All comments

[6.0] "Entertaining six woman tag match. The team of Zoey Serrano, Shayna Bazler and Xia Brookside​ get the win"

[8.0] "A fine high speed match, that started a bit performative but quickly became an h​eated fight. Yunamon retaining was obviously the right choice."

[10.0] "the greatest wrestler of all time, male or female. amazing charact​er, amazing wrestler, no faults whatsoever"

[8.0] "Easily the highest energy match of the card. This is so much fun and the legends really impress. Sander in particular looks great which is especially impressive given he ruptured his bicep. **​**."

[4.0] "As much as I hate to see wrestlers get seriously hurt and it was good to know that Steven Borden was ok but fuck this felt vindicating. Borden is simply not ready and I've been saying this. Even before he gets hurt he's not bringing much to the table. Same arm drag, same shoulder block, and an admittedly impressive dropkick. The dude barely emotes, he has no personality besides being Sting's son which frustratingly has gotten him over to my surprise. The spot that ends the match was stupid and really shouldn't have happened. The Springboard lariat spot has been done before but by people are actually capable to doing a springboard. Borden is not capable so he and Kevin Knight jump from the turnbuckle and when Borden takes the nasty spill he lands on the edge of the canvas which knocks him clean out. I'm not one to harp on about safety when it comes to letting people do the crazy shit they want to do but someone should've stepped in here. It's not devoid of quality as the work between the other three was pretty good but this was a rather unfortunate match that shouldn't have happened let alone been on ppv"

[6.0] "Solid entertaining Tables match made by the Hardys. Syx gets the win in a physical match over the Rightous."

[3.0] "Oof. This is rough. It's not particularly violent (for an I Quit match) and the finish is pretty lame with Don 'passing out' from repeated superkicks, rather than saying I Quit. A roug⁠h one. *3/4."

[5.0] "Axxton wins with a pretty sick avalanche Spanish fly & Nitro is entertaining throughout. Karguis is really off his game here, mistiming a bunch of things and Connors... well, he cracks his head open on a Big E-esque spear to the outside. Really gross and put a dampener on the show till intermission (where he came out for signings, thankfully). **3/4."

[] "SImply the greatest to ever step foot in the squared circle. There will never be another as phenomenal as him."

[7.0] "Seven years since SGH's last match, about eight since I⁠'d last seen them in person. This certainly isn't perfect, there are numerous... let's call them 'unfortunate' spots but this is a generally very fun spotfest and given this was Logan's first match in seven years? He did more than alright. ***1/2."

[5.0] "A good main event between Tony D Angelo and Myles Borne, i really enjoyed watching it that was fun and beauty good. ***"

[7.0] "A weird match to rewatch knowing it was Pac's last. I remember this not clicking with a lot of people on the night but I honestly thought it was still great and match worthy of Pac to go out on. He and Andrade spared the niceties and threw bombs immediately. It gave the match an odd pace but it was almost like an admission of each of each others skill by immediately jumping to the third act and having that just be the match. I think the two had a better match in them especially considering that match they had way back on dynamite but the way it ended almost suggested that there was more planned fort these two. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my end now that we know this is where it ended for The Bastard but with how on form he was on this night it's undebatable he was taken from us too soon. RIP PAC"

[4.0] "Pentagon did a few different interesting moves here but in all honesty I was just bored the entire time. Penta was impressive sure but Daniels seemed a little sluggish and overall it was just a fairly boring match."

[7.0] "A pretty goo​d matching giving someone like Kris Statlander the spotlight. Shida did a lot and played her role role well as a foil."

[6.0] "Get the guys on the card for a payday and do your best to3.78 play off some of the story lines they have been or currently are involved in. Ultimately I would have just preferred an MJF v Andrade singles bout but I know it would have been a shame for a lot of these great talents to not be able to perform at Wembley. Chris Jericho's entrance was one of the highlights of the night for me."

[0.0] "This was a booking decision that killed the Knockouts division for several months, and it truthfully hasn't fully recovered since. Arianna Grace is so incredibly green in the ring, and it's odd how little of her extensive combat sports experience actually translates into wrestling skills. There's also a moment where Dani Luna randomly returns, entrance music and all, two minutes into the match during a turnbuckle ten-count punch spot. I was dying laughing."

[6.0] "A ​big show nearly always has a plunder match and this was it. Some crazy spots, heavy on interference and brawling, all building to a pop for Sting and a wild finish."

[8.0] "When two lorries meet and they have time to express themselves, it makes for a match that's just too good."

[8.0] "Decently worked much that was very much within the realm of the ordinary until the brilliant finish came into play beautifully rounding off the story of Nigel working injured ever since the first round of the tournament. I loved the bittersweet ending to his great cup run and was mightily r5.92elieved that Nigel didn't leave his boots in the ring at the end even if it would have been incredibly fitting."

[4.0] "I mean, it was a mildly entertaining match, but I wasn't particularly laughing T5.22HAT much at the comedy spots. I do appreciate some whimsical fun, but it's weird seeing the two LFG winners in this specific of a predicament this early onto their careers. Shiloh Hill also almost completely misses the table when he powerbombed Stacks near the final spot."

[5.0] "This was obviously mainly here to get a pop for the New Level and a way to help get everybody on the card. They tried to tell some stories within this which is admirable but nothing ever really amounted to more than just a few seconds focus on an individual after an elimination. Much like the roulette match later in the evening this does show off the insane level and depth of talent on the roster. Lots of star power to start with."

[7.0] "Ryunosuke Nagai's very first match, and they just throw him in there against Shiozaki like it's completely nor8.28mal LMAOOO. I'm calling this an attempted murder, especially considering Shiozaki absolutely did not hold back. Those chops he was dishing out, and the state of Nagai's chest afterward... WOW! But jokes aside, it was a really good fight, with some great fighting spirit from young Nagai."

[6.0] "Almost 10 minutes of fast-paced, intense action between the two wrestlers. It was really engaging, and I'm happy to see young Nagai continuing to improve."

[8.0] "What a war, without a doubt the match of the first round, crazy that Hashimoto and Matsumoto have not faced each other in singles this year."

