AEW Five Fingers of Death 5/12 - 5/18

ROH TV 5/15/25

Dustin Rhodes/Sammy Guevara/Marshall Von Erich/Ross Von Erich vs Mason Madden/Mansoor/Ariya Daivari/Tony Nese

MD: There are a couple of different ways to do an 8-man tag. You can lean hard into the tag gimmick by creating a sense of danger and difficulty just from the sheer numbers at play. Any time someone gets too close to not just the wrong corner but even the center of the ring ropes, there's a chance that a knee or arm may reach out. That evokes the sense of those 80s New Japan elimination tag for instance, creating a mood where all of these wrestlers are trapped with one another, the babyface getting dragged down as face-in-peril most of all. Or you can just toss the tag rules out the window and run rapid fire spots with people running in and out, making use of those sheer numbers to keep the action going and going with no logical reason for it to ever stop or for anything to sink in. 

Anyone who knows me is going to know what I prefer. And this did a pretty good job at it for the first two thirds. In that case, you'd maybe run through individual pairings until you got into the heat but they avoided that for a specific reason, Dustin's more or less cracked a code, or at least I think he thinks he has. When he's with the Von Erichs, he drops back and delays getting in the ring until after the hot tag. They find some way to contrive it, whether he's attacked before the match or just slips back into the scenery of the numbers like here. 

In 2025, it's tougher than ever to figure out what the fans actually want. In 1985, they wanted to see the heel vanquished and the babyface triumphant and a clear win or at least a clear beating, or ideally both. While there are increasingly heels on the AEW/ROH working to get under the skin of the fans and get actual heat, and while maybe in time, that will restore some of those old incentives, fans today seem to want their candy. Candy can come in a number of forms, but it's generally something they can brag about seeing or experiencing, whether that's a five star match, a debut, a crazy spot, or just getting to sing along to a theme song or as part of a chant. 

Getting to see Dustin Rhodes is a form of candy. He's a legend, an attraction, someone who knows how to work a crowd from underneath as well as anyone else alive. For 80% of the viewing audience, he was part of their childhood, whether they started watching in 1990, 2000, 2010, or 2020. Who knows how many more times anyone will get to see him wrestle live. He's candy. And by holding himself back, he makes the fans earn it and makes his arrival into the ring mean all the more. That also lets him put the Von Erichs front and center for both the shine and the heat, giving them reps and getting the fans used to them in both roles. 

The other aspect of an 8-man is all the characters at play, and given the heel side, that was bound to go well. MxM interacted with the Athletes with the cheer at the start, by pushing them out of the way of danger. They were able to switch things up with the spot where Madden drapes an opponent over the ropes and Mansoor hits an apron senton. Last time Madden caught someone trying to hit a tope. This time, it was due to Mark Sterling getting involved as a distraction. It's a great spot but it'll only feel organic if they keep thinking it through in creative ways. Here it was the transition to heel control which made it all the better. 

Things did build to Dustin and even more so to Sterling getting hit by the Golden Globes/Shattered Dreams/Unnatural Kick and then the claws. They always have the ref dramatically look away when that happens. Maybe they didn't need to when it was the manager getting kicked? Anyway, it was a crowd pleasing finale and a good presentation overall. I would have liked another minute or two of heat but they were probably working against the clock, but other than that, I had a good time with it.

AEW Collision 5/16/25

Dustin Rhodes/Sammy Guevara vs Lio Rush/Action Andretti

MD: This was a #1 contender's match for the shot at Double or Nothing. I can't say it really felt like one, especially when Dustin was doing his fake dive bit in the middle and given a relatively anti-climactic finish where Sammy jammed Andretti's torture rack neckbreaker finisher to hit his own. In general, I like matches ending like that now and again, without a clear exclamation point, but maybe not a match with stakes? 

Of note, we got much more of Dustin in this one, including him working face-in-peril because the alchemy is different in a straight up tag than a six or eight-man and there's less of a need to showcase Sammy. That said, Dustin was excellent at slapping the mat at various points and selling the leg and really doing his half to explain why he wasn't making it to the corner despite making it look like he was fighting as hard as possible.

We know that about Dustin though. More importantly, this was the first time that I really got CRU as a team. The Top Flight breakup/feud did no one any favors but seeing them up against some contrast, they really came off like a swarming menace, in the way they took over, in cutting the ring off with Dustin, in that late match flurry against Sammy. Real Kaientai DX actually, in a way that I'm not sure anyone else is matching right now. There's maybe something there and I hadn't felt that before. They need something else. There would be worse fates for them than to become Ricochet's guys, for instance, especially if he ever lands a singles title and has to be protected more (he's pretty bulletproof right now). So this was pretty good for what it was, but I didn't quite feel the weight. I do think the PPV match could be good if Dustin can hook the crowd.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 6/10 - 6/16

AEW Collision 6/15/24

Blackpool Combat Club (Castagnoli/Danielson/Moxley/Yuta) vs. TMDK (Haste/Nicholls)/Lio Rush/Rocky Romero

MD: Right before the finish, Tony Schiavone called the giant swing a work of art. He was close but not quite on the mark. The real work of art was that entire sequence, everything from Danielson's knee (and Nicholls crashing hard into the ropes in a way no one ever does as they take the move), Haste's dropkick, Yuta's sweeping Angle Slam, Rocky's Shiranui, and then finally the double leg into the swing. All of that worked in a rhythmic motion to become something greater than the sum of the parts and greater than most "everything breaks down" finishing stretches. I'm not one to wax poetic about specific visuals in wrestling. I'm a substance over style sort of guy, but the "follow the bouncing ball" wind-swooshing motion here was truly spectacular. I can't really believe it was intentional because creating the sort of visual effect that pulls your eye in exactly the right direction at exactly the right time over multiple moves while still feeling at least somewhat organic would take immense coordination between multiple wrestlers at least somewhat unfamiliar with one another, not to mention the camera crew and producers. I'd worry that any attempt to intentionally replicate the effect would create the most tragically artificial and stilted pro wrestling imaginable. Honestly, I'm not even sure if it even hit anyone else quite like it hit me, but hit me it did.

