WWE ROAD BLOCK: END OF THE LINE

from Pittsburgh

RUSEV vs. BIG CASS (4:30): I'm still a little confused about the title of this show. The "End of the Line" moniker I kind of get because it's the last ppv of the year (and since the WWE network is now killing off the ppv buys I should probably stop calling these shows pay per views). The "Roadblock" name, though, seems superfluous. I guess they ran out of names now that there's usually two ppv's a month? Or they're just lazy and/or creatively empty. Either way, this match was on the pre-show and was forgettable. Cass got counted out after they brawled in the crowd. And Lana used to get a ton of heat for being pro-Russia and pro-Putin, but since Trump won and he loves Putin and a good majority of wrestling fans adore Trump...will Lana still get boo's and heat for that? Will they have to change that? I'm probably thinking too deep about a show with grown men fake fighting. 1/2* (out of ****)

CESARO & SHEAMUS vs. THE NEW DAY (10:10): This was the best match on the show. The New Day broke the record for consecutive days as tag team champs last week on RAW. They made a huge deal out of it, having TND wrestle to open RAW and close RAW (the main event, with TND vs. Rollins & Reigns vs. Jericho & Owens, was fantastic). So of course The New Day loses their titles tonight on their first defense post-record. There were a ton of near-falls and a ton of interference and it was pretty wild. Good opener. ***

SAMI ZAYN vs. BRAUN STROWMAN: This was a ten-minute match. If Zayn could last ten minutes he would win. Foley came out at the 7 minute mark ready to throw in the towel but didn't. There were no pins. I guess it makes sense for the WWE to build up a wrestler like they're doing with Strowman. Hell, they never seem to do it with anyone. But does anyone believe Strowman is this indestructible force? No. Who has he actually beat? If you want to build him up, have him beat Reigns or Owens or someone. This was pretty dull. Maybe they should throw Zayn into the cruiserweight mix. Both Zayn and that division need all the help they can get. *

SETH ROLLINS vs. CHRIS JERICHO (17:05): Jericho has been more entertaining lately than he's been in years. Sadly, that's only on the mic. In the ring he's gotten old. This was too long and just okay. Owens came down and interfered but it didn't help. *1/2

RICH SWANN vs. T.J. PERKINS vs. BRIAN KENDRICK (6:00): I loved this division for like two weeks. Now it's a bore. I'm not sure what happened. The silent arenas while they wrestle? That there's these three guys and kind of no one else of consequence? This was short and average at best. *1/2

CHARLOTTE vs. SASHA BANKS "IRON WOMAN MATCH" (34:45): The last ten minutes were great. But, like most "Iron Man" matches (why the WWE didn't call this an "Iron Woman" match is beyond me), they started off like they were milling about in quicksand. It's a 30 minute match. You don't have to be super-slow and do arm bars for ten minutes. Banks got destroyed in this match. She either wrestles like a rag doll or was truly hurt most of the time. She took a wicked bump off the apron onto her head and hands onto the steps. She had her nose busted open in the over-time and the lower half of her face was a bloody mess. Sasha was up 2-1 with one minute left to go but was in Charlotte's Figure Four. With three seconds left she tapped which led to OT. Charlotte won when Sasha tapped in OT. Charlotte has now won every ppv match this year. Which is good, except the fact that Sasha beat her for the title 3 times on RAW. I'm not sure why they're doing these see-saw title changes. Stick with one champ, dudes. **1/2

KEVIN OWENS vs. ROMAN REIGNS (23:20): This was just okay. Owens did a Frog Splash through Reigns on the announce table. It didn't break so he tried it again and it broke. Jericho came down and gave Owens a Code Breaker. The ref called for the DQ and Owens won and retained his title. But it was a ruse! Jericho and Owens are still pals. So Rollins ran out and him and Reigns put Jericho through a table and then put Owens through the announce table up on the stage. The post-match stuff was fun but the match was so-so. I truly hate this company split because I'm already tired of all of these matches we've seen a million times. Owens vs. Reigns. Owens vs. Rollins. Jericho vs. Reigns. Jericho vs. Rollins. I'm fucking bored. **

