WWE STOMPING GROUNDS

Tacoma, Washington

DREW GULAK vs. AKIRA TOZAWA vs. TONY NESE (11:20): This was the only match on the card I thought would be any good and it turned out to be the best match of the night. A better company would have Tozawa vs. Ricochet in the main event for the title. The WWE is sadly not that company. Gulak ended up winning the 205Live title that Nese had. This was all action and the hot crowd made this even better. There were two particular head bumps that made me wonder if Nese had been watching Naito/Ibushi matches recently. Not a good thing! So Gulak is now the champ of a show nobody watches or cares about. Kind of sad that the best match of the show featured wrestlers relegated to the purgatory of 205Live. ***

BECKY LYNCH vs. LACEY EVANS (11:30): Evans was amusing in the main event later on as the heel referee. Maybe they should just make her Corbin's manager or something, because she can do everything but wrestle. She's a pretty blonde so of course they gave her a push...but this match was a complete bore and Evans just seems flustered and lost amidst the wrestling moves. Charlotte Flair wasn't even on this show. I'd be happy if Lynch faced Charlotte on every PPV until the end of time to be honest. 1/2*

KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN vs. THE NEW DAY (11:05): Good match. Zayn and Owens together are two of the only watchable things on RAW these days. It probably helps that they can both actually wrestle in entertaining matches. The crowd was hot for this (later on they died and started chanting various, random things) and Xavier Woods and Big E. are usually always in fast-paced, fun matches. This was bell to bell non-stop action. ***

RICOCHET vs. SAMOA JOE (12:25): If these two had wrestled four years ago in PWG it might have been the greatest match ever. Hell, if these two wrestled in another company today it would have been better. It was a good match but never turned into anything great. Ricochet, for whatever reason, just seems like a shell of his former self. He still does most of his flips and leaps and jumps and dives but for whatever reason it doesn't connect in the way that Will Ospreay's arsenal of maneuvers does. If you remember that infamous Ospreay/Ricochet match from a few years ago...they were pretty much on par with each other, yet now Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world and Ricochet is perhaps a little better than okay. He did usually excel in multi-man tag matches in New Japan, so maybe he was just never cut out for single matches. Or maybe Joe is just too old these days. The first half was a beat-down bore, then the second half was fairly dramatic. Ricochet won the U.S. title and looked like he just won the lottery. It's not that great of a title, kid. **1/2

DANIEL BRYAN & ROWAN vs. HEAVY MACHINERY (14:25): Good match, thanks mostly to the loud and proud Washington crowd. Bryan was born in Aberdeen, Washington so of course they showered him with approval and cheers and booed the good guys. They even cheered for Rowan. Heavy Machinery are pretty much two fat/fun guys. This wasn't exactly anything special, fresh, or new. But it was watchable. **1/2

BAYLEY vs. ALEXA BLISS (10:35): And here is where the show, which was pretty good up to this point, fell off a cliff. This was perhaps the worst match ever. Well, not really, but it was still awful. Bliss has never been and never will be in a good match ever. Bayley should just go back to NXT and wrestle Sasha Banks, because that's the last time she was ever relevant. This was for the Women's Title, which Bayley retained. This was simply the definition of boring. -No Stars-

ROMAN REIGNS vs. DREW McINTYRE (17:20): This match was also awful...until the last few minutes. The end was somewhat exciting with some near-falls and Shane giving Reigns the coast-to-coast dropkick when the ref was knocked out. These two are just both so fucking dull, lifeless, and mediocre. *

KOFI KINGSTON vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (20:00): I'm really not sure what match was worse, this or the Bayley/Bliss one. This match was so God-awful boring. Ziggler showed up out of nowhere last month to wrestle Kofi for the title in Saudi Arabia after being gone for seemingly years. Now they're in a steel cage match that put everyone in the Tacoma Dome to sleep. Yes, Kofi had a great match at 'Mania against Bryan. Perhaps that was a fluke, because he definitely doesn't have the chops to put on great, main event matches. Nobody did anything suicidal off the cage. The finish had Dolph crawling out of the door but Kofi leaped through the ropes over him and landed on the floor to retain his title. Groan. 1/2*

SETH ROLLINS vs. BARON CORBIN (18:25): You know this PPV had zero interest when this main event was announced. Everyone hates Corbin except Vince. They've pushed Corbin to the fucking moon for some reason. I'm almost kind of shocked he didn't win the title (they have to save their Lesnar/Rollins Summerslam main event, I suppose). The hatred for Corbin isn't the usual heel heat, though. People don't hate him because he's a bad guy and he mocks the crowd. No, they hate him because he's an awful wrestler and he sucks and why are they pushing him? It's mind boggling. They did save this match from being a dumpster fire by having Corbin pick Lacey Evans to be the special referee. Which meant we got all of the hilarious, heel ref shenanigans. Slow counts and non-counts. Lacey changed the match to a "No Count Out" match when Baron couldn't make the ten count after being put through the announce table. Then Lacey made the match a "No DQ" match when Corbin started beating Seth with a steel chair. Yes, all of that heel ref schtick has been done a million times before but I still found it to be amusing and entertaining. It sure made this match a hell of a lot better than it had any right to be. The crowd chanted, "AEW," "Daniel Bryan," and "boring" during this match, although they got into it by the half way mark and popped big when Becky Lynch finally came out to beat up Lacey (Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch are dating in real life...which the announcers have been telling us constantly for the last few weeks). I was entertained by the second half of this match. Which, for the WWE these days, is a complete and utter shock. "Wait...you were entertained?" I can't believe it either. **1/2

