WWE: Cruserweight Classic Episode 9 Review - September 7th, 2016

The quarterfinals continue as we determine who will be the last two wrestlers in the final four of the Cruserweight Classic Tournament. Daniel Bryan & Mauro Ranallo lead us in with an inside look at Zack Sabre Jr and Noam Doar.

1) Zack Sabre Jr vs. Noam Dar
These two men represent two different parts of the UK as well as different variations of the British style. Dar appears to be the underdog since Sabre has basically owned the wrestling world in the past two years. Despite that, he had the perfect gameplan here as he immediately targeted the leg of Sabre and did it in the most proficient manner. This was all in route to set up for his finishing hold, the knee bar. It also forced Sabre to alter his base and was even furthered when they rolled to the floor and ZSJ tweaked his elbow. This entire match was laid out really well from a logical standpoint and they followed it up with great action and submissions that will make you wince. In the end, Sabre catches Dar on the mat and puts him in a predicament that I can't even explain which forces him to have to tap.

Match rating - ****

2) TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann
Both guys here have one hell of a story to tell. Both men were homeless at one point and had rough lives on their road to becoming successful professional wrestlers. On top of that, they are close friends as they came up on the independent scene together and crossed paths on multiple occassions. This makes this one heartfelt from the get go. Another thing TJP and Swann have in common is how smooth they are. That honestly was the story of this match to me, who could outdo the other. But then again, TJP took a gameplan similar to that of Noam Dar in that he targeted Swann's leg to prep for the ankle lock variation that he's known to synch in. Unlike Dar, TJP was able to find a way to victory with it as even when Swann was flurrying, he couldn't get past the work TJP did on the leg which forced him to collapse and allowed Perkins to capitalize. As soon as Swann tapped, TJP showed immediate remorse by lunging to check on him. Emotional moment after a solid contest between two men who truly deserved this showcase.

Match rating - ***1/4

WWE: Cruserweight Classic Episode 8 Review - August 31st, 2016

So I'm finally getting around to watching some CWC action. I'm going to eventually back track and watch/review every episode, but I was able to catch this one live last week so I'm gonna go ahead and cover it. The tournament is currently down to eight men and the main story on tonight's episode is whether or not Brian Kendrick can continue his run back towards finally achieving something that he's always wanted. Let the quarter begin!

1) Akira Tozawa vs. Gran Metalik
Tozawa is life. Seeing him on the WWE Network is so surreal to me. He deserved this opportunity tenfold. The crowd is really in love with both these guys so they were fired up from the start and it only built as these two picked up the action down the stretch. The real momentum in the match started with Tozawa hitting his multiple dive spot. Metallk moves and hits a sick plancha of his own. From here, they went into their finishing sequence of awesome back & forth moves and false finishes. It was great stuff. Tozawa nails the signature dead lift stalling german for a 1..2..KICK OUT! Closest finish of the match right there. Metalik comes back from that and earns himself the victory with a michinoku driver.

Match rating - ***3/4

2) Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi
This was so much better than it had any right to be on paper. Like, I figured it would be good, but dear lord. Brian Kendrick is just as good as he ever was. ALL HAIL SPANKY. That son of a bitch portrayed desperation like no other in this match as he went as far as to drop Ibushi on his head with a BURNING HAMMER. And when I say on his head, I mean, ON HIS FUCKING HEAD. Somehow that still wasn't enough and my mind was blown. The crowd really ate up the story of Kendrick vying for one last shot at glory, but they also loved Ibushi because, well, Ibushi is awesome. Kendrick kept coming back for more after not being able to put Ibushi away however eventually the veteran would be put down for the count following a beastly sitout powerbomb. This told a great story and had incredible action & commentary to boot. Daniel Bryan & Mauro Ranallo are A+ together. Emotional moment between Bryan & Kendrick was the icing on the cake. Loved this match.

