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The fact that Shibata outright requested a match with OC should probably make OC's critics (you know who they are) reevaluate their viewpoint (they won't but they should). That is one hell of an endorsement.

Something that has never occurred to me before was that OC keeping up his casual schtick while getting wailed on by a mega badass would also make him come off as a badass. That was like some Martin Riggs sardonic grit.

Rey/GUNTHER wins the week for me so far, but I still need to see the IWGR match, the second women's match from CMLL, the NJPW matches, and RAMPAGE. Kind of skipped Dynamite. Nothing there looked all that interesting aside from Joe/Cage. And even that sounded kind of so-so compared to other stuff from the week going of of comments here and elsewhere. That said, I'm kind of all there for Shibata/OC. Still its going to take something MOTYC level to probably knock off Rey/GUNTHER for me.

Liv/Sonya was good fun. Loved the moments with the table tease and eventual bump. Kind of with DEAN on it being sad Sonya never wins. She has gotten good the past year or so. Ricochet/Knight was solid. Shayna/Nattie was pretty decent while it lasted. Dug the post match with Shyna busting Nattie's nose. I'm digging the idea of Ronda pushing Shayna to be her more vicious self again. GUNTHER/Rey was fucking great. Just a perfect david vs. goliath match with GUNTHER dominating so much while Rey's hope spots build up nicely and hit big with the audience. Its a pity we don't get picture in picture on Fox. This deserved it so damn much with how well these two gelled. Loved the finish with the lariat. I only wish GUNTHER did it one more time just to be a dick.

What a wacky week. It was strangely hard to figure out which matches to cut because everything was about as good as everything else. This week I'm going with Shibata wrestling on my motherfucking TV this week, but there were a LOT of contenders- MOX vs Moriarty, Hellboy vs Cerebro Negro, that Jun Tonsho match from GLEAT, Rey vs GUNTHER, Aussie Open vs Josh Alexander/Frankie Kazarian, HELL! Leia Makoa vs Tormenta from WOW was really fucking good. Tama Tonga vs Jay White was good if a bit drawn out while Ren Narita vs a mostly serious Toru Yano was a DELIGHT. Actually, I think I would go with Speedball Mike Bailey vs Kenny King for the IMPACT! match of the week. And ACTUALLY, I may take Pretty Deadly vs Bron Breakker/Wes Lee or Austin Theory vs Seth Rollins for my WWE match of the week. That's a toss up. Overall, what a fucking time to be a wrestling fan. SHIBATA ON TNT ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! THE CUT LIST: Outlandish Zicky Dice vs Gangrel- CWFH; The Spectaculars vs the Cardona Family- NWA POWERRR.

As we get into the final two months of the year, I feel like it's time to start talking about the matches of the year. Not necessarily the BEST matches (although usually one correlates to the other), but the matches that when you say "2022" these are the matches that will come to mind. I'll prime the pump with two AEW matches. CM Punk vs MJF -Dog Collar Match We wondered when CM Punk was going to get past the "I'm just happy to be here" phase of his time in AEW, and we wanted... something memorable long term. I think many of us had a feeling that it wouldn't last, that it couldn't last.. and sadly events proved us right, but the build up to this match was so so great. Punk did the worst thing you can do to someone like MJF. He treated him like he was insignificant. Just another wrestler. This inspired MJF to be increasingly dastardly, and the feud just continued to escalate and escalate and.. well you get the point. By the time we get to this point, a lot of people were calling for the angle to end, because, well, what else could they DO to each other that would top what's already been done. MJF is at his best when he doesn't need to go to the cheap heat. He works the best when the wars are intensely personal, and it's not "What can I say to mock my opponent", instead it's "How can I express how much I really really want to hurt my opponent" Punk called for this chain match with a perfect promo. A lot of the time, fans will pop for the catchphrase, so they find ways to shoehorn it in, even when it doesn't fit. A promo that can pop without the catchphrase is rare, and this had the fans popping like mad despite running nearly 10 minutes. (I loved the "Be My (Greg) Valentine" reference and the fact that he referenced that a dog collar match is inherently brutal) MJF's mindgames led to a brutal attack that led to a crazy-ass old school promo from a completely blood soaked (and I'm talking Memphis style 0.7 Muta at a guess) CM Punk. Then we get to the match itself. It's a match that couldn't be done to its best anywhere in the US except AEW. Just a blood soaked WAR, with old-school callbacks in CM Punk's gear and entrance music, etcetera. This wast more about the P-A-I-N than the 1-2-3. Even MJF's usual shenanigans couldn't change the result, because there was literally nowhere to go with Punk on the other end of the chain. We won't see something like this often, so we enjoyed it while we can, and we even got the double feel good moment of MJF's trick-of-last-resort, Wardlow, finally decided to pull the trigger on a long long awaited turn, and deliberately leaving the Dynamite Diamond Ring (are they going to run that for a third year, with someone else taking up the mantle if MJF goes face?) for CM Punk to use and triumphantly get the 1-2-3. It was a magic moment. It couldn't last forever. It won't, with the further events of 2022 being a black mark on the AEW-Punk relationship But it will last forever. It's going to be the go to reference of "Blood-Soaked War" for the 2020 s and beyond, probably. It will be referenced amongst a generation like old farts (like a lot of us here) will remember Piper-Valentine.