Speaking of things that are just hitting me, there seems to be an extra bit of magic to Forbidden Door season this year. Part of it is that I wasn't a big 2010s New Japan guy so a lot of these dream matches aren't that dreamy for me. What does appeal, however, is the wild WAR feel of it all in the build, the sense that there's a greater world out there, one that is only enhanced by CMLL and Stardom being in the mix this year. With that in mind, and this being a cold match, I thought they made the most of it. That meant letting Lio Rush go wild against Danielson and Yuta to start. It meant having TMDK act as a unit in almost everything they did. It meant having Danielson play face-in-peril yet again, another stellar such performance in a long line of them now. It meant having Rocky get cocky and then having his coccyx crushed by the absurd and sublime top rope inverted atomic drop. It meant Claudio as the hot tag, running through every bit of interference they tried to throw his way, and Moxley as the monster unleashed who they had antagonized throughout the match but who didn't really get to come in until it was time to end things. Add in the pro wrestling version of The Great Wave off Kanagawa that I recounted in the first paragraph and you ended up with a very fun way to kick off a Collision during Forbidden Door season. Hopefully we get at least one more of these before it's all said and done.

AEW Dynamite 6/12/24

Dustin Rhodes vs. Jack Perry

MD: I had reason to watch some 1984 Tully Blanchard lately. Now, due to the law of transitive properties (We know Perry didn't listen to SOME advice. We know SOME people didn't listen to Tully's advice. Therefore...), we can assume that Jack has probably not been watching 1984 Tully. Tully had this amazing way of starting most of his matches like he was a gentleman, wrestling by the rules, going hold for hold, breaking clean. Only after the babyface got one up on him did he break bad. It made things somehow more hypocritical and underhanded and got him loads of heat.

So, Jack doesn't do that. Dustin came in with a punch to start and Jack immediately went for the eyes. He was pulling the turnbuckle pad off just seconds letter and tossing Dustin into the stairs the first chance he could. He was pulling the padding up and going for a pile driver. Then, later, when had capitalized on the exposed buckle, he hit a DDT on the floor. After that, he nailed Dustin with a (revenge, admittedly) low blow even when he didn't have to. And you know what, I have to admit that it kind of works for me. Yes, there could be some issues with it (and Perry's promos) being out of sync with the Elite's ironic gimmick but no one needs the dripping irony in 2024 anyway. This is far more genuine and visceral. In a singles match where he can be his own thing, he should be the most direct shitheel imaginable; just straight to the point, no filter, no hesitation, not an attempt at sportsmanship or even the very notion that such a thing might be worthwhile or admirable. It kind of works. It makes him stand out. You can have shades of grey matches. You can have Piper vs Bret. You can have Punk vs Page. But more often than not, there's something to the most direct and straightforward approach, especially if no one else seems to be doing it. No one else on the roster is an unmitigated, petulant jerk like Perry (not even the guy that maybe he is listening to, Christian, who professes to be a paragon of paternity, even if it is just the thinnest of patinas).

Of course, this is Perry having Dustin Rhodes, one of the best babyfaces of this century, to play off of,. Dustin is pretty much the only guy on the roster getting the the fans to clap up for him with his selling and his hand motions alone. But still, efforts like this matter. I'm rooting for Perry to build off of it.

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Late But Not Bad: WWE Survivor Series 11/24/19 Blog

Luke Gallows/Karl Anderson vs. The Revival vs. Wesley Blake/Steve Cutler vs. Bobby Roode/Dolph Ziggler vs. Montez Ford/Angelo Dawkins vs. Curt Hawkins/Zack Ryder vs. Tyler Breeze/Fandango vs. Gran Metalik/Lince Dorado vs. Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel vs. Otis/Tucker

ER: Oh man this is exactly the kind of thing I love to start a show. Gimme a big colorful 20 man battle royal with a long as hell entrance time, every single team getting a separate entrance but an abbreviated one. I'm not kidding here, I was into this from the second I heard there was a 10 team battle royal to start this PPV. I do prefer when BOTH members of a team have to be eliminated, it makes more openings for different psychology scenarios. And this was a good battle royal! I would have changed the order of several eliminations, and you bet your ass the first team eliminated would have been the team that won the damn thing. Wait, do I like this match? I would have rather seen any of these 9 teams win than Ziggler/Roode, so I can't like this match too much. But the work within the match was above average for battle royals. There were plenty of quick glimpses of nice battle royal close quarters striking; Gallows would punch Otis in the head, grateful to be here Curt Hawkins would throw a couple decent punches, people busied themselves well. We did get too much awful Ziggler 1996 HBK cosplay. Too much. How the hell is he allowed to do such hammy tribute? But guys really threw themselves into their eliminations, I was crushed when Otis had his Caterpillar interrupted before the elbowdrop, Aichner should have absolutely slaughtered  Ziggler while he was dangling over the top rope for the zillionth time. Worst possible team won, match was still fun.

Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Lio Rush

ER: This was plenty fun, some nice go go go, kept the spotlight shifting to each of the three guys without ever feeling like an exhibition or outright showcase, a weirdly natural way for these three to show their specific skills. This had the feeling of a Amazing Red trainee match, in a good way, with Rush being one of the best post-2000s Red combo of fast precise bumps and great inventive kicks. Tozawa is always a great cog in these cruiser three ways, even when it feels like he's nowhere close to the focus. He's clearly good at helping direct these things, he winds up in good ones too often for that to be false. Kalisto gets all Fenix on us in cool ways, and I dug the Salida del Sol attempts and successes. We get Tozawa's big senton and one of the better sliding kicks in the company, Rush throws the nicest kicks of the match and his frog splash looked tremendous, just a fun match that left the party at just the right time.

Big E/Kofi Kingston vs. Kyle O'Reilly/Bobby Fish vs. Viking Raiders

ER: So far it feels like everything has been given a lot of time, guys getting time to try some new things and stretch out in some ways. This match felt longer than it needed to be, yet came with an absolute superstar performance from Ivar, a guy who has been improving every year for the past few years. This was one of my favorite performances of his, a total wrecking ball, looking bigger than I think I've ever seen him but still flattening with crossbodies, flipping over that top rope like a he was prime Berzerker, working this super fast lengthy hot tag where he just nailed every single mark. Big E takes a big bump on his missed spear to the floor, throws some big belly to bellies, then takes an even bigger bump when he hits his spear to the floor. Viking Raiders are so cool, really a team that was always fun and just keeps finding ways to improve, keeps tinkering with and tightening up offense, evolving. How did they never do a Vikings vs. Harper/Rowan match? What a colossal fuck up. But this was all fun.

