WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

from San Antonio, TX

BECKY LYNCH, NIKKI BELLA & NAOMI vs. ALEXA BLISS, MICKIE JAMES & NATALYA (9:35): This was forgettable fluff. 1/2*

LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON vs. SHEAMUS & CESARO (10:29): The sleep-inducing tag team won the titles here. Gallows and Anderson have been in the WWE for an entire year now and have they done anything remotely entertaining? Just make them AJ's bodyguards and be done with it. And Cesaro should be in main event title matches. Just a tragedy. *

NIA JAX vs. SASHA BANKS (5:10): The last of the pre-show matches (the pre-show started at 5 PM and the whole show ended about 10:40 PM). This was mostly a squash. Jax is so boring. I long for the days of Awesome Kong. Remember those Kong vs. Gail Kim matches? Memories. 1/2*

CHARLOTTE vs. BAYLEY (13:05): Good match. It's a shame that there's other women in the two women's divisions, as I'd be happy to just see Charlotte and Bayley and Sasha fight each other on every ppv until the end of time. Charlotte retained her title, which means her undefeated ppv streak rolls on. ***

KEVIN OWENS vs. ROMAN REIGNS "NO DQ MATCH" (22:55): What is the difference between a No DQ match and a Hardcore match? Nothing, apparently. Tables and chairs were used (Owens did a top-rope Frog Splash onto Reigns on a ringside table) and Jericho was suspended high above the ring in a shark cage (he still threw down a pair of brass knuckles to Owens). Braun Strowman came out at the end to slam Reigns onto the announce table then put him through a table in the ring, leading to Owens retaining the Universal title. Good match. And both title matches on this show were very good, which at least means the top of the cards are working these days. ***

NEVILLE vs. RICH SWANN (14:00): Kind of dull...sort of like the entire cruiserweight division and show, 205Live (which I guess refers to their weight? 205 lbs? You'd think they'd explain that). Neville, who's definitely on steroids, won the title. *1/2

JOHN CENA vs. AJ STYLES (24:10): Good match. The last ten minutes of this were awesome, albeit I'm a little tired of people kicking out of finishers. When someone kicks out of Okada's Rainmaker in NJPW it's like the fucking apocalypse occurred. When Cena kicked out of AJ's Styles Clash I just groaned. Cena won the title here. He tried some new moves, and Styles delivered the kitchen sink. Cena is a tad slower these days and this wasn't as good as their Summerslam match, but it was still quite the dramatic epic. ***

THE ROYAL RUMBLE (RANDY ORTON) (1:02:06): Not the best Rumble, especially considering it was a big one because it had Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, and The Undertaker in it (and this show was at the 50,000 seat Alamo Dome). When the last of the big names entered at #29 (Goldberg, who swiftly speared and clotheslined Lesnar out of the ring), I wondered; would #30 be a big surprise? Like...Shawn Michaels, since he was on the pre-show, he's from Texas, and his rival, The Undertaker, was still in the ring? Or maybe Kenny Omega? Finn Balor? Samoa Joe? Nakamura? Of course not. There were no surprise entrants. #30 was Roman Reigns, who got booed, and was there to be eliminated by the winner, Orton, so that Orton would get cheered (as extra boo incentive, Reigns eliminated The Undertaker). The match was entertaining but had it's problems. Orton is a star, but hasn't been booked as a star in years (he's currently in the Wyatt family for no good reason). Does anyone on Earth want to see Orton in the main event of Wrestlemania? The other problem was that The Undertaker is too old. He can barely walk or stand. Lesnar was awesome as usual, but since Goldberg beat him in a minute and a half at Survivor Series and then eliminated him in twenty seconds here...what the hell's the point of another match with them at Wrestlemania? The only psuedo-surprise entrants were The Big Show, Tye Dillinger from NXT, and Mark Henry. There was some amusing comedy with James Ellsworth, who got destroyed of course, and Jack Gallagher, a cruiserweight, English fop, who came out and hit everyone with an umbrella. I love the Rumble match, and even when it doesn't entirely work it's still a lot of fun. This was mostly average. **1/2  

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 11

Tokyo, Japan


MICHAEL ELGIN vs. BILLY GUNN vs. BONE SOLDIER vs. CHEESEBURGER vs. HIRO SAITO vs. HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER vs. KUKIAKI KOBAYASHI vs.s MANABU NAKANISHI vs. RYUSUKE TAGUCHI vs. SCOTT NORTON vs. TIGER MASK vs. YOSHITATSU vs. YUJI NAGATA (25:13): This was the pre-show, psuedo-Royal Rumble match. You can pin opponents as well as throw them over the top rope. Elgin returned from his orbital bone surgery (the doctors apparently had to use a piece of his hip bone to fix his broken orbital bone, which is above the eye...weird!). He won in a fun, superfluous match. The tall, lanky black kid from ROH, Cheeseburger, was amusing and over with the crowd. **

