WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

 

Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois

BECKY LYNCH, CHARLOTTE FLAIR, BIANCA BELAIR & SHOTZI vs. DAMAGE CTRL (ASUKA, BAYLEY, IYO SKY & KAIRI SANE) "WAR GAMES MATCH" (33:36): The big news coming out of this show was the return of CM Punk. Since this show was in Chicago (I guess Rosemont is a suburb or something), that makes sense to debut him here. It was a surprise that his return wasn't leaked. The big surprise, at least to me, is that the WWE even brought him back. In AEW, he was in two backstage fights in less than a year. He was suspended for the first fight and fired for the second one. Why would a wrestling company hire a guy who was just reprimanded for being in two fights backstage with other wrestlers in another wrestling company? CM Punk is a big star, so you could get bigger ratings, more merchandise sales, and higher attendance from bringing him in...but the WWE is already "hot" and making tons of money, so they don't really need any of those things right now. Is bringing in a problem wrestler worth that? The other surprise is that CM Punk quit the company because he disliked working there. Later on, the WWE sued him when he went on Colt Cabana's podcast and disparaged a WWE doctor. Supposedly, the WWE sent him the paper work about suing him on his wedding day. So it's a little strange that he would even want to come back. I guess with Vince McMahon mostly out of the picture, plus them probably giving him a huge contract, he felt it was okay to return. There was also probably him wanting to get revenge on AEW because they fired him. Going to a rival company was perhaps his way to stick it to AEW. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how this all works out...as he seemingly made enemies in AEW with a ton of people for, honestly, no good reason. CM Punk seems to be just a bitter old asshole these days, unable to work with people that don't see his way and try to work with people instead of against them. The other thing is...he had two major injuries in AEW that sidelined him for long periods of time. Will his brittle body even stand up for a long run? They're probably paying him a ton of money...what happens when he gets injured and is gone for Wrestlemania or whatever big program they've got planned? It certainly makes things interesting...which I guess is why they made the gamble to bring him in. As for this show and this match? Wait, there was a show and matches? The show was mostly entertaining, though nothing special. That seems to be the norm these days with the WWE, which is why I'm totally baffled as to why it's so "hot" and so popular now. I mean...when was the last time they put on a match as good as 'Hangman' Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland from last weekend? It's been a while. Are their storylines any good? The Bloodline storyline seems to have grown stale and run its course. These WWE crowds love mediocrity, though. Case in point: the fans feverishly chanting for The Miz when he was getting near falls against Gunther. Why, God, why? At least it's pretty hard to mess up a War Games match. I kind of wish they had separated War Games and Survivor Series. Calling the PPV both names makes no sense. Survivor Series kind of fell apart anyway, and became more just a name of a show more than anything. The 4 on 4 elimination matches have been totally forgotten. When done well, those usually work. For a while they were doing Smackdown vs. RAW matches, which was never a good idea, especially because the wrestlers all wore those stupid blue and red t-shirts. Plus...who the fuck cares about RAW vs. Smackdown? It's the same company. This show also didn't feature either championship on the show, nor was Roman Reigns there. I actually probably enjoyed this women's War Games match better than the men's. One reason is that the spot of the night was Iyo Skye putting a trash can on her head and jumping from the top rope down onto everybody. The other reason is that one War Games match is enough. There's really nothing more to see after you've already watched one. This match was sloppy in spots, plus the babyface team made no logical sense in terms of cohesion. Aren't Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair rivals? Usually, War Games is 5 on 5. This was 4 on 4 even though Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai was at ringside. They couldn't have just thrown another babyface in the match and have it 5 on 5? The one thing good about this show, at least early on, was the super hot crowd. Chicago is always an awesome wrestling PPV crowd. They chanted like this was the match of the century. They also booed when wrestlers were pulling Singapore canes and chairs from under the ring instead of tables. This was an entertaining match. **1/2