Sasha Banks/Lacey Evans/Nikki Cross/Dana Brooke/Carmella vs. Asuka/Kairi Sane/Sarah Logan/Charlotte/Natalya vs. Bianca Belair/Rhea Ripley/Io Shirai/Toni Storm/Candice LeRae

ER: This really did feel closer to some of the overstuffed Survivor Series tags from 30 years ago, though it was also rife with some bizarre character contradictions (Charlotte is just never going to be the likable one in any situation, it does not work), Lacey Evans shunted WAY too far into the background and coming off like nothing (unfair for how far she's come over this year), I have no idea why Candice and Shirai's big plan was just to let their team almost get beat but then run out, and we got a weird tentative performance from Ripley literally one night after she was this Braveheart leader against the odds in War Games. Made no sense. Asuka is still popular than any woman in this match, Kairi Sane came off like the cool smallest/craziest member of a team, Belair should have been made the sole survivor of this and then shot to the top, but her star will be undeniable soon. Her 450 is so rock solid and she knew how to work team bragging better than most here. Carmella deserves a lot of credit for her genuinely good Survivor Series throwback performance, bringing levity but fine execution to all her segments. Dana Brooke also made the most of her actual airtime, thought she took some risks she normally doesn't. I didn't agree with some of the eliminations (Natalya should not be getting the better of her feud with Evans), and it felt like their attempt to keep at least 8 of them even stevens, wish they would have let someone come off more dominant while being confident.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles

ER: This one had moments but was a little long in the tooth. I mentioned earlier how it felt like some people were allowed to stretch out on this show, but I could use a little editing at this point. This one had peaks and valleys, but did come into the peaks nicely. It's hard for me not to like Strong getting this kind of showcase; the guy might not be a trendy wrestler to like, but he's had a real phenomenal decade while still feeling underappreciated. Styles was really good at running into offense face first, and it was either all AJ or Nakamura was also throwing some of his nicest kicks in recent memory. Roddy had some big cool version of backbreakers, Nakamura is basically Japanese Randy Orton as it's annoying how good they can be sometimes while noticeably holding back on things. Styles has a brighter performance than he's been turning in lately, and this flows relatively smoothly for a 3 way. And I must say I LOVE Strong going over, even if it was of disputable means. A overall nice delivery.

Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole

ER: This was a lot of what I didn't really want to see. This is a long show, too many matches, but this was the first one I wanted to skip past. Dunne is kind of a frustrating guy for me, and let's just say the Adam Cole Championship era is not something I am enjoying, or looking to more of. Both do a lot of Offense I Don't Like and this was filled with it, like a nightmare 2005 indy match that grew up watching 1999 offense and did it more dangerously in stupid evolved variations. So here we are growing up from doing a Burning Hammer onto a picnic table on an amusing Dateline special, you're a couple of dudes breaking out a flipping piledriver on the apron, in a company where the piledriver is a banned move. But we'll always have a bunch of close ups on derpy faces after unexpected kickouts. I will thank them for keeping this (barely) under 15 minutes, but I don't have to like it. This was not the match to work after War Games, and these two wouldn't realize that.

Daniel Bryan vs. The Fiend

ER: Man this PPV has run into a ditch and I am really hoping we right this rig before blowing a tire. The Fiend is just slow crawling death, the light is bad, and Bryan almost made this into something interesting. Bryan was interesting! Bryan worked with what he had, and it wasn't much, but he somehow got the fans semi-involved in something that The Fiends was actively trying to not court. Bryan's plancha looked great and was filmed great, Fiend did have a couple nice moments of catching Bryan in mid air and dispatching him, punching him out of the sky or just catching him with a slam. But Bryan was flying into any of that (and into the ringpost) like someone desperately trying to make lemons out of lemonade, and it just did not work. This may have been the worst match on the show, and that should never be the case with a Bryan match.

Roman Reigns/Braun Strowman/Chad Gable/Baron Corbin/Ali vs. Drew McIntyre/Ricochet/Randy Orton/Kevin Owens/Seth Rollins vs. Matt Riddle/Tommaso Ciampa/WALTER/Keith Lee/Damian Priest

ER: So, I did not like a lot of this. This PPV has turned into my own personal nightmare as time has slowed way down and this feels like I will never not be writing about the happenings of this show. Braun got to run ham on people on the floor leading to a big Lee collision, and the home stretch Roman/Lee battle felt like a real Clash of the Titans that SHOULD really elevate Lee. Lee got given a moment, and he made the moment. And there were good moments. But this took a long damn time and just felt hollow and incorrect for much of the runtime. Riddle got what looked like a big moment, and maybe it leads to an Orton feud that he wins, but Riddle is someone that fans are ready to get behind in the biggest way, a guy clearly primed to make the huge crossover jump from NXT. WALTER went out quick and that's really dumb. Rollins is someone I dread at this point. Gable got tricked into looking like a goof, sounding like a goof, and getting treated like a goof. Priest looked like a goof. This was just no good. This has been bad.

Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar

ER: We know this was going one way or another, and it went the way nobody wanted it to go. I was genuinely excited about this match. We knew Brock was going to destroy Rey. Obviously he was going to snap him in two. But with the added No Holds Barred stip I was expecting Rey to make WAY more inroads than he made. Rey got steamrolled. Rey looked great getting steamrolled, but this was a real flattening. You want to see Brock destruction, but Brock is one of the great selling monsters, so you get more excited to see how small old Rey is going to take a pipe to Brock's balls and maybe somebody gets shoot busted open somehow and Brock ends up beating Dominic with a chain. We get the destruction; Brock throws cruel short arm clotheslines and big Germans and Rey gets ragdolled unprofessionally over the table and into the barricade, but the comeback that comes is just a blink, and comes off more like Barry Horowitz ducking an Undertaker lariat and landing a couple punches before shitting his pants when his luck runs out. We knew this was a possibility, but the thought of the great possibilities was too intriguing.

