NXT Great American Bash 7/1/20

Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai vs. Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae

ER: This is done elimination style, which is at least a nice change of pace from these multimans where people conveniently disappear the entire match. The early chaos was good and filled with fun Kai faces and a surprise early Candice elimination. Mia Yim had one very clunky spot where she dove "at" Nox and instead flew to the floor, but Nox hadn't been in that spot for awhile so it looked like Yim just turned around and ran/dove at nothing, like Kerry von Erich hitting a sunset flip on someone standing 10 feet away. But right after that she goes on a real fantastic run, hitting a sick rana on Nox after running across Kai's back, then snapping off a rana on Kai right after, then running into consecutive nice topes on both. It was really exciting in the moment even though after she was eliminated it did come off as one of those "let her get a series of cool moments before she gets pinned". I did not love the final Kai/Nox singles match. Tegan Nox just does not do it to me. Her wide mouth shocked faces on kickouts, her moveset that is a distilled version of the most current/basic indy moveset. It has no personality, and Nox herself appears to have no personality outside of "fashionable apron move shining wizard that doesn't hit and also knee brace". Kai's exaggerated heel expressions adds to things, but I just can't get excited by "Nox should have been finished but now she is fighting back with her heatless offense that everyone does!"

Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan

ER: This was the exact kind of 10 minute fight I wanted to see. You knew you were going to have to endure 7 or 8 different Mauro references to Stu Hart and the Dungeon for whatever reason, but they ripped at each other's limbs in the best way so who cares. The grappling was strong and I dug how they established that Lorcan was going to hit harder and take more risks, while Thatcher felt like he was going to endure some chops and some unfavorable mat positions just for the chance to take apart Lorcan's arm. I like Lorcan's specific level of crazed and focused, where he also has no problem leaning into Thatcher's strikes and has no fear about landing in a disadvantaged position. Thatcher works for a nice Americana and Lorcan takes a nice bump to the floor, and I adore Thatcher's big throw belly to belly, where the motion seems so graceful and the hangtime sublime, and Lorcan lands like a sandbag. Lorcan really pays Thatcher back with a nasty half nelson suplex and then slaps him repeatedly down to the mat. I'm into the focus that guys like Lorcan and Gulak have brought back to a single leg crab, as they know how to lock them in so effectively that they make a hold WWE has phased out seem actually dangerous. But Thatcher's kneebar variation was my favorite thing here (if not this, then Lorcan's early match low angle headscissors takedown, one of the coolest headscissors I've seen in months), locking in a half crab of his own and then clutching Lorcan's shin, spreading pressure from the hamstrings to the knee to the quad. That's a disgusting hold and it needs to finish a few matches. Lorcan is a savage so of course tries to dig into Thatcher with a fishhook, and the way Thatcher shifted his weight and rolled across to a Fujiwara to break and win was a thing of beauty. I've seen these two square off several times over the years, and they always bring new fresh tricks to the table. Can't think of better ways to kill 10 minutes.

Rhea Ripley vs. Aliyah/Robert Stone

ER: This wasn't going to impress the crowd seeking a MOTN, but this had a vibe similar to old Coliseum videos or something like Razor vs. Jarrett/Roadie that isn't really seen on WWE TV anymore. They still do handicap matches, but they too often get trapped in this shitty modern version of a handicap match where everybody is still working all of the same spots they'd work in a normal singles match. This is not a great match that people will talk about at the end of the year, but everyone involved worked it exactly the way it should have been worked and I really liked it. I loved seeing non-matches like Heenan vs. Boss Man or Genius vs. Hogan when I was a kid. A match made up of two mostly non-competitive stooging heels is a rarity on WWE TV today, but was a structure that created a ton of fond memories for me as a kid. Stone and Aliyah knew how to create that kind of energy, that ineffective stumblebum who still had a couple small advantages. Rhea got some fun 1 on 2 runs, loved the double boston crabs and other spots where she's just too cool to fall for their Wile E. Coyote bullshit. Stone is a guy who was a regular wrestler who WWE hasn't used as a wrestler until now, and he knew exactly how to work "actual wrestler playing a non-wrestler". He's lean, he's wearing boxer's shorts comically high, he bumps just like a manager who knows how to bump but plays like he's falling on banana peels. He misses a plancha, gets caught doing a roll up and headbutted, just flailing at trying to get one over on Rhea. Aliyah is charming and has no chance against Rhea, it's all fun. This kind of lighthearted southern stooge handicap match is real Memphis, and is a missed presence on WWE television. This played like 1995 WWF in the best ways, an era that plays better than ever in 2020.

Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis

ER: This one needed to be a bit shorter. I liked elements of it, and overall like Lumis as a character. So far I'm into the act, and I'm a Strong fan. Strong is maybe the wrestler I've most enjoyed over the past 15 years, who I talk about the least. He's been a good wrestler for a long time, someone I've seen live several times, someone who has made a ton of tape in several feds. And I think I like him a lot more than I've maybe written about. But I wanted this a little tighter, and without the distracting/overblown finish and Bobby Fish interference. Lumis brings an importantly different vibe to NXT, and Strong was playing a tough guy getting his ass beat really well. I'm a fan of strap matches and there were some cool things involving it, involving weight distribution, and plenty of Lumis yanking Strong around. Strong takes a great splatting bump getting yanked into the ring steps, opting instead to fly over them and backsplash the floor. I don't need the long "Lumis likes getting whipped" spot, but I like the nice Strong superplex, liked Strong tying Lumis up with the strap to lock in a Boston Crab, liked a lot of this. I had hoped this one would play as an overachieving old school stipulation brawl, and we didn't get there. But, it had a lot to like.

Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks

ER: Just keep on giving me these Sasha Banks NXT main events daddy, and I'll keep enjoying them. It is exciting that there are signs of Sasha and Bayley being Actual Draws, because their act clearly has been one of the best things about minimal crowd wrestling. This whole thing is a win before it even starts, as Sasha/Bayley come out in a convertible and Bayley is holding Sasha's corgi in her lap. You give me corgis in my pro wrestling and I am going to care demonstrably less about the pro wrestling. This whole match was a great main event title match, not worked with parity but still managing to make it seem like either could pull out a win. Io's offense landed heavier here than it usually does, and part of that was Sasha's ragdoll bumping, but a big part was Io clearly working up to a main event singles match. Her missile dropkick, 619, and especially tope hit harder, with that tope really just flattening Sasha at the gut. Sasha goes for meteoras and knee strikes with gusto, which hit hard when she lands them and leaves her wide open when they miss, and that's a cool thing to base a match around. There is one messy spot with a German suplex miscommunication, but I think it adds to the match because of how Sasha chooses to sell it. Sasha was clearly supposed to land on her feet, but they get crossed on the release point and Sasha gets awkwardly folded and instead lands on her knees and face, kinda. But thankfully Sasha does not sell it as if she stuck the landing, and they both sell the proper amount of confusion, the way you should when a landing doesn't go perfectly. The big moments come off big, like Sasha trying to hit a wild sunset flip bomb and eventually flinging Shirai into the plexiglass, or Sasha's big missed frog splash that lands her in a crossface (that I thought was the finish). I'm still on the fence about the end of match interference, as I like Sasha trying to cheat using a tag title and liked the expected Asuka counterbalance. Asuka hits Sasha with the mist but I guess I wish Asuka hadn't just stayed out there dancing around in plain sight of the ref, while Sasha's face was now suddenly green. There were easy ways to do this spot and not have the ref come off dumb. But the match was strong, Banks is the queen, and Shirai looked good in her first match as champ.


ER: This was a real fun 2 hour show, that same sweet spot that the early (and excellently paced) In Your House shows went. 1:45-2 hours, every match with a totally different vibe. That's a great way to run a wrestling show, and this was a fun show top to bottom.

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NXT TakeOver: In Your House 6/7/20

So it's Sunday afternoon, and NXT hasn't been hitting the way it used to for the past 6 months, nothing on this card jumps out as something I think will be Actually Good, but I'm gonna give this show a shot. If I'm not into something I can't say my attention will be 100% on it, but I'll give it a shot. But I dig the IYH set, which really just makes me want to get back on watching 1995 WWF and reviewing IYH shows. And I appreciate Pettengill coming back and sounding exactly the same and using the same exact vocal delivery, honestly doesn't sound any differently 25 years later. But it's pretty shitty they aren't giving anybody a house this time. Some people could really use a house right now.

I thought Damian Priest's shitty band was starting off this show, but it turns out that is Code Orange. And you guys, regardless of how Code Orange might sound on album (I listened to Forever a couple years ago, thought it was fine and remembered it sounding more like hardcore grunge and not dog balls nu metal through and through), we can all agree that they sounded like absolute shit here. Show the first minute of this performance to anyone and try to get them to explain why it is cool, and you will be met with a person who suddenly forgets how to speak. This is a bad omen.


Shotzi Blackheart/Tegan Nox/Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai/Raquel Gonzalez/Candice LeRae

ER: This was a perfectly fine opener, and I think the trios format made it a stronger match than any combo singles match they could have done. This was the first time I think Nox has looked convincing against Kai ever since the turn. The two of them ramming heads got a vocal reaction out of me, and Nox really knocked Kai to her butt right after with a hard corner back elbow. Everybody was given good time here and nobody hung themselves, even with them trying a couple new things. The dive train was fun, dug Raquel brusquely tossing Shotzi aside, the Candice crossbody looked good, Nox's 450 to the floor a fitting closer. There were a couple of not ready for prime time moments, but those coming in a trios are way better than in a singles, because they easily kept the tempo up with quick tags. Big suplexes down the stretch were a cool way to ramp up to the finish, and it still surprises me that Mia Yim of all people is the one allowed to do a full dragon suplex. We go through years of WWE changing the bumps on suplexes - turning the half nelson into a full rotation stomach bump, having some guys throw German's so it's a flatter back bump than up on the shoulders - and Mia Yim comes in and just does bridging dragon suplexes. It would be like Eric Bugenhagen being allowed to do a Jerry Lawler piledriver. But it's good to have a spirited match like this start the show, and to actually have it all tie in to current feuds makes something like this stronger. Also Tegan Nox needs to drop the chokeslam. It looks stupid.

Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor

ER: So outside of a couple of moments, I thought this was really good. Priest has done nothing for me on NXT TV but I thought he added nice heft to this match. Balor's matches against larger opponents have always been way more interesting to me than his mirror matches against other Finn Balor guys. Priest threw a couple of brick wall lariats and really tossed Balor around, which is the kind of match where Balor can excel. Balor takes a mean bump into the ring steps, looking like he literally aimed to fly in to them like a tackling dummy. 10 minutes later and Balor still had strong ring step pattern tattoos branded into his right shoulder, and that will always kick ass. I mentioned Balor's best work comes against larger opponents, and it's also true that Priest's best work comes against smaller opponents. Watching him against Dijakovic or Lee is torture, but here his exaggerated Edge/Test offense works. His high lift flatliner looked awesome, and the sit out chokeslam from the top was killer. Really, the only part of the match that didn't work for me was when Balor decided to turn things into a step routine out of nowhere. Whatever clown thinks every NXT match needs to stop for a dance party is someone I wouldn't trust with any decision. But the obnoxious thing here, is that Priest allllllmost makes it work. I think Priest did as good a job as possible to physically respond to Balor's shots, making it come close to looking like he wasn't a man merely bracing himself for the next part of the rehearsed combo. A strike exchange is only as strong as the person being struck, and I appreciate what Priest brought to that moment. Seeing Balor's branding didn't make me consider that we'd get an even uglier moment involving the ring steps, but Balor using his shotgun dropkick to send Priest flying into and over the steps was awesome, and I love how it directly lead to the finish. Priest's bump looked great, and this whole match was satisfying as hell.

Johnny Gargano vs. Keith Lee

ER: Before the match we get Gargano sitting at his kitchen table wearing his dress up clothes and cape. When I was 6 I got to be Dracula for Halloween, and had this black cotton cape that had an easy one snap closure around the neck. And I wore that cape everywhere until at least March of 1988. If my mom was going to the market, I would be like "I wanna go! Just let me go get my cape!" And my mother is joyless so one day she just hid the cape so she wouldn't have a "cape kid" when I was 12 years old. Johnny Gargano is that kid. We also get that specific WWE Brand comedy where their idea of a joke is just showing an older WWF character. Similar to the gag of "and then Brother Love shows up and says his catchphrase and that's the joke", we get Johnny looking at a shot of Dok Hendrix. Use Michael Hayes to interview Gargano for the match or something, if you don't actually feel like writing more than the first part of a nostalgia joke. But Keith Lee is awesomely wearing Black Lives Matter gear so if that won't make Gargano a convincing heel then I don't know what will. And now it just feels like Keith Lee is going to lose. It just feels like a thing that they'd do.

And this match was actually good? I wasn't expecting that, but this is my favorite thing Gargano has been involved with in a long time. It wasn't perfect, and I hated the dance fighting stuff here as much as I usually hate it. Take that trash out to the curb and leave the rest of the match the same, and this works great. Gargano as an overwhelmed hero is way more interesting than never say die Gargano or epic match Gargano. Outside of the dancing this felt closer to Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel on a Coliseum Video than what I was expecting, as that's obviously way better than what I was expecting. I liked Gargano working over Lee's hand and didn't have a problem with the size difference due to how Lee sold for Gargano. Lee was still able to power him around with one arm, but it slowed him enough. This is a match also greatly helped by the NXT wrestlers in the crowd. There's a certain kind of enthusiasm that can happen when wrestlers watch their peers, that same kind of energy that was on early Evolve shows. You can tell when they're not just adding heat to help vs. actually getting into things, and it just felt like we got a little bit more of that energy here. Lee body checking Gargano through the hockey shielding was awesome, a real unexpected moment right after Gargano hits the floor to shake the cobwebs out. Lee just wrecking balled Gargano through that wall and I loved it, a stunt spot that came off organic. I like the way this match rolled out, like that they didn't linger long on lame "swinging to miss" spots, and let Lee flatten Gargano in fun ways.

Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream

ER: This is a tough one for me, as I don't want to see these two in a cinematic brawl, but I would probably rather see that than these two in a 30 minute Adam Cole main event epic. Dream's stock as a character has fallen a lot for me and Cole is just not a wrestler that I enjoy. Dream destroy's somebody's mom's 2001 Saturn and I'll always enjoy somebody bumping onto a windshield. Dexter Lumis shows up, and he feels like a genuinely refreshing addition to NXT. He comes off like a pro wrestling version of an abusive cop taking his family out to Olive Garden and ruining the night when he finds out they missed never ending pasta bowl. The stuff at the finish through the chairs looked good, felt more like an indy garbage spot than a big match WWE spot, and that helps things. I'm glad this was kept to 15 minutes, even though I am not excited for Cole still champ. Why is Cole the guy? Why is Strong not the champ in UE? Cole is such a weird choice to me.

Karrion Kross vs. Tommaso Ciampa

ER: This ruled and was exactly the kind of match I didn't expect them to have. This show has really come off stronger than expected for me, because they have played against type for the entire show. Priest/Balor and Lee/Gargano were sensibly and smartly worked, the Cole match went half as long as I expected, and it's almost like I keep dreading the epic and they keep going more understated (compared to recent big match NXT). This was hugely successful for me, a near total steamrolling by Kross, in a way that I don't think hurt Ciampa while making Kross come off big. Kross murdered Ciampa with strikes and lariats and as they were doing his big choke finish I'm sitting here excited because it actually felt like a finish. It's only been 6 minutes, no way they laid this thing out that smartly, and I dug it all. Ciampa really leaned into everything Kross threw, loved how he sold his beating. His small comeback came off really well but I like that it was contained to more of a last gasp than any sustained back and forth. I just really like that they went this route, came off like another breath of fresh air and a nice change of pace from the last two matches.

Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte

ER: I liked parts of this, but I am beyond tired of big match Charlotte. Ripley seemed like a genuine big deal just a few months ago, and that feels like another lifetime ago. Shirai had some big moments but is still someone where the loud Mauro praise feels real hyperbolic. Ripley felt a little sluggish throughout, Charlotte isn't a good "constantly vocal" Barry Darsow, and three ways in general stink. Three ways being the big main event payoff of the women's division has been death. I liked Shirai going off the house, Charlotte sold the downtime well selling Shirai landing on her nose, we get one of those cutesy three way finishes with Shirai moonsaulting and pinning Ripley before Charlotte could tap her. It came off like a big Shirai moment, but I just couldn't get into a lot of it.


I don't think this show was great, but it delivered better than I was expecting. Kross/Ciampa, Lee/Gargano, and Priest/Balor made sure that it wasn't at all a waste of time, and I call that a win.

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NXT TakeOver: Portland 2/16/20

ER: I was seriously consider going up to Portland to see this, but instead I am sitting at home wearing soft pants. Nobody I knew was interested in either a) seeing this with me live, or b) spending a few days in Portland, and that is fine. It's a place I frequently look for excuses to travel to, so I will surely be there in the next couple months anyway. Let's see if friends and well wishers were correct to convince me not to go. Although, to be clear, this show could be terrible and I would have had a great time in Portland. Plus I can go up there and eat at Screen Door any time I like without having to also sit through an Adam Cole singles match.


Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic

ER: I saw the hype video with Mark Henry talking about how big these two are, and how unfathomable it is for big guys to do what they do. And I am so happy that Mark Henry did not do what these two do and instead wrestled like Mark Henry. I want to see a hoss fight, not two big guys cosplaying an Ospreay match. And this match was definitely these two having their match, and their match does very little to excite me at this point. It is their collection of "Isn't it crazy that THESE two are doing THESE moves!?" exhibition, and I have seen it a lot and I hope this is a blow off match. I think all their stand and trade spots look badly rehearsed, and Dijakovic always seems to be 25% off on every super complicated thing he executes. So these matches are always filled with "MAN that's impressive for a guy his size. Imagine if it landed!" moments. The whole thing is one Eliminators move set up after another, with one big move leading to rest, leading to the other guy doing a big move, and then more rest. Dijakovic keeps breaking out new things, and they are impressive, like his twisting moonsault in ring or his gigantic swanton to a seated Keith Lee on the floor, but these moves always seem to get sold about as long as any other less dangerous move he could have done, and that's a "him" problem. We get a lot of "your big move/strike made me recoil off the ropes/mat and bounce back with my OWN big move/strike" and that's something I typically hate from 160 lb. guys, and lemme tell you that it sucks even harder with 290 lb. guys. For every move I liked, there was a moment that immediately showed that it wasn't actually that devastating, and Dijakovic doesn't have the acting chops to pull off the bad fighting spirit faces he always attempts. This was the match I was expecting, and I probably would have praised it to the heavens if they came out and worked a Mabel/Diesel match instead.

Street Fight: Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai

ER: I haven't been sold on heel Kai, but her street fight gear is legit. This is the coolest that Dakota Kai has looked. Kai is channeling mid 90s AJW street fight attire and it rules. Meanwhile, the person I'm supposed to root for is just wearing her normal wrestling gear and has her hair bumped up to absurd levels. I think a lot of the small stuff worked here, while a lot of big stuff did not. This was my favorite Kai performance, and it worked because she was making small things look as good as big things. She took an early drop toehold into the barricade and just went into it mouth first. And she continued to pay that kind of attention to every little spot, and it elevated things. My favorite moments of the match were not complicated, they were things like Kai snapping off a quick kick from the apron to Nox's face, or Kai splatting hard on her stomach on the apron, or Nox calculating wrong and throwing a low right while Kai is meeting her head with a trashcan lid, or Nox swinging a chair right into Kai's knee and Kai going down like someone who actually had her bad knee beaten with the odd angle of a trash can. When they kept it to basic street fight elements, I thought it was working well, and only fell apart in the moments where they got too cute or overthought what they were doing. No matter how nice Kai's kicks looked, duct taping Nox's wrist to the ringpost comes off a little silly when Nox is watching you do it, and her hand only shoots up to stop you the second you stop wrapping duct tape but not a moment before. But I liked stuff like trapping Kai's knee in a chair and smashing it, the German suplex into a trash can was nasty, and the visual of Kai's head in the chair on the table was strong. Now, using this street fight as a way to reintroduce Reina Gonzalez (with a painfully flat "Oh My God That's Raquel Gonzalez" read from Beth Phoenix) came off more than lame. She looked bad in her big moment, futzing around on the top rope with Nox, before Nox has to jump entirely on her own "through" the table. Gonzalez took forever and couldn't get into a good position to throw her, so Nox did everything on her own (no camera angles could make Gonzalez look good) and the painful bounce off the table came off much more accidental than "intentional badass move" from Gonzalez. Bad reintroduction, flat finish.

Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Balor

ER: This one was one of the on paper matches I was mildly dreading, having those "I just volunarily agreed to watch a show with a likely hour worth of Balor and Cole matches" thoughts, and then this started out just fine. The problem was that it kept going, and I did not want it to keep going. But I was fairly involved with this when they weren't doing "well scouted like looking into a mirror!" wrestling. Heel Finn don't interest me, Face Finn don't interest me, so there wasn't likely much they could have done to win me over other than surprise me with something different. And I was into this, until I wasn't into this. Once this started getting overly sequenced it got the same kind of silly I was expecting. It's so funny that they work on crafting these fast elaborate reversal sequences, and I am into stuff like Finn catching Gargano's spear from the apron. But I can't help but giggle when they run this fast sequence, Balor drapes Gargano over the top rope, sprints to the apron...and then carefully climbs up every single buckle on his way to the top rope. No matter how quickly and ironed out these sequences get, I'm always left with silly little moments where someone is holding themselves in an awkward position waiting to take a move. And so before long Gargano is doing that offense that Gargano does with a lot of pointing, and I chuckled at Balor kicking him off the announce table. Went too long, but the odds of this ever being "for me" left the building pretty quick.

Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley

ER: This was the match I was most excited for, and while it didn't hit the high level I was hoping for, it was still a good match that delivered much of what I wanted. This was a tough position for Bianca, as the match has clearly been treated like a lame duck to Charlotte/Ripley in all of the build. This match was so clearly second banana, with a result so obvious, that getting people invested was going to be like not getting robbed blind in a trade after the player publicly demands a trade. So they don't work this cute, and they throw hard shots, and the occasional messiness on suplexes added to things for me. NXT has had to much cleanness in their main events, I like a little mess. The important thing is that Rhea threw harder clotheslines to the chest and harder knees to the head than Lee and Dijakovic earlier in the evening. I enjoyed how they handled learned behavior, like Belair eating a big boot after going for her series of leapfrogs, and Ripley scouting the hair whip after taking one to the midriff earlier in the match. I really wish Bianca had been treated like more of an overall big deal, as she's lost on every single TakeOver I've watched so has that "Luger always loses" mid 90s WWF feeling to her. Belair as Luger isn't actually crazy now that I think about it...and I really like Luger...and I really like Belair's power here. This was good, and pretty easily my favorite match of the night so far, even if I am getting very tired of Charlotte.

Kyle O'Reilly/Bobby Fish vs. Matt Riddle/Pete Dunne

ER: This was good! I expected this to be good! Some restraint would have been welcome, but the NXT house style is getting further and further away from any kind of restraint. I got into it from the beginning, with UE jumping Riddle and Dunne in the aisle way, babyfacing themselves by stopping the awful Bobby Fish song, which had the special power of getting less funny every time it was spoken. I thought this was an especially cool showing for Fish and O'Reilly. Bobby Fish is basically the least talked about member of UE, but he brings a cool salt and pepper old athletic guy energy to things. Fish is like the best possible Frankie Kazarian, that tanned guy in his 40s who is now leaning deep into his aged hair, only Fish does great offense catered to his age, and is maybe the finest example of a silver fox wrestling has seen. Dude was owning the silver and I thought he came off with actual star appeal. O'Reilly had a real nice very fast kick combo, that didn't actually look like he was just thinking about the next step, it really just came off like he was winging kicks. Sure he had some silly wobbly legs down the stretch, but there were a lot of things O'Reilly did great in this one. My one hang up is that I don't really think the Riddle/Dunne team works as well as I thought it would. There's something missing and they just aren't as complementary as I thought they'd be. I like both of them, Riddle especially, but the team just keeps coming up lesser than sum for me. Riddle is always going to do things I like, and here he's hitting sentons and taking big bumps barefoot and tossing out Germans and I'm just going to like that. I don't think this reached the kind of fluidity that some of the best of these NXT go go go tags can hit, and of course doesn't touch the same kind of match from To Infnity and Beyond or Philly-Marino, but this was very fun and part of a really enjoyable 1-2 with Ripley/Belair.

Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa

ER: Nope.

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Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode 7

Lacey Lane vs. Meiko Satomura

ER: Killer 5 minute Worldwide match, tightly worked, no extra fat, worked evenly without feeling like trading off, both looking like they could potentially win. I'm extremely happy Meiko won, but I thought Lane looked strong in a loss. The work was really fun, Meiko looks like such a natural that she could sleepwalk through a match like this, she has every single step down, is able to convey great emotion while also coming off like a flat out cold blooded killer. Meiko hits kick combos with precision, and is great at setting up Lane to do the same, really anticipating her opponent, and Lane importantly knows she's in the ring with Meiko Satomura and lays it in. Meiko leaning in to spin kicks and Lacey firing off elbows? Yes, please. I really wanted Meiko to win (even though I've enjoyed Lane in the tournament, I just wanted as many Meiko matches as possible) and I think they did a great job of making it seem like Lane had a real chance. The crossbody nearfall was legit, totally bought it as a finish and I have to give Meiko the credit for making things into such believable finishes. She is able to build so much drama with her selling, body language, and timing. In many matches that crossbody could have just felt like another move, but Meiko knows just how to take it, just when to kick out, all for maximum effect. She comes up holding her jaw with absolute daggers in her eyes, and I knew Lane was finished at that point. This delivered what I wanted.