TIGER MASK W vs. TIGER MASK DARK (6:34): Kind of racist, isn't it, calling ROH's black wrestler, ACH, dark? Well the other masked wrestler was Kota Ibushi. Which means we got a couple crazy top-rope leaps and some fun action. Ibushi wrestled last year in WWE's CWC tournament but turned down a NXT contract. Why? To apparently wrestle under a mask as an Anime character in the opener here. Maybe he should see a therapist. **1/2

RAPPONGI VICE vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (12:57): This was good but not great. It was nice that they did a simple tag team match instead of the usual multi-team cluster fuck melee's. The problem was that those were more entertaining and wild. Perhaps the move of the entire night occurred when Baretta leaped over the top rope, flipped, and landed on his back on the mat on the floor when the Bucks moved out of the way. Jesus Christ, how is he not broken or dead? Rappongi Vice won the Jr. Tag titles here. *** 

BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA vs. DAVID FINLAY, RICOCHET & SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. BAD LUCK FALE, HANGMAN PAGE & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI vs. WILL OSPREAY, JADO & YOSHI-HASHI (16:08): This was a gauntlet match...which meant Ospreay's team lost first and so we never got to see Ricochet and Ospreay wrestle together. Terrible booking. The Bullet Club team beat Ospreay's team then lost to Ricochet's team who then lost to Los Igobernables de Japon's team. This was for the 6-man tag titles, which Ricochet's team had, then LIG's team had, then they lost them to Tanahashi's team on New Year's Dash. What a stupid title. This was a good, fast, fun match, though. Ospreay and Ricochet were awesome as usual. ***

CODY vs. JUICE ROBINSON (9:37): Cody Rhodes was never any good in the WWE...and, sadly, he's not any good on the indie scene, either. He turned heel at ROH's Final Battle a few weeks ago and so now he's battling the young, dreadlocked lion, Juice Robinson. This was totally forgettable. 1/2*

ADAM COLE vs. KYLE O'REILLY (10:14): O'Reilly beat Cole at Final Battle to win the ROH title for the first time. He lost it fairly easily in ten minutes tonight. The reason was probably because O'Reilly decided not to sign a ROH contract. So Cole becomes the first ever ROH three-time champ. This match was so-so (there hardcore match at Final Battle was great) and the ending was, really, just a pin out of nowhere. Disappointing. *1/2

TOMOHIRO ISHII & TORU YANO vs. GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY vs. TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA (12:24): Good match. Honma and Makabe won the Tag Team tournament last month to get a shot at the Guerrilla's titles. So why were Ishii and Yano in this match? I guess New Japan came down with a case of WWE logic. That, or Yano and Ishii's opponents were supposed to be from NOAH but NOAH was sold and so NJPW wasn't a partner with them anymore. Kind of a letdown, as I would've loved to see NOAH'S Go Shiozaki and Marufuji on this show. Ishii and Yano won the tag titles here. **1/2  

HIROMU TAKAHASHI vs. KUSHIDA (16:15): Good match. Takahashi was a little sloppy in spots, probably due to this being his first match here after a few years in CMLL. But Kushida looked as good as ever. Both guy's did a ton of suicidal spots and their next match will probably be even better. This was no Kamaitachi/Dragon Lee match (Takashi wrestled as Kamaitachi in CMLL and had some of the craziest matches you'll ever see in your life against Dragon Lee there), but it was the best match of the show so far and just the beginning of the murderer's row of incredible matches to come. Kushida retained the Jr. title here and Dragon Lee came out the next night at New Year's Dash to beat up Takahashi. ***

HIROKI GOTO vs. KENSUYORI SHIBATA (16:17): When this was over, I think everybody figured that this would be the match of the night. I'm not the biggest fan of Goto. He's usually good not great and rarely if ever in any phenomenal matches. But these two work well together and this was fucking brutal as hell. Shibata is so good and has been for so long that he really should be the champ and in the main events of these big shows. This was just back and forth hard kicks and elbows and near-falls and it was awesome. Goto won the NEVER title here. ***1/2

