Red's Wrestling Blog

Matches from AAA Guerra de Titanes : 1.Aramis, Dinastia, Octagoncito vs Mini Psycho, Arez, Parkita Negra ***1/2 2.Hamburguesa, Mascarita Dorada, Iguana vs Demus, Villano III Jr, Latigo ***1/2 3.AAA Tag Titles: Lucha Bros(c) vs Australian Suicide, Rey Horus vs Jinetes del Aire ***3/4 4.Apuesta: Mami vs Maravilla **** Thoughts: Guerra de Titanes tends to be a fun show and with AAA being so entertaining this year, plus the card looking decent, I was pretty hopeful this would provide some last minute hits before the year came to a close. Note that I skipped the random TLC match but did catch Sin Cara's run in. He got a cease and desist for Christmas shortly after, for the record. I also caught the Ingobernables angle after the main despite skipping the match itself. Neither contest seemed worth really seeing but the moments I mentioned came off as relatively big deals. Now, onto the pulls. Up first, a big minis spotfest trios match with everyone stepping up nicely. If yo

Matches from Dragon Gate Final Gate: 1.Open the Brave Gate Title: Ishida(c) vs Jason Lee ***1/2 2.Open the Twin Gate Titles: R.E.D.(c) vs Tribe Vanguard ***1/4 3.Open the Dream Gate Title: Ben-K(c) vs Naruki Doi **** Thoughts: The last big Dragon Gate show of the year has arrived and it's a good time to reflect on just how awesome the promotion has been this year. Major moments, sincere surprises, great action, and excellent story work alongside the rise of the future stars. If you skipped out on them this year, for whatever reason, I strongly suggest fixing that mistake in 2020. So, let's take a look at the three pulls, starting with Ishida's defense of the secondary singles championship. It's worth noting that on paper, this is the type of contest I want to see this belt contested over. The Brave Gate strap should showcase youth while preparing them for bigger roles down the line. That's what this was, and I'd like to take two seconds to applaud the m

This week we just had a shortened version of the press conference for an episode as we head into Wonder Carnival. Skip this one and just look at the stacked card.

Match  from AAA Lucha Capital 12/04: 1.Finals: Vikingo vs Taurus vs Puma King **** Thoughts: AAA's Facebook tournament got over decently with fans this season and ended on a high note. Vikingo once again showed the world that he's an elite flyer, Taurus that he's an elite, athletic base, and Puma...was there, too. I like Puma King and he kept up, sold well, and was a fun part of this, but I'd be lying if I suggested he was at the same level as his opponents here. Either way, if you want to watch a match that symbolizes lucha libre in 2019 as well as the future of the genre, I think this works pretty well. Fantastic action wall to wall, a decent crowd, and the right guy winning. It's hard to ask for more. Mark my words, as I say basically every time I review a match with this kid... VIKINGO IS GOING TO BE A STAR!

Match from wXw 19th Anniversary: 1.Lucky Kid vs Ohno **** 2.wXw Unified World Title: Thatcher(c) vs Gunns vs Ilja vs Starr ***3/4 Thoughts: First up, THE Gatekeeper, Ohno and Lucky Kid put on a fucking show. Hero matches remain wildly entertaining to this day which is logical seeing as the dude is a master of his craft. I actually applaud him for his current gig. He's getting WWE money and some of the benefits that provides yet isn't resting on it. He's a bridge between partner feds, showing up and working his style while putting over talent both at home and away. Lucky Kid looked like a star here and I easily recommend this one. I was happy to see Thatcher dethrone Gunns for wXw's top prize and the defenses had been rather enjoyable, but alas it appears that wXw lacked confidence in keeping this reign running. Of all the names involved, I would be lying if I said I'd want Gunns to walk out with gold as the other three are far better options, in my opinion.

Matches: 1.Omega, Page vs Lucha Bros *** 2.Butcher & Blade vs Cody, Darby ***1/4 3.Kong vs Alize NR 4.10-Minute Challenge: Jericho vs Jungle Boy ***1/4 5.Baker vs Stratlander *** 6.AEW Tag Titles: SCU(c) vs Young Bucks ***1/4 Thoughts: This is AEW's final live episode of Dynamite in 2019. The news is out that NXT finally managed to beat them in the key demo, though it did take WWE putting out a TakeOver-lite edition to do so. The best takeaway, though, is TNT is still pretty happy with how AEW is doing as are most of the fans watching (including myself). With that, let's dig in. Since "leaving" the Elite, Page's heel turn teases have become more noticeable especially after his actions last week. This was true once more in this one and when it looked like the tensions were climaxing into a full turn, PAC interrupted to call out Kenny. How the fuck Excalibur knew that was Nakazawa from behind is anyone's guess. Fenix also came off a bit out of s

Match from DDT D-Ou Grand Prix in Harajuku: 1.Takeshita Konosuke vs Chris Brookes ***1/4 Thoughts: No, it was nowhere near the same level as their title match a few months back, but this one was at least a good back and forth tournament match and Brookes picking up the win felt noteworthy. Personally, it's a rare match from either I'd say isn't really recommendation levels, but perhaps consider it anyway?

