12/20/24 ROH Pure Title Match: Lee Moriarty vs. Nigel McGuinness 17:05. Tony Khan once again didn't announce Nigel McGuinness when that might have actually sold some tickets & PPVs, the former champion wrestling his first ROH match in a decade and a half being one of the only selling points now that Chris Jericho is in charge of teaching us that he also can't draw or wrestle competently here. Since you can't build up a match you refuse to announce, Nigel & Shane Taylor had to trade third grade insults during the pre-match, and there was a whole convoluted mess about old and new Pure Title rules since lots of things have changed since Nigel's day. Nigel was able to sell the match pretty quickly, and worked towards one of his old strategic wins, finding cheeky ways to rob Moriarty of his rope escapes. This drew the ire of Taylor, who ordered a second ref to keep an eye on Nigel's shenanigans. Since they had to give the 2nd ref something to do, there was a whole controversy over the rope break being called when Nigel pinning Moriarty was waived off. The pure division is supposed to be no frills straight up real wrestling, a preeminent place we don't have to worry about sports entertainment, and can actually get the mythical sports based presentation that Tony moves further away from by the minute. Instead, the fluid technical wrestling that made the match worthwhile was buried amidst the chaos and distractions of the 1st half, as if by a Vince Russo style booker who couldn't appreciate what actually made the match interesting and useful. Despite all the impurities, this was a quality generational battle between the longest running Pure champion and the current one. The crowd was into the match, with Nigel being very over as the returning hero, even if he's some kind of villain. Nigel was still able to back up the fans nostalgia for him, giving a much better performance than he did against Bryan Danielson, even if the match was worse because Moriarty is no Danielson, and the Danielson match didn't have so many distractions. Nigel was still his scheming tactical self, which should have threatened to babyface Moriarty, if the crowd wasn't so nostalgic. In any case, there was a good deal of quality chain wrestling buried in here, with both working as well around the rules as in between them. Nigel brought a nice combination of the old British style and what presumably would be the modern shoot wrestling style had the genre evolved to incorporate more Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training. Moriarty always has solid matwork, but he's considerably less charismatic than Nigel. Their answer to that is Taylor, but everything involving Taylor undermines the serious technical wrestling that makes Moriarty interesting. Nigel was the better wrestler, but he showed more of that in the first half when he had the momentum. Though they still used submissions in the second half, there was a lot more traditional high impact stuff, which would have worked better if we really got a build up to it from the matwork instead of the unnecessary stops and starts for the shenanigans. Nigel had a lot of good high impact offense to pick the match up with as well, but Moriarty turned the tables on the rope break scorecard, the younger man logically coming on in the later stages. Apparently, Moriarty was more of the heel because with no rope escapes once you run out of them, he was able to use them for extra Leverage on his crossface to get the win. The right guy won given the circumstances, even if he was outshine by an old man who ended his career when Moriarty was in the midst of high school. ***

12/20/24 ROH: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tommy Billington 9:50

12/11/24 AEW Continental Classic 2024 Gold League: Will Ospreay [6] vs. Claudio Castagnoli [6] 13:26
ML: These two have excellent chemistry, which is not surprising because Claudio makes everyone look that much better. It was good bang bang stuff, starting out excellent, but kind of settling into a good but unadventurous back and forth before ending abruptly. The start was awesome with Claudio charging into a Spanish fly, and Will following with a space Flying Tiger drop. Early on, Will was winning when he could outmaneuver Claudio using his speed and reflexes, while Claudio would take over when they locked up or went toe to toe, using European uppercuts or working the shoulder. Claudio injured Will's shoulder giant swinging him into the steps. Claudio then used the steps to injure the fingers, leaving Will with one arm again, as in his vastly overrated 11/23/24 match against the unwatchable version of Kyle Fletcher, a far cry from the good TV match they had on 3/6/24 when Fletcher used to do something when he was on offense beyond walk laps. Will was taking big bumps for Claudio, and making his strikes look extra impressive, but then he'd come right back without any transition. This was the sort of match where Claudio should have dominated until something backfired, and Will should have come back with fiery bursts until he crashed and burned, but instead they just took turns doing their thing, playing even like every modern match. Will was spectacular pulling a big flying move, while Claudio was impressive in the moment overpowering Will or picking on an injury, but none of it really helped him, in a match that was structured more and more lazily as it progressed. Ospreay kicked out of the running lariat, and then countered a bomb into a jackknife for the flash pin. Claudio cheesily lost the battle, but won the war, leaving Will laying. This was one time where it actually made sense to have the heel attack after the bell, getting his heat back, but it has no impact because they do post match nonsense in literally every match. Ospreay was more exciting than in a typical TV match, and Claudio worked Will's stuff in as well as can be expected in a match where no one can have a run. This was better than most of what Will has been doing in the 2nd half of 2024, even if it peaked in the opening minute, and never quite reached the same level after the picture and picture. ***1/4

