- Bailey vs Laredo Kid vs Bey vs Austin ***1/2
- Laredo Kid vs Bey ***1/4
- IMPACT World Title: Moose(c) vs Dice NR
- AAA Reina de Reinas/ROH Women's Titles: Rok-C(R) vs Deonna(A) ***1/2
- ROH World Title, Pure Rules: Gresham(c) vs Maclin ***3/4
- Alexander vs Haas **3/4
- SmackDown Tag Titles: Usos(c) vs New Day ****
- WWE Title: Big E(c) vs Rollins vs KO vs Lesnar vs Lashley ****
- Big E vs Lashley vs Rollins vs KO ****
- SmackDown Tag Titles, Street Fight: Usos(c) vs New Day ***1/4
- Big E vs Rollins ***1/2
- Ricochet vs Sheamus ***
- Balor vs Theory **1/4
- Lashley vs Rollins **3/4
- Orton vs Gable **3/4
- Styles vs Theory ***1/2
- Styles vs Waller ***1/4
- WALTER vs Strong ***3/4
- Ricochet vs Sheamus **1/4
- Rollins, KO vs Usos ***
- TNT Title Unification, Ladder: Cody(c) vs Guevara(i) ***3/4
- Wardlow vs Alexander, Dean NR
- Inner Circle vs 2point0, Garcia **
- Lights Out: Cole vs Orange ***1/2
DIGEST
MONDAY
Once again, you can find my pull list HERE.
Why the fuck is AEW's Beach Break in Ohio? During the Winter? Anyway, check out my review of last week's Dynamite HERE and Rampage HERE.
Then, check out my review of IMPACT's Hard to Kill event HERE.
From the preshow of Hard to Kill, I checked out a four way full of dudes that somehow weren't on the main card. I love seeing Speedball on my TV again, by the way. I would also say that I wish this had been an Ultimate X match and have aired on the regular show, but it is what it is. Very good spotfest stuff and worth your consideration.
Lets finish off IMPACT content. Hard to Kill got my attention for sure. I'll try to get to the matches listed above tonight or tomorrow.
Oh, and I thought on the Kenou/Fujita angle. I don't like it. I think it actually hurts everyone involved personally and is a mistake, like when Muto got the gold last year. NOAH can be amazing, but also a headscratcher for sure, too.
My son is sick tonight it seems so it appears I will be awake for now in case he wakes up and needs anything.
Bey and Laredo had another fun one in my first pull from their television tapings. I like seeing LK get wins in general, but I do constantly question what the hell they're doing with Bey. Especially after putting him in Bullet Club, it just seems weird to constantly see him taking L's.
Moose didn't even get dressed to work and squashed Dice next in a title defense. I'm not sure what they plan to do with Zicky, but I honestly don't mind this at all. Morrissey ran off the champ after.
I watched a video from the IMPACT! YouTube that clearly occurred at or near the start of the episode that saw W complaining about Moose. It ended with the ROH dudes destroying D'Lo. It was a sporadic video but I enjoyed it for sure. Check it out HERE.
Rok-C dropped the Ring of Honor Women's belt to Deonna in a pretty good one. Rok-C was fun to watch develop but she clearly has NXT in her sights. She'll do well enough.
The following week, Gresham defended in a pure rules match. It was great. Maclin refused to shake his hand throughout and even after defeat and played from the top a majority. They went David and Goliath a bit here and it worked well. Well worth your consideration.
I then watched Alexander and Haas' match. I had actually started with THIS one, which it looks like I should have watched before the Gresham match, but then after a few minutes it cuts to after this one. Messy.
Haas was obviously a bit off, which was to be expected. This was a technical leaning match, also as expected, with a bit of roughness but it worked for what it was. They shook hands after and then Honor No More attacked. A big brawl occurred that saw Heath, Rhino, Swann, Mack, Sabin, and Alexander standing tall. The Ring of Honor invasion unit had a stare down from the balcony after as Maria officially announced their name to end the segment.
Honestly, I appreciated Haas and Alexander's match and I enjoyed the post stuff. I'll be keeping an eye on it for sure.
TUESDAY
I'll catch up on WWE real quick today.
Day 1 had two matches that caught my eye.
The Usos and New Day have had a lot of great matches over the years. Because WWE's idea of a program is to have rivals face off over and over again and then repeat the same angle shortly after with minor variations, they've actually had a lot of encounters in general. Luckily, they are so damn good at what they do. This one is another fantastic offering from the four. The nearfalls added a nice bit of drama alongside the well-paced action and yeah, it's worth watching for sure. Props to them for once again making the best of another sequel.
Last from the gig, we had an eight minute thrill ride. They pumped pure adrenaline into the five men and what we got was...this. I am not in love with the outcome, but gave up on caring much about such things years ago when it comes to WWE. Still, this really was a fantastic jolt of energy and well worth checking out.
Raw featured a fatal four way follow up number one contender match. It was far longer, but just as good. Car crash entertainment done right, folks. After, Lesnar was shown watching backstage and when asked for a comment deflected to calling out Roman instead.
On SD, another Usos/New Day match. This one was a fun TV street fight but admittedly far below what they did at Day 1. Since 2014, the Usos and New Day have been involved in over 200 matches of different circumstances with each other.