NJPW DOMINION

Osaka

JON MOXLEY vs. SHOTA UMINO (3:52): Moxley, formerly Dean Ambrose in the WWE, is now a free agent and seemingly popping up everywhere cool. He had his first big TV match since leaving the WWE on Wednesday here in Japan against Juice Robinson where he won the U.S. title. He isn't really doing anything different, but he just looks like a caged animal set free. He looks happier, more loose, and the crowds in Japan love him. This was more just a showcase for him since Umino is just a trainee Young Lion dude. Moxley won fairly quickly and announced that he'll be in this year's G1, which, although it's losing Omega, is gaining Moxley, Shingo Takagi, Will Ospreay, and Kenta, who came out with Shibata for some reason to announce his G1 entrance. *1/2

SHINGO TAKAGI vs. SATOSHI KOJIMA (11:14): Kojima was just in Canada and the states wrestling for Ring of Honor. You can pretty much tell how far Ring of Honor has fallen lately that they sent Kojima there instead of someone good like, I don't know, Okada? This was another showcase, since Takagi lost to Ospreay on Wednesday in the Super Jr.'s final and he needed a bounce back. Takagi had been undefeated in New Japan until losing to Ospreay, which kind of took the wind out of his sails and beating Kojima isn't really a help. I will say this, though: that Ospreay/Takagi match was so far the best match of the year. And, honestly, that show on Wednesday was better than this. Which is kind of shocking because Dominion has been one of the year's best wrestling shows of the year the last few years. *

JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER & YOSHI-HASHI vs. MINORU SUZUKI & ZACK SABRE, JR. (9:39): The one thing that the WWE does better than NJPW is that on their PPV's they at least have wall to wall big matches, not just random, multi-person filler matches like this. Not that the WWE PPV's are stacked with "big" matches...but at least they attempt to set up stuff beyond crap like this. Liger is apparently retiring soon, probably at next year's Dome, so he seems like he's more energetic and on fire lately. He got in the ring and kicked his partner, Yoshi-Hashi, in the back during the match. Not to turn on him but to motivate him. Uh...okay. 1/2*

HIROSHI TANAHASHI, JUICE ROBINSON & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI vs. JAY WHITE, CHASE OWENS & TAIJI ISHIMORI (9:48): After this match, Tanahashi was doing commentary, which I thought was a good sign that his recent surgery probably didn't go well and he's easing into the sunset. But no! He's apparently fighting Jericho in the future and that's why he was doing commentary. He did have a pretty good match on Wednesday against Jay White. But this was just a nothing match. Juice cut his dreadlocks and looks like a chump...even though I thought his dreadlocks looked fucking stupid. Go figure. *

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. TAICHI (11:16): Jeff Cobb won the NEVER title at Madison Square Garden in April. Then he lost it to Taichi who lost it to Ishii here. The NEVER title has to be the dumbest title going these days. Oh, wait. The WWE 24/7 title might have that beat. Ishii will probably go down in history as the greatest wrestler to never win the big title. He's too old now. Probably. Taichi sucks and always will no matter how many idiot wrestling writers online change their mind. *1/2

GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY vs. EVIL & SANADA (16:38): So far, this show is fairly awful. Which is a surprise since on Wednesday they had a hell of a show and the Super Jr. tournament was great. I'm not sure why I'm not reviewing Wednesday's show, as I keep talking about it. This match was for the tag team titles. The Guerrillas also have the Ring of Honor tag titles. This was not good at all. I'm not sure I've ever seen a good Guerrillas of Destiny match nor ever will. The Young Bucks couldn't even get a good match out of them. *

WILL OSPREAY vs. DRAGON LEE (20:07): This probably would have been a four star, memorable match...if Will Ospreay hadn't just had the match of the year on Wednesday against Takagi. This was awesome, sure, but it paled in comparison to that epic. As much as I love Dragon Lee, I think it's fairly obvious that the best matches he'll ever be in are the ones against Hiromu. Ospreay won the Jr. title here...which seems pointless as he's apparently a heavyweight now. There was one particular insane move that occurred during this match. Dragon Lee sat Ospreay on the metal, crowd barrier in front of the announcers and then went into the ring, ran the ropes and dove through the middle ropes like a torpedo, hit Ospreay going a million miles a hour and they both toppled over the announce table to the floor, knocking one of the announcers over. It was crazy. These two are nuts. But this is New Japan, where everyone is on the precipice of breaking their neck, so the next match had even bigger nuts wrestling. ***

