UFC 280 10/22/22: Sean O'Malley vs. Petr Yan 3R. A good fight where O'Malley did really well in what was such a big step up in competition that some thought it would be a squash match. However, greatly exceeding expectations doesn't mean he actually won the fight. That being said, this wasn't an all time robbery by any means, even though the fighter the UFC wanted to win because he speaks English and has a big social media following conveniently got the decision. Yan started slowly as usual, getting his reads, and throughout the first half of round one O'Malley was able to use his movement, combining length and speed to outbox Yan. Yan came on in the second half of the round with his low kicks, and got a takedown with 1:10 control time. I'd give the round to Yan, but only marginally. O'Malley was doing a very good job with the jab, and Yan was looking for that early in the second when O'Malley fooled him by leading with the left out of the southpaw stance to stun him. Yan quickly came back, following his jab with a big overhand left, and took control on the ground. Yan not only had more than half a round of ground control through 3 takedowns, but was now the aggressor coming forward and trying to bully O'Malley, so this was a clear Yan round. O'Malley cut Yan's right eyebrow badly midway through the third with a left hook following a nice knee up the middle. Things were not going well for Yan, but after absorbing a high kick, he was able to burn a lot of clock, eventually turning a desperation shot into takedown. Yan landed one good left hook after this, but was able to kill enough time in the grappling game to not take any more real damage. Still, this was clearly an O'Malley round, as he outlanded Yan 40-15 in significant strikes, and certainly did the damage with the cut that potentially would have been a problem had this been the typical Yan 5 rounder. Yan's 1:52 control time yielded little offense beyond a couple good shots in the final seconds, but this was all irrelevant assuming you gave Yan the 1st two rounds. Two judges had round 1 for O'Malley though, so he took the split decision 29-28. Good match.

NJPW 5/23/19 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, BOSJ XXVI Block B: Will Ospreay vs. Bandido 18:03.
DC: This was the first NJPW tour for Mexican luchador Bandido. He had toured Japan regularly in 2018 for Dragon Gate, but for the most part, had worked independent shows in Mexico and California. Both guys like to show off their amazing athletic ability, so it was naturally a spectacular match-up. Bandido mostly relied on highspots, but Ospreay turned this into an excellent match because of his understanding of stringing the spots together into a cohesive match. Ospreay controlled the ebb and flow of the match, and created opportunities for his opponent to shine. You could tell that Bandido really saw this as an opportunity to show off how exciting a worker he can be, as he was in the ring with one of the best in the world. Bandido is clearly a talented worker who knows how to react at the right moment. Most of the execution in this match was super crisp. There was only one instance where Ospreay overshot his backflip into a kick attempt, but it still looked impressive because of his amazing athleticism. Bandido hit a tremendous reverse rana that Ospreay took really well. Bandido’s springboard shooting star press looked incredible, and was maybe the coolest move of the match. There was an amazing sequence that saw Bandido front flip onto Ospreay’s back, then back flip as his legs catapulted via the top rope, which then put him in the position to hit a released German suplex on Ospreay, who then back flipped and landed on his feet. That was definitely a rewind-worthy sequence. Throughout this match, both guys sold big for each other’s moves. Bandido hit a top-rope fallaway slam, but Bandido couldn’t put Ospreay away, as Ospreay eventually won the match via the stormbreaker. This excellent match was a lot of fun to watch. **** 

NJPW 6/9/19 Osaka-Jo Hall, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee 20:07.
DC: Mexican luchador Dragon Lee had mostly wrestled in Mexico for CMLL, but he had been touring NJPW since 2016. This match featured incredible high flying by both, and it really helped that the chemistry between these two was great. What was so great about this match was that they didn’t just rely on being two of the most amazing athletes in pro wrestling, but they also showed the right intensity and focus to turn this into a match that saw both wrestlers fight hard for the championship. Dragon Lee is not only great at executing high flying moves, but the way he reacts and sells is really good too. At one point, Ospreay was positioned in a seating position on the guardrail near the Japanese announcers, and Dragon Lee hit an explosive tope suicida that saw both fly over the guardrail. Another big spot was Ospreay’s tremendous sky twister press to the floor. Both guys took each other’s moves really well and bumped well for each other. There were some amazing counters and reversals that were superbly executed. Maybe the most amazing spot happened when Dragon Lee jumped over the top rope, took Ospreay off the apron with a huracarrana to the floor that amazingly ended with Ospreay landing on his feet. Ospreay was a true dragon slayer, as he had beaten “The Dragon” Shingo Takagi to win the BOSJ tournament, and here he beat Dragon Lee to win the most prestigious junior heavyweight title in wrestling. ****¼ 

