KB8

Ali wants to be a positive example and to communicate this he's come out dressed as Sub-Zero who's finisher was turning folk into giant icicles and literally kicking them to bits. Hot damn.

They missed a trick by not having Cena weep like this was Savage/Elizabeth 2.0.

Who the fuck is this green Kabuki looking guy?! EDIT: okay he literally just got eliminated

By Christ that is the greatest Goldust get up I've ever seen.

I literally don't know who 75% of these guys are. I might be out the loop.

Man, that set is killer. I just checked the card and I love how they haven't even noted Cena/Undertaker as being a match that's happening.

I'm off tomorrow and Wrestlemania has fallen on my birthday this year so I guess it's only right that I try and sit up and watch it live. I've actually managed it the last couple years, but that was with my brother and this year I need to go it alone, so we'll see how that goes. Perhaps I will join you all in here and we'll see if that keeps me pushing on. Card looks pretty great, either way.

Thought the show totally delivered. The multi-man ladder match has been run into the ground as a concept by now, but this was about as much as I'm ever going to enjoy one these days. I don't even actively dislike matches like this, they're just not very interesting anymore because pretty much everything has been done already and you inevitably reach the point of diminishing returns. But I'm absolutely 100% all in on Velveteen Dream so for the first time in ages I was rooting super hard for a wrestler to win a predetermined contest. I thought he was legitimately great in this. His selling has an awesome car crash quality to it where his limbs go all rubbery on those big bumps. Him hitting elbow drops on everyone and capping it with the Purple Rainmaker off the ladder was my favourite spot of the year. I love him. I want him to win matches and titles and I'm bummed when he doesn't. I don't even dislike Adam Cole, but I was deflated when he won, not because Adam Cole won a match and he's lame or whatever, but because Velveteen Dream DIDN'T win. When/if he wins the NXT title I'll absolutely flip and I never expected to be invested in a wrestler like that again in my old age. I generally have no use for Ricochet but he's perfect for a match like this. That SSP to the floor at the start was wild and he was the projectile in an impromptu person-chucking contest so I liked him fine. Hopefully he curbs more of his annoying tendencies in the NXT run. EC3 never really did anything for me in this. Most of his offence was very early 2000s indieriffic and I wasn't sure whether he was hitting a move or the other guy had reversed it. The beefies were fun and I'm fine enough with Cole as the best possible version of Edge. They maybe could've done with trimming it by a few minutes, but I was hyped for this and it came through. Baszler/Moon wasn't doing much for me until they started playing up Baszler's arm injury. I haven't seen a ton of Ember Moon, but I'm not sure she's very good. Her intense facials are super hokey and her offence is really loose. Baszler's selling was good, her striking mostly looked good, I liked her using the ring post to pop her shoulder back in even if the crowd seemed to be a bit confused, and the one-handed choke where she used her HAIR to secure it was fucking phenomenal. I've never seen that before and I popped big for it. Three way tag was a little clusterfucky but fine enough. O'Reilly's facial expressions are the worst but he absolutely comes off as a little shit and I guess that's a good thing for a heel? Finish was kind of stupid in that, you know, why didn't he just do that earlier, but maybe he decided in the spur of the moment that he thought he was better off with Cole and the rest and who are we to question the psyche of a man in the heat of battle and fuck it this was alright. Almas/Black was really, really good. I've liked Black in NXT more than I ever expected and Almas is growing on me with every match. Vega is amazing as well. The strike exchanges weren't always great and some of the choreography was pretty obvious, but otherwise this was another strong NXT title match. I'm not as high on the main event as the majority, but I still thought it was pretty excellent. It was maybe the best possible version of a WWE grudge match with all the DRAMA and STORYTELLING and whatever else that you could ask for. Ciampa getting all that heat was incredible. They were booing him for absolutely anything at the start and he reveled in it. Thought this could've done with being trimmed a bit as well, but the big spots were BIG and the stretch run was pretty great. Mostly felt like they communicated the hatred as well. I'd rather they went the Duggan/DiBiase route, but I'd rather every match went the Duggan/DiBiase route and this is 2018 and those expectations are unrealistic and so we take what we are given. Gargano grabbing Ciampa's beard as he slapped him about the face was great. The finish was basically perfect and drew the whole thing together really well. The melodramatic acting, the INNER CONFLICT, the bastard trying to be a bastard, the comeuppance...yeah, this promised something special and it delivered. Hell of a show. Takeovers are sort of a can't miss prospect at this point.

