Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWF Super Middleweight Title Tournament Semi-final: Canelo Casas vs. El Pantera II 8:45
DC: The work shown in this match was pretty good lucha for the time. Pantera hit a tope suicida out of nowhere that looked really cool. Canelo Casas hit a tope over the top rope, which was followed up by an amazing tope con giro by Pantera. Both workers did well, but this wasn’t as good as it could have been. It didn’t help that this was the second match on the show, while these two could have been booked higher on the card, for sure. Casas was very good, and he did his fair share of bumping and flying, but Pantera was even better, as Pantera hit his moves even smoother. In fact, Pantera was arguably the most graceful high flyer in the world at the time. That being said, Casas won the match via a very nicely-executed super quebrada. This match was short but sweet. Very good match. ***½

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Silver King & El Texano & Dos Caras vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Lightning Kid & Jerry Lynn 15:14
DC: Lightning Kid was 19-year old Sean Waltman, and he certainly lived up to his name, as he looked like a kid here, and he was lightning-like fast. The Kid hit some spectacular high flying moves during his tours for this league, but this particular match wasn’t his finest outing in this league. The Kid’s cannonball to the floor was certainly awesome though. The most interesting thing about Waltman’s work at the time was his recklessness. The more experienced luchadores didn’t take it easy when The Kid was in there, and The Kid even ended up bleeding from the mouth. Jerry Lynn seemingly tried to be impressive and fit in with these breathtaking high flyers, and he was okay here, but he didn’t really impress too much. It looked like Lynn was going for some nice moves, but he often failed to deliver something really interesting in this match. This doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good worker at the time though, because Lynn had proven himself in pretty good matches he had with The Kid in 1991 in Texas-based Global Wrestling Federation, which were matches that were seemingly heavily influenced by Japanese junior heavyweight wrestling and Mexican lucha libre. Dos Caras executed a nice tope suicida, but other than that, he was just kinda there. Dr. Wagner Jr. showed more than we had seen from him thus far in the Universal footage, and when he wrestled his brother Silver King, both brothers sold well for each other, with King doing some big bumping. King executed a beautiful somersault into the ring off the apron onto The Kid. King & Texano, Los Cowboys, showed very good teamwork, as usual, and they stood out the most in this match, along with The Kid. Good match. ***¼

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA World Women’s Tag Team Title Decision: Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Kaoru Maeda & Lady Apache 17:16
DC: What a tremendous opportunity to see two of the best AJW workers (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) on this show. Since Universal was a full-fledged Mexican-style lucha libre league in Japan, it was perfect that we had a Mexican luchadora in this match, Lady Apache. Kaoru Maeda had left AJW and had been wrestling for Universal since 1990, so it was interesting to see her face AJW wrestlers. That being said, Kaoru had almost never been in the same match as either Toyota or Yamada up until this point in time. This was Apache’s first tour of Japan, so she was still very new to the joshi puroresu style of the Japanese. And while Apache’s style wasn’t nearly as crisp and intense as that of the Japanese girls, you could tell that she understood the stylistic differences and tried her best to impress as much as possible. Toyota and Yamada were the two most impressive wrestlers on this tour, as their style was so much more intense and impactful-looking than anyone else’s. Kaoru still remembered and still was able to hang in there with the AJW stars, as this was before she became a so-called “hadcore queen.” It was fascinating to see how well Toyota and Yamada managed to get Apache involved in this high-level AJW-style bout. They were very willing and able to allow Apache to be herself yet were not afraid to force corrections whenever necessary. This process was a bit easier and more predictable for them whenever they were in there with Kaoru, due to Kaoru’s AJW background. The fact that this was a middle of the card day show match on a men’s wrestling show did not seem to stop Toyota from trying to give the best performance possible. She was clearly trying to steal the show while also contributing heavily to the overall advancement of the match in every way possible. Unfortunately, though, in what should have been the biggest highlight of the entire day, Toyota’s super quebrada to the floor missed the target. Yamada saved the day by hitting an excellently executed high kick off the top onto Apache for the pin. While Apache was the weak link of the match, as expected, her performance turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Of course, we should have known, since we should trust in the mind and vision of El Gran Hamada, the master behind this tremendously exciting league; Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre. Very good match. ***¾

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA & UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Title: Coolie SZ & Bulldog KT vs. Villano IV & Villano V 15:49
DC: Coolie SZ (the future Jado) was indeed pretty cool, as he looked like a lucharesu version of Bret Hart. And just like the Hitman, he was saddled with a heavy tag team partner. They should have renamed Gedo "Anvil KT" instead of Bulldog KT. Needless to say, Gedo was the least impressive performer in this match. Los Villanos Quarto y Quinto were two of the most talented members of the Mendoza family, and they gave a solid performance here. This turned into a surprisingly good match. Jado was quite impressive and scored the submission win. Good match. ***¼

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: El Pantera II & Robin Hood vs. Tony Arce & Vulcano 13:44
DC: Pantera clearly showed that he was one of the most spectacular workers in the world in early 1992. And perhaps most interestingly, him being in this match completely made the other workers become more focused on delivering a good match (to the best of their ability). Tony Arce & Vulcano are generally not the most spectacular luchadores you’ll find. However, this match is a perfect example of them being able to exceed expectations when they’re in there with the right guy, in this case; El Pantera. Robin Hood was physically capable of being a good luchador, but mentally he was too immature and too clownish. However, thanks to Pantera being in this match, even Robin Hood wrestled in a much more serious manner compared to when he would team with his Brazo brothers. This match still had its ‘funny’ moments, but it wasn’t getting in the way of the wrestling. Good match. ***

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kaoru Ito & Mima Shimoda & Kaoru Maeda vs. Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue & Lady Apache 22:40
DC: This was pretty much an AJW match on a Universal show, as Kaoru Maeda used to be part of AJW and Mexican luchadora Lady Apache was the only outsider of the match. Apache had been doing quite well on his tour, managing to step up her game to not drag things down for the high-level AJW workers. It was nice to hear the Korakuen Hall crowd chant for the underrated Takako. Everyone worked hard. Apache was the only one who was a significant number of steps behind the rest, but this was her first tour of Japan, and she did quite well when you consider that fact. Plus, Apache was the authentic lucha flavor of the match. Of the Japanese girls, Mariko Yoshida had the most trouble keeping up with the others, and was the most bland worker of the match. This was from before the time her work would start showing more conviction and from before the time she would start blossoming. Takako definitely carried her team with her superb display of timing and execution. Kaoru Ito was truly made for a fast-paced (six-)woman match like this back then, as her enthusiasm and passion added a lot. It was great that these women were given over twenty minutes, which they truly made use of. Mima Shimoda worked faster than ever before, and she really played a significant role in maintaining the momentum of the match. Kaoru Maeda showed that she was still a very useful and unselfish worker back then. The work peaked when Takako and Shimoda wrestled each other. After a lot of exciting trios action, luchadora Apache pinned Kaoru for the win. The match succeeded in being what it needed to be; the show-stealing sleeper midcard match. Very good match. ***¾  

