maciej

So yeah, while to overkill stuff is pretty inarguable, that final comes so much closer to being a real all-timer/*****/whatever kinda of match for me than any of the Okada matches. I didn't think the opening was boring at all; I was quite entertained with these two likable, cocky shitheads being cocky at each other and I think it builds really nicely to the fakeout Tranquilo tope, which I absolutely loved. The bumping and the athleticism is off the charts, obviously; with stuff like that super power bomb into a rana reversal later in the match it's not just the concept of the spot (which I feel like a lot wrestlers skate by on sometimes), it's the execution - their ability to wait until the last split second in the air and pull it off. I think this match made me especially happy as someone who is entertained enough by the Okada/Omega matches but can never fully stop my eyes from rolling at Rainmakers and doesn't find Okada all that compelling. But framing it in that light probably does it a disservice, as I'm sure I would have loved it on its own as well. Naito has fully clicked for me, and I'm so happy he made it to this final and got to deliver that performance with Kenny. Wrestling is great.

Man do we need better indie wrestling venues though. It was hot as a motherfucker with as many people as were in there for Progress with super long lines for water and one very inconveniently placed water fountain. Looked like one dude fainted for a sec during the TK injury stuff. And it wasn't even super hot in New York today, if it was 90+ like for the Tier 1 show in June it would have been impossible.

I guess I didn't grasp just how much people care about Progress here, cuz while the crowd for Evolve today was very fun and into it (as mentioned in WWN thread), the Progress crowd was not only gigantic but also just completely, one million percent eating out of Jim Smallman and everyone else's palms. It was pretty special. They covered for Dunne being out pretty well, throwing the terrifically annoying Zack Gibson in with Gallagher for a good match and Dunne just being a massive piece of shit throughout the night. The TK injury was pretty terrible: corkscrew moonsault to the outside from the top and he just went straight through the other wrestlers and feet first into the ground; I wasn't super close but the poor guy's foot didn't seem to be pointing in quite the right direction after.

Damn, I had missed that Juice/Kojima match from Day 2 that sevendaughters recommended above. Definitely that one too.

I definitely haven't watched every match, but there has been a lot of high quality stuff - favs so far in rough order: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi, Day 3 Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Day 13 Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada, Day 16 Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi, Day 1 Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Day 5 Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto, Day 3 Juice Robinson vs. SANADA, Day 12 Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Day 5 Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Day 11 Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL, Day 14 Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Day 1

Yeah, I don't think it's #2 for me, but it was really good. And I think the only two other CMLL matches besides the Parejas Increibles that I like better both also involve Soberano and Sanson on opposite sides (the Gran Alternativa final and the Copa Junior Nuevo Valores final).

A week later, this applies again.

I appreciate that that Black busts out that springboard moonsault as part of his offense. If you're gonna have a cool athletic skill you can use as a taunt, why not do damage with it too, y'kno? That was a really fun match; Black has developed a nice set of strikes that look relatively distinct from the kicks that everyone else throws and O'Reilly is a solid guy to throw those strikes at.

Just booked a vacation to Mexico City (which I've been wanting to do for a long time) and it looks like I'll be going to the Anniversary show.

This ended up being super, super fun (if you're into mat stuff) with quite a few really entertaining matches, the best of which not necessarily being the ones you might expect. Rory Gulak and Travis Huckabee rolling around the mat in the first round might have brought me more joy than any of those name guys, actually.

I haven't done any 90s projects or kept track of much aside from the last few years, but this seems like a really great in-ring year so far. And maybe it isn't as far as, like, classics, but as far as the amount of ****ish (or whatever) matches, there's just so much I really like. I imagine my opinion on the total quality of the WWE would be way, way lower if I was the type of person who watched Raw & Smackdown in their entirety (especially live), but as someone fine with settling for the gist of things and just watching interesting looking matches (and most PPVs/NXT things), the volume of good matches seems super high. I'm sure by the end of the year I could make a top 100 WWE Matches list and be pretty pleased with some of the stuff at the bottom. Anyways: 1. Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate, 5/20, Takeover: Chicago, UK Title 2. #DIY vs. The Authors of Pain vs. The Revival, 4/1, Takeover: Orlando, NXT Tag Titles 3. The Authors of Pain vs. #DIY, 1/28, Takeover: San Antonio, NXT Tag Titles 4. Asuka vs. Nikki Cross vs. Ruby Riot, 6/14, NXT TV, NXT Women’s Title 5. Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews, 1/15, UK Championship Tournament Day 2 6. The Revival vs. #DIY, 1/11, NXT TV, NXT Tag Titles 7. Bailey vs. Charlotte Flair 2/13, Raw, Women’s Title 8. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman, 4/30, Payback 9. Bobby Roode vs. Roderick Strong, 7/6, NXT TV, NXT Title 10. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman, 3/5, Fastlane 11. Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne, 1/15, UK Championship Tournament, Day 2 12. Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho, 4/2, Wrestlemania, US Title 13. Tyler Bate vs. Mark Andrews, 5/19, UK Championship Special, UK Title 14. Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman, 1/2, Raw, Last Man Standing 15. Big Show vs. Braun Strowman, 4/17, Raw 16. Asuka vs. Ember Moon, 4/1, Takeover: Orlando, NXT Women’s Title 17. Oney Lorcan vs. Andrade Cien Almas, 3/22, NXT TV 18. Nikki Cross vs. Asuka, 6/28, NXT TV, NXT Women’s Title, Last Woman Standing 19. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman, 7/9, Great Balls of Fire, Ambulance Match 20. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens, 4/30, Payback, US Title 21. Austin Aries vs. Neville, 4/30, Payback, Cruiserweight Title 22. Big Show vs. Braun Strowman, 2/20, Raw 23. Bailey vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax, 4/2, Wrestlemania, Raw Women’s Title 24. Finn Balor vs. Roman Reigns, 5/15, Raw 25. Alexa Bliss vs. Bailey, 4/30, Payback, Raw Women’s Title I know for sure I'm way higher on that second Ruby/Asuka/Nikki 3-way than anyone else, but I thought the post-match brawl was even more fun than their actual Last Woman Standing Match. Also, will prolly rewatch that Cena/AJ at some point before the end of the year to make sure I'm not crazy.

