AJPW CHAMPION CARNIVAL

Day 1: Saturday, September 12th in Nagoya

Attendance: 482

B BLOCK 

SHUJI ISHIKAWA vs. YUMA AOYAGI (8:01): This tournament, which is basically the same as New Japan's G1 tournament (granted, about half as good), was scheduled to take place in April but was postponed because of the pandemic. The G1 was also postponed, but that was because of the Olympics (which didn't happen anyway). And we've also got Noah's N1 tournament about to start. So...if you love Japanese wrestling tournaments you'll fucking love this month. I'm obviously not All Japan's biggest fan, though I've watched more of them in the last two years than some of the other promotions like Noah, Dragon Gate, or DDT. The reason is because the Wrestling Observer made a big deal out of the Champion Carnival a few years back (probably because AJPW started a streaming service) and I thought I'd check it out to see what I'm missing (not a lot). The other reason AJPW has gotten a little bit of buzz in the last few years is because of Kenta Miyahara, who's a total fucking star and one of the best wrestlers in the world (even if his match put me to sleep tonight). I subscribed to the AJPW streaming service for a month in 2019 to check out the Champion Carnival. It's worth it, as a month is 900 yen (about $8.50) and you get to see the whole tournament. Beyond Miyahara, there's not much to the promotion. As you can see above, the attendance at this show was 482, but even pre-pandemic they never booked big houses or had big crowds. I guess they make money somehow otherwise they wouldn't exist. It should be noted that All Japan was the biggest and best promotion in Japan in the early 90's...so now they're just kind of running on fumes and faded glory. The Champion Carnival is a bit different as they have both A and B block matches on the same shows. Like NJPW, the undercard is a mix of random tag matches and ones with the CC wrestlers doing mixed tag stuff. Tajiri, who was quite memorable back in ECW in the old days, was in the opener and he's so old now I watched it and didn't even realize it was him until later when I looked at the results online. It's a little crazy that people from the ECW days are still wrestling (and still alive), although the DDT champ was Mike Awesome's old feuding partner, Masato Tanaka, until he lost the title back in the Spring in what was one of the year's best matches (Tanaka is still awesome and still wrestling while Mike Awesome hung himself years ago...crazy how life turns out sometimes). I don't regularly watch All Japan, so I have no idea who these two guys are. I do know that Ishikawa holds the tag team belts with Suwama. I also know that this match was boring and not much happened. Ishikawa won with a quick, out-of-nowhere, cheap pin and then Aoyagi (who's 20 years younger than Ishikawa) complained to the ref. 1/2*

A BLOCK 

JAKE LEE vs. JIRO KUROSHIO (8:36): Jake Lee was in the last Champion Carnival final, way back in April of 2019. He lost to Miyahara and then lost to him again in a title match in September 2019. Lee seemed to be on the precipice of a title victory but they never pulled the trigger on him and maybe never will. I blame the hair. Dude has a mop of curly hair like he's a singer living in Laurel Canyon in the late 60's. It just looks kind of stupid and makes him look a little silly and unserious. He's one of All Japan's more entertaining wrestlers, although in this match Jiro was the star. Jiro is basically a Yano copy. He's the court jester. When he entered the arena for his match he suddenly wanted to jump the guardrail and enter the crowd but the ringside workers wouldn't let him (probably it's a no-no because of the pandemic). So then he rolled into the ring but kept rolling to the other side where he tried to escape but was thwarted so he rolled to the other side and then the middle all the while the ringside crew were frantically running around trying to stop him. I don't know why...but I thought this was very entertaining and funny stuff. The match wasn't as entertaining, though. I say that Jiro is a copy of Yano...but maybe every Japanese promotion has a clown wrestler that does comedy and I just didn't realize that. **

A BLOCK

SUWAMA vs. KUMA ARASHI (3:54): Suwama is the old, thick, tough brute of All Japan. He beat Miyahara in the Spring for the title and still has it. Suwama is old school and does a lot of power slams but he's also slow and so his matches can be boring. This was short, though, as he easily beat Arashi, who's kind of a fat Sumo type of a dude. Suwama pinned Arashi by just sitting on his chest. 1/2*

B BLOCK 

YOSHITATSU vs. KENTO MIYAHARA (21:52): There's always big upsets on the first weekend in the G1 so I guess they do that, too, here. Yoshitatsu won with a submission which was kind of a shock considering Miyahara is the big crowd favorite and their ace. Yoshitatsu will probably forever be known (at least to us in the states) as the guy that broke his neck taking a Styles Clash from AJ Styles in New Japan about five years ago. You're not really supposed to move or do anything when you're taking the Styles Clash but he moved his head and ended up slammed on it. He looks fine now which is good, although he's never been any sort of great wrestler to begin with. The biggest reason Miyahara is such a star is his charisma. He holds the audience in the palm of his hand. He's cocky but it's not exactly heelish, it's just that he seems to be a natural born wrestling star. This company would probably be bankrupt if he wasn't around, as I can't see anyone bothering to even watch this promotion if he wasn't in it. With that said, this match was boring and too slow. Miyahara is great and super fast but he only wrestled that way in random spots here and there. Yoshitatsu didn't do much of anything exciting. This just never really amounted to much. *1/2

Standings:

A BLOCK:

Arashi 0-1, Kuroshio 0-1, Lee 1-0, Suwama 1-0

B BLOCK:

Aoyagi 0-1, Ishikawa 1-0, Miyahara 0-1, Yoshitatsu 1-0

Day 2: Sunday, September 13th in Kawasaki

Attendance: 462

B BLOCK

SHUJI ISHIKAWA vs. YOSHITATSU: This match didn't happen because Yoshitatsu was injured and couldn't compete. Kind of sad since beating Miyahara on the first show in the main event may have been the pinnacle of his wrestling career...and now he might not make the rest of the tournament. They gave Ishikawa the win since Yoshitatsu could not compete.

A BLOCK

ZEUS vs. KUMA ARASHI (8:34): Zeus makes his Carnival debut. He's definitely the big muscle guy of All Japan. Most of the guys on this roster are either fat or just don't have a steroid physique like we're use to seeing in wrestling in the states. Arashi is like a Sumo type, although he's young so he's more agile than someone like the old Sumo types that used to litter the WWE back in the day (remember Earthquake and Yokozuna?). Since All Japan is kind of the low rung on the Japanese totem pole...I often look out at the people in the crowd and wonder: why are these people here? And there's always women in the crowds at wrestling shows in Japan. Maybe male strip clubs don't exist in Japan and this is their only option. This match was average stuff. *1/2

B BLOCK

YUMA AOYAGI vs. SHOTARO ASHINO (10:21): These two are young so this was at least fast paced. After the match, Aoyagi and his heel group beat up Ashino until eventually Miyahara came out to fight them off and then had a stare down with Ashino. I'm assuming those two are wrestling on next. **

