IWO - Rumble On The River 27/5/2000

So I saw this show added on Powerbomb.TV, and there was something about it that just looked too odd to not watch. Future indy legends, early 90's indy has-beens, some never-weres, an 80's WWF relic and what looked to be a ludicrous main event. The commentary mentions a battle royal, which would explain the name of the show, but we never see this. Still, I kinda enjoyed all this.

Ice vs Billy Reil

No expense spared on the gear by either buy, with Ice wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and trousers and Reil sporting a vest and trousers. They work the opening segments to put over Ice’s power advantage as he chucks Reil around the ring, making it all the stranger when both men go to the mat when they collide on a shoulderblock. Reil hit a nice flying headscissors that sent Ice face first into the mat before a springboard crossbody to the floor that sends him hurtling into Ice’s face. Ice in turn comes back by just punching him in the dick twice. Ice hits a powerslam where he looks close to dumping Reil on his head and an actual decent dropkick. This devolves into a soulless move-swapping affair, before Reil misses a moonsault and Ice finishes with a powerbomb, dropping Reil halfway through the move.

Da Hit Squad vs the Metal Maniac & KC Thunder

Man, if the Metal Maniac wasn’t in prime shape as ECW jobber in 1993, he’s definitely ballooned up to twice the size seven years later. Just as I note this, one of the commentators hilariously claims “Metal Maniac looking the best I’ve ever seen him”. His partner, KC Thunder, isn’t exactly an impressive specimen either, mid-forties, soft of body and with high slung multi-coloured tights. In theory, Da Hit Squad should massacre these guys. In reality, Yr 2000 DHS clearly don’t have the clout to do this, as alarm bells start ringing when both Maff and Mack take comedy pratfalls to sell for the referee. Da Hit Squad are utter pros here, stooging and bumping for the old men. Thunder even no-sells getting choked in the corner, just getting back to his feet and continuing. Eventually, a double-team stungun gives DHS control. They don’t work as stiff as usual, but they’re fun in control and Thunder does well it well. We get a hot tag to Maniac, who hits a few lazy clotheslines but collides with Thunder. DHS hit double 2^nd rope headbutts and get the win. Obviously, Da Hit Squad massacring these opponents would have been more fun, but they do enough to keep this entertaining.

Crazy Ivan vs Judas Young

This was much faster paced, and was pretty decent on the whole. Decent juniors wrestler to start, before Ivan takes a crazy bump getting hiptossed from the ring to the floor. Young follows him out with a nice flip dive. Ivan hits a few nice moves here, with an interesting Side Russian Legsweep variation (where he chucks him aside rather than back to the mat) a big top rope elbow and a nice top rope legdrop. Young has a terrible “punk rock” look, but he’s got a young Cherry (of Deuce’n’Domino fame) as his valet, and he looks pretty comfortable in the ring. End sees Ivan miss a corner charge, but when Young hits a crossbody, Ivan rolls through and holds the tights for the win. Of note: this is the last decisive finish of the show.

Homicide vs Low-Ki

Low-Ki is defending his IWO Jr heavyweight belt. In a show with portly indy-never-weres and semi-mobile “legends” (see next match), this match really stand out. Even with Ivan/Young working a pace above the rest of the show in the last match, these two really feel like they’re working in a vacuum, both laying in their strikes, moving with a lovely fluidity and doing clever things that enhance their match. Loved Low-Ki reversing an Irish whip and quickly chaining four-or-five moves together, with a pace that makes you believe Homicide wouldn’t be able to get his bearings and stop it. Homicide in turn decides to focus on Ki’s legs, catching a kick into a leg whip, hitting a top rope version, then trying to smash it against the ring post with a chair, Ki only just escaping. Homicide hits the Cop Killa, which must have blown minds in 2000, months before Shane Helms put the move on national TV. He doesn’t cover immediately, taking off his wrist tape first oddly, so he only gets two. Ki fires back with a series of chops and hits the Ki Krusher 99, but also sells his beating, making a slow cover to get a two count. Loved Homicide nailing a series of clubbing forearms, with Ki barely staying on his feet, before a huge lariat puts him down for two. They go to the floor, brawling in the crowd, throwing each other into chairs with fans barely out of the way, and the ref calls it off. Match of the night, obviously.

Beau James vs Cousin Luke

So here’s the thing. This match is awful. Really bad. Cousin Luke wasn’t exactly ripping up trees in his mid 80’s WWF heyday, and he’s 15 years older, plus substantially heavier, in this match. It’s fair to say he’s barely mobile and yet – and yet – the fans go as nuts for this as for the Ki/Homicide match. You could say this match is an advert for minimalism. They do very little here, all stalling a schtick, and get a big reaction doing it. Luke doesn’t bump once, the majority of the offence here is done by James’s manager Frankie Goombaa choking Luke with a cane behind the refs back, it ends in a shitty DQ when James attacks Luke with Luke’s own horseshoe…and it all works. Dreadful match, but you can’t blame them for working to the crowd.

Manny Fernandez vs Rukas

Given that this was an early 2000 New Jersey indy, and the Powerbomb.tv listing has his name as “Ruckus”, I was very excitedly expecting this to be the Ragin’ Bull vs CZW legend Ruckus. However, the graphic on screen gives us “Rukas” and out came a guy in his 40’s, looking like a compact Ron Simmons. Still, I enjoyed this while it was on. Both guys lay their shit in, with big fists, a nice short back elbow by Rukas and a big clothesline by Fernandez. They brawl on the floor, exchanging weapon shots, and back in Fernandez hits a nasty top rope knee drop. It’s short, sub 10 minutes, but it’s non-stop and it’s well-executed. Fernandez goes for a top rope superplex through an ironing board, but Da Hit Squad return and beat him down for the DQ. Post match, Low Ki comes out to help Fernandez clear the ring, and I’d be well up for that tag team. Fun stuff.

NWA-TNA PPV #1 (19/06/2002)

Impact kindly put this up on their YouTube channel for free, and it's a really interesting watch with the benefit of 16 years of hindsight. The majority of the in-ring stuff is decent, but there's a lot of time given to some right old shit - needless concert by a terrible country singer, long preview for the Miss TNA match the following week, in ring interview with two racing drivers - just unappealing stuff. There's enough good in ring stuff that I'd probably have bought the second show if I'd had access at the time, but only just.

AJ Styles, Low Ki & Jerry Lynn vs The Flying Elvises (Jimmy Yang, Jorge Estrada & Sonny Siaki)

Fun little spot fest to kick off the promotion, which also sets up the following week, where Styles, Ki and Lynn are all in the mix to win the first ever X Division title. The Elvises attack to start, but get sent out to the floor, where Lynn and Ki follow them with a pair of nice dives. Thought Estrada looked great here, made the most of his ring time with a nice springboard moonsault and a really nice running shooting star. He also lets Ki basically kick his head off. Everyone gets a few nice spots as it all breaks down, and in the melee Low Ki accidentally kicks AJ in the head with a cartwheel kick, allowing Yang to nail Yang Time for the shock win. Decent enough opener.

Teo vs Hollywood

I went into this with low expectations, as US midget matches are rarely good, and they instantly blow a tilt-a-whirl headscissors in the first move of the match. Hollywood hits a decent top rope splash for a two count, but this is sloppy stuff. Teo hits an ugly twisting swanton to win.

The Johnsons vs Psychosis & James Storm

This is pretty infamous, because of the Johnson’s terrible gimmick. Make no bones about it, the idea of wrestling penises is dreadful and nothing about the execution makes it any better, but the match itself is fine for the sub 5 minutes it runs. Of course, putting the identical Shane Twins into masks is a total waste of their main appeal, but they looks good here. Lovely butterfly suplexes by both and a big flapjack on Psychosis. Storm is totally out to impress here, hitting a nice missile dropkick and even popping a rana from nowhere near the end. Psychosis, who is the most natural talent in the match, has the least impact here, but does get a nice facebuster reversal from being powerbombed. The Johnson’s win with a shitty TKO after manager Mortimer Plumtree interferes.

Christian York & Joey Matthews vs The Dupps (Bo Dupp & Stan Dupp)

The Dupps are joined by valet Fluff Dupp. This is again extremely short, but what there was came over fine. Bo Dupp in particular seemed really good. He hits some stiff slaps on Matthews, hits a big boot and gets huge height on a splash. York nails a nice full weight senton for two, but after a clumsy tornado DDT, he gets crotched by Fluff and rolled up by Bo for the loss. This was too short, but like the previous match you got the vibe that a terrible gimmick is holding back a decent heel team.

Gauntlet for the Gold

This is a twenty man royal rumble, with the last two entrants ending up in a singles match for the NWA title. Credit to TNA, they tried to build up the younger, cheaper talent here, letting them shine. Malice makes the final two, eliminating half the field in the process. Apollo gets the iron man run in the match, whilst Justice (the baby Abyss) and Chris Harris both get good runs. Jeff Jarrett start the match, seeing off Buff Bagwell, Lash LeRoux and Norman Smiley right away. However, his elimination eventually comes at the hands of dreadful country singer Toby Keith, who makes an unwelcome cameo. Other notable entrants include Del Rios (the former Phantasio) who comes in dressed as an egregious Scott Steiner rip off, and both Konnan and Rick Steiner who both get huge pops. We eventually get down to a final pairing of Ken Shamrock and Malice, leaving us with…

Ken Shamrock vs Malice

Ricky Steamboat is the guest ref for this. Malice dominates early, looking pretty good in the process, before Shamrock reverses a chokeslam into an armbar in a nice counter. Malice makes the ropes, before Shamrock locks in the anklelock. Shamrock is pretty heelish here, dragging Malice back to the middle of the ring when he’s made the ropes, then not letting go after he makes the ropes again, forcing Steamboat to get to a count of 7 before breaking. Malice tries another chokeslam, but Shamrock reverses to a belly-to-belly suplex for the win. The whole deal was pretty fun, and the final two match-up was fine.

ACTION Wrestling - Action for Kids 29/06/2018

AC Mack & Ike Cross vs the Lynch Mob

Good opening bout, the Lynch Mob are well served to fast paced matches like this, and the heel team of Mack and Cross look really good in opposition. The Lynch Mob hit huge dives from the off, before working some quick double teams. Mack takes over on Matt Lynch in a really neat way, as Mack forces him backward through the ropes and Irish whips him throat-first into them. Cross is clearly a terrific athlete, getting nice height on a corner splash and he takes a big bump off a backdrop to the floor. Matt Lynch eats a huge spear from Cross for two, with Joey pushing Mack on top to break the fall. The Lynch Mob pick up the win with a rolling senton/frog splash/moonsault combo, enjoyed this. Good start to the show.

