2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

49. Rush/La Sombra/La Mascara v. Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla/Volador Jr. CMLL 7/25

ER: Awesome short match, full of guys working stiff and with a hot surprise finish. Rush and Casas beat the holy hell out of each other here. I'm not sure how Casas' throat can stand up to some of the stomps that Rush unleashes on it. Both guys throw some nasty kicks to the other's chest and face, shove each other violently into the ring barricade. At one point Rush charges Casas in the corner, stops short, whips his hair back and slaps Casas right across the ear. Great dickhead spot. Niebla is a guy who can wrestle lazy when he's not feeling things, but then we get *this* Niebla and all is well. He slaps guys the whole match, really laying the shots in to a nasty degree, and at one point even breaks out his great back bump to the floor (Rush front kicks him and he falls through the ropes backwards onto the floor). Volador stayed out of most of this, spending a lot of it getting kicked and stomped by Sombra/Mascara, but does hit a spectacular top rope moonsault to the floor. And obviously he plays into the finish which I really dug. Sombra is kinda manhandling him, but Volador gets the surprise flash pin by reversing a Sombra samoan drop into a brutal Sombra head drop. Flash pins don't feel like they get used in lucha that often, and I really love how the match just ended since Volador pinned the captain. Felt like they finally outsmarted the rudos and the cuts to a surprised Rush on the floor were a nice touch since Rush hasn't shown tons of ass in this feud. This could have been epic with more time, but for a straight falls match I can't imagine it being much better. This was some of the stiffest ring work I saw in lucha that year, and no matter how long it was this was a hot match.

PAS: Man I had forgotten what a great act Rush and his boys were. Sombra is such a dick bag, I loved him lounging on the ring barrier. I agree with the greatness of Niebla here, he really gets his ass kicked and him spitting on the heels while he gets beaten is a fun bit of babyface fire, as was his lighting fast slaps on the outside, with this match and the awesome 2017 Caifan matches I think a Neibla reinvestigation maybe on deck. I liked the use of Volador here too, one cool dive and otherwise getting gang stomped is about the only way I can tolerate that dude, although his finishing move was some goofy Will Osprey looking shit. Rush and Casas are the headliners and they are great as always, just violent asskicker with Rush having Bruno level awesome stomps, and Casas landing his great chops and his all time awesome looking facewash dropkick, I have no idea how that move doesn't put Rush's nose into the third row.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Satanico v. Hechicero

103. Satanico v. Hechicero Lucha Memes 6/4

ER: Satanico doesn't pop up a ton on tape anymore, and he's always going to be a guy I go out of my way to see. I think there will likely be a yearly 12 minute singles match that pops up on the lower part of our list, just an expression of our happiness that somewhere out there Satanico is somewhere out there still being Satanico. He's older and slower and not quite as vicious, but he's Satanico. Hechicero is the perfect modern foil for him, and in a lot of ways he comes off like a modern Satanico. He taunts Satanico all match, punches him in the head, rips at his arm, takes him to the floor and bounces his head of chairs, hits a springboard elbow, all nice stuff. Hechicero peaks with a crushing stair climb knee to the back of Satanico's head in the corner. Brutal. Satanico is crafty though, and I love a crafty old guy in wrestling. I loved an early moment where Hechicero was working an armbar, and Satanico grapevine Hechicero's legs and used the leverage to escape. Satanico takes a beating but we build to a huge moment where he reverses a whip into those heavy as hell old theater seats, and Hechicero takes a massive upside down spill into them, breaking them loose, and Satanico picks them up and smashes them down onto Hechicero like the Incredible Hulk. That was the peak dastardly old man Satanico moment, but we still get to see him throw some big punches to Hechicero's chest and some smooth armdrags before he succumbs to a complicated Hech submission. I just can't not love seeing Satanico's devilish grin on my TV.

PAS: So much fun to watch Satanico do his thing, even deep in the twilight of his career. My favorite part of this was when Satanico backs Hechicero into the corner, and give him a little condescending pat on the cheek, Hechicero gives the condescending pat right back, and they eventually start slapping the shit out of each other. Great bit of character work from both guys, Hechicero refuses to be punked, and Satanico losese his cool. Got to love Hechicero flying upside down head first into the chairs, and the finish set with Hechicero running knee to the back of Satanico's head into a torture sumbission was great. Nifty match.

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Episode 132

Episode 132

1. Stokely Hathaway/Cain Justice/Ethan Alexander Sharpe/Brian Carson/Joshua Cutshall/Frankie Flynn/Philly Collins/Marino Tenaglia vs. Dirty Daddy/Jesse Adler/Cam Carter/Michael McAllister/Nick Richards/Mitch Connor/Darius Lockhart/Caprice Coleman

PAS: Nifty Cibernetico match which had fun showcase performances from a bunch of different guys. I loved how they had callbacks to a bunch of feuds over the year. Cutshall and Richards flashback to January and beat the shit out of each other, Cain gets his revenge on Mitch Connor by making him tap to the twist ending, McAllister and Richards have a contest to see who can hit Carson harder playing off their mini-feud from last week. The also do a nice job of setting up future stuff, I want to see the Philly/Marino experience face off with the Vanguard after their interactions. They nicely set the table for the Justice v. Richards match coming up, plus I loved the couple of minutes of crazy guy potato fest between McAllister and Cutshall which would be a fun 8 minute TV match. Loved how they continued the serious Sharpe run, by having him beat both Adler and Daddy relatively clean. Would like to see him be the guy to beat Adler and make the TV title interesting again.


ER: This is a really nice lineup for a cibernetico and it's given tons of time, really allowing it to stretch out like some of those early Survivor Series match-ups. It seems bold to do a 16 man elimination match on the same episode as the Party/Caray elimination match, but I can't complain about 30+ minutes of quality pro wrestling. Far more guys looked really good in this than looked missable, with some standout performances from Cutshall, Coleman, Sharpe, and almost everybody got great little moments. Flynn was in briefly but really shined in his minute, making some offense look deadly (this match was filled with guys taking nasty DDT drops, but Flynn and Carter probably took them the nastiest). Cutshall is a huge guy who - just like I said about Otto last week - does "crazy" exceptionally well. I don't always want crazy from a wrestler, but where he excels over most wrestlers who have done crazy, is he'll crack you right in the mouth. The stuff with Coleman probably went too long but had some great payoffs, especially loved him teasing the over the top elimination with all his teammates holding him up. Sharpe matched up a lot with Daddy and those interactions were all good, Sharpe breaking out some surprises from little things (quickly spreading Daddy's feet with his own to bring him in closers for an elbow) to bigger things like a big lariat and huge shotei. Fully on board with Phil's desire to see him take the TV title away from Adler. I cannot get into Adler even one iota. He was easily my least favorite guy in this match. He's fluid and recovers athletically from doing offense, but I don't think any of his offense actually looks good. Stokely is coming along as a wrestler, I really liked his flying back elbow he broke out a couple times (shades of Cory Edsel!); Carter and Lockhart look like potential stars, they carry themselves confidently and look good doing and taking offense. Justice getting revenge on Connor from months back was vicious, and there's always an extra level of vulnerability when Connor is taking a beating. Connor gets these vacant stares and Cain is just blasting him in the back of the head, then when it looks like he's just about to get a stoppage he yanks Connor into a brutal Twist Ending. Then I love Cain's hubris getting the best of him as he spits on Daddy at ringside and turns around right into a Nick Richards cutter. This whole thing was a heckuva lot of fun, loved the concept, the participants were quality and gelled great, really this match could have easily held up a stand alone episode.

2. Kool Jay/Metallico/Number Boy vs. Mike Mars

PAS: CWF has some great big bumping jobbers, and this was as fun a slaughter as one would expect. All three guys take really painful falls, the point where Mars picks up both Metallico and Kool J in a firemans carry and throws them both hard on the mat looked like it would puncture a lung. It feels like they are building up to a big Kool J win and it is going to be awesome when he picks it up.

ER: Mike Mars is real body Khal Drogo and up against three big bumpers you know it's gonna be fun. The drop on that double stack fireman's carry wasn't high, but it looked dangerous as hell. I thought all three guys did a great job grouping their attacks and getting scattered, and Stutts made an apt Gulliver's Travels (while Cecil showed some deep cut knowledge on the Friday the 13th series). Each finish was pretty gross, with a planted chokeslam on Metallico and throwing Number Boy up and headbutting him in the chest on the way to the mat. I liked Kool Jay's little flashes, his spinkick and general spunk. I'm really rooting for that guy.

3. Donnie Dollars vs. Ray Kandrack

PAS: I am all in for a Donny Dollars open challenge series. This was a big meaty punch out, I wish it had been six minutes instead of 2, but I liked the whole two minutes. Kandrack is coming back from injury and it is unclear whether he can take a bump, but he can forearm someone in the mouth.

ER: I'm mostly unfamiliar with Kandrack, as my CWF history only began with last year's Battlecade. I liked his Rumble return, and he's big enough to CWF's history to still have him in the opening episode credits (or was that a new addition...), but damn am I sick and tired of seeing my boy Dollars pick up the L. FIRST, I hardly get to see him wrestle, he hardly ever shows up on the shows, and THEN his match is under 2 minutes? You guys. For a short match this was really fun, but I need to feel more Dollars love.

PAS: Love the Brad Attitude updates, friends with Dolph Ziggler is a such a great 2017 heel move, and a love his name drops. I am not sure why Attitude isn't at least main eventing TNA shows, shit he would make a great traveling NWA champ, talk about a guy who could cut a promo and make you want to see your local guy kick his ass.

ER: Not much to add, other that fully agree with all Phil wrote. Attitude is a superstar.

4. Mace Li/Roy Wilkins/Arik Royal/Otto Schwanz/Jarry Caray vs. Faye Jackson/Snooty Foxx/Sandwich Squad/CL Party

PAS: Fun elimination match, which focuses a lot on the All Stars cutting the ring off and working over people. Royal and Wilkins are a great southern heel tag team, their cuts offs are well timed, their offense looks good and Royal especially has all time great shtick. Really great to watch them stooge for Jackson, work over Foxx and bump for the big Sandwich Squad comeback. Finish was satisfying with Carey getting his comeuppance getting choked out by Party's leg lock.