Volk Han Hall Of Talent

4/13/24 UFC BMF Title: Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje R5 4:59
ML: Even though this fight was disappointing by the remarkable otherworldly standards of Gaethje, with only the Khabib Nurmagomedov debacle inarguably being a less entertaining fight, somehow even a somewhat unsatisfying Gaethje fight still winds up being the most memorable fight of the year in many ways. Even though it took 3 rounds for this strategic fight to really get going, and by then Gaethje was semi handicapped, it was ultimately a great example of the reason most fans actually watch MMA. It's not about the GSP's of the world doing their best to calculate how to grind out the decision or the Colby's embarrassing themselves with their endless string of cringy and detestable remarks, but seeing two highly skilled warriors push their body to the extremes it can endure, and one going out on his shield. Holloway looked much better at 155 this time. Having more time to make the transition, he was able to bring his power without sacrificing his speed. He fought a great tactical fight using his length and speed that kept Gaethje from getting his hands or combos going until he was already quite compromised. Gaethje tried to use the right calf kick to set up the left hook. The calf kick was ultimately his best weapon, but the hooks were never really there, and he would get countered when he threw his hands long or wide. Both landed in an exchange, but Holloway got in a damaging left hook midway through the 1st. This was a very patient first round though, and Max made no attempt to capitalize. Instead, Holloway stuck to his strategy of mixing his right hand, notably throwing the right to the body to bring Gaethje's hands down. This was shaping up to be a battle of wills, with Gaethje looking to drag Holloway into a fire fight, but Holloway staying long and patient, closing the distance fast when he needed to. Max exploded Gaethje's nose with a spinning solebutt at the very end of the round. Gaethje had recently had surgery to correct his breathing, but here he was again, forced to breathe from his mouth the next 4 rounds. Up until this point, the fight was pretty even, but Max had seized the momentum, and did a great job of keeping it. Gaethje was already somewhat distracted the rest of the fight, touching his nose and dealing with the blood dripping into his mouth, which was now always open to breathe. To make things worse, he also had to deal with getting gouged in the left eye on the first big exchange of round two. Gaethje continued, but I don't know how well he could really see for most of this round. His eyes were probably filled with water prior to this from the broken nose. He was pretty much just staying away, trying to come in with a combo every now and then. Holloway then gouged Gaethje in the other eye! I know Holloway wasn't trying to cheat, but a bad one to each eye in the same round is too fight altering to not be a deduction. Marc Goddard didn't do his job by trying not to get involved. At this point, Zatoichi might have had a better chance of figuring out a way to win this fight. Gaethje landed a good low kick late, but couldn't really get his combos going, or do much with his hands in general. In terms of legal strikes, it wasn't a big round for either, but in terms of damage sustained, it was a huge round for Holloway. Gaethje had to protect his nose and his chin (since his mouth was open to breathe), so he couldn't fight as aggressively as he normally would. Trevor Whitman wanted him changing angles or exiting after 2 strikes maximum to try to mitigate Holloway's ability to answer. Holloway started getting more aggressive midway through round three, landing another spinning back kick, which was a great and shockingly accurate weapon for him all night, and wobbling Gaethje with a right. Holloway was looking too fast, and Gaethje was looking slower and more hesitant than normal, partly due to Max, and partly due to injury. Gaethje was finally able to back Holloway in the fourth. This was a much better round for him, though when he would stop, Holloway would land to the nose, and Gaethje would kind of wince or flinch. When the combinations elongated, Holloway would use his speed and evasiveness to avoid and land good shots back. This was a much more active round for both. Gaethje got Max to bite at the level change, and came over the top with the right for the knockdown. Gaethje did a better job of staying close and throwing tight shots in the 4th. It was surprising that with all the calf kicks Gaethje landed that Max wasn't limping or showing the damage. Gaethje landed a nice body shot then overhand right, but Holloway beautifully answered with the spinning solebutt. Holloway did a great job of following up hurting Gaethje 2 minutes into round 5. This was a big fast explosive flurry that threatened to finish the fight. Gaethje eventually managed to wing big overhands with his back against the cage to get Max to back off, and go back to just picking him apart. Realistically, Gaethje had to go because time wasn't on his side, but Whitman could see that he was still hurt badly, and was urging him to get his legs back before he made a final push. After a desperation koppo kick by Gaethje, Holloway gave us what immediately became one of the all-time iconic finishes of MMA, totally suitable for BMF madness, when rather than being content with the clear decision victory, he instead pointed to the center of the octagon and urged Gaethje to throw down with him for the final 10 seconds. An amazing flurry of huge, wild barroom brawl striking followed. Almost nothing was actually landing, but when Holloway finally connected with an overhand right, he face planted Gaethje with 1 second left for the KO of the year, perhaps the century! It wasn't a meaningful KO in the sense that Holloway was ready to win a 49-46 decision, but it said a lot about these fighters being here to fight. It's one of those viral moments that get shared, re-shared, and imitated to the point that despite both being champions and Hall of Famers, it's what both will be most remembered for. I think the 1st 3 rounds were just fine, good high level MMA, just not the level of excitement we expected from these two. Gaethje had kind of lost the fight by the time it really got good, but he did enough to make us believe, and the final 2 rounds were quite eventful. I was disappointed with this when it happened because it felt like Gaethje's injures kept the fight from really firing the way one would expect, but he somehow gutted out two really eventful rounds down the stretch to make up for fight's slow start, and Holloway was happy to entertain once he was confident he could still win that way. Very good match.

12/14/24 UFC: Manel Kape vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva R3 1:57
ML: This fight had a ton of speed, high paced with a lot of action, but it was rather one-sided. Kape had the clear speed advantage, and was really trusting his movement, keeping his hands at his sides and just dodging all sorts of blows. He was trying to bait Silva in with his antics, getting him to overcommit, so he could land the big counter counter. What made it a mismatch is that Kape didn't need to counter, with the combination of length and speed, he could land the jab or low kick on the outside if Silva didn't take the fight to him. When they were inside, Silva had more of a chance, but Kape had such superior defense that he kept Matrixing blows, and landing back. Silva was only able to slow Kape down some with a couple of low blows, but not much he intentionally did was really working with any consistency. He would land a big hook here and there, but he couldn't gain momentum. Silva was trying to get the takedown, but Kape would move right back or shuck him off anytime Silva tried. The action picked up considerably in round 2 when Kape began landing short hooks and styling, providing Silva opportunity to attack emotionally and aggressively. Silva leveled Kape with the third nut shot, finally getting a point deducted. Kape was still limping when the fight was restarted. Silva was really opening up now, while Kape was styling, giving Silva every opportunity to either land huge against an opponent who wasn't in the proper position to defend himself or overcommit and get knocked out. Silva's face was getting busted up, but he was also down 2 rounds plus a point, so he didn't have much choice but to keep going for the finish. This second round was very exciting, even if Kape was being a jerk. Kape was overconfident to the point he was talking to Dana White between rounds, calling for his title shot. Silva began cracking Kape at the start of the third. He was fighting recklessly, but he didn't have much choice. Silva is a finisher, too, and as soon as he stopped, Kape just picked him apart with hooks. Kape landed a liver kick that was basically the end of Silva. He kept coming with hooks until the fight was stopped, but Silva had basically already been rendered unable to defend himself, so Keith Peterson could have stopped it sooner when Silva turned his back. Kape made a lengthy petition to Dana for the title shot after the match, which would make sense given Pantoja has cleared out the division and Demetrious Johnson isn't coming out of retirement. Good match.

