AEW ALL OUT

Hoffman Estates, Illinois

ORANGE CASSIDY, WHEELER YUTA, CHUCK TAYLOR & JURASSIC EXPRESS vs. MATT HARDY, PRIVATE PARTY & THE HYBRID 2 (9:25): This was the pre-show/Buy In match. Good action. It seems like Private Party was a much bigger deal when AEW first started. What happened? The Hybrid 2 or whatever the hell they used to be called have been around since the beginning as well but have never really been pushed or focused on. This was fun, all action, and the good Chicago crowd surprisingly didn't seem to get tired or quiet all night which was shocking. **1/2 (out of ****)

MIRO vs. EDDIE KINGSTON (13:25): Eddie Kingston plays this street smart, tough punk type yet he wrestles in this baggy outfit that makes him look like a clown. The crowd was pretty hot for every match tonight. Can you imagine a match like this in the WWE in the middle of a PPV? The crowd would probably be doing the wave. Is it because the AEW has done a good job of pushing guys like Miro and Kingston and building up their match? Or is an AEW crowd just a bunch of rowdy, drunk, hardcores that love to cheer? Probably a little of both. This was a pretty good match. It kind of reminded me of a typical G1 match, as did the next match. Miro retained the TNT title. **1/2

JON MOXLEY vs. SATOSHI KOJIMA (12:10): Supposedly Hiroshi Tanahashi was going to be in Kojima's spot. Otherwise, I'm not sure why this was on a PPV. The crowd did chant "Kojima" at certain points. I watch NJPW all the time and barely know who he is. He was both the IWGP and Triple Crown champ in Japan years ago and he won the G1 and Champions Carnival. This was of course when nobody here watched those promotions, unless you bought and traded VHS tapes (which I did...though the only VHS Japan tapes I had were "The Best of Onita" and the famous Cactus Jack Death Match Tournament one). This was a good, basic wrestling match. They did a lot of the NJPW stuff like trading elbows to the side of the head. After Moxley won, Minoru Suzuki came out to a huge pop (they even chanted, "Kaze Ne Nare," from his song like they do in Japan). Suzuki and Moxley traded slaps and elbows and kicks and then Suzuki gave Moxley a Gotch pile driver. That was great stuff...although those two wrestled before and it seems like it wasn't that long ago. **1/2

BRITT BAKER vs. KRIS STATLANDER (11:25): Baker retained the title. This was a good match, albeit nothing exceptional. Baker did Adam Cole's Sunset flip bomb maneuver which got the crowd into a frenzy. Lo and behold, this was to plant seeds for Adam Cole's debut in AEW later in the night. Statlander did a flip off the apron and Baker moved and Statlander crashed to the floor. There was another move that Statlander did from the top rope that looked like it injured her because she was woozy after it. The only great AEW's women's match so far in the promotion was that Baker/Thunder Rosa "Lights Out" match. The women's division is the one thing yet to take off for whatever reason. But this was entertaining at least. **1/2

LUCHA BROTHERS vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (22:05): The best match of the year was that Ospreay/Shingo match from the Spring. It was so great I just never even fathomed another match being anywhere near as good as that to perhaps take over as match of the year. This probably wasn't as good as that. Probably. Maybe. It's damn close. This was just about as good as it gets in pro-wrestling. There's a level of wrestling and then there are those competitors that go beyond it, that reach new heights and achieve a rare level of excellence. This was just phenomenal stuff. I had thought that maybe being stuck in a cage might hinder them. They couldn't dive out of the ring or have a bunch of run-ins which have made the Bucks matches all summer excellent. I should say that this recent run of Bucks matches have been off the charts. That match where the Bucks beat Jurassic Express on Dynamite a few weeks ago was a match of the year contender (it also had the crowd of the year to witness and help it achieve greatness). & that match with the Bucks against Pentagon and Eddie Kingston with the thumbtacks in the mouth superkick and the Canadian Destroyer through the table on Dynamite in July was awesome. But this match was just something else. They were just doing non-stop kicks, flips, knees, slams in a perfect confluence of action that swarmed up into something frenetic and exceptional. Brandon Cutler threw a bag into the cage that happened to contain a sneaker with thumbtacks on the bottom. So we got a bunch of superkicks with thumbtacks which made Pentagon a bloody mess. We got a top rope Canadian Destroyer that Pentagon did that was sick and spectacular. Finally we got a top of the cage dive by Phoenix. The Lucha Brothers then did their double pile driver finish to win the titles. This was brutal, hard hitting, action packed, dramatic. These guys just gave it their all and more. They just went beyond what seemingly pro-wrestlers are capable of. This was a masterpiece and perhaps the best AEW match yet. ****

CASINO BATTLE ROYALE (RUBY SOHO) (22:00): Good luck following that! Well the crowd at least got to count down to each set of competitors in this women's battle royale. There were so many women in this match it just made you realize what everyone is thinking: there's too many wrestlers in AEW. I didn't even know who a lot of these women were, and most of them are rarely on TV. Ruby Soho was the big surprise here and she ended up winning by eliminating Thunder Rosa. Ruby Soho was Ruby Riott in the WWE. The crowd gave her a big pop even though she wasn't much of anything in the WWE (she was somewhat a bigger star on NXT). Battle Royales are superfluous fun and this was at least semi-interesting. The end was fairly entertaining. **1/2