[7.0] "This was an incredibly fun match with a lot of fun back and forth. Seeing Dustin take it to the next level was awesome and it even brought a bit of the old JR back for parts of the match. Sammy no-selling and doing his sill7.67y gimmick of vlogging was stupid. You could tell the Young Bucks were having fun teaming with Dustin as well. Great opener."

[7.0] "Good match, neither of them are interesting but the match got big​ reactions. Billy Ken kicked out of a lot of Liger's moves but making him look that strong makes sense"

[8.0] "As said below the first half of the match was not what I expected between these two but it kicked into gear in the second half"

[3.0] "Two predictable qualifying matches that offered little opportunity for the underdogs to shine, sandwiched around a women's tag team match that clumsily set up a four-way bout for the PPV. Fortunately, there were a few nice segments (Mox, The Young Bucks, Wayne, Aminata) that made the hour more enjoyable, even if nothing truly stood out.⁠ Those in the know might have caught a brief clip that spoiled a surprise for Saturday, while the episode concluded with a highly predictable all-out brawl. Match quality: 2/6.5. Non-match segments/angles: 1.5/3.5. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 3.5/10. Show watched via MyAEW."

[5.0] "The only thing stopping this episode from being extremely boring for me was Nyla Rose's commentary. They're actually quite funny."

[5.0] "A decent final match, though once again, it left little room for any surprises. These qualifying matches already lacked suspense, and the fact that titles were on the line only reinforced that impression. Allin quickly took control, and Hechicero has yet to achieve anything significant in AEW this year. In-ring quality: 1.5/5. Stakes: 1.5/2. Justification: 0.5/1. Placement on the card: 1/1. Suspense: 0.25/1. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 4.75/10. Match viewed on MyAEW."

[0.0] "Fun fact for those uninitiated: Lei Yin​g Lee was TNA Knockouts World Champion at the time of this match. Lei Ying Lee, your TNA Knockouts World Champion, got pinned by Mr. Elegance. Off of a singular eye rake, too."

[10.0] "Wow what a match. Despite Sapps limitations Kensuke Sasaki is able to carry him through it and a whole lot of blood made this match extremely entertaining."

[8.0] "Very good event, everything from the battle royal to the main event was great except the deathmatch, but even that was solid"

[8.0] "Very good match, great performances from Sekimoto and HARASHIMA and it had some drama towards the​ end"

[3.0] "A filler tag team match that had a few good sequences but didn't really showcase the participants' strengths. A very lazy way to set up a TBS 4-way match, with Hyan's inclusion making little sense. In-ring quality: 0.75/5. Stakes: 0.25/2. Justification: 0.25/1. Placement on the card: 0.5/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 2.75/10. Match watched on MyAEW."

[6.0] "Their G1 match was quite good but definitely nothing spectacular, and it was pretty obvious that Tsuji would get his win back here, since there was nothing that made it appear like Goto had earned, either in kayfabe or IRL, another title run. That meant there was less hype than the G1 match, where we knew going into that one there was a chance Goto could score the upset, as he indeed ended up doing. This match ended up being very much a generic and predictable NJPW big match. It of course started off typically slow and careful. It soon picked up with decent energy and chemistry as they moved to their bigger and bigger moves, but it suffered from that common issue where it felt like both guys just going through the motions with those moves without making it feel like there was anything particularly unique to their pairing, as both guys likely would've fought the exact same way against literally any other opponent. Tsuji once again arrogantly and aggressively targeting his opponent's back was cool, especially as he mixed up the different sorts of moves to do so. Goto also sold his targeted back well, coming off quite sympathetic as he cried out and attempted to stage a comeback. Goto laying in his big strikes was fun, but it was a shame that he was no longer selling his back, tho​ugh to be fair that criticism probably falls more on Tsuji for randomly dropping his back-targeting despite it proving to have been successful. The match featured all the usual sequences and sudden counters we've been seeing both guys, as well as all the other top guys in NJPW, do for years, so there wasn't anything too interesting there, even if they still executed them all with good chemistry. It was just a generic Goto performance plus a generic Tsuji performance, which ultimately felt quite hollow because there was no other feature to make that work even slightly more unique. Admittedly a few of their bigger counters towards the end felt a bit more special, but they were still very much surrounded by the sorts of usual 50/50 big moves we always see from these guys and from the wider base of modern NJPW wrestlers, so it still didn't stand out that much. This is the exact sort of match that the Uemura-vs-Oiwa G1 final was in response to, and that's sadly the most meaningful takeaway I have here. It's ultimately a decent enough match because NJPW still do the 50/50 epics better than most other companies, but that doesn't mean much these days. ***"

[8.0] "I'm really surprised that this match wasn't recommended⁠ before. Unfortunately I'm not the biggest El Samurai fan. Here he no sell the leg work by Otani. Otani was so good in this match selling a concussion and being a dick."

[8.0] "Very good match, a great attraction with the reunited Kaientai DX having a strong performance. I am not familiar with the other team outside of KUDO and Oishi but they were fine overall"

[6.0] "This was a weird match, because in terms of both men's individual performances it was very predictable, but then the exact ways their styles mixed together managed to still be rather unique, allowing this to be quite a good match. What I mean is that we saw all the signature moves we expected to see from both guys, which is basically what every 'dream match' is these days, but aside from the bonus of how both guys were clearly amped up to face each other and thus executed all their stuff with good intensity, there was the extra bonus in how both guys' body types differed so greatly from the sort of opponents they'd usually face, as Claudio is this athletic giant while Shingo is this compact hulking powerhouse. Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but it definitely felt at least a bit refreshing that, for once, I could see Shingo's signature strikes and power moves against someone much larger and athletic, and at the same time I could for once see Claudio's signature strikes and athletic feats against someone much smaller yet far stockier. It's not like they both had to make active adjustments to account for the other's unique body type, but just the mere visual difference in how Shingo's and Claudio's offences looked here compared to against the majority of their other opponents over the years was enough to make their interactions stand out. Aside from that unique styling I picked up on, there was further good stuff as Shingo got to play a typically endearing underdog as he suffered through C0.92laudio's claustrophobic control work and then showed good fire with his comebacks. At times you could see Claudio become a bit too typically slow and' floaty' with his set-ups and transitions, which often telegraphed whatever he and Shingo were going for, but the bulk of his work and their interactions remained fun just because of their intensity and physicality. It naturally became very 50/50 with their big trades, none of which allowed for any remotely unique offence from either guy in isolation, but again, their base level energy was good enough to keep that work engaging, and the general story as to whether Shingo could indeed take Claudio down remained interesting. So, this was ultimately still very much a generic and predictable match in theory, but in actual execution it felt just a bit more special, which goes to show why we keep around the old adage that 'styles make fights'. ***1/4"

[4.0] "A fine athletic display, but one that never attempted to build suspense or shift the match into a higher gear. In-ring quality: 1.25/5. Stakes: 1/2. Justification: 0.5/1. Placement on the card: 1/1. S​uspense: 0.25/1. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 4/10. Match viewed on MyAEW."