A BLOCK

JIRO KUROSHIO vs. SUWAMA (14:00): Jiro is basically NJPW's Yano. He's all comedy and hijinks. I have no idea what he was saying during this match but he kept talking to the ref and the crowd laughed a lot. The big surprise was that he beat the champ, Suwama. This was after he got beat down for like ten straight minutes. Jiro did do a few moonsaults and the last few minutes were decent. Jiro also attempted to run into the crowd again like he did last night but was thwarted repeatedly by the ref. I'm guessing the payoff is he will eventually get into the crowd? And find what, exactly? **

Standings:

A BLOCK:

Arashi 0-2, Kuroshio 1-1, Lee 1-0, Suwama 1-1, Zeus 1-0

B BLOCK:

Aoyagi 1-1, Ashino 0-1, Ishikawa 2-0, Miyahara 0-1, Yoshitatsu 1-1

Day 3: Tuesday, September 15th in Tokyo (Korakuen Hall)

Attendance: 428

A BLOCK

ZEUS vs. JIRO KUROSHIO (7:13): Because this is a smaller tournament (this one has 10 wrestlers whereas the G1 has 20), losing twice pretty much eliminates you and so Jiro, the court jester of the promotion, is basically eliminated even though he pinned the champ, Suwama, on day 2. I didn't know this, but Jiro was previously the champion in the Wrestle-1 promotion. I've heard of that promotion but have never seen it...but now that I've learned a frigging comedy wrestler was the champion I kind of have to go see it now. What the hell is going on over there? And there's a promotion that gets less fans than All Japan? Getting only 400 fans for a show in Korakuen Hall is pretty sad, even with a pandemic, and even with this show being on a random weekday night in September. This show had two really big matches and they only got 400 fans? I guess technically they couldn't do much more considering every other seat was blocked off because of the virus and everything. Still seems kind of sad. I'm curious now what type of attendance New Japan is going to get in Korakuen during the G1. As for this match? Pretty forgettable, like this tournament so far. Jiro is usually amusing but even he didn't do much here. Zeus won with a chop. Yep. *

B BLOCK

YUMA AOYAGI vs. YOSHITATSU (5:11): Yoshitatsu was injured and couldn't compete on day 2 and he looked tonight like he probably shouldn't have competed again. He didn't do much in this and loss pretty quickly and so is basically eliminated with two losses. -No Stars-

B BLOCK

KENTO MIYAHARA vs. SHOTARO ASHINO (18:28): This was by far the best match of the tournament...and, honestly, it was good but not great or anything. At the end they did a face paced, back-and-forth that was exciting. Miyahara seems to be doing a lot of stalling in his matches in this tournament. That probably wouldn't hurt if he was in forty minute matches or something. He pinned Ashino with his slow German suplex move which is awesome and something I never see anyone else doing. As great as Miyahara is...I kind of think he'd be better if he was in a better promotion battling legends like Ibushi or Okada. Okay. When I say better promotion I mean New Japan. **1/2

A BLOCK

JAKE LEE vs. SUWAMA (17:38): Suwama beat the shit out of Jake Lee for much of this match but then kept selling his arm as if it was legit injured. Suwama also sold his arm in his last match so he probably really hurt it. Lee won, which means Suwama is basically eliminated, but since he's the champ and the champ gets a title shot I kind of don't think him losing matters that much. This was just okay, although Suwama's chops were the highlight since they were fucking brutal. He wrestled like he really doesn't like Jake Lee. *1/2

Standings:

A BLOCK:

Arashi 0-2, Kuroshio 1-2, Lee 2-0, Suwama 1-2, Zeus 2-0

B BLOCK:

Aoyagi 2-1, Ashino 0-2, Ishikawa 2-0, Miyahara 1-1, Yoshitatsu 1-2

Day 4: Monday. September 21st from Tokyo (Korakuen Hall)

A BLOCK

JAKE LEE vs. KUMA ARASHI (7:32): This show had a strange time slot...it was a Monday afternoon show at Korakuen. Who are these people in the audience? Do they not have jobs? Or is Monday kind of like Friday is here in the States and people take off early or something? What gives? I'm thinking it's just because All Japan is a small, probably poor company and renting Korakuen on a weekday afternoon is super cheap as opposed to a Saturday night. And this show was pretty big. They had a Jr. championship match plus a Miyahara main event plus Suwama, the champ, versus Zeus. I'm still baffled as to how a small country like Japan can have like ten wrestling promotions. As for this match...it was basic stuff. Kuma Arashi is the Sumo looking dude. Jake Lee is the dude with the funny hair. Lee won, as did Zeus later on, which means they're both tied in the A Block and just so happen to be facing one another on Day 5. **

B BLOCK:

SHOTARO ASHINO vs. SHUJI ISHIKAWA (8:46): Ishikawa and Miyahara are now all tied in the B Block going into the last night before the final. Aoyagi has 2 wins, too, but he has 2 losses and isn't wrestling again. There was a lot of action in this...at least compared to most of these duller-than-dull Carnival matches. Mostly slams and suplexes, but that's Japan for you. **

A BLOCK

ZEUS vs. SUWAMA (5:16): Suwama either legit hurt his arm and he's just phoning in this tournament or he's the greatest seller of all time. I'd say he really hurt it, as this ended quickly at five minutes. Suwama is the champ...but why? Dude's too old to be the face of anyone's company. Maybe when he's 100% healthy he could be in a good match. Maybe. Since this was only five minutes long there obviously wasn't much of anything to this. -No Stars-

B BLOCK

KENTO MIYAHARA vs. YUMA AOYAGI (22:14): Miyahara is akin to guys like Ric Flair and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin and The Rock and all of those legendary stars because they all had so much charisma that you couldn't keep your eyes off them. Unfortunately, Miyahara has yet to be in a great match in this tournament. He does way too much stalling and milling about around the ring. For some reason Miyahara and the ref have this act where they bicker and joke with each other. At one point, when Miyahara was squeezing Aoyagi's head against the ring post, the ref pulled Miyahara's hair to get him to break the hold. This match was probably the best of the night but it wasn't spectacular or anything. The final few minutes were entertaining and somewhat dramatic. **1/2

A BLOCK:

Arashi 0-3, Kuroshio 1-2, Lee 3-0, Suwama 1-3, Zeus 3-0

B BLOCK:

Aoyagi 2-2, Ashino 1-2, Ishikawa 2-1, Miyahara 2-1, Yoshitatsu 1-2

Day 5: Saturday, September 26th, from Kanagawa

Attendance: 372

SHOTARO ASHINO vs. YOSHITATSU (10:13): Ashino unwrapped the bandages around Yoshitatsu's ribs and worked them over then put him a crab submission hold until he tapped. Yoshitatsu got the big, first night win in the main event against Miyahara...so I suppose All Japan cares about him. I can't really say he sucks, as he's been injured since that first night...but he didn't impress me even in that first match. This was short, anyway. *