James Ryan vs James Bandy

I’d been impressed with Bandy on the debut show, so it was nice to see what he could do here in singles action, and what he did seemed really good. Nice jumping knee, sharp elbows in the corner and a nice dropkick on the floor through the ropes. Ryan played to the crowd well, though his offence seemed a bit softer than Bandy’s. Bandy makes a comeback after a short Ryan offensive spell, hitting some nice kicks before nailing a running dropkick for the win.

Tragedy Ann vs Aja Perera

Probably the weakest match of the show, albeit still decent in places. There were little bits I liked, such as Ann hitting a mule kick after a compactor legdrop and Aja had a few nice moves, with a facebuster and a running knee both looking good. However, there were a few awkward bits that dragged the match down – Ann running Perera into all four corners looked weak, an odd spinning slam didn’t really work and there’s a strange moment when Ann runs at Perera and bends down into position for a piledriver for no reason. Perera hits a Franchiser into a flatliner for the win.

Cain Justice vs Anthony Henry

This, on the other hand, was really good. Loved the opening matwork, with both guys jockeying for position, felt super competitive. Henry escaping a single-leg crab by forcing himself backwards through Justice’s legs looked great, and I liked Justice trying to get control by yanking Henry off the apron to the floor, only for Henry to immediately hit a forearm instead. A big exploder through the chair follows, must really have sucked for Cain. Justice finally gets control by using the ringpost to his advantage, contorting Henry’s hand over the top and through the loop on the side of the post. Cain from this point works the arm nastily, maintaining good focus. There’s a really clunky roll up sequence mid-match that doesn’t really work, but after that they get back to the good stuff. Loved Justice catching a kick, with Henry rolling though from there to lock in a submission, the commentary suggesting that Henry might have deliberately given the leg to allow him to transition to the submission. However, Justice gives a low blow behind the refs back and locks in the Twist Ending to win. Really good stuff.

Team TAG (Kevin Blue & Chris Spectra) vs Michael Spencer & Chance Rizer

Dominant victory for Team TAG, with Spencer and Rizer getting just enough hope spots to keep it competitive (including Rizer briefly getting the visual pin on Blue with the ref distacted). Rizer gets a nice run of offence to start, before Spectra cuts him off as he goes for a dive. Team TAG then work over Rizer, including a nice belly to belly by Spectra. They don’t do anything fancy, just nice simple control, keeping Rizer in their part of the ring. Tag Team 101, essentially. After a melee, where Rizer scores the visual pin, Spectra hits a huge shoulderblock, with Rizer taking a nasty looking bump, and a double team assisted DDT gets the win.

Billy Buck vs Cabana Man Dan

This immediately follows the previous match, with Dan making the save as Team TAG and Buck continue a beatdown. Dan is a short little spitfire, seems to have real energy and physical charisma, and he looked very good here. Dug him avoiding being blindsided at the bell by side-stepping a charging Buck, and taking him down with a fun mixture of takeovers and pins. Buck stomps on the bare feet of Dan to get an advantage, and allows Team TAG to beat Dan down on the floor. Buck controls CMD nicely and even gets to show some ring smarts as well, avoiding Dan leaping out of the corner and slamming his head to the mat. When he does make his comeback, Dan is like a bouncing ball, leaping up into a chinbreaker, hopping over and nailing a mule kick to the jaw. Team TAG try to interfere, but CMD chops them both down with his flip flops. However, this leaves him exposed as he turns around into the Buckshot superkick for the loss. Really enjoyed this, CMD comes across as a really likable fired up face, whilst the heels come across as suitably nefarious and smart enough to take advantage of their openings.

Slim J vs Cam Carter

Really loved the opening to this, with both guys countering and rolling through moves, gave the air of competitive one-upsmanship. I’d never seen Slim J before, and I was really impressed. He’s really fluid in the ring, just feels totally natural in the ring. Carter continued the good impression he made on the debut show, ending a nice kick combo with a really high German suplex. I liked how the veteran Slim J didn’t give Carter a second to breath, at one point nipping to the top rope and hitting a big spinning kick so quickly. Slim J commits to a big missed moonsault and we get a nice strike exchange that actually feels like a fight. Slim J takes a big kick to the face, and stumbles into the corner, subtly hooking the top rope with his arm to stop himself falling down. Lovely bit of selling. Carter hits a destroyer and a really nice 2^nd rope 450 for two. Slim J hits a superplex that he chains into a guillotine that feels like it should be the finish, but Carter powers to his feet and hits a double underhook brainbuster for the win.

Tracy Williams vs Arik Royal

This is for Williams’s Powerbomb title. Loved the commentary putting over Royal having two victories over Williams already, and throughout the match they make the suggestion that Royal might have his number. They tell a really good story here, with Williams working a limb, in this case Royal’s arm, and taking advantage of his openings to try and damage to his chosen damage point. For his part, Royal goes for big shots, using his raw power to break Williams down. Williams’s offence to Royal’s arm looks convincing, with nasty kicks to the armpit, hitting big downward chops with the arm propped on his own shoulder, plus his opportunistic attacks are really well worked. He lures Royal into throwing a wild punch just to yank the arm over the ropes, he lets Royal take his time going to the top in order to catch him with a crossface mid-dive and, when he gets caught on the top rope a la Ric Flair, he grabs the arm and drops it over the top rope again. When Royal is on offence, he beasts Williams, hitting a huge overhead toss, crushing him in the corner with a shoulder charge before sprinting Williams to the other corner to crush him again. He also hits a lovely stump piledriver, making it look like a struggle to get Williams up. Royal gets a two after a big tackle, with the ref recovering from a bump to keep him looking strong, before Williams locks in a Fujiwara armbar to get the tap. Thought this was excellent.

WCW Thunder 29/01/1998

Diamond Dallas Page vs Sick Boy

Really nice match worked within a hierarchy, with both guys blending well. Sick Boy looks pretty good here, nailing a nice springboard dropkick. His belly to belly looks a bit poorer mind. DDP hits a neat tilt-a-whirl slam and Sick Boy bumps big for his own missed kick. DDP hits a flapjack into a Diamond Cutter and that’s enough for the win.

Meng vs Jim Duggan

Fun slugfest, as much as Duggan was past his peak he wasn’t afraid to go to war with someone like Meng here. Lovely moment early as Jimmy Hart tries to distract Duggan from the floor, but Duggan rips his jacket off and hurls it at Meng to allow him to nail some more punches. This is just two big boys going at it, until Hart tries to throw the 2x4 to Meng, which Duggan intercepts. Duggan breaks the 2x4 over Meng’s back, but it’s no-sold and the Tongan Death Grip puts a fighting Duggan down for three.

Raven vs Marty Jannetty

This is fought under Raven’s rules. A glancing dropkick sends Raven to the floor, but Marty takes a big bump when Raven throws him into the ringpost. Marty hits a bulldog, which is slightly disappointing as there’s a chair propped up in the corner, and Tony Schiavone instantly calls that Jannetty is going to send Raven headfirst into the chair, which can only lead to a let-down when it’s just a regular bulldog. Marty takes ages going up top, seemingly telegraphing a missed move, but he hits a fistdrop. That genuinely came as a shock. Jannetty goes to use the chair, but Raven dropkicks it into his face, one of the best examples of this move I’ve seen, and the Evenflow gets the win. Fun stuff.

Goldberg vs Yuji Nagata

Nagata gets a few kicks in and a nice attempt at an armbar, but Goldberg eats him up with a rolling leglock, a swinging neckbreaker, the spear and the jackhammer. Goldberg looked great.

Scott Hall vs Disco Inferno

This comes across as a quick squash from the get-go, as Hall attacks Disco at the bell and nails a chokeslam. Hall goes for the Outsider Edge, which feels like the end, but Disco wriggles out and hits the Chartbuster to a huge pop. Only Dusty Rhodes interference prevents the three count. This is basically the end of Disco’s offensive run, as Hall nails a lovely discus punch, the fallaway slam and the Edge for three.

Booker T vs Saturn

These two always paired up well together, and this was a fun little TV match. Loved Booker missing a high kick, which Saturn grabs into a t-bone suplex. Saturn takes a bump on the floor, getting backdropped into the Flock at ringside. Booker’s second attempt at a high-kick pays off, looking great. The Flock try to interfere, but get run off by Rick Martel. In the fuss, Booker pushes Saturn into Martel and rolls him up for victory.

Chris Jericho & Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko

It probably wont come as a surprise to learn that this is really good. Got to love Guerrero grabbing Malenko by the neck as soon as Malenko gets anywhere near their corner, pulling him in for some cheapshots. All four of these guys have lovely snap to their moves, with a Malenko powerslam as a Jericho German suplex all landing crisply. The end of this is terrific – Malenko hits a superplex on Jericho, leaving both men down in the ring. Benoit goes to hit the diving headbutt on Jericho and hits it. Guerrero goes for the frog splash on Malenko, but he gets his feet up, sending Eddie to the floor whilst Benoit locks in the crossface for the tap from Jericho. Great stuff.

The Steiner Brothers vs Kevin Nash & Konnan

As is fast becoming the case with Thunder mains, this is mainly angle, with Scott not even getting into the ring. After an initial flurry, the NWO team slowly beat away on Rick in an uninteresting manner. Eventually, Buff Bagwell interferes and Nash uses a title belt on Rick for the DQ. Yawn.

CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2005 Night 1

FIST (Icarus & Gran Akuma) vs Team WXW (Mana & John Cabbie)

Nicely worked opener, with FIST portrayed as the more fluid unit, but Mana being the wildcard factor in the match. FIST control Cabbie early with some nice double teams, but suffer when Mana gets tagged in. He’s a big guy, who easily puts both guys on his shoulders for a Samoan drop before blitzing Akuma in the corner with shoulder barges and running knees. Mana even no sells a pair of dropkicks, really getting put over, before Cabbie blind tags back in, and in the melee accidentally superkicks his own partner. Icarus hits a spinning flapjack on Cabbie for the win. Good stuff.

