History of the IWGP Championship | Part 3 | Inokiism

• Brad Garoon

This period of New Japan is a little spotty, and I wasn’t able to find every title change. So you’ll have to cut me some slack as I jump over a some of 2001, all of 2002, half of 2004 and most of 2005. Things got weird in New Japan then anyway, which might explain why the matches aren’t so readily available. When we last left off, Masahiro Chono became champion for the first time but injured his neck. So what did New Japan, a company that was killing it in terms of revenue and gates, do when they figured they could do no wrong? Why, determine the new champion in a match between two guys who’d just spent the last couple years as midcarders in WCW, of course!

September 23, 1998 – Yokohama, Kanagawa

Scott Norton def. Yuji Nagata {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From G1 Climax, Night 13: Big Wednesday. Norton had a big nWo Japan crew (Keiji Mutoh, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, nWo Sting) with him and Nagata had Kensuke Sasaki and Shinjiro Ohtani in his corner. The style is completely different from what had been going in in the main event the past few years. It was all smash mouth stuff, with Norton no-selling a lot of Nagata’s rapid-fire offense. They fought over cross armbreakers and triangle chokes, but the difference between this match and the ones I’ve reviewed to this point is here they were always dramatically trying to win. A big part of that was the way that submission wrestling had started changing starting in ‘97 thanks to MMA’s growing popularity. That was good for the style here, but would become a problem for NJPW later. Anyway, this wasn’t the most exciting match but I appreciated having a change of pace. Norton just kind of arbitrarily decides he’s done with the match, casually escapes a hold, no-sells all of Nagata’s offense, and hits a powerbomb for the win at 11:11. **¾

January 4, 1999 – Tokyo, Japan

Keiji Mutoh def. Scott Norton {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Wrestling World. Mutoh had turned nWo Japan babyface after he assumed leadership of the group in Chono’s absence. Chono returned and declared war on the group, and Norton was his right hand man. This sort of reverted back to the mat wrestling for mat wrestling’s sake style, but with flourishes that I appreciated. Mutoh got a Figure 4 Leglock on Norton at one point and then zeroed in on his leg for the rest of the match. That’s the kind of focus I need in a match with a lot of horizontal action. Norton actually sold the leg, collapsing after hitting big moves and being vulnerable to the injury in general. A dragon screw leg whip, a moonsault, a missile dropkick to the leg, and the Figure 4 Leglock gave Mutoh the title at 19:01. ***½

December 10, 1999 – Osaka, Osaka

Genichiro Tenryu def. Keiji Mutoh {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Battle Final. Enter Tenryu, amirite? I believe Tenryu is the only person to hold a pinfall over both Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki, two guys whose career win/loss records look like Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan’s. He was fresh off saying goodbye to his failed wrestling company WAR. He was in big time angry old man mode here. Mutoh’s balding was getting hard to ignore at this point. As with the last Mutoh match, the mat work here is purposeful, as Mutoh realizes early on that as soon as he gives Tenryu any space on their feet he starts getting his ass kicked. Once Mutoh gives up on the ground game he pretty much gets wrecked for fifteen minutes. He tries his best with flipping kicks, but Tenryu just walks through them and sometimes even responds in kind. Every time Mutoh thinks he can shake off the punishment he’s receiving he just walks into more of it. Tenryu hits a pair of brainbusters for the win at 26:32. This is the kind of thing I’ve been hoping for. Tenryu brought some of that All Japan flavor to this match. Dude was 49 years old, looked 60 years old, and just delivered. ****¼

January 4, 2000 – Tokyo, Japan

Kensuke Sasaki def. Genichiro Tenryu {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Wrestling World. This was like watching a bull with a mullet fight a bull with a perm. Sasaki’s punches could be classified as elder abuse and one of Tenryu’s chops actually sounded like a gun going off. My favorite moment was Tenryu getting pissed off and breaking out his sumo palm strikes, Sasaki responding in kind, which makes Tenryu even more pissed off and getting off his feet for an enziguiri. Sasaki just had answers for Tenryu that Mutoh didn’t, namely brute force and finisher theft. Two Northern Lights Bombs put Tenryu down at 14:43. ****

October 9, 2000 – Tokyo Japan

Toshiaki Kawada def. Kensuke Sasaki
From Do Judge!! The story here is that All Japan had just seen a massive exodus of talent from the company (the second of its kind in the company’s history, which I’ll expound on more in my next series), so they responded by participating in a co-promotional rivalry with NJPW. This was the main event of their first big crossover show. New Japan is so quirky; this was a non-title match, but because Sasaki lost he surrendered the title. All Japan had no champion, as Kenta Kobashi was stripped of the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship when he left the company in July and a new champion had not yet been determined. I love the AJPW infusion into the New Japan main event scene. All of the nonsense from the ‘90s is done away with in favor of fighting spirit madness. Sasaki wrestled with a similar plan to his match against Tenryu, but Kawada brought a level of insanity that Sasaki couldn’t account for. Kawada dropped him on his head early and surprised him many times with giant kicks. The finish saw Kawada hit four enziguiris, Sasaki block one with a lariat, only to be caught going for a Bomber with a fifth enziguiri. That gave Kawada the win at 19:38. Kawada lost in the tournament finals to Tenryu two weeks later in a match to determine the Triple Crown champ. Another tournament was set to fill the vacant IWGP Championship in January. ****

This show also saw the final New Japan match for Shinya Hashimoto as a contracted wrestler (he came back a few times as a freelancer), who after a disastrous feud MMA-fueled fued against Naoya Ogawa (the guy who ended Dan Severn’s giant NWA Championship reign), left to work for NOAH for a bit before starting ZERO-ONE and then tragically dying young.

January 4, 2001 – Tokyo, Japan

Kensuke Sasaki def. Toshiaki Kawada {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Wrestling World. This was the finals of a one-night tournament to fill the vacant championship. Sasaki beat Satoshi Kojima and Chono, while Kawada beat Nagata and Tenzan. Because this was both guys’ third match of the night, we got a truncated version of their stellar 2000 match. Kawada picked up here right where he left off last time, with enziguiris. He dominated until Sasaki blocked a powerbomb, hit an Alabama Slam, and put on the Boston Crab. From there a couple lariats and a German suplex knocked Kawada dizzy and left him open for the Northern Lights Bomb at 10:30. This felt crazy short, and while I get it I was left wanting more. ***½

The rest of ‘01 and ‘02 are largely missing from the internet, probably because New Japan is in no hurry to get that chunk of history up on World. This is where Inokiism, Inoki’s attempt at blending wrestling with MMA, started to bleed into the title picture. The title transitioned back to Norton so that he could be the sacrificial lamb for Inoki MMA project, Pride fighter and former NJ upstart Kazuyuki Fujita.

April 9, 2001 – Osaka, Osaka

Kazuyuki Fujita def. Scott Norton {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Strong Style, a brutally bad show name if ever there was one. Norton has grown out his hair, so he looks like a jobber. Fujita wrestled in MMA gloves and won in I believe the fastest time anyone has ever won the IWGP title to that point. Norton’s Team 2000 buddies and Fujita’s MMA friends brawled at ringside and tried to get involved on the floor. Norton wasn’t made to look like a complete joke and this wasn’t as bad or fake-MMA’ish as some other matches that would come later. Norton was able to reverse Fujita’s ground and pound, which probably wasn’t realistic but made for a better match. Fujita caught him with a rear naked choke and made him pass out at 6:43. **¼

Fujita barely got out of the gate as champion when he sustained an achilles heel injury. The title went undefended from July until February of the following year. A tournament was held, wherein Nagata beat Rick Steiner of all people and another Inoki MMA project Tadao Yasuda beat Chono to fight each other in the finals for the title. Yasuda won the belt and held it for two months. Nagata beat him in April. He brought some stability to the title, holding it for over a year. But during his reign he had to face MMA lunks like Bas Rutten, Fujita, Yasuda, Kazunari Murakami, and even Josh Barnett in the main event of goddamn Wrestling World! Makai Club formed as a lame MMA stable that worshipped Inoki.

Honestly, if you think any American promoter, booker, or wrestler bought too much into their gimmick and poisoned their company because of their ego, google Inoki’s garish entrances from New Japan and his own company IGF. No American has ever held a candle to Inoki in this department.

Anyway, in May of ‘03, Nagata lost the title to Yoshihiro Takayama, a free agent who had found some recent success in the burgeoning NOAH promotion after floundering in shoot style promotions for most of his career. He was built up as a challenger by winning a tournament for the long dead NWF Heavyweight Championship. The tournament consisted of Inoki’s MMA projects. Imagine if instead of pulling the WWF European Championship out of the trash, Mideon had won a second Brawl for All for the defunct title. Takayama put the title on the line in the match and beat Nagata for the IWGP belt.

November 3, 2003 – Yokohama, Kanagawa

Hiroyoshi Tenzan def. Yoshihiro Takayama {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Yokohama Dead Out. Tenzan had a regular haircut here and I do not like that. The arena had a solid amount of fans but did not sell out. The match was alright but did not wow me. Tenzan basically whiffed on his match-winning moonsault at 27:26. There was a solid effort put in here, but it was too long and never consistently exciting. Takayama insists on putting the belt around Tenzan’s waist, but like the match it just doesn’t feel like a big deal. **¾

December 9, 2003 – Osaka, Osaka

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Battle Final. Tenzan wound up being a transitional champion so he could drop the title to Nakamura. Nakamura had badly lost his first Inoki-sanctioned MMA fight at the end of his rookie year in wrestling, but then went on two win two fights the following year in 2003. So he was more in line with this new vision of New Japan. This show also didn’t sell out. Nakamura basically got squashed the entire time in front of a dead crowd and then caught Tenzan in a fluke triangle choke for the win at 12:08. That was a pretty inauspicious way to crown a new top guy. At 23, he was the youngest champion ever. He defended the title a month later at Wrestling World against Takayama and unified the title with the NWF Championship in doing so. But then he got hurt so New Japan had to figure something else out. **½

February 15, 2004 – Tokyo, Japan

Hiroyoshi Tenzan def. Genichiro Tenryu {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Fighting Spirit for the vacant title at the end of another one-night tournament. We finally got a match between two just wrestlers who just wrestled. Tenzan came into the match with a bandage on his forehead, so Tenryu went after that. It was a bloodbath. Even more violent was Tenryu’s falling bodyslam from the apron to the floor. Tenzan took a hell of a beating here, but made a steady comeback toward the end and got the win with a TTD and a diving elbowdrop at 13:01. ***¾

Now I have no idea what would have happened had Nakamura not gotten injured, but he did and NJPW reacted very poorly to the situation. In 2004, the title bounced around in a manner never seen before in the company. A month after winning the title, Tenzan lost it to Tenryu’s new pal Sasaki. Sasaki only held the title for two weeks before something really ridiculous happened.

March 28, 2004 – Tokyo, Japan

Bob Sapp def. Kensuke Sasaki {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From King of Sports. Okay, I can almost square this. Sapp had decent MMA and kickboxing records at this point. He was charismatic. He was popular in some circles. And he wasn’t yet an alleged domestic abuser as far as anyone knows. On the other hand, give me a break. Dude was awful in the ring, so much so that this match needed direct outside interference to pad time. I’ll give him this, he had a dope dropkick and the Beast Bomb looked awesome. I’ll take this away from him, he lifted Sasaki’s shoulder off of the mat for the final pin, but the ref said screw it and counted anyway. Had Sapp never seen wrestling before? I am happy this happened though as his serves as a wonderful distillation of what was wrong with NJ at the time. *

May 22, 2004 – Saitama, Saitama

Kazuyuki Fujita def. Bob Sapp
From K-1 Romanex. This has to be considered the rock bottom for the title. It wasn’t on the line here, and this isn’t a wrestling match. It’s a shoot MMA fight, which Sapp loses to a former IWGP Champion and fellow MMA hybrid wrestler. I guess kicks to the head of a grounded opponent were legal here, because Fujita threw a bunch of them. It was hard to watch. Sapp lost badly. He was never in control, got taken down immediately, was totally blown up two minutes in, and tapped fifteen seconds later to punches and kicks. Sapp gave up the title after that, which is good because it was (kayfabe) a lot more embarrassing than losing to Kawada in a dope non-title match. N/A

Fujita faced Hiroshi Tanahashi for the vacant title and won it in June at the end of the Best of the Super Jr tour. In October, Sasaki beat Fujita in the shortest title change match in New Japan’s history (giving Fujita the distinction of having the top two shortest) when he won in just over two minutes. It’s possible it was a mistake and Fujita was meant to kick out. It’s also possible it was a compromise to get the title off of Fujita, who was more interested in training for MMA than having wrestling matches. Either way, it was absurd. Sasaki lost the belt to Tenzan at Battle Final in December. Supposedly that match is actually good and I’d like to see it if New Japan ever uploads it to their site!

February 20, 2005 – Tokyo, Japan

Satoshi Kojima def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan {Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship vs. IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the New Year Gold Series. So not all was disastrous in New Japan. In a pivot that lasted almost a year (starting with Sasaki’s win over Fujita), the IWGP title was defended against wrestlers in wrestling matches and the MMA nonsense took a back seat. It makes sense, as Kojima had clearly long since left for All Japan at this point, as had Keiji Mutoh, business was down, and the MMA guys had been embarrassing themselves and the company. This match was a pretty big gambit. Kojima had beaten Kawada for the Triple Crown four days earlier, and there was a lot of buzz over which company would get the edge here. I remember getting a best of 2005 in Japan DVD back when this happened and they only showed the final ten minutes of this match. Now I understand why. The first believable nearfall didn’t come until twenty minutes into the match. The first 30 minutes were a real slog as it didn’t feel like either guy was trying to win until halfway into the match. With ten minutes to go, Tenzan started selling his exhaustion beautifully. Trainers started rushing the ring to check on him as the time limit started to draw near and Kojima’s frustration started to grow. It looked like the extra participation would cause a draw, but the referee counted Tenzan out and gave Kojima a TKO win at 59:49. The finish was meant to look like a mistake, like a time limit draw that didn’t quite make it because of injury. But it was planned and in hindsight it’s pretty easy to see that that’s the case as they could have easily just drawn out the clock eleven more seconds as they’d been doing for the last minute or so. There was more in it for NJPW to have the known-to-be-injured Tenzan lose here and chase to get the title back so as to redeem the company that had been burned on its home turf. What’s frustrating about this match is that if it were just the second half, it’s probably a 5-star bout. But that first half is no fun at all. ****

Tenzan won the title back three months later, though Kojima was able to hold onto the Triple Crown belt for another year after that. Things seemed relatively normal in terms of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship scene, but Inoki was still around so all was not well. Fujita won the belt in July. And then in October things totally went off the rails.

October 8, 2005 – Tokyo, Japan

Brock Lesnar def. Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono {IWGP Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From Toukon Souzou New Chapter. Where to even begin with this? Lesnar had left WWE the year before because he was burned out on wrestling. Plus he wanted to be a pro football player but wasn’t good enough. Sure, make that guy your champion, what could go wrong? Also, a triple threat match for this title? What a joke. Lesnar hadn’t yet started his MMA career, but even still you could see why Inoki would like him. His name did little to help the gate, as the Tokyo Dome was like half empty here. Lesnar hit the Verdict (non-WWE F5) on Fujita and then hit it on Chono for the win and the title at 8:05. The match was pretty bad but it went a long way to make Lesnar look unstoppable. **

So they give Lesnar a fancy new title belt. He stayed in the company for seven months, making a few title defenses against guys like Nakamura, Giant Bernard, and sumo wrestler Akebono. Oh and WWE the whole time was trying (and failing) to stop Lesnar from wrestling in New Japan through the courts. While that’s going on, Inoki sells his shares in New Japan to video game company Yuke’s and leaves the promotion. But then in July of ‘06, Lesnar decided to stop returning to Japan to defend the title. In hindsight this is the least surprising development in the history of wrestling. Oh, and he kept the new belt they made for him.

We’ve reached the pit of New Japan’s creative woes. From here they begin to climb out, though it would take a little time for them to recover financially. Luckily, they bet the farm on the right talent. I’ll look at the beginning of that in the next part of the series.

I needed something to keep me interested while I watched this team’s two-on-two matches, so I decided to check out their full six-man tag rivalry against the Shield.

December 16, 2012 - Brooklyn, New York

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins def. Daniel Bryan, Kane & Ryback {TLC Match}
From WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. This was meant to be CM Punk vs. Ryback for the WWE Championship, but Punk was injured so we got this instead. Definitely an upgrade. This is the street fight version of this stipulation, not the ladder match version. I still think it’s weird that a TLC match means two different things. I wasn’t really watching wrestling during this period, though I did go to WrestleMania a few months later because it was near where I lived. That said, I didn’t go to this show, which was held even closer to where I lived at the time. Anyway, I bring that up to say I missed the whole Ryback phenomenon. The crowd chanted Goldberg at him right off the bat, but immediately he showed off more interesting offense than Goldberg ever did. By the end of the match, those chants switched to a chorus of Feed Me Mores. I think that’s owed almost entirely to the brilliant structure on display here. Alone, each of the babyfaces was able to handle themselves and get close to victory. Ryback and Kane’s strength had the Shield in trouble over and over again. Bryan was able to fight all three of his opponents off and link together near-victories through submission attempts. But the babyfaces were never able to mount any kind of cohesive strategy, and that’s the very thing the Shield gave them in response. That strategy worked for the Shield, as they were again and again able to hit something devastating on one of the babyfaces to put them out of the match for a long stretch. This was kind of perfect. I even like that my expectation for the finish was subverted. It seemed like Rollins was going to put Ryback through a table on the ramp with a big dive, and that would keep him from saving Bryan in the end. Instead Ryback recovered from that and threw Rollins through a table, but Ambrose and Reigns were too fast and powerbombed Bryan through a table in the ring before gassed out Ryback could make it back and got the win at 22:44. I’m sad I hadn’t seen this before, but the silver lining as always is that I get to see it for the first time now. I don’t know if it surpasses Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi from DDT as my 2012 Match of the Year, but it’s close. This also has the very cool JBL bit on commentary where he talks about the future of WWE being bright with these young guys coming up. It’s pretty crazy how successful this batch of young guys (Ryback not included) became. *****

Being Punk’s lackeys still, the Shield didn’t come after the tag titles as a result of this win. Yet. A few months later, Team Hell No saved Kane’s brother the Undertaker from a Shield beating (which was to be in response to Undertaker beating Punk at WrestleMania in that show’s match of the night), reigniting the feud.

April 22, 2013 - Greenwich, London

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins def. Daniel Bryan, Kane & The Undertaker
From WWE Raw. The entrance order here was bizarre, as the Undertaker came out first, then the Shield came out (their music playing and everything), and then Team Hell No not coming out until after that, all so the Shield could attack Undertaker when he was alone. After a commercial break, the match starts in earnest. Usually, these overseas crowds are very loud, but they didn’t give the wrestlers much to work with here. Bryan spent most of the match in danger, and the crowd never got behind him; when the Shield was in control they just sat on their hands. That took a lot of juice out of the match. The Undertaker was motivated, pacing and fuming on the apron and moving very quickly in the ring. But that only went so far because his time in the match was limited. Kane did next to nothing. Bryan missed a diving headbutt and AMbrose rolled him up for the win at 16:09 (shown of 19:07). Kind of disappointing, especially after the TLC match. ***

April 29, 2013 - Columbus, Ohio

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins def. Daniel Bryan, Kane & John Cena
From WWE Raw. Before this match, they announced Kane vs. Ambrose for Smackdown that Friday. Ultimately, this feud was building to a tag title match at Extreme Rules a few weeks away. This was nearly the exact same match as the Undertaker match, except with a less interesting opening minute and a better finish. Again, the whole match was Bryan taking a beating and the crowd not caring much. Part of that is certainly due to a lack of exciting near falls, or really many near falls at all. It’s making me think that maybe I should have quit while I was ahead after the TLC match. But that is not my way. Like I said, the finish here was better, as Cena, whose ankle had been injured, collapsed under Rollins’ weight while going for the Attitude Adjustment and got hit with Reigns’ spear to lose the match at 12:23 (shown of 15:26). ***

May 13, 2013 - Tulsa, Oklahoma

Daniel Bryan, Kane & John Cena def. Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins {Elimination Match}
From WWE Raw. They have to do more near falls when it’s an elimination match right? Right?! After the typical match between these teams through the first ad break, Kane wrestles too hard and then uses the top of the announcers’ table as a weapon, getting eliminated by disqualification. For the next while, Cena and Bryan showed really good chemistry as a team. It was too short-lived however, as Ambrose rather quickly put Bryan down with a spike bulldog thing. Things move quickly from there, as Cena eliminates Rollins with the Attitude Adjustment, and then Reigns gets eliminated by disqualification for shoving the referee and hitting Cena with a spear while illegal. Cena puts Ambrose in the STFU, but Reigns and Rollins run in and get Ambrose disqualified at 17:15 (shown of 23:18, though apparently if you had the WWE App at the time you could watch the whole match). I hate the finish on a lot of levels. The commentators make a huge deal about the Shield’s assumption that they’ll win every match, yet they just throw this one away. And what does it say about Rollins & Reigns’ confidence in Ambrose that they didn’t let him try to survive the hold at all? After this, WWE kept claiming that the Shield was undefeated in six-man tag matches, which is of course absurd. Not having Ambrose pin Cena, at least through interference that wasn’t seen by the referee, was a real wuss move on the company’s part. All that said, the match was quite fun in the second half. ***¼

May 20, 2013 - Kansas City, Missouri

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins def. Daniel Bryan, Kane & Kofi Kingston
From WWE Raw. Team Hell No had lost their tag titles to Rollins & Reigns the night before, and Kingston had lost the United States Championship to Ambrose then as well. The gimmick here was Bryan overcompensating to convince himself that he wasn’t the weak link after getting pinned to lose those titles at the PPV. This KC crowd was wild for him, loving his aggression and wanting him to attack throughout the match. After the commercial break, the Shield made a point of trying to convince Bryan that he was the weak link in his team. Kington brought great energy to this as well. He and Bryan hit stereo dives on Ambrose and Rollins, but that wound up being their undoing. Ambrose and Rollins fired them against the ringsteps and post, giving them the space to save Reigns from Kane and allow Reigns to hit a spear for the win at 19:54 (shown of 22:58). Terrific energy throughout this one; the best six-man tag between these teams since TLC. ***¾

June 3, 2013 - Hartford, Connecticut

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins def. Daniel Bryan, Kane & Randy Orton
From WWE Raw. Michael Cole makes a big declaration about the Shield having never lost, and then a couple minutes later, much more quietly, says it’s just that they’ve never been pinned or submitted. The women in the audience went insane for Orton when he got his first hot tag. That was some early Jeff Hardy or Rock ‘n’ Roll Express type cheering. Damn. That and a good couple of near falls for Bryan on Ambrose were about all that was notable in this one. Rollins shoved Orton into Bryan and then Ambrose rushed in to hit his stupid bulldog thing for the win at 13:45 (shown of 17:14). I guess three stars is the baseline for this rivalry. ***

June 14, 2013 - Greensboro, North Carolina

Daniel Bryan, Kane & Randy Orton def. Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins
From WWE Smackdown. This was the main event, and the commentators talked non stop about their “win” streak, so it was pretty clear it was coming to an end here. The match was mostly fast-paced, and got delightfully chaotic near the end. Kane dumped Ambrose and Reigns over the barricade, Orton hit Rollins with a midair RKO, and the Bryan put Rollins in the No Lock for the win at 10:10 (shown of 13:17). The ring announcer made a point of calling this the first Shield six-man tag defeat before announcing the winners. Cute. The match was satisfying, but not as mind-blowing ten years later as it might have felt on the night. You’d think that Team Hell No would have gotten another tag title shot out of this victory, but instead it was Bryan & Orton who got the shot two days later on PPV. They did not win. The Shield held the belts until October before losing them to the Rhodes brothers. ***½

I always thought Akira was a Japanese guy doing an Italian gimmick, a la Milano Collection AT or Anthony W. Mori. Nope, it’s an Italian guy, and one of several non-Japanese wrestlers to call himself Akira. That movie really has a hold on a lot of people. He and TJP formed Catch 22 as part of Will Ospreay’s United Empire stable in New Japan. Akira started out in Italy before breaking into the Japanese scene through All Japan. TJP has been in and out of New Japan his whole career, with stops in ROH, TNA, WWE, and Twitter jail along the way.

Catch 22 won NJ’s junior tag titles in June of 2022 from Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi in their second match as a team. We join them a few months later in the Super Junior Tag League.

November 21, 2022 - Tokyo, Japan

Francesco Akira & TJP def. Lio Rush & YOH {Round Robin Tournament Match}
From NJPW World and Super Junior Tag League. It was clever of New Japan to combine their two tag tournaments, because the junior version doesn’t have the star power but the heavyweight version tends to be a bore. I have to both hand it to and criticize YOH and Rush for trying some acrobatic stuff, but then also mostly failing to make it work in the early stages of the match. Although by contrast, it made Catch 22’s tandem offense look gorgeous. I’m curious what made this match stand out to fans who rated it so highly. Yeah it’s exciting and everything after the three-minute mark is executed well, but how do you differentiate this from the hundreds of other wild gymnastic PWG style matches that have no real focus or or story. Everyone spent the whole match in the ring and no one showed any real strategy. I do appreciate that everyone seemed to always be trying to win the match, but it struck me as a bunch of guys who didn’t have a game plan to get that done. It’s not bad at all, it’s just not memorable. TJP counters what looked like a 3D type move attempt to a sunset flip for the win at 19:06. ***¼

February 4, 2023 - Sapporo, Hokkaido Francesco

Francesco Akira & TJP def. DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru {IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match}
From the New Beginning in Sapporo. This match was on my birthday! On the one hand, TJP’s leg selling was very, very good here. DOUKI & Kanemaru spent the first half of the match relentlessly attacking the leg. Even in moments when TJP used the leg in his offense, the damage slowed him down and gave his opponents more time to regroup and take over. Though Akira repeatedly coming in to help TJP hit tandem moves but not drag TJP to the corner so he could tag out made Catch 22 look very stupid. And because of that stupid look, what came next made DOUKI & Kanemaru look impotent. Akira finally tagged in, but was quickly overwhelmed by all but one of DOUKI’s signature moves. But then Akira blocked the Suplex de La Luna, TJP ran in to help him hit a couple of double-team moves out of the corner (before diving on to Kanemaru on the floor), and then Akira shrugged off all the offense he’d endured to hit the Speedfire and the Fireball for the win at 18:24. For fast paced action and the beginnings of a great story, this worked. But the last five minutes were a narrative disaster. ***½

Catch 22 lost the tournament to the Bullet Club in the finals, but then the Bullet Club never got a shot at the titles. Maybe someone can tell me why. About a month ago as of my writing this, they lost the belts to the Intergalactic Jet Setters team of Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA.

March 23, 1993 - Tokyo, Japan

Jushin Liger & El Samurai def. Dean Malenko & Pegasus Kid
From NJPW Hyper Battle. Benoit was a beast, Malenko was faster than hell, Liger was a charismatic prick, and Samural did his thing well enough, which was in large part being flexible enough for Malenko to tie him in interesting knots and hitting an inverted suplex to wow the crowd. While Pegasus was fighting with Samurai on the floor, Liger surprised Malenko with a hurricanrana for the win at 14:34. I’m glad I checked this out because I was concerned that the Benoit/Malenko matches people were more familiar with weren’t as good as their Japanese output. But the New Japan midcard has always been a sup-optimal effort space, and that was true here. Good, but not great by any stretch. ***

February 7, 2000 - Dallas, Texas

Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Triple H & X-Pac def. The Rock, Cactus Jack, Grandmaster Sexay, Scotty 2 Hotty & Rikishi Phatu
From WWF Raw 350. It wasn’t clear until the match started who would join the Rock n’ Sock Connection against DX and the Radicals, the latter of whom had turned on Jack earlier in the night during the set-up promo for Jack’s retirement match. I wish more modern wrestlers would watch this match as an example of how to go a 100 miles a minute while still maintaining tag team rules and letting the crowd get invested in who is legal and who is in danger of getting pinned. Wrestlers would come in without tagging, but they’d help their partner and then immediately go back to the corner. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy without everyone being in the ring at the same time for the whole match. Granted, modern wrestlers won’t have the benefit of being as over as the Rock was here, but they’ll put on matches that people remember over 20 years later, like this one. Here’s another benefit of following the tag rules: the heels get booed a lot. Why boo a heel for bending the rules if the babyfaces are ignoring the rules altogether? What’s the taboo that the heels are breaking at that point? That’s not an issue here. Triple H makes a legal tag, and just to be a jerk, X-Pac comes in too for just a few seconds to kick Sexay a few times. The crowd boos like crazy. Sexay wasn’t over on his own at this point (though he certainly was alongside Rikishi and Hotty), but the crowd was infuriated that X-Pac was able to take advantage of a distracted referee. You don’t need me to explain this to you, it’s obvious to anyone who watches wrestling at all, but it’s so clearly and expertly done here that it’s a wonder to me that so few work this way 20 years later. After ten minutes of great stuff, the finish absolutely stinks and comes out of nowhere. Jack tags in to the crowd’s delight, but the referee missed it and gets hung up on getting Jack to the apron. Meanwhile, everyone else brawls and Triple H hits Sexay with a Pedigree. Benoit follows with the diving headbutt and gets the pin at 10:09, despite Jack clearly breaking up the pin. What a bummer ending to a hot match. Of course, no one remembers that because moments later, the lights go out, Paul Bearer appears, and Kane returns to clean house and save the good guys. ***½

These reviews are from my old Dragon Gate blog, so you'll have to forgive the format. Like anyone who writes anything, I hate everything I created in the previous decade. But I love that I saved the match graphic below. Look at their baby faces! Takagi and Nakajima debuted very close in time to each other, and their careers have collided from time to time since.

September 10, 2005 - Osaka, Osaka

Masaaki Mochizuki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, K-ness & Susumu Yokosuka def. Shingo Takagi, Magnitude Kishiwada, Masato Yoshino & CIMA
From Dragon Gate Storm Gate. I always forget that Nakajima was in Final M2K, on loan from Kensuke Office. Everyone brawls to start. Takagi hits Mochizuki with a kneedrop for 2. Mochizuki smacks him to the mat. He hits a back kick. He and Nakajima tag turns kicking Mochizuki for 2. Yokosuka and K-ness hit a double spinebuster. Nakajima and Mochizuki hit chest kicks for 2. Mochizuki puts on a half crab. Takagi gets to the ropes. Yoshino tags in and hits a Tree of Woe dropkick. Mochizuki hits a chest kick. Yoshino dropkicks Yokosuka’s leg. CIMA puts on a leglock but Yokosuka gets to the ropes. CIMA puts on a different leglock but Yokosuka gets to the ropes again. Takagi wedges the leg in a chair and CIMA hits a double stomp. Takagi puts on a half crab. Yokosuka gets to the ropes. Yoshino kicks the leg. Yokosuka hits a backbreaker. K-ness hits an enziguiri. Yoshino puts on the From Jungle. Mochizuki makes the save. He hits Kishiwada with a miracle bodyslam. Nakajima hits a dropkick in the corner. He and K-ness hit a kick sandwich. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi. Mochizuki hits a chest kick for 2. CIMA hits the Tokarev on Mochizuki. He hits the Venus and Iconoclasm. Yokosuka hits a super exploder on CIMA for 2. Mochizuki hits the Sankakugeri. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi for 2. K-ness puts on the Aoki Hikari but Takagi makes the save. Kishiwada hits a handspring elbow on Yokosuka. Takagi hits the Gallon Throw. Yoshino hits the Torbellino for 2. Kishiwada hits the Superfly Splash for 2. Yokosuka blocks the Last Ride. Kishiwada hits a lariat. Yokosuka catches Takagi with a crucifix pin for 2. Nakajima hits a German suplex for 2. Takagi hits the interfering Doi with the Pumping Bomber. Yokosuka hits two Jumbo no Kachis on Takagi for the win at 11:17 shown of 22:20. Build up Takagi and Yokosuka: check. Give Yokosuka some of the heat Takagi has built up: check. Do it in a badass match: double check. Mochizuki endorses Yokosuka as his next Dream Gate challenger after the match. Rating: ***½

November 2, 2005 - Tokyo, Japan

Katsuhiko Nakajima def. Shingo Takagi
From Dragon Gate Crown Gate. They trade holds to start. Takagi chops Nakajima against the ropes. Nakajima returns the favor and a nasty chop/kick exchange breaks out. Takagi hits a shoulder tackle. Nakajima hits a dropkick. He unloads a series of chest kicks. He puts on a chinlock. He hits a back kick and puts on a Boston crab. Takagi gets to the ropes. He hits the dead lift suplex. He hits a kneedrop for 2. He hits a gutbuster and a DDT for 2. He hits the STO and puts on the Manriki. Nakajima gets to the ropes. He hits a dropkick. He hits a knee kick in the corner. He hits a vertical suplex. He hits a dropkick off the top for 2. Takagi hits a side slam. Nakajima blocks the Pumping Bomber and hits a pair of high kicks for 2. Takagi hits a backdrop driver out of nowhere. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a sit-out powerbomb for 2. Nakajima blocks another Pumping Bomber with a kick. Takagi hits a lariat. He hits the Last (Original) Falconry for 2. Nakajima avoids the Blood Fall. He trades kicks for Takagi’s lariats. Don Fujii tries to interfere but clotheslines Takagi by mistake. Nakajima hits a German suplex for the win at 12:42. The finish was terrible, but most of the match was pretty solid. Both guys had better matches earlier in 2005, but they beat each other up enough to entertain me.
Rating: ***

August 6, 2009 – Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi & YAMATO tld. Masaaki Mochizuki & Katsuhiko Nakajima {Round Robin Tournament Match}
From Dragon Gate Summer Adventure Tag League III. Takagi’s Mohawk is looking better than ever here. He and Nakajima start. They dodge each other’s strikes. Nakajima takes over with kicks. Mochizuki kicks Takagi off the apron. Nakajima does the same to YAMATO. YAMATO runs through some chops and absorbs Mochizuki’s kicks. A kick from Nakajima puts him down for 2. Mochizuki tags in and goes after the arm. Nakajima takes Takagi off the apron. Takagi returns the favor, hitting a clothesline and a chair shot to Nakajima’s leg. YAMATO and Mochizuki brawl around the building. In the ring Takagi works over Nakajima’s leg. He hits a swinging uranage and puts on the Manriki. YAMATO puts Mochizuki in the crossface. Nakajima comes back with kicks to both opponents. Mochizuki hits a springboard dropkick and the Sankakugeri. Nakajima kicks YAMATO to the floor. Mochizuki hits a big dive onto both opponents. YAMATO comes back with a spear for 2. He puts on the anklelock. Nakajima counters to one of his own but YAMATO gets to the ropes. Nakajima puts on an armbar. Mochizuki puts Takagi in the same hold. He and Nakajima both hit the Sankakugeri for 2. YAMATO and Takagi hit stereo vertical suplexes. YAMATO hits a brainbuster for 2. Takagi goes for the Last Falconry but Mochizuki blocks it. Takagi hits a lariat for 2. Mochizuki blocks the Blood Fall and unloads with kicks. YAMATO falls to kicks from both opponents. Nakajima hits a suplex and another big kick for 2. He hits a Tree of Woe kick to the head for 2. Mochizuki hits the Ikkakugeri. Nakajima hits a backdrop driver. Mochizuki hits a dragon suplex for 2. YAMATO comes back with a German suplex. He puts on the sleeper hold. Nakajima makes the save. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber. Nakajima comes back with a huge double stomp off the top. Nakajima hits a pair of superkicks. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Takagi hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Takagi hits tired Pumping Bombers, trading them with Nakajima’s kicks until the time limit expires at 20:00. They keep fighting and have to be separated by Kamikaze. This just built and built until the time limit expired, and the scrape after the bell was a perfect touch. What an awesome match. I wonder what these four could do with a longer time limit… I wonder.
Rating: ****

