ROH TV Review - July 24th, 2016: A Must See Show

So, this review is gonna be way different than my usual way of doing things. For one, because I didn't catch the whole show, and two, because I have A LOT to say about the second half of the show which I did catch. As many of you know, I've been pretty out of the loop with wrestling in the past few months. I went from writing multiple blog posts a week on pro wres to barely even doing one a month. This is partially due to so much happening in my personal life that has been keeping me busy such as music, but it's also because I simply fell into a wrestling slump. I wanted to watch and keep up with everything like I used to however I couldn't push myself to do it. I wanted to be conversing on Twitter with all my homies like the good old days, but I just wasn't feeling it.

I say all this to say that today, I think that has changed and Kyle O'Reilly, Jay Lethal, and everyone involved in the final half of this week's ROH TV are to thank for that, if so.

I walked into the house a few hours ago and ROH TV was in the middle of it's airing for the week. In recent months, I would sit down and try to watch it only to get up to do something else or play with my phone the whole time. At first, I did the same. I pulled out my computer and was browsing then I heard Kevin Kelly explaining the story at hand. Kyle O'Reilly had a shoulder/arm injury that was given to him at the hands of the Bullet Club. He was supposed to face Jay Lethal in the main event tonight for the ROH World Title, but he's clearly too hurt to do so. Nigel McGuinness went to check on him and despite the injury, O'Reilly still vows to fight. This immediately peaked my interest. ROH has been known for a lot of dumb overbooking lately, though, so my hopes didn't get completely up however with O'Reilly & Lethal being two of my favorite wrestlers in recent years, I planned to stick around to see what happened because it was honestly pretty unpredictable although I had my doubts on whether the outcome would be logical or not.

The bell rings and the match gets going. I'm giving it 50/50 attention. A few minutes into it, a few seconds away, and so on. Soon, however, I was reeled in completely unbeknownst to me. The first thing that drew me in was the storytelling. With the amount of wrestling I've binged on in the past few years, I've grew tired of move fests and only certain wrestlers have the drawing power to keep me invested for an entire match. It probably helps that I love the style of O'Reilly and the characterization of Lethal, but both men stepped it up a notch here and truly displayed themselves as world class professional wrestlers.

For the first time in years, Jay Lethal began showing signs of remorse, almost baby face like as he tried to convince Kyle, Nigel, & Todd Sinclair to cancel the match because he didn't want to risk injuring Kyle further. At first, I was like, NO! Lethal is a phenomenal heel champion similar to an old school character like Ric Flair, but by the end of this match, I was entirely sold on the brilliance of what I just witnessed. Lethal's facial expressions and ring presence made this so fucking good. Seeing someone who's been built as the cocky champion who will take the easy way out actually show some emotion and regret was unreal.

O'Reilly delivered in this same department as well, though. Just on an entirely different level. Lethal displayed the character shift which will be looked upon as a huge moment in his career, whereas O'Reilly played the victim. He was hurt, but resilient. He garnered sympathy and got a crowd who was already largely into him, even more fired up than they normally are. Lethal threw shot after shot at O'Reilly, but the challenger fought like hell from underneath playing the perfect underdog. He came back from everything and would not quit. The final few minutes were the nail in the coffin to this being a fantastic match. Lethal has O'Reilly set up for the Lethal Injection yet again however Kyle can hardly stand. Lethal looks back and shows so much regret and disgust with himself for being a part of this. This gives O'Reilly time to stand up as Lethal is trying to convince the ref to stop the match. O'Reilly tells the ref not to and ags Lethal on. SLUGFEST ENSUES and it is fucking electric in that place. O'Reilly's final shot at glory and he's firing away only to catch the short end of the stick and LETHAL INJECTION puts him down for the three count after an epic battle. Lethal scats out of the ring still displaying signs of shame for fighting an injured man.

Now, on it's own, this match was perfect. The in-ring work was flawless, from the action to the storytelling, and there was no outside interference which is rare for ROH and both men involved recently so it felt even more special. So, yeah, I left this saying, damn, Ring of Honor may be back on track, that ruled, and will probably go down as one of my favorite matches this year. THEN, post match stuff happened and it combined with that match totally made me fall back for pro wrestling once again.

