WWE TLC

San Jose

BUDDY MURPHY vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER (10:35): 205Live seems to be on its death bed. It was moved to being a taped show aired on Wednesdays ever since the Facebook show, Mixed Match Challenge, started earlier this year. And it seems like it's even less relevant than before, if that's possible. The shocking thing about all of this is that Buddy Murphy is a great, exciting wrestler and the 205Live matches on the PPV's are usually the best matches on the show. Murphy would be a super star if he was in any other promotion, so maybe it's just that WWE in general is on its death bed. Either way, this wasn't a particularly great match. When Murphy beat Alexander in Australia to win the title they had a stellar match. This re-match was too early on the show and too been-there-done-that to matter much. **1/2

ELIAS vs. BOBBY LASHLEY "GUITAR ON A POLE MATCH" (6:20): Vince Russo is apparently back writing these shows. Elias was amusing when he was a heel, now even his songs are boring to go along with his wrestling. Lashley is unconsciously awful. Sadly, they're still feuding after this. Why has God cursed us as a human race to have this feud exist? 1/2*

CARMELLA & R-TRUTH vs. JINDER MAHAL & ALICIA FOX (5:50): The show finally officially started with this match, the finals of the Mixed Match Challenge that literally no one watches or cares about. Just look at who's in the final to figure out why no cared about that show. The winner gets to be the #30 entrant in the Royal Rumble, making next year's Royal Rumble even worse now. Thanks. 1/2*

SHEAMUS & CESARO vs. THE USO'S vs. THE NEW DAY (12:15): This is the feud that will never end. Ever. Really, haven't these three teams been facing each other on every show for, like, three years or something ridiculous? They used to have really good matches but now I'm just bored of them and they're not as good. *1/2

BRAUN STROWMAN vs. BARON CORBIN "TLC MATCH" (16:00): Strowman had surgery so couldn't wrestle, so he brought out a bunch of losers to beat up Corbin and help him win. The losers he brought out were Chad Gable and Bobby Roode and Finn Balor and eventually Kurt Angle. Corbin lost so he's out as GM of RAW. Yet, surprisingly, he's still been wrestling on RAW in his suit. *1/2

NATALYA vs. RUBY RIOT "TABLES MATCH" (12:40): Riot had one of the tables plastered with Natalya's dead father, Jim Neidhart. He literally just died a few months ago. I guess it's to get heat on Riot or this match or this feud but it didn't work, it was just bottom of the barrel stuff that nobody cared about because the WWE always does stupid, sick stuff like this. -No Stars-

FINN BALOR vs. DREW MCINTYRE (12:20): They're supposedly going to give Balor a push soon. They should, as he's a great wrestler. Sadly, they've also been pushing the hell out of Mcintyre who is boring and sucks. This match was so-so and totally forgettable. *

RANDY ORTON vs. REY MYSTERIO "CHAIRS MATCH" (11:30): Most of this match was just guys setting up chairs, hence it was boring. Mysterio did do one cool spot where he held a chair and slid on it out of the ring and onto Orton who was laying on the ground out of the ring. That was about it for entertainment. *

RONDA ROUSEY vs. NIA JAX (10:50): Not bad. It's funny that Rousey was the big, new women's star this year and already she's been overshadowed by Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair who are the two hot, feuding superstar women. Rousey retained her title in an okay match. **

DANIEL BRYAN vs. AJ STYLES (23:55): Good match, alas not great, although it was one of the best matches on the show. Bryan won when AJ tapped out. These two probably would have had a better match five or so years ago but, hell, that's life. This definitely felt different than a typical, WWE match. It felt like they both just went out and did what they wanted to do without any bullshit or comedy or antics. **1/2

DEAN AMBROSE vs. SETH ROLLINS (23:00): The crowd eventually chanted, "This is boring," late in the match because, let's face it, it was. Ambrose is only good in gimmick matches so they probably should have made this a ladder match. No. This "blood feud" was just a boring, typical, wrestling match. Yawn. *

ASUKA vs. BECKY LYNCH vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR "TLC MATCH" (21:45): Good match. It was not as good as Lynch vs. Flair from Evolution, but still very entertaining and very brutal. Lynch jumped off of the top of the ladder onto Charlotte on the announce table and landed ass first right onto her chest. It was hard to watch and Charlotte moaned in pain like her ribs had snapped apart. Asuka eventually won the title for no good reason...but, c'mon, the Lynch/Flair stuff is fucking great, one of the best WWE feuds in the last few years. Rousey came out to tip the ladder over to help Asuka win for some reason. I assume they're setting up a Rousey/Flair/Lynch WrestleMania match. Bring it on. ***

ROH FINAL BATTLE

New York City

ELI ISOM vs. KENNY KING (8:55): Good opener. It certainly wasn't anything special, but this loud, awesome NYC crowd was on fire (and still awake) early so it made the match better. Fast, action packed. **1/2

ADAM PAGE vs. JEFF COBB (13:35): This was probably the best Ring of Honor match of the year. That isn't really saying a lot since ROH hasn't been all that great this year, but still, this was a fucking great match. The crowd helped, as they roared with approval as if this was Omega/Okada or something. Cobb is great, a big, swift, beast of a man. Page is always a crowd favorite. One particular memorable moment had Page doing his Shooting Star Press from the apron to the floor and Cobb catching him and giving him a belly to belly suplex out on the floor. This was fast and brutal and all big moves. Really, this should've been the main event for the title when you think about it. Cobb retained his TV title or whatever the hell it's called. ***1/2

KELLY KLEIN vs. MADISON RAYNE vs. KAREN Q vs. SUMIE SAKAI (13:40): The women's division is fairly new in ROH, and thus it's still finding it's sea legs. The crowd didn't really want to see this, even though it certainly wasn't terrible or anything. Just forgettable. *

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. JONATHAN GRESHAM (11:50): Good match, albeit too short to turn into anything great. This was Zack Sabre's ROH debut and the crowd loved him, although they got a little quiet once it hit the mat. **1/2

MATT TAVEN vs. DALTON CASTLE (15:50): Good match. This was pretty much a typical WWE main event style match where every possible outside interference occurs and it's a little ridiculous but entertaining at the same time. Taven did a top rope leap to the floor, which is his patented maneuver, but crashed ribs first right onto the steel guard rail. I thought he'd be out for a year with that injury, yet he continued and I guess is fine. The best moment came when one of Taven's Kingdom goons tossed a boy into the ring onto Castle who was about to pin Taven to win. That was unique. Fun match. ***

MARTY SCURLL vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (17:30): Another good match. Daniel's is probably leaving ROH to join All Elite Wrestling, the mysterious new company that The Young Bucks and Cody are starting in 2019, so this was his farewell match. The stipulation was that if he lost he was fired. So he lost. And then when he was being cheered post-match by the crowd, Bully Ray came in and beat him up. **1/2

FLIP GORDON vs. BULLY RAY "I QUIT MATCH" (14:25): This was a kitchen sink match. It had everything. Flip's girlfriend, the president of ROH, The Sandman, blood, Singapore canes, tables, chairs, and an American flag. Am I missing anything? Bully Ray eventually quit when Flip was hitting him with two Singapore canes at once. Earlier, Bully tried to get Flip to quit by grabbing Flip's girlfriend out of the crowd and attempting to power bomb her through a table. The Sandman showed up after the lights went out for no reason. Flip gushed blood but still kissed his girlfriend mid-match, getting blood on her. Silas Young came out and poured lighter fluid on a table but it was never lit. This was wild and stupid but entertaining. **1/2

JAY LETHAL vs. CODY (23:45): Cody is gone. He's leaving ROH for AEW. He won't be missed. I think he's a good character but he's never in good matches. This was pretty boring stuff. Lethal retained the title. *1/2

THE BRISCOE'S vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. FRANKIE KAZARIAN & SCORPIO SKY "LADDER WAR IX" (22:40): The problem with this match was that it was too fast-paced to even see or contemplate everything going on. The camera men missed a bunch of big spots, too, which didn't help. The Briscoe's are brutal, so most of this was just sickening bumps and chairs being thrown at people's heads. Nobody stood atop a ladder and waited to build anticipation then jumped...everything just happened super fast like a car crash and a lot of it was missed and you only saw out of the corner of your eye. In that sense, this was a disappointment. It was mildly entertaining, though it was too sloppy and all over the place. This whole show was the end of an era, as The Young Bucks have been the face of ROH for the last two years and they're leaving. They've always been the most exciting on every show and the crowd favorites, so it'll be weird to see them gone. ROH has signed a few new people, the best being Bandido, the masked Luchador that wrestled in Dragon Gate, AAA, and in the main event of All In this year. Will ROH survive without The Young Bucks, Cody, Adam Page, and So-Cal Uncensored? I suppose time will tell. Though it's a sad day for Ring of Honor. **

WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

Los Angeles

THE USO'S, THE NEW DAY, LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON & THE COLONS vs. BOBBY ROODE & CHAD GABLE, THE REVIVAL, THE B-TEAM, LUCHA HOUSE PARTY & THE ASCENSION (22:20): This was the pre-show match. A pre-show, I might add, that was two hours long. Jesus Christ. This match was fairly decent. It had a lot of action. The highlight was when Gable gave one of the Uso's a German Suplex off of the top rope down to the floor onto everyone. That was pretty nuts, and something I don't think I've seen before. The Smackdown team won here, which was weird because by the end of the night the announcers were constantly mentioning that Team RAW went 6-0 on the show and it was a clean sweep. Did they forget about the pre-show? Or does the pre-show not matter? Whatever. **1/2

MICKIE JAMES, NIA JAX, TAMINA, BAYLEY & SASHA BANKS vs. NAOMI, CARMELLA, SONYA DEVILLE, ASUKA & MANDY ROSE (18:50): Nia ended up being the sole survivor. The she-beast. Last week she punched Becky Lynch in the face and broke her nose and gave her a concussion, thus deleting the Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch match from this show. So instead of punishing Nia for a stupid thing they've seemingly rewarded her. How nice. This was just okay. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (21:50): This was the best that Nakamura has looked in forever. The match started slow, though, but by the end it turned out good. The only recent Nakamura matches that have been any good have been when he faced AJ and now Seth. So I guess he's only good when he's facing the elite. **1/2

AOP vs. THE BAR (9:00): AOP are the tag champs. Remember they were popular and pretty entertaining in NXT and now they suck? Yeah, weird. This was by far the worst match on the show. I've been sick of Sheamus and Cesaro forever and I guess they don't have good matches anymore, either. 1/2*

BUDDY MURPHY vs. MUSTAFA ALI (12:20): This was perhaps the match of the night. Both guys are nuts and it was big moves one after the other. Ali gave Murphy a Spanish Fly off of the announce table to the floor. And they both did big over-the-rope-to-the-floor dives. This was fun. Murphy retained the Cruiserweight title. ***