ER: Yeah this was a fun crowd pleasing elimination match, with a great Royal/Wilkins performance contained within. Royal was great in this, totally classic apron guy (always engaging fans and interacting in non-showoff ways into the match), interacting great with crazy Otto, and then crushing it in the ring when needed. His corner attack on Biggs was maybe my favorite thing in the match, just picking him apart with note perfect jabs, slamming him in the chest with awesome palm strikes, and knowing just how to feed the Sandwich Squad (pun intended). Mecha had an awesome performance in this too, just a killer hot tag down the stretch with big chops, big clotheslines, big crossbody, big everything. Cecil Scott cracked me up early in the match when Faye tagged in and slammed her ample backside into Wilkins' ribs, and you hear Scott just quietly say "Jealous". Can't really blame him. I loved how the stretch played out with the Squad eliminating the All-Stars at the same time, leaving Caray alone with the Squad and Party (Sandwich Party?). Caray and the Coach are totally cool taking the count out loss ("Count faster!" Coach yells to ref Redd Jones as they're walking away) but we get the great late match moment of Faye and Snooty coming back from the curtain to block their way. Caray gets tossed back in and CL Party blasts him with a forearm, then locks on a tight head vice between her knees, aiming to pop his head like a zit. CWF does crowd pleasers really well, and this was plenty pleasing.

5. Trevor Lee/Chet Sterling/Ric Converse vs. C.W. Anderson/Zane Dawson/Brad Attitude

PAS: This was a Triathlon match starting with a singles match, going to a tag, and finishing with a trios. Anderson and Lee face off to start and Attitude comes from the back as a surprise to jump Lee and we open with a fun Lee v. Attitude sprint. I liked Anderson on the floor here, constantly cheap shotting and trash talking. Anderson jumps in and superkicks Lee for the DQ but then we have CW and Dawson take on Converse and a weakened Lee, after Sterling gets jumped in the entrance way. They finish up with a trios match that included the dramatic Sterling return. Finish has Wilkins come out and bust Lee open with knucks, leading to a big assisted pop up powerbomb on Sterling for the heel victory. I liked the Anderson team cutting off the ring and working over the faces, but I was a little dissapointed I didn't get to see Anderson and Lee face off much, I guess they still have that match up on deck for 2018

ER: Based on the prior week's show closing promo I thought we were getting a CW/Lee singles match, so was disappointed at first, but should not be shocked that what I got instead was a pretty great match. I'd never heard of the Triathlon Survivor gimmick (I assume it's a CWF special) where we start with a singles match between any one guy from each team (we get Attitude vs. Lee), then a tag match with any two guys from each team (we get CW/Zane vs. Converse/Lee) and then finish with a trios. It's a pretty cool concept and one that just seems way cooler with the guys involved. Attitude and Lee have a legendary CWF feud, but Lee has no chance in the singles as CW keeps interfering whenever he could. CW was great on the floor and awesome whenever he would hop up to the apron. Attitude and Lee match up so well, and Lee made some great headway even with the interference, loved when he caught Attitude's leg and and snap hyperextended it, then stomped his elbow. Stutts and Cecil were great at putting over Attitude's rehabbed leg, how he opted to rehab instead of get a surgery, how things often don't heal fully or properly. But CW was always there with a shot or distraction, and the superkick for the DQ is a great spot. One of my (and probably a zillion other peoples') favorite spots in wrestling was Rick Rude coming off the top with a kneedrop on Steamboat at Beach Blast 92, getting him a DQ, but allowing him to immediately pin him for his own fall. So CW's team loses the fall but his superkick is always so great that it immediately gives them a leg up for the tag match. Lee is a total nut so he hangs in for the tag as well, and Converse gets to show off his great babyface work fighting against two men. Dawson takes a couple big bumps over the top to the floor, CW picks apart Lee, throws his big left hook, and Converse is just really damn good. I really think he's one of the best Tommy Dreamers ever (and better than Tommy Dreamer). The trios is chaotic as hell, with Sterling coming back from getting jumped and hitting a big flip dive, Lee gets busted open bad by a Roy Wilkins knux shot, CW looks like one of the best workers in the world (seriously this guy has not aged a bit since ECW), just a bunch of great stuff.

ER: Super fun double sized episode, really liked all the big multimans, and the squashy stuff were a couple short big bumping slugfests. Nothing but quality here. The triathlon match landed on our Ongoing 2017 MOTY List.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Niebla v. Caifan

27. Caifan v. Mr. Niebla Lucha Memes 11/20

PAS: Talk about an out of nowhere gem! Niebla has spent the last 20 or so years, drunk and fat and coasting on comedy spots, Caifan comes out as says "fuck that we are spilling blood" and we get a great grimey Arena Naculpan bloody brawl. Caifan rips Niebla's mask and cuts him, smashing him with chairs, a case of beer and some great knuckle punches to the wound. At one point he even uses Niebla's blood as face paint. Niebla gets a great comeback, opening up Caifan with a chair shot and a box, and even hits a great fat boy tope. I also loved Niebla using his Pesta Negra dance moves and loogie spot as a Dusty style dancing babyface comeback.  Loved every second of this, and on paper this would have totally been a skipper.

ER: I think the last Niebla match I actually wrote up and recommended was from early 2016, and that was a 4 minute tournament lucha match. Now, it was a really fun tournament lucha match that I think would be a legendary WCW WorldWide match, but that's still a rough recent track record. And here, suddenly many of the things that make Niebla FF material in 2017 work to his benefit. He's not hammy, he's fat and vulnerable, and Caifan jumps on him and acts like a total prick for the first half of this. He jumps Niebla at the bell and violently rips his mask, and a violent mask rip always looks great and makes me cringe. My neck can ache if I hold a phone awkwardly or sleep weird, so picturing my head and body being yanked around by something I'm wearing on my face, and not just wearing but using my neck and arm muscles to try to keep it on my face, just makes me hurt. Caifan has his hands taped up with white tape, so you know you're gonna see Niebla bleed, and he bleeds, and Caifan continues beating on him, bashing him with those hard Naucalpan chairs, braining him with a wood crate holding empty beer bottles (with a great glass clank as it hits Niebla's head), and back in the ring Niebla gets his head smashed through an empty wood crate. Caifan is a royal jerk dragging Niebla around, painting with his blood, and for the first time in ages (ever?) I found myself really really rooting for a Niebla comeback. And it was a good old fat man comeback. He pops Caifan with his big swinging left, lures him into dropkicking the ref, lures him into wrapping himself around the ringpost, and then follows up with a great middle aged fat guy dive that sends Caifan into the front row near a guy holding a baby. We get a great bloody standoff in the ring with Caifan making these bloody tear facials, all that early match confidence gone. And, miracle of miracles, for the first time ever I totally loved Niebla's hip wiggling loogie spitting comeback, treated here like Lawler dropping the strap or Popeye downing a can of spinach. What a total surprise, what a total treat. Shock gem of the year.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Barnett v. Thatcher

Josh Barnett v. Timothy Thatcher ESW 12/16

PAS: I am all in on Barnett joining the ex-MMA guys doing indy wrestling. Both Barnett and Thatcher have done Snake Pit training and the first part of this match had some really aggressive mat work, including some really nice big boy take downs by Barnett, he is my favorite guy to watch grab and throw someone. I liked Barnett's body kicks a lot, but he kind of whiffs on a high kick and Thatcher does some really OTT selling for it. Thatcher has some very Fujiwara aspects to his game,  he does a great German counter into an armbar, but he should take the Fujiwara style of only selling for things that connect. I did really love Barnett's flurry in the corner right before the finish, very cool mixing up of body and head shots. Fun stuff, glad this showed up.

ER: I really love pro wrestling Josh Barnett. He reminds me of some of the bigger RINGS guys, and there's no one bigger today who does the mat grappling style. Thatcher is one of the bigger guys in that trend and Barnett just dwarfs him. The grappling was predictably good here, with Thatcher rolling to try to get that arm, at one point tossing him with a cool gutwrench (with Barnett subtly grabbing at his shoulder afterwards). Barnett brings some real pain to kneebars and tries for some cool rolling headlocks; his strikes are great and the flurry to end the match (before his epic clutch suplex to finish) was my favorite part of the match, throwing out knees (his knee strikes all match were great), body shots, quick shots to the face and neck, and impossible to defend assault. The missed high kick was extremely awkward, as Thatcher sells it all the way to the back, and it's made entirely more awkward by the crowd being mostly silent the entire match. Watching Thatcher deflate towards the mat in a deep space vacuum of silence after the only missed strike in the match just bummed me out. But, we have the rest of the match, and that was good.


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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: 16 Carat Gold Final

94. WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov wXw 3/12

PAS: I have seen this show up at the top of peoples MOTY list, which seems nuts to me. I am a Wahoo fan from way back, and there is a pretty high floor for any match where a guy's chest gets sautéed like Dragunov's did here, you could see little bits of flesh hanging off, it was grim. Still Drangunov - who kind of looks like a downsy Ken Cosgrove - didn't have a moment of plausible offense. His big running back tope (or is it an uppercut, couldn't really tell) looked like it hardly connected, and it seemed totally nuts that he pins WALTER with it. There is another section where they are having a Kobashi vs. Sasaski chop exchange and WALTER is breaking blood vessels and Draganov is barely hitting him, and they are sold as equals. This had a great WALTER performance, he is a killer, and shows really nice technique, I loved the move where he slaps down the arms to hit the powerbomb, and he did a yeoman's job selling all of Dragunov's stuff, still this was basically a Colin Delaney ECW match, if Colin went over Big Daddy V clean for some reason.

ER: I thought this was a really good WALTER performance, really made Dragunov seem like a plausible competitor, and there were plenty of moments where Dragunov shouldn't have looked plausible. He's a classic 1990s looking goofball, with a 1995 haircut and probably still owner of this jacket. He looks and wrestles like a guy who should never beat WALTER, but I did love how the crowd genuinely got behind him. The crowd really started reacting to him like a huge territory babyface, and it was a good feeling. Phil has always been less into chanting groups of Germans though, for some reason. When you look back at the match though, and at the damage dished out by both guys, it's crazy that WALTER somehow got beat, while the guy he beat on for 15 minutes pulled out the decisive victory. WALTER was like prime Takayama here, and this was basically prime Takayama having to come up with a way to plausibly lose to Kotaro Suzuki. WALTER is a real bulldozer, lacerating Dragunov's chest over the duration, plowing into him with running high kicks, throwing out some nice sitout powerbombs and a surprise over shoulder piledriver, and I loved him thundering down his arms to break Dragunov's arms from the ropes to hit a massive German suplex. We also had some unnecessary violence like WALTER delivering a nasty powerbomb on the corner of the apron at a real awkward angle. The fans were really into Dragunov doing the undoable, and it did help me overlook some of his doofey qualities, but not all of them. A lot of this matched hinged on the very long chop exchange. It was kind of Ilja's chance at recovery, and it was him standing on even ground with WALTER. To give credit, WALTER appeared to be shying away from many of Ilja's chops, while he kept his chest wide open for WALTER's huge shots. Were Dragunov's chops harder than they looked (does that also mean his lousy lariats were more painful than they looked?), or is WALTER's selling better than I thought? Maybe both. I still never bought Dragunov as capable of beating WALTER, but this match is the most I've ever been impressed with WALTER, so you take the good and take the bad.


