Wrestling with Work #28 (AEW Dynamite, Super Jr Tag League, WWE, Impact, ROH, TNA)

With this edition, I’ve decided that I’m going to put a pause on Wrestling with Work for now. I started this to get some reps in with wrestling writing, and I feel that I’ve both done that, and am risking lesser returns by continuing to crank out reviews on a near-daily basis. I may return to the format again when I feel like it, but for now, thanks a lot for reading these.

Ratings

Bullet Club War Dogs vs Ichiban Sweet Boys (NJPW Super Jr Tag League Road To Power Struggle 2023 Night 9)

Rating: **3/4

Intergalactic Jet Setters vs Catch 22 (NJPW Super Jr Tag League Road To Power Struggle 2023 Night 9)

Rating: ***1/4

WWE Tag Team Championships: Cody Rhodes & Goldust (c) vs The Usos vs The Shield (WWE Hell In A Cell 2013)

Rating: ***

The Righteous vs Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal (ROH on HonorClub 11/2/23)

Rating: **1/2

Angelico vs Metalik vs Slim J vs Gringo Loco (ROH on HonorClub 11/2/23)

Rating: ***

Dalton Castle, The Boys, & Gravity vs The WorkHorsemen, Cole Karter & Griff Garrison (ROH on HonorClub 11/2/23)

Rating: **1/2

Reviews

AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs Willow Nightingale (AEW Dynamite 11/1/23)

You’re going to get a certain level of quality from these two and it certainly showed through here. Granted, Shida sometimes moves in slow-motion, but Willow is so good at selling and making her stuff look good that it almost makes up for deficiencies on her opponent’s end. I think they could do a little better, but I’m hardly unhappy with what I got here.

Rating: ***1/4

AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs Claudio Castagnoli (AEW Dynamite 11/1/23)

Now, this is a case where I feel like there was a bit held back, or perhaps my expectations were too high. These two are familiar with each other from the CHIKARA days (a quiet running theme with Orange lately) and have worked very well together, with Claudio being the base to end all bases for Cassidy’s offense. I’m not sure what exactly didn’t click for me this time around, but I had a harder time getting into this than I thought I would at the outset. Claudio is not necessarily the most compelling wrestler on control, especially without much of a story going into this, so I think it was a bit lacking in terms of investment. They pull out some very fun sequences, but I still think these two have a bit better in them for each other.

Rating: ***1/2

Barbed Wire Massacre: Sabu vs Abyss (TNA Turning Point 2005)

Damn, this rocked. There was a long time where I thought Sabu was one of my least-favorite wrestlers, because I hated that he botched all the time and, frankly, took what he could do for granted. I’m leaving that part of myself behind in later years, and I’m doing my best to appreciate what Sabu did, rather than scrutinize what he didn’t do. To this end, Sabu is an absolute maniac in this match, and Abyss isn’t far behind.

One thing that TNA/Impact is underrated in is the type of violent matches they put on. In a wrestling world where WWE offers the safer, family-friendly version of hardcore (and before AEW started dipping its toe into the freak shit on live TV), TNA was bringing the violence in a way that the mainstream North American viewer wasn’t getting. Yes, CZW was bringing all this and more, along with IWA-MS and other deathmatch organizations, but on for-real PPV, Sabu getting front-suplexed onto barbed wire or Abyss getting sandwiched between barbed wire-covered boards was something you weren’t necessarily going to see. Sabu takes some really painful-looking tangles into the wire and Abyss, bless him, is a bump freak that was willing to do so much to get himself and his opponent over. This would ultimately prove to be his downfall and unfortunate calling card, but here in 2005, it looks sick as hell. This is a great, violent fight and deserves to be better remembered.

Shout-out to Abyss’ cool gloves, I wish he had worn those more.

Rating: ***3/4

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Kurt Angle vs Abyss (TNA Turning Point 2008)

Once everyone realized Abyss would take heinous bumps in any and every match, it became a bit eye-rolling to see him put through a table/tacks/glass yet again. However, I can’t deny that the guy was still really good in this environment, and when you have a chameleon like Kurt Angle in the mix, it ends up being pretty damn good.

Angle and Abyss have a big slug-out that sees both of them refusing to stay down, one that features some all-timer bumps from Angle (ie. the infamous Perc Angle running senton off the stage), including an almighty top-rope moonsault onto a chair to Abyss in the center of the ring. It’s not the neatest match in the world, and the crowd brawling takes it down a bit (at least the crowd is rabid), but it’s too much fun to not rate highly.