WWE TLC

from Dallas, TX

THE HYPE BROS & AMERICAN ALPHA & APOLLO CREWS vs. THE VAUDEVILLAINS & THE ASCENSION & CURT HAWKINS (12:03): Your typical, forgettable pre-show match. There were four actual tag teams in this match yet the tag team championship match after this featured random wrestlers put together. I guess that says a lot about what the WWE thinks of their tag division. American Alpha was so dynamic on NXT and now they're sort of an after thought. Odd. *1/2

BRAY WYATT & RANDY ORTON vs. HEATH SLATER & RHYNO (5:53): Wow. This was short. The Wyatt Family won the tag titles. It was average stuff. *1/2

NIKKI BELLA vs. CARMELLA "NO DQ MATCH" (7:39): Ugh. Carmella should just go back to being Big Cass and Enzo Amore's hot ringside girl. She is just awful. Nikki at least has some charisma. 1/2*

THE MIZ vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER "LADDER MATCH" (25:10): Good but not great. Maybe these two have just wrestled each other way too much lately. There were no suicidal/epic spots...although some of it was brutal. The end had The Miz kicking Dolph in the balls and then pulling the IC title down. It's really a shame that Daniel Bryan is retired because the best feud in the WWE is The Miz and Bryan. They had another crazy argument on the post-show until it was unexpectantly cut off for a Royal Rumble history show. **1/2

BARON CORBIN vs. KALISTO "CHAIRS MATCH" (12:51): Kalisto is awesome, so this was perhaps Corbin's best match ever. Chairs matches suck, (can you believe that the main event of a TLC ppv a few year's ago was a chairs match?) but they did some sick, hard-hitting stuff here, including Corbin going through six or seven set up chairs together in the ring. **1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. ALEXA BLISS "TABLES MATCH" (15:16): I love Alexa Bliss. Probably because she looks like a High School cheerleader with a Harley Quinn makeover. But she is a total bore in the ring. This match was too long and too slow and too dull. Bliss won the title by putting Lynch through one table. Awful stuff. 1/2*

AJ STYLES vs. DEAN AMBROSE "TLC MATCH" (30:50): The second half of this match was excellent. Dean did an elbow drop (off a ladder that was on top of the announce table) onto Styles laid out on an announcer's table. AJ did a 450 splash off the top rope onto Dean on a ringside table. The finish had James Ellsworth pushing Dean off a ladder and down onto two ringside tables, which led to Styles winning. Ellsworth didn't turn heel...he just wanted a title shot at Styles because he says that he has Styles' number. This was a good main event but this show would have been better if the company never split. There's way too much filler on these B-shows. And Nakamura can't come to Smackdown soon enough. ***

ROH's FINAL BATTLE

from New York City

THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS & DONOVAN DIJAK vs. THE REBELLION (12:22): This is, apparently, Ring of Honor's biggest show of the year. It was a good one, thanks mostly to their pact with New Japan (The Young Bucks, Liger, Kushida, and Ospreay also wrestle over there). This opener was one of the night's best. I haven't seen the MCMG's in a long time. They were in TNA for awhile and popped up in NJPW a few times since then. I guess they're back for good? Thank God. They're one of the most exciting tag teams out there. The Rebellion has Kenny King, who did some cool high-flying leaps and dives. It was just a fun, fast opener that the crowd (at the awesome Hammerstein Ballroom) ate up. *** (out of ****)

SILAS YOUNG vs. JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER (11:04): Liger is fun but too old to still be doing this, as sad as that is to admit. Silas Young is a brute bore. This was fairly forgettable. *

DALTON CASTLE vs. COLT CABANA (10:22): Castle has two King Kong-esque native boys that accompany him to the ring and jump around at ringside during the match. They're the highlight. This was average stuff. *1/2

