WWE Main Event 09/09/2014

Jack Swagger vs Seth Rollins

Liked the opening stages of this, with Swagger overpowering Rollins, sending him from the ring with a shoulderblock and slamming him into the barricades. Rollins takes over, including an odd spot where Swagger was perfectly in place for a curb stomp, but Rollins opted to dropkick him in the face instead. We get a decent spot where Swagger tries breaking a chinlock by twice ramming Rollins backwards into the corner, only for Rollins to side step the third attempt, sending Swagger crashing into the turnbuckle. The Rollins control is pretty uninspiring, but things pick up with Swagger back in control – nice big boot to the face and a huge overhead slam. Liked Swagger countering an enzuigiri by catching it into the Patriot Lock, but Rollins blocks a superplex by hitting a diving knee from the top and hits the curb stomp to win. Pretty impressive Swagger performance, he looked good in there.

Cesaro vs Zack Ryder

Short, but decent match. Ryder hurts his leg early, so Cesaro focuses his early offence on the knee, slamming it into the concrete floor and working a kneebar in the ring. Cesaro misses a corner dropkick and hits the post instead, which not only looks nasty, but also puts him in place for the Broski Boot in the corner. Ryder does a good job balancing selling the leg and trying to hit some big offence, tilting his dive slightly on a pescado so as not to land as heavily on the leg. However, inside he leaps into a Cesaro swing and an inverted cloverleaf causes Ryder to tap. Really good stuff from both guys.

Titus O’Neill vs Adam Rose

This is a waste of time really, and a waste of Titus. Titus looks really good here, nice big boot and a decent dropdown  backbreaker, but then Rose’s bunny comes down, distracts Titus by bouncing on the ropes, beats up Heath Slater and Rose gets the pin by ramming O’Neill into Slater during an O’Connor roll. Only goes two minutes, hard to find Rose and the bunny at all likable.

Los Matadores vs The Ascension

The Ascension are still NXT tag champs here, and it’s odd to hear them talked about as so dominant when they’re barely a factor 5 years later. I like Los Matadores a lot, but this is mainly them selling for the Ascension, and it’s not very exciting. The Ascension cut off the ring on Fernando, and I liked the crossarm clothesline they hit on him, but that’s it. Diego at least looks good on the hot tag (that the crowd barely react to), hitting a clothesline with more meat than anything the Ascension hit, before missing a top rope dive and getting finished off with the Fall of Man. The least exciting Matadores match on 2014 Main Event, and I guess that shows why the Ascension fell by the wayside – if you’re having less interesting matches with a team than Slater Gator are, you probably aren’t deserving of a decent push.

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.

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.

CHIKARA Fear of Music (2004)

Crossbones, Mano Metalico & Rorschach vs Jolly Roger, Icarus & Lance Steel

Super fun trios match, helped by Crossbones being a Grade-A trash-talker. He’s on it throughout the entire match, managing to just about avoid being irritating. Loved seeing Roger hit a sort of proto-Codebreaker on Metalico. The heat is worked on Roger, and it’s nice to see Rorschach finally starting to improve. He hits a really neat slingshot elbow and his Indian Deathlock has a nice bridge. For such a big guy, it’s fun seeing Metalico stop an offensive run by Roger with a poke to the eye. Roger gets the hot tag after blocking a Crossbones superplex and nailing a blockbuster. Things break down, and start getting a bit sloppy. Icarus hits a clumsy looking top rope dive, Crossbones almost drops Jolly Roger on his head by not holding the head on an Air Raid Crash and wrestlers get thrown out of the ring in a clumsy fashion. Rorschach hits a nice Dragon Suplex on Lance Steel for the win.

Darkness Crabtree vs Allison Danger

This wasn’t great, they’re playing up Crabtree being a bit creepy when facing a woman, which is a little uncomfortable. Crabtree takes control after he gets whipped to the buckle, and he’s so decrepit that he slumps down, which causes Danger to miss a corner charge. Crabtree misses a really slow People’s Elbow, and Danger hits an STO for two. Oddly, she just tries the pin again and gets the win. That was odd.

DJ Skittlez vs Gran Akuma

For two guys who were among the first CHIKARA students, there’s a bit of a gulf here in terms of look and performance. Akuma is in great shape, moves so well and his offence looks a lot better. Skittlez isn’t graceful in the slightest, which does have some benefits. It makes his top rope clothesline look more forceful, but after the initial opening sequences of nicely rehearsed armdrags and reversals, he looks a bit loss. Skittlez seems legitimately injured after taking a spin kick to the ribs, but he does get back on his feet to continue the bout for a few minutes. Akuma rolls through a cradle to get the win.

Sabian vs Ravage

Fuck, Ravage is so bloody irritating, all faux-quirkly shrieks and laughs. Sabian comes out with a sling on his right arm, and the match is called off. Only included in this review because it gets reference later.

Niles Young vs Claudio Castagnoli

Another match to push Castagnoli’s European Rules gimmick. Niles wins my heart early by working a headlock on Claudio, and slapping it back on every time Castagnoli escapes. Just nicely frustrating his opponent. Obviously frustrates him enough that Claudio changes his gameplan for round 2, hitting a sneaky cheapshot. Claudio shows nice strength to hit a backbreaker and muscle Young back up for a stomachbreaker. Loved Claudio cheapshotting after the bell to end round 2, then kicking the crap out of Young while Bryce Remsberg issues the public warning. Young fires back and gets a 9 count after a leaping 2^nd rope X-Factor, but Claudio stops a second by pushing Remberg into the ropes. As the second public warning gets issues, Castagnoli nails a European uppercut to the back on Young’s head to get the 10 count win. Dug this.

The Dark Breed (Ultramantis Black & Hallowicked) vs Men At Work (Shane Storm & Mr Zero)

At this point, Ultramantis still feels too goofy to be a dark lord like his gimmick suggests. Dig the early double team with Zero and Storm flipping each other onto the Dark Breed. The heat gets worked on Storm, including a bad spot where the ref clearly saw Black get his staff, but goes to stop Zero entering the ring instead, allowing a beatdown on Storm. Black seems to struggle at lifting Storm, always looks a bit shitty. There’s a spot where Black is supposed to hold Storm in a bearhug for an leaping forearm, but he barely gets him off the ground. Ends up with a melee towards the end, and there’s a great nearfall with Black holding a half crab on Zero, and Storm hits a Shining Wizard on him for two. Zero hits a big facebuster on Black for the win, nicely ending their feud. A few bad spots, but this was good on the whole.