Rating: ***1/2

TNA World Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns (c) vs Team 3D (TNA Turning Point 2010)

This is way better than I expected it to be! I remembered this as the match that directly leads to Team 3D splitting up, as the Guns kick out of the 3D and Bubba turns on Devon because of it, but man, this match actually kicks ass.

I can hardly believe I’m being so complementary to this era of Team 3D, as they are both so big and slow, usually content to fuck around in garbage brawls. Here, though, they turn it the hell up to match the Guns, and it totally works. It’s funny, because both teams are kinda playing both heel and babyface; they both get hot tags, and it’s hard to know exactly where the allegiances lie. The Guns play up as heels but are naturally likable against the larger Dudleyz, who do all their old crowd-pleaser spots as well as control segments. It’s a sensical way to approach this, as both teams are popular, and the story is both 3D going for their next tag titles, and the Guns surviving an uber-established team.

Survive, they do, as the Guns get their asses kicked but also get to kick out of a 3D, which is treated as a huge deal. I also noticed that both Bubba and Devon do singles variations of a couple of their team moves (Bubba hits a cutter to a rebounding Gun, Devon hits a top-rope headbutt) that you could interpret as foreshadowing their singles runs. Either way, this was so good in a way that I kind of can’t believe, and you should definitely check it out.

Rating: ****

Motor City Machine Guns vs Eric Young & Josh Alexander (Impact Wrestling 11/2/23)

A perfectly solid tag match marred by poor production value. Impact in 2023 normally looks quite good, visually, but something about the cameras and lighting that they used here made it just a bit more physically difficult for me to keep my eyes on. Safe to say that I won’t exactly be prioritizing the UK shows.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c) vs Mercedes Martinez (ROH on HonorClub 11/2/23)

Athena still bringing it, even in the Negative Zone. Her and Mercedes brought a believable roughness to their match that I always appreciate seeing, and although the interference finish isn’t great, it at least leaves Mercedes with a back door to come back at some point. Athena’s case for WOTY continues to grow…

Rating: ***1/2

I have a new project in the works that I’ll be putting together an introduction for soon. Until then, go watch some wrestling!

Wrestling with Work #27 (Super Jr Tag League, TNA Turning Point, Bucks vs MCMG)

An admittedly strange mixed bag of matches today, but I enjoy the variety. It’s like a Party Mix of wrestling!

Ratings

Los Ingobernables de Japon vs Ichiban Sweet Boys (NJPW Super Jr Tag League Road To Power Struggle 2023 Night 8)

Rating: ***1/4

El Desperado & Master Wato vs Just 5 Guys (NJPW Super Jr Tag League Road To Power Struggle 2023 Night 8)

Rating: ***

AJ Styles vs Bobby Roode vs James Storm (TNA Turning Point 2012)

Rating: ***

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match: Austin Aries (c) vs Jeff Hardy (TNA Turning Point 2012)

Rating: **1/2

Reviews

TNA Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs Magnus (TNA Turning Point 2012)

Do you remember that TNA had a television championship? Because I sure didn’t! This is so funny to look back on 10+ years later, especially because Joe himself has swapped one promotion’s TV title for another in that time, and seemingly only gotten better in the ensuing decade. This is a pretty good match, I just wanted to note how funny it is to look back and see the King of TV and the Smackdown GM fight each other.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH World Tag Team Championship: Young Bucks vs Motor City Machine Guns (ROH Death Before Dishonor 2017)

Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, albeit with an unwelcome interference spot from The Addiction near the end. The Bucks and the Guns are two of the best tag teams of the modern era and it’s easy to see why here, with some spectacular sequences that are still jaw-dropping years later (ie. Matt flipping out of a Doomsday Device). Alas, the nature of the ongoing story involving these teams and The Addiction gives way to a silly spot involving both teams stopping wrestling each other to dispose of them, which kills the flow of an otherwise good match. There are likely (certainly) better matches with these two teams facing each other, but it’s still pretty darn good even in a compromised state.

Rating: ***1/2

See ya next time!

