WWE Smackdown 10/08/15

It has been quite awhile since I last reviewed anything but I have the itch to start again. With subscriptions to the WWE Network, NJPW World and NWA Classics there is more than enough content to fill this blog and if I make it to 2016 a new active list of the top matches for 2016. Let's start by catching up on shows I have recorded on my DVR.

-New Day is out first to give a gloriously over the top promo of their one sided view of how things went down on RAW Monday night. New Day is such a fun group and they know how to piss people off while still entertaining them. Facial reactions are a giant part of wrestling and all three members of New Day regularly do a fantastic job of using over the top facials to tell their story. Of course the WWE loves to get heat off of struggling sports teams so New Day piles on the Eagles. New Day is mad that they were out numbered 4-3 at the end of RAW, which brings out Dolph Ziggler whom they laid out and stole his US Championship match. Ziggler being pissed about Monday challenges Big E with the Dudley's to back him up and nullify the other two member of the group so Dolph can have a fair 1-on-1 match.

Dolph Ziggler vs Big E [**1/2]

We have two performers who could have torn the house down but instead we get an okay tv match without a whole lot of story.....you know a regular WWE TV match. Big E uses a lot of power moves, including a bearhug where he squeezes Dolph to the tune of New Day Rocks. Dolph makes a comeback and his the zigzag for two but then things get heated on the outside. Bubba tries to kick Kofi and misses, instead striking the steps and injuring his foot in the process. While Dvon is attending to him, New Day uses numbers to overwhelm Dolph and hold his leg from the outside as Big E covers for the pin. As I stated earlier, I thought this was just okay with no real angle advancement other than the Dudleys looking for more revenge at Hell in a Cell when they challenge for the tag titles.

-Backstage Summer Rae is discussing wedding plans with her makeup girls when Russev sends them away. This angle could have been a complete bust but actually has potential when Summer tells Russev that she got him a match that could lead to a title opportunity. Having Summer desperate for a wedding, trying to get Russev gold by any means necessary could be a lot of fun. Tonight he faces Ryback which could lead to an IC title opportunity.

Team Bella vs Charlotte, Becky Lynch & Natalya [**]

The Divas division has so many issues with it, the biggest being that very few of its e bears are over. In this match the biggest reactions came from Brie Mode, Charlotte's hot tag and the finish. I am a guy who likes women's wrestling and the extra emotion women being to sports. NXT is proving that women's matches can be equally as good as men's matches but the WWE is having a hard time taking women's wrestling seriously and getting the larger audiences to buy into women's wrestling being good. I do not like the teams and the fact that we get a lot of trios matches out of them. There is very little investment being made into individual personalities. These ladies went out and had a match that was competent but did not blow the roof off the building and that is what I am ultimately waiting for, the WWE women's match to blow the roof off the building and create a buzz. Charlotte picked up a win for what was being called Team NBC (get it?) with her figure 8. Paige was backstage glaring at the monitor throughout the match and post match gave an interview where she is jealous of Natty even though Paige was originally the one who turned on Team PCB. My head is spinning at the plot holes in this angle.

Russev vs Ryback [**3/4]

I had high hopes that with the angle Summer Rae would have made this more interesting by pulling out all stops to see her man win, sadly we did not get this. Shoving Ryback's leg off of the rope was the extent of her involvement in the match outside of fan service and looking at her finger hoping the ring would magically appear. The match itself was a good power match that had Russev working the hand in the heat segment, though Ryback forgot about selling the hand during the final portion. His shine sequence was mostly filled with punching, but he brought the power moves towards the end finishing Russev off with the shell shock.

-I am not the biggest fan of Bray Wyatt promos but he effectively says Reigns will be locked in the cell with him. Tonight Reigns and Orton will face his judgement.

King Barrett vs Neville [**]

I will be quite honest that I was not heavily into the match, so much that I don't remember most of it. What did catch my interest was the way Barrett walloped Neville with his Bull Hammer elbow for the win.

-My most hated WWE wrestler is Stardust. I don't like the character and find him completely uninteresting. Here he is at a card table reading his Tarot with a regular deck of cards. He thinks he will select his queen but no dice, so he selects his next opponent which he calls interesting.

Roman Reigns & Randy Orton vs The Wyatt Family [**1/4]

I wasn't impressed with this at all. It was just there and ended with a DQ in the floor after Wyatt hit Reigns in the gut with a chair. Believe it or not I am probably overrating this match.

Final Thoughts:

This was such a nothing show. No angle advancement and uninteresting matches show the WWE is mailing it in right now until wrestlemania season kicks into high gear.

NOAH Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Night 2014 (06/13/14)

Hitoshi Kumano vs Mitsuhiro Kitamiya
These two put on a good energetic sprint. Kitamiya is in his rookie year and his big moves are limited to a dropkick. Kumano is allowed a wider range of moves and ends the match with a German Suplex Hold.

Genba Hirayanagi vs Kikutaro
This was a comedy match with some decent wrestling found within. Most of Kikutaro's comedy is lost on my due to the language barrier but a large percentage of the fans laughed so it must be a decent gimmick. Hirayanagi had a scary moment where a plancha was slightly mistimed and his head connected with the bottom bar of the guard rail. Genba rolled up Kikutaro after he collapsed presumably from oxygen deprivation.

Daisuke Ikeada vs Masao Inoue
Why did we need a second comedy match in a row. In the midst of their stalling they worked in a couple of decent comedy spots, such as Ikeada irish whipping various people around ringside into Inoue. Overall this was not my type of match especially ending with a Ikeada small package reversal for the pin.

Kenou vs Daisuke Harada vs Taiji Ishimori
I was questioning whether company storylines would be pushed to the side for the memorial show and thankfully that is not the case. On the 5/31 show Kenou attacked Harada after Harada's title defense and that is the driving story in the match. While Ishimori adds a lot of energy and some cool moves to the match, he sticks out as the third wheel taking more floor time than the other two combatants. He had an amazing transition into an Indian Deathlock on one opponent while DDTing the other. This match furthers the Kenou quest for Harada's GHC Junior title by pinning the champion clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring after his sweet suplex. Kenou used the most lackadaisical cover to pin Harada not even hooking the leg. It really looked like he was pinning a jobber on Saturday mornings rather than a champion who you would think would only lose by the skin of his teeth. This match was very entertaining and I am looking forward to the looming Kenou/Harada matchup.

BRAVE (Kotoge, Nakajima & Yone) vs TMDK (Nichols & Haste) & Quiet Storm
As I mentioned in the 5/31 review of the Haste singles match that I knew TMDK were a good tag team and they certainly show it here, working together with impeccable timing. There is one very complex comedy spot with both team members and Yone where Yone manuevers and tricks Haste into clotheslining his partner, which is more along the lines of my type of wrestling comedy compared with the two preceding matches. The more I watch Quiet Storm's power junior stuff the more I like it, my only critique would be to expand the moveset a little. The match was well worked with a nice flow and pace, which makes it an enjoyable match. The Mighty Don't Kneel take the win after one of their nifty double teams. They also take a post match bow to the large Misawa portrait which wins respect with both myself and the live crowd. Recommended if you have 20 minutes of spare time to kill.

Chi Kibou-Gun (Ohara, Taniguchi & Morishima) vs Tenryu, Koshinaka & Ogawa
This was a simple story told well, the younger guys were trying to kill the older team. This broke down to a wild brawl early before settling down to a match. Koshinaka was extremely over and got the biggest pop of the night thus far with his diving hit attack that he hit on everyone as often as he was able. Koshinaka got the pin after a powerbomb. At 64 years old Tenryu took the first heat segment but didn't really do too much overall. Chi Kibou-Gun are great at cheating behind the refs back, even if it feel weird to see so much cheating in Japan. Good match that is worth a look.

No Mercy (Suguira & Takayama) vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Nagata
I knew coming into the match I really liked 3 out of the 4 participants and the fourth, Suguira, I haven't seen a whole lot of to make an educated judgement. This match if full of stiffness and near falls and is great. Sekimoto almost decapitates Suguira with a lariat near the end and the crowd completely buys into the near fall. Suguira takes the match with an Olympic Slam where he almost dumps Sekimoto on his head. Give up watching one of your reality shows for the week and watch this match instead.

Akitoshi Saito vs Naomichi Marufuji
These two put on a pretty good main event really milking the nearfalls at the end. They implored a slow prodding pace with big moves and all in all the match worked for me. Marufuji almost screwed up the finish and had to muscle Saito for the suplex.Marufuji may be growing on me slowly, I am anxiously awaiting his showdown with Nagata for the GHC title. Recommended if a slow prodding pace is not an automatic turnoff. Also note the match is under 20 minutes not the full 30 as the file would indicate.

Final Thoughts
The card from top to bottom isn't great with only the top half far outweighting the bottom half of the card. The No Mercy tag is worth going out of your way to see, the rest is skippable for a casual Puro fan.

NOAH Navigation With Breeze - Night 4 5/31/14

Hitoshi Kumano vs Mitshuhiro Kitamiya

We start with the young boys doing their damnedest to learn the art of pro wrestling. There isn't much here but what is here is entertaining enough. I have no reliable database to tell me who is who without spoiling the rest of the card so they will be judged together instead of on their own merit. My favorite spot in the match has the man in red holding an armbar then transitioning to a backslide. After this spot I put all my money on red and lost it all as black who made red tap out with an octopus hold. Good enough opener.