Davey Andrews & Shane Hagadorn vs the Ring Crew Express

For a guy who vanished off the face of the wrestling earth the same year, Andrews seemed pretty decent. He and Hagadorn are representing Ring of Honor as their students, and even heelishly put RoH turnbuckle padding in their corner. There’s bit of this that aren’t very good, not restricted to an early blown victory roll spot. For some reason, we get a game of dodgeball breaking out midway through, which is pointless. The rest of the bout is basic, but solid, tag formula stuff which is hard to mess up. The RoH team heel it up, double-teaming behind the referees back. Andrews hitting a dropkick on Marcos whilst Hagadorn held him in an abdominal stretch looked really good, and an Andrews stomach buster got real height on it. There’s a few slightly blown bits, like Andrews not tagging in before a double team move, making it look a bit awkward as Hagadorn was clearly expecting the tag. Andrews hit a diving to the floor, the kind of move that probably explains why he didn’t wrestle after this year. It gets a bit messy after the hot tag, before Dunn and Marcos get the win with a double team senton.

Crossbones & Mano Metalico vs Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy (Lance Steel & Jolly Roger)

This was nicely worked, you can see guys like Roger and Crossbones improving show by show. Here, Roger is really laying his stuff in, looks like his strikes are actually meant to hurt his opponent. Fun early spot sees Roger breaking a Crossbones Full Nelson by just punching the hands until Crossbones has to let go. Fun jousting spot, with Roger carrying Steel on his shoulders to hit Crossbones in the corner. Metalico plays monster here, and he’s pretty effective at it, reversing a wheelbarrow into an Irish Curse in one great spot. For some reason, Crossbones seems to be working against his partner, holding an opponent in place for a kick, then moving him so Metalico falls over. Very odd. Metalico beheads Steel with a clothesline, but Roger turns a flying headscissors into a small package for the victory

Big Daddy (Shirley Doe & Darkness Crabtree) vs Team Osaka Pro (Ebessan & Billy Ken Kid)

The cleverly named Big Daddy team are rather an unusual pairing, but Doe and Ken Kid pair up really nicely in the ring together. Ebessan and Crabtree, for their part, work a comedy bit based on Crabtree’s usual slo-motion wrestling, but in a nice twist Crabtree then takes his medication and works a fun, swiftly paced sequence with Ken Kid. Unfortunately, the pills are his downfall, as he takes some more and has a heart attack, culminating with Ebessan hitting a Shining Wizard for the win. Short, stupid, but kinda fun. Ken Kid looked really good, bodes well for the later round.

Team You Can Call Me Al (Allison Danger & Alere Little Feather) vs Claudio Castagnoli & Arik Cannon

Smartly worked intergender match, with the women outsmarting the larger men in the early stages. Really neat spot with Claudio elevating Danger high into the air, only for her to land and flip him into a crucifix. Alere becomes face in peril, with Claudio hitting a nice giant swing into a Cannon dropkick. Cannon also hits a really good looking fistdrop. This is a short match though, and it breaks down a bit sloppily towards the end. Danger gets a nearfall on Cannon with an STO, but Claudio saves. A Glimmering Warlock and Ricola Bomb finish Danger.

Rorschach & Ravage vs Jigsaw & Sabian

Jigsaw looks pretty terrific here, working Rorschach on the mat and looking really smooth in doing so. The heel team look pretty good double-teaming Sabian, with a nice Rorschach wheelbarrow into a Ravage running knee, followed by a Rorschach facebuster. They work over Sabian’s arm, with Larry Sweeney on commentary rightfully questioning this tactic, highlighting that Sabian barely uses his arm and that it would make more sense to go after his leg. Really liked Rorschach hitting a cross-armbreaker which he rolls through with into a chancery. This whole match is probably the best Rorschach has looked in CHIKARA so far. Jigsaw is great as the hot tag, full of energy. Sabian and Jigsaw lock in a fun double submission and both heels tap. This was fun.

Team IWA (Din Mak & Mat Bomboy) vs Team IWA-MS (Danny Daniels & Jimmy Jacobs)

The IWA-MS are very much an odd couple, very much opposites in terms of character, but working surprisingly well as a team. Daniels is enjoyably cocky early on, schooling Din Mak on the mat. Bomboy kind of mirrors Daniels, also being pretty cocky, but he’s laying things in a bit stiffer than his partner. Unlike the IWA-MS team, IWA don’t have much in the way of teamwork, with Bomboy breaking a Din Mak cover in order to try and get the glory himself. Daniels steamrolls both thanks to this distraction, until Bomboy tires of Mak, superkicks him, and Jacobs hits a top rope senton for the win.

Team PWG (Super Dragon & B-Boy) vs Glenn Spectre & Mokujin Ken

Spectre and Ken are the mystery opponents after several names get called out and aren’t there (plus the Rachies, who are there, but are in no state to compete). If you haven’t seen Ken, AKA Ken the Box, he’s a wooden tree-man essentially. His size means he’s unable to stand on the apron while Team PWG kick the shit out of Spectre. Spectre is given a brief comeback, hitting an RKO on Super Dragon, but has no-one to tag to with Ken being stuck on the floor. Spectre instead sends the opponents to Ken, taking big bumps as they run into Ken’s wooden fists, but in the ring Spectre gets destroyed again, eating a Shining Wizard, a Kerb Stomp and a double stomp from the top for the loss.

Claudio Castagnoli & Arik Cannon vs Team FIST

The second round matches are all longer than the first round, so they all get a bit more meat to flesh things out. Really fun spot early, as the heels try to avoid stereo pescados from Team Fist, run into each other and then get wiped out by the dives they were trying to avoid. Icarus showcases an ability to hit an armdrag from any angle, much to the annoyance of Cannon. Cannon holding a full Nelson to allow Claudio to nail a brutal looking uppercut was a great spot. Icarus is face-in-peril, and takes a good beating, including a lovely moment where Castagnoli locks in a full Nelson and swings him round, a la the giant swing, getting a good number of rotations. However, Claudio manages to uppercut Icarus so hard that he falls into the corner to tag in Akuma. Akumao gets a Yoshitonic on Claudio for two, but an attempt on Cannon is blocked and Claudio nails him with an uppercut. The Glimmering Warlock/Ricola Bomb combo gets the three.

Ring Crew Express vs Jigsaw & Sabian

Two popular teams here sees this match receiving some duelling chants. Nice even stuff to begin, with Marcos and Sabian working some fun mat exchanges, whilst Dunn and Jigsaw work quicker, rope-running sequences. Sabian and Jigsaw hit dual topes to take control. Lovely spot sees Jigsaw holding Dunn in place in a surfboard to eat a top rope stomp. Jigsaw misses a 450 legdrop, allowing Dunn to tag in Marcos, and we get a melee of action in the ring. The Ring Crew Express hit the assisted senton, but Sabian saves, and the Sliced Bread #2 is reversed into a Jig’N’Tonic in a smooth sequence for three.

Jimmy Jacobs & Danny Daniels vs Knight Eye for the Pirate Guy

Interestingly, Jacobs hints at a heelish nature in this match, acting even more douchey than his partner, a guy who is working heel. It’s the addition of little cocky touches, like shaking off his fist after a great punch. Daniels drills Roger, who becomes face-in-peril, with some lovely looking kneedrops, really driving the knee into him. Both members of the IWA team hit airplane spins on Roger in a fun spot. Steel cleans up after a blind tag, and locks in his “unbreakable” Boston Crab on Jacobs. There’s a slightly clumsy bit, with Steel backdropping Daniels out of the ring as he tries to break it, whilst still holding onto Jacobs, didn’t flow very well. Jacobs gets dragged to the centre of the ring, and has to tap out.

Super Dragon & B-Boy vs Billy Ken Kid & Ebessan

Going into this, I was curious how Ebessan would fit into this, a guy who’s primarily a comedy worker. The answer, it turn out, is by having Dragon and B-Boy bully and batter him, making him the sympathetic face in peril of the match. They establish this early, with Dragon cheapshotting Ebessan on the apron. Both PWG guys are clearly frustrated by Ken Kid, getting outworked and sent to the floor, stalling for time before re-entering, before feasting like piranhas when Ebessan gets in. The beat him down in the corner, B-Boy locks in a nasty bridging Cobra Clutch on the mat, Super Dragon hits a nasty cappo kick in the corner followed by a B-Boy dropkick to the face…basically a big kicking to a likable schlub like Ebessan. Ebessan kicks out of just enough to remain credible, not taking any big killshots, just a lot of sustained offence. He makes the tag after Super Dragon misses a corner charge spectacularly, flying into the post, and Ken Kid is a ball of energy on offence. He hits a lovely cannonball from the second rope to the floor on B-Boy, only to be stopped by an unlikely leaping rana from Super Dragon, who shows great athleticism. Loved the end of this one, BKK ends up alone with B-Boy, and he circles him round by the arms, suddenly switching it into a backslide and he gets the three, thrusting his legs into the air on the final count to add more weight and to avoid Super Dragon’s save. Absolutely great stuff.

NXT Takeover: WarGames II

Kassius Ohno vs Matt Riddle

So, obviously a full match would have been preferable, but they smartly didn’t promote this as a scheduled match, so you can’t be too disappointed by Riddle knocking Ohno out in 6 seconds. Riddle is a can’t miss star, putting him over strong makes complete sense.

Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler

This went by too quickly, especially given the 2/3 falls stipulation, but what they cram in is really good. Liked the gameplan by Sane to blitz Shayna from the off, not giving her a second to recover. Loved the sliding clothesline against the ropes, before Baszler’s Four Horsewomen comrades attack Sane, allowing Baszler to lock in the Kirifuda Clutch for the first fall. Loved her trying to lock it on again quickly at the start of the second, and her stomping violently on Kairi’s face looked nasty. Sane trying a series of roll-ups and quick pinfalls as she tries to recover makes nice sense and I really liked the insane looking DDT on the apron – it looked like a real gamechanger, made it realistic that Sane could use that as her opening after the beating she’d taken. The insane elbow makes it one fall apiece. Loved Sane now hitting three consecutive spears, with Baszler selling the combined damage to her ribs. We get some fun hoopla outside the ring with Dakota Kai and Io Shirai evening the odds against the Horsewomen, before Baszler counters the insane elbow by rolling Sane into a crucifix to win. Not their best match, but these two match up so well that it’s still really great.