EMLL 12/9/88, Hair vs. Hair: Lola Gonzalez vs. Pantera Surena
ML: Two years after women's wrestling returned to Arena Mexico, we got this apuestas match as the semifinal of the big year end Juicio Final show underneath Lizmark capturing the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship from Fabuloso Blondy. The 3rd fall brought the house down with a futuristic joshi style, but the 1st two falls were kind of lame and repetitive Lucha does Memphis style brawling, albeit making the 3rd fall feel that much more like a revelation. The first fall really dragged with the standard unskilled contrived brawling from Gonzales that you'd see in every other so-called classic Lucha bloodbath. Surena offered no resistance whatsoever, and took an eternity to get back up. 1 minute in, and she already looked like she'd spent the last week wading waterless through the desert. Beyond being lame and really melodramatic in the most contrived sense, the overlong heat segment was just the same thing over and over, with Gonzalez repeatedly running her into the turnbuckle or post to get color or kicking her right back down. This fall wouldn't have benefitted as much as the 3rd did from a joshi puroresu influence, but the wildness of the joshi brawls made up for a lot, while what they did failed to instill any sense of danger. Surena actually managed to win the fall without doing a single offensive maneuver because Gonzalez refused to release her half crab variation. The second fall had more variety, but continued along the same lines of Surena getting knocked back down again as soon as she finally got back up, which at least makes sense if Gonzalez wasn't going to follow her to the ground. 11 minutes into the footage, Surena finally got her first offense in. Gonzalez had been refusing to let Surena back in the ring to go along with kicking her when she was vulnerable, but Surena finally showed a sign of life, picked Lola's leg from the outside, and started extracting her revenge by slamming it into the apron a few times. Obviously, this level of one-sidedness would be unimaginable in a modern match, but at the same time, it's precisely why the fans now came to life for Surena's comeback. Surena was just revenge brawling, posting Lola several times to open her up, but she showed good fire. Surena had an uninterrupted 3 1/2 minute run before getting disqualified back for pulling hair on her abdominal stretch. I didn't enjoy either of these falls, or their finishes, but they did help build the match and tell the story. The third fall was a different match entirely, years ahead of its time in Mexico, and maybe the greatest women's fall Mexico has produced. Surena had two of the more memorable early '80s womens matches as La Galactica against the greatest, Jaguar Yokota, and Gonzalez won the UWA Women's Title from her in 1985. This suddenly turned into a lively, high level near fall fest where they were trying to get over with their skill and desire. The shift was actually slow enough to be well done though, begining with a more spirited and back and forth version of the brawling, with their energy and drive to preserve their hair first resulted in them matching each other, and then evolved into trying to top one another. Eventually, they pulled out all the stops. I enjoyed the brawling in the third fall because it was much more spirited and energetic. Now there were some actual counters, such as Surena getting a near fall turning the Gori special into a sunset flip to start a series of near falls. Surena hurled herself to the floor with a big plancha that truly looked like a risk. There was a much better mix now of selling and actually still trying to defend themselves, making it a bit more believable that they were in a battle rather than a stagy drama, and thus this became much more dramatic. They largely used Lucha finishes, but in a very joshi puroresu finish spam style that was kind of shocking in Mexico, where there normally weren't many near falls. In that sense, it was helpful that the first two falls were decided by DQ because it was hard to believe we were 25 minutes into a Lucha match without a pin. There was a particularly great spot where Gonzalez charged for a huracarrana, but got leveled with a Ligerbomb. Gonzalez came back with la magistral, but Surena was saved by the ropes. The fans were in shock at all these near finishes, to the point that a horde left their seats and surrounded the ring apron after Gonzales kicks out of a cazadora. This was just surreal! I mean, four rows worth of fans just packing themselves against the ring apron. The near falls continued while security dispersed the audience. Surprisingly, none of these near falls worked, but Gonzalez managed to maintain enough discipline to not get DQ'd before putting Surena out with a crossface chickenwing. The fans once again rushed the ring, but this time, they were allowed to stay, as Surena lost her afro. The third fall, which was half the match, more than made up for the tedious and overdramatic first two falls, ultimately showing a much different sort of apuesta style than the typical attrition blood war it started out as. ***1/2