CHRIS JERICHO vs. MJF (21:15): If Chris Jericho lost he could never wrestle in AEW again. Well, he could wrestle in other promotions. But he won anyway. This was a typical Jericho match. Slow but the crowd at least loves him so much they're into it. They actually wrote a great ending to this which I would've said on paper is a dumb idea but it woke the crowd up and got them to cheer super loud so I was wrong. MJF pinned Jericho and he won but Jericho's foot was on the ropes so they re-started the match. That sounds stupid but the crowd loved the re-start. MJF tapped to the Walls of Jericho. I'd actually be happy never seeing Jericho wrestle again. Maybe put him in a tag team or something. He's a crowd favorite and a great talker and everything but he's getting too old to be in great matches. **

CM PUNK vs. DARBY ALLIN (16:40): This was good, not great, and more a basic wrestling match than any kind of crazy Darby Allin match. Darby did his through the ropes dive and a flip off the top rope. That was about it for his suicidal stuff. Punk did a lot of holds and submissions early. There was a great spot where he gave Allin the GTS but Allin fell through the ropes and to the floor so Punk couldn't cover him. Punk actually looked really good considering he hasn't wrestled in 7 years. That's a good sign for his future in the company as you figure he'll get better once he starts wrestling more. **1/2

PAUL WIGHT vs. QT MARSHALL (3:10): I guess this was on the PPV because The Big Show hasn't wrestled in AEW yet. This was mostly a squash and there wasn't much to it. *1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. CHRISTIAN CAGE (21:20): This was a good, classic wrestling match. I think their match on Dynamite when Christian won the Impact title might have been a little better...but that might have been because that was shorter plus you got the happy ending of Christian winning. Christian speared Kenny off the apron and through a table. Omega delivered a second rope One Winged Angel for the win. They had a good, dramatic, back and forth match even though it was kind of obvious Omega wasn't losing the title. I also would've been shocked if a year ago you would have told me that Christian would be in the main event of an AEW PPV. But he looked good and it was a good match. The post-match is of course what everyone will be talking about until the end of time. The feeling I had when this PPV went off the air is that a sea change has occurred...that AEW is officially the victor and has pulled ahead and left the WWE in the rearview mirror. It was a feeling I rarely have watching pro-wrestling. This was big, epic stuff. The kind of stuff that's remembered forever, that marks a point in time where you can say, "So that's when it happened. That's when it changed." After the match, Kenny and The Elite were out there beating up Christian and Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus ran out and they got beat up. So then Adam Cole's music hits which shocks everyone and the crowd goes into a frenzy. This was a surprise, as most people thought this was Daniel Bryan's spot to return. Adam Cole came out and super kicked Jungle Boy and hugged everyone in The Elite. Fuck...now The Elite is all powerful and unstoppable! So then Bryan Danielson's music hits and the crowd goes nuts. Danielson gets in the ring and he kicks one of the Bucks and Jungle Boy and Christian help. Danielson gives one of the Bucks a running knee. The crowd is chanting, "Yes!" Jeez...two huge debuts right after the other. That's insane. You'd think they might have saved one of those debuts for another show. It was a hell of an awesome moment, though. It kind of made you forget CM Punk was even on this show. That was one of the best endings to a PPV I've ever seen. Shocking. A spectacle. It just felt like things changed right there and then. That this is the pro-wrestling company of the moment and the future is theirs. As for the whole show? The only great match was the cage match. But nothing was bad and most of the matches were pretty good. The hot crowd helped. The end was fantastic. You definitely got your money's worth, that's for sure. ***

NXT TAKEOVER 36

 Orlando

CAMERON GRIMES vs. LA KNIGHT (16:31): I'm still baffled as to why this show was held at NXT's usual place, the WWE training complex in Orlando. Sure, there were a hundred or so fans, and the fans were loud, but we're amidst wrestling in front of big crowds these days and this seemed out of place to have a PPV show in a basement dwelling looking gym. I'm not sure why they held this show here. It definitely would have sold well at a basketball arena. They had Summerslam at the football stadium on Saturday in Vegas. Couldn't they have had it at the basketball arena in Vegas on Sunday? This might have something to do with WWE president Nick Khan's new idea which is to turn NXT back into a small, developmental show like it used to be. They lost the Wednesday Night War with AEW and so I guess they're giving up on NXT being a big, major thing. Supposedly HHH, who helps run NXT, was against this idea. If they go through with it, does that mean that all of these forever NXT stars like Ciampa, Cole, and Gargano will have to go on RAW or Smackdown? Samoa Joe is the NXT champ now, so I'm guessing there's still time until they officially revamp NXT. As for this match...it was entertaining but nothing special. Grimes lost to LA Knight earlier in the summer and had to be his butler. That meant every week on NXT we got dumb, comedy skits with Grimes as his butler. Granted, he did things like caddy for him on the golf course so I guess WWE has different ideas of what a butler is. Grimes won thanks to the help of Ted Dibiase, who was at ringside. And Grimes won the Million Dollar Belt. The crowds do seem to like Grimes, so that's something. LA Knight is kind of like The Miz...plastic, unremarkable, forgettable in the ring. **

RAQUEL GONZALEZ vs. DAKOTA KAI (12:24): You can tell how far the women's title has fallen since this match went on second behind the UK title match, a non-title match, and the championship match. Gonzalez is tall...I'm guessing that's the only reason she got the title. What is the deal with Vince only liking tall wrestlers? Was he beaten up by a midget in middle school or something? I'm guessing he thinks tall people come across better visually on TV. Do they? I'm not sure I can even think of a tall wrestler that's any good. Well at least Dakota Kai is a good wrestler so when she was on offense this was at least watchable. Dakota dyed her hair bright pink and it looked ridiculous. *