Johnny Gargano vs Aleister Black

I liked a lot of this, but there was definitely a lot of melodramatic overacting that took away from my enjoyment. Gargano ducking and bobbing to avoid Black’s strikes was really cool, especially as it built up the moment that Gargano ducks and eats a big kick to the face as a big moment. Gargano managing to stay one step ahead of Black was really effective, made him look like a smart performer, especially as a lot of this was built up as Black’s revenge. Loved the Gargano tope to a DDT on the floor. But the bad stuff starts creeping up too. The Riddle match had shown how to build someone up as a great striker, but here the “Striking Man from Amsterdam” (piss off Mauro) hit Gargano with a load of strikes, most of which were getting no sold or were having little effect as they roll from one sequence to another. The bits where both guys try luring the other in to hit big moves by emotively yelling at them was terrible, hurt the pacing of the match and added nothing. Gargano getting a roll up by ducking Black Mass was a nice wrinkle, and I dug Black hitting two consecutive Blass Mass to ensure Gargano wouldn’t kick out, but a little bit too much of this was actively bad.

Tommaso Ciampa vs Velveteen Dream

So during the match, I realised who Dream reminds me off. While I can see the comparisons to Rick Rude or Hulk Hogan (which Dream was happy to play up here), I felt like I was watching an androgynous Sting. Tall, in great shape, terrific athlete who, whilst a little green in places, is having good matches and is able to push through by sheer force of personality. Yeah, just like early Sting, and this played out like a great Sting vs crafty heel bout. Dream puts in a great shift here, bumping big when Ciampa shoves him to the floor on a springboard attempt and hitting a big dive on an evasive Ciampa. For his part, Ciampa is really nasty, smashing Dream in the corner with a running knee using his knee brace that Dream sells as a knockout blow. He does horrible stuff like making Dream drool by locking him in a submission, then rubbing the spit in Velveteen’s face just to be a dick. Dream goes for Ciampa’s knee with a figure four around the post and then in the centre of the ring, and though it doesn’t get the win, it gets paid off after Project Ciampa is hit, but the pain to the knee means Ciampa can’t cover right away and Dream is able to kick out. Some really convincing nearfalls, none more so than when Dream hits a rolling DVD on the floor and immediately rolls Ciampa in for a Purple Rainmaker for two. Genuinely believed that was it. An attempt on the ring apron sees Dream crash and burn to the floor. Ciampa hits the draping DDT on the metal grid separating the two Wargames rings, and that’s enough to put Dream down. I very much enjoyed this, thought this was Dream’s best performance to date.

Pete Dunne, Ricochet & the War Raiders vs The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong)

This match seems to have split opinion online, with maybe two-thirds of comments being against this match for bloat, for bad structure or for not feeling like a real Wargames. For my part, I loved this, and it kept me wide awake at gone 2.30am. Yes, it’s very long, but watching it in real time, I found that I felt it flew by.

I’m going to try and avoid just basic play-by-play here, because they fit so much stuff in here. You can get away with having big bombs not ending the match because there’s lot of guys there to make the save, and you need to hit big moves to put down as many of your opponents as possible in order to leave no-one who can prevent victory. Here, a lot of big stuff was hit, but for the most part it wasn’t kicked out of. Yes, Pete Dunne survived a lengthy chain-and-chair assisted submission, but finding extra reserves in such a big war against your hated enemies feels acceptable. I enjoyed the opening stages of the match, and I think the natural structure of the bout helps keep the match fresh. A new face every few minutes changes the match, with the arrival of members of the face team feeling like a hot tag every time. The tactic of the Undisputed Era to lock Pete Dunne in his cage to allow them to destroy the opposition 4-on-3, then have Dunne at a 4-on-1 disadvantage to dismantle him. The fact that Pete was able to fend them off with weapons, keeping them occupied while his partners recovered, made sense to me and set up the second half of the match well. Yeah, there was a West Side Story-esque bit of nonsense that saw a shaky confined brawl between the two rings, but I was able to enjoy it as a big, dumb spotfest. War Raiders in particular looked great here, maybe the best Hanson has looked in NXT, with his joint powerbomb on Strong/World’s Strongest Slam on O’Reilly being a great power spot. The overly complicated tower of doom spot leading to Ricochet’s double moonsault was a bit hokey, but Pete hitting the Bitter End and Ricochet hitting the 630 on Cole felt like a nice, final, full stop on the bout. I’m an outlier here, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. 

ECW Hardcore TV #36 14/12/1993

Sal Bellomo vs Don E Allen

Thankfully brief Bellomo squash. Even as a heel, he still resorts to cheap tactics, filling the match with chokes and slams. He hits an admittedly decent dropkick before finishing Allen with a splash. I hope Sal is gone soon.

Tommy Dreamer & Shane Douglas vs Kevin Sullivan & the Tazmaniac

Dreamer’s partner Johnny Gunn isn’t here, so Douglas comes in to replace him in this tag title defence. It’s easy to see why Dreamer didn’t endear himself to the ECW faithful in the early days, his suspenders-on-long-tights look making him look like the third, wimpiest American Male. He looks decent here though, hitting a really nice diving clotheslines and nicely stumbling from the corner into a Taz overhead suplex. Dreamer lands on his shoulder on a Sullivan belly-to-back suplex in an awkward landing, as he plays face-in-peril. Douglas hasn’t tagged in at this point, which gets your spider-senses tingling, as the seemingly reformed heel not tagging into the bout feels like a tried and true set up. Indeed, this is the case, as Dreamer makes the hot tag, only for Douglas to level him with a chained fist to allow Sullivan and Tazmaniac to win the titles. Decent enough.

Tony Stetson vs The Sandman

I wonder how far Stetson could have got in wrestling if he didn’t have such a terrible look, as he manages to work a decent bout against a perpetually terrible Sandman. Stetson’s offence always looks good, here sinking in his corner shoulderblocks and hitting a nice running clothesline in the corner. Sandman hits a nice top rope back elbow, and I loved Steton sliding backwards out of the ring, keeping his eye on Sandman and luring him to the floor for a cheapshot. Nice powerbomb only gets a two, before Sandman rolls through a top rope crossbody for the win. 

AWA Team Challenge Series

Lovely to see this appear on the Network's Hidden Gems section, a crudely filmed pilot for the AWA Team Challenge Series, filmed in a studio with no crowd. Guys come to the ring, with a green-screened audience badly inserted either side of them. Crowdshots get added in during the matches, crowds who 100% aren't watching these matches, and this is a fascinating mess.

Tommy Jammer vs Tom Burton

Bless Tom Burton for playing to the crowd here, what a pro. You know this is going to be ridiculous when the non-Greg Gagne commentator demands a replay after a Jammer bodyslam. This match is all armdrags and hiptosses from both before Jammer gets a powerslam and a splash to pick up the quick win.

The Destruction Crew (Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos) vs Ricky Rice & Jerry Lynn

Oh man, the camera work here is awful, zooming in on Bloom’s face while the faces work over Enos. For the monster heel team, the faces get in a lot of early offence on Enos. Lynn already looks decent, including holding onto an armbar even when Enos slams him to the mat, but Rice only seems to throw awful armdrags. Finally, Lynn becomes face-in-peril after eating a knee to the back. Enos slams him to the buckle, hits a shoulderbreaker and a powerslam, before a Doomsday Device finishes off Lynn.

Paul Diamond vs Colonel DeBeers

This is basically a two man battle royal. Liked Diamond hitting a flying bodyscissors and actually maintaining the hold on the mat. Diamond misses a corner splash in a nice manner, taking a big bump. The slo mo does the opposite of it’s intended job, making a decent-looking dropkick appear worse by showing DeBeers basically brushing it aside when it hits him. DeBeers hits a really nice looking top rope headbutt, but though he misses a second, he maintains his assault, albeit not very interestingly with some methodical clubbing. However, like an idiot, he goes for a piledriver next to the ropes and Diamond backdrops him to the floor. This was fine.

Sgt Slaughter vs The Terminator

This is a very slow paced match, with both trying to show their dominance during a run of shoulderblocks. Slaughter hitting a running crossbody was unexpected, but looked good. Both guys play to the crowd, so again kudos for that. Terminator wears down Slaughter with some unexciting clubbing, but Sarge hits a second rope clothesline and the Cobra Clutch gets the victory. Inoffensive stuff, Slaughter at least looked decent.

Womens Wrestling Revolution - WWR Vs The World

Kimber Lee vs Alpha Female

I enjoyed this, albeit not as much as their Mae Young Classic match last year. Alpha Female goes on the attack from the off, and I liked her quickly wearing down Lee for an Anaconda Vice, hitting a flurry of blows to the head to weaken her opponent. Kimber Lee goes back on the attack, with AF oddly seeming to slide to her knees just to eat a bunch of kicks. Alpha hits a big Dominator and a lovely big forearm, but we get an awkward moment with a Gory Bomb reversal, where they just seem to fall over. Loved Lee’s swanton bomb, which looked to land flush, before AF hits a clothesline for two and another Dominator for the win.

Thunder Rosa vs Harlow O’Hara

This almost starts with a goofy dance sequence, but I liked Harlow stopping it straight away with a big shoulderblock. Loved Harlow’s big running knee, and I thought she looked really good in this match. Bad habit of swinging way too high on missed clotheslines, but her locking a butterfly guillotine to Rosa, holding it for a few seconds, then suddenly dropping to the mat looked great. Rosa has a few nice moves, hitting a bunch of nasty chops in the corner, but even then O’Hara gets the better of her by chopping her back in the face. Rosa hits a nice running boot to the face and a top rope stomp for the win, and this was all good.

Davienne vs Skylar vs Oceanea vs Alisha Edwards

Fun four way match, where I thought Davienne and Edwards were the standouts. Davienne is really fun working as monster, making the most of her power and size advantage by bending Oceanea over her knee with a backbreaker. There’s a great spot where she’s got both Skylar and Oceanea on the mat, and does a baseball slide dropkick, pushing them both gut-first into the ringpost. Edwards is worlds apart from her role as face jobber on Impact, here working shit-talking heel, and she’s a load of fun, ostensibly teaming with Davienne, but trying sneaky pins behind her back. Oceanea and Skylar seem fine, but do less to stand out before Skylar hits a poor looking double arm DDT on Oceanea for the win.

