NJPW Wrestle Dynasty 1/5/25

 

Athena vs. Persephone vs. Willow Nightingale vs. Momo Watanabe 

ER: I'm kind of shocked by how good this was and how well they kept up a certain energy for 10+ minutes. But I also think a lot of it just might have been Athena. I think this was 10 minutes of waiting for what Athena was going to do next. She is pure lighting and can go go go. She leaps into everything at a doggish pace. She hits the mat and people hard. She gets thrown into a fast tope a minute in and I'm not sure it's the 4th coolest thing she did all match. I thought Persephone really shined in a match where they all got time to shine (and did). She had some big bumps and lands with good weight, real good babyface energy and a unique strength spot approach. Willow got the attention of a big crowd multiple times, and Watanabe was fine fourth wheel. But every great moment led to Athena making it greater. She worked into and out of sequences with everyone so well. She's like if Low Ki really loved Manami Toyota. It's electric. She chokeslams Persephone on the apron like a small Taue demon. When she hits the Eclipse on Willow it's like the finisher 2 Cold Scorpio was jealous he didn't invent. 

Willow makes the Eclipse even better by taking her straps down in power before turning into it. You know I am a big fan of Lawler strap lowering and lowering the straps before taking the final shot is arguably the best use of the straps. I love Willow. But Athena is as must watch in a match like this as prime Juvy. The opening 3 minutes was so hot and as well timed as the greatest 4 ways, and I didn't think the energy level could be maintained. Because of Athena, it was. She ran everything together and there were a lot of strong timing peaks from the other three. The finish was kind of silly, with Thekla not committing on interference enough for what should have been the finish and then Momo hitting Athena across the head with A FUCKING BASEBALL BAT as hard as she can, it comes off a bit ridiculous. Like your scoop suplex was cool, do a few of those and give your opponent something to actually sell. What's Athena supposed to do with a baseball bat shot to the head, work a brain damage angle for 10 months?  

Dustin Rhodes/Sammy Guevara vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/SHO

ER: Man this was good. This was most likely Dustin's last ever match in Japan. Maybe not. I wouldn't bet against him. But this was the first match he'd wrestled in Japan since 2010. The thing is, Dustin was never a Japan guy. You'd never know it from watching this match. This was a great performance that connected with a crowd that was seated far away from him, in a way where they seemed familiar with him just because his wrestling style is That Good. He's a man with an improbably long and impressively durable high end career and he's wrestling his first match in the Tokyo Dome in 30 years. It's an amazing return. He shows out for it. 

Dustin working against these two guys is weird and fun. The size difference between he and SHO is insane and SHO sells it as such all match. Dustin is tireless when he needs to be and makes the most out of a total name grab bag random set of career opponents. Do a fucking shining wizard thing that looks awesome, fuck yeah! Dustin's hot tag where he just wastes both of them is the best. SHO is taking Dustin clotheslines aimed at the jaw they both get powerslams he can still somehow give in the same twisting form. SHO takes almost all of Dustin's shit and he takes it so well. Once he bounced across the ring for a 55 year old code red, Dustin obviously knew this guy knew the deal and knew the Man. 

I never got the hate for Sammy. I think he's pretty great. I like a kid who's not a bad kid but also a little shit. A nice guy who is capable of saying something pretty mean to your sister. He does moonsaults with wild abandon and takes the farthest back body drop bumps of anyone on any of these rosters. Does a Good Superkick still matter in 2025? I think it can. If it can, then Sammy has some of the consistently best. Not just in execution, but in placement within a match. He has this way of milking goodwill out of every indie spot that's ever been overused: superkicks, back crackers, cutters, but maintains the timing to make all of them feed well into a legend like Dustin's offense. Kanemaru's moonsault across Dustin's knees looked pretty bad, but I guess if you were in a fight with Dustin the smartest thing you could do is target his knees so let's give Kanemaru Body Part Specific Moonsault Credit here. He still gets docked for not holding up his end of the match with his shtick. Dustin rules. 

Lucha Gauntlet

ER: Good lucha highspot showcase except it kept getting interrupted by less talented New Japan guys who threw the rhythm off. Mascara Dorada and Hechicero were standouts. Hechicero doing his thing within a growing throng of competitors was cool every time he was the focus, but I especially liked him tying up Fujita in knots when they were the only two. Dorada kept finding new ways to deliver and take offense, always throwing in something extra. He kept finding a new way to flip for a kick, and the key to Dorada at his best is he has this way of adding an extra flip or twist but making it look like it wasn't mapped way out ahead of time. His tope into Soberano was awesome, and Soberano was the best at catching everyone's dives during the big dive train. After he hit a tornillo with a million twists, they had him out front and center saving everyone's bacon.   

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata

ER: This was an "Exhibition Match" but I am unclear on what was being exhibited. We know that Tanahashi has bad leg injuries and cannot move, but he has also had many other matches this year which were not just him exchanging chops with someone for 4 minutes before time expired. The one minute of collar and elbow lock up was much more engaging than the 4 minutes of chopping that followed. Meltzer went ***1/4 on this which might honestly be his most ridiculous rating ever. Calling a match 7 stars, we all know that's stupid, but he rated this higher than the Dustin tag and the women's 4 way, which were actual GOOD matches! Nobody could squint their eyes and even call this a match. It would be like giving Inoki ***1/4 for people lining up to take his bom-ba-ye slaps. What exactly was Meltzer rating here? What subtext am I missing that made it Good, Actually, that Tanahashi is incapable of throwing chops with any strength? 

Mercedes Mone vs. Mina Shirakawa

ER: I thought this was a really good Mina performance - one of her best long singles match showings I've seen - but I couldn't get into what Mercedes was doing. She had this weird way of silently emoting to the crowd, a PC thing that doesn't play at all in a gigantic dome. She would silently sell through her teeth as Mina was working over her leg, then sell her leg by doing a bunch of offense that required her to slam her knee into things. I don't think her teeth selling played in the large venue and I think she went to wordless crying faces too soon. Meanwhile, Mina was savagely going after her leg in ways she doesn't do in AEW. I loved all her knee breakers and the way she'd kick the inside of Mone's knee, slamming her knee into the mat and maneuvering into figure 4 leg locks (quicker than I thought she was capable of doing). Mone scrambling for the ropes was one of her only bits of selling I liked. Mina was working over Mone's knee not to soften her up for some submission, but to leave her prone for her impact DDTs, and I loved all of Mina's impact DDTs. But Mone was working this more like a "Things I Wanted To Do in the Tokyo Dome" so she was bridging up to hit the three amigos (feeling way out of place in this match) and then doing offense based entirely around fucking up her own knees: several different codebreaker/back crackers, a gutbuster, the meteora, just a total disconnect from the great match Mina was working. 

Brody King vs. David Finlay

ER: I don't know if I bought Finlay's offense against King, but I bought the way King took Finlay's offense and the way they made the most out of their misses. Finlay got sidestepped early on a charge into the guardrail, a great last second feint by King that sends Finlay into a gross full speed miss...but then Finlay hits that same flying body attack into King later in the match, delivered at the exact same speed and impacting King the way his body impacted the railing. I like that kind of commitment to not just a miss, but to show your delivery and execution is consistent and real. King is great at misses too, with a great miss very early on a charge into the corner. I love the specific way he hit the turnbuckle pad, like a dog who ran full speed into a sliding glass door. When this settled into Monster vs. Man it was at its best. Finlay's strikes look terrible so it made sense when King was knocking him around with his actual good elbow strikes, and Finlay does Staggered By Strikes selling better than I thought. The finish felt too abrupt for a match that had a good pace, but I kind of liked Finlay being unable to hit a sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner...only to just lift and hit a regular powerbomb right after. King made the Overkill look like a finish, dropping down fast face first into Finlay's knee. 

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shota Umino 

ER: There aren't actually people out there who hype up Umino as some kind of good wrestler, right? I sure don't see that kind of praise, and I see no reason for that praise. This guy brings very little to the table. His strikes would not break through a spiderweb, and his selling is nonexistent. The first three minutes is just Claudio running him ribs first into the ringpost and a half dozen guardrails and I was looking forward to a match where Claudio beats the hell out of this man who could only exist in a post-Marufuji Japanese wrestling landscape. But this guy really has nothing once the actual moves are delivered. He is not bad at taking and selling a move itself, but once the moment has passed he is onto his bullshit. He fights this too often as Claudio's equal, but none of his offense makes him look equal to anyone. He is a less effective Kentaro Shiga, and lucky for him Claudio is good at taking all of his overly complicated DDTs. The one time Umino's damaged ribs came back into play was the only real compelling part of the match: Claudio's scorpion deathlock. This hold won me over the longer Claudio had it locked it. At first I thought it was for a pointless build to a bad Umino comeback, but the longer Claudio had it applied and the harder Umino fought for the ropes, the more I thought it could actually finish the match. The more I wanted it to finish the match, because I didn't want to see what kind of do-si-do reversal of a reversal nonsense Umino broke out for the home stretch. He made the ropes, he do-si-do'd, he somehow won without ever looking convincing in any way. 

Although he did do one thing well, and I couldn't believe it. HOW is Umino the guy who can throw good looking downward strike elbows to the head and neck?! Nobody makes those look good! Here's the lightest elbow striker on the card and he's lighting Claudio up while balancing on the ropes? What is the deal with this guy. 

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii

ER: This was the match I was expecting them to have and was a good version of that match, which is a match that I don't much care for. There are a lot of parts of an Ishii match that won't make sense when applied to most other wrestlers, because he is going to take punishment until he cannot. So it annoys me when Takeshita acts shocked at Ishii absorbing punishment. When Takeshita hits the Raging Fire falcon arrow off the buckles and Ishii kicks out, he sits there on his but in disbelief for an entire 30 seconds (!), filming an extended Performance Center tryout reaction because the guy who absorbs punishment kicked out of something like 7 minutes into a match. I hate this shit. Like man if I know he's going to get up and start exchanging elbows then you should clearly know this man will kick out of things and get up to fire off some elbows. 

Ishii will take plenty of punishment and I only find that so entertaining in 2025. He's a nut, this is what he does. He will get dropped on the top of his head on a German suplex, Takeshita trying to compress any more vertebrae that haven't been compressed yet, and Ishii will take a big clothesline bump on the back of his head. As tired as I am of stand and trade showdown wrestling, I did actually like them holding waistbands and throwing their hardest shots of the match, and how Takeshita levels him with one of his hardest elbows after they let go of the waistbands. I hate how we seemingly have to sit through a lot of bad stand and trade to get to the part where "this time we really mean it" but they did a good job of making the shots mean something more down the stretch. Ishii's popped me with a frankensteiner that I through looked great, and was a nice payoff to Takeshita taking an eternity to set up a powerslam off the top rope. I bought into Ishii's lariats down the stretch. Takeshita threw some of his best strikes and Ishii built up to his biggest lariats, but even though the shots landed harder in the last half, I still never truly feel a sense of escalation as a lot of the selling is the same in the first few minutes as it is in the last few minutes. I guess we are supposed to be surprised that it is Still Going On but that sounds like a terrible way to structure a wrestling match. Can you still believe we're doing this shit? 