A Saturday PPV. Fuck yeah!

Voted for GUNTHER vs. Rey Mysterio. Honourable mention to Orange Cassidy vs. Katsuyori Shibata and Seth Rollins vs. Austin Theory.

Best Final: Kingston Vs Starks Worst Final: Page vs Cage Most Interesting Final: Archer vs Rush Also, Rampage was the A Show this week, Orange/Shibata alone was better than the entirety of Dynamite, and Mike Tyson might've had the most earnest guest commentary appearance I've ever heard, he definitely was better than I expected.

I don't know. All of these look like they range from interesting to awesome.

SHIBATTA! SHIBATTA! SHIBATTA! GO SIXTY! This is going to be weird. JANE! Shibatta is fucking intense. Oh, this match is fucking great. So Orange Cassidy is the best all around wrestler in AEW. I love that Mike Tyson knows more about Shibatta than everybody else. Oh man, it's so good to see Shibatta wrestle again. DEATH VALLEY DRIVER! SECOND ORANGE PUNCH! So fucking good. SHIBATTA! SHIBATTA! SHIBATTA! Oh man, I CAN'T WAIT for Shibatta versus Danielson. JAMIE HAYTER! HAYTER! HAYTER! HAYTER! Skye Blue looks good in this. In picture in picture, Britt Baker CHEATS! AEW needs women's tag team titles for Baker and Hayter. Blue is a good babyface in peril and God Knows that Hayter and Baker can beat her to the point that the crowd will get behind her STRUGGLE to escape the 1970s Glamour Girls ass beating that is being supplied. The crowd doesn't dig Madison Rayne. Hayter fucking CRUSHES Rayne with a Lariat! Postmatch, Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter beat the living fudge out of each and the crowd comes alive. Skye Blue looked good in this. Hey! It's the Gates Of Agony versus WardJoe! I assume Powerhouse Hobbs and Brian Cage make an appearance postmatch. BANDIDO VERSUS RUSH! THAT will fucking rule. Shibatta versus Samoa Joe would prolly be a very bad idea. I love that Samoa Joe is Wahoo McDaniel now, with his knife edge chop being 80% of hi offense. Wardlow makes the Hot Tag and goes completely STEINER! Kaun is the Booker T of the Gates o' Agony. They also never actually win. That was fun. Shibatta! AEW RULES THE WORLD!

They’ve done a great job of building the ROH brand, at times to the detriment of the AEW brand/show. Looking forward to the split with some occasional crossover.

It's SMACKDOWN TAPED! Liv Morgan and Sonya Deville wrestle AGAIN! Ew GROSS a weapons match. If it isn't exploding barbed wire, why bother? Oh COOL! A TABLE! LIV DUDLEY! Sonya saves Morgan's life or maybe just her ability to process math as Morgan hit both heels on the ropes on a Tope. Sonya Deville IS Black Taurus. Crazy Liv Morgan is the funnest Liv Morgan- as she makes the "What the heck?" face and dives through a table with Deville. Nice knee to the face by Sonya. Deville lays in the forearms on the top and Powerbombs Morgan into a wad of steel chairs! FOR TWO! Oh Sonya Deville, will you ever win another match? She's so good but she always puts everybody else over. Sad, really. LA Knight and Ricochet wrestle! Knight is kind of a poor man's Ethan Page who is a poor man's Ted DiBiase. Nice Springboard Moonsault To Nowhere by Knight. Knight takes a Rana really well. Knight grabs the tights and gets the pin! I dig the CHEATING. That was perfectly fine. It's Shayna Baszler! Where has she been? It's Natalya! Where has she been? Man, this crowd looks fried. Shayna twisted and bashes Natalya's elbow. Natalya gets in some stuff and her kicks look good. Shayna Baszler applies a Rear Naked Choke and that's that. Postmatch, Baszler knees Natalya in the face! HARDWAY! HHH takes a step back! Rey Mysterio takes on GUNTHER! I assume GUNTHER will wrestle here and not beat the living dogshit out of the wee Mysterio. OH! He is beating the dogshit out of him early. Man, GUNTHER is definitely beating on Rey enough to get the crowd behind his STRUGGLE to escape the Euro-Assbeating being supplied. Mysterio hits a Crucifix to start his comeback, applying a Sleeper for second. Then he re-applies it! GUNTHER goes up the ropes and jumps back to break the hold and we go to a commercial! Rey has a second comeback and GUNTHER doesn't really pull off looking like he is in trouble, prolly because we saw him and Sheamus beat the fuck out of each other twice in the last month. Rey does the toprope counter to the DIE HARD KANSAI that he first did against Eddy Guerrero and Psicosis. Fun nearfalls! SUWA Dropkick by GUNTHER into a Powerbomb for TWO! Gunther finally CRUSHES Rey with a Lariat. That was good! That was a perfectly fine episode of SMACKDOWN.