Penelope Ford vs Jessica Troy

It’s been two years since I saw a Ford match, and she seemed to have improved vastly in that time. Here, she looked totally confident in the ring, with her execution way up on what it was. Loved her rolling spear into the corner and a really good looking Northern Lights suplex. Troy took the offence nicely, but suffered from having a load of terrible looking strikes, with boots to the head that looked weak and flimsy shots in the corner. In contrast, Ford hit a really nice flurry of shots, a big German suplex into the buckles and a great looking rolling cutter. Troy’s non-strike offence was perfectly fine, but she tried a lot of strikes, before Ford picks up the win with a rolling cradle.

Zoe Lucas vs Karen Q

This was really good, felt like they matched up really well. Loved the matwork at the outset, felt evenly and smoothly worked. There’s a slightly blown flying headscissors early on, but crucially they don’t let it throw them or affect the rest of the bout, as Q hits a big combination of moves in the corner. Lucas has some great flexibility that she uses to her advantage here, getting a nice bridge on a Fisherman’s suplex and getting her leg up really high to hit a spinkick, so that it acts more like a clothesline to the face. She also hits a neat slingshot into a splits on Q for a two count. They also achieve the rare feat of making a simultaneous kick to the head KO spot look good. Lucas hits a great looking standing scorpion kick and a rolling DVD, but Q rolls into a Boston Crab, with Lucas tapping immediately. Loved this.

LuFisto vs Shazza McKenzie

Can’t help but feel that McKenzie came into this with the wrong gameplan, as she decides to brawl on the outside with LuFisto early door. This ends with her taking a powerbomb onto the apron, so you can guess how successful this plan was. LuFisto works her on the mat, tying her legs in a deathlock, whilst also grinding her knee into McKenzie’s spine, before following that with headbutts to the back. McKenzie pretty much has to work from underneath, and ends up using her speed advantage to get some respite, slipping through the ropes to avoid a LuFisto charge and tying her in the ropes to lace into her with kicks. It’s not enough though, as LuFisto hits a backfist and a back suplex for two, before a burning hammer gives her the victory. Maybe a little too one-sided to be great, but this was a lot of fun.

Undeniably Impressive (Tessa Blanchard & Indi Hartwell) vs The Bird & The Bee (Willow Nightingale & Solo Darling)

This kicks off with a really great bit of matwork between Blanchard and Darling, felt really competitive and logical. Loved little touches like Blanchard having to work to get a grip of Darling’s finger to wrench a wristlock, Darling not giving up the digits easily. Nightingale and Hartwell in contrast work faster, running the ropes and countering each other, playing to their own strengths. First time I’d seen Darling and she really impressed, like a little buzzsaw with a neat series of kicks. Tessa kicks Nightingale in the back as she runs the ropes to make her face-in-peril, and her team work a series of running strikes to the back with Willow draped in the ropes. I liked Willow blocking a train of moves in the corner after a couple of blows, makes sense that you wouldn’t just stand there and take a beating, but falls prey to a Tessa codebreaker from the second rope. Darling comes in and also gets worn down, with Blanchard chaining nicely into a butterfly suplex from the mat. Even when Darling comes back, Blanchard impresses, really whipping herself into the mat on bumps. Eventually, order breaks down with all four in the ring, and unfortunately the worst move of the match gets the win, with Nightingale and Darling hitting a contrived double team slam on Hartwell that doesn’t really come off, but this match on the whole was great.

Terra Calaway vs Delmi Exo

Brief stuff with Calaway attacking before the bell, and Exo getting zero offence. Terra picks her off the mat during pinfalls after a big sideslam and a full Nelson slam. Harlow O’Hara comes in for the save, before turning on Exo. Oceanea makes the save, and this was more angle than match. Calaway looked great though.

Jazz vs Jordynne Grace

I enjoyed this a bunch, but it clearly suffered from Grace’s real-life ankle injury that clearly bothered her and likely made the match go short. This started really well, liked how they worked the matwork to start, with each powering out of holds rather than working counters. However, after getting tied in a deathlock by Jazz, Grace’s ankle clearly bothers her, as she goes to the outside to shake it off. Jazz doesn’t go after the injury after that, even when heeling it up later, so it must have been affecting Grace badly. Jazz takes control with some cheap moves after both women have exchanged clubbing blows, working her in the ropes and raking Grace’s eyes. She also hits some nasty crossfaces during a Camel Clutch. Grace gets a very brief comeback, but Jazz escapes a fireman’s carry with an eyerake, and hits a Michinoku Driver for the win. This was still good, but feels like a missed opportunity. Would be up for a rematch.

WWF Raw 12/09/1994

The Undertaker vs Kwang

Kwang has been a real treat to watch on 1994 Raw’s, but he’s not doing much in this match. This is barely competitive, which makes sense given their relative positions on the card, but I kinda wanted to see some more Kwang offense. He gets in a nice kick early on, but is soon methodically beaten down. Taker hits a nice big slam and a vicious looking throat thrust, before Kwang comes back with the green mist. Taker spits green mist of his own into Kwang’s face, which is pretty neat, before hitting a chokeslam for the win.

Jim Neidhart vs Tim McNeany

Neidhart is all over McNeany from the bell, so this is one of the days when he was motivated. His 1994 comeback was hit or miss, but this was a pretty fun squash, aided by McNeany taking a big bump to the floor, landing with a splat. Neidhart wears him down some more and locks in a Camel Clutch to win.

Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs Tony Devito & Paul van Dale

Hey, it’s Carmella’s dad as one half of the jobber team (van Dale), first time I’ve seen him. Shawn is entertaingly dickish early on, luring Devito to the floor, running away and hiding behind Diesel, then using the distraction to get behind Devito and attack him. Van Dale telegraphs a backdrop really early, basically bending over as soon as he sends Michaels into the ropes, so it’s no surprise that it gets reversed. Diesel comes in and basically crushes him, hitting a sideslam, a big boot and the Jack-knife, before Shawn hits a splash from off his shoulders to get the pin. Decent squash.

Adam Bomb vs Duane Gill

I think Bomb gives Gill a bit too much here. The crowd are surprisingly into him, and he’s a far more impressive figure than Gill, but he still gets put into headlocks and beaten in the corner. Bomb should have been killing this guy. Still, he looks great, with nice agility to leapfrog over Gill (though why is Bomb leapfrogging Gill instead of just killing him?) and hitting a nice slingshot clothesline. Atom Smasher gives Bomb the win.

The Bushwhackers vs Barry Hardy & Bert Centeno

The Bushwhackers are much more palatable when facing jobbers, as their antics are designed to make their opponents look like idiots, which could hurt actual credible opposition. Here, it’s quite fun and this is totally played for comedy, probably useful when the audience will be sitting through a marathon of squashes. In that setting, goofy spots like Luke covering both opponents and Butch counting a pin make more sense, and this is harmless fun. Battering ram pins Centeno

WWF Raw 22/08/1994

Only two matches on this episode of Raw, as they build up to SummerSlam that coming Sunday. A lot of Vince and Randy Savage hyping the matches, not much action. One of these matches is surprisingly good though...

Lex Luger vs Crush

If I had to predict how this match was going to start, I probably wouldn’t have gone for “Lex Luger crossbody”, but that’s how Luger takes the early advantage. Crush is a frustrating watch, as he does a load of neat little things amidst a load of slow plodding offence. Liked him holding up Luger’s arm to give him a clear opening to punch him in the ribs, and him blocking a backdrop with a downwards fist to the back of Luger’s head looked good. He also had a logical match structure, working Luger’s back after a backbreaker, punching him in the spine and locking in a Camel Clutch. However, in between this he slowly wanders around the ring, hitting the odd blow, but doing nothing exciting. Frustratingly, Gorilla Monsoon keeps referring to Crush building up toward a “devastating” bearhug, but the moment he locks it in, we got to commercial and Lex had escaped by the time we return. Lex at least has an energetic comeback, nailing some nice clotheslines, a powerslam and a decent DDT. Crush takes control again with a neat tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but gets distracted by the Million Dollar Man at ringside, allowing Luger to hit the bionic forearm to win.

Diesel vs Typhoon

This starts off surprisingly energetically, with both men tussling for position and Typhoon sending Diesel out of the ring with a shoulderblock. Diesel downs Typhoon with his own shoulderblock after a Shawn Michaels distraction, and things do predictably slow down as Diesel locks in a chinlock. Enjoyed Typhoon’s comeback, hitting wild swinging fists at Diesel, missing a legdrop but nailing a corner splash. A second one hits boots, however, and a flying clothesline gives Diesel the win. This was surprisingly good.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1992

Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Michael Hayes vs Tom Zenk, Shane Douglas & Johnny Gunn

Neat little six man opener. Being in Philadelphia, the heel team get cheered on their every move whilst the faces are met with a chorus of boos. Unsurprisingly with this line-up, the match flows really well. Some neat pairings here, Douglas meshing really nicely with Eaton, hitting him with a lovely flying headscissors. Both teams use quick tags to start, with the neatest being Arn tagging himself in while Zenk has Eaton in the air for an atomic drop, allowing him to level the Z-Man with a sneaky clothesline. Eaton takes out Douglas’s leg with a big clip, and delightfully Arn is all over it. He locks in a figure four with Hayes helping with leverage from the apron. It all breaks down as the hot tag is made to Gunn, and in the melee he nails a Thesz Press on Hayes to get the win. Fun match.

Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman

Really good match here, which is still short enough to leave you wanting a future rematch. Loved how this opened, Steamboat lights up Pillman with some stiff chops, which Pillman seems happy to replicate. They go into a nice sequence that ends with a skin-the-cat and Steamboat hitting a trademark armdrag. Steamboat plays up his rare power advantage, grabbing Pillman by the throat and holding him in the air. Loved how Pillman locked on his sleeper as the smaller man, just yanking Steamboat by the neck as he runs the ropes, then leaping onto his back to put all his weight onto Steamer. Pillman heels it up nicely, cowering off and luring Steamboat from the ring, which leads to a nice moment as he knees Steamboat in the face entering the ropes. Moments later this happens again, but this time Steamboat avoids the knee and leg sweeps Pillman to the mat. Loved it. We get a series of roll-ups and Steamboat manages to hold Pillman down for the win. This was some lovely stuff.