[7.0] "HIGHLIGHTS: Two very good tag matches. Opener was fast-paced and kicked off the show in an exciting way. Vikingo and Starboy got in a lot of fun offence before VP got the win. Noam/Romeo vs Fraxiom was excellent and MOTN. Excellent chemistry, some stiff strikes, lot of highflying. Tag team wresling is alive in NXT. I'm begging HHH or whoever to watch this and find room for teams like Fraxiom on the main roster. I don't even care if there's no story so long as you get bangers. LOWLIGHTS: That finish in the Saquon/Angels match. Yikes, not pretty. La Catalina defending against Kali was also very forgettable. And finally the main event was decent but also blemished by a rough finish, Myles kicked out, so not sure if he or the ref messed up. OTHER NOTABLE SHIT: The shift from the high of Saquon talking to the low of his completely mood-killing music almost gave me whiplash. Please give him something better. Niko Vance lives! I thought he'd been disappeared by Big Brother. Now we just need to find Shawn Spears OVERALL: 2 very good matches, 3 slightly below average. The 2 matches were so good that the show as a whole was pretty​ good."

[7.0] "Definitely a spectacle match, but not entirely, since the work here was still good on its own. While they're not remotely pushed anymore, having Yano and Makabe roll back the years with their classic rowdy MVP characters was certainly interesting, if only because it allowed for a shake-up in the NJPW tag division, plus here it allowed for KOB to have a totally different sort of match than what they've had thus far in their careers. It started off with a pretty classic crowd brawl, which would've been more interesting if we hadn't just sat through multiple of them every night on the recent G1 tour. Regardless, the spectacle of the young new stars slugging it out against the veterans was cool enough, and KOB was surprisingly quite dominant right from the start. Not 'surprising' in kayfabe terms of course, since they're the current de defacto top tag team, but surprising because I expected MVP to dominate so that KOB could get early sympathy to set up their eventual 2nd-half comeback. Instead, KOB were impressively aggressive and dominant with their beatdown work, to the point that they even busted Yano open pretty badly, which looked great against his dyed-blonde hair. That proved to be the point that pushed Yano over the edge though, as he fired up in response and finally gave his team some control as he exacted his revenge with a big beatdown while his forehead continued to gush red. The work itself was nothing that great in isolation, but again, the spectacle of the veteran heels rolling back the years with their brawling work was really fun, and Yano did a really good job playing up his aggressive side without ever once reminding us of the joking and comical Yano we've seen for the last 10 years. Not even Makabe was being lazy here with either his selling or his offence, and he even delved deeper than usual into his arsenal of moves. Yuto ended up busted open as well, which was another good bladejob, and his face-in-peril sequence was in full swing as the match returned to the ring for Yano and Makabe to take turns pummelling him and using their tricks to get the better of him. Yuto was decently sympathetic there, though I still find his gangster character and 'look how tough I am' selling to be very transparent and unconvincing. Oskar, despite his own tendency to get goofy with his 'monster' selling, did well paying back MVP once he finally tagged in, using his size and power advantages decently to beat them back. Yuto continued to surprisingly impress me with his variety of strikes, which all had good technique and impact, in contrast to how often I've seen his strikes come off rather softly. We got a few perhaps "cinematic" moments with the run-ins from Honma and then shockingly even Iizuka, but thankfully those were the only guest appearances, so they instead added to the match instead of turning it into a circus show, since it was indeed fun seeing Honma come in for the save and then shocking as Iizuka did his usual monster routine for another sae. While I thought both teams had some fun tag spots back and forth, making for convincing drama as you tried to guess which team would end up with the win, I certainly felt what I've long felt with NJPW's recently revamped tag division: that the constant reliance on the match turning into de facto tornado tags is rather stupid, especially since there's meant to be drama earlier on with Yuto being isolated from Oskar and unable to escape MVP's control, but then later on we see there are zero punishments for the match becoming 2-vs-1 or 2-vs-2 anyways, so how can I take it seriously when Yuto is desperately trying to tag out if I also know at any time Oskar could just run in to save him without any repercussions? It directly undercuts the whole psychology of tag wrestling when every match ends up as a tornado tag where the physical 'tags' themselves no longer matter, which sucks because that's what makes team wrestling so special and distinguishes it from singles wrestling. I get why it happens, of course, because 2-vs-2 can allow (though not guaranteed) for more exciting interactions than just 1-vs-1, but they'd still feel far more exciting if kept more rare, as opposed to every modern NJPW big tag match where it devolves into 4 bodies in the ring at all times with zero drama around who is and isn't in the ring. Aside from my general complaints about the junk-food-ification of modern wrestling, this was indeed still a pretty good match. Overrated, like all KOB matches ever it seems, but nonetheless pretty good. ***1/4"

[5.0] "This was okay. Decent enough intensity and aggression from both menI liked Tony's catch and counter to the Borne Again. Then the finish came, and was unfortunate."