The Young Bucks & Adam Cole hit the ring and begin assaulting O'Reilly. On it's own, this would be looked at as a good assault by a heel supergroup. But with Kevin Kelly shouting like crazy on commentary, this became a monumental moment. Now, that probably sounds weird coming from me considering I've never been a fan of Kevin Kelly, but I'll be damned if he can't deliver when he needs to and when he does it's absolutely awesome. He made this feel so huge. His call with the crowd's reaction and the delivery of the Meltzer Driver on O'Reilly on a steel chair gave me chills. Jay Lethal hit the ring followed by O'Reilly's partner Bobby Fish to make the save. Nigel McGuiness is pissed and raising hell and declares that Cole will never get a World Title shot again because of Bullet Club's actions tonight. Everyone is showing so much emotion. This is pro wrestling.

If you missed this show, please watch it, because it very well may have made me fall back in love with wrasslin all over again. It was brilliant and easily one of my favorite moments & matches in wrestling this year.

NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors Day 1 Review

BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS. I HAVE ALL THE SHOWS BEFORE ME. LET'S WATCH, LET'S REVIEW, LET'S PARTY.

Night One - May 21st, 2016

1) Tomohiro Ishii, Will Ospreay, & Beretta vs. Satoshi Kojima, Bobby Fish, & Volador Jr
This was a lot of fun which is what an opener should be so yee. Ospreay & Volador ruled in their exchanges. Ishii & Kojima were at each other's throats the whole time and that's kind of what the match was built around. Volador got fired up for a few moments and even took his own mask off at one point. I'm not sure if that's a regular occurence for him during matches, but if it's not then what the fuck, haha. Volador snags the pin on Beretta following a hurricanrana off the top turnbuckle.

Match rating - **3/4

2) Yuji Nagata, Jushin Liger, & Tiger Mask vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Jay White, & Juice Robinson
Shibata and Nagata have a great staredown early on before the bell rings. They have the main issue here thus they have the best exchanges of the match. Jay White gets a nice flurry and battles with Nagata in the closing moments before he gets put away with a saito suplex that dropped right on his dome. Fine enough sprint.

Match rating - **1/2

3) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricochet, Yoshitatsu, & Captain New Japan vs. Kenny Omega, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, & Bad Luck Fale
Another decent multi-man with no real complains other than I'm ready for the tourney matches to begin. BC takes the cheap route every chance they get per usual. Ricochet got a nice hot run. Bad Luck Fale shuts the babyfaces comeback down and plants Captain New Japan with a chokeslam to end it. Post match, Kenny Omega snaps and the BC assaults CNJ some more. Omega then targets Tanahashi with a ladder and lays a beating on him. They carry off Tanahashi on a stretcher following the beatdown.

Match rating - **1/4

4) Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, & YOSHI HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito, Sanada, & EVIL

EVOLVE 58 Review

Evolve 58 - April 1st, 2016

Larry Dallas and Rob Naylor start the show with the announcement that this is the highest attended Evolve show ever. They introduce the Evolve Tag Team Champions Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway who bring out Kota Ibushi who will be in their corner tonight.

1) Johnny Gargano & Drew Galloway (w/ Kota Ibushi) vs. Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley (w/ So Cal Val) - EVOLVE Tag Team Championship Match
HOT match to start the show off. With it being a title match, the stakes felt high so this was really good. Lots of crazy sequences with superkicks, counters & such. Most I've enjoyed a Johnny Gargano match in ages, to be honest. It was good seeing Tony Nese again as well, not being a regular viewer of EVOLVE, I haven't seen him since his PWG stint in 2013-2014, but he hasn't lost a step. This match was on it's way to being a high end three star affair until the botched finish thanks to the bellboy not ringing the bell when the ref called for it. This was a still damn fine opener though, just disregard the finish which was screwed up, but not due to the fault of anyone in the ring.

Match rating - ***1/2

2) Timothy Thatcher (c) vs. Matt Riddle - EVOLVE Championship Match
Another title match to keep the show going which really surprised me. Matt Riddle doesn't even allow introductions to be made before he storms out saying that he's right here if Tim Thatcher wants him. Thatcher charges to the ring and these two proceed to have a really unique, enjoyable match. It felt almost like a UFC fight or something of the like, at some points. I wasn't sure how this would go since I either really love Thatcher matches or they fall flat, depending on how it's done, this was the latter and a success. Riddle impressed me in my first time seeing him, a scrawny, but fiery competitor. I also liked the no contest finish with Thatcher selling a major elbow injury as a result of a cringeworthy submission from Riddle.