Masao Inoue vs Yoshinari Ogawa

The fact that this 8 minute match is clipped to less time than the young boys match should speak volumes on its quality. It seemed like Ogawa wanted to wrestle a straight match and Inoue said "No on my watch" and proceeds to work almost all comedy spots. While I am far from a wrestling snob and enjoy some comedy within wrestling, this was not my taste. Ogawa gains the pin after sitting down on a Inoue sunset flip attempt. Not worth your time.

Kenou & Hajime Ohara vs Katsuhiko Nakajima & Taji Ishimori

Though this match had a lot of energy and contained a lot of moves, I found it lacking direction. What they did here was an entertaining spotfest with plenty of cool moves such as the German Suplex hold that Kenou used on Ishimori where he held him swinging between his legs then lifted Ishimori all the way up and around for the German. Of course they include a couple of Fighting Spirit exchanges of forearms and kicks which are fine in my book, if a little cliche. Kenou pinned Ishimori for the win after an interesting suplex (for lack of a better term). There is very little that completely turns me off in wrestling but if you hate spotfests this might not be the match for you.

Akitoshi Saito & Atsushi Kotoge vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Genba Hirayanagi

This match was clipped way down from its 16 minutes and it was still a match Takayama could not save. It is worse than the spotfest, skip it.

Naomichi Marufuji vs Shane Haste

I have heard Marufuji can be lazy when unmotivated and that seemed to be the case here. No one cared about this match including the performers and the crowd. While I understand the big picture story involves Marufuji heading for a future GHC Heavyweight Title match, the story of the match seemed to be that both wrestlers had no specific strategy to win the match so they would just hit moves until something worked. I like what I see from TMDK as a team but the jury is still out on them in singles matches and this may not be a good match to make judgement on Shane. If Marufuji was indeed phoning it in then there is little Haste could have done to make the match meaningful. Marufuji won with a submission hold of which I cannot find a name. This match is not worth your time.

Daisuke Harada © vs Quiet Storm - GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

In my wildest imaginations would I have thought I would be watching Quiet Storm matches in 2014. The last I had seen of him was in 2002 or 2003 ROH and Storm looks like a completely different wrestler. Quiet Storm is now a mature 30 year old and is gigantic compared to the skinny teenager on those early ROH shows. My 6 year old daughter watched this with me and I tried to sell her on Quiet Storm having muscles but she confirmed he is just fat. Quiet Storm disappointed me by not shouting STORM CRADLE DRIVER once in the match, which I would have popped for. These two work a nice little big/small story with slightly bland offense. Shoulder blocks rule the first half of the match establishing Quiet Storm's size advantage and then transitions to more power moves in the latter half of the match. I was very disappointed in the brainbuster on the concrete floor being sold like any ordinary move. Harada won with a German Suplex that never toyed with the idea that Quiet Storm was difficult to pick up due to his size. Still compared to the previous few matches this was better and worth a view if you have 16 minutes to spare.

Takeshi Morishima & MAYBACH Taniguchi © vs Takashi Sugiura & Masato Tanaka - GHC Tag Team Championship

I like stiff wrestling but I didn't love this. These four put in enough work for a great match but the lack of drama makes the match feel underwhelming. Some of this may have come from all of the Cho Kibou-Gun interference which takes the focus away form the match. Sugiura & Tanaka have some good teamwork and hopefully will have a good reign after ending Taniguchi/Morishima's title run at 126 days.

Final Thoughts
Skip this show unless you have the need to see every NOAH show. The title matches are okay but nothing really stands out up and down the card. Recommended to avoid.

BJW 01/02/14

Takayuki Ueki vs Yuichi Taniguchi
I love the Cagematch.net website because it has all the history you could ask for on virtually every wrestler. When one is not listed you know he is greener than dirt and that is what we have here with Ueki. Everything Ueki does looks bad. I imagine Taniguchi has a hand in training him or is just a veteran showing the young boy how to work in front of a live crowd. Regardless Taniguchi finishes Ukei off with a Northern Lights Suplex and a half crab.

Haisei Yakuza Duo (Hoshino & Inaba) vs Irish Airborne
The BJW crowd loves the flashy moves from the Irish Airborne. I understand all wrestling requires good timing but the Airborne's double team offense is especially dependent on good timing. There were a couple of cases where the timing was off and the moves were less impressive. Haisei Yakuza Duo were given about an even amount of offense but this was a match was about the Airborne showing off their moves. The Crist Brothers finish the match with the double stomp spike tombstone piledriver.

Brahman Kai, Brahman Shu & Shinobu vs Madoka & Speed of Sounds (Senga & Oosugi)

I love the Brahman's, they are crazy and eccentric and just pure entertaining. Shinobu I was not impressed with. He lacked any intensity whatsoever and having to see his ass d not help things. Even his partners, as funny as they can be, will get down to business and wrestle when need be. Madoka has a freshly shorn head that is the source of a few comedy spots,and I especially like the riff on the Brahman bowling ball spot. This was most of all a comedy match and the Brahmans ruled here, everyone else either sucked or was overshadowed by Brahman greatness. Did I mention I love me some Brahman?

Street Fight

MASADA & Masaya Takahashi vs Mototsugu Shimizu & Saburo 

MASADA and Shimizu are the stars, their partners do nothing of interest and might as well not even be in the match at all. I question the pointless bloodshed in a throwaway 8 minute midcard match. The ending is incredibly sick with MASADA jamming wooden sticks into Shimizu's head then letting go and they spread out while sticking to his skull. While sick, it is quite the visual that leaves its mark on the viewer. MASADA then goes over the top with brainbusters to drive the sticks in further finally ending the match. Besides the shock ending there is nothing of value here.

Kazuki Hashimoto vs Koji Kanemoto [****1/4]
It is quite an amazing achievement for 47 year old Kanemoto to have a match of quality with this much brutality. These two trade blow for blow and hold for hold the entire 14 minutes. At one point Kanemoto is punching Hashimoto right into his arm before locking in an arm lock. Even if the fad is ten years old the constant reversal of holds ala Angle/Benoit is still a favorite of mine. Koji rolled Hashimoto into a cool looking ankle lock before they started the reversal sequence. The ankle lock Hashimoto tapped to looked to be quite snug. The match had great intensity, brutal moves but needed a hotter ending to really push it over the top. As is it is certainly a match worthy of your time.

Monster Items Death Match; The Battledore

B Fautless Junkie's (Numazawa, Kasai & Takeda) vs Danny Havoc, Ryuji Ito & Yuko Miyamoto

As far as deathmatch six man tags go, this was not good. The match was sorely relying on the visual gimmick of all of the lighttubes attached to the wooden stands in the corner to break when the button was pushed. Sadly not even half the tubes broken when the claws came down. Another fault of the match is that the gimmick the match is based on did not factor into the finish. After the second claw dropped the two that took the bump continued to perform offensive moves in the match. The claw should have been the end of the man (or men) who took that second bump. Thirdly there were at times four wrestlers doing the "I am holding him back" rest hold on the floor while two men fight in the ring. While I understand the focus is supposed to be on the two in the ring, it takes some of the believability out of the match. The wrestlers holding back their opponents are obviously not struggling to do so. Deathmatches can work with drama based off of the gimmick surrounded by intense brawling. This failed on both levels.

Ryuichi Kawakami & Shinya Ishikawa vs Shuji Ishikawa & Yuji Okabayashi

This match is here to spur the Shuji Ishikawa/Ryuchi Kawakami issue which it does well in the post match. The actual match is okay but contains several rest holds that only serve as a time filler. The good in the match were the forarms of which there were plenty. I must mention that Shuji Ishikawa threw one of the weakest Shining Wizards I have ever seen. Okabayashi has great facials showing he is out on his feet. He ends up getting the pin on Shinya Ishikawa after a nice lariat.

BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Title

Tenchi wo Kurau Finals Match

Isami Kodaka© vs Takumi Tsukamoto [***1/4]

I have no idea what the Tenchi wo Kurau is but this is apparently the finals, however there was no trophy or prize that Kodaka won in his victory beside keeping his belt. These two went out and fought a hell of a fight. Kodaka dropped his Diving Double Kneedrop off the top through lighttubes. What made this especially brutal was that this isn't a kneedrop where he would bounce off his opponent, but he planted his knees in Tsukamoto. There was little wrestling save for the token grappling at the beginning of the match, but there were sick spots, ladders and a giant hammer which made the match a lot of fun. Kodaka got the pin with a superkick. 

Overall Thoughts:

An enjoyable first show from Big Japan that produced a legit MOTYC in Hashimoto/Kanemoto and an enjoyable main event. 

Zero1 Happy New Year 01/01/14

Daichi Hashimoto vs. Kohei Sato
Sato is the trainer at the Zero1 dojo and Hashimoto is a young boy with 2 years experience. Hashimoto is also son of Japanese legend Shinya Hashimoto. Sato spends most of the match no selling Hashimoto and giving him plenty of abuse. Somewhere along the line Sato gets busted open but that part was cut out of the match. Sato puts Hashimoto away with his High Angle German Suplex. Not much here unless you like a semi competitive squash.