Match rating - ****

WWE Smackdown Review - August 23rd, 2016

The show opens with AJ Styles backstage. He's in the locker room bragging to Apollo Crews, Erick Rowan, & Rhyno about his victory over John Cena at SummerSlam. He wraps Cena's "Never Give Up" band around his head and starts mocking Dolph Ziggler who's sitting in a chair with his head in his hands. ZIGGLER HEADBUTTS STYLES! PULL APART BRAWL! Good stuff.

Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon are in the ring with the rest of the roster to present the Smackdown Divas and Tag Team Titles. The first Smackdown exclusive PPV takes place in a few weeks and it's Backlash! YESSSS. The nostalgia that brings. Even though it used to be a RAW PPV back in my day, it's still hype to see it back. They announce a 6 pack women's title match for the event and that a tag tournament will culminate there, so that will start tonight. In the middle of this, Heath Slater marches down and talks his way into the tag tournament, but the catch is that if he's able to find a partner he's in, but if they don't win, he doesn't get a Smackdown contract so that's gonna be interesting. AJ Styles comes down and crashes the whole shindig. He's attacked by Dolph Ziggler from behind. That whole thing ruled. AJ's role as the top heel of Smackdown is perfect. He's killing it right now. The roster separates AJ & Zigs as we go to break.

1) Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss
This is pretty short and to the point. Becky is super over and Alexa holds her own. Becky gets the win by making Bliss submit. BECKY 4 SMACKDOWN WOMENS CHAMP 2016.

Match rating - **

2) The Usos vs. The Ascension
The tag title tournament begins here and it's a match we got multiple times when The Ascension first debuted, but it's a match none the less. They keep it short & sweet. Ascension flurry early with the doomsday device. Usos fight back and are able to pick up the win to advance in the tourney.

Match rating - **1/4

AJ Styles comes out randomly out of nowhere and gets just as stellar of a reaction as he did during his first two appearances of the night. This man is the face of Smackdown and a bonafide star, ladies and gents. Mauro reacts perfectly on commentary when his music hits, just watch his face. But anyway, he cuts a promo on being the #1 Contender to the WWE Title when Dolph Ziggler runs back out with security behind him trying to stop him. Daniel Bryan comes out yelling for them to stop because he isn't letting them ruin the show. He says they'll face off one on one later tonight with the winner facing Ambrose at Backlash.

3) Nikki Bella vs. Carmella
This was Nikki's first Smackdown appearance since returning at SummerSlam, she gets a nice pop and a pre-match interview only to get jumped by Carmella before the bell. Carmella leaves Nikki laying in the center of the ring.

Randy Orton is here to address what happened with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. He talks about that for a bit before Bray Wyatt interrupts. Oh, boy. Is it bad that I just want Bray to go away at this point? I literally left the room for this. I guess we're getting an Orton/Wyatt feud now. Zzzzzzz.

4) American Alpha vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango
Wtf!? This was so fucking good. I didn't know Breeze & Fandango had this entertaining of a match left in them at this stage in their careers. The Alpha delivered their signature top notch performance and Breeze & Dango matched it. Sick reversals like Breeze hitting a hurricanrana to counter out of a double team attempt when Gable had him on his shoulders. Breeze angles Gable's head down in the turnbuckle and SUPERKICK. That was tight. American Alpha hit a flurry of awesome double teams which leads them to victory. Alpha/Usos inthe finals at Backlash, pls?

Match rating - ***1/4

5) AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler
These two have faced off before however the stakes were never this high. In one night they built this to be a match with legit tension so I was pretty stoked considering there was actually backstory and not just a bunch of action with no meaning. Mauro and everyone else on commentary added to this so much and made it feel like a legitimate emotional rollercoaster for Ziggler fighting for his last chance at the WWE Title. The crowd bit on each nearfall Ziggler had including one hell of a zig zag that bent Styles inside out. In the end, AJ would take a cheapshot and hit the Styles Clash to pick up the victory and crush Ziggler's dreams. Hell of a main event here. Styles' killer run continues as he strolls outside the ring to have a great staredown with the champion himself, Dean Ambrose to close the show.