GUNTHER vs. THE MIZ (12:20): This was an entertaining match because it was back and forth instead of a beat down. Granted, it should have been a beat down, though. Why is The Miz going toe to toe with the monster? That makes no sense. And why is The Miz a good guy now? He's been a prick for years...why are they cheering him? Is the WWE audience that dumb? I mean...they cheer for LA Knight, too, so there's your answer. And why wasn't he on this show? Isn't he their big star these days? The Miz kicked Gunther in the balls at one point when the ref wasn't looking. The Miz got a near fall after that which got the crowd in a frenzy. The crowd was so hot for this match it definitely made this better. Gunther is also one of, if not the, best wrestlers in the WWE, so that helped. They do have to get someone to beat him for the IC title eventually. You would think they would do that by getting a new guy to beat him to make him a star. Someone like...Dragon Lee. Wait...he lost the next match. **1/2

SANTOS ESCOBAR vs. DRAGON LEE (8:20): Carlito was supposed to be in this match. Dragon Lee replaced him for no apparent reason. Supposedly, Dragon Lee had an awesome match on Smackdown last week. They said that the WWE actually let him be, shock, Dragon Lee, and because of that the match was awesome. Well way to go with his push, as he lost fairly quickly and easily here. Dragon Lee did get to do his famous Hurricanrana to Santos off the apron to the floor. He definitely is a watered down version of the Dragon Lee we all used to love, though. And why wasn't Ricochet in the War Games match? Hell, why wasn't Dragon Lee? You should put your best high fliers in that match. Santos is a heel now and set up to feud with Mysterio, so that's why he had to win. Oh, well. **

RHEA RIPLEY vs. ZOEY STARK (9:15): This was the one complete dud on the show. Even the super hot crowd went silent for this bore. They did a top rope arm drag spot that looked botched. After that, Zoey looked woozy and looked like she injured her arm. Rhea has been the champ since 'Mania. Has she even had one good feud or one good match during her reign? Give her something besides babysitting Dominik. -No Stars-

CODY RHODES, JEY USO, RANDY ORTON, SAMI ZAYN & SETH ROLLINS vs. DREW McINTYRE & THE JUDGMENT DAY (DOMINIK MYSTERIO, FINN BALOR, DAMIAN PRIEST & JD McDONAGH) "WAR GAMES MATCH" (34:22): They're still playing up the fact that Jey Uso was a heel forever. That's why Drew McIntyre joined the heel team, to get revenge on Jey who cost him the title in...wait for it...August 2022. And when Randy Orton entered the match he was about to go after Jey when Jey super kicked someone about to attack Orton. Orton has been injured for over a year. They set it up where he didn't show up for the match until a few minutes after he would be the last man to enter the cage. Before Orton returned, Rhea Ripley ran out with the MITB contract case. Apparently, Damian Priest was going to use it to beat Seth Rollins for the title. This was after the heels put Rollins through a table. Orton's music hit and the MITB contract wasn't used. As for the rest of this match...it was a typical War Games match. They didn't do anything new or unique...unlike AEW, which this year used a bed of nails in their Blood & Guts match (which is, technically, a real War Games match because there's a roof to the cage). Granted, the WWE isn't allowed to do any kind of blood or real violence, so they're stuck with using canes and chairs and trash cans, which can get old and has. Cody Rhodes pulled out a bull rope, which I guess was something new, though not particularly something exciting. Nobody jumped off the cage, though they did throw JD McDonagh off the top of the cage and down in front of Randy Orton who gave him a mid-air RKO. The crowd loved that spot. Sami was very over in the match, which just made me sad considering they didn't give him the title earlier this year when it made all the sense in the world. The good guys won this match then CM Punk's music hit. CM Punk didn't do anything but stand there for a while until the show ended. That was kind of odd. I guess they just want to save his first mic work for RAW. I would say it'd be funny if he ends up getting some boo's when he's not in Chicago...but these WWE crowds haven't really done that sort of thing lately. They're safe, contained. And that's how the WWE feels these days. That edge is missing, that hint of danger, of excitement. Now it just feels like a corporate shell, which it is. Will adding the semi-crazy, backstage brawling, wildcard CM Punk change that? I hope so. Maybe I'll actually start loving this product again. **1/2