PAS: I could have easily seen this make a list if it went a little longer. Lane is clearly green as goose shit, but Meiko has been training wrestlers for two decades and is masterful at putting together something interesting. They even do some Red vs. Ki Jackie Chan spots and make them look cool. I loved the early grabbing of the leg by Meiko and how she drops it instead of breaking it, just to let Lane know she was drawing dead. It felt like something Fujiwara might do. Finish felt a big abrupt, I usually don't complain about a short finish run, but it felt like we were two minutes away from something pretty great.

Io Shirai vs. Deonna Purrazzo

ER: Pre-match package is amusing as Cole keeps calling Shirai the "Genius of the Sky" while clips are showing her doing a bunch of moonsaults with the shittiest landings, just clips of her mostly missing her opponents or landing short and hurting her opponents. The clips made her looked like she was a Lita trainee. A true genius. And I thought Io looked really good for the first minute of this, and then proceeded to look the worst she's looked for the rest of the match. She started with some cool knees to Purrazzo's stomach, and hit a hard crossbody dive that Purazzo just took full force on the entrance grate, and Purrazzo got a nice schoolboy off Io's missed double knees in the corner. Then Io started throwing these really flimsy elbows and Purrazzo just completely outclassing her. Purrazzo started throwing these violent fast German suplexes that would have looked fine on their own, but Io was doing her best to making them look hokey by leaping into them way more than necessary. There's a lot of really engaging stuff around Purrazzo getting the Fujiwara, really wrenching it in and locking Shirai's free arm around her chin for a weird modified Rings of Saturn. The move was effective as hell but was marred a bit by Io's mawkish "Ohhhhhhh I hurrrrrrrt and I might just tappppppppp!" Before long Shirai is up and running around with no pain whatsoever, and Renee Young asks, "Where is Io getting the momentum, the energy!?" Well, you see, Shirai is a parody of a joshi babyface, so she has the power to make opponent's offense meaningless and pointless in the scheme of a match. The sweetest icing of all is when Shirai whiffs the match-ending moonsault completely, flying right over and past Purrazzo and slightly grazing her with arms, bad enough that the three person announce crew had no idea how to cover for it other than saying "Well she didn't get all of it but still won!" Shirai is very much not good, which is only magnified by putting her matches on directly after Meiko's matches. She comes off like a backyarder whose favorite wrestler is Meiko. I refuse to believe people thought she looked good for most of this match.

Tegan Nox vs. Rhea Ripley

ER: This was both a shame, and a damn impressive performance from Nox, and likely lead to a better  and more intriguing match than it otherwise would have been. Nox wrecked her non-wrecked knee in this one, immediately, after landing hard on that damn entrance grate on a dive. I didn't actually know about the injury before this happened, having successfully avoided tournament spoilers. But I noticed something was weird the way she stood up by pushing up off Ripley with all of her weight. Also,  she was suddenly selling *really* well. But I gained a ton of respect for Nox, as she kept trying to work on it, through a couple of match stoppages as the ref and trainer checked on her. She kept persisting to such an extreme degree that I began thinking that maybe she really was just putting on an amazing knee selling job, because she continued taking a furious beating from Ripley and kept fighting back for more. Ripley was a beast, muscling her up hardway for a huge flapjack, throwing some awesome clubbing shots to the back, and just plastering her with her sweet high dropkick. And because Nox was such a lunatic and kept taking all of this punishment and getting up for more, I really thought the only thing that made sense was Tegan Nox: Master of Sales. But soon she starts crying and the match is stopped, and I could not be more impressed and shocked by what she went through. Gutsy as all hell, as apparently her injury is quite bad (and likely made worse by working a few minutes on it). What awful luck she's had, but what huge respect she assuredly gained from everyone. Even truncated due to the circumstances, the match was a fascinating story and incredibly effective.

Mia Yim vs. Toni Storm

ER: I came away from this really impressed with Yim, and still very much unimpressed with Storm. They clearly want to make Toni Storm a thing, and Toni Storm is definitely not a thing, not in this house. She has a good look, and she's not sloppy, so she has at least a somewhat high floor, but she's very overrated at this point and not as good as they pretend she is. I really loved Kaitlyn/Yim last week (and was surprised to see that many people didn't think much of it), and Yim follows that match up with a real nice performance with a dull finish that we saw coming a mile away. Yim threw plenty of nice strikes, especially loved her muay thai knees, liked her locking up Storm with an Indian deathlock, a bow and arrow, and a guillotine, and dug her great powerbomb and even better Saito suplex. Storm was selling a lot throughout, just taking a lot and I just had a big hunch it was going to end with her taking a bunch of offense and then just winning with a move or two. That's exactly what happened, though she had some nice isolated moments in the match: her headbutt to cut off Yim was good, fighting through the guillotine for a spinebuster was nice, but I'm just not very impressed with Storm relative to how impressed they are with her. Satomura/Yim and Ripley/Purrazzo seem like potentially WAY better matches than what we'll be getting, but I suppose we will see.