Matt Bomboy vs Din Mak

The third show in a row for this pairing, this time with I Quit rules. Don’t think anyone was crying out for this feud to continue, especially as it feels totally isolated from the regular CHIKARA universe. Credit where it’s due, at least Bomboy tries a few submissions throughout, Mak seems to give very little lip-service to the gimmick. Loved Bomboy going to the rope, a la Old School, and clobbering Mak with a clothesline to the back of the head. Mak at one point threatens the Socko Claw, taking out a sock from his trunks. Fucks sake. Bomboy seems really fired up, hitting a side Russian legsweep on the floor, and chaining to an armbar. In contrast, Mak tries a pinfall halfway through the match, showing he’s not really into it. In the end, Mak locks in a Dragon Sleeper with a body scissors for the win. Their best match, but I really don’t need to see this again.

The Wildcards vs The Superfriends (Mike Quackenbush & Chris Hero)

This was a heap of fun, really loved the dynamic between these four guys. The early stages see the more experienced Superfriends schooling both Wildcards on the mat. Loved Hero taunting both Kingston and Marciano, threatening them with cravats. Lovely spot where Quackenbush hits a tilt-a-whirl armdrag to send his partner flying onto Kingston before hitting a senton on Marciano. The Wildcards finally get control following a Quack dive, as they take Hero out on the outside and isolate Quack in the ring. Really effective as, even when Quack gets to the corner for a tag after a double DDT, Hero is still on the floor selling his assault. Hero is great when he finally does get the hot tag, hitting Kingston with a killer forearm to the face and a lovely Saito suplex. Powerbombing Marciano onto Kingston looks great. The Wildcard’s end up winning thanks to Larry Sweeney – he waistlocks Kingston to prevent a Quackenbush top rope rana, and Marciano hits a reverse powerslam for the win. Top stuff here.

Skayde vs Oriental

2/3 falls here, and this is very much worked in exhibition terms. Lots of armdrags, reversals and guys flipping out of holds landing on their feet. None of the falls ever feel built to, with them just coming at regular intervals when a roll up or a submission ends up getting the fall. This means there’s no real tension, but it’s still quite fun to watch guys this smooth working the mat. A few neat spots, loved Oriental rolling through a Northern Lights and chaining to an armbar, but with the falls even, Skayde gets the final fall with a rolling cradle.

Jigsaw vs Larry Sweeney

This is for the Young Lion’s Cup that Sweeney cheated to beat Jigsaw for a few shows earlier, with Jigsaw winning the right to this match in the Cibernetico. Sweeney comes to the ring in a sling, playing off the Sabian no-match from earlier, but then he blindsides Jigsaw to kick off the match. You can really see how much Jigsaw has improved at this point, he comes back with a lovely midring rana and hitting a huge dive to the floor. Loved Sweeney taking over by catching a springboard into a stungun in a really fluid motion. Jigsaw rolls through a backdrop, grabs an ankle and rolls up Sweeney for two. So good. Sweeney doesn’t do anything fancy, but he’s got really nice execution and gives a nice base level for the match. It’s why his DJ Skittlez match was decent, his basic level of competency doesn’t allow the match to get too out of control. Both guys get their finishers kicked out of, the 68 Comeback Special and the Jig’N’Tonic. Really fun spot where Sweeney’s continued cheating backfires on him, as he tries to use brass knucks, misses, but hits a piledriver. However, Bryce Remsberg spots the knuckles and refuses to count. Loved that. Quack comes back out to stop Rorschach interfering, and Jigsaw blocks a superplex to hit a top rope powerbomb for the win. Really dug this.

CHIKARA More Songs About Buildings & Food (2004)

Mano Metalico vs Joker

This had it’s moments. Loved the early stages, as Joker trips Metalico to start and attacks the back of his head with rapid fire punches. Metalico plays up the size advantage nicely, making himself hard to move. Loved the spot where Joker reverses an attempted beal into a one-legged codebreaker, looked great. Then things kinda just slow down, as Joker holds a loooong chinlock on Metalico. They basically just wander around the ring a bit and then a Joker Shining Wizard leads to a ten count on the mat. Really hurts the match pacing. Mano is too big for the Joker Driver and he gets planted by some kind of driver by Metalico for the win.

Lance Steel vs Darkness Crabtree

This was an amusing piece of business, as Steel wins with a roll up in a few seconds. We get a fun segment of Crabtree demanding rematches with different stipulations and losing them all immediately (submission match – loses to a headlock in seconds, falls count anywhere – small package outside the ring). Finally he asks for a no countout match, and they disappear outside not to be seen again tonight…

Din Mak vs Matt Bomboy

These two had a reasonable bout on the last CHIKARA show, but it wasn’t so good that I wanted a rematch so soon. This was also totally fine, without ever being close to being great. Bomboy is the standout here, liked his shit-talking during a submission hold on Mak and he hits a Northern Lights Suplex. But there was some really weak stuff here too – Din Mak not only hits a poor sunset flip, but also a dreadful sunset flip powerbomb from the corner looks appalling. Bomboy takes a 360 bump from a clothesline, which doesn’t match how weak the clothesline looked. Bomboy gets the win with a clumsy looking O’Connor Roll.

Claudio Castagnoli vs Sabian

This is European Rules for Claudio’s WxW title, worked in rounds with 2/3 falls or KO rules. This was primarily done to establish the gimmick in CHIKARA, and was pretty effective in doing so. Sabian controls the early going, including some nice armdrag variations, but soon Claudio is able to use his more aggressive side to take over. He even takes a public warning following a cheap shot at the end of round 2. Claudio concentrates on Sabian’s arm, including a nasty looking hammerlock slam. Claudio also makes fun use of the public warning system, waiting until the ref’s is talking to the ring announcer to issue his second public warning, before working Sabian’s arm over in the ropes. The aggressive side of Claudio is also shown by his persistence in going for the KO, and a running uppercut to the back of Sabian’s head gets the 10 count.