ILJA DRAGUNOV vs. WALTER (22:03): This match was awesome. Shockingly, their match last year without fans was even better, though perhaps only because this was more or less similar so we already saw it before. This was more just a sloppy brawl than any sort of wrestling match. They beat the shit out of each other, and you rarely if ever see hardcore beatings like this in the WWE. Dragunov won the title which wasn't really a surprise since he did deserve it, though Walter is so awesome I would've had him keep the title forever. Is Walter the best wrestler in all of WWE? Considering every match he's in is great, probably. ***1/2

KYLE O'REILLY vs. ADAM COLE "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS" (25:20): The first fall was four stars. Just a fast-paced, fantastic wrestling match with back and forth, devastating moves. O'Reilly won the first fall. Cole won the second which was a street fight. They used a Singapore Cane, chairs, and a chain. The third fall was a cage match. Cole handcuffed O'Reilly to the ropes but somehow O'Reilly still put him a submission hold and won. This was entertaining but I'd have rather just seen a one-fall match without all the hardcore stuff since they already had a hardcore match on a Takeover this year. ***

SAMOA JOE vs. KARRION KROSS (12:24): Joe won the title. This was basic stuff but Joe looked as good as usual. It only went 12 minutes which is kind of strange considering it was the main event and for a title. When they started this storyline I thought that it could fester for six months or so and then finally they could do the match and it would be great. Unfortunately, they pulled the plug too fast on the match. Joe came into NXT as the co-boss with Regal. They could have just slowly set up his anger with Kross over a few months to build up the suspense for a match. No, they did it right away. It didn't help that Kross, the unbeatable, muscled monster went to RAW last month and lost to Jeff Hardy right away. Great way to introduce your NXT champion! On the RAW the day after this show, Kross came to the ring with a silly looking pair of red suspenders across his chest and back in an X. He did beat Ricochet in less than a minute...which just makes me groan at how a legend like Ricochet has been put through the creative meat grinder that is the WWE. Kross has also lost his female manager. Did they fire her? It's so sad how they build guys up in NXT just to destroy them on the main roster. Matt Riddle has become a huge star, but they've made him a comedy geek in storyline. This Takeover show was actually pretty entertaining, as they usually are. It's just hard to watch any WWE because you just know they're going to royally fuck everything you like up sooner rather than later. **1/2

WWE SUMMERSLAM

 

Las Vegas

BIG E vs. BARON CORBIN (6:35): This was a big weekend of wrestling. Ring of Honor had two shows at the ECW Arena. CM Punk returned to AEW on Friday night in Chicago. And now Summerslam at Las Vegas' new football stadium with 50,000 people. There's also a NXT: Takeover show on Sunday night. And no, I have no idea why Summerslam was on a Saturday night instead of the usual Sunday night. There was also a Pacquiao boxing PPV in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Months ago, the WWE announced that the show would be ending at 8PM Vegas time so that the two events wouldn't go on at the same time. Even then I knew that wasn't going to happen. While the Pacman fight did, in fact, not start until Summerslam was over, Summerslam didn't end until 9:05 Vegas time. Of course it did. The show was five hours with the pre-show. It definitely felt it. There were 11 matches but most of them were around 10 minutes or less so it's still kind of shocking that the show went so long. With a huge crowd and some big matches the show was at least entertaining for the most part. There was only one great match, though. And while the last PPV with fans, last month's Money in the Bank, was a great show, this show just highlighted all of the writing/creative problems that the WWE has had for years. This match was the pre-show match. Big E has the MITB briefcase but Baron Corbin stole it for no reason so they had a match. I've said this before, but it's obvious that Vince McMahon loves stupid comedy and also loves Baron Corbin so Corbin is always involved in stupid comedy. Corbin's latest storyline has him broke and disheveled. His hair and beard are grown out and uncombed. His outfits are sloppy. In interviews he begs for money. I guess this is hilarious to Vince McMahon, who knows? I can't figure out the point, but whatever. The match was forgettable. The rumor going around is that Big E will cash in his briefcase on RAW and win the title. I guess because the RAW after a big show should be, well, big. 1/2*

RK-BRO vs. AJ STYLES & OMOS (7:05): I'm very surprised how over Matt Riddle is. The crowds seem to love him more than anyone on the roster. Considering he's a stupid comedy guy in the WWE's eyes, though, I kind of doubt he'll be winning a title in a main event any time soon as a solo wrestler. He did win the tag titles here with Randy Orton. It's a little sad that they stuck two great wrestlers like AJ and Riddle in tag teams. This match was just okay. **

ALEXA BLISS vs. EVA MARIE (3:50): The WWE fired Bray Wyatt but Alexa Bliss is still doing his devil schtick. Yawn. The crowd did pop when she came out, though the match was a short bore. Doudrop, Eva's sidekick, seemed to turn on her after the match though they could have made a bigger deal out of it since that's what her and Eva's storyline is all about. 1/2*

DAMIAN PRIEST vs. SHEAMUS (13:50): There were some good near falls in this match. Priest did his top rope flip to the floor and landed hard on his back and head when Sheamus didn't do a good job of catching him. After that, Priest looked groggy and out of it so the match kind of seemed to fall apart a bit. The crowds aren't fully behind Priest yet, probably because the WWE hasn't done a good job of promoting him. Priest won the U.S. title. **1/2

THE USO'S vs. REY MYSTERIO & DOMINIK MYSTERIO (10:50): These two teams had a really good, exciting match at the MITB PPV. This was about half as good. I'm not sure why. I do know that for whatever reason, the crowd noise is always a lot louder and better at smaller arenas than a giant dome. This stadium did have a roof, but I guess just a lot of empty air space for noise to dissipate into. Which meant the crowd helped better visually than audibly during this show for the most part. I honestly don't even remember half of what happened in this match. It was that good! **

