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Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Random Match Review: Jon Moxley vs. Konsosuke Takeshita - AEW: Dynamite - July 13th, 2022
I don't do these often. That's mainly probably because I'm super OCD about reviewing shows in full. Lately, however, I just have not had the time or motivation to fully sit down and analyze all the shows I've been watching. That leads us here.
This week on Dynamite, we got possibly the best in-ring action overall of any week in recent memory. So much so that I woke up the next morning and couldn't stop thinking about two matches in particular with this being one of them.
When this was announced, everyone was ecstatic including myself. DDT’s ace Takeshita is in the midst of his US excursion where he’s had bangers against everyone he’s faced inside and outside of AEW from Hangman Page to Mike Bailey. Then, you have Jon Moxley. The undoubted wrestler of the year so far and not to jinx it or spoil my year end awards, but I don’t see ANYONE knocking him from that spot. This match and the circumstances around it are good reason as to why, too.
The last calendar month of Mox boast a great, gritty GCW Title defense against Tony Deppen on 6/17, a bloody battle with Tanahashi to win the AEW Title on 6/26, the crazy ass Blood & Guts match on 6/29, a slugfest with Brody King on 7/6 and after ALL OF THAT, Mox sees Takeshita having a killer match with Eddie Kingston on Rampage and says YO LET ME FIGHT HIM NEXT WEEK. A maniac. A pro wrestler’s pro wrestler. A fighter.
This turns out to be everything expected of it and more. Some could say Mox matches in 2022 are very similar.. or at-least have similar traits. Blood, suplexes, head drops, stiff strikes and chops. You wouldn’t be wrong, but they don’t come off as a routine to me, they come off as a fight. Mox wants to wrestle and he goes into these matches completely unhinged with this match being no different.
This is snug and focused from Mox and truthfully we see more fire from Takeshita than we have yet in AEW. I would’ve liked to seen more fire, but that’s a minor note. Takeshita gets color during the commercial break and as someone who has watched a lot of Takeshita’s stuff back in Japan, I can never recall him bleeding so although I could he wrong, this is definitely a rare occurrence and something I did not anticipate here. It definitely added some urgency to things and some additional sympathy that Takeshita’s matches with Hanger and King didn’t have.
This was definitely a Jon Moxley match, but he let Takeshita go the fuck off and counter a ton of his stuff which gave us some awesome nearfalls. These two really just threw fucking bombs and I’d love another match between the two or a match between Takeshita and Claudio because this definitely pushed Takeshita a level further in the eyes of the AEW fan base. Just fantastic, pro wrestling and another notch on the belt of both these guys’ monumental years. I could see this being an amazing AEW Title match 3-4 years in the future with the roles being reversed if AEW wants to take it there. Takeshita has IT and they need to do whatever they can to keep him coming back regularly and use him accordingly.
Match rating - ****1/4
Fortune Dream 7 Review - June 15th, 2022
Fortune Dream 7
June 15th, 2022
Tokyo, Japan
1) Takao Omori vs. Issei Onitsuka
Good squash opener here. Omori largely dominates and I think calling it a squash is pretty accurate. It did go 8 minutes though and we got to see Onitsuka fire up a couple of times which rocked for the young GLEAT lad. Omori wins a little banger.
Match rating - **3/4
2) Lady C vs. Himeka
Sunday, July 3, 2022
Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Monday Night Raw Review - July 28th, 2003
WWE Raw
July 28th, 2003
Colorado Springs, Colorado
World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H (since 12/15/02)
Intercontinental Champion: Booker T (since 7/7/03)
World Tag Team Champions: La Resistance (since 6/15/03)
WWE Women's Champion: Gail Kim (since 6/30/03)
Commentators - Jerry "The King" Lawler & Jonathan Coachman
Replays of Kane giving Linda McMahon the tombstone from last week air. Jesus. What a wild ass angle that was.
NO CHANCE. Vince McMahon is here. He says he’s here to confront Kane for what he did to his wife.. not because he’s a good husband, but because he’s a man and Kane is not. Vince says he doesn’t know what’s going to happen when he has officials bring Kane to that ring tonight, but he can guarantee one thing. By the end of the night..
ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE !!!!
1) Booker T & Scott Steiner (w/ Stacy Keibler) vs. Christian & Test
IMPACT: Against All Odds 2022 Review - July 1st, 2022
IMPACT Wrestling
Against All Odds
July 1st, 2022
Center Stage - Atlanta, Georgia
Pre-Show:
1) Black Taurus vs. Laredo Kid
This was a blast and the perfect length. It only goes seven minutes so no room for filler or excess. Just these two running a great sprint with a ton of awesome spots. The crowd was hot for both guys which added to it as well. Taurus gets the win.