The Wildcards vs Team FIST

Another CHIKARA defence of the Wildcard’s IWA-MS tag titles, despite the belts being once again AWOL. Real fun Wildcard’s performance here, starting with Kingston reversing an Akuma wheelbarrow into a massive German suplex. I loved them switching a chinlock on Akuma behind the ref’s back, seemingly for no reason other than they love to cheat. Akuma gets the hot tag after a second wheelbarrow is more effective and it all breaks down. A blown Team FIST double-team slightly hurts the end, before Kingston slams Icarus into a ringpost from a caught pescado and holds Akuma’s leg on a suplex to give his team the win.

Lacey vs Allison Danger

Fun stuff to start with Lacey working some hairpulling schtick early on. Danger hits the ringpost on a corner charge, and Lacey works the arm for the rest of the bout. This is probably for the best, as Danger’s selling is really good here, but her offence a bit less so. Loved Lacey holding onto the arm to kick Danger in the head, giving her less defence, and a hammerlock side slam looks good. Danger’s comeback is a bit low impact, before she picks up the win with a soft looking STO.

Hallowicked vs Skayde

This was fun, but it did feel a bit like an exhibition of cool stuff Skayde could do to Hallowicked by the end. Skayde is in control for the bulk of this, controlling Hallowicked’s arm on the mat in a smoothly worked manner. Hallowicked gets a few chances to show what he can do, and looks good, if not as smooth. It never feels like he’s in any danger of winning however, and it’s no surprise when La Majistral gets the victory for Skayde

Mike Quackenbush vs Oriental

This is for Quack’s IPW Mexican Light Heavyweight title. It’s kind of interesting to compare this to the last match, as here we get smooth matwork with both guys being portrayed as equals, and is therefore more satisfying to watch. The pace of the reversals and counters they worked was very impressive, and Oriental looked great here. His pescado into a rana on the floor was a fun spot to work in front of a crowd of 50 people. Oriental takes control after slightly heeling it up, attacking Quack as he tries to re-enter the ring. At this point, Oriental is all over Quack on the mat, chaining from submission to submission. It’s actually really effective, as you get the impression he isn’t giving Quack the chance to break any holds as he’s already in a new hold by the time Quack could figure out a counter. Quack comes back by reversing a powerbomb into an armdrag midair – looked great – and hitting a big flip dive, before Oriental wins with a tiger suplex. Great bout.

Larry Sweeney, American Gigolo, Share Cropper & Crossbones vs Jigsaw, Jolly Roger, DJ Skittlez & Shane Storm

Decent enough 8-man match that gives everyone a chance to shine, without exposing the weaknesses of the lesser participants. The opening stages see guys pair off for a couple of minutes, with the Jigsaw/Share Cropper pairing probably yielding the best results. Roger/Gigolo is the most pleasant surprise, with some nice looking moves including a pendulum by Roger. Skittlez gets to show off some impressive strength without being over-exposed as he often is in longer singles bouts. There is a goofy 8 man headlock spot that ends in a multi-man Russian legsweep I could have done without, but this pretty much flew by. Loved a nearfall that saw Jigsaw leap in from nowhere to stop Sweeney pinning Roger. However, as it all breaks down, Crossbones hits an enzuigiri from behind on Jigsaw, and Sweeney hits the piledriver to win. Fun way to end the show.

WWE Main Event 01/07/2014

Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs Xavier Woods & R-Truth

Bit of a disappointment here, as not only is this an extended squash, but Woods and Truth look a bit off the pace here, awkward and hesitant in their movements. I did like the big boot to the face that Harper hit on Truth and Rowan’s match-winning sitout uranage on Woods was decent.

The Funkadactyls vs Nikki Bella & Alicia Fox

Another very short match, and this was mostly all angle. Nikki had lost a handicap match to the Funkadactyls on Raw (in the midst of her feud with Stephanie McMahon). Here, she’s been given Alicia as her tag partner, and we’re all just sat waiting for the moment that Fox turns on her. The bulk of this is Cameron “controlling” Nikki with a submission, before Nikki tries the hot tag…only for Fox to shockingly move out of the way and kick her in the head for the Cameron pinfall. Match was barely two minutes, thankfully.

Dolph Ziggler, Big E & Rob Van Dam vs Cesaro & Rybaxel

On the last Main Event, I waxed lyrical about how a six-man tag match is a pretty solid format, making it easier to hide the sins of the less capable performers in the match. Thus, it feels sad that just one episode later I’m pretty disappointed in this one. Cesaro is working an “injured eye” bit, complete with an eyepatch, so it makes it a bit more jarring when “babyface” shitbag Ziggler attacks his eye and rips off his eyepatch. What a cunt. There were a few bits I enjoyed here – Ryback blocking a Big E belly-to-belly with a few headbutts was nice, and the eventual overhead belly-to-belly by Big E was super impressive. But we get a lengthy RVD face-in-peril section that wasn’t very interesting. Ryback hits a snake eyes on him that has visible space between the turnbuckle and his head, and Cesaro works a long chinlock to the delight of no-one. Ryback at least commits fully to missing the top rope splash that leads to the hot tag. Ziggler runs through all his worst offence – the un-countalong corner punches, the back-slap DDT and the dreadful fameasser – before pinning Cesaro with a zig zag. Yeah, this was a bit of a shit episode.

CHIKARA '77 (2004)

Darkness Crabtree vs Jolly Roger

Barely 4 minutes long, but still suffers from the usual problems that Crabtree matches always do: that being that the face has to look like an idiot whilst the deliberately slow Crabtree wanders through moves. Roger at least looks smooth in the opening segments and he does get the win with Walk The Plank, but this is skippable.

Crossbones vs Sabian

This is a pretty straightforward match, nothing special, but fine. Sabian has some nice stiffness to his offence, laying in some chops  and kicking Crossbones in the leg when he’s distracted heckling the crowd. Crossbones is a little clumsier, reversing a rana into a slightly awkward STF. Sabian is in control in the closing moments, but Mano Metallico (who is accompanying Crossbones to ringside) punches Sabian over the referees shoulder and Crossbones hits a brutal looking reverse piledriver to win.