TETSUYA NAITO vs. KOTA IBUSHI (22:06): Fuck. Do these two want to be paralyzed? Do they have a death wish? I'm not even joking...but if I was someone in charge in New Japan I would never let these two wrestle each other again. Ibushi already broke his neck once years ago and Naito is halfway to life in a wheelchair, but they still continue to up the ante to self destruction. I guess all of this means is that this was an incredible match, their best of the year, and it was by far the most cringeworthy match of the year. I truly couldn't believe what I was seeing during most of this. How these two aren't paralyzed or dead after this is miraculous. There were a thousand DDT's and moves where one or the other landed on their head or neck badly...but the one that everyone will probably be talking about is the gruesome ring apron spot. Naito seemed to be attempting to give Ibushi a belly to belly suplex from the ring apron to the floor. I'm not sure if Ibushi was supposed to land on his feet or really take it but what ended up happening is the side of Ibushi's head hit the edge of the ring and then he fell to the floor. I watched the replay a few times and still have no idea what they were trying to do. It reminded me of that botched Spanish Fly that Ospreay did to Scurll last year on the ring apron. This match was definitely not for the squeamish. But it was also by far the match of the night and the crowd seemed to be into it. This probably should have been the main event. I really hope these two dopes are put in separate G1 sections. I'm not sure I want to see them kill each other for real. I've already seen Shibata's career end and Hiromu break his neck in the last few years and I'm still heartbroken and sad about both of those tragedies. I love New Japan, but sometimes, sometimes you've got to just dial it back. ***1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. CHRIS JERICHO (25:43): Well of course this was boring and it sucked. I haven't been Jericho's biggest fan lately, even though a lot of the wrestling critics online seem to love his matches. Meltzer gave the Jericho/Omega match last year 5 stars and I gave it *1/2. I did like the Jericho/Naito match from this year's Dome...but maybe that was more because Naito is a maniac and the Dome crowd was loud and into it. The crowd during this match was mostly a silent tomb, occasionally chanting, "Okada" and then by the end, "Y2J." Jericho did just wrestle a long, grueling match two weeks ago against Omega. But he didn't look lost or out of it or tired. He looked like his usual, old, fat self and did all of his usual antics. He lost by a roll-up and then beat up Okada post-match with a chair until Tanahashi, who was on commentary, made the save. Considering Tanahashi is more beat up, broken, battered, old, and slow than Jericho...that match isn't exactly going to be a classic. This show was not New Japan at it's greatest, although Ospreay/Lee and Naito/Ibushii were both awesome and memorable. Dominion has had a string of excellent main events lately, so I suppose the party had to end. Remember Okada/Styles? The 60 minute Omega/Okada draw? Last year's 60+ Omega win against Okada? So yeah, this year's main event is kind of lame when compared to those classics. Hopefully Jericho will sail off into the sunset with AEW and get the hell out of this company and soon. Because nobody wants to see a former great star tiredly walk around a ring anymore. *

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Las Vegas

CASINO BATTLE ROYALE (ADAM PAGE) (16:00): This was the first official show for the new wrestling company, AEW. Wrestling hasn't had a big, new company in a really long time, right? And have they ever had a new company start out this big and popular before? The one thing that this reminds me of is the formation of Image Comics way back in the early 90's. That was when all of the best, most popular artists quit Marvel to form their own company. Image Comics started a surge in popularity in comics. The early 90's were the biggest years for comic books ever...and then there was a freefall. But Image Comics is still around today, almost thirty years later. It never did eclipse Marvel or DC, but it definitely did more good than bad. AEW probably won't eclipse the WWE...but after watching this show, it's definitely a great start and a great adrenaline boost to pro-wrestling. This was an awesome show, one of the most entertaining PPV's I've seen in years. What helped was the raucous, deafening crowd. The frothing-at-the-mouth-crowd reminded me of those packed, insane crowds that threw trash in the ring when the N.W.O. entered the ring on Nitro to close a show...or on RAW when 'Stone Cold' drove a beer truck into the arena. Remember how popular wrestling was in the late 90's? This show made it feel like it was back. While the WWE is mildly amusing at times and NXT always has great, boisterous crowds...this AEW crowd and show felt like something I haven't seen in a very long time, something fresh, kinetic, alive, thrilling. It was definitely a memorable show and one for the ages. Now, of course, they're going to have to keep this going when they have to do a weekly 2 hour TV show on TNT in the Fall and everyone will probably get tired of seeing the same guys over and over again. Who knows, though? They set up their future the best possible way; with a wild, awesome first show. This Battle Royale was on the free pre-show. Page was supposed to wrestle PAC but PAC apparently isn't allowed to lose since he's Dragon Gate's champ so that match was scrapped. 'Hangman' Page won the Battle Royale and will go on to face Jericho for the title in Chicago on Labor Day Weekend at All Out. This Battle Royale was fun but certainly nothing spectacular or anything. **1/2

KIP SABIAN vs. SAMMY GUEVERA (10:00): I didn't watch this match. You figured I would've...since the pre-show was free and this was on the pre-show and I didn't buy the show. Such a horrible fan.

SOCAL UNCENSORED vs. CIMA, T-HAWK & EL LINDAMAN (13:40): This opened the show. I should let you know that this show was a $50 PPV...which no one really does anymore except for Impact. Everyone streams now, which is cheaper (usually $10 a month), so paying $50 is kind of ridiculous. What they should have done is made their first show either free or cheap to get new fans to get hooked. Every illegal, free stream I tried to watch eventually got cut off...which means that AEW is trying a lot harder to block their content that most other companies do. I just watched it on a half hour delay for free when the sites would post the show in parts. This match was fucking incredible. In terms of action, it was probably the best. Cima, T-Hawk, and El Lindaman are wrestlers from OWE, a Chinese wrestling company that Cima started after he left Dragon Gate. By the end of this is was just total non-stop, damaging moves in a crazy frenzy and it was insane. ***1/2

DR. BRITT BAKER, D.M.D. vs. NYLA ROSE vs. KYLIE RAE vs. AWESOME KONG (11:10): Kong, where the hell have you been? I remember her matches in TNA back in the day against Gail Kim were some of the best women's wrestling matches I had ever seen. Then she went to WWE for a short time then left and disappeared. Well she's back. And it was cool seeing her destroy all of these women. Other then that, there wasn't much to this. **

BEST FRIENDS vs. ANGELICO & JACK EVANS (12:35): Chuckie T. and Beretta are semi-entertaining but never in classics. I will miss seeing them in New Japan, though. This started off fairly bland but by the end it turned into a pretty entertaining bout. **

HIKARU SHIDA, RIHO ABE & RYO MIZUNAMI vs. AJA KONG, YUKA SAKAZAKI & EMI SAKURA (13:10): So the idea behind this match is that AEW wants to showcase Japanese women wrestlers on their shows the same way that WCW used to showcase the Luchadores. That's a great idea, as Joshi is something different and unique and usually fun. I had no idea who any of these wrestlers were, but AJA Kong is a big, fat woman that is apparently pretty famous in Japan and she definitely was the show stealer. **

