Fastlane Predictions

It's WWE's old faithful booking idea. Do the same match, over and over and over again until we're all sick of it. This will be the fifth encounter between Alberto Del Rio and Kalisto in under two months. They usually have good, but not great matches. I expect more of the same here. Unfortunately, these two were bumped to the Kickoff show, because the US Title isn't as important as the terrible Wyatt Family six man tag apparently. This is a tough call. Part of me sees Kalisto retaining because if he loses, his reigns seem worthless. I could see Del Rio winning and the WWE going back to the Lucha Dragons. I'm gonna be optimistic and say Kalisto retains.

Winner: Kalisto

When I attended the live NXT shows in Ohio last year, one person who had to unfortunately miss them was Becky Lynch. She is someone I've really wanted to see live and I'll finally get the chance here. Her and Sasha Banks are among the best women on the WWE roster and the two best on the main roster. Naomi and Tamina are much, much closer to the bottom of the WWE barrel. If the plan is to give us Charlotte vs. Sasha vs. Becky at WrestleMania, which is should be, then the former Team BAE needs the victory here. Hell, even if that's not the plan, there is no reason for Team BAD to win since they are...well, bad.

Winners: Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks

I'm actually going to be attending this Pay-Per-View. It'll be my first WWE PPV since TLC 2014. On that night, Ryback faced Kane in a dull Chairs match, while Erick Rowan wrestled the Big Show in an awful Stairs match. At the very least, the WWE combined those two shit matches into one, hopefully saving me some time. I sense this is the same old story we've grown accustomed to with Bray Wyatt. He'll kick ass at the end of the year and on the road to WrestleMania before ultimately jobbing at the Show of Shows. The Wyatts win here so Bray can look strong on the way to a loss to Brock Lesnar at Mania.

Winners: The Wyatt Family

Usually, I would be rather disappointed in this match being on a Pay-Per-View. Brie has only had a handful of good matches and Charlotte has been pretty lackluster since the main roster move. However, this kind of match works perfectly for a show like Fastlane. Sandwiched in between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, the February events don't usually get the major matches. This should work as a buffer, holding off on the Charlotte/Becky/Sasha Mania outing. Brie will have some sympathy cheers for Daniel Bryan's retirement, but outside of that, people don't really seem to care about this program. I could see Brie getting the sympathy win but it wouldn't be the right move. Keep the title on Charlotte so Sasha or Becky could dethrone her.

Winner: Charlotte

Take what I said about the Kalisto/Del Rio series and multiple it by a billion here. Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler are two talented individuals. Owens had a tremendous 2015, while Ziggler was consistently mediocre. A match between them would be fine. However, the WWE has booked them in SEVEN singles matches over the past few months, including about three straight weeks recently. This was all before they both participated in a five match for the Intercontinental Title, which is where Owens regained the title. This will be another in their seemingly endless Best of 54 series. To make Mania better, we should get Owens defending the IC Title against either Sami Zayn or AJ Styles. In order to do so, he should retain here because Ziggler doesn't belong anywhere near a championship at this point.

Winner: Kevin Owens

Surprisingly, I feel like the WWE has handled AJ Styles very well since his debut. He's won all of his matches except the rematch with Chris Jericho. He has been treated like a star even if some commentators call him a rookie. His matches have been good and he's been mostly protected on the microphone. Miz isn't getting anywhere near enough credit for his work in this program. Anyway, the rubber match between Jericho and Styles should be great. Their first match was good and the second ruled. Hopefully they continue to top themselves. Plus, I'm stoked to see Styles, the best that I've never seen live, for the first time. Styles needs to win this.

Winner: AJ Styles

If it weren't so predictable, this could be one of the more fun main events in recent memory. Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar had a great match at WrestleMania last year, while Dean Ambrose's interactions with Brock in the past few weeks have been the best things in the company. With Dean dropping the Intercontinental Title, I really wish he'd win. Ambrose/Triple H sounds better than Reigns/HHH to be honest. I don't see it happening though. The Wyatts will interfere and take out Brock (much like how Bray's feud with Cena started at the 2014 Rumble, died off and then picked back up at the February PPV), leaving Dean to take the pinfall loss to Roman.

Winner: Roman Reigns

2016 Prediction Record: 4-2

2015 Prediction Record: 60-35

ROH/NJPW Honor Rising Night One Review

ROH/NJPW Honor Rising Night One

January 19^th, 2016 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan

Usually, the ROH/NJPW joint events are held in the United States but that was different today. They held the first part of a two night event in the hallowed Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Top stars from both promotions would compete against and with each other throughout the evening.

Jushin “Thunder” Liger and Matt Sydal def. Dalton Castle and Ryusuke Taguchi in 8:22

The New Japan crowd was certainly intrigued by Dalton Castle and the Boys. Credit to Ryusuke Taguchi, who fit right in and even donned a pair of wings like Dalton. Like their match on ROH TV last year, the interactions between Liger and Castle were so much fun. Liger even posed with the Boys once again. Castle and Taguchi kind of make sense as a tag team. Both teams got opportunities to get their stuff in, with Sydal hitting his athletic stuff, Taguchi using ass attacks, etc. In a bit of a disappointment, Sydal pinned Castle with the Shooting Star Press. I understand wanting the guy with a title to win but I think Taguchi could have eaten the pin, unless Castle isn’t returning. All four men shook hands after the match. Relatively fun opener. **¾

Delirious def. Gedo in 7:53

It’s a battle of the bookers! One overbooks his matches with a lot of interference and the other loves American wrestlers and does tons of random title switches for no real reason. When did Delirious start wrestling barefoot? I don’t like it. The fans were unsure of what to make of Delirious’ bell ring gimmick. They worked at a decent pace but it never really got going. Delirious won with a pinning combination. The match was about as good as their booking ability. *½

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA def. Kazarian in 9:47

Kazarian has always been an interesting case to me. It’s like, he’s good but he’s never been able to wow me. With the right opponent, like a KUSHIDA, he can deliver. Unfortunately, it kind of felt like Kazarian phoned it in a bit. KUSHIDA was great as always, holding nothing back and even hitting a great front flip dive to the outside. After some relatively uninspired back and forth, KUSHIDA made Kazarian tap out to the Hoverboard Lock. This worked fine as a showcase for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, who should be in for a massive 2016. I found this to be solid enough but nothing more. **½

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Moose, Michael Elgin and Tomoaki Honma def. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Cody Hall, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi) in 11:38