DOLPH ZIGGLER, DREW MCINTYRE, BRAUN STROWMAN, FINN BALOR & BOBBY LASHLEY vs. THE MIZ, SHANE MCMAHON, REY MYSTERIO, SAMOA JOE & JEFF HARDY (24:00): NXT Takeover on Saturday night was awesome. The best match was Gargano vs. Aleister Black, but pretty much every match on that show was awesome except for the main event War Games match that was a little too boring in spots (and too long!). But the hot L.A. crowd for Takeover made the show. And I was surprised that tonight's crowd was almost as hot. They were super loud for this match and it helped to make this a good match. Samoa Joe got pinned fast by McIntyre. Shane O'Mac did a top rope elbow drop onto Braun through the announce table. Then Shane did two Coast to Coast Van Terminator's minus the chair (the second one was ruined when Braun slapped him down midway). Shane was great in his day, but, c'mon, he's too old to be doing this shit. Mysterio looked great. It was very entertaining. **1/2

RONDA ROUSEY vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (14:40): This match was okay but the post-match was awesome. Becky Lynch was injured so they threw in Flair to face Rousey. The Flair/Rousey match has been rumored to be the Wrestlemania main event so it was kind of a surprise that they did it here on five days notice. But they still might do it because this set up a revenge match. Flair turned heel by hitting Rousey with a Singapore Cane and causing a DQ. Then she went crazy, hitting Flair with the cane and a chair then putting Rousey's head in a chair and stomping on it all the while the officials were going crazy trying to stop it and the place was going nuts. Awesome angle. ***

BROCK LESNAR vs. DANIEL BRYAN (18:50): Ah...the dream match, a few years too late. So Bryan beat AJ for the title and turned heel on Tuesday on Smackdown. So we got a five day build for this match. Okay. Bryan did kick Lesnar in the balls and did taunt him pre-match, so I guess that was his only heel antics. But the crowd wanted Bryan to win so he was sort of still a good guy in their eyes. This turned into a good match once it got into a back-and-forth match, but before that it was ten minutes of Lesnar destroying Bryan with suplexes and the crowd a silent tomb between chants of, "Same old shit!" The only good Lesnar matches have been the ones that are even and back and forth, and so eventually Bryan got going and kicked him in the balls then did some flying knees and put him in the Yes Lock and the crowd was wild. This probably wasn't as good as last year's AJ/Lesnar match but it was pretty similar, and at least this one was the main event unlike last year when AJ and Lesnar were mid-card. Bryan's a heel and the champ now so at least his return has gotten some momentum going. **1/2

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

Osaka

RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, CHRIS SABIN, ACH & TOA HENARE vs. JYUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, TIGER MASK, VOLADOR, JR. & SOBERANO, JR. (6:10): A lot of these guys were in Japan for the Jr. tag team tournament for the last few weeks, hence why the two CMLL dudes were in this match. Soberano, Jr. slipped on the ropes numerous times during the tournament but still did some pretty cool flips and dives. Volador, Jr. is always exciting and the crowd loves Taguchi and ACH. This was short and fun. **1/2

TAMA TONGA, TANGA LOA & ROBBIE EAGLES vs. TOGI MAKABE, TOMOAKI HONMA & KUSHIDA (7:39): Honma's still doing multiple diving head butts...even though he had a neck injury. Perhaps he's suicidal. Eagles is from Australia and was in the Jr. tag tournament. The tournament was his New Japan debut. He's great, albeit a B-version of Ospreay. Taiji Ishimori, who wasn't in the match, hobbled out on crutches and hit Kushida with a crutch. They're set to face each other at the Dome. This was short and fairly entertaining. **1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA & BERETTA vs. JAY WHITE & BAD LUCK FALE (4:32): This was to set up the White/Okada Dome match. So it was just Okada and White going on at it and Gedo interfering. White has turned into a pretty entertaining heel...but rarely transfers that into a great match (the one exception this year was the Juice/White match in San Francisco which was awesome). **

KENNY OMEGA & KOTA IBUSHI vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & DAVID FINLAY (9:47): This was more to set up Omega/Tanahashi at the Dome than anything. Usually a Golden Lovers tag match would be incredible, but they played it safe here and it was just okay. Omega's facing Findlay in California for New Japan next weekend at some low key Young Lions match. I barely know who Findlay is yet he's been in the company for years. Ibushi looked incredible as always, though. **1/2

ROPPONGI 3K vs. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU & EL DESPERADO vs. BUSHI & SHINGO TAKAGI (15:55): Good match by the end. Roppongi won the titles here. This was the final of the Jr. tag tournament. And yes, what's the point of having a tournament when three teams are in the final anyway? Half the teams made the final. And they're doing this match again at the Dome. Shingo Takagi is the new dude from Dragon Gate. He's great. He's more brute force and pain than high flying, though. **1/2

HIROOKI GOTO vs. TAICHI (15:02): Ospreay got hurt so they threw Goto into his spot then gave him the NEVER title. Hmmm. We were going to get Ospreay/Ibushi at the Dome and now that's out. Fuck. That's two straight years that Ibushi gets a dream match at the Dome scrapped (he was rumored to face Omega last year). As for Taichi...he fucking blows! Hilarious entrance, though. There's that. Maybe he should just enter and leave and never wrestle. 1/2*

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. MINORU SUZUKI (19:21): This was supposedly for the British Heavyweight title...which they didn't bring to the ring. So was it? Ishii retained either way in a brutal match that was good but not great. Suzuki is aging fast and these two have had better matches against each other in the past. **1/2

TETSUYA NATIO vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (20:12): I guess I'm not a big fan of Zack...because the wrestling fans loved this match and I was bored. I do admire the fact that Zack's submission style of wrestling is different...but, unfortunately, it's a little too slow for me. This was good in spots but didn't really have the heightened drama at the end that it needed. **

CHRIS JERICHO vs. EVIL (21:40): Ugh. Will New Japan fire Jericho already? He's old and fat and all he does is brawl and breathe heavy and his matches are sloppy as fuck now. It didn't help that he was facing Evil, the dullest of the dull. Jericho retained the IC title and is set to face Naito again, this time at the Dome. I suppose it wasn't Crown Jewel-esque awful, but it certainly wasn't good. *

WWE CROWN JEWEL

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. RUSEV (9:30): This show was live at 12 noon Eastern on a Friday. I suppose I could go on and on about how awful Saudi Arabia is...but what's the point? The U.S. has been doing business with the country for years no matter what terrible things they do (public beheadings, murdering newspaper critics, banning homosexuality, alcohol, and porn, treating women like slaves, starting a war with Yemen, etc.), and so is it that surprising that the WWE still does shows there? The show ended up being perhaps the worst WWE show of all time, if that's any consolation. This match was on the hour long pre-show. Shockingly, the name of the country was never mentioned during the broadcast. They did have Renee Young doing commentary without a head scarf, though. Progress! They showed the crowd a lot; kids, women in burqa's. I feel so bad for those people. Then again, they're born there, they grow up there, maybe they don't realize how prison-like it is. Or do they? And what're they gonna do? Rebel and be imprisoned? Killed? Hard to enjoy a wrestling show with that doom hanging over it. And this was the start of the endless, boring, pedestrian matches on the card. Nakamura retained the U.S. title. 1/2* (out of ****)

REY MYSTERIO vs. RANDY ORTON (5:30): Mysterio is back and looks great. Weird, because he was great in the late 90's...what the fuck? Is he immortal? Orton lost then beat him up post-match. This was a first round match in the "Best in the World" tournament that had only North Americans and was eventually won by someone not in the tournament. *1/2

THE MIZ vs. JEFF HARDY (7:05): This was like a house show. No one really did much and the matches were all short except for the main event. This was a part of the soon to be forever infamous "Best in the World" tournament. *

SETH ROLLINS vs. BOBBY LASHLEY (5:30): Another tournament match. Lashley sucks. He's so big and dumb and plodding. He is old, so I guess that's one excuse. Rollins might be WWE's big star now that Roman Reigns is out battling leukemia. *

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. KURT ANGLE (8:10): Angle looked as good as possible considering he's old and broken. This was another tournament match. The crowd chanted, "You suck!" when Angle entered. That was amusing. *1/2

CESARO & SHEAMUS vs. THE NEW DAY (10:30): These teams have had some great matches in the past, but, man, this sucked. It was dull. The New Day came out on a big, flying carpet type of rig. *

THE MIZ vs. REY MYSTERIO (11:15): The second round of the tournament. The Miz won. I wonder if Mysterio is questioning his WWE return at this moment. *1/2

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. SETH ROLLINS (13:05): This is the blood feud that no one cares about. Ziggler won which means we're getting a Ziggler vs. Miz final to crown the best wrestler in the world. Huh? *1/2

AJ STYLES vs. SOMOA JOE (11:15): Daniel Bryan was supposed to wrestle AJ for the title here but he refused to go to Saudi Arabia (even though he wrestled there in the Greatest Royal Rumble event earlier this year) so they had AJ beat Bryan clean on Smackdown before this show. This was probably the best match on the show, though it was short and just okay. **

BROCK LESNAR vs. BRAUN STROWMAN (3:15): Roman Reigns has leukemia so he had to leave the WWE and forfeit the title. So this was for the title and Lesnar won quickly after Baron Corbin, RAW's GM, hit Strowman in the head with the title then Lesnar delivered five or so F5's. Strowman kept kicking out for awhile but he still got destroyed. Lesnar was suppose to be going to the UFC so I'm not sure why he won the title here. *1/2

SHANE McMAHON vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (2:30): This was the final match in the "Best in the World" tournament. John Cena wouldn't go to Saudi Arabia so he wasn't in the tournament. So maybe you would think that, well, it's not really the best wrestlers in it, anyway. Well it got worse. The Miz got injured so couldn't wrestle, so Shane announced he would wrestle here even though he didn't wrestle in the first or second round, wasn't in the tournament, and is a GM, not a wrestler. Shane quickly won then ran around with the trophy. This was apparently set up to turn Shane heel eventually. What a stupid fucking story. This is the best they can come up with? 1/2*

HHH & SHAWN MICHAELS vs. KANE & THE UNDERTAKER (27:45): Shawn Michaels returned to wrestle for the first time in eight years. That would normally be a big deal, but with the whole Saudi Arabia controversy swirling around everything, his return was kind of an afterthought. He's bald now and did a moonsault off the top rope and landed hard on his face. HHH injured his pec muscle and now needs surgery. Kane's mask/hair came off during this match. My God was this a disaster. The crowd cheered for a lot of it but that was just because they were probably happy to see these stars in the flesh. This show and this match were atrocious. And yet, the WWE signed a ten year deal with Saudi Arabia so we'll be seeing shows like this every year for too long. -No Stars-

