Zack Sabre Jr. is keeping the traditional style of British wrestling alive. He is one of the most technically sound wrestlers on the planet. In an era where many workers of his generation try to impress through spectacle, his style is based on smoothly transitioning from one submission hold to another, and Sabre instead stands out by focusing on classically styled technical skill. One of the many good things about Sabre is that he mixes things up for each match, he doesn't force the same things every match, so his matches have a lot more variance and can unfold more organically, with some actual surprises. His love for pro wrestling helped him to keep learning and keep pushing himself to become a versatile wrestler, which has enabled him to become successful in all corners of the world despite having a style that's currently implemented in, well, really none of them. His work combines elements of old school British wrestling and modern styles of wrestling, he's not simply imitating the heroes of his youth, but rather he's a thoughtful worker with an eye for detail who is, at once, both classic and modern. Even though he's able to work different styles and adapt to his opponent well, he also pushes his opponents to think outside the box and do something different. Sabre is actually a unique performer, Jr. to a non-existent Sr., a sort of one-man jazz band who's been marching to the beat of his own drum and managed to escape the clutches of sports-entertainment and stay true to the brand of pro wrestling he set out to enable. He's on another level from most of his peers. Sabre's growth as a wrestler happened at the same time as the re-emergence of a strong British wrestling scene and he's been one of the reasons why it has been worth looking at the modern British indy scene in more detail.

Lucas Eatwell was born on 7/24/87 in Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. He made his pro wrestling debut in 2004. Most of his success has taken place in the UK, Germany and Japan. He also has been well-received in the North American indy scene. He was influenced by old school British wrestlers like Johnny Saint, Steve Grey, and Marc Rocco. He was also influenced by 1990s Japanese junior heavyweights such as Jushin Thunder Liger, Shinjiro Otani, and Koji Kanemoto. When Sabre was a teenager, he'd get puroresu tapes, including the NJPW 1994 Super J-Cup, which was considered the gateway to becoming a puroresu fan back in the mid 1990's. That's when he realized he wanted to be a pro wrestler in Japan. He'd also watch UWF, UWF-I and BATTLARTS tapes. Sabre blends all those '70s, '80s and '90s influences together and makes it work in a modern-day setting. If time travel was possible, it would have been interesting to see Sabre at the '70s height of World of Sport, touring Calgary when there were live bodies coming from The Dungeon.

If you combine Johnny Saint, Jim Breaks, various puroresu styles and add a little touch of modern indy wrestling, you get pretty close to the recipe of Zack Sabre Jr.'s unique style. Plus, there are some secret ingredients that make him Zack Sabre Jr. Just when you think you've got him figured out, he'll probably grab you in a hold or three, transition into another submission hold and all you can do is tap out. I watched more than 100 Zack Sabre Jr. matches to find out what his best matches are and to get a good overview of his career. Watching him grow as a worker and watching him trying to figure it all out in his earlier years was fascinating. In 2019, he started getting even more in tune with his heel character, incorporating great character work and somehow making all of that work on the biggest pro wrestling stage of them all, New Japan Pro Wrestling. Zack Sabre Jr. made his NJPW debut in 2017, but to fully understand his journey, I started with matches from his early days...

X-S:W / wXW 12/10/06 Colchester, England Hippodrome, European King of the Death Matches 2006 Quarter Final Tables, Ladders, Chairs and 10,000 Thumbtacks Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Darkside vs. Steve Douglas 12:35. They did an angle where Douglas and Darkside would face each other in a non-death match European rounds type match on a card that featured death matches. The crowd was annoyed because they came to see garbage wrestling. Douglas and Darkside did some contrived and unconvincing "technical" stuff. A 19-year-old Zack Sabre Jr., sporting an emo haircut and carrying a chair and a bag of thumbtacks, interrupted the match and said he was enjoying the match, but that the fans came to see a death match "So let's have a death match!" It's really ironic to see Sabre interrupt a European rounds match and turn it into a death match since you'd expect the opposite, knowing Sabre as we know Sabre nowadays. This match took place when Sabre only had two years of experience as a pro wrestler. It was clear he was passionate about what he was doing, but at this stage of his career he really came off as a generic indy worker. But, hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere. This match was pretty bad with none of the participants doing anything that was beyond average. Sabre's performance was quite okay when considering the stage of his career at that point. *

SWA 7/7/07 Segovia, Spain Pabellon Emperador Teodosio, SWA King of the Ring First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jack Fonso 4:10. This was filmed by someone with a cheap old mobile phone. It took place in a seemingly near-empty gymnasium in Spain. Jack Fonso is an unknown wrestler and he was not good at all. Dressed as if out for a jog outside, one could believe they roped him in because they were in a bind. Sabre didn't really do anything special either, but he did at least a couple of decent moves. The match may be the only time that a wrestler won by pinfall with the armbar, as the referee somehow thought it was a pinning combination rather than a submission hold, and counted to three. Sabre would beat Irish wrestler Lee Flynn in the semi-final then lose to Irish wrestler Paul Tracey in the final of a seemingly random tournament that also featured Swedish female wrestler Jenny Sjodin. ½*

TXW 3/2/08 Coventry, England Jolly Beggar Club: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bryan Danielson 24:42. This took place at a small indy show in England. This must have been a good experience for Sabre, who was 20 years old wrestling arguably the top American technical wrestler of the period. Bryan did a great job carrying the young Sabre, who clearly showed lots of potential but wasn't quite a good worker yet. The match mostly consisted of matwork. Sabre was pretty good in the local babyface role. Bryan acted heelish. Some of Sabre's offense still looked a bit rough, although he hit a cool-looking and crazy dive. Overall, it was a good match that showed Sabre's potential and it showed Bryan's excellence. This match got Sabre a lot of attention from European indy promoters and it's one of the reasons why wXw decided to bring Sabre in. ***

Indypendance Day 9/28/08 Wolverhampton, England Wulfrun Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kenny Omega vs. Davey Richards vs. Joey Redman 12:20. This was a 4-way match with all four workers working at the same time. I'm not a fan of this type of match. It was an indyriffic match. Nobody really stood out and some of the spots didn't look that good. Most of the match was very generic indy stuff. The best spot was Kenny getting suplexed over the top rope to the outside by Redman. Sabre was okay, but still in the early stages of his career and he kinda felt out of place in this match. This certainly was a disappointment overall given the careers Sabre, Kenny, & Richards went on to have. *¾

wXw 2/7/09 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 30-Minute Iron Man: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Claudio Castagnoli 30:00. Sabre certainly showed potential again, and his work was okay here, but he was clearly still in the early stages of his career. Also, unfortunately, this was one of those 30-minute matches where they kinda dragged things out to fill the 30 minutes. This meant there were some less interesting moments and some stalling. Sabre scored the first fall via an armbar with more than 18 minutes remaining in the match. The last 12 minutes were most interesting, not only because that's also when Castagnoli scored the equalizing fall, but that's also when the action picked up a bit more. I think this match possibly would have been a bit better as a regular match though, because then they wouldn't have to worry about making this interesting within the rules of an Iron Man Match. Two minutes before time expired, Zack scored the winning pinfall, making it 2-1 in his favor. Castagnoli was the more experienced worker of the two, and he did quite an okay job here. In the end, it was a pretty decent match overall, and it was interesting to see more of Zack from this early stage of his career. **½

wXw 3/7/09 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold Tournament 2009, Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bryan Danielson 13:15. The crowd was loud and basically kept chanting non-stop. Danielson clearly didn't give his best effort, but even when that's the case, he's still better than many others. He got a lot of heel heat from the crowd and he really focused on being the heel the crowd wanted him to be in this match. Sabre relied on Danielson carrying him, but he gave about as good of an effort as he could at that time. Sabre actually won with a surprise flash pin and celebrated in a crowd that was extremely happy about Sabre getting the upset victory. **

wXw 3/7/10 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, wXw World Lightweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Munenori Sawa 10:39. Sabre was clearly a better worker in 2010 than he was in previous years. The match seemed to lack real focus though. There were some submission attempts. There were some kick exchanges. The highlight of the match was possibly the slap exchange about two minutes before the finish. This was a decent match and it was an improvement over Sabre's previous work. It helped that ZERO-1 worker Sawa is a good worker who is at his best in the Battlarts style, which isn't that far from what Sabre is usually going for. **½

wXw 7/4/10 Oberhausen,Germany Saint, AMBITION 1 First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TJP 5:58. This was part of the first edition of AMBITION, a shoot style tournament. TJP is American wrestler TJ Perkins, who came across as quicker and more skilled in this match. However, Sabre did well and it must have been a unique experience for him. **

wXw 1/16/11 Oberhausen, Germany Saint, AMBITION 2 First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jon Ryan 13:54. This match took place in Germany and it was a battle between two Englishmen. Jon Ryan, a worker who spent most of his career in Europe, was one of ZSJ's trainers when ZSJ first got into pro wrestling. This was a very British/European style mat-based match in wXw's shoot style tournament. Ryan made sure to give his student a rough time here. The matwork was good. I think they did a good job of making this look like a realistic match. ZSJ really showed his skills as a technical wrestler. At some point, Sabre made me LOL when he said, "who made these rules?" This was fun to watch. ***

wXw 1/16/11 Oberhausen, Germany Saint, AMBITION 2 Semi-Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Rico Bushido 3:38. Rico Bushido is a wrestler from the Netherlands and he mainly focused on kicks. Sabre focused on submission holds. There was a pretty cool slap exchange. *¾

wXw 3/12/11 Oberhausen, Germany, 16 Carat Gold Tournament 2011 Quarterfinal Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Davey Richards 13:35. Davey Richards was the more explosive of the two, and he had the power advantage, but Zack Sabre Jr. was able to use his technical wrestling knowledge to his advantage. Richards’ kicks were true difference makers, as they took all the wind out of Sabre. This enabled Richards to follow up and stay in control. There was a cool spot where Richards went for a lucha-type front flip into the ropes, and he expected to hit a move after bouncing back, but Sabre had anticipated it and hit Richards with a sliding dropkick that stopped Richards’ momentum. Both wrestlers realized they had to start hitting each other with high-impact moves to really get a win here. Sabre hit a springboard jumping high knee, followed up by a penalty kick. Richards hit a dropkick off the top rope. There were plenty of kicks during the final minutes. Since Sabre had done quite some damage by this point, Sabre was able to be more competitive in the strike exchange this time. Both wrestlers sold well for each other, and the action was going back-and-forth. Sabre almost won via submission, but Richards escaped and transitioned into an ankle lock. Sabre was able to escape the ankle lock pretty easily, even when Richards tried it again, so Richards knew he had to apply a more effective version of the ankle lock. Richards applied what started out as the beginning position of a sasorigatame, but he made sure he turned himself around so he could face Sabre while having Sabre’s legs tied up, and that’s when he was able to apply pressure on Sabre’s ankle from a seated position without Sabre being able to escape. This was a really good match, and it was easily the best match in Sabre’s career up until that point in his career. It’s more the level of match we’d expect from Sabre by late 2013, which says a lot about how much potential Sabre already had in 2011, and how good of a worker Richards was for bringing that out of young Sabre. The execution was crisper in their Rev Pro 10/19/13 match, which was a match that was slightly better overall, because Sabre had leveled up as a worker by that point with a couple of years more experience under his belt. Still, this wXw 3/12/11 match was surprisingly a very good match. ***½

PWE 10/21/11 Cumnock, Scotland Cumnock Academy: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Noam Dar 17:58. This was a British style match, which means that it was in the style ZSJ is best at. Noam Dar is an Israeli-born Scottish worker. They did some good stuff, but there were also times in the match where they kinda lost my attention because there didn't seem to be a real focus on anything specific. Overall, a pretty good effort by both. It's the kinda match I wouldn't mind seeing if I were to attend an indy show. There were a bunch of good-looking moves and sequences, but they didn't really seem to lead to anything. It probably would have been a little bit better if the match was a little bit shorter. **¼

wXw 11/26/11 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Dick Togo 23:24. This was Dick Togo's final match in Germany as part of his tour around the world prior to retiring. ZSJ was pretty good here. His tours to NOAH probably played a role in his improvement. Although it's clear that he's better at doing the British matwork style than trying to do the Japanese junior heavy style at this point. This wasn't Togo's best match by any means, but Togo was good here. While it was a pretty good match, I think they didn't quite have the match they wanted to have. **¾