It’s odd seeing Moose come out and not having the whole crowd do the trademark “MOOSE” chant. They do get a little bit into it when the bell rings though. I may not like the Bullet Club at all, but their theme is pretty great. Moose and Fale had a good hoss battle and it ruled because Moose is like the only guy I’ve ever seen match Fale’s size. This turned into a brawl at one point, with all eight men fighting outside. Elgin got to do his trademark big moves that the Japan crowd loves. Tanahashi was his usual self and Honma was super over as always. If I had to pick one guy, I’d say Moose was the star here. Helped along by Tanahashi and Honma doing the “MOOSE” chant and his work in the ring, he won over the crowd. He ran up the turnbuckle before hitting a cross body and then connected on the Spear to beat Cody Hall. Best match of the night so far. Just an enjoyable match where everyone got a chance to do their thing and the crowd was way into all of it. ***¼

The Bullet Club (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) def. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata and reDRagon in 10:16

Shibata and reDRagon is pretty much my dream team. One of my favorite singles guys teaming with the best tag team on the planet. Going in, I just knew that if Shibata got to kick the shit out of the Young Bucks enough, I’d get exactly what I wanted from it. Kudos to Omega, who showed no fear of Shibata. It further cements that he is a heavyweight that won’t be intimidated. It’s like, for every good thing I see from Omega, he messes it up with his next action or something. He did hit a nice dive outside, while I enjoyed seeing reDRagon and Shibata apply triple armbars. Seeing O’Reilly counter the One Winged Angel into a guillotine was pretty sweet. The interactions between Shibata and Omega were great, but the stuff from reDRagon and the Bucks kind of bored me. What they do isn’t bad, but we’ve seen it a million times. It’s NJPW’s version of the old never ending Del Rio/Sheamus feud. Kyle fell to an Indytaker and One Winged Angel. Good match but I wish we got more of Shibata kicking the shit out of the Bucks. ***¼

The Briscoes def. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson in 8:23

Karl Anderson pointed out his wife in the front row during his entrance. Props to him. The Bullet Club members attacked before the bell. Gallows even brought a steel chair into play outside at one point. Mark took the heat and Jay got the hot tag, with both guys playing their roles well. Gallows and Anderson teased a win a few times, but Jay had the Gun Stun well scouted. He couldn’t hit the Jay Driller either, instead going with a neckbreaker before Mark won it with Froggy Bow. Pretty good tag match between two of the best teams out there. I feel that it could have been more though. Gallows and Anderson got a good hand from the crowd on their way out. **¾

ROH World Champion Jay Lethal and Tetsuya Naito w/ BUSHI, EVIL and Truth Martini def. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI w/ Gedo in 12:56

Naito again messed with the commentator whose name I don’t know, demanding he hold the ropes open for him. There was some surprising “let’s go Lethal” chants early on. He started with Okada and both men went for their finishers early on. Lethal and Naito were the perfect dick heels. Okada did his usual stuff. We got a tease of Okada/Naito, but I wish we saw more. I truly think that Naito should be the one to take the title from Okada. Chaos started to look for the win as Lethal failed to use the Book of Truth. EVIL shoved YOSHI-HASHI off the top while Naito laid out Okada with the book. YOSHI took the Lethal Injection and the right guy ate the pinfall. They teased tension between Lethal and Naito after the match, but they shook hands and bumped fists. Naito gave Lethal his Los Ingobernables hat, while Lethal handed him the Book of Truth. Another solid match featuring good action. ***

ROH World Television Championship: Tomohiro Ishii def. Roderick Strong (c) in 20:07

This is a match I’ve wanted to see for a while since both guys wrestle a style that I really enjoy. Roddy was an asshole from the start, playing up his new heel persona which he’s kind of mastered from what I’ve seen oh his PWG work. He targeted the back, slamming it into both the apron and the guardrail. Ishii gave zero fucks, even spitting at Strong after getting chopped. Strong grew frustrated that, despite his best efforts and backbreakers, couldn’t keep Ishii down. Ishii’s selling in this match was top notch, proving again that he’s one of the best in the business when it comes to that aspect. Ishii started to fire up, leaning into forearm shots from Roddy. He survived an onslaught from Strong before capturing the title with a Brainbuster. The crowd popped hard for this surprise victory. Last year, Strong vs. NJPW guys made it to my Top 100 Matches list three times (Okada, KUSHIDA and Nakamura), but this might have been better than all three of those. An excellent main event. ****¼

Overall: 7/10. Like most shows that I have seen this year so far, this was pretty damn good. It started a bit slow and none of the matches, outside of the great main event, are anything I would consider must see. However, nothing outside of the second match is something I would consider bad. It’s an easy to sit through, enjoyable show that gets some bumped up cool points for giving us intriguing and rare matchups at times.

Top Ten Thursday: WWE Female Performers

Considering the jump in focus on women's wrestling in the past few months, we're going to look at my picks for the ten best female performers currently signed to the WWE. I say performers because I'm not only including wrestlers. I'm including any female in the company and ranking them based on how well they perform their specific job and their value to the company. Some close calls and honorable mentions would include Natalya, Lana (who would have made the list if she was still as prominent as she was in 2014) and Dana Brooke.

10. Stephanie McMahon 

There is so much potential for Stephanie McMahon to be higher on this list. When it comes to getting the crowd to hate you, there is no female in the company better than Stephanie McMahon. She’s got the penchant for drawing heat that her father was so good at. I mean, this is the woman that got fans to cheer for Vickie Guerrero on her way out, which I never expected. She plays the authority figure role well and commands attention when she speaks. Even when she steps into the ring, Stephanie knows what she’s doing and is good at highlighting what works for her. Her match against Brie Bella in 2014 was one of the better Divas matches of that year. The main reason that Stephanie doesn’t rank higher for me is that she tends to put down a lot of the talent in order to get herself over. Take the Divas Revolution stuff for example. The company made sure to have Stephanie be at the forefront and it really seemed like we were supposed to credit her for the idea. There’s also the countless times she undercuts a lot of what the top faces say, making them look dumb, and we’ve grown tired of seeing and hearing her. Maybe it’s because she’s been on TV for so long and so often, but once a lot of us hear the opening line of her awful theme music, we groan in unison.

9. Charlotte 

Considering the work that Charlotte did during his time in NXT, most readers are going to think she’s ranked very low here. Honestly, if I was making this list a year ago, Charlotte would rank in the top five easily. She was coming off of a great 2014 and had taken part in a fantastic fatal four way match between the “Four Horsewomen”. Charlotte would spend the rest of 2015 in NXT having good matches. Once she got called up to the main roster with Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, something changed. She was still able to have pretty solid matches with Nikki Bella, but something was missing. She was not the performer she was in NXT. Granted, Becky and Sasha haven’t reached those heights either, but Charlotte seems the furthest off. Then, she inexplicably turned heel and went on to have a series of poor matches with Paige. The WWE stuck Ric by Charlotte’s side every single night and it’s not helping. Charlotte has gone from “genetically superior” NXT Women’s Champion to “Ric Flair’s daughter and nothing more” on the main roster. She also is the only woman with a worse promo voice than Brie Bella. There’s literally nothing else to her character and she is completely defined and overshadowed by her dad at ringside.

