REVIEW ROUNDUP
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NJPW World #3
- Great promo start by MJF and Ospreay and I have to say... that is a hell of an idea to put these two groups against each other.
- Cena and Takeshita blowing the roof off the Oakland Center, nice.
- LeRae vs. Syuri later on is just
- Good for Ali that he got the W... Not sure if he's gonna make it to the Title Match though, with Buddy being pissed.
- Nice way of creating that story arc with Hiromu, from the Match until the very end of the segment with SANADA basically catching him from falling further. Very intriguing.
- ...damn, Candice losing the title during this show came unexpected. Nice for Syuri, but... damn.
- Iwatani is fire, very well done.
- I know it's Tanahashi, but this reads almost like Dickinson was on Jobber level, which is just... idk
I'm sure you didn't mean to make it look that way.
- Not sure if there was an actual "jump stables" angle going on in previous shows, but it would have been interesting to see. I think I'd love to see a big swerve, but that's probably not gonna happen. Either way, damn QT.
- Mickie overcoming the odds, thanks to her box of darkness (oh my) is always a plus in my books. A bit weird to see that Britt seemingly didn't try to actively interfere, but I can live with it.
- Yea, tell him, Ospreay. Make MJF pay... but also QT, please.
- AOP vs. Joe & Ishii... what a dream hoss battle. Great finish too, with the simultaneous Finishers. JONAH against Joe gonna be wild.
- I totally believe Ciampa that DIY versus the Young Bucks in a Ladder Match is something no one will ever forget. Good promo by Gargano and him.
- So if Utami wins against Iwatani, Utami gonna face Shirai? This segment definitely feels like Utami is gonna turn against Shirai soon.
- Alright match, nothing too special. Statlander and Priestley with some tension behind it can be good.
- Amazing way to hype that Never Openweight 6-Man Tag Team match.
- Of course the Main Event is a barn burner spot fest... look at who's involved!
...but then of all the matches this is the one that gets some storyline interference, which leads to the finish. I like that a lot actually.
Overall: Wonderful Go-Home-Show that definitely gives me some hype and excitement for NJPW New Beginnings.
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ROH Elite #5
- Getting a Head of the Table vibe from Jay here
This whole thing is confusing as heck for someone, who started reading these shows more thoroughly from this point on. ...but that is actually not a bad thing, I think. It underlines the rising tension within the group. It's almost like the perfect amount of salt in a soup.
- Yea, Hikaru has to win here and the story afterwards fits good.
- When I read "B.C. Clubhouse" I immediately saw all of them crammed into a small treehouse
...but yea, this is some nice, steady cooking for that Bullet Club soup.
- Nice to see Havok getting the win for her team here and the Becky/Mandy stuff afterwards was intriguing.
- Interesting that ZSJ and Suzuki knew exactly where Jay and Juice would come through to block their paths
... Great stuff overall though. Again, there is so much going on and you could almost criticize that, but it simply works with how big the whole Bullet Club story seems to be.
- MOOSE is right... he should get the respect, he deserves and... wait why is he talking about Brock should be banned? WAIT, IS THERE A MOOSE/BROCK STORY GOING ON?
... oh wait, Brock is part of New Japan. Sorry, I'm getting all kinds of mixed up with these Rosters. ...but I guess there's still the chance for Brock vs. Moose, so yay. Big points and big hype for TNA as well, with that Moose/Alexander match.
- The Tag Teams segment was great. It actually was, just like the Moose stuff, kind of a good pallet cleanser from all the BC chaos going on. Very good to have some stuff going on, that isn't part of that storyline, but still feels almost as big and important as such.
- More BC soup! Juice gets a lot of time and spotlight, which is nice to see.
- Thank you for this first part of the Cole segment. That definitely helped, me at least, with understanding what happened in the past and connect some dots. In general this Owens/Cole segment was great to read. I can imagine all the piss and vinegar in the air during that one.