Ultramantis Black vs DJ Skittlez

For two guys I’ve not been massively impressed with in the early days of CHIKARA, this was perfectly fine. Ultramantis adds a lot to the match, remaining just the right side of being irritating whilst shrieking and yelling throughout. He sells Skittlez’s chops hilariously. Liked Ultramantis setting up a hanging neck submission with a Rude Awakening. Skittlez still has awkward looking offence, barely reaching Black with a top rope clothesline. A short match ends with Skittlez sitting down on a sunset flip to win. Black’s improvement was starting to show here.

The Wildcards vs Mr Zero & Shane Storm

This is for the IWA: MS tag titles, that the Wildcards don’t seem to have with them despite being the champions. Zero looks in really good shape here, looking tough rather than just portly. Storm is the weak link of the match, attacking the Wildcards almost exclusively with armdrag variations, and he works the majority of the match (albeit as face-in-peril). The Wildcards are amusingly loud here, and I liked them taking control with a blind tag, Kingston kicking Storm in the face as he ducks a Marciano leapfrog. Kingston choking Storm with a towel as he runs the ropes looks nicely violent, almost like he was trying to pull his head off. Zero gets the hot tag, him and Storm nailing a sloppy looking double team cutter, before we get a melee of all four men in the ring. In all this, Storm gets popped with a loaded fist and rolled up with a handful of tights for the win.

Din Mak vs Matt Bomboy

These are two local guys and, whilst they’ve obviously worked together a few times, this was an enjoyable little match. Bomboy is confusing, he seems to be working a faux-MMA gimmick but decides to pop off a springboard armdrag as one of his first moves. Mak is a masked guy, and he’s got a few nice bits. Liked his stiff kick that blasts Bomboy and he hits a big apron legdrop from the top rope. Bomboy also has some stiff offence, but Mak’s comeback is frustrating as it just comes from nowhere. He’s getting beaten up, then decides he wants to go back on offence. Bomboy hits a final cut and pulls the ropes to get the win.

Gran Akuma vs Sharecropper

Sharecropper is pretty decent for a green guy, and he keeps up with Akuma pretty well here. He lays his stuff in nicely, doesn’t look lost at any point and has a nice reversal of a wheelbarrow into a face plant. He also adds nice little touches, like using his hand to cover the mouth of the masked Akuma during a pin attempt. Sharecropper is a tall guy, so it looks even more impressive when Akuma gets him up for a sitout powerbomb. An Akuma spinebuster looks a bit sloppy, before he gets a win with a decent top rope legdrop. This was solid.

Larry Sweeney, Hallowicked & Claudio Castagnoli vs Mike Quackenbush, Icarus & Jigaw

Fun, if inessential, main event. Enjoyed the early feeling out processes, as all six guys do some nice matwork and bits of one-upmanship. Things quicken a bit as the technico team go through a series of quick tags, working over the heel team with some fun double-and-triple teams. The heels bump and stooge about nicely (Sweeney sells an inverted atomic drop by demanding a timeout as Quackenbush has injured “my weenie”), with Hallowicked taking 2-3 nutty bumps in the space of a minute. The heels then isolate first Icarus and then Jigsaw, with a goofy triple team crossface on Icarus standing out. There’s a nice triple dive by the faces, though Hallowicked is horrifically out of place resulting in him awkwardly having to wander into place. Icarus doesn’t fare well on a split legged moonsault, first slipping on the ropes, then hitting it poorly, crashing mainly his legs into his opponent. The end is pretty nice and gives Jigsaw his revenge for the final of the Young Lions cup – Quack and Icarus lock abdominal stretches on Claudio and Hallowicked, allowing Jigsaw to nail the Jig’N’Tonic on Sweeney for the three. Nothing you’ll remember in a week, but an enjoyable way to pass time.

WWE Main Event 13/05/2014

Damien Sandow vs Dolph Ziggler

This was better than I thought it was going to be, albeit not something I’d actually call good. Liked some of the things Sandow did, like the vicious little elbow he did on a rope break to take the advantage, which he sadly then followed with some weak blows. They did go to a chinlock very early, but Sandow at least made it fun with some shit-talking. Some bits were off – a drop toehold into the ropes saw Ziggler having to walk two or three paces before falling, but Sandow showed an aggressive side, which led to him dropping a few nasty kneedrops. The aggression proved his undoing, as he puts too much force into a back suplex, with Ziggler flipping to his feet and hitting a flash zig zag for the win. Surprisingly decent.

Emma vs Alicia Fox

The start of this is great, as Fox gets on the mic…and almost immediately hurls it at Emma’s face. She keeps attacking before the ref can ring the bell, then immediately hits a backbreaker when it does. She dumps Emma through the ropes to the floor, which looks nasty. Like Emma selling her wooziness at being beaten down, so she takes too long to hit her corner crossbody, meeting only knees. Suddenly, Emma pulls out a roll up from nowhere and wins. Real shitty ending to a fun match.

Sheamus vs Cesaro

Yeah, there’s no way these two were going to have a bad match, and they both put it all out there for Main Event. Love the aggression from both guys, both happy to take a blow and lay one out at the same time. I loved how evenly this was worked, but in a way that both guys were getting worn down by the beating they’d take. Neither guy gets a sustained advantage as they’re both hurting too much from the damage they’ve taken to fully capitalise. Some nice offensive spots by both guys, loved Cesaro’s draping DDT over the ropes to send Sheamus’ head into the apron, and Sheamus hit a rare top rope dive to the floor. Sheamus misses a Brouge Kick and before he’s got both feet on the floor, Cesaro deadlifts him for a swank German suplex. It felt like an odd time for them to fight – Cesaro just a few weeks into his Paul Heyman run and Sheamus only just winning the US belt – as neither guy felt right losing, so when they both head to the floor, you know we’re getting a double count-out. Really good bout though, as these two always have.