8. Renee Young 

Another rather surprising choice for this list comes in at number eight. Renee Young has never had to wrestle a match but she is a lot more valuable than people give her credit for. Throughout the years, the WWE has had a few faces play the role of host. Around the time Renee Young showed up, Josh Matthews mostly handled those duties, but he suffered from the same issue that most hosts not named Renee Young had. He came off as kind of unlikable at times and lacked charisma. When he was canned and Renee took over, the monthly WWE Pay-Per-View kickoff shows became better because of her. She just has this quality about her that you genuinely want to watch and enjoy her. It doesn’t matter what role the WWE wants her in, Renee Young delivers. She can hosts those pre-shows better than anyone, she is the best backstage interviewer that they have, she can host anything on the WWE Network with charm and grace and she even has her own series on the WWE Network, which is one of the better ones they’ve produced. She’s a fan of the business and it shines through. There’s a reason there were reports that ESPN pushed to sign her. She’s that damn good.

7. Paige

I really, really want to put Paige higher on this list. After watching her as the “Anti-Diva” in NXT, putting on some really good matches with Emma, I was a huge fan. She debuted on the main roster and won the Divas Title on her first night, causing me to mark out. I was really looking forward to her feud with AJ Lee. Unfortunately, they feud was incredibly disappointing and it began a trend of Paige putting on mediocre performances. She was, outside of some work with Sasha Banks, not very good in 2015 when it came to in-ring performances. I don’t know what it was exactly, but she came off as rather lazy. That might be unfair, because I’m sure she works hard, but it wasn’t reflecting when she wrestled on television. Still, a Paige that is only performing at 50-75% of her abilities is still better than most of the main roster Divas. Also, Paige is one of the most marketable women on the entire roster. Her merchandise moves very well, she’s a focal point of Total Divas, she’s been in a WWE film and, according to reports, she is a heavy favorite at Comic-Con appearances (she was a blast when I met her at one). Due to her age, there is still a ton of time for her to make a ton of money.

6. Emma

Had I made this list a year or so ago, Paige would undoubtedly rank higher than Emma. They came up in similar ways through NXT and honestly don’t get enough credit for kick starting the women’s wrestling craze in NXT. If Emma and Paige didn’t deliver in their Women’s Title Tournament Finals and NXT ArRival matches, we may never have seen Sasha Banks, Bayley and others get the opportunities that they did. Emma hit tons of rough spots on the main roster though. Her dancing gimmick failed to get over and pairing her with Santino prevented her from being taken seriously. Being sent back down to NXT in 2015 proved to be the best possible thing for the Aussie. She developed into a heel character because being the dancing babyface failed for her. It wasn’t just a random turn for the sake of it, they let it fester and develop. Emma got paired up with Dana Brooke and, while she unfortunately comes off as a sidekick at times, it worked better than ever expected. She is helping Dana with in-ring work, while Dana is helping her be a better heel. Emma has played the aggressive role so well and her match against Asuka at TakeOver: London was damn good. She is quietly one of the best things going in NXT.

5. Nikki Bella 

A few years ago, Nikki Bella was pretty awful. She couldn’t do anything worth a damn in the ring, she was a piss poor actress and she sucked as a promo. When she turned heel in 2014, she seemed to get better in the ring, but still struggled with acting and promos, as evidenced by the god awful feud with Brie. However, their blow off match at Hell in a Cell turned out to be solid. Nikki captured the Divas Title and went on to break AJ Lee’s record for longest reigning Divas Champion. During 2015, the Divas division was pretty lackluster, especially when compared to what the NXT girls were doing. However, one of the lone bright spots was Nikki Bella. While Paige was disappointing and people like Naomi and Tamina were performing mostly poorly, Nikki was always there. Yea, some of her matches were bad at times, but she had some really strong ones in there. Hell, the Paige/AJ feud was mostly lame until Nikki got involved and their triple threat match at Night of Champions ’14 was damn good. She went on to have good matches with Paige, Sasha Banks and Charlotte, while being the face of the division, making a bunch of appearances, starring on Total Divas and just being the MVP. I never thought I’d say it, but I’d love to see Nikki back and working with the future crop of Divas.

4. Asuka 

If we were just talking about pure in-ring skills here, Asuka would end up a bit higher. The woman has, in a very short time, captivated the audience with her hard strikes and badass submissions. There is something about Asuka that just clicks and connects. She doesn’t speak much English from what we’ve heard, but she doesn’t need to do anything with her promos. Asuka has said just a few words in her five or so months with the company, but is already the second most popular woman in NXT. Her matches with Dana Brooke and Emma, especially the latter, were both really fun. Even her squash matches are among the best in the company, always making sure to wow the crowd with her offense. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there is an aura surrounding Asuka that other girls don’t have. The possibility of upcoming matches with Nia Jax and Bayley seem to have the fans roaring with anticipation. It hasn’t been long, but Asuka is already shooting up the ranks. By this time next year, it is plausible that she will even sit atop a list like this.

3. Becky Lynch 

I love Becky Lynch. She is my second favorite female on the WWE roster and I truly believe that she is within the top three when it comes to pure in-ring talent. She finally got her chance at TakeOver: Unstoppable in May of last year against Sasha Banks where the women combined to put on a match of the year candidate. Unfortunately, once Becky got moved to the main roster, they had her play second fiddle to Charlotte. Seriously, if you didn’t watch NXT, you’d have thought Becky was only Charlotte’s more attractive little friend. Thankfully, as Charlotte turned heel, Becky moved into a prominent role. This has allowed Becky to let her personality shine through. That personality is her biggest selling point because she comes across as the most likable Diva on the main roster. Even most of the faces in the Divas division can be unlikable at times, like Paige, the Bellas or Charlotte. It’s hard to dislike Becky. Becky not only has loads of potential but she’s already more than living up to it. There is no reason why she shouldn’t be a part of WrestleMania. Honestly, as much as I love Sasha Banks and think that she needs to be the top woman in the company, Becky winning the belt at WrestleMania would be a fantastic feel good story for the biggest show of the year.