Wrestling with Work #25 (Weekend catch-up)

I had a majorly busy weekend, so returning to the wrestling schedule is a welcome bit of normalcy for me. Let’s see what happened over the weekend…

Ratings

Dalton Castle vs Anthony Henry (ROH on HonorClub 10/26/23)

Rating: **1/2

Gravity vs Slim J vs Blake Christian vs Gringo Loco (ROH on HonorClub 10/26/23)

Rating: **1/2

Intergalactic Jet Setters vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2023 Road To Power Struggle Night 5)

Rating: ***1/4

Bullet Club War Dogs vs El Desperado & Master Wato (NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2023 Road To Power Struggle Night 5)

Rating: ***1/2

Bullet Club War Dogs vs Just 5 Guys (NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2023 Road To Power Struggle Night 6)

Rating: ***

Los Ingobernables de Japon vs Catch 22 (NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2023 Road To Power Struggle Night 6)

Rating: ***1/4

Intergalactic Jet Setters vs El Desperado & Master Wato (NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2023 Road To Power Struggle Night 6)

Rating: ***1/2

Reviews

Angelico vs Metalik (ROH on HonorClub 10/26/23)

I appreciate ROH getting as much meat off the Angelico bone as possible currently. Sure, it’s Angelico, but he’s one of the many lower-to-mid-card talent since AEW’s inception that felt like they could have used more of a look in than “wins squash matches.” I imagine the upcoming Kingston match will be a one-and-done, but while we’re on the road there, might as well make the most of it.

Rating: **1/4

Grudge Match: Mike(?) Santana vs Ortiz (AEW Rampage 10/27/23)

I can’t help but look at this as a disappointment. Santana & Ortiz were a fairly hot early signing for AEW’s tag division, but never exactly got their moment in the sun as a team. Their association with Jericho did elevate their standing amongst fans and both continued to show potential in occasional singles opportunities and promos, but they would only become victims of one of AEW’s worst habits, the stop-start booking. Now, these former friends and partners hate each other’s guts and want to settle it in the ring, but it doesn’t exactly feel like the dissolution of a brotherhood in any sense.

It’s not so much that the build has been inconsistent for this match, as there has been interaction and promos over the past couple of months, but it has never come across (to me, at least) as important or even all that heated. Mike Santana (weird name) and Ortiz talk the talk, but something about it never felt like a top priority. Then, once it finally got in the ring, it was just a fairly good match as opposed to a heated friend-vs-friend confrontation. Both are capable performers and put on an entertaining match, but I wasn’t exactly feeling the hate or the animosity radiating off of them. Maybe it’s my fault for not watching the 25 minute YouTube video about their feud, but this ended up being just a match, and it kinda bums me out.

I continue to hope for the best out of both these guys, but it still doesn’t feel like either one will be a priority any time soon.

Rating: ***1/4

Konosuke Takeshita vs Kyle Fletcher (AEW Rampage 10/27/23)

I wish this match was a bit more of Takeshita beating the shit out of Fletcher. That’s not an insult to either, I just think it’s cool when Konosuke Takeshita beats the shit out of people, and Fletcher is good at getting his ass kicked.

Rating: ***1/4

Jay White vs AR Fox (AEW Collision 10/28/23)

Of the ***1/4 matches on AEW this week, this is probably my favorite, a very solid and sound midcard match between two guys who can go. There’s less to complain about or to be left wanting of, it worked well to keep Jay heated but give Fox a bit of shine (speaking of stop-start).

Rating: ***1/4

AEW Women’s World Championship Fright Night Fight: Hikaru Shida (c) vs Abadon (AEW Collision 10/28/23)

One thing about me is that I am an Abadon homer. Ever since their debut on Dark a few years ago, I have always made time for the Abadon squash match, simply because I think their character is cool and I appreciate greatly how closely they adhere to their own performance. This was a fun and silly holiday plunder match with two of my favorites in the women’s division; it wasn’t anything to write home about, technically, but I got what I wanted. Using Double Bubble, the hardest candy known to man, is a well-considered detail for that spot.

Rating: **3/4

AEW World Championship: MJF (c) vs Kenny Omega (AEW Collision 10/28/23)

This is the MJF/Kenny Omega match; nothing more, nothing less. Watching these matches a couple of days removed means that I get to see the instant reactions to them, as well as the reappraisal after initial thought. This was bound to be praised to the heavens by many at first, and I have seen some critique after the clarion call of support for it, but ultimately, I think this is what it is.

MJF and Omega are two very flashy, technically-sound in-ring wrestlers. This match was always going to have a level of quality to it from that perspective that is, to me, undeniable. I read a great Tweet over the weekend about how MJF’s style is greedy in that he tries to be every type of wrestler at once, a point that I agree with, but he’s young enough and seemingly focused enough to mostly pull it off at times (which can make it all the more frustrating). As well, despite his age, Omega is still Omega, and has a big match mode where he can still absolutely bring it.