Match rating - ***1/4

3) Marty Scurll vs. Fred Yehi
It's Scurll's debut in EVOLVE here. I'm way more familiar with he than Yehi, though, as this is my first time seeing the young athlete from Georgia. He put forth an extremely solid effort here and Scurll reciprocated with a great performance per usual so this was good stuff. There was a lot of work on the arms/hands which made for a number of cringeworthy moments. Scurll trapped Yehi's finger in between his boots at one point and popped it in a way that will make you turn away from the screen. JOINT MANIPULATION ran rampant in this match. Scurll wins with a chicken wing out of nowhere.

Match rating - ***

4) Sami Callihan vs. Ethan Page
Solid little sprint although it may have went slightly too long, but it's nothing to complain about. I'm a big Ethan Page guy so I'm stoked has been working EVOLVE steady for a year now whereas PWG quit using once Monster Mafia disbanded. None the less, he & Callihan go through stuff here for a few minutes and the crowd is pretty receptive to it. Callihan wins with a running elbow despite Page hitting a Spinning Dwayne earlier in the match, among other things.

Match rating - **1/2

5) Ricochet vs. TJ Perkins
Ricochet is back in EVOLVE for the first time in a while. I figure this will be his last weekend here and he starts it off against a fellow veteran in TJP. The Future of Flight shows off a lot in the first few minutes before TJP targets the leg/knee and starts gaining some ground. Ricochet starts mounting a comeback from Perkins' ground & pound and goes for the 630. TJP moves so Ricochet lands on his feet only for his leg to buckle underneath him. This allows TJP to lock Ricochet in a submission and force him to tap out in the center of the ring. Big win for Perkins and the crowd is shocked.

Match rating - ***1/2

Stokely Hathaway walks down to the ring after the match with a contract. TJP signs it and Hathaway announces their partnership as "The Dream Team" then he proceeds to call out Triple H and says that TJP is the best candidate in EVOLVE to be in WWE's upcoming Cruserweight tourney.

6) Zack Sabre Jr vs. Will Ospreay
This is my first time seeing these two meet and being big fans of both, the hype was unreal. I can say right off the bat that lived up to all the expectations I had. Ospreay and Sabre are such one of a kind, next level athletes that there's no way this could be anything short of awesome. The crowd created a special atmosphere and Ospreay & Sabre did the rest. Sabre targeted the neck after catching Ospreay in a full nelson position in mid air and throwing him back with a dragon suplex. The vast submission arsenal of Sabre then opened up and he tortured Ospreay in a number of ways. Ospreay found his first escape by rolling out of a submission into a back hand spring into the ropes into a kick to the face of ZSJ. The back & forth battle in the closing sequence saw both men bust out all the marbles. Ospreay hit his standing spanish fly in the center of the ring for a nearfall. Sabre nailed Ospreay with a swinging DDT out of the corner only for Ospreay to spring up and go for a standing shoot star press, BUT SABRE CATCHES HIM IN A TRIANGLE CHOKE! In the end, it was Sabre going back to the neck he had worked on before and trapping Ospreay in an agonizing looking submission hold that I can't even describe. Great stuff here all around. Match of the night.

Match rating - ****1/4

After the match, Chris Hero & Tommy End come out and Hero tells Sabre that he may have beaten Ospreay and everyone else in the Best in the World series, but he's never beaten him. Sabre slaps him on the face and says that changes tomorrow. A lot of good hype was built for their match tomorrow off that little exchange. Tommy End also gets on the mic and says he's gonna knock out Kota Ibushi tomorrow night.

7) Chris Hero & Tommy End vs. Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams (w/ TJ Perkins)
I forgot this match was even on the card so when it came up, I got kind of excited. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of those contests that went too long for it's own good and went into overkill. It had several good parts, but as a whole it was meh. You had a great Hero/Williams fire up spot that ended with Williams dropping Hero on his head with a saito suplex. You had some superb striking from both Hero & End. But it all meant nothing when this thing went 25+ minutes and the crowd slowly lost interest as time went on, as did I. After a bunch of virtually meaningless near falls, Gulak taps out End to get the win for Catch Point.

Match rating - **1/2

EthanPWT Watches NJPW 2016

Just like last year, I'm putting all my New Japan Pro Wrestling match reviews in one place for your reading pleasure. I can't muster to watch every single show however I try my damnest to cover the biggest & best matches plus ones that just stick out to me as worthy of viewing. Each of them will be covered here as the year goes on. I DID begin the year reviewing every show though, but that only lasted two days. Below you can relive that streak with the links to my full reviews of WK10 and New Year Dash. But from there we move forward into sporatic, but detailed coverage of the top wrestling promotion in Japan. Let's do this!