Bayley vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch

ER: I cannot get over how bad Bayley's haircut is. It is so dated on arrival, the worst kind of late 2000s mom framing, and the battle of The Man vs. The Mom cannot interest me. And they did not do much in this match to interest me. This goes WAY too long - the central theme of almost this entire show - and is just total Dullsville. I thought this was fairly interminable at times, and early this year there was nobody hotter in the company than Becky Lynch and a former MMA crossover star. Now Lynch feels ice cold and Baszler has gone from being a super aggressive asskicker in her 2018 matches to just hanging so far back in the mix in 2019 that it almost feels like she's injured and working 50%. The story was Baszler dominating Bayley but I don't think it came off great other than the nice hanging choke over the apron. This needed to be a real statement and it feels like this just continues a trend of bad main event women's trios. Now the main takeaway - the fair takeaway - is that 3 WAY MATCHES ARE ALMOST ALWAYS TERRIBLE. In some ways the women have been completely upended by these dismal main event PPV 3 ways. But it's only because they won't commit to one or two women that we keep getting these main event 3 ways and multimans that just blow. This never shifted into 2nd gear, and I'm not sure it's they're fault. None of them feel like they're being put in a position to succeed.


ER: This show started promising and had some on paper goodwill, but it just wasn't happening for me. I like some of the wins given to NXT, but a lot of this felt like a flop. And it's tough to sit still during such a long show that also feels like a flop.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 10/20-10/26

NXT 10/23/19

Jack Gallagher vs. Angel Garza

ER: This was a fun style clash, even though Gallagher is seemingly the only cruiserweight they don't allow to work long singles and tag matches. Tony Nese is out here getting 15 minutes and Gallagher fights to go past 5. This does not go past 5, but it has a ton of stuff you won't see in anyone else's match and that's why we value the Gentleman! He has a nice set of offense but doesn't use it all in every match. You'd think most guys would be trying to fit as much of their offense as possible into their monthly 4 minutes, but I've never seen Gallagher do the same combination of his signature stuff in any match. He always approaches things fresh, and that's a big reason I look forward to seeing him every time. They do a real cool timing spot where Garza starts removing his tearaways, Gallagher interrupts him but Garza pulls away and leaves his pants in Gallagher's hands the way a lizard would escape from a cat, and by the time Gallagher looks back up he's getting dropkicked in the face. They do a series of rolling crucifixes which is a variation I haven't really seen, and they made it looks so trippy and giddy that it felt right out of a fun Rollerball Rocco match. We get a cool sequence where Gallagher bumps big to the floor and rolls back in shaken, but recovers in time to hit his big headbutt. His headbutt is one of those moves that doesn't show up in all of his matches, and I like the ways he brings it back. I would have liked this to be twice as long, but this was fun as hell.


205 Live 10/25/19

Oney Lorcan vs. Lio Rush

ER: This was not as exhilarating as Rush's comeback match against Lorcan, but it's clear that these two are a great match for each other. They make ideal dance partners, and when you combine that with both guys having fun offense that they always execute well. Rush has a bunch of bouncy complicated moves that could potentially leave opponents looking dumb while waiting around it, but he has a cool Rey Mysterio way of getting guys logically into position for illogical offense. His bottom rope bouncing cutter should be silly, but it always looks cool. He and Lorcan each take turns pinballing across the ring: Rush takes a running knee to the gut, Lorcan gets hit with a torpedo of a suicide dive, Rush gets snapped in half by Lorcan's awesome blockbuster, and I just love the way these two take the other's offense. They're giving Rush some pretty decisive wins, and I would have liked to see a little more of Lorcan here - I would have liked to see more match period - but that Rush frog splash lands so hard that it definitely should have gotten the 3.


Smackdown 10/25/19

Drew Gulak vs. Kalisto

ER: Well this move to Smackdown has not been great for Gulak. This is a fun match while it lasts, but just when it looked like Gulak was about to break out some mean offense, Braun interrupts and allows Kalisto to finish him. Then Braun powerslams Gulak pretty unceremoniously. I would take Gulak teaming with Tony Nese for 15 minute matches over this. Having to see some associated Nese is better than this.

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 10/6-10/12

NXT 10/9/19

Drew Gulak vs. Lio Rush

ER: I don't think this hit the heights of Lio's singles match with Lorcan, but it shows that Rush is a great addition to the cruiserweight division, even though I'm still pretty surprised they put the title on him (though maybe I shouldn't be since they opened the show with a title match which is kind of unique). I liked how Rush would use his flash to get ahead, because Gulak showed early that he was going to catch him and punish him whenever possible. Gulak tries to fight that aggression at the bell by matching it, and Rush just sidesteps him. I thought Gulak was great at selling his own missed dropkick, rushing to his feet but being out of sorts, and it almost costs him a quick loss. Rush hits a standing shooting star, nice tope, but I was definitely more about Gulak in this one. I love how he would move things to each new sequence, and really liked him reversing a roll-up into the Gu-lock, and stretching Rush's limbs behind his back, stomping and dropping elbows on his arm. Rush has cool body control, and it makes matches against stretchers like Gulak even more fun, because Gulak can sit there and twist and turn and flip Rush's body in the coolest ways. I really loved with Gulak picked him up in a fireman's carry, then quickly flipped him into a torture rack position before dropping him with a neckbreaker. I don't know if I've seen someone maneuver into a torture rack so easily, without it looking super cooperative. But Rush is a total loon and that means we get awesome moments like Gulak dropkicking him off the top and Rush crashing into a couple of NXT ring boys in their folding chairs. They did a nice set of reversals around the Gu-lock, with Gulak catching Rush in it again but Rush escaping to get his own dragon sleeper. The best part of it was that they weren't having Rush go hold to hold with him, as Gulak expertly spun through the dragon sleeper within seconds. Too many matches make the mistake of going into a brainless reversal sequence where both guys skillset is suddenly equal, and I like how they kept Gulak as the one whose submissions could finish. I do think they hit the ending a little quick (and I think we missed several minutes of commercial break action), even though I liked how they set up the top rope fighting and Gulak eating the frog splash. But the bow got tied a little too neatly at the end for me. I was hoping for another false finish or two.