August 26, 2009 - Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi & YAMATO def. Masaaki Mochizuki, Katsuhiko Nakajima {Number One Contenders Match}
From the end of the tournament. Takagi has now successfully made it to the finals of every Summer Adventure Tag League. First with Kong, then with Dragon Kid, now with YAMATO. He’s never won before though. YAMATO and Mochizuki start. Mochizuki controls with strikes. Takagi nails Nakajima with the Pumping Bomber and gets 2 with a cocky cover. He hits a kneedrop for 2. YAMATO comes in and helps Takagi hit a double atomic drop. Takagi hits a vertical suplex. Nakajima starts to shrug off the grogginess, kicks Takagi’s arm and puts on an armbar. Mochizuki comes in and helps the arm abuse continue. They put cross armbreakers on both arms, but the referee won’t allow the illegal maneuver. Takagi hits a double clothesline and a double vertical suplex. YAMATO tags in and spears Nakajima. He hits a back suplex on Mochizuki. He puts on an anklelock, apparently having watched the semifinal match. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Nakajima hits both opponents with a double DDT. He hits a dropkick on Takagi. He misses a double stomp and Takagi hits the DVD. Takagi hits a clothesline but it puts him in some serious pain. He hits another anyway. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Nakajima blocks the Last Falconry and gets a victory roll for 2. He blocks the Blood Fall, and with Mochizuki’s help, sandwiches Takagi’s face with kicks for 2. Takagi clotheslines YAMATO by mistake in a spot stolen from their first match. Nakajima hits a German suplex for 2. He and Mochizuki unload kicks for2 . They hit stereo Ikkakugeris. Takagi avoids another and hits the Avalanche Falconry, which I guess is now being called the STAY DREAM. YAMATO hits a spear for 2. Mochizuki hits a dragon suplex. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. YAMATO hits the Galleria for 2. Takagi and Nakajima beat the piss out of each other and roll to the floor. Mochizuki unloads on YAMATO with kicks, but gives up his back and YAMATO sinks in the sleeper hold for the win at 15:28 shown of 19:25. The early goings were slow, but told a good story. Takagi hit his finisher right away so that Nakajima would be weaker throughout the fight, and there’d be time to finish him off. In their first match he couldn’t get the job done before the time limit expired. This didn’t go to twenty minutes, and to be honest it wasn’t as intense as their first fight, despite the raised stakes. It was still great, and stiff as all hell, but the first match just had a little more oomph than this.
Rating: ***¾

February 11, 2012 – Tokyo, Japan

Katsuhiko Nakajima def. Shingo Takagi
From Diamond Ring Kensuke Office Changes. They emphasize that Nakajima beat Dragon Gate wrestler Kenichiro Arai recently, using Masaaki Mochizuki’s moves. I think it’s pretty cool that Takagi is main eventing a show that includes Kenta Kobashi. Takagi powers Nakajima to the ropes to start, but misses a cheap shot. They trade strikes until Takagi hits a shoulder tackle. Nakajima’s kicks have Takagi’s leg in pain. Takagi batters Nakajima in the corner. Nakajima returns the favor. Takagi has trouble defending against Nakajima’s kicks so he bails. Nakajima hits a baseball slide. He posts Takagi’s arm. He hits a DDT on the floor. Takagi buys some time by clotheslining Nakajima’s leg. He hits a senton on the floor. Nakajima hits a superkick. Takagi hits the DVD on the apron. This is pretty damn awesome so far. Takagi hits a topé con hilo! He hits a double stomp. Nakajima hits a back kick, but not until after Takagi tries to block the snapmare. That was a nice touch. Takagi hits a dragon screw. He taunts Nakajima and hits another in the ropes. This match officially rules. Takagi puts on an anklelock on the apron but the referee makes him stop. He hits another double stomp. He hits a shinbreaker and a lariat to the leg. He puts on the Sharpshooter. Nakajima gets to the ropes. He catches Takagi with a chest kick. The crowd rallies behind him. He punts Takagi’s ribs and hits a backdrop driver. He hits a suplex. He hits a shotgun dropkick for 2, the first near-fall of the match. He blocks the Blood Fall and hits a buzzsaw kick for 2. He goes for a cross armbreaker but Takagi gets to the ropes. Nakajima kicks away lariat after lariat but gets caught with a side suplex. Takagi hits a powerbomb for 2. Nakajima knocks him to the floor with the Death Roll. Takagi beats the count at 15. Nakajima tries to drag him back inside but Takagi catches him with a lariat. He hits another in the corner. He hits the STAY DREAM for 2. Nakajima hits three superkicks. He hits the Twister for 2. He misses a moonsault. They block each other’s finishers until Takagi comes up with MADE IN JAPAN. It gets 2. Nakajima blocks a second attempt and hits a German suplex for 2. He hits the Death Roll. Takagi hits a weak Pumping Bomber. Nakajima hit a barrage of kicks so Takagi hits a desperation lariat. Nakajima almost gets counted down but he gets to his feet at 9. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. The crowd thought that was it. Takagi calls for the Last Falconry but Nakajima counters to a victory roll for 2. Nakajima hits a high kick. He hits a cross arm German suplex for the win at 23:29. This had excellent, dramatic action. I loved that once Nakajima figured out how to stop Takagi’s onslaught he immediately tried to put the big guy away with frequent pin and submission attempts. Following legendary stars might have been difficult, but this felt like a worthy main event. Takagi shows respect after the match.
Rating: ****¼

March 7, 2021 - Atlanta, Georgia

Darby Allin & Sting def. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks {Street Fight}
From AEW Revolution. Allin & Sting weren’t on the list at all last year, but qualified this year because of three strong ratings they received in mid-to-late ‘22. Truth be told, they’ve since dropped out of the top 100 because of one 4.0 rating they received last week, but that happened after the date I grabbed the ranking. By virtue of not being on the list last year and barely being on it this year, they only qualify for a pop up. Revolution that year happened at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, and was in front of a small pandemic crowd. This was a cinematic match that claimed to be taking place in Atlanta. A bunch of Allin & Sting’s masked lackeys stood around the ring, mostly to be fodder for Cage’s attacks. Most of the match is Cage paired off with Allin and Sting with Starks. The Cage/Allin bits are far more entertaining. But this thing drags. Wrestling cinematic matches will never have the pacing of good action scenes from movies and TV, so I’m glad this phase in wrestling was short lived, expiring when it stopped being necessary. AEW and WWE really needed to get a composer who knew what they were doing for cinematic matches, because the generic music made this more boring and didn’t fit the action. It almost fit the empty warehouse setting, but the action was much faster paced. This was sneaking around music. Because so much of the match saw these four walking around the building, no one was ever tyring to win the match. Starks and Allin spent a lot of time slapping each other in a bit that looked very stupid. Allin’s Coffin Drop off of a pole was pretty cool. Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook interfered on behalf of their Team Taz allies, just in time for Cage to no-sell being put through a table. Allin got thrown through a glass window, which he shrugged off after one minute to throw Sting a bat and hit a ten-foot elbowdrop on Cage. Sting got Starks back in the ring and hit the Scoprion Death Drop for the win at 13:52. This stinks. For a good Sting & Allin match you need to look at their six-man tags (click the CM Punk tab). **

March 7, 2022 - Cleveland, Ohio

Randy Orton & Riddle def. Chad Gable & Otis and Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins {WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match}
From Raw 1,502. RK-Bro were ranked number 135 in April of 2022 and number 78 at the same time this year. By virtue of having an average score of under 100, they only qualify for a pop up. Alpha Academy came into this match as the champs. Right off the bat this match was weird, as the rules are one man from each team are allowed in at a time, but at almost all times they use the two-in-one-out crutch. The tag titles being on the line seems unimportant to the commentators, who are only concerned about the winners of this match getting a spot at WrestleMania. What’s even the point of the time between Mania and the Royal Rumble if getting on the big show is all that matters? This show is bad. But this match is good. There are a couple irritating moments, like Riddle holding himself up so Rollins can hit a diving double stomp to him in the corner, and Rollins getting lost in thought while staring at the WrestleMania sign. But the rest of the match is filled with great stuff, mostly from Alpha Academy (though everyone contributed to the fun). Rollins & Owens had knocked Gable out with the finishers, but Riddle tossed Rollins and stole the pin at 16:20 (shown of 27:05). ****

August 5, 1994 - Knoxville, Tennessee

Chris Jericho & Lance Storm def. Jimmy del Ray & Tom Pritchard {Street Fight}
From SMW Night of the Legends. The Thrillseekers were ranked number 78 in April of 2022 and number 89 at the same time this year. This is the only match in their Cagematch matchguide (and it’s pretty famous), so they only qualify for a pop up. The Heavenly Bodies have Jim Cornette in their corner. The Thrillseekers show up in what Jim Ross calls a racecar, but is a very ‘80s sportscar. The car turns out to be a distraction, as Jericho & Storm attack from behind. Jericho is wrestling with a broken arm, which seems to be legit because he never uses it. His one-armed bodyslam was pretty neat, though I don’t know if it makes sense for him to do it against his much larger opponents. Jericho gets busted open after getting slapped against the barricade and he bleeds a lot. A gnarly amount, turning his long blonde hair red. Good practice for the AEW scene almost 30 years later. The match gets thrown out on account of Jericho’s absurd cut, but then it gets restarted and Jericho immediately trips Pritchard for the win at 15:38. This started as a standard and solid tag team affair, but then became all about the cut. That’s not bad, as it was never going to be a classic, but that finish was quite weak. **¾

March 14, 2004 - Manhattan, New York

Batista, Randy Orton & Ric Flair def. The Rock & Mick Foley {Handicap Match}
From WrestleMania XX. The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection were ranked number 83 in April of 2022 and number 83 at the same time this year. But they only have three tag team matches with a matchguide rating on Cagematch, and the minimum is five. This match is worlds better than the other two, which are a bad match against the New Age Outlaw’z and a kind of famous match against the Unholy Alliance (Big Show & the Undertaker, who for some reason I remember being called the Apocalypse or some other stupid name). This was Rock’s first match in almost a year, and the last match he’d wrestle in over seven years, so he was in hyper babyface nice guy mode. He came in to help Foley in his post-retirement feud to make Randy Orton a mega heel. It was Foley’s first real match in four years, but he more or less stuck around for the rest of the decade after this. Rock & Foley worked well together despite all the time off and despite not being a particularly long-lasting tag team in the first place. Evolution did a great job of making things hard for the Rock in what I believe was his final appearance as a human being before insisting on being a superman. Speaking of the Rock becoming a weirdo, this is the only ever non-battle royal match between him and Batista, a guy who has so thoroughly surpassed him in film talent that it’s silly. All five guys looked like they were having a blast, and the crowd loved it. There were some dramatic near falls, and the match moved like a bullet. Plus, Batista whooped Rock’s ass throughout and never paid for it. I personally would have had Foley & Rock win and then had Orton get his bloody revenge at Backlash, or failing that have Orton go over really strong here. Neither of those things happened, as Orton snuck the RKO in on Foley for the win at 17:09, but Foley kicked out just after the three count. That felt cheap. The rest of the match was terrific. ***¾

January 8, 2021 - Tyrone, Georgia

Anthony Henry & JD Drake def. Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku
From ACTION Matt the Mouth's Mysteriously Meaty 29th Birthday Bash Extravaganza. Violence is Forever were ranked number 82 on this year’s list, but weren’t on last year’s. Two 10.0 ratings in the last year put them over the top for the Cagematch top 100 tag teams list, but because they weren’t on last year’s they only get a pop up (watch me break this rule in a few months, but for good reason). For their part, the WorkHorsemen just barely missed getting into this pop up review as they’re ranked number 104 on this year’s list. I really hate to sound like Jim Cornette, but one of the things that killed indie wrestling as an interesting alternative to mainstream wrestling was PWG’s influence on the scene. That is to say, companies that run matchups people want to see but never capitalize on them with ongoing storylines, and instead trying to draw with goofy titles for their shows and a prayer that some semi-famous names on a poster might draw a crowd. It doesn’t work. PWG is unique in that it has a reputation with people in Hollywood. Given where ACTION runs shows, they’d be better off trying to cater to underground hip hop fans rather than Reddit dorks. Or they and all other indies could, you know, try to invest in compelling stories from show to show.

That certainly contributes to there only being 50 people in the crowd (that might be a generous estimate). To be fair, the pandemic likely contributed to it as well. The commentators are wearing PPE, muffling their speech. I wish they’d just have done commentary in post. Small crowd aside, I came into this with high hopes because I love a pair of fat guy/fit guy teams fighting each other. Henry and Ku’s exchanges early on were sick. But I didn’t get a lot out of this beyond that. About halfway through the match they tossed out the tag rules and just started doing stuff to one another. The stuff they did was sometimes fun, but sometimes it was sluggish and sloppy. The WorkHorsemen eventually, and somewhat arbitrarily, ended the night for Ku with a double stomp/Emerald Frosion combo at 23:00. I wish we’d gotten more of the stuff they were doing in the beginning and a lot less of what they wound up focusing on. ***

January 22, 2016 - Ybor City, Florida

Chris Hero & Tommy End def. Sami Callihan & Zack Sabre Jr. {Opening Round Match}
From EVOLVE 53. Heroes Eventually Die were ranked number 62 in April of 2022 and number 80 at the same time this year. They do have five tag team matches in their matchguide and one could make an argument that they deserve a real spot on this list, but two of those matches don’t meet the requisite five votes that Cagematch requires to give a match a total rating. This tournament was for the EVOLVE Tag Team Championships. Callihan & Sabre are described as an ad hoc team, which explains this random ass pair. My favorite part of the match happened rather early on. End and Sabre were trading kicks in a noticeably choreographed bit. Or rather, it was noticeable to me because I assumed it would end like most of these things end, in a pointless stalemate designed to get a cheer from the crowd but then leaving the wrestlers forced to restart their momentum. Here, it seemed to end that way, but then End quickly booted Sabre into the corner and tagged to Hero. I would love wrestling so much more if wrestlers ripped that off. From there, it took Sabre a good long time to escape HED, and when he finally did Callihan got a great pop for the tag. Because of course he did. The old tricks work for a reason. But Callihan got too fancy too quickly and quickly lost control to his opponents. At that point they got more lax with the tag rules, but not obscenely so. The referee did begin to look ineffective at this point though. But even with that flaw, the match was super dramatic, seeing the commanding HED control the plucky Sabre & Callihan, save for a few moments when the makeshift team got in a few desperate moments of dominance. And the legal man on both teams was involved in every pin attempt. End saved Hero from Sabre’s armbar with a diving double stomp, and then they both kicked and punched Sabre to death for the win at 28:15. This lived up to the hype. ****¼

November 24, 2019 - Camden, London

Jordan Devlin & Scotty Davis def. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan {PROGRESS Tag Team Championship Match}
From PROGRESS Chapter 98: May I Play Devil's Advocate for a Minute? PROGRESS (and wXw, EVOLVE, and ICW) was being propped up by WWE at this point and this show was filled with NXT and NXT UK talent. NXT on the eve of the COVID-19 Pandemic was a really interesting place. They played nicely off of Delvin and Burch’s history in early NXT UK, with Burch doing everything he could to avoid Devlin’s enziguiri. That move bloodied Burch and knocked him out of the first United Kingdom Championship tournament. A couple qualms aside (they did that stupid thing where all four guys square up before brawling, something that was already played out by late ‘19. They also threw out the tag rules, but only in the last couple of minutes after a solid brawl on the floor), this was a very well executed sprint. Davis played his spritely roll well, and aside from getting their finisher killed, Burch & Lorcan were left looking pretty good despite losing. Lorcan had to get hit with a spike package piledriver to lose the match at 15:11. ***¾

June 1, 2019 – Bridgeport, Connecticut

Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins def. Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch {NXT Tag Team Championship Ladder Match}
From NXT Takeover XXV. The Street Profits had been a team for over three years, and this was their first Takeover. That’s pretty wild. It was the Forgotten Sons’ first Takeover despite being around since the previous summer, which I only bring up because one of them just won the Impact World Championship. This was one of those ladder matches that leaned toward being slightly more about spots than about winning the match, and that’s not so much my bag. The seams on quite a few of those spots were showing too, but that’s what happens when you try to plan a lot of complicated sequences that need a prop. That said, a lot of this match was really exciting and well-executed, and the mini-story of the Jaxson Ryker problem in the middle of the match was a cool arc. The crowd was really into the Profits winning, which happened at 21:30, so that was nice too. ***¾

June 16, 2018 – Rosemont, Illinois

Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch {NXT Tag Team Championship Match}
From NXT Takeover Chicago II. This was one of the first NXT matches I'd ever reviewed. I noted that the Chicago ROHbots booed the babyface Lorcan & Burch like crazy before the match and were 100% behind the Undisputed Era. But then I was wowed when Lorcan & Burch won them over by having the nuttiest tag team match I’d seen maybe since the Smackdown Six era. I’d never seen either of Lorcan before but this match made me all in for him (a tragic fandom to be a part of, given how underwhelming his career has been since this match), and made me more impressed with Burch than I'd been watching his matches as Martin Stone. I called it the best tag match in years, not knowing that it was pretty much a high-quality version of what Strong & O'Reilly were pumping out on a semi-regular basis at the time. But that doesn't take anything away from how much this match made me fall in love with Black & Gold NXT. Lorcan fell victim to the Undisputed Era's Total Elimiation deal at 15:59. *****

November 14, 1993 - Glens Falls, New York

Bret Hart & Owen Hart def. Timothy Well & Steven Dunn
From the Wrestling Challenge. This first ever teaming of these two Harts in WWF was to hype the larger Hart Family’s Survivor Series match against Jerry Lawler and his weird crew. I almost don’t want to call it a squash because Owen was in for most of the match and he got his ass kicked for a little while. But Bret tagged in and that was all she wrote. He put the Sharpshooter on Well for the win at 4:59 (shown). Yes, they slapped a commercial in this nothing match. *½

January 11, 1994 - Florence, South Carolina

Bret Hart & Owen Hart dco. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
From WrestleFest ‘94, a Coliseum Home Video release. The finish of this match is baffling to me, as the Harts were gearing up for a tag title shot while the Steiners were gearing up to be nothing more than fodder in the Royal Rumble and nearing the end of their run in the WWF. That’s from a live fan perspective, of course, as the video didn’t come out until long after the Harts had broken up and the Steiners had left the company. The first ten minute were technically interesting but kind of slow. They certainly didn’t have the crowd as they were working a kind of match that would have been more at home in Japan at the time than in a WWF ring. This match famously saw the Steiner Screwdriver get hit on Owen, but the crowd didn’t react to it much because it came out of nowhere and Bret quickly made the save. The commentators reacted to it appropriately, though. The last chunk of the match saw the Harts wrestling more tenaciously, which was interesting, but I can’t say that the match ever really kicked into high gear. When I saw this in high school I think I tricked myself into being impressed with it because I’d read online reviews of it that were glowing. It’s actually pretty flat. Everyone wound up on the floor and the referee counted them out at 24:55. The finish was a little janky, as Owen and Rick were the legal men, and they were only on the floor for a couple of seconds; it was Bret and Scott who’d been fighting out there. They weren’t legal, so who cares? ***¼

January 22, 1994 - Providence, Rhode Island

Jacques & Pierre def. Bret Hart & Owen Hart {WWF World Tag Team Championship Match}
From the 7th Royal Rumble. I would love to show someone watching this match live what Johnny Polo and Pierre would become later in their wrestling careers. This was a terrific tag team match. Owen was on fire, doing so much and doing it so quickly. The Quebecers leaked air of the Hart’s hope balloon at just the right moment repeatedly. I loved that aspect the most, as it provided a great contrast to Vince McMahon's commentary trying to convince us that a Hart win was a foregone conclusion. The Quebecers and Polo isolate Bret on the floor and reinjure his knee (an injury that was brought up by commentary in the Steiners match as well). Owen grows frustrated, shoving his injured brother back inside so he won’t be counted out. Bret gets brutalized for a while, but manages to momentarily get a weak Sharpshooter on Pierre before collapsing. THE DRAMA! And then the referee decides that Bret cannot continue and awards the match to the champions at 16:48. An angry Owen yells at Bret for putting on that Sharpshooter instead of tagging out, and then kicks his injured leg. This match is famous for the post-match angle, and rightly so, and some people talk very fondly about the work on display. But I wish it was even more recognized as a well-worked tag match. ****¼

It is only random happenstance that this is a showcase of ACH’s mid-aughts rivalry against the Young Bucks. Cagematch is obsessed with the Young Bucks, so they pop up all over this series. Whether you think that’s good or bad, I’m not here to judge. Well, I am here to judge, in that I’m going to look at these matches and judge them. The African American Wolves were ranked 101 on the Cagematch list, so I’ll watch their match first.

October 17, 2014 - Reseda, California

Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson def. ACH & AR Fox
From PWG Untitled II. There was an interesting bit in the early parts of the match that was played for comedy but wound up working quite well for the match. Matt Jackson screamed at his opponents while brashly standing on the top rope, only to fall on his crotch. Then, ACH did a bunch of showy backflips in a row, only to get superkicked. Then, Fox tried jumping over the top rope and got superkicked to the floor. Then, ACH hit a Stunner (he’d been doing nods to Steve Austin up to this point) and immediately got superkicked. So a theme quickly emerged that anytime someone tried to do something flashy, they’d pay for it. BUT, this being PWG, that lasts all of one minute before Matt hits a handspring back rake and Fox goes to a different planet with lucha stuff on the ropes. Then he hit a Swanton Bomb into a Wazzup Drop. I’m not a fan of overt tributes to Attitude Era acts that burned themselves out during their initial runs, but Fox did look cool. Sadly, it doesn’t end there and the tribute extends to getting tables. Tables are in my top five worst things to happen to wrestling. Money in the Bank is in there too. Actually, they get distracted and never grab tables. And that is actually the theme of the match. It’s totally ADHD spots that are executed beautifully and mean nothing. Eventually, the Bucks hit Fox with a superkick into package piledriver for the win at 17:07. This wasn’t billed as a tornado match, but there were no tags after the first minute of the match. It flew by, but it left me feeling nothing. Like most of PWG post-Super Dragon. ***

And now, Adrenaline RUSH.

December 14, 2013 - Manhattan, New York

Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson def. ACH & Tadarius Thomas
From ROH Final Battle. Thomas gets points for coming to the ring in a Shake Shack shirt. I’m watching this shortly after watching the 2022 iteration of Final Battle and realizing that there has been no improvement, or really any change at all to the ROH presentation in a decade. Commentator Kevin Kelly tries to sell this as a de facto contenders match. I was hoping that because this wasn’t in PWG that there might be some formal tag team structure to the match, but there was not. I just don’t understand why they even bother having one guy from each team on the apron at the start of matches like this when all four guys end up in the ring for most of the match. This was a glorified squash for the Bucks, as Adrenaline RUSH got basically no time to shine. ACH eating a superkick while going for a suicide dive looked neat, I guess. The Bucks followed that up with More Bang For Your Buck on Thomas for the win at 12:29. Thomas got zero time to shine in this match. This was all sizzle and not the tiniest morsel of steak. The Young Bucks went to Japan for a few months after this, but when they returned they did get a ROH tag title shot and win the titles. **½

August 25, 2022 - Newham, London

Noam Dar def. Mark Coffey {NXT UK Heritage Cup Match}
From NXT UK 215. Before the match, they show a video package announcing that NXT Europe is coming in 2023. What they don’t say is that NXT UK is ending to make way for it, and that most of the people in the video package had already been fired by the time this video aired. Dar and Coffey play a bit of the know each other so well game in the first round, but it makes for a lack of action and nothing much of note goes down. The second round sees them get a bit more aggressive, but the bell rings before Dar can really get into his offense. Coffey hits the Sliding D to win the first fall at 1:31 of the third round. Dar is pretty much knocked out at the top of the fourth round, which should mean an automatic win for Coffey. But for some reason it does not. Turns out Dar was faking, and he slaps on the Champaign Super Kneebar to win the second fall at 2:17 of the fourth round. Still don’t understand how the match wasn’t just awarded to Coffey based on the KO rule. Coffey’s knee is all messed up, but he manages to eke through round five. They start going quite fast in the final round, but then it ends with Sha Samuels (who was already fired by the time this episode aired) attacking Coffey. Dar hits the Nova Roller for the win and the Cup at 1:48 of the round. Did Coffey really need to be protected with a terrible finish? This was barely even a shadow of their first match. **½

September 1, 2022 - Newham London

Tyler Bate def. Trent Seven {NXT UK Championship Match}
From NXT UK 216. This aired on September 1, though Bate began appearing as the champion in Orlando on August 16th. With the title disappearing on September 4th, it hardly matters whether Bate’s reign is considered to be three days, 19 days, or the 59 days going from the day the match was filmed. WWE.com listed the title as vacant before September 1, despite Bate appearing as the champion on TV. Wikipedia listed Bate as the recognized champion since July 7, but it’s not backed up by a citation that WWE said that’s the case. Seven had called himself the Savior of British Sports in the aftermath of his heel turn, so his loss here signaling the end of NXT UK is appropriate. They’ve got a decent-sized crowd in the studio making a decent amount of noise. At one point, the commentators say that this is the first ever meeting between these two. It's actually the second, and they should have known that because the first was also in WWE. I really liked the Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior vibe that Bate brought to this match. The posing, the hair shaking, and the no selling all worked to get the crowd on his side. Seven broke out some wild offense, including an insane reversal to an avalanche Emerald Frosion. There was a bit of exciting finisher swapping going on here, but the match ended with Bate hitting the Tyler Driver '97 for the win at 20:30. ****

I stopped reviewing NXT UK title changes right when I stopped reviewing the show. Whoops. Making up for it now.

October 28, 2021 - Newham, London

Noam Dar def. Tyler Bate {NXT UK Heritage Cup Match}
From NXT UK 172. The first round is entertaining, though no one gains the advantage and both guys beg off in the final seconds. Round two is very fast paced and fun; it’s one of the best rounds I’ve seen in a Heritage Cup match. Dar wins the first fall 59 seconds into the third round with the Nova Roller after throwing Bate’s leg into the ring steps. Bate has trouble maintaining an advantage because of his leg in the fourth round, but he’s able to gut out a Tyler Driver ‘97 to win the second fall at 2:03. Sha Samuels gets involved in round five, almost winning the match for Dar, but Bate makes a comeback and slugs Dar down as the round comes to an end. Bate takes out Samuels at the top of the final round. He and Dar trade gorgeous counters. Pretty Deadly come out and cause a distraction. Dar gets Bate in the Champaign Super Kneebar. Trent Seven scuffles with Pretty Deadly and accidentally throws his towel into the ring, causing the referee to award the match and the Cup to Dar at 2:45. That finish was dumb as hell, which really sucks because the match was awesome. I think it’s safe to say in hindsight, since Seven wound up turning on Bate months later, that his actions are meant to be seen as deliberate. ***½

December 9, 2021 - Newham, London

Tyler Bate & Trent Seven def. Lewis Howley & Sam Stoker {NXT UK Tag Team Championship Match}
From NXT UK 178. Excellent match here. Bate pretty much always Had Pretty Deadly’s number, but couldn’t quite put them away. Seven mostly got his ass kicked by the champions, but resiliently survived everything they threw at him, even when they cheated. And they cheated quite a lot. Bate eventually caught Howley with the Tyler Driver ‘97 while Seven hit Stoker with the Birminghammer onto Howley. Bate followed that with the Spiral Tap onto Howley for the win and the titles at 17:47. ***¾

June 2, 2022 - Newham, London

Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter def. Tyler Bate & Trend Seven and Rohan Raja & Teoman {NXT UK Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match}
From NXT UK 203. One member of each team is in the ring at once here. This reminded me of a Lucha Underground match. For one thing, the color palette of NXT UK in BT Studios and that of the Lucha Underground Temple are kind of similar. More importantly though, the action was blindingly fast and chaotic, with not much story to speak of while everyone hits everything with precision. Okay, Lucha Underground often didn’t have a lot of precise action, but when it did it looked like this. Very fun. Raja & Teoman tried to win by bringing the title belts into the match, but they were quickly dispatched. Seven, who I assume had been trending evil around this point, thought about hitting Smith with the belt. Bate stopped him and they played tug of war with the title until Carter hit Bate with a super jump, causing Seven to stumble backwards and get rolled up by Smith at 14:17. Pretty cool finish given where it led, and a really entertaining match leading up to it. This exceeded my expectations. Seven walked out on Bate after the match. ***¾

June 23, 2022 - Newham, London

Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs def. Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz, Rohan Raja & Teoman, and Mark Andrews & Wild Boar {NXT UK Tag Team Championship Elimination Match}
From NXT UK 206. Ashton Smith got injured, presumably during his title win or maybe in training, so he and Carter had to vacate the titles. Putting the belts on the American idiots is a bummer, since they’re really bad, though none of these teams are particularly exciting. I guess I’d go with Die Familie if it had been my decision, but that doesn’t tickle my taint all that much either. They wanted us to be excited about a Mastiff vs. Briggs confrontation, but Briggs sucks so that’s a no-go. Starz rolled up Andrews for the first elimination about nine minutes in. Charlie Dempsey attacks Starz on the floor while Raja hits Mastiff with a facebuster for the second elimination. The Americans hit their Total Elimination type deal on Raja for the win at 18:15. BJJB never did anything embarrassing, which is the best thing you can say about a match they’re involved in. But this amounted to not much of anything and was way too long given almost no one in the match was particularly over. Fun fact: Dempsey’s father William Regal and Jensen’s father Bull Buchanan were only ever in the same match during the 2001 Royal Rumble, though they never shared the ring as Buchanan was the first guy eliminated in the match. **¾

July 14, 2022 - Newham, London

Mark Coffey def. Noam Dar {NXT UK Heritage Cup Match}
From NXT UK 209. It appears that Gallus and Samuels have been barred from ringside. The first round comes and goes without much of interest, though after the bell rings, Coffey blocks a cheap shot and knocks Dar to the mat. Dar goes for the Nova Roller at the top of round two, but Coffey blocks it and puts on the Gator Lock to win the first fall 15 seconds in. Dar almost gets Coffey in position to hit the Nova Roller in the third round, but the time limit expires just before he can hit it. The fourth round sees Dar quickly lock on the Champaign Super Kneebar to win the second fall in 40 seconds. They keep showing Samuels cartoonish reactions to the action from a backstage cam and it’s very distracting. They do some hard fighting in the fifth round, ending with Coffey hitting a superplex. The final round sees Dar struggle to escape the Gator Lock and then hit the Nova Roller on the floor. Coffey beats the count and hits a bunch of strikes, culminating in the Sliding D for the win at 2:50. With only ten seconds to spare, he wins the Cup. Solid stuff, though the first and third rounds had me worrying this wouldn’t amount to much. The finish had me especially invested in Coffey’s win. Samuels comes out and wails at Dar’s loss, as it seems he bet a lot of money on his buddy’s victory. The locker room comes out to collect and he runs away, while Joe Coffey congratulates his brother. ***¼

August 2, 2022 - Orlando, Florida

Katana Chance & Kayden Carter def. Ivy Nile & Tatum Paxley, Gigi Dolan & Jacy Jayne, and Valentina Feroz & Yulisa Leon {NXT Women's Tag Team Championship Elimination Match}
From NXT 688. After Cora Jande & Roxanne Perez won the titles, Jade promptly turned on Perez. Then, she dumped her title belt in the trash. Medusa showed up and fished it out, penance for once throwing the WWF Women’s Championship in the garbage. And thus, we have this match. Some fancy camera work tries to hide the fact that Dolan is still super sloppy in the ring. Feroz & Leon’s gear being a similar color as the KCs’ doesn’t help me learn which one is which, as I’ve never seen them work as a team before. They’re quickly gone, as Paxley throws Feroz into a gut punch from Nile resulting in the first elimination about five minutes in. Chance & Catanzaro hit Paxley with a facebuster and a DVD, and Jayne makes a blind tag to steal the elimination and pin Paxley at about the eight-minute mark. The last bit between the KCs and Toxic Attraction is pretty solid, which tracks as they’ve worked each other on TV before. The crowd gives it a “this is awesome” chant, which is a bit much. I guess relatively speaking it’s the case. Chance & Catanzaro hit Jayne with a neckbreaker/450 splash combo for the win and the titles at 12:09. This match gets to air in full without commercial breaks? **¾

This is also where I’d review Tyler Bate’s NXT UK Championship win (after Ilja Dragunov was forced to vacate it following an injury he sustained in a title defense against Wolfgang), but I can’t because it hasn’t aired yet despite WWE spoiling that it happened on NXT Heatwave. Hopefully it will by the time Worlds Collide comes around so I can slip it into my review of that show.

September 27, 2019 - Lowell, Massachusetts

Amazing Red & Tomohiro Ishii def. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
From Fighting Spirit Unleashed Boston. Red didn’t get to do much in this. I thought we’d get more Red vs. Takagi, but Red was mostly limited to working with BUSHI. I suppose that makes sense, but I didn’t need a lower-card, quarter-assed version of Takagi vs. Ishii, and that’s what most of this was. In the end, Red did get some screaming offense in against Takagi, leaving BUSHI to get hit by Ishii with the brainbuster at 8:48 to wrap things up. **¼

September 28, 2019 - Manhattan, New York

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson def. Shingo Takagi, BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito
From Fighting Spirit Unleashed New York. As I suspected, there wasn’t much to this. The most interesting moment in the match was Tanahashi looking the worst (getting the least air) of the three when he and the Express hit a triple dropkick on BUSHI. That’s not something I would have guessed. Morton hit a suicide dive on Takagi too. Anyway, a fun house show style distraction but nothing more. Tanahashi hit the Sling Blade and the High Fly Flow on BUSHI for the win at 10:19. After the match they announced that this would be referee Tiger Hattori’s final American match. **½

January 10, 2020 - Guildford, Surrey

Shingo Takagi def. Kyle Fletcher
From RevPro New Year's Revolution. I dunno, why not? My guess is that Takagi would have wrestled for RevPro on a semi-regular basis based on this if not for COVID. It was very one-sided, and sadly the crowd never believed that Fletcher stood a chance. That made for a rather quiet main event. Fletcher got a couple of good comebacks, and he got to survive the usual offense that everyone of note gets to kick out of, like MADE IN JAPAN, the Noshigami, and the Pumping Bomber. But after all that, Takagi casually hit the Last of the Dragon for the win at 17:12. Takagi cuts a promo in English after the match saying he’d be happy to wrestle Fletcher again. Sadly, he doesn’t ask the crowd if they enjoyed the show. ***

August 7, 2020 - Port Hueneme, California

Held in front of no fans because this show launched during the pandemic. Alex Kozlov and Kevin Kelly are on commentary. The show is starting with a tournament to crown the first New Japan Cup USA winner. Tournaments are always a good way to pilot a show. The winner gets a shot at the IWGP United States Champion. I would dig that, but champion Jon Moxley went over a year without defending the title, despite being in the United States. But before I complain too much in hindsight, let’s see how it plays out. At this point, NJPW was in no worse position with this title than all of NXT UK was

KENTA def. Karl Fredericks {Quarterfinal Match}
I don’t know anything about Fredericks, and after this match that hasn’t changed. KENTA rolled right through him on his way to the semifinals. He hit the Go2Sleep for the win at 9:59. **¼

Jeff Cobb def. Tanga Loa {Quarterfinal Match}
Matanza Cueto vs. Camacho. You get a sense for how huge WWE guys are here, as Cobb, who was one of the larger fellas in Lucha Underground, is much shorter than Loa, who was of inconsequential size in WWE. They kept this super basic but not boring, per se. Cobb won with the Tour of the Islands at 8:45. My only complaint is that the finish didn’t feel connected to the rest of the match. **½

NJPW gets in on the kookie commercial biz with ads from the dojo trainees, Rocky Romero, Juice Robinson, and Will Ospreay.