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWF Super Middleweight Title Tournament Final: Canelo Casas vs. Solar I 14:15
DC: Quality-wise, this was just about as good as the second match on the night show (the joshi trios match), but it was a completely different match stylistically. It was interesting to see Canelo Casas do some more matwork in order to try to have a bit more of a Solar type of match here. However, since Solar could be quite a versatile luchador, this definitely wasn’t all matwork, as we saw all kinds of elements of lucha libre Mexicana here in this bout. That being said, Solar appears to truly excel in a singles title bout type of setting, as that’s the type of lucha match that is traditionally calling for his type of matwork. There was some cool countering and replying by both workers, and that made for a fascinating match, as opposed to the typical fun but random throw-away lucha match we tend to see on these Universal shows. So we didn’t see a generic type of reacting here, but a more genuine-feeling sort of replying to each other’s actions and movements. And that all helped add to the idea that this was indeed a title decision match. The pace was perfect because it was a slower methodical kind of match, but there always seemed to be something useful happening. In the end, after some more intense back-and-forth minutes, Solar scored the pinfall win. After the match, while Solar was receiving his belt and trophy, Canelo started protesting heavily, claiming it was a fast count that made him lose. This was not only the mark of a true rudo, but also the sign of someone who is able to put over the idea they care about winning. Solar was ready to go another round, but the referee literally waved it off. The ref probably realized there were time restrictions because the Brazos need a lot of time to clown around. Anyway, we can’t complain, because this has been a tremendous show. Very good match. ***¾

Universal 1/19/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, UWA Tag Team Title: Gran Hamada & Kendo vs. Silver King & El Texano 10:54 of 15:00
DC: Silver King & El Texano showed their capabilities as a team and dominated the match early on. Los Cowboys showed why they were a top tag team, while Gran Hamada & Kendo seemed more like two random workers put together. Kendo was a luchador from the Dominican Republic, who actually started becoming more well known and popular because of his tours for this league, as the Japanese crowds seemed to love him. He wasn't the most all-round worker, but he was athletic and the crowd liked his tendencies to mix in quite a bit (too much) of comedy into his work. King and Hamada provided the best work in this match. Hamada always seemed to mix things up, as you'd never really know what he would come up with in his matches; and he always seemed to give a strong effort. This made him an exciting worker to watch. As the match progressed, the spots got more spectacular. Hamada landed on his feet after he was on the receiving-end of a back body drop attempt; and King took a Jerry Estrada-esque bump to the floor. Texano executed a piledriver on Hamada on the floor, and it was sold well. In the end, Los Cowboys were simply too strong of a tag team, and they deservingly became the new tag team champions. Good match. ***¼

5/15/26 ONE Muay Thai: Sulaiman Looksuan vs. Juan Martinez 3R
ML: Martinez was 4 inches taller, and was just picking Sulaiman apart on the outside in the first round. This was a decent round, but the fight looked like a mismatch due to Martinez's size and strength advantages. Martinez weapon was his left kick, especially to the body, but what made it so effective is he had so many different setups. Sulaiman is a powerful counter puncher, the issue here is he had to step in big with his counter in order to reach Martinez. Sulaiman landed the more powerful shots in round 2, he just didn't have enough of these counter punches. In round 3, Sulaiman was finally forced to come forward because he was losing the fight, and Martinez didn't like this. Martinez reestablished his forward pressure, but then Sulaiman stepped forward and dropped him with a overhand right midway through the round. Sulaiman spent the rest of the fight pressing for the finish, winging big punches. Martinez had a lot of swelling under his left eye. Martinez recovered enough to start firing back with his kicks in the final 30 seconds. This would be 28-28 under round scoring, but the knockdown, and his big punches in the 2nd half of the fight was obviously worth more than Martinez's consistent more workmanlike performance. Good match.

5/15/26 ONE Kickboxing: Semih Sah Cindir vs. Penghui Wang 3R
ML: Cindir had more power and more flare, trying for spinning kicks and more spectacular surprise shots that could finish if they connected, such the flying knee he landed in the 1st. Wang threw 3 or 4 shots at a clip, and would get in with the final one or two even if the first one or two missed. Cindir started the rounds strong, but his style was more energy intensive, and Wang was able to finish the rounds stronger because he was more fluid, flowing, and relaxed. Wang had a higher work rate, especially as the fight progressed. Cindir was the one who was trying to pressure, while Wang used his speed and movement to score, especially at longer ranges. Cindir was able to up his pressure and keep the fight at closer range in the 3rd, and now Wang wasn't able to slip and move, and was looking a lot more tired and stationary. Cindir was starting to be able to bully him. Wang gave it all he had left in the final 30 seconds to try to steal the decision, and this was definitely the most interesting portion of the third round. Wang was the better fighter in round 2 for sure, arguably round 1, but Cindir managed to wear him down more than he tired out himself, and definitely the 3rd round was the most decisive in Cindir's favor. It was enough to earn Cindir the split decision. Good match.

5/15/26 ONE Muay Thai: Mahesuan Ekmuangnont vs. Aung Tun Bo R2 2:50
ML: This fight had an incredible pace and was just nonstop action. It's certainly not the most thoughtful or tactical fight you'll ever see, but I'll just hit him right back is arguably the most entertaining strategy. The fight really took off after Bo's overhand right knockdown midway through the 1st. For the rest of the round, Mahesuan was swinging to try to get it back, while Bo was swinging to finish what he started. This was just wild action. Mahesuan backed Bo into the ropes to start the second, but Bo dropped him with a left hook, and Mahesuan came up bloody. There was once again big action even by the standards of this aggressive all out fight after the knockdown, but this time Mahesuan wasn't able to answer as well. Mahesuan started to back Bo, but Bo was really making him pay for it. Mahesuan was bleeding a lot more around the right eye now. He lost his last two fights, and his odds of winning this one were probably about 5% at this point. It felt like Mahesuan was relying to heavily on his chin, and probably just didn't have enough energy in this dazed state to both press forward and really throw too much. I was expecting him to walk into a big shot sooner rather than later. Bo just focused on firing back once he got backed into the ropes rather than circling away, and this is when Mahesuan finally began to unload because he didn't have to worry about moving forward without getting tagged anymore, it was just bombs in the pocket. Mahesuan switched to the body, and this was really key, as after hurting Bo with body punches, he was able to follow with clinch knees. Bo wasn't defending anything anymore, and was getting tagged cleanly with virtually every shot. Bo eventually went down in the corner with 25 seconds left. He got up, but he wasn't throwing, and just ate shot after shot until the stoppage. This was such an awesome comeback against the odds comeback. Great heart from Mahesuan, who never stopped believing in himself, even though it didn't seem like he had the tools to actually win during the first round and a half. Very good match.

