soup23

A good tourney opener overall. I liked the mat base start and the ramping up to the bombs being thrown around. YH strikes are something that are a detriment to me so seeing Nagata demolish him and get some pop and crackle on his kicks was rewarding. YH even got some nice snap on his chops here which is a better weapon for him to utilize compared to the forearms. The dueling submissions were filled with nice tension and that set the stage for the tournament overall as it felt like either man could win this one. The sequence after the back suplex nearfall lost me as they seemed to run out of ideas and YH lost most pretenses of selling the arm work that was laid out. The wrist clutch driver that YH wins with is a nice move and that was a big win for him as I only peg him to have 4 or 6 points the entire tournament. ***1/4

I had a lot of fun with this. Nomura seems to have been making some good strides this year mixing it up between this and the Fortune Dream tag. I see him now ahead of someone like Ben-K on the can't miss Japanese prospects. Yoshino was clearly the underling in this match but he showed a lot of heart and creativity that kept things moving along. Really good length too at 11 minutes. ***1/4

Cagematch is an awesome resource but their 2000 indy results are fairly spotty. To be fair, everything about indy wrestling after 2000 is fairly spotty. Touche, seriously though the IWA-MS results are pretty awful for cagematch.

Cagematch is an awesome resource but their 2000 indy results are fairly spotty.

In the latest PodBlast, Timothy gives a spoiler free review of Fight Club Pro's latest show, Stranger Than Fixxion. Timothy gives his thoughts on the highlights of the card overall. https://placetobe.podbean.com/e/podblast-fight-club-pro-stranger-than-fixxion/

Good chance for both here to pad out their 2000 resume. I liked how HHH had a more brawling aspect throughout this match and when Holly pounds him down in the corner, he gets a big face reaction. Even with the sidewalk slam, that is presented as a decent nearfall. HHH has worked well at playing towards the strengths of his opponents in 2000 so far. The action goes to the outside and HHH flies Holly into the ring post. HHH takes over and is good on offense. I liked him adding the little kiss to Steph mid match for more heat. HHH gets into it with Tim Dwight. Holly has a good bit of offense at the end when Steph gets on the ring apron. Jericho rushes down and pulls her down and then beats up both HHH and Holly hitting each with the belt. The Jericho vs HHH feud is really fun and so was this match. *** (5.9)

I think we are closer on the same page Paul than you think. It certainly is a match where they had to really dig out a ton of stuff pertaining to the seconds and heel ref to garner any sort of reaction. It certainly was a match I mainly appreciate more than love persay in that regard in that they knew this was a ho hum apuesta coming in and tried to build from that. I would have liked to have seen some more matwork in the beginning to set the tone before we get to the mask ripping. Reflecting now, I probably ranked it a tad high as I just get really caught up in especially mask vs mask matches. I don't think it is probably as good a match as the IWRG three way from a couple of days earlier. I will watch again at lunch and revise with an updated rating if it changes.

Along with Cerebro and Vampire this is a classic apuestas match and an example of the throwback lucha style that could still be engaging in the 2000’s. There was little doubt as to whom was going over but little facets like the faceless red mask helpers of Silver Fox along with the crooked referee that didn’t try to be the star of the show like Tirantes helped things along. This escalated in a classic style of rudo onslaught, tecnico comeback, mask ripping, and submissions and pinfalls as the culmination. Atlantis does a nice dive in the third fall and does a nifty pin to put things away when he cant lock on the Atlantida. **** (7.8)

This was a ton of fun. There are minor things like interference from Mochi right in front of the referees eyes that dip it slightly below the great level for me but I really enjoyed the work that Mochi did on top and Fujita's sell job was tremendous. He had a lot of his body worked over and managed to sell both his leg and midsection wonderfully with it stunting his aerial moves that he tried to perform. I also greatly enjoyed the finishing stretch where it builds but also ends on the correct move giving the psychology of the match. Nothing was bloated or unnecessary. ***3/4 (7.6)

