2017 Match Rating Archive

I rarely have the time to write full reviews anymore so I am keeping my archive of star ratings here. I am still catching up on 2017 stuff so this will be updated periodically with a link posted to Twitter (@ThePWTruth) when I do. New additions will be in ITALICS. 

JANUARY:

Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman - Last Man Standing Match - WWE: Raw - 1/2/17 - ****

Neville vs. TJ Perkins - WWE: 205 Live - 1/3/17 - ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega - NJPW: Wrestle Kingdom - 1/4/17 - *****

Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne - WWE: UK Tournament - 1/15/17 - ****1/4

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Matt Riddle - RPW - 1/21/17 - ****1/4

AJ Styles vs. John Cena - WWE: Royal Rumble - 1/29/17 - ****

FEBRUARY:
Braun Strowman vs. The Big Show - WWE: Raw - 2/20/17 - ****1/4

APRIL:
The Young Bucks vs. The Hardy's - ROH: Supercard of Honor - 4/1/17 - ****

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon - WWE: WrestleMania 33 - 4/2/17 - ***1/2

The Hardys vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Big Cass & Enzo - WWE: WrestleMania 33 - 4/2/17 - ****

New Japan Cup 2018 - Night One Review (3/9/18)

March 9th, 2018 
NJ Cup - Night One

I sorta lost track with NJPW in February, but March is now upon us which means New Japan Cup season is here. I missed last year's so I'm looking forward to watching this one unfold. Kevin Kelly is on commentary with Chuck Taylor as his special guest (after the opening bout) so let's dive right into this.

1) CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, & Chuckie T) vs. Tomoyuki Oka, Shota Umino, & Testsuhiro Yagi

First off, Chuck Taylor being in NJPW straight up rules. Long time coming for him. Second, Oka straight stood up to Goto from the get go of this opener and that also ruled. CHAOS, as you would more than likely guess, really took it to the Young Lions trio in this match and put them away in under seven minutes, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted. Chuckie gets the win for his team with the awful waffle which I think was needed to establish him in this tournament since he is Trent's replacement.

Match rating - **1/2

2) Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr & Lance Archer) vs. Bullet Club (Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale) 

The more time goes on, the more I grow to love Bad Luck Fale. It took me a good minute, but I'm a straight mark for him, at the moment. KES comes out and Lance Archer is still doing his spit on all the fans gimmick. That is probably the most obnoxious thing in wrestling right now, dear lord. KES looked really strong here, basically dominating the whole thing after taking Fale out of the equation. Archer antagonized Fale the entire match which gives some build towards their first round meeting later on in the cup. 

Match rating - **1/2

3) Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, & BUSHI vs. Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr, El Desperado, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) 

This was another pretty quick one that accomplished a lot. ZSJ and Naito face off later in the cup tournament and they got their first exchange with each other here with Sabre targeting the previously targeted shoulder of Naito. Sabre is presented so so well in NJ thus far in 2018 and I wouldn't be surprised if he takes this whole tournament. He gets the win for his team here with a brutal hold that forces BUSHI to tap almost immediately.

Match rating - **1/2

4) Hiroshi Tanahashi, David Finlay, & Toa Henare vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzki, Takashi Izuka, & Taichi)

This was my least favorite of the multi-man's of the night. Still was not bad at all, though. Suzuki-gun takes the match to the crowd early on. Suzuki's interactions with Tanahashi ruled. They also did some build towards Tanahashi & Taichi's upcoming first round match. In the end, Suzuki locks Henare in a sleeper hold and tosses him into a superkick from Taichi which earns Suzuki-gun their second victory of the night.

Match rating - **

5) Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI HASHI vs. Kota Ibushi & Chase Owens

Ibushi & Owens is such a weird team, but aye. Everyone here rules so this was solid for what it was, they never really got out of first gear there. Ibushi & YOSHI HASHI are first round opponents so we got that teaser and that was about it. Okada taps out Chase to the chicken wing for the win. YOSHI taunts Ibushi after the match whilst Okada fist bumps Chuckie T at ringside. HELL YEAH.