CODY vs. DUSTIN RHODES (22:30): So this is when the show became legend. Who the fuck would've guessed that the best match on this show was going to end up being boring Cody Rhodes vs. Golddust? Who knew? I'm not even sure why they were wrestling or if they were supposed to hate each other, but this match was epic and had everything. It was both horrifying in a shield-your-eyes type of a way because Dustin had a gash on his forehead that poured blood all over everything for twenty minutes and then it was heartfelt and emotional and made me actually cry when Cody, post-match, told a bloody, crumpled Dustin that, "I don't need a friend, I don't need a partner, I need my older brother," and they hugged while the roof blew off the place. I can't even begin to fathom why they crowd was so into this match from the beginning. Who gives a shit about these two? Has either one ever even been in a good match before? Cody couldn't even get a good match out of Omega. But the crowd was ferocious and loud during this entire match and it was great. Definitely the highlight of the show. After this match, Brett Hart came out to unveil the new AEW championship belt and then a MJF came out to roast Hart and Adam Page and then Luke Perry's son, Jungle Boy, and a few others came out to beat up MJF. I think the one thing that this show did well was set up a lot of potential future matches...which was a good thing. ***1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. THE LUCHA BROTHERS (24:55): Well they did a bunch of suicidal, crazy moves as expected. One in particular maneuver had Penta giving one of the Bucks a Canadian Destroyer on the ring apron after Penta jumped over another wrestler on the apron. A leaping flip DDT on the apron, basically. And there were more crazy moves. The whole match was pretty much crazy moves. And maybe it was just that this came after the Cody/Dustin match but I actually thought this match could've been better. The Bucks retained their AAA tag titles. ***

CHRIS JERICHO vs. KENNY OMEGA (27:00): I guess I'm just a realist. Or an idiot. But I haven't particularly enjoyed either Jericho/Omega match. Jericho is too old and too fat to be doing matches like this. And while it wasn't a bad match, it never really heated up into anything great like a typical Omega classic. By the end it was just a sloppy mess of awkward moves went wrong. Omega must have broke his nose because it was bleeding. Jericho won with his new maneuver, which is an elbow to the face (lame). The post-match was excellent, though. Dean Ambrose, now back to being John Moxley, came out of the crowd to a thundering roar of approval, and delivered his DDT finisher to Jericho and the referee. Then he battled Omega around the ring and up to the entranceway where he DDT'd Omega on top of a set piece of poker chips then threw him down onto a ramp prop thing. What a crazy, wild ending to a killer show. This match was just okay but the post-match was fantastic.
I can't even really describe how hot this crowd was during the whole show. Maybe it's just because I'm used to watching dead crowds at WWE events and the usual, quiet crowds in Japan but this Vegas crowd was animalistic. It's as if they've been waiting patiently since the Attitude Era to finally erupt. Finally, a new, fresh, cool promotion has arrived. And they've welcomed it with open arms. And now things are getting interesting. **1/2

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

Hartford, Connecticut

THE USO'S vs. DANIEL BRYAN & ROWAN (11:15): This was the pre-show match, which meant this came on a little after 6:30. Why these PPV's don't just cut the number of matches they have and start at 8 PM like normal is beyond me. And they wonder why they're ratings have plummeted and nobody cares about the WWE anymore. Daniel Bryan and Rowan just won the tag titles like a week ago (they were just given them by Shane but then did win a match later on during that Smackdown episode), so why they already lost them is a mystery. Maybe they realized that, hey, Daniel Bryan is a big star why are we going to put him in the frigging tag team division? Let's...uh...not do that. Either way, The Uso's are always in entertaining matches and this was pretty fun while it lasted. **1/2

BAYLEY vs. CARMELLA vs. DANA BROOKE vs. EMBER MOON vs. MANDY ROSE vs. NAOMI vs. NATALYA vs. NIKKI CROSS "MITB LADDER MATCH" (13:50): I suppose Nikki Cross was the star of this match. It's only really because she seemed to take the most punishment. Carmella got "hurt" and left but returned. Bayley, who crowds boo now and hasn't been given a push, like, ever, won and the crowd popped. Then they sort of booed again when she gave a speech. Maybe they pushed her to punish Sasha Banks, her former tag team partner, since Banks asked for her release, was denied, and has said she won't wrestle anymore for WWE so she's been M.I.A. for a month. This was short at least. Nothing too spectacular in this match. Naomi jumped from one ladder to another while they were both being held up by others then did a split to avoid the two ladders being thrown at her. I guess that was memorable. Eh. **

REY MYSTERIO vs. SAMOA JOE (1:40): Short! Joe beat Mysterio in like a minute at 'Mania so now it's the other way around. Joe bled. Not sure exactly what the point of this was. 1/2*

SHANE McMAHON vs. THE MIZ "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (13:10): Shane did not jump off of the cage...which is quite the shock. The Miz did pull him off the top and throw him down to the ring. The Miz won by escaping the cage when The Miz tried to suplex him off the top and failed and Shane fell to the floor while Miz held onto his shirt which came off. Shane as a heel is kind of amusing...but I really don't think he should ever be in another match. And where's Mr. Miz? He was the only redeeming thing about this feud. *

TONY NESE vs. ARIYA DAIVARI (9:25): The crowd chanted "boring" during this match. And it truly never heated up into anything great, as the 205Live PPV matches usually did when they featured great wrestlers like Buddy Murphy and Ali, who are both now on the main roster, although Murphy seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. *1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. LACEY EVANS (8:40): The funniest thing about Lacey Evans is that her character is a Southern Belle. Dave Meltzer, on his podcast, was desperately trying to think of a modern Southern Belle in pop culture that the audience might know and couldn't think of one. I can't either. Maybe there was a popular Southern Belle in that 80's show Dallas? The point is that Vince, who probably loved this character, is fucking old and out of touch. And it's a stupid gimmick. This was for the RAW women's title. It was also an awful, boring, plodding match. 1/2*