12/14/24 UFC: Cub Swanson vs. Billy Quarantillo R3 1:36

Kenta Kobashi Hall Of Talent

3/23/24 UFC: Jarno Errens vs. Steven Nguyen 3R
ML: Errens, the 1st Dutch featherweight and only Dutch male on the UFC roster, was already on the outs coming in with an 0-2 record in UFC. Errens showed quite evolved striking, and was a lot of fun because he wasn't the typical cookie cutter 2020's MMA fighter. He made great use of level changes, and showed an impressive amount of diversity in his striking attack, often starting with the jab to the body then throwing a long right uppercut or the right to the body. This was setting up the overhand right, but since he kept working the body, Nguyen had a more difficult time guarding himself from it. Nguyen was an incredibly resiliant fighter. He had all the heart and determination, but lacked Errens variety. Errens landed a short right uppercut then cut Nguyen's lip with a left hook. Nguyen got his jab going early in the second, busting Errens' nose open. Errens mixed in the flying knee, some spins, even a few superkicks. Nguyen had to take down in the first round, but Errens was able to counter him a lot in the second because he settled into mostly jabbing after his early success with it. Errens threw everything in combination except the calf kick, which was making Nguyen unsteady towards the end of the second, and was a huge problem in the 3rd. Errens clinched when his teep and right straight missed to avoid the counter, then dropped Nguyen with an overhand right on the break almost at the end of round 2. Nguyen was mostly fighting out of the southpaw stance in the third because his left ankle was giving out. Errens began focusing on following the jab with the right straight to the head. Errens lost his balance after a step knee, and Nguyen pounced with a hammerfist and an elbow then went for a guillotine. Errens got back to his feet though, and Nguyen couldn't effectively walk him down due to the ankle, so Errens would back away and pepper him with the jab, forcing Nguyen to inefficiently close the distance if he wanted to do anything, which allowed Errens to counter him coming in. Errens knocked Nguyen down with an overhand left 2 minutes into the 3rd round. This fight was thorougly entertaining. The only downside was that Errens ran away with this. Nguyen had his moments, but lacked the tools to keep Errens guessing. With Errens landing half his strikes, and outlanding Nguyen by at least 11 in every round, there's no round Nguyen could have won. Errens won a 30-27 unanimous decision. Very good match.

2/11/24 Senjo Sendai Girls Tag Title: Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka 20:54
ML: These teams fought on 4/16/23, but despite this rematch now being for the titles, Momono & Oka had only teamed once in the interim. This match was about elevating the 21-year-old Sendai Girls worker Oka into something of a player, and beginning to turn Momono & Oka into a team, eventually to be known by the ridiculous name Bob Bob Momo Banana. Oka was able to mimic some of what Marvelous' #2 star Momono does, show a lot of energy like Momono, and the duo had good teamwork and chemistry. This was a fast-paced and energetic match that was always entertaining, even if a bit more simplistic given Oka's athletic offense isn't particularly evolved. Of course, the main attraction was still Momono vs. Hashimoto, but it was a little less interesting than usual because Yuu is such a Yuuseless partner for Hashimoto, and Momono took a back seat here in order to get Oka over doing similar but less spectacular things. Hashimoto is the promotion's ace, but Yuu either stood on the apron or put the opponents down with each chop, leaving the actual star, Hashimoto, to do all the selling and dirty work. The result was that Hashimoto was largely putting over an arm injury to excuse putting over girls half her size, including an opponent in Oka who previously wasn't too credible against her. Hashimoto would kind of counter to keep things dynamic by ducking, dodging, or shooting the opponent over the top of her without actually getting a move in, or at least not a move that would regain control, so the opponents could get all their high speed spots in. Momono is always fun, and Oka was able to rise to a similar level often enough. The big vs. small stuff is better when there's more of a balance of risk and reward. This felt less earned because Hashimoto was largely just stooging for the opposition. Oka had a good run of flash pins on Hashimoto, but then was just pinned out of nowhere with a single power slam, which was kind of a downer. Oka was a little sloppy here and there, but this was definitely a breakout performance for her even though she lost. ***

Dungeon Wrestling 11/10/24 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Tommy Billington vs. Mo Jabari

12/7/24 UFC: Joshua Van vs Cody Durden 3R
ML: This match boasted a high pace, and had a lot of clean shots. Unfortunately for Durden, the majority of them were landed by Van. 23-year-old Van is one of the best athletes in the division, making Durden seem in slow motion during the second half of this fight after Durden wore himself out then Van landed clean shot after clean shot. Round one would previously have gone to Durden for control, but in a wiser era, Van's striking was worth more than Durden using Khabib tactics to prevent him from getting back up. Durden's striking was at least effective in setting up the takedown. Durden had 3 minutes of control, but the clinching seemed to be tiring him out more than young Van. Van got his jab going early in the second, and hurt Durden with a high kick. Van was holding the center now, which made it much more difficult for Durden to secure a takedown. Durden was looking wobbly, and wasn't able to recover because he kept getting hit with more clean shots. Durden slowed down considerably, and Van kept the heat on. Durden was increasingly engaging in drunken boxing, just throwing wobbly loopy arm punches, while Van continued to land hard despite having much more direct, compact, and efficient motions. Van's connect percentage was ridiculous, and he never slowed down or let up. Durden showed a ridiculous chin, and great heart to stay in the fight. It was interesting that Durden's corner told him he needed to finish. Perhaps that was a motivational tactic, but one would think they would have thought that he won the first round given he executed what was presumably his game plan for the majority. Regardless, Durden's only chance was to take Van down and grind him out, which presumably he was much less apt to do if he thought he needed to finish him. Durden went for the takedown after getting rocked with a left hook, but that was simply because he was woozy. Durden's right eye especially was bloody and bothering him. Van landed a big right hand counter in the final 30 seconds that seemed like it should have finished Durden after all he'd withstood, but he still didn't even go down. Van won a unanimous decision 29-28, 30-27, 30-26. Good match.