NJPW 7/18/19 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, G1 Climax 29 Block A: Will Ospreay vs. Kota Ibushi 27:16.
DC: Having just won the Super Junior Tournament and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, Ospreay was temporarily bumped up to the heavyweight division, making his G1 Climax debut in order for the tournament to still provide a few interesting matches now that the previous savoir, Kenny Omega, had moved on to AEW. Unfortunately, both workers were wrestling this match while injured. This really influenced the approach and story of this match. Kota Ibushi had an injured ankle, so Ospreay worked over Ibushi’s leg. Ospreay had an injured neck, so Ibushi worked over Ospreay’s neck area. However, these two instinctively want to do high flying moves, so it didn’t take very long for them to do some more flashy stuff. After the match had been wrestled at a slow pace, they temporarily turned the pace up a notch. Ospreay hit a high kick and a top-rope 619. Ibushi hit a second-rope moonsault. Ospreay even did the space flying tiger drop. Ospreay did a lucha front flip into the ropes, but as he bounced back, Ibushi caught him in a released German suplex. They traded elbow smashes and big boots. This was followed by some quick, flashy counters. When Ospreay was tied upside down in the tree of woe in the corner, Ibushi slapped and kicked Ospreay until referee Red Shoes Unno stopped him. Ibushi hit a big backflip kick when Ospreay tried to go for a top-rope move. While standing on the second rope, Ibushi lifted Ospreay off the apron and went for a super German suplex, but Ospreay landed on his feet. After some Kawada-style kicks, Ospreay executed a windmill-like kick he likes to call the Robinson Special. Ospreay hit an OsCutter and almost pinned Ibushi. There were only five minutes remaining in the time limit at this point. Ibushi hit a Michinoku Driver. Ibushi hit a running knee strike. Ospreay kicked out. There were now three minutes left. Ibushi hit Kamigoye and scored the pinfall over Ospreay. Due to the injuries, the execution was deliberate, and there was a strong emphasis on selling. They did an excellent job telling the story they wanted to tell, and they didn’t let their injuries get in the way of this being an excellent match. Ospreay also had an excellent league match with Sabre, even if it wasn't as amazing as their typical match, but it was Ibushi's G1 match with Sabre that wound up being the best of the three. **** 

NJPW 9/27/20 Kobe World Kinen Hall, G1 Climax 30 Block A: Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi 22:03.
DC: This was their third match of the G1 Climax League. Will Ospreay had won his first two matches, but Shingo Takagi had lost his first two matches. While Takagi was probably more desperate to win this match, Ospreay didn’t want to lose his momentum in this tournament. Their previous singles match against each other was the amazing BOSJ XXVI final on 6/5/19. Now that they were part of the heavyweight division, they worked a slower heavyweight style at the start of this G1 Climax match. What was interesting was that during the chop exchange, they wouldn’t stand there and wait for the other to chop, but they would try to interrupt the other’s chops and try to lay in a series of chops themselves. Despite this match being relatively slow and deliberate for their standards, they still did some spectacular stuff. Ospreay did a space flying tiger drop, for example. Still, the main focus seemed to be on impact and intensity. The counters were well-executed, which was a big part of the reason this match was so interesting. They would anticipate a move by the other, but then that counter was sometimes countered. Despite this match being shorter than their previous match, it also wasn’t as action-packed, which seems to confirm that their move to the heavyweight division has slightly changed the type of match they work together. In the end, Takagi scored the pinfall to win this match. Ospreay would end up finishing second in Block A (only behind Kota Ibushi, who would go on to win the tournament), and Takagi would end up finishing third from the bottom in this block. The main difference between this match and their 6/5/19 match is that this 9/27/20 match wasn’t as super urgent and spectacular as the 6/5/19 match. That’s obviously hardly a knock on this match, since the 6/5/19 match was a five-star match. It feels wrong to think of a four-star match as a disappointment, but that says more something about how high these two had raised the bar previously. ****