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. BECKY LYNCH (6:15): As soon as Lynch won her match, Charlotte Flair's music hit and Becky was flabbergasted. I suppose Lynch thought that her second match would obviously be later. It wasn't. This was for the Smackdown women's title (Becky won both titles at 'Mania). These two usually tear down the house...but since this was just a segment of three matches, they cut it short and had a pretty forgettable match with an ultra-lame finish. Lacey Evans came back out and hit Lynch when the ref wasn't looking, leading to Flair pinning Becky. *1/2

BAYLEY vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (0:20): So after Charlotte pinned Becky, Charlotte and Lacey Evans beat up Becky Lynch until Bayley ran down to the ring and beat them both up and cashed in her MITB contract and beat Flair to win the Smackdown title. The crowd went wild for this (and this building was packed to the ceiling, at least on the TV side, which made the show seem special like a big time event). I kind of don't like same night cash ins because they're usually more exciting later on during a random TV show, but it was exciting. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. ELIAS (0:10): Elias should probably only sing and make fun of the city he's in and never wrestle. Even the WWE realizes this, as this match was ten seconds long. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. AJ STYLES (19:45): This started out super boring but ended up being excellent, dramatic, and super engaging by the end. It was so great by the end that I actually wish they had gone a bit longer, as the finish kind of came out of nowhere. Maybe these two are better off doing a thirty plus minute match. The crowd definitely peaked for this match. One particular spot was spectacular; Rollins went for the Curb Stomp and AJ reversed it into his finisher, the Styles Clash, but Rollins kicked out. Great match by the end. ***

LUCHA HOUSE PARTY vs. LARS SULLIVAN: So Lars Sullivan came in and beat up all three of the Lucha House Party for no reason. Lars also bled after doing a headbutt. *

KOFI KINGSTON vs. KEVIN OWENS (14:10): Kofi probably lucked out at 'Mania because he's not a particularly good wrestler yet at 'Mania the crowd was super hot for his match and made it seem better than it actually was. Even Owens, who has been in great matches in the past, couldn't get a good match out of Kofi even by doing pretty much everything and the kitchen sink. This wasn't bad or anything, yet just average. **

BROCK LESNAR vs. ALI vs. ANDRADE vs. BARON CORBIN vs. DREW McINTYRE vs. FINN BALOR vs. RANDY ORTON vs. RICOCHET "MITB LADDER MATCH" (19:00): Sami Zayn was supposed to be in this match but Braun Strowman hung him up by his feet and tied him to a fence backstage...which I guess is why Lesnar showed up at the last second in this match and won even though he wasn't in the match. Huh? Before Lesnar showed up, this was an entertaining match but a tad disappointing. Ricochet never did any gigantic, awesome leap from a ladder like we all expected (and like he did at last year's NXT ladder match). The big move of the match was Andrade doing a Sunset Flip Power Bomb from the top of the ladder on Balor through a ladder bridge. McIntyre tossed Ricochet out of the ring onto a ladder bridge set up between the ring and announce table. Corbin slammed Ali through the Spanish announce table. Balor got brutalized in this match. McIntyre bodyslammed him onto a ladder laying down in the ring and Corbin slammed him onto an open ladder laying on its side. Lesnar winning is good in the sense that it makes you want to watch RAW tomorrow to see what's going to happen...but it's also kind of lame because we all wanted Ricochet to win...or, at least, somebody actually in the match. This show had it's moments, although there probably was more bad wrestling than good. The Styles/Rollins match was good and the Bayley cash in was great and this match was entertaining. And now we march on to Saudi Arabia. God help us all. **1/2

WRESTLEMANIA 35

East Rutherford, New Jersey

TONY NESE vs. BUDDY MURPHY (10:40): My God was this show too fucking long. It started at 5 and ended at 12:30 AM. Will these idiots just split this show into two parts already? Or, you know, just cut the matches in half? Or something? Because every match after the Bryan/Kofi match was a boring slog with a tired, dead crowd that just wanted to go home. Seven and a half hours. This show was seven and a half hours long! Are you kidding me? I think next year I might just watch it in two hour installments in replays throughout the week. This opener was good, though, even though the stadium was half empty and few cared. Buddy Murphy needs to get out of this company ASAP. He's too good to be wasted on 205Live, a show nobody watches or cares about. Murphy is good enough to be WWE champ yet that'll never happen. This was action packed and a lot of fun. Put this in front of a small crowd in a bingo hall and it'd be like four stars. ***

WOMEN'S BATTLE ROYAL (CARMELLA) (10:30): Ugh. Now we're going to have to sit through two battle royals on WrestleMania from now on? It's bad enough they ruined the Royal Rumble by having two Rumbles that just negate each other. I think it's good that the women are getting their due and all that but two of the same thing on a show doesn't work it just drags them both down. I totally forget what even happened in this match. 1/2*

CURT HAWKINS & ZACK RYDER vs. THE REVIVAL (13:20): This was actually a fairly decent match. Hawkins was apparently a guy that had never won before so he won here and it was supposed to be a big moment. The problem is that like 99% of his matches were on Superstars or some WWE show I never watch or heard of and so his losing streak was kind of mysteriously obscure. **1/2