5/24/26 AEW Owen Hart Foundation 2026 Men's Tournament Quarterfinal: Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe 13:52
ML: This was the first Ospreay match I've enjoyed basically at all since his return. He was actually wrestling with energy, doing moves other than the same uninspired routine that he does in every TV match, and he lost all the awful melodrama that emphasizes his terrible cringy acting and just slows the match down to a crawl for no benefit. They also kept this to a reasonable length so it didn't overstay its welcome and become completely ridiculous. It was better because it didn't feel like it was cloying for 5 stars at every turn. This was more like a good TV match than anything special, apart from Ospreay using some of his A offense. They just filled the time well enough and moved on. Ospreay was exciting here, and Joe was a solid base who realized the primary job was allowing the opponent to look good, and shockingly even embraced that. Joe's offense was what you'd expect, stiff and credible, and the two vastly different styles came together pretty well. The finish saw Ospreay slip out of the muscle buster, and hit a hidden blade that Joe kicked out of at one, but then Ospreay hit a second hidden blade for the win. ***

5/24/26 AEW Owen Hart Foundation 2026 Men's Tournament Quarterfinal: Swerve Strickland vs. Bandido 15:15
ML: Bandido has been one of the hardest working wrestlers in AEW over the past year, while Swerve generally underachieves because he coasts, but he put forth a much better effort here. Swerve was in no hurry in his first offensive run, but did some effective neck work then stepped it up with his big moves later. This was mostly Bandido running and jumping at Swerve, and he was quite entertaining here. I really wanted Bandido to win this, not that any result on the PPV was remotely surprising, but at least Bandido got better than the usual 50/50 treatment in defeat. Swerve focused on the upper back/lower neck area he'd injured in the altercation with Bandido on Dynamite a week and a half ago after reinjuring it with a released German suplex into the corner. The first potential finish came when Bandido tried to shoot Swerve over the top, but Swerve did a house call while standing on his shoulders then did a diving Swerve stomp. Bandido came back with a poisonrana off the apron. Bandido couldn't hold the bridge on his 21 plex because of the injury. Swerve took a massive bump for the Frankensteiner getting spiked on his head. I would have preferred if Bandido tried to find anther way to win since his finisher wasn't cooperating with his neck, but instead he tried it again but got stuck in the middle, and Swerve crushed him with the vertebreaker and finished with the house call. This definitely felt more like a big match than Ospreay vs. Joe, and I thought was a little better because it had a more exciting and dramatic stretch run. ***

Universal 1/17/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn 12:16 of 15:00
DC: Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) and Jerry Lynn used to hang out together to watch all kinds of wrestling tapes, and it must have been a dream for them to deliver their match at arguably the most famous wrestling arena in the world, as not many American indy workers can say the same. The unique blend of everything these two guys watched - a combination of American, Japanese and Mexican pro wrestling styles - made this a match that fit well in this unique Mexican-style lucha libre league in Japan, Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre. These two guys clearly cared about what they did. They did a bunch of exciting stuff that had a sense of importance to it. It wasn’t just flying, as there were also submission attempts, which showed the versatility of these guys. However, they clearly had a bit of trouble adapting to the Japanese ring, as here at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, they couldn’t quite deliver the same magic they had been able to deliver in Minnesota and Texas. Things didn’t go as smoothly here as in their ahead-of-their-time American matches. That being said, it was interesting to watch this, and it most likely was a very useful experience for them to be in Japan. Very good match. ***½

Universal 1/17/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Silver King & El Texano & Solar I vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Villano IV & Villano V 20:37
DC: Los Villanos were solid, and contributed reasonably well. In general, the execution in this match was good enough, but not always super crisp. Solar has the reputation of being a good technical wrestler, but he didn’t really show it in this particular match. Solar I was decent here, but he really didn’t stand out. When Solar wrestled the Villano brothers, what he showed is kinda what is to be expected in a lucha match. Solar’s match against Robin Hood (of all people) on 1/23/92 gives a better indication of what he was capable of delivering at the time. When Dr. Wagner Jr. wrestled Silver King, they showed more advanced wrestling. Los Cowboys stood out the most because their work was more explosive. This match was pretty good, but it felt there was something missing to really make this memorable. It’s almost like someone told them last-minute they’d have to go 20 minutes instead of the usual 12 minutes or so. It was a relatively long one-fall match, and while the work was generally interesting, it was the final minutes that saw the action pick up more and help confirm this was a pretty good match overall. Good match. ***  

5/16/26 MVP: Adriano Moraes vs. Phumi Nkuta R3 4:59.
ML: The dreadful MVP 1 main card was filled with hasbeens and marred by purposeful mismatches, built around arguably the biggest sham of a cash grab main event the sport has ever seen where Gina Carano didn't resist anything after seemingly training only by taking Ozempic. Carano didn't even bother to learn the proper way to turn to defend the arm bar, even though it's the way her opponent has won virtually every fight of her career. The undercard did resemble MMA as we currently know it though, with some actual competitive fights that went more than a couple minutes. The most interesting by far featured Adriano Moraes, the 3 time ONE champion who has been one of the most best flyweight fighters of past decade or so, certainly outside of the UFC. He's the only fighter who finished Demetrious Johnson when he was fighting at his natural weight class, but he's faced a lot of adversity since, losing the two rematches to Johnson, and the rematch to Yuya Wakamatsu. At 38, he was the underdog against undefeated Ray Longo prospect Phumi Nkuta, an impressive athlete with good footwork and punches who also has a good wrestling base he didn't utilize much, despite Nkuta being a last week replacement. Moraes is one of the longer fighters in the division, and he knows work the distance game. Moraes isn't the best technical striker, but has an awkward style that's difficult to read, holding his hands low and kind of punching up and out. His jab is very effective, but he's not the most powerful striker. Round one was close, but Nkuta took over in the final minute. Nkuta actually missed with an overhand right counter to Moraes' low kick, but Moraes fell and Nkuta tried to follow with a guillotine. When Moraes got back to his feet, Nkuta threw a high kick that Moraes saw too late and tried to duck but couldn't really get under it. A wobbled Moraes tried for the desperation single leg, but took several punches, and wound up on his back to finish the round. Moraes caught the middle kick and backpacked Nkuta for the first couple minutes of round two. Nkuta had a good left hook and landed the overhand right late in the second, but it wasn't enough to steal the round in my opinion. Nkuta was losing the striking in the early portion round 3, but took over in the final few minutes. There was a situation similar to the first round where this time Nkuta went down even though Moraes flying knee missed. Moraes got the rear naked choke on with about 8 seconds left. I believe the bell rang before the submission, but Herb Dean found a way to screw up as usual, and due to him not being able to get Moraes to break the submission when the fight actually ended, Nkuta went out from the choke after the bell rang and the fight was technically over. I agree with Dean that it wasn't an egregious enough offense that Moraes should be DQ'd for holding on for an extra second or two before Herb got in there, but think the fight should have gone to the scorecards because Nkuta didn't go limp during regulation. In real time, I didn't think that made much difference because the choke was the main scoring offense in round 3, so Moraes should have got the decision 29-28. Apparently, the judges had Nkuta winning the fight though, so when Dean looked at the replay and decided that Nkuta went out just before the bell, it wasn't a matter of a submission loss versus a decision loss, it was taking the fight from one fighter and giving it to the other. They showed a bunch of replays that were useless because the question isn't whether or not Nkuta went out, he clearly did, but was this a fraction of a second before or after the bell? Good match

