WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas

SHEAMUS vs. SHORTY G (12:35): I feel so bad for Chad Gable. Granted, he could've probably signed for a different wrestling company and not been utterly humiliated. But you know what you're getting into when you sign up for Vince McMahon's circus. Sheamus apparently was close to never being medically cleared again because of his neck or something. But he's back and pretty much as boring as ever. This was the first pre-show match in the half empty Houston Astros baseball stadium (which did fill up eventually as the show either sold out or was close to a 40.000 sell out). Because of the large crowd, the non-existent Titan Tron entrance, and it being in a unique setting, it made the show look cool and it felt fresh (sort of like how AEW's show on a cruise boat last week made that show fresh and different). Gable is great, so this at least was decent. **

ANDRADE vs. HUMBERTO CARRILLO (14:20): I'm still mystified at Humberto Carrillo's massive push. He's too green, although the reason he's probably being pushed is because he's a taller guy than most cruiserweights who Vince McMahon loathes. And, granted, when I say push I just mean he seemingly skipped NXT and is all of a sudden in matches all the time out of nowhere. Both of these guys would have been better off in Mexico (La Sombra could have probably been the top star these days in CMLL if he stayed...here he's on the fucking pre-show). This should have been better. *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. KING CORBIN "FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH" (21:20): This was quite the spectacle. Brawling all over the massive baseball stadium floor looked pretty cool on TV (the pin was atop the dugout). A bunch of wrestlers ran in and brawled during this match. Ziggler and Bobby Roode came out and then The Uso's ran out (one of the Uso's jumped off a scaffold). Reigns put Corbin in a Port-o Potty and tipped it. The crowd enjoyed this melee. It was fun. **1/2

WOMEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (CHARLOTTE FLAIR) (54:20): I don't really like this show as much as I used to because sitting through two Royal Rumble matches on one night just lessens the impact and entertainment of both of them. It probably helped that I didn't watch this live and so I didn't watch the whole thing straight through in one sitting. There were a few entertaining moments in this match. One was that Otis, the fat, funny, loveable tag team wrestler was helping the hot, out of his league blonde, Mandy Rose. When Rose was thrown out, Otis laid on the ground so that she landed on him and wasn't eliminated. Then when she was thrown out he caught her to save the day. The one thing that good wrestling shows do is present entertaining plotlines that can get you engaged. The fat dude in love with the hot chick is actually a great story. Whether or not the WWE does anything with this is anyone's guess (they fail at this 99% of the time...they aced the Daniel Bryan winning the title at 'Mania storyline partially against their will...and they definitely aced the CM Punk winning the title and leaving the company at that great Money in the Bank show...and that's the only two great storylines the WWE has successfully written that actually started and ended well in the last fifteen or so years). Can you imagine them milking this storyline with Otis and Mandy? Him winning the title and her finally kissing him? The roof would blow off the place. The other semi-amusing moment was Liv Morgan and Lana meeting again and brawling (this all started at the Lana/Lashley wedding when it was revealed that Lana and Liv had previously been lovers but, now, hate each other). Charlotte won by throwing Shana Baszler over the top rope. I guess this means that we'll get a Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte match at WrestleMania. That should, honestly, be the main event. Because who the hell wants to see Drew McIntyre vs. Lesnar? **

BAYLEY vs. LACEY EVANS (9:20): Ugh. Lacey Evans' husband and daughter were at ringside and the daughter had on a cute Southern Belle outfit. When she grows up she'll probably ask her mother what a Southern Belle is because nobody young today knows. She's a Southern Belle character because Vince is living in the ancient past when a Southern Belle was, like, actually a character in TV and in movies. Might as well add some Jim Crow style servants while they're at it. Bayley as a heel doesn't work. This was about as forgettable as an episode of CSI. -No Stars-