WWE Main Event 18/03/2014

Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs The Real Americans

Really fun tag match, with all four guys adding little touches to make this more than just a run-of-the-mill tag match. Liked Cesaro at least trying to stop Cody hitting the Disaster Kick by making for the ropes as he hits it. Goldust was looking terrific at this point, leaping gracefully into the Code Red. A double dive to the floor by the Rhodes Brothers is as fun as it is unexpected. Cesaro’s strength allows him to easily correct spots that nearly go awry, using raw power to catch Goldust and hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Loved Swagger’s cocky bullying of Goldust, just shoving him across the mat to get him into place for the Swagger Bomb. The Real Americans work a fun heat section on Goldust, including a great near tag where Cesaro shoves Cody off the apron at the last second. Cody was hot fire on the eventual tag, loved his moonsault press to Swagger. The end was great as Swagger locked in the Patriot Lock on Cody, who tried to break the hold frantically with boots to the feet before escaping and hitting the CrossRhodes for the win. Great stuff.

The Funkadactyls vs Layla & Alicia Fox

Naomi still has her eyepatch on here, so of course Fox aims some early elbows to that eye. My notes state that Cameron hit a “wheelbarrow something”, which tells you how good that move looked. Layla looks great here, loved her fluid takeover into a pin, and she stooges about really well. As per usual, Fox’s Northern Lights suplex looks great. Naomi comes in on the hot tag, and though full of energy, she looks a little sloppy. Her heel turn has really helped her slow down and crispen up her moves. Cameron botches a move where she’s supposed to leap off Fox’s back, before Naomi hits the Rear View and a split-legged moonsault for the win. The heel team looked a lot more capable here.

The Big Show vs Titus O’Neill   

Pretty brief, but there was stuff to enjoy here. Titus shows Big Show no respect early on, earning himself an hilarious tour of chops by Show, who really milks the impact of each one. A chop block by Titus looks great, and is a realistic way for him to take over. Clash of the Titus gets two, despite looking super impressive but Show catches him on a corner splash with the KO punch for the win.

CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2003

After the first CHIKARA show (previously reviewed), there's a gap of filmed shows until this one from a year later. This is a tag team tournament, with 12 teams competing. A mixed bag this one, though it does improve as the show progresses.

The Nightshift (Blind Rage & Hallowicked) vs Team Midwest (Brad Bradley & Jimmy Jacobs)

Fun opener here. Bradley is the wildcard factor of the match, being substantially bigger than the other guys. He dominates both of the Nightshift with his strength, before press slamming his partner to the outside onto their opponents. He follows with a super-impressive tope, with Jacobs holding the Nightshift in place as a nice touch. The heat, logically, is worked on Jacobs, with some nice double-teams. Particularly liked Blind Rage hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and holding Jacobs in place for Hallowicked to drop an elbow. They establish Bradley as an easily distracted hot-head here, as Nightshift barely have to provoke him before he tries rushing into the ring, distracting the ref. Bradley looks great again on the hot tag, with both Nightshift members taking big flips off clotheslines. Great back suplex on both heels by Bradley, before his short-attention span costs his team the match. Hallowicked grabs his foot as he runs the ropes, prompting him to leave the ring, leaving Jacobs to get pinned following a bridging O’Connor roll from Rage. Good tag formula.

Team Toryumon (Arakencito & Skayde) vs the Superfriends (Chris Hero & Mike Quackenbush)

This one never felt like it got going in a meaningful way, and felt too exhibitiony for most of it’s time. Before the match, it’s announced that Arakencito only needs to pin Hero or Quack for a 2 count to win, and they’d need to pin him for a 4. Arakencito is a little spark plug here, and I dug his run of offence in the closing stages, hitting repeat leaping headbutts on Hero in the corner. The opening stages, however, are given up to some matwork between Quack and Arakencito, and Skayde and Hero. It’s all very smooth and enjoyably goofy (loved Skayde turning a Hero hiptoss into an abdominal stretch), but it all feels quite uncompetitive, like none of the wrestlers are really trying to win. There is an Arakencito tope to Quack that looks great, but there’s no sense of trying to stop tags or actively win the match. The end sees Arakencito try and ill-advised Tiger suplex on the much bigger hero, and Hero instead locking in the Hangman’s Clutch for the tap.

Team FIST (Gran Akuma & Icarus) vs The Conundrum (Jigsaw & Rorschach)

This wasn’t very good, which surprised me because some of these guys were really good within 12 months, but a lot of this was very awkward and sloppy. The reversals of go-behinds by Jigsaw and Icarus looked really co-operative. Akuma hits a lovely dive on Jigsaw, which I hoped would kick start things to life. Jigsaw does some nice heeling here, arguing with the ref whilst draping his knee over his opponents throat, and opportunistically slapping his opponent from the apron. There are some good moments from the heels, including a series of reverse and normal atomic drops, but there are several signs of greenness and hesitancy throughout. The faces regain control following a terrible looking twisting splash that misses by Jigsaw. Rorschach grabbing Akuma to go all the way over on a sunset flip and instead be hit with the Jig N Tonic was nice, before Jigsaw takes a stunner/crossbody combo for the loss. Patchy at best.

American Gigolo & Jolly Roger vs UltraZERO (Ultramantis & Mr ZERO)

At first this feels like a step in the right direction. Mr ZERO looks terrific in the early going, showing himself to be quite graceful for his size and showing nice touches like slapping Roger’s chest to open him up for a headlock. Gigolo and Roger seem to be working heel, and gain control of Ultramantis by Gigolo simply outwrestling him. There’s a lot of headscratching moments throughout, like Gigolo trying to whip Ultramantis towards his own corner during the heat section (and worse, Ultramantis deciding to reverse it), and there’s a few sloppy moments like Roger having to stand like an idiot and watch Ultramantis climb to the top. The faces win with a double-team neckbreaker on Roger, who gets abandoned by his partner.

Swiss Money Holding (Ares & Double C) vs Senior Assault Team (Lester Crabtree & Melvin Snodgrass)

Double C is, of course, the future Cesaro. Brief comedy squash, with the SAT being two masked lads playing old men. Double C sends Irish Whips Snodgrass, sending him off very slowly. This gives the Swiss time to destroy Crabtree in the corner and still have time to hit the onrushing Snodgrass with a double-team spinebuster/neckbreaker combo. Effective enough.