Match rating - **1/4

6) Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi - New Japan Cup First Round Match

Finally into the tournament matches for the night and HOLY HELL what a way to kick this thing off. I have no clue how this was so good. Maybe I've just been sleeping on Juice Robinson or something, but he ruled as a babyface here. And even though Takahashi has always been sorta hit or miss, his cocky, aggressive demeanor played perfectly against Juice. He threw Juice into chairs in the crowd on multiple occassions thus cutting his back open. They proceed to get back in the ring and trade big moves which led to some awesome false finishes. Takahashi literally dropped Juice on his head at one point in a spot that will make your jaw drop. But in the end, Juice hits pulp friction to end it and advance.

Match rating - ***3/4

7) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin - New Japan Cup First Round Match

Revisiting the 2015 G1 Climax here and these guys arguably had just as good or better of a match as they did there. It's literally insane. They beat the dog shit out of one another and then some. At some points, it felt like it may be too much, but then they bring you right back to into it with dramatic exchanges and near falls. Wild ass main event to kick off the first night of the NJ Cup. You'll definitely have to take a breather after this one. Elgin wins after nearly 25 minutes of brutality and Ishii refuses to shake his hand.

Match rating - ****1/2

ROH TV Review - Episode 331

I haven't watched ROH in FOREVER. Let's see what's good.

Colt Cabana is on commentary so that's a plus.

1) Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) (c) vs.  The Dawgs (Rhett Titus & Will Ferrara) - ROH World Tag Team Title Match

Rhett Titus comes out with some underhanded jokes. This is my first time seeing him teamed up with Ferrara and lord I don't know what to expect. MCMG comes out and I had no clue they were tag champs, but it is pretty sick. I think they will do wonders for any young talent they work with. This was just a simple five minute opener defense. I really dig matches like this. It really solidifies a champion as a champion. Straight to the point.

Match rating - **

-Daniels, Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky have started a SoCal faction and I low-key am fan girling bc of my So Cal Wrestling/PWG infatuation. They bribe Shane Taylor with a check into keeping the Bullet Club away from them later tonight.

2) Josh Woods vs. Jonathan Gresham

Never seen Woods, but god I've missed Gresham and somehow he seems to have gotten even better than he was a few years ago. This was a really fun, well put together television match. They focused it around the "fluke" victory Woods claims that Gresham got on him a few weeks back and the targeting of Woods leg by Gresham. Both of these played into the finish and it ruled. Had this gone a little longer, it was heading toward great territory.

Match rating - **3/4

-Cody Rhodes cuts his first promo since losing the ROH Title to Dalton Castle and it's crazy seeing him work as a babyface. Matt Taven interrupts and DUDE. He's gotten so much better. He lays a verbal beating on Cody and makes me want to see ROH put the strap on him. Good stuff.

3) The Young Bucks vs. Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?)

So, some things have changed and some have stayed the same in ROH's tag division in the past year. What's changed is that I guess Delirious got over his disdain for Chuckie T and now we GET TO SEE BEST FRIENDS IN RING OF HONOR. What hasn't changed is the YB's are still the king of sprints. This was so much damn fun. Literally one of the most entertaining matches so far this year. It may seem like I'm over ranking this a bit considering it was just a spot fest, but they killed this on every level. Crowd was hot, action was on point. No complaints. Watch this jawn. Bucks win with the pin on Titan.

Match rating - ****

-Daniels, Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky attack the Young Bucks after the match. Adam Page runs them off. OH MY.


ALSO

I have to recommend Lethal vs Ospreay from Episode 330, a week prior to this, great ***3/4 match.

