Hey, it's Monday again so that means it's time to kick off the week with the latest edition! I'm making another adjustment this time as I continue to tinker around with the format a bit. As always, the pull list is at the bottom of the post. Things will be removed when they're watched. Things will be added when I find things I want to add.

MONDAY

I decided to start with some NXT UK content.

NXT UK Heritage Cup Title, British Rounds: Tyler Bate(c) vs Noam Dar

I really enjoyed the work here and honestly the entire thing was great outside of the trash finish. There were many ways they could have gotten the same result, but WWE just cannot help themselves. Still, the match was pretty awesome until then.

Rating: ***1/2


My old ass was falling asleep at the wheel so I stopped there for the day.


TUESDAY

Check out my review of the Black Friday edition of AEW Rampage HERE.


My son really likes Roman Reigns and also enjoyed watching Shinsuke Nakamura matches last week, so...


Roman Reigns vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Cartoon wrestling, but entertaining for what it was. Not really worth writing more about this one.

Rating: **1/2


HERE is my review of the latest episode of Ring of Honor.


Torneo Leyenda Azul Cibernetico

participants: Soberano Jr, Angel de Oro, Stuka Jr, Blue Panther, Dark Panther, Esfinge, Ultimo Guerrero, Cavernario, Atlantis Jr, Hechicero, Terrible, Sagrado, Dragon Rojo Jr, Gran Guerrero, Gemelo Diablo I & II

I've said it many times here at RW+B, but I fucking love a good cibernetico. This was a fantastic cibernetico. They ran a stupid battle royal for the seeding. Atlantis Jr. was rudo again and even pinned Hechicero. Soberano wore all red, breaking the theme, but got a big match win for his return (he's been out since May); was kept away from UG. This felt like a statement of future affairs for CMLL. Check this out.

Rating: ****


NWA World Historic Welterweight Title: Volador Jr(c) vs TJP

Thanks to FTR, luchadors no longer trust outsiders to base properly I guess. Anyway, this was pretty good overall. Volador still was largely on autopilot, but he stepped up a tad and they both did just enough to hit recommendation levels. Mileage will vary.

Rating: ***1/2


Hey, DDT has a tournament going on...lets take a look at their YouTube channel and see what they've uploaded.


MAO vs Chris Brookes

Did you know that DDT can be completely insane at times? It's part of the charm, right? Well, this was fucking nuts but I sincerely enjoyed it. I'll refrain from spoiling any of it, but if you have an open mind pull the trigger and click the link. Entertainment, defined!

Rating: ***1/2


HERE's my review of a Digest upload from AJPW looking at a recent Real World Tag League gig. 

I'll go back to DDT in a bit. Real quick though, lets kill off my AAA pulls. I'm going to try to write up a preview for their big show that's coming up if time allows. If not, I know my bud @culticon is working on one.


NGD vs PdN

A few years ago and I would've been beyond excited to see this on a card somewhere, especially in AAA, yet in 2021 I wasn't super excited. NGD were one of many in CMLL that phoned in things because they could get away with it. I wasn't certain that they'd step back up now. I will say, this was a pretty good match. I admittedly think the Poder del Norte crew are the reason for that, though. Regardless, this was worth checking out even if it was far from what it could have been.

Rating: ***1/2


AAA World Tag Titles: Lucha Bros(c) vs Jinetes del Aire

Vikingo is going to Tony Hawk us one day, people. Here, he teased the Omega match that isn't happening now. This was a balls-to-the-wall tag team match that started hot and stayed there. This is the type of thing that I love to see and they more than delivered. I wish the awful idea of having FTR be the ones to take the straps from Penta and Rey Fenix had been scraped and the belts had changed hands here instead, though. After, Dralistico and Mistico made challenges.

Rating: ****1/4


IWRG Mexico Title: Toxin(c) vs Tonalli

Toxin continues to be one of the most underrated performers in Mexico and Tonalli stepped up nicely here. The pacing had a maturity about it and they played things out nicely, building upwards to a climax. In short, it fucking rocked. Fantastic stuff, for sure.

Rating: ****


I'm going to end my run there today. The Devils took up much of my evening. The damn Jets picked up a win this weekend, but New Jersey wants to deflate me back down. I'll post a new dWo soon.


WEDNESDAY

Why the fuck does Wednesday have so many letters?


Fulgor, Peligro, Rey Halcon vs Eragon, Noicy Boy, Eragon

This was pretty fun stuff. Tech opening stretch and then a series of nice dives and big moves. The finish was botched and felt anticlimactic, though.