Matches from Dragon Gate Fantastic Gate 12/04: 1.Ben-K vs Shun Skywalker ***1/2 Thoughts: I love Cutting Edge Battle, but I want to catch up a bit quicker than how the show's providing me right now with the year closing. That, and I want to see Final Gate as soon as possible, and this show's in the way with a match representative of 2019 Dragon Gate. Shun Skywalker and Ben-K have both been large parts of the promotion and bright shining lights showcasing the amazing future the company has ahead of them. They both worked a highly entertaining contest here and both came off looking like true cogs for DG's future once again in the process. Mark this one as worth seeing.

Match from ROH TV #430 : 1.Los Ingobernables (Rush, Dragon Lee) vs Lifeblood (Haskins, Hotsauce) ***1/2 Thoughts: To say Ring of Honor has evolved into a massive disappointment in a severe understatement. Despite that, they still have some great talent in their ranks and noteworthy matches still do pop out from them from time to time. In fact, watching wrestling the way I do has helped a lot and I actually have them in my top promotions of the year right now as a result. It's easier when you skip the bullshit, afterall. Keeping with that, here's another fun encounter from the former top US promotion. Have I mentioned before that ROH's television series has a weird release pattern? Rush and Dragon Lee have teamed a tad in Mexico but not often outside of it. When they would, usually in indie feds, Lee would dawn an Ingobernables jersey some of the time and it always left me wanting him to be an official member. CMLL, a mess in their own right, had objections. Luckily

For the basic ez6RPG rules, click here . Expanding on that, here is the first official supplement for the system. I made the original rules so that I could start introducing the concept of tabletop roleplaying games to my kids in a structured way that allowed for a skeleton while also keeping things fun and loose. This specific addition is due to a desire to get another family member playing with myself and my brother in law. I hope it's something that someone finds useful. WHAT YOU NEED This system is about as easy as it gets and you literally just need a standard, six-sided die (or a few so no one needs to share), some paper and a writing utensil, and however many players you can get. You need at least two people unless you are wanting to essentially test this out solo. CORE RULE The core rule of ez6RPG is that any challenge a player faces typically requires you to role a d6. If you role a 4 or higher, you succeed. There are additional rules you can add on that I mention

I've never watched this, but Kenny's image on the video link had my attention enough to click it. Along with Dark, Control Center is a nice little addition. Highlights from the show with some exclusive content in under ten minutes? No complaints. The big thing was Page apologizing to Omega for stealing the win. Kenny said he likes the idea of tagging with Adam and says there's no weak link in the Elite, though they did run something recently with Page leaving the group so I have no idea...I guess it didn't stick. They will team again this week when Page promises to make it up to Kenny as they continue to seemingly build to a cowboy heel turn. They close with a plug for the next AEW ppv. Inoffensive and quick. Control Center is a decent addition to AEW content but largely not something that you NEED to see. I just happen to really like the promotion.

Matches: 1.SCU vs Private Party ***1/4 2.Baker vs Machiko NR 3.Stratlander vs Bea ***1/4 4.Best Friends vs TH2, PAC ***1/2 Thoughts: The Bucks plug their title shot to kick this one off, we get a run down of the episode card, and then we are given Vickie Guerrero of all fucking people as the guest commentator this week. She did a decent job and got a nice pop. I actually love how the commentary format they use for Dark. Can we get Taz back soon? Private Party have cooled down a lot in the past few months. It's part of the parity of AEW on display but a bit surprising. SCU falling to them here wasn't likely but I feel maybe as a result this shouldn't have been booked at all. Alas, it was but it at least gave the champs a nice win before their title defense on this week's Dynamite so that's good. Plus, in an added bonus, this tag was good. Baker and Stratlander face off tonight on Dynamite in a #1 contenders match. Nice. Tonight, she worked an extended sq

Kenny and the Bucks flaunt their acting skills in regards to last week's tag match with Page and Omega versus Kip and Spears. The Bucks stand outside the arena in Garland, name drop PWG, and build to their Texas Street Fight that already happened, and play tour guide. Kaz scares Kiss in one of the more entertaining ongoing gags of BTE and then MJF tricks half of Private Party into kissing his ring. Gotta love MJF. Omega has Nakazawa feeling self-conscious. Why do I have a feeling Naka is going to get bigger by slapping a suit on? The Beaver Boys look to be joining to Dark Order, which I'm mainly just hoping means more Silver on AEW television. Especially if DJ starts using more of my ideas... Page looks to have a drinking problem which, if they lean on I hope they handle properly. Leva and Swole shared a moment... CD is hung up on the botch and Penta in general, which I'm happy to see they're not done with. A plunder blowoff might be fun. Oh, and props