Gokiburi Mask #1 vs. Jason Lee
There is absolutely no information on either of these two on Cagematch so I can only assume they are young boys from the dojo. Gokiburi's mask looks like that of an ant. He is a large, slow power wrestler that doesn't do much of note. Jason Lee seems to have a martial arts background and is by far the better of the two on this occasion. At one point Lee hits this Street Fighteresque  combo in the corner which was different. Jason Lee is one I would like to see more from in the future. As a match this is another semi-competitive squash. Gokiburi did very little here, but he is very unhappy and cuts a little promo after the match. Lee is awarded a parchment of some type after the match.

"brother" YASSHI and Ken Tsuyoshi  vs. Yoshikazu Yokoyama and Tank Nagai
Out of the almost ten minute match we get a disjointed 2 or 3 minutes. Sadly the best part is the comedy of Yokoyama/Nagai acting like The Steiner Brothers. YASSHI and Tsuyoshi resolve to using a kendo stick, which backfires. Yokoyama gets the pin after the Death Valley Driver.

Ryouji Sai and Ikuto Hidaka vs. Toru Owashi and Takuya Sugawara
Once again clipped and neither team seemed motivated to put any more than decent wrestling into the match. I don't know who to blame here, the only wrestler I am familiar with is Hidaka and he is awesome. It really felt like an American indy match you would find in a small town like Royston, GA. Hidaka and Sugawara have a little promo battle without mics before they lock horns. The crowd liked the promos at least. Hidaka ends this with Iwami Ginzan and like the entire card so far there is nothing to see here.

Akebono and Yuji Okabayashi vs. Maybach Beta and Tama Williams
While I liked Akebono's Triple Crown title defense a couple days later more than I should have, I did not like Akebono here. The only thing memorable these guys did was the three giant splashes Akebono gave Maybach Beta to end the match.

International Jr. Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship
HUB © vs. Mineo Fujita
This match felt like a true indy title match. There were a lot of moves but no sense of direction or story. Both guys are fluid with their moves just could not put the whole thing together and make the match memorable. Fujita is supposed to be a heel yet the fans would cheer him at times. At one point after a ref bump he dropkicks HUB in the balls which garnered the most cheers. HUB wins the bout after what I presume was a Chaos Break and he leaned so far back on the cover I thought we had a double pin. HUB retains the two titles that have been defended together since Sugawara "unified" the belts in 2012.

Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship
James Raideen © vs. Demon Ueda
Before the match there was a video package for Demon Ueda that was complete over the top wrestlecrap. It is a must see if you like that type of thing. Raideen is a New Zealander trained by the Dudley Boys and has the perfect WWE look. He is 6'5 with a chiseled physique and is only 22 years of age. He is everything the WWE looks for in new talent. Zero1 obviously has some trust in him because he is in the midst of the second longest title run in the titles short history. Masato Tanaka holds the record with a 307 day title reign. Raideen wins me over by coming out to one of my favorite wrestling themes of all time, Sting's NWA music. Ueda tries to make this match a brawl but Raideen settles this thing down to a power wrestling match. Raideen has horrible chops for a man his size. The match plays into the backstory of Ueda using mist to score a victory over Raideen in a tag match. Ueda has a great character but his offense did not leave a lasting impression on me. Raideen gets the victory after a High-Angle Powerbomb.

NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship
Masato Tanaka and Yusaku Obata  vs. Shinjiro Otani and KAMIKAZE
The NWA Intercontinental Tag Titles date back to 2001 where a young Samoa Joe was one half of the first champions. The previous champs, Akebono and Sekimoto, vacated the championship on 12/30 and this match is to fill the vacancy. The match itself is by far the best match of the night. Three of the four participants can go. Tanaka and Otani bring the slaps, forearms, and of course face washes. The one thing I have been looking for all night is found here, Tanaka and Obata hurt a body part of one of their opponents and they continue working on it. Obata takes the violence well and is very fluid in the ring. KAMIKAZE is just horrible. He slides to a stop on the floor instead of taking the bump into the chairs as planned. Tanaka and Obata have KAMIKAZE on the ropes and there is no way he is coming back yet he gets a fluke backslide on Obata for the pin. I was not happy with this finish but Otani and KAMIKAZE become the 31st NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champions.

Overall Thoughts:
I was not a fan of the overall show. Most is pretty lackluster wrestling save the main event which was good enough yet not great enough to go out of your way to see. Thumbs down.

AJPW New Years Wars 2014 - Night 2 (01/05/14)

Team Dream Futures (Ishii & Irie) vs Xceed (Aoki & Suzuki) [***3/4]

The more I watch Ishii and especially Irie the more I love these guys. Irie is short and fat and wrestles a fun power junior heavyweight style. About a fourth of the way into the match I started to realize they are going for more than your pedestrian opener and by the end I was hooked on the near falls hoping the DDT visitors would score the upset victory. Team Dream Futures won me over with their apparent finisher which amounts to a GTS onto Irie's mohawk (instead of Ishii's knee). I understand the reason the two teams went to a 20 minute time limit draw. It shows that TDF are on par with Xceed and if given more time in a rematch could win, but I would have loved to see a finish and would have given this four stars if that had been the case. If you have time this is worth a look.

Jon Bolen vs Tyson Dux

This felt like an 8 minute exhibition with no real story to tell from two wrestlers that seem to not be headed anywhere fast in All Japan. Bolen has some interesting power moves and an okay finisher (swinging powerslam) and uses them to dominate Dux in the latter stages of the match. Dux gets the cheap school boy rollup for the apparent upset finish. This was a total letdown from the awesome opener.

KENSO & Mitsuya Nagai vs Osamu Nishimura & Ryuji Hijikata
Dark Kingdom is such a good name, but the team does nothing for me. They really are a poor man's BULLET CLUB with nothing interesting to offer. They cheat yet their opponents Nishimura and Hijikata are just as bland in this match. Common sense would dictate that the faces get a hot tag and at least an attempt at a win but no KENSO ends the match with a running knee completely out of left field. I am not a fan of this.

Hikaru Sato & Ultimo Dragon vs Xceed (Shiozaki & Miyahara)

Forget their partners, Go Shiozaki and Hikaru Sato put on some good work here. They included those little nuances that make wrestling so awesome, like how Shiozaki sells the injured arm off a chop even though he proved to have the better chops earlier in the match. Sato did everything in his power  to rip Shiozaki's arm off with an assist to the crazy lucha submissions of Ultimo Dragon. The match was not spectacular but was solid. Shiozaki claimed the win with a Go Flasher on Sato.

GAORA TV Title

SUSHI© vs Soma Takao

This is SUSHI's first defense of the vacated GAORA TV Title (sixth defense of the title ever by my count) he won in November. SUSHI is the third holder of the title and is in such Hall of Fame company as Seiya Sanada and Renee Dupree. Takao brought some DDT craziness with him to the match but came up a bit short. There was a lot of garbage wrestling here and not much of a story to tell. They did some brawling out side and Takao dropped a pan from the second story on top of SUSHI's head. They did the rollup reversal spot for several two counts and SUSHI ended it with what I assume is the Katsuo no Ipponzuri (Fisherman 's Buster small package).

Burning (Akayama & Kanemaru) & Masao Inoue vs Masanobu Fuchi, Suwama & Taiyo Kea

The notes on the YouTube video note this is Masanobu Fuchi's 60th birthday celebration. The match is worked very smart with everyone getting a rest when Fuchi is in wrestling a slower style and then the match picks up when his partners come in. At one point Fuchi is spike piledriven on the floor and then garners more heat from a simple bodyslam. Fuchi kicks out of an Akayama Exploder and pins Inoue with the third small package. A 26 minute match prominently featuring a 60 year old is never going to be a five star classic but this was harmless fun and a fitting way to honor an AJPW legend.

AJPW Triple Crown Title

Akebono© vs Takao Omori [***]
Akebono is the 47th Triple Crown champion making his second or third defense depending on how you view the 11/24 show against Joe Doering. I thought this was a worthy title fight where firey Omori had a sound strategy to battle the power and sheer bulk of the champ. Omori used the tried and true method of chopping down the big man's legs and had some success in doing so. In the end Akebono was simply too much for the challenger and Omori was put away with the Yokozuna Impact. They had a good story in place and in some ways were successful however the match did not have the impact I would have hoped for.

Overall Thoughts
There isn't a whole lot to go out of your way for here. I am high on the opener and have thumbs in the middle leaning up for the main event. The Fuchi match is a nice moment considering it is his 60th birthday celebration, otherwise leave this card alone.

WWE RAW 01/27/14

Actually watching this live, as I expect to be an important show (or train wreck) that could shape WWE for years to come.

-Triple H and Stephanie are out and do not get two words out of their mouths before YES! chants were starting. Both Steph and HHH had rebuttals to the crowd. Daniel Byan is out and people are going insane. I am a HUGE Daniel Bryan mark so this is welcomed for sure. He sarcastically asks the crowd to stop the YES and Daniel Bryan chants and BOTH chants start. He says his match was a great moment in Royal Rumble history but the biggest disappointment was not being in the Rumble. The Authority says they did not want to put Daniel's health in jeopardy, to which they counter with Daniel is only thinking about Daniel. Steph asks if everyone was here just to see him and the biggest YES chant I have ever heard breaks out. This is a great segment and I think we the fans have either been worked or the fans at the Rumble changed everything. Daniel Bryan says he wants in the Elimination Chamber match (where it was announced the title would be up for grabs). He tells Triple H neither should leave the ring until he gets what he wants. Triple H brings in The Shield to punish Daniel Bryan. Shaemus and John Cena come down to even the odds and Shaemus gets the bigger pop of the two. The three faces stand in the ring as the "victors"

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs The Real Americans

This was pretty good because of the Americans as opposed to their opponents. Some of the Mysterio spots seemed very contrieved, especially the 619. Biggest moment in the match was having Zeb slap Swagger to motivate him to do better. Hopefully this will not signal the impending end of this fun team. The Real Americans win with the Nutralizer on Sin Cara.