NOAH 4/11/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Atsushi Aoki 8:57. This was Sabre's second tour to Japan. He spent a lot of time in Japan in 2011, from mid July until early October. Becoming a pro wrestler in Japan was a dream come true for Sabre. In this match, Sabre was in British wrestling mode, which is what he was best at around that time, so that was a good thing. The fact that Aoki was able to put over and sell for all the British stuff ZSJ was doing shows that Aoki is at least a decent worker because it's not the style he's used to and he managed to adapt to it. He even started working over ZSJ's arm in a specific way, like he was a British worker himself. It was a fun match. The NOAH crowd was polite and appreciative of ZSJ's overly British style. This would have been a good match if it lasted a bit longer. **¾

NOAH 4/29/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 5:22. ZSJ did some British style stuff, and then he switched to some Japanese juniors stuff. This was the first time I've seen him able to combine those two styles quite well. I can tell ZSJ keeps improving. It was a fast-paced match. These two did the most they could with the five minutes they were given. **¾

NOAH 5/9/12 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Atsushi Kotoge 8:27. ZSJ displayed his mat wrestling skills. The fans seemed quite interested in his unique British style. He pretty much dominated most of the match, but then lost to a flash pin. **½

wXw 3/1/13 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, wXw 16 Carat Gold 2013 First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Johnny Moss 23:03. Even though this got a bit more interesting during the final minutes when Sabre was on offense, this was too long for a match that featured just basic wrestling during the first half of the match. The matched quality picked up during the second half. Sabre did three suicide dives, but Moss caught him the third time. **¼

wXw 3/2/13 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, wXw 16 Carat Gold 2013 Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Robert Dreissker 7:28. Dreissker is a mediocre worker from Austria. Sabre was good. *¾

wXw 3/3/13 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, wXw 16 Carat Gold 2013 Semi-Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Karsten Beck 16:49. Beck works at a slow pace and focuses a lot on stalling and doing his heel routine. This match had way too much down time and silliness. Beck is a mediocre worker, but Sabre tried to make the most of this. They could have easily cut the match time in half though. *¾

wXw 3/3/13 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, wXw 16 Carat Gold 2013 Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tommy End 13:02. Tommy End (a.k.a. Aleister Black) is a wrestler from The Netherlands. He was okay here, but hadn't quite hit his peak yet. Sabre gave a good showing. Sabre executed a springboard dropkick and a couple of nice dragon suplexes. They did a sequence where they both ducked each other's kicks and then kicked each other at the same time. End won the match by submission. **½

NOAH 8/4/13 Tokyo Differ Ariake: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Taiji Ishimori 19:41. Zack Sabre Jr. challenged for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title. Good to see ZSJ in a NOAH match that lasts longer than 10 minutes. Both workers gave a good showing. This was more of a Japanese junior heavyweight style match, with ZSJ occasionally incorporating some British style. It was a good match, but not more than good because it ended up being a bit too spotty in the second half. ***¼

wXw/CZW/BJPW 10/4/13 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Triangle League Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Drew Gulak 19:57. As usual, the wXw fans were extremely enthusiastic. The match itself was quite interesting and unique, as it was totally technical wrestling with no flashy modern high spots. They kept countering and reversing holds. Just lots of counters and reversals, as neither man really could get an advantage for too long. Sabre had some great and clever ways to get out of holds and apply some of his own. They kept focusing on matwork and technical wrestling for almost the entire match. About a minute and a half before the finish, there was an aggressive slap exchange. Once it got announced there were 30 seconds left, I expected this to go to a time-limit draw. However, Sabre managed to score a pinfall just three seconds before the time limit expired. ***1/2

RevPro 10/19/13 London, England York Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Davey Richards 20:11. This was even better than expected. “American Wolf” Davey Richards didn't have his regular type match and knew this was a good time to have a more submission-oriented match than he normally would. Sabre was clearly a good worker here, and it seemed that in the second half of 2013, he had been really stepping up his game quite a bit. Richards gave a strong performance too, but unlike their 3/12/11 match in wXw, this time it didn’t feel like it was Richards guiding Sabre as much. One of the coolest spots was Richards' attempt at a diving headbutt and Zack Sabre Jr. catching him in a triangle. The final minutes had some near falls, but it never felt excessive. By late 2013, Sabre had learned more, and seemed more confident of his ability, compared to 2011, which brought a whole different dynamic to their match this time around. The pace of the wXw 3/12/11 match was a bit higher from start to finish, as in this 10/19/13 match, they focused a bit more on storytelling and selling, which was something they could afford spending more time on since they had more time. This was probably the best match of ZSJ's career at that point in time. ***¾

NOAH 11/27/13 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 11:46. This must have been a great moment for ZSJ because Liger was one of the workers he enjoyed watching a lot when he was a kid ordering NJPW tapes. Liger, arguably the greatest junior heavyweight ever, was familiar with the British style because he toured England in 1986/1987. ZSJ was 26 years old here. Liger was 48 years old here, but he didn't seem past his prime at all. Liger was such a smart worker. Liger sold ZSJ's offence really well. I really like how Liger kept selling his arm, even after the bell. The post-match promo by Liger directed at Yoshinari Ogawa and ZSJ sounded cool but I don't know what he said. Liger acted heelish because he represented rival promotion NJPW. ***½

NOAH 12/7/13 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum: Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV 13:43. Sabre & Ogawa challenged for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title. This match took place right after Akira Taue's retirement match. ZSJ & Ogawa walked down the aisle to Ogawa's theme (Rob Zombie's "Scum of the Earth"). It was interesting to see the 26-year old ZSJ in a match that featured three veterans that were in their 40's. The match was at its best when ZSJ and/or Liger were in the ring. Liger was the smartest worker in the match. ZSJ was the most exciting worker in the match. Ogawa and Tiger IV were past their prime, but still okay. **¾

NOAH 3/8/14 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum, GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keno & Hajime Ohara 15:34. ZSJ wasn't able to stand out here. He tried to fit in with the NOAH tag style here, but wasn't able to put his stamp on the match. **

RevPro 6/15/14 London, England York Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 15:23. NOAH vs. NJPW. ZSJ was the GHC Jr. Heavy Tag Champ (w/ Yoshinari Ogawa) and Shinsuke was the IWGP IC Champ. ZSJ was good, but didn't really get to show his best stuff because this was the Shinsuke show. ZSJ did take a nice bump into a row of chairs though. Good selling by ZSJ overall. Shinsuke really was the NJPW version of a sports-entertainer. **½

PWG 8/31/14 Reseda, CA American Legion Post #308: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kyle O'Reilly 17:00. An excellent display of technical wrestling by both workers. There were plenty of nice counters and some nice strikes. If there's one criticism I would have to give, it's that it almost felt like they were just having an exhibition of cool technical stuff and counters since the easily entertained PWG crowd would eat up whatever they did anyway. I was hoping for maybe more focus on limb work, which is what they're both great at. Also, the finish felt random without too much build up to it. It's one of the better PWG matches I've ever seen though. ***½

IPW:UK 9/20/14 Tonbridge, England The Angel Center, UK Super 8 2014 Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 5:30 of 11:15 shown. Good performance by Zack and interesting to see Ospreay, who had been wrestling since 2012, during the early stages of his career. This wasn't on the level of their future matches. **¾

NOAH 11/4/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Daisuke Harada 17:05. Sabre challenged for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title. The fans applauded Sabre for his Johnny Saint-esque counters and escapes. The early portion of the match was all Sabre showing his technical skills. There were some cool apron spots where they hit suplexes to each other onto the apron. Some good near-fall sequences during the final minutes. ***½

NOAH 1/12/15 Yokohama Radiant Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 12:01. NOAH was ZSJ's main promotion in 2015. This match took place in the middle of the card. It started off with some matwork, and ZSJ managed to stay several steps ahead of Nakajima thanks to his superior technical skills. A Japanese girl kept yelling "Zakku!" to show her support for ZSJ. Nakajima hadn't quite reached the level of confidence he would reach a few years later. This was a pretty good match and ZSJ did a good job showcasing his ability, but I felt that Nakajima, while giving a decent performance here, didn't really earn the win. Also, the match could have used a few minutes extra so they could have built to the finish a bit more. **¾

NOAH 1/24/15 Osaka Bodymaker Colosseum #2: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 15:00. This was the opening match of the show, but at least they got a few minutes extra this time. They started off with some matwork again. The main difference with this match compared to their 1/12 match is that Nakajima seemed more interested in pushing ZSJ to the (time) limit this time. Good performance by both men. ***

NOAH 2/4/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Taichi 9:42. I watched this match out of curiosity, but curiosity killed the cat... This wasn't good (of course, the opponent was Taichi...). This was a #1 contender's match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title. This was the second-last match of the show. In a pre-match vignette, ZSJ said "Taichi wa dare desu ka" which I believe means "who is Taichi?" Taichi was accompanied by TAKA Michinoku. Taichi and TAKA were part of the Suzuki-gun stable, which had recently invaded NOAH. ZSJ fought for NOAH. Lots of shenanigans by Taichi early in the match. ZSJ tried to have a good match, but Taichi didn't have the interest and/or capability. ZSJ showed good offense. TAKA tried to interfere but a dropkick by ZSJ sent him out of the ring. Taichi cheated to win. Interesting to see ZSJ in action, but there was just too much chicanery going on, which caused this to be a mediocre match overall. *½

wXw 3/6/15 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold 2015 First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Axel Tischer 19:43. Zack Sabre Jr. was again part of the 16 Carat Gold tournament. Tischer (a.k.a. Alexander Wolfe) is an East German wrestler. He was okay. ZSJ was good and carried the match. The early part of the match consisted mainly of very slow-paced matwork. But, things picked up after a slap exchange, and they got a bit more aggressive with ZSJ working over Tischer's arm. ZSJ continued working over Tischer's arm and ZSJ's transitions were smooth. I think this was about as good as a singles match Tischer was able to have at this time in his career. That's partly because he tried hard to have a good match, but also partly because ZSJ was good and clearly on his way to becoming a very good worker. **¾

wXw 3/7/15 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold 2015 Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Daisuke Harada 13:54. This very good match between an English and a Japanese wrestler facing each other in Germany. The German fans chanted "best in Europe" to show their appreciation for ZSJ. This was a very good technical match, and easily one of ZSJ's best matches up until that point in his career. I think this was the first time I'd say ZSJ showed flashes of greatness. I really like how Harada reacted to the finish because that helped put over that wins and losses matter. ***½

wXw 3/8/15 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold 2015 Semi-Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Axel Dieter Jr. 16:29. Very good technical display by ZSJ. Axel Dieter Jr., son of the legendary German worker Axel Dieter, is a generic indy worker, but he was at least decent enough for ZSJ to carry him to a pretty good match. ***

NOAH 4/11/15 Niigata City Gymnasium: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Daisuke Harada. 5:10 of 13:27 shown. This appeared to be good. ***

PROGRESS 5/25/15 London, England Electric Ballroom, Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tommaso Ciampa 15:48. During the early parts of the match, they were very evenly matched. They both avoided a couple of potential big moves from each other early then Ciampa started getting more in control, and really took it to Sabre in order to try to gain the momentum. However, Zack can grab a submission hold from seemingly any angle, and he put that on display here. Even though Zack was able to temporarily stop Ciampa’s momentum, Ciampa remained in control during most of the middle portion of the match. However, Sabre gradually started doing some serious damage to Ciampa’s left arm. The crowd was split down the middle, with half chanting for Sabre and half for Ciampa. Sabre and Ciampa gradually started hitting more high impact moves including Ciampa executing an emerald flowsion on the apron. Sabre knew he had to go for bigger moves himself, and went for an armbar, but wasn’t able to fully lock it in. Ciampa went for a powerbomb-backbreaker combination, which he calls project Ciampa. It seemed Ciampa felt like he was about to win this match, but, after a strike exchange, Sabre managed to grab Ciampa in a submission hold Ciampa wasn’t able to escape from. It was a very good match with both workers giving a strong effort and performance. ***¾ 