PAS: I thought this was pretty great, and I do think that shorter matches will fit these guys better. I love a lot of 205 live, but the bloat is real. I thought the opening flurry was great. Lio has one of the best topes (non-lucha division) in the world, and I loved how Gulak trying to match pace with Rush cost him, and Rush trying to match holds with Gulak backfired on him. The big bump before the commercial break was great, although I hate when someone new is on offense after coming back. Rush has incredible body control, his springboard stunner should be dumb, but looks awesome, and I love how he sells the collision of his own offensive moves. A frog splash should hurt both guys, and Rush always reacts to the contact. Finish did seem a bit abrupt, but I think Rush is the right guy for the belt as it moves to NXT. Love Gulak, but Rush has WCW Rey Jr. potential, and with the right care can mean something on a TV product. Feel free to run this back a bunch though.

205 Live 10/11/19

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch vs. Drew Gulak/Tony Nese

PAS: This was another solid tag match between two teams which really match up well. Nese kept the Neseness down, we got one bit of kip up breakdance nonsense, but mostly he was fine. Burch is the other guy in this match I am hit or miss on, and he was solid too, nasty uppercuts, and straight punches and nothing too complicated. You are in this for Gulak and Lorcan and they both delivered, Lorcan especially was totally amped, and his big offensive run of uppercuts and a pair of reckless dives was really breathtaking. I did think the finish felt a bit decisive and I would hate to think Gulak is being marginalized after losing the belt, but otherwise this was the kind of entertaining match which I hope we can keep getting.

ER: Yeah I thought this was really good, even if I thought it petered out at the end and came dangerously close to losing me when all four guys wound up standing around hitting each other and then paired off for bad looking phone booth fighting shortly before the finish. I didn't like that. But I liked most of the rest of this! As Phil said, this was all about Lorcan and Gulak, and those guys owned in this match. I don't have the same level of problems with Burch as Phil does, I think he's a good complementary player to Lorcan, and feels like when Doc Dean or Robbie Brookside would show up on WCW syndication. I didn't like them anywhere near as much as I liked Finlay, Regal, or Taylor, but they were a welcome stylistic presence and added nicely to the mix. Burch throws hard shots, has no problem getting hit, throws a nice missile dropkick and uppercuts, and plays like a nice complement to the guys I really like. But I dug Gulak and Nese cutting off the ring and working over Burch, especially loved how Gulak tagged in and hit a nasty headbutt and slammed Burch into the bottom rope (later there was a cool moment where Nese . This was all building to the exciting Lorcan hot tag, easily one of the best hot tags in the game, and it's impossible to not love him  flying sideways and horizontally into guys with uppercuts, hitting bananas dives (I love his cannonball to the floor where he seems to not care who he hits), and doing his Catch Point Ultimate Warrior routine. Nese's 450 always ends with him practically faceplanting, and as we always say Nese is at his most interesting when he's putting himself in danger. I didn't love the ending, agree that it felt too definitive, and my least favorite moments of the match all happened towards the end. Still, I like this format, and the specific things I disliked about it have not been commonly used by them so I'm hoping they abandon them.

And I'm mainly talking about 4 man standoff spots, obviously, because when has that spot EVER looked good? It's a bad spot to steal from the indies, because I cannot point to one instance of that spot ever looking anything but stupid, anywhere. At least we know why people still do the Frye/Takayama spot, it's a spot associated with a famously brutal and insane fight moment. What moment is associated with 4 goofs standing around waiting to see who gets hit next? These 4 actually made that spot look BETTER than it typically looks, at least throwing headbutts into the mix. But who has made 4 people standing around taking turns hitting each other look actually good? I've never seen it.  

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WWE Big 3: Lorcan, Gallagher, Gulak 9/15 - 9/21

Clash of the Champions 9/15

Drew Gulak vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. Lince Dorado

ER: Fun match with typical problems that curse three ways. I don't know why Lince was added to the match, but I would have been far more interested in Gulak vs. Carrillo or Gulak vs. Dorado. But we got a three way instead, and it had awkward three way moments where timing was off or someone accidentally kinda took a move instead of dodging it, and of course disappearing for minutes. But it was genuinely fun, in spite of those accurate complaints. Dorado had a cool pescado with his arms at his side, following it up with a slick rana to Gulak on the floor, and then turns a potential silly hot shot bump into a dangerous tumble to the floor. I like Gulak against lucha guys, like how he can make flippy offense seem legit, and Carrillo is someone who tries a lot of things even if they don't always work flush. They try a wild tower spot with a Doomsday Device dive to the floor, I enjoyed the moment where Gulak got his feet up on Carrillo's moonsault but Carrillo anticipated it, Carrillo takes a great posting bump, Gulak breaks out cool things like a gutbuster, and then some other things don't work. But it was a fun opener on a PPV pre-show.


205 Live 9/17

Jack Gallagher vs. Brian Kendrick

ER: This is the cruel opposite of what we've been getting from 205 Live. We've been getting 20 minute matches from guys who I don't want to see go 20, but that's way better than this. This was 2 really great minutes followed by a dead ass ending that got no reaction from the crowd. I mean, the 2 minutes of awesome action they gave us got no reaction either, but fans are idiots fuck 'em. I'd love to see these two work a Bloodsport match. If Kendrick ever gets released (fyi I'm really glad Kendrick has been cashing a nice WWE check for a few years now, he's earned it) he'd be a cool out of the box guy to have on some cards. He and Gallagher on the mat just made me want to see more of that and made me made we got deprived of it. Gallagher doing his recline while trapping Kendrick's arms, and Kendrick escaping by hooking Gallagher's calf. There standing exchanges were really cool and I thought the work around the apron on the floor was slick. Kendrick finds cool ways of getting into position for offense, really approaches moves and takes moves from cool angles. He and Gallagher clearly have a series of classics in them, and I hope they get the platform to have them. Also, I realize I have not watched a single bit of their 2017/2018 205 Live output teaming with each other, or opposite each other. I'm going to change that.