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Great is the Fury of Yoshiaki Fujiwara That is Kindled Against Us

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura/Shiro Koshinaka/Tatsutoshi Goto NJPW 3/16/94 - GREAT

This was a Heisei Ishingun invasion trios and had some more spitfire then your normal undercard tag. Choshu was on the other side of an invasion force, but certainly knows how to work one of these. Choshu ends up bloodied, until he is able to hit a lariat or two and tag out. Really enjoyed Fujiwara as a cheap shotter, he got so excited to come in and punch a guy in the back of the head. Finish had Fujiwara damn near rip Kimura's arm off as the NJPW team cut off the thug squad. Fun stuff, although didn't reach the insane level of some invading group matches.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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Yoshiaki Fujiwara Cannot Carry All The People Because It is Too Burdensome For Him

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tatsumi Fujinami/Riki Choshu/Keiji Muto/Hiroshi Hase vs. Great Kabuki/Kengo Kimura/Shiro Koshinaka/Tatsutoshi Goto/Michiyoshi Ohara NJPW 3/21/94 - GREAT

This is a 10 man 2/3 falls gang fight, with Heisei Ishingun facing off with the New Japan boys. The NJ 10 man matches are always great (at least the 20th Century version, fuck if I am going to watch some Bullet Club mess). Really enjoyed Muto in this, this is a match with a lot a clubbing brawlers, so having an infusion of high level athleticism really brings something different. Of course I love some clubbing brawlers and there was a lot of great clubbing here. Our boy Fujiwara is great in these matches, you aren't going to see any of the high level mat work, but you are going to see him choking Koshinaka with a rope and headbutting him in the temple. I think this needed the heat of the Fujiwara v. Saito singles match, that most of this was more wrestling match then blood war. Still the wrestling was good, and I was really surprised at HI going over like that, with Goto hurling Muto off the top rope with a nasty uranage.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 24: Macho Madness

TL: I want to want something in my life as much as Catrina wants a giant cup with ribbons on it. Also, I’m 1000% certain Vampiro never pronounced Sergio Arau’s name right once in all the shows he played.

1. Veneno vs. Mil Muertes

ER: Man, actual Veneno would have been so much more interesting in LU than Ricky Reyes under a mask. You've seen more violent Muertes squashes. I wonder who designed the cool Veneno mask for a gimmick they don't use?

TL: Man, I’m such a huge fan of Muertes absolutely mauling folks. Yes, there are better squashes, but it’s still worth it to watch him squash folks. He absolutely destroys Veneno Reyes in a way that seems like a waste of three minutes to some, but for me, in the year 2017, our Year of the Sprint, would watch 100 times more. That chokeslam with a twist that he throws looked nasty, like a uranage by the throat, and segues right into the Flatliner. Very much here for Mil Muertes squash matches.

2. Paul London vs. Vibora

ER: "Luchasaurus" has an admittedly better ring to it than "Lucha Lance Hoyt" but the end result is the same. London is an absolute psycho in this, really working vintage death wish London. He plasters Vibora with a couple stiff baseball slide dropkicks, eventually does a bonkers trust fall dive that Vibora has no clue how to catch, so London just topes en reversa to all the way to the floor, almost braining himself on Melissa Santos' seat on the way down. Rabbit Tribe holding Vibora's legs to prevent him from getting back in the ring was a nice way to limit his one on one ring time, and London will be much more interesting in later rounds than Vibora.

TL: Man. I’m definitely not here for a Luchasaurus singles match. I’m also really not here for a Paul London comedy match. Then London is out here bumping big for Vibora and I’m at least enjoying this. The Trust Fall absolutely got me into it due to its nuttiness, and at least they got the booking right with the finish. Alright, I’ll take it. Definitely looking forward to seeing how crazy London is going to bump for Muertes, and Muertes is gonna absolutely maul London. Should be fun.

3. Taya vs. Joey Ryan

ER: Have they dropped the investigation into Dario? I haven't seen any really bad cop vignettes in who knows how many episodes. Have they been doing an Instagram-only storyline tracking all of the movements made against Cueto? This was a perfectly fine first round match, and I thought Taya was really good at aggressively going after Ryan. Her punch/chop combo in the corner looked really good, and I don't think it needed the extra sound sweetening they gave her. Ryan's superkick to knock her off the apron looked good too, and she was smart for going after him with double stomps. Good match, and this was one of the few matches in the first round where I wasn't sure who would advance, and I'd much rather see Taya in the 2nd round than Ryan.

TL: Should have known they would have gone intergender with Joey Ryan. Now, yeah, this is a fine match, but has there been a deep dive on referee Justin Borden? Dude has two AA’s, two BA’s, three Master’s and a Ph.D. And he’s a pro wrestling referee!!! I just finished my first and only Master’s and am finding it hard to get a job and this guy is out here with all of the degrees he can keep himself warm with (Man, College Dropout was really good). And Joey asks him to count faster??? He’s a terrible undercover cop for not knowing how smart Borden was that he’s deliberate in his count. Calling BS on Joey’s cop credentials. Maybe if he got a BA in criminal justice. Anyways, Joey knows how to play off the preconceived gender notions very well and this is at least entertaining. Finish is a bit clunky, but nice to see Taya move on.

ER: I think I'm the only one who thinks these "pure sports build" Rey/Mundo promos have been really lame. It's already fast forward material for me as I cannot stand Michael Schiavello, but I think this kind of "real sports" build is completely pointless in Lucha Underground. They've established a weird fantasy universe where several of their wrestlers have recently murdered people, some people are actual evil time traveling spirits, several people are not 100% human, that trying to do an MMA style tale of the tape build comes off entirely silly to me. But, I really liked Crane's locker room beatdown of Mil Muertes!

TL: Lucha masks and suits will never not be cool. The beatdown was good, but hearing Callahan say “She’s mine!” after what’s been alleged against him is, well, problematic to say the least. Real sport build really needed Cage with his power glove beating up the interviewer. Absolutely over this and I can’t believe I was into this two episodes ago.

4. Jeremiah Crane vs. Killshot

ER: I don't really know what to say about this match. I got a lot more time than every other first round match so far, and they certainly made it their business to do everything they could with that extra time. They did a lot. LU used that one SLAP sound effect they have probably 35 times. So you know guys were hitting each other, because the SLAP sound told us. The problem I had with most of this revolved around Killshot. He's clearly athletic, and can do things that I wouldn't ever be able to do, but his entire tone never changes. He works the first second of the match the same way he works the last second. He doesn't sell, he merely occasionally lets the other guy do moves. He's not having a conversation with his opponent, he's the guy waiting for his opponent to finish talking so it's his turn to talk again. So while it looks awesome when Crane runs all the way around the ring and plasters Killshot into the wall and through several chairs with a cannonball, you also know it's not going to do anything to slow Killshot down (unless it's during those moments where he merely goes into shutdown mode before being reactivated). If instead of making him an army sharpshooter they had made him into a Six Million Dollar Man rebuilt half-robot, then his style would make a lot more sense. Crane eventually gets the pin by dumping Killshot on his head with an underhook piledriver/powerbomb, but Killshot bounced off his head a few times in the match already, and took a few nasty kicks to the back of the head. I'm not sure why this particular shot hurt him any more than those other shots. And I still don't understand what his finisher is. He jumps off the top and lands with his feet on either side of his opponent. I just watched 15 minutes of him landing strikes and suplexes and things that looked much more painful and all somehow had the same SLAP sound effect, so I truly don't know what that move is supposed to be, or why it is somehow worse than the other two dozen moves he successfully landed.

TL: The first six minutes of this match take place entirely on the outside and is done in a way that never got me into the match. When you trade dives like that to the point where none of them mattered, I have no idea how you’re supposed to convince me anything else matters in the match. Really over any spit-based offense from Crane, too. He’s no Haruka Eigen, damn it. And yeah, after that Cannonball, how is Killshot even up and doing any offense with force behind it? And then all his athletic based offense? It’s just spots for spots worth. He sells no pain. They only sell until the next spot, then everything is all right. Both guys hit their stuff as crisp as ever with as much force behind it that they’re essentially superhuman. The crowd eats it up because it’s a bunch of cool looking stuff, but the match itself had zero substance and really played into the worst possible impulses of both guys. When Vampiro talks about Crane selling his jaw and then he basically just goes over and grabs a Dragon Sleeper with suddenness two seconds later, you’ve lost me. It’s amazing to think that Crane thinks he’s a top-flight wrestler at this point when he’s had the Finlay matches under his belt and decided to go seemingly the opposite way of what made those matches great. Yeah, a lot of that was due to Finlay, but man, at least there was attention to detail there. Here, there was none. Strickland didn’t sell a damn thing.

TL: Wait, why does Muertes get the lights out effect and you can’t even let Cage pound his damn Power Glove into the mat??? Unreal.

ER: I don't know who Son of Madness is, but I know an impressive beard when I see it, and the guy has a legendary beard. I REALLY hope we build to a Loser Shaves His Beard match. It writes itself.

TL: Okay, please forgive my ignorance, but it literally took me three seasons of this show to realize that with the Son of Havoc/Madness stuff and them being from the “Open Road” that it’s a play on Sons of Anarchy. Man I feel dumb.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Hit Squad v. H8 Club

23. Da Hit Squad (Mafia/Monsta Mack) v. The H8 Club (Nick Gage/Nate Hatred) Beyond Wrestling 10/28

PAS: This was a 2000s Jersey dirtbag indy dream match that never happened, and it was as uncouth and violent as you would have hoped for. Potatoes being tossed out left and right, unprotected chair shots, slaps right in the mouth, just a pleasure to watch. I always thought Hatred was kind of big goof, which is still sort of true, but he took a beating and looked the part of a Golem Nick Gage drew from clay. Gage is amazing, he has an unhinged aura, like a modern Bruiser Brody if Brody was the stabber rather then the stabbie, he is also at his prime as a wrestler. He was great here, taking insane bumps (he flies over the top of the rinngpost to the floor, gets presslammed head first into a wall) and dishing out big receipts. We even got a cool bit of selling, Monsta and Gage are exchanging big tooth loosening foreamrs and Gage just collapses like he was in concussion protocol, this allowed Monsta to stand over a dazed and glassy eyed King and talk spicy, it also led to a great finish as Monsta got too confident and got caught with a piledriver. Rare dream match which totally delivered.