PROGRESS 5/25/15 London, England Electric Ballroom, Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 17:58. Zack Sabre Jr. had defeated Marty Scurll in the semi-final of this tournament. This show took place at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, arguably the most fun part of London, England. Sabre and Will Ospreay facing each other in the final of this tournament was fitting because they were the best workers in this tournament (and arguably the two best British workers of the past 20 years or so). Ospreay hit a bunch of exciting moves early in the match. Once Sabre was in control, he focused on Ospreay’s left arm. Ospreay sold Sabre’s attack on the arm quite well. This was Sabre’s third match of the night (and all three matches lasted more than 15 minutes). Also, Sabre had just flown in from Japan to England the day prior (5/24), which is at least a 12-hour flight through 8 different time zones and on that day (5/24), he wrestled in the first round of this tournament. In other words, it was understandable that Sabre seemed more fatigued than we are used to seeing him (and I’m sure working three matches in two days also had its toll on Ospreay, even though his previous matches were slightly shorter than Sabre’s). It was the last match of this PROGRESS weekend, and the fans were enjoying what they were seeing. However, even though I admire their effort, I felt it wasn’t the best match these two would normally have been able to have if they were in a non-tournament setting. Still, it was a good match overall. At some point, Ospreay went for an armbar against the armbar specialist, which obviously didn’t do the trick. Sabre hit Ospreay with penalty kicks repeatedly, but wasn’t able to put Ospreay away. In the end, it was Ospreay with a couple of moves off the top rope that got him the big win here. I think the match itself was “only” good, but it’s certainly impressive that these two had multiple good matches in a couple of days' time and were still able to give a satisfying performance. I think that ultimately they dragged this match out a bit too long and that they probably would have been better off working a 12-minute match or so where they could have gone a bit more all out. Although, I guess this also wasn’t too far off as a representation of what these two were at as workers overall and they would obviously have much better matches against each other in the future. ***¼ 

PWG 6/26/15 Resada, California American Legion Post #308: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Chris Hero 24:00. This was a pretty stiff match. Selling was really good. The crowd was into it. Hero was bleeding from one of the fingers of his left hand. At some point, Hero purposely let the blood drip onto Sabre's back. Sabre had been working over Hero's left arm (including the hand and fingers) whenever he got the chance. Hero's big boots to the head looked devastating. Sabre was in a lot of trouble and sold that part of the story well. In the end, a successful counter gave Sabre the win. ***½

NOAH 7/18/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall show: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Daisuke Harada 12:12. This was the 6th match of a 9-match card. This was part of the Global Junior Heavyweight League. This match was good and worth watching but not quite on the level of their 11/4/14 and 3/7/15 matches, which had a more focused and technical approach overall that was more up ZSJ's alley. The second half of this match was more Japanese junior heavyweight type stuff and felt slightly less memorable overall. In the end, ZSJ made Harada submit via the Jim Breaks armbar. ***¼

wXw 10/2/15 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team Tournament First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & WALTER vs. Kevin Roadster & Marius van Beethoven 11:13. Austrian wrestler WALTER was known as Big Daddy WALTER at the time. ZSJ & WALTER is kinda like a modern European wrestling dream team. This match was fun, but relatively one-sided. **¼

wXw 10/4/15 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team Tournament Semi-Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & WALTER vs. Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham 13:09. Brookes & Gresham are known as the Calamari Catch Kings, even though they weren't all that impressive this was still a good match thanks to their opponents. This match featured very good technical wrestling by ZSJ, and WALTER's offense looked devastating. ***

wXw 10/4/15 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team Title Tournament Final and wXw World Tag Team Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & WALTER vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly 18:36. This was the final of the tournament and it was also the decision match for the vacant wXw World Tag Team Title. There was some brawling in the crowd before the match officially started. Strong performance by both tag teams. Good technical display by ZSJ and stiff offense by WALTER. Any time Sabre and O'Reilly are wrestling each other, it's at least very good. Fish was pretty good too, and his tag team work with O'Reilly was very good. ***½

NOAH 11/8/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall show: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Taiji Ishimori 11:13. This was the fourth match on the card. While this was a good match, I liked their 8/4/13 match a little bit better though because they got more time for that one. ***

SWE 12/27/15 St. Neots, England Priory Centre: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Morgan Webster 13:25. "Flash" Morgan Webster is a Welsh pro wrestler. This match took place at a Southside Wrestling Entertainment show. ZSJ's work was clearly getting more mature. His technical ability and overall work was improving. Just like in most of Sabre's matches, it was clear here that he's a fan of 70s/80s British wrestling. ***¼

Limitless Wrestling 1/30/16 Orono, ME American Legion Post #84: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Chris Hero 24:10. The ring was really close to the floor. This was a slow-paced match. Hero hit several chops and was in control for a while. The action spilled to the outside, with Hero striking Sabre, who kept falling into the crowd. It's a fun match considering, especially since this was a small indy show. Sabre executed an octopus hold outside of the ring. Sabre started getting a bit more aggressive, working over Hero's right arm. Sabre was now firmly in control. Eventually, Hero was able to get more offense in, but he kept selling his right arm since that's the arm he likes to use for his offense. I really like that they gave a good effort even though it was such a tiny show. They didn't go all out or anything, but at least they clearly cared to have at least a very good match just because they are two top indy names and they wanted to give the fans their money's worth. Hero was getting a bit overconfident near the end and Sabre took advantage of it with a Johnny Saint-esque pinning combination. ***½

WWN 4/2/16 Dallas, TX Eddie Deen's Ranch: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Chris Hero 26:51. This was part of the WWNLive Mercury Rising show during WrestleMania weekend. The crowd was into this. Sabre and Hero were both quite intense in this match. Big elbow smash sent Sabre to the outside. Hero went to the outside and hit another big elbow smash. The crowd was divided, some were cheering for Sabre, others were cheering for Hero. Sabre was in trouble and Hero was in control. Sabre tried to fight back, but Hero remained in control. Sabre with a kick and a kickup. Sabre followed it up with uppercuts. Sabre didn't really get a chance to focus on one specific arm, he tried to attack both arms. This match featured some huge big boots by Hero. Both gave strong performances, but I felt that Hero was the more dominant wrestler here and he didn't give Sabre as much as he normally would. This was kinda cool though because it meant that this time Sabre had to approach a match differently from normal. The cool thing about this match that it really felt like Sabre was fighting for his life, which is something we rarely get to see. This was more stiff and more aggressive than any other Sabre vs. Hero match I've watched. ***¾

wXw 3/11/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold 2016 First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER 13:05. This was good. Both these workers seem to get more advanced compared to their 2015 work. It was an interesting battle because ZSJ wasn't able to completely dominate his opponent because WALTER is so powerful. This brought an interesting dynamic to the match that I hadn't seen in previous ZSJ matches. ***

wXw 3/12/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold 2016 Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 12:39. ZSJ's technical skills in 2016 are clearly better than in previous years. Will is extremely fast and athletic. ZSJ had more experience and was a better technical wrestler. Both workers showed improvement compared to previous years. ***¾

wXw 3/13/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold 2016 Semi Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Sami Callihan 9:06. Sami was okay and did his usual U.S. indy stuff while ZSJ tried to do his usual technical style. It was decent, but I guess it was a bit of a clash of styles and it was also short. **½

wXw 3/13/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, 16 Carat Gold 2016 Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Axel Dieter Jr. 12:35. This was the final of the 16 Carat Gold Tournament, though Zack's bigger battles came earlier. ZSJ once again took on the son of the famous German wrestler/promoter Axel Dieter. Good performance by ZSJ. **¾

RevPro 6/12/16 London, England York Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kurt Angle 8:59. Great atmosphere. The crowd was really into this "dream match." It was very much a Kurt Angle style match. Angle was pretty broken down, but probably gave the best performance he could at this point of his career. Interesting to see ZSJ against such a different type of opponent. ZSJ gave a good performance. He sold well, but going against Angle, he didn't really get to put his own stamp on the match. **¾

RevPro 7/10/16 London York Hall, London, England: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata 16:02. They both tried to get the upper hand on the mat. Shibata pushed ZSJ a bit harder than most opponents had done, which was cool because ZSJ had to concentrate more and make sure he was on top of his game here. Pretty quickly, things got more aggressive as they started trading forearm smashes and European uppercuts. What I like about this match compared to most other ZSJ matches by that point in time is that this seemed more like a struggle. I like how ZSJ stayed outside the ring for a while to sell the first part of the match. ZSJ knew he had to bring his A game here. ZSJ started attacking Shibata's left arm. ZSJ also started attacking Shibata's right arm. After a forearm exchange, ZSJ targeted the left arm of Shibata. The lively fans started doing a soccer-esque chant to the melody of the White Stripes song Seven Nation Army... Oh Zack Sabre Jr.!. Shibata finally started retaliating and he started to show his technical skills. ZSJ eventually outsmarted and outwrestled Shibata for the win. It was a good match, but it never really developed into the match it could have been, almost to the point it was a bit one-sided in ZSJ's favor... This was very much a ZSJ match and Shibata didn't really get to show his stuff as much. It was good, but I can't say it was more than just good overall because they never ended up taking it to the next level. Perhaps this was booked like this on purpose with a possible rematch in mind for the future. Either way, it was good and it's a good match to show what ZSJ was doing in 2016. ***¼

Smash Wrestling 9/17/16 Toronto, ON Franklin Horner Community Center: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TARIK 11:25. Smash Wrestling is one the most popular indy promotions in Ontario. TARIK is a Candian wrestler who comes from a Guyanese background. The fans were aware of Sabre's reputation and greeted him with the famous "Oh Zack Sabre Junior!" chant, which was popularized in Europe. Jimmy Korderas was the referee for this contest. Sabre and TARIK countered each other on the mat for a bit with Sabre getting the advantage. TARIK hit a series of elbow drops. Once Sabre got the advantage, Sabre started working on TARIK's left arm. Sabre with an octopus hold. TARIK tried to go for a move, but Sabre countered it and escaped. Sabre gave a good performance. TARIK is a pretty standard indy wrestler though, and was outclassed here. While sitting on the top turnbuckle, Sabre went for the Jim Breaks armbar but TARIK was able to slap Sabre. Some back-and-forth action followed. Sabre with a triangle choke and he transitioned that into a different brutal submission hold. Sabre with the victory. This was a decent match, but it really felt more like an extended squash. **½

PROGRESS 9/25/16 London, England 02 Academy Brixton: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tommaso Ciampa 27:36. This was a long 2-out-of-3 falls match. That gave Sabre the chance to fully show what he's capable of. The first part of the match was pretty slow-paced and methodical. ZSJ worked over Ciampa's left arm. Whenever Ciampa was on offense, ZSJ sold well. Ciampa sold his left arm even after getting control of the match again. Solid performance by Ciampa overall in this match. The first fall ended in a double pin. It was decided that the next fall would decide the winner. ZSJ went back to working over Ciampa's left arm. I like when ZSJ countered a move, he sold previous damage during the transition. Both men sold well in general during this match. The finish was great because it really felt like a real struggle had come to an end. ****

wXw 9/30/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team League 2016 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll vs. Absolute Andy & Marius Al-Ani 17:04. This was a first-round match in the wXw World Tag Team League. In this match, ZSJ was in there with three average workers. ZSJ did some good little things to stand out. The match kinda dragged on a bit too long without anything really substantial happening. I lost interest in the match during the final minutes and was just waiting for ZSJ's team to win this match (I didn't know the result beforehand). I think they could have cut this match a few minutes shorter. Other than that, this was okay overall. **

wXw 10/1/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team League 2016 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll vs. Chris Hero & JT Dunn 30:00. England vs. USA. JT Dunn teamed with his hero, Chris Hero, who gave a strong performance. ZSJ gave a strong performance as well. Sabre & Scurll, who called themselves the Leaders of the New School, worked together well as a team, even though they were sometimes not quite on the same page. Scurll started badmouthing the opposition, but Sabre told Scurll to "be nice, be nice." Also, during the match, Scurll tried to get Sabre to cheat and Sabre was like "what are you doing?" Sabre wanted to fight a fair match. I enjoyed this match way more than I thought I would. This match was all about little details and it was an engaging match. There was just never a minute I could look away or get distracted because everything they did drew me into their work. ****

wXw 10/2/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team League 2016 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll vs. Ilja Dragunov & Julian Nero 12:50. Dragunov is a Russian wrestler. Nero is an Austrian wrestler. Team Cerberus wasn't really much of a threat for the team of ZSJ & Scurll. **

wXw 10/2/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team League 2016 Final and wXw World Tag Team Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll vs. David Starr & Shane Strickland 29:20. This was the final and it was also for the vacant wXw World Tag Team Title. It was a pretty good match, but a bit too long. **¾