My favorite little moment was Ishii's lunging back elbow after absorbing lots of elbows and kicks in the corner. Takeshita held his chin afterward in a way that made it feel like an actual real moment, like he got popped and knew this was going to be the first of many. He recognized Ishii's fight, and Ishii made a single shot resonate more than a dozen Takeshita had just thrown. But the longer these things go the longer those shots all blend together. 

Young Bucks vs. Great-O-Khan/Jeff Cobb vs. Hiromu Takahashi/Tetsuya Naito

ER: Man I don't know. Maybe this would have been better if it were a simple tag match instead of this three way tag, because this three way tornado tag format stinks. Shoot maybe even with the three way format but guys actually waiting to tag in on the apron it would have worked, but this does not. Guys appear and disappear at will, and the longer guys disappear the more reminder that it's all about blatantly setting up a bunch of spots that never add up to much. There's plenty of superkick spamming, plenty of suplex spamming, plenty of dives that nobody seems to have any idea how to catch. There were plenty of spots that looked good. I like the way Cobb throws a German suplex, I liked when Matt was struggling in the tree of woe and all his strands of pearls were hanging in his face as he sputtered, and I thought the Bucks staying vocal throughout (including telling the ringside cameras they were going to go make love to their wives) brought something. But the disappearances were too frequent for chained spots that didn't land so hot, and the glue joining those spots was awful. Naito looks completely lost at times waiting for what to do next, and the only way he and Takahashi know how to interject into a spot is with bad kicks to the stomach. O-Khan was gone far too much to make an impression and the Bucks conveniently sold based on when they needed to be in position, with no regard to what move they were selling. That's the worst, and that's what kept happening all match. 

Jack Perry vs. Yota Tsuji

ER: One of those matches where nobody really looked good but one guy looked better, and it went longer than you'd want but only because it wasn't that good. They didn't do much wrong, besides not wrestling a compelling or good or watchable match. Perry has good DDTs and a couple better suplexes than you'd think but Tsuji is a real zero. What's the entry point with Tsuji? What is the draw? How does the Raymond Chandler's Carmen San Diego Zoo Suit entrance gear tie into a guy who is so on the nose The Worst Influences of Edge that he even has a Spear finisher and makes spooky faces? Perry was good at cutting off several Tsuji charges/spears, catching one in a well timed DDT and stopping another with a sly kick. I like Perry as a heel more than I did as a babyface and I think he's closer to being a good wrestler now. His personality is much more natural. I would have probably liked Edge more if he tried doing a Spanish Fly in 2002. After Perry takes the spear for the loss, he exits the arena holding a hot water bottle to his tummy and maybe Perry is actually a good wrestler. 

Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd

ER: I typically do not connect with big match Kenny Omega, and I don't believe I have ever connected with a single thing that Gabe Kidd has done, but I think I loved this. This was a 12 match show and I'm not sure there was a match I was looking forward to less. Well, I knew the Yota Tsuji match would be worse, but I knew this would be twice as long and I knew the show was already five hours long. I mentally wrote this one off, and yet I found myself hooked from the start. Kenny works this like he actually cannot stand Kidd, which is something I never get from Omega matches. I always get "he is trying to have an EPIC match with X" but I never get "he is extremely annoyed by this guy and wants to hurt him" and that makes me enjoy this Kenny Omega match so much more than his usual 6+ star affairs. I also think it's fantastic that Omega is hellbent on not adjusting his ring style to account for his exploding insides and deteriorating body so now his biggest matches have this extra layer of deep pain and human stupidity that finally adds Consequence to his work. 

He bounces Kidd's body on the apron and ringside like he has no regard for his safety, bouncing him off the ropes to the floor, a snap dragon on the floor, and a big powerbomb onto a table in the announcer's area. It's one thing for him to have little regard for his opponent's body, but it's key to his character (and his character is clearly just himself) that he also has little regard for his own body. I got actually invested into him being unable to stop himself from flinging his body into dives and stupid bumps all match while his innards are screaming and his legs and hips cry out for some goddamn mercy. That disregard for self and opponent only gets cooler when disgusting suplexes into edges of chairs turn into unprotected chairshots in the year 2025. Real 1999 Chairshots taking place at a Tokyo Dome show so sparsely attended that the reactions may as well have been piped in. Kidd takes the nastiest chairshot after braining Omega with a couple. He felt that fucking swing bad too, because he sure gets his hands up quick when Omega comes swinging again. 

Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors unexpectedly added to this match without ever getting involved. Kidd's crew of ringside fuck boys yelling around the ring made the side of an idiot getting destroyed even better, and it seemingly made Omega wreck Kidd even harder with suplexes. There's just no good way to take a snap dragon off the top rope. Kidd's knees get smashed straight into the mat and that might be even more disgusting than the neck damage. 

The early shift to Kidd is great, culminating in Kidd kicking out of a double underhook piledriver, with Omega pulling back on that leg the same way he does when he knows he's getting a 3 count, comes off more obnoxious than "first in a series of moves that shouldn't be kicked out of" and I loved the juxtaposition of him kicking out of a dangerous looking piledriver that should have finished most matches, into making Omega scream with an abdominal stretch. Gabe Kidd slips out of a One Winged Angel into a Desperation Abdominal Stretch, elbow dug deep into Omega's inflamed intestines, and it is one of the all time best uses for an abdominal stretch in wrestling history. Kidd going into Payback Mode ruled. His knee to Omega's guts landed harder than Omega's V-Triggers and contributed led to a future where Omega has a few feet of intestine being removed. Not satisfied with damaging Omega's insides, he always wants him concussed. He spikes Kenny on his head with a short piledriver, and when Omega reverses a powerbomb with a rana, Kidd does not accept that reversal and just drops to his knees with a ganso bomb. There's not attempted lift into a convoluted spot, he just drops Kenny onto the back of his head. I'm laughing my ass off about it when Kidd piledrives him again. 

But if Omega can keep his guts in his body he isn't going to be slowed by head trauma. He has been through fights that Gabe Kidd hasn't yet imagined, and before long he is kneeing this man in the face repeatedly. A double middle fingers spot is something that comes off hack in 2025, but Gabe Kidd possesses the exact correct dumb guy energy to make a last gasp double bird from the knees feel exactly like something he would do when he's about to lose a fight. Kenny grabbing those middle fingers like handlebars to drive the final V-Trigger home was the best. Kidd played the best version of his character and I don't think any of this felt like Great Match mode, it felt like dangerous escalation with great big match selling. Maybe the match didn't need to be a half hour, but I thought it was a rare case where the extra time made the match better. They didn't use the extra time on more kickouts from bigger moves, it was almost always spent letting in pain. The way they sold the big move punishment and exhaustion made it all resonate, made it feel real. Kenny wrestles like a guy who is in pain and Kidd wrestles like a guy too dumb to stop taking damage. Ospreay wouldn't have the guts to sell offense as long as Omega and Kidd did, and that made me feel their story.  

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet

ER: I loved Ricochet for the first 30 seconds, and thought he was good enough for the next 20 minutes as an overwhelmed guy whose offense keeps getting lighter and lighter in the face of an unflappable champ who hits much harder. But those first 30 seconds, man. It's always great when a heel jumps somebody at the bell. When I think of a heel team rushing some babyfaces, it's almost always with punches and clubbing arms, almost always as just another way to get into the action. No different than a collar and elbow start. When it's used to debilitate an opponent, it can approach brilliance. Think Tenryu blindsiding Giant Baba with a suicide dive into Giant Baba in the 1989 Tag League. Ricochet doesn't have debilitating weapons, but he uses speed and heel flying to throw Sabre off and I loved it. A heel ambushing their opponent with a suicide dive, springboard dropkick, Sasuke Special, and springboard 450 splash before they can get their ring jacket off, is fantastic. A hot 30 second Jersey All Pro match-finishing stretch as a heel ambush.  

I don't think he kept up that attitude or energy or idea execution the rest of the match, but I also don't think it mattered because him flying into Sabre's buzzsaw was entertaining because he couldn't keep it up. The first 30 seconds worked so well because it could only work for so long. While Sabre's full body European uppercuts to take control felt plan in comparison, that was something that could be kept up for 20 minutes. Sabre hits hard early and keeps it up all match long, and once he started hitting Ricochet I don't think anything else Ricochet hit had the same immediacy. Like he ran and ran until he got a wake up call and then lightened up, hoping it would make Sabre lighten up. Sabre's shots all look dangerous, but Ricochet is still hanging onto a light springboard clothesline, chops that hit lighter the longer the match goes, arms that barely club back. His combos are also too slow, and there are almost a half dozen times where he leaves Sabre waving in the breeze like an idiot so he can do another spin. Had the story of the match actually been "Sabre endures punishment and Ricochet slows the more punishment Sabre takes" then this could have been incredible. Sometimes I think they were working that story, and those were the best parts. Other times I think Ricochet's offense just didn't work because it didn't work, and it would have been hit that way regardless. I didn't buy Ricochet as a worthy Sabre challenger, but I liked when the match was structured around not buying Ricochet as a Sabre challenger. 

Sabre's dedication to believing that being the IWGP Champ means hitting hard and trying to get guys to hit hard is what made this good, and Ricochet did well at not understanding that this was not a battle he was going to overcome and Sabre was not going to be moved off that hill. Sabre was good at reacting to a lot of Ricochet's stuff that didn't belong in the match and turning it into something painful. Sabre catching an Asai moonsault with a cravat feels like something Chris Hero had to have done in Chikara at least once. It's fun, and then everything else is very mean. Ricochet's rolling vertical suplexes going from the ring to the apron to the floor was a lot of painful bumps for a dumb spot. Sabre's selling is almost enough to make it work, especially the way he got up at 18 but lost his balance and slipped back into the guardrail before making it in. Ricochet calls him a motherfucker and Sabre laughs at the idea. I'm a motherfucker? Ricochet, a man who doesn't slap very hard, is dumb enough to challenge a guy who can slap very hard to a kneeling slap fight. It only takes two exchanges for him to get to his feet. Sabre even tells him, "You're back in Japan now, mate." Is this match about how Ricochet has Dragons Gate Mindset and isn't catching on that Sabre fancies himself as submission wrestling Scott Norton? I like that. 