Yeah, Rude/Steamboat was the fucking business. Their interactions in tags/multi-man matches, the first go-around at Superbrawl, then the Ironman match at Beach Blast, which I'd also put it in my top 5 for WCW. Rude was my favourite wrestler in the world that year.

I don't know, I've watched about a hundred and fifty RINGS undercard matches over the last six months or so and there certainly weren't any like Riddle/Suzuki. Ton von Maurik and Masaaki Satake sure weren't doing anything like this. I thought the main event was some fun, goofy entertainment. I didn't actually think it was very shoot-stylish in the first place, but I'm someone who finds mediocre shoot style easy enough to sit through (maybe it's because I've sat through enough mediocre MMA over the last eighteen years) so I guess the IDEA of it spoke to me? The strike exchange was kind of silly but I was into it when they were rolling around on the mat. The fact the ring had no ropes gave it an interesting dynamic as well. It was leaning more towards the Battlarts end of the shoot style spectrum, albeit a poor man's version, but I know I'd rather watch something like this than a fair amount of New Japan or current indie wrestling.

That Gargano/Ciampa video package was tremendous. North American title hype to close the show. Every Takeover match being spotlighted to some degree. Yeah, that worked.

I've never seen EC3 before (that I'm aware of, anyway), but I've been binging a lot of NXT from around November last year through to where it's currently at, and I'll be fucked if I haven't enjoyed Adam Cole quite a bit. I had never particularly cared for him before and the Adam Cole Bay Bay stuff is goofy and all, but to me he's come across as a guy that feels soon-to-be ready for the main roster. I have no dog in an Adam Cole v EC3 fight, though. If I'm pulling for anyone in that ladder match it's Velveteen Dream.

This was fucking dynamite. Velveteen Dream is my favourite guy in NXT by a distance and I like Black fine, so I had some expectations for this and they absolutely delivered. I loved Dream in this so much. The tights! The early going with Black controlling via the arm was really neat. He wasn't about to be thrown off his game by Dream's nonsense and I liked how he basically schooled him. The little "mind games" sequence after that was just great stuff. Sometimes that kind of thing can come off a bit hokey, but both guys have such unique charisma that it totally worked. Dream's facial expressions, initially at being ignored, then at being fucked with in equal fashion, were amazing. And yeah, every single thing he did in this ruled. Loved how he bumped for Black's strikes. Loved how he was obsessed with Black saying his name. Loved how that obsession had him yelling shit at the ref' like "ask him to say my name!" or "say my name!" while he had Black in a camel clutch. LOVED the swivel hips from the top rope where he sold the back. That's one of my all-time favourite spots and I'm all for someone channeling the spirit of Rickie Rude. Basically loved everything he did. They kind of teetered a bit into no-selly back and forth towards the end, but it wasn't egregious and Black catching Dream with Black Death as he was yet again telling him to say his name was a great finish. There's that obsession again, getting him in hot water.

I wrote about this a few months ago and thought it was fun. Pretty standard tribute show affair, with the big stars playing their hits and the support act getting to strum a few notes with the headliners. The twist with the partner mishmash did make for a cool Tenryu/Kitahara dynamic, though. Kitahara took the chance to get chippy with his boss and it led to some awesome little nasty exchanges, including Kitahara getting the mount and raining down forearms. Kitahara also absolutely fucking drilled him in the jaw with a left hook and I shit you not Tenryu's sell of it might be the best there's ever been. Then he cracked him back a minute later and I can't do justice to how good this punch was. The muted crowd meant you heard the smack loud and clear, too. Finish was a wee bit sudden, but you watch this for the greatest hits and that was what we got.