KUMA ARASHI vs. JIRO KUROSHIO (4:37): The only guy in this tournament (besides Miyahara...who is already a star) that impressed me was Jiro. He's kind of like Yano from NJPW because he does all of the comedy spots. But he also does some high flying like over-the-top-rope dives, which he did in this match. *1/2

ZEUS vs. JAKE LEE (10:21): Now we get to the matches that matter. Who ever won this match would win the A Block. Both guys were undefeated so far. Zeus won, which means Jake Lee won't be in the final for the second year in a row. Zeus looked like he injured his arm, but maybe he's was just playing that up to create drama if he would be able to apply his submission finisher move. Eventually he got Lee to tap out. This match was a little bit exciting by the end, but it was nothing special. **

KENTO MIYAHARA vs. SHUJI ISHIKAWA (20:56): This was the best match of the tournament so far, but that's not really saying a lot since even this match wasn't all that great. Who ever won this match would win the B Block. Nobody thought Ishikawa would win, so they definitely played that up by giving him a ton of near-falls by the end. Ishikawa gave Miyahara a piledriver on the apron and then another one in the ring. His piledriver is a bit different, though, because his opponent kind of lands sideways instead of straight down. Ishikawa's a big, tough dude with scars on his back (I'm assuming from deathmatches in BJW or somewhere). They went pretty long and by the end this was dramatic and entertaining. Early on it was a bit slow with Miyahara playing to the crowd and getting into it with the ref. Zeus vs. Miyahara in the finals should be good, though this tournament really needs a great match to otherwise not be forgotten. **1/2

A BLOCK:

Arashi 1-3, Kuroshio 1-3, Lee 3-1, Suwama 1-3, Zeus 4-0

B BLOCK:

Aoyagi 2-2, Ashino 2-2, Ishikawa 2-2, Miyahara 3-1, Yoshitatsu 1-3

Day 6 (Final): Monday, October 5th, from Tokyo (Korakuen Hall)

Attendance: 619

ZEUS vs. KENTO MIYAHARA (31:05):  Zeus won the Champion Carnival. This was the best match of the whole tournament, though it wasn't spectacular or a masterpiece or anything. The last five minutes or so were great. Zeus did a package slam type of maneuver on Miyahara on the ring apron. Then he did a suplex where he lifted Miyahara out of the ring and into the ring from the second rope. I think Miyahara is great of course, but the one problem I have is that after Zeus delivered those two devastating maneuvers and Miyahara was dead he just popped right up and did a whole sequence like he was Superman. This is kind of the old Hulk Hogan thing, so it's not something new, but it's Miyahara's one flaw because it's kind of ridiculous. Miyahara delivered a bunch of knees. Zeus kicked out of Miyahara's slow German suplex into a pin that's usually his finisher. About halfway through this match I thought that Zeus would probably win, then win the title from Suwama, because that would set up a bigger Zeus vs. Miyahara re-match down the line. I was right. Suwama and Zeus will probably face for the title on October 17th. I'm guessing they might wait for Zeus and Miyahara at their big New Year's show that's usually on the afternoon of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom show. And that's probably the next time I'll watch All Japan. This tournament was truly awful. The only redeeming aspect were the Miyahara matches which were all just 2.5 star matches anyway. I really hope Miyahara leaves this company. Either that or I hope they get some new and better wrestlers for him to face. It's kind of sad to see such a big star without any great opponents to face. ***

AEW ALL OUT

Jacksonville

JOEY JANELA vs. SERPENTICO (7:35): This was on the pre-show, which was an hour long. The main show lasted 3 hours and 51 minutes. This show was just way too long. Even New Japan, who usually have 5 hour long big shows, have cut their big shows to around 2 and 1/2 hours during the pandemic. I guess the reason NJPW is doing it is because shows without fans or shows with just a few fans aren't that great to watch. A rowdy, raucous crowd helps. And a long show without a huge crowd gets stale after awhile. It also didn't help that this show took place in Florida outside and supposedly the temperature and humidity were super high. That was probably the reason a lot of the matches were kind of slow and boring. The wrestlers just got tired from the heat after awhile. As for this match: it was short, mostly action, though not too memorable. I never even heard of the luchador Serpentico, although he looked halfway decent. AEW has too many wrestlers on their roster. The reason is probably because they were supposed to start a 2nd TNT show but that's been postponed because of the pandemic. There were a lot of factors as to why this entire show wasn't that good. It wasn't terrible, just kind of mediocre. The heat probably slowed some of the matches down. The show went too long. The Matt Hardy injury looked bad in every possible way. And there wasn't a match-of-the-year candidate or anything close to it on the show. **

PRIVATE PARTY vs. THE DARK ORDER (ALEX REYNOLDS & JOHN SILVER) (10:25): This was the second pre-show match. Alex Reynolds and John Silver looked pretty good. They do a bunch of cool, unique moves and are young so they're pretty fast. This was decent although nothing remarkable. **

BIG SWOLE vs. BRITT BAKER "TOOTH & NAIL MATCH" (10:25): This was a "cinematic" match. Meaning they taped it before hand and it took place mostly in a dentist's office (Britt Baker was apparently a dentist by day and wrestler by night before she signed to AEW). It was, as you can kind of tell from the description, stupid and awful. Baker is actually really funny as a heel...although I kind of liked her better as a babyface (and she got good crowd reactions). And while this match was bad...I doubt a regular wrestling match between these two would have been any better. 1/2*

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. JURASSIC EXPRESS (14:50): This was the best match on the show. When it started, with Jungle Boy and one of the Bucks (I'm probably just lazy because I still can't tell who's who with the Jackson brothers) wrestling a super-fast, back and forth sequence...it was stellar stuff. I've said it before (I think), but Jungle Boy needs to be in main event title matches in this company (preferably against Omega). When this was over, I thought to myself: these were the guys that killed Ring of Honor. Because this was a great Young Bucks match and when they were in Ring of Honor their matches were always the best on the show and always the crowd favorite. And when they left, Ring of Honor got boring and stale immediately. This wasn't a go-out-of-your-way-to-see-it match or anything, just very entertaining and fun. ***

CASINO BATTLE ROYALE (LANCE ARCHER) (22:15): There were a few highlights in this match, though I'm not particularly a fan of Battle Royals. Or "Battle Royales," like it's a Royale with Cheese or something. Matt Sydal, made his debut here by coming out, going up to the top rope to do his Shooting Star Press, and slipped and fell right on his back. So embarrassing! What a debut! Sydal is awesome, though, albeit getting up there in age. He was Evan Bourne in WWE, right? He also wrestled in New Japan with Kushida as The Time Splitters, one of the greatest tag teams of all time. The other highlight (although, Sydal slipping was more a lowlight) was Darby Allin being put in a body bag with thumbtacks by Brian Cage and then Cage tossed the bag over the top rope onto the concrete landing. Lance Archer won and gets a title shot in the future. This match was semi-entertaining. **

MATT HARDY vs. SAMMY GUEVARA "BROKEN RULES MATCH" (9:00): Well...this match made AEW look awful. They started the match outside the arena in the backstage area by the football stadium. They both went up on a forklift and Sammy speared Hardy off of it and through a table. The problem was they landed too far and Hardy hit his head and shoulders right on the concrete and it looked like he got knocked out. The ref put up her arms in the cross which means it's a real emergency but no one came out. Hardy got up and started fake punching with Guevera but Hardy couldn't even stand up so suddenly the ref stopped it, a bell rang, and a doctor came out. They cut to the announcers who were talking about stopping the match and injuries happen...then the match fucking started again! What? Sammy and Hardy brawled into the arena and climbed up a scaffold and Hardy pushed Guevera off and he crashed through a fake stage set up. The ref counted to ten and Hardy won. So after the show, Tony Khan said that he stopped the match to get the doctor to check to see if Hardy was okay and he was so the match started again. If you saw the bump and how Hardy looked after it...he was not okay. Anyone on Earth could have seen that. This match should have ended early and it made the company look terrible. 