AEW FULL GEAR

Kia Forum in Los Angeles

EDDIE KINGSTON vs. JAY LETHAL (10:53): Since AEW added the new 2-hour weekly TV show, Collision, AEW TV has gotten watered down. Instead of having a great weekly show with Dynamite, now they have two just-okay TV shows. It was kind of obvious that would happen, as you can't possibly put on 5 hours of awesome wrestling TV every week. This happened with the WWE as well...so much so I barely watch any of it anymore because it's mostly just filler. The one thing that hasn't suffered so far is the great AEW PPV's. This will unfortunately probably change, too, as now they're putting on more PPV's every year. This year they'll be doing 8 when the last few years they had 4. So far it hasn't happened, but this show was not as good as the last 3 PPV's they had. While this was a good, entertaining show, the big problem was that the main event wasn't any good. That wasn't really a shock, though, as Jay White is always in boring matches. The pre-show started with an ROH title match in an arena that was still filling up with fans. This probably tells you something about the ROH title. I do kind of wonder who the hell actually subscribes to the ROH streaming service. Probably no one, as they announced that subscribers will now get the next ROH PPV as part of their $9.99 subscription when before they weren't. They didn't say if every PPV going forward will be part of the service, though. Mostly because this match was in front of an audience still filing into the building, it wasn't very impressive. It was okay. *1/2

CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. BUDDY MATTHEWS (10:28): I remember Buddy Matthews on 205Live looking so awesome I kept wondering when someone would push him. Sadly, AEW hasn't really pushed him either. Mostly he's been in tag team matches as part of The House of Black. When he does have a singles match like this one, he looks good but not as great as I thought he might turn out to be. Was I wrong about him? Maybe. Match was decent but nothing special. **

MJF & SOMOA JOE vs. THE GUNNS (9:26): If you're the tag team champs you can just, like, substitute wrestlers? Aren't there, like, rules? Adam Cole and MJF are still the ROH tag team champs...but for some reason they just let Somoa Joe take Cole's place here because Cole is injured. The catch was that if MJF agreed to have Somoa Joe be his partner in this match then MJF would have to give Joe a title shot in the future. Because of that stipulation, it kind of made it obvious that Jay White wasn't winning the title (not that anyone on Earth thought Jay White was winning the title). The crowd was really into everything Somoa Joe did in this match. Maybe they should give Joe the title. They might...as MJF beat Joe in a title match at Grand Slam in September. Why else would they do a re-match again months later? There wasn't much to this but it was a lot of fun. **1/2

ADAM COPELAND, STING & DARBY ALLIN vs. CHRISTIAN CAGE, LUCHASAURUS & NICK WAYNE (15:10): I was kind of surprised this went on first after the pre-show because it seemed like such a big match would go on later. Ric Flair came out because he's apparently going to attend every Sting match until Sting's retirement in March. This was kind of just a basic Dynamite match. Darby took some brutal moves, though, including being choke slammed from the ring onto the apron by Luchasaurus. Ric Flair did end up involved when he punched and chopped Christian and then Christian gave him a low blow. Adam Copeland got some big pops when he did a few moves like the spear. The crowd seemed to be mostly into Adam Copeland vs. Christian, which they teased but never really delivered much of. Entertaining match. **1/2

ORANGE CASSIDY vs. JON MOXLEY (12:04): This was not as good as their All In match. That was a PPV main event, though, so of course it wasn't. Moxley doesn't lose clean very often but he did here after a bunch of Orange punches. When Moxley lost the International title to Rey Fenix, it was only because Moxley got a concussion and they changed the finish. I guess they also changed future plans, as Moxley's reign didn't last long and ended up staying that way. This was very hard hitting and, of course, Moxley was bleeding. **1/2

TONI STORM vs. HIKARU SHIDA (10:25): The crowd popped big when 'Timeless' Toni Storm came out. Her new character is being a silent movie star from Hollywood. Don't ask. It's super cheesy and super stupid but I guess people enjoy the camp nature of it. The announcer, Nigel McGuinness, noted that Toni Storm tried to get him to buy war bonds. That was funny. As much as the crowds like her new gimmick, it doesn't mean they want to watch her wrestling. The crowd was pretty quiet during the actual wrestling part, which was mediocre. They popped when Shida used a Singapore Cane to hit Toni's manager at ringside. Toni Storm put a metal plate in her trunks and hit Shida in the corner with a hip attack. It was so obvious she had a metal plate in her ass that it was laughable that the ref didn't say something. Toni won the women's title here. *