WWE EVOLUTION

Nassau Coliseum
Long Island, NY

TRISH STRATUS & LITA vs. MICKIE JAMES & ALICIA FOX (11:05): This was the WWE's first all-women's ppv. The reason behind it isn't great, though. The WWE is having a show on Friday in Saudi Arabia. This will be their second visit this year to Saudi Arabia. The first time they went the company got a lot of flak because women aren't allowed to wrestle on the show there. That's not the only thing bad/wrong about Saudi Arabia (alcohol, homosexuality, and porn are illegal, among other ridiculousness). A few weeks ago, Saudi Arabia had a U.S. citizen murdered in Turkey because he was a newspaper critic of them. But the WWE only cares about money. So here's at least a bone to throw the women that can't get a big pay day like Shawn Michaels and Brock Lesnar who are only wrestling in Saudi Arabia because the paycheck is so large. An all women's show! The WWE, granted, has made strides in the last few years at making their women's division less of a bra-and-panties, mud-pit melee type of a comedy farce. Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Asuka, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Bayley have led the charge. They did a women's Royal Rumble this year and last year a women's Hell in a Cell match was the main event on that ppv. There was only one good match on paper on this card, though, and that was the only one that delivered. As for this opener? It was three old hags and Alicia Fox. It was okay but the crowd was super hot. The arena was as dark as a cave, probably because there were a lot of empty seats, but this was a hardcore crowd which was good. *1/2

BATTLE ROYAL (NIA JAX) (16:10): They always throw a monotonous battle royal on shows when they don't know what else to do it seems. I didn't pay much attention to this. It was the usual stuff. *1/2

TONI STORM vs. IO SHIRAI (10:20): Shirai was Stardom's big star in Japan. That's an all women's wrestling company. Of course she lost here, though, which seems fairly inept. This was the finals of the Mae Young Women's Classic...which I didn't watch and probably no one else did since it wasn't on RAW or Smackdown. The internet fans slobbered over this match when it was announced but it was way too short. Both of them did some crazy moves, though, like a top-rope moonsault to the floor and a suplex on the apron. They're both definitely future stars. **1/2

SASHA BANKS, BAYLEY & NATALYA vs. RUBY RIOTT, LIV MORGAN & SARAH LOGAN (13:10): Good match. The last great women's match was Bayley vs. Sasha at a NXT Takeover awhile back. So you'd think they'd put Banks or Bayley in a one on one match. Nope! Banks is great, perhaps the WWE's best women's wrestler. They've been sort of setting up a Bayley/Banks feud forever...so maybe pull the trigger. **1/2

SHAYNA BASZLER vs. KAIRI SANE (12:10): Good match. This was for the NXT title. Kairi Sane is awesome and gorgeous, a true WWE rare gem. Baszler is a UFC style brute. This was more entertaining than their Takeover bout earlier this year. The end had outside interference from Baszler's Four Horsewomen contingent so that ending sucked and blew. **1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. CHARLOTTE "LAST WOMAN STANDING MATCH" (28:40): The WWE doesn't have many half hour long matches. Maybe they should, as it takes time to build drama and emotion and tell a story. This was the WWE's best match of the year. NXT had better matches, but the WWE main roster hasn't had much to cheer about all year. This was awesome stuff. It was basically a tables, ladders, and chairs match. Becky elbow dropped through Charlotte on the announce table. Charlotte did a moonsault onto Becky on a table and it didn't break so she did it again but did a Swanton Bomb. They both dropped each other on a pile of chairs in the ring. They hit each other with Singapore canes. They brawled through the crowd. The finish had Lynch power bomb Charlotte off the top rope through a ring side table and Flair didn't beat the ten count. This was emotional and dramatic as hell. Also very entertaining. I do love plunder matches so perhaps I'm biased, but this still was definitely a high water mark for WWE women's matches. Lynch retained the title, and is still apparently a heel even though she was voraciously cheered throughout. ***1/2

RONDA ROUSEY vs. NIKKI BELLA (14:15): They created this feud out of thin air two weeks ago for no reason. They should have made the Lynch/Flair match the main event. Seeing Rousey selling for ten minutes was atrocious. Rousey kept her title. This was perhaps better than even I thought, albeit it still was pretty bad. *1/2

NJPW KING OF PRO WRESTLING

Tokyo

EL DESPERADO & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU vs. JYUSHIN THUNDER LIGER & TIGER MASK (9:51): When these four dudes waltzed out for the first match I was like, oh, jeez, a typical, random New Japan multi-man opener. I was sadly mistaken, as this was for the Jr. tag titles, which Desperado and Kanemaru retained. What a fucking title that is, as I'd forgotten who the champs were. It's probably because I loathe Suzuki-Gun. And where the hell is the Dragon Lee vs. Desperado mask vs. mask match we were promised? This was mildly entertaining. **

TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. JUICE ROBINSON & TOA HENARE (10:20): Honma was almost paralyzed but is back and looks...the same? I guess a little rusty, but he's still doing diving head butts for some reason. This was just okay. The crowd still loves Honma, though, which at least made this a hotter match than it had any right to be. *1/2

BAD LUCK FALE, TAMA TONGA, TANGA LOA & TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS, HANGMAN PAGE & CHASE OWENS (12:06): Where the hell has Ishimori been? I know he wrestled for TNA/Impact at their last ppv...but he set the world on fire in June during the Super Juniors. Hopefully he'll face Kushida at the Dome. And The Bucks are always fun to watch, so there was that. **1/2

TOMOHIRO ISHII, HIROOKI GOTO & WILL OSPREAY vs. MINORU SUZUKI, TAICHI & TAKASHI IIZUKA (12:10): Ugh. Taichi. Dude comes out dressed like The Phantom of the Opera. He's the NEVER champ and is facing Ospreay next for it. Why does Taichi exist? And what's the point of Iizuka? He's like a chained animal set loose. Actually, that's his gimmick. Ospreay and Ishii were fun to watch. **1/2

TETSUYA NAITO, SANADA, BUSHI & SHINGO TAKAGI vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA, TORU YANO, YOH & SHO (9:30): Takagi was the new member of Los Ignoberables that debuted. He's from Dragon Gate. He looked good. Match was okay. The set-up video for this match was hilarious, though. It had Los Ignoberables gambling and drinking in a private room while dressed in suits. They're so fucking cool! I guess. Although they were in the room alone. No girls. **

EVIL vs. ZACK SABRE, JR: Chris Jericho was dressed up as one of Evil's ring entrance zombie/ghost characters. He beat up Evil and unmasked and there was no match. Sabre stood at ringside at watched. This was amusing. **1/2

KUSHIDA vs. MARTY SCURLL (18:33): Good match. Kushida is the new Jr. champ. Takahashi broke his neck so he had to vacate the title. The last time these two wrestled on a big show it was for Ring of Honor in 2017 on a ppv and it was a bore. This was not super fast paced but it was well wrestled and entertaining. With Ospreay moving up in weight and Takahashi out, this division is fairly depleted these days, which is a shame. It was the greatest thing on earth three months ago. **1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. JAY WHITE (20:40): This match was good and the post-match was good...but, c'mon, Jay White was not winning and going on to main event the Dome. So that took any drama out of this. The problem is that the G1 winner gets a title Dome main event match. Well Tanahashi won that but still had to defend his title shot against Okada last month and now White. What the hell is the point of winning the G1 these days? It's kind of like how winning the Royal Rumble became pointless once the February ppv was added. So the post-match had Jay White and Gedo joining The Firing Squad...creating a new, NWO style heel faction. Okada ran out and got beat up, too. Gedo is a great heel and they're pushing the hell out of White for some reason but he still can't win the big one. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. CODY vs. KOTA IBUSHI (34:13): This match was announced last week at the Long Beach show. I guess I'd rather see an Ibushi/Omega match at a bigger show where the end result isn't obvious (Omega was not going to lose the title after his Tanahashi Dome match was pretty much set up two months ago), so I wasn't too mad that Cody was meaninglessly added to this. And Cody added nothing to this. He detracted. It was still great in spots but a bit sloppy and a bit pointless. **1/2

WWE SUPER SHOW-DOWN

Melbourne, Australia

THE NEW DAY vs. CESARO & SHEAMUS (9:38): This show was held at a 100,000 seat cricket stadium. It was probably 75% filled, although they did have seats on the floor which, I assume, cricket does not. Plus the giant stage blocked half of the arena. They said the attendance was 70,000, which, even minus a few thousand since they always lie, is impressive. My question is: they actually get 100,000 to watch cricket? Really? Strange that there's a sport somewhere that fills a 100,000 seat stadium that the U.S. media doesn't cover or put on TV. I guess because we hate immigrants, right? Fuck cricket and all that? There are college football stadiums that fill close to that and I'm guessing Australia doesn't cover those games, so I'm not sure why I'm confounded. As for this show...it had some big matches and was entertaining, although, like the Saudi Arabia show, it wasn't anything particularly special besides a big crowd. The only title to change hands was the 205Live title, and that was only because Buddy Murphy is Australian. This opener, for the tag titles, was good but short, fun while it lasted but pretty forgettable. **1/2

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. BECKY LYNCH (10:50): Good match with a lame DQ finish. Flair had Lynch in the Figure Four and Lynch hit her with the belt to lose but retain. This was hard hitting and fast paced. I'm glad Lynch is finally getting a push because she's charasmatic as hell. **1/2

BOBBY LASHLEY & JOHN CENA vs. ELIAS & KEVIN OWENS (10:05): Cena hasn't wrestled in a long time. I forget the last time. Saudi Arabia, maybe. He has more hair now than usual so you can see his bald spot. His face looks hollow and he looks really old now for some reason. They've really destroyed Owens, though, right? Remember when him and Cena were having four star matches? Now Owens is a fat joke. This was like a RAW main event. *1/2

BILLY KAY & PEYTON ROYCE vs. ASUKA & NAOMI (5:45): Kay and Royce are from Australia. I guess that's why they were on the show because they're awful at everything besides looking pretty. Asuka is another one they've buried. Remember when she was a big, undefeated monster? Now she's like a comedy character. 1/2*

AJ STYLES vs. SAMOA JOE "NO DQ MATCH" (23:45): Good match, perhaps their best yet. Styles bled from the mouth. He put Joe through a table. A chair was used. I still wish AJ never left New Japan and Joe was still in Ring of Honor. **1/2

BRIE BELLA, NIKKI BELLA & RONDA ROUSEY vs. LIV MORGAN, RUBY RIOT & SARAH LOGAN (10:05): This was good when Rousey was in there. They better have her start wrestling Asuka or Lynch instead of all of these joke opponents that she whips around like rag dolls. Nikki Bella legit KO'd Morgan on RAW two weeks ago with a kick to the face, so it was kind of surprising she's already back wrestling. In a few weeks they're doing an all women WWE ppv...which, let's be honest, has the potential for being the worst wrestling show in quite some time. *

BUDDY MURPHY vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER (10:35): This was the match of the night. Murphy is from Australia so the crowd was boisterous. Shocking to see a 205Live match have heat and noise. Good action, good near falls. This was pure action and Murphy won the title. ***

THE SHIELD vs. BRAUN STROWMAN, DOLPH ZIGGLER & DREW MCINTYRE (19:40): Ugh. If you watch RAW then you're sick to death of these six dudes. I watch RAW. RAW has had the worst ratings in their history the last two weeks. Either the audience is sick of these guys or it's just because Monday Night Football is back. This was like a typical RAW main event. Nothing memorable. *