I really wanted to like this match since it was a swan song to Kansai in JWP but something just never came together. We do have some random annoying clipping but we get to see 80% of the match at least. Kansai is perplexing around this time period. I wouldn't say she is bad, but she is certainly one note and really relying on her kicks and pretty much nothing else. I hope a change of scenery will give her a little spark. It is tough to compare her to anyone else as I feel people like Toyota and Kong are providing much more output than her around this time. Maybe Ozaki but Ozaki is doing a different type of character to change things up too. Kansai looks the same and the kicks are still excellent most of the time, but none of the emotion or building of spots remain. The size difference between here and Yu Yu here really affected things giving that Kansai was only doing leg strikes. Bennett always tries hard but she is pretty sloppy in execution. Overall, this never came together and the highlight was the sendoff of Kansai at the end. **3/4

I’m ready to put this right up there with Brock vs Goldberg as the greatest sub five minute match of all time. The pace is incredible and never lets up and it tells a classic story of striker vs grappler. Murahama charges in and gets leg locked immediately for one of his breaks. Delphin tries to shoot in constantly but that does open him up to the deadly strike game of Murahama. Halfway through the second round, Delphin locks on an insanely tight arm lock and Murahama is forced to tap giving him his first loss of his career in amazingly dramatic fashion. After the match, Murahama gets put over huge and the roster members come out to give him the recognition he deserved. This was an unexpectedly great emotional moment and capper to the overall arc of Murahama debuting in Osaka Pro. I love this promotion right now. ****1/4 (8.7)

A weird start with the heel faction having a wrestler trapped and they put a cigar out in his mouth. The match starts proper and it is another great six man from these guys. Togo/Buffalo/QUALLT all mesh so well as unit and bring an evil focus to the match. Demeken is the main FIP and he does an admirable job building up sympathy to the big tag. The final is also impressive with everyone flying around and QUALLT spraying the mist to stunt Hoshikawa. Togo puts the match away after a pedigree and huge ass senton. Another killer six man that goes toe to toe in entertainment with the Toryumon stuff. ***3/4 (7.6)

Strong underneath BattlARTS match of someone like Ono really having to go after the supreme ace in Ishikawa. I liked how Ono pushed the pace and his transitions as Jetlag mentioned were spectacular and brisk. This gave the match a sense of danger for Ishikawa that wouldn't have normally have been there given Ono's stature. The match went a good length of time where Ono comes out looking stronger but the pecking order of the promotional hierarchy remains in place. ***1/4 (6.4)

Shocker comes out looking like a fucking star. Ditto La Parka and Porky. We finally get started after 10 minutes and there is nothing to this match at all except for some Porky spots. It looks like we have some clipping but this is by far the worst match of the three even though all were exhibition in nature to a degree. This is an interesting show to watch. It has a cool atmosphere and some unique pairings. **

Some really fun pairings here especially having the Casas brothers all together. Pirata and Casas in particular is a unique match up. It is nice to see Casas spirited here with his brutal lariats and knocking Electroshock off of the apron repeatedly. We get a quick glimpse of him and Pirata going at it and I realize these two legends never had a singles match to the best of my knowledge which is a shame. Metal nearly wipes out on a big dive to the floor but he recovers in time. The tecnicos take it on a triple La Magistral. Fun stuff. *** (5.9)

Take everything I said about the CMLL tag and amplify it. This was incredible with Satanico and company being really spirited and showing up with their best performance in a couple of months. They just brutalize the tecnicos and fly around when needed. Garza, Lover and our favorite whipping boy, Tarzan Boy are mainly there to take a beating and provide flash but they deliver in spades. This was overall on of the best pure spotfest style matches of the whole year and the crowd was eating it up. ***1/2 (7.1)

Neidhart keeps bulging and bulging. Now that the lack of crowd heat and dark arena has been mentioned for MCW, I can’t not think about it while watching the matches. Match is decent with Anvil and Hughes getting some big man offense against Little who is a natural FIP. Krush also is the cocky leader of the trio. Lawler kind of stays out of the spotlight in this one but does come in for the big finish. Brawling happens all over the place and Lawler gives a great punch to Hughes where you can see the sweat flying. Lawler gets blasted with the belt from Krush and he picks up the pin. Russell is shocked that the King…. THE KING takes the 3 count. **

