Evil Otto

I thought Tsuji vs. "Loose Cannon" Gabe Kidd was outstanding. I dare not say anymore for anyone who might watch it, but I assure you, going into the match as cold as possible is best. You will be rewarded. Narita vs. Kiyomiya is definitely worth a watch as well.

Prince Nana's having one hell of a year. Dancing, swerving, it's all great. Stat being goofy is where she will excel. Serious Stat just doesn't work, and you can always save that for later. Accent her strengths, literally and figuratively. I love the Best Friends, I always will. Claudio is a beast, of course, but Moxley, man...Moxley these days is truly something else.

All this talk about how to fix the women's division, and I can't help going back to one of my main concerns for the past two years or so. Well, I'm puzzled, really. Puzzled as to why there aren't women's tag team belts in this company. It's such a simple way to allow people to have more screen time, especially wrestlers who need further experience. They had a tag team tournament and everything, and well, that was it, apparently Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose are an awesome, killer team and instead, each one just comes out on random weeks, puts someone else over, and their second just stands by the apron and does basically nothing. No storyline development, nothing. What the fuck is that? Anna Jay and Tay Melo likely won't be a tag team anytime soon, but they clearly got fans intrigued whenever they teamed up. They were just right there, ready to go, seemingly forever. I don't get it. You can have TV titles, trios titles, and at this point, there is not one, but two fake (or at least highly disputed) titles on the men's side. But no tag titles for the women? Baffling to me.

It really felt like tonight was all about respect. (Well, mostly. Swerve and Fox might disagree.) Shida winning really capped off the theme off perfectly.

Yeah, that match and Umino-Tsuji the night prior were by far my two strongest recommendations from the last two cards. Naito and ZSJ are fucking magic in the ring together.

Well, I never said it would happen. I shall continue dreaming!

Nice to see, that's a big break for Baliyan Akki, and gives me hope that in the Women's Grand Prix, we might see Mei Suruga again, who killed it last time. Maybe Emi Sakura as well? There's no way this match won't be good, it's just a matter of how stunningly great it may be.

I like Rampage now seemingly coming to grips with being the successor of AEW Dark and embracing it, with ROH taking up some of the slack as well. I mean that in the best way possible. In other news, I also miss Daddy Magic on commentary. Kip Sabian is someone who deserves a much bigger spotlight. I am completely fine with Hikaru Shida beating Toni Storm.

Tonight was the Eddie Kingston match everyone was waiting for. Of course, it was against Ishii. Was it anything new? Not really. Did the Korakuen crowd go crazy for it? They sure did. Zack and Cobb somehow managed to top it, though. One of the top matches of the tournament for sure. Such amazing chemistry they have. In my alternate wrestling universe (we all have one, don't we?) ZSJ and Jeff Cobb are fighting over the world championship because they both absolutely belong at the top of the card. Maybe someday, I always say. Simply put, both these guys fucking rule. Performance-wise, a really solid night across the board for TMDK.

Fortunately, It seems like all of the previous Friday shows are still available to peruse. But yeah, going forward (as of this week, in fact) it looks like they won't be. (Just to clarify further, I think this only applies to future events.)

Yeah, that was precisely my take as well. The pressure was on, and the young guys completely nailed it.

It was a tremendous match. It was streaming live on Abema following the G1, so I was lucky enough to catch it. Incredibly tense, as you might expect.

I think this was posted by New Japan only on Youtube. Super green folks, but there's surely a future star or two (or more) in there somewhere, so that makes it a fun watch.

Holy fuck! This match is from the Sunday wrap-up show for the brief Fantastica Mania in Mexico tour from the end of June featuring New Japan and CMLL talent. I saw this match listed, and felt sad at the time thinking I would never actually see it. Lo and behold, CMLL actually understands that promotional material featuring this level of awesomeness needs to be utilized. What a month or so for El Desperado. Truly one of the best at this very moment in time. I came away from this match thinking Hechicero and Despy can just take over the tag team divisions across multiple promotions starting tomorrow if they wanted to. That would be completely fine with me. Their deviousness is off the charts.

Ahh, I'm in Japan, so I hadn't thought about that. Maybe it's blocked in North America? Hopefully, it'll be up on CMLL's Youtube page in a week or so, but I'm not sure since they have apparently made some changes there as well. I did watch it, though. The Mascara Dorada 2.0-El Desperado match was outstanding, and the LIJ 6-man was quite the spectacle as well. The main event was worth watching, and I love Rocky, but the previous two matches were a bit better for me. Overall, a really great show.