Mercedes Martinez & Sumie Sakai vs The Wildcards (Blackjack Marciano & Eddie Kingston)

Intergender tag match here, and one that does show some of the pitfalls of the genre. Mercedes is pretty tall and looks quite strong, so it’s not too much of a stretch to see her keeping up with and controlling the Wildcards, especially when Marciano is cockily underestimating her. Sakai, however, is tiny, and as talented as she is, it doesn’t look believable for the heels to bump for her. A top rope crossbody to the floor looks very safe given how easily they catch her en route to the floor, and you can see Marciano clearly protecting her on some slams. I did like the story of Kingston in particular being dismissive of Sukai, with some loud mouthed trashtalk, before Sukai gives him comeuppance, but some timing issues mean Kingston is on his feet looking like an idiot on more than one occasion before getting downed with a missile dropkick. Kingston takes slow looking ranas from both women, before Sakai accidentally dropkicks her partner. This allows Marciano to roll up Sakai for the victory. I do like Sakai, I’ve seen her have very good matches with other women, but even in those matches she looked small, so against two men she looked positively tiny, and her offence didn’t look tough enough to overcome that.

The Nightshift vs Team FIST

On the retrospective commentary on the first CHIKARA show, Mike Quackenbush revealed that Blind Rage had some wrestling experience before coming to learn in CHIKARA, and boy does it show. He’s really on here, love the sequence where he hits a necksnap on Akuma, slaps Icarus in the face then holds a chinlock on Akuma whist staring daggers at Icarus on the apron, all in one slick sequence. Everything looks a level above the last FIST match, as the Nighshift are both more experienced than the Conundrum. Icarus looks really good on the hot tag, nicely fired up, though he soon falls prey to a huge crucifix bomb by Rage. The end sees Hallowicked hitting a Michinoku Driver near the ropes, with Rage holding onto a leg to guarantee victory. This was fun

Swiss Money Holding vs The Superfriends

This was a whole heap of fun, and despite going 30 minutes, didn’t feel overlong or padded out. All four guys exchange some really nice mat sequences at the start, including Double C falling victim to the Sword in the Stone from Quackenbush. There’s a fun early spot where Ares twice fakes getting slapped in the face off a rope break by Quack, so on the third time, Quack does just slap him. Things heat up with a dive series, with a Quack flip dive followed by a Double C tope and a twisting dive from Hero. This takes us to the second stage of the match, where SMH work a heat section on Quack, including a great STO/Side Russian legsweep double team. After a long heat period on Quack, Hero then becomes face-in-peril, and this is even better. They pepper in enough hope spots to keep it interesting, but you get little details like Hero ending up in the wrong corner to prolong the heat. Things break down and the SMH spinebuster/neckbreaker only gets two. Hero’s Welcome on Ares gets 2. Hero locks in the Hangman’s Clutch on Ares as Double C locks a chickenwing on Quack and it’s a race to see who taps first…only for the bell to go for the 30 min time limit. Dig the fact they didn’t do any time announcements so as not to telegraph the result.

The Wildcards vs UltraZERO

They were always going to struggle to follow that, being two teams of rookies, but this was also really good. Wildcards jumped their opponents at the bell, which is a sensible change of pace from the previous match. The Wildcards do nothing fancy in this match, they’re just dirty cheating heels, and this also helps their opponents stand out. They concentrate an assault on Mr ZERO’s leg, and I love all the cheating from the apron behind the ref’s back, and Kingston trashtalking to the other corner whilst holding a Boston crab is great. Hot tag is made, and even when all four guys are in the ring and it breaks down, Mr ZERO still sells the legs, which I appreciate. Lovely sequence sees Marciano block the Praying Mantis bomb with a Northern Lights suplex, which Ultramantis holds onto and hits the Praying Mantis bomb second time round. It ends disappointingly though, as Ultramantis hits a really shit looking top rope…suplex? Kingston looks legitimately angry at his landing and ZERO awkwardly covers for the win. Until then, this was good.

UltraZERO vs The Nightshift

This is the tournament final, filmed on another day, but they’ve helpfully added it to this show. UltraZERO control this to start, with Ultramantis frustrating Hallowicked with armdrags, and I dug Mr ZERO holding an abdominal stretch on Hallowicked whilst Ultramantis dropkicked him, with Hallowicked having to eat the full impact. Blind Rage’s offensive run on Ultramantis is really good looking, love the big back suplex and a nice Fujiwara armbar. Rage also has nice little touches like rubbing his head after giving a headbutt, putting over how much thrust he put into it. ZERO tags in, and both Nighshift members take hilarious flip bumps from Mr ZERO clotheslines. Odd moment as Ultramantis goes for the Praying Mantis bomb on Rage, and Hallowicked runs at him but elects not to stop it, instead breaking up the pin on a two count. Hallowicked plants Ultramantis with a top rope brainbuster, and this gets the win and the tournament for the Nightshift. 

WWE Extreme Rules 2015

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

This was a pretty fun deal, and I liked Ambrose’s high-energy assault to start. The kendo shots on Harper sounded really nasty, but not as nasty as the suplex onto an open chair that Harper hits. Harper lawn darting Ambrose into a chair in the corner was pretty great. I really like that Ambrose has these quick flurries of energy when on the offensive, and the quick offensive burst that ended with his diving elbow drop was fun. There was a lovely spot on the outside where Harper tried to throw Dean into the ring, only for Ambrose to pivot his body on the apron and burst out with a clothesline. Really fun spot. They brawl to the back and, as Harper tries to escape in a waiting car, Ambrose dives into through the passenger window and off they drive…

Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler

The first few minutes of Ziggler offence were pretty meh, including Ziggler hitting a horrible “carry me round” tornado DDT to the floor. As soon as Sheamus goes on offence though, things quickly improve, as Sheamus hits a lovely knee to the temple of Ziggler. Even a Sheamus chinlock looks great with how he cranks at Ziggler’s neck whilst holding it. Ziggler gets the odd hope spot, but this match is all about great Sheamus offence. I loved him catching a superkick, hurling Ziggler down and just flipping him into the Cloverleaf. Ziggler gets the win with a fluke roll up, but it’s Sheamus who comes out of this looking great.