"THE FIEND" BRAY WYATT vs. DANIEL BRYAN "STRAP MATCH" (17:35): Daniel Bryan is so good he actually got a fairly good strap match out of Bray Wyatt. A frigging Strap Match! Probably a Chairs Match is the only thing worse. I cringe seeing Bryan still in the WWE every time he wrestling because by now I had hoped to see him wrestling Kenny Omega in AEW or competing in New Japan or, hell, anywhere else. But he signed the contract and he's probably here for life, showing how great he is in lame strap matches against demonic, magical beings. On a positive note, they listening to the entire world and got rid of the red light. **1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. ASUKA (16:25): Well you would think that these two would have had a great match since Lynch is over and Asuka is a good wrestler. You would be wrong! Lynch isn't really as hot anymore, either, for whatever reason (lame WWE booking, perhaps?). I'm not sure what happened, but these two bored the hell out of me and did nothing noteworthy. Forgettable, forgotten. 1/2*

MEN'S ROYAL RUMBLE (DREW MCINTYRE) (1:00:50): The beginning of this match was great. The end, not so great. Brock Lesnar is the RAW champion...so why he was even in this still baffles me because the winner gets a title shot. So why would he even waste his time doing this? Logic! Either way, Lesnar was by far the best part. Yes, it's sad that he just destroys everyone in the company and makes all of their stars look like losers. I guess I've just gotten used to that. It was certainly entertaining seeing him come out and #1 and just quickly eliminate and destroy the first ten or so guys in this. A few of them got some offense on him but even his elimination was kind of a cheat (Ricochet gave him a low blow and Drew McIntrye kicked him and he went over the top rope). The big showdown was Keith Lee and Lesnar, which turned out to be mostly a letdown as Lee didn't last too long. I was hoping that Walter would come out and eliminate Lesnar, leading to a main event at 'Mania with Lesnar/Walter for the title. Well that was obviously never going to happen. The two surprises were MVP and Edge. Edge has been out since 2011 because of neck surgery, so it was kind of sad seeing him do this. I can see why Bryan fought really hard to be reinstated because he's still kind of young. Edge was almost paralyzed, wasn't he? Neck fusion surgery? And he's old, he doesn't need to be doing this. He's cleared so I guess I shouldn't be negative. The final few guys were Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe, Edge, Orton, and McIntyre. Edge turned on his friend, Orton, to eliminate him, so I suppose they'll have a 'Mania match. Everyone teamed up to eliminate Rollins. McIntyre ended up eliminating Reigns (who the crowd booed at the end) to win. So they're pushing McIntyre, huh? McIntyre against Lesnar? Jesus Christ, is that all that the wizards in the booking department can come up with? The crowd cheered when McIntyre won and I still can't fathom why. Has he been pushed as a good guy on RAW lately? I thought he was a heel? So now will the main event at 'Mania be Lesnar/McIntyre, Flair/Lynch, or The Fiend/Reigns? Kind of a lame card, no? I do admit that this show was pretty entertaining and one of the better WWE shows as of late (probably half as good as a NXT: Takeover, though). The future for this company in terms of entertainment value still doesn't look that good. They need better/bigger stars and great blood feuds with matches you actually can't wait to see. They've got the talent but, unfortunately, they just keep pushing the wrong guys. Vince likes big, muscle dudes like McIntyre that will never be in a great match. That's never changed about Vince. As Faulkner once wrote: "The past isn't dead, it's not even past." **1/2