Kenny is also someone who doesn’t always have great ideas, but seems to do well in leading younger talent to a better match. In that way, this match reminds me of my favorite Omega match of this year, him against Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom. I remember mildly dreading that match before it happened, but as I recall, it ended up being a fairly focused, if long, match that told its story well and kept the indulgent spots limited. This Collision match feels similar, it just doesn’t have as good of a run-up as the Wrestle Kingdom match, and little in its proceedings especially reflected the incoming angle (MJF overtaking Omega’s world title record).

That’s what ultimately holds it back, despite being quite good: Despite the “[x] days, bitch” aspect of it, nothing about this match demonstrated to me that this was anything other than “big main event match for a world title.” That’s a fine story, tale as old as time, but there’s nothing special about it. Omega and MJF had exactly the match you picture in your head when you think of the moves and sequences they could do together. Good on them, it worked fine; it’s just not anything beyond that.

Rating: ****

Phew, okay, now I’m almost caught up. Catch-up continues tomorrow with the NJPW STRONG show…

Wrestling with Work #20 (Impact, ROH, WWE Evolution, Funk vs Hart)

A few catch-up items before a big weekend, plus a very interesting item from the ol’ Watch Later list.

Ratings

“Speedball” Mike Bailey vs Samuray Del Sol (Impact Wrestling 10/19/23)

Rating: ***1/4

Gravity vs Angelico (ROH on HonorClub 10/19/23)

Rating: ***

Komander vs Metalik (ROH on HonorClub 10/19/23)

Rating: **3/4

Gates of Agony vs The WorkHorsemen vs Action Andretti & Darius Martin (ROH on HonorClub 10/19/23)

Rating: **1/2

Trish Stratus & Lita vs Mickie James & Alicia Fox (WWE Evolution)

Rating: **1/4

Reviews

No DQ Match: Crazzy Steve vs Black Taurus (Impact Wrestling 10/19/23)

Here’s a case of someone I want to like, and someone I want to be elsewhere. I’m actually a pretty good fan of Impact Wrestling since last year, I’ve really enjoyed the wrestling it’s put on and how it’s picked itself up from the floor to become a solid, steady promotion.

There are still some guys who have been there through the tough times, including Crazzy Steve, who is the person I wish I liked more. I think his aesthetic is really interesting, I like the horror references he’s worked into his gear and look, but I have a hard time getting into what he’s doing. I think it’s the common problem where mainstream wrestling can only go so far; as much as he wants to be a horror movie villain, you know he’s not gonna kill anybody or get too bloody, so much like The Fiend character, it’s hard to really suspend disbelief with what he does. He’s also terminally fine as a wrestler, never rising above acceptable.

Frequently rising above acceptable, and directly into my heart, is Black Taurus. Taurus has impressed me from the first time I saw him a few years ago, from basically every aspect of his game. He’s an exciting wrestler who’s fun to watch, his look is awesome, and I enjoy him practically any time I see him. As much as I like Impact, it is still a relatively minor stage in American wrestling, and Taurus is someone that I feel could really turn a lot of heads if only more people saw him. I’m certainly not privy to any backstage or political reasoning why Taurus has not shown up on AEW when many other luchadors have, but I would just love for him to get a great run somewhere that isn’t Impact, as they seem to only want him at a very specific, limited capacity.

Rating: **3/4

No DQ Match: Terry Funk vs Bret Hart (Terry Funk Presents Wrestle Fest: 50 Years Of Funk)

This one is a real vibes-based gem. It’s a curiosity of its time, with ECW’s Terry Funk facing the WWF Champion Bret Hart in a show featuring talent from both shows. Even better, the version I’m watching is recorded on a good-not-great consumer-grade camera, so the whole thing has a yellowed visual that gives it an archival feel when watching it. The mechanics of the match aren’t super impressive to me, but it’s just an interesting collision of two of the all-time greats, gathered together to celebrate Terry Funk, in some of the same footage that you would see later in Beyond The Mat.

Rating: ***1/2

Have a good weekend!

Wrestling with Work #15 (AEW, NXT, ROH)

I wasn’t able to watch the Tuesday Night Wars live, but I followed along on Twitter and wanted to zero in on the matches that seemed up my alley. I also forgot to watch ROH last week, so might as well knock that out, too.