Match rating - ***3/4

Smackdown trumped Raw this week. TEAM BLUE BABY.

WWE: SummerSlam 2016 Review

For the first time since SummerSlam 2013, I was willing and able to watch a WWE PPV live. I admittedly was just as excited for this show as I was for that one. All I needed to see was the first week of build for this event to be sold on it. This is also my first WWE Network experience considering I'm behind the times so let's party.

1) Enzo & Cass vs. Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens
Enzo Amore & Cass open the show and get everybody fired up. They are so hot right now and I can't think of a better entertainment act on the roster right now. After their usual schtick, the crowd is riled up and they call out Jericho & Owens for their match. Jericho looks even more sassy than normal. I don't even know what to say. He & Owens isolate Enzo which builds to the Cass hot tag. It breaks down and Owens cannon balls Cass on the floor. Good back & forth action in the final few minutes that ends with a pop up power bomb into a code breaker.

Match rating - **3/4

Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon are backstage and they run into Mick Foley. Cheap plug for his show that debuts after the ppv tonight. Jon Stewart walks up with his son and they do a Booty O's bit with the New Day. 

2) Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte - Divas Championship Match
What do ya know? These women have another killer match here that came close to matching the level of their Raw match from a few weeks back. A nasty head drop in the corner from Charlotte to Sasha was the first of many breathtaking moments that this match would provide us. I legitimately lost it on several occasions. From the razor's edge into hurricanrana off the top turnbuckle spot to the meteora off the top rope to the floor, this was the definition of top notch women's professional wrestling in 2016. After multiple exchanges of momentum, Charlotte sneaks a win with a roll up out of the bank statement to regain the Divas Title. There were mixed reactions on this decision, but I was too blown away by the match to even be mad.

Match rating - ****

3) The Miz (c) vs. Apollo Crews - Intercontinental Championship Match
This was meh. Miz is great and Apollo is fun to watch however it just didn't click and the crowd was exhausted after the divas match which was on a completely different level. Thankfully they kept it pretty short which I was completely fine with under the circumstances, even though I was hoping for more. Miz retains.

Match rating - **

4) John Cena vs. AJ Styles
The hits keep on coming and dear lord, they knocked this one out of the fucking park. It started out really good with basic back & forth action. Then it took a turn with the two trading finishers only 10 or so minutes in. This made me lose interest for a second because I was worried this would become just a finisher fest and end however the emotion got turned up a notch to match the action the two delivered and this became another Cena classic. Cena busted out everything he had and Styles matched it. Tit for fucking tat. Then came the monumental moment of Cena nailing Styles with a flying AA off the top turnbuckle and it's 1..2..STYLES KICKS OUT! From this moment forward, this match sky rocketed to an entirely different platform. No one could believe what just happened. Styles kicking out of one AA and escaping the STF a few times is one thing, but kicking out of an avalanche attitude adjustment is just bonkers. Cena backed into the corner with a face of utter shock and awe. Styles fought to his feet with a bloody mouth ready for more. Cena scoops him up for another AA, Styles fights out, STYLES CLASH. AJ pins Cena clean in the center of the ring at one of the biggest PPV's of the year. Post match, Cena slides off his "Never Give Up" arm band and leaves it in the ring. THE STORYTELLING BAH GAWD. This ruled on every level and looking back, it was honestly even better than I expected it to be.

Match rating - ****1/2

5) Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods (c) vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows - WWE Tag Team Championship Match
This was in a cool down spot on the card so it wasn't much. It's worth seeing for Big E's return though. He makes a run in to make the save during some of the Club's shenanigans. Good moment and pop for the big man in New Day. Their title reign continues here, but I feel like it's going to come to an end very soon. Possibly even tonight on Raw.

Match rating - **1/4

6) Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler - WWE Championship Match
I had high hopes for this one based off their past encounters, but it honestly fell short. They had a fun match however it never felt like a full fledged WWE Title match on a PPV. It was an easy watch, though, it just never made me mark out or anything. Plus, it never truly felt like Ziggler would win despite him having a few flurries. Still a solid little match, though. Ambrose retains with Dirty Deeds in somewhat abrupt fashion.

