NJPW: World Tag League 2020 Night Three Review - November 19th, 2020

NJPW World Tag League 2020 Night Three

November 19th, 2020 

1) Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Yota Tsuji 

Last night, Gabriel Kidd got his shot teaming with Nagata against the veterans. Tonight, Tsuji gets the honors. Nagata & Honma start off like last night but go into limb work instead of strikes... at first atleast. Things break down and yeah. Tsuji & Kojima in next. This has a similar formula to last night’s opener. They even do the same finish with a Kojima lariat ending things. Was gonna go ** on this, but Tsuji’s selling of the lariat is worth an extra quarter star DEAR LORD. Check gif for reference. 

Match rating - **1/4

2) Great O’ Khan & Jeff Cobb (The Empire) (2 pts) vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (Bullet Club) (0 pts) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

Well, Owens & Fale do an attack during Khan & Cobb’s entrance which is easily the most exciting thing they’ve done in this tournament so far. Fale starts working over Khan in the ring at this point and I think about how there’s no way BC is winning this. Especially since the new Empire duo is just coming off a loss to Goto & Yoshi which I don’t think anyone expected. Anyway, Cobb gets in and gets things back under control by throwing Chase Owens around like a rag doll. They really just kinda went for it in this match as it’s over just as it starts. Cobb & GOK are MAD after their loss last night and just jobbed out Fale & Chase. 

Match rating - **1/4

3) Juice Robinson & David Finlay (2 pts) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare (0 pts) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors 2020 Night Two Review - November 18th, 2020

NJPW BOSJ Night 2

November 18th, 2020 

1) Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Gabriel Kidd 

Finally something a little different for these openers! 3 legends have been thrown in the mix with young lion Gabriel Kidd. Nagata & Kojima start with a heated exchange before Kidd gets in and goes at it with Honma before getting isolated by the veterans. Really fun match here with Kojima putting Kidd away with a vicious lariat. 

Match rating - **1/2

2) Yuya Uemura (0 pts) vs. BUSHI (0 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match 

I was honestly shocked they gave Uemura as much as they did here. He charges BUSHI at the bell and gets a couple of pin attempts for near falls. BUSHI fights back and locks Uemura in a crab and I honestly thought it was done there, but Uemura gets the ropes. They go back & forth for a few minutes before BUSHI puts him away to get his first 2 points of the tournament. Good showing for Uemura as he got a lot more time than he did on Night One and this had some fun drama down the stretch.  

Match rating - **1/2 

3) Robbie Eagles (2 pts) vs. Master Wato (2 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match 

They start out working holds on the mat and go into arm drags and shit that leads to a stalemate. Wato ends up getting the advantage and drops some elbows to the back of Eagles’ head. Eagles uses his speed to get out of that and flies around for a bit. This turned out to be quite the aerial showcase with several spots that made me wince. This tourney is my first time really seeing Wato and he has been a lot of fun so far. God these two really tore it up. Wato gets what I see as a big win over Eagles here following an excellent counter to Eagles’ 630 as Wato put his knees up and Eagles ate it full force then Wato hit from the top rope, what I’m assuming is his finisher which was a little to crazy for me to try and call some sort of cancun tornado flippy thing. 

Match rating - ***1/4 

4) SHO (2 pts) vs. DOUKI (0 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match 

NJPW: World Tag League 2020 Night Two Review - November 16th, 2020

NJPW World Tag League Night Two

November 16th, 2020 

1) Gabriel Kidd vs. Yota Tsuji - Young Lions Match 

These were part of the young lions class that opened up every G1 show so they’ve met A LOT. This isn’t much different than their other meetings, but also is pretty meaningless albeit harmless. Idk. Stuff happens and Kidd dominates most of it. Tsuji fights from under then catches Kidd in the crab for the submission victory. Excited for Honma & Kojima to get involved and mix it up with them on Wednesday. 