BIG BILL & RICKY STARKS vs. FTR vs. BRODY KING & MALAKAI BLACK vs. DRALISTICO & RUSH "LADDER MATCH" (20:09): This was pretty crazy and wild and very entertaining. The big move in this was Brody King giving Dralistico a Gonza Bomb onto a ladder bridge. That's basically a slam into a pile driver. That looked sick. Cash Wheeler then jumped off the top rope onto one of his opponent's onto the same ladder bridge. Those were the two big spots. They all did pretty much everything else you can think of in a ladder match. Dax Harwood suplexed Ricky Starks from the top rope down onto everyone at ring side. Dax put his head in the ladder and spun it around, hitting everyone. Big Bill and Starks retained the tag team titles. Why they're the tag team champs when they're not even really a tag team is beyond me. This was a good match and the second best on the show. I really do hope they start putting Malaki Black in main event singles match soon, though. Not that he looked great in this match or anything, but just because he seems kind of lost in the AEW shuffle. ***

JULIA HART vs. KRIS STATLANDER vs. SKYE BLUE (11:22): Julia Hart won the TBS title here. They've been pushing her lately so that's not a surprise. It's not a surprise that the crowds like her, either, as she's a 21 year old blonde cheerleader. Or...was a cheerleader. I think she was a college gymnist, too. She's definitely improved in the ring, although Statlander is one of the more accomplished women's wrestlers in AEW. Skye Blue is a better wrestler than Hart, too. This was decent, though nothing special. The crowd popped for a few moves here and there like Skye Blue's flip power bomb and Hart's moonsault. Hart kind of stole the win by tossing Statlander off Blue when she was about to pin her and pinning Blue herself. **

SWERVE STRICKLAND vs. 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE "TEXAS DEATH MATCH" (29:46): Now this was something. This was the kind of match that you have your eyes glued to the TV for 30 minutes. You gasp, you laugh at the insanity, you're completely transfixed and compelled. The only thing they did new in this was use a staple gun. Everything else they've done before; a cinderblock, glass, barbed wire, a barbed wire chair, and a barbed wire table were used. While the glass and barbed wire were fake, this was still brutal as hell and a complete bloodbath. It was hard to watch in spots. Every few minutes these two did something that was just bonkers that got the crowd to gasp in horror. Page ran out before his music even hit to beat up Strickland and give him a Buckshot Lariat. Page pulled out a staple gun and started to staple Strickland's chest and arms...at one point stapling Page's child's drawing on a piece of a paper to Strickland's cheek. This was because on Dynamite recently, Swerve had went to Page's house and filmed himself looking at Page's kid in a crib and ripping up his kid's drawing that was on the fridge. The most unique scene was when Strickland was busted open and Page leaned down and opened his mouth and drank Strickland's blood that was pouring down into Page's open mouth. That was so grotesque and the crowd went ape shit for that. I would probably go all night just writing about the various, sadistic things they did. At one point, Page was sitting on the top rope and Swerve hit Page in the back with a barbed wire wrapped chair and one barbed wire strand got loose and got stuck across Page's face. Swerve gave Page a slam onto a concrete block on the apron, then later smashed a concrete black against the back of his head at ringside. Page gave Prince Nana (who is now so famous because of his hilarious dance that Swerve's entrance featured dancing girls doing the Nana dance) a Dead Eye from the apron through a table. Page gave Strickland a top rope flip slam through a barbed wire table set up on two chairs. Swerve, at one point, stapled his own chest with the stape gun while grinning in his crimson mask. Swerve gave Page a pile driver while both were standing on the ringside barrier between the crowd and ring. Both men ended up wrapping themselves in barbed wire at one point. Even Brian Cage came down to interfere and Page wrapped him in barbed wire and gave him a Buckshot Lariot. Swerve took out a bag of glass and poured it onto Page's back then did a 450 from the top rope down onto Page. This was just a crazy, chaotic, wild, eyes-glued-to-the-TV, edge-of-your-seat, supremely entertaining match. The entire mat was covered with blood. The announcers were yelling that blood was splattering them. Swerve ended up choking out and hanging Page with a chain to win. This was the same way that Page beat Moxley in their Texas Death match earlier this year. Fuck...this was a memorable match. One of the best of the year for sure, and definitely a match you won't forget. ****