CODY vs. JAY LETHAL (13:15): Cody Rhodes turned heel and kicked Lethal in the balls when the ref wasn't looking then scored the pin. He then flipped off Lethal, threw a drink at the ref, turned over the ring bell table, and smiled at the crowd. That stuff was cool. This match was pretty pedestrian, though. **

THE KINGDOM vs. KUSHIDA, JAY WHITE & LIO RUSH (15:25): The Kingdom won the new 6-man tag titles. NJPW did have a 6-man tag title awhile back but kind of forgot about it. Kushida was awesome as always here. There was some cool dives and flips from the ring to the floor. It heated up at the end but early going it was average stuff. **1/2

MARTY SCURLL vs. DRAGON LEE vs. WILL OSPREAY (10:46): Excellent match. Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi had such brutal, ridiculously insane matches in CMLL in 2015 and early this year that both guys got picked up by other companies. Kamaitachi is wrestling Kushida at NJPW's big Dome show on Jan. 4th and Dragon Lee is now in ROH. This match, for the TV title, originally had Bobby Fish as the 4th competitor. He had to go home for his mom's funeral. Ospreay ended up being the star of the match and the entire show. He's the top high-flyer in the world at the moment, and tonight he was on top of his game. This was fast-paced and crazy and a lot of fun. ***1/2

THE BRISCOE'S vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (15:37): These two teams wrestled each other a few month's ago in NJPW and it wasn't that good. The Bucks usually work better in a comedy type of match whereas The Briscoe's are more hard-hitting and brutal. But this match, for the tag titles, was great. It didn't have the funny, typical Bucks component, but it was entertaining and wild and there were a ton of near falls until the Super Kick extravaganza at the end that culminated in The Bucks winning. After the match, "Broken" Matt Hardy came on the entrance screen to challenge both teams to a match. The crowd went ape shit when they saw Hardy. ***

KYLE O'REILLY vs. ADAM COLE "NO DQ MATCH" (18:48): Good main event, thanks mostly to the blood, the tables, the thumbtacks, and the trash cans (the chain came in the ring but wasn't used). O'Reilly is really good at just wrestling so it was kind of a surprise that they went the hardcore rout. Cole belongs in the WWE. He just has that cocky, heel feel that would work well there. O'Reilly cinched on his submission hold on Cole on top of the tacks (he wanted the win that bad that he didn't care about the pain!) and won the title. ***

WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

from Toronto

NOAM DAR, RICH SWANN & T.J. PERKINS vs. ARIYA DAIVARI, DREW GULAK & TONY NESE (11:50): This was the first forgettable pre-show match. All these cruiserweights flying around should have produced some fireworks. The crowd was a tomb save for one or two of the over the top rope dives. Eh. This division deserves better (they are getting their own show next week on the Network). *1/2

 KANE vs. LUKE HARPER (9:10): A pre-show match (the pre-show started at 6 PM and the whole show ended a little before 10:30 PM). Why does Kane still exist? 1/2*

TEAM RAW (CHARLOTTE, BAYLEY, NIA JAX, ALICIA FOX & SASHA BANKS) vs. TEAM SMACKDOWN (NATALYA, BECKY LYNCH, ALEXA BLISS, CARMELLA & NAOMI) (17:30): The problem with 5 on 5 elimination matches is that you see multi-person matches so much on RAW and Smackdown that seeing a whole ppv of them is dull. I guess this show had the caveat of seeing RAW and Smackdown wrestlers against each other that you typically don't see. That wasn't enough. This show was mostly a drag. A singles match between Charlotte and Sasha would have been ten times better than this: a glorified RAW match. Nia Jax was a monster. Bayley won by pinning Becky then Charlotte beat up Bayley. Natalya subbed for Nikki Bella who was attacked by someone (or something!) backstage. This was average stuff. **