DANIEL BRYAN vs. THE MIZ (2:45): Short! I guess they didn't want to go over four hours so they cut this short. Bryan wins a title shot against AJ. Unfortunately it'll be in Saudi Arabia and not a main event. At least this feud is over. Maybe. Probably. Still, it was Bryan's best ppv match yet this year. **

HHH vs. THE UNDERTAKER "NO DQ MATCH" (27:35): This was awful. And boring. 'Taker should not be wrestling. He tried to pick up HHH and slam him on a guard rail in the crowd but couldn't lift him. Shaun Michaels was a ringside and got involved, as did Kane. Michaels Super Kicked Kane and 'Taker. HHH elbow dropped Kane on a table. HHH kicked out of a Tombstone. Two ref bumps. What else? I guess the crowd was just happy to see two legends wrestling. Kevin Nash noted somewhere online that it says a lot about how bad the WWE is now that they have to put old guys in the main event. I disagree. AJ vs. Bryan for the title could have been the main event. Or Reigns vs. Bruan for the title. And those matches would have been better and the stadium would still have been packed. 1/2*

WWE HELL IN A CELL

San Antonio, TX

THE NEW DAY vs. AIDEN ENGLISH & RUSEV (8:55): This was on the pre-show, although it all blurs together in these new, marathon shows. The standard start time now for the ppv's is 7 PM, which means they're 4 hours plus the pre-show. Surprisingly, there weren't a lot of matches, though, tonight. And this was at least fast and fun and short. The New Day retained their tag titles. **1/2

RANDY ORTON vs. JEFF HARDY "HELL IN A CELL" (24:50): I guess Jeff Hardy has always dreamed of being in a HIAC match. I'm not sure why else this match happened. They used a ladder and chairs and a table. The memorable moment happened when Orton put a screwdriver through Hardy's earlobe and twisted it around. It didn't even look like it hurt. And it's not like he pierced the lobe or anything, it was already stretched out from Hardy wearing those stupid spacer earring things for years. Hardy climbed a ladder and dangled from the top of the cell by his hands and fell through a table. Orton moved off the table way too early. This was too long and kind of pointless. **

BECKY LYNCH vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (13:50): I'm not sure why Lynch just didn't win the title at Summerslam. She had to turn heel there, but the crowds cheer more for her now so that heel turn was fairly ridiculous. Lynch is gorgeous but, unfortunately, not the most entertaining in the ring. I thought if she was ever given the big stage that she would shine. She didn't. *1/2

DOLPH ZIGGLER & DREW MCINTYRE vs. SETH ROLLINS & DEAN AMBROSE (24:52): This was the longest match of the night and the best. The first half was a bore, but by the end the crowd was loud and the action was swift. This felt like a random RAW main event, though, even with the tag titles in the balance (Ziggler and Mcintyre retained). **1/2

AJ STYLES vs. SOMOA JOE (19:00): Not as good as you would have hoped. Maybe Joe is too old now. The finish was lame. Joe had his sleeper submission clutch on but AJ flipped over and pinned him while Joe thought he had won by submission. Groan. Will they just hurry the fuck up and give us a Bryan/AJ 40 minute main event? *1/2

THE MIZ & MARYSE vs. DANIEL BRYAN & BRIE BELLA (13:00): Maryse pinned Bella out of nowhere to sneak away with the win. This was just okay. I guess it's time to give up on Bryan, as his return has thus far disappointed. He signed another one year deal which means, sadly, he won't be in next year's G1. *1/2

RONDA ROUSEY vs. ALEXA BLISS (12:02): Ugh. Bliss had Rousey hurt and punished her for like ten minutes or something. It was the most unrealistic thing in this unrealistic business I've ever seen; Bliss, the four-foot sprout dominating the she-beast for an ungodly length of time. I guess they had to do it since Rousey won in a squash last time but, c'mon. Perhaps Rousey should just fight the men. 1/2*

ROMAN REIGNS vs. BRAUN STROWMAN "HELL IN A CELL" (24:10): Brock showed up. That was a shocker. He is going to the UFC, as you could tell by how small he is (no steroids!). But first he's getting a final payday in Saudi Arabia in November when Reigns/Braun/Lesnar occurs. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew Mcintyre all came out and went on top of the cell to fight for awhile. Ziggler and Rollins fell off the cell at the half-way point onto the announce tables. Mick Foley was the special ref and did a horrible pin counting job. The cell was red and hard to see through it. Oh, and the finish was a DQ and no finish. Um...that sucks. **

WWE SUMMERSLAM

Brooklyn

ANDRADE "CIEN" ALMAS & ZELINA VEGA vs. RUSEV & LANA (7:00): Another long show. This match started around 5:30 and the show ended at 11:00. C'mon, that's too long. Even New Japan shows aren't that long, and those things are fucking marathons. Almas was the NXT champ this year and had a hell of a match against Johnny Gargano in January. Since moving up to the main roster he's been forgotten. It's a shame as he's a good wrestler with a the entertaining Zelina at ring side. This was short at least. *1/2

CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs. DREW GULAK (10:15): Gulak is by far the weakest 205Live wrestler. So of course he gets a title shot and bores the world. 1/2*

THE B-TEAM vs. THE REVIVAL (6:15): The Revival is another one that was super hot and super entertaining on NXT and is now a total joke. Why is NXT so much better? Hotter crowds? Better writing/booking? Maybe because they only do five big shows a year instead of twelve? Well the B-Team retained their tag titles with another fluke win. Groan. *

SETH ROLLINS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (22:00): Good match. The crowd, still awake at this early juncture, helped. Rollins won the IC title. Dean Ambrose and Drew Mcintyre were ringside. The reunited The Shield on RAW the day after Summerslam so I guess we won't be seeing Rollins/Reigns for the title anytime soon. Which is a shame because Rollins has had a stellar year. **1/2

THE NEW DAY vs. THE BLUDGEON BROTHERS (9:45): A DQ finish when The Bludgeon Brothers used their fake Thor hammer to, well, bludgeon The New Day. Xavier Woods did a top rope elbow to the floor which was cool. This was too short with that lame ending, though. The BB have destroyed any ounce of entertainment this tag division once had. *1/2

BRAUN STROWMAN vs. KEVIN OWENS (1:50): The first of three squash matches on the show. And the show was still too long! I guess the point of this was because Strowman showed up in the main event to tease a Money in the Bank briefcase cash in...so they had to show that he was a strong killer by having him utterly destroy Owens. It was still pointless and a waste of two minutes in my book. -No Stars-

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. CARMELLA vs. BECKY LYNCH (15:15): This would've been great if Carmella wasn't in it. Carmella mostly just broke up in counts. When she was on offense it was just silly and embarrassing. Lynch turned heel after Charlotte won the title. So are they ever going to give Lynch the title? **

SOMOA JOE vs. AJ STYLES (22:45): Good, albeit the ending was a lame DQ when Styles used a chair. AJ's wife and daughter were in the crowd and Joe got on the mic twice to taunt her about being her new, "daddy." Great story line...if you're a Jerry Springer fan. It reminded me of the Attitude-era shit, right? Joe wants to fuck AJ's wife. And AJ's daughter was even crying at points. After the match, AJ went over to his wife and daughter and his daughter said, "Daddy, you're bleeding." I guess the family drama helped somewhat, but let's face it, these two are past their prime, so this wasn't a masterpiece or anything. **1/2

THE MIZ vs. DANIEL BRYAN (23:50): Slow and fairly dull. I guess it's either because The Miz sucks or Bryan's been out too long plus isn't suicidal anymore. This was Bryan's first big one on one match since returning. The story line's been built for years. But, damn, it was just too plodding. It wasn't terrible, but I expected something faster and better. The Miz cheated to win when Maryse gave him brass knuckles or some foreign object. Of course Bryan lost. The WWE's hated him for years. **

FINN BALOR vs. BARON CORBIN (1:35): The Demon came out and won fast. Finn faced Reigns on RAW the day after this for the title, so I guess this was to build him up. 1/2*

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. JEFF HARDY (11:00): Crowd was dead. Nakamura had some amusing facial gestures. Hardy did a Swanton onto the edge of the ring. Eh. *

RONDA ROUSEY vs. ALEXA BLISS (4:00): Another squash! Bliss got zero offense in. Rousey won the title. Kind of fast for that, right? She just came here in April. Not sure what you do with her now. Fight men? 1/2*

ROMAN REIGNS vs. BROCK LESNAR (6:10): Well this was short. And, by far, the weakest Lesnar and Reigns/Lesnar match in some time. Braun Strowman stood ringside waiting to cash in his MITB briefcase. Eventually Lesnar F-5'd Braun and hit him with a chair to take him out. Reigns won super fast after that and the credits to the show hit almost immediately. Reigns has had the title before of course, but it was a mistake then and it's a mistake now because he's a good guy that nobody likes. *1/2

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 28

DAY 1: Saturday, July 14th (A-Block) Tokyo

TOGI MAKABAE vs. YOSHI-HASHI (11:05): And here we are, only a week since New Japan's epic and awesome Cow Palace show in the states. The G1! What G1 even stands for I'm not sure (okay, I just looked it up and it stands for Grade 1. So...Yano is considered a Grade 1 athlete?), but it's the best wrestling tournament of the year and always features a few of the best matches of the year. Lately it's been the greatest thing since sliced bread for wrestling fans. The best match of 2016 was the Omega/Naito semi-final and the best match of 2017 was the Okada/Omega semi-final. The best match of 2015 was the Suzuki/Styles match during the tournament. Not sure what went wrong in 2016. But it's here, a month long tournament to crown a winner that will go on to face someone in October. Typically the winner goes on to the Dome in January to main event. And this was actually a good opener, surprisingly since neither guy has a chance to win and, let's face it, who the fuck cares about Makabe and Yoshi-Hashi? Apparently the Japanese crowds do, as they were hot for this (Makabe did, once, hold the championship a long time ago and is supposedly a popular late night TV guest in Japan). It certainly doesn't bode well for Yoshi-Hashi that he came in with his shoulder all taped up. He still has eight more dudes to wrestle and he's already beat up. This was hard hitting. Yoshi-Hashi did some hard slaps and Makabe does the usual grunting and body slams. It was entertaining. **1/2

HANGMAN PAGE vs. BAD LUCK FALE (8:04): This is Adam Page's debut in the G1. He's really turned into a sort-of star this past year. I actually saw him wrestle for ROH at the ECW Arena a few years ago and don't even remember him (he was in the forgotten opener). Page won by DQ when The Firing Squad, a new evil group with the Tongan's and Fale, showed up and beat him up. Before that there was a lengthy crowd brawl. It was short, okay. I guess this is the story line: that Fale will lose every match by DQ when his group interferes. I guess he should've told them not to interfere? Logic! **

MICHAEL ELGIN vs. EVIL (16:08): Elgin is in great matches once in a blue moon. Evil has never been in a great match nor ever will. This was hard hitting and dramatic and exciting late but pretty boring early. **1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. MINORU SUZUKI (13:59): Short but exciting. They started out super fast but eventually Suzuki kept putting Tanahashi in the Sleeper Hold, probably because, at 50, he's a fucking tired, old man. The crowd loved this so I'm still wondering why this wasn't the main event. Suzuki hard slapped Tanahashi a zillion times but it didn't matter, Tanahashi won after delivering two High Fly Flows. **1/2