Match from wXw Road to 19th Anniversary: Hamburg 11/29 1.wXw United World Title: Thatcher(c) vs Starr ***3/4 Thoughts: Starr is underappreciated for just how well rounded he truly is but he got a nice chance to remind people that his technical game is on point with this one, matching up nicely with one of the kings of tech. They provided a clinic of a title defense with my only real complaint coming in the way of the finish. Still, this was great stuff and worth seeing especially for those dinosaurs that pretend no one can work these days.

Match from Pro Wrestling NOAH Starting Over 12/06: 1.Kaito vs Inamura ***1/4 Thoughts: Inamura works best as a bit player and his standalone matches, while usually good, are rarely anything special. So, even with the GHC Heavyweight Champion being one half of this one, that description still remains accurate here. Fairly enjoyable, largely skippable and it just never really hit that next gear.

Matches from AAA TripleMania Regia: 1.AAA Reina de Reinas Title: Taya(c) vs Ayako vs Faby vs Keyra vs Shani ** 2.AAA Mega Title: Omega(c) vs Dragon Lee **** 3.Super Libre: Rush vs Park vs Pagano **1/2 Thoughts: AAA held what amounted to a novelty event in a baseball stadium and finally released the footage. With that, these are the three matches from the gig that really caught my attention so let's take a dive in. The first match starts about an hour and fifteen minutes into the feed on the above video, for those keeping track. The production isn't as good as usual for AAA but there's a few reasons for that and I'm honestly fine watching video from cellphone recordings if the content is good enough, so whatever. There's a lot of great fucking talent in this but a general lack of cohesion is always a risk in clusters and this one was indeed hurt by that common issue. My hopes for this weren't rewarded and it's just too definitively average to be wor

Matches : 1.Mochizuki vs HYO ** 2.Ben-K, Skywalker vs DoiYoshi ***3/4 Thoughts: This week started with a short, double DQ dirty ass match between RED's HYO and Mochizuki. Nothing special but slightly entertaining I suppose. The main event was much better. Shun's dive at the beginning was a bit iffy and him celebrating it was funny but that's a very minor nitpick and the rest of this one was the classic DG style action that we all know and love. Truly, it was a great, high octane tag encounter and I am still hopeful that Skywalker and Ben-K form a unit soon. Cutting Edge basically always goes down easy and this is no exception. The opener was rather simple but short and served a purpose and the main event was very enjoyable. Check this one out if you have thirty minutes to kill. Overall Rating: 70/100%

Matches: 1.Sekimoto vs Inamura *** 2.Kongoh (Kenou, Masa) vs Anti-Wrestlers Alliance **1/2 3.Kongoh (Hao, Nio) vs Junta, Seiya ***1/2 4.Go, Kaito, Sugiura vs Kongoh (Kenou, Masa, Inamura) ***1/2 Thoughts: I watch very few full events these days, but I love NOAH and I love Kenou and this just seemed interesting. You can skip about 25 minutes in, by the way. We start with a fun hoss battle opener. While it wasn't really must-see, it was a good start to the show in general that used the time well. Considering that Inamura was double booked, maybe that's why this was slightly toned down? Sekimoto gave some middle fingers on his way out while Yoshiki played dead. Up next, Kenou and Masa evened things up for the unit on the evening as Kongoh moves to 1-1. This was a bit rough around the edges, but the average age of their opponents surpassed 50. The red bois still looked good either way, too. Intermission... The three spot saw a nice surprise, as Hi69 and Kenbai rebr

Hey, so I never officially did this. Better late than never? Completely unnecessary? Whatever, so I'm 30, married, and have two kids. I rarely sleep, too. I've been a fan of wrestling since I was a little asshole in elementary school who was being bullied for whatever shitty reasons the other kids thought of that week. You know, typical stuff. I'll spare all the overly personal details here. I grew tired of WWE's brand of wrestling around 2008. When I was young I wanted any wrestling I could get my hands on, enjoying WCW, ECW, etc. I would watch lucha libre when I could figure out when it was on. My spanish has always been iffy despite living largely in hispanic areas. It's my fault, and a regret I have. My italian is a bit better and I know some japanese, too. Anyway, japanese wrestling became a big part of keeping me a fan and I am always looking for great wrestlers and promotions that are hidden gems or just under the radar. Frequent visitors here know thi