RevPro 11/10/16 London York Hall, London, England RevPro British Heavyweight Title: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata 16:39. A mixed reaction for ZSJ. I guess he had shown more heelish behaviour in recent matches (and/or maybe it's because he had aligned himself with Marty Scurll). The match started off on the mat and they showed they were very evenly matched. ZSJ tried a similar strategy here as in the previous match between these two as he started working over Shibata's right arm. A really good technical display by ZSJ. ZSJ was more vicious than usual. At some point, Shibata even asked for more punishment. ZSJ kicked him, but Shibata wouldn't stay down. He sold his shoulder a bit while on offense. They started trading strikes. ZSJ took Shibata down, pin attempt, reversal, pin attempt by ZSJ. The final minutes were exciting. Very good match overall. ***¾

PROGRESS 12/11/16 Sheffield O2 Academy: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Pete Dunne 31:15. The battle of the vegans. Tyler Bate was in Dunne's corner, but was sent to the back by the referee. Dunne focused more on strikes since he isn't able to go hold-for-hold with the technical wizard. The match kinda dragged on for a while with Dunne on offense. Things picked up a bit during the final minutes. I don't think the match needed to be this long. ***

WCPW 1/6/17 Manchester, England Bowlers Exhibition Centre: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Travis Banks 18:14. "The Kiwi Buzzsaw" Travis Banks is from New Zealand. I liked the intensity of this match. Sabre's technical skills were the main focus of the match. Banks kept taking it to Sabre though. They challenged each other to give some stiff strikes. The match turned into a back-and-forth type match. Travis gradually did more spectacular stuff. Sabre did more submission stuff. Banks got the upset victory in the end. ***¼

RevPro 2/5/17 Marylebone, England Cockpit Theatre: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Mike Bailey 22:22. Bailey is a wrestler from Quebec. Bailey's tornado kicks looked great. Bailey saved the more spectacular stuff for the final minutes. Sabre once again proved he can counter with a submission hold from any angle. ***¾

NJPW 3/6/17 Tokyo Ota City General Gymnasium, RevPro British Heavyweight Title: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 12:37. This match was more an introduction to what probably was supposed to be a series of matches between Shibata and ZSJ. It also established ZSJ aligning himself with Minoru Suzuki and Suzuki-gun. ***¼

NJPW 4/9/17 Tokyo Ryogoku Sumo Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto 16:16. Sabre challenged for the NEVER Openweight Title. This was a slow-paced match. Sabre focused on Goto's left arm. Sabre once again proved he's a highly skilled wrestler. Sabre tried to get Goto to submit, but Goto escaped. Suzuki-gun members Minoru Suzuki and El Desperado interfered on Sabre's behalf, but Goto managed to fight them off. It was a good match and I liked how the match was going, but I felt Goto got the pin a bit soon after Suzuki-gun showed up. ***¼

PROGRESS 5/27/17 London, England Electric Ballroom, Super Strong Style 16 Tournament 2017 First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Starr 13:03. They started off grappling on the mat then traded strikes. At some point, there was a bit of silliness from Starr. Sabre responded by destroying Starr's arm. A couple of penalty kicks by Sabre. Starr sold his arm. Sabre hit armbreakers on both arms. Sabre flew towards Starr for a leaping triangle. Starr executed a bunch of high-impact moves. Sabre hit some stiff kicks and a slap. In the end, Sabre got the submission victory. ***¼

PROGRESS 5/29/17 London, England Electric Ballroom, Super Strong Style 16 Tournament 2017 Semi-Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Travis Banks 11:05. This was more a Banks style match with more focus on high impact moves and strikes. Sabre showed that he was willing and able to work a bit of a different match while still incorporating his submission holds. Good match with both men just trying to beat each other up all the way. ***½

CHIKARA 6/18/17 Philadelphia, PA The Wrestle Factory, Johnny Kidd Invitational 2017 First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Mike Quackenbush 10:23. In a pre-match promo, Quack said he likes wrestling Zack because Zack understands the real joy of trading holds, escapes and reversals. This entire match was pretty much all about expressing that joy. This match was part of the “Johnny Kidd Invitational” tournament, a celebration of technical wrestling named after the ‘70s and ‘80s World of Sport star. Kidd has been cited as a big influence by both Zack and Quack. As we know, ‘70s/’80s British wrestling in general was a huge influence to Zack’s work, but it was also a big influence to Quack’s work. One of the main differences between Zack and Quack is that Quack was also heavily influenced by lucha libre. Referee Bryce Remsburg asked Zack if he was ready for this match, and Zack jokingly replied, “no.” Both Zack and Quack seemed to really enjoy wrestling each other, and they did a lot of creative stuff. The vibe for most of this match was almost that of a “friendly match” until Zack hit a series of aggressive European uppercuts and headbutts to the chest. Zack kept the momentum going and got the victory. This was a short match, but it was good and fun to watch. *** 

NJPW 7/2/17 Los Angeles, CA Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, IWGP United States Heavyweight Title Tournament Semi-Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii 11:42. Ishii executed stiff chops. Sabre eventually saw an opening to start working on Ishii's left arm. Ishii hit Sabre with a headbutt and Sabre went down. Ishii remained in control, but sold his left arm due to the previous damage. Sabre executed a northern lights suplex and quickly followed it up with a submission hold, but Ishii grabbed the ropes. The final minutes saw a lot of back-and-forth action. This match is a good example of Sabre adapting well to an opponent with a no-nonsense and straight-forward style, while still managing to put his own stamp on the match, even in defeat. ***½

NJPW 7/17/17 Sapporo Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center, G1 Climax 27 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 17:18. This was from the opening night of the G1 Climax 27 tournament, the first one Sabre has participated in. Sabre was obviously the underdog in this match given Tanahashi has been one of the biggest stars in NJPW for over a decade, but he was eager to prove himself, and hopefully score an upset here. Sabre focused on Tanahashi's legs early in the match, but eventually focused on Tanahashi's injured right arm. The match was a relatively slow-paced match. I like how Tanahashi went for a dropkick to Sabre's leg, but Sabre pulled his own leg away so that Tanahashi wouldn't be able to hit it. Sabre tried to get Tanahashi to give more than just a regular Tanahashi performance. However, Tanahashi simply doesn't have the technical ability required to really match Sabre's ability. Sabre's matches are best when he's in there with someone who is able to have impressive technical sequences, while Tanahashi enjoys his brand of technical matches, that generally entails him reverting to the straightforward Muto worship knee attack. Sabre getting a submission win over Tanahashi was a great start to Sabre's G1 tour though. The win helped to establish Sabre as a real threat in this tournament, and in NJPW, in general. ***¼

NJPW 7/21/17 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, G1 Climax 27 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 15:51. I like how Sabre really made Ibushi work a slow-paced and smartly worked technical match. One of the best parts of the match was where Sabre and Ibushi exchanged kicks while they were on the canvas. Sabre's face looked angry, and he kept challenging Ibushi to strike back. The facial expressions and overall selling were really good in general in this match. There was some heated action near the finish and the finish looked cool. Still, I wish it was a few minutes longer because I was really enjoying the match and wasn't ready for it to be over. ***¾

NJPW 8/6/17 Hamamatsu Act City Hamamatsu, G1 Climax 27 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Yuji Nagata 15:08. Sabre focused on Nagata's left arm, which Nagata sold well. He even gave it a couple of headbutts, which I thought was quite unique. The match gradually got more heated. Both workers gave a good performance. Nagata eventually tried to give Sabre a taste of his own medicine by working over Sabre's left arm. Both men wouldn't give up to each other's submission attempts, so Nagata focused on strikes and switched back to pinfall attempts. This strategy proved to work much better for him as he was able to put away Sabre relatively easily. ***½

NJPW 8/11/17 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, G1 Climax 27 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii 15:52. El Desperado had been in Sabre's corner throughout this tournament. There was some matwork early in the match. Sabre hit European uppercuts, but they had almost no impact on Ishii, who retaliated with a big elbow smash, a headbutt and several chops. This took a lot out of Sabre, but Sabre was able to quickly counter and focus on Ishii's right arm, which Ishii uses for most of his offense. When Ishii was able to strike back, he sold his right arm. Sabre tried some kicks, but they had barely any impact on Ishii. Sabre then kicked Ishii's taped up right leg. Ishii used his power to take control of the match for a little while. However, Sabre managed to work over Ishii's right arm and right leg again. Sabre remained focused on the right knee for a bit longer. Sabre got overconfident and a bit cocky. Ishii responded with a big chop, which took Sabre down immediately. Sabre quickly regained control again because he always seems to be able to slap on a submission hold from any angle. The match got more and more interesting as it progressed. It went back-and-forth and neither worker really was able to stay in control for too long. Ishii was completely tied up in a submission hold, but refused to tap out. The referee stopped the match and awarded the match to Sabre. The post-match stuff really helped put Sabre's win over. Ishii's right arm and right leg were taped up with ice packs and he had to be assisted to the back. ***¾

RevPro 8/27/17 Portsmouth Guildhall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 18:48. If you're going to skip a Sabre vs. Ospreay match, this would be a good one to skip. They went through the motions (at least for their standards) and this is not one of their best matches by any means. This was kinda like the "house show" version of their match, for a lack of a better expression. Still, with their talent, they just can't have a bad match. However, this non-title match functioned more like a setup for a future match between these two for the British Heavyweight Title. ***¼

NJPW 9/16/17 Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 30:13. Sabre challenged for the IWGP Intercontinental Title. Sabre was accompanied by fellow Suzuki-gun member TAKA Michinoku. Once again, Sabre was able to have a good match with Tanahashi. A cool moment in the match was when Tanahashi did a British style escape out of a hold applied by Sabre and Sabre got upset. Good to see Tanahashi learned something new thanks to wrestling Sabre. It was fun to watch Sabre carry Tanahashi and do lots of submission holds. There was some outside interference towards the end of the match, but it didn't take away from the match too much. It was interesting to see Sabre in a 30-minute title match against the ace of NJPW. In the end, however, it was obvious that Tanahashi simply isn't on the level of Sabre's technical skills. The NJPW fans don't seem to care though and worship Tanahashi even when he's outclassed. After the match, Tanahashi even managed to impress the crowd with his average air guitar skills. ***¼

PWG 10/21/17 Reseda, CA American Legion Post #308: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER 20:04. Sabre was a bit more aggressive than normal, but he had no choice since he was facing a worker who had quite a size and strength advantage. WALTER's chops were thunderously loud. Sabre kept coming back and didn't back up. Sabre realized he had to start working on WALTER's arms to have a chance here. Sabre started getting cocky and WALTER beat the crap out of Sabre. Eventually, Sabre got the advantage and tried to focus more on technical wrestling. ***½

