It’s a busy Friday for me, but never too busy for wrestling. I hope you have a good weekend ahead of you. Here we go.
ROH Pure Championship: Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs Nick Wayne (ROH on HonorClub 9/21/23)
It does me good to see Shibata dust this fool. I’m learning to overcome my bias against Nick Wayne (mixed feelings on underage wrestlers/grossly over-hyped/Ospreay tendencies) and I am hopeful that his position in AEW will afford him valuable experience as he figures himself out. It certainly worked on me to see him ape the Shibata corner dropkick and pose, so points for making me want to see him be killed.
Rating: ***
Mercedes Martinez vs Trish Adora (ROH on HonorClub 9/21/23)
Checking in on two strong talents here. Mercedes is still so good and it’s too bad that injury and ROH being what it is never set her up for greater heights. Adora is at least getting more looks in, along with the association with the Infantry getting her more TV time, so I’m looking forward to a breakout opportunity from her. A fine squash.
Rating: **1/2
ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c) vs Angelina Love (ROH on HonorClub 9/21/23)
Certainly a curiosity, especially as Love has appearances on two “competing” programs on the same night. It at least differentiated itself from other Athena micro-matches in that Love tried to out-heel her, as the ongoing minion storyline with Billie Starkz continues to play out. I’m happy that Athena has something going on besides roughing up jobbers on the weekly, but it still feels like she’s being kept in check on the least-important TK show.
Rating: **1/2
El Hijo Del Vikingo, Gravity, & Metalik vs Spanish Announce Project & Tony Nese (ROH on HonorClub 9/21/23)
A fun enough Dark/Dark Elevation-style comedy tag. I know we have hours to fill up here and guys to justify the contracts of, but having Vikingo in on this feels a tiny bit insulting for him.
Rating: **1/4
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: Mogul Embassy (c) vs The Infantry & Willie Mack (ROH on HonorClub 9/21/23)
I decided to check this one out hoping for a fun and frivolous six-man sprint, which this kinda was, I guess. Some disparate parts in this based on my personal feelings: I like Willie Mack a lot and he’s still a fun and explosive wrestler; I want to like Gates of Agony more than I actually do, but I keep hoping for them to improve with time; Brian Cage is Brian Cage, take that as you will; The Infantry is a nothing-burger of a tag team that do absolutely nothing for me. This had its moments but won’t be remembered.
Rating: **1/2
Ultimate X: Ace Austin vs Zachary Wentz vs Rich Swann vs Alan Angels vs “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs Samuray del Sol (Impact Wrestling 1000 9/21/23)
I feel like Ultimate X has lost its luster by now. It’s still never a bad thing to put a bunch of your fastest and most dynamic wrestlers in one match, but it’s rare that Ultimate X truly impresses or leaves much on your memory. Like WWE’s annual match types, you just let the pretty moves wash over you and have an okay time. Good for Alan Angels.
Rating: **3/4
Dirty Dango vs Jake Something (Impact Wrestling 1000 9/21/23)
This was purely for the nostalgia of the Fox Box. Nothing match for Something.
Rating: **
One of Impact 1000’s pure nostalgia-bait matches. This one didn’t really get me there because we’ve already had the novelty of AMW reuniting fairly recently, so there wasn’t much ground left to tread in seeing them wrestle again. Very nice to see Chris Harris back in the ring, but also lacking in substance.
Rating: **
Josh Alexander vs Trey Miguel (Impact Wrestling 1000 9/21/23)
An archetypical GLM (Good Little Match). Alexander and Miguel work well together and do their best with the time and trajectories they have, but it can’t/isn’t meant to reach the heights these two can have against one another. A perfectly acceptable 10 minute match.
Rating: ***
Knockouts 10-Woman Tag (Impact Wrestling 1000 9/21/23)
The more successful nostalgia tag of this episode. Unlike AMW, it actually is more of a novelty to see Gail Kim and Awesome Kong hit their spots, the former of whom is still quite impressive. Not to bag on Kong, she can still hit her spots and give her trademark expressions, so she’s good for it as long as her opponents are. Everyone else held up their end; special shout-out to my girl Gisele Shaw for her great over-the-top fear sell of Kong. Glad we can celebrate a women’s division as openly as we can with TNA/Impact.
Rating: ***
NJPW Strong Women’s Championship: Giulia (c) vs Risa Sera (STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 – 5 STAR Special in Hiroshima)
STARDOM upper card matches are usually a base level of acceptable, as this one was, but a couple of things were off about it. Seeing Risa Sera for the first time, there were a couple of things I liked about her (facial expressions, the Kryptonite Krunch through the table), but she and Giulia had their momentum severely halted in the back half by a botch. From that point on, a fine-to-good match was nearly ruined outright, as both seemed especially awkward around each other before the match ended a few minutes later. A shame for a match that started out good.
Rating: ***1/4
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