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Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode 6

Zeuxis vs. Io Shirai

ER: Zeuxis had a better showing here than her 1st round match, and this match had the potential to be a good match, but Shirai is a joshi babyface who transitions back from a beating by suddenly deciding that the beating she has been taking isn't as bad as it seemed, and starts running and screaming and hitting offense again. The Shirai arm injury was set up with quality timing and a nutso bump from Shirai: Zeuxis caught her with a forearm in the middle of a Shirai springboard spot, then hit her with a baseball slide that sent Shirai crashing violently to the floor off the apron. Awesome looking spot, and I liked Zeuxis working her over and bullying her around the ring after. But at a certain point Shirai just decides that she isn't all that hurt after all, and then the running starts. Anybody who hates Hulkamania Hulk must hate joshi babyfaces, those unkillable T-9000s but with cool hair. I knew Zeuxis wasn't advancing, which is fine, I don't have a problem with Shirai advancing. But once she just got up sprinting from a beatdown I knew she was definitely going to win, and the rest of the match would be no looking back. Her overshooting the moonsault for the finish was icing on the cake, and as an accountant I like that she netted out, since she sloppily whipped ankles first into Xia Brookside in the first round. This could have been better, it really wouldn't have taken much more.

Deonna Purrazzo vs. Xia Li

ER: I liked the pace they went with here, and while there were things that didn't hit cleanly I still liked what they were going for. Purrazzo goes after the arm but keeps getting caught with various Li kicks, including a nice dropkick off the top (I mean, it was one of those ugly RVD dropkicks, but it looked like it had some impact), and I liked how Purrazzo kept going for the arm and using any kind of offense to eventually get to the arm. Hit a lariat, go for the arm, Russian leg sweep, go for the arm, oh and also hit Li with some nice thumping chops; doing that opened up some nice counters for Li, a nice cradle reversal, a really fun layout. There was some timing that was off, or some things that took a bit or set-up, but pace and layout were strong.

Nicole Matthews vs. Tegan Nox

ER: This was good enough, and really didn't overstay its welcome, but more to their detriment. There haven't been too many under 4 minute matches in the tournament, and they probably could have easily stretched this out twice as long. Matthews was nice and mean, really bullying Nox around after elbowing her out of a dive attempt and hitting some hard kicks on the apron, and I dug how Matthews kind of walked through Nox's stuff to continue pounding her. Throw some kicks at me? Yeah, I'm just gonna elbow you and hit a nice northern lights. But the finish really felt like they just got a sudden call to wrap it all up, as Nox just gets up from what had been a fairly one-sided beating, throws some iffy uppercuts - maybe better than her 1st round ones, but those looked like she was intentionally missing her opponent - before just hitting a cannonball and a so-so shining wizard. Color me unimpressed with Nox, both because she hasn't looked impressive, and because Michael Cole just will not shut the fuck up about her.

Mia Yim vs. Kaitlyn

ER: Well this ruled and I wasn't really expecting Kaitlyn to be my favorite not-Meiko gal in this tourney. In the first round Yim had a bad version of a match she'd had a dozen times with Allysin Kay, with the announcers selling her hand pain for her in lieu of Yim actually selling it herself. Here she has her hand taped up and immediately hurts it with a chop. Kaitlyn hits a bunch of legdrops and a great cannonball, then works an awesome body vice. Kaitlyn was a powerlifter and always had strong legs, really made the body vice look legit and I loved Yim grinding her elbow into Kaitlyn's leg to get out of it. Yim starts working over Kaitlyn's leg after Kaitlyn misses a baseball slide, slams it into the apron, dishes hard kicks to the hamstring, and works an awesome standing figure 4 (almost like a figure 4 and a stump puller, looked painful as hell). Things get really great when Kaitlyn baits Yim into punching her and dodges so that Yim punches the mat, and then Kaitlyn decides to just try to rip Yim's hand off. Good god I totally wanted a tap there, Kaitlyn looked like she wanted to tear Yim's hand off and wear it like a necklace. Kaitlyn was great going for bodyslams (all powerlifters should have a good bodyslam), her leg buckling at first and her stubbornly going back for them. Yim begging off properly ends with her whiffing an attack so Kaitlyn can hit another slam, and Yim's missed strike was a great way to set that up. We get a couple of very convincing nearfalls, especially Kaitlyn's spear which looked killer, and I *really* wanted to end the match. But just like Yim missed a punch to the mat earlier, Kaitlyn misses a stomp to leave herself open for an ankle lock. This was totally great, although I think they really missed out by not having Kaitlyn advance. Yim has had her best matches against Baszler and Kaitlyn, those styles really complement her style, and someone like Toni Storm is much closer to the typical Yim opponent who all just bring out awful 2018 indy tendencies in each other. But this match was fantastic, and made me really hope for a 2018 full time Kaitlyn return.

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Mae Young Classic 2018 Episode 1

Tegan Nox vs. Zatara

ER: Cole is a little too head over heels for Nox, so my household is Team Zatara right here. But Beth Phoenix informs me that Zatara is not here to make friends. You don't say. I mean, it's tough to make new friends once you're an adult. Maybe one of these 32 women knew they might not have the best odds of winning this tournament, but thought it would be a good way to meet some new girlfriends. I was entirely unfamiliar with both women, and this didn't make me want to get more familiar. There were some things I liked, like the fun arm work right at the beginning and Zatara's Negro Navarro-ish cruceta and Zatara's running knee and hard missile dropkick, etc. But both had some poor looking offense at points. Nox threw these uppercuts that looked like she was intentionally missing Zatara, and Zatara threw a pretty ugly mule kick (that's a tough move to connect on, and a lot of ladies use it, and I'm not sure I've seen one do it well) and threw missed clotheslines that were in no danger of hitting anybody. Nox also had a couple of annoying phony athletic bumps, like she was trying to do athletic Hennig bumps but there was a hesitation or delay. I remember there being worse matches than this last year, but I likely won't remember this one by the end of the tournament.