RevPro 11/10/17 London, England Walthamstow Assembly Hall, RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 25:00. Ospreay had beaten Sabre on 8/27/17 in a non-title match. This time it was for the championship. Sabre and Ospreay really were on top of their game for this match. There was a lot more a sense of urgency for this match than their previous match(es). This was their best match together up until that point in time. Sabre got to display his technical skills. Ospreay adjusted his style quite a bit for this match. Ospreay got to display his great aerial skills, but it never was the main focus. The main story was Ospreay having to fight his way to find an opening while knowing that Sabre was constantly ready to counter Ospreay's moves. This helped Ospreay's athletic moves feel more important and not just flashy. At some point, Ospreay only got a one count after hitting Sabre with a springboard forearm. There really was a sense of struggle. Sabre gradually was in more trouble though, and for a while it almost seemed like Ospreay would win. During the final minutes, there were many great and clever counters. The execution was crisp throughout the match. ****½

DEFIANT 12/12/17 London, England Coronet Theatre, DEFIANT Internet Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Mike Bailey 15:30. This was good, but not as good as their 2/5/17 match. Execution wasn't always as crisp as I was hoping for. Sabre sold a lot and didn't really do his usual technical stuff as much as he'd normally do. Still, it was a very good match between two talented workers and there was plenty of action. ***½

EVOLVE 1/14/18 Brooklyn, NY Saint Finbar Catholic Church Gym: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER 18:02. The big bruiser WALTER overpowered Sabre, but Sabre kept coming back. Sabre bumped and sold well. They did a good job putting over WALTER as a monstrous force. WALTER was almost unstoppable, but Sabre's determination kept him alive in this match. I think I like this match slightly better than their PWG match from 8/31/14 because the pacing was better here in this match from 1/14/18 and it felt less like a spectacle to please the crowd. They did a better job telling a story. Whenever Sabre saw an opening for a submission attempt, he'd give it a try. In the end, WALTER's size and power advantage proved to be too much. It's a really good match, but I wish Sabre would have been able to execute a few more submission holds that would have put WALTER a bit more in trouble. Instead of a hot finish, we got a finish that was just a continuation of the beating WALTER was dishing out. ***¾

OTT 2/3/18 Dublin, Ireland The Arena on Suir Road: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Travis Banks 17:40. Banks' strikes were quite good. Banks' dive between the middle and bottom rope to the outside looked devastating and impressive. Both men gave a strong performance. They worked at such a high pace and the execution was very crisp. ***¾

PROGRESS 2/11/18 Manchester, England O2 Ritz: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyler Bate 15:26. This was a nice blend of old school British wrestling with a few modern moves thrown in there. It started out evenly contested with both men proving they were very technically sound wrestlers. It was an exciting match, but it turned out a bit too much "my turn, your turn" type of match instead of having a real in-ring story to focus on. ***½

NJPW 3/11/18 Amagasaki Baycom Gymnasium, New Japan Cup First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito 22:43. This was the main event of the show, and it was good all because of Sabre. Naito's performance really was underwhelming. Sabre tying Naito up in submission holds was fun to watch, at least. ***

NJPW 3/15/18 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, New Japan Cup Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 21:02. TAKA Michinoku was in Sabre's corner. Ibushi sold his right ankle well and Sabre decided to twist the ankle a little bit more, which got a nice reaction from the crowd. Sabre was more aggressive and vicious than usual. He also showed more urgency than normal. His European uppercuts had a little bit more spice to them this time. Sabre tortured Ibushi with submission holds. Ibushi was great in his role as the sympathetic native babyface who was trying to survive the attack by the gaijin opponent. Ibushi's occasional comebacks were hopeful, but at the same time, he was selling the story that a lot had been taken out of him. Sabre was really good in his role, coming across as a menacing heel and at the same time commanding respect through his talent and ability. There were some really good counters and near-falls. Ibushi went for the kamigoye twice, but Sabre was able to avoid it on both occasions. ****½

NJPW 3/18/18 Hamamatsu Act City Hamamatsu, New Japan Cup Semi-Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA 26:35. This was probably a little bit too long for the extended squash that it was. Sabre gave a very good performance. SANADA was an average New Japan worker, not really standing out in any way. Sabre tried his best to carry this, but SANADA isn't able to do anything too complicated, so Sabre tried to keep it simple. It was a slow-paced match and SANADA didn't really do that much. SANADA's main strength is his athleticism, but that didn't necessarily add much to this match. It was good to see Sabre win this main event match, but this match certainly isn't required viewing. **¾

NJPW 3/21/18 Nagaoke Aore Nagaoka, New Japan Cup Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 34:02. Don Callis, on NJPW World commentary, described well why Sabre is so dangerous: "Sometimes you get up to your feet and he attaches himself like a woodtick on your back and sinks it in." Sabre certainly gave a strong performance, as expected. However, just like in the previous matches Sabre had with Tanahashi, this match suffered from Tanahashi not being able to compete with Sabre technically. I get that NJPW is trying to make these long matches come across as epic, but many of these long matches would be better if they were about 10 minutes shorter. In the backstage interview, Sabre said: "Okada, you've had a good run, you've been champion for what, 17 years? It's time for a new champion." Sabre grabbed one of the beers on the table and wasn't too happy: "Oi, it's warm!" TAKA: "Ah, sh*t." Sabre: "I just won the New Japan Cup and you're giving me warm beer? TAKA: "Bullsh*t." Sabre: When I'm champion things are changing around here. Number one, cold f*ckin beer." ***½

NJPW 4/1/18 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kazuchika Okada 34:58. Sabre challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Sabre carried the match well. He did a lot of good matwork and submission holds early in the match. Sabre did basically everything with Okada barely doing anything. Occasionally Okada would make a comeback and then they kinda did his stuff. But, the major reason why this match didn't deliver was that Okada simply isn't able to compete with Sabre on a technical level. The major problem with this match is, Okada simply isn't able to respond properly to anything Sabre is doing. Okada was basically just lying around, as he does when Shibata or others have tried to do any real grappling with him. After about 30 minutes of not really establishing anything, probably when Gedo gave instructions to Okada, Okada quickly did some relatively fast-paced stuff to warrant this being rated as a "great" match by some. I think Sabre was being limited by Gedo's generic formula for what a "great" Okada match should be like, and thus Sabre wasn't able to fully show what he was capable of. **¾

RevPro 4/6/18 New Orleans, LA Sugar Mill, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii 20:04. This was not as good as I hoped it would be. Then again, the setting was at WrestleMania weekend, which is a different setting than both these workers are used to. It seemingly took a while for them to get warmed up. The final minutes were more energetic, and they were more in sync. The most memorable thing about the match was the result as Ishii won Sabre's British Heavyweight Title in what I'd say was a little bit of a surprise. ***

Triple W 4/14/18 Madrid, Spain La Tabacalera de Lavapies: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. A-Kid 21:29. Sabre challenged A-Kid for the Triple W Absolute Title at this White Wolf Wrestling show in Spain. I like that no matter where Sabre wrestles, the fans know to do the "Oh Zack Sabre Junior" chant. Sabre wore shorts in this match and not his usual trunks. Perhaps his luggage got lost on his way to Spain? The crowd was really good, and was into this match. Sabre seemed to just have some fun and work an excellent match in the process. A-Kid seemed to know what he was doing. The main problem with this match though is that after a while, a lot of the stuff they did appeared to be random and just for the sake of having a "great" match. ***¾

PROGRESS 5/7/18 London, England Alexandra Palace, Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Semi-Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Keith Lee 12:22. Sabre had to get past Texan wrestler Keith Lee to make it to the final of the tournament. Keith Lee is okay, but he's certainly not one of Sabre's most skilled opponents. In the end, Keith Lee was just a stepping stone for Sabre to reach the final. **½

PROGRESS 5/7/18 London, England Alexandra Palace, Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kassius Ono (Chris Hero) 18:58. These two certainly were no strangers to each other as they met several times before in four different countries. This was good. It was about what you'd expect from these two around this time, but they didn't exceed expectations either. I think Hero possibly lost a step by this point in his career and/or just wasn't as motivated having learned the ways of the WWE. Hero hit a moonsault, but Sabre caught him in a triangle. After the match, Sabre and Hero showed respect for each other and hugged each other. ***¼

wXw 5/18/18 Hamburg Markthalle: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER 18:19. Fans love it when WALTER chops Sabre. WALTER's chops sound thunderous, and Sabre flies backwards. Sabre focused on WALTER's left leg. This proved to be a successful strategy. WALTER's offense was getting weaker because of WALTER's leg deteriorating. This wasn't their best match against each other, but it was still good. Even though they tried to tell a story and focus on technique, some of their other matches were better. Those matches may have mostly just been beating the crap out of each other, but at least they got what they wanted to achieve in those matches. Here, it felt like they were trying a different approach, but it didn't feel like they were fully into it and didn't fully achieve what they were aiming for. ***¼

DEFIANT 5/28/18 Sheffield, England Plug: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Travis Banks vs. WALTER 13:33. This was a 3-way match for the DEFIANT Internet Title. Banks was the champion going into the match. WALTER chopped both opponents a lot. Sabre went back flying after WALTER's chops. The match was mainly about WALTER being an unstoppable force. Sabre wouldn't back down though. Banks got to do some cool moves here and there. ***

RevPro 6/30/18 Milton Keynes, England Planet Ice Arena, RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Title: Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada 25:45. Sabre and Okada started, and once Sabre tagged, Suzuki asked for Ishii. Suzuki and Ishii traded elbows. The action spilled to the outside. Sabre and Okada brawled then Suzuki and Ishii did the same. Sabre wrestled Ishii in the ring for a bit while Suzuki beat up Okada outside of the ring. Ishii chopped Suzuki on the apron, but all that did was get Suzuki annoyed. Sabre and Suzuki started double-teaming submission holds on Ishii, which was pretty cool. Okada spent most of the match on the apron, which wasn't a bad thing. I guess that's the advantage of Okada working a tag match. At some point, Okada was tagged in and did some moves that had Sabre and Suzuki bumping around for. However, Sabre countered a couple of Okada's moves with impressive submission holds. Ishii and Suzuki did a lengthy segment beating the crap out of each other, which was fun to watch & got good reactions from the fans. Sabre eventually came in & doubled teamed. The finish of the match was pretty cool. ***¾

NJPW 7/15/18 Tokyo Ota City General Gymnasium, G1 Climax 28 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 22:58. A tremendous display of technical wrestling by Sabre. Once Ibushi finally saw an opening for a high flying move (it appears he tried to go for the golden triangle moonsault), Sabre stopped him and continued working over Ibushi's legs. Ibushi sold the right leg quite well. The way Sabre countered and blocked moves was fascinating to watch. Ibushi gave a strong performance as well, and he has been one of my favorite Sabre opponents. It was a very good match, but it missed that extra little energy that their best matches against each other had. ***¾

NJPW 7/22/18 Hachioji Esforta Arena Hachioji: Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku vs. Tomohiro Ishii & SHO 4:47. Tomohiro Ishii was going to be one of Sabre's next opponents in the G1 Climax tournament. Ishii wanted Sabre, but TAKA and SHO started this match off instead. Sabre was tagged in and Sabre attacked Ishii, but Ishii didn't go down. Once Sabre and Ishii were in the ring together, Ishii had the upper hand and used his power to his advantage. This turned out to be only a short match because SHO made TAKA tap out less than five minutes. After the match, Sabre attacked Ishii with a triangle, but it was broken up by other wrestlers. This match served just an appetizer for the upcoming Sabre vs. Ishii match. **

NJPW 7/26/18 Nagaoka Aore Nagaoka, G1 Climax 28 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii 14:36. Sabre acted cocky, pushing Ishii's head away. Ishii responded with his big chops. Sabre worked over Ishii's right arm. They didn't exceed expectations. If anything, I expected more. The stuff they did was similar to what they have been doing when they faced each other, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But, I felt they kinda went through the motions and they had just another one of their matches against each other. ***¼