2. Bayley 

As noted, if this were a list of personal preference, I would swap Bayley and Becky Lynch. I remember when Bayley vs. Sasha Banks was announced for TakeOver: Brooklyn, I was actually disappointed. I badly wanted Becky/Sasha II. Bayley shut me up by competing in the greatest women’s match that I’ve ever seen. The main thing is, Bayley’s in ring work, while being very good, isn’t anywhere near the total reason why she’s ranked so high. Bayley has potential to be the female John Cena. She could not only move tons of merchandise, from shirts to headbands to wristbands and more, but she could be the female role models for all of the kids. If handled properly, Bayley could be the new top Make-A-Wish granter down the line after Cena retires. The thing about Bayley is that she appeals to every demographic. Children love her for because she loves what she’s doing and can be seen as a role model. Women love her for similar reasons but she’s also, while being very attractive in my eyes, not one with supermodel good looks. Grown men love her because she reminds a lot of us a simpler time when we used to unconditionally love wrestling before we all got all cynical. Everything about Bayley screams Superstar.

1. Sasha Banks

I’ll start this one the way I ended the last one. Everything about Sasha Banks screams Superstar. When the women in NXT began stealing the show, the focus was on Charlotte mostly. Bayley got an opportunity early on but I just wanted Sasha. I don’t even really remember what drew me to her initially but when she finally got her shot on a big stage (R-Evolution), she absolutely delivered. Sasha then proceeded to spend 2015 topping herself at almost every turn. She wrestled on four NXT TakeOver specials and those were honestly, the four greatest women’s matches I’ve ever witnessed. She is passionate about the business, knows how to cut a solid promo and is the best in the business when it comes to the ring. She gets psychology better than most of the men in the company. She has the ability to make her offense look stiff and she has connected with the audience. The fans want Sasha. She’s earned the respect of everybody. Sasha Banks, being the niece of Snoop Dogg and being well spoken, has crossover appeal that a lot of women don’t. I picked her for my best female wrestler of 2015 and she came very close to being my wrestler of the year in general. Sasha Banks is something very special and the WWE needs to fully capitalize on it. She is money in the bank, pun intended. 

Lucha Underground Cero Miedo Review

Well, with an episode title like that, I'm pretty pumped. After a short recap, we see Ivelisse go to Catrina in her office. I love both of these women. Catrina claim that Mil Muertes showed Ivelisse mercy, so Ivelisse wants a match against the Disciples. Catrina says there are no automatic rematches so Ivelisse, Son of Havoc and Angelico have to face another Trios team before they can earn a shot. Ivelisse promises that she will get her hands on Catrina one day and there won't be any mercy.

Vampiro hypes the main event because his boy Pentagon is in the match. He is basically his biggest cheerleader while on his psych meds. (Shoutout to my boy Dante for that line)

Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc def. Chavo Guerrero, Cortez Castro and Mr. Cisco  in 5:54
Goddamn, I love Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc. For those who caught the end of last week's episode, Cortez Castro is actually an undercover cop out to get Dario Cueto. It's great to see the growth of the former Trios Champions. Instead of being the uneasy partners that they were last season, they worked as a team here. The heels do all of the standard heel things right and the faces play their role to perfection. They basically worked tow hot tags, with Angelico getting the last one and doing the crazy shit that he does so well. All three members do stereo dives in a cool visual before Angelico pins Castro with a double stomp. A really fun tag match, made better by how great the former champions are together. ***1/4

Chavo Guerrero is pissed at the Crew for the loss. Texano runs out, now sporting a singlet, and chases Chavo off, only getting his hands on the Crew. Mil Muertes continues to watch all of this from his throne.

A Johnny Mundo video package airs where he talks about being the top star in Lucha Underground. It also focuses on the feud with Cage.

Cortez Castro is icing his shoulder when Joey Ryan comes up to him. He calls him by his real name, Reyes, and says that he's always been a better cop. He antagonizes Castro before heading off for his first match.

Cage def. Joey Ryan in 4:04
Joey Ryan is certainly an interesting character. He sucks on a lollipop and pours baby oil on himself before the bell. Of course, Cage is a monster and he plays that role pretty well as a babyface now. Vampiro is hilarious at trying to figure out how to explain Ryan. Ryan gets a good showing as someone that didn't back down from Cage and actually did a good job against him. Cage basically kills Ryan with a stalling screwdriver. Fine debut for Ryan and good win for Cage. **1/2

Cage instantly points up at Mil Muertes until Johnny Mundo shows up to attack him. He uses a spear, which is one of Mil's trademark moves. Cage turns it around on him and leaves him laid out.

We now see Rey Mysterio training with Dragon Azteca. He tells him a story. 25 years ago, Dario Cueto's father came to Mexico and met with the original Dario, coming together to find the seven ancient tribes and bringing them together. Dario's dad became obsessed and did sacrifices to the old Gods, including his son Matanza. They parted ways and made a treaty with dark magic. Rey wants Dragon Azteca to look for a way to unite the seven tribes.

Next week, Cage faces Johnny Mundo.

Prince Puma def. Pentagon Jr.
This absolutely felt like a big time main event. Vamprio is so interesting on commentary during Pentagon matches. He wants to mark out for him but also talks about things he should be doing better. They had some really good back and forth here and both guys got to do their thing. However, it really felt like they were holding something back. Like maybe there is going to be a bigger rematch somewhere down the line. It felt like a good teaser for something better. The finish was really well done. Pentagon thought he had it after a package piledriver, but decided to go to a surfboard. Puma fell back and barely got his shoulders up to avoid getting pinned and to pin Pentagon. Solid work from both men. ***1/4

After the match, Pentagon, who thought he won, attacked the referee. Puma laid him out and went to break his arm, giving Pentagon a taste of his own medicine. Puma whispered something in his ear and decided against it. Matt Striker said that Pentagon may be a bit embarrassed and Vamprio really looked like he was concerned with this.

To close things out, we see Sexy Star running and stumbling backstage. She runs into the Mack and says that the Moth did this to her. Mack hilariously says that he'll kill him, but Sexy points behind him and says "not him, her". It looks like we're getting the introduction of Marty's sister finally.

Overall: 8/10. Lucha Underground produced another really strong hour of television. We got a really fun opening contest, a solid main event and the debut of Joey Ryan. They also set up next week's main event, furthered the Rey Mysterio story and brought Texano back into the fold. Almost everything Lucha Underground does feels different and unique. It's consistently a breath of fresh air in the world of wrestling.