PAS: This didn't do much for me, Nox is someone who gets a lot of hype from people whose opinions I don't trust, and she didn't show me much here. There was some OK stuff by Zatara I though her moves landed with force, but parts of this also felt disjointed. I am not sure there are 32 good women's wrestlers for a tourney like this to be all good matches. I like how the MYC brings in women from all over the world, but the best Chilean versus the best Welsh lady is going to likely be subpar.

MJ Jenkins vs. Rhea Ripley

ER: This one was really fun. Ripley won me over in her match against Dakota Kai last year, and I liked how this was structured with Ripley being a bully until Jenkins snapped. Ripley hit a nice dropkick to knock Jenkins off the apron (with a nice two part bump to the floor from Jenkins) and a GREAT clothesline back in the ring, locked in a snug abdominal stretch, really all her control stuff looked good. She also did a few little things that impressed me, like when she missed an overhand strike in the corner when Jenkins slipped out to the apron, and Ripley missed hard and then grabbed her side and shook out her arm, occupying time until Jenkins was ready to hit offense. I see so many wrestlers just stagger back into position and just stand there crooked and waiting, so seeing a 21 year old already finding interesting ways to occupy time is really cool. Jenkins bumped nicely for Ripley and was mostly in there to make Ripley look good and sell, so it worked. Fun showcase.

PAS: I thought this was fine. Ripley was a bit OTT with her new tough girl attitude, lots of silly faces and grimacing. I did think her offense looked good, that powerbomb finisher was class. Jenkins had some nice energy, but I am not sure she showed me much to make her stand out, outside of being an opponent. I assume Ripley will go pretty far, which is fine, she fits with what they want, and is still really young.

Lacey Lane vs. Vanessa Kraven

ER: Absolutely love Lane's look, and I really liked the cat and mouse stuff here. Kraven is so much bigger than Lane, but it was fun seeing Lane find neat ways to put her boots upside Kraven's head. Lane doesn't have great elbow strikes (and yet I liked a lot of her kicks and she had a fantastic jumping knee to the chin) but I liked the way she would stick and move and spring back in undeterred. Kraven was good at those swinging "Andre being swarmed" arms, trying to shove away to create some space. There was an unfortunate botch that both handled about as well as possible, really not a ton you can do but pick yourself up and get back to it. Kraven had some cool stuff, like hanging Lane upside down in the ropes and chopping at her, and I liked Kraven's cannonball and the callback whiff, and Lane was working for a crucifix the entire match so it made sense to have her win with it. This wasn't always sound, but was an interesting match up and had a lot of ideas. Probably my favorite of the night so far because of that.

PAS: I thought parts of this were really fun, I liked all of Lane's early evasion and stick and moving. I didn't think she lost some steam post botch. Kraven is impressive looking, but I thought she was a bit stiff and didn't work with the same brutality as Jazzy or Viper last year. This is a match layout I usually dig, and it was put together well.

Killer Kelly vs. Meiko Satomura

ER: Is there going to be any woman in this tournament who doesn't get completely outclassed by Satomura? I loved her profile promo, talking about her WCW stint and keeping kayfabe by saying she was young and had no finisher yet, which was why she lost so quickly. And this match was awesome. Never heard of Kelly before, and she was basically in their to get her ass beaten by Meiko, and she ended up turning it into a whole lot more. She clearly understood who she was in there with and had no problems laying it in. She lands a kick to the chest that made me sit up, and then likely earned her a half dozen even harder kicks to the chest from Meiko. Meiko unleashes a lot, shows off her awesome speed and impeccable ring placement, hits a super fast armdrag roll up into a half crab that she turns into a chiropractor's dream of a STF (Renee Young on commentary even flipped out, yelling "Look at how Kelly's knee is bent!") and drops her cool cartwheel kneedrop. Kelly is cool working at a choke and really stands up to Meiko, and gets an awesome comeback when she catches Meiko up top, and the two have some cool close quarters struggle before Kelly locks in a sick dragon sleeper while hooked across the ropes. Kelly was good enough here - and Meiko was convincing enough - that I fully bought Kelly's fisherman's suplex pinning Satomura. Meiko had the perfect last minute kickout and I was actually smelling upset. That's effective work from both ladies right there. Meiko looked like an absolute boss in this one, but Kelly impressed the hell out of me too. Awesome capper to the first episode.

PAS: I don't think there are many wrestlers in the world who aren't going to be outclassed by Meiko, outside of maybe Daniel Bryan she is the best wrestler in the whole fed. She looked incredible in this match, she is clearly amped to be working in the WWE after all these years, and some of the chaining of moves in this match were breath taking. Kelly impressed me too, she realized where she was and who she was there with and came with it. Meiko unloaded with some huge violent kicks and when Kelly fired back she met her force to force. Meiko's timing in this match was great, that fisherman's suplex was timed perfectly, one of the better nearfalls I can remember.

ER: After talking it over we decided to add Meiko/Kelly to our 2018 Ongoing MOTY List, just a fantastic little TV match, with Meiko looking like the best wrestler in the world, Kelly getting a couple great comebacks, and really the match had the best nearfall kickout of the year. Very excited for what's to come.

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