NJPW 8/1/18 Kagoshima Arena, G1 Climax 28 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kenny Omega 15:14. Omega kept the pace high. While both were outside the ring, Omega hit a moonsault off the guardrail. Back into the ring, Sabre worked over Omega's right leg. Omega went for a moonsault, but Sabre caught him in a triangle. Sabre had Omega in a lot of trouble in this match. However, in the end, Omega got the pinfall victory. This was very good, but it wasn't the great match it appeared to be on paper. ***¾

NJPW 8/11/18 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, G1 Climax 28 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito 18:17. Lots of stalling by Naito. Sabre gave a strong performance, but Naito tried to do as little as possible. Sabre applied lots of fascinating submission holds. Sabre sold his right arm. Sabre got a couple of near-falls. Naito went for Destino, but Sabre countered with the Zack Driver, which is basically the Michinoku Driver passed on to Sabre by TAKA Michinoku and renamed in Sabre's honor. ***¼

RevPro 9/7/18 Portsmouth, England Guildhall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 15:45. This was a slow-paced match with Liger doing a lot of selling. The legendary Liger turned out to be just another victim. This lacked the enthusiasm their 11/27/13 match in NOAH had, but of course this match was closer to Liger's retirement date than that match was. ***

PROGRESS 10/28/18 London, England Electric Ballroom: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. WALTER 29:26. Sabre was announced as "the greatest technical wrestler in the world." Since this was a long match, it was worked at a relatively slow pace, but it always felt interesting from start to finish. Still, I think it probably would have been better if it was 10 minutes shorter because I think the ideal match time for a Sabre vs. WALTER match is just under 20 minutes. In the end, this match never really picked up the way I was hoping it would. It was all worked at one pace with a lot of time spent selling. It felt like an important match, but it didn't feel like an excellent match. ***¼

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 1/4/19 Tokyo Dome: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii 11:35. Sabre challenged for the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title. Of all the Sabre vs. Ishii matches, I like this one the best. It was very focused and they didn't follow the template of their standard battle against each other. It was very no-nonsense and this is the right match to have in the Tokyo Dome. They really made the most of the time they were given. Despite being the best technical wrestler, Sabre has been booked as a heel. Sometimes I think that Sabre's NJPW matches would have been even better if he was in the role of a babyface, although he does seem to enjoy working as a heel. Sabre worked over Ishii's right arm. Ishii started chopping Sabre. Ishii sold the arm a bit because Sabre had been working over it, but the blows still had an impact on Sabre. In an interesting spot, Ishii hit a superplex on Sabre but Sabre, after absorbing the fall, quickly grabbed Ishii's right arm, did damage to the arm and then Sabre proceeded to sell previous damage. The arm work eventually paid some dividends as Sabre tapped Ishii with a manjigatame to regain the title. ****

NJPW 2/2/19 Sapporo Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. EVIL 22:01. This was a slow-paced match where Sabre did his thing, as best as he could. EVIL is quite a basic worker who doesn't have anywhere near the technical skills of Sabre, but unlike his stablemate Naito, he might give a pretty strong effort to make up for it. In this particular match, he didn't really give that extra bit of effort to make things interesting though. Sabre kept things relatively easy in this match in order to get the most of this. I think there was a bit too much time spent selling with not much really happening. EVIL was able to put Sabre away without too much build to the finish. **¾

NJPW/ROH Honor Rising 2/22/19 Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shota Umino 13:56. Shota Umino is the son of Hiroyuki "Red Shoes" Unno. He was a 19-year old young lion with less than 2 years experience, while Sabre had almost 15. I watched this to see how Sabre would work with a youngster, and it was even more fun than expected. They did some nice sequences where Umino was able to stay in control and where Sabre wasn't having the easy match you'd think he'd have. However, it didn't take too long for Sabre to take complete control over the match. Umino's offense was pretty basic, but he sold well and his facial expressions were pretty good. Sabre worked over Umino's left leg. The more the match progressed, the more Umino was struggling. Occasionally, Umino would make comebacks to the point where the crowd believed that a major upset would be possible. However, in the end, Sabre got the victory. **¾

NJPW 3/16/19 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, New Japan Cup 2019 Second Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 16:07. I looked forward to this because Sabre vs. Ibushi matches are usually at least very good. Their chemistry is really good. This was the main event of the show. Sabre had defeated EVIL in the first round of this tournament. Sabre was in control for a large portion of this second round match. They didn't even work at a super high pace, but still were able to always make sure there was something happening in the match. ***¾

NJPW 3/21/19 Hamamatsu Act City Hamamatsu, New Japan Cup 2019 Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 21:12. This match took place exactly one year after Sabre defeated Tanahashi in the 2018 New Japan Cup Final. The things Sabre comes up with are so unique. When he gets taken down, he quickly comes up with a plan b and plan c to counter and/or escape. Tanahashi seemed more interested in trying to do something different than usual, to the point that Tanahashi actually seemed to have fun wrestling this match against Sabre as opposed to just seeing it as just another match. It didn't take long for Tanahashi to kinda go back to being his usual self once he started losing inspiration and ran out of ideas. Sabre, who looked different since he wasn't clean-shaven like he usually is, really made the most out of this match though and was able to keep this match interesting till the very end. I like that they kept the match going. There were no dull moments. This is probably the best singles match between these two. Sabre went down, but at least he went down after giving a strong performance. ***½

NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard 4/6/19 New York, NY Madison Square Garden, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 15:14. This was pretty good overall, but the most noteworthy thing about this match was that the result was a big submission victory for Sabre. ***

NJPW 4/20/19 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 28:58. This was the main event of the evening. This really had the vibe of an important match. Sabre had recently had big victories including beating Hiroshi Tanahashi in MSG. Ibushi had beaten Naito for the IWGP IC Title. About a month prior to this match, Sabre made Ibushi tap out during the New Japan Cup. This time, Sabre challenged Ibushi for the IWGP IC Title. TAKA Michinoku was in Sabre's corner, as usual. This is a good example of a NJPW match that was long, but doesn't feel like it was too long. They made sure the match remained intriguing. Plus, the fact that they have really good chemistry helped a lot too. Ibushi's matches against Sabre feature a lot more matwork than his usual matches. The pacing was really good. The facials were great. Ibushi showed his fighting spirit, while Sabre was a cocky heel. There was a heated slap exchange. I think this is the best example of a match where Sabre has been able to incorporate his technical skills into a NJPW match with a big match vibe. ****¼

NJPW 7/6/19 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA 21:12. In an attempt to become more and more of a worldwide company, NJPW decided to have the opening day of the G1 Climax in the United States. The crowd was into this match. The blond bearded SANADA showed more passion here than in the 3/18/18 match, and there was a lot more action during the match. Sabre gave a strong performance and carried the match, as expected. He acted even more heelish than normal but perhaps that was because this was in front of an American audience. They did a spot where Sabre got tied up in the ropes and couldn't escape until Sanada dropkicked him. After the match, Sabre acted very upset and threw a fit. In an act of rage, Sabre decked NJPW L.A. dojo trainee Clark Connors at ringside. ***¾

NJPW 7/14/19 Tokyo Ota City General Gymnasium, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kazuchika Okada 12:01. The main reason I enjoyed this more than their 4/1/18 match is that I didn't have to watch a 35-minute Okada match for a change. The match itself wasn't that much better overall, but at least they kept it at a reasonable length this time, which meant less time for Okada to just lie around, and a higher workrate. ***

NJPW 7/18/19 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 13:56. This was a good back-and-forth type match. It was shorter than the usual matches between these two, but maybe that was a good thing. After the match, Sabre wasn't able to control his anger again, attacking both the guard rail and Clark Connors. ***¼

NJPW 7/30/19 Takamatsu City General Gymnasium #1, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 20:02. These two were no strangers to each other, being the leading lights of the European scene. They started off with fast-paced matwork that featured plenty of counters and reversals. Everything they did looked so smooth. Ospreay was a bit quicker and more spectacular, but Sabre showed his superiority on the mat. They slowed down quite a bit during the middle part of the match. They would change the pace throughout the rest of the match, occasionally working fast-paces sequences. The start, stop, start, stop pacing slightly hurt the match overall as they didn't really have a strong focus during the down parts, other than extended selling and pacing. Otherwise, this was excellent. ****

NJPW 8/7/19 Hamamatsu Arena, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 15:46. Sabre's 2019 work is more intense than his pre-2019 work and he was more heelish. What's really cool about this match is that they didn't really try to make it epic, they just went out and had an excellent wrestling match filled with intensity. Sabre's kicks seemed stiffer than normal. Sabre executed the hold known as orienteering with napalm death, but Ibushi managed to grab the ropes. ****¼

NJPW 8/10/19 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. KENTA 16:26. KENTA had returned to Japan after wasting five years elsewhere. Both were heels. KENTA surely wasn't the same KENTA from the past, but it was still a pretty good match overall. ***

NJPW 8/12/19 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada 15:27. Sabre and Suzuki worked well together as a tag team, both torturing Tanahashi with all kinds of submission holds. Okada was on the receiving end of some stiff elbow smashes from Suzuki. Okada tried to retaliate with elbow smashes of his own, but Suzuki wasn't impressed. The two main members of Suzuki-gun proved to be too much for Tanahashi & Okada. ***½

NJPW 11/17/19 World Tag League 2019 Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer 14:50. Suzuki-gun vs. Suzuki-gun. This match was best when Sabre worked with Suzuki. They both gave a strong performance. Taichi gave a poor performance. Some of Taichi's offensive moves were either very weak or completely missed its mark. Archer was decent in his role of big gaijin monster. He scared the hell out of Taichi's second, Miho Abe. **½

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day Two 1/5/20 Tokyo Dome, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA 12:32. Sabre defended his title against "Cold Skull" SANADA. Sabre immediately started focusing on SANADA's left arm, but SANADA managed to escape. This was followed up by fast counters. Whenever Sabre thought he had SANADA tied up, SANADA either escaped or countered. It looks like SANADA has actually been improving and learning by wrestling Sabre more often. This was very much a back-and-forth type match. In the end, Sabre managed to outcounter SANADA one time too many, resulting in SANADA coming up short. ***¼

NJPW 2/2/20 Sapporo Prefectural Sports Center, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 27:04. Sabre defended his title. This was billed as the battle between the submission master and the high flyer. Torturing Will Ospreay is one of Sabre's top 3 favorite hobbies. Ospreay tried to hold up his end of the technical wrestling game early in the match, trying to show he's not strictly a high flyer. They did a bunch of good-looking reversals and counters. I like the way they were pacing the match. They would always make sure everything they did was relevant, but at the same time they didn't want to rely on spectacle too early in the match. They were building things up properly. Gradually, they increased the pace, with Ospreay starting to do more flashy stuff. Sabre would rely on his technical skills to try to keep Ospreay grounded. I enjoyed the little details, for instance when Ospreay tried for a figure-four, Sabre didn't immediately allow Ospreay to apply the move. Instead, Sabre would first block the move, and then gradually let Ospreay sink it in. I think Sabre found the right balance between getting his heel character work over and still being able to focus on somewhat realistic wrestling (for pro wrestling standards). Ospreay got plenty of his really athletic moves in. but it never felt like he was overdoing it. Ospreay hit Sabre with the OsCutter, but Sabre knew he was in trouble and rolled out of the ring. Ospreay rolled Sabre back into the ring, only to have Sabre roll outside again. This time, Ospreay followed it up with an amazing space flying tiger drop. Ospreay hit a beautiful shooting star press for a near-fall. Ospreay remained on offense until Sabre managed to apply an octopus hold, with Will powering out but being a bit ambitious trying to turn it into a bomb, ultimately allowing Sabre to reapply for the win. This is a great example of great modern pro wrestling. ****¾

NJPW 2/4/20 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Elimination Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado & Taichi vs. Will Ospreay & SHO & YOH & Kazuchika Okada 23:03. Ospreay and Sabre had a really good series of sequences for a couple of minutes. Other than that, this match was just okay. The first elimination came halfway through the match. Okada was eliminated by Taichi. Taichi was eliminated by SHO. SHO was eliminated by Kanemaru. Kanemaru was eliminated by YOH. Desperado and YOH eliminated each other. All those eliminations came in quick succession, leaving Sabre and Ospreay. Luckily, they got a few minutes to work at a fast pace & save the match somewhat. As always, Ospreay showed his incredible athleticism. Ospreay pinned Sabre, somewhat avenging his loss days earlier, and setting up their rematch in RevPro. **¾

