matwarz

I’m pretty sure I’m not a wrestling fan without Sabu. He changed my perspective of the business. He’s the motivation behind stupid teenage trips to Philly. He’s part of why I wanted to go to Japan so badly. He was literally the evolution of the business.

Women’s world 3-way and night 1 main event were both terrific, prototypical WWE big match happenings. The ladies worked their butts off for something that warrants return viewing. Io deserves her flowers right now as one of the greatest womens performers of all time; her timing, bumping and execution was just off the charts here. Punk, Reigns and Rollins was a perfect WWE main event. To me that right there is exactly why people watch WWE. Big characters, big movez, storyline and storytelling. Not sure how much Punk has left in the tank so I’m glad he finally got something that clearly meant so much to him. Not so much a lock-up or a headlock between either match, I’m going to need a palate cleanser before attempting any more WWE.

I don’t see this being the case, at least initially. WWE is going to want this to work and if anything that means more contracts and guys being plucked from the indies. You can’t just send a bunch of guys from Orlando to pad out a lucha fed. If there is going to be a turf war its independent shows that will fall by the wayside

In don’t even think that’s a consideration as the more likely senario is their money and visability eventually strips out all CMLL’s top talent, dwindles indies and tries to re-build lucha in its own image. I think setting up shop in Mexico and Japan is a totally different ballgame than what they did to the UK

Lucha libre is heritage and ingrained in Mexican society. It’s a style and tradition. There’s a reason most British football still kicks off at 3pm on a Saturday; it’s cultural DNA. AAA had its glory days but jumped so far outside the lines it wasn’t sustainable. CMLL has been around 90 odd years and is now in the midst of terrific business again. It’s not done that by reinventing the wheel. A big money financial backer is great news. Expecting them to be silent, respect tradition and work for the benefit of anyone but themselves is blind

No, the plan is to dominate and control the industry as a whole and make money for WWE. Whatever they aquire will slowly become riddled with WWE talent, booking and influence. Writing teams, performance centres, the same business model established in the US.

Their plan is a controlling interest in the business worldwide. It’s only a matter of time before someone in Japan gives in. Obviously it’s nothing new in the world of big business and entertainment but ultimately it is going to sterilise the industry. Probably time to finally admit this is so far removed from the wrasslin’ I grew up with that it’s just not worth discussing anymore. That said though, if I’ve said it once I’ve said it 1000 times, fuck WWE.

100%; like a more aggressive cousin of ‘Man Called Sting’. Vader v Jack was mental. Harley was bumping like a 20 year old. They had to be under the impression that was getting TV time. Sting v Orndorff was perfectly great. Rick Rude really was the best. Lovely spending my Sunday being an British teenager again

Fun fact, that fan cam was filmed by either Robbie Brookside or Doc Dean as they were collecting footage for the infamous episode of ‘Video Diaries’ for the BBC

The only thing wrong with the finish was Toni not dead-weighting her a couple of times before the surprise cradle. But that aside, everyone throwing their toys out of the cot because someone used a tight inside cradle to win a wrestling match is gen-z to the HILT

Go watch Kenny’s post-match performance in the interview room. That is all.

Tokyo Dome Omega is god-tier, shivers down the spine, the stuff of legend. Amazing presence, storytelling and star making. The whole presentation from start to finish is what I’ll take as my pro wrestling please.

I genuinely don’t understand the Ospreay losing streak waffle. The guy has been bulletproof since day one as he’s clearly a level above everyone in the company. Any loss he’s taken has been to elevate or solidify someone. The CC works the same as the G1; everyone takes losses to foreshadow programmes or rematches. Ospreay will get the world title but not until they run London again and it would be stupid to do otherwise. At that point, all the losses he’s taken creates a slew of challengers that create real possibilities of him losing. Am I missing something? Anyway, all the CC matches were great. Dick Okada was awesome. Holding back spots for the final was awesome. Taking the time to break the referee counts was awesome. Having a styles clash for a finish and then a big near fall in the finals was awesome. The finals were flat out great. They didn’t do half of what they could, made everything mean something and kept the stretch to a bare minimum. By today’s standards, the restraint and common sense used in these matches was terrific.

Hiroshi Tanahashi; first ballot hall of famer, legend and probably the most important man in modern Japanese wrestling history. I think of certain guys when you mention Tana so I’d propose ace, Omega and Shibata vs Nakamura, Okada and Nagata as a final dance. I guess the most appropriate scenario would be Shota in there taking the torch. Get me on the plane

Try as I might I don’t think I’ll ever care for the presentation, content and feel of WWE entertainment. That said, I’ll always watch Punk as he’s like the last bastion of pro-wrasslin’. Excellent blow-off match, positively old school, that had no business opening a PPV. Everything they did meant something and went somewhere. Interesting that they still obviously have issues with blood; Punk bladed the side of his head when he normally goes front and center. 16 staples says Drew clearly got a hard way in there and resulted in so much juice they were insisting he wipe his face.

I loved Dragon v Nigel. Amazing that we got to see it and a match so them in execution. Basically a love letter with all the WOS, grappling, call backs and Nigel’s very British exceptence of his fate (yes, he clearly said fuck you). Two old mates doing great pro-wrestling.

Creatively bankrupt, totally predictable, flat and boring. Never change WWE.

If dubba j didn’t have a hand in that closing angle I’m hanging it up. That was all levels of Memphis brilliance. No tease, just straight nut cutting. Mariah and Toni were both KING SIZED.

ZSJ v Orange warmed my old British blood. The step up to the final run was majestic. Zack deserves the big gold but eternal TV champ having those matches would never get old. Dragon and Shingo are old masters. That’s just a great fucking wrestling match. Are people really coming on here to complain about a guy selling the shit out of the backstory? That main event was exactly what you would sell a classic AEW world title match to be. If you’re seriously going to call that a spotfest you really need to go and watch an actual spotfest.

So in short, nothing Punk said was disproved, nothing was added to the upcoming match and everybody involved in the ‘creative’ for this looks like a clown show. Remarkably stupid on all levels.

Man was that Uso match the shits. Seriously one of the worst matches I’ve seen in years. Based on storyline and the brains trust in the back, absolutely no excuse for something so piss poor.

I’d suspect it was more Maya pushing through with bushiroad, not the other way round. Given Ogawa’s support of her when she moved to the big smoke and the careers she’s had, the loyalty must be fierce.

Certainly sounds like the end of Stardom. I wouldn’t rule out the WWE talk either; the clear play is obviously for WWE to set up a dojo/promotion in Japan with Rossy as the middle man. 2024 is getting progressively worse for puroresu as we know it

That’s just wonderful. Best of luck and bravo to all involved. May it be as king-sized as the man himself

The AJPW.tv streaming service is terrific. I’ve had it from day dot and never had an issue. If you’re also old school and like HD on the big telly, seek out darkangeltapes