So, there can't be any complaints against Sabre's submissions anymore, correct? I always felt they were hilariously wrong, but if those opinions persist anywhere they only look more wrong now. His execution is fast and it always looks extremely painful. The way he bent back Ricochet's legs for a bridged figure 4 variation, the limb wrenching llave he pretzeled him into, the neck snapping ankle cranks he kept doing. Every strike and every twist looked painful and every sub he trapped Ricochet in looked potentially match finishing. The problem might have been that everything Sabre did looked so effective, that very little Ricochet did looked as effective. Ricochet's worked punches to drop Sabre at the end of the match were good worked punches...but the spot in question didn't call for well-worked punches, they were supposed to be KO shots that each dropped Sabre to his knees. I love a good worked punch, but they don't "work" when they're the only worked looking strikes in a match, and now they are supposed to be dropping the champ. Ricochet's mid-match slow down does set up the finish nicely, as he throws his sliding clothesline so slow that Sabre just snatches his arm out of the air and maneuvers him disgustingly into a modified Rings of Saturn. I kept going back and forth on this. I liked Ricochet, and I liked the story of his bullshit not standing up to Sabre's strong style...but the match story was inconsistent because sometimes his bullshit would stand up to Sabre and then a minute later it would be clear that his bullshit was supposedly equal to Sabre...

 

Well, the opening women's match was so good that I got lured into watching and writing about an entire show from a fed I don't love...and while there were some more rewards there was also way more stuff I didn't like. The Omega/Kidd match was great, the women's match was great, Mina was great in her match, the luchadors showed out in their gauntlet, the Dustin tag was incredibly fun, and most of the people I dislike wrestled expectedly bad. Two great matches on a 5 hour card isn't much of a success rate, but I'm glad I took the time to watch them. 

2025 MOTY MASTER LIST

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (And Friends) 5/19 - 5/25

AEW Double or Nothing 5/25/25

Ricochet vs Mark Briscoe (Stretcher Match)

MD: What a tricky line to walk. The first half of this was full of comedy, full of real shine. The back half was a bloody horrorshow. It was, from start to finish, a stretcher match, a grudge match. From the second Ricochet walked out in his cosplay robe, he had heat. From the moment Mark Briscoe walked down with his mohawk, he was lauded. There was a "This is Awesome" chant towards the end despite it all.

So many disparate things on paper. If you had read that paragraph to me a year ago, I would have told you that the match had to a discombobulated mess, something that refused to commit, that tried to be everything to everyone and ultimately was not enough of anything.

But that wasn't this match. Not at all. Everything in that first paragraph came together to form a singular vision. That actually doesn't do it justice. It gets it backwards. All of those things didn't come together to create a vision, they were created by the vision itself.

It all comes down to how thoroughly Ricochet commits as a performer. The nexus of the character is that he is so gotten to by the crowd, by his opponents, by his own place in the world, that everything becomes a slight and every slight becomes a drive towards lashing out, towards a level of violence that far exceeds the transgressions.

There's never a sense that he's in on the joke, never a sense that he's out there "entertaining" the crowd. It's always that they're getting under his skin, always that they're causing an affront, always that he wants to strike back at them and the babyfaces they love so much. He never looks down. When he's in charge, he's gloating and sticking it to him. When he's getting his comeuppance, he throws everything into it. Even though he hits "cool" offense, he makes it so it never seems as such. He makes amazing things irritating just by doing them. He went so far as to tease the table and push it back under the ring just to deny the fans even a little bit of what they wanted. That takes an amazing level of commitment and confidence. It's laudable. It's almost the exact opposite approach that one would have thought he would have taken in AEW.

And Briscoe, as a wrestler, as a character, is wise to the world. He is confident in himself and confident in the crowd. He wants to cause Ricochet as much pain as possible but he knows there's more pain to be inflicted on the inside than on the outside. He married humiliation (even the mohawk!) with physical damage here. And it went well for him (and for the crowd) right until it didn't.

He used the cleaning spray on Ricochet's head. Ricochet used it in his eyes. He meant to use the chair as a springboard. Ricochet tossed it into his face. The response was an escalation to the action, because Ricochet was well and fully gotten to, because, in his heart of hearts, he was selling the pain he felt on the inside.

Once he took over, he didn't look back, he didn't stop. Once he drew blood, he meant to keep drawing it again and again and again. But then Mark Briscoe, a folk hero, once awoken, wasn't one to stop either. He could go forever, the human representation of that memorable, symbolic image of a crutch stopping the ambulance door from closing.

In the end, it went even a step even farther, Ricochet hiding the scissors around the ring, a preemptive attack even before Briscoe did the first thing to his bald head (one that shows the hypocrisy of Ricochet's argument all the clearer). When even that wasn't enough, he was ready with a low blow, a low as could be for Ricochet has no bottom. He'll sink forever selling his emotional damage all the way. And that's why this worked when so many similar things simply never would. That's why the This Is Awesome chant was about Ricochet getting comeuppance and not about fans enjoying spectacle for the sake of spectacle. Embracing vulnerability is a hell of a thing. More wrestlers should try it.

Hurt Syndicate vs Sons of Texas

MD: When we look back at this one down the line, we'll think more about the MJF moments, accidentally distracting the ref for the Unnatural Kick, offering the ring to Shelton which let Dustin and Sammy get back into it, that ultimate moment of Lashley embracing him after teasing dissent and then crashing through the barricade and his opponent. The story will play out and we'll see the match for the things that went right and went wrong for MJF.

As it's own entity, it was probably the best Hurt Syndicate match so far. When Dustin was in there with Shelton, they were scrapping hard. When Shelton was in there with Sammy, he knew exactly what to give. That's no small thing. Shelton's a big guy but he spent a chunk of his career in the land of the giants. For him to shift to a relative super heavyweight this late into his career is impressive. And of course Lashley vs Sammy was all sorts of amazing feats of strength (and agility for Sammy taking them).

Because this followed the Ricochet match, we didn't get that bloody Dustin face-in-peril we might have gotten otherwise. The point of this match was to further the broader story while giving the Syndicate a good challenge. It wasn't abut Dustin reliving his Double or Nothing past. Here, the Syndicate had to lean a bit more unlikable. That meant we didn't get to see Shelton pinball Sammy back and forth between the apron and the barricade (which  I badly wanted). Instead he did it once so that MJF could choke him while the ref wasn't looking. It's ok. Sometimes a match has to be what it needs to be and not what I want it to be. And this was what it needed to be and a very good version of that as well. Maybe someday in the future we'll still get to see Sammy pinballed. One can always hope.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 5/5 - 5/11

AEW Collision 5/8/25

Ricochet vs. Angelico

MD: When I think of the New Heel Movement in AEW, some surprises have been bigger than others. I don't think Okada leaning into getting heat as a TV worker was a surprise. I had seen inklings with Kyle Fletcher in commercial breaks for well over a year; no one could have anticipated just how far he'd go with it all, but potential had been there. Someone like Blake Christian still does just a little too much instead of letting things sink in, even if he's doing shtick instead of spots. Up and comers like Lee Johnson and Red Velvet are known to be hard workers and it made sense that they'd take to the rising wave. 

But Ricochet. Ricochet has taken me completely by surprise. I know there were some signs of stooging and heatseeking back in his indie days, but even then it had that aftertaste of PWG irony. Yeah, that's a thing. It's been absolutely telling watching him with the Bucks the last few weeks, because they come at it from different angles. For the Bucks, they always have to be winking, always have to be in on the joke, always have to have an arm around your shoulder so that you know they're laughing with you and you're laughing with them. In some ways, it's lovely, because they bring you into the tent with them. In others ways, though, it covers a lack of fearlessness. They can never be truly vulnerable. They're always playing the role. You'll always see the strings. They never REALLY let anything get to them, not really. They'll commit fully for any spot or any bump, but they won't commit emotionally.

And I get it. Given their size and their style and their preferences, they couldn't show that sort of weakness, or at least felt like they couldn't. Here's a bit of actual irony. They were, of course, essential to the creation of AEW. It's because AEW exists, it being a place where people can work their style and not be ridiculed or depushed or punished but instead glorified, I think Ricochet feels safe to be so confident and fearless and genuine as a performer. He has that layer of safety and security. He knows that he's safe from a monster who gets off on ridiculing his employees and that lets him put himself fully as the butt of the joke. In this case, the agency is in his hand. He doesn't have to worry about being dressed in in a bee costume or in polka dots or as a rooster against his will. If he ends up a rooster, it's because it's his creative vision. I get why the Bucks can't fully embrace that because they had to build everything and it's probably so very hard to let go and push away from what established them as stars in the first place. But now that AEW exists, to see wrestlers letting themselves stooge and show ass and be vulnerable is an amazing thing, a light of pro wrestling's uniqueness and specialness bursting out of the clouds once more.

And Ricochet is able to balance it with his big spots and quick action to high effect. Because he has that extra gear and everyone knows he has that extra gear, he can build and build to it by drawing heat and getting stooged. It's giving the fans the best of both worlds. That was certainly true in his match with Angelico, and it carried through all the way to the post match where he was able to push things all the way into the red emotionally in his interactions with Gowen. 

The fans and Angelico went straight to hair taunts to start and Ricochet responded, chip on his shoulder,  by winning the initial wrestling exchange of the match. He boasted about it and then Angelico did what Angelico does, trapping the arm out of a pin attempt after a trip and not letting go. Ricochet tried to roll out and Angelico rolled him back in, leaning on superior reach and ungodly technique. All the while he took liberties, paintbrushing the head while Ricochet could do nothing about it. Immediate comeuppance. When Ricochet finally scrambled to the ropes, the fans didn't cheer the exchange and the fact they got to see it, but they booed Ricochet's craven exit and the fact that it was over. That doesn't sound like much but it's the way pro wrestling is supposed to work, the emotional tugging that is supposed to happen, and something that's been lost in a sea of "This is Awesome."

Angelico went back to the hair in the ropes and Ricochet went for the eyes taking over. He cemented it with athleticism and beat down Angelico during the break while also fighting off the crowd, selling (because that's what it is!) everything the crowd was throwing at him. That's the key. That's what keeps them going that's what keeps this churning. That's what makes the fans want to tune in and buy tickets to see Ricochet. He's reacting to everything. He's letting it get under his skin. It's affecting his face, his actions, his body language, his everything. It means that he looks the fool when he's working from underneath and it drives his viciousness when he's on top. It's human and believable even if it's exaggerated and entertaining. It's perfect. If ever it becomes too distracting and the fans are chanting bald instead of responding to what's happening in the match, that's when Ricochet ramps up the viciousness a little and makes it clear that it's the fans' fault for what's happening to the babyface. That's tried and true heeling and it still works today. 