2/17/24 UFC: Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern 3R
ML: Dern's matches are throwbacks to the '90s era of specialist vs. specialist MMA because even if her opponent has a good ground game, they try to avoid using it against her. There's a lot more intensity and urgency to the positional duels than you would get in just about any other MMA match of this decade because we know how vulnerable she is on her feet, and how great she is on the ground. This match rose above the sum of what actually happened because the threat of what could happen felt real. Position dictated impending success or failure to the point you almost convinced yourself that more happened than actually did. Dern's striking was at least improving when she was with Jason Parillo, but now she was just bum rushing Lemos with her chin up because she knows her stand up just doesn't hold up to anyone who has technicality on their feet. The first round was a great example of why, in some ways, the biggest problem for Dern is that the way MMA works, she's always fighting from behind, and then fighting the clock if she can manage to get into her realm. Dern actually controlled more than half of the round on the ground, but barring something overwhelming, the round was essentially over by the time they hit the canvas. Lemos did a great job of answering what her career was going to look like going forward after failing in the title challenge against Zhang Weili in her previous match on 8/19/23. Lemos compromised Dern almost from the outset with her calf kick. Less than 2 minutes into the fight, Dern was already putting most of her weight on her right leg because her left leg was pretty much shot. That obviously didn't bode well for Dern getting the takedown in order to actually do what she does well, but her takedown game has continued to improve even though her striking game hasn't. What makes Dern stand above the other specialists is she has so much heart and courage, and never gives up on herself. Dern was able to duck an overhand right into a double leg less than halfway through the first round, and keep Lemos down for the duration. Lemos really did a nice job of defending herself on the ground for the most part. Dern was close to passing from half guard to full mount several times, but Lemos would elevate or off balance her when she tried to go. Under the 90's style of scoring, this would be a Dern round for control, but with the evolution of the scoring system focusing on damage, it's a clear Lemos round for taking out Dern's calf. Lemos' fight IQ was often questionable, as in subsequent rounds she passed on opportunities to minimalize the amount of grappling, but throughout the fight, Dern wasn't able to get anything going from half guard, or successfully mount. Dern knew she just had to create chaos in stand up because given any time, Lemos was just going to chop the calf again. That still doesn't excuse the stationary head and exposed chin, and it didn't take long for Lemos to exploit those deficiencies, dropping Dern with the right hook. Lemos was pursuing just as wildly with wide hooks looking for the finish, but Dern was hurt enough that all she could do was keep running away. Lemos dropped Dern again with a left hook, although this was kind of a delayed reaction where it felt like Dern may have gone down just hoping Lemos would follow her. Lemos did, and was pounding the crap out of her with right hands. Dern's right eye was a mess, cut and swollen, and Mike Beltran had to be close to stopping the fight, but Dern was able to hold on, and the threat of her grappling is so high, even off her back, that Lemos completely backed off and just waited to find her moment to stand back up. Dern really did a great job of stealing all of Lemos' thunder, no selling all the damage and doing her best to always seem fresh, energetic, and fired up. This really seemed to affect Lemos as the fight progressed because Lemos was wearing herself out pummeling Dern, and despite all the damage Dern was wearing with what Dana White thought was a broken orbital, Lemos wasn't seeing any signs of progress in terms of breaking Dern. Lemos seemed to have punched herself out, and was pretty hesitant, conservatively taking the calf kicks that were there without forcing anything. Lemos stuffed a takedown and came down on top, but Dern was quickly able to sweep. This fight was somewhat one-sided through 2 rounds, but Dern managed to make it about her even though she was mostly losing because of the discrepency in her danger level and competency in standup compared to on the ground. Dern looked remarkably fresh to start the third, and opened by dropping Lemos with an overhand right. Dern charged in, but when Lemos tied her up, pulled guard and worked for the same sweep rather than taking a chance on Lemos doing something at distance. Dern was able to transition from the sweep attempt to a belly down armbar and a leg lock attempt, which allowed her to take the top. Realistically, Lemos did so much more damage in the first and second rounds that one couldn't really score it for Dern, but you wouldn't know that from watching Dern's body language, or the way she continued to fight not only to win, but like she actually was winning. Dern's 3rd round win was even more impressive considering she was a replacement for Tatiana Suarez. Dern didn't really ever come close to a submission, but because of her pedigree you believed in her attempts, and it's still exciting stuff even though it never quite progressed to the point of materializing. Lemos won a unanimous decision 29-28. Dern, deaf or oblivious, hilariously started celebrating the victory. Dern actually only got the 3rd round, but post match awkwardness aside, not many fighters have the durability and mental fortitude to come back and win a round after taking that kind of beating. Very good match.

Toshiaki Kawada Hall Of Talent

12/4/24 AEW Continental Classic 2024 Gold League: Claudio Castagnoli [6] vs. Brody King [3] 14:17
ML: These two big men are better going against smaller wrestlers they can be the base for, but they usually deliver well above their push, regardless. Darby Allin spent last week's match against King selling pre-existing injuries, while Ricochet was just going through the motions against Cladio like he did in his uninspiring PPV match against Konosuke Takeshita that was still the least bad thing on Low Gear, so this wound up being the best league match so far. I think even this match had considerably less fire than their meeting in last year's Incontinence Classic though, but it at least maintained enough energy to still be barely worth recommending. It was a good big man match with a lot of hard hitting strikes and high impact moves. King was able to put Claudio down with a single chop, but Claudio went to work on his surgically repaired wrist, to the point that King was forced to chop with his off hand. Brody gave up on that quickly, and decided to fight through the pain, even after Claudio slammed his hand on the ring apron. The shady finish where Claudio eye raked to escape a powerbomb, argued with the ref to shield a low blow, and then finished with the neutralizer was rather annoying since we had already seen the most unimproved wrestler of the past few months, the now inflexible muscle man Kyle Fletcher who suddenly spends most of his time on offense with his back to the opponent, get a cheap win he didn't deserve over already buried newcomer Shelton Benjamin by using the ropes in the only other CC match on the show. ***

