Red's Wrestling Blog

Largely for my own benefit, but also for the sake of openness and potential conversation, here's a list of my DS and 3DS games (both physical and digital). This little machine is one of my favorite systems ever and my daughter's name is even influenced from a character from one of these titles below. I may go back and even add ratings to the titles at a later date. PHYSICAL COLLECTION: Pokemon Conquest, Platinum, Y, Omega Ruby, Moon, Black Dragon Quest IX, Monsters Joker Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Justice For All Chrono Trigger Super Mario 64 DS Rune Factory 3 Splinter Cell 3D Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Monster Rancher DS Bravely Default, Second Lego Lord of the Rings Resident Evil Revelations Zelda Ocarina of Time Epic Mickey Etrian Odyssey I, III, IV, V Warhammer 40k Squad Command Sands of Destruction Skylanders Spyro's Adventure, Giants, Swap Force SMT Strange Journey, Devil Survivor 2, IV, Persona Q, Devil Summoner Soul Hackers Glory of Heracle

Limbo, noun: an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition. Time changes everything it touches, and can leave you feeling broken and cold; full of regret. Matt learns of what he must do next and falls into a state of depression that leaves the neighbor children is disorder and his own kids deal with the shell of their father. You've got to learn that life sucks early, right? That's before Reby literally slaps him to clarity...

Match  from CMLL Viernes 01/10: 1.Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Templario vs Atlantis Jr, Star Jr, Valiente **** Thoughts: Before we get to the match, QEPD  in regards to AAA's La Parka. My condolences to his friends, family, and fans. Now, the pull... For all their fuck ups last year, and despite many of their top names being in Japan right now, CMLL still has the ability to provide excellent entertainment when the stars align properly. They certainly lined up here. The rudos gelled perfectly, coming off as long-term allies. Hechicero was the core holding them together and put in for one of his best performances in a while as he helped the others elevate their own. The tecnico side played their roles very nicely, too and the dives all came off well. Atlantis Jr in particular put on his best match in his career thus far. The kid is going to be a big star for CMLL for years to come. The hard work from all six men paid off as this was a fantastic trios clash well worth che

This was a very short teaser for tomorrow's show. To be blunt, unless you need a refresher, you can and should skip this one. Maybe go back and rewatch last week's instead? I'll just add that the W1 title match between Inaba and Nakajima looks like it could be amazing and it'll be a big test for the champ. I can't wait til next week to see how it turned out.

Matches  from ZERO1 Happy New Year 01/01: 1.#STRONGHEARTS (Lindaman,Irie,T-Hawk) vs Hidaka, Tanaka, Sugawara ***1/2 2.ZERO1 World Title: Hino(c) vs Okabayashi ****1/4 Thoughts: Two pulls from ZERO1's 2020 debut. Here's  the full card for those interested in picking around with other stuff if that's your cup of tea. Jump about 30-minutes in to start with the #SH match. I picked this one because I love this unit but also because I love Tanaka. Both of those were solid enough reasons clearly as Tanaka's badass attitude against the unit's tactics made for the biggest story of the match. It went down fast and smooth. Consider that one. We close with a hoss fight for the top prize of the promotion. Jump to about an hour and thirty minutes for this one. ZERO1 doesn't get as much praise from me as they likely deserve, but they have some true gems at times and I do love seeing Yuji Hino as the top dog of a company. I also love this match existing at all. Ch

Below are my picks for the best matches of the year. Anything listed here I consider worth checking out. The cutoff rating is ***1/2, which is the lowest rating I personally consider recommendable. Comment any suggestions if I missed out on something that you think belongs here and check out the completed 2019 list here . Also, note that I color coded these. For singles and non-tag men's matches, look for this  color. For men's tag matches, trios, atomicos, ciberneticos, etc. look for this color. For women's matches of all forms, look for this color. For mixed matches, look for this color. If you spot any bloopers, even in regards to color coding issues, let me know.  ***** -WALTER/Ilja 10/29 -Go/Sugiura 12/06 ****3/4 -Okada/Kota 01/04 -Omega,Page/Young Bucks 02/29 -Arisa/ASUKA 06/13  -Kota/Suzuki 10/10 -Go/Nakajima 11/22 ****1/2 -Kento/Jake Lee 01/03 -Kaito/Go 01/04 -Ospreay/Hiromu 01/04 -Okada/Naito 01/05 -CHAOS/LIJ 01/06 -Shingo/Goto 02/01 -

With the new year, I'm going to try something new for this show. So, starting with this episode, I'm adding a rating system specifically for this show. It won't count toward the recommendation list or anything, but instead is more general and will also help me down the line too for a few varying reasons. Results are covered with and everything will have a + next to the match ranging from +-+++. One means it was basic stuff, two that it was decent but largely forgettable looking, and three is suggests something special. It's a much more simplified version of the star system but it should largely work for the format of this series. So, let's begin... Episode Card: 1.Moriya, Ikaho, Daimonji b Hajime, Fujimura, Niki + 2.Strong Machine Army b Alejandro, Ganseki, Kono + 3.R.E.D. (Big R, Yoshida) b Doi, Honda ++ 4.Tonsho, Pegaso Illuminar b Horiguchi, Kzy ++ 5.Strong Hearts (Seiki, Irie) b Kodama, TAJIRI + 6.Ryouji b Kuma ++ 7.Texas Tornado Bank House Curren