Vader vs Nikita Koloff

Vader is defending the US title on behalf of Rick Rude, and I liked how Ventura on commentary highlighted this disadvantage to Koloff, preparing for a very different opponent. Vader is all over Koloff, mauling him from the get go, but then poses giving Nikita a chance to come back, hitting a rare crossbody for two. Vader still controls the bulk of this, battering Nikita outside the ring, and hitting a chokeslam inside that sees Koloff land awkwardly. Koloff gets a little shine, hitting a shoulderblock and an impressive slam, but like an idiot he tries the Russian Sickle on the floor with Vader stood against a ringpost. Surprise – he clotheslines the steel and gets thrown back inside to eat a powerbomb for the Vader win.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Steve Williams

Austin was subbed in here to replace Terry Gordy, who was fired that same morning for a contract dispute. Yet even with the heel team being thrown together, this was really good stuff. Rhodes and Austin already have really good chemistry from their 1991 feud, and Austin and Williams seem to gel more and more as the match continues. There’s a lot to love here, really dug Dustin breaking a Williams wristlock by leaping over the top to the floor, snapping Williams’s arm over the top rope. This is pretty even stuff until Windham gets wiped out with a flying clothesline from Williams. The heat on Windham is really fun, lots of hefty blows being dished out. Loved Windham blocking a superplex and nailing a big top rope clothesline to tag in Dustin. Rhodes swiftly becomes face-in-peril after Williams clotheslines him behind the refs back. Williams then bends Rhodes in half with a nasty looking Boston Crab. Austin hits a rare powerslam on Dustin that looks great, but then the call of “5 minutes left” comes up and suddenly the pressure is on the heels to win. We get a false finish, as the heels throw Dustin out of the ring after a ref bump and pin Windham, but the original ref reverses the decision and continues the match. The match goes on two minutes and ends as a time limit draw. Really neat stuff, basically putting four 5* punchers in one match, and the result was a fun, hard-hitting half hour that flew by.

Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono

This is for Chono’s NWA title, and it’s a direct contrast to the previous match. Whereas the tag match is 30 mins that flies by, this is 22 minutes that drags to fuck. There are two refs, Harley Race inside the ring (calling it down the middle, surprisingly) and Kensuke Sasaki on the floor. There are bits of good in here – Chono snaps Rude to the mat with a sudden back suplex, Rude hits some nice big blows early on, but there’s a lot of very dull matwork that goes nowhere. There’s no fight over it, just two guys who should do better putting on holds slowly. You can hear the crowd audibly deflate when Chono locks on a sleeper. Nice little bit of psychology with Rude hurting his back after hitting a missile dropkick, before Chono accidentally hits Race with a Yakuza Kick. Rude is thrown outside the ring onto Sasaki, meaning that no-one makes a count when he nails the Rude Awakening inside the ring. Chono locks on the STF and Sasaki recovers to call the sub, but Race reverses the decision to DQ Chono. Doesn’t matter, Rude doesn’t get the belt either way, and a screwy finish is the final nail in the coffin of the crowd giving a shit. Awful stuff.

Ron Simmons vs the Barbarian

I’m a big fan of both guys, but I’d heard this was one of the worst WCW title matches. I’d say that was a bit of hyperbole, to be honest, this isn’t that bad. They work a nice power battle early, exchanging shoulderblocks and clotheslines without a winner. Loved Simmons beating Barbarian down with a series of double sledges, hammering him in the face. Barb takes over after dropping Simmons neckfirst over the rope and clotheslining him against the ringpost. Barb misses the ropewalk elbow and Simmons shows nice energy as he hits a series of clotheslines and shoulderblocks. Barbarian gets two after hitting the top rope headbutt, looked really good as he leapt across the ring, before Simmons gets the win from nowhere with a powerslam. This was perfectly decent power wrestling from two great power wrestlers.

Sting vs Jake “the Snake” Roberts

This is a Coal Miner’s Glove match after the whole “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” debacle. Roberts distracts Sting to start, and tries to climb the pole quickly, but is stopped. Coy opening, with neither seeming too keen to commit, weighing their opponent up. Loved Roberts doing a cocky little pose after Sting misses a dropkick, before hitting a bunch of knees to the spine. They looked great. Roberts hurts his arm on the ringpost, and I loved that Sting zeroes in on it, using it as his focal point. Clumsy spot with Jake supposedly hitting a kneelift, but selling it like he’d missed and both guys remain down. Ventura, bless him, covers for them both by claiming Jake’s momentum went against him. Roberts hits the DDT, but with the bad arm, meaning he can’t capitalise as quickly as he should, giving Sting a feasible way to recover. Sting goes for the glove, Jake goes for his cobra, and Sting hits Jake from behind, causing him to fall face first into the snake, who bites him as Sting gets the cover. Have to admit that’s an innovative ending, even though it looks a bit shit. Not as bad a match as I’d feared, it’s all logical, some nice selling and I kinda enjoyed it.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 - Semi Finals

Toni Storm vs Meiko Satomura

Not a surprise that this match was pretty terrific. Even Satomura’s headlock takeover was a struggle, and their mat exchanges had a real sense that neither wanted to yield. Toni isn’t afraid to lay her stuff in here, with a big boot and nasty kicks, but Meiko is even more brutal, just laying into Storm’s legs with a series of vicious kicks, grounding her. Loved the leg lariat that just sees Satomura flying off the ropes. Like Storm locking Meiko into an STF as soon as she gets an advantage, knowing she needs to wear her down as much as she can. She holds it a long time, and suddenly Satomura is in trouble. Storm really goes for it on this opening, hitting a corner charge and a huge suicide dive, but Satomura plants her with a DDT and hits a flipping kick for two. We get a collection of believable nearfalls from both – Storm Zero from Toni, DVD from Satomura, Scorpion Kick from Satomura – with each feeling like the end. Eventually, Toni reverses another DVD attempt to her second Storm Zero to get the win. Loved this.

Rhea Ripley vs Io Shirai

Huge coming out party for Ripley here, she looked like she belonged with Io, didn’t look outclassed at all. Ripley over-powers Shirai early, rag-dolling her about and hitting some really big shots. Loved her punches to the ribs and kicks. Ripley locking on a stomach claw thrilled me, and she hit a tremendous delayed suplex. Loved the flurry of nasty forearms Io hit to break a body-scissors, needed to look convincing to wear down the larger Ripley. Io hits a sudden rana on a rope running exchange, followed by a suicide dive and a big missile dropkick, that Ripley sells big but also believably. She manages to stumble into place for the dropkick without it looking massively contrived. Rhea hits a great superplex, shows incredible balance on the top rope, but Io escapes a pumphandle and hits the corner knees and the moonsault to win. Really great stuff.

WWE Main Event 02/09/2014

Dolph Ziggler vs Damien Sandow

This is JIP after a Miz TV segment goes awry. I remember these two matching up surprisingly well earlier in the year, and there’s another decent Sandow performance here. He’s got some decent aggression going on, liked his elbows to the neck of a downed Ziggler, as well as stopping him dead with a short back elbow to the face. Sandow does some token arm work before Ziggler comes back with some poor punches, clear air showing between his fists and Sandow’s torso. Sandow tries a figure four, gets kicked off into the turnbuckle, and eats a Zig Zag for the three count in a nice little sequence. Essentially harmless, but unmemorable.

Natalya & Rosa Mendes vs Summer Rae & Layla

God bless Summer Rae, she tries her hardest to make it look like Rosa is doing some damage to her, flying all over for some entry-level armdrags. I think this is the match that was shown on Total Divas where Rosa tried to manufacture a wardrobe malfunction to gain some notoriety, as Layla grabs her by the trunks to prevent her getting in the ring, with the camera suddenly switching angles to avoid showing a full moon. Summer and Layla are a lot of fun on offence, showing some meanness towards Rosa, including an Irish Whip into a neat Summer Rae clothesline. Natalya comes in after a missed Summer legdrop, and runs through her usual offence in a pretty straightforward manner. However, Rosa blind tags back in, and eats a big Layla superkick for the loss. Watchable, almost entirely due to the heel team.

Goldust & Stardust vs Los Matadores

This kind of match is why you sit through the previous stuff, the chance to see 15 minutes of Goldust and the Colons going at it. El Torrito isn’t there, due to a previous post match assault by the Rhodes’, and Los Matadores are suitably aggressive in the opening stages, plastering Stardust. Los Matadores in fact control a lot of the early going on both Rhodes brothers, loved Fernando blocking a sunset flip and stomping on Goldust’s arm to give them a focal point. Ferndando backdrops Diego to the floor onto the Rhodes’, with the heel team unable to get into second gear. Eventually, Stardust pulls Goldust out of the way of a cornersplash to give his team a prolonged advantage. Goldust looks good in control, even dropping a sarcastic “Ole” along the way, before the hot tag to Diego. Looks great coming in too, hitting a neat elbow to the head of Stardust to stun him, before rolling him up for two. Nice top rope cannonball, but Goldust distracts from the apron and Diego turns round into a STO to give them the win. Not quite the tag masterclass you’d hope for, but a nice bit of storytelling with the aggression of the Matadores making them more dominant than usual and controlling of the match.

WWE Mae Young Classic 2018 Quarter Finals

Meiko Satomura vs Lacey Lane

This was the match it needed to be. Lane is vastly under-powered against Meiko, but is able to use her speed and obvious agility to avoid some big shots early on. Unfortunately, she then refuses a handshake and gets kicked to fuck for her disrespect. Lane misses a kick pretty badly, looked like she was never going to hit Meiko with it, but she does look good evading a flurry of offence and hitting a neat crossbody for two. Ultimately though, Satomura is too good, she kicks the crap out of Lane and gets the pin.

Io Shirai vs Deonna Purrazzo

I thought this was fine, but there’s bits that also didn’t work for me. Shirai lands on her feet from a flying headscissors, as per the first round Brookside match, but it looked less impressive her as Purrazzo barely grazed her with the move. Shirai is quick as can be though, and she ploughs through Purrazzo with a suicide dive, and I loved her rolling through a takedown right into a double stomp. Part of the problem with the match is with the layout – twice Shirai gets locked in Purrazzo’s Fujiwara armbar, and twice Shirai is able to reverse it to a crossface. Escaping Purrazzo’s signature move once was fine, but twice seems a bit of overkill especially as Shirai has to use the injured arm to hold onto the crossface. It doesn’t feel like a match Purrazzo is going to win, and it comes to pass as Shirai hits another overshot moonsault for the win. I really like both, but this was underwhelming.