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 14

Tokyo Dome

NIGHT 1

NAOKI SANO, SHINJIRO OTANI, TATSHITO TAKAIWA & RYSUKE TAGUCHI vs. JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, TATSUMI FUJINAMI, THE GREAT SASUKE & TIGER MASK (8:52): This was the first time that Wrestle Kingdom has been stretched over two nights. Nobody really ever asked for it, but money talks I suppose. What everyone wants is for WrestleMania to stretch out over two nights. Hell, they could stretch that eight hour show over ten nights probably. The good thing about a 2 night event is that we got two really good, 30 minute plus Okada main event matches. The bad is that we got a ton of filler like this, the two pre-show matches that I didn't even watch (the pre-show Stardom match never even aired), and the next two matches. This wasn't exactly a filler match. It was part of Jushin Thunder Liger's retirement. There were bunch of old, retired wrestlers in this match that used to feud with him back in the early 90's. This might have been exciting if I watched New Japan back in the early 90's. I didn't...but to be fair, few did. The only way to see it was to get VHS tapes months later from somewhere. So I had no idea who any of these guys were. If it was up to me I would have had Liger had one final match be a single match against a great foe like Ospreay or Hiromu or someone. But no, he had to lose twice in lame tag matches. Eh. 1/2*

ZACK SABRE, JR., MINORU SUZUKI, TAICHI & EL DESPERADO vs. SANADA, EVIL, SHINGO TAKAGI & BUSHI (8:39): This was short, forgettable. This show, minus the pre-show, was four and a half hours long. Lose these bad matches and the show would have been a three hour, instant classic. *1/2

HIROOKI GOTO, TOMOHIRO ISHII, TORU YANO & YOSHI-HASHI vs. KENTA, BAD LUCK FALE, YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & CHASE OWENS (8:17): Because this was New Japan's biggest show of the year, Yoshi-Hashi came out with an even larger staff. What an idiot. Chase Owens is fat. And Ishii is an old man now, why are they wasting his last few good years putting him in bad multi-man tag matches. He'll never get the title and that will always be New Japan's black eye forever. **

JUICE ROBINSON & DAVID FINLAY vs. GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY (13:25): Juice and Finlay won the tag titles here in a bad match. Has the tag division ever been any good in New Japan? 1/2*

JON MOXLEY vs. LANCE ARCHER "TEXAS DEATHMATCH" (14:26): This was entertaining but just okay. Lance Archer was stupendous in the G1 but he was a little sloppy here, slipping off the ropes when he tried to walk them like The Undertaker. Moxley slammed him through two tables at ringside to win and Archer's arm was cut up from it and bleeding. They used chairs and a Singapore cane. The Texas Deathmatch stip just meant a Last Man Standing ten count stip. Moxley oozes charisma, though, so it's always fun to see him but there wasn't much to this. The worst moment came when Archer pulled a plastic shopping bag out of his pocket and then suffocated Moxley with it. My God did that look like something you'd see in a teenage backyard wrestling match on youtube. **

HIROMU TAKAHASHI vs. WILL OSPREAY (25:33): Good match, probably the best of the night. If I watched this match without knowing that Hiromu broke his neck in 2018 and this was his first singles match since then...I probably wouldn't believe you or think he wrestled safer or different. But since I do know, I thought he looked less crazy and suicidal than usual, which was kind of what made him exciting to begin with. Lose that and he's still great but doesn't have that edge that made him awesome. So this was a really good match just not as great as these two had a few year's ago. Hiromu won the title. There were a few times when the look on his face was kind of like, 'What am I doing here? Why did I come back for this?' When before the look on his face was like a deranged serial killer amped up on adrenaline at all times. I guess I can't complain that much, because a less insane Hiromu is still better than most wrestlers on the planet. ***

TETSUYA NAITO vs. JAY WHITE (33:54): Ah...Jay White. Is it bedtime? God, his matches are boring. He's only ever in one good match a year. His match against Juice in 2018 and his match at last year's Dome against Okada were both spectacular. This was more of the same Jay, though, unfortunately. Slow. Methodical. The last five minutes were great and dramatic, however, which helped. Naito won the IC title and will go on to night 2's main event. **1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. KOTA IBUSHI (39:16): This was really good, although it wasn't at the Omega/Okada level, which, granted, is kind of an unreachable high bar. Like most Dome main events, the last ten minutes or so featured the greatest wrestling you'll ever see. High drama, kick outs, crowd in a frenzy. Awesome stuff. I actually might have liked this better if Ibushi won, since he's never been champ and obviously deserves it. Ibushi did every high spot in the book and looked as incredible as always. Considering the winner here had to go onto night 2 to face Naito, it made this match a little less special since it wasn't truly the final Dome main event. But Okada still was in a 40 minute match knowing he'd have to do it again the next day...which is insane. ***