- Again, another great pallet cleanser with the LAX segment. It'd be the perfect timing to unite and basically try to take ROH over, with the other big group being in such disarray. I wonder if that's going to happen.
- Woods with, in my opinion, a big win here without Miro looking bad, since it was his first ever Pure Rules Match. Smart choice.
- Okay so... I don't care much for Kross, or the faint idea of Kross/Bordeaux versus Miz/Maryse, in whatever way... but this whole segment was amazingly done. I like how you, as a possible TV viewer, get thrown around here. From Kross, who kinda looks like the pure heel in this thing at first, getting then destroyed by the guys, who I thought were faces. THEN Vincent shows up and makes a great point around how the pure and honor is gone when they are just pushed far enough. That is just outstanding, at least imo... a bit of a shame though, that this one featured a scene with a kidnapped person in a dark room, after we saw a similar thing on NJPW World the night before.
- The segment after that feels a bit misplaced though, mostly because of what we've just seen. Especially with Miro being involved, who kind of gets a Title shot outta nowhere. Felt a bit odd.
- Interesting stuff around Scurll and Gordon. Good choice to let Page be the difference maker here too.
- Miz with some nice stuff here too. It's funny, there are a couple of guys in the business, from whom you can never not imagine how exactly a promo would sound and feel like and Miz is one of them. That always helps with written out promos from him.
- Gresham and Seth in the Main Event would been a sight to see. I'd love that match so much. Shame it ended in a DQ, but maybe we'll see it again in the future with a clear winner.
- And then the ending and it's an alright one. It's a bit weird to see two people in one show do the same "turning your back to your enemy to give them a free shot" thing, even if it's with different circumstances and all.
Overall: A wild, WILD ride. There's a
lot of stuff going on in ROH. I'm very intrigued by most of this, but I could also see potential danger in some stories getting turned into very hard to book, irreparable messes.
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AEW Dynamite #122
- Heck of an opener and it's interesting to see two upcoming World Title match opponents work perfectly fine together. That usually doesn't happen. Mox wants to kill T-Breeze and I'm looking forward to it.
- Yup, I definitely believe Scherr every word he says. Can't wait for him wrecking through the Roster.
- Soho with a nice, clean win. Nicely done and Vyper didn't look bad as well.
- Good hype for his clients from Stokely and it's clean, good booking to give them a W directly afterwards.
- Deonna versus Belair sounds great on paper. Definitely looking forward to that one.
- Interesting stuff with Jeff Hardy and Ace Austin. I wonder if that might change into a Mentor/Protégé relationship later on
- I already love StableHausen. That's some supreme entertainment.
- Yim with a short, but effective promo that went right to the point. Not bad, although I do think it would've been better to show what she actually did... but I understand it might be better this way, depending on where it all goes.
- It's some intriguing stuff to see NWA hyping their show on AEW TV. Makes sense with A-Kid being involved, of course.
- Bronson with some very strong presentation here. Bummer for Tatsu and I don't wanna be in Myers skin at all.
- I mean giving FTR the AEW Tag Titles is simply a huge plus for AEW... and I love to see them also Globetrotting through the Juicyverse.
- Very nice, spicy promo by Toni Storm.
- Bit of a shame to see the Commonwealth Connection getting destroyed like this. It makes sense to present The Slaughterhouse as these monsters and giving them kinda big named victims definitely proves the point for it. I just hope it will be worth it in the end.
- Team Taz vs. Academy of the Alphas is an intriguing idea and Gable against Hook could be amazing. Also it's always great to see some groundwork for a possible split in the future, with Gable and Bogojevic leaving their mates behind in the ring.
- Not a bad Main Event and putting a big spotlight on Garcia can't be wrong. I'm sure he'll play a big role in AEW's future plans.
Overall: Very streamlined, I feel, but that's not a bad thing. Not at all. Some very good things going on in AEW and I'm pretty sure Beach Break's going to be a great show.
