GCW: Maniac Review - May 21st, 2022

GCW Maniac

May 21st, 2022

Los Angeles, CA - Ukranian Cultural Center

GCW World Champion: Jon Moxley (since 9/4/21)

GCW World Tag Team Champions: BUSSY (Allie Katch & Effy) (since 4/9/22)

GCW Extreme Champion: AJ Gray (since 1/15/22)

GCW Ultraviolent Champion: John Wayne Murdoch (since 3/31/22)

Commentators - Kevin Gill & Veda Scott

1) Blake Christian vs. Kevin Blackwood 

Blake comes to the ring with a “Chelsea Green loves Blake Christian” sign. Kevin Blackwood pays tribute to the victims of the Buffalo, NY incident last week. Bell rings and we are under way. The feed cuts out for the first 6-8 minutes of this. It cuts back in and we get a pretty awesome final 7-8 minute stretch. Some great exchanges and nearfalls. Blake Christian wins with a curb stomp. Considering the feed went out, take my rating with a grain of salt. 

Match rating - **3/4 

2) Titus Alexander vs. Tony Deppen 

This is a nice surprise. I had no idea this was on the card, but I love both these guys right now so LETS GO. Tony Deppen pokes Alexander in the eyes to begin. Weird to see Alexander not being the heel considering he’s very much the villain in his home promotion West Coast Pro from the little I’ve seen. Alexander follows it up with a trio of insane dives to really get the energy going for this one. This was really such a blast. Deppen really rocks and Alexander was awesome with the explosive babyface fire. Titus definitely made the most of this opportunity and the crowd was behind him the whole way. 

Match rating - ***1/2 

3) “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Masha Slamovich 

Wow. I anticipated this to be good, but I didn’t anticipate it to be quite possibly the best match either of these two has had all year. That’s exactly what it was, though. Beyond the stuff you’d expect like awesome strike exchanges, suplexes and spots. The laser focus of Speedball on the arm/shoulder of Masha and the selling that followed was just phenomenal. This was one of the best GCW matches of the year and well worth going out of your way to see. Just fantastic professional wrestling. Speedball wins with the flamingo driver. Amazing. 

Match rating - ****1/2

4) AJ Gray (c) vs. Jack Cartwheel vs. Ninja Mack vs. Cole Radrick vs. Starboy Charlie vs. Jimmy Lloyd - Scramble Match for the GCW Extreme Championship 

AEW: Rampage Review - May 20th, 2022

 

AEW Rampage

May 20th, 2022

Houston, Texas

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 4/27/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks, Chris Jericho, & Ruby Soho

1) Malakai Black, Brody King, & Buddy Matthews vs. Evil Uno, 10, & Fuego Del Sol

This was a great opener. It's setting in that Stu Grayson really is gone from AEW as we see Uno teaming with 10 & Fuego here. RIP :((( BUT YEAH. HOB kills these trios matches and this was no exception. Just a blast of a way to kick this show off. HOB obviously wins, but that doesn't take away from how fun this was along the way. 

Match rating - ***

NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors 29 Night Four Review - May 19th, 2022

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 29

Night Four 

May 19th, 2022

Hachinohe, Aomori, Japan

1) Taka Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. YOH & Hiroyoshi Tenzan 

Kevin Kelly says YOH has the best poker face in wrestling. That’s fair. YOH is 1-1 in the tournament, rebounding the night before this with a victory. The Suzuki-gun boys charge YOH & Tenzan at the bell. This is all about previewing YOH/Kanemaru which happens in a few days. This is pretty lifeless, though. Like there’s nothing WRONG with it but yeah. YOH wins with the direct driver. 

Match rating - *1/2 

2) Alex Zayne, Clark Connors, Jado, & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Dick Togo, SHO, Gedo, & Taiji Ishimori 

This surprised me. There was actually some fire behind some of this. Since I’m behind, I’ve heard that Zayne & Ishimori have a really good match coming up and based off their interactions here, I can definitely see the chemistry. Even Clark Connors looked good here off a tag cleaning the apron of his opponents. Togo & Taguchi had some fun exchanges as well. Just a good time here. The faces win, but Ishimori attacks Zayne after the bell to further that story. 

Match rating - **1/2

3) Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ace Austin & Tiger Mask 

GLEAT: Ver. 25 Review - May 18th, 2022

GLEAT Ver. 25

May 18th, 2022

Tokyo, Japan

Sorry this took so long to get done, guys. I got super behind on a lot of shit here in the last two weeks, but also.. this show got pulled from GLEAT’s YouTube which totally threw off my reviewing schedule and plans. Thankfully it’s been re-uploaded and I can now properly dive in to this huge event. 