THE MIZ vs. SAMI ZAYN (14:05): If Zayn won then the IC title would have moved to RAW. The Miz ended up winning an okay match. A Dolph Ziggler/Zayn match would have been better, but, alas, The Miz beat Ziggler last week to win the title again (he's a 6-time IC champ). Zayn is awesome. I wish they'd give him a real feud with some real wrestlers for once. **

TEAM RAW (THE NEW DAY, GALLOWS & ANDERSON, SHEAMUS & CESARO, ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS & THE SHINING STARS) vs. TEAM SMACKDOWN (HEATH SLATER & RHYNO, THE HYPE BROS, AMERICAN ALPHA, THE USOS & BREEZANGO) (18:55): This was the tag-team elimination match. Seeing 9 guys standing around both corners of the ring was kind of ridiculous. The New Day got eliminated early which was a surprise. Besides a bunch of people leaping over the ropes onto a pile of bodies, this was fairly pedestrian. **

BRIAN KENDRICK vs. KALISTO (12:25): Decent until the end. Baron Corbin came in and beat up Kalisto to cause a DQ. If Kalisto had won the Cruiserweight title then the whole division would have went to Smackdown. The best moment was when, on the edge of the ring outside of the ropes, Kalisto did his Del Sol flip/slam move down onto the floor. Sadistic. Fast-paced match but nothing spectacular. **1/2

TEAM SMACKDOWN (AJ STYLES, DEAN AMBROSE, BRAY WYATT, RANDY ORTON & SHANE O'MAC) vs. TEAM RAW (KEVIN OWENS, CHRIS JERICHO, ROMAN REIGNS, BRAUN STROWMAN & SETH ROLLINS) (52:55): Jesus. This match was almost an hour long. Brutal. There were some highlights. Shane did an elbow drop from the top rope onto Strowman on the announce table. The Shield reunited to power-bomb AJ Styles through an announce table (Dean Ambrose is feuding with his teammate, Styles, hence the reasoning). James Ellsworth grabbed Strowman's ankle to keep him out of the ring and count him out...leading to Strowman tossing Ellsworth off the stage through a table. Shane tried a Van Terminator and was speared in mid-air by Roman. This legit knocked the wind out of Shane and instead of being pinned the ref just said Shane was eliminated and he had to be helped to the back. I love Shane...but he's probably too old to be doing crazy shit. If this was a wake up call, then it's a bitter pill to swallow knowing we might not see another Shane O'Mac match. The final had the Wyatt Family (Orton, Bray, and Luke Harper, who wasn't in the match) being the final members left to win it. This was way too long but fun in spots. **1/2

BROCK LESNAR vs. GOLDBERG (1:30): The re-match 12 years in the making...that nobody wanted to see. I've never watched the infamous Lesnar/Goldberg Wrestlemania match. It was apparently one of the worst matches ever and the fans booed because Lesnar was going to UFC and 'Berg was just quitting. But nostalgia is king these days (thanks mostly to Netflix, who have revived old shows like Gilmore Girls and Full House for no good reason). Goldberg is the WWE's newest pet project. He's the face of the WWE's new video game and he had his first wrestling match in 12 years tonight. I'm guessing his stipulation for one more match was to easily defeat Lesnar in a few minutes? Otherwise, I'm baffled. Lesnar picked up Goldberg and rammed him into the corner. Then Goldberg pushed him to the ground, gave him two spears, Jack Hammered him, then pinned him. No Suplex City. The Beast lost for the first time since this year's Royal Rumble and got massacred for the first time since coming back to the WWE. Since Goldberg isn't sticking around for any sort of feud...what was the point of this? To sell more video games and Goldberg DVD's? Because it sure makes Lesnar look like a chump. Strange ending to a mediocre show. *1/2

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

from Osaka, Japan

 HIROYOSHI TENZAN, JUICE ROBINSON & SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. MANABU NAKANISHI, TERUAKI KANEMITSU & YUJI NAGATA (5:49): The pre-show match. Kind of an old man and fresh faces mix. Nothing too this, but semi-entertaining. **