5/20/26 AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Mike Bailey 10:57
ML: An excellent display of athletic counter wrestling. They did some nifty sequences and always had answers for one another. They went all out during the time they had, but this ended a lot quicker than it needed to. It was the most impressively worked action of Darby's reign, but in a sense it felt more like any old match because it's 5 to 10 minutes shorter than the rest of the title reign, and Darby didn't have to do anything stupid to make it memorable. This was what I was hoping that the Sammy Guevara match would have been instead of slow and sloppy. In both instances, you knew the title had no chance of changing hands, but in this case, the challenger was fast, flashy, exciting, and energetic. Darby was selling a lot for the actual offense of the challenger today instead of doing whatever that contradictory toll of the title run or maybe just sick storyline we saw against Sammy was supposed to be. Bailey kept putting Darby on the defensive, but Darby came to life when he needed to, stopping the ultima weapon on the barricade by picking Bailey's leg then doing the scorpion death drop on the barricade. A little later, he avoided it in the ring and hit his coffin drop. Guest commentary buffoon MJF, who wants Bailey to win so he doesn't have to put his fake Turkish plugs on the line at the PPV, put Bailey's foot on the ropes, then they inexplicably had Bailey's partner, Kevin Knight, come out to confront MJF about helping the guy both want to win. Bailey stopped a coffin drop with a dropkick and was beating Darby at the speedy offense they are both known for. Darby trapped Bailey's bare foot under the ring steps at one point, but generally wasn't getting enough going to change the style to the more dangerous stuff where he would have the advantage. Darby instead had to up his speed and urgency to start winning some of the sequences. Bailey still had his striking game, and got a near fall with a spinning high kick. These two worked really well together, and the more that countered each other, the better the match got. The finish saw Darby further evolve his offense from what we saw against Konosuke Takeshita, so now when he hit the coffin drop right after his opponent grabbed the ropes to escape the scorpion, he then just reapplied the scorpion, and this time Bailey had to tap. They proved they were capable of a better match than Darby has been having because of the way they can work together and the chemistry they have, but this otherwise no filler match was bogged down and distracted from by MJF's presence, and in the end the good TV match with 2 guys who can go was turned into more of an infomercial for the surely underwhelming PPV match where MJF will do his cartoon routine. ***1/4

5/2/14 AAA: Australian Suicide vs. Pentagon Jr. 7:43
ML: Really fun short match where Australian took it to Pentagon. This was less of a one man show than their 2018 match, as the younger, thinner, more athletic Pentagon was more interested in pushing the pace along with the spectacular high-flying Australian and responding with athletic Lucha rather than stationary striking. Australian was much cooler here before he lost his mask to Daga, but he was always an energetic and enthusiastic presence. Australian would do the bigger spot, but Pentagon might Suicide him with the counter, for instance dropkicking him out of the air to stop his quebrada. Pentagon tried to attack Australian before the bell, but wound up taking a corkscrew tope con giro. This match felt a lot more urgent because Penta was taking it seriously and pushing back hard, even if not quite as fast. There was a cool spot where Australian reverse the Irish whip, but Penta went over the top to avoid the corner charge into the backcracker. Pentagon survived the Dragonrana, but was then pinned in the corkscrew shooting star press. Pentagon did a sneak attack afterwards, hitting his package piledriver, and unmasked Australian to set up their mask match that never happened. Suicide was the star here, but Pentagon provided strong support. This was a little short, but everything they did was fun. ***1/2

12/19/18 AAA Lucha Capital Tournament Semifinal: Pentagon Jr. vs. Australian Suicide 5:57
ML: AAA had 5 short "semifinals" and then a 5 way final in one night. These could all have been throwaway because of the length, but Suicide came out like a young Rey Misterio Jr and started with a Dragonrana, a tijeras to set up a triangle moonsault to the floor, and a shooting star press. They lost some steam on Penta's comeback because he insisted on unbuttoning Australian's suit in order to slap his chest, with Australian just standing there letting him do all this for no particular reason after getting off to this fast, all out start. Overall though, it was an excellent sprint. Australian started another hot run starting with a diving destroyer, but Pentagon just wanted to stand in front of each other and exchange strikes today. There were better times when Penta kicked Australian out of mid-air to stop his quebrada. Suicide countered the avalanche package powerbomb with a Frankensteiner, but got kicked out of the air trying a shooting star press and pinned in the package powerbomb. These two were meant to have a feud in Mexico culminating with Suicide losing his mask to Penta that never finished because Penta became a thing in the US. They were also meant to feud during season 4 of Lucha Underground, but Suicide's VISA didn't come through. He finally attacked Penta as Hexagon Black on the season finale, but then season 5 fell through. There's a couple tag matches per year after 2014, but in the end, this was about all we got from the singles program after the very promising start in 2014. Suicide didn't wrestle much post COVID because he and his future wife Vanilla Vargas moved to her home country, Puerto Rico, for the next 4 years, and then he sadly died at 32-years-old in 2025. ***1/4

AJPW 1/2/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Masa Fuchi 24:26
DC: The wrestling was perfectly fine, but the match seemingly was just was another chapter in the Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta feud without really being significant as a match itself. The match basically served as a reminder for those who forgot this was a main feud in the wrestling world at the time. Also, it felt like the match only went long because nobody was really in a rush to beat anybody, rather than because it was actually a significant big bout or anything, which all added to the vibe of this being a match that just dragged on. Masa Fuchi deserves credit for hanging in there with the top AJPW guys here. Misawa’s selling was good. However, overall, Misawa and Tsuruta just did what you’d expect from them, and certainly nothing more. Kenta Kobashi was the worker of the match, as he was the most energetic one of the bunch, but he was the one that was least featured of the four. The match got a bit more exciting near the finish, but by that point, it was too late to really even care about this match anymore. Kobashi pinned Fuchi. Decent match. **¾ 

NJPW 1/4/92 Tokyo Dome: Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner vs. Sting & Great Muta 11:03
DC: The Steiners did exactly what you’d want them to do here, as they threw their opposition around with all kinds of suplexes and slams. The Japanese crowd was happy to see WCW’s Sting at this event. Sting’s charisma and presence made him quite a good tag team partner for Great Muta. While this was mainly a Steiner match that was all about a few big moves here and there, which worked well in this Tokyo Dome setting, Sting and Muta clearly were in the mood to work, and both even hit a dive to the floor towards the end. Overall, this was quite an enjoyable tag team bout that didn’t disappoint (apart from the crappy finish that saw Sting pin Scott after a fast count by referee Bill Alfonso, who would later be known for calling it "right down the middle, baby"). Very good match. ***½ 