TETSUYA NAITO vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (25:25): Tanahashsi is kind of in the same spot that John Cena is in. He's still the big star, still the crowd favorite, but he's older, a tad slower, yet he can still pull of one hell of a great match. Tanahashi was a bit slow here early but the last five minutes when he was doing two Frog Splashes in a row and there were near-fall's and high drama it was just breathtaking. The end of this match was amazing. It wouldn't be topped. It couldn't be topped. ***1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (46:45): It was topped. And I don't think I've ever seen a show with a final four match set as good as this one. They just got better and better until this; a 47 minute epic that had everything you ever wanted, hoped, or dreamed of. It was so long that early on they started slow and I was thinking that, you know, maybe these two just didn't have it tonight. They couldn't possibly put on a great match after those last two. But this match achieved a level of intensity and drama very rarely glimpsed in wrestling or any sporting event. There was Omega's moonsault off the top rope over the guardrail onto Okada in front of the announce table. There was Omega's top rope Dragon suplex on Okada that had Okada landing on his head. There was Okada flipping Omega up and over the top rope down through a table at ringside. There was Omega kicking out of a Rainmaker (which, granted, probably would have been more dramatic if Naito hadn't done the same last June). The final ten minute or so flurry of counters and near-falls and brutal knees and reversals was a sight to behold. This was pro-wrestling at it's apex. So much so that Dave Meltzer gave this match 6 stars on a usual 1-5 scale and some proclaimed it the greatest match they had ever seen. Was it? Probably not, as it was a bit too long and started slow. But by the end it had truly achieved greatness. This was an instant classic and one we're all going to be talking about for a long time to come. ***1/2

Best Show of 2016: NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 10

New Japan didn't even have it's best year ever but it still cleaned up all of the Best of the Year awards. Granted, I didn't watch every single show from every company in full (like the PWG, NOAH, or countless other shows). But the best show I did watch all year was Wrestle Kingdom 10 on January 4th from the Tokyo Dome. Wrestle Kingdom is basically NJPW's Wrestlemania. It usually ends up being the best show of the year or at least one of them. I didn't even think the Tanahashi/Okada main event was that great (it was merely good), but others thought it was a masterpiece. The show did have three 3.5 star matches (Kushida/Omega, The Young Bucks vs. reDragon vs. Rappongi Vice vs. Ricochet & Matt Sydal, Nakamura/Styles), which is rare. The Ishii/Shiibata match was a brutal, 3 star match. The Naito/Goto match was the lowest rated at 2 stars. The rest were 2.5 star matches (I didn't rate the superfluous, pre-show Rumble match). All together it was an excellent, 5+ hour show. Just a fantastic night of wrestling. 

Best Wrestler of 2016: KENNY OMEGA

In 2015 I watched Omega a bunch of times and thought he was good but over-acted. So what happened in 2016? How did he narrowly beat AJ Styles for the Best Wrestler of the year crown? It's simple: he was in the best match of the year, two other matches in the top 10, and one that just barely missed the top 10 (the 6-man tag from NJPW's Power Struggle). At the beginning of the year, New Japan gave him the ball and he rolled with it. Styles and Nakamura went to the WWE and so they pushed Omega. He won the IC title and the G1 Climax tournament, he beat Naito and Tanahashi, and he became the leader of The Bullet Club. Yes, he over-acts, but that's his character; he's brash, arrogant, a punk. He does the amazing high-flying stuff, the hardcore ladder, tables, and chairs stuff, and the brutal, dramatic Japan-style stiff wrestling stuff. Omega is the whole package, and 2016 was the year he became a star.

Best Match of 2016: TETSUYA NAITO vs. KENNY OMEGA "NJPW G1 CLIMAX" DAY 18

Saturday, August 13th from Sumo Hall, Tokyo

Since Naito had lost the title to Okada in June but was still the hottest, most popular star in the company, he was the favorite to win the G1 Climax 25 tournament. So it was quite the shock when Omega beat him on the second to last night. This probably should have buried Naito, since the winner of this match would win the B block and go on to the final against Goto. But this was Naito's best performance all year (and Omega's). The night before, Tanahashi and Okada had a classic 30-minute, dramatic draw, which I thought was perhaps the best match of the tournament (Okada vs. Ishii was also superb). But on this night, these two wrestled the best match of the year. It was long, dramatic, brutal, intense, and had a shocking finish with Omega winning clean. The last ten minutes of this match were as entertaining and suspenseful as anything I watched all year. Truly a masterpiece, and perhaps the day Kenny Omega transcended into being the best wrestler in the world.



Other Notable Matches:


January 4th
AJ STYLES vs. NAKAMURA  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10
 

February 14th
KENNY OMEGA vs. TANAHASHI  NJPW The New Beginning in Niigata


March 4th
DRAGON LEE vs. KAMAITACHI  CMLL Super Viernes


April 1st
SAMI ZAYN vs. NAKAMURA  NXT Takeover: Dallas


May 22nd
AJ STYLES vs. ROMAN REIGNS  "Extreme Rules Match"  WWE Extreme Rules


June 19th
KENNY OMEGA vs. MICHAEL ELGIN  "Ladder Match"  NJPW Dominion


August 6th
OKADA vs. ISHII  NJPW G1 Climax 25  Day 13 


August 12th
TANAHASHI vs. OKADA  NJPW G1 Climax  Day 17


September 30th
THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. THE ADDICTION vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS
"Ladder War VI"  ROH All Star Extravaganza VIII