KENNY OMEGA & CHRIS JERICHO vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (20:52): Jesus...good luck following that. After ten minutes or so these four finally got the audience back and the audience chanted, "This is awesome!" This was, in the end, a very entertaining match. The story is that the Bucks have gone heel. On Dynamite they faced Penta and Kommander and used a low blow to start their heel turn. Here they played up being heels. Does this mean that Adam Cole will also turn heel and finally join them? If you remember, the Bucks, Omega, and Cole were all in a heel group in NJPW. Everyone kind of figures Cole will turn heel to win the title from MJF. And the storyline of the masked devil seems to lead to Britt Baker being behind the mask, since she's been off TV for no good reason lately. By the end of this match, when everyone was delivering big moves and the Bucks were doing high dives and super kicks non stop, this was fantastic. Omega and Jericho win, which means they don't have to break up as a tag team and they get the tag team title match that the Bucks had previously won at Wrestledream. ***

MJF vs. JAY WHITE (29:44): After MJF and Somoa Joe retained the ROH tag titles on the pre-show, The Guns beat up MJF and used a chair to damage MJF's knee. MJF was stretchered out and left in an ambulance. Adam Cole, on crutches, took MJF's place in this match. Then we heard an ambulance siren and backstage, MJF was driving the ambulance back into the building. I'm not entirely sure why they did this injury angle. I think it was because no one actually thought Jay White was winning the title so they did something to kind of give people some doubt. The problem with this storyline is that you had an injured, hobbling MJF work a 30 minute match. That might've worked if it was, say, 15 minutes. But the entire match had MJF crippled and yelling in pain and miraculously doing savior moves. That gets old after a while. At one point, MJF was supposed to do a top rope elbow drop onto Jay White on the announce table. That would've been cool...except the table broke when he put Jay White on the table. He did the move anyway, doing a top rope elbow drop down onto Jay White who was laying on the ground. Adam Cole tried to hit Jay White with the ROH tag title but Jay White grabbed the title and hit MJF with it when the ref wasn't looking. That got a near fall. Jay White put MJF in a leg lock submission and Cole was holding a towel ready to throw it into the ring but MJF reversed it. There was a ref bump. Cole tried to give MJF a ring to punch Jay White but White grabbed the ring. Eventually MJF got the ring and punched Jay White and the ref woke up and MJF won. While they over booked the fuck out of this main event, none of that was a problem for me. The ref bump and interference and Cole being there was all entertaining. The actual wrestling was boring. The match was mostly dull. If they had just done a regular match with MJF not being injured...would this have been better? Probably not, as Jay White is consistently in boring matches. He's in so many boring matches that I literally can remember every time he was in a good match. That Juice Robinson match in Long Beach. That short Okada Tokyo Dome match. That 45 minute Ibushi Tokyo Dome main event. And that 58 minute tag team match on Collision earlier this year. Usually he's in dreadfully dull matches. This was a good PPV with a dull main event. Oh, well. You kind of don't want to end the show that way...but at least Jay White isn't the champion. *1/2