AJW 1/5/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, AJW Tag Team Title: Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa 10:00 of 18:44
DC: Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the match in full, because they insisted on showing Jungle Jack’s singing and dancing performance, which was totally carried by Bison Kimura, by the way. Anyway, this tag team bout was for the secondary AJW tag team championship. Takako Inoue showed the drive and determination of someone who wanted to put on a good show and also walk out of this match with her belt. Takako’s selling was really impressive, and this would turn out to be one of the key factors in this match being a very memorable one. Mariko Yoshida was a strong tag team partner for Takako, and Yoshida was there to back her tag team partner up all the way. Sakie Hasegawa always seemed to lack being very convincing, but her technique was good enough to make everything she did effective enough, in spite of always being one step behind everyone else. Debbie Malenko once again was quite impressive (just like on 1/4/92), especially for a gaijin, to the point that she blended in so well that you wouldn’t really worry too much about the fact that she’s American (as she never acted like a gaijin, she acted like a wrestler) and by far the least experienced of the four. That being said, there was a big botch that made Malenko look weak, and it was a double team move that was supposed to look awesome but definitely didn’t. Luckily, everyone just went on with their business and decided it’s okay for a high-risk move to sometimes not work as planned. To their credit, Malenko & Hasegawa then continued the double-teaming on Yoshida while Takako was selling. Takako would interrupt the momentum of the challengers, but due to Malenko’s tenacity, she managed her to score the submission win over Yoshida. The Korakuen Hall crowd was really into this match, and was totally digging the way it was going, as they reacted so well to all the near falls. It really felt like this match could go either way. It was an exciting title change. I don’t think they were the better team here, but Malenko & Hasegawa did well enough to feel happy for them winning the belts. Very good match. ***¾ 

AJW 1/5/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, WWWA Tag Team Title Decision: Kyoko Inoue & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Aja Kong & Bison Kimura 18:00 of 31:54
DC: This was a two out of three falls match. Bison Kimura was like a house of fire, determined to take out the competition in order to win the vacant tag team championship. It’s kind of unclear why exactly the tag team title was vacated, seemingly they just vacated them out of the shame of defeat here and when they lost the hair match on 1/11/91. Aja Kong was just kinda there to back Bison up. Toshiyo Yamada did a fantastic job selling and being a sympathetic babyface. Kyoko did a good job of continuing being one of the more likeable and charismatic characters at the time. Overall, this was a wild and chaotic match carried by Bison’s intensity and Yamada’s selling. Kyoko, who had been on a roll lately (at least in kayfabe), scored the pinfall over Bison to win the first fall. Bison got revenge in the second fall, though, as she scored the pinfall over Kyoko. The third fall started off a bit weak, because it was Aja’s turn to show her stuff, which didn’t result in much high-quality wrestling, unfortunately. That being said, I really appreciate Aja’s dive off the top rope to the floor onto everyone. We can’t say she didn’t try. The match ended after a lot of exciting action. Yamada’s selling continued to be phenomenal, which is why the finish looked particularly strong when Aja pinned her for the win. Jungle Jack won the title for a third time. Very good match. ***¾

WWF 1/6/92 Nagoya: Shawn Michaels & Berzerker vs. Kenichi Oya & Kendo Nagasaki 11:18
DC: This was a tremendous clash of styles. Michaels had been in the same match as the Berzerker back in John Nord’s days as Nord the Barbarian. Michaels had been in the ring with Oya before, as The Rockers had battled Oya and George Takano in November ‘91. And this was the first and only time Michaels would be in the same match with Sakurada. Berzerker had wrestled Nagasaki on a NJPW tour in 1985 (as Nord the Barbarian), but he had never been in the same match as Oya before. All in all, this really was just more an interesting match-up than an actual good match. It was not bad, but it’s not going to be an actual recommendation. The Berzerker was doing his poor man’s Bruiser Brody act and kept yelling “huss!” Shawn Michaels had just turned heel, but was still kinda like just a heel version of his Rocker gimmick, prior to becoming the Heartbreak Kid. Michaels was bumping and selling like he was on WWF TV, but he did some cool dives as well, including a plancha off the top to the floor. This Kendo Nagasaki was the Japanese one, Kazuo Sakurada. He was much older than the other three guys in this match, and was just kinda there. Kenichi Oya, who later became Hisakatsu Oya in FMW, tried to fit in as much as possible, with the intention of making this crazy match-up work as much as possible. Decent match. **½

WCW 1/6/92 Atlanta, GA: Ricky Steamboat & Ron Simmons & Dustin Rhodes vs. Rick Rude & Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko 9:27
DC: This was a fun WCW TV match with everyone trying to contribute sufficiently. Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) and Madusa were in the corner of the heels representing the Dangerous Alliance stable. The wrestling was okay-ish, but what made this better than average was the fact they kept the pace high and kept the energy level high. The match served its purpose as an enjoyable TV match. All six worked hard, and nobody really stood out more than anyone else. Decent match. **¾ 

WCW 1/7/92 Birmingham, AL, WCW World TV Title: Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat 9:43
DC: They worked hard for this WCW Worldwide TV match. After lots of fast-paced action, the match went to a 10-minute time limit draw. It was about as good as you’d expect from these two stars in a TV match. It’s worth watching, but it’s not something that stands out in the bigger picture of things. Decent match. **¾ 

LLI 1/12/92 Naucalpan El Toreo: Pegasus Kid & Canek & Buffalo Allen vs. Dos Caras & Villano III & Enrique Vera
DC: Pegasus Kid was the worker of the match. Everyone else didn’t stand out too much. Dos Caras and Canek gave solid performances, though. Buffalo Allen (Bad News Allen/Brown) felt a bit out of place, but it was cool to see him in a Mexican lucha libre match. Decent match. **½

UWF-I 1/9/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda 15:00
DC: This was an impressive shoot-style bout featuring two rookies. They had a good match on 12/22/91 (which was their first match against each other and their first match in pro wrestling), but this one from 1/9/92 (which was their second match against each other and their second match in pro wrestling) was better and showed how quickly they had been able to progress. Kanehara was the better of the two (because his work was a lot more crisp and less sloppy), but Masakazu Maeda was arguably better than Akira Maeda at that point in time. They showed a lot of fighting spirit, and their technique was quite good. However, the match would have been better if they would have known how to make the match more dynamic, as what they did all felt kinda random. While Kanehara proved that he was potentially a top 15 or top 20 worker in the world at the time (which is amazing for a rookie), Maeda failed to understand how to give the viewer a reason to care about his performance. Still, in spite of the match not being very intriguing at all times, I’m still going to say it’s a recommended match because of how impressive this was for a rookie match. Very good match. ***½ 