David Finlay def. Chase Owens {Quarterfinal Match}
This took some time getting moving, but once it did they had a nice plan laid out. Owens controlled most of this, but Finlay picked a couple of good spots and was able to grab the win with the swinging cutter at 9:46. **½

Tama Tonga def. Brody King {Quarterfinal Match}
Do New Japan fans like that Tonga mimics Randy Orton when doing his RKO finisher? Is that cool, to mimic uncool wrestlers from the uncool big brand in the States? Seems lame to me. This match had some clubbering that I liked, but didn’t amount to anything more than that. Tonga hit the Gun Stun for the win at 7:14. **½

I’ll ride this out through the tournament at least and then see how I feel, but so far it’s little more than a decent diversion.

There was a time not long ago that I thought I’d review all of NJPW Strong, New Japan’s American expansion program. But after one episode ( which wasn’t bad at all ) I lost the steam. Either way, this seems at least as separate from mainline NJPW as NXT is from mainline WWE that this title should be entered into the title lineage cadre. In lieu of reviewing a title lineage that doesn’t really exist yet, here’s a review of the tournament to crowd the first champion. It took place on STRONG episodes 35-37.

April 9, 2021 - Port Hueneme, California

Lio Rush def. Clark Connors {Quarterfinal Match}
This was decent enough, though I didn’t get much of a sense of what Connors is all about outside of the fact that he uses the Pounce. Rush won kind of out of nowhere with the springboard stunner at 9:57. Why can’t Ember Moon’s opponents get into position as well for the Eclipse as Connors did here for a very similar move? **½

Tom Lawlor def. Ren Narita {Quarterfinal Match}
I really liked the way they laid this out. Most of the match saw them grappling, and Lawlor was mostly dominant on the mat. After Narita nearly lost to a figure 4, he changed his strategy and took over with suplexes for a bit. But then he went for a choke and Lawlor took over again by brutalizing his arm before putting him out with a rear naked choke at 13:19. Narita had total youngboy energy, but he made an impression regardless. ***½

Hikuleo def. Fred Rosser {Quarterfinal Match}
I watched this with Japanese commentary, but Kevin Kelly’s English commentary is so loud you can hear it in the background anyway. That’s pretty funny. Rosser’s goatee obscures his John Cena resemblance, so I’m out. There was nothing to this. It was little more than a squash. Hikuleo hit a Death Valley Bomb for the win at 6:22. *¾

Brody King def. Chris Dickinson {Quarterfinal Match}
Dave Meltzer gave this match four stars and I just find that baffling. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t even close to as interesting as the Lawlor/Narita match. Dickinson worked the leg a bunch, but not enough to be able to withstand King’s monster lariat. That won King the match at 10:42. It was a fun enough ride, but there was nothing special about it. I’m vowing now that this’ll be the last time I mention Meltzer’s name on this website because with ratings like this the guy is just not in line with my view of what makes wrestling great. ***

April 16, 2021 - Port Hueneme, California

Tom Lawlor def. Hikuleo {Semifinal Match}
In the first minute of this match, I thought Lawlor would be a more interesting opponent for Hikuleo than Rosser. But then most of the match went by and nothing happened and then Lawlor won with a roll up at 8:58. So about the same, really. *¾

Brody King def. Lio Rush {Semifinal Match}
This was neat. Rush blew his load way too early, which was smart in theory but it didn’t work out and got him in a lot of trouble. King had him totally figured out, and finished him with a Dominator at 7:38. You can tell me all day and night that he calls that the Ganzo Bomb, but that’s not what the Ganzo Bomb is. **¾

April 23, 2021 - Port Hueneme, California

Tom Lawlor def. Brody King {NJPW Strong Championship Match}
The last five minutes of this match were sicker than hell, though not much leading up to that made much of an impression. This match works really well within the context of Lawlor’s other matches in the tournament. He oddly went for a strategy more akin to his match against Narita than the match against Hikuleo even though the latter was more similar in size to King than the former. And so he had a very hard time putting King down as his holds kept getting overpowered. In the end, the strategy did work, though King’s final scream before passing out at 20:05 is the thing I’ll remember most from this match. ***½

I gotta say I’m curious to see where this title goes, and I hope they keep it more or less exclusive to STRONG.

Both of these reviews are from 12-15 years ago, when they were originally released on DVD.

February 17, 2006 - Clearwater, Florida

Bryan Danielson def. Matt Sydal {FIP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From FIP Year of the Dragon. This match was only released as a bonus match on the DGUSA Open the Northern Gate DVD, as it occurred in a five month period in 2006 in which no FIP DVDs were released. They lock up to start. Sydal hits shoulder tackles and a head scissor takedown. He hits a baseball slide. Danielson stalls a while. Back in the ring he goes after Sydal’s arm. Sydal hits a hiptoss. He blocks a dropkick and hits one of his own. Danielson stalls again. He tries to stomp on Sydal’s hand but the little guy beats him to the punch. He hits another hiptoss. He puts on the head scissors. Danielson counters to a leglock but Sydal quickly gets to the ropes. Danielson hits a bodyslam. He tries to choke Sydal against the ropes but ends up running into them crotch first. Dave Prazak gets a cheap shot. Danielson hits European uppercuts. He throws Sydal into the crowd, though calling the thirty people sitting in the front row a crowd is a bit of a misnomer. Sydal gets frustrated and comes back with chops. Back in the ring Danielson hits a vertical suplex. He puts on the Romero Special. It’s a pretty nasty one too. Sydal gets to the ropes. Sydal shoves Danielson off the top but misses the shooting star press. He keeps control with la magistral for 2. He gets a schoolboy for 2. Danielson puts on a sleeper hold. Sydal fights out and applies the hold to Danielson. Danielson’s arm drops twice before he falls back to escape the hold. He shoves Sydal to the floor. Milo Beasley dives off the apron onto Sydal. Back in the ring Sydal hits a dropkick. He hits a moonsault press to the floor. He hits a crossbody in the ring for 2. Danielson comes back with European uppercuts. Sydal hits an enziguiri. He hits another. He hits the Slice and a standing moonsault for 2. Sydal goes for a moonsault off the top but Prazak distracts him and Danielson hits a back superplex for the win at 20:45. This was an interesting novelty given that both are WWE Superstars now, but outside of that they didn’t deliver anything special here. Even without trying these two can fill twenty minutes and make it entertaining, but you’d hope in the main event they’d do more than just that. ***

August 10, 2007 - Boston, Massachusetts

Bryan Danielson def. Matt Sydal
From ROH Death Before Dishonor V. This match stems from Danielson keeping the entire 10,000 dollar purse from the 8 man tag match during the Race to the Top weekend for himself. Before the match Sweeney demands that since Jay Briscoe walked out of the match the purse should be split three ways between Danielson, Aries and Sydal. That means $3,333.34 cents should be coming his way. Danielson says he is only willing to pay Sydal $3,333.33 cents because he feels he did the heavy lifting himself. Furthermore he has invested the money and it is now earning interest, and when the money has matured he promises to give Sydal his cut. Sweeney wants the money now. Danielson will give it to him right after the show if Sydal wins tonight. If Sydal loses he’s keeping the share for himself, permanently. Sweeney agrees.

They lock up and Danielson gets a takedown. He works Sydal’s arm but Sydal gets to the ropes. Danielson pulls Sydal around the ring with a cravat and then counters the head scissors to a toehold. Sydal hits a cheap shot and a pair of armdrags. They knuckle up and Danielson lays in the European uppercuts. Sydal comes back with a monkey flip and a double knee kick. He hits the momentum kick but Danielson regains control with a single leg takedown and the thigh stomp. Sydal gets a roll up for 2. Danielson hits a headbutt to the neck and then catapults Sydal into the bottom rope. He puts on the Mexican surfboard and pulls Sydal’s face back between his legs. He hits a kneedrop for 2. He puts on an armbar but Sydal gets a crucifix pin for 2. They trade strikes until Danielson hits a running kick for 2. Danielson puts on a half crab but Sydal gets to the ropes. Danielson puts on a camel clutch in the ropes and then dropkicks the back of Sydal’s head. Sydal dodges Danielson’s strikes and takes control with a forearm. He hits a side slam but misses an elbowdrop. He hits an enziguiri and Danielson falls to the floor. Sydal follows him out with a big dive. Back in the ring Sydal climbs the ropes but comes down into a dropkick. He hits a leg lariat for 2. Danielson blocks his corner combo and hits a knee kick. He hits a German suplex for 2. He puts on the Cow Killer but Sydal gets to the ropes. Danielson hits a snap suplex. He climbs the ropes but Sydal dodges a dropkick and hits the standing moonsault for 2. Danielson blocks the Slice and hits a dragon screw and a roaring forearm for 2. He drops the unprotected elbows but Sydal escapes and hits the pumphandle piledriver for 2. He climbs the ropes but the shooting star press hits knees and Danielson puts on a triangle choke with elbows to the head for the win at 16:39. For the wrestlers involved this was rather unimaginative, but the last couple of minutes felt fresh. Sweeney and Sydal argue after the match but make up on the ramp. ***

Both sets of tag titles changed hands between Stand & Deliver and now, and since I feel weird about losing my streak of having reviewed every NXT title change, here’s how they went down.

April 5, 2022 - Orlando, Florida

Gigi Dolan & Jacy Jayne def. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez {NXT Women's Tag Team Championship Match}
From NXT 671. Kai & Gonzalez has won the titles three days earlier, which was a baffling move in hindsight. And WTF, they focused on Mark Long in the crowd here too! I’m convinced this is a ploy by Long to get featured on wrestling podcasts, though it might also just be that he makes sure to have front row seats at Orlando shows and for WrestleMania weekend shows. I’ve talked about this guy enough, moving on. This match was perfectly fine, and in parts it was kind of good, except for the unnecessary overbooking. Wendy Choo ran out to do some hijinks I guess, but Mandy Rose followed and attacked her. Kai tended to Choo, which left Gonzalez alone to get her injured knee attacked. The baddies hit the Toxic Shock for the win at 8:41 (shown). Gonzalez got a name change and moved to the main roster shortly after this, and Kai got fired. **¾

April 12, 2022 - Orlando, Florida

Elton Prince & Kit Wilson def. Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs and Grayson Waller & Sanga and Cruz del Toro & Joaquin Wilde and Brutus Creed & Julius Creed {NXT Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match}
From NXT 672. MSK were stripped of the tag titles after Nash Carter was fired for being accused of domestic abuse, and because his abuser leaked a photo of of Carter pretending to be Hitler in the bathroom. So, yeah that dude sucks. This was designed to get the Creeds over as beasts, and Pretty Deadly over as sneaky jerks. On that level, it succeeded. The Creeds started against Legado del Fantasma, beating them with a spinebuster and a sliding lariat on Wilde. That was pretty sick, but very short. Why did they give CdT two last names? The Creeds beat Briggs & Jensen next. That segment inexplicably saw the hicks hit a spinebuster on Brutus through the announce table. Aren’t they babyfaces? Did you know that Jensen’s gimmick is that he can’t get laid? I hate it. He’s also not good in the ring and gives off major just-a-guy vibes. Brutus eliminates Jensen with a sliding lariat. I like that both Creeds use that as a finisher. Sanga & Waller fall to the Creeds next. Waller faked an arm injury to get an advantage, but he relies too much on Sanga. Both Creeds slam the big man and Julius hits the sliding lariat to eliminate the baddies. Things finally turn into a real tag team match because Pretty Deadly know what they’re doing, isolating Julius until the crowd feels compelled to cheer for the Creeds. I love seeing Brutus sell exhaustion by tagging in but having no energy to run wild. That’s great. Prince stops Brutus from hitting the sliding lariat, and Pretty Deadly hits Spilled Milk for the win at 21:09 (shown of 27:08). A lot of this match was pretty medium, but it built to a terrific crescendo and made me VERY interested in the eventual match between the Creeds and Pretty Deadly without anyone else involved. ***½

May 20, 2018 - Livonia, Michigan

Shane Strickland def. Darby Allin
From EVOLVE 105. Strickland cut a promo before the match, reminding folks that he broke Matt Riddle's arm the night before and that he intended to do the same to Allin here. This was awesome. Both guys looked great. Strickland was myopically focused on injuring Allin's arm, so Allin tried to get in Strickland's head by returning the favor. In the end, Allin's daredevil penchant bit him, as the Coffin Drop was sidestepped and Strickland was able to lock in a cross armbreaker (which I later learned he called the Key to Swerve City) for the win at 15:05. Strickland also did the Pentagon Dark armbreaker, which is a nice nod to his Killshot days. It's very easy to see why other companies started booking this matchup immediately. ***¾

May 26, 2018 - Portland, Oregon

Shane Strickland def. Darby Allin
From DEFY New Legacy. Allin attacked before the bell. The commentators don’t make it clear whether that’s because of the EVOLVE match or because they have a beef in DEFY as well. They fight on the floor a lot. It’s pretty much all in the dark because DEFY’s production isn’t up to getting it on camera. A first shot doesn’t catch Allin hitting the Coffin Drop from the balcony, but a replay sees it. Strickland basically no-sells it by hitting a dropkick the second they get back to the ring. Then, the match turned into Allin becoming convinced that the Coffin Drop would win the day for him. That bit him in the ass when he missed one on the apron. The story then became Allin kicking out of all of Strickland's finishers. Why doesn't anyone protect their finisher anymore? Allin knew he couldn't win, even though he was surviving, so he told Strickland to finish him off. Strickland hit a running knee and a few stomps before putting on the Key to Swerve City for the win at 12:30. This was a very indie version of the EVOLVE match, but their charisma carried it through. ***

August 31, 2018 - Chicago, Illinois

Shane Strickland def. Darby Allin
From AAW Defining Moment. This was absolutely batshit crazy. They took everything great about their EVOLVE match and fine tuned it here. The match pretty much never left the ring, so there was zero indie bullshit. It reminded me a lot of the mid '90s cruiserweight matches on Nitro that people would lose their minds over. It was totally lucha-inspired and executed beautifully. Nothing was no-sold egregiously, and only the Coffin Drop was buried (which I suppose is fine as Allin seems to have never used it as a world-ender). Strickland countered a Coffin Drop on the apron to a German suplex on the apron and then hit a NASTY Swerve Stomp for the win at 13:31. ****¼

October 26, 2018 - Wilmington, California

Shane Strickland def. Darby Allin {PCW Ultra Light Heavyweight Championship Match}
From PCW Ultra Possessed. I've never heard of this company until today. This match was all about how familiar Strickland and Allin have become with each other. Unfortunately, PCW Ultra's commentators either haven't done research or the company is one that pretends other company's don't exist, as they chalk up the familiarity to studying footage. Weirdly, they make a comment about Allin metaphorically coming back from an 0-3 World Series deficit, but they're not referring to the three matches he's lost to Strickland already. These two are so great against each other. This was excellent and yet completely different from their AAW match. Here, Strickland dominated for the first half of the match, but then missed an attempted stomp to the floor and hurt his leg. Allin zeroed in on the injury, and Strickland was left without the ability to quickly hit the Swerve Stomp and go for a pin. Allin and Strickland also made it very clear which of Strickland's legs was hurt, so that when he pulled down his opposite kneepad to hit a running knee it didn't hurt my suspension of disbelief. That led to Strickland hitting the JML Driver for the win at 16:01. ***¾

March 8, 2019 - Seattle, Washington

Darby Allin def. Shane Strickland
From DEFY Dragon Spirit. This was part of Strickland's farewell to the indies tour as he readied for his NXT debut. So it made sense for him to return the favor to Allin here. This isn't explicitly a no disqualification match, but the instructions from on high are that this match must end in a pin fall. That meant that Strickland, heeling it up, spent a lot of time abusing Allin's back on the floor and hit him with a chair in the ring. And hit a brainbuster onto a chair. And taped Allin to the chair and hit him with the Swerve Stomp. None of that got the win for Strickland. The idiot fans argue among themselves over whether or not they want tables. That's rude, frankly. Just watch the match and judge it based on what they do, not what you wish they'd do. Pacific Northwestern jerks. Tables never come into play and the match is better for it. Allin uses the chair to block a couple of strikes and then hits a chair-assisted Coffin Drop. While it doesn't make sense in the context of the match, as a human being I appreciate that Allin pointed the more mangled part of the chair toward himself so as to better protect Strickland. Stand up move. Allin brings thumbtacks into the ring (sigh) and stomps Strickland's hand into it. Strickland responds by dropping Allin's chest on the tacks. But Allin comes back with the Last Supper for the win at 20:01. I could have done without the tacks, as the chair being the focal point of the cranked up violence was reeling me in. And if they were gonna use tacks, I wish that they'd have led directly to the finish, either by Strickland falling on them or Allin using the tack-riddled hand to win somehow. Neither of those things happened, but they only kept the match away from being mind-blowing. It was just shy of that, still very, very good and violent. ****

The first match between these two teams isn’t a match at all. Anderson tripped Michaels before the match, so everyone just brawled to the back. This segment aired after the ‘88 Survivor Series but took place before it. At the Survivor Series, the Rockers and Brain Busters were on opposite sides of a ten-team elimination match. During that match, the two teams couldn’t stop fighting with each other and got themselves disqualified from the match. They finally had their first official match against each other in Philly at the end of the year.

December 17, 1988 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard def. Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels
From WWF on PRISM. Before the match, Killer Kal Rudman interviews the rockers, has to ask Michaels what his name is, and fawns over how blue their eyes are. It’s one of the more bizarre wrestling interviews I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something. This was a lot of fun. The Rockers spent the whole match trying to get past the brute strength of Anderson and the conniving of Blanchard. They’d do that here and there in exciting moments, mostly when they were able to double-team the heels. The referee got confused near the end and things broke down, leaving Blanchard able to clip Michaels so Anderson could block a bodyslam and fall on top for the win at 11:34. ***¼

January 13, 1989 - Boston, Massachusetts

Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard def. Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels
From WWF on NESN. The yellow floor around ringside at the Boston Garden gives this a very neat (though dated) and very unique vibe. This match absolutely rules, and it seems like basically no one has seen it. WWE hasn’t posted it to Peacock or the WWE Network, and I’m fairly certain that it’s never been released on DVD, but do yourself a favor and do a google search for the matchup and the date because this thing is worth a watch. It had a few of the same spots as their Philly match, but the energy is cranked up to 11 and the Brain Busters get to do a LOT more here. They cheat like crazy, and Anderson straight up bullies the Rockers. Michaels doesn’t have a ton to do here other than clean house when he gets the tag near the end, leaving you to think that Jannetty was a sure fire bet for future world champion one day. Dude was doing things in the ring that were making my head spin a bit, and this was in ‘89! It’s very plain to see how the Rockers got over as megastars. We get a similar finish to last time around, but this time it’s Anderson who trips Michaels, who was going for a suplex, and Blanchard falls on top. Anderson hides behind the apron while holding Michaels’ foot and the Brain Busters win at 15:11. ****

The Rockers and the Brain Busters put on basically the same match in Madison Square Garden the following week. Then, a Superstars rematch was supposed to happen, but once again the two teams just brawled on the floor rather than having a match.

January 30, 1989 - Los Angeles, California

Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard def. Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty
From WWF on Z Channel. Just like in Philly, the Rockers give a pre-match interview complaining about their non-match on a recent episode of Superstars. And just like in Philly, this interview is hosted by a WWF personality that I have absolutely no memory of, Rod Trongard in this case, who introduces the Rockers by saying, “They’re getting ready for one of the matches of their lives.” Thanks, bro. I will say, Trodgard was on commentary for this match and for the MSG match, and I think it’s safe to assume that Vince McMahon copied his entire commentary persona from him. They tried out some weird stuff in this match. Weird stuff like Michaels having Blanchard in a wristlock, Blanchard getting to the ropes but the referee knocking Blanchard’s arm away and the Rockers switching out on the wristlock. That’s a heel segment for the very babyface Rockers, and it was annoying. But a few of the other new things they tried here were more fun, like Anderson helping Blanchard to stop short of the Rockers’ offense. If this is the last time I see the suplex clip and boot hold finish (which happened here at 18:21), I’ll be very happy. It was time to put that bit on a comedy special and then move on to new material. ***¾

And put on the comedy special they did, as the match hit Saturday Night’s Main Event in March.

March 18, 1989 - Boston, Massachusetts

Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty def. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard
From WWF on NESN. This is another Boston practice match for a more famous MSG match. In this case, the MSG match happened later the same day. What I learned from this is that this is way more time than these two teams need to tell the story they like to tell. They spent way too much time with the Rockers in control on the mat. Who wants to see the Rockers control on the mat? That’s not what the Rockers were for. Things started picking up near the end, which saw Michaels hit Blanchard with a Superfly Splash off of Jannetty’s shoulders, only for Anderson to pull the referee to the floor and draw a disqualification at 22:25. I should have known when Blanchard was doing the Fargo Strut early on that this match was going to have too much dicking around. Thankfully, they cut this way down later in the evening in New York. ***

After the MSG match, the two teams didn’t wrestle again for seven months, and then did so as fallout from after the Brain Busters losing the tag titles to Demolition and starting to lose favor with Bobby Heenan.

November 25, 1989 - Topeka, Kansas

Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels def. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard {2/3 Falls Match}
From Saturday Night's Main Event 24. Well this was absurdly short given the stipulation. This was the main event of the evening, and it’s not even like anything else went particularly long. There were just too many matches on the show. The first fall happened about a minute in, when Michaels rolled up Blanchard. Heenan flipped out on the Busters. The second fall was also short, and Heenan walked out on the Busters during it. It ended when Michaels got stun gunned. The third fall was pretty exciting, with the Busters completely falling apart and Michaels hitting Anderson with a diving crossbody to block a piledriver on Jannetty and get the win at 7:41. I can’t say it was boring, it was just too short. This match is a lot of fun but it’s a shame it didn’t get a bit more time in the second fall (the first fall going so short worked well for the story). ***¼

Though it’s Andy & Douglas that made it into the top tag teams list, this is actually a sneaky way for me to do a secret review of the team of Nigel McGuinness & Doug Williams. It’s a British dream for me that I forgot ever existed.

May 6, 2007 - Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia

Absolute Andy & Steve Douglas def. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness {wXw Tag Team Championship Match}
From wXw 16 Carat Gold. The majority of the match was kept very basic. Douglas & Andy beat up McGuiness, and then kept Williams in the ring away from his partner. The crowd was almost completely dead for that entire stretch. Luckily, the Englishmen's comeback was a lot of fun. McGuinness got the hot tag to a good ovation. He and Williams wrestled as if they'd been teaming for a long time, which I suppose makes sense as this came after their run as a team in NOAH. Their double-team Tower of London (Twin Towers of London?) was great. Williams got to kick out after almost getting cheated out of a win, which was nice and got a good response. It was pretty clear by the end that the babyfaces were in a different league than the heels. I’m not calling the German team bad by any stretch, but they didn’t have any of the flash and grandeur of McGuinness & Williams, and the gap was very obvious. A shorter match, with a less elongated heel control segment might have hidden that. Douglas hit Williams with the title belt while he was going for the Chaos Theory, and Andy got a roll up for the win at 21:23. That finish sucked and was kind of botched. ***

Okay, now that I’ve gotten the Andy & Douglas match out of the way, I’ll do the rest in chronological order.

May 26, 2006 - Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Takeshi Morishima & Doug Williams tld. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness {GHC Tag Team Championship Match}
From 1PW Know Your Enemy. The crowd is wild for the British boys, and lukewarm for the NOAH champs. That probably wouldn’t have been the case had this happened after Morishima’s ROH debut. The edit on this match feels like a Christopher Nolan movie in that the aspect ratio changes based on which camera is being used. It stops being distracting after a bit, but if anyone didn’t notice I’d be surprised. This match made me geek out because I learned that McGuinness & Williams did a Doomsday European uppercut as a signature move. Did they invent it? Maybe?! The match was quite good overall too. I never go into what I know will be a thirty-minute draw with much enthusiasm, but they kept this interesting the whole way through and quite exciting near the end. The finish was brilliant too. Williams had been thwarted in every attempt at the Chaos Theory. Because of his narrow goal, he fell victim to his opponents’ finishers, most notably Yone’s Muscle Buster. McGuinness saved him, and eventually Williams was able to hit the Chaos Theory on Yone. But the time limit tragically expired at 30:00 before the referee’s hand could hit the mat a third time. Great timing (if they cut the match a bit short to facilitate that finish, I’m okay with it), and great drama. ***¾

October 13, 2006 - Osaka, Osaka

Akira Taue & SUWA def. Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness {Opening Round Match}
From NOAH Autumn Navigation. This was a tournament to decide the GHC tag champs. Did you know that McGuinness has wrestled against three of the Four Pillars? That’s pretty wild for an indie wrestler from the UK. SUWA & Taue are the most bonkers team. The best American analogue I can come up with is if Kevin Nash & Low Ki were a team, or Kane & Taz if they were both more talented. This was fun but somewhat subdued. I don’t think the NOAH crowd gave the Brits a tinker’s damn, so the atmosphere was kind of flat. But everyone put in hard work. Even just a few years away from retirement, Taue remained a hoot in the ring. Though at this point, it was interesting to see McGuiness stand just about as tall as the Japanese tall-man. Puts things (shrinking with age/Japanese wrestlers being shorter than American ones) in perspective. McGuinness survived two chokeslams, a powerbomb, and a short arm lariat, but fell to the Ore Ga Taue at 14:16. ***¼

April 13, 2007 - Lake Grove, New York

Doug Williams & Nigel McGuinness def. Chris Hero & Takeshi Morishima
From ROH This Means War II. I reviewed this match all the way back in 2007 so buckle up for a lot of play-by-play: Nigel and Doug’s theme music is just about the most fitting possible for their team. Their matching ring jackets also kick ass and make me wish Williams was in ROH full time. I’ll call the team Guinness and Birds. If you know why you are a true fan. Nigel and Morishima start. Nigel opens up with forearms but Hero runs in and helps Morishima hit double big boots on Nigel and Williams. They double-team Nigel in the corner until Williams pulls Hero to the floor. Morishima hits a butt butt and a butt lariat on Nigel. Hero tags in and pins Nigel for 1. He hits a senton for 1. Nigel comes back with the corner combo and tags to Williams. Williams and Nigel put on a double wristlock. Williams stays on Hero’s arm and tags to Nigel. Nigel headbutts the arm and tags to Williams. Williams hits a bodyslam and a series of kneedrops for 2. Nigel tags in and works the arm. Williams tags in and gets hit with a chinbreaker. Morishima tags in and Hero hits Williams with a dropkick. Morishima drags Williams to the floor and rams him into the barricade. Back in the ring Morishima puts on an abdominal stretch. Hero tags in and hits an exploder for 2. Morishima tags in and hits an avalanche. He hits a legdrop for 2. He puts on a rear naked choke and pins Williams for 2. He hits a bodyslam and tags to Hero. Hero hits a senton for 2. Williams goes for the Chaos Theory but has to settle for a swinging DDT. He hits an enziguiri and tags to Nigel. Nigel sends Morishima into Hero and hits a superkick on Morishima. Morishima bails so Williams dives out onto him. Nigel hits a short-arm clothesline on Hero for 2. He hits a hammerlock takedown but Morishima breaks up the hold. Hero boots Nigel and hits a chokeslam. Morishima tags in and hits a handspring avalanche. He climbs the ropes but Williams cuts him off and Nigel hits the Tower of London for 2. He hits a running European uppercut and a superkick. Morishima powers through but gets taken down with a lariat. That gets 2 for Nigel. Williams and Nigel sandwich Morishima with European uppercuts and Nigel hits another lariat for 2. Williams tags in and hits a gutwrench suplex for 2. He hits the Bomb Scare for 2. Morishima hits a head-and-arm suplex but Williams catches him with a back suplex. Nigel tags in and goes for a sunset flip but Morishima sits on him. Hero tags in and hits a roaring forearm. He hits the Shiranui for 2. Nigel blocks Go2Sleep but runs into a big boot. Morishima clotheslines Nigel down but Williams hits him with a German suplex. Nigel hits a superkick on Hero and a lariat on Morishima. He hits another lariat on Hero and sets him up top. He and Williams hit a double-team Tower of London for 2. Morishima hits Nigel with a side slam and the backdrop driver for 2. Williams helps him block a second attempt and Nigel hits the Jawbreaker Lariat on Hero for the win at 18:58. Hero hitting the signature moves of NOAH wrestlers he’d seen during his tour in Japan was cute. Most of the stuff between Nigel and Morishima was also very worthwhile. On the down side Williams was kind of a non-factor and the finish was far too crowded. All in all though this was a main event worthy main event. ***¾

September 28, 2008 - Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Nigel McGuinness & Doug Williams def. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe
From Indypendence Day. Cagematch has this listed as a wrestling show without a promotion, but Real Quality Wrestling was somehow involved because the match is uploaded to their YouTube channel. The first half of this was paint by numbers stuff from both teams, but they picked up the pace down the stretch to give the fans a bit of something special. McGuinness & Williams hit the Twin Towers of London on Mark for the win at 13:09. ***¼

I can see how these two, despite teaming in three different contents and for various well-established promotions, didn’t capture the imagination of the Cagematch users (to date, only I and one other person have even rated them as a team). Their singles careers were leagues more interesting. Perhaps if ROH had given them a longer run as a team we’d have gotten some interesting matches. In fact, I’m sure of it, but that’s not what happened.

Why didn't I just put this in the Some Elite Wrestling post? Because I'd already made the banner and I didn't feel like editing it.

April 6, 2022 - Boston, Massachusetts

Samoa Joe def. Max Caster
From Dynamite 131. This is a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Joe debuted at ROH Supercard of Honor, saving Jonathan Gresham from Jay Lethal (whose soul searching apparently led him to turn heel) & Sonjay Dutt after the main event. And now that ROH and AEW are the same thing, that seems worth mentioning. Caster’s pre-match rap was cute. This was real squashy, with Joe needing only two minutes to put Caster down with the Muscle Buster at 2:52. Lethal & Dutt pop up on the big screens and Lethal says he’d been trying to get a hold of Joe during his difficult soul searching time, and Joe never picked up. They have a present for Joe next week. N/A

April 13, 2022 - New Orleans, Louisiana

Samoa Joe def Minoru Suzuki {ROH World TV Championship Match}
From Dynamite 132. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt were in the front row cheering on Joe. Sarcastically, probably, as they brawled with Joe at ROH Supercard of Honor XV. More unsettling than how red Joe and Suzuki’s chests got after the opening chop exchange was how dark red Suzuki’s palm was. They spent three minutes on strikes, which would have been a dope start to a 20-minute match. But we got eight minutes on TV. And while I like that Joe countered a triangle choke to the Muscle Buster to show that he can hit that move out of nowhere, ending the match suddenly at 8:27 (shown of 11:37) didn’t make it so that this match will be one that people remember. Though perhaps the aftermath will, as Dutt & Lethal bring out Satnam Singh, a giant in the mold of El Gigante and Giant Khali, to beat up Joe. It lands like a turd on the dinner table. The only bright side here is that it was Lethal who hit Joe with the final blow and not Singh, so hopefully Tony Khan is leaning toward pushing Lethal and not this goofy giant. ***¼

April 29, 2022 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Samoa Joe def. Trent Beretta {ROH World TV Championship Match}
From Rampage 39. Now we’ve got Ian Rincobinini on commentary in addition to Cruz as the ring announcer. Very neat, very neat. What we saw was a lot of fun, as Joe is very well suited to being a big, dangerous guy without having to move around too much given his age and size. But the match was very slight. It’s a ten minute main event and they took a long commercial break in the middle of it. Beretta was able to avoid the Muscle Buster, but Joe quickly caught him with the rear naked choke for the win at 6:34 (shown of 10:04). After the match, we see that AEW has thankfully recalibrated away from building to Joe vs. Singh to focusing more on Joe vs. Lethal. Lethal & Co come out to confront Joe, but have to fight through the Best Friends first. Then Lethal and Joe have a pull-apart brawl. I’m not saying this is bad, but it is ripping off WWE that guys like Jerry Lynn and Pat Buck are part of the pull-apart crew. **¾

May 18, 2022 - Houston, Texas

Samoa Joe def. Johnny Elite {Quarterfinal Match}
From Dynamite 137. This was originally set to be Joe vs. Kyle O’Reilly, but they reshuffled the brackets to have this be the quarterfinal match. We’d end up getting Joe vs. O’Reilly later in the tournament. At first I thought the huge ovation that Elite got was because he was mistaken for Johnny Gargano (even the AEW on TBS twitter account made that mistake), but then the roars were sustained so it seems Mr. Mundo is still over. Before the break, Elite was surprisingly successful in a strike exchange, catching Joe with enough kicks and then dives to maintain control. Sadly, Joe’s comeback happened during the commercial break, so it’s not clear how he began to dominate. One misplaced 450 splash aside, Elite looked as good as ever here. He was all business. Joe blocked a split legged moonsault and hit the Muscle Buster for the win at 7:15 (shown of 10:25). After the match, Lethal and friends attacked Joe, hitting his arm with a pipe. The Best Friends made the save too late. ***¼

May 25, 2022 - Paradise, Nevada

Samoa Joe def. Kyle O'Reilly {Semifinal Match}
From Dynamite 138. This is a rematch seven years in the making. O’Reilly went after Joe’s injured arm, obviously. At one point, he hit a dragon screw and I wondered why he was deviating. But having a hurt leg forced Joe to rest his arm on the top rope, leaving it open for a diving attack. Pretty neat. The rest of the match was neat as well. Just a lot of hard fighting, with O’Reilly believably looking like he was on Joe’s level thanks to a great game plan and Joe’s good selling. They had me thinking this would end in a draw, with Joe and O’Reilly both submitting to each other’s submissions at the same time, but O’Reilly passed out to the rear naked choke at 9:26 (shown of 12:37). ***¾

May 29, 2022 - Paradise, Nevada

Adam Cole def. Samoa Joe {Tournament Finals}
From Double or Nothing. Mike Chioda returns to AEW to be the referee for this match. They could have used him in the Death Triangle vs. House of Black match. Cole went after Joe’s shoulder, so at least him being on an even playing field with the big guy made sense. When Joe was on his feet, he had little trouble dominating. But even still, this was very flat. The crowd wasn’t into the first gear action, and neither guy was looking particularly motivated to capture their attention. Bobby Fish ran out to distract Joe, which didn’t really work. Cole did win with four superkicks and the Boom a minute later at 13:16 though. You have to assume that Joe continues his feud with Lethal now because the injured shoulder cost him this tournament win. I have no idea what becomes of Cole. With Punk winning the AEW Championship, it made sense to run back Joe vs. Punk for nostalgia’s sake. I don’t think anyone wants to see Cole get another title shot in 2022. That said, they’ve never said that winning this tournament earns the winner a title shot. What was all this for? **¾

In the next match, Britt Baker women's tournament. Martha Hart gave a rather long speech about honoring her late husband, and then gave Owen Cup title belts to Baker & Cole. No mention is made about how the tournament benefitted the Owen Hart Foundation, though I've read that some merch that AEW put out would raise money for the organization. So now AEW has these belts as well as the Dynamite Diamond Ring as chachkies that are up for grabs only once a year, but worn all year. I don't know why one company needs three people holding what amounts to the King of the Ring crown all year. And moreover, Owen Hart's legacy being carried by two heels in its inaugural year seems like a mine field. I'd say we'll see how they navigate it, but the build to this PPV has me wanting to take a break from the company.