-Bad News Barrett has some bad news. We get a match with The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler in the Battle of Cleveland. He is glad it is not the Battle for Cleveland because both would be losers as Cleveland is a town of losers.

Fandango vs R-Truth

This was just a match with R-Turth getting the win. No idea why this was here though I could see a Summer Rae split from Fandango. Emma was in the audience here too. #EMMAlution

-Brad Maddox announces the arrival of WWE Champion Randy Orton. He whines about having to defend the title in the Elimination Chamber match. Batista comes out and there is a great sign in the crowd 'Batista Please Leave'. A big Daniel Bryan chant breaks out. Batista does not care who the champion is, he will walk out of Wrestlemania the champion. This brings out Brock Lesnar. Heyman informs Maddox that Lesnar's patience is running thin. The Authority has his patience running thin and "suggests" a title match with Orton. He also suggests a #1 contenders match with Batista. Heyman demands an answer tonight or else.

The Battle of Cleveland

Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz

Both are out in Cleveland pro teams jerseys and legit seem excited to be in this match. They have a pretty good match while the announcers run down Cleveland. Ziggler wins with the zig zag for the pin. Not a bad match, standard midcard affair.

Ryback & Curtis Axel vs The Usos
The Usos have another good RAW match. They are a high energy team that would be great babyface champions. Ryback had a spot where he missed a spear and went into the post and looked to hurt his shoulder legit, but he continued the match. His sell was complete over the top if it were not a real injury. He came back in ate two superkicks and a splash giving the Usos the pin.

Kofi Kingston vs Alberto Del Rio
Whoever thought giving this match almost 20 minutes should be shot. The crowd turned on the match before the commercial break and they went a full segment afterwards. The normals spots like the Boom Drop did not get near the response as in years (months?) past. The crowd chanted for JBL and Jerry Lawler and the loudest pops of the night were when the announcers acknowledged the crowd. Del Rio won after his superkick to the head to mercifully put the WWE Universe out of its misery.

WWE Tag Team Championship
The New Age Outlaws © vs Brothers Rhodes
I was thinking this match was missing something about the time Lesnar came out to destroy anyone in the ring. The Outlaws bailed leaving Brothers Rhodes to get destroyed with a chair by Lesnar. Heyman says this is what The Authority gets for not giving his what he wants. The match was going along fine and would have been close to great with a hot ending. There was a lot of talking in the ring which made the match fun, especially from the Road Dog. Hope these two teams get a legit rematch with a good ending.

The Bellas & The Funkadactyles vs AJ Lee, Tamina, Aksana & Alicia Fox
 As Divas matches go this wasn't horrible. At one point diva matches were the absolute worst thing on RAW but this week we had Kingston/Del Rio! Naomi pinned the Divas champion AJ Lee with the rear view.

-The new WWE Hall of Fame inductee is......JAKE THE SNAKE ROBERTS!! I approve of this. His best promos were as a heel, best ring work was as a face. Great performer though.

Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match
John Cena, Shaemus & Daniel Bryan vs The Shield [***3/4]
 This was an amazing match with a horrible finish. John Cena was the face in peril for a long while, but when Bryan got the hot tag the place came unglued. Big moment at the end when Cena had Reigns in the STF and Reigns broke it. Sadly this is the moment the Wyatts came out and attacked the face team sending them to the Chamber by DQ. The Shield was rightfully pissed as they did not even factor into the decision.

Overall Thoughts: There was a lot of wrestling on tonight's RAW which isn't a bad thing unless you get a 20 minute Kingston/Del Rio match. I am glad we as fans were worked and there are plans for Daniel Bryan even if they do not progress as fast as we the fan base would want. The show was not as much of a train wreck as I originally thought but at least it wasn't a clunker and there was some good stuff on the show. Worth watching.

AJPW New Years Wars 2014 - Night 1 (01/02/14)

Kotaro Suzuki & Masao Inoue vs Osamu Nishimura & Ryuji Hijikata

The match is rediculously clipped so there is not much to comment on. Kotaro Suzuki looked pretty good. He had some nice junior moves like a 619 attempt and he sold the leg from being in the figure four.

Hikaru Sato vs Kento Miyahara
Sato has an MMA background and uses a ground attack with some kicks, while Miyahara on the other hand is more of a typical junior wrestler. Sato seemed to be leaning towards a ground based offense of grapevining the leg. He controlled the first portion before Miyahara exploded with some forearms.  Miyahara's nice strikes, killing Sato on the floor with a DDT, and muscling up Sato for a suplex were all impressive. First time seeing either man wrestle and Miyahara performance was more impactful, though I would certainly like to see what Sato can do given a little more time and offense which his offense is more suited for.

Jon Bolen, SUSHI & Tyson Dux vs Team Dream Futures (Ishii, Irie & Takao)
Bolen and Dux are well traveled gaijin from PA and NB respecively. Both do relatively nothing in the match. The one highspot from the duo was a swinging powerslam from Bolen. Irie and his green mohawk was the most impressive wrestler of the match. When he tagged in he was a house of fire straight through to the end.

Go Shiozaki vs KENSO
KENSO is apart of Dark Kingdom while Shiozaki rolls with Xceed. This match was more middle of the road for me. I do not believe KENSO, who has two tag title reigns in his decade plus career, will beat a former GHC heavyweight champion. KENSO brought an Americanized feel to the match by doing some brawling in the crowd and especially throwing the referee over the top rope. This is the first AJPW show I have seen in a year so it is quite possible that Dark Kingdom is a poor mans Bullet Club. KENSO is a scrappy fighter but poses little threat to Shiozaki who finishes the match with the Go Flasher.

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title

Ultimo Dragon© vs Atsushi Aoki [***]

At the end of 2013 the 47 year old Ultimo Dragon won the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight title from Kanemaru and this is his first defense. Aoki is a NOAH transplant and spends a large part of the match working in the arm of Dragon. My favorite piece of armwork is the Kamura after a pin attempt, which if done with supreme intensity, can be very effective. Sadly intensity is the main element missing from this match and drags the match from great to good. I appreciate Dragon selling the arm well after the match was over but he did little to move the match any higher. The ending was La Magistral cradle which was reversed twice, and thanks to the WWE I have completely soured on any finish involving a roll up. I was hoping for a lot more but sadly this is not worth going out of your way to see.

Akebono, Suwama & Taiyo Kea vs Burning & Takao Omori

I really like the phrase 'They had a match' Bryan Alvarez uses when reviewing wrestling describing a match that was neither good nor bad yet nothing particularly stood out. The little Kanemaru, though heel, is able to draw some sympathy from me for having to tangle with his three oversized opponents. Suwama hit a lariat on Kanemaru that turned him inside out. Good booking rears its ugly head in the ending where Omori, who is challenging for the Triple Crown title the next night, pins the champion Akebono. Omori sold this as a big accomplishment and sells me on their match to come.

17 Man Battle Royal

This event could have easily been called 'Night of Omori' as he takes the win in the main event too. I expected the Battle Royal to be a comedic playground for Fuchi and in some ways it was and I was very disappointed when he was eliminated. Eliminations come can come by pinfall and a lot of the early portion of the match was everyone standing around until two competitors were prone in a submission or pinning combination then they all covered both for the double elimination. There was a fun moment near the end where Omori went to make a handshake alliance with SUSHI, but SUSHI made the alliance with the other four men in the match as they all turned again Omori. The final two were SUSHI and Omori. I almost lost it when SUSHI got a close near fall but Omori finishes SUSHI in short order to complete a super push towards the title match tomorrow night.

WWE Monday Night RAW 01/20/14

-The Authority come out to introduce Batista, but Orton comes out pissed. Stephanie lights into him for attacking John Cena's father when the most eyes were on the WWE. Steph threatens to fire him if he cannot come under control and respect the rules of the WWE. Orton whines about being put in the rematch with Cena and the return of Lesnar and Batista. The Authority believes in Orton but they believe he has lost faith in himself. Triple H is giving Orton chances to right some wrongs by facing Kofi Kingston and showing where Cena will come into the arena, but he will have to do it along. Now this whole thing has taken place while chants of Batista have broken out, when his music finally hits the crowd erupts. Batista kisses the ring and gives everyone a hug because everyone (even The Authority) is happy Batista is back except Randy Orton. Batista is back to headline Wrestlemania, Randy Orton is not happy.

Cody Rhodes, Goldust & Big E Langston vs The Shield

It is not possible for the Brothers Rhodes and Shield to have a bad match, throw in Big E and this was fantastic. Cohere were some neat moments in this match like Cody holding Rollins in a high hanging vertical Suplex position before face planting him into the mat. Big E had a moment where he was breaking out Ultimate Warrior moves. Roman nailed Cody with a vicious right cross in mid air on his second disaster kick attempt, after the first kick sent Reigns into a daze. The Shield won with Seth Rollins curb stomp. This is a TV MOTY canidate, great stuff!