AJPW 1/10/92 Yatsushiro: Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa 17:30 of 26:02
DC: Mitsuharu Misawa executed a really cool-looking monkey flip on Yoshinari Ogawa, which Ogawa took really well. Ogawa also took a delayed suplex executed by Toshiaki Kawada on the floor really well. While he played a significant role for his team, Masa Fuchi was the least impressive worker, and mainly acted like a grumpy old right hand man of Jumbo Tsuruta. Tsuruta himself was barely involved. He was mainly doing some traffic directing, and was solid but unspectacular whenever he was in the ring. Kenta Kobashi’s offense and selling were both quite good, and he was probably the worker of the match. Ogawa deserves credit for bringing a new flavor to this feud. For the final minutes, they decided to speed things up a bit, and Kawada hit a Tenryu-esque falling back elbow off the top for a near fall on Tsuruta. Kobashi’s moonsault was the coolest move of the match, and it resulted in a near fall and some typical screaming by the commentator. This match merely was yet another chapter in the Misawa vs. Tsuruta feud, as it wasn’t the most exciting chapter. The highlight was certainly having the smaller and lesser pushed Ogawa in there to kinda mix things up. This wasn’t bad, but they didn’t do anything that would really make you want to recommend this. Decent match. **½ 

PWFG 1/15/92 Yokohama: Naoki Sano vs. Jerry Flynn 17:01
DC: Jerry Flynn threw some good-looking kicks. Flynn was all about spectacle and making this bout a memorable one while combining both shoot-style and regular pro wrestling psychology. Flynn’s significant height advantage made his moves look even more visually striking. Naoki Sano was more straightforward and no-nonsense in his approach. Flynn was definitely the more energetic of the two, as Sano came across as tired right from the start. This wasn’t the most high-end (shoot-style) puroresu match you’ll ever see or anything, but this was a solid midcard match. Especially considering this went over 15 minutes, Flynn would have had to show a bit more variety and Sano would have had to show a bit more liveliness and urgency for this to potentially have been a good bout. Sano won via the almighty half Boston crab. Decent match. **¾

AJPW 1/15/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Masanobu Fuchi 15:50 of 17:46
DC: Masa Fuchi gave an adequate performance, as usual. He was useful in his portions of the match and understood what the story of the match should be. Toshiaki Kawada was in attack mode, so he kept the action going when he was on offense, but his performance lacked electricity. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi showed good intensity when he was in. Yoshinari Ogawa would add a bit more energy to the bout whenever he was tagged in, as he gave a more lively performance than Fuchi did. All in all, this was a solid match, but it was just another AJPW bout. And in spite of Kikuchi and Ogawa giving a pretty good performance, they gave us no real good reason to recommend this. Decent match. **½  

LLI 1/19/92 Naucalpan El Toreo: Negro Casas & Pegasus Kid vs. Hijo del Santo & Villano III
DC: The great rudo team of Negro Casas and Pegasus Kid showed a lot of viciousness in the first fall. Being the superhero that he is, Hijo del Santo didn’t back down from the challenges posed to him, and he fought back with his typically graceful lucha offense. Villano III was a step or three slower than the other three participants in this match, but he was solid in his role as Santo’s tag team partner here. The work Casas and Santo showed here was more exciting and fast-paced than in their singles match from two weeks prior. The final minutes of this match had the most excitement, and culminated when Pegasus missed a flying headbutt, as Villano moved out of the way and scored the pinfall win. It was a pretty straightforward match with some fun and energetic action. Very good match. ***½ 

AJPW 1/21/92 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium: Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton vs. Richard Slinger & Scott Armstrong 11:26
DC: Scott Armstrong was the oldest son of Bob Armstrong, but he is arguably the least known of Bob’s four sons. Scott was a solid worker and became a referee, but he never quite became a superstar. His younger brothers were Brad (easily the best worker of the family), Brian (“Road Dogg,” who would become known as the most charismatic and most famous one of the brothers, oh you didn’t know?) and Steve (quite a decent tag team wrestler and a reasonably well-established name, who was one half of the Young Pistols with Tracy Smothers). This tour in January of 1992 was Scott’s only tour of Japan. His tag team partner here was the super underrated Richard Slinger, who was the nephew of Terry Gordy. Their opponents were the legendary Fantastics, arguably the greatest American pro wrestling tag team ever. This was a match that was positioned relatively low on the card and wasn’t televised (I watched a handheld version). The stakes weren’t high and this was Scott’s first and only tour of Japan, so it wasn’t as good as it may have looked on paper. That being said, it was an entertaining bout that was worth watching. Scott had only been in the ring against the Fantastics once before, and that was earlier on this tour. Scott and Slinger had only teamed together twice before, which was also earlier on this same tour. Slinger had faced the Fantastics before, back when he used to team with guys like Joe Malenko and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Everyone worked well enough and tried hard enough, but it seems that them realizing their position on the card for this tour made them think there was no need to overdo things on this particular night (and they can’t really blame them for that). But that’s why we got a decent match that was fun but certainly wasn’t really anything to write home about. The Fantastics won this bout by using a cool double-team move similar to one the Quebecers would later use in WWF over a year later. Decent match. **½ 

Universal 1/23/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Canelo Casas & Lightning Kid vs. Sakigake Gantetsu & Bulldog KT 3:13 of 9:20
DC: Lighting Kid and Jerry Lynn had recently lost to Coolie SZ (Jado) & Bulldog KT (Gedo), and this made Kid say that “you lose too much, Jerry Lynn… you’re not good enough to be my tag team partner.” This then resulted in Kid teaming with Canelo Casas and taking on the future Dick Togo & Gedo in this bout. Kid and Canelo pulled off all the stops, but sadly only 3 minutes was shown of this match. Good match. ***¼ 

WCW 1/27/92 Gainesville, GA, WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title: Rick Rude vs. Brian Pillman 9:49
DC: Jim Ross mentioned that Brian Pillman will be facing Jushin Thunder Liger at SuperBrawl 2. This match with Rick Rude was a solid American TV bout between two very capable workers. Rude sold a lot for Pillman, which helped give the illusion that Pillman had a chance to beat the U.S. Champ. Obviously, that was not going to happen, since WCW was pushing Pillman as a light heavyweight (and Rude was scheduled to face Steamboat at SuperBrawl in a very hyped match-up). These two gave an entertaining performance for this match on WCW Power Hour, which was essentially a B-show. The first highlight of the match was Pillman catching Rude with a dropkick when Rude came off the top rope. Pillman continued to hit all kinds of exciting high flying moves, including a springboard clothesline and a pescado. Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) was at ringside and distracted the referee. This gave Rude a chance to recover and eventually beat Pillman with the Rude Awakening. All in all, this was worth watching, even if only the final two minutes featured memorable action. Decent match. **½  

WCW 1/27/92 Gainesville, GA: Sting vs. Big Van Vader 6:13
DC: This was a huge match-up for a WCW Worldwide TV episode. Of course, we didn’t get a clean finish in the ring. The action in this match was quite decent, though. Big Van Vader was accompanied by former heavyweight champion Harley Race, who told Vader to get back on his opponent when Vader was taunting the crowd. Sting won this match via count-out. Race attacked Sting after the match, but Sting reversed and hit the Stinger splash on Race (which Race sold tremendously). Decent match. **½ 