Match  from TJP New Year Dish: 1.International Princess Title: Maki Ito(c) vs Thunder Rosa ***1/2 Thoughts: On one hand, Ito was a fun choice as champ. On the other, having an international talent holding the International Championship and touring with it is literally what an international belt should be used for. Plus, Thunder Rosa is very talented and a nice choice as champ. The match itself was pretty good stuff and the speech after from Rosa was pure. If you sub to DDT Universe, hit the link above to give it a look. If not, it might pop up on DDT's YouTube at some point.

Matches: 1.The Elite (Omega, Page) vs Private Party **3/4 2.AEW Women's Title: Riho(c) vs Kris *3/4 3.Guevara vs Daniels ** 4.Rhodes Brothers vs Lucha Bros ***1/4 5.Jurassic Express vs Best Friends, Orange **3/4 Thoughts: AEW is a modernized WCW and just like WCW, not everything AEW does is good. I mention that because this episode was, simply put, not good. The opener was fairly enjoyable, though a bit heavy with the miscommunications between Page and Omega. The duo overcoming their many issues to pick up the W made Private Party look a bit weak, by the way. They were established strong in the tournament on episode one of Dynamite when they beat the Bucks but lost eight of their ten matches that followed. Strange call, in my opinion. PAC tries to murder Nakazawa again in a repeat from last week. The women's match was a travesty. Kris and Riho showed glimpses of the match they could have had but the contest was covered in too much bullshit to make it out as worth

The Women's Championship match got focus here and is a match I'm very excited for. Kris' rise has been largely well done and Riho is very talented. They should gel well. The Mox offer was showcased next. Decent stuff, but I thought the angle itself wasn't as well done as it should have been and I don't care much for it in general. It is what it is. Page's issues with PP are highlighted. I hope they make sure to keep the drinking stuff in perspective and handle it with poise if it continues heading the direction it appears to be. AA's new manager role with Cody gets a look to close things. I'm actually interested in this one and think it was a very smart move. Nothing must see here, but a decent builder for this week's Dynamite. Review for the episode later today once I finish watching.

Our first set of rankings are here for the new year and the standings are reset. For those having trouble wrapping their heads around the concept (hopefully no one who visits this blog), think of it in the same way NCAA rankings work and you should be fine. MEN'S RANKINGS Champion: Jericho 1.Mox 2.Cody 3.Omega 4.PAC 5.MJF Thoughts: The road to Jericho/Mox continues. Past that, everyone else is too busy in their own things to worry about the title. WOMEN'S RANKINGS Champion: Riho 1.Stratlander 2.Shida 3.Nyla 4.Kong 5.Baker Thoughts: Riho has a line of challengers, starting with the rise of Kris but has the Nightmare Collective on her back, as well as the others all placing a firm target. The division is starting to gel but needs the Collective shit put on the backburner to move forward. TAG TEAM'S RANKINGS Champions: SCU 1.Proud N' Powerful 2.Young Bucks 3.Lucha Bros 4.Best Friends 5.Dark Order Thoughts: Arguably the best division of AEW, S

Match from NJPW New Year's Dash: 1.CHAOS (Ishii, Goto) vs LIJ (SHINGO, EVIL) ****1/2 Thoughts: This is post #1000 for the blog, for those keeping track. I watched just one match in full, but caught the angles and, in particular, the big Liger sendoff. What better way to hit 1000 than with the sendoff of a true legend. Thank you, Liger! Other notable moments included FinJuice accepting a challenge from the intriguing duo of Kota and Tanahashi, Mox and Suzuki having a killer post-match brawl moment, and the set up for White/SANADA and KENTA/Naito that got the crowd heated. All well done as we continue into the new year. In the pull, the LIJ/CHAOS rivalry continued in epic fashion. While no big turns or anything like that happened on this show like most expected, it's hard to complain when we got that Liger moment and then this truly amazing tag encounter in the style I love a MOTYC setting up another potential MOTYC between SHINGO and Goto for the NEVER Openweight Cham

Matches: 1.Liger, Sano vs Ryu, Hiromu *** 2.IWGP Jr Tag Titles: BC(c) vs R3k ***1/2 3.RevPro British HW Title: Sabre(c) vs SANADA ***1/2 4.IWGP US Title: Mox(c) vs Juice ***3/4 5.NEVER OW Title: KENTA(c) vs Goto **** 6.White vs Kota ***1/2 7.Jericho vs Tanahashi ***1/2 8.IWGP HW, IC Titles: Okada(HW) vs Naito(IC) ****1/2 Thoughts: The conclusion to this year's WK double shot was another thrill ride, providing exactly what I wanted in the form of elite wrestling and high doses of drama. I skipped the NEVER Six-man dark match. LIJ members, EVIL, SHINGO, and BUSHI took home the belts. I hope the belts start meaning something soon, but let's work on continuing to fix the IWGP tag divisions first, please. The opener was Liger's official farewell match and I love that he had Hiromu and Ryu (Dragon) Lee involved. Lee came out wearing his ROH TV Championship. The fierce rivals worked full rudo here, and I'd love to know if there are any plans on adding Ryu to LI