11/30/24 AEW: Hechicero vs. Komander 13:04
ML: This would have been a great match to introduce Hechicero to AEW fans before his big matches against Bryan Danielson and the obnoxious buffoon. This was an actual Lucha match where Komander went out of his way to get Hechicero over. Hechicero had an answer for all of Komander's running and jumping early on, forcing him into a grappling match by doing things such as picking his leg from behind after Komander leapfrogged him and slammed him when he tried a tijeras. Komander not only showed he can do more than just fly around, but was actually good in the more ground oriented lucha style, finding ways to make it his own by using his athleticism in the entries and exits. Instead of playing the losing game of trying to beat Hechicero in his own submission style, Komander kept him off guard by going for flash pins. Despite both wrestlers spending most of their career in Mexico, this is the first time they where involved in a match together because Hechicero is CMLL, while Komander was AAA. They had good chemistry, and this was a lot more interesting than the typical Komander AEW match. Eventually Komander had his big run of flying, but it seemed more reasonable since it came late in the match. Hechicero came back turning a moonsault into a belly down armbar. Hechicero kept rolling and adjusting, but had to release when Komander stacked him for a near fall. Now that Komander got his run in and hope spot, it was time for Hechicero to finish him off. ***

10/26/24 UFC: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai 3R
ML: This wasn't the most consistent or exciting match, but it had moments that made it seem a lot better than it actually was. It felt eventful because there was massive swelling, a lot of blood, big heart and big damage all around. Rebecki is a relentlessness pressure fighter with a lot of power who was willing to take one to give one if he had to. The first round here was mostly one-way traffic though, with Rebecki seemingly breaking Orolbai's right orbital with an overhand left. The eye basically swelled shut between the 1st and 2nd round, with an elephant man looking hematoma. A lot of the allure of this fight was that Orolbai didn't give up despite having little to no vision in his right eye. Orolbai had to fight a lot more aggressively starting with the second round because the fight could get stopped at any time. He tried for an early takedown, and while that failed, he was able to land a big right uppercut just after the break. Rebecki may not have been landing that often, but when he did connect, it was a big shot to the swollen eye. Rebecki got a nasty cut under the right eye from an accidental headbutt as Orolbai was dropping down for the takedown late in the 2nd. Rebecki was able to get back up, but ate a big elbow before the round ended. This round could have gone either way. Early in the third, Rebecki intercepted an elbow with a short right hand, then dropped Orolbai with a left hook. Rebecki landed big ground punches, but Orolbai got back up and took more punches until he was taken back down. Orolbai kept moving, but it was all one-way traffic, and Cormier was calling for the stoppage. It was awesome that Orolbai somehow willed himself to survive, much less getting the reversal on the ground with 1:15 left. Rebecki wore himself out failing to finish, and Orolbai came on in the final stand-up segment because Rebecki wasn't moving much anymore. Orolbai landing a couple good shots by no means enough to even remotely consider giving him the round, which up until that point should have been 10-8 for Rebecki. Rebecki won a 29-28 split decision. It's crazy that Jacob Montalvo scored it for Orolbai because the only round you could possibly give Orolbai was the second, and that was more of a toss-up with Orolbai outlanding by 2. I'm fine with giving him a round, but even then, one wonders if one of the judges didn't realize the big damage wasn't from a strike? Good match.

10/26/24 UFC: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal 3R
ML: Leal stepped in on short notice and wore down favorite Fakhretdinov, who is 20-0-01 in his last 21, with his pressure and in your face style. Fakhretdinov was looking to both use his own boxing and to counter the Leal's by dropping into the double leg. Leal was able to get right back up though after getting taken down early, which allowed him to still be aggressive throwing his strikes. Leal did a good job of landing the calf kick, and Fakhretdinov's movement was already compromised after the second one. Leal got his left straight going in the later part of the round, while Fakhretdinov still just tried to do the same thing. Fakhretdinov landed a similar number of strikes, but all the damaging ones seemed to come from Leal. Leal continued to gain momentum as he began putting together the left to the head with the right low kick. Fakhretdinov couldn't get the takedown after scoring one early in the first round, and began to give up on it. He did have a nice combination of a push kick and a left hand to set up a good right hand midway through the second. Leal was content to stand in the pocket because he was able to back Fakhretdinov with his jabs. Leal was cut late in the second round, and Fakhretdinov finally got another takedown with 15 seconds left to finish on top. Leal showed some nice body punching early in the 3rd. Leal was looking tired in the third throughout this round though, and now his low hands style was starting to work against him because his stationary head was just there to be hit. Leal was able to duck into a brief takedown, but for the most part, the more he waited, the more he got caught. Fakhretdinov landed 52 of his 109 total strikes in the third to finally take a round. The fact that his strategy was to take Leal down, and he only got 2 out of 19 should tell you all you need to know about how to score this fight, but the crazy judges came up with a unanimous 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 win for Fakhretdinov despite Leal closing the fight as a 21-1 favorite after starting as the underdog. Jon Anik was speechless over Fakhretdinov getting all 3 rounds, while Daniel Cormier actually told the Russian translator to sit down because he wasn't going to be needed just before the decision was announced. Good match.