Pub Rules: Gallus vs Tyler Bate & The Brawling Brutes (NXT 10/10/23)

Rating: **3/4

Rocky Romero vs Christopher Daniels (ROH on HonorClub 10/5/23)

Rating: ***

Satoshi Kojima vs Tony Nese (ROH on HonorClub 10/5/23)

Rating: ***

Four-Corner Survival: Shane Taylor Promotions vs Iron Savages vs Griff Garrison & Cole Karter vs The WorkHorsemen (ROH on HonorClub 10/5/23)

Rating: **1/2

Gravity, Komander, & Metalik vs Gringo Loco & Spanish Announce Project (ROH on HonorClub 10/5/23)

Rating: **3/4

NXT Championship: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs Dominik Mysterio (NXT 10/10/23)

I’m generally a fan of the direction for “Dirty” Dom right now, but if I’m being honest, he hasn’t progressed from an in-ring standpoint the way he should be at this point. I never thought he was dead-in-the-water, as some seemed to write him off as initially, but his in-ring style comes across very limp and lifeless. He doesn’t seem to be naturally athletic or especially gifted in that sense, so even against a real horse like Ilja, the latter can only get him so far. This is hardly an observation unique to me, but it paired well with something I was struck by in the main event below.

Rating: ***

Bron Breakker vs Carmelo Hayes (NXT 10/10/23)

This was fairly well talked up by everyone who prioritized NXT last night, but it didn’t quite do it for me as the big main event between, ostensibly, your two top guys. I like both of these guys fine and they are athletic with fairly understandable personas, but…I dunno, it just doesn’t move me. It’s a very WWE main event, in that we move to each spot or set-piece in turn, with not much attention paid to the things in between to make it mechanically cohesive (I am very smart). What I was left with was a BIG MATCH that felt like any other Takeover main event of the past 2 years or so, fine in the moment but lacking in staying power.

What I want to bring back to my point about Dominik Mysterio is that, for all of those years spent making marginal strides by fans and true masters of the craft employed by WWE to enhance the in-ring style by an appreciable margin, matches like these remind me that we never really left the WWE way of doing things. You can have guys like Hayes and Breakker do all kinds of athletic/spectacular/innovative spots or moves, but the focus is never on what make those moves make sense, or why a character would choose to do that in the moment. The focus is on the characters, with the actual in-ring wrestling still existing as a means to an end.

Such a philosophy is not inherently wrong, and hey, it’s working gangbusters for WWE, but it’s not what I’m personally interested in, and I also think it’s rather wasteful. We have a deluge of wrestlers working across the world right now whose floor starts at “good” and only goes up from there. They all want to make money, but many of them want to do so while improving their craft, getting better at doing the thing they love to do. However, within the bounds of a bloated corporate entity like WWE, growth (or rather, growth not approved within a specific vision) is discouraged because there’s not a lot of money to be made in someone changing, for better or worse. WWE will always be what it is, even if the names and faces change and even as we all get older.

Rating: ***1/4

ROH World Championship & NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Eddie Kingston (c) vs Minoru Suzuki (AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday Buy-In 10/10/23)

Better writers than me have exposed my eyes to the Minoru Suzuki Travelling Match and I can’t unsee it anymore. This was a good one of those, but it was still One Of Those.

Rating: ***1/2

Swerve Strickland vs Bryan Danielson (AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday 10/10/23)

This section will essentially be a longer piece, broken into two sections via a heading, because these two matches are thematically connected to each other.

When I wrote about the NXT matches above, I talked about the lack of cohesion and connective tissue between the big moments in the matches. This match, and the one below it, exist as a timely counterpoint to that style of television wrestling, in that both of these excel in the in-between moments that don’t just make a match more interesting to watch, but inform it from a storytelling perspective and tell us about who the characters are that we are watching and, more importantly, why we should care.

In this first one, Bryan Danielson continues his hot streak with a rising star in Swerve Strickland, who just recently proved how good he can be in-ring with an excellent outing against Hangman Page. Here, Swerve is once again the tricky and dastardly heel to Danielson’s inherently likable master wrestler character, and the struggle between both forces is immediate and compelling. Swerve can’t quite beat Bryan straight up, so he resorts to heel tactics to narrow the gap. Swerve can wrestle quite well, but if he cheats, he doesn’t have to and get (hopefully) the same result.