HIKARU SHIDA vs. THUNDER ROSA (16:57): Thunder Rosa is from NWA, which I heard was probably going to go out of business. She also wrestles in Tokyo Joshi Pro. She's a great wrestler and it's good that she's been added to the mix since the AEW women's division has never really gotten off the ground. This match was kind of boring, though. Maybe it was the small crowd (they let around 700 fans into Daily's Place...although they were all sitting far away from the ring where some of the wrestlers sat ringside) or maybe it just never turned into anything particularly great. It was okay. Shida retained the title. **

MATT CARDONA, SCORPIO SKY, DUSTIN RHODES & QT MARSHALL vs. THE DARK ORDER (BRODIE LEE, COLT CABANA, EVIL UNO & STU GRAYSON) (15:10): I actually really liked this match. It was probably because it was eight guys and so by the end it was just move after move and guys in and out of the ring and action all over the place. The big theme was that Brodie Lee destroyed Cody a few weeks ago on Dynamite and beat him for the TNA title and so Dustin wanted revenge. Matt Cardona used to be Zack Ryder in WWE. Remember him? He probably hadn't wrestled on TV for WWE in years. He looked okay, but he at least he wrestles with enthusiasm. This was just a lot of fun with a lot of action. The Super Smash Brothers (aka Grayson and Evil Uno) are always fun to watch and this definitely worked. ***

FTR vs. KENNY OMEGA & ADAM PAGE (29:40): At about the halfway mark this match was great. And early on, I just kept thinking to myself: man, Kenny Omega is the best wrestler in the world. Sadly, the match slowed and went on too long (it felt 45 minutes long). The closing stretch was kind of boring, especially since FTR worked on Omega's leg (yawn) and so Omega wasn't running around going crazy which is when he's the best wrestler in the world. FTR won the tag titles here. Omega seems to be turning back into The Cleaner, his heel persona from New Japan. That's a good thing, as this company sorely needs four-star main event title matches (they haven't had one yet) and they're only going to get that if Omega wins the belt. FTR looked good in spots but looked about half as crisp and were half as exciting as Page and Omega, who are probably the most entertaining tag team in wrestling (or were...as they seem to have broken up). This was definitely good but just dragged on a bit too long. **1/2

ORANGE CASSIDY vs. CHRIS JERICHO "MIMOSA MAYHEM MATCH" (15:15): The best part was when Jericho fell from the top rope into the orange juice and champagne pool at ringside. That looked cool. The rest of this wasn't very good, just brawling around the ring for awhile. I was kind of surprised that Orange Cassidy won, considering he's not exactly meant to be anything but a side character thrown out for matches every blue moon. *1/2

JON MOXLEY vs. MJF (23:40): This wasn't bad or anything, but it was kind of boring. MJF is great on the mic and is good at playing a heel...but this was his time to shine. It was his first main event on a PPV. It was his first title shot. He proved that he's not on the level of the greats like...Omega. Granted, the "greats" are mostly in New Japan. MJF doesn't do any high flying or any big moves. And Moxley mostly just brawls. So this was mostly just fake punches, clotheslines, brawling, submissions. When I think of a great main event title match I want high drama and crazy, big moves like the ones in the Omega/Ibushi/Okada/Naito matches. With a sparse crowd, you probably aren't getting high drama. And these two don't do crazy moves like the ones that made Omega/Okada so spectacular. So this ended up being kind of just an average wrestling match. MJF did bleed. Moxley used the Paradigm Shift when the ref wasn't looking (the move was banned for some stupid storyline reason) and got the pin and retained the title. **

WWE PAYBACK

Orlando

THE RIOTT SQUAD vs. THE ICONICS (9:00): I'm not sure why the WWE decided to put two PPV's on in 8 days. I'm guessing it was to sucker people into subscribing to the WWE network now that The Thunderdome (minus Tina Turner) is around. I was emailed an offer for a free month of the WWE network (I cancelled it in March) and I took it because I would get the NXT Takeover, Summerslam, and this show for free. I'm guessing that was the idea...to get people hooked quickly. Otherwise, I'm baffled why they would put on two PPV's on back to back Sunday's. I actually think that this show was probably more entertaining than Summerslam, although neither were that great. The WWE has suffered for awhile now by not having any kind of big superstars or big angles. What the WWE has been is pedestrian and average these last few years while all of the excitement and big matches have been in NXT. This match was the pre-show match (and, seriously, does anyone watch the entire hour pre-show? I just skip to the match because I rarely watch these shows live and usually end up barely paying attention to the match while I peruse the internet or read the newspaper). I really didn't think The Iconics were still around. They're these annoying Australian girls that can't wrestle. One of them is gorgeous, so that's probably why they exist. As for the Riott Squad...Liv Morgan is a Harley Quinn rip-off, and she's pretty, so I suppose that's why she's around. None of these four girls are good wrestlers or entertaining in the ring. This was forgettable stuff. 1/2*

BOBBY LASHLEY vs. APOLLO CREWS (9:30): Bobby Lashley won the U.S. title here, or whatever the hell they're calling it these days. Who has the IC title? Should I look that up? Jeff Hardy has it. He just beat AJ Styles for it on Smackdown last week. I haven't watched Smackdown in months, probably since the pandemic started. I haven't watched RAW either since the pandemic started. I still watch AEW every week and usually watch NXT if there's a good match on (this week, NXT had a Fatal Four Iron Man match for the title...which of course ended up in a two-way draw between Adam Cole and Finn Balor...which means those two are having a singles match next week for the title). I'm surprised Bobby Lashley is still around, too. Remember that awful gimmick earlier this year where Lana cheated on Rusev with Lashley? They even had a wedding. What happened to Lana? I know they fired Rusev. Lashley won, which I guess means Vince still likes him (he's a big, dumb oaf that can't wrestle...so that makes sense). Lashley has Shelton Benjamin and MVP has his entourage for some reason. Apollo Crews does some top rope dives and flips...so this wasn't awful. *1/2