8/30/92 AJW Japan Grand Prix '92 Blue Zone Playoff Match: Mariko Yoshida vs. Kyoko Inoue 15:24
PA: These two were tied on 7 points, so the winner would go into the semi-final to face Toyota. Unlike the league match, this was serious business. Kyoko gave Yoshida a good working over early before trying to beat her record giant swing from a couple of weeks earlier, but she got tired before she made it to 30 revolutions, and ended up collapsing. Yoshida got barely any offense in during the first 10 minutes, she was just given hope spots so that she was still in the match, while Kyoko mostly just worked holds and didn't want to take any risks. It all paid off spectacularly later, and Yoshida's selling is so great that all of this makes her look so much more spunky with her hot comebacks. Kyoko dumped her with a lariat, and did the springbroad back elbow, but Yoshida got a break reversing a brainbuster on the floor, then followed up with her dives, run up plancha, and a springboard body press. Kyoko came back, springing off the ropes. The finish was exciting with Kyoko trying to put Yoshida away with the Niagara Driver and Yoshida finding ways to slip out of it. Kyoko stayed in control, and it was only a matter of time, but she still couldn't put Yoshida away, and was more getting more frantic as she went. The finish was a little sloppy but cool nonetheless, where Kyoko whipped Yoshida and she did her run up. Kyoko, expecting the bodypress, put her head down and Yoshida did a sunset flip, which wasn't executed well at all, but was good enough to pull out the upset win and move into the semi-finals. There were a few ugly spots in there, but this was a whole lot of fun. The way it was worked really put over Yoshida's underdog win. It's all capped off with the great post-match scene with Yoshida, ecstatic and the fans with all the way with her, until they see poor Kyoko is crying in the middle of the ring and chant for her too. ***3/4

8/30/92 AJW: Bull Nakano, Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Akira Hokuto, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda 17:53
PA: FMW's Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda were in the crowd scouting All Japan Women for the upcoming interpromotional tag team match, so everyone went extra hard in this one, presumably to let them know what they were getting themselves in to. But no encouragement was really required. Hokuto defeated Bull in a cage match, and decided that her and her new group ‘run this show' now, and this was her chance to prove it, facing her rival, Bull, and her two former tag team partners with whom she had won the WWWA Tag Team Titles. Hokuto easily stood out, injecting additional chaos and doing the work of three, as neither Mita nor Shimoda could hang with anyone on Bull's team. Minami was the workhorse of her team, Bull was her usual brutal self, and Hotta was a complete wrecking ball. Everyone worked at full speed, fired up, and added something different to the match. This just reeked of hatred from the start and took no time to spill over, immediately erupting into a chaotic brawl. Once the tag match was under control, LCO were mostly on the receiving end of the punishment. They set a good pace, and everyone was in and out quite quickly, usually delivering a few high-impact moves and then switching. By the time the second brawling segment concluded, LCO, Hokuto to a lesser extent than the others, had been dominated. Shimoda tried to bite Bull after the restart, and paid the price for that with a brutal lariat, so Hokuto had to take matters into her own hands again, rushing the ring with her bokken to interrupt Bull's Angelito and get Shimoda out of there. Hokuto then hooked Minami up in a sharpshooter. Hotta tried to capitalize by kicking her in the head, but she only screamed and sucked up the pain, maintaining the hold because she had to, allowing her proteges to get some free shots in, doing some damage and giving them some confidence. Shimoda and Mita actually held their own following this, briefly, and it was Hotta who turned the tables on Hokuto, delivering a brutal Jumbo Suplex. Hokuto came back against Bull, and Mita's highlight of the match came when she got the chance to airplane spin Bull. It was more than Shimoda got, who was unable to accomplish anything on her own and was only there to be slaughtered, though she did a great job of that. The match kept getting better as it went along. Minami nailed everyone with her backbreakers as they charged at her. Hotta of all people did a plancha, while Minami added a tope off-screen. The final portion was filled with tons of big moves being hit, and many being avoided. The pins were exciting, and everyone scrambled to save. One of the best spots saw Bull interrupt Hokuto's Northern Light's Bomb on Minami, only for Hokuto to defiantly retried it, but Minami escapes it herself. Ultimately, Shimoda wasn't strong enough to hang, and fell to Minami's German Suplex hold while the rest of the team were being fended off. This was a wild match, with brawling segments that added to the match without overwhelming it, and a sense at all times that all hell was going to break loose. Everyone treated it like it was a main event and went all out, delivering a really great match. But afterwards, it was quickly time to move on, as Kudo and Combat came to ringside, and suddenly Bull and Hokuto were side by side, acknowledging that they'd be the ones to go and deal with this FMW problem on 9/19. ****3/4

8/30/92 AJW Japan Grand Prix '92 Semi-Final: Aja Kong vs. Toshiyo Yamada 17:18
PA: This was a dominant Aja mauling. Aja building up her ferocity throughout the match. She started, perhaps a little too slow (but that gave the crowd a few minutes to get into the match after the show-stealing six woman that went on before it), dominating Yamada in the ring before she eventually worked her way outside and left Yamada a bloody mess, which came after a cool spot where Aja nailed her with a lariat into her oil can. After Aja finished destroying her, and dumped her out in the crowd, the fans chanted for Yamada. Aja waited in the ring with a look of disdain while Yamada got a breather and fired up. The match was going to work or not based entirely on Yamada's comebacks. The earlier upset where Yoshida defeated Kyoko in a similarity laid out match was fresh in the mind, so it was easier to buy Yamada as a threat. Yamada made the most of it with a tremendous fired up babyface comeback that would have made her idol, Chigusa Nagayo, proud. The other half of making it was Aja's selling, which she did well enough to make it work, particularly selling the kicks, but nowhere near as good as she would have done a year later when she was in her prime. Yamada unleashed a barrage of fast kicks and burst attacks, and Aja eventually felt threatened enough that she ran through her and resorted to the oil can. She flattened it over Yamada's head, but Yamada came back with multiple brain kicks. She continued getting the best of her, even avoiding a uraken and firing back with one of her own, which made for a really biggest near fall of the match. They countered each other some more, but it was all over when Yamada ran into Aja's uraken. Aja then finished with a waterwheel drop, which would have been enough, but she put the exclamation point on with a diving elbow to take the win. ****