The rest is just really good televised pro wrestling. Bryan is great at anything he does, and Swerve is well into his role as upper mid-card heel, hopefully on the ascent toward the main event. Bryan’s win is a bit predictable, as he is far more likely to be put against uber-heel Christian Cage for the TNT Championship, but when a match is this good, it’s hardly worth complaining about. Bryan’s WOTY case grows stronger every week.

Rating: ****

Hangman Page vs “Switchblade” Jay White (AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday 10/10/23)

Again, as above, really strong televised professional wrestling between two characters you can read in a second. The valiant and tough Hangman Page stands against the elusive and nasty Jay White, the latter of whom is in direct line for a title shot. Their approach to a longer match is a bit more textbook than Bryan and Swerve, but my god, does it work. White can’t beat Page straight up, as he is outmatched for power and technique from the get-go, so White creates an opening by targeting Page’s knee, which simultaneously nerfs Hangman’s power game and allows White to continue his assault by exploiting the new weakness. What’s more, White is backed up by the rest of Bullet Club Gold, who run interference, and the win comes from a sucker shot by Prince Nana, manager of Page’s rival Swerve. No amount of guts can overcome all of these odds, making Page look like a hero for facing the odds at all, and White look all the smarter for stacking the deck so well in his favor.

You see what you can get out of one match when the performers actually care about what goes into it, and are allowed to make of it what they wish? Yes, there are degrees to this in every company, WWE included, but as I said earlier, I’m far more interested in wrestling telling its stories both in-ring and outside it, as opposed to just the latter with the former being window dressing. I didn’t necessarily have a dog in the fight of Tuesday night, but I know which company gave me what I’m looking for in a wrestling product.

Rating: ****

ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (c) vs Leyla Hirsch (ROH on HonorClub 10/5/23)

Couldn’t believe that I nearly missed this one, but the point is that I got there at all. Athena, like others in the AEW sphere, is on a career run as the nasty heel champion in ROH, and has been turning away challengers in entertaining matches and squashes that continue to cement her character. Here, she’s up against Leyla Hirsch, a talent that should be seeing greater success, but an ill-timed injury and corporate re-shuffling of assets has left her in the lurch. This felt like a welcome return to form for Hirsch, who is someone I’ve enjoyed seeing practically any time she wrestles. Athena is a great heel foil and communicates well with her expressions and heel work how she is making her challengers work for every inch, a great boon for the explosive Hirsch. A shame that this was assigned to the ROH death spot, as more people should see it, and should be seeing why Athena is often the best thing going there.

Rating: ***3/4

Cool! Hope you enjoyed the read. I have some classic reviews and ratings that didn’t fit into this piece, so check those out here. See ya!

Wrestling with Work #13 (Weekend catch-up)

Hello! Catching up on some of the matches I was interested in from the weekend shows. I watched half of Fastlane on Saturday and found it dull. I’ll be digging into the NJPW Sunday show tomorrow. I’m also continually futzing with the layout of these write-ups, so here, I’m putting ratings-only matches up top and my one mini-essay at the bottom for what is intended to be reader ease.

Austin Theory vs Dragon Lee (WWE Smackdown 10/6/23)

Rating: **1/2

Penta El Zero Miedo vs Johnny TV vs Lince Dorado vs Komander (AEW Rampage 10/6/23)

Rating: **3/4

ROH World Championship: Eddie Kingston (c) vs Komander (AEW Collision 10/7/23)

Rating: ***

Strong Style vs Yuji Nagata, Master Wato, & Shota Umino (NJPW Road to Destruction 10/7/23)

Rating: ***1/4

Bryan Danielson vs Kyle Fletcher (AEW Collision 10/7/23)

I have been a bit hard on Kyle Fletcher since Aussie Open began to really catch fire as a team. I like him and Mark Davis fine together, I think they’re good at what they do, but I was concerned with the way their matches are often laid out as they tended to carry a sort of, for lack of a better term, Will Ospreay-like quality to them. Fletcher singularly, as well, given the similarity in their appearances and move-sets. They’re always good to pack in a lot of moves and a shit-load of kick-outs, but I find a lot of even the best matches of theirs tend to slide off my brain after a while.

I had practically written off Fletcher as an intermediate step between Nick Wayne and Ospreay, but I gotta say, Dragon gave me pause here. I’ve seen a lot of funny “complaints” about how Danielson in AEW is far too generous with who he puts over, seemingly incapable of throwing his political weight around akin to Chris Jericho, despite how obviously it would rule if he became world champion. The obvious positive of this generosity is inherent, though, in matches like this where one of the greatest wrestlers of all time puts an opponent in a situation they’re not used to, and helps them to thrive.