Angelico mounted a comeback after the break but maybe took his eye off the ball due to the temptation of mocking Ricochet more. Ricochet leaned hard into that viciousness and put him away in a manner that spoke well to hierarchy. Angelico left the match looking better than he came in. Ricochet was all the stronger for his immense vulnerability because he won so definitively and defeated someone who had pushed him to a limit (even if not the limit). And all of that set the stage for him to take everything one step further in the amazing post match angle with Gowen.

There's room for all sorts of styles and approaches in AEW. That's part of the strength of the promotion. But something genuine like this will always resonate more emotionally than something that's simply spectacle for the sake of spectacle and certainly more than something that's too winking and emotionally guarded. The more wrestlers give themselves over to pro wrestling in this way, the deeper the connection they'll have with the crowd. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 12/23 - 12/29

AEW Dynamite 12/25/24

Darby Allin vs. Ricochet

It was a Christmas miracle. 

Ricochet hit a 630 senton from the top through a table to the floor onto Darby Allin in the Hammerstein Ballroom in front of the smarkiest fans imaginable and there was no This is Awesome chant. There was no AEW chant. There was no Fight Forever or Both These Guys. There was concern for Darby Allin. There was jeering for Ricochet and his antics after the fact. There was a face and there was a heel and there was a clear preference from the crowd that one wrestler beat another. The fans were invested in something other than the idea of perceived greatness. They were responding to the action unveiling before their eyes in real time, but more than that, they were moved by the consequences of that action. If that's not a pro wrestling miracle here at the end of 2024, in front of this crowd, after a spot like that, with a wrestler like Ricochet who I'd never imagine it possible six months ago, I don't know what would be.

Stooging is an investment. It's a means to an end. Just like everything else in a match. It generates heat. It creates a pressure for the heel to get what's coming to him. It builds it up and when it's paid off, there's a feeling of gratification and justification. It shouldn't be done for its own sake just like nothing else should be done for its own sake. It can also be considered an investment because it does have a cost. It takes the place of more conventional, traditional action. There are critics who will stack demerits onto a match for it. But this was such an amazing demonstration of its power. 

Ricochet started the match by complaining about a hairpull in the corner, Ricochet being the baldest man alive. When Paul Turner cried foul, he immediately went to the tights as if Darby pulled them, changing his story. As Darby had him in headlocks, he made faces as he strained, mugged. He eventually slipped out by using the baldness as a tool and then celebrating as if he'd truly accomplished something special. He was consistently on, hitting flashy spots after he had taken control with a cheapshot in the corner, but the immediately rubbing it in the crowd's face. 

The match had a second, smaller miracle, one of the best, most fortuitous hope spots of the year. The crowd has started throwing toilet paper at him (the sort of streamers a heel like him, so full of himself, deserves). If not for safety and clean-up concerns, I half think they should have Swerve debut toilet paper with Ricochet's face on it that they sell in the arenas. Maybe it's worth it despite all that. Anyway, the hope spot was Darby sweeping a distracted Ricochet's feet off the apron. But what made it all come together was that there was a roll of toilet paper on the apron and Ricochet made it so the distraction was due to him throwing it back into the balcony. They couldn't have possibly planned for that but it call came together perfectly (Ricochet was constantly "on"), as did the cutoff where Ricochet cruelly slammed Darby's back in the post, giving the fans absolutely nothing to like about him. 

So when Ricochet hit the 630, they absolutely didn't have to "give it to him", or celebrate how wonderful AEW was in general. They were honed in on how much they hated him, how much they loved Darby, how worried they were for him, how much they wanted to cheer for him and how much they wanted him to stop Ricochet from making it to the semi-finals of the tournament. There's not one right way to do pro wrestling, but there's not any one way quite as right as that. 

There's a change in the air in AEW: with Fletcher, with Ricochet, with Okada, even guys like Takeshita. They're more willing to look vulnerable, to stooge, to be something other than cool athletic marvels who go 50-50 with the most exciting matches they can possibly have. It's unlocking tools left long dusty and the crowds are reacting. The reaction for Fletcher vs Benjamin and Fletcher vs Okada was nothing short of remarkable, and the reaction here for Ricochet vs Darby was, as I noted, miraculous. 

Don't get me wrong. I think in a match like Ospreay vs Komander or Ospreay vs Dante Martin (or even Ospreay vs Okada as the finals of the C2, even if it's not the match I would have chosen; instead I would have had another five minutes of Okada working the leg after Ospreay got stuck in it as a second heat and then built to an even bigger comeback), it's a great sign of success to have those This is Awesome chants. However, you don't want that when there's a clear heel doing fiendish and underhanded things. You don't want that when there's a wrestler the fans are supposed to dislike and ideally pay money to see lose, or at least to revel in their losing after they've already paid money for the AEW experience. 

In a situation with a clear heel/face dynamic, a This is Awesome chant isn't necessarily a sign of success. It's a sign that the fans aren't engaged in the storyline being told and are instead enjoying things in their own way; if that's the case, then why are you even trying to tell the story in the first place. In that case, it becomes something done for the sake of it, waste and to some degree, a failure. 

But this match right here is proof positive that by leaning into the old ways, of having the heel stooge and be as unlikable as possible, even when they do escalate down the stretch, the fans are going to be not just entertained, but also invested (as the stooging itself is an investment) in the actual outcome of the match and in the face overcoming and the heel getting his. It's still possible in 2024, and it's another, incredibly potent tool in AEW's toolbelt, one that create an even more engaged and loyal fanbase. 

So no, maybe this wasn't a miracle. It was an experiment, a hypothesis. 

It was proof.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 11/25 - 12/1

AEW Dynamite 11/27/24

Darby Allin vs. Brody King

MD: Darby's an interesting case right now, in general and for the tournament. He's the guy. He almost has to be, right? He's 31. He's the heir to Sting. He's been positioned as the one making the big dramatic over the top saves recently. We're also relatively early into the Moxley run. And there's a mountain between them and the finale. Everest looms and Darby has to be protected but he can't be launched into the stratosphere until it's time. He can't peak too early because he's got a peak to climb. 

Wrestling doesn't have to seem real. It has to seem consistent, but even more than that, it has to seem compelling. I'd argue that consistency is part of being compelling, but I'm annoying that way. I'll also argue that occasionally, a push towards a sort of real helps wrestling be compelling, because the point is to help suspend your disbelief like you do when you're consuming any fictional medium. That's where Darby shines. I have no idea where the line blurs between work and shoot with how banged up he is at any one point. You tell me he's feeling the effects of the worked car crash from Saturday night and I tend to believe it. You tell me he broke his clavicle in a motorcycle stunt last Tuesday? Sure. You tell me he set himself on fire by trying to fry his turkey with a flamethrower? It's plausible. 

That helps, right? It helps bridge the gap and explain away why he, the lead babyface in the company, is going to lose to Claudio one week and Brody the next and probably a few more times during this tournament. Wins and losses matter. They absolutely matter. But it's not math. What matters more is the presentation. What matters is how things are framed because that's how it works in life. This isn't just some sort of numerical exercise. Life isn't quantitative. What's the cost of a win? How does a loss make a wrestler grow? How hard did he fight? I get the impression sometimes that AEW is full of wrestlers who are hesitant to take losses (That makes Darby come off all the better, by the way). But what matters is the way it's shown on screen and how it's presented to the audience. 

Darby was fighting a monster. He was hurt. He'd beaten the monster once or twice. He'd lost to him once or twice. He got absolutely thrashed at the start. He had to fight his way back the entire match. He came close! That matters. It matters if it's shown on screen to matter. It matters if the audience opens their hearts and lets it matter. If you just look at the results on paper you can start griping about how they let Darby lose when he might have to carry the company next year. If you actually watch the match, you know he didn't lose a single thing in defeat in this one and he came out looking just as strong as he came in (though I wouldn't necessarily say stronger). 

Real life things can help. When the sound dropped out due to Brody crashing into the post, that broke from the norm; it was literally exceptional, and it was all due to the force that Brody brings to the table. Yes, we lost commentary for a bit but how could you see that and not even be more drawn in than you were a moment before? Likewise, the looming mountain. There's such an opportunity for that to be worked into the story, for Darby to find what he needs as part of that journey to vanquish Moxley in a way that would be impossible now. It's Hero's Journey stuff. It just has to be framed and sold and presented that way. Wins and losses matter, but they matter because of what they mean in a fictional sense, not what they mean in a real one. That balance between real and worked is all part of what makes pro wrestling so unique and wonderful. 

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Ricochet

MD: This was problematic. Let me lay out the pieces here. Claudio Castagnoli is a monster. He was presented at the end of the episode, chair in hand, looming as he meant to do permanent harm to Darby Allin, as a behemoth. It was meant to matter when Brody King, who he will face the following week in the tournament, stood up against him. He was to be respected, feared, reviled. He betrayed Bryan Danielson. That betrayal was on Jon Moxley's order, but it came at Claudio Castagnoli's hand. He struck the blow. 

Ricochet is a new hire. He chose to come to AEW to be free of creative chains, to wrestle the way that he always wanted to wrestle on a huge stage. He's supposed to be a trailblazer who helped set the current style due to his battle with Ospreay years ago. He's presented as something of an equal to him (him being the guy they present as the best wrestler in the world). He just came off of big loss to Takeshita. 

They both happen to be bald. So is the referee, Rick Knox.

This was the second match of the Continental Classic, the engine that is going to drive AEW through the month of December, something that was a legitimate ratings draw last year. It was Claudio vs Ricochet, one of the greatest bases of the century vs a high-flyer. It should have been a big bounceback match for Ricochet who hasn't quite connected the way he was expected to. 

The match starts like you'd expect with Claudio basing. It builds to a big moment where Claudio, who had walked away from previous dives, catching Ricochet's dive impressively, crushing him to start the heat. Ricochet sells, emoting well, using his face and body language to try to draw the crowd in.

The problem is that they're all bald. And the crowd starts chanting about it. The commercial break starts. The heat continues. Ricochet tries to fight from underneath as Claudio leans down on him. The crowd creatively chants different things about baldness. Tony Khan then tweets about how wonderful this all is.

None of this is good. If it was on last week's Rampage which had a dance off between Nyla and Mina, a ten-count punch off between Butcher and Juice, and Redneck Kung-Fu off between Briscoe and Silver, that would have been fine, good even.

There was supposed to be some level of gravitas about the tournament though. Claudio is not just a heel, but a guy who just went over the lead babyface in the company clean last week. He's a monster. He's not just a in-ring monster, but he's the guy who betrayed Bryan Danielson. If you can't get heat from that, what can you possibly get heat from? What hope is there? 