8/30/92 AJW Japan Grand Prix '92 Semi-Final: Manami Toyota vs. Mariko Yoshida 17:36
PA: Yoshida stood out more early on than Toyota did. Yoshida put over what Toyota did to her, and came after her relentlessly in response with her stretching and legwork. As soon as Toyota broke free, she was off at a million miles an hour immediately, so they might as well have just started the match here. The match worked once the pace quickened and they took it to the air. This had an excellent second half. They avoided some dives and hit others, Yoshida hit the run up plancha and Toyota hit a moonsault in the ring, and her Quebrada from the top rope after avoiding Yoshida's dive. Toyota missed a second moonsault that led to Yoshida's big run where she threw all of her big moves at her. Cartwheel elbow, top rope DDT, la magistral, plenty of suplexes, finishing up with diving body presses, but Toyota survived and ended up outgunning her. Yoshida showed she was capable of pushing Toyota, but Toyota had more devastating moves, and more counters, on top of that, Yoshida was in her second match of the night, and was running out of steam. Yoshida's last chance came when she was able to use the same sunset flip she beat Kyoko with earlier, but here Toyota countered it, and her run came to an end courtesy of the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex soon after. This wasn't as smarty worked as Yoshida's match with Kyoko earlier. The first half of this was just a solid waste of time, but the second half blew it away with tremendous action. Yoshida had more than just hope. She proved she belonged, but was just outgunned. ****

9/15/92 AJW: Akira Hokuto vs. Suzuka Minami 14:55 of 15:33
PA: Technically good and well worked match between old tag team partners who had gone in opposite directions since their 1991 meetings. The match played off this idea well. Minami was happy to bring out a bit of her own Hokuto from the start, initiating an outside brawl with her and winning. Hokuto would pay her back for that later. They worked each other over with Minami using her typically solid back focus, and Hokuto making sure to put it over. It ended up with Hokuto trying a tombstone on the outside, which Minami reversed and followed with a tope. Hokuto still countered three powerbomb attempts that followed in three in different ways. Minami hit two powerbombs, but Hokuto got her feet up on a dive. Minami escaped the first Northern Light's Bomb attempt, but couldn't keep Hokuto out. That was the difference between them, once Hokuto had the momentum, she was overwhelming, even if Minami dominated more in her run. After getting caught in a backdrop suplex, Minami couldn't counter the Northern Light's Bomb and fell. I'm not sure what the post match was all about, but Minami was a sore loser, and seemed to be cursing Hokuto out, while Hokuto just walked off on her. ***1/2

9/19/92 FMW: Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto 13:54
PA: The handheld version is the only way to watch this in its complete form. The first inter-promotional match that had been building for two months. The match was initially being set up as Shark Tsuchiya & Crusher Maedomari vs. Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (and it's hard to imagine that match as being anything but a disaster), but changed quickly to this one, and ended up being a true battle of FMW's strongest vs. Zenjo's strongest. However, it was still a big mismatch with Combat and Kudo being major underdogs, and everyone knew it. Hokuto and Bull wasted no time mauling Kudo with vicious slaps and a lariat. They were on fire, as intense as they ever were. Kudo spent a while being worked over by Bull, and when Combat would rush in to try to help her, Hokuto would cut her off. When Hokuto was legal, she held a sharpshooter on Kudo, and Combat was unable to make her break a hold. Bull followed up with her Bull's Angelito and taunted Combat, who didn't even try to break her hold. This was a great segment, total humiliation. Before it got old, Kudo made a hot comeback on Hokuto, and Combat followed it up with her power moves, which got them back into the match. Combat and Kudo got some near falls and were competitive in the finishing run, but Combat went up top, only to get dropkicked off by Hokuto, leading to her somersault plancha and Bull hitting a tope. It seemed academic from there, with a doomsday device set to put away Kudo, but Combat made it back in time to make the save. It didn't matter much though, as Bull delivered a guillotine leg drop to pin Kudo, while Hokuto Northern Light's Bombed Combat. This was a really well-built tag match, action-packed from start to finish, with a crowd hot for everything they did, and showcased all four really well. After the match, Hokuto got the mic and challenged Shark and Crusher, and then Bull grabbed the mic and committed the biggest crime you can commit in FMW; appealing to the crowd while not being named Atsushi Onita. She said, “If you want to see more matches between Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto, come to All Japan Women!”, which infuriated Tarzan Goto (who was in charge of FMW's women's division), and was the beginning of the problems between All Japan Women and FMW. ****

1/8/24 Senjo: Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Maria & Takumi Iroha 15:42
ML: Iroha has been one of the most energetic workers of 2024, and that really makes a difference with how well her striking offense comes across. Earlier in her career, her offense was mostly solid and dependable kicks, but while she still largely lacks variation, her enthusiastic bursts and hot comebacks make her consistently enjoyable these days. This was one of the few 2024 matches Yuu took seriously. Due to actually putting some effort in, she was able to hold her own and rise to the level of at least being a lesser version of Hashimoto, rather than mostly just clowning around as an oversized version of Sakura Hirota. Maria performs her moves well, but met surprisingly little resistance despite being half the size of the opposition and relying a lot more on running and jumping moves than the other 3, who were mostly banging. Presumably, they wanted to put her over some because she had the least experience and name value, and was doing the job. The biggest drawback of this match was there wasn't tons of interaction. It didn't look super cooperative, but still everybody basically took turns doing their thing. Hashimoto was good, of course, but this wasn't the typical 200kg match where she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders because Yuu wasn't willing to hold up her end. This was mostly Iroha setting the tone and carrying things, with the others making useful contributions. ***

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