Red's Wrestling Blog

5.Nanae Takahashi 4.Tessa Blanchard 3.Meiko Satomura 2.Toni Storm 1.Becky Lynch -There are so many amazing names I had to leave off of this one, and the choice for number one was so hard that some of my original ideas for the spot didn't even end up making the top five at all (such as Faby Apache). The fact is, Becky Lynch had the entire wrestling world talking nonstop after the Survivor Series build up spot, has been entertaining as hell on twitter, and looks like she might be one half of the first ever Wrestlemania main event to feature a women's contest. I don't watch main roster WWE very often at all, but her stuff seems to get recommended to me a lot and she has always entertained since her NXT days.

Last night's AAW show in Austin saw a match with Fenix end early after an injury. He was taken to a local hospital and diagnosed with a muscle contusion. He will miss a few weeks but nothing more.

  Niebla Roja won his block last night, beating Mephisto, Volador, and Ultimo Guerrero. He will face Terrible in the finals next Friday.

5.IWRG Caravana de Campeones 4.WCWC Survival Games 3.M-Pro Tokyo Conference Vol.1 2.WWE Backlash 1.WWE Crown Jewel -A few years ago, I watched WWE all the time. More recently, I got to where I was just watching ppvs, NXT, and select matches from Raw and Smackdown. Now, the only main roster stuff I tend to watch is matches that are highly recommended to me. There is just so much content that fat needs to be cut as needed. The only main roster show I watched this year was Backlash, which was pretty bad. That said, Crown Jewel will forever be a black mark on WWE, got main stream coverage for the terrible choices involved, and was truly the only show that deserved this "award".

90's All Japan is still seen by many as the best decade of wrestling ever. I wanted to announce that I am beginning a long project that will eventually end with the release of a unauthorized documentary showcasing exactly why it is so well thought of, and the impact it still has today. Thank you, and I hope it turns out to be something that every fan can truly enjoy. *I won't be making a cent off of this. Figured it was worth noting. The final product will be put online for free.*

Omega/Jericho II, SCU/Strong Hearts, and Bucks/Lucha Bros also set to be announced soon.

Shoshanna Stern is an actress who has appeared on several great shows and has achieved success when many would give up on such dreams. As a deaf actress though, she has been featured on great programs that include Jericho, Weeds, Supernatural, and Lie to Me. If that’s not enough, she has also been on Cold Case, ER, and Threat Matrix. I had the honor to talk with her a few years ago and below is the Q&A session that followed. What program that you've worked on has been fondest to the heart? I always say that answering that question is almost like a mother having to choose a favorite child. Every project I've done has brought me something that was all its own, but I think the more time you have to work on something, the deeper you're able to go. For that reason, I'm going to have to say Jericho and Weeds. What are your future projects and plans? As an actor, you can try and fool yourself into thinking you can make plans, but in reality, there's so much th

The Clash of Cultures board game, created by Z-Man games, is a fantastic approach to the classic and strategic civilization style game and a worthy addition to your collection. Good for 2-4 players with an average playing time of 4 hours, Clash of Cultures is a game where you start up with nothing and work toward a dominating empire to destroy all those that oppose you. Don’t try to do a fast rush attack though, as advancements are just as important to win as a good army. The game itself isn’t as expensive as most games this style if you shop around, and is worth every cent granted you have someone else to play with. Rating: ***3/4

5.Nueva Generacion Diniamitas 4.Lucha Brothers 3.Undisputed Era (Kyle,Strong) 2.Golden Lovers 1.The Young Bucks -The best team in the world, once again. This year, after moving up to the heavyweight division, the Bucks were part of multiple noteworthy matches, they continued to entertain as part of the Elite on Being the Elite, main evented the huge All In show with Kota, and simply did everything right in general. No one does tag wrestling like the Jackson brothers.

Matches from NXT 02/06/2019 1.Gulak vs Bugenhagen NR 2.Riddle vs Gulak ***1/4 Thoughts: I don't watch NXT every week, but when I heard Drew Gulak is on the show there's a good chance that I'll be watching. Up first, we had a squash match between the technical master and a very energetic Bugenhagen. The fans are behind the ecentric worker, of course. Adam Rose, No Way Jose, Eric Bugenhagen.  We finish things up here with the real reason I pulled these two matches. Gulak taking on the new hot toy of NXT, Matt Riddle, was a fun match and a nice callback. The last time, and only other time, that these two faced off one on one was back in 2015 in an EVOLVE ring. The Catchpoint reference after was especially nice and makes me hope we see a revival in NXT. Moderate recommendation, especially if you enjoy technical wrestling

Blacken and then remove the seeds and skin from two poblano peppers. Put peppers into blender with 1/2 cup of crema and 1/4 a cup of milk. Blend all of the above until smooth. Butter a skillet at a mid-range heat. Add the blended mix to the skillet as well as a teaspoon of minced garlic and one vegetable bouillon cube. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a light boil and then remove from stove top. Cook pasta type of your choice per instructions on the box. Serve the poblano sauce over pasta, topping with some queso fresco, fresh mozzarella, and cherry tomatoes. Enjoy