FantasticaMania from Arena Mexico is up on New Japan World, if you're so inclined! I had no idea they would be posting it. Reports are this was a really great show. What a pleasant surprise.

This episode of Rampage completely exceeded my expectations. Was tonight the first night Swerve has alluded to MJF and the AEW championship? That is a road worth going down. I realize the promo was likely more to build up Tanahashi, but I don't think it would be just thrown out there and wasted. I hope there's more to the story. Swerve is truly one of the best right now, and at least deserves to be in more main events. Filthy Tom and Royce Isaacs! Hooray! I've got no problem whatsoever with Johnny TV, I've always liked him. It'll be fun to see what he can do with a more sustained push. I'm happy to see where Skye Blue has gotten to so far, but both her and Anna Jay need to really work on not hesitating slightly before hitting moves. There is a lack of fluidity that hopefully will improve over time. Skye Blue has to be a little more snug (or snug-looking) in general. If AEW ever develops a relationship with Stardom (which Tony K seems to want), Anna Jay should be sent over for a tour or even longer. That being said, I still have high hopes for both of them. Douki actually got seriously over. Jack Perry did the Skull End better than Sanada in one try. Maybe not the best show, but certainly a bizarre, intriguing one.

Wow, it finally happened.

Alex Coughlin vs. Tracy Williams from April's New Japan Strong taping in Philadelphia. A match that could easily go under the radar this year, but shouldn't. Coughlin legitimately fits the description "scary good".

Speaking of Coughlin, the new Strong episode on New Japan World is from the April Philadelphia show, with Coughlin vs. Tracy Williams in a ROH Pure Rules match. Outrageously great little gem of a match that shouldn't go unnoticed. If you want to see the type of stuff that Coughlin is likely to pull out in the G1, I think this match will surely interest you. Apparently, the New Japan World Official Youtube page has also posted it, which is unusual for them to do, but I applaud them for clearly realizing that this match deserves a wider audience. https://youtu.be/AAvYTyJPaVs?t=1111 (I timestamped it as well.)

Ahhh, the Iron Sheik will always hold a very special place in my heart, as he was quite literally in the first pro wrestling match I actually watched from start to finish, that being the now infamous Boot Camp Match with Sgt. Slaughter from MSG in June 1984. Some of my friends from junior high school had been mentioning pro wrestling in passing that year, but I had no clue what they were talking about. I remember calling my friend Bob that evening and asking him when exactly this match was going to be shown on the MSG network broadcast because I just had to know what this was all about. And well, that match, as we all know now, was insane. What a trial by fire, being thrown into the deep end like that. I remember almost fainting when the blood started flowing, but somehow I kept watching. And I've been watching ever since. Thank you, Iron Sheik, you crazy motherfucker. RIP.

In his recent interview with Mike Sempervive, Rocky alluded to more NJPW in CMLL this year, and well, he wasn't kidding. The top 3 matches should all be really good to amazing, especially the LIJ trios match. Mascara Dorada 2.0, based on the video on CMLL's youtube page, looks like Panterita Del Ring Jr repackaged, which would make sense since the previous MD is now officially going by Metalik. Works out best for both of them since I think Metalik sounds cooler and Panterita Del Ring Jr is kind of an overly ridiculous name anyhow. CMLL holding on to and recycling old trademarks, and all that entails, is a very CMLL thing to do, of course. The luchadora tag match is probably the best four they have to offer at this point, and no dead weight, so good for them for putting their best foot forward. Speaking of NJPW-CMLL crossovers, I didn't comment on it at the time, but I thought Vaquer was absolutely tremendous in her match with Mercedes at Resurgence. Virus and Cavernario picking up the (surprise) win on ZSJ and Tito was really cool as well, but I see those potential singles matches for an upcoming Strong PPV card and not here. I mentioned over in the Japan subforum that Vaquer-Mone earned my purchase of that event, and ZSJ-Virus would do the same. Titan in the BOSJ final as well! Pipe dream/wishful thinking considering these recent developments: Hechicero in the G1 (his Fantastica Mania performances in February certainly make the case) and the Chavez brothers in the World Tag League. Expectations for those extremely low, but who knows, 2023 has been full of pleasant surprises so far.

Octopus has nine brains after all, Shartnado. He selflessly puts them all to good use to provide us one-brainers with such valuable information.