Rating: ***1/2


TLC: Toxin, Aster Boy, Legendario vs Los Jauria Jaucan

IWRG can be fucking nuts at times, sometimes so much so that it becomes a disaster. I expected enough professionalism here though, alongside the literal insanity, that I figured a TLC match taking place in Naucalpan had a lot of potential. You'll see things in IWRG that you wont see other places and that's true here for sure. Violent, rough around the edges, lucha libre and it was fantastic!

Rating: ****1/4


NXT UK Women's Title: Meiko Satomura(c) vs Jinny

This was far better than I had expected, and it wasn't just the incredible Meiko that is to thank for it. Jinny looked better than I remembered and she stepped up nicely for sure. They worked hard and pushed each other nicely in a tech based battle for the belt. Great stuff and well worth a watch, even with the typical WWE antics that were tacked on (but left to a minimum).

Rating: ***3/4


So, NXT UK feels a lot like when NXT was a far better show and I personally consider it their A show right now. Note that I also saw Ilja and Rampage's drama spot on the same show that the women's match aired and I enjoyed it well enough. Brown and The Czar face off this week and there's another defense for Meiko, too. 

Read my review of NXT UK 170 over HERE.


World of STARDOM Title: Utami Hayashishita(c) vs Takumi Iroha

This was a fucking masterpiece. I loved the way it developed and built into a war of top shelf performers. Make time to watch this one as soon as you can, even if it's for a rewatch!

Rating: *****


HERE's my review of We are STARDOM!! 98.


I caught the end of Fukigen and Saki beating Queen's Quest on episode 99 which came off like a fun one. I then watched...


Oedo Tai vs Queen's Quest

If anyone can make tag league season work, it's STARDOM. They made it work. Fun, nicely paced tag content that didn't feel like filler. Props. Oh, and this was another good use of a time limit draw. Those are hard to pull off.

Rating: ***1/2


Cosmic Angels vs Donna del Mondo

These four stepped up, too. Very well done tag action that built nicely. The roster is always hitting the gas.

Rating: ***1/2


I'm apparently nuts, HERE is a review of the latest Raw.


THURSDAY

Lets kill off NXT 2.0 for the week before moving forward.


Ladder: Kay Lee Ray vs Dakota Kai

This was a pretty fun ladder match. They ran it as an advantage battle for the upcoming WarGames show. KLR and Kai worked hard to make it not feel like a completely forgettable one.

Rating: ***1/2


Ladder: Johnny Gargano vs Bron Breakker

Like the women's match, this was pretty good. Breakker has a lot of potential but I still have no idea why the fuck they aren't leaning into his real name. Gargano is a dude I've been a big fan of for years and I am excited to see his next chapter.

Rating: ***1/2


Time for some Dynamite pulls from this week's edition. I jumped around a bit but I did watch full content instead of YT uploads this time. I have linked those videos instead though for those wanting to at least watch most of the content I review.


Bryan Danielson vs Alan Angels

Bryan continues his rise nicely and I am really enjoying this. The ride has been awesome so far and this was another solid addition to the angle.

Rating: **1/2


Bryan talked shit after. Silver stopped Adam and ran for him, with Dragon running off. They also aired a decent Miro package.


CM Punk vs Lee Moriarty

MJF joined the table for this one. Apparently Punk was sick last week. This was honestly a decent match and it worked for story development reasons, too.

Rating: **3/4


Solid stuff so far and smart wrestling TV, but nothing on Dynamite has been must-see so far. MJF cut on Punky after. Words were exchanged. That was good stuff. Wardlow worked backup.

A solid Baker and crew backstager ran next.

Adam Cole got a full entrance just to work commentary. Goofy as fuck. He and The Bucks had a moment with Orange that was entertaining enough.

Apparently Nese is getting a short program with Sammy.

I skipped the next two but did see Wardlow squashed a dude and that Sting has some badass facepaint. The closing seconds of that latter match came off decently enough.

2point0 and Garcia beat down Jericho.

Lio Rush is sad.


Kris Stratlander vs Ruby Soho

I might be higher on this than some, but this was pretty fun for me. Ruby and Kris stepped up and now Soho will face Nyla in the next round of the tournament.

Rating: ***1/2


Respect from the faces and an attack from Nyla followed. I hope Ruby wins the TBS strap.