On one hand this didn't totally connect with me like I wanted. But then on the other hand it was still a pretty awesome balls out sprint. If nothing else it's yet another notch on the belt that is Negro Casas' case as the best wrestler to ever do it. Sub-10 minute sprints aren't necessarily what I'd think of if someone asked me what Casas was great at, purely because I can't think of many matches like that he's actually been a part of. Lucha Memes is nothing if not a little different, though. Casas came into this off the end of a broken rib and his selling was pretty exceptional all the way through. He'd drop to a knee in between bouts of rapid matwork or rope running, maybe because he hadn't quite convalesced like he thought, maybe because he's almost sixty and sixty year olds need a breather now and then. Aramis is a fun young flier and he wasn't about to go easy on a legend. His challenging of Casas to strike battles maybe bordered on hubris, but it led to a great moment where he took his shirt off mid-chop exchange because he is a man and pain is temporary or whatever, so Casas made to take his trunks off because I guess this is a thing the young folk do these days. Aramis almost topeing himself through the awning support post was outrageous, but of course the people were quick to check on Casas first and foremost, even to the point where it got a laugh out of Casas. I'd be all for Casas doing more of this sort of thing, provided his body held up to it.

But hey, when you don't understand a word of it they really sound like they know what they're talking about!

Really cool little fight. Every match I've seen Nomura in he's been the young guy stepping to the established stars and he's been super fun just about every time. This was him having to deal with a younger version of himself, basically. It wasn't young guy with a chip on his shoulder up against established star/vet. It was young guy with a chip on his shoulder up against slightly older young guy with a chip on his shoulder. I liked Aoki a bunch. He wasn't about to back down and took it to Nomura like Nomura had earned it. I don't know what Nomura had done TO earn it, but Aoki was potatoing him all over the place and put him on his neck with a huge German. I could've done without Nomura popping up from it to land a head kick, but he did drop down afterwards so I guess I'll take delayed selling over no selling. For his part Nomura was really good as well. He threw potatoes right back, his chokes looked air tight and he put the kid in his place when he needed to. The early matwork didn't last very long, but it was more UWF than 70s NWA and they made it look slick. Nomura could be awesome in a few years and if Aoki is willing to crack folk in the jaw like this then I guess he could too.

I've always preferred listening to the Japanese commentary anyway (I don't speak a lick of Japanese, btw), but I'm all about commentators from yesteryear who were prone to over-excitement or hyperbole making a comeback in 2018 by just chilling and calling the action straight. Tony Schiavone was on the MLW show I watched recently and I had no idea he was doing pro-wrestling commentary these days, but there was something about him being there that just felt RIGHT. I'll absolutely check out more MLW this year and it honestly has a lot to do with Schiavone calling things.

I've been thinking about signing up for a month as well. I kind of want to try and catch up with some stuff I've missed from the point it blew up again around 2012, but there aren't that many guys I like and in general it's not a style I'm a fan of, so I'd need to be picky. If I wound up tapping out on the more recent stuff early then I'm sure I'd find enough from the 90s to keep me going for at least a month, so I guess there's always that. I also would not be fucking with the English commentary.

Killer match. I'm still finding my feet with Sabre, but this was the first truly awesome performance of his that I've seen. It's the first time I've seen Allin in any shape or form, and I wasn't sure what I was expecting from him but this wasn't really it. He was pretty great here too, though. His roll-ups out the gate were really sharp and fluid and I like that he tried to take it to the mat with Sabre. He was never going to win like that, but I bought him being too stubborn to actually know it. The story of someone trying to prove himself by taking on an opponent at his own game can sometimes come off as forced, but this didn't and a lot of it was down to Allin's selling and wild reactions. Sabre just abused him for like 85% of the match. Any advantage Allin managed to take was fleeting, as Sabre would continually grab him and torture him. Some of the joint manipulation was absurd, bending an elbow here, fingers there, twisting a wrist, digging knuckles into ribs, moving onto an ankle, driving a knee hard into the mat, often doing two or three things at once. There was a point where he'd tied Allin up in some preposterous fashion and afterwards he celebrated by flexing his flimsy biceps like a big idiot and it ruled. Allin was great trying to fight out of all this, punching himself in the face like he was trying to deviate all that pain from having his limbs contorted to a spot of his choosing. He was coming out of this hurt, but it would be on his terms. The longer it went the more condescending Sabre became, kicking and slapping Allin in the face as the commentators kept noting how out of character it was. You could see him growing annoyed, but Allin wouldn't quit. Maybe it's because he's a moron, but he didn't know how to and eventually it led to openings where he almost scored that upset. The finish being the most brutal piece of misery Sabre inflicted upon him was a pretty fitting way to cap the whole thing off.