Tegan Nox vs Rhea Ripley

If that was underwhelming, this was heart-wrenching. As someone who has seen Nox live countless times, from playing T-Bone’s sister in a long-forgotten angle in HOPE to having one of the best intergender matches I’ve ever seen with Chris Brookes in Fight Club Pro last year, I was more invested in her performance this year than anyone elses, especially with her injury keeping her out last year. So for her tournament to end in this fashion was horrible. Bless her for trying to continue after injuring her leg on the suicide dive, and huge kudos to Ripley for maintaining character, not getting lost and carrying on as everything they would have had planned changed. This was a hard watch.

Toni Storm vs Mia Yim

I had high hopes for this, and it ended up being another match that didn’t live up to my expectations. The opening stages just felt like a bunch of strikes from both women, with nothing really linking it all together. I do think Storm had a good performance as things went along though. Kicking Yim in the injured hand looked neat, and she laid in a nasty headbutt. The leg-trapped German suplex she hit looked choice, and I liked that she again went to the bad hand in the finish, as it caused Yim enough pain that she could slip behind and hit a German suplex, followed by a Tiger Driver for the victory. These were all good moments, and the match itself wasn’t bad, it just didn’t feel as important as I’d maybe expected.

WWE Main Event 26/08/2014

Rob Van Dam vs Seth Rollins

This isn’t particularly good, but it ends up being much better than the nightmare that it looks like on paper. The early signs aren’t good, with Van Dam rolling into the world’s slowest dropdown on a rope running exchange, but he hits a great sudden kick in the corner, and a pescado that looks more impactful because of how ungraceful it looks. It’s just RVD hurling his body at Rollins without any concerns about it looking good. Both guys do some token arm work, with both throwing their opponent shoulder first into the corner, though this focus doesn’t get paid off by either guy. RVD gets pushed from the top to the floor, bumping huge, whilst a half-hearted (and very untrue) “This is awesome” chant starts. Rollins chucks RVD into the barricades, but Van Dam reverses an attempt to send him into the timekeeper area, sending Rollins instead, and RVD wins via count out. Functional stuff.

Curtis Axel vs Adam Rose

This was actually pretty decent, almost entirely due to Axel. You’d never build a promotion round the guy, but he’s able to make six minute C-show matches against questionable talent seem interesting. Here, he hits some nice punches, a great boomerang clothesline, and really works in a deep chinlock, making Rose carry his weight, working the hold. Rose hits a decent spinbuster to comeback, as well as a sloppy leaping rana, and Axel fully commits to a missed corner splash to set up the Party Foul for the Rose win.

Los Matadores vs Stardust & Goldust

This will have been filmed before the Raw where the Rhodes’ turned heel on the Usos, so this is ostensibly fought as face-vs-face, with both teams getting hot tags. This is a fun sprint, with a great performance by Goldust running thoughout. He looks terrific as the hot tag after the Matadors control Stardust with some nice double-teams. Goldust hits a great bunch of fired up clotheslines, his lovely scoop slam, and an elbow from the corner, where it feels like he really whips back into his opponents face.  Stardust does a corny exaggerated sell of a chinbreaker to let Diego tag in, and he’s great, full of energy, until he misses a top rope cannonball. A Stardust flatliner gets the win, neat little tag sprint.

Mae Young Classic 2018 - Round 2 #2

Zeuxis vs Io Shirai

This was a better showing for Zeuxis than her first round match, she looked nicely aggressive and the equal of Shirai here. Neat fast rope running exchange ends with Zeuxis baseball dropkicking Io off the apron with full force into her shoulder. I liked this, Shirai had steamrolled her way through her first round match, this was she started the match with a disadvantage. Shirai hits a nice handstand knees to the face and a nice suicide dive, but her crossface is easily broken by Zeuxis thanks to the bad wing. Zeuxis misses a moonsault with a nice thud, and her Spanish Fly is reversed to a top rope rana. Overshot moonsault gets the win for Io, and this was nice stuff.

Xia Li vs Deonna Purrazzo

Xia Li is legit, guys. Considering her experience levels, she looks tremendous here. Her first round match had seen her work in some neat kung fu, but here she bumped like a boss, faceplanting on a drop toehold, and nailed some lovely looking moves. Some neat strikes, good legdrops and a really great elbow drop. She also hit a great kick from the second rope. Purrazzo wisely focuses her attack on the arm to set up the armbar, she hits a great divorce court. Li escapes an armbar by rolling though to a cradle for two, but her aggressiveness proves to be her downfall. She kicks Purrazzo from the corner, but dives off the top into an armbar and Purrazzo locks in a Rings of Saturn to get the tap. Really loved this.

Tegan Nox vs Nicole Matthews

The shortest match of the show, and Matthews suffered from wardrobe issues again (despite it being a different outfit, hard not to feel sorry for her). Nox dives right into a forearm from the floor in the opening stages, made it look like she wasn’t expecting it. Matthews hits nasty kicks on the apron, as well as a big clothesline and a neat Northern Lights suplex. Nox hits a vicious headbutt (complete with woozy sell) and a great Wild Boar style cannonball, before the shiniest wizard gets the win. Good little sprint.

Kaitlyn vs Mia Yim

Hey, Mia Yim’s phantom hand injury returns. Despite suffering no ill-effects from chopping the post during her first round match, they’ve seemingly decided to run with it as a story point here. Kaitlyn looked great here, loved her sliding clothesline and her bodyscissors, due to the muscularity of her legs, made it look deadly. Yim starts working Kaitlyn’s leg after a missed baseball slide, and you can see the bruising on the thigh after a bunch of nasty kicks. Yim hits some punches with the “bad hand”, but when she punches the mat, Kaitlyn really goes to work on it, wrenching it backwards in a manner not previously seen on this apparently devastating injury. It looked nasty from Kaitlyn, and actually made it feel like a real disadvantage. Yim hits a shaky Eat Defeat for two, and a great looking Kaitlyn spear also only gets two. Kaitlyn misses a stomp on the hand, and Yim takes her down, locking on a kneebar for the submission. Thought Kaitlyn looked great here, hope it’s not just a brief return.

Pro Wrestling Ontario: Iron Cup - The Unveiling

I love Powerbomb.TV. It's lovely to have access to so many fun looking indies at my fingertips, but the only hard part is selecting which of their vast catalogue of shows to watch at any one time. This show, which feature only guys I'd never heard of, I picked purely because Mrs NotJayTabb and I went to Ontario on holiday this year, and I thought it'd be neat to see what their wrestling scene was like.

Liam Worldwide vs Mark Shaw vs Matthew Grant vs Shane Sabre

The deal here is that there are two elimination four-way matches, with the last two in each match moving onto the semi finals for the Openweight title. Grant is billed as the “Undeniable Underdog”, and he’s a pretty small guy, highlighted by his baggy vest which just hangs off him. In contrast, Shaw is a big bearded burly guy, who looks like a bruiser. Lots to enjoy here, loved Grant hitting a nice flying headscissors on Sabre, and he also eats offence well, crashing into the turnbuckle at full whack. Enjoyed the fun spot where Shaw was trying to hit a sunset flip on Worldwide, who was grabbing the ropes to prevent it, only for Sabre and Grant to hit a slingshot on Shaw, sending his head flying into Worldwide’s crotch. Also dug Sabre hitting a draping DDT on Worldwide, who was hanging off the back of Shaw. The end comes quickly, as Shaw hits a Fisherman Buster on Worldwide and Grant almost immediately rolled up Sabre to leave Shaw and Grant as the last two men standing.

Eric Rosecroft vs Corey Stone vs BMD vs Jake O’Reilly

Another fun fourway, thought all four guys seemed – at worst – decent. This started amusingly, as Stone decides to charge BMD, and runs right into a clothesline and a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. O’Reilly is working an angry Irish gimmick, and he seems to be a fun little powerhouse wrestler, and his kneedrops to Rosecroft look nasty. He also works a fun variation on the Arn Anderson ducked punch DDT, in this case hitting a piledriver on Rosecroft for a three count. Stone tries to challenge O’Reilly, who sets up the piledriver again, only for BMD to nail him with a flying kick to send himself and the hapless Stone through to the semi finals.

Steve Brown vs Taylor Kay Deen

Brown is a huge bulky guy with the nickname “Bonecrusher”, whilst Kay Deen is a lean cruiserweight, so you have in your mind a template for how you hope this match will be fought. They pretty much keep to this, which makes for a neat match, as power-vs-speed, cat-and-mouse is a hard formula to mess up. Kay Deen takes the fight to Brown right away, hitting big kicks in the corner, thwarting Brown’s comebacks by evading him, nailing a nice running knee, but ultimately getting caught with a uranage from the corner. Brown keeps it simple on offence, with kicks and elbows grounding Kay Deen. Brown goes for the back after reversing a sunset flip attempt into an Irish Curse, then bends Kay Deen’s spine over his knee. Loved Kay Deen using his relative flexibility to kick Brown in the head from this position to make his comeback. Nice diving knees from the top gets him two, but Brown catches a second top rope dive and nails a Baldo Bomb for the win. Really effective match, put both men over. The post match sees Brown demanding a five count from the ref, not getting it, and continuing his assault to ultimately get the decision reversed in one of those pointless “the face won, but obviously not really” results.

Mark Shaw vs Corey Stone

Squash match to make Shaw look dominant and fresher going into the final. Stone gets token offence but Shaw flattens him and pins him after a Fisherman Buster.

BMD vs Matthew Grant

Both guys impressed in the first round, and this was maybe the match of the card. BMD has a size advantage over Grant, who gets in the odd underdog flurry. BMD catches a crossbody with a nice stomachbuster, but Grant gets to hit a big codebreaker, sending BMD to the floor, and follows it up with a top rope dive. A frogsplash gets two, but a second codebreaker is blocked and smoothly transitioned into a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. BMD seems firmly in control, but he missed an impressive looking 450 splash, and Grant cradles him for the victory.