-Daniel Bryan is out to say he had a plan when he joined the Wyatt's and has exposed them. Bryan then says he and Bray Wyatt have signed for a match at the Royal Rumble. Bray shows up on screen with another creepy promo telling Bryan to kiss his mother because all the pain he will feel is his fault for being a traitor.

Fandango vs Xavier Woods

These two have a completely pointless match that Fandango won in about a minute with a top rope leg drop. The only thing this seemingly did was to foreshadow a possible Emma/Summer Rae/Fandango feud as she is shown in the crowd with her #EMMAtaining sign following the Fandango win.

-The always amazing Brad Maddox is in his office with Kane taking credit for bringing Batista back. Steph excuses Maddox and verbally blasts Kane for chokeslamming CM Punk last Friday on Smackdown. She knew promoting him was a risk but he needs to get ahold of himself. He can no longer put his hands on wrestlers and needs to apologize to CM Punk, to which Kane was not happy about.

-Kane is out to apologize to Punk. Punk claims he cannot hear so Kane repeats himself in a slow condescending manner. Punk hears his apology then apologizes himself with FORARMS TO THE FACE!! Maddox stops Kane from retaliating as Punk will have an official match with one of the the New Age Outlaws.

CM Punk vs 'The One' Billy Gunn

Instead of calling Billy Gunn 'Mr A' Michael Cole should call him 'The One' which was his moniker as a singles wrestler. Punk and Gunn go out and have a good TV match. It is amazing how good Billy Gunn is, he may have aged but his game hasn't. The NAO are in a perfect position at this point in their careers. They are fun to watch and are competent in the ring, that is all I ask. Punk jumping the announce table to attack Road Dog mid match got a huge reaction. Punk gets the victory with the GTS.

-Maddox comes out but Kane interferes and says Punk is the #1 entrant into the Rumble. I love The Authority storyline. Kane is finally getting how to get back at an enemy in a corporate setting, not by force but by making life difficult for him. In return Punk garners much sympathy making him a better babyface.

-The old Scott Keith jokes work here: Brock Lesnar IS HERE, and Brock Lesnar IS WALKING!!

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Alberto Del Rio

At one point in this match I thought it was the end of Rey, Del Rio was just destroying him top to bottom. Maybe it is a credit to both men in this match but while Rey's comeback wasn't what I call epic, it came from being farther down than normal. He already came into the match with an injured arm and there was a little attention put on it. Del Rio blocked a 619 and Mysterio kicked out of a pin after a superkick. These two know each other so well, but Rey makes a mistake off the top and Del Rio counters to the cross armbreaker and that was that. Pretty good match between these two.

-Batista comes out post match and powerbombs Del Rio who has been talking about Batista in weeks leading up to tonight's show.

-Big Show comes out and makes fun of Paul Heyman before the Lesnar confrontation. Brock comes ringside but motions that Show isn't worth it and walks to the back laughing. Lesnar comes back and has the nose to nose showdown with Show. They put over Show's size and strength in that Brock cannot manhandle him like other opponents. Show tosses him out with ease which stuns and angers Brock who throws a tantrum and grabs a chair to which Show steps on to end that attempt. They jaw back and forth as Lesnar backs down the ramp. This match has a fantastic build with something we have not seen with the new Lesnar. He has never been put in a situation where he is not the biggest or strongest in the ring. Should be an interesting fight Sunday.

AJ Lee & Tamina vs The Funadactyles

Naomi is tagged in and has some fantastic offense but eats a boot from Tamina. AJ is tagged in and immediately rolled up for the pin. Horrible finish, just lacks creativity and the WWE does it all the time.

The Usos vs The Wyatt Family

The Usos and Wyatts wrestle this big slobberknocker of a match. It was a pretty good brawl nothing more. Daniel Bryan runs interference while the Usos roll up Harper for the win.

Randy Orton vs Kofi Kingston
Kofi comes into this with a little confidence from last week's win and a drive from comments that his win was a fluke. Kingston was a house of fire until crafty Orton took over on the outside. John Cena arrives right at 11pm which must mean he is apart of the crew taking down the ring or he would have shown up during the actual show. Orton has a choice of being Kingston or fighting Cena and he takes Cena giving Kofi the DQ win.

-Post match Cena and Orton fight into the crowd with Orton ultimately jumping into a waiting SUV and escaping any more damage from a fight he was obviously losing.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was a good show with a great match, a pretty good match and segments that built towards the Royal Rumble. That is all I ask of a wrestling show.

WWE Monday Night Raw 11/25/13

Honestly I miss wrestling and have been out of touch since just after SummerSlam. Time to get back into it.

-Episode 1070 starts with Randy Orton, the WWE Champion who claims he is owed an apology from those who think he would lose the WWE Title at Survivor Series. He brings out Triple H and Stephanie who are pleased Orton is still the champion. Orton is upset that Triple H and Stephanie came down at SS and ran interference in his match. Orton then cuts a promo about being the greatest champion in the 50+ year history of the company. It is a pretty good heel promo but out comes World Champion John Cena and if this feud they have ends in an undisputed title I am all for it. Cena goes on a tirade about the fans loving Daniel Bryan because they are tired for the administrative BS of the Helmsleys. He then wants an undisputed champion which I popped for. There are some underlying aspects of this segment which suggests a future Cena heel turn. The relationship between Orton and the Helmsleys is far from smooth and Orton mention Cena talking with the Helmsleys of this title unification idea. HHH announces a title unification ladder match between Orton and Cena.

The Shield vs Cody Rhodes, Goldust and Rey Misterio Jr.

Even with the rise of Roman Reigns I am still a big Dean Ambrose fan. He had a lot of wacky selling in this one which adds an entertainment aspect to his wrestling. The match is acceptable but a large portion of the heat segment is during the commercial. Reigns counters a 619 with a massive spear. Ambrose gets the pin on Rhodes with his unnamed bulldog like maneuver, which is odd because usually the WWE will give finishers a name.

-MizTV is next *groan* and his guest is Michael Strahan or should I say Titus O'Neal who is parodying Strahan to put himself over. First of all everyone knows who it is so he gains nothing by this. Maybe treating the WWE as a sport leads me to be frustrated by things like this. Strahan is out to announce a match and this crowd does not care though his comparing Kelly Rippa as tougher than Miz got a good reaction including a Kelly Rippa chant. Miz does drop an insider term saying Strahan was stiff when the hip toss did not go as planned. I miss the NWA.

Ryback and Curtis Axel vs Big E Langston and Mark Henry

This was a complete squash with Heny delivering the Worlds Strongest Slam for the pin. Curtis Axel's stock seems to slipped rather quickly.

7 on 7 Survivor Series Divas Elimination Match

I am not a fan of many of the Divas as they have no wrestling ability save for AJ, Katlyn and Natalya. Of course the Bellas and Eva Marie are the winners. There is a teased AJ/Natalya feud which has possibilities. Fans were solidly behind AJ because she has both personality and wrestling ability, a combination which none of the have. Like many of the Divas matches have become this was an extended ad for the Total Divas show.

Damien Sandow vs Dolph Ziggler - Hamptons Hardcore Match

Sandow and Ziggler keep things energetic and make this a fun match. Of course this is a total PG street fight, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. The Sandow win surprises me but I haven't been keeping track of what has transpired in the feud thus far. Sandow got the pin with a slam through a trash can.

Strahan and Santino are in the back in a comedy sketch with THE WYATTS of all people. A yes chant breaks out for Strahan to put the sheep mask on, which he does.

Punk takes some time to make points with Daniel Bryan shouting YES to every point. The team name seems to have become The Beard and The Best. Punk references the Ring Crew Express which got a pop from me. Punk addresses The Authority putting those they hate in handicap matches hoping it will fix the problem but they are not scared of the Wyatts.

The Beard & The Best vs The Wyatt Family

I love B&B and the Wyatt's character however the Wyatt's can be a little on the boring side in the ring. Punk played a great face in peril and Daniel Bryan is as firey a babyface as you can find but the match lacked a lot. This can also be attributed to it being a rematch to further the feud. The Wyatt's get disqualified by not clearing the ring. The Wyatt's kidnap Bryan and Roman Reigns spears Punk from out of nowhere. The Shield triple powerbombs Punk as a message from The Authority.

Kofi Kingston vs The Miz

Kofi has lost a lot of muscle and it shows. These two had a match I really didn't pay much attention to. Miz wins with another version of a rollup (in this case a crucifix) which are set in a way that his victories appear as flukes. I am not a huge fan as either but Miz is worlds better as a heel and would fit well if he was added to The Authority.

Xavier Woods vs Heath Slater

I like Slater a lot he is selfless and seemingly enjoys his role as a man the WWE trusts with newcomers and legends. This is Woods debut and he is paired with R-Truth and the Funkadaklyles for reasons unknown. He wins the match with Gail Kim's Eat Defeat and looked pretty good in doing so. I wouldn't say it was the most impressive debut I have ever seen but the man has potential.

-I can't lie this was the best of Strahan's appearances where he signs footballs for The Bellas who are Eagles fans, the Funkadaklyles who are fantastic. The red headed chick lets him know she is there and Goldust is just awesome.