NOAH 11/22/20 Yokohama Budokan, GHC Heavyweight Title: Go Shiozaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 42:35.
DC: These two used to be tag team partners, but Katsuhiko Nakajima had turned his back on Go Shiozaki when he aligned himself with the Kongo stable. This was definitely not the fastest match you’ll ever see, but these two are really good at doing a slower, more deliberate match with a focus on wrestling psychology. They carefully picked their moves and executed them thoughtfully, like it was a game of chess. There was a decent amount of time in between moves and sequences, but the space in between the action felt important due to their storytelling. This made this match an interesting contest from start to finish. When they did execute moves, they executed them very intensely. Everything they did felt meaningful and impactful. One of the craziest spots came relatively early when Shiozaki suplexed Nakajima off the apron to the floor, which resulted in Nakajima taking a sick-looking bump that had to hurt. Once Nakajima was back in the ring, he hit Shiozaki with a stiff kick in the mid section that took the wind out of Shiozaki. This helped Nakajima to get some more time to recover. Nakajima finally had some energy again to fight, and he started working over Shiozaki’s right arm. Shiozaki tried to chop Nakajima, but Shiozaki’s right arm was hurting too much. Shiozaki hit a shoulder tackle off the second rope, this time using his left arm. Shiozaki’s right arm is his favorite arm to chop though, and the chop is one of his favorite weapons. Shiozaki decided that it was worth the pain to chop Nakajima several times just to hurt Nakajima. When Nakajima hit a brainbuster, Shiozaki briefly sold the impact of the move, but got back up quickly because he realized he had to collect all the strength he had to hit a Stan Hansen-esque lariat before Nakajima would get the upper hand again. Both men were now selling the impact of the battle. Twenty minutes had gone by, and it really felt like they had made it a worthwhile twenty minutes, which is something that is unfortunately rare for long modern main event matches. Shiozaki started chopping Nakajima, and Nakajima replied with stiff kicks to the chest. Both men’s chests took a tremendous beating. The action was so stiff and brutal that every time they hit each other, it sounded like gunshots were fired. At this point, it wasn’t just a match for a belt, there was honor and pride on the line as well. Neither man wanted to lose this battle. They were both fighting like they were not going to stop until the other man could no longer continue. The intense chopping and kicking continued until both men crumbled to the mat. Somehow, they were able to get back to their feet. Nakajima realized he should do some serious damage to Shiozaki’s right arm so that he wouldn’t get chopped to death. Nakajima started his quest to destroy Shiozaki to the point that it looked like he wanted to break it. Nakajima viciously kicked Shiozaki’s arm a couple of times and then started stretching Shiozaki’s arm and shoulder. It was a close game between two evenly matched competitors. Neither man could stay in control for too long, and the momentum kept shifting. After Nakajima hit several hard slaps to Shiozaki’s face that made Shiozaki wobbly, Nakajima hit a high kick to the face that sent Shiozaki to the mat. The referee checked if Shiozaki was KO'd, but Shiozaki was still moving. Nakajima became super aggressive, and started elbowing the living daylights out of Shiozaki. Nakajima hit a brainbuster and went for the cover, but Shiozaki managed to kick out at 2.999. Shiozaki fought back whenever he found the strength inside of him. A huge lariat knocked Nakajima upside down. At the 40-minute mark, Shiozaki executed a moonsault. The match had not stopped being intriguing since the second it started. What a tremendous performance by both men. Shiozaki hit another lariat that turned Nakajima inside out. Shiozaki went for the cover, but through instinct, Nakajima was able to put his leg on the ropes. Shiozaki wouldn’t stop and hit yet another lariat. This time, Nakajima was not able to get up. It was the end of an incredible battle. It wasn’t easy to say the least, but Shiozaki successfully retained his title. This has to be one of the very best NOAH matches ever. NOAH’s founder, the late, great Mitsuharu Misawa must have been smiling while proudly watching on from the heavens above. The punishment these two workers dished out and took was amazing. Also, the storytelling and psychology was top-notch. Great match! ****¾ 