ANDRE THE GIANT MEMORIAL BATTLE ROYAL (BRAUN STROWMAN) (10:20): Colin Jost and Che Michaels, from Saturday Night Live, were in this match. Eventually Strowman eliminated them to win. That was amusing. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. BROCK LESNAR (2:30): I figured they put this on first because they knew the crowd would be dead later on. If that was the case...why was it only a 2 minute match? Lesnar beat the shit out of him then Rollins hit him with a low blow then three Curb Stomps and won. This was not very good at all. This is supposed to be a big deal: a title match on the biggest show of the year. Why put it on first and only give it 2 minutes? Epic fail. *

AJ STYLES vs. RANDY ORTON (16:20): This was by the numbers and forgettable. The last time Orton was in a good match was when he was feuding with Christian like fifteen years ago. *

THE USO'S vs. RICOCHET & ALEISTER BLACK vs. RUSEV & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. CESARO & SHEAMUS (10:10): This was good but kind of felt just like a random RAW match. Ricochet is so good that it's a shame that they're just putting him in tag team matches. He's a fucking star! Give him main event singles matches. **1/2

SHANE McMAHON vs. THE MIZ "FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE" (15:30): Of course The Miz's dad ended up in the ring. Shane eventually beat him down. Then Shane and Miz did a brawl through the crowd that went on forever. The Miz eventually suplexed Shane off of a camera scaffold about twenty or thirty feet high and they fell onto an extremely lame cushion pad set up thing. Shane landed on Miz and the ref counted three. This was not one of those crazy, awesome Shane matches of old. The Miz did finally do a big, suicidal move at the end there. This was just okay. **

THE ICONICS vs. BETH PHOENIX & NATALYA vs. NIA JAX & TAMINA vs. BAYLEY & SASHA BANKS  (10:45): This match wasn't very good. It's a shame that Sasha isn't in singles matches anymore because she's one of if not the best women's wrestler on the main roster. 1/2*

KOFI KINGSTON vs. DANIEL BRYAN (23:45): This was the best match of the night and probably the only big deal WrestleMania moment type of match. It wasn't a great match in the ring or anything but the crowd was super hot for this and it made the match more dramatic. Kingston is the champ...which, let's face it, is going to go nowhere. Bryan looked like a star as usual. Good match. ***

SAMOA JOE vs. REY MYSTERIO (1:00): Mysterio injured his knee so that's why this was a quick match. Nothing to see here...what was the point? 1/2*

ROMAN REIGNS vs. DREW McINTYRE (10:10): This was perhaps the worst match on the show simply because it was boring and nobody cared about it and they did absolutely nothing interesting.
-No Stars-

JOHN CENA and ELIAS: Cena did make a surprise appearance. Elias was in the ring doing a song and Cena came out to his old school entrance music and doing his old, white rapper gimmick. It was great, actually. The crowd loved it. Cena also looked better with a hat on so we didn't have to see his stupid, new haircut and bald spot that makes him look like an old man.

HHH vs. BATISTA "NO HOLDS BARRED" (24:45): Triple H used pliers to rip out Batista's nose ring. The only other semi-interesting thing was Triple H's Mad Max entrance. They did a bunch of slams on the announce tables and they wouldn't break. After the Kofi match the crowd was tired and bored and this match was a total slog for everyone. Ric Flair showed up to distract Batista and he got hit by HHH with a sledgehammer and lost. *

BARON CORBIN vs. KURT ANGLE (6:05): Angle lost his retirement match. What a way to end a career! 1/2*

FINN BALOR vs. BOBBY LASHLEY (4:05): It was approaching midnight when this match was on. Can you guess that nobody gave a shit about this? What is wrong with this company? Why put on a seven and a half hour show? Don't they realize they're putting on all of these matches that nobody wants to see this late? How dumb are they? This was nothing. Finn did his demon entrance gimmick. Eh. 1/2*

BECKY LYNCH vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. RONDA ROUSEY (21:30): This was very brutal. They broke a table in the ring even though this wasn't a hardcore match or no DQ or anything. Becky Lynch's hair looked ridiculous. It was very sloppy and I kept thinking that this would have been better if it had just been a one on one match. The finish was one of those lame, out of nowhere pins that certainly made the winner look like a cheater. Rousey was ready to pick up and slam Lynch but then Lynch rolled up Rousey for a quick 1-2-3 and it was surprisingly over just like that. Way to build up Lynch's big win, guys. Maybe if this show wasn't so long this might have been better but at this point (twenty or so minutes after midnight) everyone just wanted to go home or go to bed. Flair had an interesting entrance where she arrived in a helicopter. Rousey supposedly injured her hand in this. Flair and Lynch had a much better match last year at that Evolution ppv. This was good but not great and, honestly, this was one of the worst WrestleMania's in recent memory. **1/2

ROH/NJPW G1 SUPERCARD

New York City

HONOR RUMBLE (KENNY KING) (42:21): So this was a huge show in a lot of ways. It was Ring of Honor's biggest show because it was at Madison Square Garden, albeit it was a co-brand show with New Japan. Ring of Honor went all out by having a bunch of title changes and introducing new people and storylines. New Japan's main title and Jr. title changed hands. There wasn't necessarily a match of the year on the show, and the lengthy time of the show was bad, but it was a hell of a wild show. It felt like they were just throwing the kitchen sink at us since they had such a big stage and wanted to use it for all that it was worth. I enjoyed this show more than WrestleMania in a lot of ways, although Ring of Honor seems to have turned into TNA tonight...which might help them in the short term to get people talking and eyebrows raised...but probably won't help them in the long term since they used to be known for quality wrestling instead of stupid gimmicks and storylines. The fact of the matter is, with AEW getting a two hour live TV show on cable in October...Ring of Honor might not exist in a few years. As for this match, this was a pre-show Royal Rumble type of a match with all of the stars not in real matches. We got Ishii and Suzuki and Cheeseburger. The Great Muta and Jushin Thunder Liger were the last two and the crowd was frenzied to see this epic, old school bout. Then Kenny King, who had rolled out of the ring earlier, came in and tossed both of them out and won. Forty two minutes is too fucking long, though, and Suzuki's theme song, "Kaze Ni Nare," wasn't played on TV for some unknown reason. **