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Impact #913
- Mysterio as the X-Division Champion is already a good and intriguing thing to see. The aftermath was also interesting, thanks to Ridgeway and the supposedly three faces going to face each other for the Title, with two guys being a Tag Team too. That has chaos written all over it.
- I love some spooky shit and Ultramantis clearly delivered some quality weirdness.
- Man... seeing Wardlow lose, even with an assist of raking his eyes, seems weird to me.
Good for Kratos though.
- Damn. So I guess the bridge that was laid out on ROH Elite is about to be crossed. Interesting. I don't know how I feel about how Ronda is portrayed here though. On one hand, she's a badass who probably knows something's up and she simply doesn't care... or she's a completely oblivious idiot.
- Hangman with another win this week and again he looks strong as fuck. Guess you have to present him like this, if you put him against Reigns.
- Interesting continuation of the Bunny/Ford stuff from ROH Elite and Kamille's confrontation with Spud also was good, even though it kinda went nowhere for now.
- Nice Tag Match with what I feel are the right winners, but without making it too clean. Leaves the door open for furthering their storyline after Bound By Honor.
- Yea, I don't care for Miz/Maryse versus Kross/Bordeaux. This segment was done well, but yea, I just can't really get into this one.
- WILLIE MACK & DAVID FINLAY
...and Finlay was even allowed to win. Awesome!
- Some big words coming from Orton there. Not a bad promo and the idea of him against Alexander is just
- Having a new, I guess thrown together, Tag Team getting a win in their first match is always a good way to solidify them immediately, but I'm not so sure I like the whole idea of them having that big chemistry right from the get go. Yes, it does happen, but I think it'd be more interesting if there were some bumps in the road of achieving Tag chemistry.
- Charlotte gets beaten up. I'm happy.
(For real though, great segment.)
- I can't stand Alpha Female. Very glad Max impaled her.
- Ooohh... I think I had a whole other idea about the earlier Becky/Ronda segment floating in my head. Okay, now it makes a bit more sense. It's definitely way more interesting that way.
- And dammit, Charlotte already got part of her revenge in.
I think TNA should space out the segments featuring the women's division a tiny bit more. It feels a bit like "Oh wait, we forgot that we still have 15 minutes of Knockouts time left for this show and only 30 minutes left overall... oh well, let's just cram it all in here right now".
- Big Main Event for TNA this week and it was as chaotic as the whole BC story already was on ROH Elite. Great way to span that story over these two shows.
Overall: Another great show, with very minor things that bugged me, like the crammed in Women's segments before the Main Event and... well, the Miz/Maryse/Kross/Bordeaux stuff. Bound By Honor will be pretty wild, I imagine.
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AWA Friday Night Firefight #5
- Great opening bout and I didn't expect Los Parks to win it.
- WALTER destroys Puma King. Makes sense, can't complain about it.
- Danielson is fired up, which came across well. Fire'n'Flava seem to be a nice addition to AWA's Tag Team Division as well. Not bad.
- And yea, Cesaro had to get the win here with the promo afterwards. Cesaro at the AAA PPV gonna be interesting to watch.
- Poor Kacy...
- Simple, right to the point, but still with enough conviction behind it. Lovely promo by Keith.
- MY MEATY GODDESS
... and she makes Feroz tap out. The placement of this match and the Asuka match, with both ending in decisive submission victories... might there be a possible Submission Match on the cards?
- Once again, good thing the Manager hypes his Tag Team and they get a clean cut victory. Very good look for Cedric and Apollo.
- I agree with Pillman Jr. Beating Bálor would be big for him and I do cross my fingers for him... even if it's probably not gonna help.
- Danielson versus Dunne is my favorite Main Event booked this week. Good story about the injured leg, Dunne and Danielson both went out of the Match looking better. The aftermath also hits the nail on the head.
Overall: Very good way to end the week for sure. I have nothing really to complain about here.