Nick Watts vs JT Kirk

This was ok, but had a few clunky moments. Loved Watts pulling up Kirk’s t-shirt over his head as if for chops, then just punching him unsighted in the face. Watts grinds a knee into the back of a seated Kirk, then grabs his face by the jaw to yank his head back. So that’s all good. Less good was Kirk’s comeback, not because it was necessarily badly executed (though his face first suplex was a bit sloppy), but it took this match that felt like a Watts showcase and put him on the defensive for a reasonable period of time. The match had started after Watts had come out to confront an injured Justin Sane, clearly to build up to a match between the two, then he’s suddenly on the defensive against a guy he’s easily dominated. Watts blocks a Sliced Bread attempt, and nails a massive DDT for the win. I still came out of this wanting to see more Watts.

Mark Shaw vs Matthew Grant

This was short, but effective, paying off the story from throughout the show. Shaw, fresher and stronger, just beasts Grant. Lovely show of strength as he deadlifts Grant from the mat and nails a fallaway slam. He hits a Death Valley Driver, but picks up Grant at two. A big DDT also sees him picking up Grant at two. Finally, Shaw goes for a Fisherman Buster, but Grant escapes and rolls him up for the win and the title. Grant, the underdog, cradling and rolling up his way through the night to the title kinda works for him, taking advantage of the breaks when they came to him and capitalising on the complacency of his opponents. Fitting end to the show

WWE Super-Showdown 2018

Having this big WWE show take place in Australia was lovely for me, living in the UK. I got up at a reasonable time on Saturday, made some toast and a brew, and could just settle down to watch some wrestling. Lots of people called this a glorified house-show, which may not be inaccurate, but house-shows are generally great, just solid no-nonsense wrestling, so I was looking forward to this show. The end result was a show that wasn't groundbreaking, but was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.

The Bar vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)

Perfectly decent opener, solidly entertaining stuff. The New Day put forward their quickest team, and they spend the opening stages showing nice flowing teamwork until both get caught on dives by the Bar, and rammed into ringposts. Sheamus nicely stops the 10 Beats halfway through to stop the crowd singing along in a neat heat-gathering spot. Woods gets a nice flurry when he comes in off the tag, but rushes straight into an Irish Curse from Sheamus, which looked great. The Bar have some neat power spots, including Sheamus throwing Woods into a Cesaro uppercut. A Cesaro sharpshooter looks to have things won for the Bar, but Kofi saves and a fun Kofi top rope stomp onto a Woods backcracker gets the pin on Cesaro. Good stuff.

Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair

Both show some nice aggression early on, with Lynch yanking Flair from the ring by her arm (Charlotte splats on the floor, nasty bump). Loved Becky’s tilt-a-whirl into an armbar, with her cruelly torqueing back Charlotte’s fingers. This obviously is to set up the DisArmHer, but Charlotte does less work to set up for the Figure 8. She does a little – at one point stomping Becky’s leg when it’s stuck on the middle rope – but not very much, feels like it’s just being done to pay lipservice to her finisher. Flair’s spear looks like it folds Becky in half, prompting her to try and leave with the title, but Charlotte stops this with a second huge spear. The Figure 8 gets locked in, but Becky hits her in the leg with the title for the DQ. Disappointing finish aside, this was decent.

John Cena & Bobby Lashley vs Elias & Kevin Owens

Obviously, a lot of the post-match talk has revolved around Cena’s sensible dad hair and the fact he wasn’t allowed to bump because of a film he’s shooting, but I thought that kinda helped the match, made the build up to his hot tag feel greater. Lashley taking most of the heat is awkward, because he’s still not over enough to draw any sympathy from the audience, but I thought he was good here (really odd looking Thesz Press aside). He takes offence big here, bumping nastily through the ropes from a missed spear and taking a full-on Owens frog splash. Owens and Elias make a nice team, and Cena’s finally getting tagged in got a good reaction. Cena basically played the hits, finishing with the AA and his ludicrous new backfist finisher. Enjoyed this.

Billie Kay & Peyton Royce vs Asuka & Naomi

The Iiconics didn’t get as big a pop as I thought they would. This was brief, but harmless. The Iiconics are a bit patchy in ring, but Asuka and Naomi made a fun team, and there were a few neat moments. Loved Kay trying to hurt Naomi by catching a boot and throwing her to the floor, only for Naomi to land in a perfect splits, and this was paid off by Billie trying the same moments later with less impressive results. Asuka hits a weak looking German suplex on Kay after a brief Iiconics heat section, and Naomi hits a great split legged moonsault on Royce, before the pin is stopped. Kay drops Naomi facefirst on the apron, and a running knee from Royce gets the victory.

AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe

Remember when Joe fought Roman on PPV, and people claimed that Joe was being forced to work at a ponderous pace to get heel heat vs Reigns? I wonder what the excuse here was, because this was pretty plodding. It started well, both showing their aggression by fighting in the aisle and AJ quickly recovering from being thrown over an announce table to get right back into the ring. But this match goes over twenty minutes, and there’s not enough to this to keep it interesting. For a no DQ match, this is pretty pedestrian, with Joe walking through his offence at a glacial pace, though AJ tries his best to bump it into a more interesting bout. He takes a Joe standing elbow hard, bumps 360 degrees on a clothesline and takes a hard looking uranage onto a chair. AJ throwing Joe through a table looks awkward though, a really messy landing. Joe sells a leg injury from this point, and Styles zones in on it. Liked the springboard 450 he hit directly to Joe’s leg. Joe’s Kokina Clutch suplex is pretty wild looking too. Joe’s leg gives in on a muscle buster attempt, but he locks in the Kokina Clutch again, only for AJ to (clumsily) reverse it to the Calf Crusher for the tap out win. Like the fact Joe was near the ropes for this, but the No DQ stip meant that it did him no good. Other than that, this was disappointing.

The Riott Squad vs The Bella Twins & Ronda Rousey

This was a perfectly fine trios match. The early stages seemed to be setting up a “Bellas vs Ronda” scenario, as the Bellas only tagged each other and Ronda was left on the sidelines. This didn’t really play into the match though. There’s a brief Brie vs Liv section that I can’t imagine was the pairing anyone wanted to see in this match, before Nikki becomes face in peril. Lovely running knee to the face by Sarah Logan. Hot tag is made to Ronda, and she’s a great hot tag. Big judo throws to Morgan and Logan, some big strikes to Sarah and, though Liv saves Logan from an armbar attempt, Ronda soon locks them both into a double armbar for the immediate tap.

Cedric Alexander vs Buddy Murphy

Murphy is the hometown boy here, and gets a great reaction. This is a fantastic sprint, the career resurgence of Buddy Murphy has been one of the joys of 2018 WWE. Murphy hits an insane dive right from the start, and the pace doesn’t really slow from there. Both hit big spots: Cedric times a superkick perfectly and I loved Murphy constantly trying to climb to the top only for Cedric to use this momentum to hit a top rope Michinoku Driver. Cedric also hits his own big dive. For his part, Buddy gets two on a lovely sitout powerbomb (with a slightly sloppy cover, which fits the story of him being too overexcited in his hometown). There’s a neat sequence where Murphy keeps kicking out of some big moves successively, taking a standing Spanish Fly and a huge Lumbar Check. The pop on the kickout is huge. Cedric tries springboarding into the ring, takes a big knee to the face on landing, and the pumphandle driver gets the victory for Murphy. Huge pop for that, felt like a real feel good moment, and the match was really choice.

The Shield vs Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler

Loved the face masks that the Shield wore to the ring, looked totally badass. This breaks down really early and Rollins gets isolated as the face-in-peril after an early Shield Bomb is thwarted. Of note Ziggler’s first move of the match is the shitty backslap DDT, and we get maybe too much Ziggler vs Rollins in the ring for my taste. I did like that Ziggler’s shit talking led to him doing something feckless shortly afterwards. Strowman misses a crap looking top rope splash and Ambrose gets the hot tag. Loved Ambrose bringing out something new, hitting a fallaway slam on Ziggler. We get a tantalising Reigns vs McIntyre section that made me want to see that singles match even more. Roman muscling up Drew for a one armed powerbomb was really neat. The Shield Bomb is thwarted by Strowman plowing through the lot of them with a big spear. Roman accidentally hits Ambrose with a Superman Punch to continue the hinted dissension, and this led to the big turning point of the match, as Rollins and Reigns are left alone in the centre of the ring with the heels surrounding them. Ambrose gets on the fourth side, hinting that he may attack them too, only to take out Strowman with a suicide dive. Lovely spot where Strowman looks to be about the charge through Ambrose on the floor, but Reigns takes Strowman out with a PERFECTLY timed spear through the barricade. Back inside, Ambrose hits Ziggler with Dirty Deeds to win. Good stuff here.

Daniel Bryan vs The Miz

I’ll be honest, I only kept half an eye on this match as I was making a (shit) omelette. Luckily, this was brief, so I didn’t miss too much. I do love Bryan getting the pin super quickly by locking Miz in a small package. Keeps the Miz looking strong, shows off Bryan as talented wrestler who can win at any time, and created a nice sudden finish.

Triple H vs The Undertaker

I’ve seen this match taking a lot of abuse on line, and I can see why. It’s very long. Too long. Neither guy is in good shape, with Taker looking exhausted on several occasions, and there’s a load of smoke’n’mirrors horseshit to cover up the limitations of both men. However, I didn’t hate this. I’ve never been a big fan of either guy, and I hated their last two WrestleMania matches, but I also had no expectations going into this. For two men with a combined age of basically 100, who are only out there to give a marquee match-up to this supershow, this was ok. I enjoyed Shawn Michaels’ role in this, sneakily running interference and setting up props for use in the match (with a painfully slow Kane easily kept at bay). The fighting outside is fine, bar the blown back bodydrop Undertaker tries on HHH, with admittedly a lot Taker dragging round HHH by the head, and I enjoyed HHH putting Kane through a table by hitting an elbow drop from the apron. The ref bump where Taker punches him out doesn’t make much sense, given the match is No DQ anyway, and Taker bumps embarrassingly for a Pedigree. HHH crushing Taker’s throat by placing a chair around it and stomping it looked nasty, and Kane making the save by pulling the ref out was really well timed. The supporting hoopla includes a load of chairshots, HHH getting out the sledgehammer and spots where Michaels and HHH save each other from tombstones, before a final Pedigree eventually puts Undertaker down. Not a classic match, probably not even a good match, but for trashy nonsense with two veteran wrestlers past their prime, it was still watchable.