BIG E vs. SHEAMUS (12:20): They're attempting to push Big E as a singles wrestler for some reason. They kind of gave up on Kofi Kingston after Brock Lesnar beat him for the title in like thirty seconds last year. The other New Day member is injured. There wasn't much too this match. I suppose Big E might be a good singles wrestler if he had a good opponent and it occurred in a different company. 1/2*

MATT RIDDLE vs. KING CORBIN (10:55): The one thing about watching the WWE these days is that it makes you fucking depressed as all hell because they take exciting, thrilling, indie wrestlers and destroy them. Remember Ricochet? God, don't even bring him up. Matt Riddle at least looked somewhat like his usual self here...the only problem was that he's stuck fighting Baron Corbin. Maybe guys like Ricochet and Matt Riddle and Keith Lee don't mind that they've been turned into shells of their former selves because they're making good money. I hope I'm wrong about that, though. I'd be pissed off about my life choices if I was Ricochet. *1/2

SHAYNA BASZLER & NIA JAX vs. SASHA BANKS & BAYLEY (10:20): Baszler and Jax won the women's tag titles here. And no, I'm not exactly sure why Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler are even a tag team. Nia looked as dangerous as ever, holding Banks by her legs while she swung her back and forth into the wall at ringside. Banks tapped out while Baszler had both of them in some sort of chokehold. This was at least fast paced. **

KEITH LEE vs. RANDY ORTON (6:40): Orton lost to Drew McIntyre last week (and McIntyre, the Universal champ, wasn't on this show for some reason) and he lost to Keith Lee tonight. I wonder what he did to piss off the writers. He did make fun of Roman Reigns' teeth on Twitter. Reigns came back last week looking like he got fake teeth and plastic surgery on his face. Keith Lee lost the NXT title to Karrion Kross last week and Kross hurt his shoulder and had to relinquish the title. Lee is on the main roster now so they kind of had to give him a win in his first match. Beating Orton seems like a big deal. This was too short to amount to much, although Keith Lee is exciting. The problem is he's probably not going to be allowed to do all of the crazy, high flying stuff he made his name doing. **

REY MYSTERIO & DOMINIK MYSTERIO vs. SETH ROLLINS & BUDDY MURPHY (16:00): This was very entertaining, albeit more a RAW main event type of match than a worthy PPV match. Dominik is a bit green but still does all of the leaps and jumps his pop does. He's also young so he's fast. Murphy botched a bunch of moves late for some reason. It looks like this is all heading to a Rollins vs. Murphy match, which should be great as those two are two of the best wrestlers on RAW. Granted, in a perfect world, the main event of this PPV would have been Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee for the title in a 35:00 epic. Hell, I'd take a Keith Lee vs. Buddy Murphy main event title match. Those matches will never happen, unfortunately. This match was at least fun, though, and had a lot of action. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. THE FIEND vs. BRAUN STROWMAN (12:46): Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman wrestled for five minutes or so until Wyatt suplexed Strowman off of the top rope and the ring half-collapsed. Then Roman Reigns finally decided to come out because he's a heel now and Paul Heyman is his manager. Reigns couldn't get the easy pin right away but eventually he won the title and is the new champ. I'm not sure why they decided to make Reigns a heel now after so many years of fans booing him anyway. There aren't that many good guys left, are there? McIntyre, Riddle, and Keith Lee are babyfaces...but they're on RAW. Reigns is on Smackdown with Strowman and The Fiend and AJ Styles...who I think is still a heel. And what happened to Daniel Bryan? As for this match...the ring breaking has been done before so wasn't as exciting as maybe they thought it'd be. Strowman and The Fiend are boring. Reigns didn't show up until the end so an exciting three-way didn't exactly happen. This was just okay. **

NJPW SUMMER STRUGGLE IN JINGU

Tokyo

YOSHINOBU KANEMARU vs. MASTER WATO (7:31): New Japan was supposed to have a big show at Madison Square Garden on this date, the last Saturday of August. I'm kind of thinking that the card would have been better if that had happened. I also kind of think that Evil would never have been champion if not for the pandemic, but who knows? New Japan still put on a big show, this one at a baseball stadium in Tokyo. The history of this baseball stadium is actually pretty interesting. It's one of the few stadiums still around that Babe Ruth played in. Fenway Park he played in. Where else? In the 20's, a few American baseball stars like Ruth and Lou Gehrig came to Tokyo and did a 22 game exhibition series. But it gets even more interesting! Japan famously loathes outsiders the same way racism is baked into the U.S. Someone was pissed off that non-Japanese players were going to play in Jingu Stadium so he attempted to assassinate the guy that set it up. He tried to kill him with a sword and failed, though did wound the guy. Jesus Christ. I can't believe that story is real. Guy hated Babe Ruth flying all the way to Tokyo to play baseball? World's strange. So this stadium is super old but it made the show look pretty cool with a big backdrop and 5,000 fans scattered throughout. When the sun was setting during the Tanahashi tag match it made a beautiful backdrop. Too bad this show wasn't any good, as most of the New Japan shows haven't been very good since they returned in July (hopefully things pick up when the G1 stars on September 15th). Kanemaru, who's kind of just a side guy comedian type (he always takes a swig of liquor and spits it in his opponent's face), beat the upstart, Master Wato, who just returned this year from his Mexican furlough. Hirai Kawato, now known as Master Wato, was getting a lot of buzz in New Japan. Then he went to CMLL and didn't really do much of anything besides win the lame Welterweight title (which he still has! That makes no sense...considering he's not even in CMLL anymore). He didn't look sharp nor exciting here. Oh, well. 1/2*

TORU YANO vs. EL DESPERADO vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. SANADA (7:01): This match was the finals of an experimental tournament that crowned the new King of Pro-Wrestling champion. I really don't think New Japan needs another title. They already have the IWGP title, the IWGP Jr. title, the NEVER title, the Jr. tag titles, the 6-man tag titles, and the Heavyweight tag titles. The KOPW title is slightly different in that every match has a stipulation that one of the wrestlers comes up with. Unfortunately they haven't been any kind of interesting stipulation like a cage match or ladder match, they've been dumb stips like a submission match or a two-count match. It was surprising that Yano pinned Okada (after giving him a low blow). What the fuck is Okada even doing in such a forgettable, early match on a major show? Especially when Evil, who might be the company's most boring worker, is main eventing. Who knows? The booking in this company since July has been a fucking mess. Sanada looked incredible in this match, though, and the crowd loves him. Why the hell did they give Evil the title and not Sanada? **

MINORU SUZUKI vs. SHINGO TAKAGI (14:50): Maybe Suzuki is just getting too old, because you'd think this would've been a classic considering Takagi is one of NJPW's best wrestlers. It was hard hitting but never reached any kind of high gear of excitement. Suzuki won the NEVER title...which baffles me. Every title changed hands on this show except the tag titles. **