[6.0] "Solid match, the usual BJW multima​n from this decade, with Numajiro being the weak link and the match lasting longer than needed"

[4.0] "I get that there's a certain charm to seeing one of the major US companies doing one of their weekly shows entirely in the famous Arena Mexico, but to me this was very much just a pedestrian AEW show with all the usual weaknesses and mediocrities. Cope, Cage and The Bucks vs The Death Riders was a perfectly mediocre match, with the moderate pace and hot crowd doing the heavy lifting. It of course fell to the usual AEW multi-man tag issues, with everyone constantly in the ring hitting overly choreographed group spots and everyone taking predictable turns running in to hit their stuff or otherwise resting outside the ring until that was necessary. There was also a noticeable bit of sloppiness at points, either individually or chemistry-wise, though nothing overly bad. **1/2. Ciampa vs Andrade vs Komander was another super formulaic match, this time following the standard 3-way formula of one guy constantly getting sent to the outside to allow the remaining pair to hit their set of interactions, then everyone would cycle in and out, except for when it came time for their generic and overly choreographed multi-man spots that you can see on any random Dynamite. Komander is obviously a fantastic athlete, but the incessant cooperation required for his spots was annoying as usual. By the way, Andrade's robotic character-work spots still massively suck. **1/2. MJF's post-match attack and promo were honestly the best part of the whole show, even if he typically hammed up his performance a bit much. He'd be so much more compelling if he could just moderate himself, but the energy he brings is undeniably still quite fun. Windsor, Hayter & Willow vs Kross, Bayne & Mercedes was yet another perfectly fine but forgettable match. They all tried a lot of stuff, especially a lot of mirror sequences and run-on trades, but most of it was pretty underwhelming and some of it was even rather sloppy. At least there was enough energy and just enough standout moments to prevent this being outright bad, and Willow and Mercedes had some fun interactions to preview their match, with it being cool to see Willow get the flash pin for the win. **1/2. Fletcher vs Bailey was a very generic 50/50 bombfest, full of overly choreographed spots that involved both guys constantly slowing down or artificially moving into position for the next interaction, preventing the match from having much intensity or believability. Bailey ran through all his usual spots in as robotic a manner as always, and Fletcher wasn't much better. Both guys were just competing to see who could hit more of their signature moves as quickly as possible, with nothing ever being sold for long because they always had to focus on the next spot or sequence. There were still some fun moments where their athleticism and chemistry finally impressed me, but this was mostly too generic. **3/4. Hechicero, Okada & Knight vs Jericho, Darby & Mistico was mixed, since mostly everyone impressed but never to the full extent I hoped for. Okada was an entertaining heel without being too goofy, Darby took a few wild bumps, Knight was impressively charismatic and athletic, and Hechicero was excitingly energetic and fluid. On the other side though, Mistico just hit all his carefully orchestrated spots with his usual mediocre pace and technique, and of course Jericho just made the match into a joke with how typically poor his offence looked despite it being treated as effective. A greater focus on the Callis family's dastardly and underhanded strategising would've been nice. **1/2. Statlander vs Persephone was clearly the weakest match on the show, though it was only with the finish where the match became truly bad. There were times where there was decent impact or at least some okay ideas behind their offence, but far too often their interactions were too slow or soft, or some general movements looked too sloppy. Their chemistry at least improved as the match went on, but then we had that mess with Persephone's ringside scuffle with Rosa leading into a lame ref bump and Shida's run-in, all of which was super really awkwardly executed and impossible to buy into. **. The Demand vs Brodido & Page was honestly my MOTN, which isn't saying much because it was still only ​rather mediocre, but it at least surprised me a bit. GoA remain very underwhelming, but Ricochet's heel character work is fun enough and his athleticism remains very good. Page and King mixing in some lucha-inspired offence was fun, and them assisting with/setting up Bandido's infinitely more polished and athletic stunts was a cool idea. Bandido naturally also took some nice bumps to put his opponents' beatdown work over. Page's intensity was fun, and I liked his interactions with Ricochet, since their distinct styles complemented each other well as Ricochet athletically bumped for Page's big moves. **3/4. Ospreay vs Davis was just your weekly mindless Ospreay 'epic'... but with some weapons and extra brawling periods thrown in. That's really the extent to which this cheaply counted as any sort of 'street fight'. Otherwise, this was the same Ospreay performance you've been seeing twice a week for the last 8 or so years, meaning he's still super athletic but it's difficult to care when it's always the exact same spots and sequences. The outcome was never remotely in doubt, given Ospreay just needed to fill time before All In, so getting invested in the story here was also pretty hopeless. Some bits and pieces of their work looked good, and they have good chemistry in general, but the Ospreay formula was still in full force and it was mind-numbing. **1/2"

[8.0] "All of the Team 2000X shenanigans but used in a fun way that added value to the match, instead of appearing as formulaic filler. Hard to not enjoy something that clearly doesn't take itself too seriously. Not the kind of match i'd like to see for a major title, but this was enjoyable as a main event."

[5.0] "Unsurprisingly, despite this being a street fight, it still ended up being yet another forgettable and robotic weekly Ospreay 'epic'. I have to point out how hilarious it is that AEW de facto allows interference in all their matches, given it's never meaningfully prevented or punished, but then there's this street fight here, where there should be no rules but this is the one time interference is strictly banned. Even if there's storyline reasoning that Davis and Ospreay agreed on that, the very fact that this discrepancy exists at all is indicative of how poorly booked AEW is. So yeah, this had all the big moves, 50/50 trades, and kick-outs you'd expect, with Ospreay still mindlessly ticking off all his signature moves likee always, except every now and then they'd also hit each other with a weapon or bolster one of their signature moves with a weapon, which really didn't feel like any sort of truly heated street fight that aimed to settle a blood feud. You even had Ospreay doing his usual series of awful 'cheeky' smiles and poses to the camera, which further discredited the idea of this as the sort of match-up deserving of a street fight stipulation. They did also take brawl outside the ring and take some bumps out there, but really, how is that any different from your run-of-the-mill Dynamite match? I'm pretty sure guys bleed and go through barricades and tables and the like on Dynamite every week already, so what Ospreay and Davis did here didn't feel remotely special. At least their few4.23 weapon attacks did usually look good, and I can admit Ospreay took some very good bumps to make Davis' monstrous attacks look even more monstrous. Still, too much of the match was dedicated to being your cookie-cutter Ospreay 50/50 epic, with all the usual Ospreay excesses coming in the final 1/3rd, where once exciting moves like Hidden Blades and Styles Clashes were reduced to being kicked out of or even just transition spots. At least this never got as totally overkill as Ospreay has otherwise been at points this year, but it was still very forgettable. Really, this whole match in general just felt like a way for Ospreay to kill time before his match with Omega at All In, so there never felt like a reason to get invested in the (super obvious) outcome. **1/2"