I can't believe how many Hulk vs. Takagi matches I've watched. Everything up through 2012 is from my original reviews back in the day. The post-2012 matches are new reviews in 2022.

December 26, 2005 - Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi def. BxB Hulk {Quarterfinal Match}
From King of Gate. Hulk was in PoS.Hearts and Takagi was in Blood Generation. Hulk got two byes and is starting his tournament here. They trade holds to start. Hulk hits a dropkick. Takagi hits a shoulder tackle. Hulk hits another dropkick. Takagi hits a lariat. He hits the Gallon Throw. He crotches Hulk up top and chops him to the apron. Hulk goes after the arm so Takagi grabs him and hits the Yo Throw for 2. He puts on a crossface. Hulk gets to the ropes. He hits a missile dropkick. He hits the Mouse but Takagi catches him with a suplex. Takagi hits a sit-out powerbomb for 2. He hits another lariat. Hulk hits an awesome hurricanrana for 2. Takagi hits another lariat. Hulk counters the Original Falconry to a DDT. He hits the EVO for 2. He goes for a moonsault but Takagi clotheslines him from behind and hits a back superplex. He hits a pair of lariats. Hulk counters the Original Falconry to a roll up for 2. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits the Blood Fall for the win at 8:17 (shown of 12:30). So everyone who got a bye lost in their first match in the tournament. That’s an interesting coincidence. This was a nice primer for the better matches these two would have against each other down the line. ***¼

April 23, 2006 - Tokyo, Japan

BxB Hulk def. Shingo Takagi {Dream Key Match}
From Glorious Gate. Hulk was in PoS.Hearts and Takagi was in Blood Generation. Takagi attacks before the bell. He hits a powerslam. He clotheslines Hulk to the floor. He hits a chair shot. Hulk ducks a shot and kicks Takagi’s arm against the post. Back in the ring Hulk hits a dropkick. He puts on an armbar but Takagi gets to the ropes. Hulk hits another dropkick. He hits a senton for 2. He puts on a chinlock. He goes back to work on the arm. Takagi hits the Yo Throw. He hits a back elbow for 2. He levels Hulk with a chop and hits a kneedrop for 2. He hits a press slam, but hurts his arm doing it. He hits the Gallon Throw for 2. He puts on a Boston crab and floats into a crossface. Hulk gets to the ropes. Takagi hits a second rope kneedrop. He props Hulk on the top rope and chops him down. Hulk goes back to work on the arm. He hits a leg lariat. He goes for the BxB Smash but Takagi blocks it. Hulk hits the Mouse but Takagi catches him with a brainbuster for 2. He hits a backdrop driver. He hits another for 2. He puts on the Manriki. Hulk gets to the ropes. He hits a clothesline. Takagi blocks the EVO and hits an inverted DDT. He hits a sit-out powerbomb for 2. He hits a lariat in the corner. Hulk dropkicks the arm. He hits a DDT and the EVO for 2. Takagi clotheslines Hulk from the turnbuckle to the floor. Hulk comes back with a hurricanrana for 2. Takagi hits a lariat. Hulk sloppily escapes the Last (Original) Falconry. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber. Hulk has apparently forgotten how to bump. He attacks Takagi’s arm, but still falls victim to a suplex. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits the Last (Original) Falconry for 2. Hulk comes back with kicks. He hits the EVO and a moonsault (even adjusting for Takagi’s odd angle) for the win at 19:04. Hulk had some trouble keeping it together near the end, but aside from that this was quite good. Probably as good as their draw from a few years later, but not as good as their eventual Dream Gate decision match. ***½

June 29, 2008 - Osaka, Osaka

Shingo Takagi tld. BxB Hulk {Dream Key Match}
From Gate of Maximum, airing on Infinity 92. Takagi is in Real Hazard and Hulk is in World-1. They lock up to start. Hulk dodges a cheap shot but can’t connect with a kick. Takagi puts on a headlock. Hulk gets to the ropes. He’s sweating like crazy, so I’d imagine a good amount has been clipped out already. Takagi clotheslines him to the floor. He taunts him on the microphone, firing Hulk up enough to come back with kicks. Takagi whips him into the post. Genki Horiguchi and Yasushi Kanda hold Hulk against the post, but Hulk escapes and Takagi hits the post. Hulk goes crazy with kicks and chair shots. In the ring Hulk hits a bodyslam. He misses a moonsault but hits a standing shooting star press for 2. Takagi shoves the referee in the way of a dropkick. He comes off the top with a chair shot. Hulk looked pretty dumb for walking into that one. Takagi sets up a table in the corner and powerbombs Hulk against it (it doesn’t break). He hits a piledriver through the table. He smacks Hulk with a turnbuckle pad. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special. He hits a kneedrop. Hulk hits the Mouse and a clothesline. He hits Takagi with a piece of the table. He hits the EVO on the apron. Takagi is bleeding. Hulk hits a springboard leg lariat. He hits the EVO for 2. He puts on an armbar. Takagi bails to escape. He suplexes Hulk to the floor. Hulk takes forever to recover, making me wonder why this part wasn’t clipped down. Trainers tape up his leg. Takagi hits him with a piece of the table. He hits a powerbomb on a pile of chairs. Hulk beats the count back in the ring at 19. When they were taping his leg it definitely took him more than a 20-count to recover. Takagi hits his leg with a chair. He hits a kneedrop onto a chair on the leg. He puts on a figure 4 leglock.

Cyber Kong hits Hulk with an elbowdrop off the top while Takagi keeps him in the hold. Kanda tries to do the same but Naoki Tanisaki stops him. Naruki Doi saves Hulk with an elbow off the top. Real Hazard gangs up on Hulk in the corner. Kong clotheslines Takagi by mistake, allowing m.c.KZ to hit Takagi with the Canadian Destroyer. Hulk kicks Takagi around for 2. Takagi hits a back superplex. Hulk hits a chair shot and a leg lariat. He hits the EVO off the second rope but his leg is too hurt to capitalize. He kicks Takagi’s head repeatedly. He misses a phoenix splash. Takagi clotheslines Hulk off the top. He hits another clothesline. He hits a second rope Original Falconry for 2. He hits the Pumping Bomber and MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Hulk blocks the Last Falconry and hits the FTX for 2. Takagi hits the Original Falconry but can’t cover. He hits the Pumping Bomber. He hits it again. He hits it a third time for 2 just before the time limit runs out at 27:33 shown of 60:00. I have to take issue with the recovery segment, as it completely killed the flow of the match. Hulk’s leg injury could have been emphasized without so much dead time. All the overbooking would have been worth it if there were a winner, but since the match went to a draw it felt very much like a time-killing crutch. If going 60 was a problem for them they could have easily given this a thirty minute time limit since no actual title was on the line. They pulled out the big guns down the stretch, but I’m hoping the shorter match time on PPV will suit them better. We’ll probably never see the full version of this match, but I’m not as heartbroken about it as I thought I’d be. ***½

July 27, 2008 - Kobe, Hyogo

Shingo Takagi def. BxB Hulk {Open the Dream Gate Championship Match}
From Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival. Takagi was in Real Hazard and Hulk was in World-1. Takagi overpowers Hulk to start. Hulk ducks a chop and kicks Takagi’s chest. He hits an armdrag and a dropkick. Takagi hits a back bodydrop. Hulk takes a break on the floor. Takagi crotches Hulk in the ropes and hits a dragon screw over them. He works over Hulk’s leg. When countering doesn’t work Hulk gets to the ropes. Takagi hits the Alabamaslam and goes back to work on the leg. Hulk goes back to the ropes. He kicks with his good leg to put Takagi on the floor. Back in the ring Hulk kicks Takagi’s arm. He puts on an armbar. He hits a German suplex for 1. He goes for a cross armbreaker but Takagi blocks with a powerbomb. Takagi throws Hulk over the top to the floor. He pulls Hulk up the ramp and goes for a suplex but Hulk kicks him down. Takagi counters a hurricanrana to the Original Falconry. They break the count at 17. Hulk comes back with kicks. Takagi whips him hard into the post. Back in the ring Takagi has trouble with chops. Everyone freaks out when Takagi uses a closed fist on Hulk’s face. He hits mounted forearms. He hits a backdrop driver. He hits a kneedrop. He hits the Complete Shot and the Gallon Throw for 2. He hits a fistdrop and a second rope kneedrop for 2. He puts on a crossface. Hulk gets to the ropes. Hulk hits a hurricanrana. He hits a springboard dropkick to the back. Takagi falls to the floor so Hulk dives out after him with a moonsault press. Back in the ring he hits a springboard leg lariat for 2. He hits the uranage and a legsweep. He hits a senton for 2. Takagi hits an exploder, knocking Hulk’s leg into the corner. They fight to the apron where Hulk hits the EVO. That gets the crowd pumped but it’s the third time in as many Hulk matches I’ve seen that he’s done that. Takagi beats the count at 18. Hulk works the arm.

Takagi hits a German suplex. He gets through the Mouse but not a clothesline. Hulk hits a hurricanrana. Takagi hits a clothesline. Hulk blocks the Blood Fall and kicks Takagi’s face. He hits the EVO for 2. He goes up top but Takagi clotheslines him to the floor. He puts Hulk in the ring and then suplexes him back to the floor, jacking up his leg. Hulk beats the count at 19. Takagi bites his leg. He hits a kneedrop on the leg. He sets Hulk up top and tries to chop him to the floor but Hulk holds on. Takagi hits a superplex but Hulk gets fired up. Takagi hits a DDT. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. He hits a clothesline. Hulk blocks the Avalanche Falconry and hits a leg lariat. He hits a second rope EVO for 2. He hits a buzzsaw kick. He hits the phoenix splash for 2. Takagi hits the Last Falconry. He hits a clothesline in the corner. He hits the Avalanche Falconry for 2. They trade strikes until Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber. Hulk hits the FTX. Takagi hits a clothesline. He hits another and tells Hulk to get up. Hulk hits a drop toehold and gets a roll up for 2. Takagi hits a lariat. He hits the Blood Fall and the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Hulk tries to block a second attempt but Takagi hits it for the win and the title at 36:53. They slowed things down a bit to keep this in the mold of other Dream Gate matches, but being Takagi and Hulk it was still a briskly paced 40-minute match. I thought it was interesting that since the belt was vacant Takagi went for count out victories. The arm and leg work didn’t lead anywhere, despite it being a good game plan on the part of both wrestlers. In the end the match was Hulk and Takagi unloading their arsenals until they had nothing left and only Takagi could stand. I have a problem with how quickly Hulk recovered from MADE IN JAPAN the first two times Takagi hit it, but aside from that this was a fun, smash-mouth match and I’m impressed with the pace they kept for as long as they kept it. ****

April 14, 2010 - Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi def.. BxB Hulk {Semifinal Match}
From King of Gate, airing on Infinity 173. Takagi was in Kamikaze and Hulk was in World-1. They charge at each other to start. Hulk trades big boots for Takagi’s shoulder tackles. He hits a hurricanrana. He kicks Takagi to the floor. He hits a moonsault press to the floor. Back in the ring Hulk goes after Takagi’s arm. Takagi sets Hulk up top to escape a cross armbreaker. He hits a Cactus Clothesline. He launches Hulk into the post and then hits a powerbomb on the floor. Back in the ring Takagi ducks a high kick and hits a backdrop driver. He hits two more. Hulk hits a roundhouse kick and a leg lariat. Takagi blocks the Mouse but not the uranage. Hulk hits a standing SSP for 2. He hits an enziguiri. He hits the EVO for 2. Takagi slams him into the corner. He hits a lariat. Hulk hits a leg lariat. He hits the avalanche EVO for 2. Takagi pulls Hulk off the top but Hulk blocks the Blood Fall. He hits the First Flash for 2. He misses a phoenix splash. Takagi hits a lariat. He peppers Hulk with elbows. Hulk comes back with kicks. He kicks the arm. Takagi hits a lariat. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a superplex and holds on to hit the EVO. What a jerk! He hits the Pumping Bomber for the win at 11:20 shown of 16:06. Hulk kicked out right after the pin and has a temper tantrum over losing. This was the good back-and-forth we’ve come to expect from these two, though they didn’t match the sense of urgency they created in their World main event, or in their sixty-minute Dream Key match. ***¼

July 11, 2010 - Kobe, Hyogo

Shingo Takagi def. BxB Hulk {Hair vs. Hair Match}
From Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival. Takagi was in Kamikaze and Hulk was in World-1. Hulk and Takagi debuted around the same time and have been enemies as well as partners. Together they started New Hazard and won the GHC Junior Tag Team Championships. As rivals they’ve battled countless times. Takagi has always been more successful, winning all but one of their singles encounters, having more title reigns to his name (including being the youngest Open the Dream Gate Champion ever) and winning both of Dragon Gate’s huge annual tournaments in one calendar year. Hulk has only defeated Takagi in one singles match, over four years ago in April of 2006. Takagi spent the months leading up to this match taunting Hulk, using his finishers and telling him he didn’t stand a chance. In response Hulk decided to get more serious, ditching his dance routine permanently. That turned out to be a big gamble, because if Hulk is unable to beat Takagi tonight he’ll lose another huge part of his identity.

Takagi attacks at the bell. He wins a shoulder tackle exchange. Hulk gets a crucifix pin for 2. Takagi misses a fistdrop and a kneedrop. Hulk hits a hurricanrana and a dropkick. He hits a missile dropkick to the back. He hits a senton. Takagi hits a back bodydrop. He hits a Cactus Clothesline. Takagi rams Hulk into the post. He hits a powerbomb on the floor. He hits a double stomp. He puts on his evil face and stands on Hulk’s head. He hits a gutbuster and a DDT. He hits a senton. He puts on the body scissors. He hits a kneedrop. He goes for MADE IN JAPAN on the apron but Hulk avoids it and hits the apron EVO. He dropkicks Takagi to the floor. He hits a topé con hilo. He hits the Mouse and the uranage. He hits the standing SSP. He sweeps the leg but his senton hits Takagi’s knees. He comes back with a leg lariat. Takagi goes for the STAY DREAM but Hulk blocks it. Takagi hits a diving lariat. He clotheslines Hulk over the top to the floor. He drags Hulk to the apron and hits a back suplex to the floor!!! Hulk lands awkwardly on his ankle, but I’m just glad he didn’t take the back bump. Back in the ring Takagi hits a turnbuckle powerbomb. He hits the Gallon Throw. He ducks a kick and hits a back suplex. Hulk hits a German suplex. Takagi pops up and hits another back suplex. Hulk hits another German suplex. Takagi hits a clothesline to the back. Hulk hits an enziguiri, Takagi hits a Koppo kick. Hulk hits a roundhouse kick. Takagi slugs him. Hulk hits an ax kick. Takagi lays into Hulk with stiff elbows. He hits a lariat. Hulk hits the First Flash. Takagi turns him inside out with a lariat. Hulk blocks MADE IN JAPAN and hits the FTX for 1. Takagi is an animal! So much of an animal that he comes back with the DVD. They fight over the EVO until Hulk hits the avalanche version for 2. Takagi goes for the Blood Fall but Hulk blocks it and kills Takagi with kicks and the First Flash for 2. That was awesome! This match is unreal!!! Hulk hits the H Thunder. He misses the phoenix splash. Takagi hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a superplex and holds on to hit the EVO for 2. I love bastard Takagi! He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. He hits a lariat. He hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. Knowing he has the match in the bag he poses for a while before dusting off the Last Falconry for the win at 25:56. If there was ever a more epic feeling match in Dragon Gate’s short history, I can’t think of it right now. Down the stretch I was rooting for Hulk just because I didn’t want the match to end! Takagi wrestled like the biggest son of a bitch on Earth, and Hulk’s desperate attempts to survive had me praying he might squeak in a victory. I have no idea how the main event will top this (it didn’t). ****¾

Immediately after the match Hulk has a short freak out before the reality of the situation sets in. He sits in a chair to take his punishment, but Takagi kicks the chair away and demands Hulk sit on the floor. He wears the biggest smile on his face as he shaves Hulk’s head. Hulk cries of course. Takagi reminds him that he’s been stripped of his BxB Hulk identity, and tells him to go back to the bottom of the card and work his way back up, because he’s not worthy to be at the top. Heel Kamikaze was working for me in DGUSA, but douche Takagi in Japan is even better!

October 29, 2010 - Fall River, Massachusetts

BxB Hulk def. Shingo Takagi {Open the Freedom Gate Championship Match}
From DGUSA Bushido: Code of the Warrior. Hulk was in World-1 and Takagi was in Kamikaze. Takagi hits a shoulder tackle to start. They avoid each other’s strikes until Hulk connects with a dropkick. Takagi stalls. Hulk gives chase so Takagi drops him on the barricade. He hits an Olé Kick. Hulk baits him into clotheslining the post and then attacks that arm. Back in the ring Hulk hits a Yakuza kick. He goes back to the arm. Takagi gets to the ropes. Hulk dropkicks the arm for 2. He puts on a kimura. Takagi gets to the ropes. He hits an insane backbreaker. He hits a double stomp. He hits a gutbuster, a DDT and a senton. He hits a piledriver. He hits a kneedrop for 2. He hits a backbreaker. He hits another double stomp. He hits a hanging DDT. He hits another kneedrop. Hulk hits a high kick. He hits the apron EVO. He hits a baseball slide. He hangs Takagi on the barricade and hits a quebrada. Back in the ring Hulk hits a springboard dropkick. He sweeps the leg and hits a senton for 1. He hits the Mouse and the uranage. He hits the BxB Star Press for 2. He hits a series of kicks for 2. Takagi comes back with a spear that Hulk sells better than anyone has ever sold a spear. He works the back and hits a kneelift. He hits a side suplex. He hits a turnbuckle powerbomb and the Yo Throw. He hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a superplex and holds on to hit Hulk with the EVO for 2. And that’s why Takagi is the biggest bastard in wrestling without having to resort to cheap heat. Hulk blocks the Pumping Bomber and hits a roundhouse kick. Takagi slugs him. Hulk hits an ax kick. Takagi hits a lariat. Hulk hits the First Flash. Takagi hits a headbutt. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Hulk blocks the STAY DREAM and hits a leg lariat. He hits the avalanche EVO for 2. Takagi gets up quickly and goes for the Blood Fall but Hulk blocks it and hits an ax kick. He hits the First Flash. He hits the Phoenix Splash for 2. He hit the H Thunder for the win at 26:09. This wasn’t as good as their match from July, and I actually have quite a big problem with Hulk winning here (it would have been a much bigger moment in front of more than 200 people, in Japan and with Hulk winning something instead of just defending a relatively unimportant belt), but I didn’t expect a masterpiece since this was in front of about 7,500 less people than their World match. Truthfully it was more on par with their 60-minute draw than it even was with their World 2008 main event. ***¾

July 8, 2011 - Tokyo, Japan

BxB Hulk {BW} vs. Shingo Takagi
From Rainbow Gate, airing on Infinity 226. Hulk was in Blood Warriors and Takagi was in Junction 3. Takagi throws his jacket at Hulk and attacks him before the bell. Hulk hits an axe kick but Takagi comes back with a clothesline to the floor. They fight into the crowd where Hulk takes control with kicks. Takagi whips him into the post. Back in the ring Hulk hits a big boot. Kong hits Takagi with the stolen belt. Mochizuki punches Kong in the face. Hulk hits Takagi with the EVO on the apron. He spits wine in Takagi’s face and hits him with the bottle. He hits a missile dropkick to the back. He hits a chest kick. He peppers Takagi with kicks. He hits another EVO for 2. He hits an axe kick to the head. Takagi collapses before Hulk can hit the First Flash. Takagi hits MADE IN JAPAN out of nowhere for 2. He slams Hulk into the turnbuckle. He hits a turnbuckle powerbomb. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a kneedrop. He hits a diving senton for 2. Not sure I’ve seen him do that before. Tozawa runs in and attacks Takagi, still selling his leg injury from the match with YAMATO. The Blood Warriors gang up on Takagi in the corner. Takagi blocks the First Flash and hits the Last Falconry. He hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits a few elbows and a headbutt. Kanda hits him with the blue box. Hulk hits the axe kick. He hits the FTX for 2. He hits the H Thunder and lifts Takagi at 2. He hits the axe kick and the First Flash. Takagi won’t go down so Hulk hits the First Flash again. He points at Mochizuki and hits it a third time, getting the knockout win at 9:54 shown of 18:02. That was a damned stiff match. Hulk now looks like a million bucks going into his match against Mochizuki, and Takagi got a way out of the loss due to interference. Lots of copout booking because of the upcoming PPV, sadly. ***½

Cagematch has the King of Chop match between Hulk and Takagi from June 12, 2012 in Sapporo, Hokkaido listed, which is funny because King of Chop matches weren’t really matches. But here’s what I had to say about it at the time: Hulk’s first overhand chop is decent but Takagi looks unfazed. Takagi’s first chop is a knife hand, and a powerful one. Hulk sticks with the overhand and gets stronger with his second. Takagi’s second isn’t as good as his first. Hulk’s third makes Takagi wince. Takagi calls for the double chop, checks with the referee, and then knocks Hulk off of his feet. Takagi wins the crowd decision. Jimmy Kagetora wound up winning the tournament, last defeating T-Hawk under his fake Naoki Tanizaki gimmick.

May 10, 2013 - Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi def. BxB Hulk {Opening Round Match}
From Dragon Gate King of Gate. Takagi was in -akatsuki- and Hulk was in Mad Blankey. It was weird to be reminded that by this point in his career, Takagi was using the Blood Fall as a nothing transition move. He’s pinned Hulk with that move before! Imagine a good, but long Raw main event that ends with a bunch of interference. That’s what we got here. Neither guy broke out their greatest effort, but they didn’t slum it by any means either. Mondai Ryu tried to throw powder at Takagi near the end, but YAMATO stopped him. YAMATO accidentally powdered Takagi, but then he powdered Hulk worse. YAMATO also hit a dropkick on Hulk, leading to a Pumping Bomber from Takagi for the win at 21:33. ***¼

December 18, 2014 - Fukuoka, Fukuoka

BxB Hulk def. Shingo Takagi {Open the Dream Gate Championship Match}
From Final Gate. Takagi was in Monster Express and Hulk was in Dia.Hearts. After all this time watching them swapping alignments, with the Shingo as a heel and Hulk as a babyface matches working a lot better than the reverse, it was kind of wild to see them have a main event PPV match in which both were babyfaces. Takagi had the momentum, basically running the table on Hulk for a lot of the match. Hulk was able to come back thanks to an abundance of First Flashes, but still had trouble getting the pin. The finish was a little awkward in that Hulk had just unloaded a ton of offense, included a Phoenix Splash that only got a one-count, and then hit one last Final Flash in complete silence for the win at 35:04. I think part of the reason it didn’t work is because Takagi sold it by keeling over awkwardly rather than dramatically. I liked this more than most of their matches, but it didn’t reach the levels of their Kobe classics in part because of the finish. ***¾

June 1, 2017 - Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi def. BxB Hulk {Round Robin Tournament Match}
From King of Gate. Hulk was in Tribe Vanguard and Takagi was in VerserK. God dammit I hate the way Cyber Kong looked here post-unmasking. But it means we’re back to Takagi as a heel and Hulk as a babyface, which is my favorite. And this match absolutely rules. I’ve never heard anyone talk about it, but a quick look on Cagematch shows me that I’m far from its only fan. There’s a lot of heel shenanigans on the floor involving all sorts of foreign objects and interference. And then Hulk just decides to be at the absolute top of his game, kicking Takagi’s ass all over the ring and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Takagi came back with a few amazing counters and gnarly strikes, but it truly felt like Hulk had his number. And because of that, Takagi threw Hulk’s leg to the referee to distract them both, hit a low blow, and then rolled him up with the Talon of the Hawk at 19:41. This is the kind of match that makes me tempted to go back and review all of the Dragon Gate I’ve missed. Takagi won the block, but lost to Naruki Doi in the semifinals, who lost to T-Hawk in the finals. ****¼

December 24, 2005 - Kawagoe, Sataima

Shingo Takagi def. Masato Yoshino {Opening Round Match}
From King of Gate. Both guys were in Blood Generation. They fight it out on the mat to start. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade. He hits a suicide dive. He hits the shotgun dropkick for 2. Takagi comes back with a vertical suplex for 2. Yoshino hits a miracle backdrop. Takagi blocks the Another Space. Yoshino hits an avalanche DDT for 2. He hits the Another Space for 2. Takagi blocks the Lightning Spiral and hits a lariat. Yoshino gets a roll up for 2. He hits the Torbellino for 2. Takagi blocks the From Jungle but Yoshino rolls him up for 2. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber and the Original Falconry for 2. He hits the Blood Fall for the win at 5:49 (shown of 16:21). The stretch said a lot about the pecking order in Blood Generation, as Yoshino was obviously still more skilled than Takagi, but Takagi was incredibly dangerous and could bust out a victory against better competitors. Given that only one-third of the match aired, I can't rate it. N/A

March 26, 2010 - Phoenix, Arizona

Masato Yoshino def. Shingo
From DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate. Yoshino was in World-1 and Takagi was in Kamikaze. They knuckle up to start and Shingo takes control. Yoshino comes back with the Coumori. He hits a splash on Shingo’s arm. He puts on a hammerlock. He hits an armdrag and puts on an armbar. Shingo challenges him to attack his bandaged knee. Yoshino doesn’t need any more encouragement than that. Shingo hits a suplex. He hits a fistdrop. He puts on a chinlock. He hits an atomic drop. He works the back. He hits a side slam for 2. He hits the Yo Throw for 2. He goes back to the chinlock. Yoshino dropkicks the knee. He hits the Sling Blade. Shingo hits a gutbuster and a DDT. He misses a senton. Yoshino dropkicks the arm. He hits a double stomp to the arm. He puts on From Jungle. Shingo hits the dead lift suplex. He hits a lariat in the corner but his arm is too hurt to capitalize. Yoshino hits an avalanche armbreaker. He goes for Sol Naciente but Shingo is in the ropes. Shingo hits the DVD. He hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. Yoshino blocks MADE IN JAPAN and hits an armdrag. He hits the super Sling Blade. He goes for From Jungle but Shingo blocks and hits a powerbomb. He hits the STAY DREAM for 2. Yoshino gets a crucifix pin for 2. He hits the Ude Yoshino. Shingo slugs him. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral for 2. He hits the Torbellino and puts on the Sol Naciente. Shingo tries to slam out so Yoshino Kais up the hold for the win at 16:04. The last few minutes were solid, but Shingo lazed it up quite a bit in the early going. Just as Shingo and Yoshino both put on less than astonishing performances against YAMATO later in the year, they did so against each other as well. As with those matches it’s possible my expectations are just too high, but these are some of the best wrestlers in the world and I thought we’d get more.
Rating: ***½

August 16, 2015 – Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi def. Masato Yoshino {Open the Dream Gate Championship Match}
From Dangerous Gate. Yoshino and Takagi are both in Monster Express, making this the second singles match between them as teammates. Yoshino has Shachihoko BOY in his corner and Takagi has Akira Tozawa. Tozawa looks on disapprovingly at ringside because Takagi had been growing more antagonistic. The most interesting thing to happen in the first ten minutes of the match was Takagi knocking BOY off the apron and Tozawa having to run to BOY’s aid. The match had a weird cut in the middle after a Yoshino dive and about a minute was taken out. I have no idea why. Things escalated nicely throughout the latter half of the match. The finish slowed things down a bit, as Takagi took full control and hit MADE IN JAPAN, the Pumping Bomber, and the Last Falconry at his own pace for the win and the title at 28:49 (shown of) 30:01. It didn’t make the match particularly exciting at the end, but it did make Takagi look dominant in his win. After the match, he turned on Yoshino and BOY. He asked for Tozawa’s support but Tozawa left with Monster Express. Then T-Hawk came out and pledged support to Takagi. This show got a lot of praise when it happened, to the point that New Japan’s Hiroshi Tanahashi threw a (later deleted) temper tantrum on Twitter about how his show (the G1 Climax finals) was better because more people watched it. ***½

May 8, 2018 - Tokyo, Japan

Shingo Takagi def. Masato Yoshino {Round Robin Tournament Match}
From King of Gate. I do not approve of King of Gate switching from single elimination to a round robin tournament, but I guess that happened in 2016. Yoshino is in MaxiMuM and Takagi is in Antias. Takagi was putting in work here, using interesting new methods (even noogies) to block Yoshio’s offense, and never letting a moment pass where it looked like he was just letting Yoshino hit him with a move without trying to struggle out of it. Otherwise, this was pretty much on the level of their previous singles matches. The action was good, but it didn’t get the crowd fired up and it never reached that elite level. Yoshino kicked out of the MADE IN JAPAN twice, but a Pumping Bomber got Takagi the win at 18:38. Yoshino rebounded in the tournament, winning matches against Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka and fighting to a draw with Kagetora. Then, when the tournament switched to single elimination against for all the block winners (there were four blocks), Yoshino beat Takashi Yoshida and then YAMATO to win it all. ***½

January 22, 2022 - Spartanburg, South Carolina

Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood def. Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson
From a Big Time Wrestling show that drew over 1,000 people. It looks like this was filmed to be officially released at some point, but I’m watching a fan-captured stream of it. It is undeniably impressive that GIbson & Morton could move the way they do this deep into their ‘60s. It is also undeniable that FTR went to the greatest of lengths to make the RnR Express look good. Because this was a bootleg, you can hear a lot of clear comments from the crowd, including people claiming to love old school wrestling but not understanding why Morton was in the ring so much more than Gibson. That’s the gimmick, dude. It was a little sad watching Mroton have a hard time navigating the turnbuckle to hit a crossbody, but Harwood covered for him as best he could. Wheeler countered a small package for the win at 15:04. This was cute and fun and the crowd ate it up. ***½

March 13, 2022 - Merida, Yucatan

Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood def. Dragon Lee & Dralistico {AAA World Tag Team Championship Match}
From AAA Gira Aniversario XXX. FTR have Vicky Guerrero as their manager. Was that the case before? They’re wearing their Eddie Guerrero tights and Scott Hall vests (which definitively state that FTR stands for Forever the Revolution), but the power of Vicky makes them heels anyway. Earlier in the night, Harwood said that this was supposed to be another match against the Lucha Bros, but Fenix’s injury kept that from happening. FTR forcing Hugo Savinovich to translate for him is fantastic. Konnan brokered this match after the Hermanos Lee after the two teams got into an argument. Well, he brokered it by threatening to disappear FTR and Guerrero and then go after their mothers. A hint of Lucha Underground level threats in AAA. TIL that Dralistico is a hybrid Dragon Lee/Mistico persona. This match was a wild bop. FTR were in full on evil foreigner mode, and the Hermanos Lee moved quickly and powerfully to bring the belts back to Mexico. Unfortunately for the Lees, Guerrero had a solo cup to splash in Lee’s face. She got booted from ringside, getting the biggest pop of the match. During the commotion, Pentagon ran into the ring to attack Harwood. Lee shoved Pentagon away, wanting to win fairly, which gave Harwood an opening to roll him up for the win at 17:07. The finish was cheap but it drove the crowd insane. Everything up to that point had been way better than I was expecting. I think the crowd assumed the Hermanos Lee would win the belts back, and I assume they’ll be fully foamed up by the time the Lucha Bros get that job done. ***¾

April 1, 2021 - Dallas, Texas

Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood def. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe {ROH Tag Team Championship Match}
From ROH Supercard of Honor XV. It has been a minute since I’ve seen a Briscoe Brothers match. Nothing could make me feel older than remembering the first time I saw Mark Briscoe, the angle was that he was too young to wrestle in Pennsylvania; now his beard is gray. I love FTR’s old ROH logo-inspired gear. I also love that the Briscoes have the old ROH tag belts! I also love that the crowd is HOT for this match, but I hate that their dueling chants are dorky ass things like, “Fuck WrestleMania!” and, “Tag Team Wrestling!” How about a dueling, “Let’s Go Briscoes!” vs. “F-T-R!” chant? Show these guys some love. Okay, so they did do that exact dueling chant near the end of the match because the wrestlers more than earned it. FTR cheated delightfully, as they do, but more than that we got a few amazing dickhead moments from Harwood. Jay bled, as he does, creating a lot of sympathy early on. We got a bit of blood from Mark and Harwood as well, though none of it was gratuitous enough to distract from the match. I was totally drawn into the whole thing, but the finish was especially beautiful. Jay was out of energy, struggling to get Harwood up for the Doomsday Device. That extra set up time gave Wheeler a chance to disrupt the move and get Mark into position for the Big Rig, giving FTR the titles at 27:25. What a blast. After the match, everyone made nice and FTR let the Briscoes have a moment alone in the ring. The Young Bucks ran out and attacked the Briscoes until FTR made the save. FTR will face the Bucks a few days later in AEW for the ROH and AAA tag titles. I’m not wild about it, but at least they set up the AEW brass as heels for that decision. This match even cracked the Cagematch Top 100 matches of all time, currently sitting at number 54, so consider this review an addendum to my survey of that list. ****¾

May 14, 2022 - York, South Carolina

Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood def. Griff Garrison & Marcus Kross {ROH World Tag Team Championship Match}
From PWF York Cougar Football Fundraiser. I didn't know that this match happened until over a month after the fact. This started out as a non-title match, but we'll get to why I've listed it as a title match in a moment. FTR have Mick Foley in their corner while their opponents have Bill Behrens. I’ve never actually seen Behrens do an on-camera gig before. He's holding a tennis racket, presumably as an Umaga to Jim Cornette. But it's confusing because there was actually a tennis player named Bill Behrens. They announce this match as having a 20-minute time limit. Only 11 minutes in, they say there are three minutes remaining. Until then, this was as run-of-the-mill as a modern FTR match gets. But the announcement snapped everyone out of their heat-on-Wheeler funk and forced them to go for desperate pins. They announce ten seconds remaining a couple of times, but no one can get the roll up pin they're looking for. The 20-minute time limit expires at 14:43. The crowd chants that it was awesome after being pretty quiet the whole match, which makes me sad for them. How boring must the rest of the show have been? Foley gets in the ring and suggests they do a sudden death overtime. He also wants FTR to put their ROH tag titles on the line. Why is he negotiating against the interests of his own team? The sudden death bit lasts 1:15, accomplishes nothing that couldn't have happened within the time limit (which was cut down by 25% anyway), and ends when Wheeler blocks a Superfly Splash with his knees and rolls Garrison up for the win. The whole mess was pretty dumb and kinda dull. **½

March 3, 2022 - Newham, London

Ilja Dragunov def. Nathan Frazer {NXT UK Championship Match}
From NXT UK 190. Dragunov’s new music sucks. I’m a bit confused about what’s going on with the production of this show. The last time I checked in, Dragunov and Jordan Devlin fought in an empty arena match. Here, the studio is still empty, only now they’re back to piping in the fake crowd sounds. So what’s the deal? I think too few people watch this show for anyone to report on what’s going on, which is a bummer. This match is the real deal, though. Frazer takes out Dragunov’s arm so that he can’t hit his lariats or chops as well. He gets very close to winning, so much so that Dragunov eventually just has to say ‘screw it’ and use his injured arm to hit a desperation lariat. He follows that with the Torpedo Moscow for the win at 14:42. I wonder if they might, at least temporarily, rename that move as actual torpedoes (or similar) originating from Moscow are causing unbelievable suffering right now. Whether they do or don’t this match is well worth checking out. ****