If you do want to check out Lucha Underground and don't get El Rey Network (like me), you can sign up for the streaming service Fubo.TV. It's a great way to support the company and channel while streaming the show online. You can sign up and get Lucha Underground right here with Fubo.tv

Raw Review 2.15.16

The biggest match set for this Sunday's Fastlane Pay-Per-View is the Triple Threat main event. Dean Ambrose, a member of that match, opened Raw and continued his crusade to call out Brock Lesnar at every opportunity. He got Stephanie McMahon again, leading to disappointing groans around the world. Stephanie cuts the balls off of Brock a bit before booking Ambrose in a a Fatal Five Way match. Michael Cole acted like this was some sort of usual match that we get on a weekly basis by the way. Anyway, Dean would defend the Intercontinental Title against Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Tyler Breeze and Stardust. Random? Yup. Fun? Actually, yes. Steph also says that if Roman tries to help, Dean will lose his spot at Fastlane. The match goes on with no Roman interference and was actually really fun. All five guys worked hard, gave us some cool teases and great spots. In a furious finish, Owens laid out Breeze with a popup powerbomb to win back the strap. This opens up the realm of possibility that Ambrose can win this Sunday, while also hopefully opening the door for Owens/Zayn for the IC Title at WrestleMania. Ambrose was pissed backstage but did a great job in saying that this may open the door for him to become WWE Champion. Owens also cut a damn good promo until Ziggler interrupted. He challenged him to the 168th match of their series, this time for the title, at Fastlane. Dolph fell from fan favorite to guy nobody cares about in about a year thanks to mediocre performances.

The New Day showed up and cut a promo on Mark Henry for walking out on them last week. Big E faced Henry in a pretty bad match. They messed up the finish and I'm unsure if Henry was injured or not. Big E won by the way. At the top of the hour, Brie Bella came out for an interview. They instantly brought up Daniel Bryan. Charlotte and Ric Flair showed up and interrupted her. Charlotte kept mentioning that Brie would have to support Daniel and talked about her goat faced, vegan kids. Brie finally snapped and laid into her with Bryan's signature kicks. They tried to make people care about the Divas Title match at Fastlane but the performances were off. Charlotte and Brie are probably the two worst women on the roster when it comes to promos, making this rough.

We got to see AJ Styles in action once again, taking on the Miz, who he has been working on the house show circuit. They put together a really solid match, slightly below the opener. They did a good false finish where AJ kicked out of the Skull Crushing Finale. Chris Jericho was on commentary and got on the microphone after Styles won with the Calf Crusher. Styles cut him off and challenged him to a rubber match at Fastlane. Jericho will give an answer on Smackdown. The Dudley Boyz were out next, cutting a decent promo about their heel turn. I think the Smackdown promo worked much better. This just came off as a way to kill time on the show. Next, we got the weekly reminder that Total Divas is back. Paige returned to the ring to face Summer Rae. In a pretty strange decision, Summer beat Paige via rollup. I would question why but it's the Divas division so it probably doesn't mean anything.

It's that time of the week where the WWE mocks the people who put money in their pockets and pay for PPVs. They do this using flash cards, adding to the insults. Paul Heyman came out and called Roman Reigns to the ring. Heyman stirred the pot, saying Reigns has to pick between his friend and his daughter. If he wins the belt for his daughter, he'll have no friends backstage. If he chooses friends over family, that usually ends in divorce. Reigns respects Heyman being straightforward and honest and shakes his hand. The crowd gave zero fucks about Reigns, not helping this segment. Heyman was the only good thing about this. The Dudleys then randomly attacked Reigns until Dean made the save. The two teams will meet on Smackdown. Next Monday, there will be a presentation for the first ever Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award. No explanation was given for what that means.

A mostly meaningless match followed as Heath Slater defeated Zack Ryder in a rare appearance for Ryder. I wonder if this will lead to a main roster appearance for Mojo Rawley. Probably not. R-Truth is on a date at a restaurant and Goldust is the waiter. Goldust ends up popping a bottle of champagne and it sprayed all over Truth's date in a highly suggestive manner. Moving on, Neville, who has nothing to do, teamed with the Lucha Dragons against the League of Nations. Also, Del Rio/Kailsto at Fastlane has been moved to the Kickoff show on Sunday for some reason. It's not like the card is loaded or anything. Del Rio won by pinning Sin Cara. Kalisto needs to retain in a great showing this Sunday to make his title reign worth something. Becky Lynch was attacked by Tamina and Naomi earlier in the show. She faced Naomi and beat her with the Dis-arm-her. Tamina attacked again but Sasha Banks came out, removed her earrings and worse some incredible leggings. She wasn't there in time to make the save exactly but ran off Team BAD anyway. The main event saw Big Show take on Brain Stroman. The Wyatts jumped in for the DQ after like two minutes. Ryback ran out, returning from a Wyatt beatdown. That failed, so Kane did the same and they ran off the Wyatts. Yup, that's how your show ends.

So, with Fastlane just six nights away, the WWE chose one of the worst possible go home show closing segments. It was up there with Charlotte/Paige last year and Rusev/Henry from two years ago. We did get a really fun opener and solid Miz/Styles match, but most of the show seemed filler. There was potential on this episode, but it never fully got reached. 6/10.

Top Five 1/8/16-1/14/16

1) Katsuyori Shibata: At Wrestle Kingdom 10, Katsuyori Shibata and Tomohiro Ishii had my early match of the year pick. Shibata won the NEVER Openweight Title from him, earning his first singles title. Shibata's first defense came this week at the New Beginning in Osaka against Ishii. They only went and nearly bested their performance from WK10. They just had another tremendous match. I honestly can't think of a combination that puts on better matches than these two. Okada and Tanahashi were the best but their WK10 match really hurt their overall performances for me. I've never given Shibata/Ishii less than ****1/4. Shibata retained the gold and is 2 for 2 in great singles matches in 2016. This could be another spectacular year for one of the best in the business. Watch this match, I only have it behind their first outing, Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitcahi and Styles vs. Nakamura for the year.

2) Kenny Omega: One of the biggest moments this year came at the New Year Dash show when Kenny Omega turned on AJ Styles, becoming the new leader of the Bullet Club and kicking Styles out. With a pinfall over Shinsuke Nakamura, Omega declared that he was now a heavyweight. Nakamura left the company before they could meet for the Intercontinental Title so instead, Omega faced Hiroshi Tanahashi for the vacant strap. They main evented the New Beginning in Niigata show and put on a great match. I'd say it was the third or fourth best that I watched in a pretty damn good week. Omega, with tons of help from the Bullet Club, defeated Tanahashi to become the IC Champion. If he can get some clean wins and a strong showing in the G1, it will go a long way to solidifying him as a serious heavyweight threat.

3) KUSHIDA: I said it a ton in my Top 100 Matches of 2015 list; KUSHIDA is, far and away, the MVP of the New Japan Jr. Heavyweight division. Kyle O'Reilly is the only one that I would even consider putting in his class. This week, KUSHIDA had his first defense of the gold that he won at Wrestle Kingdom. He faced BUSHI, of Los Ingobernables. BUSHI was injured for most of 2015, so he worked as a fresh face for this match. I was mostly confident that KUSHIDA would win but man, they had me buy into some near falls here. This wasn't high spot after high spot like most junior matches. This was a dramatic in a way that the division rarely sees. KUSHIDA withstood interference and two blasts of mist from BUSHI to retain. That KUSHIDA guy is really, really great.

