Red's Wrestling Blog

Matches: From New Beginning in Hiroshima Night One, 02/10 1.IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Hiromu(c) vs SHO **** From New Beginning in Hiroshima Night Two, 02/11 2.IWGP Heavyweight/Intercontinental Titles: Kota(c) vs SANADA ***1/2 From STRONG Episode 29, 02/26 4.IWGP US Title: Moxley(c) vs KENTA ***3/4 From Castle Attack Night One, 02/27 5.White vs Ishii ****1/4 Thoughts: Moving along with New Japan, and we have five for the month of February that caught my eye. Up first, Hiromu, my favorite junior worker, defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against quickly rising star, SHO! It was fantastic stuff with both looking like stars. SHO might be main eventing the Dome in 5 years. Hiromu, well I fear he'll be Ishii'd, but the dude is forever one of my all-time favorites no matter what. Kota and SANADA had a very good title match, but one that didn't hit the levels I expected. SANADA can be a bit hit or miss for me, admittedly. This was underwhelming ultimately and I

Magic: The Gathering is the original trading card game. Literally, it's the one that started the craze that still exists today to a level that has required stores to limit or completely stop sales for safety reasons. Combining the talent and intelligence of chess with the luck of poker, MTG is the ultimate game of chance for nerds that love to challenge others as much as they do themselves. I just sadly took far too long to fully embrace that. See, I have some history with the game. Back in high school, for example, I remember owning a few cards that I picked up here and there. My pals mainly played Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I still had a small assorted collection. I loved the concept even if I rarely got to actually do anything with the cards and I honestly wish I had leaned more into it at the time. Of course, not that it mattered. Around that same time the televised panic game that is main stream media mixed with assorted egomaniacal religious figures decided that they had some free time t

The Ancient Terror stood, with The Elder Pillar Staff firm in hand, overlooking the field below. His power had grown to near absolute and the battle before him was being essentially manipulated by an invisible appendage of the dark, towering beast. The Staff he welded had been manipulated to his will and no longer was recognizable in this form to its prior image. Blackened to a shade of near-perfect dark with a noticeable twist creating various splinters to grow outward. A gem rest on top, giving off a faint light. Fitted in seemingly unorganized fashion all around the staff, three rings also gave off a light of their own. The monstrosity was the oldest living being still alive and in a deep knowledge there was also a near ego. When you have seen it all, the future is all but predictable, right!? A battle of all races and he had his favorites. The ones he deemed most worthy of sharing the land with him once it was over.  And they were winning...

Matches: From AAA 03/11 1.Jinetes del Aire vs Taurus, Abismo Negro Jr ***3/4 2.Los Mercanarios, Chessman vs Psycho Circus ***1/2 From IWRG 03/14 3.Especie Maligna, Halcon Magic vs Legendario, Lunatik Fly **** 4.Dick Angelo 3G, Sobredosis, Fulgor I vs Gravity, Puma de Oro, Cabellero de Plata *** 5.Black Terry, Heddi Karaoui vs Veneno, Toxin ***1/2 Thoughts: We start this one with two from AAA. The first was great, high speed spotfest fun. The second was pretty good chaos. Both were worth seeing if you enjoy that kind of thing. Like, you know, if you're not a square *draws rectangle in the air because fuck everything* A smoke filled ring to start next, and a match that built beautifully and far exceeded my expectations next. You'll never see an IWRG match that is high quality from in a polished form, but when things click they fucking click and this fucking clicked. Bitchin' tag team shit. Dicks. Heels. RUDOS. Full display, even botching a save spot because they're just g

I've long been an admirer and dedicated fan to Toby Driver and consider his work output to sincerely be some of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. The love I have for his projects started with maudlin of the well, specifically when I first heard Bath while in college. I was already a big fan of various progressive artists, like Coheed & Cambria, The Mars Volta, and Between the Buried and Me, but during those years I found myself seeking out anything I could that pushed the envelope and maudlin stood out as one of the pillars of that concept. That niche. Yes, maudlin was simply an artistic vision and the catalog attached is revolutionary. That said, I previously had never actually heard their debut. I have no idea why, especially because I have heard the other full length releases and loved them. Same with most of the releases from follow up project, Kayo Dot. I finally fixed that mistake. My Fruit Psychobells...A Seed Combustible is a starting point. Not just the fi

Matches: From AAA 02/04 1.Abismo Negro Jr, Texano Jr vs Octagon Jr, Laredo Kid ***1/2 2.Taurus vs Hijo del Vikingo *** From CMLL 02/06 3.Best 2/3 Falls: Soberano Jr vs Virus ***3/4 From AAA 02/07 4.Arez, Latigo vs Laredo Boy, Drago Kid ***1/2 5.AAA Cruiserweight Title: Laredo Kid(c) vs Aramis vs Octagon Jr ****1/4 6.Arez, Chik Tormenta vs La Parkita, Drago Kid *** 7.Fenix, Laredo Kid vs Abismo Negro Jr, Taurus **** Thoughts: The first lucha pull of the set was pretty good stuff that provided solid entertainment in its simplicity. A good throwaway spotfest. Second, we had a good match that should have been so much more. Pacing issues and interference kept it from reaching true potential, but there was good stuff for sure to be seen mixed within. Up third, a great CMLL three fall match between one of the best technical wrestlers of all time against a dude that is truly amazing when he's dialed in. The funny thing is, despite my rating, I'd say these two were holding back a lot. W

Matches: 1.Norton vs Shark NR 2.Guerrero vs Pillman ***1/4 3.Hawk vs Big Bubba *1/4 4.Sting vs Hogan ** Thoughts: This week's episode kicked off with big boys brawling. It was short, but not terrible, and honestly it got things off with an adrenaline boost so it was fine for what it was. The second match was actually fairly good. Promoted as Flair vs Eddy, they switched it when RF said Guerrero was beneath him. Guerrero winning might be a set up for story stuff hopefully, but really this entire section of the episode was enjoyable. A rematch please, oh Gods of what's already happened! Our semi this week was basically time filler stuff. Meh. It was ok. Sting, wearing the red and yellow, faced Hogan in our main event of the week. Macho came out to Hulk's tunes while Hogan slowly came out through the crowd wearing that shitty mask from last week. Instead of capitalizing off of the moment, it just led to a simple start. What the fuck? What followed was a match that is definitiv

Matches: From DDT New Year Special! 01/03 1.DAMNATION vs HARASHIMA, Brookes, Higuchi ***3/4 From TJP Joshi Pro '21, 01/04 2. Itoh vs Miyu  **** 3.Princess of Princess Title: Yuka(c) vs Rika *** From NOAH Higher Ground Night One, 01/10 4.GHC Jr Heavyweight Title: Harada(c) vs Ohara ***1/2 5.Kongo vs Go, Marufuji, Sugiura, Kaito ****1/4 Thoughts: The Wrestle Universe umbrella is easily one of the most entertaining things in the world, so I'm overdue to catch up. I really do love these rosters. Up first, we had a great six-man. Solid flow and nice action, moving along nicely and everyone looked good throughout. Hino being with DAMNATION is gold, by the way. The next match was a  fantastic battle between TJP ace, Mayu, and everyone's loveable murder-midget, Itoh! I appreciated the pacing here and the work in general, as well as the well done finish. They clearly wanted to make Maki look good while still putting over the almighty Miyu. The show's main event was good but admi