Match from IMPACT Wrestling 01/07: 1.Elgin vs Edwards ***1/2 Thoughts: Before I crash for the night (hopefully), here's one last pull. IMPACT gave us a nice treat tonight to help build last minute anticipation to their special event this weekend. Elgin and Eddie gave us nearly 20-minutes of physical fun, and while the crowd wasn't as hot for it as they likely should have been, I found it to be a very good encounter between the two great workers. Check this out, especially if you want something to help sell you on Hard to Kill this Sunday.

Matches: 1.Konley vs Dice *** 2.ODB vs Thunder Rosa **3/4 3.Aldis vs Starks ***1/4 4.Storm, Drake vs Colt, Anderson ** Thoughts: I heard good things about this one and, seeing as I am too tired to watch all of night two of WK tonight, I'm watching smaller things instead. NWA might not be my preferred cup of tea, but I get what they're aiming for and give them props on MOST of what they've done so far to a degree. Let's just take a look. I still hate the fucking name of this show, by the way. Hard Times is this coming at the end of the month. I know they're crowning a new TV Champ, but have no idea what else is on the card. The opening package was decent. The Strictly Business faction formation was interesting to see. Storm looks positioned to be win the tournament. In all, a strong way to start the episode. I still love the intro video for this series. That needs to be stated. During the crowd shot, a fan is seen immediately waving around his li

Matches: 1.Kong vs Moore NR 2.SCU vs TH2, Kip **1/4 Thoughts: The Gunn tag was missing from this for some reason, cutting the runtime of the episode down to a short, 30-minute area episode. The AEW b-show this week started with a clip from last week featuring the Mox/Guevara/Jericho angle. We have an intro package for the show now, which was solid as expected. I wish I could have gotten that project but I am aware I'm far from being on the crew. Let a dude dream. Taylor as guest this week on commentary. They've moved the Collective stuff to Dark this week, where it largely should stay until they figure out what to do with it. Dark needs to be mainly used for testing things out, which it's been more than most realize, but I hope they lean into it more. The match, seeing Kong squash Skyler Moore, was okay. It served a purpose. CD chats backstage with Alex, saying he is ready to get back on track. Him second guessed himself was a nice touch in the match itself,

Matches: 1.Liger, Tiger Mask, Sasuke, Fujinami vs Otani, Sano, Taguchi, Takaiwa **3/4 2.Suzuki-gun vs LIJ *** 3.CHAOS vs Bullet Club **1/2 4.IWGP Tag Titles: GOD(c) vs FinJuice ***1/2 5.IWGP US TItle, Tx Death Match: Archer(c) vs Moxley ***3/4 6.IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title: Ospreay(c) vs Hiromu ****1/2 7.IWGP Intercontinental Title: White(c) vs Naito **** 8.IWGP Heavyweight Title: Okada(c) vs Kota ****3/4 Thoughts: We were gifted with two nights this year. I skipped the dark matches, one featuring the dojo kids and the other seeing the dads picking up a novelty win. Nothing major, nothing bad. The STARDOM match also took place, but wasn't broadcasted due to logistic bullshit (as I tried to warn people who refused to believe me), but the champs did pick up the win. The show began with Liger's penultimate match; a cluster tag featuring a lot of his best pals. It's bittersweet knowing the legendary junior is retiring, but I wish him the absolute best in whatever

I'm glad they're doing these more often. The production work AEW has going on is top notch and these installments are truly elite status. They start with a nice teaser for the Lucha Bros/Rhodes Brothers match and move next to showcase this week's AEW Women's Championship contest. The Jungle Express package was nice, building some emotional stake for the six-man match with the Best Friends and Orange. I'd like to remind anyone shitting on Marko reading this that they can go fuck themselves. Want to shit on someone terrible? Fine. But save the trolling and hating and cyberbullying for the piece of shit in the WH. Check this out if you want something extra heading into Wednesday.

Dear God, why!? The intro was funny shit but hopefully the last we see of the kid in anything AEW related. Nothing personal, I just fear it'd hurt AEW's credibility. The crew chill and celebrate the New Year at TIAA Bank Field. Angelico kicks a decent field goal while Orange fucks shit up. Height discrepancies between the Jungle Express are called out front and center for the world to see while Jungle Boy proves he can't focus around attractive women. Leva is the parental identity the roster so sorely needed but rules by an as-I-say mentality. They've teased intergender matches moving forward for Kenny and Riho in AEW and we got a taste next, as it looks like we're getting Kip and Ford versus the pair. Page continues to need an intervention in a segment worth seeing... The episode ends with a reminder that once you join the Dark Order, you can never leave. Strong way to start the year for BTE. Click play and enjoy responsibly.