"Putting smiles on faces," having babyfaces lose and shrug it off with a smile? That's the 2010s WWE style that AEW was created to push up against and compete with, to be an alternative to. The fans were sure having fun. But they weren't connected or engaged to what the company was actually presenting, and what they were presenting should have been compelling. The start of a beloved and anticipated tournament. An impressive spot. A monstrous heel. A babyface trying his hardest to draw them in. 

It's on Khan not to celebrate that. He's celebrating that his product completely failed to compel the audience to react in the way that they were supposed to react despite doing everything right on paper. That's not worthy of a celebratory tweet. It's a presentation disaster. It's failure. Honestly, it's kind of frightening. If I was AEW creative, I'd be frightened. If you do everything right (and I think they DID do everything right here!) and it still doesn't work, what could possibly work? 

I do think Khan is part of the problem. He celebrates every This is Awesome chant like it's a victory. Sometimes things aren't suppose to be awesome. Sometimes awesome isn't the goal. A lot of times awesome isn't the goal. Most of the time you're trying to create other emotions and move people in different ways. For them to have that wash right off of them and for them to just neutrally celebrate what they're watching means that it's not reaching them emotionally in the way it was intended. 

Wrestling is broken. I do fully believe that Khan wants to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. He's the leader of the company and he's, to a degree, a leader in how the fans receive its product. In order to do so, he needs to take a step back and try to think what went wrong here and how he can help to fix it moving forward.

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WWE WrestleMania 39 Night One Live Blog 4/1/23

 

1. John Cena vs. Austin Theory

ER: Just once I want one of those Make A Wish kids to go into business for himself. Eventually, one of them has to realize that they have full diplomatic immunity, a Get Out of Jail Free card that has unlimited uses. One year we're going to get a MAW heel turn and that kid will burn out a legend. Cena and I have the same exact bald spot and he has the exact same Miller's Outpost jorts that I had in 6th grade, so clearly I'm pulling for him. Cena sells Theory's punches very generously but I like how Theory bit his way out of the STF. Theory throws stomps with the same physical movement as Randy Orton, but doesn't have the finishing strength of Orton's stomps. Cena's stumbling and staggering is what's making this. The way he staggered down to a knee when Theory jumped on him during the sleeper, but I'm not sure any of it was as good as his Namaste prayer hands before doing the five knuckle shuffle. The fistdrop itself was thrown better than he typically threw it over the last decade. 

2. Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. Ricochet/Braun Strowman vs. Viking Raiders

ER: Otis looks fatter since last I saw him, which shows he's a man who truly understands the Grandest Stage of Them All. You want to play to the back row? Fatten up my boy. Ivar's dumb spin kick hit harder than I expected, Erik's knee lift looked good, and the fucking Doomsday clothesline was fucking murder. The tandem powerbomb on Ford looked great but goddamn replay that clothesline. They really should have built longer to Gable hitting the rolling German on Braun. I mean it looked cool, but how cool would his Dead End have looked towards the end of the match after already trying it a couple times? His missed splash is full commitment and so is Ivar's missed moonsault, and capping it with a treacherous shaky Braun top rope splash that hits was sweet sweet icing. Braun's splash looked like the kind of splash we don't get enough Today: messy, and performed by those who do not normally go to the top rope. The tower powerbomb spot was unnecessary and beneath what they had been building to, even if I liked the twist of Ricochet riding Ford down like Clark Griswold hanging onto his ladder. They had been doing a good job mixing up pairings and they took too long tying up every man. But Braun's long stretch of ringside shoulderblocks being blown up by Dawkins made this great again. Dawkins hit Braun as hard as he could too. That shoulderblock would have given me a lifetime injury. Then Ricochet hits the most gorgeous springboard shooting star press balls first into Dawkins' face. For a wrestling company who forgot how to film wrestling a couple decades ago and has seemingly got even worse at it, they set up and shot the shoulderblock and shooting star perfectly. Ford's pin breaking and match winning splash was good. This was good. 

3. Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins 

ER: I haven't watched any WWE program since Elimination Chamber, but the hype video for this match has made me more excited than I've ever been to see a Seth Rollins singles match. I also know really next to nothing about Logan Paul, only that I've loved everything he's done in pro wrestling. I don't think I'm ever going to understand what Seth Rollins' vibe is supposed to be. Is he like if Willy Wonka was a farmer's market jock? A hipster mom who is obsessed with being the one in the friend group who keeps up with trends? Is he just a guy who misses a big stomp by about 7 feet while wearing attention pants? He's the kind of guy who wears big eyeglasses without needed eyeglasses?  

I like how Logan Paul uses his boxing sparingly. I bet most in his position would do feet shuffling Shane McMahon bullshit. Paul understands to use 1-2 punches to mean something, doesn't have enough of a Wrestler Brain to do unnecessary strike exchanges. He makes his punches into actual turning points of the match. Rollins' triple suicide dives look better than normal, because Paul walks into and towards each one. Usually Rollins' opponents just stand still waiting for contact, leaving Rollins to just lightly bounce off, looking like he was trying not to hit the guy he was trying to hit. Paul walked into these and took growing, appropriate bumps backward in reaction. Find me Rollins dives that look better than these and we'll see a pattern with the opponents' catches. The KO punch nearfall was great and Paul's high leap into the sitout powerbomb was like prime Juventud. 

Bye Bye Bitch is a line that can be pulled off by John Early, but it can't be pulled off by Seth Rollins. High end nearfall after the pedigree and Paul's missed splash through KSI, who I have heard referred to as Logan Paul's Business Partner. Michael Cole calling for YouTube Phenomenon KSI to Capture Another Viral Moment is a 0.6 on the Fallon/Hilton Scale of poor shilling. Literally every nearfall in the match worked great, and the only thing wrong with the match is the company's insistence on keeping the old tired stars at the top at the expense of the young hungry rising stars. I wonder what the actual percentage of WWE in-ring employees are actually pissed off about how much better Logan Paul understands wrestling than they do? Or do they not actually realize this, because they don't understand wrestling as well as he does? 

4. Dakota Kai/Iyo Sky/Bayley vs. Becky Lynch/Trish Stratus/Lita

ER: "You gotta take the WWE Universe out of this early," is such a sucky commentary sentence. Becky Lynch is better as a heel because she's better at taking offense than doing offense, so the match being structured around Damage Control cutting her off from a low energy Lita was smart. She hung in for Sky's nice springboard dropkick. Lita always manages to look like she's never actually gone running in her life. Lita has the worst body language of anybody in the ring so it's a weird choice to keep such an extended heat segment on her. Trish is more explosive but also sells way better. Her reactions to Bayley kicking at her and talking shit would have had the right kind of glowering eyes reaction. Lita just kinda flops around like a fish, like she's trying to make a baby laugh. Trish's assisted handstand rana to the floor gets some set-up excuse because the finished product and Kai's crash into Sky looked good. Hats off to Trish for running face first into Bayley's baseball slide too. After praising the camera work in the tag scramble, I gotta wonder whose decision it was to keep the camera on Lita during this match's breakdown. Mae Young's stomach kicks never looked as bad as the kicks Lita threw here. If someone wants to volunteer their time to a Segunda Caida project that I personally do not want to do, your feature here can be documenting every single part-time model WWE ever employed who threw a better stomach kick than Lita. Remember all those Diva search competitions that I assume some people watched? How many of them were actually worse than Lita here? I can't imagine many were. Dawn Marie and heel Torrie Wilson only look like Fujiwara-level legends in comparison. 

5. Dominik Mysterio vs. Rey Mysterio

ER: Seth Rollins can wear all the try hard entrance jackets he wants, it will never be as good as Dominik's shitty spiked Hot Topic Alucard coat and his entrances will never be as good as Dominik wearing that coat out of an ambulance in his father's mask. Jeers, however, for Rey's American Made-era Hogan gear. That's like the second worst Hogan era next to the N-word era, or the Nick prison phone call era. I think those were the same Hogan eras. Rey goes to the belt whipping way too early. My mom used to use a wooden spoon, but you don't START with the wooden spoon. Even she knew that you throw a slipper or flip flop before you go to the wooden spoon. This isn't as good as it should be, and that's too bad. Seeing them doing armdrags and some of these other exchanges feels like them working some other match, where they were still tag partners but were forced to work 5 minutes of a gauntlet against each other. Dominik's mom held back too much on the slap, even the water thrown into Aaliyah's face didn't sting like it should have. It gets better when Dom really starts killing his father with a Michinoku driver, but there weirdly isn't any kind of father vs. son vibe. It just feels like a Finn Balor Smackdown match. The late match interference shouldn't be the thing adding energy to your match. Santos Escobar shouldn't be getting the big dive in your father/son match. This was a let down. 

6. Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte

ER: I think Charlotte is leaning more into her Drag Queen era and I hope she keeps leaning harder. Has that been the entire point of The Queen run and I've just missed it? I haven't watched for a long time. I love David Arquette's wrestling, and Charlotte could be a really good Alexis Arquette. Her puffer vest robe is incredible, like she's the Cruella de Vil of litigious Aspen ski slope house wives. The shoulderblock exchange looked good, and Charlotte full assed the lariat that sent Rhea to the floor. That's a good sign for this one. Charlotte's knife edge chops do read more like a drag routine strike than an actual knife edge chop. The wrist action is all wrong, which makes it either bad wrestling or too on-the-nose for a drag routine. Rhea is a strong body vice and I liked the way she fought up from her back out of it. Rhea working as poor man's Dump Matsumoto is really good. The Queen Smells Blood sounds like an incredible drag revue, and Charlotte's chops suddenly come to life during her comeback. I like how Rhea staggered and knee buckled to her feet to lift Charlotte, and the head spike DDT reversal looked awesome.  Their showdown strike exchange stunk, but Rhea's stomach kick and foot stomp to stop the nonsense was a good way to snap out of it. I think I like them doing a messy 2003 GHC Title match the longer they do it, but it started iffy. Once Rhea dropped Charlotte on her face with a suplex it looked like Rikio/Takayama. One of the biggest appeals of Takayama's brilliant early 2000s was that he understood the value of a horse faced weird body wrestler getting suplexed on their face. The big nearfalls worked even if the moonsault press is still going to be overshot. Middle buckle Riptide with a high folded pin is a good 2003 NOAH finish. I'm happy Rhea won this. The shot of her holding the belt with the Actually Cool WWE Babylon Oscars stage lording over her was a great visual. 

7. Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens vs. The Usos

ER: This starts real slow and I'm not sure Jey's side headlock was good enough for the slow start. Sami's big bump to the floor and Jey's elbow suicida kick it into gear though. Jimmy is better cast as the guy who cuts off the ring from the apron than the guy controlling the heat, so not all of the Uso control felt like it was working. Owens' hot tag was necessary, swan dive and frog splashes a nice kick back up. This had a tough act to follow but I'm surprised at what a Regular Match this feels like, even with Owens' dives. Sami's big splash felt a little anti-climactic after Owens had already done like 5 variations of that same thing, but this crowd loves Sami and that's cool. I just wish it didn't feel like such a major step down from where he was at Elimination Chamber. I didn't feel the drama of all the superkicks, and there was a mistimed Sami kickout that was supposed to be BIG but the crowd reacted dead silent. The reaction was there for the 1D kickout and Jey was good enough at the in-ring monologue portion of the evening. Some of it felt too I'm Sorry, I Love You and I knew they had the potential to hit there I'd rather them lean into more ass kicking. All of the Usos tandem superkicks were really well timed. They threw a half dozen of them and they all managed to connect at the same time. That's a really impressive consecutive success rate on that. This is easily Michael Cole's best call of the night, as his energy - which usually feels like an alien trying to blend in - actually captured the mood the more the crowd began to Believe. 

Best Matches: 

1. Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins

2. Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte

3. Tag Scramble

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WWE Royal Rumble 1/28/23 Live Blog

ER: Who's ready to read the opinions of a man who hasn't watched a current WWE match since last year's WrestleMania?? Who's ready to read the scratchings of a man who is only barely acquainted with the hierarchy of the current roster?? Who's ready to read the fumblings of a man who knows nothing of current storylines?? Well then you are in for a treat, because I have found such a man. I don't know who HARDY is but I'm going to assume it's a Kurt Sutter persona. 

Doesn't Pat McAfee work there? 

1. Men's Rumble Match

ER: So Gunther is a cool #1 right? Excited to see Keto Walter. Starting him with Sheamus is even better, but I don't think they did very much with their 90. Forearm exchanges and running into a chop, I expect more. Sheamus works more stiff with Miz than with Gunther. Nice of Kofi to come in to interrupt Gunther and Sheamus killing Miz only to hit a bunch of shitty looking offense. Too much rope running in modern Rumbles, and it's practically every damn entrance. The second the match deviates from guys walking around punching each other, it just looks like a series of 20 badly done hot tags. Luckily Xavier Woods comes in to play Bad Eliminators Offense with Kofi. The backsplash and elbowdrop at the end looked good. KARRION KROSS IS STILL HERE? Wild that the Dudley Dudley of Basham Bros. is still here. What's his thing now? Did they take Gable's first name away and then give it back, or did I just assume they were calling him Gable? Karrion Kross is Renegade. I want to root for Escobar but those were some real timing and placing issues during his entrance, does that thing I hate where he comes into a Rumble and just starts working stupid regular match offense. 

Has there not been any kind of roster churn whatsoever in the past year? This is the 2021 roster so far. Okay, Brock is the exact kind of energy this Rumble needed. Rumbles need more desperation and one Really Dangerous Guy in there. RIP Santos, sorry about your hip Chad, touch break on the neck Sheamus. A series of singles matches with not a single swarming dogpile. Are they going with Banger Bros? Rollins and Gargano do the dumbest series of reversals wrestling while Dominik makes his entrance. Dominik has great taste in tights. Did I hear right? Is Balor a Dominik underling? Man what has happened in the past year. A Sheamus/Drew vs. Dominik/Balor straight tag would be really good. 

Damn Booker looks in the exact same shape as he did a decade ago. Is there any old man Booker I need to see from Reality of Wrestling? What has been done to Gunther's back this match? We all love our boys who welt up good. Montez Ford looks huge compared to a year or two ago. He is larger than Dawkins. It doesn't matter how long it's been since I've seen any part of the product, Edge Returns somehow always find me. Maybe I'm an Edge guy now, I don't know. Beth Phoenix will never make the Bull Nakano Pillager haircut look good, it always just makes her look like a Psychlo from Battlefield Earth. Psychlo. I had to look that up. Stupid. I hate the pattern of close placements of current feuds in the Rumble Entrants. Everyone comes out in subsequent entrances, they do their angle, and then everything moves on in two minutes. It's all moments, none of them settle, none of them build. Introduction, Payoff. Sheamus and Drew are at least hitting guys for 45 minutes, everything else gets paid off in minutes. Hardly any elimination teases, which is missed. Braun almost going over actually felt like it had some suspense, just because hardly anyone had come close to being eliminated prior. Everything, or nothing. I love the idea of Logan Paul coming back for revenge on Roman. There are a shocking number of guys on this roster are not as good in the ring as Logan Paul. 

Looks like Cody took about the same amount of time away from WWE as I did. The Logan Paul/Ricochet springboard collision...now THAT'S a moment. That's a spot. Paul went full speed on that. They was a splat! How is Austin Theory even here? What an odd project. It's insane how much better Logan Paul understands what all of this is about. Just shows up ever few months and looks like an old pro. A real performer. Gunther/Cody worked up to a great final, with Gunther hammering on Cody's pec, welting him up good. Perhaps went on too long, but they peaked some moments nicely. The third act of this match was better than the first couple acts. End a 70 minute match strong is better than starting it strong. 

2. The Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match

ER: Boy, for Bray Wyatt is back in the ring for the first time in two years, and I'm hear to witness it? I can really choose 'em. It would be so undignified to take a choke bomb and land on your head surrounded by Spencer's gifts black light posters. Has that popcorn been out there the whole time just because it looks cool getting scattered under black light? Probably a good call. I heard Mountain Dew Pitch Black is citrus flavored which feels feels really incorrect. The market for a good grape soda is wide open. We have sugary citrus sodas. Perfect the grape. Bray looks like the worst worker in a Gringo Loco stable. This was a waste of everyone's time. Uncle Howdy lands 3' wide on the elbow to put a cherry on this shit sundae. 51,338 people all sitting in a dome watching that. 

3. Bianca Belair vs. Alexa Bliss

ER: I cannot believe Bray Wyatt has his hands in this many angles in 2023. How did anybody let this happen?? I like Alexa's kicks to the ribs, but the poorly timed combos offense doesn't play into that, and it makes the control come off cold and out of place. I couldn't believe how quiet the crowd was when Bianca was muscling Bliss around her body to suplex her. Too much of this feels like they're just getting into position for things, and the routine isn't smooth. These combos have no punch at all, no rhythm. This was bad. I don't think there was a single exchange that looked natural or didn't require one of them to hold still in a dumb position. 

4. Women's Rumble Match

ER: Is this match going to be filled with 2021 women in the same way the Men's Rumble was the exact damn same roster? They're still billing Dana Brooke as a strongwoman? She's smaller than Liv Morgan now. Man this is a sloppy mess. It's all half speed move exchanges and half of them look botched. I don't know Roxanne Perez, but she has better energy than anyone else in there right now. Although Rhea did wipe blood on her face. Dakota Kai runs and elbows Liv Morgan in the mouth in her first second in the ring. Man I get Natalya's return too? I am killing it. Natalya's new thinner nose makes her look like a Hemingway sister. I'm glad she didn't go back to the extensions. Are they getting away from extensions now? There's a lot of neon now too. Everything is really bright in that ring. 

Asuka looks incredible. The One mask, the face paint, dance fighting the camera with her body. Iyo Sky is doing a great job staying busy in the background during everyone's entrances. She's just standing over people wailing on them, which is what I want to see. I think I like Chelsea Green more than most but that's fucked. Is this one of those Good Soldier things? I don't know when Raquel went from Gonzalez to Rodriguez but I love her throwing clotheslines. 30 wrestlers who run into the ring and dodge strikes from four other wrestlers in succession. "She's wearing Uggs right now! And she's dealing European uppercuts!" Asuka working ankle locks in the corner on Niven. The Lacey Evans cobra clutch elimination was awesome, Vega just sank to elimination like a rock in a lake. Everyone is doing a lot of weird mute pantomime. Lacey Evans is the only one making sound. I thought the Nia stuff was great, can't believe she was gone for 16 months, but her attitude getting into the ring was perfect. Some of the choreographed stuff at the end, and a bunch of them were good at hanging by the ropes with swinging legs. Ripley was the best throughout, involved in a ton of sequences and showing how much they love winners coming out in the #1 spot. Match picked up down the stretch and I think would have come off stronger if it wasn't as messy in spots. 

5. Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens

ER: The time in between matches is too much, but I have appreciated my snack and drink and stretch breaks. Fat elderly cats don't play with themselves. I'm really happy how excited everyone seems for the Sami Zayn angle. I was never an El Generico guy, but around 2020 he started turning into one of my absolute favorite in-ring guys in WWE. All it took was him working more Buck Robley into his style and he became the best. It's tough working a big main event after two 70 minute matches, but these two feel up to it. Owens has nice punches for this kind of match and both are taking the bumps for it. Owens' frog splashes off the apron and off the top landed flush, the cannonball had big impact, and he sold the first Superman punch like a PEZ dispenser. Owens falling off the top rope and landing on Roman's ribs is a happy accident. This was not that, but I miss guys working blown spots into their matches. Chris Hamrick and Juvy were great at it. They should have just played up that it was another attack on Roman's ribs. I never liked Reigns as a trash talker, but I think he's great as the stoic asskicker. The gray in his beard silent looks are a great vibe, and when he's flashing the dead eyes at his own boys it can be real cold. The beatdown went long but I liked it. The pop Sami got sounded great in a big stadium, and then the real hate Roman drew after. Long, but strong ending. 

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Drew Gulak Was Raised on a Promise

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 11/25/21 - GREAT 

ER: This was the  6th (!) and final match Gulak and Mansoor had in 2021, and perhaps the final match they will ever have. I liked all six of their matches, but we didn't quite get one that was a head above the rest. All of them were good, none of them were quite enough to make a list (unless you were compiling a list of Gulak/Mansoor matches, to which I would say that all six of their matches belong on that list). This was a cool match, just like most of their matches, with Gulak starting things off with wrist and ankle control, and I've always been impressed by how well Mansoor stays in sequences with Gulak. It never looks like Gulak leading someone through matwork. Mansoor is always doing something like grabbing at Gulak's ankle, and he's really squirmy, constantly moving forward, so just holding onto his wrist always feels difficult. This broke open nicely with a real sick inverted atomic drop from Mansoor. He stopped Gulak running the ropes by grabbing him like he was going for an exploder, and instead just brought the hammer up into Gulak's balls. Gulak always has nice counters to throw out against Mansoor, and the best was when he threw him off mid-tornado DDT and then hit a fantastic running lariat while Mansoor was still getting his footing. 