Atlanta Street Fight: Cody Rhodes vs Andrade el Idolo

While a bit rough, and a chunk was missing from my stream, the former issue honestly helped add to the tone of this one in my opinion. I thought this was very good and I even liked the table spot finish. Better than expected. I don't love Cody's booking in AEW all of the time, but I like the dude as a worker especially against the right opponent. Too bad his protective coat didn't work as well as he likely wished it had.

Worth checking out. 

Oh, and that shovel and sledgehammer spot...

Rating: ***1/2


Mochizuki Masaaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Dangan Yankees

This was a great tag team match that saw the ageless Tanaka pick up a big win, setting up a title match down the line (which I will get to soon). Sugiura and Masaaki is also set up here. The fact that only the champ could be considered young doesn't even register watching these dudes work. A nice way to end the day.

Watch this as a primer!

Rating: ***3/4


FRIDAY

On SmackDown, Brock and Zayn shared a trash segment. I'm not going to even link it.


Sasha Banks vs Shayna Baszler

This was okay stuff. Banks is great though so I am not surprised. It got more time than the rest of the card and it seems they used it decently.

Rating: NR


Jey Uso vs King Woods

This was just a building block match. New Day stands tall after. Kofi is back. I didn't know he was gone.

Rating: NR


Sheamus vs Cesaro

While the video is too short to rate, these two are incapable of having a bad match. Note that SD apparently had less than 20 minutes of wrestling across a 2 hour show. This is one that deserved more time.

Rating: NR

This entire episode led to this moment. I've seen some online upset that it is just another showcase for WWE's lack of care.

WWE Universal Title: Roman Reigns(c) vs Sami Zayn

Sami apparently won a battle royal last week and this week he was destroyed. SD is just the Brock and Reigns show and everyone else is just a jobber or a filler feud. Rising tides is always a better choice. Alas, Sami is gone soon anyway.

Rating: NR


TNT Title: Sammy Guevara(c) vs Tony Nese

Nese is a dude that I've found myself enjoying in the past, but I've also never walked away wanting more. In EVOLVE, he was a solid dude. When 205Live was good, he was acceptable, too. I'd admittedly far prefer Murphy to have gotten brought in instead. Still, he is indeed capable of some hits and he and Sammy put in for a pretty good defense here. Worth considering.

Rating: ***1/2


SATURDAY

IWRG Mexico Title: Toxin(c) vs Dick Angelo 3G

Great, crazy lucha action and another fun defense by Toxin.

Rating: ***3/4


SUNDAY

Check out my review of the new Dragongate Cutting Edge Battle!! HERE!


Death Triangle vs FTR

Fenix had visa issues so we got this instead of the promoted match. This was good stuff and a longer match than all of the wrestling that aired on SD this week put together. Still, a bit below what I'd want. Pac was eye-patched here. Black came in for a shit finish and then attacked his eye after. Your mileage will vary.

Rating: ***1/4

Copa Higher Power, Apuesta: IWRG vs Lucha Time

Participants: Aster Boy, Caballero de Plata, Hellboy, Kenji, Lunatik Fly, Sol, Tonalli vs Dick Angelo 3G, Halcon Magico, Legendario, Lunatik Xtreme, Noicy Boy, Puma de Oro, Rey Halcon

Rating: Started, DNF

That's it this week. Thanks for joining me.


PULL LIST

  • IWRG vs Lucha Time Copa Higher Power Apuesta
  • Jauria Jaucan vs Akbal, Caballero de Plata, Mexica
  • SHINGO vs Ishii
  • Tanahashi vs Okada
  • SHINGO vs Sabre Jr.
  • Kota vs Ishii
  • Kota vs SHINGO
  • KENTA vs Sabre Jr.
  • Nomura vs Sekimoto
  • Cobb vs Okada
  • Nakajima vs Tanaka
  • We are STARDOM!! #100
  • Sugiura vs Mochizuki
  • Kenou vs Mochizuki
  • White vs Ishii
  • Okada vs Matthews
  • Baby Star, Sol vs Kenji, Rey Halcon
  • Silver Star vs. Komander
  • El Desperado vs Hiromu
  • DDT YouTube Content
  • PWG Mystery Vortex
  • Ito, Miyu vs Mizuki, Yuka
  • Hiromu vs Ishimori
  • Edwards vs Cardona vs Morrissey
  • Alexander vs Suzuki
  • Turning Point pulls
  • Nakajima vs Kenou
  • Chihiro vs Iroha
  • TripleMania Regia pulls