Match rating - ***
2) Brian Myers (c) vs. Rich Swann - Digital Media Championship Match
This was fun. I don’t really care about either guy, but you can’t deny how easy of a watch this was. I hate that Swann has so many shit allegations in his past because he really is such a fun act for Impact to have on their roster and I feel like all his shittiness has overshadowed any positive credit to his name. Which, I mean.. rightfully so. Anyway.
Match rating - **3/4
MAIN SHOW:
1) Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. BULLET CLUB (Chris Bey & Ace Austin)
You know this rocked. Shelley is so consistent this year as always. Sabin is also a super solid hand.. as always. Then you’ve got the new young guns of the BC, Chris Bey & Ace Austin. I’m not big on either guy and I think BC is bloated as fuck, but Bey has delivered for me lately and Ace Austin’s story in the BOSJ and joining BC has been pretty cool. So, yeah, this was good. It’s the first ever time for Bey & Ace tagging and I’d totally be down for more. MCMG made them look great, even in defeat.
Match rating - ***1/2
Backstage, Karl Anderson gets his team hyped up to face Honor No More later. Gallows, Heath, and Storm all get chances to talk.
2) Mickie James & Mia Yim vs. Deonna Purazzo & Chelsea Green
Saturday, July 2, 2022
Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Vengeance 2003 Review - July 27th, 2003
WWE Vengeance 2003
July 27th, 2003
Denver, Colorado
WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar (since 3/30/03)
WWE Tag Team Champions: Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas (since 7/7/03)
WWE Cruserweight Champion: Rey Mysterio (since 6/5/03)
Commentators - Michael Cole & Tazz
This is the first Smackdown solo PPV of the brand split era.
1) Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero - United States Tournament Finals
My god. This was fucking great. They really let these two go out here and work an almost 20 minute barnburner to kick this show off. People talk about all time great openers and I’ve never heard this one brought up, but I’d say it should be in the conversation. The only flaw this has may just be personal preference, but in the final few minutes, things seemed to lose focus and shift toward a ton of false finishes and nearfalls and even some interference as Rhyno runs down. He seems to be trying to help Benoit as Eddie tries to cheat, but instead TURNS AND SPEARS BENOIT. And as a result, Eddie steals the win. I did not expect that. But yeah, this was fantastic, check it out if you haven’t seen it. One of the best WWE matches of the year.
Match rating - ****1/4
Backstage, Vince has some flowers and pretends they’re for Steph, but they’re actually for Sable.
2) Jamie Noble vs. Billy Gunn (w/ Torrie Wilson)
Friday, July 1, 2022
Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Smackdown Review - July 24th, 2003
WWE Smackdown
July 24th, 2003
Fresno, California
WWE Champion: Brock Lesnar (since 3/30/03)
WWE Tag Team Champions: Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas (since 7/7/03)
WWE Cruserweight Champion: Rey Mysterio (since 6/5/03)
Commentators - Michael Cole & Tazz
THE FINAL SHOW BEFORE VENGEANCE ~~
Replays air of the great handicap match from last week and the miracle work by Kurt Angle with help from Zach Gowen.
The Smackdown General Manager Stephanie McMahon makes her way to the ring to start the show. Steph says since Vince is out taking care of her mother Linda after she was piledriven by Kane on Raw.. SHES GONNA TAKE BACK SMACKDOWN. Steph then turns her attention to Sable and says she’s gonna TREAT HER LIKE THE B*TCH SHE IS at Vengeance. John Cena interrupts. Cena apologizes, but says he had a dream about her last night and goes into a bunch of different sexual innuendos while rapping about her & Sable. This is the infamous segment where Cena smacks Stephanie’s ass (RESPECTFULLY WITH PERMISSION) and this brings OUT DA HELLCAT SABLE. Well.. she’s on the screen actually. Sable replays last week’s incident with all the moments where Steph had the upper hand conveniently edited out. She makes fun of Linda being piledriven by Kane and dares Steph to not wait until Vengeance. Steph storms toward the back as we head to commercial.
Back from commercial, Steph is stomping around backstage looking for Sable. She thinks she’s found her, but it’s Torrie. Steph continues the hunt.
1) Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman vs. Matt Hardy & Shannon Moore
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