STARDOM 9/17/22 Osaka EDION Arena #2, 5STAR GP Blue Block: Starlight Kid vs. Natsupoi 13:26.
DC: This was the main event of the evening. They started off with forearm smash exchanges. They did a fast-paced sequence that saw both of them execute a cartwheel. Starlight Kid executed an Asai moonsault, one of her favorite moves. In between the fast-paced and action-packed sequences and spots, they weren’t showing a lot of urgency, but since this was one of the longer matches of the tournament, it didn’t necessarily have a detrimental effect on the match. SLK briefly worked over Natsupoi’s leg, and hit a standing moonsault onto the leg. Poi hit a plancha off the top to the floor onto SLK. When they were both on the apron, they executed a German suplex each on the other on the apron, after which they rolled to the floor to sell the impact. They brawled a bit on the floor and teased a double count-out, but they made it back into the ring on time. SLK went for a moonsault, but Poi rolled out of the way. After some counters, Poi hit a released German suplex. SLK had Poi tied up in a submission hold at some point in the match, but Poi reached the ropes. They did a good job of keeping things interesting throughout the match with the final minutes delivering a finishing stretch that was satisfying enough to confirm that this was one of the best matches of the tournament. SLK won this contest via the move known as the eternal foe, which is basically the top-rope Spanish fly. It was a good match with cool-looking moves and pretty crisp execution. ***¼   

STARDOM 9/23/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, 5STAR GP Blue Block: Mayu Iwatani vs. Hazuki 10:20.
DC: The execution displayed here was so crisp that it resembles Mayu Iwatani’s matches from a few years ago. Hazuki has been on a roll in this tournament, and her performance was strong here, showing a lot of energy and urgency. The level of intensity was quite high from start to finish, which was a good thing because of this being only a 10-minute match. While Hazuki was down near the ropes, Mayu hit a dropkick that sent Hazuki to the floor. Mayu went for a tope suicida, but Hazuki moved, which sent Mayu crashing into some of the wrestlers standing at ringside. Hazuki then hit a tope suicida of her own and hit her target, Mayu. Near the finish, Mayu executed a fancy-looking superkick. Mayu went for a dragon suplex, but Hazuki blocked. Mayu attempted to hit the move, and succeeded this time. Hazuki managed to kick out though. Mayu went for a moonsault, but she missed because of Hazuki moving away. Hazuki almost pinned Mayu, but Mayu kicked out. It had been a pretty even match, so it was hard to say who was going to win, if we were getting a winner. Eventually, Mayu went for the moonsault again, but this time she hit it perfectly and scored the win. Mayu came close to winning this block, but she ended with just one point less than Giulia in the final standings, and Blue Block winner Giulia would end up winning this tournament by beating Red Block winner Tam Nakano in the final on 10/1/22 in a mediocre match. ***½ 

UFC Fight Night 211 10/1/22: Daniel Santos vs. John Castaneda R2 4:28. While a very fast-paced fight by any standard, it truly felt in hyperspeed following the heavyweight dullardry that was Latifi vs. Oleinik. The first round was owned by Castaneda, who dropped Santos with a high kick 90 seconds in, taking advantage of his hands being low. Despite making no progress in ground and pound, Castaneda immediately dropped Santos again with a left straight as soon as he got back to his feet. Santos was looking pretty impressive off his back even during these stretchesm where he was woozy, constantly scrambling and trying to throw up an armbar. To be honest, I was surprised that Castaneda was looking for the takedown after these sequences, as he was doing much better lunging in with big strikes then he was working from the top position against such a slick grappler. Santos had no trouble surviving full and side mount, but was quickly wobbled from a big left high kick once they returned to their feet. Castaneda pushed for the finish with a series of punches as Santos should have been out on its feet, but Santos not only weathered storm, but finally hurt Castaneda with a clinch knee, and actually won the last minute of the round. Castaneda was looking winded to start the second, and in fact never truly recovered. Santos came at him hard in this round, with relentless pressure, and Castaneda was really struggling with the lack of space. Now Castaneda was seemingly trying to use his wrestling just to slow the pace down, but while Santos was fairly easy to take down, he also got back up just as quickly as he wanted to. The cardio advantage for Santos was just huge, and he was able to maintain an incredible pace throughout the second round despite getting hurt so badly twice in the first, whereas Castaneda was clearly fading throughout the duration of the round. Toward the end of the round, Castaneda was not doing a very good job of getting his back off the cage, or continuing to move his feet in general, which allowed Santos to try some flashier/lower percentage big strikes such as high kicks and spinning backfists. Despite all the clean shots to the head Castaneda ate in this round, it was really the body work that finally finished him off, buckling him so Santos could land another big clinch knee before the stoppage. Good match.