NIGHT 2

EVIL, SHINGO TAKAGI & BUSHI vs. TOGI MAKABE, TORU YANO & RYSUKE TAGUCHI vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII, YOSHI-HASHI & ROBBIE EAGLES vs. TAICHI, EL DESPERADO & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU vs. BAD LUCK FALE, YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & CHASE OWENS (23:23): I thought that night 1 was better than night 2. I guess I can't complain because New Japan just put on two of the best shows of the year and more of their biggest show is always good...but watching two four and a half hour shows (plus the pre-show) on two consecutive days is tough, especially if you were ultra-masochistic and also watched the three and a half hour New Year's Dash show (which I didn't...I skimmed it for the storyline angles). I'm curious if they're going to do this again next year, as this year's two night gimmick was to combine the IC and IGWP titles. They probably will do it again, as money talks and they got 40,000 for each show. This opener pre-show match was for the NEVER 6-man title...which I swear they never defend or showcase. But with so many guys in and out it was at least entertaining. I'm a little sad that with 13 hours and 3 shows they never squeezed in a singles match with Shingo or Ishii. 'Tis a shame. **1/2

HIROMU TAKAHASHI & RYU LEE vs. JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER & NAOKI SANO (12:16):
So this is the last match of the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger. I actually did see him wrestle live once at the ECW Arena at a ROH show (but, seriously, who hasn't seen Liger wrestle live? Guy's been wrestling for thirty years). It was a 4-way with Shinsuke Nakamura, Liger, Mark Briscoe, and Jay Lethal. He did wrestle in WCW for awhile, so for all I know I saw him back then, too, maybe. But he's a legend and it's kind of a shame his last match was this; a forgettable tag team match. Sure, Hiromu and Dragon Lee (who's using Ryu Lee now because maybe CMLL owns his old name) are great, but they couldn't really do much against these old timers. I do think it was time for him to retire, as he's an old man and I hate seeing old, shells of their former selves still wrestling. This was just kind of sad in so many ways. *1/2

RAPPONGI 3K vs. EL PHANTASMO & TAIJI ISHIMORI (14:08): Good, fast paced, fun match. El Phantasmo is definitely the best rookie, future star to come out of 2019. The Jr.'s tag division has kind of fallen apart since The Young Bucks and Ricochet left but at least it's still light years better than the regular tag division which has unfortunately been ruled by the Tongans for awhile. **1/2

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. SANADA (12:32): Zack retained the RevPro title here. This was just okay, although if you love Sabre matches than you'll probably love this as it was more of the same. **

JON MOXLEY vs. JUICE ROBINSON (12:48): Disappointing, although not terrible, just fairly pedestrian. Juice is one of those guys, like Jay White, who has charisma and is a good character but is rarely in great matches. There wasn't much violence here, just some antics with steel chairs. The post match was great, though, as Minoru Suzuki came out for no reason and gave Moxley a piledriver. The crowd went nuts for that. **

HIROOKI GOTO vs. KENTA (16:12): This was definitely the most hard hitting match of the weekend. There was a sequence where they both just slapped each other in the face really hard for a few minutes. Kenta is either angry at never being anything in WWE or maybe he thinks wrestling is real...but his matches are just hard kicks, hard strikes, hard slaps, and nothing much else. His matches are also too slow and not very exciting, which is bad. He lost the NEVER title here...but is still facing Naito for the title in February at the next big show. I'm not sure why he lost here then. **1/2