TAJI ISHIMORI vs. HIROMU TAKAHASHI (13:30): This was the only good match on the show and it was incredible. When Hiromu returned from a broken neck in January, I mentioned that he looked a tad hesitant and wasn't as suicidal. Well, that's apparently out the window as he wrestled like a fucking mad man here. There was one German suplex he took right on his head. It was gruesome. Maybe the pandemic made him realize life is short and he decided to revert to his kamikaze ways. Or maybe Taji is just the perfect opponent for him. It was surprising that Hiromu lost the Jr. title here. Some said it was possible since Hiromu is probably going to be in the G1 tournament and Jr.'s shouldn't really be in a heavyweight tournament. Still...he just won the title in January. What a fucking run! This was fast paced and excellent. ***1/2

TAICHI & ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & KOTA IBUSHI (16:01): The one odd thing that they did on this show was give everyone in attendance some sort of device that made crowd noise if you pressed a button. You could press the BOO button or the CHEER button. They did this because you had to wear a mask and weren't supposed to actually yell or cheer or shout things, just clap. That's probably why there wasn't a lot of crowd noise except for random times when suddenly a cacophonous booing sound echoed throughout the stadium all at once. This match was, sadly, a bore. On a big show you'd hope that they'd put their star, Ibushi, in a singles match. I really hope that Ibushi faces Naito at the Dome...although right now it looks like it might be Hiromu vs. Naito at the Dome (it better not be fucking Evil, that's all I'm saying). It kind of seemed that, for whatever reason, none of the wrestlers were really doing much or trying hard on this show (besides Ishimori and Takahashi). Maybe wrestling in a giant, outside stadium had them all off kilter? No one in this match did much of anything. The heels won and retained their titles for some reason. *1/2

TETSUYA NAITO vs. EVIL (26:20): This was one of the worst NJPW title matches I've ever seen. The last awful one? Evil vs. Naito last month. Evil fucking sucks. He's so boring. He's so slow. Nothing he does is exciting or seamless or entertaining. He's just a plodding bore. Why they gave him the title is beyond me. They have done this before, though. They gave Jay White the title for one month two years ago just to let everyone know that he's for real and you should take him serious. The problem is...Jay White's actually been in some great matches (granted, very few) and has a lot of charisma. Evil has nothing. Literally, nothing of value. Naito won the title here, thank God. This was twenty-five minutes of Nyquil. The only semi-entertaining aspect was when a few other wrestlers ran in during the ref bump (Master Wato, Sanada, Dick Togo). I'm so glad this "experiment" is over with. Hopefully Evil's title run is forgotten forever. 1/2*

WWE SUMMERSLAM

Orlando

APOLLO CREWS vs. MVP (6:40): I noted in the NXT: Takeover 30 review that the only reason I watched that show or this show was because the WWE emailed me and offered me a free month of the WWE network. This was probably the weekend to start watching, as they introduced The Thunderdome (sadly, Tina Turner wasn't around...is she even still alive? That "Thunderdome" song of hers was a good one, though). Ratings have plummeted and Vince and co. wanted a fresh look for the shows since they've all been taking place at the performance center since March (except for NXT...which takes place at Full Sail University even though they both look pretty much the same). So the WWE decided to rent out the Amway Center in Orlando, which is where the Orlando Magic play. The WWE has it booked until October. So what they did was have TV screens in all of the seats in the lower level that show fans watching the show from their computers. Plus the WWE has a thousand laser lights that make the presentation look colorful and fresh, albeit too busy. It is rather difficult to pay attention to the in-ring moves and action with the wall of fan's faces. They also added fake crowd noise which helps, as those silent, empty building shows in March and April were unwatchable. This all meant that this show was better to watch than the WWE has been...that, or maybe I'm just used to watching things without crowds in the U.S. The other thing I wondered about was...is "Thunderdome" not trademarked? I mean...that's a famous movie. I guess not. This match was the pre-show. I haven't been watching any WWE lately so I'm not sure why MVP is back after a decade. This was forgettable. 1/2*

BAYLEY vs. ASUKA (11:35): Bayley retained the Smackdown women's title. This was just okay. Bayley and Sasha Banks are a heel team now and Asuka had to face both of them in one night for some reason. I still think turning Bayley heel was a terrible move. 1/2*

THE STREET PROFITS vs. ANDRADE & ANGEL GARZA (7:50): Hmmm. The Street Profits are the tag team champs? Okay. They're kind of like AEW's Private Party. Two apparently "cool" black dudes that do some high flying. Andrade is great, and, if the WWE was smart, would have made him champion years ago. But he's stuck in lame tag feuds. Ugh. This fucking company. There wasn't much too this. Realistically, what do you expect from an 8 minute match? *

MANDY ROSE vs. SONYA DEVILLE "LOSER LEAVES WWE MATCH" (10:05): This was actually pretty good, although why they went and did this match is beyond me. In real life last week, a crazy stalker guy broke into Sonya Deville's house and was going to kidnap her. Sonya and Mandy were both in the house when this happened but heard the alarms go off and got out safely. The police arrested the guy and this match was changed from a "Loser Gets Their Head Shaved Match" to a "Loser Leaves the WWE Match" (the latter being more of a good thing, no?). I'm assuming that's because they want to give Sonya some time off to probably move and/or take a much needed vacation. They probably should have just cancelled this match since Sonya was almost just kidnapped and probably raped and murdered. Think her head's on straight to fucking wrestle? Well since these two are friends they beat the shit out of each other with aplomb. Mandy is gorgeous...and I forgot that the WWE's best storyline in years revolved around her and Otis but the pandemic kind of ruined that. Otis did come out to congratulate Otis so I guess that storyline had a happy ending. They used a table and chairs in this. It was probably as good as it ever was going to be. **1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. DOMINIK MYSTERIO "STREET FIGHT" (22:35): This was the best match of the night mostly because it was a classic, melee clusterfuck. So Seth Rollins rammed Rey Mysterio's head into the ring steps last month which caused Rey to lose his eye in the "Eye for an Eye Match." Yep...there was a match where to win you had to gouge out someone's eye. So I guess Rey's son, Dominik, wanted revenge. Rey was at ringside and ended up being handcuffed while his son was beaten. Rey's wife and Dominik's mother was backstage and eventually came out by the stage to watch. Buddy Murphy, Seth Rollin's evil assistant, ended up interfering and beating up everyone. They used a Singapore cane and chairs in this. This was just a lot of fun and crazy and wild even though Dominik is as green as they come. **1/2

ASUKA vs. SASHA BANKS (11:25): Asuka won in a brutal match. She took a ring apron power-bomb move similar to Hiromu's move that had Asuka slamming down hard on the floor and obviously getting a concussion. Asuka delivered a top rope DDT on Banks. Sasha eventually tapped out and lost the RAW title. In spots this reminded me of those great, NXT women's matches of old that usually involved Sasha Banks. Those were the days. **1/2