JEFF COBB vs. WILL OSPREAY (12:52): Ospreay wrestled Suzuki at another show on Friday and broke his nose. He also wrestled Bandido at another show and that match was apparently fantastic. So perhaps Ospreay was just beat up because this match was good but not the awesome clash we hoped for. Cobb is a beast and awesome, though, and I think it's only a matter of time before he's ROH champ. He won Ospreay's NEVER title here and kept his own TV title. **1/2

RUSH vs. DALTON CASTLE (0:15): So Rush did his running kick to the face on Castle a few times and pinned him quickly. Then Castle beat up The Boys post-match and turned heel. I suppose a long, regular match would have been dull, so this was fine. I'm not sure a heel Castle would work, but he's been injured and lost for awhile now so maybe a new gimmick may work. **

KELLY KLEIN vs. MAYU IWATANI (10:38): Ugh. Even the world's best women's wrestler can't look good against Klein. Klein won the women's title here and then The Beautiful People, those girls from TNA, came out to form a new heel group, Allure, and beat up Klein. This was the first in a few moments where Ring of Honor slowly morphed into a weird, Vince Russo esque TNA type of company tonight. Granted, by losing The Young Bucks, Cody, Adam Page, SoCal Uncensored, and having to compete with the uber hot AEW, they kind of had to do or try something. Turning into TNA isn't really a good move but I guess they're at least attempting something. 1/2*

FLIP GORDON, JUICE ROBINSON & MARK HASKINS vs. BULLY RAY, SHANE TAYLOR & SILAS YOUNG (15:01): This was a typical, ECW style mayhem match with Singapore Canes and people falling all over the place. Sometimes that kind of thing is entertaining as hell and sometimes it doesn't entirely work. It didn't work here. *1/2

DRAGON LEE vs. TAJI ISHIMORI vs. BANDIDO (8:54): Well this was the match of the night. Of course it was. Lee won the NJPW Jr. title from Ishimori here, which is kind of a surprise since Dragon Lee doesn't technically wrestle for either ROH or New Japan. It kind of says a lot about New Japan's Jr. division that a wrestler from CMLL is now the champ. Kushida went to the WWE, Hiromu broke his neck and is out, and Ospreay moved up to heavyweight...so the division is a little thin. This match was great, though. Probably too short but all action. ***1/2

GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY vs. BRODY KING & PCO vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS (9:54):
The star of this match was PCO as usual. His entrance was a Frankenstein's monster is alive schtick where he was in an electric chair being shocked and he broke free from his chains. During the match, The Guerrillas picked up PCO and threw him out of the ring, over the top rope, onto his back onto the floor in what was a sort of power bomb and one of the sickest bumps I have ever seen. Seriously, the crowd went ape shit for that move and it was memorable but the dude's gonna be in a wheelchair yesterday if he keeps that up. This was action packed but wasn't exceptional or anything. The Guerrillas won the ROH tag titles and kept their NJPW titles here. After this match, Enzo Amore and Big Cass ran out of the crowd and The Briscoes ran over and they all started brawling. None of this was on TV, though, as they attempted to shoot it as if it was for real and not an angle. That at least got people talking, although it wasn't good for them that a real run in happened on the same night when a fan rushed into the ring at the WWE's Hall of Fame show and tackled Bret Hart while he was giving a speech. And while Enzo and Cass in Ring of Honor might get some buzz...does anyone really want to see those two wrestle anymore? **1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (15:14): Tanahashi supposedly legit hurt himself during this match. Sabre, Jr. retained the REVPro title. This was pretty boring, actually. Tanahashi had some great matches in the last year but he always looks like he can barely walk these days. Maybe some time off is for the best. *1/2

KOTA IBUSHI vs. TETSUYA NAITO (20:53): This was about as good as their match a few week's ago during the New Japan Cup. As usual they just did a bunch of sick moves landing on their heads. Ibushi did a standing on the second rope suplex on Naito from outside the ring to inside the ring and Naito landed right on his head, it was brutal. This never reached the level of super intense New Japan matches which we've grown to love...but maybe you can blame the U.S. crowd. It's a different crowd, one that gets tired after watching a five plus hour show. For whatever reason, Japanese crowds don't get tired late at their shows. Those fucking masochists. ***

MATT TAVEN vs. JAY LETHAL vs. MARTY SCURLL "LADDER MATCH" (29:35): Maybe Scurll is going to AEW? Why else did he not win the title here? He also lost the title at this same show last year. Taven is a Ring of Honor original, though, so I guess they wanted to keep the title in house, so to speak. Who knows? The crowds usually hate Taven. Even Ring of Honor realized this so they put him in a sixty minute match last month to showcase that he's for real. This was entertaining but a regular, one-on-one match probably would have been better. We got all the usual, sick ladder bumps and wrestlers walking around building stuff and bridging ladders. Taven pulled out a taller, purple ladder late which reminded me of both Vince Russo stupidity and TNA stupidity. I enjoyed this match, though, even though a lot of people hated it. I will say, it was a lot better than the main event. ***