BECKY LYNCH vs. BIANCA BELAIR (0:27): This was kind of the peak of the show in terms of when you realize how bad the WWE's creative is these days. Belair was supposed to have a title match against Sasha Banks. They announced that Sasha wasn't there. No, I don't know why. Either she has Covid or it's storyline. Or a death in the family or something. Who knows? So they announced her replacement would be Carmella. The crowd booed. Carmella just wrestled Belair on Smackdown, too. When the ref was ready to ring the bell, Becky Lynch's music hit and she came out. She had been gone for a year because she had a baby (Seth Rollins is the father by the way). The crowd went nuts. So far, so good. Lynch challenged Belair for the title. They had a match. Lynch hit one move and won the title. Ugh. Really? How fucking pathetic is that? Lynch just got back. Why not, like, build to a match with Belair? Why not, like, dramatically take time to build up her winning the title? And why not have an actual match and not a 27 second squash? First off, it makes Belair look stupid. This was just the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I guess they did it to just please the fans. It was still horrible booking. -No Stars-

DREW McINTYRE vs. JINDER MAHAL (4:40): What the fuck is this? This is like a WWE Superstars match that should be on Saturday morning at 10AM. Jinder Mahal vs. McIntyre? Really? I feel really bad for McIntyre. He was the champ at the top but it was during the pandemic when nobody saw it live or cared. At least they only went 4 minutes. Afterwards, Drew swung his sword at Mahal's two cronies. What, McIntyre is going to murder people? What the hell is even going on? 1/2*

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. NIKKI A.S.H. vs. RHEA RIPLEY (13:05): The Nikki A.S.H. push is probably officially over. She'll probably be fired like her husband was in the spring. The only reason they gave the title to her was probably just so Charlotte could lose and then win the title in a short period so the # of title reigns she has will creep up to her father's #. Even the crowds were kind of always half cheering and half booing Nikki, and in this match it was mostly boo's. They had a fairly entertaining match. Charlotte did a top rope moonsault twist to the floor. I guess she added the "twist" because this was a bigger show than usual. **1/2

EDGE vs. SETH ROLLINS (21:15): Finally we got the night's best match and the night's only really good one. This was fantastic. Near-falls. Back and forth action. Big moves. A hot crowd. These two probably just have good chemistry together...but I also think Edge is just a better wrestler than most of the WWE roster thanks mostly to his many years of experience. Edge knows what to do and when to do it and what'll get over and what'll work. This was so good it was kind of a shame it was just a meaningless, non-title match. ***1/2

BOBBY LASHLEY vs. GOLDBERG (7:10): At these big, fly-in shows, the hardcore fans always show up and tend to boo or cheer people that are normally not booed or cheered at. But this was really the only match that it happened in. The crowd booed Goldberg and cheered Lashley even though Lashley was supposed to be this big, bad, evil heel. The crowd even cheered when Lashley beat up Goldberg's son, who jumped into the ring after the match to attack Lashley. That was kind of cruel, actually, booing a teenager trying to help his dad but getting beat up by a huge, muscled thug. As for the match...it was pretty awful. There were no terrible botches, though Goldberg didn't look too steady on his feet for most of it, even before Lashley worked on his legs. The one thing this show proved is that the WWE has no faith whatsoever in their current stars. Both title challengers in the top two matches were stars not in the company anymore (Goldberg and Cena). Would it kill this company to build up their stars to be in these title matches? Like...Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Ricochet, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano? They definitely have the talent to do it...they just don't for whatever reason. * 

ROMAN REIGNS vs. JOHN CENA (23:00): The crowd was at least really hot and into this match, which was good since it was just an average match. They did a bunch of dramatic near falls which were great. Cena put Reigns through the announce table. Reigns did a bunch of those stupid looking Superman punches. Cena did his AA on Reigns from the top rope but Reigns kicked out. That got a big reaction. Cena lost and then Brock Lesnar's music hit and the crowd went nuts. Lesnar just got in the ring and stood there and then Reigns left. I guess they wanted to "protect" Reigns and not have Lesnar lay him out. Unfortunately, the ending was kind of flat with neither guy doing anything. The one thing the WWE has done a phenomenal job with is building two powerful, strong, unbeatable champions over the last year with Lashley and Reigns. The problem is they haven't developed and pushed anyone to face them. Now they're just bringing back old stars again with Lesnar. Supposedly the big Wrestlemania main event next year will be Reigns vs. The Rock. AEW is guilty of this, too, as they just signed CM Punk and will probably have him main event PPV's instead of guys like Adam Page or Jungle Boy. But the creative rot in the WWE seems to just be getting worse and worse with no end in sight. These 50,000 fans have to see this, right? Or are they just oblivious, lost in the spectacle? **

NJPW WRESTLE GRAND SLAM

 