WWE CROWN JEWEL

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

SAMI ZAYN vs. JD McDONAGH (9:40): Another show in a country that bans homosexuality, alcohol, porn, and women's bodies. Nice! How are we living in a world this far into human civilization where a rotten, horrible, prison-like place exists? You got me. And yet...money talks, so everyone goes there. Tyson Fury, the heavyweight boxing champ, just had a PPV in Saudi Arabia last week. Logan Paul had a boxing PPV there a few weeks ago. They're also getting the soccer World Cup in the future. I give up. So there was a wrestling show! I suppose I could protest and not watch this show. I certainly didn't pay for it, though I do pay for Comcast, which showed it on Peacock. It makes me sad that we live in a world where sex and nudity is still taboo, quasi-criminal, abhorent, only to live behind closed doors in dark shadows. How did we get to this point? It kind of makes me angry. Porn is a billion dollar business. Everyone thinks about sex all day long all the time. Why is still this weird, not talked about thing on the margins? Saudi Arabia makes women cover up their bodies in public so the women wrestler's had to all wrestle in full body suits. At least they let Sami Zayn into the country. He was previously banned because his family is from Syria. This was the pre-show match. The crowd loved Sami...which makes me wonder why he was ever banned in the first place. I only saw two females in the crowd, and both were younger girls wearing those hijabs on their head and the one covered her face with her phone when the camera was on her. I'm surprised they let women have phones. There wasn't much to this match. JD McDonagh is in a storyline where he's a sort-of member of The Judgment Day. Was he ever even a good wrestler, though? He's as dry as white toast. 1/2*

SETH ROLLINS vs. DREW McINTYRE (18:20): This was by far the best match on the show. It had good, back and forth action, a ton of near-falls at the end, and a super hot crowd. You can't really ask for anything more than that. I'd really love to see Seth Rollins in AEW where he could actually spread his wings a bit because he's a phenomenal wrestler and he's kind of handcuffed a bit in WWE. Rollins retained his title, which is a pretty meaningless title considering the other title holder, Roman Reigns, has been champ for over 3 years and is the king of WWE. ***

RHEA RIPLEY vs. NIA JAX vs. RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ vs. SHAYNA BASZLER vs. ZOEY STARK (11:05): This was mostly a sloppy mess. Rhea Ripley retained her title. Finn Balor and Dominick came out to interfere and the babyface Uso stopped them. I'm such a fan of the WWE that I don't even know who the good Uso is or the bad Uso is. Jey or Jimmy? I could look it up. I won't. And where were the WWE's two most popular women's wrestlers? Charlotte and Becky? They weren't even on this show. *

SOLO SIKOA vs. JOHN CENA (16:10): The announcers noted here and on RAW last week that Cena hasn't won a singles match since 2018 when he beat HHH in Saudi Arabia. He lost here and got destroyed at the end with multiple thumb spikes to the throat. I'm guessing this is going to lead to some sort of retirement match at Wrestlemania where Cena has to win or quit. Why else bring up that he keeps losing? While the crowd was into Cena...this wasn't very good. Cena is old and not exactly exciting anymore. Solo is a slow bore in the ring. Eh. *

LOGAN PAUL vs. REY MYSTERIO (17:55): Rey Mysterio is also old...which is why this probably wasn't as good as most Logan Paul matches. It got fairly exciting by the end, but wasn't great or anything. Logan is a great wrestler, though, and he always does a lot of fun stuff and big moves in the ring. Logan won the U.S. title...which I guess means he'll be around more often than once in a blue moon. **1/2

IYO SKY vs. BIANCA BELAIR (16:35): This was boring. They probably shouldn't have given Iyo Sky the title. The big surprise in this match was Kairi Sane returning to help Iyo retain the title. Kairi Sane left for Stardom, but I guess she wanted more money or something so she's back. Bayley also interfered but was caught off guard with Kairi Sane's return. So much drama! Who writes this shit? The WWE needs new writers. What was the last good storyline they had? Probably the Sami Zayn one, but they failed to deliver a quality climax to that one. Iyo retained the title. *