PAS: This was fun while it lasted, although it didn't last long. We had the opening couple of minutes of a great match, with Gallagher using a bunch of tricky WOS to frustrate Kendrick, and Kendrick getting more and more agitated. Kendrick has a really great wiry junky energy, I could totally see him as a guy in a Abel Ferrara movie who pulls out a straight razor in the middle of a bar. Finish was blah, I grew up on the Sandman, if you are going to clean someones clock with a Kendo stick, make sure that clock is clean.

Oney Lorcan vs. Tony Nese

PAS: I certainly prefer brawling heel Tony Nese to athletic combo babyface Tony Nese, but I would really prefer anyone else to be getting his airtime. Nese is a good bumper, so the highlights of this match were Lorcan beating on him and making him bump, there is a great spot where Oney tosses him into the barricade and Nese lands kidneys first into the top of the barricade and flies into the crowd,  Tony also took a big bump to the floor after an uppercut. It is when he is on offense that it gets more problematic.  His punches and stomps look so bad that it is hard to buy him holding his own in a fight with Lorcan. He also does of couple of his signature do-si-do reversal sequences. Pissed off Lorcan is great, and overall makes this match pretty enjoyable, but goodness elevate someone, anyone else to the long main event matches.

ER: Man Tony Nese has been the scourge of this project. He's a pest and he just will not go away. If he has to exist, why does he have to exist in this close proximity to all of the guys we set out to watch? We've already been forced to write up seven Tony Nese matches this year because of this project! You guys are now reading your seventh Tony Nese joint review instead of whatever seven matches we would have reviewed instead. Think of what seven matches you'd absolutely LOVE to have us review, and now think of how we've instead written about seven Tony Nese matches.

That said, I liked this match, and while I don't like Tony Nese I like this version more than his other forms. Lorcan was obviously the star, but Nese filled in his share. Totally agree with Phil about his punches and stomps, but at least here he was doing delayed one armed vertical suplexes, working a body vice, grabbing a rear waistlock as an offense, that kind of stuff is Tony Nese offense that I like. And he is a good bumper, a guy who when he misses has no problem missing big. His missed Asai moonsault looked really painful, and I loved the match long contest between the two of them to see who could take crazier bumps into the barricade. Nese is brave about flying into Lorcan's offense, and Lorcan is someone who will fly into his own offense. His running elbows and uppercuts and body as weapon abandon is fun against someone who leans in and bumps big. I wrote a paragraph grousing about watching so many Tony Nese matches by choice, but I actually quite liked this one.

NXT 9/18

20. Oney Lorcan vs. Lio Rush

ER: I thought this ruled, with a super fast start and a ton of neat moments peppered throughout. Lio came off more interesting than most of the 205 Live juniors, and Lorcan looked like a guy who needs to be slotted much higher on the roster. Rush was a perfect Lorcan opponent, leaning into his strikes, bumping uniquely for his big shots, and firing back with actual interesting cruiser offense. Rush gets demolished by Lorcan's charging uppercuts and whips his body to the mat for the blockbuster, but soon after he's hitting three straight suicide dives that I guarantee hit harder and looked better than whatever Seth Rollins' three best dives this year have been. This felt like one of the best uses of the suicide dives trio, as they hit flush and I dug how Lorcan sold them. This felt almost like an updated Psicosis/Rey match, the way Lorcan would fling Rush around (look at that gutwrench powerbomb!) and even simple things Lorcan would do like bodyslams would look devastating with Rush taking them. I was super impressed by Rush's body control in this match, felt closer to Low-Ki movements than most guys are capable of. Rush getting whipped into the corner and winding up half out of the ring/half tied up in the ropes was awesome, and it lead to a Lorcan uppercut that looked even cooler with Rush recoiling in the ropes.  Lorcan kept getting meaner, and that STF choke was real nasty, good enough that I would have bought it as a finish, and before long he's grabbing Rush right by the jaw and slapping him. Rush is fast enough to snap off cruiser offense that looks less mapped off than others doing the same, like his cool bottom rope rebound cutter or the fluidity of his one-man Spanish Fly; plenty of other juniors use those moves, but few looked as good as Rush, and it's possible that some of that is because Lorcan is great at taking quick offense. The Spanish Fly transition was unexpected and came at a cool moment, really stopping Lorcan's freight train in its tracks, and it's among the best the spot has looked. I was hoping the match would keep going, not because it ended abruptly, but because I was loving how they worked together so much. To my knowledge they've never matched up together before, and they nailed it on the first shot. Not to mention, this was Rush's first match back in 6 months, and how could you possibly have a better reintroduction than this?

PAS: When I read Eric's review, I went and checked Cagematch, I figured they must have run across each other in CZW, but outside of a house show NXT tag this was a first time matchup. It really felt like a totally polished touring feud, just awesome chemistry. Rush is super flexible, and Lorcan is very willing to twist his body in horrific ways (those may have been the most violent looking single leg crabs I can remember seeing). Loved the way this match was paced, with a crazy opening couple of minutes, some dips in pace, and a big wild finish. They really knew how to work the timing. Rush has real explosiveness which is rare, he hits spots that might look lame normally (think about how bad Gary Jay's multiple tope's look, or most standing Spanish Fly's), but snaps them off with such speed and force that they look awesome. The WWE house style is still toned down enough that we don't have to worry about Rush no selling piledrivers off ladders, so I am excited to see what he can do with that fear removed. This was great, and I am amped for Rush vs. Gulak.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Most of EVOLVE 83 4/23/17