It’s CIMA’s 25th Anniversary show. I’ve loved CIMA for nearly a decade now so this is required viewing to me, PLUS GLEAT is on fire right now so it’s pretty much a can’t miss event regardless especially with a loaded card like this. 

1) Minoru Tanaka, MUSASHI, & Soma Watanabe vs. Quiet Storm, Check Shimatani, & Masato Kamino 

This was a great little opener. MUSASHI & Kamino really laid into each other early. Things broke down and the finishing stretch was awesome. Lots of flash pin attempts and roll ups to throw in some added drama. The BULK Orchestra led trio of Storm, Shimatani, & Kamino secure the victory when all is said and done. 

Match rating - **3/4 

2) Yu Iizuka vs. Takanori Ito 

AEW: Dynamite Review - May 18th, 2022

AEW Dynamite - WILDCARD WEDNESDAY 

May 18th, 2022

Houston, Texas 

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 4/27/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

1) Samoa Joe vs. Johnny Elite - Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Match 

The show opens with Samoa Joe against a mystery joker opponent. The ROH TV Champ enters with his title and awaits the rival of the joker which turns out to be the former John Morrison/Johnny Nitro/Johnny Mundo. This was a letdown for some. I admittedly wanted Claudio Castagnoli, but I will accept this rather than it being someone like Johnny Gargano. There’s been enough bland NXT people joining the team.. so a one off from Morrison? I’m fine with that. The match is fun as well. So no complaints from me. Is it great? Nah! But is it good? Yes. It felt like a match from 2014-2015 Raw that would be getting rave reviews under that platform. But here in AEW, the bar is so high. I’m just glad it wasn’t a melodramatic NXT/Adam Cole style match. It had close falls and big spots, but they didn’t go anywhere near overboard and as a result, I enjoyed the hell out of it. A Joe prolonged squash would’ve also satisfied me just as much, but it won’t complain at all about whag we got because it could’ve been MUCH worse and I enjoyed this more than a lot of recent matches that have made Dynamite. It’s not FTR/Bucks obviously and it’s nowhere near Punk/Dustin even.. but it beats a lot of other stuff. Joe wins to advance to the semi finals. 

Match rating - ***1/4

After the match, Joe is immediately jumped by Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Satnam Singh begins walking down the ramp as well. Thankfully THE BOYS are in the building. Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, & Rocky Romero hit the ring with chairs to run off the bastards.

NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors 29 Night Three Review - May 18th, 2022

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 29 

Night Three

May 18th, 2022

Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

BLOCK A REDEEMS ITSELF ~!

1) Tiger Mask & Yuto Nakashima vs. Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa

Enjoyed the heck out of this little thing. Just simple wrestling with the young lions & Tiger Mask. Much better than the stupid House of Torture openers from the last two nights. Tiger Mask hits the Tiger Driver for the win a few minutes after he’s in and the young lions had done their thing for a few. 

Match rating - **1/2

2) El Phantasmo, Dick Togo, & Gedo vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wato, & Jado

NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors 29 Night Two Review - May 17th, 2022

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 29

Night Two 

May 17th, 2022

Sakata, Yamagata, Japan

At the Sakata City Gymnasium for the first night of B Block action. This is a little nostalgic cause it instantly reminds me of 2018-19 when I watched the BOSJ shows as they happened. 

1) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, YOH, & Yuto Nakashima vs. Clark Connors, Kosei Fujita, & Ryohei Oiwa 

YOH and Connors begin. They face on night three so it’s an understandable way to start this off by teasing that match. They’re the real focus and story of this similar to how Yuta/Eagles was last night in the opening eight man except it’s not nearly as good. Sorta lifeless. Connors gets the pin in 10 minutes or so. 

Match rating - **

2) Ace Austin & Tiger Mask vs. Taka Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-gun) 

Kanemaru charges Austin at the bell. They face off in singles tomorrow so naturally that’s the whole reason this is happening. This was just like the opener.. fine, but just a house show effort for six minutes. Austin gets the pin on Taka for the victory for he & Tiger Mask.

Match rating - *3/4

3) Dick Togo, SHO, & Taiji Ishimori (BULLET CLUB) vs. Alex Zayne, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Jado 

It sucks that everything House of Torture almost has a **1/4 ceiling because of the incessant foul play. This had some good action in its short time with Alex Zayne hitting his first exciting move of the tournament. But they still had to go the weapons route for SHO to tap out Jado. Sigh. Fun while it lasted before that, atleast. 

Match rating - **

4) DOUKI (Suzuki-gun) vs. El Lindaman (STRONGHEARTS) - Block B Tournament Match