JAY WHITE vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (25:36):  Jay White had a match of the year candidate last week against Juice Robinson in California. He also lost his U.S. title. And Okada lost his title to Omega in June and is now a lost soul, showing up at the California show holding balloons and coming into this match with hair tips dyed red. Okay. Unfortunately, this two either didn't mesh well or just couldn't follow up the last match. It was just okay and the crowd was kind of quiet for it. White won but even that wasn't too much of a surprise, as there's always a few surprise wins on the first two days of this tournament. And I think everyone knows Okada is winning this whole thing. Or is he...? **



DAY 2: Sunday, July 15th (B-Block) Tokyo 

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. TORU YANO (8:52): Yano is the clown, usually, but for whatever reason he went through this match as if he was a typical New Japan wrestler and this was a typical, classic, G1 match. Which was fucking odd...but ultimately it was more entertaining than the usual, silly Yano antics. Hopefully he doesn't wrestle all of his matches like this because, honestly, while this was a good match I just can't take him seriously. **1/2

TAMA TONGA vs. JUICE ROBINSON (14:52): A dud. Juice just had a classic (and his best New Japan match yet) last week against Jay White in California. The strange thing is...he has a broken hand. Why the hell is he in this tournament? I don't know. Maybe it's just injured or something. Tama Tonga pretty much had to win this match to give legitimacy to the new Firing Squad faction. The problem is that everyone in the Firing Squad are boring wrestlers. This match was no exception. *1/2

HIROOKI GOTO vs. SANADA (13:38): Good match. The crowd went wild for the final few minutes when both were delivering killer moves one after the other. Sanada is rarely in good matches and Goto is like a dark horse, occasionally he shows up in an excellent match out of nowhere. I will say that the B block is the superior division this year. They've got Naito, Ishii, Ibushi, and Omega. Those are four of the best wrestlers in the world. And I think Goto will probably have classics with all of them. Okada's still winning this whole thing but Ibushi is my pick to win the B block. **1/2

KOTA IBUSHI vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (22:58): Good, long, hard hitting match. You could tell it went long and both guy's were busting their asses because sweat was just pouring off of them by the end. That, or maybe the building didn't have AC. With Day 1's Suzuki/Tanahashi match and now this one, it seems the new killer move in the G1 is the hard, face slap. I suppose it looks better than the classic, WWE fake punch used way too much. Sabre is not a favorite of mine because too often his matches are boring for a majority, but I will say that at least his matches are unique. Ibushi has never been in a bad match in his life, has he? The final five or so minutes of this were quite the dramatic spectacle. ***

KENNY OMEGA vs. TETSUYA NAITO (23:19): These two last face each other in the G1 final last year. This was early in the tournament, though, so they didn't do as much dropping-each other-on-their-heads moves as usual, nor was it as good as their last two G1 matches, a final and a semi-final, but it was still the best match of the tournament so far and just plain awesome. This is the first year that they're having Kevin Kelly do English commentary for the whole G1 but I always watch it with the Japanese commentary. This match is the reason why. The announcers were frothing at the mouth and screaming in an orgiastic frenzy by the end of this. Omega countered The Destino multiple times, most notably into a pile driver. He also kicked out of a Destino. But nobody has yet kicked out of Omega's One-Winged Angel, and he won with it here. ***1/2



DAY 3: Monday, July 16th (A-Block) Sapporo

MICHAEL ELGIN vs. HANGMAN PAGE (17:17): Hard hitting, sure, but so-so. This show, which didn't particularly have any great matches, was in a really big building with a large, 6,000+ crowd. Maybe those in Sapporo are drunk (isn't Sapporo a whiskey?) or perhaps don't get to see New Japan live a lot, because six thousand for this card is revolutionary. The crowd was semi-dead for a lot of this match, as the Japanese are tough customers when two foreigners wrestle each other. ** 


EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI (12:37): The G1 would be a hell of a lot better if these two weren't it. Granted, Yoshi-Hashi has been wrestling with more fire lately since his good singles bout against Naito a few months ago. But this was mostly forgettable. The one memorable moment happened when Yoshi-Hashi tried to pick up Evil in the corner and got him up but couldn't hold on and Evil spilled up and over him and out of the ring and Yoshi-Hashi was pulled out with him. That was an amusing gaffe. *1/2

TOGI MAKABE vs. MINORU SUZUKI (14:58): The crowd was super hot for this, I guess because, like fans cheering for old/famous wrestlers like Hogan now, Makabe and Suzuki would have been wrestling in the main event for the title ten years ago. This started like a bar room brawl then went outside where Suzuki beat up Makabe with a chair then pushed the New Japan crew boys around. After that it got slow and dull with intermittent Makabe offense until he ended up coming back to win. **

BAD LUCK FALE vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (13:38): Boring. Okada had a legendary two year title run where he was regularly having four star matches. His one obvious bad match amidst that run was, of course, against Fale, the big bore. The surprise was that Okada lost for the second time already in the G1. Fale won after one of the Tonga's low-blowed Okada when the ref wasn't looking. I'm guessing that Okada is now partaking in a Rocky-esque story line. He lost the title. He's down, beaten, a lost loser. Cue the redemption, winning, title victory. This is New Japan, so that might take a year or two, though. *

JAY WHITE vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (24:02): The end of this was great. Tanahashi is still the king of drama during the final flurry of his matches. Before that, though, when Tanahashi's knee was hurt and White worked it over forever, the match dragged and the crowd sat on their hands. White has now beat Okada and Tanahashi in the G1, which is unheard of, right? This was better than their last match against each other, the truly bad Wrestle Kingdom match earlier this year when White debuted his "Switchblade" character, which I guess is a West Side Story caricature? But it wasn't much better. Still, the last few minutes were great. **1/2

A-Block Standings:
ELGIN: 2-0   EVIL: 1-1   FALE: 1-1   MAKABE: 2-0   OKADA: 0-2   PAGE: 1-1   SUZUKI: 0-2   TANAHASHI: 1-1   WHITE: 2-0  YOSHI-HASHI: 0-2

DAY 4: Thursday, July 19th (B-Block) Tokyo:

SANADA vs. TAMA TONGA (10:46): The Firing Squad interfered throughout this match, but Sanada got a roll-up pin at the end. I suppose giving the Tonga brothers a story line and group is at least throwing them a bone, because they've been pretty much lame these last two years or so in New Japan. But...but...they're lame! Still. Which means this was dull. And Bad Luck Fale and the other Tonga interfered but Tama Tonga still lost, which doesn't say much about their gang. This wasn't particularly good. *

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. TORU YANO (10:34): Yano's first G1 match against Ishii was a regular, serious, hard hitting affair. Would he actually do that in the whole tournament? Nope. He went back to his comedy antics in this match, although the crowd roared their approval for it. This was your typical Yano match. I.E.: mostly forgettable but semi-amusing. *1/2

KOTA IBUSHI vs. JUICE ROBINSON (13:03): This was the match of the night. Is Ibushi the greatest wrestler on the planet? Perhaps. He did a Hurricanrana on Juice while the two of them were standing on the apron. Then he did a moonsault off the top of the metal pillar thing right behind the top rope down onto Juice amidst the crowd. This wasn't a classic or anything but it was entertaining. **1/2

TETSUYA NAITO vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (19:13): These two have had some all time great matches. Ishii is old now and it wasn't even the main event or anything so it ended up being a tad disappointing when considering they usually pull of four star spectacles. Good, alas, not great. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. HIROOKI GOTO (19:25): Omega did a moonsault off of a guardrail in the stands down onto Goto and a few of the New Japan crew members. That was crazy. I guess he saw what Ibushi did earlier and wanted to top it. I'm not sure why Naito/Ishii wasn't the main event. I guess because Omega is the champ and this was a re-match of the 2016 G1 final. For whatever reason, none of the Omega/Goto matches in the past have ever been excellent. They've been good, just not what you're used to seeing out of  Omega, the so-called, "best-bout-machine." **   

B-Block standings:
GOTO: 1-1   JUICE: 1-1   IBUSHI: 2-0   ISHII: 1-1   NAITO: 1-1   OMEGA: 2-0   SABRE: 1-1 SANADA: 1-1   TONGA: 1-1   YANO: 0-2 

DAY 5: Friday, July 20th (A-Block) Tokyo:
 
JAY WHITE vs. MICHAEL ELGIN  (17:44): Well this A-block is pretty lackluster. They have Okada and Tanahashi, but that's about it. Sure, Suzuki is amusing albeit old. The highlight of Suzuki's match was the crowd singing along to his infamous entrance song. This match ended when White delivered a low blow on Elgin. It seems like, for whatever reason, there is a ton of ref bumps and refs being distracted during this year's G1. More than usual, anyway. This match was mediocre. Jay White just started the G1 and is already tired. He tried to lift Elgin on the apron for what looked like a cradle suplex type maneuver but couldn't lift him and they both ended up toppling off the ring and hard onto the floor. This whole show was pretty forgettable. Where's the no-announcing, fixed camera shows when you need 'em? **

MINORU SUZUKI vs. YOSHI-HASHI (13:44): Suzuki, of course, ended up hitting Yoshi-Hashi with a chair outside the ring amid the crowd. Yoshi-Hashi's shoulder is still taped up so Suzuki tore the tape off. What brutality! Suzuki matches in this year's G1 are all the same; they start fast, brutal, then slow to a crawl. Suzuki knocked out one of the crew guys after the match then, on the way to the back, was ready to punch announcer Kevin Kelly but didn't and Kelly flinched and cowered at his table. **

EVIL vs. TOGI MAKABE (10:16): This wasn't much of anything. Monotonous, back and forth action and fairly bland. *

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. BAD LUCK FALE (16:27): The Firing Squad interfered, which is the big story line in this tournament. Tanahashi attacked Fale's legs early. Eventually he was primed to win when Tama Tonga pulled the referee out of the ring. This caused Red Shoes to give them the finger and call the match a DQ. I'm so used to seeing outside interference and ref bumps in the WWE that it's kind of shocking to see it so widespread in this company. Granted, these two would not have had a better match without the shenanigans, so I guess it at least provided some sliver of entertainment. **

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. HANGMAN PAGE (17:31): Page is in the main event, which probably tells you something about the A-block. Page did all of his patented moves; the top rope moonsault to the floor, the over-the-top-rope leap into a clothesline, etc. The crowd was kind of into it (this whole weekend's block of shows was at Korakeun Hall, the great, small, packed arena) late but it never really turned into anything all that great. The best part was actually when Okada came out holding a bunch of balloons. What is his gimmick? Fool? Loser? He has dyed red hair now and balloons. Maybe he recently watched last year's Stephen King's It movie. **