1. Tracy Williams vs. Chris Dickinson

ER: This was no good, real disappointing. These two looked half asleep out there, had no plan, did some stuff, much of it poorly applied. Half nelson suplex forgotten a moment later? Check. Obligatory apron fight? Check. Having an epic war elbow exchange? Check (with bonus "forehead resting on opponent's chin because we're dead on our feet from warring"). The build was non-existent, the light behind the eyes was turned off, their focus seemed elsewhere. Perhaps, they were accomplishing something deeper. Perhaps, both realized that Catch Point was nearing a conclusion. Perhaps this was two partners, nearing the end of their relationship. The good times had been great. Later, long after both of you had moved on - willingly or unwillingly - you'd find an old archived email, with the two of you expressing written, verbal, courtship-like impossible love and devotion the likes of which you didn't ever remember happening. The desire to make small-but-necessary changes to appease the other, those changes both important to the longterm standing of your love and maybe also early unacknowledged cracks in the foundation of your at-the-time genuine love. Those words you were now reading seemed to be from another lifetime. The feelings were too much, making your body temp rise that you actually moved someone to feel this way about YOU, while a pit formed reminding you of all the bad times that came after. The fights were sometimes easier to remember than the beautiful, shields-down adoration the two of you had for each other. Both painful to think too long about. This match, these two partners, having this by the books argument, the kind of argument we've all had, the perfect microcosm of a failed relationship. Two people so beyond saving that they can't even get it up for their arguments any longer. Their words are meant, but the teeth are removed. Nothing can hurt them now, because - perhaps without even realizing it and DEFINITELY not ready to admit it out loud - there are no longer any stakes, and they've both begun the process of moving on.  These two have done this before, and they've done it better, and they both know they've done it better. But the listless, failed relationship ennui that they captured was breathtaking. This, the gorgeous sadness of still caring enough about someone to just be willing to go through the fucking motions with them. If they didn't care, they just wouldn't do it. But both have been hurt, and both are still hurt by the idea of hurting the other, even as they're hurting the other. Love is rare. It shouldn't be a surprise that true love ever dies, but it does. And we should celebrate that love, no matter how brief. We should celebrate that we've ever had someone that loved us enough to go through the motions with us. 10 stars.

2. Keith Lee vs. David Starr

ER: YES! This was what I wanted. Lee acted cocky without really acting too cocky, and Starr went right at him like Lee wasn't 120 lb. bigger than him. There were nice little things by both guys, and I really liked how they accurately sold shots: If a shot was supposed to hit the face but landed shoulder,  each guy sold neck and shoulder. It brought an honesty to things that helped things as it escalated. Starr hits Lee hard, throwing nasty chops and elbows, dodging a couple Lee punches and then surprising the big guy with a slap. The two lariats that follow are brutal, crashing into the side of Lee's neck. That neck takes a major beating as Lee eats a backdrop into the buckles (crazy bump) and then gets planted in gross fashion with an apron DDT. It looked like his head disappeared into mat. And after that DDT Starr just runs through Lee with another lariat, finally taking him down. But Lee is mammoth and he does not quit, and before long he remembers his size advantage, running through another lariat attempt as if he was trying to rip Starr's arm off his body, pulling off an awesome/silly/surprising/probably ill-advised rana, and flat out crushing Starr with a couple of impressive slams. Starr impressed the hell out of me here, tons of guts, real fearless, and Lee is just a physical freak. Great stuff all around.

PAS: This was pretty nifty stuff, I think Starr is kind of a goof, but facing a guy this big keeps him from falling into too much indy move trading. I could live with out ever seeing his elbow smash/chop combo again though. Both apron moves were huge and nasty, Lee absolutely murders Starr with a powerbomb on the apron, which led to Lee in control for a long time, and the apron DDT by Starr gave him a plausible run on top as well. If you are going to do crazy stuff like that it should matter. Lee is really good at selling for such a big guy, and he really makes me buy a little guy like Starr could hurt him, if only briefly.

3. Fred Yehi vs. Kyle O'Reilly

ER: This was a good showing from both, with O'Reilly attacking Yehi's arm and Yehi going after O'Reilly's knee. The knee stuff was the most compelling work in the match, some of those early knots Yehi was tying were pretty sick, really looked like a guy with dozens of ways to take apart a knee. I don't love O'Reilly doing the Catch Point grappling, as there are always too many cracks, too many moments where Yehi has to hold still waiting for O'Reilly to get to where he's supposed to be. O'Reilly makes up for some grappling clunkiness by throwing some really nasty shots, raining down on Yehi from mount, and starts trying to yank that arm off. They lose me once they start going into some strike exchange stuff, the exchange came off a little too silly for what they were going for, and for how hard they were hitting each other. We hit bottom once we got to a Scooby Doo spot where both men backed into each other, startling each other, and turned to slap the other. The spots seemed really contrived. O''Reilly also isn't good at selling nuance. Working an early bum knee was probably a mistake. He does overall much better than I expected, but when he does something like trying to run and just faceplanting because "his knee gave out", it just comes off too ham. But they win me back with some pretty nasty shots, really liked O'Reilly stubbornly holding an armbar while Yehi is realigning his jaw with knees, dug O'Reilly choking him to his knees with a standing front choke, liked the finish with a brainbuster into some nasty arm twisting. Overall I liked the match, just wish they had dropped a couple things.

4. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lio Rush

PAS: I really like 8/10ths of this, it was worked kind of like a 2010s version of Mysterio v. Malenko, with Sabre grounding and torturing Rush. Rush is really flexible and gets twisted into some nasty violence pretzels, he does some especially nasty things to Rush's ankles, violently wrenching them and stomping on them in weird nasty ways. Sabre was a real nasty prick in this match, which he is actually pretty good at, his contemptuous sneer is much better then his goofy babyface faces and torturing a tiny guy is a pretty mean thing to do. Finish run lost me a bit, no reason for this match to have a tough guy elbow exchange, I hate the fact that is in every indy match, and it is especially dumb here. Rush had some cool flying spots, but he could have been more explosive, I did like Sabre escaping with a roll up pin and cutting off Rush's big offensive run.

ER: I really loved Sabre in this. I didn't have a whole lot of use for Rush's offense, so I was a-ok watching Sabre bend him around in all sorts of evil ways. Rush was pretty great at getting 4 limbs pulled in different directions at once, and for that I thank him. Sabre breaks out some of his best stuff here, the octopus hold was ridiculous, the drop toe hold on left leg/ankle lock on right leg/crossface choke was sick, plenty of nasty wrist manipulation, always digging elbow points into tender muscles while locking in holds, all really great stuff. I thought the set ups for everything were really well played, a lot of stuff that could have flopped came off organic, like catching an ankle lock when Rush tried a Pele kick. I've never seen that spot (I'm sure it's happened somewhere), and it came off unexpectedly and well timed. The fighting spirit strike exchange was silly (even though I liked Sabre's shoulder shrug uppercuts) and felt just totally out of place, but the finish was killer with Sabre just locking on a tight roll up and holding the pin several seconds after the bell. Loved that.