The New Day vs Cesaro & Tyson Kidd

Xavier Woods was incredibly annoying as a face, so he’s perfectly suited to the role of heel cheerleader here. I actually saw a version of this match at a houseshow in Nottingham, so I wasn’t surprised that this was pretty great. Loved Kidd and Cesaro stomping their opponents to the beat of “New….Day Sucks”. Kidd hits a beautiful dive through the ropes, taking him straight through Kingston. This is actually the most I’ve enjoyed Kofi Kingston, as this heel role has given him a bit more of an edge. Now, he’s using his speed for quick cut-offs, which look more effective than they did as actual match-winning offence. Cesaro whipping his opponent from corner to corner, peppered with uppercuts, is a really neat face spot, whilst Big E spearing through the ropes to send Kidd flying to the floor is an ever-impressive bump. Kingston gets the win with a handful of tights on a roll-up, and I want to see this match every month.

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

….and we return to these two guys as they drive back into the arena. Ambrose hits a great elbow from the top of the car onto Harper and a celebrating New Day, before the match returns to the ring. There’s a great visual as both guys throw chairs into the ring, and suddenly make eye-contact from opposite sides. The match ends with Harper trying an ill-fated top rope move, instead getting hurled from the top onto the chairs, and Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds for the win. Fun deal.

Rusev vs John Cena

Given the PG nature of WWE programming, this was never going to live up to my ideal of a brutal chain match, but I did hope for something a bit better than this. This was fought under touch-the-four-corners rules, with lights to indicate the scores on each turnbuckle. The problem with this stipulation is that it makes the match pretty repetitive and dull, with lots of drama-free tug of war spots. I did enjoy Cena yanking Rusev into the ring post when they were brawling outside, mainly because Rusev took an insane bump into the steel. However, the match was typified by Rusev, a man not known for his high risk moves, climbing to the top rope solely so that Cena could pull him off using the chain. The match is pretty much a spectacle of watching two talented guys slowly walk between turnbuckles that they’d normally zip between, just to try and create some drama. The end sees both guys somehow tied on three posts each, both needing the same final turnbuckle to win. Rusev goes for it, is pulled back and nailed with the AA for the Cena victory.

Nikki Bella vs Naomi

This heel turn has worked wonders for Naomi. Showing her more aggressive side has slowed her down, eliminating some of the athletic, but sloppy, moves she used to do. Also, her statuesque form makes it convincing for her to boss other women in the ring. I thought her hitting a running bulldog through the rope to send Nikki face first into the second turnbuckle was great. She also hit a slick full Nelson bomb into a pin, which looked good. Nikki’s offence looked a bit weaker than usual here, with a springboard kick looking pretty milky, and we didn’t get to see her awesome forearm smash. Nikki gets the win with the Rack Attack after Brie Bella kicks Naomi behind the referee’s back. This was pretty good.

Roman Reigns vs the Big Show

From the get-go, you could tell this was going to be good, as both guys were clearly not afraid of laying in some punches. I loved Big Show refusing to use weapons, confident enough that his size made him enough of a weapon in his own right. It also allows Reigns to get some big pops whenever he brings out the plunder. Of course, when Big Show only gets an 8 count following the KO punch, he suddenly decides to start using the weapons after all. I like how smart Big Show is in breaking the count by rolling out of the ring, as it gets him back to his feet with the least amount of effort. There is a negative part where Big Show uncharacteristically goes to the top rope, which is clearly only so Reigns can throw him off. Show chokeslams Reigns over the top rope to the floor through two tables in a massive bump. Looked great. Big Show sets up more stuff over by the announce table, giving Reigns time to recover, and even when Show returns to the ring, Reigns can only take control by avoiding a Show offensive move, rather than via his own attack. Show rolls out to his feet again, so Reigns knows he has to down the Big Show outside of the ring. A huge spear through the Spanish announce table looks to have done this, but Show is able to get up at 8. This leaves Reigns little choice but to bury Show underneath the main announce table, which finally gets him the 20 count. Really great match, logically laid out and with some massive bumps by both men. With Reigns now having the match-of-the-night for three PPV’s in a row, can we now just accept he’s actually really great? 

Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton

This is a world title match in a steel cage with the RKO banned. The problem this match has is that no-one believes they’ll take the title off Rollins already, and no-one believe the steel cage will keep anyone out of the match. In fact, most of the match is a background to the drama between Kane, the external gatekeeper, and Rollins. I mean, I love Kane’s new “frustrated middle manager” gimmick, but it shouldn’t be overshadowing your brand new world champion’s first defence. That said, a lot of the action was good here. I dug Rollins, like a chickenshit, fleeing to try and escape at every opportunity, especially from an Orton slingshot. There was another moment where Rollins avoided Orton’s snap powerslam and tried to quickly escape while Orton was regaining his bearings. It also built up the later spot where Orton caught Rollins as he springboarded into the ring with a huge snap powerslam. Orton hit a lovely looking superplex, and I loved him doing the pose for the RKO, but hitting a pedigree instead, as a “fuck you” to the Authority. Ultimately though, it built up to a shitty end, as Kane gets in, J&J Security get in, Kane flip-flops between who he’s going to help and finally Rollins nails Orton with an RKO before escaping. It’s a shame that a decent match ends with the commentators arguing semantics over whether or not Rollins was allowed to use the move.

WWE Battleground 2013

Alberto Del Rio vs Rob Van Dam
Man, RVD and Ricardo really aren't a combination that works well together. RVD starts well with a moonsault and a DDT onto a chair in opening 3 mins. Love Del Rio's aggression, with a nasty boot to RVD's face. Since turning back heel again, Del Rio's viciousness has been a joy to behold. Here, he also takes some nutty bumps to make RVD look better, hurling himself into a ladder, then to the floor. RVD's bump when Del Rio kicks him in the head with the ladder landing on him is a bit milkier. There is something a little sad about Jerry Lawler claiming you'd need a clairvoyant to guess what RVD will do next, when he's pretty much just running through his usual spots, only with a ladder involved. This does lead to a nice bump, as RVD misses Rolling Thunder onto a ladder. Ricardo, being the little shit he is, gets involved when ADR has the armbar locked on, and rightly gets kicked shitless by Del Rio. Del Rio proceed to sell a frogsplash onto a ladder (which Del Rio is under) as if his insides have been liquidated. The ending, with ADR destroying RVD's arm in a chair and forcing a tapout to the armbar is more proof that brutal sadist ADR is one of the best guys in 2013.