Tokyo Dome

RAMBO (CHASE OWENS) (35:36): This was a strange show. Originally, New Japan decided to have two shows in baseball stadiums in May for whatever reason. I'm guessing because they could only have 50% capacity because of the pandemic at the regular buildings they were using, their thinking was 50% at a huge building like the Tokyo Dome would mean a lot more people and thus more profit. Well both Grand Slam shows in May were cancelled thanks to the pandemic. Ospreay was supposed to defend his title against Okada at the Tokyo Dome which may have been the greatest wrestling match in the history of pro-wrestling. Ospreay got injured, relinquished his title, and now we're finally getting that Tokyo Dome show two months later (the outside baseball stadium show is now 2 shows and scheduled in September). Things didn't get better for this show, though. The main event was scheduled to be Shingo vs. Ibushi but Ibushi got pneumonia that at first was blamed on his Covid vaccine but then they said it had nothing to do with the vaccine. So the day of this show it was announced that Hiroshi Tanahashi would take his place. Tanahashi was just in the main event on the show yesterday against Kenta, so I'm sure he fucking loved being in another main event right away. The other weird thing about this show was that usually they build a big light stage above the ring and of course an entranceway. They didn't build either. There was no entranceway, the wrestlers just walked out of one of the entrances by the seats. They kept the bright house lights around the top of the Dome on which amplified the fact that there was a sea of empty seats. While they probably got 5 or 10 thousand people, it still looked like the Dome was maybe 80% empty. So the show looked bush league and that didn't help. It was also obviously quiet with all of the empty space, plus fans could only clap, which probably didn't help when Evil came out to beat up Shingo at the end of the show and the fans couldn't boo so the place was just a silent tomb. The first match on the show was the traditional Royal Rumble opener. This was for the King of Pro-Wrestling title, surely wrestling's stupidest title by far. Some of the wrestlers were thrown over the top rope to be eliminated and some, like Kenta and Honma, were handcuffed to the ropes to be eliminated. I guess this was a handcuff match? Who the fuck knows? The match had some big stars like Ishii, Goto, Master Wato, etc., but was a total fucking bore and way too long. Chase Owens won the title. 1/2*

EL PHANTASMO & TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & ROCKY ROMERO (20:56):

Phantasmo and Ishimori retrained the Jr. tag titles, titles I swear disappeared awhile ago. They used to be a big deal back in the day when The Time Splitters and The Young Bucks and Rappongi Vice used to always have great matches for them. I think even Sho and Yo broke up, so these titles are pretty meaningless these days (all four wrestlers in this match are singles wrestlers first and rarely tag team wrestlers). Phantasmo walked the ropes and did a moonsault off the top rope and over the guardrail onto everyone. That was pretty cool. This was a fairly basic, forgettable match, though. **

ROBBIE EAGLES vs. DESPERADO (19:56): Most of this show was a bore and a slog. I'm not sure if it was just the empty building and pandemic-tamed crowd or if the matches were just that dull. Robbie Eagles did win the Jr. title here which was kind of a surprise. Considering wrestlers coming into Japan have to quarantine for 2 weeks first, I'm guessing Eagles is sticking around for awhile since he won. Desperado worked on Eagles leg, which is just about the stupidest thing you can do in terms of entertainment in a high flying match. Um...the fans want to see top rope flips and dives...not a hobbled Eagles unable to walk. Eagles did a 450 splash onto Desperado's ankle. So eventually both guys worked on the other's leg...just double the stupidity. This was pretty monotonous. *1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. JEFF COBB (19:23): Okada won with a rollup schoolboy of all things. Jesus. Would it kill this company to give Jeff Cobb a push? Cobb looked good, although Okada kicked out of his finisher which kind of ruins it being a finisher. Okada had a good match with Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom, but lately his matches have been pretty slow and pretty dull. The final few minutes were kind of dramatic and entertaining, but a lot of this was pretty average. **

ZACK SABRE, JR. & TAICHI vs. TETSUYA NAITO & SANADA (37:58): This match was about the same length as the main event...yet during this match I actually wondered if they were going to do a 60 minute draw. That's how fucking boring this match was. Or maybe that's just how great the main event was (it wasn't that great, though). These two teams just wrestled for the titles two weeks ago and Naito and Sanada won the titles. That match was a yawn-inducing, sleep fest. This wasn't much better. Zack and Taichi won back the titles in this match, which kind of tells you how important and prominent the tag titles are. After twenty minutes of seemingly wrestling in slow motion they all decided to finally start wrestling at a faster clip. Unfortunately, they still had 20 more minutes and so they went back to going slow. There were also a lot of slips, botches, and sloppy maneuvers in this match. Why this match was almost 40 minutes boggles my mind. 1/2*

SHINGO TAKAGI vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI (37:26): The best I can say about this match is that, unlike the previous match, it didn't feel like 37 minutes. The last ten minutes are so were fairly dramatic and there were a lot of suspenseful near falls. The early part was pretty boring, though, and this was not some epic, awesome, classic New Japan main event. I'm not sure even Ibushi and Shingo could have had a great match in this empty Dome with the house lights on but who knows? These two wrestled in January in a main event and Dave Meltzer gave that match 5 stars (on a 5 star scale...although ridiculously he sometimes gives matches 6 stars). I did watch that match but barely remember it, so I'm guessing I didn't think it was that great. Tanahashi can still get the crowd to wake up, as there were a few minutes when the zombie crowd woke up from their slumber. Tanahashi is great and knows what to do and when to do it...but he's obviously a hobbled, shell of his former, great self. So this was probably the best Tanahashi you're going to get these days. Shingo is usually brutal in his hard hitting elbows and clotheslines but he couldn't really do that to an old man so he didn't and the match suffered because of it. This was definitely the best match on the show but in all honesty it was pretty average stuff. **1/2

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

 

Fort Worth, Texas

THE USO'S vs. DOMINIK & REY MYSTERIO (11:25): This was the first WWE PPV since Wrestlemania with a crowd, and unlike 'Mania, this was a sold out, packed house. That certainly helped, as the atmosphere was off the charts for the main event and the men's ladder match. It also helped that this was the best WWE PPV in years. One of the reasons was that there wasn't any filler; no lame, forgettable non-title matches. And Edge vs. Roman is a big time main event considering Edge rarely wrestles. Add that to the fact we got two ladder matches and this was a great show. Money in the Bank has always been my favorite WWE PPV every year, so I'm glad they picked this one to be the first one to get a packed house post-Covid (granted, Covid cases are sadly rising these days thanks to morons). This match was on the pre-show...and, seriously, this has to be the biggest pre-show match of all time, right? Usually they're something superfluous. The Uso's won the tag titles here in a fantastic match. It was non-stop action. The one ugly factor underneath the surface of this match, though, was that Jimmy Uso recently got arrest for a DUI...his third arrest in the last few years. Usually when something like that happens the person gets suspended or fired or sent to rehab. Nope. He gets rewarded by given the tag titles! Way to go, WWE. And it's not like we're talking one DUI. His second arrest he wasn't driving but was drunk and threatened the cop. Dude obviously needs help. It's kind of sad to see the WWE not doing anything about this. *** (out of ****)