Randy Orton & Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena & Big Show

The match was just a match until the angle with Show's concussion kicked in. He lost by being kicked in the head the previous night and then was kicked in the head twice during the match. The doctor temporarily stopped the match but that did not last long as Orton started back on the attack. Show got in a spear on instinct, made the tag and was on the outside for the rest of the match. That was ok as Super Cena was here to take care of business and won with the STF. After the match Orton blasted Cena with the World Title, fade to black.

Overall it was a decent show moving things somewhat along but nothing groundbreaking. Ziggler/Sandow was match of the night by a good margin.

WWE Monday Night RAW 08/19/13

First off this show comes on the heels of one of the most important PPV's of the year. SummerSlam saw Daniel Bryan pin John Cena clean in the middle of the ring in a ****1/2 technical wrestling clinic, however Triple H turned on Bryan and allowed Randy Orton to cash in the Money in the Bank contract to win the title. This was a well thought out, well planned angle that will give Daniel Bryan a lot of motivation to chase Orton and his title. I have high hopes the WWE does right with this angle, but I had high hopes for "The Summer of Punk" in 2011 and they dropped the ball with it. Speaking of Punk he lost an incredible ****3/4 match to Brock Lesnar due to his inability to keep his focus off of Paul Heyman. This could prove to be an important episode of RAW, though we will see if the events of last night give the company some new legs.

Live from Anaheim, CA

-John Cena comes out for some mic time basically giving a farewell to the fans while putting over Daniel Bryan as the better man. He shows the massive ball of fluid on his elbow, which is the result of a torn tricep and it looked disgusting, and will keep out 4-6 months. In an odd moment Cena calls out Bryan only to shake his hand, give him the mic and leave. No banter no nothing, which is unlike Cena. I guess he said his peace and is gone until he heals. Stephanie McMahon comes out to put the corporate spin on recent events. Daniel Bryan says that no one can take his passion away and if he is going to be fired he is going to go out with a bang. Stephanie comes back saying they don't want to fire him but not everyone is championship material and calls him a B+. This obviously pisses Bryan off and he knocks the mic from her hand and out of the ring. She grabs another from ringside and starts talking down to Bryan almost like a child and calls security to haul him away. Stephanie was awesome here as the bitchy executive. When Bryan turned around after being lead away to lead a No chant as an act of defiance, she gave an awesome facial. This entire thing was amazing.

Damien Sandow vs Cody Rhodes

These two proceed to have a match. I like Sandow better than Rhodes but neither are lighting the world on fire. Sandow blocked the Cross Rhodes that beat him last night but lost to, of all things, a sunset flip. I guess the story is that Rhodes has Sandow's number. After the match Rhodes claims he should be the #1 Contender because he beat a Money in the Bank holder twice, which is rediculous on a number of levels. First Rhodes is still not over enough to challenge for the title, he really needs more grooming. Second, when does beating the MITB holder make you a contender? Ziggler lost all the time while holding the case and no one got a title shot as a result. This claim was absurd.

-Brad Maddox was sheepishly smiling backstage and announced that due to Dolph Ziggler's tweet where he criticized HHH, Ziggler will be wrestling a 3 on 1 handicap match against The Shield tonight. One interesting part of this show will be who aligns themselves with whom. So far Maddox is in the HHH camp to keep his GM job, and obviously Stephanie sides with her husband. On the other side we have Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler. At this point I am not sure if The Shield sides with HHH or are just pawns in the story.

-Paul Hayman is in the ring as we come back from break. He cuts a disingenuous promo about forgiving Punk and wanting to be the best in the world with him. He wants to end the family feud and help Punk gets to the main event of Wrestlemania. If only Punk apologizes to him.

-The Bellas tell the Funkadaktles they hope their match is more interesting then their involvement on Total Divas. Cameron completely annoys me.

The Funkadaklyles vs Layla & AJ Lee

AJ and Naomi have an okay match then Layla tags in and immediately gets rolled up for the pin. Then gives the worst shocked face I have ever seen. Just bad, I expect better from Layla.

Dolph Ziggler vs The Shield

We get a more competitive match than this had any right to be considering the odds. Ziggler was overwhelmed and lost to an awesome Reins spear. After the match all three dismantle Ziggler and do a triple powerbomb which might have been a good strategy during the match to end it faster. All's well that ends well for The Shield I guess.

Alberto Del Rio vs Sin Cara

This was complete angle and didn't last more than a minute. Sin Cara went for a dive and "landed on his wrist". In the replay he does not land in such a way to hurt anything. As soon as he landed he signaled to the ref for help. Just an odd waste of time. After the match he cuts another promo about being the representative for the Latino community. He actually gets cheers for this even though it seems very backhanded and halfhearted. Ricardo comes out to a nice pop and says Del Rio is a hero to no one. Ricardo is still a manager now managing Rob Van Dam. RVD sprints in and destroys the World Champion and is in position for the 5-star frog splash when Del Rio bails. RVD and Ricardo are an odd paring but I like Ricardo so more Ricardo is good.

The Real Americans vs Prime Time Players

Zeb Colter's pre-match promo included saying the best thing about America is seeing LAX fade away from the plane. We The People is the most over heel catchphrase in the company. The Prime Time Players picked up a huge win that may give them a shot at the tag titles. Darrin Young got the pin with a gut buster named (of all things) The Gut Check. Take that TNA! Match was pretty good as any match with the Real Americans would be. 

-Big show is interviewed backstage, and confirms he and Mark Henry will go after the tag titles. Sleezy Brad Maddox interrupts as apparently Big Show made some Negative remarks about the COO Triple H and Show will be wrestling The Shield in a handicap match with all three members of The Shield being legal. Show awesomely states "Are you sure you want to do that to The Shield". This confirms that The Shield lies on the corporate end of things. Big Show and by proxy Mark Henry are on the face side. So far this angle is building well.

-To show just how far Zack Ryder and Justin Gabriel have fallen their involvement on this show consists of listening to a Foot Locker rep explain the rules of a contest and then leave. Fandango dances in asks about dancing in sneakers. He says "I like this Foot Locker" then dances away. He SO sounded like Steven Segal here.

-The great bully Ryback proceeds to tell a jobber to do something then ask him why he is doing that. The jobbers bag ends up in the shower where he slaps the hell out of him before making him flood his bag. I actually want to see Ryback get killed for these segments, so I assume they work.

Big Show vs The Shield

As far as handicap matches go, this was pretty good. The Shield needed teamwork to get the win due to Show's size. Seth Rollins looked to have hurt his knee as he held it several times during the match. Reins got a nice spear on Showand the triple powerbomb finished Show off. I am dissapointed that Big Show didn't try to knock some one or two of The Shield out. You would think that would be a great strategy but the WMD was never used.

-CM Punk comes out to respond to Heyman and it was golden. After last night Punk has a major badass rep that the WWE is apparently,wetting run wild. Very very early in the promo one guy dares to boo Punk and gets kitty up verbally from him. Punk was starting up a slower methodic promo when this guy started booing. His boos could be heard on television and Punk's response to "the fat guy in the front row" really put over how pissed off Punk is and how much little things get to him moreso now than ever before. No idea if this was a shoot or work but it included Punk saying balls and bitch which were edited for TV but got MAJOR pops. Punk wants the Wrestlemania main event and the title then Heyman comes out with Curtis Axel. Punk wishes he could have taken Heyman's arm home with him. Heyman responded with appologizing for what is about to happen to Punk. Axel is going to fight Punk after the commercial break. This segment was amazing......just amazing

CM Punk vs Curtis Axel - Unsanctioned Street Fight

This was a good fight. JBL put over how hurt Punk is from last night and shouldn't be wrestling at all. Punk kept going towards Heyman but never paid for it like he did in the last month. Axel hurts Punks leg and almost Pillmanizes him. Punk gets the "win" after a GTS using the stairs instead of his knee.

Bray Wyatt vs R-Truth

This was a complete squash to show off Wyatt to the RAW audience. Nothing of note happens but Wyatt finishes Truth off with his finisher.

The Usos vs 3MB

These two teams wrestled a good match. The Usos got the win after a top rope splash. This match includes a tag from a plancha and an awesome one legged hoping enzaguri. 3MB even got a chant from the crowd. Was not sure if this was from boredom (which it shouldn't have been) or that maybe 3MB has gotten over with a segment of the crowd. It was a true dueling Usos/3MB chant.

The Miz vs Wade Barrett

Poor Barrett is in a bad spot as he seemingly jobs for everyone. Losing to Daniel Bryan in a great Smackdown match was one thing but losing to Tbe Miz is a different animal. This is a needless match with 15 minutes left in the show's timeslot. A pointless match that Fandango interferes in to get Barrett disqualified. No point.

-Backstage Maddox informs Stephanie that security has informed him that Daniel Bryan is back in the building which got a monster pop.

-Stephanie and Vince are in the ring when we come back and every WWE superstar is on the stage, with TripleH coming down the aisle. Triple H's promo was a little rambling but the gist is that HHH didn't want to do the turn last night but it was good for business and ensuring the legacy of the WEE for generations to come. An overachieving B+ Bryan was not as good a champion as A+ Orton. HHH described Orton as a lump of coal turned into a diamond. I should note that The Shield was standing ringside guarding the aisle way. Orton hugs the McMahons and thanks them. HHH invites Bryan to come down. The Shield attacks Bryan as he comes down. HHH lets Bryan crawl into the ring, even mentioning Fighting Spirit, and as he gets in Orton RKO's Bryan. 