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 Review (1/4/16)
NJPW New Year Dash Review (1/5/16)

Dragon Lee (c) vs. Kamaitachi - CMLL Championship Match - NJPW/CMLL Fantasticmania - 1/24/16
I've heard a lot about the series of matches these two had in 2015, but never got the chance to check any of them out. So, when I heard they had another match to start off this year and that it lived up to their previous encounters, I made it a priority to watch this. Needless to say, it was well worth it. From the time Dragon Lee jumped over the top rope to catch Kamaitachi with a hurricanrana off the apron to the floor, I knew I was in for a ride. You could tell that these two had faced off before due to how flawlessly executed everything was. The majority of the match was fast paced with an array of high flying and lucha esque moves however they did turn to submissions during the final half which created some nice false finishes. They did a good fighting spirit exchange with each man nailing suplexes only to pop right back. A lariat from Lee would finish this battle that left us with another stalemate. The final few minutes were the hottest of all with Lee popping Kamaitachi up for a powerbomb only to receive a flipping piledriver for his troubles. Un-be-lievable. Kamaitachi is your new CMLL Champion.

Match rating - ****

The New Beginning In Osaka Review - February 11th, 2016

Jay White vs. David Finlay - New Beginning In Osaka - 2/11/16
Opening match of the evening between two young lions. It's only a 6-7 minute affair, but it's pretty solid. White fights from underneath for most of the match and has a few good comebacks. Finlay dives into the corner with a flipping senton only to get caught and put to the mat as White locks him in a boston crab. Finlay dives towards the ropes only for White to pull him back and wrench back on the hold with his knee across the neck which forces Finlay to tap out.

Match rating - **

Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NEVER Openweight Title Match - New Beginning in Osaka - 2/11/16
Ishii & Shibata are at it again. As mentioned in previous reviews, their match at the G1 Climax in 2013 is what got me hooked on NJPW so I'm hooked on their meetings right off the bat. However, I wasn't that blown away by their WK10 match despite it being another EXTREMELY solid effort of strong style and fighting spirit from two guys who do it better than anyone. For that reason, I wasn't overly excited for this, but by the time it got going, Ishii & Shibata completely pulled me into it by doing what they do best. Tearing the house down. Ishii bleeding from the mouth was a great visual that accentuated the fight we were seeing unfold in front of us. One thing I also liked was the more extensive use of submissions here. As opposed to these two just slugging it out, they added some submission offense which was a nice change of pace as seeing Ishii convulse whilst locked in the triangle choke was amazing. It was a "take your breath away" moment that led to a gasp when he finally got to the ropes. But trust me, the strikes were here as well and it got EPIC in the final few minutes. Awesome match here, I enjoyed it much more than their WK10 encounter.

Match rating - ****1/4

The Young Bucks (c) vs. ReDragon vs. Ricochet & Matt Sydal - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match - New Beginning In Osaka - 2/11/16
These six guys are all amongst my favorite things in wrestling today so I knew this would rule. The Bucks are the champs, but only a month into their reign as they won the titles at WK10 in a four-way match involving ReDragon, Ricochet & Sydal, & RPG Vice. I enjoyed this match even more than that one. These junior tags in NJPW can get repetitive especially when they're multi team so having this trimmed down to three helped it. Everybody got their signature spots in and as always, they delivered some stuff you haven't seen before. There was an awesome sequence where ReDragon tried to hit a double frog splash off the top rope on Ricochet & Sydal which is really similar to their finisher (the double shooting stars), but they moved. So, The Bucks tried for the same and ReDragon moved which gave Ricochet & Sydal the chance to hit the dueling SSP's, but The Bucks moved for them and all three teams are down. Fish gets superkicked on the apron and Nick hits a senton on him to the floor. Cody Hall takes Kyle O'Reilly to the back which effectively eliminates ReDragon from the match since Fish is left on his own. The Bucks and Ricochet & Sydal have the final minute or two to themselves and the dueling Shooting Star Presses are finally nailed. We have new IWGP Junior Tag Champs.