CODY RHODES vs. DAMIAN PRIEST (11:05): This was another mostly boring match. I figure Cody is beating Roman for the title next year at Wrestlemania, which begs the question: why didn't he just win it this year at 'Mania? This company baffles me sometimes. Damian attempted to cash in his MITB contract on Rollins earlier after the McIntyre match but Sami Zayn ran out to stop him. So Priest failed at that and then lost this match. What a loser! Probably not a good idea to bury the MITB contract holder, considering he's probably going to cash it in and win the title eventually, right? Then it'll be like, this loser is the champ? Dumb. Cody was super over. Do these fans actually watch WWE on TV? Since sex and nudity is forbidden in Saudi Arabia on TV...what the fuck is on their TV? Nature shows? Soccer? Do you need to, like, use a VPN to watch porn? Or do they go old school like we did back in the day and pass around used VHS porn tapes? *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. LA KNIGHT (20:05): LA Knight is the latest super popular, super over wrestler that WWE has crushed and destroyed. Why even put him in this match if he's just going to lose and look like an idiot? What they should have done is had this match at Wrestlemania and have LA Knight win the title. Why not? Dude is super over with the fans. The only reason is, apparently, because the crowds like yelling his catchphrase. His catchphrase is, "Yeah!" I guess that's a take on the "yes" chants. Kind of makes the crowds seem like idiots. That's why they like him? He's not exactly great in the ring or anything, just a pedestrian Cena type that does basic moves. But having a super over and super popular guy lose makes no sense. The whole point of building up Roman is to have a new star beat him to get even more over...right? I don't think the WWE agrees. Roman hasn't even wrestled since Summerslam...and he's not on Survivor Series. I guess it doesn't matter, as all his matches are pretty much the same these days. The bad Uso interferes and costs him the title. Usually there's the announcer's table being broken and a ref bump. We didn't get a ref bump here. So Roman won thanks to interference. I'm fucking bored with this. **

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

 

Osaka, Japan

OLEG BOLTIN, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & THE DKC vs. MOCHIZUKI, JR. & STRONG MACHINE J & YOSHIKI KATO (6:40): This show was 5 hours and 22 minutes long. After this pre-show match they did have a 15 minute or so break, though, but c'mon! That's way too long. They even had the balls to have a 40 minute main event after the fans were sitting down for over 4 plus hours. And considering how often they used the chairs in the arena as weapons, I got great views of the seats and they looked uncomfortable as hell. The big problem was that the show wasn't very good. It was adequate. The main event was really the only match worth watching. This pre-show match featured a team of Dragon Gate wrestlers. While they seemed to be decent wrestlers, their outfits looked like they picked them up at a thrift store. This was forgettable. 1/2*

UNITED EMPRE (JEFF COBB & CALLUM NEWMAN) vs. OSKAR LEUBE & YUTO NAKASHIMA (4:41): Two of these guys, Callum and Oskar, are tall white, Young Lions. It's funny that they make the Young Lions wrestle in black underwear. Those two definitely wrestled like they needed a job, though, which was good. Oksar is very tall and Callum was hitting very hard. I might never see those two again but who knows? They might be stars someday somewhere. I'd be curious to hear their stories of what it's like being a white guy living and working in Japan. That'd be more interesting than this match. **

EL DESPERADO & MASTER WATO vs. BULLET CLUB WAR DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DRILLA MALONEY) vs. TMDK (KOSEI FUJITA & ROBBIE EAGLES) vs. MUSASHI & YOH (5:36): The finals of the Super Jr. tag team tournament were on this show. I guess these teams were all the other teams in that tournament, a tournament I didn't even know was going on. I'm guessing if there were any great matches in the tournament I would have heard about them. This was too short to amount to much, though Eagles looked good and seemed to do most of the work in the match. Clark Connors cracks me up because his gimmick is basically Matthew McConaughey. **

INTERGALACTIC JET SETTERS (KUSHIDA & KEVIN KNIGHT) & TAMA TONGA vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (BUSHI, SHINGO TAKAGI & TITAN) (10:55): It's always sad to see Shingo, probably the 2nd best New Japan wrestler behind Ospreay, stuck in some meaningless, multi-man tag match. Do they remember they put the title on him in 2021? Maybe they forget. Titan from CMLL flew all the way to Japan to do a 10 minute match. Hope the payday was worth it. Nothing really noteworthy happened in this, but it's always nice to see Kushida wrestling. *1/2

LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (TETSUYA NATIO & YOTA TSUJI) vs. JUST 5 GUYS (SANADA & YUYA UEMURA) (11:10): Sanada and Naito are wrestling for the title in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. That has to be one of the worst main events in the history of that show. Does anyone actually want to see that match? I assume Naito is winning, since Sanada's title reign has been a dud. Those two didn't do much in this match. Yuya Uemura (what a name) and Tsuji did most of the wrestling in this one. Tsuji is a bonafide star. Uemura, not so much. This was another mostly boring match. *