WWE: 205 Live Review - February 6th, 2018

The best thing that I got out of Raw this week was being made aware that 205 Live had started a tournament with a ton of stacked matches. This week's episode in particular has two matches I'm highly interested in. Particularly the main event which features Roderick Strong making his 205 Live debut against Hideo Itami. NOSTALGIA.

-Video package highlighting Daniel Bryan bringing out Drake Maverick (Rockstar Spud) as the new GM to announce this tournament is shown to start the show.

1) Kalisto vs. Lince Dorado

The lucha house party explodes here with this one on one contest and the stakes are high. I feel like this tournament could pull 205 Live out of the slump it's been in because of that fact, to be honest. The commentators said it really well when saying that every match feels like a title match. This is literally all these cruserweights' only chance to get to WrestleMania. There's 16 men and only two of them will get to hit the grandest stage. That's a recipe for some awesome matches. None the less, this was a fun opener that bordered on being just that and being more. It was structured like a main event style match, but compacted into 10-12 minutes, if that makes sense. Dorado hit all his signatures only for Kalisto to roll to the outside to avoid being pinned. Dorado finally gets Kalisto back inside and gets stunned with a salida del sol, but manages to kick out which really gets the crowd into things for the final minute or two stretch. In the end, a sick reverserana and one more salida del sol puts Dorado away.

Match rating - ***1/4

-Akira Tozawa faces Mark Andrews next week

-Drake Maverick is backstage and lights a fire under the ass of Tony Nese & Drew Gulak, calling them out for being a joke and wasting their potential. They face each other next week. That could be lit.

2) Roderick Strong vs. Hideo Itami

YES. This is good stuff. Strong & Itami slugged it out in a match totally different than it's a predecessor, thus showing that 205 Live can & does have variety. Roddy still has that special vibe to me that he's had since 2015 so I enjoyed this probably a lot more than others, but I'm still reviewing/rating it from an unbiased perspective. But yeah, this was exactly what you'd expect from a TV style main event from these two. They didn't tone down their style so to speak however they didn't go all the way out either. More like just enough to leave you wanting to see them lock up again. Last few moments had me gasping and they brought the crowd into it as well. Strong gets the shocking victory with the end of heartache. ROD DOG TO MANIA BABY. One step closer.

Match rating - ***3/4

WWE: Royal Rumble 2018 Thoughts & Review

I've read a lot of mixed thoughts on this year's Royal Rumble which I guess comes to no surprise considering wrestling fans are super fickle. 

I personally loved the match. The only gripe I had was it being so early on in the show, but the women certainly took advantage of their spot in the main event. 

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. 

The men's Rumble only had one or two surprises and nothing to the level that everyone expected or wanted. I feel like that's where the internet really ruins wrestling these days because you get so hyped for the impossible to happen then when it doesn't you feel jaded and a great Rumble gets overlooked. I was personally glued to my seat the entire time waiting on one of these huge surprises and if the final 20 minute or so stretch between Reigns, Cena, Balor & Nakamura hadn't been so fucking awesome, I probably would have came off sour too but the final 30 minutes sent this match into all time great territory for me. 

You literally had the corporate faces against the underdog internet favorites. You had old school versus new school and everyone was dying to not see another Reigns or Cena victory even though it felt so obvious. That's what made this great. Every Rumble since the Daniel Bryan disappointment in 2014 has been filled with tension, and everyone dreading the ultimate outcome of a Cena, Reigns, Orton, Batista victory. It had to end sometime and every year it was a nailbiter that just ended in disappointment, but this year was a nail biter with an outcome that was approved universally.

The fact that they structured this final stretch as such also helped it a lot as at one point Cena & Reigns squared off in a staredown with Nakamura & Balor. The battles lines were drawn and as said before, it ruled. The underdog finally overcame the corporate majority. This was three years in the making and truly a historic moment as Shinsuke Nakamura is the first Japanese wrestler to win the Royal Rumble.

I went a strong ****3/4 for the men's Royal Rumble match.