Match rating - *3/4

2) Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (Bullet Club) (0 pts) vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (Bullet Club) (0 pts) World Tag League Tournament Match 

NJPW: World Tag League/Best of Super Juniors 2020 Night One Review - November 15th, 2020

NJPW World Tag League/BOSJ Night One Double Header 

November 15th, 2020 

The pandemic set everything back a few months so New Japan is combining the World Tag League and Best of the Super Juniors into one tour and in smaller blocks. This is one of the few joint shows with both tournaments hosting matches on the same event and is the kickoff event for both.

1) Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (CHAOS) vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (Bullet Club) - World Tag League Tournament Match 

It’s been a whiiiiile since we’ve seen Fale & Owens and I can’t say I’ve necessarily missed them. Owens pie faces Ishii to start and gets knocked on his ass before the classic bullet club tactics allow he & Fale to isolate the stone pitbull. Ishii fires back and throws Owens with a suplex and gets Yano in. Yano & Fale work for a bit. We get a clever bit for the finish with Owens going to break up a pin, Yano moving and then jumping on top of both Owens & Fale for a quick three count. This was exactly what it should have been because if this had gone much longer it probably would’ve been a huge stinker, but for what it is here, it’s harmless. 

Match rating - **

Fale destroys Yano post match. 

2) Master Wato (w/ Hiryoshi Tenzan) vs. Yuya Uemura - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match

NJPW: Power Struggle 2020 Review

NJPW Power Struggle 

November 7th, 2020 

The fall out from the G1 Climax 30 and the final big stop before NJPW's biggest event of the year that happens every January - Wrestle Kingdom.

1) Toru Yano (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr - No Corner Pads Match for the KOPW Trophy 

Yano/Sabre is always fun. This stip is dumb and the KOPW thing is pretty much worthless aside from giving Yano something to do. Sabre has said if he wins this he will just throw the trophy in the trash. Some shenanigans early, but this is serious for the most part, Sabre works on the legs and keeps Yano grounded forcing him to wrestle. Yano hits a belly to belly for some separation but finds himself back in a hold moments later in the center of the ring. They roll to the floor and Zack has Yano in a leg lock across the railing and unbeknownst to Zack, Yano ties Zack’s laces to the railing and wins via countout. 

Match rating - **

2) Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Shingo Takagi - NEVER Openweight Title Match 

AEW: Full Gear 2020 Review - November 7th, 2020

AEW Full Gear

November 7th, 2020

Jacksonville, FL

IT IS TIME. I am a few days late, scratch that, a week late thanks to work causing me to miss a small get together with my friends Mike & Donnie to watch this event live. None the less, I am just as fucking stoked despite seeing spoilers. And as a note, I also caught the main event live. 

Don Callis has joined Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone on commentary for our opening match per request of Kenny Omega. 

1) Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page - Finals of the AEW Title #1 Contender’s Tournament 

Alright. We all know I’m a mark for the Bullet Club turned Elite turned AEW EVP’s. Omega & Page’s title defense against The Young Bucks earlier this year earned a five star rating from me which is a testament to how invested I am into this story. Admittedly it felt like this stalled out in the build, however the video package and seeing the two in the same ring for this high stakes match brought back some of the urgency and most definitely brought back the feels. They get into a collar elbow tie up early and wrestle around the ropes and get into it pretty back & forth early. Page sends Omega into the railing but OMEGA JUMPS ONTO THE RAILING AND MOONSAULTS PAGE for my first gasp of the match. Next crazy moment is Page with a pop up powerbomb on the entrance way followed by one in the ring for a big near fall. A couple big moves later and Omega wins with the one winged angel. Dang. I was hoping for more than this, but I guess that’s my own fault for wanting another epic from this story. My only guess is maybe AEW saw this story stalling and decided not to try and make this a melodramatic contest. Well, great opener none the less. Omega wins and Page looks very depressed as he is helped to the back. 

Match rating - ***3/4

2) Orange Cassidy (w/ Chuck Taylor & Trent) vs. John Silver 

WWE: 205 Live Review - October 9th, 2020

WWE: 205 Live Review 

October 9th, 2020 

This is the 200th episode of 205 Live. 

1) Ariya Daivari vs. Jake Atlas