Jack Swagger & Antonio Cesaro vs the Great Khali & Santino Marella
I think we all know there is only one reason this got booked, but let's give it a chance. That said, I'm not sure people were hoping for an opening section of matwork between Swagger and Marella. Aside from some nice RA double teams, there is nothing here to enjoy until the inevitable moment....Cesaro giving the giant swing to Khali. That's enough for the three, but this match could easily have been dropped.

Curtis Axel vs R-Truth
I like Axel, but he's going to have to uproot trees here, as Truth hasn't been interesting in years. Axel takes a few nice bumps early on to help the challenger look good, before kicking Truth into the barricades to take over. There is a period of Axel offence before Truth starts his comeback, with an awesome glassy eyed sell of a leg lariat by Axel. Scissor Kick gets two for Truth, but Axel avoids a corner charge and hits the Axelizer for the win. Totally heatless from the crowd, but this was perfectly ok.

Brie Bella vs AJ Lee
With her leather jacket at ringside, Tamina gives good Diesel to AJ's Shawn Michaels. I like Brie showing a bit of rage at the start of this match - her offence isn't great, but at least she looks like she wants to hurt AJ. I loved AJ taking over by kicking Bella's knee on the apron whilst on defence, shows her comparative ring smarts. AJ works over the left arm pretty well, and uses it as a weak point to focus on to stop Brie getting on offence. Brie's offence looks pretty milky in comparison. AJ picks up the win with a roll-up after Brie gets distracted by Tamina choking out Nikki Bella at ringside.

Cody Rhodes & Goldust vs Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns
Going into the PPV, this was the match I wanted to watch above all others. It's been said by a lot of people online, but it's true...Goldust hasn't lost a step. He moves smoothly, his punches have real snap and his offence looks crisper than ever. His diving clothesline on Reigns here is immense. Cody also gets to show some fire, which really suits him. Meanwhile, the Shield team continue to show their skill at tag wrestling, wearing down Cody, keeping themselves in between him and his corner and generally looking good. Cody comes back with a top rope moonsault to Rollins and Goldust comes in on fire, love his sharp boot to Reigns' temple. Also got to love mid-40's Dustin Rhodes adding a diving crossbody to his arsenal. The offense run ends as a missed crossbody sends Goldust to the floor, but luckily he's also an awesome face-in-peril. He takes Reigns' awesome flying clothesline like a champ. What helps here is that the fans genuinely like Goldust, genuinely want him to win, so he gets a lot of support when the Shield members wear him down with chinlocks and other holds. Goldust's comeback snap powerslam still looks gorgeous. Hot tag Cody is great at being fired up, and a lot of his offence is better suited to being a face - the Disaster Kick in particular is a great "sudden pop" move. The ending with Dusty stopping some Dean Ambrose interference and Cody nailing the mother of all CrossRhodes is awesome. Tag matches don't get much better.

Kofi Kingston vs Bray Wyatt
Man, I really liked the Kingston gameplan early here, trying to wear down Wyatt with some tough looking kicks. When Wyatt is on offence, I quite like the air of menace he gives off, from his running corner splash to the diving headbutts he hits on a downed Kofi. You get a feel for the cruelty he's trying to dish out. Kofi's comeback is a little uninspired, but the diving crossbody Bray uses to stop it is magnificent. Wyatt's "upside down spider walk" however looks fucking terrible, and I hope he isn't planning on using it regularly. We've just enough time for an insane Kofi tope to the outside before Wyatt hits Sister Abigail for the win. This was better than I'd have hoped for.

CM Punk vs Ryback
Punk actually uses the same plan as Kingston here, wearing Ryback down with kicks, only with more success as Ryback leaves the ring several times to avoid him. It's quite fun seeing someone the size of Ryback playing chickenshit heel. Punk's plan seems to be to hit and run, which works as he gets Ryback to his knees, before peppering him with shots to the ribs. The otherside of a cat-and-mouse style match the occurs as Punk is caught by Ryback and becomes victim to Ryback's power game. Punk is viciously hurled into the corner ringpost. I like Punk trying to break a chinlock with blows to the ribs he'd already worked on. Ryback's offence is methodical, but fun, with a nasty clotheline levelling Punk. A bodyscissors/choke is broken by Punk delivering vicious blows to face. Heyman grabs the mic and distracts Punk, which makes him look like an idiot as Ryback nails him. A soppy clothesline from Punk downs Ryback, which looks a bit shit. I was starting to worry the match was going to be overlong at this point, before another Heyman distraction backfires, with Punk hitting a lowblow to win. Decent, though a few parts really dragged.

Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton
I was looking forward to this, as I enjoy sneaky heel Orton, and I liked it early on as he went for a test of strength with Bryan, only to grab the rope and kick him in the midsection, with the rope grabbing making him look even more devious. Also, as soon as he gets on offence, he's chasing Bryan round the ring to grind Bryan's face into his boots over and over. Love it. They've got a fine line to tread between keeping Bryan looking strong and putting over the new, more violent Orton, and I think they just about get it right, with Bryan getting nice, aggressive hope spots and Orton shutting them down suddenly. Bryan's got a few set spots that get good reactions, and he's great at mixing them in. This time, he doesn't hit his usual running dropkick after flipping over Orton in the corner. Instead, Orton throws him from the ring, only for Bryan to send HIM out with a headscissors and nail the suicide dive. Little things like that keep him interesting. Orton hitting a vicious back suplex onto the barrier then throwing Bryan into the ringpost puts over his new edge perfectly. Top rope superplex by Orton looks great too. Bryan comes back with a crossbody to the floor which looks nuts, and his series of running dropkicks to the corner is fantastic. In fact, this match is really fucking good, which makes the awful ending all the more frustrating. Big Show knocking out both guys would be much less upsetting if the match had only been so-so. Slap an ending on this, and you've got a match-of-the-year contender. Instead, it just leaves a disappointing taste in the mouth.