4) Jimmy Susumu: Also something that I noted on my Top 100 Matches of 2015 list was that I would be following other promotions more closely. One of those companies was Dragon Gate. Their top champion since a great match last year, was Shingo Takagi. Earlier in the week, Jimmy Susumu was able to capture the Open the Dream Gate Championship. I haven't been able to see much of him in the past, but I'm looking forward to this match considering I'm a fan of Shingo's work. Winning this title is a pretty big deal, but since I don't know much about him, I can't write much.

5) Matt Sydal and Ricochet: At the New Beginning in Osaka event, the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles changed hands once again. That's not surprising. They change hands more often than any other belt I can think of. After the Young Bucks won them at Wrestle Kingdom 10, they dropped them to the new tandem of Matt Sydal and Ricochet. There was literally no point to the Bucks reign. Anyway, Sydal and Ricochet have shown some solid chemistry and their stereo shooting star press finish is a thing of beauty. They don't add much versatility to the division, but I hope they add some much needed stability to the straps.

NJPW The New Beginning in Niigata Review

The New Beginning in Niigata

February 14^th, 2016 | Niigata, Japan

Happy Valentine’s Day. New Japan celebrated by holding their New Beginning in Niigata show this morning.

The Bullet Club (The Young Bucks and Cody Hall) def. Captain New Japan, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask in 5:55

I’ve grown so used to seeing the young lions in the opener. Not having them here and giving me Cody Hall and the Young Bucks instead certainly disappointed me. This was pretty much exactly what you’d expect. The New Japan vets did their thing, Cody Hall has shown slight improvement but is still pretty bad and the Young Bucks, were the Young Bucks. Obviously, not my cup of tea. Hall assisted on a team up Indytaker that put Captain New Japan down for the count. At least it was short. **

reDRagon def. Chaos (Gedo and Kazushi Sakuraba) in 8:25

Hey, it’s the only junior tag team that I actually give a damn about. I was looking forward to this because Sakuraba is a badass and seeing him mix it up with the best tag team in wrestling could be a treat. It was, but I do think some stuff was held back and there is more potential there. Gedo saw a lot of the action, slowing things down. reDRagon continues to be booked very strongly, picking up another win by hitting Gedo with Chasing the Dragon. Not bad work here from the guys involved, but I wanted more. ***

Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Tencozy def. David Finlay Jr., Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Yuji Nagata in 8:14

This was an interesting clash of styles. I’ve seen Finlay and Taguchi mix it up with the heavyweight vets, but not Sydal and Ricochet. As they came out, Ricochet said they’d be champs for a long time. Apparently, he hasn’t seen the booking of the division for the past year. I found this to be a fun match. The veterans always work well together and know each other so well, while the addition of Sydal and Ricochet was welcome. I liked them a lot more here than I do in those multi-man junior tags. I think it’s because here, their athletic offense came as a change of pace, while in those junior tags, they feel like just another spot in a series of fancy spots. Ricochet won it for his guys with one of the prettiest shooting star presses I’ve seen in a long time. ***

EVIL and Tetsuya Naito vs. Jay White and Michael Elgin in 8:38

Los Ingobernables just get it. They know how to be great heels without bordering on annoying. Like, at the start, Jay White wanted Tetsuya Naito. Naito teased it, then tagged in EVIL, only to still attack White from behind. They used a chair on Elgin and slammed White hard on the outside floor. They’re just so good at executing those things. Elgin really got the crowd into it with his impressive offense. As expected, White was here to take the fall, though he got some time to shine as well. They keep doing a good job of giving EVIL wins in these tags, as he put down White with the STO. After the match, they attacked the referee and some young lions. Considering his character work since the heel turn, Naito deserves to win the New Japan Cup and even dethrone Okada. ***

NEVER Openweight Tag Team Championship: Toru Yano and the Briscoes def. The Bullet Club (c) (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi) in 8:21

Yes, this is indeed the third time in a month and a half that we’re getting this match. It is nice to see Tama Tonga with gold. When Gallows and Anderson leave, he’ll be the only Bullet Club member remaining that I like. Yano was great, running in fear of Tama Tonga. It’s like, Yano does the same spots in most of his matches, but he never fails to be entertaining. I always find myself laughing. Surprisingly, he rolled up Takahashi, allowing his team to regain the titles just three days after losing them. Maybe Gedo introduced these titles and will hot shot them back and forth so much that we forget how poorly he handles the Jr. Tag Titles. Anyway, this was the best of their three matches. **¾

Meiyu Tag and Juice Robinson vs. Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI) in 16:36

I was pretty sure that Robinson or YOSHI-HASHI would eat the pin in this one. Goto is back to his usual look for this one. Okada called out Goto instantly, who he pretty much ejected from being a viable contender on the last show. Okada won out this exchange again before bringing in Shibata vs. Ishii. Of course I loved their back and forth. I’ve seen them wrestle five singles matches and never gave them less than ****¼ which is a better average than any other rivalry I can think of. Shibata seemed to get aggravated with Goto in the match, probably wondering why his partner comes up so short in big matches. I was right about the pinning situation as Juice ate the Rainmaker. Good, fun match. Okada again tried to get Goto to join Chaos. Goto was great at playing the role of someone who looks at a loss for what to do next. Also, why does Juice have a tattoo on his ass cheek? ***½

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA (c) def. BUSHI in 16:32

The pre-match video package was pretty sweet, showing KUSHIDA winning the title along with BUSHI’s injury and subsequent heel turn when he returned. Early on in the match, Naito and EVIL showed up and began to cheat in BUSHI’s favor, even bringing chairs into the mix. Like he did throughout the build to this match, BUSHI spit the green mist at KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA withstood it, wrestling with his face green. It caused him to get aggressive, which he showed by trying to rip open BUSHI’s mask. The mist and Los Ingobernables interference sent KUSHIDA a bit over the edge, which was excellent. BUSHI spit red mist also at KUSHIDA and I legit bit on every single near fall after that. I was on the edge of my seat. While trying to apply the Hoverboard Lock, KUSHIDA dropkicked Naito off the apron. When he got it locked in, the Young Lions and Ryusuke Taguchi held Naito and EVIL back, getting a bit of revenge as BUSHI tapped out. Great match for the drama rather than the actual moves involved. Outside of Kyle O’Reilly, no junior is even close to KUSHIDA’s league now. Far and away the MVP of the division for the past year. ****