March 7, 2022 - Cleveland, Ohio

Matt Riddle & Randy Orton def. Otis & Chad Gable and Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens {Raw Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match}
From Raw 1,502. Right off the bat this match was weird, as the rules are one man from each team are allowed in at a time, but at almost all times they use the two-in-one-out crutch. The tag titles being on the line seems unimportant to the commentators, who are only concerned about the winners of this match getting a spot at WrestleMania. What’s even the point of the time between Mania and the Royal Rumble if getting on the big show is all that matters? This show is bad. But this match is good. There are a couple irritating moments, like Riddle holding himself up so Rollins can hit a diving double stomp to him in the corner, and Rollins getting lost in thought while staring at the WrestleMania sign. But the rest of the match is filled with great stuff, mostly from Alpha Academy (though everyone contributed to the fun). Rollins & Owens had knocked Gable out with the finishers, but Riddle tossed Rollins and stole the pin at 16:20 (shown of 27:05). ****

July 19, 2003 - Elizabeth, New Jersey

CM Punk def. Raven {Dog Collar Match}
From ROH Death Before Dishonor. It’s interesting that Punk’s feud two years later against Jimmy Rave was the mirror opposite of this one. Well, a mirror opposite from Punk’s perspective, as to this point he (as a heel) was undefeated in ROH against Raven. Later, Rave (as a heel) was undefeated against Punk up to and through their dog collar match. The same happens here, and in both cases the feud was eventually settled in a cage. Most of this bloody brawl was a good watch, but the finish was very weak in hindsight. The referee got taken out, so Colt Cabana interfered and hit Raven with a DDT on a chair. Danny Doering ran in to take out Cabana, but Punk crawled on top of Raven for the win at 18:43. This is a prime example of a match I wish I hadn't watched again, because it didn't age as well as I'd hoped and I'd forgotten that the finish was dumb. ***½

May 7, 2005 - Manhattan, New York

Jimmy Rave def CM Punk {Dog Collar Match}
From ROH Manhattan Mayhem. From my review back in 2005, so there's a lot more play by play than usual. As can be expected when it comes to the Embassy, this feud has been great. Punk hasn’t been able to get a decisive pin on Jimmy Rave, as he’s run away or sent in other members of the Embassy in his place to take the punishment. The Embassy is in full force for this one. Nana tells the crowd that Rave can’t wrestle tonight because he got sick from a New York City subway water fountain. He sends Rave to the back and says that Mike Kruel will take his place. Rave runs back to the ring as Punk adjusts the chain and attacks from behind. Rave pounds him down and puts the chain on. Punk wraps his hand in chain and punches Rave in the gut. Punk Garvin stomps him all over and hits a dropkick. He hangs Rave up in the Tree of Woe and hits a pair of running knees. He goes outside to get a chair but Rave uses the chain to ram Punk and the chair into the post. Punk bleeds bad as Rave tosses him around ringside. Back in the ring Rave rakes the chain across Punk’s forehead wound. Rave hits a clothesline and muzzles Punk with the chain. He curb stomps him with the chain in his mouth for 2. He calls for the Rave Clash but Punk uses the ropes to block. He hits the Shining Wizard and starts clocking Rave. He hits a clothesline and a leg lariat. He hits a superkick for 2. He goes for a powerbomb but Rave punches out and puts on the crossface with the chain. Punk blocks Ghanarea and goes for Welcome to Chicago. Rave blocks and goes for the running knee but Punk reverses to a half crab. Nana gets on the apron and Rave crotches Punk with the chain. He hits the running knee for 2. He goes for the Pepsi Plunge but Punk backdrops him off the top. He hits a pair of powerbombs and calls for another. He hits it on the chain and gets 2. He puts on the Anaconda Vice but Diablo and Kruel get on the apron. Oman comes in and gets clotheslined. Punk hits Rave with the Pepsi Twist. Eddie tries to moonsault onto Punk to break the pin but hits Rave. Punk tosses Eddie into Kruel and hits Kruel with a tornado DDT. Punk goes for the spike DDT but Nana comes in. Jade jumps on Punk’s back but gets tossed off. Rave nails Punk with a series of chair shots and gets the pin. That was an awesome brawl that made Punk look like a million bucks and the interference set up perfectly the cage match on the next show. The Embassy keep beating on Punk until Cabana, Gibson, Dixie and Azrieal make the save.
Rating: ****¼

February 23, 2002 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Low Ki def. American Dragon and Christopher Daniels {Triple Threat Match}
From ROH The Era of Honor Begins. It’s been a while since I’ve watched a Ki match, and it’s wild how many annoying things he does have trickled into the wrestling ether. The cartoonish posing is the number one offense. The only other thing I didn’t like about this match was the referee demanding submissions end because of rope breaks. It’s a triple threat match, you can’t disqualify anyone. Well, that and the commentators screaming about this being the best match of all time in the closing minutes, but I can forgive that because they were trying to get a new product over. Also the commentary improved as the months and years wore on. But there’s way more to love about this match. Foremost is how there are very few wasted moments. Whenever Daniels saw someone on the mat, he went for the pin. If Dragon saw someone prone, he tried to lock in the Cattle Mutilation. If Ki had nothing to do, he’d just start kicking someone. Nobody really sold anything that happened to them, but the match moved so quickly and had the crowd foaming so much that it didn’t really matter. So the match is very influential, for good and for bad, but given where wrestling was in 2002 it was certainly more influential for good. Ki won the match at 20:04 by breaking up the Cattle Mutilation that Dragon had on Daniels with a Phoenix Splash, and then hitting Daniels with the Ki Krusher. ****¼

March 30, 2002 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Christopher Daniels def. American Dragon {Round Robin Tournament Match}
From ROH Round Robin Challenge. Steve Corino is just insufferable on commentary here, quiet-shouting his way through the whole thing. I’m not sure why every indie commentator of this era felt the need to emulate Joey Styles. Actually, it’s funny to imagine Corino and Eric Gargiulo just sitting across a table from each other in a quiet room talking to each other at this volume. Absurd. This was in the opening slot on the show, and it did exactly what it needed to do to set the tone for the evening. Without burning everyone out, they kept the pace brisk and built to a fun finish. Daniels worked over Dragon’s neck enough that Dragon couldn’t hit all of the offense he wanted. Dragon also couldn’t use the Cattle Mutilation because that move requires a bridge. Daniels came back with a piledriver, the Last Rights, and a crossface for the win at 14:23. This was quite a bit better than I remembered it being, though it’s been almost two decades since I first watched the match. I remembered it being good but not particularly interesting in the face of other early ROH classics. It’s definitely less flashy, but it’s very fundamentally sound and satisfying. Later in the night, Daniels lost to Ki and then Danielson beat Ki in the main event. So everyone tied at one win and one loss, rendering the whole thing pretty dumb. They brought back the Round Robin Challenge concept and made it less pointless in future iterations, but it was never particularly popular with ROH fans for good reason. ****

September 4, 2005 – Los Angeles, California

American Dragon def. Christopher Daniels {Quarterfinal Match}
From PWG Battle of Los Angeles. Daniels’ first round match was pretty blah, and I’d hope that maybe Dragon could light a fire under his ass. They feint at the Code of Honor, but Dragon establishes his heel bonafides early by using it to stomp on Daniels’ hand. That becomes kind of the theme of the match, as Daniels fires back in kind. This isn’t ROH, you see. But a heel vs. heel match isn’t the easiest thing to carry, and even between these two pros I think they only got halfway to great. Dragon got 25 revolutions of an airplane spin and put on the crossface chicken wing for the win at 18:23. I suppose it’d be unfair to expect Dragon to be in control the entire match, but it sure was fun when he was. This was probably the worst match I’ve seen between the two, but the standard is high enough that it left us with something entertaining. Rating: ***¼

November 19, 2005 - Lake Grove, New York

Bryan Danielson def. Christopher Daniels {ROH World Championship Match}
From ROH A Night of Tribute. Daniels won a triple threat match against AJ Styles and Matt Sydal earlier in the show to earn this shot. To keep things “fair,” Danielson squashed Pelle Primeau and Azrieal in separate matches right after. Danielson grabs an armbar but Daniels fights back and grabs a headlock. He was an unstoppable monster at this point in his ROH career, putting on amazing matches with everyone. Specifically, he’d just blown me away with a series of classics against Roderick Strong. This match is also terrific, probably as good as their match from the inaugural ROH show and with the benefit of not having Low Ki making faces at everyone. Danielson was such a gnarly heel at this point that he drew blood by biting Daniels and spit it into the crowd. Daniels wouldn’t fall the the Cattle Mutilation and he blocked the crossface chickenwing. But he didn’t block a roaring elbow and got knocked out cold at 29:33. ****¼

And now a journey through all six televised/streamed/released on some kind of home media matches that Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley have had against each other.

December 5, 2007 - Chillicothe, Ohio

Bryan Danielson def. Jon Moxley
From Mad-Pro Wrestling Rise Up. The production was edited strangely here, starting with a shaky ringside camera and then suddenly switching to a hard cam on the balcony and just sticking with that shot for the rest of the match. Moxley was still a little green, though that might have been largely in comparison to Danielson. The seams were showing when he tried to do more complicated stuff, and he was flailing his arms and stomping around like a cartoon Frankenstein’s monster. Other than that, this was a fairly typical low-end Danielson match, but his floor has always been pretty high. He blocked a suplex and locked in the Cattle Mutilation for the win at 10:20. **¾

August 20, 2010 - Norwood, Ohio

Bryan Danielson def. Jon Moxley
From HWA Road to Destiny. If you’ve seen Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar from Survivor Series, then you’ve seen this match. Danielson is in Lesnar’s role and Moxley is in Bryan’s role. The first fifteen minutes of this match are completely dominated by Danielson. All Moxley can do is take a couple of shots that serve only to keep Danielson from winning, but don’t put Moxley in the driver’s seat. Near the end, Moxley starts getting in some exciting offense and the match becomes captivating as all hell. But Danielson beats the crap out of him with all of his usual moves, plus a high kick and a back kick that look like they shook Moxley’s grey matter. Danielson finishes Moxley off with the unprotected elbows at 20:03. ***½

September 26, 2010 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Bryan Danielson def. Jon Moxley
From DGUSA Way of the Ronin. Despite this match happening only a month after their HWA match, this is only similar in that Danielson was pretty dominant. That said, while he was more aggressive in this, it was a bit less one-sided than the last bout. Danielson had been feuding with Kamizaki USA (Shingo Takagi and YAMATO using Moxley and Gran Akuma as their American lackeys), and the feud had gotten rather heated by the end here. Danielson had already beaten Takagi and YAMATO. So Danielson rushed to the ring, and Moxley used that unfocused aggression to bust Danielson open. They basically brawl for the rest of the match, which is kind of funny because at the end it became a showdown between Moxley’s chicken wing and Danielson’s Cattle Mutilation. And then Danielson won with the LeBell Lock at 14:56. A nice change of pace from the previous matches between these two, and a way better showcase of Moxley’s personality. The only thing I bumped up against was Danielson being too much of a babyface to do the heelish things the crowd liked, which caused them to get a bit quiet at times. Otherwise, this was killer. ***¾

May 10, 2013 - Raleigh, North Carolina

Dean Ambrose def. Daniel Bryan
From WWE Smackdown 716. Weird statistic from the episode this aired on: at least one person in each of the five matches has since been signed to AEW. Bryan was one half of the tag champs at this point with Kane and this was during their feud with the Shield. This is a match that makes a liar out of Moxley, as he won by disqualification at 7:51 (shown of 9:21) when Kofi Kingston ran in to attack him in response to Roman Reigns attacking Bryan behind the ref’s back. So while it’s true that he’s never pinned or submitted Danielson, he absolutely beat him here. This match had a great energy given they knew they were fighting towards a crappy finish. Leave it to Bryan to give it his A-game even when the match exists only to hype a tag title match that Ambrose wasn’t a part of. Given that, why couldn’t Ambrose be pinned here? Maybe because he was days away from winning the United States Championship, but they’ve never seemed to care about that kind of thing before. Whatever, doesn’t matter, I liked this well enough anyway. Kane & Bryan lost the tag titles to Reigns and Seth Rollins a couple weeks later on PPV. ***

September 9, 2013 - Toronto, Ontario

Daniel Bryan def. Dean Ambrose
From WWE Raw 1,059. After feuding with the Shield over the tag titles with both Kane and Randy Orton as his tag partner, Bryan got screwed out of being WWE Champion twice in favor of Orton, first after defeating John Cena and then after defeating Orton in a rematch of a Money in the Bank cash in fiasco. The Shield worked for Triple H as goons fighting Danielson, which is where this and the following match come from. Ambrose was still U.S. Champion here, and in fact held it for just shy of a year in total. The Shield was in Ambrose's corner, and Big Show was in Bryan's. But Show was broke and really needed his job, so the McMahons threatened to fire him if he touches the Shield. There wasn't much to this, and it didn't pick up until the last couple of minutes. Then, the Shield tried to attack Bryan but were thwarted. Ambrose used the distraction to take control, but Bryan caught him with a small package for the win at 11:08 (shown of 14:08). **¾

October 21, 2013 - Memphis, Tennessee

Daniel Bryan def. Dean Ambrose
From WWE Raw 1,065. They billed this as Ambrose wanting revenge after being pinned by Bryan in a six-man tag the week before, but really it was to give Bryan more momentum going into his upcoming Hell in a Cell match. For as much crap as JBL has gotten in the past because of his crappy backstage behavior and conservative politics, he was on commentary here calling anti-semitic conspiracy theories stupid long before Qanon ever became a thing. I’m a fan. This was a good time, but again mostly because the crowd was rabid for Danielson at this point. Ambrose could have been anyone competent and the crowd would have reacted just as loudly. In fact, I wish Danielson had given Ambrose a bit more, because the fans went more wild when Danielson came back from being in trouble. Danielson countered a schoolboy to the LeBell Lock for the win at 12:49 (shown of 16:22). ***¼

April 29, 2006 - Cleveland, Ohio

Nigel McGuinness def. Bryan Danielson {ROH World Championship vs. ROH Pure Championship Match}
From ROH Weekend of Champions. This is the first title vs. title match in ROH history. It’s under Pure Title rules. Nigel would then seemingly have the advantage, but being under Pure Title rules only the Pure Title can change hands on a count out or a disqualification. That should give the ending away right there. The first fifteen minutes saw some of the best pure rules rope break action I’ve seen. The entire match flew by and the finish was hot. This was easily the best Pure Title match to date and quite excellent as far as World Championship matches goes. Danielson knocked Nigel into the crowd and rolled back into the ring. He flew out onto Nigel in the crowd with the springboard forearm but wiped out after Nigel smacked him with a chair. Nigel got back into the ring at 19 and Danielson got counted out at 28:34. ****¼

July 29, 2006 - Cleveland, Ohio

Bryan Danielson def. Nigel McGuinness {ROH World Championship Match}
From ROH Generation Now. Nigel beat Danielson by count out in a title vs. title match at Weekend of Champions, Night 2 and then laid him out with the Pure Title belt later in the show. ROH logic stays in tact here as Nigel now gets a shot at Danielson’s title without his own title on the line and without pure wrestling rules. The mat work early in the match was unique but a little slow for my tastes. The arm and legwork didn’t really go anywhere except for Nigel putting on TAS, but even that wasn’t played up as dramatically as it could have been. The bulk of the match was pretty great, about on par with their first match. The finish worked well because Nigel got what he deserved when Danielson got a relatively cheap win. I didn’t like this quite as much as their first match, but it was pretty close. Danielson bailed and crawled under the ring before appearing on the other side of the ring and surprising Nigel with a roll up for the win at 24:27. ***¾

August 25, 2006 - St. Paul, Minnesota

Bryan Danielson tld. Nigel McGuinness {ROH World Championship 2/3 Falls Match}
From ROH Epic Encounter II. If McGuinness had lost here he wouldn’t get any more title shots as long as Danielson is the champion. Danielson takes the first fall with a small package out of nowhere. McGuinness came back with the rebound lariat and That Arm Submission to win the second fall. He tried to do the same to win the third fall, but as the clock was running out he hit Danielson with a series of elbows. It wasn't enough and the 60-minute time limited expired. Paul London vs. Bryan Danielson this was not. The first fall was never boring but never really exciting either. It was more cutely entertaining than anything. The second fall was actually quite dull for the most part, but it had a few fun moments playing off of their earlier matches. The dead crowd once again hurt things as the third fall suffered from the loudest silence I’ve heard (or not heard) in a long time. The way they paid homage to their earlier matches was nice, but between those nice moments were stretches that felt like time-filler. I actually liked this the least out of all of their matches. ***½

October 19, 2007 - Sunrise Manor, Nevada

Bryan Danielson tld. Nigel McGuinness {Opening Round Match}
From ROH Survival of the Fittest. McGuinness’s ROH title was not on the line here. Joe and Danielson didn’t defend the title when they held the belt in past years’ tournaments. James Gibson had vowed to defend the title in the tournament but lost the belt on the show prior. So the tradition continued and the title had yet to ever be defended in the tournament. The match came to an end as Danielson hit his unprotected elbows until McGuinness got to the ropes. Danielson asked the referee how much time was left before setting McGuinness up top. McGuinness crotched Danielson up top but the 20-minute time limit expired before he could hit the Tower of London, and both men were out of the tournament. McGuinness’s selling was amazing. The commentators and Danielson did a fantastic job of putting the time limit draw in the context of McGuinness's history in ROH as well. ***¾

February 23, 2008 - Manhattan, New York

Nigel McGuinness def. Bryan Danielson {ROH World Championship Match}
From ROH Sixth Anniversary Show. The restart was a little strange but it was a quick way to firmly establish McGuinness as a heel, and honestly the brilliance to follow pretty much made me forget about it. On emotion alone this was an epic main event. It wasn’t as hard hitting as their classics from Driven and Unified, and it wasn’t as technical as some of their sleeper matches, but it rivals CM Punk vs. Austin Aries for crowd involvement and genius story telling. The match ended when McGuinness hit a headbutt, showing that he never needed Danielson to promise to take it easy on his injured brain. He hit another and Danielson went down, favoring his bad eye. McGuinness hit the Pumping Bomber and a series of elbows to Danielson’s eye, and then put on the London Dungeon until Danielson passed out at 30:05. McGuinness left the match looking like the biggest douche alive for being a lying weasel and Danielson was a hero not only for refusing to give up but for keeping his word and never attacking McGuinness’s head. We’re left to wonder what could have been had Danielson laid in some of those elbows and had he never been injured by Takeshi Morishima all those months ago. It’s rather amazing that in the last three years these two have put on three amazing matches and this one is nothing like the other two. There’s no denying that Danielson is one of the greatest wrestlers in the world right now, as he not only puts on fantastic performances with young and mediocre wrestlers, but alongside McGuinness, Aries and Morishima he delivers classic after classic. This is going to be hard to beat as the MOTY because had it not been for the restart (which might not bother many of you at all) this would have gotten the full 5 from me. [Side note from 2022: this match is the 128th ranked match on Cagematch as of my putting this pop-up together. Also, per the MOTY comment above, this had that spot until the Kensuke Office Survival Elimination Match replaced it after I watched it for this project]. ****¾

It seems we have a spiritual successor to Lucha Underground on our hands, so I’ll be reviewing this despite my general lack of knowledge regarding Major League Wrestling. I’ve reviewed the history of their Heavyweight Championship, but that’s the extent of my exposure to the company until now.

January 6, 2022 - Tijuana, Baja California

Cesar Duran, formerly known as Dario Cueto and somehow not dead, comes out to the ramp to introduce Tijuana to MLW Azteca. The crowd is pretty packed thanks to the show being co-promoted with the Crash, a popular local lucha company.

Aramis, Black Destiny & Myzteziz Jr. def. Arez, Dinamico & Skalibur
Except for seeing Aramis as part of a multi-man match in Warrior Wrestling, everyone here is new to me. Arez’s rudo team was just awful. The tecnicos tried to hold this thing together, but they didn’t have it in them. This was a rough first match for the concept, filled with lucha schlock and nothing else. Dinamico was a particular disaster, refusing to sell and making his opponents look like garbage. Aramis put this out of its misery by hitting Arez with a spinning inverted Blue Thunder Bomb at 8:01. He has some Musketeer-themed name for the move but I couldn’t make it out. *¾

Alex Kane won the MLW Openweight Championship. Calvin Tankman carjacked Kane and Mr. Thomas, so Kane pressed charges. In a weird wrestling meta-moment, Kane is criticized for pressing charges, which explains to me for the first time in almost 40 years of wrestling fandom how wrestlers get away with so much illegal stuff. It’s taboo to press charges! Kane says he’s not afraid of Tankman and that he’ll make him submit. First, he’ll defend the title against Aerostar on next week’s show.

Duran and Karlee sit in Duran’s office, looking at an Aztec tablet and talking about what will happen once they release the force from it. MLW Caribbean Heavyweight Champion King Muertes joins them to complete the Lucha Underground reunion. They want Muertes to take out Alexander Hammerstone & Pagano, and the force they’re releasing will fight beside him. Moments later it’s announced that the force is Black Taurus. Then, we get a little background on why Duran hates Hammerstone. It turns out he was courting the MLW Heavyweight Champion to work for him, but Hammerstone denied him. Duran unleashed his brother, the Matanza Duran, to attack Hammerstone. At first I thought everything from the season 3 finale of Lucha Underground onward was meant to be non-canonical. Which would have been fine because season 4 sucked. And I was kind of shocked to learn that they got Cobb to play the character again. But then I learned that when Matanza came out to actually wrestle, he immediately unmasked and went by Cobb the rest of the night. So this whole project is just some weird, unfaithful followup. Hopefully it’ll be fun on its own merits.

Psycho Clown def. Richard Holliday
Alicia Atout accompanied Holliday to the ring, but then sat in on commentary and said she only did it because he begged her and that she hates him. Okay, I’m starting to understand why people don’t talk about MLW. Holliday is presented as a heel here, but he’s aligned with Hammerstone, who is an adversary of the heel authority figure. Maybe they’re trying to turn Holliday babyface, as the commentators suggest that the referee is counting slow for him, and he gets distracted when one of Duran’s masked goons approaches Atout at the commentary table. That leads directly to Clown hitting the most awkward Spanish Fly I’ve ever seen for the win at 10:45. Boring, bad match. *

5150 will defend the tag titles next week. Bestia 666 will also appear. Then, the Von Erich’s train in Kauai for an eventual tag title shot. Then, Holliday asks Duran where Atout is. Duran says that his goon escorted her away to protect her from Clown. He introduces Holliday to a police detective who hauls him off to question him about something that happened at a nightclub the night before.

Alexander Hammerstone & Pagano def. Black Taurus & King Muertes {Apocalypto Match}
Seems like Apocalypto means it’s a no disqualification tornado situation. This sucked too. It was a boring, clumsy brawl reminiscent of lazy, small indie main event plunder brawls. This also had Pagano, who’d mug to the crowd from time to time looking for Hulk Hogan-esque reactions and getting nothing, rather than engage with the opponent right in front of him. Discount Vampiro-ass clown. The finish was whack. Hammerstone, who had not been on offense, suddenly was in control (the camera did not catch how this happened) and hit the Nightmare Pendulum for the win at 15:57. Muertes kicked out right at the three-count, just to make this as cheap as possible. Terrible main event. Pagano turns on Hammerstone after the match, when it has the least amount of impact. Duran’s goons carry Hammerstone to the back. *½

Well, that sucked real bad. I was going to review the run but there’s no way I’m sitting through more like this. I’ll just hide this in Lucha Underground season 4 finale review.

January 13, 2022 - Newham, London

WALTER def. Nathan Frazer
From NXT UK 183. McGuinness started by essentially saying that Fraser is going to pee or poo himself during the match. Unnecessary. Had Shawn Michaels been game to have a good match against Vader, this is what it would have looked like. Actually, a more appropriate and modern analogue is Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins from SummerSlam. Much like that match, Frazer used quick strikes and avoided his larger opponent’s signature big move to stay alive. Here it was the powerbomb whereas there it was suplexes. Here, Frazer also successfully damaged WALTER’s knee, which slowed the big man down and made it hard for WALTER to hit the powerbomb. Unfortunately for Frazer, WALTER was able to bide his time and clothesline Frazer’s legs out from under him. An inevitable powerbomb followed and won the match for WALTER at 14:02. I hate to say this because I’m happy that he’s healthier, but the way WALTER has slimmed down has taken some of the magic away from his aura. At least for me it has. That said, dude can clearly still go as well as ever in the ring. ****

January 18, 2022 - Orlando, Florida

WALTER def. Roderick Strong
From NXT 659. Strong was feeling it here, which is thanks in large part to the crowd being maniacally loud from the get go I’m sure. His whole game was fast and devastating stick and move attacks. That worked pretty well, as WALTER was dazed from time to time. But as with all good WALTER matches (which is pretty much all WALTER matches), everything WALTER does is devastating here so it takes very little for him to take back control. And eventually he did just that and hit the powerbomb for the win at 9:46 (shown of 12:18). After the match, WALTER gets on the microphone and says that his name is Gunther now. I did not think WALTER would be a victim of the renaming curse this far into his run. What will they rename Strong?! ***¾

January 27, 2022 - Newham, London

Ilja Dragunov def. Jordan Devlin {NXT UK Championship Empty Arena Match}
From NXT UK 185. Andy Shepherd helpfully announces from inside the ring that the reason for the stipulation is that the feud has gotten so violent that it wouldn’t be safe to have fans around. Devlin says during the match that it’s because he thinks Dragunov could only muster the energy to win if he had the crowd behind him. I like that explanation a lot more. The only real reason I could think of to do this without fans is that there was a scheduling conflict with one of the wrestlers for the regular TV taping date and they needed to get this thing filmed. We just had such a long stretch of empty arena NXT UK episodes that I can’t imagine anyone was dying to get another taste of it. This aired the day after Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy in a match that was also no disqualification and falls count anywhere, and this served up everything I felt was missing from that match. Now you might say, “Brad, Cassidy is not the same kind of character as Devlin or Dragunov, how could you expect the same level of violence or intensity?” To that I say, when Cassidy started his match by breaking his own sunglasses and rapidly punching Cole, he was indicating that level of violence and/or intensity. And instead the match was mostly wacky. Anyway, this was not wacky. It was stiff and intense and featured weapons that made sense and spots the didn’t take forever to set up. Dragunov got in trouble when his eye injury acted up. Devlin took control and beat the crap out of him. I wasn’t wild about how meek Dragunov was when Devlin was zip tying his hands, but I did like that in the end it turned out to be an error on Devlin’s part anyway because Dragunov’s finisher requires no hands. And indeed, a bound Dragunov jumped off the steel steps (which had been brought into the ring) and hit the Torpedo Moskau on Devlin for the win at 21:43. NXT UK is still sneaking in these dope matches that no one is watching. Y’all should watch them. ****¼

When this match was announced for the Final Battle: End of an Era show, I didn’t know that these guys had such a storied history over the last three+ years. I’m excited to check it out, because a rivalry like this reminds me of the early years of ROH.

February 9, 2018 - Concord, North Carolina

Jay Lethal def. Jonathan Gresham
From the second Honor Reigns Supreme. The commentators sold this as Gresham getting a big shot against a top ROH guy after being an also-ran in the Television Championship division for a while. This was terrific. Both guys did a fantastic job selling their respective targeted limbs, and Gresham in particular played the role of the tenacious underdog perfectly. He didn’t just watch to see where Lethal would have trouble executing his finisher because of the damage he’d done to the former ROH Champion’s arm, he pressed the assault whenever he could, taking out the arm to make sure the Lethal Injection would never come. But what he couldn’t do was stop Lethal from battering his knee and ultimately winning with a Figure 4 Leglock at 17:54. ****¼

April 15, 2018 - Columbus, Ohio

Jay Lethal def. Jonathan Gresham
From the second Masters of the Craft. Columbus has way more Gresham fans than Concord did. That’s a neat little advancement to the plot, innit? They both went after the same limbs that earned them dividends in their previous match. And then they went ahead and built an incredible match out of that story. At first it seemed as though Lethal wasn’t going to be able to get Gresham’s leg to give out. But about halfway through the match, Gresham’s knee was in trouble. Gresham was able to escape the leglock this time by using the momentum of Lethal pulling him away from the ropes to shift to an armbar. But Gresham’s focus on the arm bit him in the ass. Lethal went for the Lethal Injection and collapsed again, but when Gresham went for a roll up after that Lethal cut back on it for the win at 18:27. This is one of the best American examples that I've seen of a match building on the match that came before. Rather than try to outdo the maneuvers from their first meeting for the sake of a big crowd reaction, they adjust their game plans in logical ways that, to me, were just as exciting. I think this match is slept on, by virtue of the fact that I’ve never heard anything about it before watching it. ****½

September 7, 2018 - Atlanta, Georgia

Jay Lethal def. Jonathan Gresham {ROH World Championship Iron Man Match}
From ROH Wrestling 364. In real life, Lethal won the title the night before in a four way match. But in the kayfabe broadcast order in which everyone saw the match, Lethal had already defended the title against Mark Haskins in London and against Flip Gordon at All Out. I have a feeling I’m not going to like this as much as the previous two matches in this series, as that is often the case when a stipulation, even an appropriate one, is added to the mix. The commentators do a better job than the hype video showed in explaining that this match was made before Lethal became champion because he wanted to prove that he could beat Gresham with Gresham at 100% without an injured leg. And then it was made a title match after the fact. There’s no timer on the screen, which is baffling to me. The question this match should have been answering was whether or not Gresham could have beaten Lethal if he got over Lethal’s wave of dominance, stemming mostly from the Figure 4 Leglock, around the 18-minute mark. But they pretty much abandoned the pretense of building off of their previous matches. Truth be told, it’s possible that the story was there, but a lot of the match got gobbled up by commercials. What we were able to see was a rather slowly paced first half, followed by a frantic run up to Gresham getting the first fall with his Octopus Stretch a few minutes before the time limit expired. Lethal came right back and tied things up with the Figure 4 Leglock about two minutes later. And then the time limit expired at 23:20 (shown of 30:00). Rather than a draw, Lethal grants Gresham’s request for five more minutes. Five more minutes is the most annoying trope in wrestling if you’re not going to have it go to a draw at the end. And as is the case it’s even weirder because they announce it as five more minutes AND sudden death. Why say five more minutes at all then? It’s irrelevant, as after a fun couple of minutes, Lethal finally hits Gresham with the Lethal Injection for the win at 3:49 of overtime. As predicted, this couldn’t live up to their previous matches because they had to work around the expectations of the stipulation. And while I like that the Figure 4 came back into play, it did so in far from the most interesting way. These two are talented enough that the match breezed by, but it didn’t pull me in the way their other matches did. ***¼

September 27, 2019 - Sunrise, Manor, Nevada

Jonathan Gresham def. Jay Lethal
From Death Before Dishonor XVII. Gresham and Lethal had been teaming, but Gresham grew frustrated and started heeling. Ultimately, he turned on Lethal. It took them a little while to get there, but once they got into a groove this was exactly what I wanted from this match. It was back to their old tricks, with Lethal targeting the leg to set up for the Figure 4 Leglock and Gresham targeting the arm to block the Lethal Injection and set up for his Octopus. In the end, Lethal tried the cutback trick that worked for him in Columbus, but Gresham countered to a pin and then put on the gnarliest Octopus for his first win over Lethal at 17:20. This is the best kind of wrestling series. And none of it felt stale because it was a year after they’d wrestled last and because they found ways to energize the old tropes. And that’s not to mention Gresham busting out what I can only describe as a sumo-style assault. Gresham and Lethal make up after the match. ****

April 16, 2021 - Baltimore, Maryland

Jonathan Gresham def. Jay Lethal {ROH Pure Championship Match}
From ROH Wrestling 500. During the pandemic, ROH made the most of their empty arena shows by kicking them off with a tournament to crown a champion for the revived Pure Championship. Gresham won the tournament, and this was his fourth defense of the title. Lethal and Gresham were still allies here. In an interesting move, the other match on this milestone episode was two other partners fighting in Jay and Mark Briscoe. They cut to a commercial break about six minutes in, though the action didn’t get beyond (admittedly fast-moving) mat wrestling until the 10-minute mark. That had me thinking this was going to go long, but things took a different turn. Both guys had abused the other’s shoulders, and Lethal used that to his advantage best. He forced Gresham to use his first rope break to stop a pin, and his second to escape a crab. Then, he used the failed Lethal Injection to bait Gresham into a crossface, forcing the champ to use his final rope break. But he made the mistake of giving Gresham a breather and was quickly caught in a head scissor takedown giving Gresham the winning pin at 14:06 (shown of 16:40). For an empty arena match, this held my attention. It was totally different than their previous matches while still using a couple elements from the rivalry to elevate it just a bit. Not essential viewing, but if you’re working your way through their series you shouldn’t skip it. ***¼

These are all my original reviews of these matches from back in 2006, so the style is different.

April 22, 2006 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bryan Danielson def. Colt Cabana {ROH World Championship Match}
From ROH's 100th Show. Alarm bells should have been going on that this was occurring so early in the show. The CZW fans chant “overrated” at Danielson. He has Bobby Cruise respond during the introductions and then moons them. Danielson and Cabana knuckle up. Danielson can’t escape and Cabana gets 2. The ROH fans chant “Hero tapped out” at the CZW fans in reference to the World Title match at Hell Freezes Over. Cabana gets a series of quick pins for 2. Danielson responds with the Cow Killer roll up out of nowhere for the win at 5:02. You read that right, that’s the entire match. Cabana falls to the mat in disbelief. This was too short to evolve beyond being a roll up fest. Rating: *¾

June 10, 2006 - Orlando, Florida

Bryan Danielson def. Colt Cabana {ROH World Championship Match}
From FIP Impact of Honor. The setup for this match happened on ROHVideos.com. In the video, Cabana made fun of Danielson’s complexion, so the title match that was scheduled for Chicago in ROH got moved up to this show. They fight for crowd approval to start, and since this isn’t ROH the mega-heel Danielson actually draws boos. Cabana went for Colt 45 but Danielson blocked it and hit a roaring elbow for the win at 22:33. Cabana’s foot was on the bottom rope but the referee didn’t see it at all. After the match another referee came down to inform the first that Cabana’s foot was indeed on the ropes. The acting referee had none of it and the decision stood. This set up their ROH title rematch in Chicago a couple weeks later and put some bad feelings in their upcoming FIP title match. There was no ROH spirit in this ROH World Championship match. Almost half the match was stalling, which never happens in ROH. Then this twenty-two minute bout only got out of first gear in the last couple of minutes. I was extremely disappointed in this and I hope that one of the numerous upcoming rematches lives up to expectations. Rating: **¾

June 24, 2006 - Chicago Ridge, Illinois

Bryan Danielson def. Colt Cabana {ROH World Championship Match}
From ROH Chi-Town Struggle. Oddly enough, the last time the ROH World Championship was defended in the main event of a Ring of Honor event was in Chicago in late March at Supercard of Honor. This is a rematch from FIP’s Impact of Honor because of the controversial finish to that match. Cabana hit the Colt 45 but Danielson countered his pin for the win at 29:40. The match was divided into two different fun segments; first was Danielson’s ability to get past Cabana’s unorthodox style and the second was Cabana’s balls-out effort to win the belt in front of his hometown. They didn’t link together at all but each was fun on its own. Rating: ***½

July 7, 2006 - Inverness, Florida

Bryan Danielson def. Colt Cabana {FIP Heavyweight Championship Match}
From FIP Heatstroke. Cabana got this title shot by winning the main event elimination match at Chasing the Dragon. This is the fifth match I’ve seen between these two this year (I’d seen their Broadway from ROH before this, even though it occurred after, because of FIP’s slow release schedule) and I can’t say that any one of the other matches has wowed me. It takes a while for the match to get started as Cabana teases Danielson and Danielson stalls. Cabana catches him with a low blow going back into the ring so Danielson stays on the floor and asks people to check the injury. Cabana does more comedy to frustrate the champ. Danielson spits in his face so Cabana hits a series of forearm twists. Danielson bails and pulls Cabana to the floor where he rams him into the post. Back in the ring Danielson cheats and hits suplexes. Dave Prazak distracts the referee in a deliciously obvious way while Danielson chokes Cabana with his wrist tape. Cabana hits a powerbomb but Prazak distracts the referee. BJ Whitmer runs out and hits Cabana in the back of the leg with a chair and Danielson rolls him up for the win at 23:42. That was a pretty long match for that finish. They worked the same style of match as they did at Impact of Honor, but it worked better as an FIP title match because FIP doesn’t take itself as seriously as ROH. Rating: ***

August 26, 2006 - Chicago Ridge, Illinois

Bryan Danielson tld. Colt Cabana {ROH World Championship 2/3 Falls Match}
From ROH Gut Check. Just like McGuinness the night before, this was Cabana’s fourth shot at the title (recently) and he would not get another title shot against Danielson if he lost here. Very early on, Cabana got a roll up for two and hit the Colt 45 out of nowhere to pick up the first fall. I believe that was quicker than Danielson pinned Cabana at The 100th Show. Cabana’s hometown crowd chanted, “one more fall,” but it was not to be. The second fall lasted the entire remainder of the match. Eventually, Cabana tried to run out the clock to win the match 1-0. But Danielson caught him with a German suplex, and a low blow. He rolled Cabana up to tie the match and then casually let the clock run out to retain during his thirty-second time out between falls. Danielson’s injury slowed this match down incredibly, which made it tough to watch for an hour. On the upside, the injury made the match going sixty minutes make a lot more sense, as Cabana just wasn’t good enough to put Danielson down twice and Danielson was too injured to dominate Cabana as he has in the past. The finish was cool too. Logic only gets you so far unfortunately, and this was pretty dull. I feel they could have accomplished everything they went for in the match (including the draw) without stretching it to an hour. But Danielson just had to be able to say he did two hour-long draws in a single weekend, and three in a single month. Rating: ***

The Xtreme Pro Wrestling title plagued the world from 1999 - 2003, when XPW ran shows pretty consistently. For those who don’t know, watch the Dark Side of the Ring about it. I don’t have the energy nor the inclination to give the history of a company that was knocking off a third-rate wrestling company. I also can’t find most of the title changes, which is why I’m just shoving the few I can find into a pop up review. And it’s not like any of these matches are going to be any good anyway.