DREW MCINTYRE vs. RANDY ORTON (20:35): Are they out of options? For a show that's supposed to be the 2nd biggest show of the year...this card didn't exactly feature any big matches. Brock Lesnar, their usual to-go guy on big shows, hasn't been around since 'Mania, Cena is doing movies, and Roman didn't return until the finale. And a lot of the usual WWE guys didn't wrestle on this show; AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, King Corbin, Sheamus, Kevin Owens, Ricochet, Matt Riddle, The Miz, John Morrison, The New Day, The Uso's, Dolph Ziggler, Aleister Black, Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura, Charlotte Flair, etc. I haven't been watching the WWE lately, but all of those people can't be injured, can they? Are some of them afraid to leave their house during the pandemic? Either way, this wasn't a big match, big name Summerslam. Case in point: the big RAW title match was Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre, a pretty lame match even if it was on a random Smackdown. They did end up having a pretty entertaining match, albeit nothing special, although giving it 20 minutes probably helped it since the WWE loves 10 minute or less matches for some reason and they never have room to grow and build up any kind of drama. McIntyre won, which is kind of surprising since he's fairly boring. **1/2

'THE FIEND' BRAY WYATT vs. BRAUN STROWMAN "FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH" (12:00): Ugh. They should have ended this show with McIntyre retaining. The Fiend won the title from Braun here...although wasn't The Fiend the champion? I think he lost to Goldberg somewhere...and I guess Braun beat Goldberg? Who knows? More importantly, who cares? This match sucked. Last month these two had a swamp fight that was worse. But it was at least amusing. These two didn't do much. They brawled backstage but didn't go far...they only went into the prep room area for a minute or two. Braun was bleeding thanks to a DDT. Wyatt looked as fat as ever. Braun took a box cutter and cut the ring mat to expose the wood and he ended up getting Wyatt's finisher on the wood. This just made me reminisce about Omega doing a Phoenix splash onto the wooden floor below the mat at last year's AEW Full Gear. That was one of the most painful moves I've ever seen. Here it didn't have quite the impact. After Wyatt won, Roman Reigns returned to spear both men for some reason. I guess Roman has been out for awhile so this was a big deal. Eh. For whatever reason, the WWE is doing another PPV a week after this show. So they're having a three way with Roman vs. Wyatt vs. Braun. They did this thirty years ago after a Survivor Series when Hogan lost the title to The Undertaker but then won it back six days later on another PPV called Tuesday in Texas or something lame. It didn't work 30 years ago, why do they think it'll work now? 1/2*

NXT TAKEOVER XXX

From Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida

FINN BALOR vs. TIMOTHY THATCHER (13:32): I haven't been watching much WWE lately for a number of reasons. And I haven't been watching NXT mostly because it goes head to head with AEW's Dynamite, which is a superior show. Wrestling without fans is almost unwatchable...but things have gotten somewhat better since the wrestlers now come out and act as the crowd. I cancelled my WWE subscription when the pandemic hit and so haven't watched most of the PPV's...though the WWE sent me an email last week offering me a free month so I took it. There's three PPV's for free this month so I figured I'd check them out. I, sadly, kind of wish I hadn't. This was by far the worst NXT show I can ever remember watching. And I don't think you can blame too much on there not being fans in the arena. The last NXT Takeover with fans was in Portland in February. While I vaguely remember it, I do remember Bryan Alvarez asking Dave Meltzer what he thought of the show and Dave said something along the lines of, "It was one of the best WWE shows ever." So the mighty have fallen! This show was atrocious. This wasn't even the first match. There was a pre-show match. I didn't realize NXT Takeover shows even had pre-shows. Either way, Finn Balor was the big mainstream name that went to NXT when they decided to compete against AEW Dynamite. I love Balor...but this Balor seems to be going through the motions. He was once good...as Prince Devitt in New Japan. I even recall him and Neville having an awesome match on a Takeover years ago. Once Balor won the Universal title and got injured and un-pushed he's never really recovered. Thatcher is a mat wrestler...which means he's boring. So instead of big dives, flips, or excitement...we got kicks and holds. Ugh. This was not good. 1/2*

DAMIAN PRIEST vs. BRONSON REED vs. CAMERON GRIMES vs. VELVETEEN DREAM vs. JOHNNY GARGANO "LADDER MATCH" (21:24): This was by far the best match on the show and realistically the only watchable one. Why Gargano is still in NXT after like five years is beyond me...although he was the best wrestler in this (his wife also made an appearance to try to help him win). Velveteen Dream is still around...even though he got caught sending and receiving naked pictures from teenage boys he messaged with on Twitter. The WWE didn't fire him because he's kind of a big NXT star. So he's still around. I honestly don't believe in ruining someone's life over something like that...so I don't mind him not being fired, tarred and feathered, or whatever punishment some might have wanted to administer. Maybe just an apology? Send him to counseling or something? The WWE kind of swept it under the rug...which was bad. And Dream took the worst bump in this, falling off a ladder, landing feet first on the top rope then flying over the protective glass at ringside and onto the announcer's table. It looked like he was dead...though they didn't give us enough replays to actually see how/where he landed. The other unique spot had Gargano's wife on someone's back (I don't think I can tell Reed and Grimes apart...but it was one of them) as they splashed off the ladder onto Gargano on the mat. This was definitely too sloppy but it was entertaining. Damian Priest, who I do remember from ROH, won the North American title. **1/2

ADAM COLE vs. PAT McAFEE (16:12): I'm not sure who Pat McAfee is. I googled him and it said he was an NFL punter. He was an announcer on one of the Wrestlemania pre-shows a few years ago. Maybe I would have enjoyed this match better if I had watched NXT regularly. McAfee did some cool flips and dives and he did sell his leg...so he definitely knows wrestling. I would have liked to see Cole against a better opponent, though, as he's one of NXT's best wrestlers. This was decent. *1/2

IO SHIRAI vs. DAKOTA KAI (17:13): Io Shirai is apparently dating NJPW's Evil. Two champ house! If they live together...which they don't, since you can't come or go from Japan these days. Maybe they do Skype sex shows late at night. Shirai and Evil have one thing in common: they're fucking boring! This match was a bore. Shirai does some top rope flips which at least are nice to look at. Kai is kind of rough and tough like a ragdoll. This just never worked. *

KARRION KROSS vs. KEITH LEE (21:51): One huge problem with this show (besides the fact that Kushida wasn't on it...is he stuck in Japan?) is that the WWE decided to compete hard against AEW Dynamite this summer so they put all of these big matches on Wednesday nights instead of saving them for their Takeover shows. Keith Lee won the title from Cole on a random Wednesday show when it should have happened here. Keith Lee is already ex-champion now...a mere month after winning the thing. What the fuck? Why even give him the title? I kind of thought they gave him the title because he's black and it happened right after the country was immersed in the Black Lives Matter protests that engulfed the country. I could be right...since he already lost the title to a guy I've never even seen before. Kross is kind of like a Vince guy; tall, muscled, not exciting in the ring. His manager, the latex clad blonde, is pretty to look at...maybe that's why he won the title. This match never turned into anything remotely entertaining. NXT usually features the best of the best and the champions are usually excellent like Cole, Ciampa, Neville, Lee. Kross is a poor choice as champ, as I can never see him ever having a great match with anyone. Sigh. Is NXT dead? *

 

I was reading a review I did for AEW’s All Out show from last year. I complained that there was too much on TV and I joked that I needed to, like, see the sun. My, what a distant fucking memory. Like unearthing a time capsule you buried in middle school in a wooded area.