NJPW 2/6/20 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado vs. Will Ospreay & SHO & YOH 13:11. Sabre and Ospreay brawled in the crowd a bit. Ospreay smashed Sabre's head against Korakuen Hall's "EAST" section sign on the wall. Later on in the match, Sabre dragged Ospreay into the crowd and the fans got an up-close view of Sabre stretching Ospreay. Kanemaru worked over SHO's left knee. SHO hobbled around for a while until he was able to hit a spear. Sabre and Ospreay got their in-ring segment for a couple of minutes, which was filled with energy and fast-paced action. The match ended in a DQ when Desperado used a chair out of desperation. **½

RevPro 2/14/20 London, England York Hall, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 29:14. Ospreay tried to cover Sabre early in the match, but couldn't even get a one-count on Sabre. Ospreay went for a standing moonsault, but Sabre rolled away and started torturing Ospreay. The RevPro commentators referred to Sabre as a human torture device, and I think that's a very accurate description of Sabre. The middle portion of the match felt like a down period. Later in the match, a very interesting spot was when Ospreay hit Sabre with the OsCutter and Sabre was about to roll out of the ring to recover (this is a spot they've been doing), but this time Ospreay grabbed Sabre's arm and dragged him back into the middle of the ring. This shows they're thinking about continuity when it comes to the psychology of their matches. In the end, after chasing Sabre for the belt for a long time, Ospreay finally defeated Sabre for the British Heavyweight Title. **** 

NJPW 6/22/20 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, New Japan Cup Round 1: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 15:15. Zack Sabre Jr. controlled the match early on by using his mat wrestling expertise. Kota Ibushi knew he had to change things up in order to get an advantage, so he started striking, which initially caught Sabre off guard, until Sabre managed to counter one of Ibushi’s strikes into a leg submission hold. No matter what Ibushi was trying, he’d only temporarily get an advantage because Sabre kept going for Ibushi’s legs, which would slow Ibushi down again. Eventually, Ibushi managed to win the match though. Ibushi’s win didn’t completely come out of nowhere, but the finish wasn’t as well built-up as it could have been, making this finish feel abrupt and this match feel like it didn’t reach its full potential. At least we got to see Sabre show off his technical wrestling ability. ***¼  

NJPW 3/7/21 Kofu Aimesse Yamanashi, New Japan Cup Round 1: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabriel Kidd. This was a battle between two English wrestlers. Zack Sabre Jr. was obviously the favorite to win this, but Gabriel Kidd showed that he had good potential. The grappling was good throughout this match. This was an interesting enough match, though Kidd never appeared to be a serious threat in this first round match at a small show in Kofu. Kidd certainly showed some good stuff, but it never felt that the technical master ZSJ was in any real trouble at any point in this match. This was further emphasized by ZSJ being somewhat overly relaxed (for his standards) throughout this bout, almost like this was an exhibition match. Still, it was a fun match to watch, and credit to Kidd for showing that he’s a wrestler to potentially keep an eye on in the future. This was a pretty good match overall, but at this point in ZSJ’s career, if a match isn’t excellent, it almost feels like it’s not necessarily worth recommending the match (of course, it can still be fun to watch though). If you’re curious about Gabriel Kidd, this would be a good match to watch for sure, but for someone wanting to watch the best of ZSJ, there are better matches out there. Kidd was able to show off his grappling skills, and ZSJ once again showed why he is one of the very best technical wrestlers, as he usually does. This definitely wasn’t a four-star match, but it’s still worth three stars. ***

NJPW 3/14/21 Amagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium, New Japan Cup Round 2: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 21:23. These two showed why they are two of the best male workers in the world. The last time these two met in a singles match in Japan, which was on 2/2/20, it was a great match and arguably the best match of their respective careers. They were clearly stoked to wrestle each other in a New Japan ring again, and they managed to make this special. The most intriguing thing about this match was how they kept countering each other in new and smart ways. Obviously, they were very familiar with each other and were ready for each other’s moves, but then the other was ready to counter the counter. There were many spectacular moments, but they spent a decent amount selling in between the moves, making sure each spectacular moment would get its deserved attention. They did a really good job of incorporating the selling of Will Ospreay’s injured shoulder into the story of this match. Their facials and their attitude shown towards each other during the match also added quite a lot. It’s nice to see Zack Sabre Jr. wrestling a great opponent in a singles match after Sabre had been wasted for months by being put in tag team matches with Taichi far too often. ****½    

NJPW 6/15/21 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Yuya Uemura 12:34. Yuya Uemura had three years of wrestling experience. This match was lots of fun to watch, because Zack Sabre Jr. carried and schooled Young Lion Uemura to a good match, while at the same time also challenging Uemura to step up his game and try to go beyond the basics, and Uemura certainly showed good potential. There was plenty of stiff and snug wrestling in this match. Sabre certainly wasn’t letting Uemura have an easy match. ***¼ 

NJPW 9/23/21 Ota City General Gymnasium, G1 Climax Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shingo Takagi 27:17. Shingo Takagi was the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and this was a big match-up in this G1 Climax tournament between two of the best in New Japan. It was a non-title match, since this was a G1 Climax tournament match. This battle was intriguing from start to finish, and both workers had to struggle to make it till the end. Their hard work and their ability to keep things interesting for nearly half an hour really made this an excellent match. They really put over that if someone was going to win, they had to be able to take a lot of punishment first. They both seemed to challenge each other to show their toughness, while still displaying top-notch wrestling skills. One of the coolest things about this match was that they were teasing a 30-minute time limit draw, but we ended up getting a decisive winner. It’s nice to see Sabre getting a good and steady singles push after being stuck with Taichi as his tag team partner for way too long. **** 

NJPW 9/26/21 Kobe World Hall, G1 Climax Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 19:55. This wasn’t their best match together, but it was still a very good match featuring plenty of nice counters and technical holds displayed by Zack Sabre Jr. Kota Ibushi gave a pretty good performance, even though this wasn’t his most spectacular performance, and he seemed to lack the fire he used to show. At this point, they’re so familiar with each other’s work that it almost seemed effortless what they were doing. ***½  

NJPW 10/3/21 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, G1 Climax Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii 18:40. It was a slow-paced match, but Zack Sabre Jr. countering Tomohiro Ishii’s offense throughout the match was what made the match interesting. It took a while for Ishii to show some of that energy he used to show, but once he got warmed up, the action started picking up a bit more. Overall, this was good, but really mostly because of Sabre’s display of technical wrestling, since this wasn’t one of Ishii’s top performances. ***¼     

NJPW 10/9/21 Osaka EDION Arena, G1 Climax Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. KENTA 22:24. This was a stiff battle with both workers not wanting to back down from the other. This wasn’t fancy or flashy, but it was a tough battle between two workers who kept turning things up a notch. KENTA’s performance here was a lot better than his performance in their match from 2019’s G1. It seems KENTA is back into the groove again, and at the same time, he seems now comfortable with his role as grumpy veteran. This is a good thing, because at the stage of KENTA’s career right now, it’s important to be able to adjust and update the wrestling style, since this broken down KENTA clearly is not the fired up KENTA from the past. Sabre worked well with KENTA, and Sabre seemed to enjoy trying to get KENTA to fight harder and stronger. Sabre took a lot of punishment, but wasn’t going to back down and was able to dish out punishment himself. KENTA’s striking was his main strength, which seemed to encourage Sabre to up his striking game a bit and not overly rely on submission holds. This was a very good match, and significantly better than their 8/10/19 match. ***¾  

NJPW 10/21/21 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, Exhibition: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata 5:00. This exhibition match was a huge surprise. Katsuyori Shibata didn’t have a pro wrestling match since getting severely injured in his last match on 4/9/17. Shibata had been the head trainer of New Japan’s L.A. dojo, but he hadn’t been in a New Japan ring competing in a wrestling match ever since that career-ending injury. This exhibition match featured a tremendous display of technical wrestling by two of the all-time greats. Obviously, they were limited by the 5-minute time limit, and had to be careful not to get Shibata reinjured, but since this was a grappling rules exhibition, they were able to focus solely on mat wrestling. The technical wrestling displayed by these two masters was great while it lasted, but five minutes is not nearly enough for these two, since they could go on and on reversing each other’s holds for many more minutes. Still, we should be thankful we at least got to have these five minutes, since it was previously unlikely we’d ever see Shibata in the ring again until this exhibition match happened. *** 

NJPW 11/6/21 Osaka EDION Arena, IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 30:27. This was of similar quality and of similar length as their previous match, but it didn't quite reach the levels of dramatic excitement that their G1 match did. Zack Sabre Jr. showed why he is one of the best technical wrestlers in the world today. He kept displaying interesting counters. Since they were more familiar with each other's work now, they were able to avoid many of each other's big moves for a bit, making the other show frustration. Eventually, while Sabre came close to victory at some point and proved himself more than a worthy challenger, it was Takagi with the win. This was a really good match, but the 9/23/21 match was a bit better. ***¾ 

NJPW 3/21/22 Nagaoka Aore Nagaoka, New Japan Cup Quarter Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 23:04. Zack Sabre Jr. had defeated Ryohei Oiwa, DOUKI and Great-O-Khan in the first, second and third round respectively to make it to the quarter final. While Sabre’s performances in those matches were really good, his opponents weren’t that great, which is why those matches didn’t end up being noteworthy, even though Sabre did his best to elevate the work of his opponents. The same could be said for Will Ospreay’s road to the quarter final, as he had beaten BUSHI, El Phantasmo and SANADA in the first three rounds respectively. Those matches Ospreay had in the first three rounds weren’t bad, as the middling BUSHI match had a couple of cool spots (but too many referee bumps), the okay-ish match against the passable Canadian wrestler Phantasmo saw Ospreay display some of his great athleticism, and the decent match against SANADA was almost good, and one of the better pre-quarter final matches in the tournament. However, all three matches were definitely nothing like Ospreay’s match in the quarter final. The best thing about the 15th singles match between Sabre and Ospreay was the amazing counter wrestling displayed by both. They told the great in-ring story of them knowing each other so well that they would know what the other would do, but then they would have to think a few moves ahead, since they could expect the other to counter their move. After a fast-paced start, they slowed things down a bit, but they would always try to continue doing serious damage. At some point, they were sitting on the mat, facing each other, trading kicks and slaps, and they would challenge each other to hit back harder. The way they exchanged slaps made it look like they were really mad at each other, so it wasn’t one of those exchanges that are just done for the sake of it. They also did a lot of trash talking to each other during the match. When they were on the floor, Ospreay jumped on the guardrail and hit an Oscutter. Sabre made sure to keep working over Ospreay’s left leg, because Ospreay had been selling the leg earlier in the match after not being able to execute a springboard move. During the final three minutes, they increased the speed again, and that’s when we got to see some more great counters, as they were both getting near falls near the finish. In the end, Sabre managed to score the submission win. Ospreay claimed that he didn’t tap, which hopefully means there will be another match between these two at some point. Even though they have wrestled each other several times now, they seem to keep having great matches against each other, and the matches are always differently worked. ****½ 