Match rating - ***

7) Nikki Bella, Natalya, & Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch, Naomi, & Carmella
The show starts to really drag at this point, to be completely honest. BUT this did have a highlight in the form of Nikki Bella's surprise return. So that was dope! This only lasted 11 minutes however it felt like twice that. I'm glad to see Nikki back, though, she rules.

Match rating - **1/4

8) Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor - WWE Universal Championship Match
Time to crown the first ever WWE Universal Champion and determine who will be the face of the Monday Night Raw brand. Rollins seems to be the favorite, but Balor has the momentum. He's got all the paint on tonight and looks like a full fledged star. The Demon jumps Rollins from the bell with a flying kick and this thing gets going. Rollins & Balor trade moves in this battle to have their name in the history books. It heats up, but never really reached that fever pitch that I was waiting for. This felt like a TV main event more so than a PPV caliber match. Still a huge moment for Balor regardless and an enjoyable watch. Balor wins and becomes the first ever WWE Universal Champion.

Match rating - ***1/2

9) Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns - United States Championship Match
This never even gets going. The bell doesn't ring and Rusev jumps Reigns before it can. They brawl around outside and it's pretty good. It goes on kinda long, though. Reigns looks awesome as he comes out on top and then runs back down to hit an epic spear on Rusev at the bottom of the ramp.

10) Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton
I always seem to enjoy Brock Lesnar matches more than I anticipate. That was the case here as well so yeah, this was pretty awesome. It got mixed responses, but the truth is that I guarantee everyone was glued to their screen the entire duration of this match. I felt like a true fight and it went to the outside after only a few minutes with Brock slinging Orton through a table and Orton retaliating with an RKO on a table that WOULD NOT BREAK. Randy has the worst luck with those. Things go back in the ring and the controversy begins. Brock hard way busts open Orton with one of his signature elbows to the crown and temple of the head. Orton is cut open and pouring blood. The ref calls for the bell only for Brock to assault Orton even more. Shane McMahon runs out and gets F5'd. Lesnar leaves everyone laying as Orton is curled up in the corner bleeding out. Brock's a monster and this reiterated that however it was a questionable ending to the second biggest event of the entire year.

Match rating - ***1/2

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - July 25th, 2016

A new era has begun. This is the first Monday Night Raw since the brand split took place. The draft was last week, Battleground was last night, and now we write the first chapter in this era of Raw. There's a new arena set up with the commentary booth being placed back at the entrance area like the old days of the Ruthless Aggression era. Corey Graves joins Michael Cole and Byron Saxton on commentary going forward. Let's party.

Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon are in the ring to start the show. They announce the creation of Raw's new World Championship since Dean Ambrose retained last night and is on Smackdown. It will be called the WWE Universal Championship. Eh on the name, but it will become a household term soon enough because after all, it's WWE and they market better than anyone. None the less, they introduce the roster and announce how they are going to determine a new champion. Tonight we will have two fatal fourway matches and the winners of those will face off in the main event. The winner of that match faces Seth Rollins at SummerSlam to crown the first ever WWE Universal Champion. The competitors for the four way matches are introduced and Finn Balor gets the biggest pop of them all. Chills.

1) Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro vs. Rusev vs. Finn Balor
This ruled. It felt like everyone had a legit chance to win this aside from Rusev. Owens & Cesaro both had believable flurries. There were a number of awesome exchanges as you'd expect from these four. Rusev & Owens worked together to target Cesaro & Balor before shit broke down. Balor got a huge dive in on all three of the other competitors. Cesaro & Owens both have flurries where it looks like they could pick up the win. Balor even hit one of his finisher's early in the second half only for a two count which led to suspicion around whether or not he would win this thing. This made for an awesome burst of energy when Balor ran in out of nowhere following a Cesaro uppercut extravaganza and started cleaning house with a flying dropkick that sent Owens back into Rusev in the corner. It's all about The Demon from here on out. Balor is headed to the main event to fight for a world title shot. Unreal. Awesome match.