February 26, 2000 - Los Angeles, California

Chris Candido def. Damien Steele {XPW World Heavyweight Championship Falls Count Anywhere Match}
From My Bloody Valentine. Steele came into this as a two-time champion, having purchased the title from Jake Lawless moments after Lawless won it from Michael Modest. Modest was never champ, but rather the belt had been vacant since Big Dick Dudley became unable to defend the title because doing so was a violation of his parole. Dudley had beaten Steele for the title. Steele had been the first champion, having won the title in a battle royal. So if nothing else, this belt has a serious white trash legacy. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but Candido was in bad form here. I imagine it might have been an in-gimmick there, but he was wobbling around like he was drunk. The match consisted of a bit of boring brawling, Steele hitting a suplex on the stage, Candido completely biffing it going for a diving headbutt off of a ladder (and the crowd giving his crap for it), and then more unconvincing brawling until Candido hit a weak elbowdrop off of a bar onto Steele for the win at 5:18. At least it was short. After the match, Shane Douglas came out and hogged the spotlight from Candido. That’s too perfect. For the sake of reference, the next night at No Way Out, Triple H and Cactus Jack had their Hell in a Cell match. *½

May 26, 2001 - Los Angeles, California

The Messiah def. New Jack {XPW World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Redemption. Candido went to WCW so the title became vacant. Sabu beat the Messiah for the vacant title. One night, Sabu didn't show up, so Jack defended the title in his place. I hate to speak ill of the dead, again, but I don’t think Jack knew any wrestling moves. This entire match, until the final two minutes, was Jack pushing sharp things into Messiah’s forehead, then walking around a bit. Messiah hit four moves (a DVD, a clothesline, a suplex, and a TKO) and then the match was over at 12:03. Messiah got fired a couple months later and was stripped of the title. For the sake of reference, on the same night in Salt Lake City, Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho were defending the WWF Tag Team Championships against Steve Austin & William Regal. Just something to think about. ½*

August 25, 2001 - Los Angeles, California

Johnny Webb & Rob Black def. Sabu & Josh Lazie {XPW World Heavyweight Championship Tag Team Match}
From Damage Inc. Is it even a crappy early-aughts wrestling company if the owner doesn’t put himself in a title match? This started as a handicap match as it wasn’t clear who Black’s partner would be. Five minutes in, Black ran to the back. Lazie dragged him back out, but it was clearly an impostor in a fat suit. The commentators sound like morons for playing like they can’t tell the difference and marveling at Black’s sudden proficiency at professional wrestling. Steele runs in and interferes on the heel’s behalf too. Was the fat suit deception not enough? Webb hits Lazie with an elbowdrop from the top rope through a table on the floor for the win at 9:21. At this point, I’m not at all convinced that XPW was meant to be anything but a big troll job. For the sake of reference, six days earlier, Steve Austin and Kurt Angle fought for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam. *

July 20, 2002 - Pico Rivera, California

Shane Douglas def. Johnny Webb {XPW World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From XPW Baptized in Blood III: Night of Champions. Loser Leaves XPW. Seems like there’s incentive to lose. There was a lot of meaningless brawling through the crowd here. So meaningless in fact, that it featured things like Webb smashing Douglas’s head into a wall followed immediately by Douglas being in control with a clothesline off of the steel barricade. Shortly after that, Webb backdrops Douglas onto the hood of a car, and Douglas’s back starts bleeding a lot. They finally get into the ring, bump a couple of referees on purpose, and then Douglas hits the belly to belly suplex for the win at 14:55. This was the best XPW title change I’ve seen, in that rather than being actively terrible it was just kind of sad. It was what you get when you go to an indie show and see two guys way past their prime have a match for ten minutes. The sad thing was, Webb and Douglas were 33 and 37, respectively. Douglas remained champion until early 2003 when the company shut down. For the sake of reference, the next night in Detroit at Vengeance, I was in attendance as the Rock, Angle, and the Undertaker fought in a dope match for the WWE Championship.

All this is to say, WWF/WWE was still very good around this time and I can’t think of any reason why the weirdos in these crowds paid money to watch this trash.

April 16, 2004 - Santa Monica, California

American Dragon def. Rocky Romero {Tournament Finals}
From NJPW Inoki Dojo Best of the American Super Juniors. I had no idea that there was a 2004 version of this tournament. I am very familiar with the 2005 version, which we’ll get to in a moment. There’s fancam footage of this show out there, which is what I watched. I assume NJPW actually filmed this as there were clearly people around ringside, though given the low resolution of this video it’s hard to tell if they were videographers or photographers. I liked that they established that Romero’s kicks were dangerous enough to knock Dragon out early in the match. That became important for the finish because Dragon dominated most of the match but got caught with kicks near the end. That left him open for Romero to almost win with a cross armbreaker, but Dragon stood up and hooked a Regalplex for the win at 13:31. ***

April 2, 2005 - Asbury, New Jersey

Black Tiger def. Bryan Danielson {Semifinal Match}
From ROH Best of the American Super Juniors Tournament. My dear friend Jake Ziegler was at the show live, and after the show spoke to Gabe Sapolsky who said to him, “Nice to meet you. Sorry about the tournament.” That’s so funny. I just went back and looked at the review I wrote for this match in 2005 and it’s clear that I did know there’d been a tournament the previous year. A decade and a half will melt your brain, I guess. Romero apparently was shocked to learn he’d be the fourth Black Tiger. Now that NOSAWA has been a Black Tiger, I don’t know how prestigious it really is. I was really down on this match at the time, but watching it back I wonder what species of bug was up my butt back then. Maybe it was just that the match wasn’t in the typical ROH style that I was used to, or maybe I was just annoyed that Danielson didn’t win. Maybe I was turned off by the quiet crowd. Maybe it’s that I’m nostalgic for this era of heel Danielson. Either way, this match was pretty damn good. It took the structure of the match they had the year before but layered in Danielson’s heel shtick. What’s not to like about that? It even played off of the previous year’s finish. Danielson went for the Regalplex because it won him the tournament the year before and it won him his first round match on this night, but Tiger escaped and hit a tiger suplex for the win at 14:22. ***¼

December 3, 2005 - Manhattan, New York

Bryan Danielson def. Rocky Romero
From ROH Steel Cage Warfare. I can’t remember what Romero did to earn this title shot, but I’m pretty sure they weren’t acknowledging that he was Black Tiger so his tournament win didn’t play into it. I looked it up, and he got this match on the strength of the Rottweilers winning a trios tournament earlier in the year. When this happened, I was annoyed that Danielson was having a match against a midcarder in a midcard spot for the title. Looking back at the full card, it was stacked and this was a good opportunity to give Romero a bigger spotlight. I was too much of a dick in 2005. I thought I might not like this much because both guys were heels, but it turns out Romero was a hell of a heel. Also, Danielson the crowd ate it up when Danielson antagonized them, making him a de facto babyface. Could it be that Danielson’s more famous matches were just so good that when he didn’t put on a mind-blower I rated things lower than I should have because I was spoiled? Seems to be the case. This match was a bop and I was a dummy for saying it was medium. They just went out there and were jerks to each other for fifteen really dope minutes. Danielson dazed Romero with a slap and then put him away with a half crab at 15:26. ***¾

February 22, 2008 - Deer Park, New York

Bryan Danielson def. Rocky Romero {Quarterfinal Match}
From ROH Eye of the Storm. The gimmick here is that a whole bunch of wrestlers couldn’t get to the show because there was a storm, so they put on a one-night number one contender tournament to make up for it. This was the opener and the only match on the show that was scheduled to happen anyway. The commentators make an interesting point that Danielson already has a guaranteed World Title shot, so doing well in the tournament and wrestling multiple matches might be less beneficial than phoning this in, taking a loss, and going all out against McGuiness once rather than risk injury for a second shot. This is the only match between these two that I slightly overrated the first time around. I think in 2008 I was ready to heap praise on them because they were opening a show in front of a bunch of annoyed fans and did a good job with it. The match is good, but it’s a brief greatest hits version of what they’d done before. Plus, Romero was in control more often as Danielson played a more traditional babyface, which wasn’t as interesting as the previous dynamics. Danielson locked Romero in an armbar for the win at 10:55. ***½

July 31, 2004 - Highland, Indiana

CM Punk def. Matt Sydal
From IWA Mid-South Stylin’ in the Summertime. Sydal was 21 here and Punk was 26. I think that had they cut five minutes off of the front of this thing it would have been a real banger. But Punk was in the middle of his obsession with long matches, so that was never really in the cards. What we got was a slow roll into a dope match. Punk went after Sydal’s leg, and Sydal sold it like a champ. Sydal started to control and might have gotten the win, but he became fixated on hitting an aerial move and Punk cut him off every time he climbed the turnbuckles. Sydal might have had more luck had he not audibly said he was going to fly over and over, which the commentators kindly pointed out. Punk locked Sydal in a half crab for the win at 18:48. Man, I wish they’d have tightened this up a bit because I was heavily invested by the end. ***¾

July 1, 2005 - Salem, Indiana

CM Punk def. Matt Sydal
From IWA Mid-South Catch a Rising Star. What has changed a year later? Well, this is the main event of the show now. But I don’t think that matters because IWA MS didn’t exactly have tightly structured cards holding these two back from doing whatever they wanted in ‘04. Punk had ditched the basketball shorts by this point. Sydal came out with the NWA Midwest X-Division Championship belt. He’d actually won it the day before their ‘04 match, but he didn’t have the belt on him then. He has it here, and he’d go on to lose it like three weeks after this to Delirious. Speaking of Delirious, Punk wrestled him the night after this in his final IWA MS match ever. On commentary, Dave Prazak says that Punk considered Sydal and Delirious the next version of him and Colt Cabana, in that they were two midwest wrestlers setting the indie scene on fire. I’m not sure why they’d try to erase Alex Shelley and Jimmy Jacobs from the region’s history as if they didn’t do the same thing in the interim, but here we are. Punk did not have his ROH title belt with him. He did have the Bouncing Souls as his entrance music (Ole, not the sappy one he used for his final ROH match). I guess he was feeling nostalgic. The most important thing that’s changed is that there were a LOT more people in the crowd the year before. Granted, that show had Danielson and AJ Styles on it, but this had one of Punk’s last ever indie matches. Welp, IWA MS gonna IWA MS I guess. They did a decent amount of stuff here, but it didn’t feel cohesive. The fact that you had a couple dozen people anemically clapping for the big spots rather than cheering didn’t help. Punk hit an avalanche Michinoku Driver for the win at 16:58 after he couldn’t quite hit the Pepsi Plunge. Why, though? Breaking out a new dangerous finisher seems so random when hitting your original dangerous finisher would be more on-theme. **½

You know what, I’m not just going to review the AIW draw. I’m going to review a whole goddamn mess of Bryan Danielson draws.

August 24, 2002 - Wakefield, Massachusetts

American Dragon tld. Donovan Morgan
From ROH Honor Invades Boston. Imagine worrying about whether or not Morgan is protected in 2002. Yikes. I know it all worked out for Dragon, but I don’t understand what ROH thought they were accomplishing with him in the early days. They had him in their first main event, where he lost. Then he gets to beat the guy who beat him on the next show, but also lose a second match on that same show. Then he loses to Spanky on the third show, and then to Doug Williams following that in the title tournament. And then here he’s in a draw. He didn’t even start getting back on track until the end of the year. Did they frame it as a redemption arc? I can’t remember it happened almost twenty years ago, which in itself makes me fear my inevitable demise. This had a pretty good use of the time limit-robs-a-wrestler finish, as Dragon had Morgan in the Cattle Mutilation for a reasonable amount of time, but the 15-minute limit expired before Morgan’s arm could drop a third time. ***¼

American Dragon tld. Samoa Joe tld. Steve Corino tld. Low Ki {Number One Contender Trophy Four Way Match}
From ROH's first Final Battle. I feel like my 2002 ROH memory is pretty strong as it was during my peak wrestling fandom, but I totally forgot that this ever happened. This match was pretty frustrating. All four guys were willing to kick each other’s asses for 45 minutes, but they didn’t seem interested in putting together a story to tie all the action together. There was a stretch where Joe and Corino just disappeared, and then near the end Joe just stopped selling. He’s the biggest guy in the match, he should have been selling exhaustion the most! In the final moments, nobody was going for a win, and in fact, Joe and Ki just decided to waste time recreating a moment from their earlier, more famous match. I can’t believe how much Joe irritated me here. The finish saw Ki put Corino in the dragon sleeper with seconds to go, and Corino tap just before the 45-minute time limit expired (but not quickly enough for the referee to notice it). At least that didn’t give Ki the win, because that’s my least favorite match finish that features a time limit expiring. ***¼

Then we have to skip a bunch of draws that Danielson had in tag matches in New Japan because NJPW World is terrible when it comes to older stuff.

April 17, 2004 - Santa Ana, California

Bryan Danielson tld. Samoa Joe
From PWG The Musical. I guess kind of similar to the Final Battle match, these guys just went out there and did stuff for a half hour. It wasn’t boring stuff, but again it never felt like either of them was going for the kill. Even when they started locking in their signature submissions near the end, it wasn’t done with much urgency. At first I marveled at how this matchup, which could have headlined a successful WWE PPV if that company wasn’t so up its own ass, was contested here in front of like 50 people. I just checked and it turns out these guys never had a one-on-one match on WWE TV in any capacity, just two dark matches in 2018. That’s insane. They were in a triple threat once on Smackdown, but so was Big Cass so blah, and maybe they locked up as part of a handful of gauntlet matches they were both a part of. WWE is ridiculous. Anyway, the second half of the small crowd thought was that I can’t really blame them for not killing themselves on this show. PWG was not even close to the indie mecca it would later become, and was still a place where cool matchups were wrestled light heartedly. The thirty-minute time limit expired without much fanfare or intensity here. ***

Then we skip more tag match draws from NJPW and one against Doug Williams from a rather random company in Germany that just as randomly had a 25-minute time limit.

August 5, 2006 - Edison, New Jersey

Bryan Danielson tld. Samoa Joe {ROH World Championship Match}
From ROH Fight of the Century. What a difference two years and a change of scenery makes. The build to this match was pretty great. Joe staked claim to the ROH World Championship so Danielson turned on him in the Cage of Death and took out his knee. Joe rehabbed and destroyed his competition on his way to Danielson. He sent in video to show Danielson that his knee had healed up just fine and said that he was in the best shape of his career. He picked up momentum by squashing AJ Styles in Styles’ farewell match in the main event of the show before this. This was probably the most hyped up ROH title match to this point. The crowd was vocal in support of both men. The match ended when Danielson put crossface chicken wing. Joe fought out and countered a roll up to the rear naked choke, but Danielson held on until the 60-minute time limit ran out. These two were just on an entirely different level than most wrestlers in 2006, so it’s no surprise that they could keep a sixty minute draw compelling. Joe’s strikes versus Danielson’s leg work was excellent in the early part of the match. The match going long made sense because Danielson was frustrated at not being able to get a good string of offense going and thus spent a lot of time regrouping. It lost a little steam after the first fifteen minutes, at which point it stopped feeling like each guy was giving it his all and it became obvious that the match was going to stretch out. It got back on track just a bit later, and the final stretch was filled with great touches from Danielson. Touches like using tactics that worked against other opponents (the roll up counter to the crab against Roderick Strong and the corner counter to the Cattle Mutilation from the well known signature move against Alex Shelley). Joe breaking out the new offense, like the second rope knee, was great as well. It wasn’t the classic draw that Joe had with CM Punk, but it also wasn’t the kind of draw that Punk had with Christopher Daniels where it felt like the match could have ended at many times. This never felt like it should end but it also didn’t feel like either guy was really fighting their heart out for the first 45 minutes, which doesn’t make sense considering how badly Joe supposedly wanted the belt. With all his experience keeping the belt from Punk by letting the clock run out he should have been doing more to keep that from happening to him. The final 15 minutes were a sight to behold, though. ****¼

August 25, 2006 - St. Paul, Minnesota

August 26, 2006 - Chicago Ridge, Illinois

October 6, 2006 - Cleveland, Ohio

Bryan Danielson tld. Samoa Joe {Opening Round Match}
From Survival of the Fittest 2006. I tend to rag on Prazak a lot for his commentary because it is often snarky and bad, but he does a good job here getting over the urgency each guy has in wanting to put the other away because they were unable to get a decision in under 60 minutes the last time they fought. Danielson sold the size difference between himself and Joe so well here, having to find an unorthodox way to bridge out of a pin and giving up on submissions that weren’t physically feasible. As the last minute ticked away, Joe ended Danielson’s hopes of winning with a roll up by hitting an enziguiri, but he couldn’t get the Coquina Clutch on fast enough and the 20-minute time limit expired. Jake Ziegler and I gave this match a very medium review when we first watched in in 2007 (ROH DVDs were released months after the shows came out), but it's actually sneaky genius. I called it the most ordinary match between them that I'd ever seen, but I clearly wasn't watching with an eye for detail and I'd CLEARLY not yet seen their PWG draw. Reading my old reviews is a rough task. ***¾

May 19, 2007 - Burbank, California

Bryan Danielson tld. CIMA
From PWG DDT4. CIMA was accompanied to the ring by Stalker Ichikawa Z, so that's awesome. The final moments saw Danielson hit a back superplex, CIMA pop up only to fall flat on his back, and Danielson go for the Cattle Mutilation and a failed roll up just before the thirty-minute time limit expired. As you’d expect, this was a hard-hitting tour de force from one of the best Japanese wrestlers at the time and one of the best American wrestlers of all time. I especially loved that when Danielson heard the ring announcer counting down the final seconds of the match that he stopped trying to get the submission and went for a desperation pin. That’s just one of a billion things that he brings to wrestling that others don't. ****¼

In NOAH, Bryan Danielson & Davey Richards vs. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori in a 30-minute draw likely never aired. I wouldn't be shocked if it was dope as hell. Also could have been medium since it was on an untelevised show. We'll never know!

October 19, 2007 - Sunrise Manor, Nevada

Bryan Danielson vs. Scotty Mac from ECCW in an unspecified-amount-of-time draw was impossible to find. ECCW has posted YouTube compilations of Danielson and of Mac, but not of this match between them. How weird is that? There's also another NOAH tag featuring KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Danielson & Yoshinobu Kanemaru that didn't seem to air. NOAH, you're killing me.

August 1, 2008 - Manassas, Virginia

Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries tld. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
From ROH Fueling the Fire. The sound cut out during Aries and Danielson’s entrance, so they did it again. They showed a clip of Shelley bringing Aries into ROH and then of Aries turning on Shelley later in the year. After about 19 minutes of action, Danielson hit his elbows as the time limit began to run out. He reapplied the Cattle Mutilation, but Sabin rolled over for a failed pin attempt, and then they meandered around until the 20-minute limit expired. The crowd was obviously upset and wanted five more minutes. Since everyone was a babyface we got five more minutes. When the time limit began to expire again, Shelley locked on the Border City Stretch on Aries. They traded holds like that until their five minutes ran out. I bet the crowd wishes they’d changed “restart the match,” instead of “five more minutes." Five more minutes is an incredibly stupid thing to chat. The last minute before the time limit expired the first time was awful. The crowd completely died and it looked like all four guys were rolling around with no idea how to fill the time. The match as a whole never met expectations, and they probably would have been better off playing up the Aries/Shelley rivalry during the initial part of the match instead of devoting an extra five minutes to it. A good tag match that should have been great. ***½

And here's the final (to date but also probably ever) NOAH junior tag team match featuring Danielson that went to a draw and didn't air, as Danielson & Davey Richards faced Kotaro Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Sigh.

March 1, 2009 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bryan Danielson tld. Tyler Black
From ROH on HDNet 6. Wow, this kind of snuck up on me. I’ve tended to be pretty blah about Black. He’s very athletic and does a lot of the right things, but little about his ring work gets my blood flowing. But here they worked a match that got progressively more interesting based on Black’s increasing momentum and Danielson’s successful attempts to block that momentum. The commentators also did a nice job of tying this to a past match so that when Black countered a triangle choke to the Turnbuckle Powerbomb, it seemed like he might be able to win the match. But instead the 20-minute time limit ran out. ****

April 18, 2009 - Markham, Ontario

Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards tld. Bryan Danielson & Tyler Black {ROH World Tag Team Championship Match}
From Tag Title Classic. This was the first of three attempts that Danielson made at the tag titles, the only belt he’d never won in ROH. How do you like that? A compelling angle over the tag team titles. Halfway through this match, I started getting annoyed at the American Wolves for no-selling the ref and ignoring the tag rules. And then I realized how well they were working me. I (knowing full well how this match ended) started getting stoked everytime the challengers looked like they might win, or even when they’d just knock one of the Wolves to the floor. A great tag team match can easily become an epic tag team match if the heel team acts like dicks effectively. It’s what makes the Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat match so great, it’s what makes all the notable Revival and Undisputed Era matches in NXT so great, it’s what makes so many Dragon Gate matches so great, and it’s what made this match stand out. What I especially liked was that the Wolves cheated in a way that wasn’t smarmy or sneaky, it was just aggressive and off putting. And maybe most importantly, props to Black for going through a table and letting that lay him out for a long time. So often you see people recover from table spots quickly, rendering them meaningless. Black returned to the match by saving Danielson from a Cloverleaf, and I do wish that the hold had been on for more than a couple seconds before Black had jumped in to make his reentry more dramatic. But it’s not like the return was bad, so I can’t dock the match for it, it just could have been better. Nigel McGuinness on commentary screaming for Black to get his hands out of his hair (during an exasperated reaction after a close two-count) and keep wrestling is perfect. That is an annoying thing that Black does that has infected all of wrestling since (especially in WWE). I didn’t like the finish, however. First, they just completely threw out the tag rules, which is super annoying. It didn’t feel earned. And then the match ended with Richards surviving the Cattle Mutilation for over a minute until the 45-minute time limit expired. That just buries the move so much for not much of a payoff, as the focus was more on Black and Edwards struggling toward the end. But 40 minutes of excellent tag team wrestling is impossible to ignore. ****¾

June 27, 2010 - Cleveland, Ohio

Johnny Gargano tld. Bryan Danielson {AIW Absolute Championship Match}
From AIW Absolution V. Gargano had won the title earlier in the night in a short four-way match. Gargano was busting Down by Curse Icon as his entrance song. It doesn’t hold a candle to Don’t Die Digging. He’d already debuted in DGUSA, so I wonder if he was using both or just hadn’t made the switch yet. This was right after Danielson was fired from WWE during that brief stint. This is also a rematch from Danielson’s last match before going to WWE in the first place. It should come as no surprise that this match is terrific. Danielson controls most of the match, and Gargano’s comebacks are incredibly dramatic. I thought I’d be annoyed at the constant reminders by the ring announcer that the time limit was approaching, but they worked that into the story as well. Danielson went for all of his big signatures, but nothing could put Gargano away. In the last minute, Gargano hit the Hurts Donut really as a way of surviving until the end. He went for a pinfall just to see if he could prove he was better, and even thought that wasn’t to be, he still walked away with the belt. ****¼

May 17, 2011 - Corpus Christi, Texas

Daniel Bryan tld. Chavo Guerrero
From WWE Smackdown 613. So Danielson is back in WWE and during the entire run, this is the only time limit draw that Mr. I Love Draws did. The gimmick here was that Guerrero helped Sin Cara beat Bryan the week before, but it took Cara 15 minutes. So Guerrero claimed he could beat Bryan in under five minutes. He could not. I got way more out of this than I expected to. As the kids are fond of saying these days, these two clearly understood the assignment. Guerrero spent the match looking up at the clock counting down and growing more desperate to pin Bryan, while Bryan just casually went about his business and helped Guerrero put on a fun match. I expected this to be typical WWE TV nothingness, but it goes to show that a decade ago things weren’t as bad on TV as they are now. Guerrero hit the Frog Splash, but Bryan kicked out and the five-minute time limit expired. This is a little gem, if you ask me. ***

September 22, 2021 - Queens, New York

Bryan Danielson tld. Kenny Omega
From AEW Dynamite 103: Grand Slam. Okay so the first thing to love about this match is that they wrestled what would have been, had the title been on the line and the time limit been longer, a match that would have logically led to an actual finish a few minutes after the bell rang here. Specifically, what I liked is that the match was cut off at a place that felt realistic, and not like one that was manufactured for the sake of a thirty-minute time limit. Also, kudos to TNT for not going to a commercial during this very long match. It escalated in a way befitting of its place on the card, its non-title status, and the two men involved. This was the most fun I’ve had watching an Omega singles match in some time. His selling felt realistic and not totally goofy as it often can. Serious Omega is A-OK in my book. ****¼

July 2, 2021 - Orlando, Florida

Sunil Singh and Tony Nese are still on the 205 Live banner image on Peacock, and Nese is the big feature image for the show on Hulu. They might want to change that. Speaking of things that should change, I understand why they didn’t include Jordan Myles (ACH) in the retrospective video about the last Breakout Tournament, but why exclude Boa? He just had a match on NXT TV last week and he’s the only other guy from the tournament they didn’t mention. Dexter Lumis hasn’t wrestled on TV in over two months. He’s not currently in a better spot than Boa.

Andre Chase def. Guru Raaj {Qualifying Round Match}
Oof, I would have gone with Raaj here. I’ve never been a Harlem Bravado fan, but I’m impressed that he got himself back into shape before his TV debut. Sadly, this match didn’t show me anything new from Chase. The match was painfully slow while he was in control. Raaj has some good babyface charisma, so it’s disappointing we won’t be seeing more from him yet. Chase hit a weird modified capture suplex for the win at 8:26. *¾

It’s been a while since I’ve watched 205 Live, so I forgot that half of the show is main roster recapping. In this case, they show Raw’s full main event. I heard it was good (Riddle vs. Drew McIntyre vs. AJ Styles) but I’m skippping it.

Joe Gacy def. Desmond Troy {Qualifying Round Match}
They probably spent a bit too much time in Gacy’s rest holds as they silenced the crowd, but other than that this was a good showing from both guys. I still want to put money in Troy stock, as he has potential to put his own spin on the Kurt Angle/Brock Lesnar/Team Angle/American Alpha schtick. Gacy caught Troy with a uranage and a handspring into a rebound lariat for the win at 8:33. **¼

July 9, 2021 - Orlando, Florida

They spoiled the following two matches on NXT by showing Josh Briggs and Odyssey Jones in the lineup for the tournament proper. It would not have been a big deal to have the losers here in the lineup so as to hype this episode of 205 Live.

Josh Briggs def. Asher Hale
Briggs is the only guy I’ve seen who has gotten into worse shape between EVOLVE closing and now. I know Gabe Sapolsky is really big on Briggs and he’s big so the WWE guys surely think there’s more potential there, but Hale is better in the ring and way more interesting in general. That said, Briggs has switched things up so that his offense seems more appropriate for a guy with his size and mobility. Dude was trying a lot of stuff he wasn’t good at in EVOLVE. The CM Punk Special, we call that. Unfortunately, Briggs still hasn’t figured out how to pace a match so he doesn’t lose the crowd. I’d also probably have him cover up his Justice League tattoos if I were in charge, because nothing says serious bruiser less than cartoonie tats. Briggs hits the Axe Bomber for the win at 8:40. This pretty much fell apart as soon as Briggs took over the first time. *¾

Okay, so now they’re saying that the matches on tonight’s show aren’t qualifying matches after all, and that Briggs and Odyssey Jones were just chosen for the tournament and these are their warm up matches. So if that’s the case can we stop calling this 205 Live and make it NXT Evolve or whatever?

Odyssey Jones def. Grayson Waller
I guess there’s not really a reason for me to review this episode’s matches, but I’m already here so whatever here we go. Jones’ singlet is going to make me cross eyed. I was wondering based on the color scheme if he played for Syracuse, and the internet confirms it. It wasn’t until halfway through this match that it registered with me that the show has all the Great American Bash set and ring decorations. That’s an amazing testament to both how much the commentators ignoring it affects me and also how oblivious I am. Anyway, Jones movies around the ring pretty well, so there’s potential there. Waller is an Australian in boxing shorts who does high flyer stuff, so I think he should probably consolidate the gimmick a bit. I was doing my best not to draw comparisons between Jones and Mark Henry just because they’re built the same, but then Jones finished Waller with the World’s Strongest Slam at 7:50. There are obviously worse guys to model yourself after. **

Before 2021 there were eight Kyushu Pro Championship changes. I have three of them reviewed here. Generally, my rule is that I have to have at least half of a title's changes reviewed to post a full fledged series on it. I'm sure I've broken that for titles that have tons of changes and I come in a little under half. But with so few to begin with and even fewer at my finger tips, this gets popup treatment. There's a chance more than what's here are available on the Kyushu Pro YouTube channel, but I found it very hard to navigate that archive because I can't read Japanese.

August 9, 2015 - Fukuoka, Fukuoka

Mentai Kid def. Genkai {Kyushu Pro Championship Match}
From Kyushu Pro 7th Anniversary Show. Oh god dammit, Kid wrestled on a Dragon Gate PPV. That means I need to get his mask for my collection. This went a bit long for my tastes, but not for the tastes of the incredibly loud fans in attendance. They went crazy for Kid here, and he rewarded them by flipping around the ring and winning the title with two 450 Splashes at 23:31. Genkai played the frustrated champion well, but Kid’s performance was what the fans were there to see. I can’t decide if I like the title’s original design, seen here, or the new one I saw in the 2019-2021 title changes. This one’s face plate is shaped like the island of Kyushu, whereas the new one is diamond shaped with the shape of the island embossed on the main plate. Both are cool, I guess. ***¼

March 10, 2019 - Fukuoka, Fukuoka

Yuji Hino def. Genkai {Kyushu Pro Championship Match}
From Kyushu Pro Kinniku Hibai. Thanks to a pack of very loud fans and some juice behind Hino’s caboose, this was a lot more fun than their title rematch would go on to be. It’s weird to have watched these title matches in reverse order, but that’s what happens when you’re a scavenger for these things. You take them as they come. No ground was broken here, but the vibe was strong and Hino was inevitable. Genkai put up a good fight and made a dramatic show of it, but Hino put him down at 23:50 with the Fucking Bomb. ***¼

July 30, 2020 - Kumamoto, Kumamoto

Genkai def. Yuji Hino {Kyushu Pro Championship Match}
From Kyushu Pro 12th Anniversary Show. This felt like a medium effort from Hino at best (I think he might have been suffering from empty arena-itis), and often times felt like a match on American TV, the purpose of which would be to set up a bigger match at a bigger event. That kind of thing is quite rare in a Japanese main event, especially the main event of a marquee show like this. But maybe that’s what this particular indie is about. Hino got cocky and Genkai caught him with a Ganosuke Clutch at 19:26. **¾

Speaking of Randy Orton winning, Raw wasn’t the only place where he padded his World Title stats.

May 6, 2011 - Orlando, Florida

Randy Orton def. Christian {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Smackdown 611. If they wanted to make Christian look like a chump, the commentators certainly helped make that happen. They pointed out that Orton was not prepared for this match but then he basically rolled over the champion. Christian was never close to winning here. The only bright side for him was that it was pointed out that he was in a ladder match earlier in the week. Orton caught him with the RKO for the win at 10:11 (shown of 17:20). What a weirdly one-sided match so soon after Christian’s big win. **¾

July 17, 2011 - Rosemont, Illinois

Christian def. Randy Orton {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the second Money in the Bank. If Orton loses by disqualification or count out, he loses the title. And then he lost the title by disqualification. So they ripped off one of the stupid TNA title changes (well, NWA Championship change but it happened in TNA) five years later. Yikes. Anyway, there’s something in Orton and Christian that people see that I just don’t see. I don’t find matches either guy has engaging beyond the skills of your average, competent wrestler. They teased a good story here, but then abandoned it after one minute until the final thirty seconds. You mean to tell me that Orton, the guy known for a career of mind games, lost his cool and thus his championship because Christian spit at him once? No buys. Orton hit a low blow and got disqualified, losing his title at 12:22. ***

August 14, 2011 - Los Angeles, California

Randy Orton def. Christian {World Heavyweight Championship No Holds Barred Match}
From the 24th SummerSlam. Of the matches between these two I’ll be watching, this one is the most well received. And it’s for good reason. Not only was the action exciting, but it planted a couple of seeds and harvested their fruits to my great satisfaction. First, understand that I went into this half determined not to like it after being put off by their other two title changes. They completely won me over. Everything that Christian tried wound up blowing up in his face, while Orton proved himself to be superior all around. Why did this work here where it didn’t in their Smackdown match? Because Christian was the heel, so it was cathartic to see him get his. When the babyface fails over and over, it’s just a bummer. Christian had Orton all set for the Conchairto, but he had to spit in his face again (which is what won him the title). Doing so jolted Orton awake and he got out of the way of the chair. Throughout the match, Christian tried to hit Orton with a kendo stick. He failed over and over. When he finally hit the move, Orton used the momentum from being spun by the shot to hit the RKO on a set of steps in the ring for the win at 23:48. This is easily the most fun I’ve ever had watching an Orton one-on-one match. ****¼

Two weeks later, the brand extension ended and everyone was allowed to be on both Raw and Smackdown. That would have been a natural time for the titles to be unified, but rather than do that they basically just turned the World Heavyweight Championship into what the Intercontinental Championship originally was (and what the North American Championship more or less is in NXT). A World Heavyweight Championship match never again headlined a PPV, finishing out its history in the midcard.