[5.0] "A rematch from their good, albeit quite overrated, 1-hour draw from the prior month. A cool feature this time around was the match not having a time limit in order to promise fans a decisive finish this time around. Unfortunately, the work was far less interesting compared to their 1-hour draw. Backlund dominated the early period and won over the crowd, allowing Valentine to sell and then heelishly sulk, brood, and time-waste. Valentine eventually managed to close the space, thwart Backlund's various comebacks, and properly take control, making use of his size and aggression to weigh heavy on Backlund and beat him down. This could've been good stuff but there wasn't as much excitement to Backlund's early shine, and Valentine's control work felt rather lazy, with his various submissions definitely coming off as derogatory 'rest hold' sequences more than anything. The match also became predictable by then, as Backlund would suffer through one of these rest holds for a while, then he'd finally wriggle out and get himself a breather, but then Valentine would return with yet another rest hold, and that went on and on for ages. There didn't appear to be any real effort during these sequences for either Backlund to show his scrappy desperation to escape nor for Valentine to really inflict as much pain as possible, so it was difficult to dig into much of the work. Backlund's eventual comebacks were okay but never anything that special either athletically or physically. Even a good portion of the final 1/3rd involved more of both guys listlessly going through the rest-hold sequences, though there were admittedly also a few sub-periods there were the pace and intensity finally picked up and where it felt more obvious that both guys were truly struggling to put the other away. I wasn't a fan of the finish for multiple reasons. Firstly, having Backlund seemingly jump right back up after taking Valentine's elbow drop and then hit his atomic drop for the sudden win from the jaws of defeat felt like pretty blatant no-selling from Backlund and rather silly fairy-tale booking. There was also the issue that it involved further no-selling from Backlund because he didn't show any issues with his leg or back in the process despite how long Valentine had targeted them throughout the match. Secondly, the reveal in the post-match of Backlund's trick in slapping Valentine's back, impersonating the ref, could've been smart, but it made no sense that Valentine wouldn't notice the pace of the ref's pin-count couldn't have lined up with the ref (actually Backlund) also slapping his back at the same time, since Backlund would've been listening for that 3 count and would've noticed the supposed ref's slap on his back came before the 3rd thud of the ref's hand hitting the mat. Furthermore, that whole trick, even if it had somehow been pulled off in a convincing manner, seemed a bit too underhanded for a pure babyface like Backlund, which was jarring. There were still brief periods of this I enjoyed, and the general technique in most of their submissions and strikes all still looked pretty decent, but it didn't all come together that well. **1/2"

[7.0] "I'm using a translation tool, so this might be a bit hard to follow. While it may not have reached the level of epic encounters like Watase vs Taison, Watase vs Hartley, or Irie vs Imanari, it was a wild, crazy match--exactly what you'd exp​ect from a Spirit of Ganbare Championship bout. The pre-match video package and the post-match promos were both excellent. It was also a fitting send-off to have referee Need Teshima--making his final appearance for GanPro--deliver the closing remarks."

[8.0] "This is a really fun sprint. Some of the best work I've seen from Kouga since his N-1 return, too. Loved his stuff with Kaito. ****."

[8.0] "Very good match, it is Royal Rumble, starting with TAKA and Sanshiro, it is focused on comedy with the best part being the slow motion fight between Shinzaki and Sakai"

[7.0] "I think this is the worst of their matches I've watched so far but that does not mean this match is anything other tha0.17n superb. The deadeye on the steel steps was wince worthy, both men had some fantastic counters and Prince Nana was entertaining as always. These two have such amazing chemistry, truly off the charts. 7"

[7.0] "This is definitely the weakest Korakuen show of the year with regards to Stardom's standards; they've had shows with a whole lot of just good or very good matches but nothing super impactful or meaningful happens but there's a minimum consistency to that kind of show. This had two very good tags sandwiching the worst match on the card (that I didn't think was actually that horrible besides one disaster spot) and I actually liked the main event but also recognize what that it's a cheatfest to help cover for Ruaka's in-ring weaknesses. Unlike the majority of Bloodline/House of Torture overwrought overbooked disaster cheating I felt it was fine because this degree of cheating is rare in Stardom and it was in​ service of the kid sister member of the faction trying to hit the jackpot by beating the Wonder of Stardom champion again. If they try this again it'll get old super quick."

[10.0] "Dave Conrad is a phenomenal and super gifted pro wr​estler, personal trainer and also head coach at the discovery wrestling academy. He's in the UK independent scene for 13 years and a veteran there already. In addition he's a wonderful person outside of the ring too. He truly deserves a big push and being signed to a big company. I'm rooting for him!"

[] "WWE would have been boring without Logan Paul. Literally THE GOAT. Don't l⁠ose him. Making him face would be fun watching."