NIKKI A.S.H. vs. ASUKA vs. NAOMI vs. ALEXA BLISS vs. LIV MORGAN vs. ZELINA VEGA vs. NATALYA vs. TAMINA "MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH" (15:45): This was entertaining but not great or anything. The crowd roared for Alexa Bliss early for some reason. Then they cheered for Liv Morgan when she was climbing the ladder. When Nikki won they popped big. Alexa did two supernatural things during this match. The first was she raised her hand up to summon the briefcase down but was thwarted when someone just pushed her over. Then she hypnotized Zelina on the ladder to make Zelina go back down. If she has super powers...why isn't she powerful enough to just easily win the match? Not that I should even attempt to interject logic into Alexa Bliss' stupid gimmick. And where is Bray Wyatt, anyway? She stole his gimmick and now he's been absent since 'Mania. They did not do any crazy ladder bumps in this one. But it was decent. **1/2

AJ STYLES & OMOS vs. THE VIKING RAIDERS (12:55): The final five minutes or so of this were pretty entertaining. The one big, cool move was Omos tossing AJ over the top rope where he flew down onto one of the Raiders to give him a Hurricanrana on the floor. Omos picked up the fat Raider and slammed him which the crowd loved. AJ looked so good in this match it kind of made me sad that he's stuck in a tag team instead of wrestling in main event title matches. AJ and Omos retained the tag titles. This match was advertised a few weeks ago as being on RAW tomorrow night. I was shocked; they were actually advertising matches for RAW weeks ahead of time like AEW does. That sadly didn't happen and I'm not even sure why they changed it. **1/2

BOBBY LASHLEY vs. KOFI KINGSTON (7:35): This was the one weird, bad match on the show. At first I thought this was going the Lesnar route. The big guy beats down the small, babyface forever and then the babyface makes a comeback and almost wins and the crowd goes ape shit and then the big guy wins. But no! The babyface never got a comeback. Lashley beat the shit out of Kofi and then pinned him. Jesus Christ. Talk about burying Kofi for the rest of time. This kind of baffled me. I guess their idea was to make Lashley out to be a monster, unbeatable heel like they did with Roman Reigns. This after Lashley lost to Xavier Woods on RAW Monday Night. But you can do that by giving Kofi something. Lashley is supposed to wrestle Goldberg at Summerslam. So they destroyed Kofi, a full time WWE employee, to make Goldberg, a once-in-a-blue-moon WWE employee, be the savior. Makes sense! -No Stars-

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. RHEA RIPLEY (16:50): I'm not a fan of Rhea Ripley. I think she always looks awkward in the ring and has no timing or dramatic flair. With that said, the final few minutes of this match were really good. The crowd got really into the near falls and late drama. Flair did a top rope DDT maneuver on Ripley and when Ripley kicked out the crowd jumped to their feet in shock. Flair won the title here which I think was kind of a bad move even though I dislike Ripley's wrestling ability. Flair seems to always be the champ and it's gotten kind of boring. **1/2

BIG E vs. RIDDLE vs. RICOCHET vs. JOHN MORRISON vs. DREW McINTYRE vs. KING NAKAMURA vs. SETH ROLLINS "MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH" (17:40): This match was excellent. It was super entertaining. It was big moves after big moves and the crowd adored it and was in a mouth-frothing frenzy by the end. Early on I was remembering how awesome Ricochet was in that NXT ladder match a few years back when he fell off the ladder only to step on the top rope and then do a flip to the floor onto a bunch of wrestlers. Well he did that again here and it was just as awesome and the crowd went ape shit. Kevin Owens was power bombed over the top rope onto a ladder bridge which was the big, sickening move of the match. Riddle did a bunch of RKO's since he was supposedly taking Orton's spot (Orton is either sick or on vacation, who knows?). Morrison was the star for a lot of this match. He's been a star in a ton of ladder matches over the years, from ones in Impact to Lucha Underground. The one big move Morrison tried (a spinning 450 type of slam onto Owens on a ladder) missed, though. Nakamura didn't do much but the crowd loved when he did a top of the ladder, upside down, hanging armbar. Big E did a top of the ladder slam and then climbed up and won. Great match. ***1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. EDGE (33:10): The WWE rarely has a "big fight" feel to their main events...but they did tonight. The sold out crowd helped, but they've also done a great job at creating a serious, heel champion in Reigns. He's held the title since August and has beaten pretty much everyone. Maybe the WWE is finally learning how to write a long-term storyline? Took 'em long enough. The first half of this match was boring, though. The second half was great. Roman tried a spear and Edge moved and Roman went through the barricade. When he got up, Edge speared him through another barricade. They did the usual WWE hijinks, though, but I actually find the ref-bump-then-outside-interference to be entertaining, so I enjoyed it. The ref was knocked over. The Uso's came out. The Mysterio's beat up The Uso's. Roman broke apart a chair and was going to use one of the steel pieces of the chair. Edge ended up using it on Roman's mouth for a submission hold. Seth Rollins came in and kicked Edge. Eventually the ref woke up, Seth Rollins hit Edge when the ref wasn't looking and Roman ended up winning. The ending kind of sucked, and it made me actually want to see another Edge vs. Roman match with a better, more definitive ending, which they probably will do eventually (Roman is tentatively scheduled to face The Rock at next year's Wrestlemania...so Roman might be champ for a long time). Edge and Rollins battled to the back after the match. Then John Cena came out because he's wrestling Roman at Summerslam, although Cena didn't talk or even point to the title or anything so you wouldn't really have guessed that. So there was a lot going on in this and it made this show feel big time and important and exciting, qualities the WWE has been lacking for a very long time. Good show. I honestly can't even remember the last time the WWE main roster had a show this good. ***