ER: Yeah this delivered everything you'd want from four bald and burly thugs punching mouths for 14 minutes. This was a wild brawl that never settled into a traditional tag-in match structure, but still benefitted from some traditional tag saves...but nobody wants traditional tag wrestling from this match, we wanted meaty shots to cheekbones and edges of chairs hitting ulna bones and huge men hitting concrete in awful ways. I was impressed with everybody here, even Hatred, who as Phil correctly points out has always been a big goof. His lummox tendencies played nicely off of Gage, who works like the Energizer bunny with a rap sheet. I love Gage's selling in this so much as it's much closer to Eddie Kingston, with a big great theatrical moment (him trading forearms and then just falling over before a sure deathblow from a running Mack could land) and other moments of him not staying down for long, but holding at aches and pains while being hit. He moves quick and lands hard, takes an insane bump over the ringpost on a backdrop, gets thrown full bore through some doors to the outside (which was a truly great visual in the match, as the building was dark and outside was bright, so you get Gage crashing violently from blackness into bright light and disappearing, as if he broke the space time continuum. You could almost hear Gage saying "Oh my god, it's full of stars!" Maff and Mack somehow haven't lost a step, Mafia especially is shockingly agile this many years on. I flipped out for his tope but he had several other moments of quickness, like that fast low spear off the ropes (actually the best spear I've seen hit in wrestling this year). I really loved this, as it brought plenty of crazy spots, plenty of mean shots, plenty of stiff arm lariats, a crazy caffeinated (or other) performance from Gage, really great brawl.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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ALL TIME MOTY LIST Head to Head 1976: Kox v. Murdoch V. Veidor v. Davies

Steve Veidor v. Gwyn Davies Joint Promotions 5/22/76

ER: It seems like every time I write about British wrestling from the 70s or early 80s, I just keep wanting to use the word "wonderful", because it is all just so wonderful to me. I love this era regional wrestling, visually and audibly from a time and place and culture. The commentary really helps the greatness of the match, one moment talking about how Veidor (a man in his early 40s who looks like same era Paul Koslo) is a pin-up who is loved by all the ladies, and the next moment putting over how Davies' wrist isn't at 100% as the two are going through exchanges. Davies is a big hulking guy and makes Veidor appear smaller than he is. Davies knows how to work big and knows how to bully and how to cheapshot. Veidor is good at convincing roll ups, deadweight crossbodies, is a master of surprising with a sharp and fast elbow, and drops out of the sky like a bird hitting a window when Davies elbows him. Veidor goes up early and Davies starts cheating to protect his belt, cracking Veidor with cheap headlock punches and palm strikes, wisely allowing himself to eat a couple of ref's warnings, knowing the damage he inflicts is more valuable to him and outweighs the half punishment. Veidor fights back and never gets cheap, and things peak when he finally snaps and pays Davies back for all the bullshit, trapping him in the corner and punching and kicking him over and over as Davies keeps getting slumped deeper and deeper in that corner. Veidor tosses the ref aside to continue the beating, a wild animal heat of the moment understanding that nets him a warning. Davies is being chopped down, but a stroke of luck happens when he lobs Veidor into the ropes and Veidor gets hanged between ropes. His head is trapped and Veidor's selling combined with the immediate help of the ring crew makes it seem like a super dangerous moment. The ref rules him unable to continue and Davies retains, even though Veidor is ready to go the moment he's freed. The progression of the match was really good, loved the way Veidor sold the nasty sneak punches, loved the way he fought to the end, and loved the shrugging bully charisma that Davies rocked the whole match.

PAS: I was a little skeptical at the beginning of this match, as it is mostly European grappling in a way that can sometimes seems a little stiff to me. I can get into that sometimes, but I would have a hard time seeing that type of match reach MOTY status. This really started cooking about half way through and got legendarily great by the end. I always like a match that develops it's chippiness, after Veidor gets the first pin, Davies gets dirty, kidney punches, closed fists. He gets some weird submission to tie the falls where he lifts Veidor up in a bodyslam position with a hammer lock. At one point Davies gets a second public warning by landing a cheap shot punch, Veidor appears to be bleeding from the mouth and seems to be puking blood in a bucket during the break. Veidor snaps and just starts firing back with huge forearms, driving Davies into the corner. Just an awesome fired up babyface performance, totally felt epic. Finish was awesome with Veidor getting thrown into the ropes and getting his head caught in the Cactus Jack ear shearing bump. The ref stops the match even though Veidor wants to keep fighting. I could totally seeing this match selling a ton of Royal Albert Hall tickets for a rematch

KKK v. Murdoch Review

VERDICT

PAS: Going to stick with the champ here. I think this match may have reached higher highs, the last couple of rounds were all time level stuff, but Kox v. Murdoch kept up a steady level of ass kicking violence the entire time.

ER: Yeah I an going to stick with Kox/Murdoch as well, but I really loved the build throughout this match. I didn't expect the turns that it ended up taking. I'm not too familiar with either guy so it was a new fresh experience for me, and it really unfolded into a classic. The champ is always gonna be my bread and butter, two rednecks kicking ass, but Veidor/Davies was great.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Ki v. Impact

13. Low-Ki v. Johnny Impact GFW Impact 8/19 (Aired 9/14/17)

ER: This is kind of a weird dream match for me, because Morrison matches usually miss with me more often than they hit. But I can't think of two guys in wrestling that have freakier body control than these two guys. These two can bump and move in ways that don't seem possible, like two fake fighting Marcel Marceau's. And this is our final glimpse of Ki in TNA/Impact/GFW/Wrestling Purgatory, in what was a predictably short and predictably awesome run. Low-Ki is the coolest counter wrestler maybe in history, coming up with all sorts of opponent specific reversals and learned behavior reactions. The two of them work some trippy exchanges in the ropes, with Impact being a step ahead and slipping in and out through the ropes, then Ki chop blocking a kick from the apron in a way nobody ever has, then locking on a dragon sleeper. Ki is maybe the only guy in wrestling quick enough to make this ropes offense work. Later Impact does a crazy baseball slide to the floor while simultaneously german suplexing Ki that I have never seen before, totally physics breaking stuff. Both guys have a contest to see who can take bumps that spring them farther across the ring, and it's a contest we all win: Ki springs back violently off a kick, Morrison bounces like a superball off a big ropes assisted mule kick. Both guys are so great at coming up with cool ways to miss moves and dodge other moves, Ki especially is great at making misses mean just as much as hits. He may hit a big springboard kick, but the match ends with Impact tied in the ropes, Ki going for the Warriors Way and missing, leading to him violently stomping the ropes in a way no sane human would do on purpose. Ki goes springing off the ropes and lands right in the way of Starship Pain, Impact's forever overshot finisher that in this instance works much better as a flash pin capitalizing on Ki's crazy bump. GFW just got a whole lot less interesting.

PAS: Hell of an Impact swan song for Low-Ki, who had a low key great run there. This match up really worked with both guys strengths, as they are both masters at athletic, innovative, but actually explosive stuff. The counters in this match have the feeling of violence, this isn't the Young Bucks doing cartwheels and missed dropkicks like a junior high school dance team, this feels like Jet Li fight, with the missed and countered moves almost decapitating the guy who avoided them. Loved the stuff in the ropes, and Ki locking in the dragon sleeper with both guys on the top rope. Loved Impact using his breakdancing karate to counter Ki, it seems like it would be silly, but he actually made a windmill look like an offensive move. Finish was completely awesome, that bump Ki took on the Warrior's Way attempt was insane, I have no idea how he controlled his landing enough not to tear a groin muscle. he landed perfectly for the Starship Pain which actually landed well.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: GUTS Elimination

71. Dick Togo/Masao Orihara/Ryan Upin/Amigo Suzuki vs. Mr. Gannosuke/CHANGO/Guts Ishijimi/Michio Kageyama GUTS World 1/24

PAS: This was an elimination tag with hit the floor eliminations, it is a format I always enjoy in Puro, and this had a bunch of fun moments. They made the entertainment level mistake of eliminate Gannoseke and Orihara early, I want to see those sleazes match up more, and they both had cameos. Togo invents a bunch of fun ways to have "hit the floor" near falls, lots of ways to almost get knocked out and almost knock someone out. Guts was a fun energetic fat dude and CHANGO even breaks out a top rope senton which looked 85% Togo. GUTS continues to deliver.

ER: I love all these GUTS guys. My Guys, My Guts. This is really fun with pinfalls/submissions counting as well as over the top to the floor eliminations being in play. So you get silliness like 3 guys grabbing Orihara by the limbs and tossing him to the floor. And nobody seemed too interested in saving any of their partners throughout this thing. Someone would be getting pinned a few feet away and everyone would be standing on the apron leaning on the top rope. Maybe I've just been watching too much Stan Hansen lately, I'm too used to him rushing in and welting up anyone who dares attempt a pinfall on a partner of his. But this is brisk and a whole lot of fun nevertheless. Phil is right that Orihara and Gannosuke are out of this thing far, far too early, and both looked awesome in their brief runs. Orihara can make you care about a kick to the stomach, and his slingshot elbow lands fast and sharp. Gannosuke looked like a greasy freight train during his run, and his lariats hit more flush than most people in 2017 wrestling, let alone most 50 year olds. I liked his double team stuff with his not as good younger clone Kageyama, especially that quick and nasty lariat/soccer kick Total Elimination. Guts Ishijima is a spirited fat guy that will always win me over, and we got to see him splat a bunch of guys with shoulderblocks before getting wrecked by a Togo lariat. Togo was super Togo-y in this, still drives me wild with his fist drop, and I love little things like how he grapevines both legs during a small package. He's really great at teasing some over the top eliminations. We get two great ones with CHANGO catching him with a rana from the apron that almost takes both over, then we get him going for his senton only to have his partner Upin shoved into the ropes, knocking Togo off the top to the apron where he gets baseball slide dropkicked to elimination. Two really great sequences. Finish was hot with a brutal missed chairshot that tests the head and neck strength of Upin. Also of note, CHANGO's senton in this match looked even better than Togo's in this match. Lofty praise indeed. I gotta get to watching more GUTS. Do you have it?