DAVID FINLAY vs. TANGA LOA (12:33): Finlay is the new Jay White. Gedo is his manager. He's a heel and the leader of Bullet Club. Unlike Jay White, though, Finlay is a terrible wrestler in the ring. He's just too dull and plain. This was not good at all. 1/2*

JON MOXLEY vs. GREAT O'KHAN "FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH" (15:17): These two started the match brawling in the crowd. They got immediately counted out and then Moxley took the mic and said he wanted a Falls Count Anywhere match, so they re-started the match. They brawled the entire time out in the crowd, mostly throwing each other into chairs and hitting each other with guardrails. Moxley was bleeding and ended up choking out Great O'Khan. While they didn't do anything spectacularly exciting, it was at least engrossing. **

CHAOS (KAZUCHIKA OKADA, HIROSHI TANAHASHI & TOMOHIRO ISHII) vs. TMDK (MIKEY NICHOLLS, SHANE HASTE & ZACK SABRE, JR.) (16:15): When Ishii and Zack were wrestling each other, this match was awesome. The rest of it was average, basic stuff. Chaos retained the 6 man titles. The big story was after the match, Bryan Danielson did a video promo calling out Okada for Wrestle Kingdom. Hopefully that'll be better than their last match. **1/2

CATCH 22 (FRANCESCO AKIRA & TJP) vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (SHO & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU) (16:40): This was the finals of the Super Jr. tag team tournament. Catch 22 won and gets a shot at Clark Connors and Drilla Maloney's titles at Wrestle Kingdom. Because this was a House of Torture match, we got a ton of interference from them. At one point, Kanemaru came into the ring with a whiskey bottle and Sho was holding a wrench. What is this...a Three Stooges short? As if the Pandemic wasn't bad enough, it also birthed House of Torture. The match was just okay. **

HIROMU TAKAHASHI vs. TAIJI ISHIMORI (20:38): In the past, these two have had some great matches. This was not one of them. It probably went too long, as these two are better off having a fast, short match. There was too much dead time in this. The other problem is that Hiromu seems mired in mud lately. It seems like he's been either the Jr. champ or battling for the title for a decade now. Can't they give him something fresh and new to do? When he was super popular years ago it was rumored that he would move up to the main title picture and possibly be in the G1. That never happened. I'd say maybe he should go join another company but of course look what happened to Kushida. El Desperado came out after the match to challenge Hirumo for the title at Wrestle Kingdom. Hopefully that match will be better than this. **

WILL OSPREAY vs. SHOTA UMINO (40:16): This was quite the epic. It was also too long...so maybe they shouldn't have made it an epic. The first 15 minutes or so were so slow and boring I actually left to wash the dishes. It was pretty obvious this was going long when they were both just doing holds and mat wrestling for the first 10 minutes. The last 15 or so minutes were excellent, though, filled with high drama and big moves. Ospreay gave Umino a Tiger Driver off the apron through two tables. Other than that, they both pretty much beat the shit out of each other, including a gruesome head butting battle. Red Shoes was the ref and is Shota's dad. Isn't that, like, unfair? Maybe they don't want the audience to know this fact. While this was supposed to be Shota Umino's big coming out party, I thought the Will Ospreay vs. Yota Tsuji main event match awhile back was better than this. Shota is good but I think he's going to get better. He still needs a bit of fine tuning to be on the level of an Okada or Tanahashi main event performance from the heyday. If this match was shorter it might have been better, as it didn't start to get good until halfway through. Moxley came out near the end to cheer on Shota. After Will won and retained the U.S./UK title, David Finlay came out and knocked out Moxley and Ospreay with his stick. So it'll be Ospreay vs. Moxley vs. Finlay at Wrestle Kingdom, presumably for the new Intercontinental title since Finlay used a big mallet to destroy the U.S. and UK titles in the ring after the match. Pretty good main event to an average at best show. ***