RAW was good and the WWE is building something great but they certainly did not give Bryan a platform at the end. He was utterly dominated by the numbers (8-1) and never had a chance. The WWE has a direction that feels fresh with Cena on the sidelines and Bryan/Punk taking over the too two spots while going in completely different directions. It is nice to be excited about the WWE product again.

Why I Love Professional Wrestling 4

Eddie Gilbert & Tommy Rich: The Tag Team of the Year (Memphis 1984)

We get a great capsule of The Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich feud. First we see the ceremony for Rich and Gilbert to receive the Tag Team of the Year award, sadly the team is no more and they have a bloody brawl in the studio after Gilbert is too good for the local Memohis fans after he has won the International title and is elsewhere defending it. After the initial brawl Gilbert makes up with Rich then attacks him. Just a crazy angle not to be repeated in today's wrestling environment. Next we get a clip of Gilbert running in to cost Rich a match behind the referee's back. This looked like a crazy feud that I wish I was able to see the blowoff of. It is stuff like this that made Memphis so awesome.

Sergio El Hermoso, Bello Greco & Rudy Reyna vs Solar I, Ultraman, Super Astros (UWA 2/84)

I can't say I know much about Lucha Libre, fact is it usually confuses me to the point of giving up on it completely. I have done enough research to understand The different components of Lucha but can never seem to put it together when watching matches. The wrestlers in this match give a fantastic performance while delivering a good story. Los Exoticos (El Hermoso/Greco/Reyna) are extremely flamboyant characters facing lichadors, who are the embodiment of everything good in Mexico. This match has everything from great ground grappling to comedy to dives into the crowd. The Luchadors win in an extremely entertaining match that has me wanting to watch more Lucha.

Jerry Blackwell vs Blackjack Mulligan (JCP 1978)

Though I have seen very little of either of these wrestlers, I know Jerry Blackwell is a big fat monster and Mulligan is a big Texan. Jerry Blackwell breaks the boring slow big man stereotype by going out and dominating Mulligan with interesting offense. Blackwell threw some stiff forearms to take a quick advantage. Jerry's greatest offensive weapon is his size which he used for a bulk of the match, he even broke out a splash from the bottom rope. Mulligan got the win with his great claw finisher that just wore down and finally outlasted Blackwell. This was a fantastic television match.

Roddy Piper Interviews (Al Tomko's All-Star Wrestling 1979?)

This was four interviews Piper had in the Vancouver and, as expected, all are top notch but I was to focus in on the last interview. Piper is hyping a future cage match between he and Rick Martel against the Sheephearders. To hype the match he takes an unopened beer bottle and smashes it over his head then gives an emotion driven promo while blood and beer roll down his face. His line about the $45,000 difference between winning and losing was a highlight. Piper is much more than what we got in WWF and WCW and his 70s and early 80s stuff is worth tracking down.

Why I Love Professional Wrestling 3

Buddy Landel: Smooth Operator (JCP 1985)

If this isn't a reason to love pro wrestling, nothing is. The segment is about JJ Dillon prepping Buddy Landel for his match with Ric Flair by analyzing tape on Flair. JJ even says "He is not infallible", Landel shrugs all of it off in his overconfidence. This is when the awesomeness explodes. Smooth Operator starts playing, and much to JJ's dismay, Landell goes on the town with two ladies. JJ follows him and just shakes his head. It is a harmless fun segment that I wish were still around in wrestling today. I do not know where this was leading but based on the time period I wonder if this leads to JJ turning on Landel to manage Flair and start The Four Horsemen. However, that is just speculation on my part.

The Year That Was 1996 - Part 4

Please note that with this part I will start rating all matches shown in full.

Tommy Rich & Doug Gilbert + PG-13 Feud Recap (USWA 1/6/96)
We start with clips of PG-13 winning a Texas Death Match with The Rock and Roll Express. Jessie James Armstrong. and Tracy Smothers attack PG-13 after the match. Tommy Rich and Doug Gilbert have words with PG-13 after Rich was inadvertently punched by Wolfie D and this brings about some wild southern brawling. The USWA sets up a round robin tag tournament with the winner facing WWF Tag champs The Smoking Gunns. There is also some prior history between Rich/Gilbert and PG-13. This involves the teams trading wins (Rich/Gilbert through cheating and PG-13 stealing a win with a schoolboy rollup), in the rubber match Rich and Gilbert cheat to win the tag belts. I must mention these two teams had a great brawl all over the studio, something that is missing in today's wrestling. Rich/Gilbert spray a chemical in Wolfie D's eye and PG-13 retaliates by hitting Rich's left arm with a baseball bat. There is so much here, what a feud they have built. There's more, Rich beats Wolfie D in a hair vs hair match by having Gilbert run in with an ether soaked towel to know out D. Wolfie D does a complete Jimmy Valiant with his facial expressions during the shaving. PG-13 them win the tag titles from Gilbert and Rich in a cage match only to be piledriven through a table. I will also mention that the cage they had this match in surrounds the ringside area ala Hell in a Cell, Vince steals ideas from everyone. Fast forward to the current date and they confront each other over their past and another wild brawl ensues.

Tommy Rich & Eddie Gilbert vs. PG-13 - USWA Tag Team Championship (USWA 1/6/96) [**3/4]
We get a good TV match that had a good flow but lacked the psychology I love. There wasn't a lot of wrestling here but more along the lines of southern brawling. PG-13 wins the titles after Gilbert mistimes a punch with a chain wrapped fist and nails his partner. The story got across that Doug Gilbert isn't all in with Rich and there is some developing friction between the two.

HBK Press Conference (RAW 1/8/96)
Against doctors orders Shawn declares his intent to enter the Royal Rumble. He claims he will win the title at Wrestlemania and be the champion to being the WWF into the new millennium. How wrong he would be as he would be temporarily out of wrestling in a little over 2 years. Scheme Gene says that he has another name entering the Rumble but you will have to call the hotline to find out who it is. Jim Ross goads the information out of him and Gene says its Vader Time. The Scheme Gene stuff was actually good here, not as offensive as it would later become.

Brother Love Show: Steve Austin & Ted DiBiase (RAW 1/8/96)
This was the Ringmaster, where he states his intentions to win the Rumble, and go on to win the title. The gimmick isn't horrible but it is not suited for Austin. He is pretty much in Stunning form here as opposed to the Stone Cold he would be by May. Besides being officially crowned the million dollar champion, there wasn't much of substance here.

Billionaire Ted Skit (RAW 1/8/96)
This is where we start really getting some underhandedness from these skits. What is inferred here is that the WCW wrestlers do not undergo drug tests and are roided freaks. They attack WCW's brad of wrastlin' as not believable and these skits are horrible on many levels.

Legend The Pro-Wrestling 2013 (01/13)

Akifumi Saito vs Nobuyuki Kurashima [1/2*]
Witchfinder on CAGEMATCH sums up my sentiments on Kurashima perfectly, "Wow! Taro Kurashima has 16 years of ring experience and has done absolutely nothing." There was a point where Kurashima kicks Saito runs to the corner only to run back and cover Saito without performing another offensive maneuver. It was an extreme waste of motion in the least, and certainly looked awkward. Saito ends this with a German Suplex Hold.

AKIRA & Gran Hamada vs Hiro Saito & Masashi Aoyagi [1/2*]
Someone needs to make a game like Darkness with Gran Hamada as Death. He certainly looks like he could play the part based on the prematch graphic. Poor guy is a legend and still able to get in the ring and mix it up. Sadly there really isn't much here, mainly Gran Hamada getting squashed by a fat Saito senton. This match is pushing it even for hardcore fans, good thing it is short.

Alexander Otsuka & Katsumi Usuda vs Super Tiger & Tiger Shark [**]
I see that Otsuka gets great reviews on CAGEMATCH but I am not blown away by his effort here. That isn't to say it was outright bad but nothing popped as amazing. Usuda had a fun kick exchange with Super Tiger and Tiger Shark delivers a fantastic moonsault. The match was competent enough but nothing to go out of your way for.

Akitoshi Saito & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Tomohiro Ishii [****]
This match is why I took on this project. Everyone knows about the MOTYC's but finding these little diamonds in the roughs are what makes this fun. This match is completely out of left field for me but is what happens when two freight trains collide. It is so much fun to see these four test each others strength and will with shoulder blocks, chops, forearms, and clotheslines. This is not a strong style match where suplexes are a dime a dozen but they become the highspots in a match based on striking. I almost popped huge for Sekimoto's Chaos Theory but sadly it was broken up. He did get the win with a German Suplex Hold. Also I am not sure of the genesis of the heat between Sekimoto and Ishii but their feuding tag partners story adds another dimension to the match. Just a steller effort from all four...go see this now!!

Bear Fukuda & Mitsuya Nagai vs Ikodu Hidaka & Shinjiro Otani [**1/2]
Who doesn't love some Otani. He is a big crowd favorite and they always chant along with his face wash spot. Near the end of the match he throws a killer top rope drop kick for a man entering his 40's. This match didn't win me over as the last one did. Otani gets the win with the cobra clutch.