Match rating - ***3/4

New Beginning in Niigata Review - February 14th, 2016

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - April 25th, 2016

Shane McMahon starts the show and it's bittersweet. Stephanie interrupts and informs everyone that Vince McMahon will be at Payback to determine who will be in charge of WWE going forward. Shane has Steph removed from the arena since he's technically still in charge. It ends up being pretty funny. Steph kicks one of the security guards outside the ring before finally cooperating.

1) AJ Styles vs. Sheamus
The dream match series continues for Styles. It's not a real thing, but then again it is. This is another match made in heaven for me. Sheamus is stiff as hell and AJ is versatile so he can be, he will be, and he was. Styles was super flashy here with a moonsault off the apron where he landed on his feet plus his signature dropkick and springboard punch being on target. There was an awesome exchange with Styles clobbering Sheamus with repeated forearms, it felt like I was watching NJPW for a moment. Sheamus had his moments to shine of his own in the form of various kicks that more than made their mark. They didn't go into overkill territory with nearfalls and stuff however they delivered a super good match for all the aformentioned reasons. AJ wins with the springboard superman punch.

Match rating - ***1/4

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows come out after the match in their new attire which looks pretty dope. They kinda just stare at AJ and do the thing they've been doing for the past few weeks.

New Day comes out to talk about the tag team tournament. The Vaudevillains and Enzo & Big Cass end up in the ring. Huge pop for Enzo & Cass. This turns out to be a pretty cool segment despite the fact that I wasn't into it to begin with aside from New Day being present. Nice showcase for the two newest tag teams on the roster from NXT.

2) The Usos vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

Lucha Underground Review - April 20th, 2016

1) Aerostar vs. Drago - Aztec Medallion Match
After their best of five series last year, everyone knew what to expect here. Aerostar & Drago are smooth workers as it is, but they work particularly well with each other so this ruled pretty hard. Just a fun, straight to the point opener. Great sprint.

Match rating - ***

NEXT WEEK: Mundo vs. Cage in a Steel Cage Match

2) Jack Evans, PJ Black, & Fenix vs. The Disciples of Death - Trios Tournament Match
So, the trios tournament is back! That's one thing I've missed in my month away from LU. It was one of the best parts about Lucha Underground last year so I'm pretty excited and this match proved to continue that excitement. Jack, Black, & Fenix are a dream team that I didn't know I wanted until they got put together. They looked great here with their respective high flying styles being showcased as well as some teamwork. They also did a swell job portraying the tension between them in the form of one guy trying to one up the other. This came into play namely in the final few moments. Lots of good action here and a few sick nearfalls. Evans, Black, & Fenix pick up the win. Fenix looked fantastic here as did Jack in his role of the sneaky, cheap bastard he's become known as.

Match rating - ***1/4

3) Matanza (c) vs. Mil Muertes - Lucha Underground Championship Match
Two monsters colliding. One with a venegance and one who's just naturally pissed off and wants to keep his throne. Therefore, this was a nice big man brawl. It was action packed from start to finish and got pretty wild. The battle rages onto the outside and they fight around the arena. The two end up atop Dario Cueto's office and MUERTES HITS A FLAT LINER ON MATANZA THROUGH THE FUCKING ROOF! Huge OMG moment. The match gets called off at this point, but boy, this was an awesome fight. They are gonna have a lot to live up to with the rematch to top what they teased here.

Match rating - ***1/2

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - April 4th, 2016

Last night was WrestleMania and it got quite the mixed reaction. Something that has become pretty common for modern day WWE post 2014. Roman Reigns pinned Triple H to become the WWE Champion as expected to a chorus of boos, Brock Lesnar beat Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho beat AJ Styles, and The Undertaker defeated Shane McMahon. Where do we go from here?

The show begins with the commentators basically making excuses for the crowd being so anti-Reigns by saying "they boo who they normally cheer" because of how passionate they are, which kind of makes sense, but kind of doesn't so, hey.

Mr. McMahon is out first to address the outcome of Taker/Shane last night. The crowd chants "Better Than Reigns" directed towards Shane which Vince once again plays off as them being "crazy people". Before Vince can leave, Shane O Mac himself comes out to a huge pop. He gets teary eyed and thanks all the fans for him giving him a moment he'll never forget. Shane bids farewell and goes to leave, but that's not good enough for Vince because that's Shane getting the last word. So, Vince says he's gonna let Shane run Raw for the night and see what he's really got.

1) The New Day (c) vs. Sheamus & Wade Barrett - WWE Tag Team Championship Match