            Sure, there’s stuff on TV…but nothing like a plethora of great sporting events. What is on TV is a ton of Netflix shows and TV shows that, somehow, were made before the pandemic hit in March (why on Earth have so many shows been made and ready to air but sat on a shelf until they’re release date?). I just finished watching The Boys season 1 on Amazon Prime and saw that season 2 is being released in September. Okay…so they finished filming that in February? Presumably. I suppose they had to finish doing special f/x and things and they could do that during the pandemic…but why finish shooting that in February if it’s not supposed to be released until September?

            So Netflix shows and TV shows are still being released so if you want to watch those then life is grand. But I had complained about Labor Day weekend. College football started on Saturday, AEW had a PPV, NXT UK had a Takeover show, New Japan had a show from London, and the U.S. Open tennis tournament was going on. So, yeah…I had too much to watch. And I fucking complained. Who’s the idiot now? The pandemic has taken live sporting events and massacred them and what was left was a smoking husk. And while most sports like baseball, the NBA, and the NHL have just resumed this week, wrestling surprisingly never stopped. Shocking, really, considering the world was being ravaged by the first worldwide pandemic in a hundred years. Anything sport without fans sucks, so I haven’t been reviewing any wrestling shows since March (when the ultra-bad WWE Elimination Chamber was held in Philly). I have been watching everything…mostly (I can’t bother myself watching RAW, which has hit its lowest ratings in history these last few weeks, or Smackdown). And Japan has just recently brought fans back into arenas, which is fucking great. So here’s a rundown of what’s been going on lately. It doesn’t look like the wrestling world will get back to normal anytime soon (maybe by next Spring? Fingers crossed?), so we’re stuck with what we’ve got.

WWE: When Wrestlemania was announced as being a show without fans in Orlando, I thought it was a terrible idea. Even though it was a terrible idea, in hindsight it looks like it was the right move considering all of those big matches could have only happened in a big, fan packed arena sometime maybe in 2021. The one thing that some of the companies have been doing is movie-style matches like the AJ Styles vs. Undertaker “Boneyard Match” from Wrestlemania. It was as fucking stupid as it sounds…but still light years better than the awful, no-fan shows. The big outcome at Wrestlemania, which ended up being split into 2 nights and shockingly priced as a regular PPV, was that Drew McIntyre won the title from Brock Lesnar. Lesnar hasn’t been seen since, probably because he doesn’t want to get infected, which a dozen or more WWE employees have been since working in Florida, a state that’s been ravaged by the disease (Renee Young and Apollo Crews are the 2 employees that got the Corona virus that are known…the others have never been made public…and for what it’s worth, the WWE refuses to mention the disease or pandemic on the air). The WWE followed that “Boneyard Match” up with a “Money in the Bank” match that started in the lobby of the WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut and ended on the roof. Two of the wrestlers in that match were tossed off the roof and supposedly died but I’m pretty sure they’re back on TV. They also had a match in a swamp with Braun Strowman and The Fiend which everyone hated. Eventually they started having the other wrestlers at ringside which helped the shows somewhat, but I have barely watched any WWE since March (and before March I’m not sure why I watched it anyway). On NXT, Keith Lee beat Adam Cole for the NXT title. I’m not sure if that was planned or if it was because of the Black Lives Matter protests that engulfed the country in June. Either way, Keith Lee is a hell of a lot more entertaining than Drew McIntyre, who’s about as entertaining as a lump of coal. Summerslam, which was scheduled to be in Boston this month, will now just be held in Orlando without fans. One of the big matches is Seth Rollins versus Dominic, Rey Mysterio’s son. The reason? Seth Rollins won the “Eye for an Eye Match” against Mysterio when Mysterio lost an eye. Fuck. Don’t even ask.

 NJPW: New Japan was one of the few promotions that didn’t do anything for awhile. Finally they bit the bullet and held the New Japan Cup and did a bunch of no-fan shows in July. The finals of the Cup and Dominion were held with fans on back to back nights. They only allowed 20 percent capacity in the buildings and the fans were only allowed to clap, not cheer or boo or yell. Evil beat Okada to win the Cup and then shockingly beat Naito at Dominion to win the title then successfully defended it against Hiromu Takahashi. If you didn’t think a worldwide pandemic was bad, wait until you witness Evil as the IWGP champion. I’ve never liked Evil, nor, as far as I can tell, has anyone. So why, you might ask, is he the champion? And why did he beat Naito, who just won the title this year after a decades long quest? I suppose the answer is quite simple: New Japan doesn’t have any of their foreigners around thanks to travel restrictions. So their great idea was to create a new storyline and a new chase for Naito to give fans something to be interested in. So Evil turned on Naito and joined Bullet Club. And now New Japan is having a big, outside show at a baseball stadium at the end of August where Naito will have his rematch. I’m assuming Naito will win and this idiocy with Evil will end and hopefully be forgotten. It’s kind of sad that legendary wrestlers like Ibushi and Ishii have never been champ but boring, dull Evil has.

ROH: Ring of Honor was set to have a PPV in March and the day before it was cancelled and they haven’t had a show since. God knows what’s going to happen with this company, but Marty Scurll, who just signed a big contract with them and started being a booker/writer was just in the news during the huge wrestling me-too movement that scoured the internet. A bunch of women blasted wrestlers for rape or sexual inappropriateness and a bunch of wrestlers lost their jobs (none of the big names, although the WWE did fire Jack Gallagher). Scurll had gotten a blowjob from a 16 year old female wrestler a decade ago and the girl said she was taken advantage of. Sex with a 16 year old in England is legal, so Scurll won’t get arrested or anything, but it still makes him look bad. Kind of awkward that the headliner of a wrestling group with “Honor” in it’s title has taken advantage of young teenage girls.

AEW: I have watched most of the AEW shows, as they’ve been fairly entertaining. They’ve gotten a ton of new talent since the pandemic started. Matt Hardy, FTR, Brodie Lee, are just a few of the new guys they’ve signed. They went on with their PPV in May and ended up doing a match in the Jacksonville Jaguars football stadium that was pretty fun. A lot of what they do doesn’t work without crowds (like anything involving Orange Cassidy), but that’s kind a moot point: every time I see a good match or a good angle I just sigh and think to myself: man, this would’ve been awesome with a crowd. Right before the pandemic they had a big show in New Jersey set up that was going to be a War Games match. I’m still dreaming of that match…still thinking about how fucking awesome that would’ve, could’ve been. It just makes me sad.