AJPW 1/28/92 Chiba, Triple Crown Title: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen 16:41
DC: Big title change here. The wrestling was not very good, though. The execution was quite clunky and lacked smoothness. Jumbo Tsuruta was definitely the better worker of the two, as he showed some good intensity working over Stan Hansen’s (left) lariat arm. Hansen would end up winning with the lariat anyway, though. Tsuruta’s 374-day title reign had come to an end. During the post-match promo, Hansen kept selling his arm. Decent match. **¾   

WWF 1/31/92 New York City MSG: Bret Hart vs. Undertaker 12:27
DC: I don’t particularly care for Undertaker (as a matter of fact, I think he’s one of the five most overrated pro wrestlers ever), but it’s worth mentioning that this was the first singles match between The Hitman and Taker. Bret did a really good job selling for the dead man, clearly understanding that his opponent was very limited. Once Bret was able to fight back, he showed a lot of passion and intensity. At some point, Bret hit a pescado. This was heel Taker, so the match almost resembled a zombie horror movie scene more than it did a wrestling match. This certainly wasn’t one of Bret’s greatest hits, but it was interesting to see how well he managed to uplift the quality of the match without making it about himself and respecting his opponent’s status in WWF (Taker was booked like a nearly invincible monster and was about to turn babyface). Paul Bearer’s urn got involved in the finish to give Taker a pinfall win. Taker’s performance was, of course, nothing special, but it wasn’t terrible (which means he did whatever limited stuff he was supposed to do without dragging the match down more than anticipated). With his strong performance here, Bret once again proved how reliable and important he was to WWF, and he would soon be back in the Intercontinental Title picture. Decent match. **½ 

CMLL 1/31/92 Mexico City Arena Mexico: Ultimo Dragon vs. Blue Panther 12:49
DC: This started off at a really fast pace. El Ultimo Dragon (Yoshihiro Asai) spin kicked Blue Panther to the floor and immediately followed up with a torpedo-esque tope suicida that resulted in Panther bumping into the front row chairs. After some cool-looking sequences, Dragon took Panther down to the mat. Panther went for a rope escape when Dragon applied the sasorigatame. Dragon then executed a quebrada and a bridging German suplex for the win in the first fall. Inspired by Dragon’s great performance in la primera caida, Panther clearly tried his best to impress during la segunda caida (the second fall). Dragon was still going super fast, so the second fall was just as exciting as the first fall, except for the fact that the second fall was a lot shorter (which is pretty much an unwritten rule in lucha libre Mexicana). Panther scored the equalizing pinfall, and this promised for a much-anticipated third fall. In la tercera caida, Dragon executed his patented Asai moonsault. They did a really good job of making everyone guess the outcome of the third fall, as the action kept swinging back and forth. Panther almost pinned himself when he went for la Romero Special. Panther almost pinned Dragon after a cool-looking double-underhook suplex off the second rope. Dragon almost pinned Panther via a bridging German suplex. Panther then almost pinned Dragon via a bridging German suplex. Finally, Dragon scored the win after rolling over after a German suplex and bridging into a rana pinning combination. What a surprisingly impressive match, one that certainly exceeded expectations. Panther was impressively keeping up well enough with Dragon, who gave a remarkable performance here in his first Mexican singles match with the Ultimo Dragon gimmick. Excellent match. ****¼ 

CMLL 1/31/92 Mexico City Arena Mexico, Mexican National Middleweight Title: Octagon vs. Fuerza Guerrera 21:37
DC: A long-haired Konnan was in Octagon’s corner. Cien Caras was in Fuerza Guerrera’s corner. In the first fall, Fuerza Guerrera did a really good job of setting things up and ensuring that Octagon would shine in the finishing sequence that saw Octagon win via submission. Fuerza used his experience and dickishness to dominate and win the second fall. Octagon was a solid tecnico, but this was mainly a success thanks to Fuerza’s greatness. The third fall was definitely the best one (but the first two did an excellent job setting up the third fall), as Fuerza took some cool bumps and Octagon hit a tope suicida that sent Fuerza face-first into ringside chairs. While this wasn’t quite as memorable as their 1991 match, mainly because it wasn’t quite as explosive and heavily relied on Fuerza’s storytelling (which was done at a mid-paced tempo this time), it was certainly interesting to see these two go at it again. Very good match. ***½  

AJW 2/1/92 Takasaki: Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa 10:50 of 19:49
DC: Toshiyo Yamada once again proved that she was one of the best in the world at the time. Kyoko Inoue was a strong tag team partner for her here. Apart from the exciting start, whenever Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa were in control, it wasn’t very convincing, almost to the point that they didn’t believe they had a chance to win this match (in spite of being AJW Tag Team Champions at the time of this non-title match). To nobody’s surprise, Yamada & Kyoko won this match when Yamada pinned Hasegawa. This felt like it was a random throwaway match without any actual purpose other than to have these workers in a match-up we hadn’t seen before. Decent match. **¾ 

AJW 2/1/92 Takasaki, AJW Title: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Miori Kamiya 7:40 of 16:48
DC: Miori Kamiya tried her best, and her offense was sold quite well by Takako Inoue. This was actually a pretty impressive carryjob by Takako. Even when the execution wasn’t always performed as well as intended, things would end up working somehow, sometimes by smart reacting and other times by pure luck. The match was significantly better when Takako was on offense, partially because of Kamiya not acting urgently enough when she had momentum on her side. It was therefore quite fitting that Takako won via pinfall after Kamiya took too long to set up a move from the top rope, which resulted in Takako suplexing her way to victory. Decent match. **¾    

SMW 2/1/92 Knoxville, TN: Tim Horner vs. Rip Rogers 6:53
DC: This exceeded expectations. They managed to keep the viewer’s attention all the way. Rogers did a move off the top to floor, and Horner executed a tope suicida. The angle and promos leading up to this match was quite funny as well. Decent match. **½ 