September 18, 2011 - Buffalo, New York

Mark Henry def. Randy Orton {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the fourth Night of Champions. So this title has become the reward for stalwart veterans. That seems fine. It also seems to be the prize you get after you prove yourself on (the by now defunct) ECW. I got annoyed watching this, because Henry did some dope stuff here that he never did in any of his ECW matches that I sat through. Orton took advantage of the fact that Henry was slow, but Henry won because he was strong and more importantly because he was a veteran who used the ring to his advantage. He’d wrap Orton around the ring post. He’d grab the ropes to break a count rather than kick out and exert more energy. In the end, from a laying position he threw Orton chest first into the ropes, shrugged off the RKO, and then hit the World’s Strongest Slam for the win at 13:13. I know this title reign has its fans, but I think this match deserves even more love. Modern wrestling is missing big guys who really know what they’re doing. Henry is a great model for a guy like Bronson Reed, who gets it. Guys like Karrion Kross are not getting it done. ***½

December 18, 2011 - Baltimore, Maryland

The Big Show def. Mark Henry {World Heavyweight Championship Chairs Match}
From the third TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. If someone used a weapon other than a chair in this match, would they get disqualified? We never find out. This was too short to be bad, but it certainly wasn’t good. One-fifth of the match was Show throwing chairs into the ring and Henry wanting no part of it. We got a couple minutes of chair shots and big punching swings. That part I liked. But then Show just punched Henry for the win at 5:30, I know the punch was one of his finishers. But this was the third match between these two in 2011, so why was Show able to so thoroughly and quickly hit Henry with it and win here when he couldn’t in other matches? Because Henry swinging a chair left him open for it? That doesn’t work. Meh. *

Daniel Bryan def. The Big Show {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
Henry beat up Show after the title loss. That brought out Bryan and his Money in the Bank briefcase. Eight seconds later, Bryan was pinning the unconscious, giant champion and winning the title. N/A

April 1, 2012 - Miami Gardens, Florida

Sheamus def. Daniel Bryan {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From WrestleMania XXVIII. Bryan smooched AJ, turning his back on Sheamus. When he turned around, Sheamus hit him with the Brogue Kick for the win in 18 seconds. Whoops. The crowd had been super hot for Bryan and I believe this is still considered one of the most boneheaded moves in wrestling history. Sheamus never fully recovered. N/A

October 28, 2012 - Atlanta, Georgia

The Big Show def. Sheamus {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the fourth Hell in a Cell. This is a 20-minute Show match. That’s insane and shouldn’t exist. I had to know if and how often he’d had matches over twenty minutes, so I did a bit of research. First, this was the last time in his career a one-on-one match he was in went this long. Before this, he’d only done it twice: once against John Cena on Smackdown in 2009, and once against the Undertaker in the Punjabi Prison at the Great American Bash in 2006. The story going into this wasn’t bad. Show wants to beat the guy who beat the guy for the title in under twenty seconds who beat him in under twenty seconds. That sentence probably doesn’t work but you get it from the context above, right? Also, Show has been bullying the roster with impunity because he signed a contract that lets him do that, apparently. That part of the story is dumb. Also dumb, Jim Ross thinking it’s ironic that an Irish person would use a move called the Cloverleaf. That’s exactly what you’d expect to happen, James. People were very kind to this match when it aired, but there’s just no there there. Yes, the crowd got hot in the last couple of minutes because these two kicked out of each other’s finishers; perhaps the first time either finisher didn’t end a match. But beyond that and Sheamus getting Show up for the White Noise, this was all slow punches and kicks. Show hit the punch for the win at 20:15. **¾

January 11, 2013 - Miami, Florida

Alberto Del Rio def. The Big Show {World Heavyweight Championship Last Man Standing Match}
From Smackdown 699. The first five minutes of this match were surprisingly good. Del Rio went all out to try to get Show onto his back and couldn’t do it. Chair shots only brought Show to one knee, and Show kept powering out of the armbar in impressive fashion. But the rest of the match was bad LMS, which is of course the pattern of big move → wait around for the ten count → rinse → repeat. The finish was clever, as Del Rio pounded Show with the ring steps and then pushed the announce table on top of him. That was enough for the win at 14:08 (shown). ***

April 8, 2013 - East Rutherford, New Jersey

Dolph Ziggler def. Alberto Del Rio {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Raw 1,037. Del Rio had just defeated Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter in a handicap match when Ziggler ran down to cash in his MitB briefcase. Swagger had wrecked Del Rio’s leg. Del Rio almost got the win with the armbreaker, but Ziggler went to the leg to break it and hit the Zig Zag for the win at 2:05. The crowd was molten for this. **

June 16, 2013 - Rosemont, Illinois

Alberto Del Rio def. Dolph Ziggler {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the inaugural Payback. This match, if nothing else, makes me really appreciate Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13. They tried to pull the same kind of double turn here, with the crowd feeling sorry for ZIggler as he fought a ruthless Del Rio after suffering a concussion. From a technical standpoint they did things right, like Del Rio getting frustrated and kicking AJ’s (who was in Ziggler’s corner) Divas title belt. You could hear the crowd starting to get behind Ziggler, but when Del Rio hit a thrust kick for the win at 13:50, they cheered. Maybe having Big E in Ziggler’s corner get kicked out for cheating didn’t help things, and the incoming champ should have just been virtuous all the way through. Or maybe they shouldn’t try difficult things like double-turns with two guys who aren’t that over to begin with. Either way, the match was helped by the attempted angle, but was not much outside of that. ***¼

October 27, 2013 - Miami, Florida

John Cena def. Alberto Del Rio {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the fifth Hell in a Cell. Controversies aside, WWE might have wanted to rethink their terms with the Susan G. Komen Foundation based solely on the pink ropes clashing with the Hell in a Cell theme year after year. There was some neat stuff here with Cena doing what he could to avoid the armbar because he was returning from an arm injury. Beyond that this was paint by numbers. Cena powered out of the armbar and hit a powerbomb, then hit the Attitude Adjustment for the win at 15:04. ***¼

December 15, 2013 - Houston, Texas

Randy Orton def. John Cena {World Heavyweight Championship vs. WWE Championship Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match}
From the fifth TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. A goddamn ladder match is what kills off this title once and for all. That tracks, since there have been seven ladder matches for this title in the last six years. That’s too many! The show started with Triple H doing this clever thing where he tried to tie the creation of the WWWF Championship and its split from the NWA to this match. Of course, a closer and more realistic version of what he’s talking about happened at Vengeance 2001, but it’s all for fun so I’m not going to yuck it too much. There was really only a nine-month gap between the death of the WCW Championship and the birth of the WH title anyway. Man, it felt a lot longer when I was living through that gap in high school, I can tell you that. Don’t get old, kids. The hype video for the match is great. It’s a nice touch that Orton and Cena come into this with the opposite title than the first title they won in their respective careers. The match could not live up to all that history, though. They threw each other through tables a bunch, and the bit with the handcuffs and the cannibalizing of the ring was neat, but this didn’t have the heat it needed to feel epic and Orton and Cena just didn’t bring their top tier stuff. Orton threw Cena through a table (sort of) and then retrieved the belts at 24:33. ***

Next up was a three-year stint with only one champion, but then WWE split the brands again and needed a new title. See if you can find my review on that!

No Sheamus and the Miz over here in World Heavyweight Championship land! Nope, this belt is controlled entirely by skinny white guys until Rey Mysterio and Kane (why?!) get a couple of runs.

April 5, 2009 - Houston, Texas

John Cena def. Edge and The Big Show {World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From WrestleMania 25th Anniversary. Yep, that’s what they called it. And yep, that’s Show in a WrestleMania championship match nine years after the embarrassment of WrestleMania 2000. I dunno, I thought this was dumb. It started off well enough, with Cena and Edge both going after their giant opponent, but while Show could clearly hit them hard it was also very clear that he could barely move at this point in his career. He was crazy slow here. The extra curriculars involving Edge accidentally hitting Vicky Guerrero were dumb and done in such a way that it looked like Edge was hitting her on purpose. Once they got that nonsense out of their system it turned into a decent exhibition of working around the big guy’s limitations. Cena hit both opponents with Attitude Adjustments and pinned Show at 14:43. **¾

April 26, 2009 - Providence, Rhode Island

Edge def. John Cena {World Heavyweight Championship Last Man Standing Match}
From the 11th Backlash. This was decent in spite of the stipulation holding it back. There are good Last Man Standing matches where the match doesn’t stop every couple of minutes for a slow 10-count, but this wasn’t one of those. This had so many momentum-breaking counts. But Cena and Edge have great chemistry and had enough cool ideas that the match wasn’t a total drag. What was a total drag was the finish, where Big Show decided that after thirty minutes he’d interfere to throw Cena through a spotlight on the ramp and give Edge the win at 28:25. I’ll never understand why people who interfere at the end of long matches wait so long. It makes no sense. At least it was a normal title change, unlike the match that preceded it which saw Orton win the WWE Championship in a six-man tag. Woof. ***¼

June 7, 2009 - New Orleans, Louisiana

Jeff Hardy def. Edge {World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match}
From the (sort of if you don’t count One Night Only: Extreme Rules) inaugural Extreme Rules. Like the last match, this is also a rematch of a WWE Championship title change that happened at the Royal Rumble (2009 in this case, 2006 in the case of Cena vs. Edge). Shawn Michaels gets erased from history as the commentators say that Hardy and Edge are the best ladder match competitors of all time with no one else in the running. Ah, good, they bring him up eventually. For the first time in forever they had a creative finish for a ladder match, as Hardy pulled Edge through the rungs of the ladder while he was climbing and then climbed up the other side to grab the title at 20:07. This wasn’t as tiresom as most ladder matches, with only a couple contrived spots and a decent amount of trying to win the title. But not enough trying to win the title. The bit I liked most was the way they played off of their TLC match from 2000 when Hardy blocked Edge’s midair spear with a Twist of Fate. ***¾

CM Punk def. Jeff Hardy {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
Punk came out immediately to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. Hardy kicked out of one Go2Sleep and even got a roll up, but Punk came back with another Go2Sleep for the win at 1:02. N/A

July 26, 2009 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jeff Hardy def. CM Punk {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the third Night of Champions. This was fine, just fine, but felt more like a TV main event than that of a PPV. The finish in particular was weird, as Punk was looking to bail on the match but then Hardy casually ran after him, rolled him back in, and hit the Swanton Bomb for the win at 15:00. Why did Punk just let that happen? So weird. ***¼

August 23, 2009 - Los Angeles, California

CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy {World Heavyweight Championship Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match}
From the 22nd SummerSlam. Another ladder match. That’s two in the span of three months for the same title 😑. Why does Jim Ross think that wrestling moves cause cancer? He keeps calling dangerous wrestling carcinogenic. Anyway, these guys put themselves through the ringer and put on a rare, emotion-filled ladder match. They spent just about the entire match trying to win, so there was a lot of aborted climbing. People trying to win is what I like to see in a ladder match. One exception to that was Hardy hitting Punk with a Swanton Bomb from the top of a comically tall ladder onto the announce table. I’d be annoyed if the spectacle wasn’t so impressive. Punk got up from it first, which was irritating, but the medical folks at ringside assumed that Hardy was in trouble so they tried to strap him to a stretcher. What saved that silliness for me was the look of sadness on Punk’s face when Hardy crawled back into the ring. They fought at the top of the ladder until Punk kicked Hardy to the floor and grabbed the belt at 21:35. ****

October 4, 2009 - Newark, New Jersey

The Undertaker def. CM Punk {World Heavyweight Championship Hell in a Cell Match}
From the inaugural Hell in a Cell. Inaugural PPV, not match. A guy can wish though. This was the first of three Cell matches on this show, so they completely watered down the gimmick right out of the gate. This was so short that you have to assume someone was getting ribbed. Punk got in some token offense on Undertaker’s leg but never got anything resembling a near-win. He did get to kick out of the Last Ride, which is something I guess. What’s most annoying is that this match didn’t utilize the gimmick at all. I guess they threw each other into the cage a couple times in the beginning, but almost the entire match took place in the ring with only a chair sparingly used to let you know it wasn’t a standard match. Why do this? Undertaker hit the Tombstone Piledriver for the win at 10:24. **½

February 21, 2010 - St. Louis, Missouri

Chris Jericho def. The Undertaker, CM Punk, John Morrison, R-Truth, and Rey Mysterio {World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match}
From the inaugural Elimination Chamber. Inaugural PPV, not match. I don’t have anything snarky to add to that because the Elimination Chamber has a better track record than Hell in a Cell. Before the match, Punk butchers the, “You’re locked in here with me,” Watchmen quote before the match. The Straight Edge Society gimmick was pretty cool in my opinion, and didn’t need hamfisted comic book references for cred. Punk eliminated Truth quickly and then got back on the microphone. I think that’s the first time a rest for an active Chamber participant happened. Actually, maybe not, because moments later Mysterio did the same when he eliminated Punk and I just can’t imagine they’d do it twice without having ever done it before. I think it made the beginning of the match kind of boring. And then things stated getting a little dumb. Like, why wouldn’t Morrison let Jericho submit Mysterio? The same thing happened with the Undertaker stopping Jericho from tapping out Morrison. Why rush in and break submissions up? The crowd continued to be nearly silent as Morrison eliminated Mysterio. Undertaker casually chokeslammed Morrison on the steel to eliminate him. Getting chokeslammed on the steel should never be casual. And then after a few minutes of entertaining (but not mind blowing) work, Shawn Michaels snuck in through the steel grates and hit Undertaker with a superkick to give the match to Jericho at 35:35. Again, why wait? This was a lesser Elimination Chamber, to be sure. ***

March 30, 2010 - Paradise, Nevada

Jack Swagger def. Chris Jericho {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Smackdown 554. Jericho was cutting a promo about having beaten Edge at WrestleMania the week before, so Edge attacked him. Swagger ran out and attacked both guys, cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, and then hit Jericho with the gutwrench powerbomb for the win in 9 seconds. From the Undertaker to Jack Swagger in just over a month. That’s one way to get a title into the midcard. N/A

June 20, 2010 - Uniondale, New York

Rey Mysterio def. Jack Swagger, CM Punk, and The Big Show {World Heavyweight Championship Fatal Four Way Match}
From Fatal 4-Way. I think even today WWE has too many themed PPVs based on match stipulations (there are four that keep coming back, and that's not counting Survivor Series or Royal Rumble), but it’s a relief that they let this (and the Championship Scramble version of Unforgiven) one be a one and done concept. As for this match, Swagger was such an afterthought as champion that the storyline going into this match was about a mystery having attacked the Undertaker. The World Heavyweight Championship program was about a guy who wasn’t on the show. Punk was in his masked phase post-hair loss. This was fun when the match was everyone bouncing off of Show. Luckily, that was a lot of this rather short match. Kane came out to chase Punk to the back because, like I said, the title was an afterthought here. From there, Mysterio hit Swagger with the 619 and a springboard splash for the win at 10:27. Dumb Punk stuff aside, this was a fun midcard match. ***¼

July 18, 2010 - Kansas City, Missouri

Kane def. Rey Mysterio {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the inaugural Money in the Bank. I said all I’m going to say about gimmick PPVs in the last match. Mysterio had just defeated Swagger to defend the title when Kane came out to cash in his MitB contract. He hit the Tombstone Piledriver for the win in 53 seconds. Three months later, Kane defended the title against the Undertaker in the main event of the Hell in a Cell PPV. It was the last time this title was ever defended in a main event on PPV. N/A

December 19, 2010 - Houston, Texas

Edge def. Kane, Rey Mysterio, and Alberto Del Rio {World Heavyweight Championship Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match}
From the second TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. Mysterio risked making us remember Dale Torborg with his KISS-inspired mask here. By now you know how I feel about ladder matches. So when I endorse one, I think it’s safe to say it’s pretty great. And this one was great. It had an awesome tornado tag chaos throughout, with plenty of coherent and interesting stretches of all four guys brawling around ringside. The stunts didn’t feel out of place, and guys were out of action after taking big bumps for appropriate amounts of time. Del Rio did the only bits that bothered me, as twice he chose to attack people when it would have made more sense for him to climb and win. In the end, Edge speared Kane through a table and then grabbed the belt at 22:43. ****

February 11, 2011 - Green Bay, Wisconsin

Dolph Ziggler def. Edge {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Smackdown 599. At the time this aired, we all thought Edge had defeated Ziggler here. But special referee Vicky Guerrero later reversed the decision and awarded the title to Ziegler because Edge used the banned spear to win the match at 8:15. The match was nothing, focused almost entirely on Guerrero being crooked. There was a funny moment where she tried to hit Edge with a spear and injured herself. Clay Mathews ran out in a referee shirt to count the pin for Edge. I’d rate this higher (but still low) if it wasn’t for the football player being a part of the finish. I don’t much care for the football. Ziggler’s reign is recognized as lasting only a few minutes, as he wasn’t officially made champion until a week later. *½

February 18, 2011 - San Diego, California

Edge def. Dolph Ziggler {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Smackdown 600. This match was made moments after Guerrero gave the Ziggler the title. And I dunno, this was super short so what do you want me to say about it? Ziggler got in some token offense but then Edge hit the spear for the win at 3:02. I’m sure for those who were invested in the “Vicky Guerrero is doing a lot to ruin Smackdown” angle, seeing her loser her authority position, seeing Edge return (from his one week of unemployment?) and seeing the spear be reinstated as a legal move was cathartic. Actually, I’m not sure about that, and that’s my right. Edge held the title for two months but then had to retire (or in hindsight, take a decade off) because of neck injuries. *

May 1, 2011 - Tampa, Florida

Christian def. Alberto Del Rio {World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match}
From the third Extreme Rules. Del Rio had been in the title picture against Edge, and Christian won a battle royal to face him for the vacant title here. And of course another ladder match. I can’t remember why Michael Cole is in a glass case at a solo announce table, and out of context it’s kind of hilarious. This match had a ton of both guys putting the ladders in strange places and standing in strange places because that’s where they needed to be to make a spot they’d clearly planned work. I cannot stand that shit. It is incredibly rare to see someone set up the ladder anywhere but directly under it and have a good reason for it. That said, I did like them playing off of the finish to the Edge vs. Hardy ladder match with Christian in the Edge role and Del Rio pulling him between the ladder rungs. Edge showing up to distract Del Rio (and in a way counteract the interference from Brodus Clay) and cheer on Christians win (which happened at 21:06) was cute. That’s all I’ll remember about this match a week from now I’m sure. I remember people loving this match when it happened, but this ain’t it, chiefs. ***

In the next chunk, the brand extension dies and then so does this title.

The WWE Championship became exclusive to Smackdown after the 2016 Brand Extension, so Raw created the Universal Championship. The belt was red and named after the WWE Universe, the company’s name for the fans in their weird attempt to make everything associated with wrestling jargon. I don’t know why this is just occurring to me, but the fact that Vince McMahon has tried to create a new, outward facing wrestling language when there’s already a traditionally carny inward-facing wrestling language is super weird.

August 21, 2016 - Brooklyn, New York

Finn Balor def. Seth Rollins {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the 29th SummerSlam. AEW doesn’t have a monopoly on picking their decision match participants in a convoluted way. Rollins was in this because he was Raw’s number one draft pick and because he wasn’t pinned in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship at the previous PPV in a match against his former Shield partners. Balor won a four way match and then a subsequent singles match against Roman Reigns, the winner of another four way match. Right off the bat this title followed in the footsteps of the World Heavyweight Championship by not being in the main event. That honor went to a random Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton match with nothing on the line. Balor was in demon mode here. Remember when that was a thing? I guess this was technically a no disqualification match, though they didn’t wrestle it that way. But you could only win by pin or submission because they wanted a definitive first champion. You can pinpoint the moment early on in the match when Balor gets injured, separating his shoulder when Rollins powerbombs him on the barricade. Balor either didn’t know he was hurt or really gutted through the pain, because aside from doing more laying around than I’d expect he wrestled this like he would most other matches. That would also explain why they didn’t call an audible and half Rollins win. It wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world and aside from that barricade bomb they didn’t kick it up a notch until the last couple minutes though. Balor hit the Coup de Gras for the win at 19:24. Balor vacated the title the next night on Raw due to injury. ***¼

August 29, 2016 - Houston, Texas

Kevin Owens def. Seth Rollins, Big Cass, and Roman Reigns {WWE Universal Championship Elimination Match}
From Raw 1,214. These guys all won qualifying matches the week before to get into this match. Cass got the biggest ovation for his entrance here, so we should have known that the country was in the garbage even before November rolled around. Owens eliminated Cass first and was lucky that the crowd didn’t totally turn on him. Triple H returned from hiatus and hit Reigns with the Pedigree, which led to Rollins eliminating Reigns. Then H turned on Rollins and hit him with a Pedigree, handing the win and the title to Owens at 18:25 (shown of 25:13). This was heating up nicely before the interference became the focal point of the match. That’s a bummer. Reigns had been feeling it here. ***½

March 5, 2017 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Goldberg def. Kevin Owens {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the third Fastlane. Chris Jericho’s music played and he walked out onto the ramp. That distracted Owens long enough for Goldberg to hit him with the the spear. Then he hit the Jackhammer. Then he won the title in a 22-second match. That’s supposed to make Goldberg look tough? That he needed to take advantage of a distraction to win? Lame. N/A

April 2, 2017 - Orlando, Florida

Brock Lesnar def. Goldberg {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From WrestleMania 33. Goldberg hit four spears and a Jackhammer, but Lesnar kicked out. Lesnar hit 10 German suplexes and the F5, and that was enough to win the title at 4:45. The crowd went crazy for it, it was short, and it got rid of Goldberg for a while. Not bad, honestly. **½

August 19, 2018 - Brooklyn, New York

Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the 31st SummerSlam. Braun Strowman came out before the match and told both guys he was going to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase against the winner. That didn’t happen because Lesnar beat up Strowman with a chair during the match. But then Lesnar brought the chair into the ring only to get hit with a spear that gave Reigns the win at 6:08. Lesnar being too clever for his own good and losing the title after a long reign was kind of cute. The match wasn’t much though. Reigns held the title for two months but had to vacate it because he was diagnosed with Leukemia and needed treatment. **¼

November 2, 2018 - Riyadh, Riyadh

Brock Lesnar def. Braun Strowman {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the inaugural Crown Jewel. This was originally Reigns vs. Lesnar vs. Strowman in a triple threat, but they just made it a singles match for the vacant title after Reigns had to bow out. Raw General Manager Baron Corbin attacked Strowman with the title belt before the match. Strowman kicked out of three F5s immediately after that, making you wonder why they didn’t put the title on him if they were going to so thoroughly neuter Lesnar’s finisher. An F5 to the floor and a fifth one in the ring put Strowman down at 3:14. This was barely a match and it was pretty bad. However, it was followed by two matches that were so colossally stupid (Shane McMahon winning a tournament he wasn’t an entry in and the D-Generation X vs. Brothers of Destruction catastrophe) that nobody talked about this. Crown Jewel 2018 has to be in the top 5 worst PPVs of all time. ½*

April 7, 2019 - East Rutherford, New Jersey

Seth Rollins def. Brock Lesnar {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From WrestleMania 35. Let’s be generous and say that the four minutes of brawling outside the ring before the match are part of the match. Really, the match doesn’t make any sense if you ignore that part. So Lesnar was squashing Rollins all over the place, but once the bell rang Rollins bumped a referee, hit a low blow, and then hit three Stomps for the win at 2:32. It was kind of a mirror held up to Lesnar’s WrestleMania 33 match against Goldberg, and it gets the same rating from me. **½

July 14, 2019 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Brock Lesnar def. Seth Rollins {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the 11th Extreme Rules. Rollins and his soon-to-be fiance, Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, had just fought in a Winners-Take-All tag match against Corbin & Lacey Evans, defending their titles. Lesnar, who won the Money in the Bank briefcase despite not really being in the Money in the Bank match a couple PPVs earlier, showed up and hit Rollins with a pair of suplexes. Then he cashed in his contract and won the match in 16 seconds with the F5. It bothers me how inconsistent they are with the rule over whether the champion has to be conscious and/or on his feet when the MitB cash in opening bell rings. N/A

August 11, 2019 - Toronto, Ontario

Seth Rollins def. Brock Lesnar {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the 32nd SummerSlam. Oh dang, a title change in a match over ten minutes. Rollins came into the match with his ribs all taped up. I don’t remember what caused that. The first few minutes of this match were very exciting. Rollins had counters for all of Lesnar’s suplexes. And for the most part it remained exciting for most of the match. This was essentially a Sting vs. Vader match if Sting could fly. Rollins never really took control as much as he exploited opportunities for Lesnar to hurt himself. The frog splash from the top of the turnbuckle post the announce table was wild. I’m just really impressed at how much they drew me into this thing. Rollins countered the F5 to a superkick and then hit the Stomp for the win at 13:25. ****

October 31, 2019 - Riyadh, Riyadh

The Fiend Bray Wyatt def. Seth Rollins {WWE Universal Championship Falls Count Anywhere Match}
From the second Crown Jewel. This is what I get for wanting Universal Championship changes over ten minutes. This is a rematch from the Hell in a Cell match that ended in a no contest and I think may have legitimately ruined a lot of WWE fans’ good will toward the company. Is it sad that a stipulation being ruined did that but all the gross corporate machinations of the company didn’t? Yeah it’s sad. It’s probably more sad that neither of those things stopped me from following WWE. I am upset with myself. This match didn’t help me feel better. The whole match is performed under a deep red light. They did this several times with the Fiend and I’ll never understand what they thought was good about it. Under the punishing glow these two brawled around forever, kicking out of each other’s finishers and then doing the same thing in a different part of the arena without any rhyme or reason to any of it. Eventually, the Fiend fell off the ramp into some sparking equipment. One of those sparks got in Rollins’ eyes, which was enough, along with the Fiend’s Mandible Claw and SIster Abigail, to put Rollins down for the count at 21:48. It was mostly awful. *

It was less than two years ago but I already can’t remember the circumstances under which the Fiend became (or was he already) a Smackdown wrestler. On one of his Firefly Funhouse segments, he turned the title from red to blue. But that was as Bray Wyatt. As the Fiend, the title resembled his scarred clown mask. It was all kinda neat-looking, but none of it ever made sense.

February 27, 2020 - Riyadh, Riyadh

Goldberg def. The Fiend Bray Wyatt{WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the third Super ShowDown. It’s kind of cool to hear a building full of Saudi fans cheer for a jewish guy in the main event. Goldbeg hit four spears, fought out of two Mandible Claws, and then struggled through the Jackhammer for the win at 2:59. Barely a match. It should be noted that Goldberg here was almost the same age as Vince McMahon was when he won the WWE Championship but couldn’t defend it because he was too old (and not a wrestler, but also so old). ¾*

March 25, 2020 - Orlando, Florida

Braun Strowman def. Goldberg {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From WrestleMania 36, Part 1. My main issue with this match is that it undercut the next night’s more important WWE Championship match because these two did the exact same kind of deal that Drew McIntyre and Lesnar did the following night. It also doesn’t help that this was the empty arena WrestleMania at the very beginning of the pandemic. So the match is performed in front of no fans, not even Performance Center trainees brought in to make a little noise. It’s just dead silent. This was even less of a match than Goldberg’s title win. Here he hits four spears and then Strowman comes back with four powerslams for the win at 2:13. It was literally the bare minimum they could do. It’s still fascinating to me that Strowman was fired less than two years after this. ½*

August 23, 2020 - Orlando, Florida

The Fiend Bray Wyatt def. Braun Strowman {WWE Universal Championship Falls Count Anywhere Match}
From the 33rd SummerSlam. To paraphrase the great Oscar Martinez, the analytical part of me wants to examine why the Fiend wins titles only in FCA matches, but I know it has no content. Has anyone ever actually tried to lay out and explain all of the so-called Fiend Lore? Or is that phrase just something that’s trotted out by trolls being snarky and stupid stans being stupid? Speaking of fans, we’re now in the Thunderdome with fans on screens and fake crowd noise. Thank god. This match was a lot like the Fiend’s first title win, in that there was a ton of mindless brawling. But this was a little bit better for four reasons. First, there was no stupid red light. Second, it was half as long. Third, they didn’t absolutely kill each other’s finishers. And finally, the finish was hilarious. Strowman got a boxcutter from under the ring and tore up the mat to expose the wood beneath it. And then the Fiend immediately slammed him onto it and hit two SIster Abigails for the win at 11:58. I legit laughed out loud at how quickly Strowman’s efforts blew up in his face. Reigns showed up after the match and beat up both guys. *¾

August 30, 2020 - Orlando, Florida

Roman Reigns def. The Fiend {WWE Universal Championship Match}
From the sixth Payback. Oh yeah, this was that weird deal where WWE scheduled two PPVs a week apart from each other. Does anyone know why that happened? Reigns had returned after his cancer went into remission, but had been away through the pandemic presumably because he was immunocompromised. So this was his return match from that break. The Fiend mask title belt did not return for this match. The match was allowed to start before Reigns made his entrance (because Reigns hadn’t yet signed the contract for the match or something), so the other two fought for a while one-on-one. The action is a little more coherent than their SummerSlam match. They fought until the Fiend hit Strowman with a superplex and the ring collapsed (a la Big Show and Lesnar or Show and Strowman. It just doesn’t feel earned when Show isn’t a part of it, and the way Charles Robinson fell out of the ring was a poor imitation of past events). That brought out Reigns, making this feel like a MitB cash-in. He hits Strowman with a spear for the win at 12:41. An uninspiring for what has so far been a great run with the title. **

I was able to review this entire title lineage in one day because of how short most of the matches are. People had high hopes for this title because Balor was the first champion and Owens was the understudy when Balor got hurt. But it’s been a rather unmitigated disaster until very recently. We’ll see how much this Roman Reigns reign rehabilitates the thing. As of now this is the only title lineage I've reviewed where the title changes clocked in at a lower average rating than the WCW title. That's pathetic.

Speaking of WrestleMania 21, the World Heavyweight Championship changed hands on that show as well. Batista won the Royal Rumble and then finally turned on Triple H, making a 21-year-old me rapturous.

April 3, 2005 – Los Angeles, California

Batista def. Triple H {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From WrestleMania 21. This did not play to Batista’s strengths. After an initial display of power, Batista spent ten minutes on defense hitting nothing but a few punches. Once Triple H started bleeding things finally started feeling more cathartic, but if you ask me (and by virtue of reading this you did ask me) this match could have been half the length with Triple H getting in only token offense. At least Triple H flashed his scared guy face from time to time. Batista countering the Pedigree to the Air Raid Crash was pretty cool. He followed that with the Batista Bomb for the win at 21:32. They’d have a much better match a couple months later in a Hell in a Cell. Batista held the title for nine months, during which time the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship switched brands and this belt ended up on Raw. An injury forced Batista to give up the belt in January. **¾

January 13, 2006 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kurt Angle def. Brian Kendrick, John Bradshaw Layfield, Lashley, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Mercury, Nitro, Nunzio, Orlando Jordan, Paul Burchill, Paul London, Psicosis, Rey Mysterio, Road Warrior Animal, Simon Dean, Super Crazy, Sylvan, Vito, and William Regal {World Heavyweight Championship Battle Royal}
From Smackdown 335. In the first two years of its existence, WWE positioned the World Heavyweight Championship as the more important of the two titles, having it main event WrestleMania XX and 21. But this match made it very clear that without Triple H in the title picture, WWE wasn’t interested in pretending that any title was on the level of the WWE Championship. And you know what, good for them. Oddly enough, the only remaining WrestleMania that featured this title in the main event also featured Triple H in a match for the WWE Championship third from the top. And while the WHC did headline over the WWE title on a few other big shows (one SummerSlam, a few Survivor Serieses, and even a Royal Rumble over the namesake match), no top title should ever be decided in a battle royal. And this title did that twice.