The next week, Lashley told Hurt Business that they can fuck off again (because this is WWE). The clip on YT that I watched then saw Bobby tell Brock that he's been ducking him. They shared some cheap jabs and then as Lesnar was leaving, Cedric and Shelton attacked their former unit leader from behind. They were destroyed for their efforts.
Big E lost clean to Seth in my next pull. The former champ is being filtered back down as Mania nears and Seth is apparently continuing to get pushed. Pretty good work here and an enjoyable TV builder.
Bliss is back it seems. My daughter will be happy.
Next, Sheamus bested Ricochet in an good one. The dynamic really worked well here as they leaned into it nicely.
Roman and Seth shared a moment. Decent stuff. The Usos tried to attack from behind but failed. Their match this weekend should be fun.
Theory and VKM are having a moment still I see. Later in the night, Austin bested Finn in an okay match. Just a touch above average, which is below what either should be doing, but it served largely to pump up AT as he continues to rise and to make Finn's place pretty clear along the way.
Anyone want to see the new GLEAT strap?
What a belt, people. It reminds me a bit of Big Japan's Death gold a bit personally. I don't love it, but it's not the worst in the game right now.
Back to WWE, next we have Lashley and Seth in singles action. Considering the circumstances, it was clear we wouldn't have a clean finish. For a building block match, it was fine. The Hurt Business attacked to force a DQ. Lashley once again turned the tables and destroyed his former unit. Then the Usos took out Seth to end this. Again, it was fine for what it was.
Hey, look...more Bliss. Who doesn't love campy horror shit?
The RKO from the poisonous moustache man to the artist formerly known as Shorty G was pretty sick. The rest of their singles match was solid transitional stuff to keep their program rolling along. Apparently there will be a scooter race soon. Anyone reminded of MVP and Matt Hardy's program?
I'll make time for NXT and NXT UK soon, for the record.
Theory falling to AJ is the last "main roster" content for me right now. Luckily, it was actually pretty good. I appreciated the pacing and back-and-forth action we got here and actually got interested as it went along more than I tend to for most televised WWE things. Props.
Hey look, this week's We are STARDOM!! is out and I reviewed it already over HERE.
NXT's New Year's Evil event got some shine HERE.
Keeping with NXT, we have Styles and Waller. It was better than I expected, to be honest. AJ is, of course, awesome. He made Waller look better than he is here though and it elevated things nicely. Don't get me wrong, though...Grayson has some potential, even if his ceiling is about the same as a dude like Spears, but he's just not there yet either.
After, LA Knight attacked and ran off Grayson.
Last, for now, we have WALTER's final match under that name, until he leaves WWE. He is now using a name that once belonged to...well, go ahead and google if you'd like to know more about that. Here, he and Strong put in for something that would be fine on a special event card, honestly. It was a great, physical battle with...Gunther taking the win and then Imperium standing together as they attacked the fallen Roderick just for the Creed Brothers to even things up as the show closed. Yeah, good stuff overall outside of the awful name change.
It appears I missed some from SD last week that looked interesting.
First, a rematch between Sheamus and Ricochet. Perhaps this one will break out of second gear a bit more. Nope. They got just over three minutes and it was almost a squash with a few steps.
Last from the set, KO and Seth teamed up and came off well as a duo against Jey and Jimmy. It was a good match that could've been a touch better if they instead had a clean finish, some more drama, especially from a near fall, and a bit of fat trimmed off. Alas, it was just good, though. Roman broke this one off.
FRIDAY
As you might have noticed, it's been a long week. I did manage to finish off THIS list of March 1995 matches, though.
Anyway, I jumped to the AEW YouTube page to check out some Beach Break action this morning.
The ladder match was a great spotfest. The cutter was one of the best cutters ever and that cross-rhodes was pretty sick, too. Fun shit and I'm intrigued to see what they do with both now.
The post-match interview from Cody worked well. When done like this, he works best.
MJF and crew beat the shit out of Punk. MJF and CM Punk is apparently finally happening next week.
Someone online apparently marked out big for the Baker segment. Troll stuff, perhaps? Oh well, to each their own. I will say it was a good promo, once again, and worked well overall. My daughter just got a figure of her and I was also wearing my bloody Britt shirt yesterday. We really dig her here in our home.
Wardlow murdered two via powerbomb symphony.
2point0 and Garcia really need to win on Dynamite or Rampage occasionally. Here, they lost to a crumbling Inner Circle. It was okay but more story than anything else.
The main event was a very good, very fun, very evil lights out match. I am a bit surprised Orange won, though he too needs more wins. It happening at the expense of Cole is just a surprise, though. Still, they worked hard and this was entertaining shit for sure.
What they do with Danhausen I am not sure but I'm intrigued.
Oh, and I checked out THIS Black and King video too meant to keep the angle on TV. It was fine.
I feel the TBS run has been a bit below TNT level on average perhaps, but just a hair. Still, a lot of fun shit this week and I bet the 2 hour version went down quick like usual. I'll try to get to more stuff in a bit.
SATURDAY
I've been finishing off some classic content that I had on my backlog.
HERE is some 60's content and HERE is my retro award picks for the decade.
Hey, look! HERE is the same for the 70's matches and HERE is the same for the awards situation.
Also, HERE is a look at a classic cage match with Morton and Flair. RIP Sean.
I'll be back next week. Thank you for reading!
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