Yes, Fletcher is an athletic and exciting wrestler, but what really impressed me in this match was how much more dimension he seemed to have when he slowed down to meet Danielson’s pace. When Fletcher goes for submissions here, it doesn’t feel as out-of-place as it should, and it also informs his young upstart character to want to try and trade holds with a demigod of the mat like Danielson. Stranger still is that Fletcher largely succeeds against Danielson with this strategy, but the veteran Dragon is able to use his wiles and intelligence to outmaneuver the rookie in key ways, including to grab a flash pin for the win.

Danielson squeaks out a win against a game Fletcher, which is a tremendous put-over for the youngster, and does so in a match that certainly turned my head toward someone I was perhaps unjustly prejudiced against. Time will tell how Fletcher pans out, but this was a step in the right direction at the hands of a master.

Rating: ***1/2

Destruction lies in wait tomorrow. Until then!

Wrestling with Work #4 (Impact, ROH, STARDOM)

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: **

Team Canada & America’s Most Wanted vs The Design, Kenny King, & Sheldon Jean (Impact Wrestling 1000 9/21/23)

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

Wrestling with Work #3 (AEW Dynamite, WWE, TNA, STARDOM, AJPW)

Phew, a full docket today! Scroll down for the previous entries, we’re hitting a lot of stops today, so let’s not waste time.

Title vs Title: Claudio Castagnoli [ROH] vs Eddie Kingston [NJPWS] (AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 9/21/23)

A feel-good win for an all-time struggler. Due to the time limitations and the story they went with, it’s not as good as their main event earlier this year, but the sheer feel-goodery of it is undeniable. Kawada telling Eddie to win with a powerbomb is the kind of wrestling LORE that I have a lot of time for.

Rating: ***1/2

Chris Jericho vs Sammy Guevara (AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 9/21/23)

Messy, but had a moment or two of promise. Sammy is an impressive athlete, but still has so much trouble making any of his matches stick in memory, while Jericho is practically washed, looking embarrassing here in a couple of parts. They clearly wanted this to be something, but I felt nothing watching this aside from a couple of snickers.

Rating: **1/2

AEW International Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs Rey Fenix (AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 9/21/23)

Now, Moxley’s concussion issue likely colored how this match unfolded, so I’m not judging this matchup solely on this one outing. That said, I felt like these two didn’t really gel in the way you’d want them to, leading to spots that felt repeated and disjointed. There’s still some fun parts here and there, but an ill first step to what I assume will be a rematch down the road.

Rating: **3/4

AEW Women’s World Championship: Saraya (c) vs Toni Storm (AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 9/21/23)

Easily Saraya’s best singles match since returning. Toni is on an all-time run with her Norma Desmond character, and it thankfully translates to her ring work, giving her matches some needed extra spice. The Storm Zero near-fall was really good.

Rating: ***

AEW World Championship: MJF (c) vs Samoa Joe (AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 9/21/23)

Samoa fucking Joe. MJF is no slouch from an in-ring perspective, but Joe feeling himself while kicking his ass was just sublime. The eyes rolling in the back of his head or him yelling in triumph filled my soul. It also felt very good, as a light MJF hater, to see him get his ass absolutely kicked. His “heel” tactics worked for me, as did the finish. This was just a great piece of pro wrestling, a PPV-caliber TV main event.

Rating: ****

Smackdown Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair vs Natalya (WWE Hell in a Cell 2017)

These two always work quite well together. I found it interesting to see Charlotte really committing as best she can to a limb work match; while she puts a respectable effort into selling the leg throughout, she can’t quite adapt herself to it in the way a smart babyface might. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a failing, she’s cocky and proud even as a babyface, but continuing to use the damaged leg makes her look a bit dumb. By the time the DQ finish happened, I was interested to see more.

Rating: ***1/2

Full Metal Mayhem: Bully Ray vs Jeff Hardy (TNA Impact 5/11/13)

I should have known what I was getting into with this. I thought I’d throw it on to see if this was perhaps fun or maybe with a few cool spots, but nah, this is a waste of time. Both these guys are still wrestling a decade later, despite being varying degrees of past-it here. A lot of boring, pedestrian “extreme” spots, lowlighted by this all-time bad sell from Bubba: https://imgur.com/jXk1Iem

Rating: *3/4

NJPW Strong Women’s Championship: Giulia (c) vs Yuu (STARDOM X STARDOM 2023 ~Osaka Summer Team~)

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of STARDOM, but I’m always open to watching a match from them, as their talent pool is strong. Here, I was pleased to see a physical mismatch with Giulia taking on Yuu, the latter of whom might be my new favorite wrestler. Yuu appropriately shrugged off Giulia’s offense and looked cool as hell doing it; it was a bit hard to buy Giulia coming back and winning, but it was a good ride all the same.