WWE HELL IN A CELL

Tampa, Florida

NATALYA vs. MANDY ROSE (9:45): Mark Henry, who just joined AEW as an announcer, mentioned on some random podcast that he thinks that Vince is about to sell the WWE. His reasons include them selling the WWE Network to NBC/Universal/Comcast and their latest mass firings that included Aleister Black, Braun Strowman, Andrade (Andrade wasn't fired, he wanted to leave so they let him), Lana, The Iconics, Mickie James, and Ruby Riott. The only reason I'd think they weren't selling is because what the hell would Triple H do? Unless there's some stipulation that he stays. I think Stephanie and Shane would leave and Vince is probably ready to retire. Supposedly the WWE had their most profitable year ever last year. Would the company be better creatively if they were sold? Maybe. This show was actually pretty good, but it didn't have any super entertaining matches like New Japan or AEW has, nor has any storylines that are particularly good. And the WWE has had the problem for awhile of having a loaded roster with great wrestlers that they do nothing with. They've always been known to push and feature good looking people instead of talented people. Case in point: Mandy Rose. She's gorgeous but shouldn't be in a wrestling ring. This was a forgettable pre-show match. -No Stars-

BIANCA BELAIR vs. BAYLEY "HELL IN A CELL" (19:45): Roman Reigns was supposed to defend his title against Mysterio in a Hell in a Cell match on this show. For unknown reasons, they had that match on Smackdown and Roman won. Then on RAW after this show they had Lashley fight Xavier Woods in a Hell in a Cell match. Was it just easier to set up on the cell and leave it there all weekend? Is that why they did it? Because Smackdown, RAW, and this PPV were all in the Yuengling Center in Tampa. Yep, they're still doing shows without fans in the Thunderdome (I guess the Mad Max guys never copyrighted that?). It's kind of weird seeing a PPV in front of no fans when every other sport has packed buildings in this country. But this is the last one, as the next PPV, Money in the Bank, is being held in Texas in a sold out arena. I am curious how the fans will react to a lot of this stuff. I'm certain they will cheer Roman Reigns even though he's a heel. And I bet they boo the hell out of Alexa Bliss and her unwatchable mess of a storyline. They did announce one match for MITB: Kofi Kingston vs. Lashley for the title. And Ricochet is in one of the ladder matches, which is the best idea the WWE has had all year. As for this match...it was entertaining, though nothing special. Belair retained the title. I've said this before, but Bayley as a heel has never worked. They also did a ton of spots where Bianca's hair was tied to things like a chair and the ropes. Bayley pulled out four Singapore canes taped together and did a bridge between the cell and ring and got power bombed onto them. That didn't even look like it hurt. They've really overdone the Hell in a Cell gimmick, haven't they? When was the last great one? I watched a Youtube video that the WWE put out of all the falls off of the cell over the years. They conspicuously didn't show the Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins fall off the cell, probably because Dean is in AEW. They did show when Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler fell off the side of the cell and down onto the announce tables. I don't even remember that match. Alas, no one fell off the cell or even went outside tonight. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. CESARO (16:15): This was the first of 3 Wrestlemania rematches. Unfortunately, none of them were as good as the ones at 'Mania. This was a good match but kind of basic. I'm not even sure why they're wrestling. And it seemed like they built up Cesaro and he had that great match at Backlash against Reigns and now he's just losing to Rollins in a meaningless, mid card match. If it was up to me I'd have Cesaro win the title at Summerslam, which is happening at the new football stadium in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, John Cena is supposed to face Reigns for the title there. And you know he's not winning because he probably has a movie to shoot afterwards. **

ALEXA BLISS vs. SHAYNA BASZLER (7:00): What happened to Bray Wyatt? He was burned to death then returned and lost at Wrestlemania then disappeared. Alexa Bliss is still weirdly doing her evil-magical-powers gimmick, though, even without Bray around. Alexa controlled Nia Jax telepathically during this match; she made her slap Reginald and then scream. Okay. If Alexa has powers like that, why didn't she just make Shayna lay down and she could pin her? Granted, this gimmick has no logic. They even did a lame segment on RAW a few weeks ago that was reminiscent of Hogan/Warrior back in WCW when Hogan saw Warrior in a mirror. Well this time Shayna was running away from Alexa backstage and she saw Alexa in a mirror. Do they not realize that the Hogan/Warrior stuff in WCW was some of the worst shit ever done in pro-wrestling? I remember Dave Meltzer gave that Hogan/Warrior match a bunch of negative stars. I'm not sure I ever even saw it. What was I doing then? I guess not watching wrestling...I had better things to do. Maybe I should return to doing that. -No Stars-