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. JAY WHITE (32:33): These two had a hell of great match at Wrestle Kingdom this year. This match was not nearly as good. Maybe because it was twice as long. Maybe it was because it ended at midnight and the U.S. crowd was tired and ready to go home. Or maybe it was because Jay White isn't that good and him being champion was a mistake. This match was supposed to be Omega vs. Okada 5. So yes, of course it was disappointing that we got White/Okada instead. White just won the title in February, which means he lost in his first defense. White is a good heel but not particularly a good wrestler. He doesn't do anything flashy; no high flying, no brutal/sadistic moves. He's kind of by the numbers. And while by the end this was somewhat dramatic...it never really turned into anything great. Maybe a hot Japanese crowd would have helped this, who knows? White did kick out of a Rainmaker...but even that didn't really get the big pop or crowd shock expected. The big question now is....will White ever get that big push again? Or was this it for him? Honestly, I never want to see him as champ again. **1/2

ROH 17TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

Sunrise Manor, Nevada

MARTY SCURLL vs. KENNY KING (12:45): This was the first PPV for the "new" Ring of Honor. The "new" ROH is a company without it's biggest draw, The Young Bucks, plus Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky of SoCal Uncensored, and Hangman Page. I'd say they did all right, as this was a good show. Marty Scurll is the one Elite/Bullet Club member to not jump ship and head to All Elite Wrestling. I guess it's because he's the one dude from the U.K., so maybe he still lives there and that's why he stayed with ROH and NJPW. Who knows? But it looks like they might be giving him the title at the MSG show next month, so maybe it's good that he stayed. Or not. The ROH title isn't exactly a big deal these days, although they tried really hard tonight to make it out to be. This opener was pretty pedestrian. Kenny King is athletic but boring. Scurll is a crowd favorite so at least the fans were alive for this (usually, at least at the house shows, these Ring of Honor shows take place amidst a silent tomb of dead crowds). Not really much to this. *1/2

JEFF COBB vs. SHANE TAYLOR (13:30): Good match. There's a reason Vince McMahon likes and pushes big, muscle guys. When two big, muscle dudes fight it sometimes is very impressive and entertaining. These two big guys did big, power moves and everything made the ring shake and the crowd was into it. Cobb is awesome. He's definitely ROH championship material, as he's big and strong but does standing, backwards flips and has a great finisher and the crowd likes him. Taylor usually sucks but he brought his A game tonight. Cobb retained the TV title and called out Will Ospreay in a title for title match at MSG next month (Ospreay has the pointless and stupid NEVER title in New Japan). ***

MAYU IWATANI vs. KELLY KLEIN (9:00): Iwatani is, supposedly, the best women's wrestler in Japan these days (she wrestles in Stardom, the all women wrestling company that I've sadly never watched but probably should). She definitely is light years better than Klein, who is more of a brute force type of wrestler. ROH just started the women's division so it's hard to bitch about it but so far it sucks. Iwatani retained the title. 1/2*

JAY LETHAL vs. MATT TAVEN (60:00): This was supposed to be the main event. And, no, that match time isn't a typo. This match went to a sixty minute draw. That definitely made this a more interesting and better match than it probably would have been if it was just a random, thirty minute main event. Taven came out and called out Lethal and said he wanted Lethal right here and right now. So they did the main event early. Everyone was suspect and wondered why this was going on early. It turned out to be for two reasons. One, a time limit draw to end a show is pretty lame, right? Even though New Japan did that two years ago when Omega/Okada went to a sixty minute draw. The other reason was that these ROH ppv's are still on cable so they have a three hour window. They didn't want to have to go long or be forced to cut the match short or anything (the show still ended up going fifteen minutes past midnight anyway). I love being surprised, and you rarely if ever see an hour long match come out of nowhere (before Okada and Omega did it, the last time I remember seeing an hour long match was probably one of those WWE Iron Man matches from fifteen or so years ago). I wasn't even checking the time of this match so I didn't even realize they had actually gone that long. That probably tells you that it was a good match then. I figured it was long because they kept kicking out of each other's finishers and I was thinking, man, this is going pretty long. They also didn't just do a standard match. They broke a table. Lethal did an elbow off the top rope through a ladder (Taven moved off of it). Taven's goons from The Kingdom ran out and then Jonathan Gresham, Mark Haskins, and Tracy Williams ran out and they all brawled and then eventually all left. By the end there were one-thousand near falls, which was getting a bit ridiculous. After the match ended in a draw, Marty Scurll came down and took the title and left. This all sets up a ladder title match at MSG with Scurll, Lethal, and Taven. The one thing to come out of this is that Taven definitely got some new found respect by the crowd. To go sixty minutes and not bore the hell out of the audience is a lofty goal to achieve. This wasn't a great match but it was a good match and one of the better ROH title matches in recent memory. And it was definitely memorable. ***

RUSH vs. BANDIDO (15:00): Good God. Try to follow a sixty minute match. Well they did. And the crowd adores Bandido. Rush is, at least personality wise, a true star. I've never been the biggest fan of his wrestling ability, but he definitely oozes charisma like Razor Ramon did. This was fun but nothing particularly special. Bandido did a bunch of high flying shit. Dalton Castle did commentary and then challenged Rush for a match at MSG. **1/2

PCO & BRODY KING vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS "LAS VEGAS STREET FIGHT" (19:44): PCO is a 51 year old French Canadian that does Swanton Bombs off the top rope onto the ring apron. Which means he's a crowd favorite but will probably be dead or in a wheelchair in ten years. So while it's always great to see his matches it's also hard to watch. Brody King sucks, though, so that didn't help this match. They used chairs, tables, and Singapore Canes. One of the Briscoe Brothers was a bloody mess halfway through this and by the end everyone was covered in blood. This was a classic, ECW style brawl...if that's your thing. PCO and King won the tag titles here and will face The Guerrillas of Destiny at MSG in a titles vs. titles match (the Guerrillas have the NJPW tag titles). This wasn't spectacular or anything but it was an entertaining car crash of a match, albeit a bit too sloppy. **1/2