Sonny is one of the most charismatic names that you might have not heard of. Kiss was featured recently as XO Lishus on Lucha Underground and was also announced as one of AEW's first talents. Check out a nice Q&A session I had a a few years ago with Kiss below. -What made you a fan of wrestling? To be honest, I actually played the games first. I had Nintendo 64 and one of the first games I remember playing was WCW/NWO Revenge. Eventually, one night I was in my living room and I happen to find WWF Monday Night Raw on TV and was hooked ever since. -Who was your favorite wrestler as a kid? My favorite wrestler as a kid... So many! Ugh, I went through phases with favorites… I was one of those people who loved baby faces and heels as well, which also allowed me to really just watch and enjoy the story that was being told with their own personas. I was really inspired by Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guererro, Team Xtreme, Kurt Angle, and the entire

5.Kevin Kelly 4.Lenny Leonard 3.Bryce Remsburg 2.Excalibur 1.Mauro Ranallo -This man is everything that is right about wrestling. When it comes to commentary teams, no one does as good as him, and that's saying something. He makes everyone look good, has gotten so over the fans chant his catch phrase, and is sincerely an angel of a person. He puts over the talent in ways that most commentators wish they could, does so flawlessly, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the art form that is wrestling. He's the antithesis of Vampiro. This one was an easy choice.

Matches: 1.MLW Tag Titles:Lucha Bros(c) vs Hart Foundation **1/4 2.Kotto vs Martinez ** 3.MLW World Title:Low Ki(c) vs Lawlor **1/2 Thoughts: I figured that kicking off the new review format with MLW sounded like a nice idea. It's one of the few shows I bother watching regularly, and the card looked pretty stacked. Sadly, this was not the show I was hoping it would be. The opener was rough, with only the apron spot and the finish coming off well. The general clunkiness made what should have been a big moment feel less important, and I can't help but thinking that having Pillman in instead of Davey that things would have been better. Our midcard match started well enough, but it all feel apart by the end. I had hopes that we'd get a nice barnburner that elevated both, but this feels more like a setback. After two matches that were average in every way possible, I couldn't help but notice that less than ten minutes remained for the main event. Low Ki, much li

I found my collection of DBZ films recently and decided to rewatch them, starting from the beginning. Dead Zone was never one of my favorites, and truly is a movie I barely remembered when I put it on. I expected, as a result, to forget it again shortly after, but there was more here this time around than I had remembered. Due to it’s short run time, it does feel like a long episode instead of a full feature. This creates a fast pace, but it loses something as a result. The good news is that the villains, Garlic Jr and his companions, are decent threats and the fight scenes are actually very well done. Seeing Garlic suffer the fate of Niobe was a good call based on what character development they actually did have time for. This movie actually takes place prior to the first season of Dragon Ball Z, despite a few consistency issues, so if you choose to go back and watch the classic series again, you could consider starting here. Despite the good things the film has

5.Impact Wrestling moving to a much smaller network in a death slot and the station basically not seeming to even care enough to even promote it. 4.January's AAA Guerra de Titanes show 3.Strong/Swagger winning the Lucha Underground Championship to end the season/series 2.ROH's treatment of Gresham. 1.CMLL not booking Rush/Park mask vs hair match -One of the biggest feuds in lucha libre is between LA Park and Rush. These two bring out the absolute best in each other and have numerous matches against each other that hit MOTY levels. As the big anniversary show neared months ago, it seemed we'd finally be getting the big mask vs hair apuesta that we all wanted. Instead, the plan changed at the last second and we were given a tag match featuring Rush teaming with Barbaro to take on Volador and Taven. It was even more frustrating knowing that Park was on the same card and match lower. The show ended up being ok, but this one really disappointed me more than anything

Easy, healthy breakfast option. Cut an avocado in half, removing the seed. Add a little bit of shredded cheese into the pit. I use Jack cheese. Cook one medium-large egg sunny side up. Cut away part of the white and place in the hole first. Place remaining egg gently on top. Salt and pepper to taste.

Omega Cody Bucks Jericho PAC Hangman Penta Fenix Daniels Kazarian Scorpio Sky Trent? Chuckie Janela CIMA MJF Guevara Havoc Jungle Boy Sonny Kiss Penelope Ford Britt Baker Brandi Nyla Rose Yuka Sakazaki Kylie Rae Aja Kong Partners with OWE & AAA Likely partners of some sort with PWG, BAR, Defy, Impact, MLW, DDT, Fight Club Pro Hopefully partners with SMASH, CHIKARA, OTT, Wrestle-1, DEFIANT, Dragon Gate

Below are the best matches of the year. Anything listed here is worth checking out. The cutoff rating is ***1/2, which is the lowest rating I consider recommendable. Comment any suggestions if I missed out on something that you think belongs here. Also, note that I color coded these. Red is for singles matches and non-tag multiman contests, blue is for tag, trios, atomicos, etc., and pink is for women's matches. A new addition is mixed matches, which I'll use purple for. If you spot a blooper, let me know, especially because blogger tries to change formats from time to time on me. ***** -Dustin/Cody 05/25 (aew) ****3/4 -Gargano/Cole 04/05 (nxt) -Okada/Ospreay 07/20 (njpw) -Okada/SANADA 08/03 (njpw) -Ishii/SHINGO 08/08 (njpw) -Devlin/Starr 10/26 (ott) ****1/2 -Naito/Jericho 01/04 (njpw) -Ospreay/Kota 01/04 (njpw) -Omega/Tanahashi 01/04 (njpw) -Gargano/Ricochet 01/26 (nxt) -Devlin/Starr 02/17 (ott) -Kota/Naito 03/10 (njpw) -Kento/Nomura 03/19 (ajpw) -Osprea