Rating: ***1/2

IWGP Women’s Championship: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs Utami Hayashishita (STARDOM X STARDOM 2023 ~Osaka Summer Team~)

This was very good, albeit it’s somewhat indictative of the things that make it hard for me to invest in a STARDOM main event match. Both women are very capable and hit some real whopper moves throughout while cutting a quick pace, but a lot of times, the matches feel like moves on top of moves with not much connecting them. I also got a bit tired of Iwatani’s dead-fish selling in the back half. Hayashishita has really impressed me in nearly every facet this year and I’m pleased to see her get this spot.

Rating: ***3/4

Hiromu Takahashi vs RISING Hayato (AJPW Giant Series 2023 9/3/23)

A decent one-off akin to a Best of the Super Juniors mid-tournament main event. I’ve seen Hayato once or twice before this, he seems decent but I didn’t get much of an impression off of him here. So weird to see Hiromu assume an elder statesman role in a match like this, I think of him as eternally 21 years old.

Rating: ***

CC’s Burnt Disc Wrestling Vol. 1

You know me, I love a project.

After the PWG series (which you can read all of in the posts below), I find myself without a direction to my wrestling watching in my free time; thankfully, that didn’t last, as I dug up a collection that brought back a memory or two.

In the early 2010’s, I made a wrestling friend through the person I was dating at the time. This guy was as hardcore of a fan as I was; hell, more so, since he not only owned a lot more memorabilia than I did, but he also trained to be a wrestler! I thought he was super cool and, in hindsight, I wish we had hung out more.

One day, he decided to get rid of some of his wrestling stuff and I, being a dude in his early 20’s living at home, volunteered to take some of it off his hands. I wound up with a huge box filled with old toys, VHS tapes, and a roll of burnt DVDs. He and I have long since lost touch and the toys and tapes are largely gone, but I always held onto the discs, for some reason. I think I always figured I’d get around to them.

Well, it only took about 12 years and you know me, I do love a project.

Instead of doing Project: Wrestling Guerrilla-style write-ups about these ones, though, I decided to dive into a medium I always enjoy: Twitter threads! I do love reading tweets from wrestling accounts doing watches of old shows and seeing something I’ve never seen before from years ago. Whether it’s a match I can’t believe ever happened, a wild spot from a forgotten name, or just something genuinely timeless, I have a good time with those and I wanted in.

Below are links to the Twitter threads I created for these shows, so that you can read my potted thoughts from back-to-front on each disc. It was a lot of fun to spend an afternoon dropping into an old show and creating screenshots and GIFs of my favorite moments. I hope you enjoy the reads and, hopefully, this won’t be the last one of these collections I make for this blog.

CZW vs ROH (Disc 1)
Super J Cup 1994
Dragon Gate Rainbow Gate 2009 Night 3
NJPW Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-Jo Hall (2009)
NJPW G1 Climax 2009 ~ New Lords, New Laws ~ Nights 4-8 (2009)
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom IV (2010)

Finally, I’d like to culminate this with a little playlist of my most favorite matches from the above threads. Links to the matches where available:

1. Samoa Joe vs Necro Butcher (IWA Mid-South Something To Prove)
2. Jushin Thunder Liger vs Hayabusa (Super J Cup 1994)
3. Jushin Thunder Liger vs The Great Sasuke (Super J Cup 1994)
4. Go Shiozaki vs Kazuchika Okada (NJPW Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-Jo Hall)
5. Takashi Sugiura vs Hirooki Goto (NJPW Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-Jo Hall)
6. Togi Makabe vs TAJIRI (NJPW G1 Climax 2009 ~ New Lords, New Laws ~ Night 5)
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Masato Tanaka (NJPW G1 Climax 2009 ~ New Lords, New Laws ~ Night
8. Shinsuke Nakamura vs Togi Makabe (NJPW G1 Climax 2009 ~ New Lords, New Laws ~ Night 8)
9. Shinsuke Nakamura vs Yoshihiro Takayama (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom IV)