Match rating - ****

2) Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho
Broooo this was too good. Every bit as high quality as the first four way of the night. Great, I mean, GREAT stuff between Reigns & Zayn here. Reigns lifted up that young man into Razor's Edge position and planted his ass into the mat with a powerbomb outta hell. BAH GAWD. I need a Reigns/Zayn feud after this. The crowd popped so hard for Zayn hitting the blue thunder on Reigns. I get riled up just thinking about it. That shit was electric. The only negative thing about this was the predictability. Virtually no one in this match would be a better match up for Balor than Reigns and I didn't see WWE choosing anyone else so I was always expecting Reigns to put this away at any moment. It was still quality stuff, though. Reigns faces Balor tonight.

Match rating - ***3/4

So, New Day have been tag team champions for over a year now. Tonight, they celebrate. They bring a fan into the ring for the special occassion and air a hilarious highlight video. This is easily the best thing all three men have done. It's all fun & games until Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson run in to crash the party and even confront the fan at ringside. Stoked for Guns n Gallows/New Day!

3) Curtis Axel vs. Neville
Neville is back and DAT BOI still got it. He also has a beard. But yeah, Axel has on some weird shorts and is made that he got picked last in the draft, but he's staying positive. Too bad he loses this prolonged squash. Neville is the man.

Match rating - **

4) Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks - Women's Championship Match
This completely blew my mind. It's been built as a big clash however the Divas division on the main roster, even since the "revolution" has been hit or miss so I've been kinda hesistant to get invested. Well, needless to say, Charlotte & Sasha brought me fully into this tonight. They completely went balls to the wall in every department and delivered a stellar match. I really can't say much more. There was emotion, there was storytelling, and there was jaw dropping action. Sasha ate shit on a dive reminiscent of Lita's back in 2004. Charlotte showed her desperation by hitting a moonsault off the top turnbuckle TO THE FLOOR. It was bonkers. Speaking of Charlotte, she really won me over here. Not just because of that spot, but also with the way she carried herself and all the emotion shown. Her yelling "YOU WILL NEVER BEAT ME!" after she escaped the bank statement for a near finish only to be wrapped right back into it again was brilliance. Sasha taps Charlotte out to finally become the Women's Champion. Huge pop, huge moment, amazing match. Long time coming for Sasha and her post match interview just adds to it. I now have hope for the main roster women's division. God help Reigns & Balor if they try to top this. One of my favorite matches this year.

Match rating - ****1/4

5) Braun Strowman vs. A RANDOM JOBBER
They interview the jobber and it's hilarious. Strowman come downs and kills him. The end.

6) Enzo & Big Cass vs. Primo & Epico
I know, I know. Primo & Epico don't go by those names anymore, I don't think. I'm too lazy to remember or look to see, I do know they had a gimmick change or something. Anyways, Enzo & Big Cass is what it's about here. They do their thing and it's awesome. R-Truth wanders into the ring trying to find Pokemon on his phone. Goldust chases after him and it's hilarious because the Golden Truth is golden. This ends up costing Enzo & Cass the match though so boo :/

7) Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor
This one's for all the marbles. With everything we've seen tonight, it'd almost be silly for these dudes to try and one up it all so they just went out and had a perfectly solid ass main event. It's got all the action you could ask for from these guys. Balor hits a double stomp on the apron at one point and even counters the spear with a slingblade in mid-air. Great exchanges & counters that make Balor look really good. Reigns still looks ace as well, though, with how threw Balor around at the start of the match. And I mean LITERALLY, he threw him around. It was a sick visual. In the end, after several exchanges of momentum, Balor plants Reigns with the Coupe De Grace for the victory. It's BALOR VS ROLLINS AT SUMMERSLAM. I don't think my heart can take it, lads!

Match rating - ***1/2

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