DAVID FINLAY, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, RICOCHET & TIGER MASK vs. ANGEL de ORO, FUEGO, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & TITAN (5:30): The Mexican team came out dancing. That was one of the more amusing things on this show. Ricochet was the other. He's so awesome that it's kind of a shame they fly him all the way to Japan just to be in a five minute forgettable match. But his awesomeness was on display for a short while. And, hell, I'd pay to see him face Bone Soldier. He's that good! **

BONE SOLDIER, CHASE OWENS & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI vs. TOGI MAKABE, HONMA & YOSHITATSU (7:36): Voicesofwrestling.com had a hilarious preview of this show where they ripped apart Bone Soldier and his feud with Yoshitatsu. Yes, Bone Soldier is awful. Honma is fading but still fun to watch. But, alas, this was pretty awful. *

GUERILLAS OF DESTINY vs. ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI (14:32): Shocking, but this match was better than the next one. Perhaps because the crowd got into it to cheer on Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi. There were some exciting near-falls and drama at the end. It was better than I expected, considering the Guerrillas fucking suck. **1/2

RAPPONGI VICE vs. ACH & TAJI ISHIMORI (18:49): This was the finals for the Jr. Tag Team tournament. The problem was that either of these teams would have been in a better match with the Bucks (ACH and Ishimori beat the Bucks a week ago in the tournament in a good match). ACH, from ROH, is a lot of fun, and him and Ishimori do some crazy high-flying leaps and jumps (their finisher is a double Shooting Star Press). But this went too long. Rappongi Vice will go on to face the Bucks for the titles at the Dome. **

KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI (15:11): Bushi just won the Jr. Heavyweight title...yet he lost it already. The end was odd. The ref just called it when Bushi was in a submission hold for awhile. Bushi is not the best cruiserweight, so I'm not sure why they even gave him the title in the first place. This was just okay. And is Kushida going heel? It seemed like it. Post-match, out came Kushida's Dome challenger, the arrogant, brash Hiromu Takahashi, who was wrestling spectacular matches in CMLL earlier this year against Dragon Lee. **

ADAM COLE, THE YOUNG BUCKS & KENNY OMEGA vs. OKADA, GEDO, GOTO & WILL OSPREAY (14:01): These four Bullet Club members are, right now, the most entertaining team in wrestling. Even the Japanese crowds love to yell, "Baby!" when Adam Cole does his stupid yet amusing, "Adam Cole...Baby!" refrain mid-match. And the Bucks are as awesome as ever these days. And Omega is perhaps the wrestler of the year. Add Okada to this mix and add Ospreay's super-jumps and cat-like speed and, hell, this was one of the most entertaining matches I've seen all year. All four BC members super-kicked Okada and Gedo and Omega pinned Okada to win. ***1/2

EVIL vs. SHIBATA (16:15): Wow. Evil, the boring brute, won the NEVER title here. I guess this is so Shibata can go and have his match with NOAH's Go Shiozaki without a title on the line. Either way, this was good but not great. Hard-hitting. Surprise ending. Probably Evil's best single's match this year...which isn't saying much.  **1/2

 HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. SANADA (21:33): Sanada never did sign a full-time contract yet with New Japan. Maybe that's why he always looks like he doesn't want to be there. And while he's tall and athletic...he has zero charisma. The end did have a good sequence where Tanahashi kept blocking Sanada's finisher. And we got a High-Fly Flow. It was average stuff. **

JAY LETHAL vs. NAITO (24:29): Lethal used to be entertaining and in good matches back when he was a high-flyer in the X-division in TNA and he dressed up as The Macho Man. He had the ROH title this year but lost it to Adam Cole and now he's a good guy again. The reason he was in this match was because Elgin was injured. And this ended up being a bore. Lethal just does not put on good shows in Japan for whatever reason. Naito is the type of wrestler who's usually only as good as his opponent...so this was long and mostly dull. It was for the IC title, which Tanahashi will challenge Naito for at the big Dome show in January. Towards the end there was some drama and near-falls and it started with Lethal doing three straight dives through the ropes to Naito on the outside. But the majority of this just didn't work.  **

