End of 2018 Round Up Post

As is now traditional, here is the annual end of year post of the best matches reviewed on the blog this year. Lots of contenders this year, maybe more than ever - the shortlist had 20 matches on, and was really hard to pair down. This, however, was the best of the best.

10) Meiko Satomura vs Mercedes Martinez (Mae Young Classic 2018 – Round 2 #1)

The standout match of the Mae Young Classic. Stiff, hard-hitting stuff from two veterans, which set a high standard for the rest of the tournament. The remaining rounds were full of good stuff, but this was the highlight.

9) Jigsaw, Mr Zero, Gran Akuma, Icarus, Jolly Roger, DJ Skittlez, Private Eye & Shane Storm vs Larry Sweeney, Rorschach, Mano Metallico, Share Cropper, Ultramantis Black, Spyruzal, Crossbones & Hallowicked (CHIKARA – The Cibernetico Cometh)

Going well over an hour, with some wrestlers who have thoroughly underwhelmed in my CHIKARA watching, this could have been as disaster. Instead, it’s really smartly worked, exceptionally entertaining and the hour simply flies by.

8) Alex Reynolds vs John Silver (NYWC Sideshow 2018)

Always enjoyed Silver, but Reynolds has had some hit or miss matches over the years. Here, the two partners work terrifically together, with clever counters showing their familiarity. It goes 17 minutes, which had me worried, but this was great.

7) Cain Justice vs Fred Yehi (Action Wrestling Debut Show 27/04/2018)

This is the spot where I jumped on the bandwagon for both these guys. Really clever stuff with some unique but logical spots which actually build towards the end of the match.

6) Super Dragon & B-Boy vs Billy Ken Kid & Ebessan (CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2005 Night 1)

Terrific tag match, taking comedy worker Ebessan and using him as a sympathetic foil for the Dragon/B-Boy team. Builds to a dynamite hot tag, just tremendous stuff.

5) Toby Farley vs Timmy Lou Retton (Innovate Pro Wrestling – Regenesis)

Two guys I’d never seen before in a big time title match. Lots to enjoy here, a fun fake injury angle, Farley selling a broken jaw by taping his jaw shut and some good, hard hitting stuff.

4) Big Van Vader vs Sting (WCW Great American Bash 1992)

I could honestly have put 4/5 matches from this show on this list, it was that good a show. The textbook on how to work a giant heel vs valiant face hero, both guys come out of this looking like warriors, and Sting puts Vader with no bullshit.

3) Eddie Kingston vs Chris Dickinson (Limitless Wrestling – The World Is Ours)

Two of the best brawlers on the indies kicking lumps out of each other. Both guys give no quarter, and you can see them slowly breaking the other down. They smartly don’t draw it out, it ends at the right time, and this is a super fun war.

2) Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Steve Austin & Dustin Rhodes (WCW Great American Bash 1992)

In any other year, this would probably have been #1. Four of the best wrestlers in the world at the time put on an absolute clinic. You’d have forgiven Dustin and Windham for taking it easy, with two more matches still to come, but they still put it all out there. Tremendous heat section, really exciting end run.

1)    Andrade “Cien” Almas vs Johnny Gargano (WWE NXT Takeover: Philadelphia)

Not only the best match in NXT history, for my money this is a top three match in WWE history. A masterclass in selling from Gargano, a guy who once did the worst sell job I’d seen, some lovely offence by Almas, logical and natural counters and reversals, finishing with a definitive end sequence. One of the best matches I’ve ever seen.

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.