JAY WHITE vs. KOTA IBUSHI (24:58): It was probably a mistake to have a losers match on this show. I think the reasoning was that the winner here would get the next shot at the title...but Kenta ended up getting it so this match was even more pointless. They did a bunch of stuff WWE usually does. The ref got knocked out. Gedo interfered. Ibushi lost thanks to all of that. I suppose the match would have been a bore if all of that didn't happen, so I can't complain. **

CHRIS JERICHO vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (22:24): Good match, and maybe Jericho's best in his current New Japan run. It's not a surprise, as Tanahashi usually always delivers in big matches at the Dome (or anywhere really). But Jericho's also been wrestling a lot in AEW lately and it showed. They did the usual stuff out in the crowd. Jericho did a DDT on Tanahashi on the announcer's table which looked gruesome. The one thing that helped this match is that crowd was fucking boisterous for this. They love and cheer for Tanahashi like he's Hulk Hogan, so that helped. Jericho won so Tanahashi won't be getting an AEW title shot. ***

TETSUYA NAITO vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (35:37): This was the best match of the weekend. It probably wasn't much better than Okada/Ibushi from Night 1...but this was the final match for both titles and Naito finally beat Okada and won the title at the Dome which he's been trying to do forever. Yes, Naito beat Okada for the title a few years ago...but that was at some lame Spring show and he just lost it right back to Okada at Dominion. And this was the best match in years that Naito has been in. Everyone says he's broken and is hurt and is diminishing...but he wrestled incredible in this, even pulling out the Starshine Press, which is basically a 450 type twist from the top rope, which used to be his finisher back when he was the rookie/face/future star of the company. That role went to Okada instead of Naito...so the story here was that finally, after ten years, Naito won the big one, the main event on the biggest show and dethroned the company's ace to do it and was the first IC and IWGP champ at the same time. Good story, great match. Okada slammed Naito knees first onto the announce table at ringside which looked and sounded brutal. Then there were multiple Destino's and Rainmaker's. Naito even kicked out of a Rainmaker. The end of this was just dramatic and exciting as anything you'll ever see. No, it wasn't as great as Okada/Omega. And no, I didn't think it was as good as Tanahashi/Omega last year. But this was a great match and a great end to the two night show. After the match, New Japan pissed off the world by having Kenta come out and beat up Naito. I didn't mind it but I do think they could have just done that at New Year's Dash (which they did again anyway). But Kenta vs. Naito should be great. And Naito is supposed to be a heel so having a happy, crowd cheering moment is kind of counter to that. Although Kenta is also a heel. But this crowd didn't care that Naito is a heel. They wanted him to win. They popped, they cheered, they basked in his victory. It was definitely a Dome highlight. ***1/2

Best Wrestler of 2019: WILL OSPREAY

 
     I just watched AJPW's Kento Miyahara successfully defend his title at Korakuen Hall against Jake Lee. Granted, this match happened in 2020 (January 3rd), but Miyahara is such a great performer that he actually got people to watch and pay attention to All Japan Wrestling in 2019. Miyahara was so great in 2019, but there was someone better. Realistically, he's been one of, if not the best, wrestlers on the planet for years now. We're talking, of course, about Will Ospreay. It's kind of surprising that in 2019 he even had a toned down style and still was the best. One of the reasons is that Kenny Omega left NJPW and they pushed Will Ospreay and he finally got a bigger role in the company to showcase his many talents. His first match of 2019 was even disappointing in a sense, as Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay should have been the greatest match in the history of the world. No, it was merely good. But then he went on to have great match after great match all year long. It helped that he was in the Super Jr. tournament and the G1 tournament (his first G1). While his Super Jr. final against Shingo Takagi was definitely going to be good (it was, and won the Best Match of the Year award), Will Ospreay was so talented, charismatic, dramatic, and athletic, that random matches with lesser foes turned into epic and awesome bouts (like his G1 first round match in Dallas against Lance Archer). His G1 match against Okada could have very well been the best match of the year. His match against Dragon Lee at Dominion was great. His match against Amazing Red in Tacoma, Washington in the Super J Cup was great. His match at the King of Pro-Wrestling show against El Phantasmo was one of the year's best. And he ended the year in two very entertaining tag bouts with the returning Hiromu Takahashi. When Ospreay started he was insane, suicidal, and wildly entertaining. He learned to be less suicidal and learned how to work an entire match while still being exciting. Anytime you see him you expect greatness. And 2019 was his year. 