A-block standings:
ELGIN: 2-1   EVIL: 2-1   FALE: 1-2   MAKABE: 2-1   OKADA: 1-2   PAGE: 1-2   SUZUKI: 1-2   TANAHASHI: 2-1   WHITE: 3-0  YOSHI-HASHI: 0-3



DAY 6 Saturday, July 21st (B-Block) Tokyo:

TORU YANO vs. KOTA IBUSHI (8:23): Yano with the upset. God, how can Ibushi go through life knowing that the clown king pinned him? The crowd did love Yano. I'm not sure why, although I have a guess. I do watch a lot of foreign films, and I can't for the life of me think of a Japanese comedy. Maybe they're sense of humor sucks and that's why they don't make any good comedies? Is that why they think Yano is fucking hilarious, because they don't know good comedy if it slapped them in the face? Who knows? So they both ended up taking the protective padding thing off every corner of the ropes then threw each other into them. Yano gave Ibushi and a low blow. He also taped Ibushi's hands together. I suppose it was mildly amusing. *1/2


SANADA vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (10:45): Good match. This show was light years better than last night's dull show. The B-block is where it's at! They did a neat little sequence where they kept rolling each other up for a pin while also twisting octopus-like around, up, and over one another. This was short, so we didn't get any tiresome, long Sabre holds, which is a good thing. **1/2

TETSUYA NAITO vs. JUICE ROBINSON (16:43): Good match. It started a little slow as Naito worked over Juice's broken hand but by the end the crowd was hot and loud for this. Naito probably needs a new finisher, as The Destino seems to be easily reversed by everyone all the time. Naito also always does a flip when he gets clotheslined which is stupid but also cool looking. ***

KENNY OMEGA vs. TAMA TONGA (9:55): The Firing Squad came out and beat up Omega before the bell even rang. This caused Hangman Page and Chase Owens to come out for the save. Later, Owens, Page, and Ibushi came out for the save. This had more interference and ref bumping, which makes me wonder if New Japan has hired a former WWE writer. Tama Tonga wanted to slam Omega on a chair in the ring but the Red Shoes kicked it out of the ring. So Tama Tonga gave Red Shoes a Gun Stun neck breaker and got DQ'd. Semi-entertaining, semi-wild. And, really, Tama Tonga wasn't going to have a better match solo with Omega, anyway. **1/2

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. HIROOKI GOTO (18:45): Brutal! This match was, realistically, twenty minutes of hard clotheslines. But clotheslines where they don't fall down. There was more, of course. Head butts. Ishii did a top rope suplex. But it was basically a classic, strong style match of hard elbows and punishment. The crowd did get into a frenzy late, which is always a good sign. Good end to what was the best show of the tournament so far. ***

B-block standings:
GOTO: 1-2   JUICE: 1-2   IBUSHI: 2-1   ISHII: 2-1   NAITO: 2-1   OMEGA: 3-0   SABRE: 1-2 SANADA: 2-1   TONGA: 1-2   YANO: 1-2



DAY 7 Sunday, July 22nd (A-Block) Tokyo:

YOSHI-HASHI vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (14:22): Pretty good match, which is shocking considering how slow and dull these A-Block shows are. I should probably just skip them until Okada/Tanahashi on the third to last night. Yoshi-Hashi has his shoulder all taped up...so maybe he shouldn't still be doing his patented Swanton Bomb? **1/2

EVIL vs. BAD LUCK FALE (12:13): Evil won by DQ. The problem with the proliferation of The Firing Squad interference is that it occurs during Fale matches, who's in A-Block, and Tama Tonga's matches, which are in B-Block. That means every show has The Firing Squad interfere, which is getting ridiculous. Also pointless is that Fale has only one once in the G1, which means the interference isn't exactly helping him. Bushi and Naito also showed up to interfere, getting some hot crowd pops but ending up both getting beaten down. This was mildly amusing. *1/2

MINORU SUZUKI vs. JAY WHITE (10:35): The Ace versus The Young Buck. What would this grizzled veteran teach the young pup? Not much, although he won fairly easily with his pile driver. This was only ten minutes and the first five were White rolling out of the ring then getting back in and holding the ropes and telling the ref to get Suzuki back. This was too slow. *

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. HANGMAN PAGE (12:08): Tanahashi hit two High Fly Flow's for the win. This ended up being just okay. Page is not really the type of guy to ever be in spectacular matches, and in this show particularly everyone on the card looked sluggish and tired (it was the fourth consecutive night of shows, and these A-Block guys wrestle on the under card of the B-Block shows in superfluous, mixed tag matches). Tanahashi is one of the all time greats, but even he is pretty much only half as good as he once was. **

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. TOGI MAKABE (15:11): This was a basic match that turned out mediocre. Makabe is a brute but probably too old to still be in main events. Okada has yet to have a great match in this tournament, and I'm not sure he will until the last weekend. *1/2

A-block standings:
ELGIN: 2-2   EVIL: 3-1   FALE: 1-3   MAKABE: 2-2   OKADA: 2-2   PAGE: 1-3   SUZUKI: 2-2   TANAHASHI: 3-1   WHITE: 3-1  YOSHI-HASHI: 1-3



DAY 8 Thursday, July 26th (B-Block) Nagaoka:

HIROOKI GOTO vs. TORU YANO (2:17): Yano took the protective barrier off the ring post right away. At least this was short. I always feel kind of bad for these hard hitting, serious wrestlers that have to face Yano. Granted, they're probably just happy for the breather. *


TETSUYA NAITO vs. TAMA TONGA (10:06): Good match with more interference. It was fast paced which was good. Tanga Loa got involved and there was a ref bump. Naito eventually won with the Destino. **1/2

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (14:36): Pretty good match. Ishii tapped out quickly at the end which kind of sapped any sort of drama at the end, but did make Sabre's arm bar seem super powerful. These two wrestled each other in England's RevPro promotion earlier this year so they at least worked seamlessly as they know each other well. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. JUICE ROBINSON (15:31): Another good match, albeit not really in the realm of a typical, awesome Omega match. This was fast, though, which a lot of near-falls and drama. There was one suplex/flip that Juice delivered that sent Omega right on the side of his head in a sick angle. It's kind of shocking that there hasn't been a major injury to one of these G1 guys in the last few years. These middle tournament shows do kind of slow everything down a bit until they rev it back up at the end. **1/2

SANADA vs. KOTA IBUSHI (22:23): Good match and the best of the night. The last G1 show was on Sunday so they had three days off and it kind of showed. This was fast paced throughout with a hot crowd. Ibushi is, so far, probably the star of the G1 thus far, as he pretty much has good matches with everyone. His top rope moonsault to the floor was so perfect it's almost as if he was born to do this. Sanada ended up winning with his awkward looking top rope moonsault. And, really, you can't go wrong with a match where both guys are doing fucking moonsaults. ***

B-block standings:
GOTO: 2-2   JUICE: 1-3   IBUSHI: 2-2   ISHII: 2-2   NAITO: 3-1   OMEGA: 4-0   SABRE: 2-2 SANADA: 3-1   TONGA: 1-3   YANO: 1-3



DAY 9 Friday, July 27th (A-Block) Shizuoka, Act City Hamamatsu

MINORU SUZUKI vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (14:10): This was okay match. Way to kick things off, A-Block. The A-Block is like the red-headed, step-child no parent wants. Elgin has lost some weight and looks about as good as he's ever been. Suzuki is just an asshole. Pushing refs, hitting his opponents with chairs while in the crowd. His shtick is a little old, though, since he isn't having stellar matches this year. **

EVIL vs. HANGMAN PAGE (15:40): Decent match, albeit workmanlike and basic. By the end it was mildly watchable. **

BAD LUCK FALE vs. JAY WHITE (11:42): Another ref bump. Considering even when there isn't a ref bump the wrestlers still push the refs around...does this mean we'll be seeing a referee story line? Like, they join a union or something? I doubt it, as NJPW doesn't really do story lines like the WWE does. The Tongans ended up interfering to help Fale get the win. *

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. TOGI MAKABE (12:08): Tanahashi won after two straight High Fly Flows. That was cool. The rest was just average stuff, really. Nothing to see here. **

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. YOSHI-HASHI (19:40): The last time Yoshi-Hashi was in the main event was probably that ROH show in Chicago last October. They announced that Omega would be there defending his U.S. title and the show sold out. Then they announced his opponent: Yoshi-Hashi. Groans were heard around the world. And even Omega knew this was lame so he threw out the kitchen sink during that match. It had multiple people interfering and tables broken and it still turned out to be just a little better than average. Yoshi-Hashi must have read all of the negative buzz about him on the internet because after that he suddenly started to look a little bit better in the ring. He actually had a good match against Naito earlier this year and here he is, in the main event, kicking out of a fucking Rain Maker. Remember when Naito kicked out of the Rain Maker and Dominion two years ago and it was a total, utter shock? Now it's old hat. At least, it is with the red-haired, balloon toting loser, Okada, who's slowly crawling back to his former, elite self. This turned out to be a pretty good match by the end, and by far the match of the night on this lame show. Finally, after two more Rain Maker's late, Okada won. **1/2

A-block standings:
ELGIN: 2-3   EVIL: 4-1   FALE: 2-3   MAKABE: 2-3   OKADA: 3-2   PAGE: 1-4   SUZUKI: 3-2   TANAHASHI: 4-1   WHITE: 3-2  YOSHI-HASHI: 1-4



DAY 10 Saturday, July 28th (B-Block) Aichi: 

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. TAMA TONGA (11:00): The Firing Squad apparently cares more about being destructive than victorious. At the end, Bad Luck Fale just waltzed in and delivered his finisher to Sabre and Tama Tonga was DQ'd. Before that there was another ref bump. The crowd fucking loathed the interference. Is this going somewhere? Because...after all of this bullshit does anyone actually want to see anyone wrestle The Firing Squad anymore? *

JUICE ROBINSON vs. TORU YANO (8:30): Pure comedy. Of course. These Yano matches would probably be unwatchable if it wasn't for the hot crowd. Why do they love his antics? Juice does, or, at least, he fed into it. He put Yano over his shoulders and spun around for awhile then they both walked around awkwardly punching at air. I suppose it's something different than the usual brutal, hard, serious drama. *1/2

KOTA IBUSHI vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (16:14): This was by far the best match of the tournament so far and one of the year's best matches. Why this wasn't the main event is beyond me, although I guess since Omega is champ they want to make it seem like he's the king and should be in the spotlight. Another thing is: why haven't they ever given Ishii the title? And why is he never in the main event? He's too old now, probably, but the last time I even remember him being in a main event title match was in Long Beach last year when he lost to Omega. Ishii is awesome, of course, and Ibushi is even better. Ibushi is so far the star of this tournament and he proved it early by doing a moonsault in the crowd off of a ten foot wall. Then they got back into the ring and just beat the living shit out of each other. Hard slaps, hard elbows, hard kicks. Ishii gave Ibushi a top rope suplex and Ibushi got right back up. So, yeah, there wasn't a hell of a lot of selling here, but this was just an awe-inspiring, dramatic, super brutal masterpiece. ****