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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CWF Mid-Atlantic Episode 131

Episode 131

1. Sandwich Squad vs. Otto Schwanz/Mike Mars

PAS: This is what we wanted the Schwanz/Cutshall v. Squad match from Chapel Hill to be. Four big dudes throwing meaty hands.I really liked Otto in this, he is really great at playing both a crazy person and a talented wrestler. Mars is Green (which actually sounds like the title of a bad 70s sci-fi novel), but a big guy who looks like a homeless murderer and hits hard is going to be enough for me. Liked the finish, and I would much rather see Schwanz and Mars as the tag champs.

ER: When Mike Mars comes into a tag match as the smallest man in the match, there's a good chance I'm going to dig the match. And shock, I did! I could see 8-10 minutes of this every single week. I really love Otto. "Crazy" is one of the hardest wrestling gimmicks to pull off properly. Think of how many indy shows you've been to over the years, with some fresh out of wrestling school rookie working a crazy gimmick, making wacky faces and clawing at their face or hair. It's almost always uncomfortable, because you feel bad for them. Otto works like an unfrozen caveman Berzerker, just storming and clubbing and shouting his way through matches. I don't recall if there was ever a reason given for Otto wearing the face mask, but I love loaded mask gimmicks a ton so I don't really care. For all I know Otto just showed up wearing a giant mask one week and nobody said a word about it. Mecha is really good, a super big man who can sell. He doesn't overbump, all his bumps are earned, but his body part selling is always impressive. We watched him sell his neck for 3 episodes after a chairshot, here I loved him wiggling his fingers on the mat after being blasted with a loaded headbutt. This was good. 

2. Jesse Adler vs. Dirty Daddy

PAS: This was fine I guess. Dirty Daddy is great and is always going to bring cool shit to a match, I loved his forearms and the diving big boot was totally crazy (I loved the Sid name drop from the announcers). Adler is still a mystery to me, he is getting this big push, and he has yet to do one memorable thing in any of the matches I have seen. I also think Aric Andrews new gimmick is kind of cornball, if you are going to do Bob Backlund you have to at least cut off your ponytail.

ER: Another great Daddy performance, but these 10 minute time limit TV title matches work so much better with a heel champ, it leads to more desperation and a more frantic defense from the champ, and makes every move down the stretch from the babyface seem bigger. This was a match with a short time limit that wasn't worked as if there was any time limit. You could argue that the opening pinfall trading sequence was about them trying to finish, but nobody watching this match thought any of those pins were going to finish the match. I second the "Adler as mystery" that Phil is feeling, I just get nothing out of him. And if we're being petty about it, I hate the Van Halen theme music and the EVH taped up tights. I kind of assumed people stopped liking Van Halen after high school, and who can enjoy Eddie in this post-Eddie Van Halen Shreds world? But Daddy was the man. This guy appears to never get crossed up in the ring, always has a response and a surprising move or two. I love his twist during rope running where he slingshots himself around his opponent's waist, just using them to break momentum and change his footwork by hooking their midsection with his arm. His strikes always land surprisingly hard; here he had a diving clothesline that absolutely knocked my socks off. He also planted Adler chest first on the ring apron with a hotshot (Adler took it really well) and that Sid boot was scary but landed hard. Guys. Stop trying to land on one leg like that. It just makes me think of Sid or Gronda every damn time. I still don't love the "blackballed for 30 years" gimmick. It's a cute gimmick, but would be better served on a worse wrestler. Daddy's really good, and his quality more than speaks for itself. He doesn't need a winky cute backstory. 

3. Trevor Lee vs. Ethan Alexander Sharpe

PAS: I was a little hesitant about this match when I heard about it, but man did these two guys totally sell me on this by the end. The gimmick here is that if Sharpe survives 20 minutes with Lee he would become the CWF Mid-Atlantic champion. It ended up being like a Tenryu v. Ogawa match and by the end I was sold on a Sharpe, Ogawa style title run. Lee just tortures Sharpe for the first half or so of this match, stretching his body in sick ways, ripping his fingers, kicking him square in the thigh, one of the better Fuchi mauling I have seen. Sharpe is able to take over by tricking Lee outside and posting him, and then it is a pretty competitive match, with Sharpe using cheap shots to stay on advantage. Lee at one point fires back and busts a pimple on Sharpe's chin with a slap, which was super nasty looking (Sharpe has Jim Powers level acne for a guy clearly not on roids), finish is pretty exciting, in the last minute Sharpe throws the ref into the Lee on the top rope and crotching him. Instead of running away and winning the belt Sharpe goes for the kill shot and gets caught in a nasty STF for the tap. Really fun storyline match which works great with both guys character progression. Lee's arrogance almost cost him the match, first by offering the challenge and then toying with Sharpe instead of putting him away. Sharpe is trying to be taken seriously and instead of running away and trying to get the cheap win, he wants to pin him clean and it costs him the title. I was a little lukewarm on Lee earlier in the year when he was on his workrate indy run with the Day, Daniels and Elgin matches, but he has been on a killer run in the last six months.

ER: This was really good, and I like the different tones we get from Trevor Lee. We get a fighting champion, we get confidence that crosses into hubris, we get sinister, a really complete multidimensional champ. I, too, was down on Lee during the workrate part of 2017. I even wrote something saying that we were consistently the low vote on all the Lee matches everyone was praising. Then right as I wrote that within weeks we were among the high votes on Lee/Andrews, Lee/Mecha, Lee/Schwanz, and at this point when I see an episode with a Lee main event I'm excited to see him against anybody. This was no different. Sharpe has turned a major corner during the time we've watched him, and we've turned a corner on him. I don't think I saw any of the E# of this very moment even 6 months ago, but that's one of the great things about CWF: They're faithful to all their guys, and all their guys can surprise you with something great. I wasn't expecting a mean Michael McAllister brawl this year, or a great Cecil Scott comeback match, but those kind of role players deliver. Here we get a simple and tempting premise: If Sharpe can last 20 minutes, he gets the CWF title. Lee is a (deservedly) cocky asshole for offering the stip when he didn't need to, and Sharpe makes the most of it. Sharpe never ran the whole match (even when it made the most sense in the last 20 seconds), didn't try to get a sneaky Masao Inoue title win (even though I wouldn't have totally minded that...), and his stock continues to rise.

Early on I thought this was going to be an extended Lee torture chamber, and it's easy to think that after about 10 more minutes of Sharpe getting stretched. Lee had so much nasty stuff, like that Indian deathlock surfboard where he kept bouncing his knees into Sharpe's back while bending him at the jaw, or that vicious as hell tapatia (sold perfectly by Sharpe, as if he was being drawn and quartered), stomps to the knee and inner thigh, wrist bent, nothing good. Sharpe hits the deck before getting hit with the punt and wisely flings Lee by the tights into the ringpost. That felt like something that heel Lawler would do. And Sharpe then looked really good in control. He was throwing these short left hooks at one point that I've not seen from him, and the extended crucifix submission was an awesome moment for both men. Sharpe was putting all his weight on Lee and Lee kept trying to fight through it. The end was convincing enough that I thought Sharpe could actually come away with the title (even telling myself I would have surely heard that news by now, I was still thinking "but what if...") and I love how he valiantly died on his own running elbow smash instead of just taking the win by running around the ring for 20 seconds. Lee's STF has been an established killshot and getting stuck in that is like getting your tie stuck in an elevator door. Great showing from both men.

ER: And then it truly must be Christmas, as I find out we get CW vs. Trevor. God bless us, every one. Sharpe/Lee is an easy inclusion on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. Now what CWF regulars have yet to show up on our List...

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WWE Clash of the Champions 2017 Live Blog

1. Mojo Rawley vs. Zack Ryder

ER: I liked these two together, more than I'll ever like Ryder on his own, and I guess I'll never really understand their need to break teams up before they really do much with them. If we strung together all the PPV pre-show matches from 2017, you'd wind up with a pretty great 2 hour special. This is another nice showing, with Ryder taking a couple big bumps, getting a nice comeback, and then getting obliterated on the finish. Ryder gets shoved from the top rope to the apron to the floor, taking a mean tumble, then Mojo runs around the ring to awesomely check him into the barricade. Back in and the camera nicely picks up a Mojo big boot with his boot staying on Ryder's face all the way down to the mat. Ryder's comeback is at minimum explosive, even if the cameras zoomed in too hard on his thigh slaps, the impression of impact was at least there. But Mojo's 1-2 finish was really cool, taking out Ryder's knee with a diving block, and then blasting him with that running forearm in the corner. Fun opener, hopefully Mojo doesn't get totally lost.

2. Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin

ER: Just FYI, it still sounds incredibly stupid when someone bumps over the barricade and someone shouts that they just got knocked "into the WWE Universe!" They got clotheslined over a short wall. Does the WWE Universe only start once we've passed the plane of the barricade? Does nothing happening inside a WWE ring count as part of the WWE Universe? Are the concession stands part of the WWE Universe, since they're beyond the barricade? Is someone urinating in the arena bathroom urinating into the WWE Universe? Does it apply to both people AND places? Is someone buying a WWE t-shirt an example of "The WWE Universe purchasing the WWE Universe within the WWE Universe'? It's beyond the worst. Roode and Ziggler don't match up well, Ziggler leans out of simple things like stomach kicks and then just doesn't connect on his own. But someone (Graves?) just said Ziggler may be the greatest performer in WWE history, so what do I know? I have no clue what actual performance metrics you would have to fudge to even squint and believe that statement. Roode has taken big moves nicely in this, splatting face first on the famouser and getting big height on a spinning slam from Corbin, takes Ziggler's big DDT really nicely. I really liked Corbin trying to vulture Roode's win, only for Roode to throw him to the floor and Corbin breaking up the pin anyway. If I didn't care for him the rest of the match, Ziggler at least made the finish work: Corbin was about to hit End of Days on Roode and Ziggler jumped in at the perfect moment with the Zig Zag, the momentum also slamming Roode tailbone first into the mat to presumably keep him from breaking up the pin. This was fine, crowd was really into it though and that counts for something.