WWE HELL IN A CELL

from Boston

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, LINCE DORADO & SIN CARA vs. TONY NESE, DREW GULAK & ARIYA DAIVARI (9:45): This was on the pre-show. Gulak used to wrestle in CZW and got to keep his name, which is cool, unlike Dean Ambrose (who was the CZW champ Jon Moxley). This was filler stuff, but at least entertaining. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. RUSEV "HELL IN A CELL" (24:35): So the first match of the triple main event went on first at 8 PM. Hmmm. Do main events go on first? No. So why even call it that? This also ended up being the longest of the three Cell matches. They used a Singapore cane, a chain, and the ring steps. It was good but nothing too exciting. **1/2

BAYLEY vs. DANA BROOKE (6:30): This is why I hate the split...because we'd never see crap like this on a ppv. Bayley had some awesome matches in NXT. So far they haven't really given her much to do on the big stage. 1/2*

GALLOWS & ANDERSON vs. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS (6:45): Ugh. Enzo is good on the mic. Maybe make him a manager like Paul Heyman? This was short at least. Gallows and Anderson are just awful in the WWE. 1/2*

KEVIN OWENS vs. SETH ROLLINS "HELL IN A CELL" (23:15): The big spot had Owens going through two stacked tables at ringside. Jericho snuck into the cell and helped Owens retain his Universal title. It was good, albeit nothing spectacular. **1/2

BRIAN KENDRICK vs. T.J. PERKINS (10:35): Lame. Kendrick is too old and too dull to be in this division let alone the champ. But the split dried up the rosters so they have to switch titles a lot to make things semi-fresh. So Kendrick faked an injury then drew Perkins in and made him submit. The cruiserweight division is the best thing about RAW...if they do it right. So far they're failing. *

SHEAMUS & CESARO vs. THE NEW DAY (11:15): The New Day lost by DQ but kept their titles. Maybe I should start watching Smackdown because I'm already sick of everyone on RAW. *

CHARLOTTE vs. SASHA BANKS "HELL IN A CELL" (22:25): Except for these two! With the split, we've already seen these two fight and change titles seemingly a billion times. But they always put on a show so who cares? The WWE could have made this an even bigger deal if they didn't keep bragging about how it was the first women's main event on a ppv and the first women's Cell match. Stop bragging and talking about it and just do it like it's same-old and it'd have been cooler. They both came out with big entrances; Sasha in a black SUV and Charlotte on a throne carried by men. They battled in the crowd before the match started and Charlotte power-bombed Sasha through the announce table. Cue the stretcher, paramedics, and story line! But Sasha got off the stretcher...to end up losing anyway...in her hometown. Way to end a show! This was sloppy as fuck (the last table break spot didn't break) but brutal and exciting. Charlotte is just awesome. She's already a fucking legend. **1/2

NJPW KING OF PRO-WRESTLING

from Tokyo

TIGER MASK W. vs. RED DEATH MASK (7:25): They didn't admit it...but Ibushi was wrestling under the Tiger Mask in this weird, cartoon pre-show match. Ibushi wrestled for the WWE in the Cruiserweight classic...but I guess he didn't want to sign full time with them? Either way, Ibushi did some cool, suicidal moves and it was decent. **1/2 (out of ****)

TOMOHIRO ISHII, WILL OSPREAY, YOSHI-HASHI vs. ADAM COLE, BAD LUCK FALE, YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (8:40): Jeez...why is the awesome high-flyer Ospreay always stuck in these forgettable low-card matches? Adam Cole is the ROH champ. Isn't this kind of slumming it? And without ROH, this show wouldn't exist, would it? Kyle O'Reilly, The Briscoe's, The Bucks, Jay Lethal, Bobby Fish, and Cole are all in ROH. Anyway, this match was probably the best of the multi-man tag matches New Japan loves that were on the show. **1/2