[7.0] "Hey. I dunno what to tell you, I did watch these two practice across all of Silver Week how they were gonna not straight up wrestle this match to cover up for Ruaka's incongruence in this spot. She's not supposed to be here, which is consistent with her 5 Star Grand Prix run, and they had to figure out how to make this a main event. I was waiting to be frustrated with it, but I was just nodding along instead, because they did have extended spots of clean wrestling where Ruaka executed on her limited moveset and they varied up the kinds of cheating they were doing and Hanan's selling between bouts of cheating told the story convincingly enough I wound up enjoying the match. It did get silly with pulling the ref out to break up a count and pulling his face into Rina's chest to get some Black Box swings off, but I also felt how hot the crowd was and saw Hanan's selling which for once was actually justified by how absurd and overwhelming the cheating was. Ruaka's exhaustion I'm sure was real, but it played into the match well for the story (and reality) of a wrestler way out of their depth trying to leverage the full support of her faction to rob the title and not being able to put Hanan away. This is the one time, because of how they structured the match, that Hanan's insistence of being the underdog even as Wonder of Stardom champion was defensible and made sense and it let her leverage her strongest skill: selling. This match only works because Hanan's selling combined with all the cheating painted me a convincing picture of a wrestler overwhelmed and being drug down into the dirt to a level where Ruaka could match up with her. And when she was up executing moves she was hitting them spectacularly, like setting Ruaka up on the 2nd rope to hit the back suplex or the running high knee to her face. She struggled mightily trying to lift Ruaka for her wrist clutch saito suplex and after everything she'd gone through to that point of the match combined with Ruaka actually just being hard to lift up it helped sell the physical toll of the match. I ten thousand million quadrillion percent understand people being tilted by all the cheating; I would say the main difference between this and the Bloodline or House of Torture is that this degree of cheating is rare in Stardom, it's usually saved for spectacle circumstances like Saya Kamitani when she was World of Stardom champion against Tam Nakano and against Sayaka Kurara. You could argue it's crazy to burn the super cheating faction warfare spot for Ruaka, but she's essentially the kid sister they all wanted to see succeed. I'd also argue you didn't want to see the version of Ruaka vs. Hanan without cheating. Does the onus lie on booking Ruaka to beat Hanan in the 5 Star to set this up? Yes. I'm still feeling good because I got to feel in real time the upset of Ruaka beating Hanan and they paid it off with a match that closed the loop while trying to have as good a Ruaka title match as possible."

[6.0] "Dynamite finishes strong but nowhere near as strong as it could've considering who's in the match. All four men are great but even they seemed to phone this one in which is fine as this really served to set up Andrade and Ciampa's match at WrestleDream, have Ospreay face off against one of his challengers and give the US United Empire some ring time. Samoa Joe and Will Ospreay have the best moments and I loved Joe walking away from the Os Cutter but beside that a surprisingly unremarkable match. I also find it weird that Andrade and Ciampa's match was only made official after this match because I thought the reason that they weren't in qualifying matches for Clockwork Carnage was because they were already set to face off. So does this insinuate that TK didn't have any plans for two of their top s⁠tars?"

[7.0] "Team Mexico came through and flashed all their new lucha moves like Maika doing a hurricanrana and Mei Seira doing a hurricanrana but springboard style, Seira wasn't in for long but she did some of the best stuff in the match with her bumping and speed spots. Loved Suzu remindi​ng people she can still hit her standing moonsault when taunting SLK too."

[7.0] "Such simple, foolproof booking. Just have two of the best technical wizards on the planet go hold-for-hold for a stretch, and then let Oleg collide with another absolute hoss. It's as simple as that! That clean, no-nonsense formula made for a short, remarkably tight sprint that kept me completely glued and invested from the opening bell. Honestly, I had a blast with this one, such a fantastic, breezy midcard showcase!"

[6.0] "Every time I see a Lex Luger match that's halfway good, I always wish somebody else had been in there instead of Luger because it would've been even better. Luger was in top "OAF! " "AUUUWFFF! " "AAALLLAAAUUUGGGHHH! "-screaming form every time he either did or received a move. 90% of Luger's offense was generic clubbering and he unfortunately controlled most of the match with that. Ron Simmons was never the most diverse in terms of moveset, but in his limited time fighting from below here he did so much more than Luger, especially when he had a fiery comeback late in the match that had the crowd going nuts. I wish I could rate this higher just based on Simmons' effort, but Luger brings down everything he touches."

[8.0] "****3/4 A very great match--a bout where the fundamentals once again shone brightly. The chemistry was fantastic; I know nothing about Rea Sato, and this is only the second match of Victoria Yuzuki's I've seen, yet both are incredibly talented. Sato displays outstanding technical intelligence--the central theme of the entire match--while Yuzuki survives and looks for the opening to snatch the win. There were great sequences, intense action, and a consistently excellent pace. Rea's limbwork on Yuzuki's arm was superb, matched by Yuzuki's excellent selling. It was a thoroughly complete match that improved by the moment; Sato delivered a spectacular, technically flawless performance, while her visible desperation--fueled by Yuzuki's resilience and perseverance--justified Yuzuki's pin attempts. Yuzuki also put in a great performance, though--to be honest--she was somewhat overshadowed by Rea. The finish was excellent: they moved past a spot that hadn't quite landed, and Yuzuki cleverly capitalized on Rea's mounting desperation to find an opening, executing a second arm-trapped German suplex to defeat Sato and win the tournament. The match follows a similar dynamic to Grey vs. Jordan from Heatwave, though I find that one slightly better"

[5.0] "I'm using a translation tool, so this might be a bit unclear. ⁠The attacks on Lyra's leg were good, and I also liked how Luka fought using only her one uninjured leg. 5.5 points."

[6.0] "Probably the best the Triangle of Madness has looked in a while and probably my favorite match of the night at this point. I love the trio of Mercedes Mone and Divine Dominion and Thekla seems to have great chemistry with all three of them. The Sisters of Sin aren't usually up to my standard of the women's division but both Skye Blue and Julia Hart really seemed to stepped up and looked like a well oiled machine in this match. Didn't think Skye hitting a Canadian Destroyer and Julia spraying the mist would be my highlights of the match"

[5.0] "I am using a translation tool, so thi⁠s might be a bit unclear. While both wrestlers showed their characteristic styles, the match itself was average."

[7.0] "Good match, very entertaining especially the parts with Ebessan during the beginning and the middle."

[8.0] "The way these HATE tags are gonna play out is pretty set in stone as far as the kind of spots that are gonna happen in them, so what differentiates the good ones is usually pace and execution and in this match's case they were moving pretty brisk the whole match and everyone was swinging really damn hard. Bea's main thing are her stiff strikes and they were all sufficiently stiff, Aya Sakura had a thudding forearm for Priestley, a great kick to break Ano out of the Queen's Landing. On top of that there were some sick german suplexes between Ano and Priestley, it was probably one of Priestley's best matches since returning."

[8.0] "She is by far the most talented member of fatal influence, she is been wrestling for less than 3 years and she is already at the level of the best.She is also a very credible heel who really knows how to piss you off, there is no doubt she is the future but with wwe you never know, with more experience she can be a 10."