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Great Bash Heel (c) def. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson in 14:16

Karl Anderson got the Prince Devitt treatment from Bad Luck Fale, who carried him to the ring on his shoulders. They worked the match you would expect from these guys. Honma played the face in peril, though he did get a cool spot where he lifted Gallows for a sweet suplex. Makabe cleaned some house when he got tagged and the fans popped for every Kokeshi from Honma. They did a good job building drama despite us pretty much knowing the outcome beforehand. Anderson did a tribute to Devitt and Styles with Bloody Sunday at one point. A flurry including the Doomsday Kokeshi, King Kong Knee Drop and top rope Kokeshi as enough to keep Anderson down for the count. Much better than their Wrestle Kingdom outing. After the match, Tama Tonga (who looks strange without face paint) entered the ring and challenged the Tag Champions. He says his partner will be the new Bullet Club member, though we don’t find out who that is just yet. ***½

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kenny Omega def. Hiroshi Tanahashi in 29:10

I still want to point out that having Nakamura take the belt back from Goto in September was a mistake. Just had to get that out there. Putting Omega in there with Tanahashi was smart, since Tanahashi is better than almost everyone else at telling a story in the ring. They did early teases for the One Winged Angel. Tanahashi started pulling out Nakamura’s offense in a cool tribute. The focus of the match ended up becoming Tanahashi’s taped up shoulder. It was rather weird to see Omega put on a Los Ingobernables mask in the crowd while taunting Tanahashi with his own air guitar taunt. I found it odd. Anyway, having Tanahashi sell the shoulder was great since it built sympathy and he’s great at selling, while that’s not Omega’s strong suit. With Tanahashi nearing victory, the Young Bucks came from under the ring to hit him with superkicks and the Indytaker. Omega hit the Styles Clash but Tanahashi still kicked out. He also tried Nakamura’s Boma Ye but missed, leading to more back and forth full of close calls. After a ref bump, the Bucks got involved again, bringing out Michael Elgin to even things out. He hilariously carried those scrubs on his shoulders to the back. It became one on one again and Omega won with the One Winged Angel. Great drama and selling, but too much overbooking at times to really make this great. Besides the KUSHIDA match last year, this was easily Omega’s best performance in NJPW. **** 

Overall: 8/10. Coming into this set of shows, I fully expected to like the Osaka card more. Instead, this show in Niigata was a pleasant surprise. KUSHIDA shined brighter than anyone here, just delivering in another big time performance. Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi had a big time main event that was great, but could have been better with less overbooking. The two Tag Title matches were much better than the original ones we saw at Wrestle Kingdom, and just most of the card, sans the opener, was fun. With the loss of two big stars, things are certainly interesting so far in 2016. 

The New Beginning in Niigata Predictions

I'm a bit pressed for time today, so I'll be doing write ups for the bigger matches on the card, and then short predictions for the rest of the show.

At Wrestle Kingdom 10 last month, NJPW introduced the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship. On that night, the odd tandem of Toru Yano and the Briscoes beat Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi of the Bullet Club to become the first champions. At the New Beginning in Osaka, the Bullet Club captured the straps. The change was rather obvious since this match was booked for both New Beginning shows. I expect this to be a decently fun match like the last two have been, with the champions retaining seeing as how they just won them.

Winners: The Bullet Club

Outside of the main event, this is the match that I'm looking forward to the most. I strongly dislike the booking of the Juniors divisions but KUSHIDA was, hands down, the bright spot of it last year. Hell, he just had great match after great match in 2015 with everyone from Kyle O'Reily to Kenny Omega to Roderick Strong. BUSHI is interesting to me. He's pretty good and is a nice addition to the title ranks. I do wish we got more people with a varied style, like a Zack Sabre Jr. or someone similar, but anyone different is welcome. While I like BUSHI, I don't think KUSHIDA should drop the belt anytime soon. His run last year was terribly cut short by giving Omega a meaningless run. Have KUSHIDA hold it until he faces the winner of the Best of the Super Juniors, which will hopefully be O'Reily, giving us the rematch from last year.

Winner: KUSHIDA

Like the NEVER Title matches on the New Beginning shows, this is a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 10. On that night, Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe won the IWGP Tag Team Titles from Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. It was the first title win for the uber popular Honma. Right after Wrestle Kingdom, word broke that Gallows and Anderson, along with Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles, were headed to the WWE. Gallows and Anderson have stayed longer than those guys, but are expected to be finishing up their run by the end of the month. No need to pull off a title switch here. My only question is, who challenges Honma and Makabe next? The Briscoes? Naito and EVIL?

Winner: Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson

I picked the other three titles to stay put, but we'll obviously have a new IWGP Intercontinental Champion here. After Nakamura left, the title was vacated. Kenny Omega pinned Nakamura on his way out and is new to the heavyweight ranks. He was scheduled to face a mystery opponent, but on January 30th, Hiroshi Tanahashi revealed that he was going to be his opponent. This sets the stage for an interesting matchup. Omega is still a bad over actor and I'm no fan of him or the Bullet Club, but this should be clear. To solidify Omega, he needs to go over Tanahashi here and win the title. That, followed by cutting back on the antics and a strong showing in the G1 Climax could make him a legit heavyweight. I fully expect this to be one of Omega's better matches because he'll be in there with a top three wrestler on the planet.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi

Rest of the card predictions
Cody Hall and the Young Bucks def. Captain New Japan, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask
reDRagon def. Gedo and Kazushi Sakuraba (really excited to see Saku against reDRagon)
Matt Sydal, Ricochet & Tencozy def. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, David Finlay & Ryusuke Taguchi
Tetsuya Naito and EVIL def. Michael Elgin and Jay White (I assume White takes the pin)
Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHi def. Meiyu Tag & Juice Robinson (toughest call)

NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka Review

The New Beginning in Osaka
February 11th, 2016 | Osaka, Japan

This morning, New Japan Pro Wrestling held the New Beginning in Osaka event, their first major one since the departure Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles. I had to watch it throughout the day in between doing work at my job so it took longer than normal.