3. Aiden English/Rusev vs. Shelton Benjamin/Chad Gable vs. Big E/Kofi Kingston vs. The Usos

ER: Fans are really stoked for Rusev Day, so we got a nice hot crowd tonight, good to hear, and it warms my heart to hear English getting a great reaction. This starts with a pretty great car crash as Kofi gets tossed into a plancha, an Uso hits his big no hands plancha to the other half of the match, and Benjamin launches an Uso with a belly to belly off the top. Kofi eats a great boot and ring post shot courtesy of Rusev after goofing around. Rusev doesn't have time for that nonsense on Rusev Day. I like how English is doing a bunch of solid little things in what most want to be a spotfest: doing nice grounded punches off in the corner of the camera, locking in and wrenching a nice headlock. Don't let the match style conform you. The Texas Tornado style of the match feels a bit to crowded, and it's making half the guys wait to do their spots while the other half does their spots. It's messing up flow. Why is this the match without extra refs? This is kind of a mess even though everyone is working hard. I think Big E might have arguably the best standing splash in wrestling history. It's got the incontestable best height and the impact is great. Kofi springboards into the ring and gets stuck with a great Benjmain powerbomb, and they are freaking killing me with these Rusev/English nearfalls. There were three pins all in a row that looked like they could plausibly win the belts. Come onnnnn. The finishing stretch is flat out GREAT. Rusev and Big E have a great battle over the Accolade, with E almost powering out before Rusev bends him back violently. Gable comes in and hits a tremendous deadlift German on Rusev, just dumping him on his shoulders, then hits a rolling chaos theory on English that dumps him even more violently. We get a sneaky Uso tag as Gable tries for another chaos theory, couple superkicks and a big splash finishes him, straight up fire finish. Awesome stuff.

4. Natalya vs. Charlotte

ER: Alright, and now for nobody's favorite gimmick match! Natalya is a far better heel when she doesn't actually realize she's being a heel. Her acting like a heel is just hammy. She's a much better A-Rod style "heel who doesn't know that she's disliked" heel. Who in wardrobe allowed Carmella and Lana to both wear red swimsuits? Also, Carmella's suit looks like a placeholder for her actual, real gear...except she's been wearing it for months. Tamina continues having the worst gear, it's like they tailored Viscera's old gear and gave it some darting. Charlotte takes a nice awkward bump to the floor, and I liked the bridge up to dodge a baseball slide. Charlotte is good at coming up with cool ways to engage the lumberjacks, really liked Natalya pushing off the figure 4, sending Charlotte flying into a dive on Ruby Riott. Tamina runs point on catching a Charlotte moonsault to the floor, which predictably means that she bumps out of the way before the moonsault hits and 6 women take bumps anyway. Tamina is so bad you guys. She did absorb all of the Naomi springboard, so I guess I shouldn't be so harsh. Thankfully we don't have to endure a Natalya win, and Charlotte worked hard in a difficult gimmick match.

Natalya threatening to leave WWE is like a parent threatening to take their kids broccoli away. "That's it, you keep mouthing off, now I'm giving you another spoonful of mac and cheese and YOU don't get any more broccoli! Actually, why don't you go to your room and play video games and then see how you feel!"

5. Breezango vs. Bludgeon Brothers

ER: I know I just said a few minutes ago that Tamina has the worst gear possible...but my god the Bludgeon Brothers. They look like a Hot Topic was destroyed in a hurricane, and a seamstress assembled their outfits out of found scraps. I have no idea what vibe they're going for. So many studs and zippers and hanging bits and that riveted cummerbund corset awkard tight bits side by side awkward loose bits. And the match is over. A straight match between these two would have been really fun. But, I guess we were running long (no we weren't)?

6. Shinsuke Nakamura/Randy Orton vs. Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens

ER: I'm not totally sure who this match concept is supposed to appeal to. This tag match with a normal referee already had a chance to be pretty uninteresting, but jamming two authority figures into it as mildly disagreeing distractions should practically guarantee it's no good. The fans, to their ever loving credit tonight, are into it. Still! They're still excitedly chanting for this show. The great finish to that tag match feels like an hour ago and we haven't accomplished much since then, and they're still chanting for their guys. I like it. Props to Orton for hitting a chinlock literally 10 seconds into the match. Zayn and Owens are also working their share, but they at least are making them look good, with Zayn going after the eyes and nose bridge and Owens making his snug. I'm kind of okay with them cutting the ring off with chinlocks for as long as the crowd can take it. All of Nakamura's kicks to Owens look really good, loved the falling enziguiri as Owens caught a kick to the chest. Bryan and Shane haven't even been very involved in the match itself but man they are so distracting, with the camera purposely keeping them both in frame most of the time. "Triangle!" "Shoulders were down!" means that someone decided to get a Dental Plan/Lisa Needs Braces joke into things, which we were probably all hoping for. My god Shane's facials and movements might officially make him a worst guest ref than Shawn Michaels. I think he's been worse than current Red Shoes in this...but may even be Michaels bad. That's really bad. Boy that finish was really bad. Who could have wanted any of this? I know Orton has been snail slow in his PPV matches the last two years, and this whole match he seemed even slower as everyone had to let this guest ref angle breathe a bit. Woof.

7. Jinder Mahal vs. AJ Styles

ER: I really liked this, and while a lot of it was because of another excellent Styles performance, I thought Mahal worked smart and didn't overreach, thought both worked together to craft an interesting match around each man's strengths. There was also that real fear from a lot of people that Mahal was going to win the title again (while I don't hate Jinder, I also wanted to see AJ hold the belt longer), so the fear and tension on some of the nearfalls was there. Jinder worked over AJ's ribs in simple and effective ways, and AJ made a point of landing in all sorts of nasty ways on his ribs. Styles bumped huge into the timekeeper's area, just about the most painful way you can get into that area. Jinder just worked simple knees and kicks and holds targeting AJ's ribs. The springboard block was great, with Jinder hitting the ropes to knock AJ off, and AJ naturally landing ribs first again. Mahal keeps up the targeted attacks with a big gutbuster and awesome flapjack (Styles takes a flapjack better than maybe anyone), and I liked Styles' comeback Pele kick (with Mahal going for the kill with his cobra clutch slam only off the middle rope). I didn't love the finish with Styles just kicking out of the slam to eventually roll Mahal into the Calf Crusher, but the whole thing built really solidly and I love how serious they're treating the Calf Crusher. I loved when the top guys all had submission finishers in 2003, so I would not mind going back to that. Styles can basically do no wrong at this point.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 23: Family First

ER: My gosh you guys! Fenix and Melissa Santos are getting steamyyyyyyyy. They were acting like cute high school kids, with Fenix cruising up in his custom Camaro (I have to imagine the highway patrol would not recommend driving in a mask, as your peripheral vision is of utmost importance on the road) and suddenly the garage gets super windy as Melissa's hair swoops around. These wild eyed kids.

TL: I think what makes this unbelievable to me is that Fenix would drive that type of car, although it does vibe with Eric’s description of literally every movie we grew up watching depicting high school romance. If Fenix was wearing a jean jacket, I would have thought it was too on the nose. Marty is still psychotic, don’t you know. Don’t get why you have to bang your head through glass to prove it, but there you have it. Psychotic Marty Martinez. Psychomoth. Okay, how come he wasn’t just Psychomoth from the start?!? Shoutouts to Melissa for the wardrobe change before the opener.

1. Vinny Massaro vs. Cage

ER: Glad to see Massaro in an actual match, and it was a fun one. Vinny has always been able to crack a jaw with a forearm, and he blasts Cage a few times here. Cage is a beast and leans in to everything, all of Vinny's lariats and elbows, and throws back. Vinny works in one of my favorite spots from his old trainer Mike Modest, when Cage tries to slingshot him back in the ring Vinny just lets go of the ropes and gives Cage an eyepoke (Modest would usually throw a forearm). But Cage catches a lariat and slams Vinny on the apron. I liked Vinny's hope comeback and liked how the Temple crowd was getting into it. Naturally he goes for the Power Glove, misses, and Cage spikes him with the screwdriver. Postmatch Vinny gets busted open and chokeslammed from the ring to the floor. Vinny does not do well in Lucha Underground post match.

TL: Vinny Mass out here taking it to Cage and getting some offense in! He lights up Cage a bit with some nice forearms and then even gets a nice STO. With Cage basically on one leg, this is at least fun, especially to see Cage power through it to make some of this stuff work. Vinny took some pretty sick bumps, including the aforementioned chokeslam, where he really took a nasty fall. So sad to see the pride of Sicily go so soon.

TL: I’m now starting to see what Eric was talking about with these voiceovers, as the cheesiness is definitely apparent. Mundo going the full Johnny Lawrence is inspired, though.

2. Marty the Moth Martinez vs. Saltador

ER: Not loving how Saltador-heavy this match was, as working the LSD gimmick basically just means a sorta boring wrestler now also wrestles badly. It doesn't really work. And Moth isn't really a good style match for him, as they both brought out bad aspects of each other. It's fun watching Moth bump around for armdrags and run into a superkick, but he's a big guy and I like him more against other big guys. Here instead of throwing bombs and big bumps he broke out a bunch of indy offense, like a big silly chokeslam into his own knees while he takes a back bump. That stuff is almost always dumb. The powerbomb into the railing was sick, but didn't seem to mean anything to the context of the match.

TL: Saltador going full on tripped out World of Sport chain wrestling madness is going to get a win from me, even if I’m not a big fan of the mind games shtick. I get the disconnect Eric is talking about, but at least he’s playing up to the gimmick. Striker playing up the sensuality and Marty getting turned on by the violence just makes me shake my head, though. This match made me feel a bunch of different weird ways. It had some decent Marty offense. And the postmatch stalker collage is a bit much, but hey, character development!

3. Pindar vs. Mascarita Sagrada

ER: Pindar was a good choice for this match, as I'm both excited to see him advance (although I was half expecting them to let Sagrada advance improbably far in this tournament) and get more singles matches, but he's also a good base for Sagrada's insanity. Throw all logic out the window and just accept that a super sturdy guy is going to be taking flip bumps for a 60 pound man. Sagrada hits a nutso flip dive rana through the ropes and slaps Kobra Moon. Vampiro - I assume quoting Trump at a recent campaign rally - says he "slapped the bitch out of her". Pindar hits him with a stiff yakuza kick and an amusing flapjack cutter. Pindar was also benevolent enough to not recklessly destroy the little guy.

TL: Pindar continues to be one of the best bases in LU history by being right there for all of Mascarita’s offense and hitting some really nice power offense. He even does the damn Harley Race/Brock Lesnar high knee bump in the corner and I am all in. The Sagrada tope suicida con Dragonrana is an insane spot. And then he does the rope walk diving rana to the outside. The Pyramid Driver into the flapjack to finish by Pindar was ridiculous. This was very fun professional wrestling to watch.

4. Mariposa vs. Fenix

ER: This is probably the best showing in LU for Mariposa, which is a sentence that probably nobody cares about. Vampiro says "Mariposa has been beaten down all her life," which...is not something that has ever actually been implied in any of the Mariposa sketches. I assume Vampiro does not actually watch these shows. But Mariposa looked good, and Fenix is a nut getting spiked on a tornado DDT. Mariposa gets a nice rana to the floor, but really the match was pretty inconsequential. Moth comes out after and Fenix hits a wild dive on everybody.