Atsushi Onita & Ichiro Yaguchi vs First Tiger Mask & Kuniaki Kobayashi [**1/4]
First let me say that the video package on the history these four men have with each other is amazing. Onita and Yaguchi are aparently known as the Barbed Wire Bad Outlaws, which is yet another awesome Japanese tag team name. Onita attacked Tiger Mask with a barbed wire baseball bat and Yaguchi spit red mist in the face of 57 year old Kobayashi. BWBO train by hitting a poor guy in the crotch with a barbed wire baseball bat while the face team performs a double brainbuster on a training partner. I wish the match was as good as this video package, but sadly it was not. It is an odd combination of a good story surrounding a pedestrian match. One big problem I have is that Kobayashi gets beat and even double teamed with a barbed wire bat while his partner Sayama stands on the apron watching. He should at least try to get in the ring and do something. Sadly getting in the ring and doing stuff is not First Tiger Mask's strong suit. Kobayashi literally wrestles the entire match. The heels offense was okay. Yaguchi incorporates a barbed wire bat into every single maneuver he attempted. Tiger Mask & Kobayashi get the win with their double brainbuster, which Kobayashi holds onto as a fishermans buster for the win out of nowhere. I like the story, but do not think much of the match. The heels attack the faces after the match which means there will be a rematch down the road.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Thunder Liger & Masahiro Chono vs Riki Choshu, Tatsumi Fujinami & Yokio Sakaguchi [***]
There is a major issue between Liger and Sakaguchi. They were at each others throats before the opening bell and after the final bell. This was a solid wrestling match and nothing more. The ending looked to be screwed up. Tenzan hit Choshu with a moonsault and Choshu never had his shoulders on the mat and seemed to kick out before three, but the ref made the count anyway. Odd occurrence for seasoned vets in the main event.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This card is very much hit or miss. The hit (Saito/Takaigawa vs Sekimoto/Ishii) is a major hit that is well worth going out of your way for. The rest really depends on your taste in wresting. The Onita tag is a slight nod to FMW, while the main event is a solid six man in the mold of 80's New Japan.

DDT: Sweet Dreams! (01/27/13)

Akito & Makato Oishi vs Daichi Kazato & Tetsuya Endo [*1/2]
The young boys were energetic enough but are only given 5 minutes and there is only so much anyone can do in that amount of time. Oishi slips on an attempted moonsault and lands on the back of his head. He recovered moderately as the crowd got a good laugh out of it. You could see by the look on his face he knew he screwed up badly. Akito picks up the win with an odd looking figure four. Instead of his foot being tucked under his opponents tailbone it was squarely in the poor guys nuts, talk about an easy submission!

Gota Ihashi vs Batten Tamagawa, DJ Nira, Hiroshi Fukuda, Hoshitango & Michael Nakazawa [*]
For a DDT comedy match there is a lot to explain here. This starts out as a 4 on 2 handicap match (despite being billed as 5 on 1). During the match Ihashi's partner turns on him and leaves. The wrestler I believe was DJ Nira congratulates the other three members as they attack Ihashi then leave. Nira attempts a fishermans suplex only to have Ihashi kickout.Ihashi gets the win with a crucifix after DJ Nira was upset his plan did not work. Total comedy match with very little substance therein.

FUMA, HARASHIMA & Yasu Urano vs Hikaru Sato, Masa Takanashi & MIKAMI [**3/4]
This match was a huge surprise for me as I was not expecting it to be this good. It has a lot of variety between comedy spots, fast junior spot and hardcore chops to the face. We do not get a technically perfect match by no means but this was a lot of fun to watch.

Danshoku Dino & Yoshiko vs Sanshiro Takagi & Yuzuki Aikawa [***1/2]
Yoshiko and Aikawa are from Stardom and this intergender tag match ruled. Aikawa is the star of the show with her partner and opponents all riffing or mocking her moveset. God bless Aikawa for getting her face shoved in Dino's ass. She is a trooper. I completely laughed my ass off at some of the stuff here. Dino and Yoshiko win after Dino piledrives Takagi and pins him with his nuts in Takagi's face. This is a whale of a comedy match, and worth checking out.

Konosuke Takeshita vs Kota Ibushi [***1/4]
Ibushi was great here and he throws one of the greatest suplexes I have ever seen. He lifts Takeshita into the powerbomb position but instead of dropping him on the mat he keep going back and Takeshita does a face plant into the canvas while Ibushi does a bridge. From there Ibushi rolls back into the tightest single leg crab I have ever seen for the submission victory. This match had a lot of stiff strikes, kicks and even a moonsault into a nasty knee drop. While there is some great action nothing really binds the match together except the will to win. Still this was very good.

Team Dream Futures© vs Monster Army - KO-D Six Man Tag Team Titles [**]
Crazy that DDT books one of their two title matches so short. Action here comes at you fast and furious. Monster Army has the most over gimmick of the two, that being they think they are a real army complete with belly crawling contest and a machine gun dropkick. Monster Army takes the titles after a nice suplex by Honda.

Kenny Omega© vs Isami Kodaka© - KO-D Openweight Title/DDT Extreme Title [***]
There are three Puro wrestlers I love; Liger, Tanahashi and Omega. Kenny Omega has charisma that goes on for miles and a great moveset to go with it. As much as I like Omega this match wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. The middle portion was dragged down by Kodaka's slow brawling. If this match is any indication Kodaka wrestles a classic ECW style where he does the slow brawling to setup the big spot near the entrance. In this case it was a double knee drop to Omega's sternum. Omega was off a little here as well by not bringing his awesome doucheiness to the match. This isn't to say the match wasn't good but it was far from great. The match dragged a lot in the middle but the last third was good. Omega took the win and both titles with Aoi Shoudou.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Sweet Dreams is a good with 3 of the last 4 being worth seeing. The intergender tag would be a comedy MOTYC if a category actually existed. I recommend the event for those that keep up with Puro but isn't a completist, though this wouldn't be a waste of time for a fair weather Puro fan.

Stardom Season 10 New Year Stars 2013 - Night 2 (01/14)

Hailey Hatred vs Yuhi [***]
Odd fact, Hailey Hatred is in the midst of a 3100+ day TLW Womens Title reign. I doubt it is a major title as it was defended once in 2012. Hailey towers over the tiny Yuhi which gives a great dynamic to this match. It is a lot of fun watching Hailey deliver huge power moves only to have Yuhi kick out. Double H gives a WTH OMG WTF look after a Yuhi escape which was awesome. This match made a good impression on me but is not without its flaws. The biggest is that at times the flow Yuhi needs for her moveset just isn't there. There is no doubt Yuhi could be one of the next big stars of Joshi but despite her natural ability she is still rough around the edges. Hailey destroys Yuhi with a powerbomb for the pin.

Miho Wakizawa, Tsukasa Fujimoto & Yui Yokoo vs Act Yasukawa, Natsuki Taiyo & Saki Kashima - Artist of Stardom Title Semi-Final [*3/4]
There was a lot of action here but the whole thing is hard to follow with the clipping not helping either. The team of Act/Natsuki/Saki win after an awesome suplex by Saki Kashima (I think).

Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani & Natsumi Showzuki vs Kellie Skater, Portia Perez & Tomoka Nakagawa - Artist of Stardom Title Semi-Final [**]
This flowed a little better than the first semifinal, but was disjointed in places. The SHIMMER girls did not show anything out of the norm, Nakagawa gets the pin after a Lariat.

Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Yoshiko [**3/4]
These two ladies hate each other stemming from an indecent in 2011. Only about half of the match is shown of this stiff 15 minute draw. We get a lot of forearm shots, shoulderblocks and clotheslines. A pretty intense midcard match.

Yuzuki Aikawa&copy vs Kairi Hojo - Wonder of Stardom Title [**1/2]
I think my expectations for wrestling matches may be way too high. After the opening video package I was hoping for an epic encounter but we get nothing of the sort. It is a good match but it REALLY dies toward the end with Aikawa taking over and retaining the white belt with a couple of kicks to the head. This match would have been a lot better had they kept the pace they started with as they were really laying in some shots at the beginning.

Act Yasukawa, Natsuki Taiyo & Saki Kashima vs Kellie Skater, Portia Perez & Tomoka Nakagawa - Artist of Stardom Title [**1/4]
Stardom features some incredibly short matches where the wrestlers try to throw any and everything in within the time frame given. With only 9 minutes we get a flurry of spots and it feels like the old scramble matches from ROH. The team of Yasukawa, Taiyo and Kashima get the win to become the first Artist of Stardom champions after a rollup that came out of nowhere. The Stardom wiki says the three belts are each a different color but we do not get to see them here.

Nanae Takahashi&copy vs Kyoko Kimura - World of Stardom Title [***1/2]
This was by far the best match on the card. Kimura looks like a badass redneck girl who takes off her shirt to fight. She brought her A game injuring Takahashi's arm in the first 30 seconds and it was on. Takahashi sold the arm deep into the match like a champ. These two even exchanged some stiff hands free headbutts. This match was well built, well paced, and well executed. Takahashi retained her title after what I think was the Nana Rocker, but it was a side suplex from the body slam position with Kimura's arm chicken winged behind her. Great little match, well worth checking out.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The main event is really really good and just a couple of steps from being really special. The Haley Hatred/Yuhi and World of Stardom matches are worth a look otherwise the event is just for the hardcores.