[4.0] "I once was very high on her however her run on the main roster has been very disappointing and her recent performances are even worse especially the one in money in the bank, I don't rate her lower beacuse in the past I actually enjoyed some matches of hers, I don't know if she ever gonna raise her level again."

[6.0] "He is very good you can't deny that but I've never been that high on him he botches a lot even for a high flyer, he also sometimes takes too much time between spots which makes very obvious what he is going to do next and thats not good, his mic skills are not bad but not that good either, however with that being said when he is in the zone he is elite ​no doubt. He is very young so he has a lot of time to keep improving."

[8.0] "Probably my favorite Najima match I have seen, haven't watched Masanori Kanu Watanabe but, interested in watched match. Really liked the more desperate edge in the match (Najima using his feet on the Watanabe's face). Great m⁠atch"

[6.0] "Same as the previous match but with a larger gap. Again I really like Myron Reed but having him last this long against Kazuchika Okada is pretty ridiculous. Reed still looks good and that's why I'm still positive about the match but this probably should've been a more frantic sprint but instead Okada kind of phoned it in and I can kind of understand why. AEW has one of the most stacked rosters of all time and yet the qualifiers have people who aren't top of the mid card. The end result is half assed matches like this taking up too much TV time than necessary"

[7.0] "****1/2 A great match; hats off for the biggest surprise of the year, delivered by one of the world's best teams alongside unexpectedly strong performances from Yano and Makabe. There was great chemistry--I had never seen this side of Yano or a Makabe who was so fluid and focused. The Knockout Brothers managed to tailor the match to their opponents' strengths, allowing them to shine effortlessly, and most impressively, they sustained this for over 30 minutes. There were magnificent sequences, intense action, and a great pace. It featured pure, justified violence and well-handled bloodwork: Yano bled profusely while consistently selling the effects of that blood loss, and Yuto also shone by turning the physical toll and fatigue to his advantage. It had a good finish, though the final three minutes were the weakest part; things didn't quite make sense, and it felt a bit cluttered with the appearance of Iizuka and interference from Honma. There was also a strange moment where Makabe and Yano had completely finished off Yuto, yet Iizuka himself brought Oskar over to break up the pin. Ultimately, Yuto withstood Makabe's attacks until Oskar arrived to even the odds, and they finished off Makabe with the KOB to win the match and earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team titles."

[5.0] "Yes there's one very loudly scuffed spot (which might've been Fuwa-chan's fault for all I know, Julia Hart has done an octopus hold off the ropes before) but otherwise it's a basic match that was worked solidly, it didn't kill the match in some important moment and they went back to working just fine afterwards. Gaijin/Julia Tax."

[6.0] "Solid match, the parts with Ebessan and Kuishinbo are funny but the match went too long and they just started trading moves"

[10.0] "The only thing that he was lacking was a more interesting gimmick because his wrestling is elite and with el grande americano gimmick he finally found his moment, his story with the other grande americano was one of the best in recent years a2.72nd since then he hasn't stopped shining, well deserve it."

[9.0] "Dude, I LOVED THIS MATCH, holy shit. Gabe Kidd is such an incredible, deranged motherfucker. Every single time he walks out, during those opening minutes, you genuinely think this unhinged lunatic is going to derail the entire show with his gutter street-fight antics, disrespecting everyone, spitting in people's faces, and making you fear he's just going to ruin the actual pro wrestling in the match. And then? The man goes out and delivers an absolute, unadulterated masterclass banger. The sheer venom, the stiff closed fists, the blistering palm strikes, the thunderous lariats, the desperate kick-outs, dude, this felt like a Last Man Standing war in everything but name. It was knockout or bust. The bout kicks off solidly with Kidd dominating the early heel heat segment, your classic villain vs. hero foundation. But the second Umino manages to brutally plant Gabe straight through that table, visibly lacerating and tearing up his back, everything shifted into overdrive. That only pissed Gabe off, and an enraged Gabe Kidd is a certified menace to society. The absolute cherry on top was Umino completely snapping, abandoning his clean-cut babyface playbook, and letting that inner demon and raw fighting spirit take the wheel. It devolved into a vicious, blood-soaked slugfest right in the middle of the squared circle, just two men hellbent on destroying each other's existence. An absolute masterpiece of violence!"

[2.0] "not gonna lie she comes to me as just another generic mean girl that we have seen many times already, she is very bland and boring as a character which means you can't do a lot of interesting things with her, her strikes look very fake which make her matches feel not believable, The only thing good about her is that she is very confident in herself but in general she is uninteresting. Yet wwe is high on her enough to give her 2 nxt reigns the knockouts title and is currently the us champion, wwe going for her instead of giulia, jordynne, blake, kiana, etc, is yet another example of wwe not seeing the big picture for the future. I edited my rating for jacy after money in the bank from 3 to 2, her an​d lash unfortunately have no place in big matches."

[2.0] "Very boring and bland. Like I promise absolutely nothing happens in this match worth watching. Skip this whole episode. (*1/2)"

[6.0] "Solid match, probably the best of the night so far but again nothing super ⁠memorable. I feel the predictability of these Clockwork Carnage qualifiers are a serious hinder to the matches as they need to essentially nerf the obvious winner. So you get Konosuke Takeshita being thrown around by Brian Cage way too much. I like Cage but I feel like Takeshita should be making relative light work of one of Don Callis' heavys. It was cool to see Takeshita finish the match with a Dragon Sleeper and his comeback was good but this didn't really do much for me"

[7.0] "Really good match, had some really cool mirror sequences. Interested in watched more Joseph Alexander.​ Fun match"

[5.0] "Really weird way to get to your gonna beat somebody up. Went from cereal to beating ratedrko up. Classic hhh style promo"

[9.0] "Great match. I'​m going **** 1/2 for this one. Amazing crowd. Great action. Great momentum shifts. Must watch material"

[9.0] "Finally TNA do right. Strike when the iron is the hottest. So excited for this run and just what we get from i⁠t. Great freaking match. (****1/4)"

[6.0] "Pretty rough stuff especially in the end but I thought the narrative was pretty solid. Josh Alexander working the leg as well as hitting Adam Copeland with his own signature moves really hammered that influence of Copeland's legendary career especially for a fellow Canadian like Alexander. Unfortunately I mostly just found the match to be so so with a pretty unengaging pace and nothing really make the match standout. It's never necessarily good news when one of the legends announce retirement but given Copeland's singles abilities at this stage it feels like the right time and I hope he makes the most of his final year"

[6.0] "I enjoyed it a lot. I just am confused what's next for either after this feud. Obviously what's nex⁠t is a hardy compound. (***1/4)"

[10.0] "What an epic. I wish ca​ge matches still felt like this. Gritty lighting. No meaningless spots. Just pure war and drama."