4/1/91: Funaki vs Sano: Funaki really had Sano's number here. We kind of knew that from the last match. Sano came out aggressive after some feeling out kicks but once he got him down, he had no idea what to do with him, not really. For the rest of the match he got shifted about and outwrestled. He might have gotten in a lucky kick here or there but Funaki was just too good at weaving and dodging and striking, and at shutting Sano's attempts at throws while hitting his own. Ultimately, Sano did get a German only for Funaki to shift right around for the Jujigatame. You felt for Sano here. They congratulated each other after the match though. 4/1/91: Savage vs Tenryu: This was very good. Very Savage-y on the finish, fairly elaborate. Savage tended to get advantages by drawing Tenryu this way or that and then cheapshotting him. I don't think it had the spectacle of the 1990 match with Sherri and the crowd and everything else but this was 100% the WMVII Savage, with multiple elbow drops being survived and a lot of bells and whistles unlike almost anything else in wrestling on the finish. Amusingly, Tenryu tried to do this sort of face first corner bump twice where he jumped into the corner. I don't know if he'd seen Bret do his signature corner bump or if Savage just called it or what, but he tried it twice. The first time it just sort of confused the crowd, but there was outright laughter the second. I honestly couldn't tell you if this was better than the last match between these two or not. They're both worth watching.

for me, Thunder Rosa besting Britt Baker for the AEW Women's Title on the 3/16 Dynamite has been a highlight of the year. i know others will disagree, and her title reign led to a diminishing run, but that moment felt huge and had been built to for over a year. Briscoes/FTR felt like a gigantic moment. either one, although i lean toward the first matchup. i feel like something from Forbidden Door would make the list, just due to its unprecedented nature. Glancing over the card, i don't know which match stands out the most. Someone more versed in NJPW is better suited than i to make that distinction.

Looks pretty fragile.

Colt Cabana only got the Jericho match because of his tag team title reign with Punk ???

And finally from me before I let other folks have a go. Cody Rhodes vs Seth Rollins (Hell in a Cell) The match, by itself, was good to great. Cody and Seth had a pretty good feud, and HiaC looked to be a natural conclusion to their feud. Then Cody suffered a gruesome pec injury, and you wondered if they should just call an audible and end the feud and let Cody go heal. Instead, they worked it into the match, with Rollins targeting an outmatched Rhodes and just beating him nine ways from sunday (made even more gruesome by the purple skin of Rhodes from the torn pec.) Say what you will about the Codyverse especially in AEW, but when appropriately focused with a story to tell, he will lean into it 5000% percent and do the little things that will make the match bigger, despite the pain and suffering it puts him through. The whole match was WWE's paen to old-school injured face working from underneath and winning, while the heel still looks monster strong (and they followed that up with Rollins officially putting Rhodes out for months on the RAW afterwards. Cody gets shit on for a lot of what he does, but in this case, they did everything just about perfectly.

Joe/Cage could be great, but after last week, Joe/Hobbs is the match i didn't know i wanted to see.

Just to get me to get it early, too! Ok, Tony, deal's a deal! Damn, went looking for it yesterday on FITE, but it's not up for pre-order as of yet. Well, as soon as it becomes available, I'm on it!

Move Punk to ROH, Cabana to the Jaguars, Trevor Lawrence to Fulham FC and Mitrovic from Fulham to the main AEW roster.

Not even one second of consideration. Punk wouldn't accept a "demotion". Plus you'd have to go through the trouble of moving Cabana back to AEW again. That part would be hilarious to me. But nah, not even a slight chance of it being a consideration.

Giving it to you early!

Ok, give me Samoa Joe vs Brian Cage for the ROH TV title at Final Battle and I'll buy the damn PPV right now!

Per Fightful, it appears NXT Deadline is going to be held the same date as Final Battle. https://twitter.com/_denisesalcedo/status/1567180838315360259 "I have a lot more fucking money than Jim Crockett did. I'm serious. I'm not going to sit back and take this fucking shit!"

A Saturday afternoon PPV a little over 3 hours from my house in Austin, I could pretty much do that in a long day...

So there's this today: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/tony-khan-well-have-great-news-soon-about-weekly-roh-shows Basically, Tony Khan says that there will be another ROH PPV this year (assuming it'll be Final Battle?) and a weekly ROH show to air in 2023.

I’m guilty of using the phrase “non-stick…” to refer to general discussions without a specific topic (usually at work)

Boston Bruins signed Mitchell Miller today. Bruins sign prospect who had rights renounced by Coyotes due to bullying (nhl.com) Well, at least his overt racism will play well in Beantown.