I liked Gulak working over the ankle and back, love his little leg whip takedown. It's not a dragon screw he just has a hold on Mansoor's ankle and flings it while dropping his body weight down. There was an interesting fight over a vertical suplex, which isn't something that you really see in WWE. Both kept blocking each other's weight and kept backing the other up, until Mansoor wisely dropped back with his weight, rolling backward and came up to his feet powering Gulak into the suplex. Mansoor really looked like he was fighting to get him over, and the crowd responded much more to that fought-for suplex than they would have to either just hitting a snap suplex (source: they actually responded to that deadlift suplex and had been mostly quiet before that). My big complaint with the Gulak/Mansoor series is that they never really adequately build to a finish, and the finishes can be a bit sudden. It happened five times, so there was no reason to believe it would change for the sixth, and it didn't. Still, this was a real good way to cap off a series that a lot of people did not watch, two fun dance partners who would go on to be even more grossly underused in 2022. Unrestricted 5 minute matches on Main Event every month will always be better than random 2 minute Smackdown matches every few months.

#1 Contender Black Friday Battle Royal WWE Smackdown 11/26/21 - FUN

ER: There aren't many 2022 Drew Gulak matches, so one of his last TV matches is going to wind up being him getting eliminated 90 seconds into a battle royal. Somewhat cruelly, they teased two Gulak interactions that we've never got to see in actual matches: Gulak vs. Sheamus and Gulak vs. Sami Zayn. Gulak mixed it up with both and tried to eliminate Zayn before getting booted spectacularly to the floor by him, sprawling out onto his stomach when he hit. He wasn't the first eliminated (sorry Jinder) so he'll always have that at least. The rest of the battle royal, as battle royals go, was fine. It had Shanky without Veer, and Mace without T-Bar. Sami Zayn won, and he was far and away the best battle royal worker in the match, working constant character moments that added to the whole match, never making the match stand still the same way Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss made it stand still for their character work. Zayn knew how to cheapshot and get almost eliminated, and knew how to always be working while not always being the focus. Angel and Humberto should have stayed in the match longer, as they're better at integrating singles match spots into a battle royal setting, but both took great elimination bumps (Garza going fast to the floor, Carrillo getting body slammed into him). A lot of this felt like it was focusing on the wrong guys. Asskickers like Sheamus and Holland and Cesaro felt underutilized, and Sheamus wasn't working this like it was for a title shot. Fast guys like Mansoor were out of there before the ring was cleared out enough to do anything, but it got saved by Zayn running and stumbling through, Ricochet working a hot finishing stretch, and a false finish Jeff Hardy win before Zayn shoved him painfully to the floor. Needed more Gulak, but Zayn's 2021 was so great. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK

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Gulak's Been Holding On Too Long, That He Hardly Knows the Score

Drew Gulak/Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik/Lince Dorado WWE Main Event 9/29/17 - GREAT

ER: This was mostly a showcase for the luchadors, but it was a really good showcase for them. Nese and Gulak had enough cut off spots to keep it fresh, and they were both great at making the lucha spots shine. Gulak really doesn't get involved at all until halfway through, but it doesn't actually matter because the Nese performance is strong. When you go back and watch them 3-4 years ago, it's pretty startling how much better some of Metalik and Dorado's offense looked. It's a lot tighter and the flow is much smoother. 2021 Metalik feels a step slower than 2017 Metalik, but they're on fire here. Dorado hits a great moonsault press and flies off the apron later to cut off Gulak with a Thesz press. Nese catches Dorado on a big springboard crossbody, and eats it when Metalik hits a springboard kick to send the crossbody through. Nese really nails Metalik with a back elbow to cut off a dive, and Metalik's flipping bump felt really natural. 

Gulak and Nese are good at setting the luchadors up, and Gulak/Dorado pull off a Dorado Lethal Injection that actually looks good! Gulak is great at naturally getting into position for a stupid springboard cutter, and Dorado's cutter was so quick that I actually didn't see it coming. When Jay Lethal does it it takes an eternity and his opponent is frozen there waiting for a Fatality. The finish looks crazy, perhaps by complete accident. Dorado goes for a shooting star press but doesn't rotate, luckily doesn't land on his head, and instead crushes Nese with a kamikaze senton. Since he looked like he was flinging himself hard backward to complete the flip, that just means he flung himself out over Nese. Happy accident, Dorado pulling off a better senton than Dick Togo. 

Drew Gulak vs. Ricochet WWE Main Event 6/17/21 - GREAT

ER: This didn't have the same organic build and offbeat timing that their awesome match earlier this year had, and the shifts in momentum didn't come off as smoothly as they did in that first match, but this was still a really cool match between two of the current best. Gulak might be the best in WWE at working control segments right now, as he always comes up with new things to use against specific opponents. With no Kassius Ohno on the roster, Gulak is the main person here who can craft a match around his specific opponent without running the same act each time. He dominated and slowed down Ricochet in completely different ways than he did six months ago. There's a cool long double knucklelock to open that ends with Ricochet trying to break off the ropes but Gulak twisting him into a straitjacket. Ricochet hits a crazy high dropkick that shotguns Gulak off his feet, and we get a killer run of Gulak taking that dropkick out on Ricochet's hide. Gulak hits a 1.2 level Finlay bodyslam that sends Ricochet's achilles off the top rope and the back of his head bouncing off the mat. He punches a hole in his chest with an axe handle, aims a back elbow at Ricochet's orbital bone, throws him across the ring with a Steiner level gutwrench suplex, and debuts these sick IZU falling shoulderblocks to jam Ricochet's shoulder. 

Ricochet's comeback felt like much more of a WWE Superstar Moment than something that really fit into the match they had been having. It felt way more theatrical than the snug back and forth they had started with and had built into a punishing heel beatdown from Gulak. Ricochet's comeback flips and kick combos looked tighter than most indy versions of that style, but I like Ricochet so much more when he surprises with less rehearsed looking stuff. But, again, Ricochet's combos look sharp and Gulak is aces at keeping pace for all of it. The concept of the finish was cool, with Ricochet going after one of Gulak's limbs and playing the ass kicker's game, and winds up tapping Gulak with a top wristlock. I really dug the cranked in top wristlock finish, but also would have liked it hinted at or established a bit more. The match got nearly 10 minutes, but it didn't feel like Gulak should have been at the disadvantage he was at when they got to the finish. A couple more minutes could have lead to a couple cool twists before getting that surprise tap. No matter, I love watching these two move inside a wrestling ring, and my complaints are only because of the high standards both have set. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK

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Drew Gulak is Lost on His Sea Again

 Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 2/25/21 - GREAT

ER: It hit me during this match that Gulak is probably the closest thing we have to a Barry Houston in WWF, and it's cool to see a mature Barry Houston style worker on WWE TV in 2021. He is great with any kind of opponent, hits honestly on shoulderblocks and elbows, throws his whole arm into lariats and clotheslines, and locks in convincing headlocks and holds. It's the kind of style that does work with any other style, but Gulak is also smart about changing little things and integrating any kind of size or opponent. Mansoor is coming along well, quietly improving faster than others in WWE working his same kind of style. It's perhaps notable that I think Mansoor has been better at his kind of matches this year than guys like Humberto Carrillo or Gran Metalik have been at their similar matches. Gulak really takes some stiff strikes to Mansoor, you get that Finlay sense of "I have 5 minutes on this Thunder episode, I'm going to grab someone by their jaw, and hit the hardest safe lariat I possibly can." Mansoor's sequences looked smooth, he's maybe the only guy in the fed who actually lands atomic drops, and I thought while Gulak bumped well for Mansoor's flash and set it up nicely, that Mansoor delivered his end. He was where he needed to be, and outside of maybe the slingshot neckbreaker at the finish, I don't think Gulak ever looked like he was waiting on him. Gulak has a great way of getting from one thing to the next, someone who knows how to fill time well. He can expertly turn an O'Connor roll into a match finish worthy rear naked choke, or convincingly sock you across the ring. He doesn't really win much, but I like him in his current role. I just like that him, and his role, are on TV. 

PAS: Gulak is buried as deep as you get in the WWE (is this deeper than NXT UK?) and it really doesn't matter as he is having these very cool "if a tree falls in the forest" matches. Gulak is a perfect person to pair with a green guy who is basically learning to wrestle on TV. He trained guys for so long, that he is a master of not only making all of his stuff look really good, but making sure his opponent looks great too. Not sure if Mansoor has a great atomic drop, or Gulak is amazing at taking atomic drops, but that might have been the best atomic drop in decades. Gulak gets a moment or two to shine on his own, the corner lariat was teeth rattling, but he was there to put over Mansoor and make him look good and he did both excellently.

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 3/4/21 - FUN

ER: I love how Main Event gives these guys the opportunity to have minor feuds that carry over week to week. They don't necessarily get storylines (in the way that there are actual storylines and promos on 205 Live), but they get a chance to build off results and actions from prior Main Event matches and that gives it more of a Worldwide or WCW Pro feel. In other words, they freely acknowledge a wrestler's history with their opponent, without adding any additional story to why they are wrestling. Gulak is going to be someone who is good at having in-ring feuds with, and Mansoor is benefitting heavily from working with him, showing a lot of improvement over the past year. This was evenly paced and had a few moments where it looked like Gulak could get his win back. 

I'm really getting into watching Gulak lose, as - unlike every time they've ever done a losing streak gimmick - I am actually really getting excited to see a Gulak win these days. They're always way too obvious about their losing streak gimmicks, there's never any nuance and it's always screamed at you that the guy is losing a lot. I don't think they're working that angle with Gulak, he just happens to be a guy who loses a lot. He's 5-40 over the last two years, which would make him the worst baseball team in history. But wins do happen, and I love watching for them. I like how he takes Mansoor's offense, like a neat upside down springboard armdrag that took a twist I wasn't expecting, and he makes Mansoor's already painful atomic drop/spinebuster even more painful. Gulak really crunches Mansoor with a German suplex, and they have a cool battle over a Gulak O'Connor roll that turns into a Mansoor rear naked choke. All of it is great, and I still think Gulak might get him if they pair up 7 or 8 more times. 

PAS: I liked how Gulak came out more aggressive in this match, two really nasty German suplexes and then going for a top rope reverse suplex, he seemed like a guy who wanted his win back. I didn't think Mansoor looked as good in this match, there was a performative aspect to his offense which I didn't notice as much the previous week, and he made some really silly faces. The reversal of the O'Connor roll into a choke is a cool spot, but both Mansoor's choke and his body scissors were pretty loose. Gulak was great though, loved how he ate the top rope body press, leaping into and taking it as a big bump on the back, but still I thought this showed the seams a bit more.