Best Match of 2019: WILL OSPREAY vs. SHINGO TAKAGI "BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS 26" June 5th

Will Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world, and Shingo Takagi isn't too far behind him. So it wasn't too surprising that the finals of the Super Jr.'s tournament would end up being the best match of the year. They went 33 minutes and had an epic with everything you could have asked for. Shingo is known for being hard hitting and tough, whereas Ospreay is known for his speed and high flying, so this match had the best of both worlds. It was all big moves, brutal slaps, kicks, punches, and elbows, tons of near falls, high drama, a great crowd whipped into a frenzy. Ospreay won the tournament and cemented his status as the top dog, and Shingo proved that he's one of the best in New Japan (formerly he was one of the best in Dragon Gate). Ospreay is sort of moving to heavyweight, so I can see big main events against Okada and Naito and the like in his future. Whether or not they push Shingo as a heavyweight main eventer is still to be seen, but after a masterpiece of a match like this, I can't fathom why they wouldn't.

Other Notable Matches:

Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada  NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13   1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega   NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13   1/4

Dustin Rhodes vs. Cody Rhodes   AEW Double or Nothing   5/25

Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano   NXT Takeover XXV   6/1

Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi   NJPW Dominion   6/9

Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay   NJPW G-1   Day 5   7/18

Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada   NJPW G-1   Day 7   7/20

Walter vs. Tyler Bate   NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff   8/31

El Phantasmo vs. Will Ospreay   NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling   10/14

Best Show of 2019: AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING

You can probably thank the Las Vegas crowd for 2019's best show of the year, AEW's Double or Nothing. The crowd was so loud, energetic, and frenzied that it reminded me of those old, halcyon days of Monday Night RAW and Nitro in the late 90's when watching wrestling was like being hit with a shot of adrenaline. Remember the orgiastic, frothing-at-the-mouth crowd when 'Stone Cold' drove the beer truck into the arena? Or when the NWO would enter the ring and the crowd would pelt them with trash and chaos seemed eminent to break out? Well watching AEW's first show felt like that. This was a crowd for the ages. It also helped that the show had the best ending to any show all year and that there were some excellent matches. All in all, this was a historic show, the first ever AEW show (they had previously done the All In show but that was before the official start of the company and the name, the funding, the realization of actuality). The match of the night, and one of the top ten matches of the year, was the bloodbath that was Dustin Rhodes vs. Cody Rhodes. Not only was that one of the bloodiest matches in recent memory, but it was also one of the few wrestling matches that actually made me cry (when, post-match, Cody told Dustin that he didn't need a friend or a partner, he needed his older brother, then they hugged and the roof to the building blew off). The Young Bucks and The Lucha Brothers had a good match and SoCal Uncensored had a great match with the OWE guys (Cima, T-Hawk, and Lindaman). The end of the show was spectacular, though, one of the reasons that this was the best show of the year. After Chris Jericho beat Kenny Omega, Dean Ambrose surprised everyone by coming through the crowd to attack Omega. Usually, wrestlers debuting in a new company isn't a surprise or a shock, but nobody definitely knew if Ambrose (now Jon Moxley) would show up and when he did the crowd went nuts. Moxley went on to toss Omega off of the poker chips set by the entrance in a wild ending that made AEW the fucking company to beat and the company of the moment. This was just all around one hell of a show.