5. I Quit: Drew Galloway vs. Matt Riddle

ER: Quite a violent spectacle, that kinda comes undone in the final few minutes. I think the match would have greatly benefitted from being a No DQ or Texas Death Match, as Drew Galloway's strategy didn't make a whole lot of sense with the I Quit stipulation. He kept going for KO offense and then making the same shocked face when Riddle would just gurgle into the mic. At one point he hits three future shock DDTs and then a 4th on a chair, and then just lies there while Riddle gurgles. You'd think with Riddle selling being barely conscious that Galloway could have just kneeled on his balls or something to get the quick "I Quit". The violence is at least big up until that point, with both guys throwing super nasty shots all match, Drew taking a suplex on the floor, Riddle getting bounced off the mat with a gorgeous snap piledriver...but then we hit a kind of goofy patch. We have a too long "Drew tying Riddle to the ropes" moment, with Riddle apparently being so beaten down that he couldn't struggle, and then Drew delivers tons of great punches to a tied up Riddle (the headlock short punches were so great they would make people forget about Nolan Ryan/Robin Venture). But then...Drew for some reason sells more than Riddle, apparently tired from beating his fists against Riddle's skull. Riddle gets untied by the ref and goes on a rampage, despite being so beaten down that he couldn't struggle against getting tied up moments earlier, and took nothing but damage since then. Drew is tired from dishing a beating, and Riddle is moving with more energy than he has all match. It all felt very dumb. Galloway ramps up the dumb by pulling out a sledgehammer (We know what that means!!!), hits Riddle in the balls with the handle, but Riddle's balls recover and he makes Drew quit with the bromission. I dunno. The violence was real and I liked the first 75% of the match (despite, again, thinking things would have been so much better with a simple No DQ stip), but they lost me pretty good by the end.

PAS: I agree that the stip hurt this match, way too much stuff with the ref holding microphones in peoples faces, it made it very hard for the match to have any pace or structure. There were some individually cool moves, I loved the snap piledriver, and the DDT's looked good, but all of it was followed by Riddle lying there while Galloway yells at the ref. The sledgehammer was too clever by half, although I really liked the final finish with the twister being so violent that it can force a submission from any point.

ER: Decent show with a couple standout matches. Lee/Starr and Sabre/Rush were good enough to land on our 2017 Ongoing MOTY List. I had higher hopes for Galloway/Riddle. The action was there, but the stip was a flop.

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EVOLVE 60 Live Thoughts

I somehow convinced my pregnant wife to come with me to beautiful Joppa MD to watch an EVOLVE show.

Lio Rush v. Caleb Konley

Rush was the hometown boy and the crowd was super into him. Konley did a really nice job as the shithead redneck heel, at one point even calling Rush "Boy" which seemed to really piss off the crowd. Rush is a bunch of fun, he reminds of early 2000s Red, nice pop on his kicks and punches, great bumping and nifty highspots. Really good opener, and the match Chelsea liked the most.

Devastation Corporation v. Bravado Brothers

Didn't do a ton for me, Bravado's are pretty generic indy brother tag team, I don't remember if they did superkicks, but they felt like they did superkicks. Blaster McMassive was impressive, he had a really nice missed clothesline, that isn't something easy to do, he really looked like he was going to behead whatever Bravado. He also had a crazy over the ring post dive which was nutso considering how big he is. I would like to see what he could do outside of a comedy Chikara team.

Matt Riddle v. Anthony Neese

I really love Riddle, Neese is a generic indy flipper, kind of Jersey Davey Richards, not my kind of dude, but it was interesting to see how Riddle adjusted to that. One big thing I noticed about him is his crazy strength, all the other suplexes on this show you could see how the guy taking it would jump into the move, while Riddle is just hurling folks over with pure rawbone muscle. Not a great match, but Riddle is magnetic.

Marty Scrull v. Johnny Gargano

Chelsea on this match "I don't like this dancy stuff, it looks like they are dancing". This was indy wrestling as fuck, lots of applause break standoffs, leg slap kicks, long section of dramatic two counts. Chelsea hadn't seen any good heels before so she was amused by Scrull's act, although I thought it was super try hard. I did like Gargano grabbing his leg to block a superplex and Scrulls finger break spot (although doing it in every match lowers the effect a bunch) otherwise I wanted no part of this and what is represents.

Ethan Page v. Drew Galloway

This was preceded and succeeded by a bunch of nonsense with Galloway and Gargano arguing about the DIY ethics of the WWE deal. This is supposed to lead to some big angle tonight, but so far I deeply lack any fucks. Page is doing an emo fight for redemption which is totally hambone. At one point he yells "Johnny's my friend" and does this dramatic walkoff post match using a chair as a crutch (despite not taking much of a beating). Page needs to redeem how bad his kick to the stomach looked.

TJP/Fred Yehi v. Tracy Williams/Drew Gulak

I really dug this, Gulak and Williams are great at constant tags keeping up pressure. Yehi is a beast I loved all of throws and stomps, he did this takedown where he stomped on Williams heel before grabbing a single leg. TJP does different stuff then the other guys in this match lots of very cool takedowns and headscissors, it really reminds me of the stuff Alexander Otsuka would bring to BattlArts tags. Finished seemed a bit hinky live, although on tape it looked deliberate, less of a blown spot and more of partners not on the same page. Love Catch Point.

Chris Hero v. Zach Sabre Jr.

Hero comes out in a Duke jersey and Duke themed trunks which is an amazing douchebag troll move in Maryland. Sabre and Hero have a really great match structure, with Sabre trying to make small tears in Hero's joints and Hero trying to give Sabre CTE. This wasn't a completely douchey crowd, but Hero did a nice job engaging them, begging them to start new chants when he was beating Sabre's ass. This felt a bit long live (Chelsea was nodding) although might be paced better on tape. Still very good stuff in a match up which is consistently delivering. Surprised Hero got the win again, but man those piledrivers deserved a victory.

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