[4.0] "Very rare for me but I actually enjoyed the beginning of this match more than the back half. Just tried making this match be something it never was gonna be. (**1/​2)"

[5.0] "A weirdly disjointed trios match for AEW. Considering 2 thirds of this match had a great tag match last week it's really weird seeing it fall to shit with the addition of two more people. That's not just putting the blame on Wardlow either, while I'm not a huge fan of the guy, it was him and Jake Doyle that were consistently positioning themselves wrong which made the match feel oddly clunky. There was little forward momentum and that lead to the final stretch feeling so slapped together than Mark Davis pinning Jon Moxley felt unearned and Davis deserves more than that. I don't doubt Davis will bring it at WrestleDream as he was easily the best performer here and had great chemistry with all The Death Riders. I also wasn't crazy about how stupid Daniel Garcia looked in this as he had this young boy persona about him as if he isn't a former TNT Champion and not just a guy who's bit off more than he can chew. Yea really rough stuff"

[5.0] "This was certainly a fine outing, but it was kind of underwhelming to me. Both of these men are excellent workers. D'Lo was always pretty underrated for me. You'd expect this to be a quick paced high flying affair, but it was mostly mid paced and grounded. Neither man was really working to their strengths, so it leaves the match kind of just...out there. You keep expecting the pace to quicken or to get more aerial offense but it never comes. They still put together a fine match with what they presented, but there was more potential in these two than they showed in this bout."

[8.0] "This match is a blast. After some deliberation, Mochizuki is my favorite old wrestler going. T​he action here is gripping from bell to bell"

[4.0] "A better show compared the last few GCW shows, but it still felt like no one was there compared to the last GCW show in the JeffCo Fairgrounds. This is actually a really neat venue when the place is filled up but feels dead when it is only a third full like it was for this show."

[2.0] "Props to Brett for not reading his promo off his phone this time. I'm sure the sparse crowd of roughly a hundred people appreciated the effort. Beyond that, this supposed "tentpole" weekend looked like one of GCW's weakest Atlantic City turnouts since the COVID-restriction era. Other AC shows have drawn several hundred people; this looked more like a JCW event, with two or three rows of chairs around the ring and little need for anything more. And the two-day GCW slog rolls on. Nick Gage and Conor Claxton were both injured the night before and couldn't appear on this card. Considering what GCW wrestlers routinely work through, you can imagine how serious an injury has to be before someone actually sits out. That's the ugly side of booking wrestlers on consecutive nights. Get hurt working Night 1, miss Night 2, and you can end up injured and without that second payday. Not exactly much of a safety net."

[5.0] "A bit of a trivia match, as both a former and future tag team are against each other! Scorpio and Terry tagged prior and Faarooq and Bradshaw would join forces before the year ends. It's a solid match. Terry is still so charismatic at his age and Scorpio really is the one to pick the crowd up with his high flying when the crowd starts to sour on the match. Bradshaw is clearly supposed to be the focal point, but he doesn't have too much of a showing in this one. Then you have Faarooq, who just seems to be there because they aren't sure what to do with him for now. It is far from a great match, but it is entertaining for the relatively short run time it has."

[2.0] "I don't have an issue with intergender matches in principle, but there's nothing particularly equal about a man viciously beating a woman in the ring when he's getting in five times as much offense as she is. And there's certainly nothing fair or equal about dangerously botching a piledriver and driving her into the mat after the match has ended, after she's already tapped out and he's already won. This was a one-sided, domestic violence-coded beatdown match, not an "equal" intergender match. You'd think someone like Brett would be paying attention and stopping matches like this backstage before they ever start, but he was too busy planning which mountains to hike in Montana before doing his "real job" of promoting and booking a professional wrestling event in Missoula. Check his Twitter and see where his mind is really at."

[8.0] "[4. 00*] Pretty amazing match where Punk constantly picks apart Darby Allin until Darby's body gives out. Wasn't really any selling overall but the match was at a great pace and Darby took some all timer Darby ragdoll bumps."

[8.0] "[4.25] A fantastic technical match! The entire first round they relied only on the Wristlock, and this shows you the capabilities of both -- they can build a complete t⁠echnical match (not just a round) around one move. Shelley's heat with the crowd is beautiful"

[6.0] "Solid match here, Tyson is a good shoot-style wrestler with some nice strikes while TAKA manages to hold his own with him"

[4.0] "Very subpar matchup here. Yamaguchi and King's continuous banter adds nothing and only detracts from the in ring performance​. Not that there is much special going on in the ring anyway. Much like close to every Jeff Jarrett match in the history, it is technically sound and fluid, but has absolutely no story telling and almost as little selling. Moves for the sake of doing moves. It is an almost surprisingly unremarkable match. So underwhelming that I couldn't remember a single decent spot or sequence 30 seconds after I finished watching it. It's a flat opener, but not a bad match."

[5.0] "I thought this was a decent early 10s episode of Smackdown. The Kane and Edge story where edge is just trolling Kane is hilarious. Rey and Alberto showed good chemistry in their main event match with each other. Dolph and Kofi had a decent IC Title match until Swagger interfered. The way Kofi sold that ankle lock was hilarious to me. Anytime I get to see teddy long make matches I know it's gonna be a fun time. Only things that didn't work for me on this show was the stupid hornswoggle and eagle bit along with the divas match and the master lock challenge. Other than that show was decent ."

[6.0] "Pretty solid match, Tyson's kicks were awesome here and I would've liked to see him win but still good"