BOBBY FISH, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. BARETTA, JADO, ROCKY ROMERO & TORU YANO (8:10): Honma! He was once awesome. I guess he's gotten old (he is balding). Romero and Baretta are amusing to watch. This was just a filler kind of house show match. **

GO SHIOZAKI, KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA, MASA KITAMIYA & MAYBACH TANIGUCHI vs. HIROYOSHI TENZAN, MANABU NAKANISHI, SATOSHI KOJIMA & YUJI NAGATA (12:49): Who are these people? Well, Go Shiozaki is from NOAH and will face Shibata later this year for the NEVER title. This was basic stuff. If you love hard chops and aging legends than you'd have loved it. *1/2

THE YOUNG  BUCKS vs. RICOCHET & DAVID FINLAY (12:47): The Bucks retained the IWGP Jr. Tag titles. Good match, although substituting Finlay for Matt Sydal, who apparently couldn't get a travel visa to Japan for some reason, didn't help. Ricochet was on top of his game. He always is, though, and is perhaps the greatest wrestler in the world in terms of excitement and high-flying. It's too bad he's never in single, main event title matches, just these random, cruiserweight melees. They did a cool deal early on where everyone was doing crazy flips onto the floor but their opponents were moving out of the way and they ended up landing on their feet. I guess, like any Bucks or Ricochet match, you hadda see it to believe it. **1/2

GUERILLAS OF DESTINY vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS (13:57): Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa won the IWGP Tag titles. Not good. I like the Briscoe's...but I'm not sure why, as they're never in great matches. The Guerillas are like The Uso's without the excitement. This was rough and tough but a little too dull. *1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI, JAY LETHAL, KUSHIDA & MICHAEL ELGIN vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES (11:42): Naito kicked Elgin in the face and broke his orbital bone, so who knows if their match next month for the IC title will still happen. This was decent, average stuff. Lethal did barely anything, but Kushida and Bushi were great together and Naito was a bit more energetic than usual. Surprisingly, the biggest draw in the company, Naito, was pinned by Elgin. **1/2

KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. KYLE O'REILLY (18:09): Shibata retained the NEVER Openweight title. Early on they wrestled like they were competing in an NCAA wrestling tournament. Yawn. But by the second half they were destroying each other with brutal kicks. It was high intensity and hard-hitting as hell. Shibata really should be in the main event picture by now. He finished off O'Reilly with the sleeper hold. ***

KENNY OMEGA vs. HIROOKI GOTO (21:52): A stellar second half made this the best match on the show. Omega is probably going to end up being the best wrestler of the year considering how many great matches he's been in. Sure, he over-acts, but he's insane and fun to watch. He took a sick table plunge from the top rope and also did an over-the-top-rope suicide dive onto Goto ring-side where his one foot landed right on the metal guardrail. This match was for the title shot at Wrestle Kingdom in January at the Tokyo Dome, their Wrestlemania. The problem was that Omega beat Goto in the G1 final to already win that. So this was pointless but nonetheless a good match. ***

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. NAOMICHI MARUFUJI (28:00): Okada retained the IWGP Heavyweight title. The final few minutes were dramatic as hell, albeit nobody thought Marufuji, who isn't even a New Japan wrestler (he's in NOAH), would win the title (especially considering who ever won the title would main event the big Dome show in January). Marufuji was the big surprise at this year's G1 tournament, beating Okada to kick it off and having good matches with just about everyone. He's fun to watch. He's cat-like, does a lot of kicks to the skull, and has a cool finisher where he grabs his opponent by the neck, runs up the turnbuckles and flips over to deliver a DDT. Marufuji also beat the shit out of Okada. It was a little one-sided at the end. But Okada won with his Rainmaker clothesline. Not the greatest match, but the end was awesome stuff. **1/2