SAMI ZAYN vs. KEVIN OWENS (12:40): I've said it before, but these two should just wrestle each other on every show until the end of time. They have so much chemistry together and do so many devastating, brutal moves to one another that their matches are always great. This one was good but too short and just as pointless as their 'Mania match. Just once I'd love to see these two wrestle for a title in a main event. Owens looked like he injured his shoulder in this match. He was also acting like he couldn't breathe because someone hit him in the neck on Smackdown and he had to play into the storyline of that. Owens did a Swanton off the apron to Zayn on the floor. They beat the hell out of each other and Zayn had a bloody mouth by the end. I'm kind of shocked that Zayn wasn't fired during the purge but then again Vince probably cracks up at his stupid conspiracy theory gimmick he's doing these days. **1/2

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. RHEA RIPLEY (14:10): This wasn't very good because Rhea isn't a good wrestler and the end was a DQ when Rhea hit Charlotte with the top cover part of the announce table to retain her title. I think they did the DQ because Charlotte is one of their big stars and thus they didn't want her to be pinned. Rhea definitely looks the part of a champion. She's tall and has the Undertaker biker look. But, man, she is just a monotonous mess in the ring. She's not exciting or entertaining. *

BOBBY LASHLEY vs. DREW McINTYRE "HELL IN A CELL" (25:45): This was a pretty good match. I was kind of surprised that Lashley won and retained the title. This means that McIntyre can never challenge Lashley for the title again. I suppose that doesn't matter, as I'm guessing he'll lose the title at Summerslam to somebody. They did a lot with the ring steps. McIntyre slammed Lashley onto them. Lashley then smashed them against McIntyre's head and into the cell. McIntyre's back was all scarred up from hitting the cell. McIntyre lost a MITB qualifying match on RAW to Riddle, so maybe he's in the dog house. It seems like Lashley has gotten better in the ring lately, which is kind of a surprise since he's in his 40's now. Hey, he figured it out. Good for him. **1/2

NXT TAKEOVER: IN YOUR HOUSE

 

Orlando

BRONSON REED & MSK vs. LEGAO DEL FANTASMA (13:40): This was kind of a strange match because the North American title and the tag team titles were on the line. The reason they did this was probably because instead of having Bronson Reed face Santana Escobar for the North American title and thus having 6 matches on the show instead of the usual 5, they just threw them into this match. The problem was that with two guys in this not used to wrestling in tag team matches a lot of it was a little sloppy and a little off. They definitely could have had a 6th match on this show, though, as it was pretty short and a lot of good wrestlers like Ciampa, Kushida, and Finn Balor weren't even on the show. This match was entertaining though nothing great. They did one spot where everyone did a dive over the ropes onto the floor leading to the fat man, Bronson Reed, diving through the ropes onto everyone. This was by far the worst Takeover I've ever seen (there was at least one audience-less Takeover during the pandemic that I didn't bother to watch). I think NXT has suffered in quality ever since they started doing their 2 hour live show to compete against AEW Dynamite. They're kind of in the same boat that the WWE is in with having too much programming now instead of building up Takeover shows with huge matches. Now a lot of those huge matches are just on their weekly TV show, like Finn Balor vs. Karrion Kross for the title that was on a month or so ago. **

XIA LU vs. MERCEDES MARTINEZ (7:40): This was terribly boring. Xia Lu was given this super racist samurai gimmick that is just cringe inducing. She came out with a straw hat on and wielding a sword. They really didn't do much in this match besides present a stale, basic, wrestling match that the fairly dead crowd didn't give a shit about. -No Stars-

LA KNIGHT vs. CAMERON GRIMES "LADDER MATCH" (19:30): This was the best match on the show and that isn't really saying a lot. Ted Dibiase was sitting at ringside because above the ladder was the Million Dollar belt. They even had one ladder that was gold. They did some brutal ladder spots. The big finale had Grimes falling off the big ladder onto a ladder bridge on the entrance ramp. Knight was tossed over the top rope onto a ladder bridge at ringside. Grimes is amusing whereas Knight seems to just be a forgettable, muscled heel. This at least held my interest. **1/2

RAQUEL GONZALEZ vs. EMBER MOON (12:40): It probably doesn't help that the two big NXT champions are not exciting or good wrestlers. Gonzalez and Kross are champs because they're big and tall. I can't really see any other reason. During the match, Moon's friend/partner, Shotzi Blackheart ran out to beat up Gonzalez's friend/partner, Dakota Kai. Those two are so much more exciting and entertaining in the ring that I was wishing I was just watching them wrestle instead. There was literally nothing memorable about this match besides the outside interference spots with Shotzi and Dakota. 1/2*

KARRION KROSS vs. PETE DUNNE vs. JOHNNY GARGANO vs. ADAM COLE vs. KYLE O'REILLY (26:15): Everyone on the internet didn't like the idea of this match but I thought it would be great. Four of these wrestlers are awesome and some of the best wrestlers in the world. The internet was right, though, as this didn't turn out that great. The problem a lot of people had was that it felt like by having a 5 way for the title it meant that NXT was just out of ideas and not even trying. The real problem turned out to be having 5 guys in the ring just didn't work at all. There were a lot of moves but no cohesion, no built up drama. There couldn't be, as it was just a mess of guys all over the place. Even the guys that laid out this match know that Kross sucks because twice he was taken out leaving the other 4 to wrestle each other. Kross was thrown through the door that was part of the entrance set and then onto the announce table later on. Kross ended up winning by choking out O'Reilly. This wasn't a bad match, it just felt like more a TV main event type of thing than a big PPV main event. Having a singles match wouldn't have been any better, though, because Kross isn't a very good wrestler and his matches are usually boring. Vince will fucking love him and push him to the moon on the main roster, though, simply because he's big and tall and has muscles. In a perfect world he'll go to RAW tomorrow night and maybe just lose the NXT title in one last match down the road and leave NXT forever. **