TL: Mariposa seems extremely underutilized when Sexy F’n Star is getting all that run and she shows again why in this match, pulling out some fun as all hell offense and going toe to toe with Fenix with the highly contrived lucha sequences. I like that she got a bunch of offense in at least, but it was a sudden finish. Bleh way to end just to get to that dive.

ER: Is this tournament going to take place over the rest of the season? Tying up 32 guys like this seems like a really bad idea. I'm sure things will pick up a bit once we get through these first round matches, but we still have EIGHT first round matches to go. That's just too much. And tying up this much time on a cup that looks as silly as that really shows a major lack from the props department. Is this whole thing literally for just a title shot? Dario has stopped random matches to give title shots before. Now he wants to tie up 3 months of TV to reward one? This ranks right at the bottom of Dario ideas.

TL: Quick math shows that they have to go two more weeks for the first round, two more weeks for the second round, then maybe one more week for the third round? So five weeks at least? That’s a lot of tournament to watch, and I love me some tournaments. This might be a chore, though. We’ll get through this, my friend. Together.

COMPLETE LUCHA UNDERGROUND GUIDE

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SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES IWA MID-SOUTH!! A Shot of Southern Comfort 5/29/04, Part 1

ER: IWA Mid-South is probably my favorite indy ever, and I have spindles filled with dvds of it. It seems crazy to not occasionally indulge in this product, which once ran so improbably frequently that there are tons of gaps in my viewing. Let's watch some of the best of the carniest. AND, I think - as always - the best way to watch, is by closing my eyes and pulling a dvd randomly out of the stack. That brings us to this show, which had some deliciously classic early-mid 2000s indy bloat: 13 matches over the course of the night, utilizing  32 DIFFERENT WRESTLERS!! 32!!! WWE barely uses more than 32 guys during the Royal Rumble PPV, but here's IWA bringing 32 different guys to some random Saturday night card in a smallish Indiana town. It's the best.

1. Danny Daniels vs. Eddie Edwards

ER: Oh jeez, Edwards has giant silver pants and his hair done in short braids, looking like the worst ever version of Roger from Sister, Sister. Go home, Eddie. But really this wasn't a bad opener. It was kept to 5 minutes and Edwards wasn't having 2.9 kickout wars at this point in his career. He hit a nice spinkick and took a nasty cross arm German suplex, Daniels stuck him with a nice piledriver that did not get kicked out of, surprising me. We did get a standing elbow exchange, how far we've come in 13 years.

2. Rain vs. Sumie Sakai

ER: This built to a pretty nice finish. Rain wasn't really that good here, but Sakai was a pro and kept the floor somewhat higher than it would have been. Rain was really poor at obviously getting into position for the next move, really making everything looked rehearsed, running into position early and just standing there motionless waiting to be attacked. Sakai takes a big sprawling bump through all the chairs, packs a huge wallop with two missile dropkicks, drops Rain with a nice hotshot,  hits one of those fast low-arcing moonsaults, throws fast suplexes, all nice stuff. It's awesome that she's still working the states.

3. Southern Comfort (Chris Hamrick/Tracy Smothers) vs. The Wild Cards (Eddie Kingston/Jack Marciano)

ER: Kingston and Marciano look like they're in a weird religious cult, their heads are shaved bald and they're wearing matching big baggy white pants, white boots and white sleeveless shirts. They look like the Yonkers chapter of the Guilty Remnant. The match was a pretty quick sprint, just 7 minutes, and really a showcase for Southern Comfort. Kingston wasn't really an established guy and was really young at this point,  and Marciano never really got established before getting retired. So we get a showcase for SC's offense, and that's a fun thing. Smothers is a great bully, and he breaks out all his leaping kicks, big chops and overhand rights, gets fired up and does a couple spears, makes great faces when Kingston spits in his face, stuff you'd expect from Smothers. Hamrick is a huge favorite of mine, I love his style, love his dangerous bumps and offense, love that he looks like the most violent Johnny Winter ever. Hamrick gets crazy height on offense and on bumps. At one point he does a missile dropkick that seems like he dropped in from the ceiling, and the end of the match is him hitting a Carolina jam onto Marciano...OFF of Kingston's shoulders (who was seated on the top rope). It was a gorgeous legdrop, dropping insanely in from 10 feet. In between all that he hits a couple big kicks, and takes a flying bump through the ropes to the floor FAR more dangerously/painfully than most people would have taken it. I would have liked current Kingston in there against 2004 Southern Comfort, but this was fun.

4. Nigel McGuiness/Chad Collyer vs. The Second City Saints (CM Punk/Colt Cabana)

ER: A good enough match, though nothing much of note happened. We get a lot of comedy matwork from Nigel and Colt, but it's not bad. I am not completely stone, so I can laugh at Colt rolling through back and forth to try to shake a wristlock. Nigel's Johnny Saint spots come off pretty clunky, but the stuff with them working a wristlock was engaging. Collyer had some fun stuff, had a nice combo with a knee drop followed by a quick elbow drop followed by a quick somersault senton. Late in the match he hits a cool dragon screw on Cabana. Best part of the match was Nigel rushing across the ring and just leveling Punk with an elbow to break up interference, and Punk went flying through the ropes to the floor (taking an even better floor bump than Hamrick the match before!). Punk whiffs on a shining wizard to end the match.

5. Havana Pitbulls (TJ Perkins/Ricky Reyes) vs. Brad Bradley/Ryan Boz

ER: This was pretty easily the best match of the card so far, to my surprise. Both Pitbulls looked good here, especially TJ (and has anyone dropped their 2017 stock more than Perkins? Still, 2004 Perkins is a welcome Rocky Romero replacement). I really liked the Boz/Perkins segments as Boz was kind of blocking Perkins' mat stuff which made all of it look more painful. Perkins grabbed him in a cravate and tried a snapmare, but Boz went straight down on his face. Perkins kept it locked on, eventually got the snapmare, all of it looked nasty. I also thought Perkins was throwing nice strikes against Bradley, but soon we move into Boz and Bradley cutting off the ring to work over TJ. It's all really satisfying, Boz comes off as a god sleaze and Bradley was kind of a green lummox at this point, a good combo. Reyes gets a quick pin as TJ planchas to the floor, and this certainly exceeded any expectations.

6. M-Dogg 20/Josh Prohibition vs. Homicide/B-Boy

ER: Hey, this was mostly really good, because Homicide and B-Boy were really great in 2004. And most of the match is an awesome mugging of M-Dogg who played an admirable FIP. We start with some flash from Prohibition and M-Dogg, including a pretty crazy springboard somersault senton from 20 that he almost lawndarts himself on (yet the late rotation seemed planned). The spot portion was fine but once we settled into the FIP portion it got real good. Homicide and B-Boy were lean and mean in 2004, no signs of those bellies that would pop up later, and they laced into 20. At one point the two of them were taking turns just running and striking him, Homicide would run in with an elbow, get out of the way, B-Boy would run in with a knee, get out of the way, Homicide runs in with a yakuza kick, etc. He gets facewashed, he gets beaten down, it's awesome. When Prohibition tags in we get a crazy train crash run with everyone hitting increasingly bigger spots (the move escalation was handled really nicely). We also learn that Prohibition was flat out terrible at getting into position for moves. He would stand there swaying and jerking around like Johnny Cage waiting to get his spine ripped out by Sub-Zero. He would rush into place early...and then stand there and sway while waiting for the move. We get a couple nasty headdrops at the very end, finishing on Prohibition getting planted vertically with the Cop Killa. Absolutely gross landing. I think he got legit knocked out, as even B-Boy was in the ring checking on him after, and his selling was...well, it was too good to be actual selling by Josh Prohibition. Homicide briefly checks on him, laughs and says "You're fine" and makes gang signs to the back.

7. Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries vs. Petey Williams vs. Delirious vs. Nate Webb vs. Jimmy Jacobs

ER: This is an elimination match, and if you look at that list of 7 names and picked the guy you would want to see least...you know that was the guy who advanced the whole way through. Yep, we get alllll of the Petey Williams and he clearly looked like the worst guy in the match. I had completely blocked out just how much IWA Mid-South used Petey Williams in 2004, and how strongly pushed he was. It's like they used him before he was in TNA, so once he was on TNA they just pushed him as the top guy in the company. It looks completely absurd now, even moreso than it probably looked then. Because it sure doesn't look great now. And the thing is, everybody else in this match looked decent-to-great, with Petey looking outright bad. So let's not even waste time on Petey's stomach kicks that don't even attempt to look like a man kicking a stomach, or him needing to be lifted up two different times by the guy who was supposed to be taking a move from him, or his really bad athletic bumping that just makes it look like bumps don't hurt at all. No, no need to waste time on THAT. Let's focus on the good, because there was plenty of good here, namely Roderick Strong. This was a big time spotfest that Petey Williams occasionally slowed down, but there was way too much good for him to ruin all of it. Delirious takes the nastiest facebuster ever to get eliminated, we get a wild divetrain that peaks with Strong press slamming Jacobs from the ring and throwing him into everybody like Bigelow throwing Spike. Strong looks is all babyface and babyfat, but he's the most vicious guy in the match and looks great. Jacobs was super tiny and wasn't quite the crazy brawler he'd become, still doing some of the Brody shtick, and doing more indy goofus "I DDT this guy while bulldogging that guy!" stuff. But he bumps big and leans into stuff, and we all know how good he got not long after this. Aries flew into everything and came across like a big deal, and goth goofball Nate Webb works like Aerostar, if Aerostar had just taken a couple of mystery pills he found in his old vinyl pants. That's a good thing. This whole thing was mostly fun, would have made a great 6 way.


8. Petey Williams vs. BJ Whitmer


ER: There must be someone special out there, lookin' out for me. The winner of that 7 way got an immediate title shot against BJ Whitmer, and my dvd stuttered and labored and sputtered and skipped and sadly, right before Petey won the prior match, it just couldn't take any more, and jumped back to the menu screen. I tried - actually tried! - to get back to where I left off, but the dvd wouldn't even make it past the intros to the 7 way. It just wouldn't let me. I actually went back to see a Petey Williams match, and my dvd was all "Look man, just gimme your keys, alright? Look, I know, you're fine, just gimme your keys. Buddy, I know. No, I know. *wrests keys away, dvd forcibly rejects itself* I was going to watch Petey Williams win the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight title, but fate intervened. A regret understood by no one.