Well dang, where did this come from? I've seen more Riddle than I have of just about all the oft-praised modern indie guys, and even if he'll do some daft eye-rolly shit now and then he's generally someone I like a lot. Cobb I'd never seen before and I don't know if this was an outlier for him or not, but I thought he was unbelievable and the match as a whole was fucking awesome. I liked the amateur stuff at the beginning, as they're partners and not about to crack each other in the face just yet, then Riddle takes Cobb over with a throw and you can tell he's satisfied with himself. He isn't a prick about it, but he got one over on his buddy and he enjoyed doing it, as we all do when we get one over on a buddy. Cobb did not enjoy it and so he responded by chucking Riddle all over the place. This was some full on Scott Steiner stuff and I was genuinely in awe at how he was manhandling Riddle. I mean Riddle isn't a bantamweight, but he was sure getting thrown around like he was. After the first one where he got thrown clean cross the ring he had this awesome "what the hell?!" reaction, like he knew Cobb was capable of it but he didn't expect to be on the end of it there. Then Cobb grabbed him again and did about four rotations with Riddle's body, like he was steering a ship in a thunderstorm and Riddle was the wheel, before launching him in whichever direction he felt like launching him. Riddle mostly stopped bothering to try and throw with Cobb after this and instead focused on kneeing him in the face and locking in chokes, but there was one moment where he couldn't help himself and hit a super impressive deadlift gutwrench. My favourite spot of the match was when he hit a big falling kick and roared like some fighting spirit foolery was afoot, but Cobb just grabbed him and popped him over with a rapid low angle German. Cobb also had a strapped up wrist coming in, and while they never played it up huge I did like how it was a subtle little plot point throughout. It never really stopped him from doing anything, but he would grab it in pain once or twice, try and readjust the strapping, then at one point Riddle went to throw on a Kimura before changing his mind as Cobb is still his guy and bros before hoes and such. Riddle's knees are kind of thigh-slappy, but that final shot was a true knockout blow and a great finish to a tremendous little match. I may have to start checking out MLW more often this year. Tony Schiavone doing commentary in 2018 is something I was completely oblivious to but he's probably already my favourite commentator going today. I'm so glad I checked this out.

2000 was definitely a down year for Eddie. Benoit looked like one of the best in the world that year while Eddie was dicking around with the Chyna stuff. It’s always felt to me like Eddie had two peaks, with ‘97 being the first and shorter of the two, then ‘04-‘05 being the longer and even better. He was excellent pretty much his whole second run in WWE, but once he splits from Chavo he goes up a level. I’ve always kind of looked at Eddie v Benoit as peak v longevity in a way. That’s not to say Benoit never had much of a peak, because he obviously did, but Eddie at his best was so good that I’ll take him every time if I have to choose. And I think Benoit’s best match is against Eddie. And Eddie’s my favourite wrestler and I like him more.

I didn't even know he was in LU which shows you how much attention I'd been paying.

I've been using this to check out some indie guys from last year, and man is Jeff Cobb fun as hell. His Riddle match from MLW this year is maybe my favourite match of 2018 so far and he was balls out great in it. Dude was like a stockier Scott Steiner just chucking Riddle around. I want to follow the indies a little closer this year and he's definitely someone I'll seek out more of.

I actually think the only one that's a cakewalk is Misawa/Bret (in favour of Misawa). I like Bret and think he does a number of things really well, but I'd take Misawa without much thought. I'll always have a soft spot for Michaels as he was a favourite when I was a kid, but other than tag work I'd go AJ. The distance for me wouldn't be as wide as it would for most folk, but that's because AJ Styles never flung anyone through a barber shop window and I value that over most things in wrestling. I'd go Danielson over Benoit. Actually, that might not be very close, either. I can't really be bothered talking about Benoit, but the only thing I'd really say he had over Bryan was the execution on stuff.