NJPW 3/26/22 Osaka-Jo Hall, New Japan Cup SemifinaL: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shingo Takagi 19:24. They tried to avoid some of their moves early on, as they knew about each other’s reputation, and had wrestled each other before. They kept being aggressive though, so there was no real escape from each other’s offense. Zack Sabre Jr. focused on Shingo Takagi’s neck. Takagi went for some hard-hitting moves that would interrupt Sabre’s flow and would buy Takagi some time to recover. After Takagi hit some moves, Takagi would continue to sell his neck. Takagi hit a Tenryu-style falling backward elbow off the ropes onto Sabre, but Sabre anticipated it and replied with a headscissors. Takagi hit a DDT, but that only temporarily slowed Sabre down, as Sabre was able to apply a submission hold that had Takagi in a lot of trouble. Takagi hit a death valley driver and a superplex. When Takagi hit Made in Japan, it seemed like it could really be over for Sabre, but Sabre kicked out. Sabre was on Takagi’s back with a sleeper, but Takagi climbed the ropes and fell backwards. However, Sabre recovered quickly and immediately re-applied the hold. Takagi tried to get up, but he collapsed with Sabre on top of him while Sabre was still applying the hold. The referee decided to stop the match and award the match to ZSJ, since Takagi went out. In this match, they constantly kept the action going, but they still sold sufficiently. It was a very even match, and it could have gone either way. The action was very much back-and-forth, with them going for the offense whenever they saw an opening. They increased the pace as the match came closer to the end. The finish was well done because it emphasized that Sabre could re-apply and/or counter pretty much from any position or even after having just been on the receiving-end of a move, which makes him a very dangerous opponent. ****¼ 

NJPW 3/27/22 Osaka-Jo Hall, New Japan Cup Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito 24:43. Zack Sabre Jr. had the opportunity to win the New Japan Cup for a second time in his career. He had won the tournament previously in 2018. Tetsuya Naito was stalling even before the match started, as he took his sweet time taking his buttoned shirt off until Sabre told him to hurry up. Naito didn’t seem very interested in having this match. You would think that a guy who survived a 48-man tournament and made it to the final of one of the biggest tournaments of one of the biggest companies in the world would show a bit more enthusiasm and give a bit more effort. Instead, he was acting like it was just a random match on a house show. Sabre had to dumb down his style a bit for the lazy Naito, as Naito doesn’t really do the counters, and likes to keep things simple. Sabre did a really good job trying to work around this disadvantage, and Sabre showed that he really wanted to make this special, because he cares and takes pride in his work. It was indeed special, because at least ZSJ won, and he truly deserved to win this tournament, but it’s a shame it’s against a guy who didn’t really want to make this a memorable night. After winning the previous tournament matches via submission, Zack had to be a bit uncooth and pin Naito after the Zack driver, which he considers a loss, and doesn't take any satisfaction in. “The soy boy did it again!” is what Sabre said with a smile on his face in his post-match speech, as he was standing next to his trophy. Overall, this was a pretty good match, thanks to Sabre’s performance, but it was not nearly as good as Sabre’s previous two matches in the tournament. ***

NJPW 1/4/23 Tokyo Dome, NJPW World TV Title Tournament Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita 10:32. Katsuyori Shibata joined the Japanese commentary team at ringside. Ren Narita, who has been wrestling since 2017, was trained by Shibata, and Zack Sabre Jr. had wrestled Shibata in the past, so Shibata's presence was fitting. Since this was a TV Title match, it had a 15-minute time limit despite being on PPV/streaming. Zack showed a lot of aggression, and he seemed very determined to finally win a title in NJPW. Zack obviously carried this match, but Narita did well for himself. Zack showed a lot of viciousness, and he was showing arguably the most viciousness he had shown since the New Japan Cup in March 2022. That confirmed that he was super eager to win this title. Narita played it simple, and didn't try things he can't do. Narita is quite a decent worker, but it seems he has been progressing rather slowly. Zack kept the pace high and made sure to sell for Narita at the right time, in order to keep the match having that back-and-forth action-packed feel. Zack focused on Narita's left arm for a bit, but the match started taking more of a hard-hitting turn, as both went for stiff strikes. Later in the match, Zack went back to targeting Narita's left arm. Narita went for a leg submission, but Zack showed his technical wrestling expertise by quickly grabbing Narita's left arm and applying an armbar. Narita had no choice but to tap out. This was quite a good match for a 10-minute match. While Zack deserves more than just the TV title, especially in a promotion where Okada & Naito are perpetually on top, at least  he finally won a Japanese singles title, and it means he gets to carry random wrestlers in fun little 15-minute time limit matches, which is at least better than getting stuck in a bunch of tag team matches with Taichi. It's not the most ideal situation though, so let's hope we'll get to see Zack in longer singles matches at some point (perhaps in the New Japan Cup or G1). After the match, Australian wrestlers Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls showed up to invite Zack to join their TMDK (The Mighty Don't Kneel) stable, and Zack accepted the offer. This wasn't just a random idea, as Zack and TMDK go way back to when Zack toured NOAH in the mid 2010s. Zack joining a new stable comes at a good time, as the stable he was previously a part of, Suzuki-gun, had recently been disbanded by Minoru Suzuki, but having been one of the best wrestlers in the world for years, he should be leading a stable by now rather than banding together with a couple midcarders who just showed up in NJPW. 2023 could be an interesting year for Zack, as he not only has a new hair color (he recently dyed his hair blond) and is part of a new stable, but it will be particularly interesting to see how his run with the new TV title will turn out. ***¼ 

AEW 10/1/23 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bryan Danielson 23:12. It was nice to see Zack Sabre Jr. in an excellent match again. This was Sabre’s best match since his great match against Shingo Takagi in NJPW on 3/26/22. Sabre spent the majority of 2022 being saddled with a greatly inferior tag team partner (Taichi), and he spent the majority of 2023 just having fun TV Title matches. Here in this match against the best American pro wrestler in the world today, Bryan Danielson, Sabre finally got to have the big technical match we want to see from him. This AEW WrestleDream show took place in Danielson’s home state of Washington. These two were definitely an excellent match for each other, and it was a technical wrestling dream match fans had been anticipating. Danielson was also a dream opponent for another reason, because it was on 3/2/08 that Sabre actually had his very first good match against Danielson at a small indy show in England. That was prior to Sabre’s ascend to the top as one of the best technical wrestlers of the modern era, as he was still just an up-and-coming youngster at the time. This WrestleDream match took place at a very different stage of Sabre’s career obviously, as Sabre is now a respected veteran, known all over the wrestling world for his high-quality technical wrestling performances. It’s quite impressive to see Danielson still perform at a high level at this stage of his career. He even survived what appeared to be career-ending injury and career-hurting run in a certain sports-entertainment league. Danielson’s perseverance not only shines through in his career story but also in matches like these, in which he sells the struggle of trying to overcome a top opponent so well. What made this match so excellent were all the little things they did and also the overall storytelling. There was always something interesting happening from a technical wrestling perspective, and these two took the viewer on a wonderful ride of pure wrestling. Excellent match. ****¼  

NJPW 10/14/23 London, England Copper Box Arena, IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 31:19. The two best current British wrestlers battled each other once again, and this time for New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. Of course, these two shouldn’t get a free pass merely for facing each other in a much-anticipated match. It should be noted that in the first ten minutes, nothing really exceptional or unexpected happened. From the tenth minute onward, we slowly got to see more of the things we wanted to see from these two. This included cool-looking counters and spectacular moves. The work was super crisp, and they pretty much hit all their moves superbly. The main criticism for this match is that at times, it felt like they were basically going through the motions. In a way, this is understandable, since people want to see a certain type of match with certain types of moves and sequences, and these two are very familiar with each other’s work. However, on the other hand, it would have been nice to see these two show a bit more animosity towards each other, like in their great NJPW matches (2/2/20, 3/14/21, 3/21/22) and their great RevPro match (11/10/17). By the way, they also had several other matches against each other, including the excellent NJPW 7/30/19 match and excellent RevPro 2/14/20 match (and they had seven matches against each other prior to 2017 in various indy leagues). Also, in their best matches against each other, it was less the ‘Ospreay show’ type match, and it had more of the interesting technical counters Sabre is known for. Despite this not being their best match against each other, this match featured plenty of high-quality wrestling moments. This match from 10/14/23 was arguably the sixth or seventh best match Will Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr. ever had against each other, and it’s arguably among the ten or fifteen best pro wrestling matches of the year 2023 so far. Excellent match. ****

NJPW 2/11/24 Osaka EDION Arena: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bryan Danielson 32:46. ****½

RevPro 8/24/24 London, England Copperbox Arena: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hechicero 22:51. Zack Sabre Jr. got a tremendously warm welcome back home, as he returned to his home country of England after recently winning the NJPW G1 tournament in Japan. This match against Mexican luchador Hechicero was a rematch of their match in CMLL earlier this year. Their CMLL match was quite good, but rather underwhelming overall. This match at the Revolution Pro Wrestling 12th anniversary show was way better. Hechicero wasn’t helpless like he was in the CMLL match. In fact, Hechicero never looked better than he did in this match at the Copperbox Arena. I was fortunate enough to have been live in attendance for this match, as I had made the trip for this show and AEW’s All In the next day. The live experience was tremendous, and I would be lying if I would claim that the live experience didn’t taint my view of this match in a positive way. However, as a spectator for this match, I was totally into this match more than any match that weekend. And this match was arguably even better than the 8/26/23 Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi match, which means this 8/24/24 ZSJ vs. Hechicero match is probably the best match I’ve ever witnessed live in person. What made this match so excellent was the way that everything they did seemed to have importance. Of course, it helped that the crowd was really into it, but they were given the opportunity to react as wildly as they did because of the way Zack orchestrated everything so perfectly. Hechicero also deserves a lot of credit for stepping up his game and really understanding his role so well. This wonderful wrestling contest was definitely a breath of fresh air and stood out a lot in today’s wrestling environment. This match combined some old school grappling with several ingredients from modern-day wrestling and tossed it all up in a wonderfully well-mixed and consistent salad. This match is a strong candidate for 2024 MOTY, even though 2/11/24 Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bryan Danielson and 6/22/24 Starlight Kid vs. Mei Seira are also strong candidates. Great match. ****½

This is how I look at Sabre's career...

2006 - 2009: average

2010 - 2011: decent

2012 - 2014: good

2015 - 2016: very good

2017: excellent

2018 - 2021: great

2022-2023: Excellent

Zack Sabre Jr. has been a top worker since 2017. His peak started in 2018, that's when he became truly great and one of the best workers in the world. He'd already been one of the very best in Europe during the 2010s after becoming a good worker since 2012. I believe Zack Sabre Jr. is one of the 50 best male pro wrestlers ever.

PROGRESS 9/25/16 London, England 02 Academy Brixton: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tommaso Ciampa 27:36. ****

wXw 10/1/16 Oberhausen, Germany Turbinenhalle, World Tag Team League 2016 Block B Match: Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll vs. Chris Hero & JT Dunn 30:00. ****

RevPro 11/10/17 London, England Walthamstow Assembly Hall, RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 25:00. ****½

NJPW 3/15/18 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, New Japan Cup Quarter Final Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 21:02. ****½

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 1/4/19 Tokyo Dome: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii 11:35. ****

NJPW 4/20/19 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 28:58. ****¼

NJPW 7/30/19 Takamatsu City General Gymnasium #1, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 20:02. **** 

NJPW 8/7/19 Hamamatsu Arena, G1 Climax 29 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi 15:46. ****¼

NJPW 2/2/20 Sapporo Prefectural Sports Center, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 27:04. ****¾   

RevPro 2/14/20 London, England York Hall, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 29:14. ****

NJPW 3/14/21 Amagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium, New Japan Cup Round 2: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 21:23 ****½ 

NJPW 9/23/21 Ota City General Gymnasium, G1 Climax Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shingo Takagi 27:17 ****

NJPW 3/21/22 Nagaoka Aore Nagaoka, New Japan Cup Quarter Final: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 23:04 ****½ 

NJPW 3/26/22 Osaka-Jo Hall, New Japan Cup SemifinaL: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shingo Takagi 19:24 ****¼

AEW 10/1/23 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bryan Danielson 23:12 ****¼

NJPW 10/14/23 London, England Copper Box Arena, IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 31:19. **** 

NJPW 2/11/24 Osaka EDION Arena: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bryan Danielson 32:46. ****½

RevPro 8/24/24 London, England Copperbox Arena: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hechicero 22:51. ****½

Hall Of Talent YouTube Playlist