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IGF - NEW Opening Series 4/5/2017

PAS: NEW is a new shootstyle fed offshoot of IGF, and at this point we will review every new shootstyle fed. Looking forward to see how this compares to AMBITION as this has a bunch of actual MMA fighters along with masters like Fujiwara and Otsuka

Shinya Aoki v. Yoshiaki Fujiwara

ER: So Fujiwara is in his late 60s, and I pray I have this mobility in 30 years. This is a match made of classic and telling Fujiwara faces. We start and he's the smug overconfident vet, taking Aoki down to the mat and tying him up in some cool ways (especially loved him picking Aoki's ankle and pulling it closer to his face while also wrenching a headlock). Before long Aoki is meeting him in a stalemate and as the tide turns a bit, we get that wonderful Fujiwara smile, recognizing that maybe he's fighting from underneath, but grinning at the challenge, almost welcoming Aoki's attacks. But by the 10 minute mark when their legs are impossibly tangled while they're fighting over wrists, the ref has to separate them and Fujiwara rolls to the floor with almost fear in his eyes. He looked like a man underwater and he needed to calibrate and try something else. So he suckers Aoki into a knucklelock that allows him to land a thrust headbutt. He wasn't making any avenues on the mat so of course the man goes to the head. Later on he lands another using the same trick. But Aoki is lanky and knows how to befuddle Fujiwara by tangling him up in limbs, and as we hit the 15 minute mark we can see a bit of desperation creeping onto Fujiwara's face as Aoki is patiently waiting for an armbar, perfectly content to play the waiting game as Fujiwara starts reaching and soon scrambling for ropes. And as soon as Fujiwara lets his guard down Aoki pounces and maneuvers into a side triangle. Killer lo fi stuff here.

PAS:  I assumed that the days of Fujiwara classics had passed, I have been working on the C+A Fujiwara project since 2009, I have found a couple of EPIC's since then, but they have all been tags and trios matches which included great performances from other wrestlers as well. Fujiwara is 67 years old, how is it possible for him to be able to work a 15 minutes singles match this good? Aoki isn't a guy who has done much pro-wrestling before, although he is one of the greatest MMA grapplers ever, he fits in to shootstyle great, he is so skilled and fast. I love how Fujiwara was working this as a guy a little outclassed on the mat, it is a foreign role for him, but Aoki is so slick that Fujiwara keeps finding himself in a compromised position. He has to resort to cheapshot headbutts to get an advantage (and man what a cheapshot headbutt it was, one of his best), I also loved how Fujiwara used wrestling grappling in a shoot context, at one point he uses a headlock to drive Aoki's knee to his temple, another time he does almost a drop toe hold to get back position, credit to the skill of both guys that it looked natural.

Katsumi Oribe v. Feng Chang Jian

PAS: Jian I would assume is a rookie from China, and this was kind of a lame rookie match. We had a long forearm exchange, which is a bummer if that is thing in rookie matches. We get some kicks, and Jian kind of blew a bodyslam. Finish was a boston crab. I didn't see much in either guy, but who knows what will happen later.

Alexander Otsuka v. Xuan Lin Dong

ER: Otsuka is looking beefy as hell now. Have we ever seen him and Negro Navarro in the same place at once? I'd never seen Lin before but I enjoyed him (he should have worn black gloves to complete the look though), came off like kind of a meathead and I dug how Otsuka handled him. There's a lot of standing grappling and Otsuka goes for his big German early, finds Lin grounding him too well, so just sidesteps and throws him backwards to the mat. Eventually he gets tired of grappling and just cracks him with a slap, and I loved how Lin stopped and staggered around before following up with an admirable forearm. But Otsuka slaps him again, and then slaps him to cut off an elbow, and THEN we get our big German. Otsuka smugly saunters over and picks him up for a big delay vertical suplex, the result academic.

PAS: Yeah Otsuka has been hitting the buffet, but he still looked awesome, I didn't think much of Dong (Eric loves Dong however, can't get enough Dong), for an MMA dude he really should hit harder, but all of the standing switch grappling looked good. Those pair of finishing suplexes are a pair of Alexander Otsuka finishing suplexes with all that that entails.

Masakatsu Funaki v. Mitsuyoshi Nakai

ER: This didn't do much for me, as Nakai looked like he didn't want to be there and Funaki looked like he was doing things at 3/4 until it was time to finish. They spend a lot of time with Funaki working a rear naked on Nakai, and there's plenty of times he has openings to do something, but it looked more like he was setting potential traps to see if Nakai could get out of them, and then just moving on when he had the satisfaction that Nakai couldn't. He easily maneuvers into an armbar, Nakai gets ropes, then Funaki decides things are just over and hits a huge high kick, then another one to the forehead, then a punt that he pulls back on. I did like him suckering Nakai into slapping him, allowing him to hit an awesome rolling kappo kick. He ends it with some kind of brutal capture piledriver. Neither guy seemed that interested in this match.

PAS: First part of this was kind of dull although it picked up a fair amount at the end. Nakai lands a nasty teeth cleaning knee lift and it wakes Funaki up and unloads on Nakai. He throws a big kick right to Nakai's temple and a punt to the chest, he finishes him off with a arm capture piledriver. If the whole match was as good as the last two minutes it would have been awesome, but the dull stuff at the beginning drags it down.

Minoru Tanaka v. Minowaman

PAS: Minoru Tanaka was never my favorite BattlArts guy, he was a little juniorish, more likely to do a flip then a punch to the mouth. He is reall skilled, and there were a lot of cool moments in this match. Minowaman is a MMA guy who doesn't fully translate his MMA charisma over to wrestling, but again he he has a ton of skill. I really liked some of the leglock work here, Minowaman has a cool reversal of a scorpion into a leg lock. This goes to a draw, and I feel like with a better finish and maybe one or two more special highlights this would have made a list, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

Josh Barnett v. Shinichi Suzukawa

PAS: I really enjoy watching Josh Barnett wrestle. He doesn't do anything flashy, but every forearm lands with a thud and he has these great slow powerful looking suplexes where he just yanks a guy up like a sack of flour. Suzukawa is a big guy with Yakuza looking tattoos who comes out really aggressive powering Barnett to the corner and hits him with some clubs. Suzukawa works a head and shoulder choke a bunch, and Barnett isn't afraid to punch him in his sake soaked kidneys to go for the break. Barnett ends up escaping and tossing him with a nice side suplex. Just a big boy shootstyle scrap and I dug it a bunch.

ER: 40 year old MMA fighter vs. disgraced sumo wrestler is about as NEW Gen  WAR as you can get, and this played like a WAR match via RINGS fight. This was filled with hard knees to the ribs, forearms to the back of the head, and these nasty as hell hardway suplexes where neither guy jumped; you just had these low angle brutal suplexes that looked like science class rockets tipped over and shot right into the ground. There are no free rides in this one, every single ankle lock and kneebar had a twist and some squirm, the head and arm chokes looked sunk, and those knees just kept getting buried into Barnett's body. Suzukawa has a great boss charisma and Barnett looks to be in better shape than during most of his MMA career. Neither guy gives the other one space, Suzukawa presses his knees into Barnett's throat in the corner and against the ropes, both competitively sandbag, and that was all kinds of awesome. Go watch this.

ER: We would have had this posted 8 months ago, but Phil needed to construct *just* the right Dong joke. And after 8 months of workshopping it, I think it's safe to say...we got it! We are adding the Fujiwara and Barnett matches to our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List, deservedly so.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Reigns v. Jordan 2

15. Roman Reigns v. Jason Jordan WWE Raw 12/4

ER: I really  loved their first match a few months ago, but  this was straight fire. Roman went into their first match cocky and then got surprised by the fight Jordan brought, dropping his guard before confidently finishing him off. Here Roman doesn't mess around for a second, throwing strikes with an immediacy he doesn't always have, really high energy, and Jordan gets whipped around by all of them. Jordan isn't backing down but it does look like it's going to be a mauling, and then we get an awesome callback to their first match: Jordan is throwing everything at Reigns, managing to pick him up and run him back and forth into the corners, picking him up and running with him Matt Hughes style. Jordan goes for his vertebrae squishing spear in the corner, Reigns dodges like last time, but Jordan doesn't fully commit and when Reigns goes for his own spear Jordan moves and Reigns crashes violently into the post and hard down to the floor. Jordan starts taking apart the shoulder and Reigns is good at selling it, even feeling the pain while he's punching with his good arm, wincing bad while trying an Irish whip. But Jordan is fading and Reigns throws several awesome standing lariats in the corner. Standing corner lariats can look awful, but Jordan was making these look world class, really getting his whole body rocked by them. And from there the match kept ramping up and surprising me. Reigns comes after him on the floor, Jordan catches him and just like earlier, picks him up and drives him hard into the steps. We get some huge nearfalls and the fans are going ape, clearly thinking it's over when Reigns hits a Superman punch but Jordan kicks out. The crowd reaction was infectious. I love when you can see people jumping up and down with their hands on their head, flipping out over what they're seeing. This is one of the biggest babyface reactions Roman has gotten in ages, but Jordan has the fans too as Roman goes for a spear and Jordan times a perfect counter with a kneelift. Without thinking he uses his bad wheel, but Jordan still hits his gorgeous rolling northern lights and bridges on one leg, not able to put weight on his bum knee. Reigns manages to kick out and awesomely capitalizes on Jordan's injury, knocking him halfway across the ring with a Superman punch (great sell by Jordan) and finishing him with the spear. All of this was so damn good, with a note perfect build and all the execution delivering in spades. They had the crowd buying everything they were selling. The segment and this match was easily the best 40 minutes of Raw all year.

PAS: Really fun match, which showcased the strengths of both guys. Jordan is a really fun counter wrestler, I loved how he kept avoiding the superman punch, stopping it with a dropkick one time and turning it into a side suplex a second time. Jordan catch the diving superman punch on the floor was awesome too, it showed great strength and timing. That kneelift counter to the spear was great too, I really wish the commentary would focus on how good Jordan is an anticipation. Reigns meanwhile is just getting better and better, how about his smooth as fuck headlock takeover counter, when did Reigns starts breaking out Dean Malenko style counter wrestling? Jordan had the big showy bit of body part selling with the one legged northern lights suplex, but Reigns did a lot of really subtle stuff in the match, including stretching out and rotating the shoulder and wincing on punches, little things to show that the shoulder wasn't 100%.  Loved the finish too, the WWE has cut down on finisher spamming lately and this kind of finish works so much better for me.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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