Angle was a surprise entrant here, defecting from Raw and eliminating JBL at the opening bell. However, the match was much more focused on Henry wrecking everyone. He put Angle through the announce table, making it seem like the final two were him and Mysterio. After a fun exchange, Henry dumps Mysterio. But Angle finally gets up and struggles successfully to eliminate Henry at 16:56 (shown of 23:57). I suppose as a way of making up for this weird way of crowning a champion, Angle successfully defended the title against Henry in the main event of the Royal Rumble a couple weeks later. Angle was a fine choice for champion, though it’s still a bummer consider that had he not died I’d probably be reviewing a match that saw Eddie Guerrero win the title here. I’m not saying he’d have been in this battle royal, I’m saying it’s been said he was going to be the guy to beat Batista. Anyway, this was pretty decent for a battle royal. Well, if you discount the botched finish where Angle’s feet landed before Henry’s. **¾

April 2, 2006 - Rosemont, Illinois

Rey Mysterio def. Kurt Angle and Randy Orton {World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From WrestleMania 22. Mysterio won the shortest ever Royal Rumble to earn this shot and it’s pretty lame this wasn’t the main event. My favorite thing about this match was that nobody could stop Angle from using the anklelock, so Mysterio and Orton just did what they could to make sure the referee never saw anyone tapping out. Mysterio hit Orton with the Ultra Hurricanrana for the win at 9:25. It’s a testament to this bop of a match that it didn’t feel short. It felt exactly as long as it needed to be. It wasn’t epic, and maybe in the main event slot they could have gone more in that direction. But it was a good time at the matches. ***½

July 23, 2006 - Indianapolis, Indiana

King Booker def. Rey Mysterio {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From WWE’s third Great American Bash. I’m surprised to find that the King Booker gimmick only lasted a year, but that’s exactly as long as it should have lasted. The intro for this version of Mysterio’s music is awful. Weirdly, Booker’s King of the Ring tournament win didn’t get him this title shot, but rather a battle royal win did. I had a feeling at the outset that JBL’s commentary would be irritating here, but the way he tries to move the Overton Window to a level of capitalist pornography is nauseating and more than I want to handle. Calling the New York Times (especially the Times in 2006) socialist is like calling Joe Lieberman (especially the Lieberman of 2006) a progressive. It’s also pretty hard not to cringe at how much they were exploiting Guerrero’s memory to keep Mysterio over and get cheap heat on his opponents. Speaking of Guerreros, Chavo ran down and turned on Mysterio by hitting him with a chair. That gave Booker the win at 16:57. This had a crap finish and a slow start, but a good chunk of it was a lot better than I was expecting. ***

November 26, 2006 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Batista def. King Booker {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the 20th Annual Survivor Series. The title could change hands on a count out or disqualification. That stipulation never really comes into play. The match was clumsily executed in front of an indifferent crowd. And it was so slow. But Batista did break out a flying shoulder tackle to make it look like he was trying hard to win the title. Booker tried to hit Batista with the title belt but missed, so Batista casually hit him with the belt for the win at 13:58. It sounds like this show was butt mud all around. I’m surprised the Philly fans didn’t turn on the main event completely. *½

April 1, 2007 - Detroit, Michigan

The Undertaker def. Batista {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From WrestleMania 23. I was at this show! This Saint of Killers variant is my favorite version of the Undertaker. Michael Cole flips out when Batista does the flying shoulder tackle and says he’s never seen it before, but dude I just watched you watch him do it four months earlier. I do like that, presumably, Batista didn’t do the move in his intervening matches. The crowd strongly favored the Undertaker, though I can’t remember who I was cheering for there. These two tended to have good chemistry and knew how to hide the other’s limitations. Here that mostly meant keeping things moving by hitting a finisher rather frequently. The crowd’s support of the Undertaker meant that each finisher kickout felt believable. Undertaker hit the Tombstone Piledriver for the win at 15:47. Much like all of Batista’s Mania matches, he’d have a rematch that was better. ***¼

May 11, 2007 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Edge def. The Undertaker {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Smackdown 403. Speaking of rematch, Undertaker had just survived a cage match against Batista and then been attacked by Mark Henry when Edge came out to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase. Undertaker kicked out of a pin at the bell but was too weak and bloody to do the zombie sit-up. The rest of the match time was Edge waiting for the champ to stand so he could hit the spear for the win at 1:21. Edge had the title for two months before he was forced out of action with an injury. N/A

July 20, 2007 - Laredo, Texas

The Great Khali def. Batista, Brett Major, Brian Major, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Dave Taylor, Deuce, Domino, Eugene, Finlay, Funaki, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Wang Yang, Kane, Kenny Dykstra, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Montel Vontavious Porter, and Shannon Moore {World Heavyweight Championship Battle Royal}
From Smackdown 413. I mean come on. The second time in two years they do a battle royal to crown a champ, and what’s worse is they put the title on a side show. Age did not take the sting out of this one. There are a lot of jobbers in this match; so many that the commentators bend over backwards to justify their presence in this. An alarmingly small number of interesting things happened in this long battle royal. Yang eliminating Guerrero was fun. Hornswoggle interfering to eliminate Yang was not. Khali last eliminated Kane and Batista to win at 16:55 (shown of 24:06). Terrible match, terrible result. ¾*

September 16, 2007 - Memphis, Tennessee

Batista def. The Great Khali and Rey Mysterio {World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From the 10th Unforgiven. And for the second time out of two times, the winner of the championship battle royal loses his title in a triple threat match. After WrestleMania 23, they stopped doing brand-specific PPVs. One casualty of that was the stature of this title, which hadn’t been in a PPV main event since and went on fourth from the top on this show. When Cole compares Khali and Mysterio to Goliath and David, JBL says the difference is that Mysterio, unlike David, doesn’t have God. John, what the fuck were you implying? The implications that could be drawn when you say that about a guy who has a crucifix tattoo on his chest and wears a mask with a cross on it, along with your reputation for being problematic are… well let me just say I’m happy that JBL has become more moderate in retirement because I don’t have the energy to be mad about this stuff 14 years later. Batista and Mysterio strung together a few fun spots, but enough I’d this match was Khali Vice Grips that one minute of creativity didn’t save it. The finish was cute though, as Batista had the match in the bag and got to decide who he’d attack to win. So he chose Khali and hit the spine buster for the title at 8:10. **

December 16, 2007 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Edge def. Batista and The Undertaker {World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From the eighth Armageddon. They sure liked putting Edge over the Undertaker in Pittsburgh. This match is notable for being the match where the Major Brothers became the Edge Heads. Edge did a few creative things in this match to try to be on the level of his opponents. I suppose he had to, because his spear was so thoroughly buried in this match that it made it seem like he didn’t have any tools to come close to beating either of them. But the Edge Heads bit didn’t really make sense, as it was a no disqualification match and at no time was there really any confusion over where Edge was that led to him getting an advantage. So that was dumb. The Undertaker hit Batista with the Tombstone Piledriver but Edge swooped in with a chair to take him out and steal the pin on Batista at 13:06. ***

March 30, 2008 - Orlando, Florida

The Undertaker def. Edge {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From WrestleMania XXIV. The commentators attempt to say that Edge has a WrestleMania streak going into this as well. While it’s true that Edge had a 5 match undefeated streak when he entered WrestleMania 23, he lost to Mr. Kennedy on that show and was now 5-1 at Mania. They also said that the Undertaker had never beaten Edge, but he squashed Edge on Smackdown in 2000 and beat him in several tag matches before this. The coolest thing about these big outdoor arena shows is the wind blowing through Edge’s hair while he poses and gloats. It’s very cinematic. Also cool is Edge grabbing the referee’s shirt to block a chokeslam and using his old buddy Gangrel’s finisher to counter a different chokeslam. I wish he’d hit the Downward Spiral after the spear didn’t work. Speaking of spears, Undertaker took one but immediately locked in the Hell’s Gate for the win at 23:50. This had a slow start, but turned into a great, dramatic, epic WrestleMania main event by the end. ****

April 27, 2008 - Baltimore, Maryland

The Undertaker def. Edge {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the 10th Backlash. Under the guise of Edge working over Undertaker’s back, this match had a lot of boring laying around. They picked up the pace in a big way in the second half of the match. Undertaker countered a sunset flip (which was a Last Ride counter) to the Hell’s Gate for the win at 18:25. But he kept the hold on for a while after the match, causing Edge to hemorrhage. Authority figure Vicky Guerrero stripped Undertaker of the title for doing this and outlawed the Hell’s Gates. ***½

June 1, 2008 - San Diego, California

Edge def. The Undertaker {World Heavyweight Championship Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match}
From the fourth and final One Night Stand. It was subtitled Extreme Rules and was the transition to that PPV title. For the vacant championship, and if Undertaker lost his career would be over. These two also fought for the title in May at Judgment Day but Undertaker won by count out and Guerrero declared the title couldn’t be decided that way. I got annoyed at the bloat here. Like, points for all the punishment you’re taking, but Edge is the Ultimate Opportunist and ignored countless opportunities to win. Four guys running in to stop Undertaker from winning was also dumb. Undertaker moving the ladder to be farther away from the title because it had to be in position for the table tower spot was also dumb. This match was kinda dumb. Edge grabbed the title at 23:26. Undertaker’s banishment from WWE lasted less than two months, as Guerrero and Edge had a falling out and Guerrero reinstated the Dead Man to have him fight Edge in Hell in a Cell. **¾

June 30, 2008 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

CM Punk def. Edge {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Raw 788. Edge showed up on Raw to run down Jim Ross, who was about to join him on Smackdown. Batista, who had been drafted to Raw but was allowed the shot at Edge’s title he’d earned as a Smackdown wrestler, attacked Edge as revenge for a whole mess of interference in their title match the night before. Punk took advantage and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and won the title in 11 seconds with the Go2Sleep. N/A

September 7, 2008 - Cleveland, Ohio

Chris Jericho def. Batista, John Bradshaw Layfield, Kane, and Rey Mysterio {World Heavyweight Championship Scramble Match}
From the 11th Unforgiven. Legacy attacked Punk earlier in the show, taking him out of this match. Jericho replaced him and won, despite being a wreck after a Street Fight against Shawn Michaels earlier in the show. The ECW title changed hands in a Scramble match on this show, so check out my review of that if you need a refresher on the rules. The whole interim champ thing is really dumb because it’s meaningless. Just say that the last person to win a fall wins the title and if no one does then the champ retains. The frenemies bit that Mysterio and Batista did was neat. And overall the stip made the match move along quickly. Nothing was particularly memorable, but nothing was boring either. One thing was very stupid though. Jericho pinned Kane off of a Batista spine buster eight seconds before the 20-minute time limit expired. The finish was crap because Batista could have pinned Mysterio after a Batista Bomb in that time but instead popped up to stand around like a moron. I have no idea why they went this way, as I’m pretty sure Punk was cleared to wrestle and they just genuinely thought this was the best way to get the title on Jericho. I think the angle would have been a bit more palatable had Jericho’s reign been disputed and Punk fought him in a unification match later, kind of like they did years later with Punk’s WWE title run. You know, since in a way Jericho was representing Punk in the match. **¼

October 26, 2008 - Phoenix, Arizona

Batista def. Chris Jericho {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the fifth (of you count Taboo Tuesday) and final Cyber Sunday. I’ve always found it interesting that as decades come to a close, WWE tends to cast off PPV names in favor of new ones. Anyway, this is the PPV where they accidentally produced a video where they said voting doesn’t matter. Even if you get past the “wait what?” portion of the video, it still looks like something a high school student produced. Steve Austin was chosen by the audience to be the guest referee in a landslide over Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton. Somehow that gives Austin the authority to set the stipulation that the title could change hands on a count out or disqualification. Oh my god the giant set piece on the ramp is a BlackBerry phone.That’s hilarious.There were never more than 7% of Americans who had that phone. For reference, modern smartphones are owned by over 90% of Americans. WWE has never really been on the cutting edge of culture on their TV product, so I guess it’s appropriate. Batista dusted off the flying shoulder tackle for this match.This match was going along fine, just fine, until Austin got bumped (which doesn’t really make sense). HBK ran out to replace him and wouldn’t count for Jericho. JBL and Orton ran out and favored Jericho. So the audience vote meant nothing. Orton’s sell of the stunner was fun though. Batista hit Jericho with the Batista Bomb for the win at 17:05. It was more of a fun Raw main event than a PPV headliner. ***

November 3, 2008 - Tampa, Florida

Chris Jericho def. Batista {World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match}
Speaking of Raw main events. From Raw 806 or 800. This is officially the 800th episode but every database lists it as 806. That’s confusing mostly because other Raw milestones are lined up correctly, so I have no idea where the discrepancy comes from except to assume that WWE fucked this up. This was about as nondescript a cage match as you’re ever going to see. It wasn’t bad, but aside from Batista going out the door to catch Jericho coming down from the top of the cafe there was nothing to this. Jericho hit Batista with a metal bolt and escaped over the top of the cage for the win at 10:59 (shown of 15:34). The show closed on a deflated note rather than an outraged one, which isn’t what you want. **¾

November 23, 2008 - Boston, Massachusetts

John Cena def. Chris Jericho {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the 22nd annual Survivor Series. The (very overt) story here is that Cena was gun shy when it came to hitting high risk moves after his recent surgery, putting him at a major disadvantage. That through line was a good one, but the match was a half deflated balloon. It was long and slow and had very few peaks. Cena powered out of a small package and hit FU for the win at 21:14. He’d start calling that move the Attitude Adjustment not long after this. ***

February 15, 2009 - Seattle, Washington

Edge def. John Cena, Chris Jericho, Kane, Mike Knox, and Rey Mysterio {World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match}
From the 11th No Way Out if you count No Way Out of Texas. As you can see in the review that this popped out from, Edge was embarrassed in the WWE Championship Chamber match earlier in the night. So he attacked Kofi Kingston and took his place here. They should really stop rewarding people for assault by giving them main event spots. At least here they tried to get Edge out of the chamber pod and he desperately wouldn’t go, and the commentators wondered how this was legal. Would have been nice for them to answer that question but this is WWE. Mysterio Dropping the Dime on Kane from the top of the pod didn’t seem like enough to eliminate a fire zombie, but that’s what happened here. Knox sucked the life out of the building when he got in the ring. Jericho ended the heat vacuum in under five minutes with the Codebreaker. Bless his heart. Mysterio attacking Edge for hurting his friend Kingston was a nice bit. Edge speared Cena out of the match shortly after the champ entered it. Mysterio rolled up Jericho not long after that, so it came down to him and Edge. Remember when they were tag partners? That was a fun time. The commentators don’t mention it. These two saved this from being very mediocre and gave us a great final few minutes; it’s just a shame it took twenty minutes to get there. Edge hit the spear for the win at 29:48. ***½

Edge stayed on Smackdown and brought the title with him, so Raw drafted Triple H so they could have a title too. And that’s it for this batch. See if you can find the next one.

Alright, in the same spirit as my review of the last time the Big Gold Belt was used to drum up interest for a vanity title being made into a second world title for a company, I’m taking a look at WWE’s World Heavyweight Championship on Raw. I'll break these up into chunks that correspond with the WWE Championship title change posts.

This title was made after Brock Lesnar made the WWE Undisputed Championship exclusive to Smackdown. But in a surprising bit of foresight, WWE did some groundwork and pulled an AJPW Triple Crown. While Triple H became the inaugural champion by having the title handed to him by his General Manager Eric Bischoff, WWE had at the same time been juicing up the Intercontinental Championship by having Rob Van Dam unify it with the company’s tertiary titles.

July 22, 2002 - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Rob Van Dam def. Jeff Hardy {WWE Intercontinental Championship vs. WWE European Championship Ladder Match}
From Raw 478. Technically this was just for the IC title and the European title was retired prior to the match, but c'mon we know what’s up. This was crazy short given the stipulation, but because of that it was all car crash spots and no resting. That’s pretty fun. RVD hit Hardy with a splash off of a ladder and then climbed up for the win at 6:58. ***

August 26, 2002 - Manhattan, New York

Rob Van Dam def. Tommy Dreamer {WWE Intercontinental Championship vs. WWE Hardcore Championship Hardcore Match}
From Raw 483. Dreamer’s Hardcore title design was just awful. They sell this as the final hardcore match ever on Raw and promise that it’s the IC title that will survive regardless of who wins. The mirror exchange to start this match was as pitiful as Dreamer’s belt. Luckily, Dreamer stopped pretending he was a competent wrestler after that and brought out some weapons. I forgot that hardcore matches had falls count anywhere rules. I suppose that was part of the 24/7 stipulation. From there they actually had a good plunder brawl, with a few spots I’d never seen before or since. RVD hit the Five Star Frog Splash for the win at 8:06. One of the best Dreamer matches I’ve seen. ***¼

At this point I personally would have had Triple H beat RVD for the title and give the belt a redesign. Rather, WWE had Kane beat RVD for that title and gave Triple H the Big Gold Belt and tried to pass it off as having the same lineage as the original Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship/NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was pretty silly in its execution.

See, WWE has never owned the NWA trademarks, so they had to dance around and only hint at the history they were referencing. If they wanted the historical significance, why not have Triple H beat Chris Jericho (the final WCW Champion) in a match for the Big Gold Belt? Moreover, why not just have faith in their own history and let the Intercontinental Championship level up? Instead, they tried a little of both and in the end kind of got neither. Speaking of a little of both…

October 20, 2002 - North Little Rock, Arkansas

Triple H def. Kane {World Heavyweight Championship vs. WWE Intercontinental Championship Match}
From the fifth No Mercy. The less said about the shock TV angle that led to this match the better. The commentators talk about it way more than they talk about the action, but in their defense the action is crazy slow. As such the crowd is very quiet. Ric Flair and Hurricane Helms both interfere and honestly the match improves exponentially because of it. Well, Helms eats a Pedigree on the floor almost immediately and stays laid out for ten minutes. What a wuss. What a loser. I’m not just saying this because he recently blocked me on Twitter. Anyway, Flair’s energy woke up the crowd and kept me interested, so bless him. Triple H hits a Pedigree after a ton of silliness for the win at 16:15. The title stayed unified with the World Heavyweight Championship for around 200 days before they brought it back, but by that time the WH belt was well established. **½

November 17, 2002 - Manhattan, New York

Shawn Michaels def. Triple H, Chris Jericho, Kane, Booker T, and Rob Van Dam {World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match}
From the 16th annual Survivor Series, this is the first ever Elimination Chamber match. Oh my god I forgot about HBK’s haircut. You’ve got to hand it to RVD, he worked his ass off to get this gimmick over while he was in there. His elimination was pretty weird, as Booker T put him out with a missile dropkick, which wasn’t close to a finisher. He was quickly replaced as the focal point of the match by Kane, who in this environment wasn’t a disaster because there were plenty of opportunities for him to show off his strength and toss people around. A chokeslam from Kane and a low blow and Lionsault from Jericho out out Booker T. All three remaining guys hit their finishers on Kane to eliminate him. Michaels superkicked Jericho out of the match, and then ten minutes later did the same to Triple H and won the title at 39:19. They wanted this to be their modern version of War Games and I think it mostly worked in that regard. Half the guys bled and it always get like someone was badly assaulting someone else. And much like War Games, it was probably longer than it needed to be. I’ll also never understand why there are rope breaks in EC matches when there are no disqualifications. But all in, I liked it much more this time around than I did when I first watched it at a Hooters in Michigan 19 years ago. ****¼

December 15 2002 - Sunrise, Florida

Triple H def. Shawn Michaels {World Heavyweight Championship Three Stages of Hell Match}
From the third Armageddon. It’s never said outright, but the idea seems to be that this will top the first Three Stages of Hell match because the first two falls here were the last two falls of the Steve Austin vs. Triple H match. I can’t see any TSoH match ever topping that one. HBK continues to evolve his adolescent girl gimmick with hair long enough to have up in a half ponytail. The first fall, a Street Fight, would have been a solid enough main event on its own. Michaels came after Triple H with sudden bursts of violence (including a flaming barbed wire two by four shot), but the challenger won the fall by targeting the leg. The cage match was where this started to lag and lose focus. Flair came out to help Triple H and set up a table tower (which would Chekhov’d in the third fall), which no-sells the referee banning him from ringside at the start of the match. Totally screws over the trope. The action was boring while Flair was doing his thing, and was kind of a clown show after that when Michaels had to fight them both off in the cage. Actually, it might have felt meaningful if Michaels had won the match, but he did not. And finally, the ladder match was pretty short, existing only to pay off the table spot. After that, Triple H climbed the ladder and grabbed the title at 38:35.

A lot of people are brutally hard on this match. I get it, sitting through a long match and not being totally satisfied by it is very irritating. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole at Stand & Deliver, Edge vs. Randy Orton at WrestleMania, and Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa at One Final Beat immediately come to mind as experiences like that. But I think this falls into the same camp as O’Reilly vs. Cole more than the others because if you’d shaved off five minutes from the Street Fight and given them to the ladder match this would have felt a lot more satisfying. The action was rarely outright boring, but the match was paced in a way that all but only served the final spot. ***

September 21, 2003 - Hershey, Pennsylvania

Goldberg def. Triple H {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the sixth Unforgiven. For as much as commentator angles that involve wrestling suck, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross’s little farewell address before this main event (they’d lost their jobs to Jonathan Coachman & Al Snow in a match moments earlier) was well performed. Speaking of careers, Goldberg’s would be over if he lost here. Triple H could lose the title by disqualification or count out here. Triple H was looking bloated here and wore longer than typical trunks. I wonder what was up with him. The crowd was hot for Goldberg at the opening bell but quickly died because this match was a lullaby. Five minutes of slow kicks and punches, five minutes of a drama-free Figure 4, and then a final five minutes that I guess had one interesting Triple H bump to the floor. But overall this was a disaster of a main event. Goldberg hit the Jackhammer to end the boring match in the most boring way possible at 14:57. I guess it’s interesting to see Triple H lose so cleanly in a singles match, but you’ll probably fall asleep on your way to it. Sucks for JR and King that this was their “last match.” Good thing that didn’t last king, I guess. *

December 14, 2003 - Orlando, Florida

Triple H def. Goldberg and Kane {World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From the fourth Armageddon. That this match is slightly less boring than the Unforgiven match is proof that adding literally anyone to a Triple H vs. Goldberg match improves it by default. But this also had some gnarly chair shots and a funny bit where Triple H was afraid of Kane. It wasn’t much, but it was better than the nothing they served up in September. It also didn’t hurt that Goldberg was laid out after an announce table spot for like half of the match. It’s amazing how useless he was in the ring even in his thirties. The finish was pretty doodookaka, as Evolution interfered liberally (but not in an exciting way) to pull Kane from the ring and allow Triple H to pin Goldberg off of Kane’s chokeslam at 19:28. **

Match 14, 2004 - Manhattan, New York

Chris Benoit def. Triple H and Shawn Michaels {World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From WrestleMania XX. You know Benoit had a lasting impact on wrestling fans of the time because I can still watch this and get emotional while compartmentalizing the events of three years later. This match still rules, and while it probably didn’t need the copious amounts of blood that it had (it’s not like it was some crazy brawl), it’s hard to complain about anything else. Triple H and Michaels wanted to fight each other, but the crowd and the momentum of WrestleMania season were propelling Benoit. That made the last ten minutes of this match, where Benoit ran the table on both opponents, a wild ride. It was especially cool because it was the mirror reflection of the way Triple H controlled both opponents early on. Benoit made Triple H tap to the Crippler Crossface at 24:47. I have a vague memory of the Backlash rematch being a little better. ****½

August 15, 2004 - Toronto, Ontario

Randy Orton def. Chris Benoit {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the seventeenth SummerSlam. This felt like half of a match, stretched out to twenty minutes. Just as they were started to crank things up and start doing near falls, Orton hit an RKO and put Benoit down for the count at 20:09. Now I remember why I was so mad about this title change back in 2004. It wasn’t because the very young Orton was the guy to beat Benoit, it’s because at no point in the match did it feel like either guy was close to winning before the pin came. That might work on TV, but it makes for a crazy disappointing PPV main event. The work was fine and certainly not boring, but it didn’t deliver drama of any kind. ***

September 12, 2004 - Portland, Oregon

Triple H def. Randy Orton {World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the seventh Unforgiven. I have never had an interest in this particular matchup, but the inciting incident where Triple H turned on Orton was the first step in the great angle that saw Batista win the title. That’s worth something. Frankly though, this sucked. The crowd didn’t care who won so they were dead. The mad amount of overbooking in front of silent fans was embarrassing to watch. The biggest pop of the match went to Orton hitting the RKO on Coachman. The whole thing was way too long, and had far too few near falls for Orton to keep it interesting. Triple H hit the Pedigree on a chair for the win at 24:40. How depressing must it have been around this time to attend a PPV and have to sit through these slogs on top. **

November 29, 2004 - Baltimore, Maryland

Edge and Chris Benoit def. Triple H {World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match}
From Raw 601. This was fine, just fine. The commercial break led directly into Evolution interference that didn’t actually add much to the match. I guess it gave Orton an opportunity to screw with Triple H a little bit as he was acting GM that night and ran out to get rid of Flair & Batista (and later hit Triple H with a chair). Things picked up a bit near the end but the finish was real dumb. Benoit put Edge in the Crippler Crossface but Edge rolled over and pinned Benoit at 14:44. But also Edge tapped just as the ref counted 3. In no universe would Edge do anything but gut it out until either Benoit was pinned or kicked out. That crap never makes sense. The show ends without a winner, and all that ended up happening was that the title was declared vacant. You’d think Edge vs. Benoit would be the next step, especially because they’d ALSO co-won a battle royal earlier in the show to earn this shot. But they did a big Elimination Chamber instead. Pretty damn dumb (even if the EC match ruled, they should have done Benoit vs. Edge on Raw with Evolution ruining it). Blah. Well, the way Benoit and Edge were constantly putting Triple H on the floor so they could focus on each other was pretty cool. But overall, dumb. ***

January 9, 2005 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Triple H def. Batista, Chris Benoit, Edge, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton {World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match}
From the inaugural New Year's Revolution. Shawn Michaels was the guest referee. They were already heavily hinting that Batista would rebel against Triple H, and that storyline had me absolutely captivated back in 2005. So captivated, in fact, that when on a recent Ringer podcast discussing Army of the Dead, known wrestling fan Sean Fennessey said he was never into Batista I almost decided to boycott his show. Dude was over in Puerto Rico, and hearing this version of his entrance music (pre-lyrics) gets me all hyped up. Jericho and Benoit started by trying to chop each other’s (and then Triple H’s) head off. Actually, everyone was fighting hard as hell here, working snug and bleeding and always trying to win when it made sense to do so. Jericho pinned Edge after a superkick from Michaels, who otherwise was surprisingly invisible. There was a chunk of meandering before Batista pinned Benoit and Jericho where my mind wandered, and things slowed down a bit when it became the Evolution show. But aside from that this was a brilliant mix of work and story. Okay, Orton also bladed on camera but I wouldn’t have dinged the match for that alone. Orton hit a brutal low blow and the RKO to eliminate Batista. And then after a lot of interference from eliminated Batista and Flair, Triple H hit Orton with the Pedigree for the win at 34:58. ****½

After the match, they teased that Batista would turn on Triple H the same way that Evolution turned on Orton. It didn’t happen here, but it did happen. More on that in the next review of WHC matches, if you can find it.

Here’s the rest of the story of the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. WCW wasn’t ready for their secondary championship to go away, so when the NWA pulled out of the company, WCW renamed their Big Gold Belt, which had previously represented the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

September 19, 1993 - Houston, Texas

Rick Rude def. Ric Flair {WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the inaugural Fall Brawl. It is positively insane that this match was twice as long as the main event WarJames match. Flair started the match with Fifi in his corner but Rude had Fifi airbrushed on his tights. In 1993, Jesse Ventura’s commentary mic was cut until he apologized for a really misogynist comment. It’s a shame this didn’t become the precedent and rather wrestling went in the other direction for two decades. This is shockingly dull, with nothing advancing in any real way for most of the time between bells. The most interesting thing in the first 20 minutes was the camera picking up Rude calling spots on the mat. The finish was also trash, as Fifi has the referee distracted while Rude hits Flair with brass knuckles to get out of a Figure 4 and pins him at 30:47. Brutally bad all around. ¾*

March 16, 1994 - Tokyo, Japan

Hiroshi Hase def. Rick Rude {WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From NJPW Hyper Battle. I’m pretty sure Rude’s valet Lady Love is not also Fifi, but the video quality here is so bad I can’t confirm that. Actually, there’s a shot of her mid-match and it’s not the same woman. Rude didn’t bring much to this match, but Hase seemed to be having a ball out there. He would mock Rude and pick up the pace quite a bit when he was in control. He also seemed determined to get the crowd riled up leading up to the finish, where he pinned Rude with a Northern Lights Suplex at 16:52. ***

March 24, 1994 - Kyoto, Kyoto

Rick Rude def. Hiroshi Hase {WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the same tour. This was joined in progress to the point where Hase hit a Giant Swing and got the crowd all foaming and wild. Sadly, this was clipped to shreds. It’s a real bummer because it seemed to be a better match than Hase’s title win. A Lady Love distraction led to Rude hitting an avalanche brainbuster and two Skull Crushing Finales before making Hase submit to a double underhook at 4:30 (shown of 20:58). I wish I could have seen more of this. N/A

April 17, 1994 - Rosemont, Illinois

Sting def. Rick Rude {WCW International World Heavyweight Championship match}
From the inaugural Spring Stampede. Before the match, Harley Race warns both guys that Vader is coming for the winner. Sting attacks him. This becomes important for a shortcut they took later. They killed the crowd three minutes into the match with a crazy long facelock. They followed that with a long Camel Clutch. The amount of inaction in this match was astonishing. With all the WCW fetishisation that AEW does, it’s sometimes a depressing reminder how bad this company was when you actually, you know, watch it. Vader and Race try to attack when the ref is down but Sting fights them off. Race accidentally hits Rude with the weakest chair shot of all time and that gives Sting the win at 13:09. This is embarrassing. ¼*

May 1, 1994 - Fukuoka, Fukuoka

Rick Rude def. Sting {WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the second NJPW Wrestling Dontaku In Fukuoka Dome. If this is going to be ten minutes longer than their Spring Stampede match then I need it to be a whole lot better. I’m guessing it won’t be because this is the last match of Rude’s career, so he was clearly on the verge of collapse going into it. It’s chinlock city for a good long while. And then Rude gets to the ropes and rolls to the floor only for Sting to dive onto him, causing his head to snap backwards when he falls from the platform the mat is on to the arena floor. It’s pretty gnarly. And then Rude starts taking actual bumps (including four of them flat on his back on the ramp), which is just insane. Rude was a tough sonofabitch, wrestling fifteen more minutes and bumping as much as he would have otherwise. That match still isn’t good as it’s filled with rest holds, but that was going to happen regardless of the injury. Rude hit Sting with the belt, then hit a piledriver and a diving kneedrop for the win at 22:48. Lots of points for finishing the the match, but that’s about it. **¼

May 22, 1994 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Sting def. Vader {WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From the inaugural Slamboree. This was supposed to be Rude vs. Vader for the title, but he was “stripped” of the belt for cheating in Japan. They offered Sting the belt by forfeit, but he declined and said he wanted to win it in Rude’s place instead. I like that. There is a very vocal anti-Sting contingent because it’s ECW country. Anyway, there was some good, stiff action at the start and end of this one, plus some crowd-killing mat work in the middle that really didn’t click. The end was dope though, with Sting repeatedly clotheslining Vader to the floor after an errant chair shot from Race dazed the big man. Sting dodged the moonsault, baited Race into headbutting Vader, and then hit a Superfly Splash for the win at 13:54. ***¼

June 23, 1994 - Charleston, South Carolina

Ric Flair def. Sting {WCW World Heavyweight Championship vs. WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From Clash of the Champions XXVII. The crowd was on fire for this, so even though Flair and String were mostly just playing the hits the match was a blast to watch. Sting’s superhero shtick rarely worked for me, but near the end of this match his timing with it was fantastic. Flair baited Sting into diving onto Sensational Sherry, which discombobulated the International Champion enough for Flair to catch him with a roll up (and a handful of tights) for the win at 17:17. Not the most epic of finishes, but a very good time on the way to it. ***½

Well, this experiment sure didn’t last long. I haven’t done any research but my guess, given that the International title was just main eventing a PPV, is that they wanted an undisputed championship to throw on the recently-signed Hulk Hogan.

August 7, 2020 - Port Hueneme, California

NJPW gets in on the kookie commercial biz with ads from the dojo trainees, Rocky Romero, Juice Robinson, and Will Ospreay.

I’ll ride this out through the tournament at least and then see how I feel, but so far it’s little more than a decent diversion.

September 19, 2015 - Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia

Big Daddy Walter dco. Ilja Dragunov
From the wXw 15th Anniversary Tour. As far as I can tell this is the first match ever between the two. This was very stiff, and there were hints that down the line these two would be capable of doing something lot more fun against each other. But the match here never took on a life of its own. It was chop chop chop, big move from Walter, and then Dragunov’s evil manager distracting Walter and getting both guys counted out at 12:30. ***¼

November 26, 2016 - Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia

Big Daddy Walter def. Ilja Dragunov
From wXw Shotgun PLUS 284 - Open Challenge. As the episode name suggests, Dragunov was answering an open challenge from Walter. This followed a very similar template as the match from the year before. The big difference here was that Dragunov got angry when his manager interfered. That wound up screwing him, as being distracted by his own manager left him open to huge attacks from Walter. After a lot of blatant and clumsy interference, Walter choked out Dragunov at 16:13 ***

March 12, 2017 - Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia

Ilja Dragunov def. WALTER {Tournament Finals}
From wXw's twelfth annual 16 Carat Gold. Dragunov’s belly button is looking as deep as WALTER’s here, a far cry from how shallow it would later become. Man, that’s a weird way to describe someone’s level of fitness. The chops in this match for real made my teeth hurt. Granted I’d just eaten ice cream, but after a while seeing Dragunov’s chest turn to mush and WALTER continue to chop it to bits started to shoot lightning into my mouth. This was the fifth match between the two but the first to receive widespread acclaim. It certainly deserves it, even if they’d have much better matches down the line. After getting destroyed for almost the entire match, Dragunov hit the Torpedo Moskau for the somewhat unconvincing win at 16:09. ****

April 14, 2018 - Dresden, Saxony

Ilja Dragunov def. WALTER {wXw World Unified Championship Match}
From wXw True Colors 12. These two were firmly in their groove by this point, though this one had an interesting twist. Unable to put Dragunov down because of an errant ref bump, WALTER became frustrated and attacked a replacement referee. A third referee called the match off, but Dragunov wasn’t having it and insisted that the match continue. WALTER was stiff frustrated, throwing Dragunov around ringside and allowing his moves to be countered. And that’s what cost him, as Dragunov turned mounted punches into a powerbomb and WALTER’s choke into a side suplex. The Torpedo Moskau put WALTER down at 23:35. I still don’t buy that as a WALTER killing finisher, but the rest of the match was a doozy. ****¼

May 5, 2018 - Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia

Ilja Dragunov def. WALTER {wXw World Unified Championship Match}
From wXw’s fifth Superstars of Wrestling. Dragunov wanted this rematch with WALTER quickly because of the ref bump shenanigans in their True Colors match. This was quite a bit different from their usual gos. WALTER hurt his hand early here so his chop was pretty much not a factor. Instead he tried to boot and choke Dragunov as much as he could. Dragunov was able to control much more of the match than usual, which was a good look for the champion. WALTER desperately ripped off the Torpedo Moskau. Want to see a one-armed powerbomb? WALTER did that here too. And I don’t mean the way Raquel Gonzalez does it where she lifts with two arms and throws down with one. This was one armed up and down. In the end, Dragunov simply overwhelmed the big man, forcing him into pinning positions and then jumping into arm submissions the moment WALTER instinctively flipped to his belly. WALTER freaked out and quit at 24:28. I loved this. It was a side of WALTER I’ve never really seen. If anyone knows of matches where WALTER gets legitimately spooked, please pass them along. This makes me want to see him vs. someone bigger or stronger than him. Is there such a person who is actually good in 2021? ****½

July 7, 2019 – Manchester, Greater Manchester

WALTER def. Ilja Dragunov {Progress Unified World Championship Match}
From PROGRESS Chapter 92: Entertaining Friends. WALTER comes out with both PROGRESS titles (the World Championship and the Atlas Championship, which he’d won just a couple months earlier) and the NXT UK Championship belt. It’s a very Triple Crown vibe. Speaking of, they had a total King’s Road style match, where Dragunov had to suffer through WALTER’s onslaught and find openings to start picking away at his much larger opponent. Then, when his comebacks started to get cut off, he had to gut through WALTER’s suplexes in order to get more offense in. He kicked out of one of WALTER’s world-ender moves and survived an STF that made more veins pop out in his neck than I knew a human had. He tried to hit the Torpedo Moskau out of a chop battle, got caught in a choke, but countered to a DVD. He also kicked out of WALTER’s crazy powerbomb. Some of the dramatics around Dragunov’s attempted cradle piledriver were dumb, but that’s the only part of the last ten minutes of this match that I didn’t like. WALTER’s final lariat for the win at 23:22 was also a little anticlimactic after everything else, but that’s also part of the style of match they were working and the crowd just wasn’t really on board. ****¼

October 29, 2020 – Newham, London

WALTER def. Ilja Dragunov {NXT UK Championship Match}
From NXT UK 120. The Thunderdome fan windows are back. Why? They give up on it after a few minutes. They started this at the end, with Dragunov coming out firing missiles, going for the Torpedo Moskau, and getting hit with a sleeper suplex. And from there they never let up on each other at all. Nigel McGuinness calls out legends of All Japan to express how he feels about this match and it couldn’t be more appropriate. From the brutal strikes throughout to Dragunov’s channeling of Mitsuharu Misawa with consecutive enziguiris, this was as good an ode to the style as I’ve seen from non-Japanese wrestlers. I was jumping out of my seat so many times hoping that Dragunov would win this thing, and so many near-falls were incredible. In the end, WALTER put Dragunov down with a crazy, bloody sleeper hold at 25:09. I’m only upset because I now wonder what this could have been in front of the Dublin crowd for which it was meant. Earlier I said that Dragunov almost had to win here with Dunne gone for the States, but now I’m just hoping, praying, begging for a rematch. This was easily the best match in NXT UK’s short history, the best match in WWE this year, and in my opinion the easy Match of the Year for 2020. *****

August 22, 2021 - Orlando, Florida

Ilja Dragunov def. WALTER {NXT UK Championship Match}
From NXT Takeover 36. God damn did this deliver. They worked a less horrifying style than they did last October, spending the first five minutes trading gnarly holds on the mat before any bombs were thrown. Then, they threw bombs. But not as many as they did when they were fighting in front of no crowd. I appreciate that. Here, they had fans cheering on everything they did, so there wasn’t a need to lay it in as stiff. That’s not to say they strayed from that completely, as Dragunov still left the ring covered in blisters. But they were able to incorporate Dragunov’s triggered rage storyline and believably have him break down and tap out WALTER. There are few pairs of guys who have delivered as consistently at the high level these two have against each other. Dragunov locked WALTER in a sleeper hold and viciously wore him down until WALTER tapped at 22:04. Dragunov standing with his foot over WALTER in celebration was a perfect way to end the big man’s reign. Apropos of everything, WALTER was in the best physical shape I’ve ever seen him in here. *****