that some of the bad finishes left a bad taste in my mouth. I actually thought Severn vs Dickinson was a fun grapple fest but getting past that finish is a tough go. Riddle vs Suzuki was about what I thought and a smidge better than their first match.

Wait...how is some of the dream match appeal gone? That seems silly. Riddle and Suzuki have already wrestled.

Inflation math isnt the only metric to use. Again, $9 and value tickets wouldnt have been an option in your 2001 example. That is a whole different catagory of tickets so in an analytics standpoint, youre comparing uneven sources.

Sucks for Low Ki being an ass. Suzuki is a swank replacement and I liked his first match with Riddle but I would be lying if some of the dream match appeal of Ki vs Riddle is gone

Late to this but to me the most glaring individual in the top 10 was Riddle. Everyone else in the top 10 I think a fair argument can be made they were either sustaining levels of their peak performance or had a peak year in 2017. It was pretty obvious for me that RIddle declined from his 2016 output to 2017. I know that isn't a sentiment shared by everyone but I did think that was a consensus so to still see him rank top 3 and ahead of someone like Sabre was pretty surprising.

Shodate, you can't compare a gate from 1987 and 2001. A lot of inflation to account for as well as market education on the "fair" value for seeing a live event. The Observer talks about the $9 WM 3 seat sections which is a price range that would not exist in the RR 2001 setup.

Think Hogan and Austin were left off for human being reasons. As far as Cena goes, old habits die hard.

Only watched first episode but Captain Lou and Blassie bumping around was great fun. Also, Baron was the shits still in 75 (sorry Parv)

I get the frustration as someone that had Ax ranked 71st.