Sasha Banks is such a terrific professional wrestler.

I mean, a reason for me is that Roddy just doesn't make me feel the way Bayley or Sami or even, by the time we got to the second DIY/Revival match, DIY did. It's obviously a very personal thing, but even with the totally solid babyface build he's just not that compelling or sympathetic a character compared to all those folks. Plus the ending is a bit silly (if the ref noticed the leg being under the rope during the count, then why did he count 3? It's not like he's not able to stop the count when someone's shoulders go up a split second before the 3; if he didn't notice 'til after then how does he know it was there during the count?) Still, that's just nitpicking for why it's not an all-timer; it's great match and way better than I would have predicted. The structure is super smart, I love the Bobby Roode back selling, love the DDT in front of the family, love the whole thing.

Yeah, I guess I just don't see that as a real difference. I do think that Omega is way better than Cody, don't get me wrong, but all the "playing the role of what he thinks a pro wrestler should act like" stuff just doesn't register for me as being dramatically different from how most pro wrestlers come off. Similarly, for Okada, I kind of get the aura thing, but it still doesn't translate in a way when the bell rings in any way that makes the parts of his wrestling I find incredibly boring any less boring.

I would present to you the idea that Kenny Omega is exactly in-between. Even when he's in serious match mode, he still goes goofy with facial expressions.

double post, don't mind me

I could be reading you wrong here, and it's not like I'm a huge Cody fan either, but his wrestling in particular, is it really that basic compared to, like, Okada? I keep trying to see it with Okada because when that many people say someone's one of the best in the world I'm going to keep trying, but aside from the pretty dropkicks and being very good looking, I really don't get what he's doing that's particularly special. Watching that match after reading folks on Twitter talking about how Cody's unable to hang with Okada was mystifying. (this got completely away from being a relevant response to hammerva)

Not sure how it came across on tape, but the Evolve crowd tonight was (maybe aside from the Page/Gatekeeper and Theory/Trent matches) super hot live, and the matches really, really delivered. ACH and Tracy Williams have an unexpectedly great chemistry; that was their second match of the year i liked a lot. Yehi and Dickinson were intense as expected. I"m not sure anyone really believed Jaka would go over ZSJ for the Evolve Title, but they worked their asses off. And I thought Thatcher/Kincaid just killed it with their style clash. I'm excited to watch this all again with a more sober eye, but I think there's a chance that the very fun Riddle/Lee main event might have been my fifth favorite match of the night.

I've realized that wrestlers running and then being run into at a perpendicular angle by people they weren't expecting is one of my favorite things.

To be more positive about that Tier-1 show now that I've showered and slept: - Sonny Kiss is a first rate babyface if I've ever seen one - Donavan Dijak was kinda hilarious - every wrestler who went flying off those ropes, especially Flip Gordon with his double jump plancha, is much braver than I will ever be

Sooooo, Riddle fell ill and didn't make Tier 1 tonight. Got JT Dunn vs. Homicide instead, which was totally fine but that was approaching our 5th hour of sitting in an incredibly hot room so it was kinda hard to stay pumped by that point. Low-Ki/Penta was still pretty fun through all the sweat; though, I'd never seen either of them live, and Ki especially is just a motherfucker of a wrestler.

yeah, those are definitely more natural, but I think the weirdness is why I'm especially excited. There's a higher potential for the matches to be complete messes, of course, but I think there's also upside.

Tier 1 Wrestling in Brooklyn tomorrow is headlined by Low-Ki vs. Penta and Riddle vs. Homicide; I'm pretty excited.