As for the other matches on the card, I tuned in right at the beginning of the men's Rumble so I only caught half of the show, but what I caught was ace and the annual Rumble was just the tip of the iceberg.

Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, and Kane had a chaotic barnburner of a heavyweight title match that I went ****1/4 for because it was quality for what it was. Three big guys barreling through spots and the continued tension between Lesnar & Strowman just straight up rules. We also had a tag title match that honestly fell super flat due to it coming right after the red hot Rumble, but Sheamus & Cesaro defeated Rollins & Gable to win the titles once again.

And in the main event, the women's division delivered a super solid ****+ Royal Rumble with loads of surprise returns and great exchanges. The highlights for me were Lita, Torrie Wilson, & Stacy Keibler, that's my childhood right there, man. Not to mention Michelle freakin McCool. The finish was also another refreshing surprise as Asuka won the first ever women's Royal Rumble. But the real surprise came post match as Ronda Rousey made her way to the ring. A lot of people hated it or were unimpressed, but I personally loved it.

I left this entire weekend of WWE action being extremely refreshed on the product. From the five star NXT to main event to the triumphs of two ever deserving japanese talents in Nakamura & Asuka. This was a weekend for the ages for WWE and I hope they can continue this momentum through the rest of the road to Wrestle Mania!

NXT Takeover: Philadelphia Review - January 27th, 2018

NXT Takeover: Philly
January 27th, 2018

Opening hype package with Paul Heyman voice over is KILLER. I've been out of the watching every match/show routine for a minute and although I've kept up with highlights, it still feels like I'm living in a dream when I tune into full shows like this where the card is stacked with people I literally watched rise from the very bottom of the barrel. AND it's all under the WWE banner, insane.

1) Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. Authors of Pain - NXT Tag Team Title Match
So, this is my first real time fully experiencing O'Reilly & Fish under their NXT moniker as well as my first AOP experience. This was a pretty basic opener. AOP are the aggresors and it ends up costing them. But they work over O'Reilly and Fish with the power advantage. Some good back & forth near the end before AOP looks to have control. They go for the super collider, O'Reilly reverses into a hurricanrana and scores a roll up for a quick three count. Loved the finish, rest wasn't much to rave about.

Match rating - **1/2

-War Machine, Hanson & Ray Rowe, are in the crowd watching on as they will be debuting in the NXT Tag division soon.
-NXT Champion is backstage warming up for his contest with Johnny Gargano later on

2) Kassius Ohno vs. Velveteen Dream
Didn't get a lot out of this outside of the opening sequence with them eloquently teasing the knock Ohno out in under 30 seconds gimmick that Velveteen has been hyping up the past few weeks. I was hoping this would stay quick whichever way it went, but it went back & forth for a minute and I lost interest. Velveteen pinned Ohno after about 7 or 8 minutes.

Match rating - **

-Marie Menounos cameo !!!

3) Ember Moon (c) vs. Shayna Basler - NXT Women's Championship Match
This is the perfect dynamic to get people invested. Shayna is the best bully and with her being seen as an outsider due to her MMA background, this is just a match made in heaven and they have done well building it up as such because you just wanna see Ember knock Shayna's teeth down her throat. Early on, Shayna toys with Ember like you'd expect only for it to backfire with Ember firing back with offense. Things are pretty competitive for a minute, but Shayna maintains the upperhand for the most part and once she clinches in the cross arm breaker, shit gets serious. They teased this hella with Ember squirming all around in the center of the ring. Great false finish stuff then next thing you know Ember somehow springs out and gets Shayna into a quick three count to retain. Shayna is pissed and attacks Ember after. Smartly worked first meeting!

Match rating - ***

-Trevor Mann aka Ricochet is in the crowd and WHAT A FUCKING OVATION, he's about to take over. No pun intended.

4) Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole - Extreme Rules Match
Quality stuff here. Adam Cole and Aleister Black are honestly the best counterparts for each other and while this style of a match doesn't necessarily suit either man's style, it fits the level of the feud and both men deliver. This was everything you'd expect from a modern day extreme rules match executed to a tee. Black got kicked in the head with a steel chair on the top rope and free fell through two tables on the floor. Cole couldn't put him away, even with that, O'Reilly & Fish roll out, which brings out Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe from Sanity for a sick brawl. The end comes with Black destroying Cole with a double stomp through the announce table and a black mass with the steel chair.

Match rating - ***3/4

5) Andrade Almas (c) vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship Match
I literally have not seen a match this good in WWE in years. I recall these two's first meeting being great as an opener, but never did I expect them to have a five star match in the main event of Royal Rumble weekend months later. The video package prior to the match got someone who was tuning in on a whim fully invested. Gargano has come such a long way from who he was on the independent circuit and has turned himself into a beloved underdog baby face the likes of Daniel Bryan and it rules. Almas is the lucha libre prodigy who holds the title with so much arrogance and skill. This is a good match on paper, but these two brought it to life and had the arena roaring and hanging on every move for 30 minutes. Everything was so perfectly timed out and executed. I can't think of anything more that could have been done or anything I would change. And that's why it's earned my first WWE five star rating since HHH/Taker at Mania in 2012. Seek this match out if you missed it.

Match rating - *****

Wrestle Kingdom 12 Quick Picks

W R E S T L E K I N G D O M 12 Q U I C K P R E D I C T I O N S

IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship Match: Roppongi 3K (champions) vs. The Young Bucks
Donnie's prediction: Young Bucks take it.

Ethan's prediction: So glad this isn't the usual tag four way. Bucks win and start their 7th reign as junior tag champs and build towards ultimately putting over R3K. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Gauntlet Championship Match: TamaTonga, Tonga Loa and Bad Luck Fale(champions) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson and Togi Makabe vs. Beretta, Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hanson, Raymond Rowe and Michael Elgin vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka and Zack Sabre, Jr. Donnie: Champions retain for sure.

Ethan: Biz Cliz boys retain. Kota Ibushi vs. Cody Rhodes Donnie: Really hoping Cody pulls off the W but I think this one could go either way really quick.

Ethan: This is sorta a low-key dream match. Would be a huge win for Cody, but Ibushi will own this one. Interested to see what comes after with the Bullet Club tensions and Kenny's reaction to the outcome. IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) (champions) vs. EVIL and SANADA Donnie: DBS Jr. and Archer are keeping the titles.

Ethan: Los Igobernables on top!

NEVER Openweight Championship Hair vs. Hair Match: Minoru Suzuki (champion) vs. Hirooki Goto Donnie: I want the mullet to stay forever, I'm saying Goto leaves with the mullet and the title.

Ethan: This is gonna be insane. Goto wins. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 4-Way Match: Marty Scurll (champion) vs. Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA Donnie: Marty Scurll retains and sings a beautiful song

Ethan: This will also be insane, just a different kind of insane. Rooting hard for Ospreay. IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi (champion) vs. Jay White Donnie: The Switch Blade cuts up Tanahashi and takes the IC title

Ethan: Picking Tanahashi only because I don't think White is ready to take down the ace. IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match: Kenny Omega (champion) vs. Chris Jericho

Donnie: Oh man, two all time favorites for me here and a real dream match. There's a ton I could say about this one, but since it's Quick Predictions, I say Omega trumps Alpha. Kenny retains in what's bound to be the match of the night.

Ethan: This is gonna be the match we look back on a decade from now that made the prestige of the IWGP US Title. Omega over Y2J as the torch is passed. IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada (champion) vs. Tetsuya Naito

Donnie: Okada might be considered the best wrestler in the world, but I believe it's time for Naito to regain the IWGP Heavyweight title

Ethan: Naito gets crowned and we get a five star classic <3