Harry Smith is 14 years old here and wearing a hoodie so it is impressive that the match is perfectly acceptable. TJ has always been a solid worker in my eyes that never seemed to have that one great run that it seemed like he was capable of. We get interference from the Honor Roll faction and that is thwarted off by Ross Hart. Bad News Allen is on commentary with Mauro and in a pure heel role going after Harry. TJ hits a nice somersault diamond cutter but Harry is able to put his foot on the rope. A few moments later, Harry gets the surprise win. Afterwards, Davey Boy comes out to assist his son and they cut a promo. TJ’s faction is also upset with his efforts and they punish him as a result. A fun stop into the Stampede territory and the future seemed bright. **1/2

A really strong Multiman match. The faces come out hot and rock the heels. The heels get heat right away with Behrens ridiculous robe. AJ feels more comfortable as a heel here in his cocky persona. Michaels ends up getting worked over and they do a real good job of working over his leg and cutting the ring in half. Golden is a strong utility player in that regard and Bailey was directing traffic from the outside. Last few minutes are chaotic after the hot tag and it looks like the faces are going to be victorious until Steve Martin turns on the faces and his best friend in Michaels. A ton of trash gets pelted in the ring in a cool looking visual. This garnered strong heat but between AJ and now Martin, Wildside is in a bit of the N W O complex where all the cool/powerful people in the universe are now on the heel side so it is tough to really get behind a babyface contingent as they feel so overmatched. ***1/2 (6.8)

Derrick King and Corey have an awkward interview where it comes out DK is going to be married soon. I love the local feel of the promotion where he mentions a bridal shop and Corey without skipping a beat says “oh yeah off Hickory Hill”. Steel comes out and explains that his dad gave him a talking to after last weeks match when he took the short cut to achieve a victory. He promises to have a clean, technical match this week. I love premises like this in wrestling and they did a great job with it in execution. This gets 10 minutes which again feels like an eternity for Memphis studio wrestling of yesteryear. The work is solid, technical, and clean. The match ramps up in the final 2 minutes or so before the time limit expires. Five more minutes is granted and Steel is quickly rolled up by DK for the win. You can tell Steel is really frustrated and I bet a heel turn is right around the corner. *** (6.0)

Wolfie and Baxter cut a promo to start. Baxter will give $1,000 to recoup the check from Spellbinder that he hasn’t cashed yet and $5,000 if you put Binder in the hospital. What a goof Spellbinder is for not cashing the check. The match here wasn’t much and really a greatest hits type display for heel Wolfie D. The ref gets bumped and Seven and Baxter both run interference allowing Wolfie to pick up another cheap win. I did really like Corey and Dave on commentary and Dave mentioning that while he is sure Wolfie is really proud to be the champion, he shouldn’t be because of the way he keeps winning. *1/2

1993 is loaded but Hansen does have a pretty damn amazing year. He also has the Kobashi carnival handheld, the Misawa Carny final and May Misawa match (Both around ****1/4 for me) and a really fun RWTL pairing with Baba.

This was a fun match and a good showcase for Daniels. Candido bumps well for him and Daniels throws all of his high impact moves into the match and they flow well enough. We get to see the moonsault and the Angels Wings. Hudson does a good job on commentary pushing Daniels as well. The transition back to Candido is good and he ends up winning the match with a nice aerial move of his own. *** (5.8)

Another balls to the wall 10 minute lucha match for these guys. Not much in the way of a feud but a ton of crazy dives and constant action along with some character touches like Shocker's dance on the outside when his team is victorious. Fine with this feud staying the course as a entertainment feud more than a blood feud. *** (6.1)

A really fun spectacle. H comes in and fires off a bit of offense but then gets his ass beat in a double team. He absolutely hits a gusher and it is disgusting. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, here comes Tenryu in full Hayabusa garb and I am marking the fuck out along with the crowd. He cleans house and allows H to hit the 450 for the win to another big pop. Afterwards, we get a promo and the lights dimming for the H bomb going off and Tenryu disappearing. This was so much fun to watch on a month that has been a bit of a slog to get through. ***1/2 (6.8)