TETSUYA NAITO vs. HIROOKI GOTO (13:27): Good luck following the last match. And this was dull. Goto kicked out of a Destino, which everyone seems to do these days. This was just kind of slow and kind of flat. **

KENNY OMEGA vs. SANADA (20:12): Good main event. It started a little slow with mat wrestling, but by the end it was in the usual, NJPW high drama realm. Sanada is not the greatest at anything, especially showcasing emotion or delivering any kind of story, but he hung in there with the best. The last five minutes of this were excellent. Omega won with a sloppy looking One-Winged Angel and remains the sole undefeated wrestler in the whole tournament. *** 

B-block standings:
GOTO: 2-3   JUICE: 2-3   IBUSHI: 3-2   ISHII: 2-3   NAITO: 4-1   OMEGA: 5-0   SABRE: 3-2 SANADA: 3-2   TONGA: 1-4   YANO: 1-4



DAY 11: Monday, July 30th (A-Block) Takamatsu

BAD LUCK FALE vs. TOGI MAKABE (7:51): Fale won thanks, of course, to more outside interference. By the end the ref was out and Fale just used a chain to hit Makabe with and the ref woke up and counted the pin. Since this A-block is so bad, I was thinking...why not just forget the Super Jr.'s tournament and have those guys wrestle in the G1? Instead of Makabe you could have Will Ospreay. Instead of Bad Luck Fale you could have Dragon Lee. That also goes for Yano, Tama Tonga, and Evil. It would make the G1 the greatest wrestling tournament of all time. It kind of is already, but still. There's matches like this in it now. *

JAY WHITE vs. HANGMAN PAGE (17:10): White used a steel chair in the ring. Why do they even bother with referees in this tournament? They're practically the 21st competitor this year. White low-blowed Page for the win. This was just okay. *1/2

MINORU SUZUKI vs. EVIL (12:13): They of course brawled in the crowd. Evil eventually put Suzuki's head in a chair and hit that chair with another chair. This match, and show, was kind of stale to put it mildly. *1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. YOSHI-HASHI (12:36): This was pretty basic stuff. Like most Tanahashi matches, the final few minutes were pretty intense and entertaining. But the rest of it was mediocre. **

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (20:56): By the end this turned into a really good match, but the early part was pedestrian. It does seem that, usually, the longer the match the better it is. Maybe WWE should take note? Because this match didn't really turn into anything awesome until the fifteen minute mark. **1/2

A-block standings:
ELGIN: 2-4   EVIL: 4-2   FALE: 3-3   MAKABE: 2-4   OKADA: 4-2   PAGE: 1-5   SUZUKI: 4-2   TANAHASHI: 5-1   WHITE: 4-2   YOSHI-HASHI: 1-5

DAY 12: Wednesday, August 1st (B-Block) Kagoshima

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. TAMA TONGA (10:32): This was almost by far the best Firing Squad match of the tournament so far. I guess blame Ishii, who can't really have a bad match if he tried. Tanga Loa interfered so Ishii just pulled him into the ring and started to beat him up while the ref jumped around frantically not really trying to stop him. A chair ended up in the ring. Tanga Loa pulled out the referee during a count. Bad Luck Fale showed up and gave his finisher to Ishii. Eventually, after all of this, Tama Tonga won. This was at least more entertaining than the usual Firing Squad bullshit, probably because Ishii kept getting back up and fighting back. **1/2


JUICE ROBINSON vs. SANADA (12:36): This was totally forgettable. I literally watched this and then came back to the show an hour or so later to finish watching it. I was fast forwarding through the show to get to where I stopped watching and noticed that Juice and Sanada were wrestling. I just watched it an hour ago and had already forgotten if I watched it. What does that tell you? The only thing I still remember from this is that for some reason Juice unwrapped his broken hand and teased using it. Why would a broken hand be more powerful? Wouldn't it be less powerful? 1/2*

TORU YANO vs. TETSUYA NAITO (8:28): Yano ended up with his wrist taped to a guardrail outside the ring and couldn't unwrap it fast enough to beat the count so he dragged the whole guardrail into the ring. Ha ha! So hilarious! I don't hate Yano like some people probably do, but it's a little annoying to have to sift through his matches to get to the good stuff. *1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (15:14): Omega won, which means he's still the only undefeated wrestler in both blocks. He's going to have to lose eventually to someone. Probably Ishii? He better not lose to fucking Yano. This match was entertaining by the end but mostly kind of boring with Zack suddenly turning Omega's forward motion into a submission and the crowd gasping every time. **

HIROOKI GOTO vs. KOTA IBUSHI (18:09): Good main event. As per usual in all good NJPW matches, the last few minutes were spectacular. Ibushi did all of his patented moves; the top rope, flawless moonsault to the floor, the knee to the head. By the end they were delivering devastating moves to one another and kicking out and it was pretty awesome. ***

B-block standings:
GOTO: 2-4   JUICE: 3-3   IBUSHI: 4-2   ISHII: 2-4   NAITO: 5-1   OMEGA: 6-0   SABRE: 3-3 SANADA: 3-3   TONGA: 2-4   YANO: 1-5



DAY 13: Thursday, August 2nd (A-Block) Fukuoka

MICHAEL ELGIN vs. BAD LUCK FALE (11:13): Elgin won by DQ after The Firing Squad beat the shit out of him with a chair. His shoulder was taped up so of course they hit that with the chair. Before the DQ it was a typical, big man/hard falls type of match which you either love (like Vince McMahon) or you find tiresome. **

HANGMAN PAGE vs. TOGI MAKABE (9:10): This was decent. Page is the new G1 face, so he came out serious and hard hitting trying to show that he belongs. He does, I guess, albeit he hasn't had a great match yet. So this was pretty much just ten minutes of hard clotheslines. If that's your thing. **

JAY WHITE vs. YOSHI-HASHI (9:48): White did all of his villain stuff here. He gave Yoshi-Hashi a low blow when the ref wasn't looking. He attacked Yoshi-Hashi before the bell rang. Why does Yoshi-Hashi come out to the ring holding a staff? He never uses it. I guess he thinks it looks bad ass? This was mediocre. 1/2*

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. EVIL (12:57): Evil will never be in a great match. Because Tanahashi is awesome the crowd got into this because of him but Evil sucks. All he does his clothesline his opponents. When Tanahashi jumped over the top rope to climb up for the High Fly Flow the crowd was ecstatic. And that was the only high light. *1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. MINORU SUZUKI (18:20): This was just okay. Even during Okada's legendary two year title run when he was having four star matches left and right, one of the few duds was his 45 minute bore against Suzuki where they just did submission holds for years. The beginning of this made me wonder if Suzuki has subscribed to the WWE Network and has been watching old ECW shows. Suzuki took Okada into the crowd and threw a guardrail on him and hit him with a chair then threw him across chairs while people scattered. Why weren't they chanting, "ECW! ECW!"? After that they eventually did a slap fest and some back and forth attempted pile driver reversals. This never turned into anything great but it was entertaining in spots. **

A-block standings:
ELGIN: 3-4   EVIL: 4-3   FALE: 3-4   MAKABE: 2-5   OKADA: 5-2   PAGE: 1-6   SUZUKI: 4-3   TANAHASHI: 6-1   WHITE: 5-2   YOSHI-HASHI: 1-6



DAY 14: Saturday, August 4th (B-Block) Osaka

SANADA vs. TORU YANO (5:22): Yano attacked Sanada when he was doing his entrance. Eventually, Sanada tied Yano's arms and legs together around a ringside guardrail and he was counted out. Funny, because I was just saying to myself during the last show how I'm sick of guys dramatically beating the count out in New Japan when no one ever gets counted out. 1/2*

HIROOKI GOTO vs. TAMA TONGA (11:15): Goto won by DQ when The Firing Squad interfered. They threw the ref into the guardrail at ringside and so the bell rang. But then Red Shoes came in and they still wanted him to count 1-2-3 for Tama Tonga. Red Shoes gave them the double middle finger salute then rang the bell for the DQ...again. I don't know...I'm sick of TFS's antics. 1/2*

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. JUICE ROBINSON (13:39): Sabre won by submission when he stretched Juice's leg backwards. This was average stuff. *1/2

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. KENNY OMEGA (22:42): Good match. It started a bit sloppy but by the end it was enthralling. The last five minutes or so was the best wrestling you'll ever see. Typical New Japan, really. They build to a crescendo. Omega apparently fractured a bone in his foot when he did a Terminator dive onto Cody last month during the San Francisco show. I didn't know up until this show and still couldn't tell. He did another Terminator dive and seemed like he was walking and moving around fine. Maybe he's getting a cortisone shot before his matches in his foot or something. Ishii won here which was Omega's first loss in the tournament. He won with a brain buster. This was not as memorable as their match last year in Long Beach. But, granted, that one had a Dragon Suplex through a ringside table. Still awesome, though. ***

KOTA IBUSHI vs. TETSUYA NAITO (25:09): I was wondering why Ishii/Omega wasn't the main event. Ishii is never in the main event. It's like he slept with a New Japan executive's daughter years ago and is still paying the price or something. But this was in Osaka, and Osaka hates Naito because of his history pissing them off, so of course they put Naito in the main event. I remember these two wrestled on Day 1 or Day 2 of last year's G1 and it was sick; they just kept slamming each other on their heads. Well nothing has changed. Perhaps these two shouldn't be allowed to wrestle each other. Ibushi did a German Suplex that put Naito right on his head and then spiked him right on his head later. Like the previous match, this started slow but built into a dramatic frenzy with a ferocious crowd. Good main event. ***


B-block standings:
GOTO: 3-4   JUICE: 3-4   IBUSHI: 5-2   ISHII: 3-4   NAITO: 5-2   OMEGA: 6-1   SABRE: 4-3 SANADA: 4-3   TONGA: 2-5   YANO: 1-6

DAY 15: Sunday, August 5th (A-Block) Osaka

YOSHI-HASHI vs. BAD LUCK FALE (8:31): They had a basic match until the end when Tama Tonga just brazenly interfered by walking into the ring and hitting Yoshi-Hashi with a chair and causing a DQ. I'm not sure the motivation for this. 'Hey, Fale, we'll interfere and cause you to lose the match...but we'll wait and let you two have a match for seven minutes before we do this.' Why not just beat up Yoshi-Hashi in the beginning? This Firing Squad junk is getting too stupid to even contemplate. It's almost turning into...gasp...a typical, non-logical WWE story line. Even if they didn't DQ this match was going nowhere. After the match, Tama Tonga went into the crowd and choked a fan. I guess Japan doesn't have lawsuits? And the fans around the choked fan were laughing. That was amusing. *

HANGMAN PAGE vs. MINORU SUZUKI (12:05): This had to be Page's biggest win ever in his entire career. Not that Suzuki is even well known in the U.S. or anything, but he's still a legend in wrestling. Page did a moonsault off of the entrance way onto Suzuki and El Desperado. Page, as he's been doing all tournament, has tried to show that he belongs and can take it. Suzuki sure gave it to him, delivering some wicked elbow shots to the neck. And of course there was the usual, Suzuki, ECW style crowd brawl involving the steel barriers and chairs. This was semi-entertaining. **