Jay White def. David Finlay Jr. in 7:01
By now I’m pretty much beating a dead horse when I say that I enjoy most of the Young Lions. This wasn’t their best stuff but I also wouldn’t call it anywhere near bad either. Both guys continue to show improvement and work hard with every opportunity they are given. This did happen to have one of my favorite finishes I’ve ever seen from then. After surviving a Boston crab, Jay White caught a cannonballing Finlay in mid-cannonball, bringing him down into a Boston crab of his own and forcing him to submit. Solid work from solid performers. **½

Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi and Tiger Mask IV def. Gedo, Kazushi Sakuraba and YOSHI-HASHI in 7:25
I was kind of surprised at this result. Granted, this wasn’t the top dogs of Chaos, but it still came as a bit of a shock. The match itself was about as standard as a New Japan six man tag comes. Each guy got a chance to do a little bit of their stuff, while nobody really shined in a particular way. Ryusuke Taguchi continued his Shinsuke Nakamura tribute by doing his signature taunt towards the end of the match. I still don’t like him though. I do like Kazushi Sakuraba, but he just seems to sleepwalk through matches like this. Anyway, Taguchi made Gedo tap out to the ankle lock to win a ho-hum affair. **

Tencozy def. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata in 11:06
So, I enjoy two of the guys in the match but not really the other two. Nagata and Kojima are great, while Nakanishi moves like a planet and Tenzan has never really clicked with me. We got a preview of this on the final Road to New Beginning show on January 30th in a six man tag. I called that match a bit of an old man war and this was more of the same. Just four old dudes beating the stuffing out of each other. Because of that, I rather enjoyed this. The right team went over in my mind since I’ve really come to like Tencozy. They won and showed respect before and afterwards to their fellow elder statesmen. Solid match here. ***

Los Ingobernables (BUSHI, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito) def. Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA and Michael Elgin in 8:48
Tetsuya Naito was up to his usual antics before the match, antagonizing one of the commentators. When he revealed a Yuji Nagata shirt, Naito ripped it off of him. This was my favorite thing on the show so far. Again, it was the interactions throughout that really allowed this to shine. I’d love to see Naito vs. KUSHIDA in the future and even think Elgin/Naito in the G1 this year would be fun. This was obvious build for KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI in a few nights, which should ultimately deliver. KUSHIDA got the mist again, Elgin showed off his power based offense, Naito was great at playing the dick heel and in the end, it was Juice who took the fall after EVIL hit an STO. Really fun sprint. ***¼

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi def. The Briscoes and Toru Yano (c) in 10:08
The first of our two Wrestle Kingdom 10 rematches. So far, Bullet Club members have been the only people to get shots at these belts. Like most Toru Yano matches, this featured a fair amount of brawling outside of the ring. Of course, we also had the turnbuckle pad removed. Like a lot of things involving the Bullet Club recently, Tonga shined in my eyes. He was actually the one that got the pin on Yano to crown the new champions. While I could do without Takahashi ever holding gold again, it’s nice to see Tonga get something. I kind of expected this result since I assume the Briscoes will go back to the States for a while and they love putting belts on the BC. As for the match itself, it was similar to Wrestle Kingdom, but slightly more entertaining. **½

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Matt Sydal and Ricochet def. the Young Bucks (c) and reDRagon in 14:59
While they added Ricochet and Matt Sydal, things are still relatively the same in the junior tag division. While I don’t mind either guy, they don’t add anything different to a very stale division. Basically, this is my least favorite tag team (Young Bucks) against a team I don’t care about against the best tag team in the world (reDRagon). They worked in some variations on some spots but this was largely the same multi-man junior tag match that we’ve seen countless times. I did like the spot where each team missed a top rope stereo move, one after the other. They unfortunately even repeated the spot where Cody Hall runs off with Kyle O’Reilly. Shortly after, Sydal and Ricochet nailed their dual shooting star presses to win the straps. Look, I’m always happy with a loss for the Young Bucks, but this revolving door of champions in the division continuing is terrible. Why even do the Wrestle Kingdom title change? reDRagon could have just retained there and dropped them here in the same fashion. The Bucks winning the belts again did nothing. I liked this a bit more than the WK10 match but not by much. **¾

NEVER Openweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata (c) def. Tomohiro Ishii in 18:47
The last time I saw these two wrestle in Osaka, I gave them the rare, full five star treatment during the G1 Climax 23. I love it whenever these two square off and this was no different. While their matches are all similar, they do just enough different each time that it feels fresh, unlike the previous contest. As one would expect, they beat the shit out of each other and it was glorious, but this time around, there was a bit more emphasis on submissions leading up to the climax. Shibata hit a spinning back fist that literally made me gasp aloud. Instead of challenging one another to hit each other harder, like they’ve done in the past, this time, they traded Brainbusters. How insane is that? The closing moments saw them slap each other profusely in a manner that is unthinkable. How they are able to stand at the end of these wars is beyond me. Shibata finally laid in a big enough slap to knock Ishii loopy. That gave him the time to apply the sleeper and win with the PK. Just another fantastic battle between two of my favorite wrestlers in the entire world. ****½

The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Kenny Omega) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in 17:11
This was a preview of the Tag Team and Intercontinental Title matches at the New Beginning in Niigata show coming up. The Bullet Club were good old fashioned heels throughout this one. Kenny Omega’s broom and Togi Makabe’s chain were both used to assault the babyfaces. While I’m still not a fan of Omega’s overacting, him sweeping up Tanahashi was pretty great. The heels focused on Tanahashi’s arm, which he sold wonderfully, even struggling to skin the cat at one point. Tanahashi played the face in peril which I expected from Honma since he’s basically born for that role. Things picked up near the end and got pretty fun. Omega picked up his second win over a heavyweight this year by pinning Honma with the One Winged Angel. That was the best outcome as it gives Kenny momentum and Honma is a guy that can still afford losses. The Bullet Club attacked after the match, complete with Omega laying into Tanahashi with a steel chair. They punctuated it by placing Tanahashi’s arm on a garbage can and having Omega hit High Fly Flow onto it. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) def. Hirooki Goto in 25:27
The pre-match video package seemed to focus on Goto being 0-7 in IWGP Heavyweight Title matches, as well as him watching his partner, Katsuyori Shibata, win major singles gold at Wrestle Kingdom. Goto sported a new look. Picture Hakushi and his tattoos and then spill white paint over it. That’s Goto’s new look. Like almost all Okada matches that he leads, the early stages of this were kind of boring and pointless. Once it got going near the end, also like most Okada matches, it really picked up. Goto got a near fall after Shouten Kai that I bit on but Okada got his hand on the bottom rope. Okada finally hit the Rainmaker, then picked Goto back up for two more and earning the win. It kind of felt like Okada was kicking Goto back to the start. Like, you can change your look and attitude, but you still come up short when it matters. Ouch. A good match, but Okada’s second disappointing title match of the year. ***½

Overall: 7/10. A pretty good show from NJPW here. Most of the card is good and gets at least three stars and none earn less than two. Shibata/Ishii stole the show for the second straight time, putting on yet another classic for the NEVER Title. The entire event clocks in at just under four hours but it moves along relatively quickly and delivers a strong show. With the loss of Nakamura and Styles, and Goto out of the title picture presumably, things are certainly looking interesting heading into the New Japan Cup.