Drew Gulak/Akira Tozawa vs. Ricochet/Mansoor WWE Main Event 3/11/21 - GREAT

ER: This Gulak/Mansoor feud has been one of the low key best things going in TV wrestling this year. This is just another awesome example of Gulak working as a WCW Saturday Night Finlay, and brother that's my favorite wrestling to watch. Gulak kicks the door in when he tags in, laying Mansoor out with full arm clothesline, then picks him up and bodyslams him legs first into the ropes. It's clear he's been watching his Finlay Orlando Studios tapes. Mansoor has a good moveset, filled with smooth spots he pulls off well (like his ropes feint armdrag) plus strong nearfall stuff like his excellent atomic drop/spinebuster combo. Gulak is always the best at taking offense, so I love when he chooses to shine by doing "small" things like work a half crab or stomp Ricochet's back. Gulak is a pro wrestler like Chris Hero, someone who understands the nuances and can deliver joy with elite execution on "simple" moves. Seeing him work a cutoff spot with a timed headbutt to the chest is a cool thing to still see in wrestling. 

It's good for Tozawa to work with someone like Gulak. He's been mired in the comedy ninja gimmick for quite awhile now and it's easy to forget what a great worker he was during some of those 205 Live years everyone has memory-holed. Working with Gulak allows him to up his game and show why he's remained employed for an improbable near 5 years. He's been a unique presence on Main Event for 2 years now, weirdly existing in this vacuum. He's a guy who will really benefit from the return of crowds, and it will be fascinating to see which guys blossom when that happens. The finish tricked me into thinking Gulak was going to get the win again, with his nice pinning powerbomb followed up with Tozawa's big senton. But Mansoor is unbeatable. Loved this tag, some inspired work on a C-show. 

PAS: This was a nifty little TV bout, showing some real chemistry between old Chikara guys Gulak and Ricochet (I wonder if there is a Helios vs. Solider Ant match out there worth watching). Ricochet puts some pop in his moves, and Gulak works pretty stiff. Best thing in this match was probably his back elbow to break out of a fireman's carry. I still feel like Mansoor is the odd man out. Gulak, Ricochet and Tozawa are such polished pros that Mansoor almost feels like a celebrity wrestler, like this is how Bad Bunny would work if he decided to go wrestle on Main Event. Still these are guys who can work around a celebrity wrestler in a tag match, and it was good stuff.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK

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WWE Backlash Running Late Blog 5/16/21

ER: So apparently there STILL isn't a rewind feature on Peacock and I didn't realize. I'll go back and pick up whatever I missed when it's uploaded. 

Sheamus vs. Ricochet

ER: I thought this kicked all kinds of ass, great way to kick off a show (even if it was the last match I watched). This one really cements Backlash as a super strong show, high floor, high ceiling. This is the first singles match ever between Sheamus and Ricochet, and it's a really great time for it to happen for the first time. Sheamus has been on fire since his return, and Ricochet is having his best in ring year since at least 2018. It's a good time for them to finally cross paths in a singles. Sheamus lays in his beating, really pounds Ricochet's chest, and throws a couple different knees that POP in replay. I love watching Sheamus kick, knee, and elbow his way through a match, and Ricochet's flying added some fun flash. I love a guy who can lean jaw first into kneelifts and then hit some fly springboards. I never got the sense Ricochet could win this match, but that's fine because he also didn't look like a total joke. He looked like a guy who could surprise Sheamus at some point, and Sheamus remains on his tear. 

Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte

ER: I thought this was good! I was not excited to see two three ways on this card (three, including the Mysterio handicap match), but I wound up enjoying or even loving all of them. This felt like Charlotte's best performance all year, which is amusing as I'm pretty sure I said that about Rey Mysterio and Roman Reigns, so this show was apparently the time for the big stars to show the hell up in 2021. I also think this was one of Asuka's best performances of the year, had a nice run through all of the match, felt like the most involved in many ways. But my main take away was that it was good to see Charlotte lean into her better qualities, and find better ways to integrate her more recent Barry Darsow constant chattering. I don't think every wrestler intends to become Barry Darsow, but sometimes it happens, and Charlotte's turn as a Mean Girl Barry Darsow have been mixed. Charlotte has downright stunk in the ring lately, looking completely distracted and dominating too much TV time for the low quality of work. This felt like a step in the right direction. 

Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode vs. Rey Mysterio 

ER: Dominik taken out earlier in the night, and it gives us this really great old school handicap match, with an all time legendary babyface gutting it out against what feels like a tag team of Hennig and Rude. The Dirty Dawgs are - believe it or not - one of the best teams in 2021 wrestling, and Roode/Ziggler have been putting on their strongest work in years. Their team name is horrible, but it also fits, and their ringwork and chemistry are good enough that the work surpasses the name. This is Rey's strongest performance of the year, a year that started with him looking aged to me for the first time in his career. A slow first 2-3 months has lead to a wildly resurgent Spring, and it still amazes me that we get to still be seeing REY MYSTERIO performances. He is so good at making this a compelling handicap match, knowing the exact moments to make his comebacks, knowing exactly how to take a valiant but sympathetic underdog beating. Roode and Ziggler are great at working their end, and I really think this tag is the best possible role for each. Both thrive within this tag structure, have very good timing for it, and it really plays to their individual strengths. Their cutoff spots are good and they stooge very well for all of Rey's best spots. There's a fantastic callback spot, where early in the match Rey hits his sliding body press to the floor, and then later Roode throws him into that spot and directly into a Ziggler superkick. Rey's selling from the spot is superb, and the later match payoff of him sliding out on the offensive again, sunset flip powerbombing Ziggler into the apron was great. Dominik's late match involvement was well integrated, and I think he keeps showing improvement. Working pros like Roode and Ziggler is helping him, and I think that bears well on them. But this match was a Rey match, and was one of the great Mysterio performances, a genuine later career highlight of one of the greatest careers ever. 

PS: Very happy we get to see Rey still delivering on a big stage. He is only 46 which is pretty much still luchador prime (I mean Black Terry is still having MOTYs in his late 60s), and I enjoyed him working in this classic tag team structure. Handicap match with the partner coming from the back is tag team wrestling going way back (we even see a version of it in French Catch), and Mysterio and Ziggler and Roode all play their roles well. Dirty Dogs have some really nasty double teams, some good shit talking, if this was a new team instead of two guys who have been around forever, I really think they would be getting a ton of props. That baseball slide into the superkick was incredible, as was the Rey final cut off baseball slide into the powerbomb. I didn't love the timing of the final frog splash, Dominick took forever to get up to the top rope, and the impact looked more like a celebrity frog splash (I think Snoop Dogg had more impact) than a wrestler's version. Seems like keeping Dominick in the locker room for 70% of the match is the way to go, but I am all for Rey getting another run.

The Miz vs. Damian Priest

ER: A zombie lumberjack match, in tribute to the first episode of the real ECW, and it actually winds up being much more fun than I expected it to be. Dumb as hell, but I'd rather these two work dumb than work serious. I liked Miz a lot here, and I think acting like a doofus around zombies while taking silly Edge offense from Priest is a good spot for him to excel. There's a fun moment where Miz and Priest stand back to back and fight zombies together, man united, then back in the ring Miz goes for a high five as a way to Trojan horse a kick to the stomach (that gets caught). Morrison comes out and wipes out a bunch of zombies with parkour, and then gets SWARMED and dragged to his death by zombies! Part of me wants Morrison to disappear for 6 months to commit to this and come back like parkour Onryu. Zombie Parkour is a brilliant gimmick for Morrison, as then he doesn't have to act or promo, he can just brainlessly go through gymnastics showcases and it would give everything much more substance. This was a good use of time, and we got to see two different people kick a zombie in the face with a spinkick. 

Bianca Belair vs. Bayley

ER: Belair's gear is incredible, like the kind of iconic look that they need to have on an action figure to memorialize it. Her whole look is superstar, and it's one of the moments where I think Sasha and Bianca could one day be talked about as the two biggest American women's wrestling stars ever. It's an attainable career destination. And this match was good, a strong Belair performance in her first big title defense. They were both active in good ways, and Bayley did the kind of performance that makes someone like Belair look like a strong champ. Bayley bumped big and didn't work "crazy" (I don't actually know if Bayley is supposed to be working a Woman Driven Mad gimmick right now or if she just got into large crimping and it's humid). This felt like a good showcase for Bianca, she looked like someone confident in her spots, and Bayley really knew how to make those spots look good. Very satisfying. The finish is somewhat odd with Bayley appearing to kick out, but it's a simple way to lead immediately to a good rematch that Bianca wins decisively. 

Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Braun Strowman

ER: I've enjoyed the way these three have interacted, it's been one of the positives of 2021 WWE. They are three heavyweights who all wrestle their size, and that is going to give you a big advantage in 2021. I don't typically like three ways, but I am confident in them having a good one, all are good at coming up at ways to be out of a match and/or get someone out of a match for long stretches, and they go hard when they not the one disappeared. And this was good, because of those reasons, heavyweights crashing into each other like heavyweights. Drew had another good performance, one of the most consistent performers this year, a cool big babyface who can throw bigger guys like Braun and Lashley. Braun has never looked more cut, and Lashley has found the right way to play his personality. It's a good combo of elements for a match like this, with all men taking some good bumps and picking their moments. Braun lands on his shoulders on a couple of gnarly suplexes, Lashley flies hard into his spears, McIntyre takes a wicked Braun powerbomb through the announce table, and they do a couple of entrance ramp bumps and a big stunt spot. Now, I think the in ring stuff was much cooler than the stunt spots, because these dudes have unique things they can bring in ring. Give me more of Lashley/Drew hitting a delayed vertical suplex on Braun, please. They kept a good pace, had some impressive big man stuff, good heavyweight fight. 

Cesaro vs. Roman Reigns

ER: I thought this was a pretty great main event, the kind of match that felt like it earned its main event gravitas indulgences. This was my favorite Reigns performance of the year, a year that has been good for Roman promos but bad for Roman matches. This felt like more of a classic Roman quality main event, worked within his modern heel character. The fit felt good here, and it hasn't totally before for me. Cesaro on the other hand has a realistic claim to best in the world right now in ring, and is now doing it during one of the strongest pushes of his career. Cesaro doing his thing on the main stage is something I've wanted to see, and Reigns is someone who makes a good opponent for him. A lot of things felt big here, lots of Cesaro uppercuts that look fully absorbed by Roman, no theatrical followthrough, just Cesaro throwing his whole arm into Reigns' chest and neck. Reigns' superman punches look good in all the slo mo shots, and this match is the best kind of balance between a main event I enjoy and a main event WWE wants their wrestlers to have. It's the kind of match that looked really great in highlight form, but sustained interest over nearly a half hour. It was probably too long, but they filled the time well and everything looked snug. Roman can lose his "gotta work 25 in the main" HHH influences tomorrow and I'd be happy, but this was good. They made big suplex spots look great, crashes into barricades and posts look great, but Reigns also made so many veins pop out on Cesaro's head during a headlock choke that I thought it was going to burst. That kind of thing will always make a match kick ass, and it did. 

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