Evil Otto

Another great show today. If you can fit in time to watch both the tag match and Fredericks vs. Connors, you really should. At the very least, the main event was super intense and physical. It's starting to finally sink in that every Clark Connors match is really good to great, and the whole show, in a subtle way, revolves around him. Along with the slow-burn ascent of Connors into a wrestling machine, the unexpected yet substantial progress Fred Rosser has shown are the two main things that keep me watching this program. The show still seems to remain under the radar, but there's l

La Rosa Negra, still insanely talented and entertaining? Confirmed!

If you liked Shingo vs. Cobb, you won't be at all disappointed with the main event. Tremendous. Brutal at times. Especially Brody King's chops. Yikes!

Danhausen came off great on Conan's podcast. He completely won Conan and his co-hosts over. It's a truly hilarious listen, and will put a huge smile on your face by the end.

Well, in other news, Shingo Takagi will now challenge for the IWGP title. So there's that.

I have no idea when it was actually taped, but Soberano Jr. Vs. Virus is at 33:19. It's so nice to see two CMLL luchadors who seem to just enjoy wrestling and are legitimately putting in the effort. I wish that were always the case with CMLL. Not the greatest match, but certainly worth a watch. I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch as I think there's certainly more these two could do.

I'm pretty sure Izanagi uses a Deep Purple song. Nice zigzag, Izanagi.

All I can really add is to concur that the Skull End is indeed awful. Sanada needs a flashy finisher, something that accentuates his athleticism. Top rope elbow drop, you know, something fairly basic that looks fabulous when he executes it.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...and Castle Attack!

Shingo-Cobb and Shingo-Tanahashi are my two MOTY so far, with the other top WK matches not far behind. Shingo Takagi is incredible at this point in time. I mean, it is that far-fetched to think that he may have a shot at winning the 2021 New Japan Cup? If Evil can actually win the IWGP title, and both Sanada and Evil can clearly be called on to be contenders at any time, it's kind of insulting that Takagi can't be at least at that level. They gave the New Japan Cup to ZSJ not so long ago, which I thought was tremendous, and kind of a "striking when the iron was hot" kind of deal, if

Yeah, I noticed that too. Perhaps just a nice gesture on All Japan's part, power of positive thinking and all that, but yes, definitely intriguing that he's on the poster.

I thought it was a fun show overall. El Phantasmo vs. Lio Rush was pretty great, and is a match I wouldn't mind seeing again somewhere down the line. All the J-Cup matches were good, but that was the only one that truly felt special. Besides that, Blake Christian vs. Rey Horus was also quite enjoyable and worth a watch.

For anyone who's interested in keeping up with NJPW Strong, I'd suggest watching matches spanning the last three weeks: Fred Rosser vs. Filthy Tom Lawlor, then Rocky Romero vs. Rust Taylor, and wrapping it up with the most recent 8-man tag of Team Filthy vs. Rocky's crew. Good stuff all around. In particular, the Rosser-Lawlor match surprised the hell out of me, and has really turned me back around to Rosser as a guy who can still go. He seemed a bit out of place the first few times I'd seen him on Strong, a little unsure and clunky, but it was if Lawlor pushed his buttons and woke h

I just heard Zellner and Naylor talking about that on their podcast (shout-out to Cover 2 Cover) and came over here to check the same thing. As far as I can tell, he passed away back in April, but nothing has been mentioned until now.

Yes, that match completely overdelivered. They essentially gave Douki and Yoshi-Hashi the main event, with the four other pros more or less providing back-up if something went awry. But it never did, and Douki and Yoshi-Hashi both came through with a tremendous, main event level performance. The match was chock full of fun moments. Very enjoyable and easy to watch.