JAY WHITE vs. TOGI MAKABE (16:03): White used a chair when the ref wasn't looking and got the win. Both of these guy's haven't had any great matches in the tournament so far, and with only one more A-block show left, don't expect one. This was forgettable. 1/2*

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (16:03): Good match. The reason, probably, is that Tanahashi gets more of a crowd reaction than anyone on the roster. That usually makes average matches a little bit better. And this certainly wasn't anything special, but with the hot crowd and the exciting last few minutes, it turned out to be good. The one major problem was how Tanahashi won. He won with a schoolboy roll-up, but it was an awkward one. Elgin stopped for a moment and then realized he's supposed to get rolled up and lose now so he sort of went into the roll up himself. Lame finish, good match. **1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. EVIL (18:27): The last five minutes were stellar...if you love clothes lines. Okada had to win here or else Tanahashi would have wrapped up the A-block. Okada delivered Evil's finisher and Evil attempted a Rainmaker...although, perhaps it was just a clothes line. What is the difference? The end had a bunch of reversals...like Evil reversing The Rainmaker into...his OWN clothes line! So the end of this was dramatic and exciting. And so now, of course, it's set up that who ever wins between Okada and Tanahashi on the final A-block show will most likely win the block. Jay White has beaten both Okada and Tanahashi, so if he wins he could leap them both and be in the final. I can't fathom how awful that would be if Jay White is in the G1 Climax final. **1/2

A-block standings:
ELGIN: 3-5   EVIL: 4-4   FALE: 3-5   MAKABE: 2-6   OKADA: 6-2   PAGE: 2-6   SUZUKI: 4-4   TANAHASHI: 7-1   WHITE: 6-2   YOSHI-HASHI: 2-6



DAY 16: Wednesday, August 8th (B-Block) Yokohama

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. JUICE ROBINSON (12:24): This was a good match. It's tough for Ishii to be in a bad match, and this one worked because it was back and forth and non-stop action. Juice stood toe to toe and produced his best match of the tournament. **1/2


ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. HIROOKI GOTO (10:43): Pretty forgettable, honestly. Sabre, Jr. and Goto haven't done too much in terms of entertainment in this year's G1. *1/2

TAMA TONGA vs. KOTA IBUSHI (14:17): Ibushi did a moonsault off of the balcony onto Tama Tonga and two of the New Japan ring side crew members. That was the highlight. The Firing Squad of course interfered. Bad Luck Fale came in and then Kenny Omega ran into the ring to save his tag team partner, Ibushi. All of this happened without the ref seeing anything, since Tama somehow got the pin. **1/2

TORU YANO vs. KENNY OMEGA (9:04): This was one entertaining match. Omega was lying on the mat unconscious thanks to The Firing Squad in the last match. So Yano comes in and tries to pin him quickly but Omega miraculously kicks out. Then we get tons of comedy. They hit each other with the protective turnbuckle padding. Yano suplexed Omega onto four of those turnbuckle mats in the ring and Omega got up and looked around because he was just suplexed onto fucking foam, of course it didn't hurt. Then Yano taped Omega's wrist to a ring side crew member's wrist. Omega had to carry the crew member into the ring to beat the count then used him to clothes line Yano. This was all ridiculous. Tama Tonga shows up and gives Omega a Gun Stun then drapes Yano over him. The ref, apparently, missed all of this, as he counts the pin for Yano. This means that Yano has beaten Ibushi and Omega in this tournament. ***

TETSUYA NAITO vs. SANADA (19:52): Good main event, albeit not great or anything. The crowd was a bit quiet through a lot of this, although by the end it was dramatic and exciting and the crowd got into it. There were a lot of near falls by the end, like when Sanada delivered a Destino and Naito kicked out of it. I still think Yano/Omega was the match of the night...which is a fucking shocker. Going into the last B-Block show, Omega and Naito are tied in the lead with Ibushi and Sabre, Jr. tied for 2nd. Omega already beat Naito, so he would go to the finals if they tie. Usually the champ doesn't end up in the finals, so it'll probably be Ibushi winning it. Probably. Maybe. We'll see. **1/2

B-block standings:
GOTO: 3-5   JUICE: 3-5   IBUSHI: 5-3   ISHII: 4-4   NAITO: 6-2   OMEGA: 6-2   SABRE: 5-3 SANADA: 4-4   TONGA: 3-5   YANO: 2-6



DAY 17: Friday, August 10th (A-Block) Tokyo

TOGI MAKABE vs. MICHAEL ELGIN (8:46): Just another, typical big, strong man match. If that's your bag then you'd be in heaven. So this was same-old. Hard-hitting, short. It was okay. *1/2

YOSHI-HASHI vs. HANGMAN PAGE (10:22): Both of these guys have tried really hard in this tournament. Unfortunately, neither one has had a great match. They're not boring, so this wasn't awful or anything. The problem with this show was that only three wrestlers could win the A-Block; Jay White, Okada, or Tanahashi. Which meant the first three matches were meaningless. *1/2

MINORU SUZUKI vs. BAD LUCK FALE (8:51): More Firing Squad interference! I hope this story line is going somewhere. Er...actually, I don't, because I never want to see The Firing Squad again. All three of them are fucking boring. Suzuki was attempting his piledriver finisher when Tama Tonga brazenly entered the ring and attacked him. This was midly amusing. **

EVIL vs. JAY WHITE (11:36): Evil won, killing Jay White's chances of winning the A-Block. White did all of his villanious maneuvers here; the low blow, using a chair, knocking out the ref, etc. It wasn't anything special. *

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (30:00): Really? A thirty minute draw? Ugh. I guess I wouldn't be mad about it if they hadn't done this two year's ago the last time these two wrestled in the G1 tournament. And would it kill this company to put a countdown clock up on the screen or something? I guess it's my fault, as I listen to the awesome Japanese announcers who probably were shouting how many seconds were left. This did start dull and slow. And it was average for a long time. The last ten minutes were of course the greatest wrestling in the history of the world, though. Tanahashi did a High Fly Flow from the top rope to the floor. They reversed Tombstones in the ring. They reversed Rainmakers. Tanahashi hit a High Fly Flow to Okada's back but Okada kicked out. Tanahashi was going up to the top rope for another High Fly Flow when time ran out. A draw. Tanahashi wins the A-Block. The best matches these two have had were probably three or four years ago, but even a lesser Okada/Tanahashi match is still a near masterpiece. ***1/2

A-block final standings:
TANAHASHI: 7-1-1
OKADA: 6-2-1
WHITE: 6-3
SUZUKI: 5-4
EVIL: 5-4
ELGIN: 3-6
FALE: 3-6
MAKABE: 3-6       
YOSHI-HASHI: 3-6
PAGE 2-7



DAY 18: Saturday, August 11th (B-Block) Tokyo

TORU YANO vs. TAMA TONGA (5:08): Not only did The Firing Squad interfere, but the new president of New Japan, some white guy, came out to stop them. Are they going to go with a Vince McMahon vs. 'Stone Cold' type of storyline now, with the boss versus his own wrestlers? God, I hope not, as the WWE has offically killed that gimmick. Before the DQ finish this wasn't exactly going anywhere. I can officialy say that The Firing Squad antics made this G1 less entertaining than usual. 1/2*

JUICE ROBINSON vs. HIROOKI GOTO (10:36): This was a good match that was pretty much all action. These two were eliminated from the tournament but decided to still put on a show. **1/2

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. SANADA (17:00): This was excellent. Ishii can really do no wrong. The only minor complaint was that Sananda was a bit sloppy at times. This had a billion near falls and reversals and by the end it was awesome stuff. ***1/2

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. TETSUYA NAITO (18:17): These two have wrestled before in England and in the New Japan Cup that Sabre, Jr. won, so they know each other well. With that said, this wasn't their best match. Sabre, Jr. surprisingly won after reversing a second Destino into a Zack Driver. A lot of this match was Sabre, Jr. just being his usual, human pretzel self...which you either love or hate. The problem with the submission holds is that the action grinds to a standstill. But you know what you're getting with a Sabre, Jr. match and this was about as good as it gets for that type of match. **1/2

KOTA IBUSHI vs. KENNY OMEGA (23:13): These two wrestled each other at this very building, Budokan Hall, for DDT in August 2012. It was probably most famous for Ibushi being told he couldn't do a moonsault off of the balcony but doing it anyway and then being banned from the building for a few years afterwards. These two haven't wrestled each other yet in New Japan and I was hoping it was going to be earlier this year at Wrestle Kingdom. Jericho showed up and plans changed but now, finally, we got an Ibushi/Omega match. It was short, and I believe with ten more minutes they could have had a better match, but this was still one of the greatest matches you're ever going to see. The reason is that these two know each other so well that they trust each other to do the craziest, most brutal, insane moves to one another. This was literally insane in the I-can't-believe-they-just-did-that-and-they're-not-dead way. One particular, painful maneuver had Ibushi doing a standing moonsault onto Omega but landed hard on Omega's chest with his knees. Ibushi also did a Super Tiger Driver from the top rope which was crazy. And that's what the end of this match was; just the two of them delivering non-stop, back and forth, ridiculously brutal moves until finally Ibushi won. This was everything we wanted and more. Ibushi ties Omega, Naito, and Sabre, Jr. in total wins but since he beat them all he wins the B-Block. ****

B-block final standings:
IBUSHI: 6-3
OMEGA: 6-3
SABRE, JR: 6-3
NAITO: 6-3
ISHII: 5-4
JUICE: 4-5
SANADA: 4-5
GOTO: 3-6               
YANO: 3-6
TONGA: 3-6

DAY 19: Sunday, August 12th (Finals) Tokyo

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KOTA IBUSHI (35:00): I think that this was the best final match in the last few years. And that's saying a lot considering last year had Omega/Naito tearing the house down. Tanahashi wins which means he's going to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. My prediction was Okada beating Ibushi in the finals...so I was half right. Tanahashi is, of course, older and a bit slower so a lot of people thought his glory days were over, especially considering he hasn't had the title in three years and at Wrestle Kingdom earlier this year he was stuck in the mid-card fighting Jay White. But the crowds love Tanahashi more than anyone else on the roster. He's their Hulk Hogan icon...so putting him in the main event of the year's biggest show isn't exactly a bad move. He did prove in this match that he can still deliver a classic...although facing Ibushi certainly helped. Omega verse Naito, Ibushi, or Okada at WK would probably be a better match. But Tanahashi/Omega was great the last time they faced each other on a big show in the main event (two year's ago). As for this match...the hot crowd helped. The long match helped build the drama and excitement to a feverish pitch at the end. Ibushi did all of his brutal moves and Tanahashi at least took it. He won with a second High Fly Flow in a great main event. ***1/2


The *-Ratings Results
****-  2 matches
***1/2-  4 matches
***-  9 matches
**1/2-  21 matches
**-  21 matches
*1/2-  14 matches
*-  10 matches
1/2*-  6 matches