LLI 2/2/92 Naucalpan, Mexico El Toreo, UWA World Heavyweight Title: Canek vs. Dos Caras 17:49
DC: Canek was basically the default top star of LLI for years due to the Mascaras brothers (Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras) travelling to Japan (and other parts of the world) so often. Canek would face all kinds of outsiders in UWA Heavyweight Title bouts that would draw large crowds to El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos in Naucalpan. After beating Big Van Vader to win the title for a tenth time, Canek faced outsiders such as Kokina (Yokozuna), Buffalo Allen (Bad News Allen), Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) and others. Since Dos Caras wasn’t in Japan, this gave him an opportunity to challenge Canek. Dos Caras was a very powerful light heavyweight, which is why it was believable that he would be able to give the even more powerful Canek a run for his money here. After a friendly handshake by these two UWA icons, the first fall was your typical mat-based title match grappling battle. There were all kinds of counter moves and several near falls happening. Dos Caras scored the pinfall in the first fall, much to Canek’s frustration. In the second fall, Dos Caras, determined to win this bout, continued his grappling attack in a relentless manner. Dos Caras dominated the second fall through his technical superiority. Canek was selling Dos Caras’ offense well. In spite of Dos Caras’ dominance, a desperate Canek lifted Dos Caras above his head and executed a press slam for the pinfall to win the second fall. The way the second fall was worked made it plausible that the third fall could go either way. Dos Caras continued stretching Canek’s limbs. At some point, they teased a double pin, but the match continued. They teased a double pin again, and yet again! Finally, Dos Caras showed that he truly possessed that never-say-die attitude needed to be the champion and executed a huracarrana for the pinfall victory. Canek’s impressive 420-day title reign had come to an end. This was a match that exceeded expectations, mainly thanks to Dos Caras’ spirited performance. Excellent match. ****

WCW 2/3/92 Montgomery, AL: Cactus Jack vs. Ricky Steamboat 6:05
DC: Cactus Jack’s work made the match work. Ricky Steamboat was okay, but didn’t really do anything of note. Of course, this was just a random TV match, so they played it pretty safe. It was definitely a tame match for a Cactus Jack match with really only one big bump by Cactus, but it’s probably a good thing that he wasn’t completely destroying himself in every match, so it’s hard to fault him for that. Decent match. **½ 

NJPW 2/8/92 Nakajima, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title vs. WCW World Light Heavyweight Title: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 17:30
DC: This was a huge title vs. title match. The Japanese national anthem was played prior to this bout. Norio Honaga’s second reign as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion had started on 11/5/91 after defeating Akira Nogami. Jushin Thunder Liger had been WCW World Light Heavyweight Champion since defeating inaugural champion Brian Pillman on 12/25/91 in Atlanta, GA. As usual, Honaga was solid and reliable but quite unspectacular. Liger was superb and carried this match through high-quality offense, selling and pacing. Liger carried the match so well that he sometimes even sold for his own offense better than Honaga did. Liger ended up winning the match via pinfall. This meant that he was now the holder of both titles! Excellent match. ****

WCW 2/9/92: Scott Steiner & Rick Steiner & Sting vs. Cactus Jack & Big Van Vader & Mr. Hughes 10:29
DC: WCW Main Event. The Steiner Brothers were the workers of the match. Cactus Jack and Vader did a good job selling for the faces. Mr. Hughes was alright. Sting sold a lot. In the end, Sting pinned Hughes. This was a fun TV match featuring some of the top characters in WCW at the time. Other than that, it wasn’t all that special. Decent match. **½ 

NJPW 2/10/92 Nagoya Rainbow Hall, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title & WCW World Light Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid 16:22
DC: The work was truly excellent throughout this match. In fact, it was the best match of 1992 up until that point in the year. It took a while for them to take things to the next level, though. Once they did, however, it resulted in some of the best minutes of wrestling of the year. This wasn’t quite on the level of their 8/19/90 and 11/1/90 matches, as those were more groundbreaking and more exciting. That being said, Jushin Thunder Liger’s selling was superb, and Pegasus Kid once again showed his tremendous passion and will to keep improving. And the wrestling displayed in this match really proved that these two were arguably the two very best men’s pro wrestlers in the world at the time. Great match. ****½ 

NJPW 2/10/92 Nagoya Rainbow Hall, IWGP Tag Team Title: Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto vs. Brad Armstrong & Scott Norton 22:37
DC: The grappling between Hiroshi Hase and Brad Armstrong was some of the best non-shoot-style heavyweight grappling that year. Scott Norton was the big powerhouse in this match, and he played his role well. The interesting thing about Norton’s work was that he wasn’t just being a powerhouse, he was genuinely interested in having a good pro wrestling match. Keiji Muto was pretty good for brief moments, but it felt like he was the one least interested in doing his part in getting this match over as a whole. Luckily, the majority of the match was about Hase vs. Armstrong, and this ensured optimum intriguingness. The storytelling was superb. Hase executed a 16-rep giant swing on Armstrong but then got clotheslined by Norton. While Armstrong was selling, a fresh Norton beat up both opponents. Once Armstrong was all rested up, Armstrong did some tremendous dropkicking. In general, Norton and Armstrong showed much better teamwork than Hase and Muto, who almost seemed reluctant to work together. However, Hase and Muto ended up retaining the title anyway, mainly because Hase was just super good back then. After Hase hit a pescado on Norton, Muto pinned Armstrong after his signature moonsault. Excellent match. **** 

UWF-I 2/15/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda 15:00
DC: This was their third singles match against each other, and it would be their third 15-minute draw together. This was definitely their best match against one another and arguably even the best match either participant would ever have. By this point, they were quite familiar with each other, and in spite of being rookies, the intensity of being in a top shoot-style league and their natural talent gave them the opportunity to improve very quickly. By this point, both workers were possibly two of the top 75 pro wrestlers in the world. That’s pretty incredible when you think about it. Of course, that’s just based on a few matches against the same opponent in a very specific style, but this still speaks volumes about how talented these two guys were. The reason this was arguably their best match was that the execution here was great. If you want to see some very realistic looking pro wrestling, do yourself a favor and check this match out. However, the downside of this match was that it was kind of just two kids sparring. That being said, of all their matches together, this was probably the one in which they showed the most intensity. Excellent match. ****  

UWF-I 2/29/92 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda 17:25
DC: Unfortunately, it seems these two stopped improving (at least temporarily). Technically, this was very good. However, the main issue was that it looked very exhibition-esque. Maeda's strikes especially looked like he was trying his best to hit them as softly as possible. I like the idea of not wanting to hurt your opponent, but shoot-style is supposed to resemble a real fight, and this match certainly didn’t. Kanehara’s performance lacked intensity and urgency. Neither worker showed any real resistance either. This match pretty much missed all the elements required for an excellent shoot-style match. Still, let’s not forget that even a match that’s “just” good is super impressive for two rookies. Good match. *** 

10/6/25 NOAH Mayu Iwatani & Seri Yamaoka & Utami Hayashishita vs. Mio Momono & Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha 20:00
ML: Fast paced Marvelous vs. Marigold interpromotional rivalry tag on neutral ground. The energy and intensity made this seem better than it actually was. This would have been carried by the spirit and speed of Momono, who was really up for this and looked great against Iwatani, but the goal was for everyone to get their chance to shine. There was enough effort and tags that the pedestrian offense of Hayashishita, Yamaoka, & Akatsuki was fine. The two rookies at least wrestled like they meant it, and that helped their stuff seem less banal than Utami throwing her weight around like an even less inspired Nanae. It was a good sign that the match didn't decline dramatically when Yamaoka & Akatsuki were in, especially since they were not only largely paired together, but seemed to actually be the featured performers. Their highlight was an intense segment where Seri did a spinebuster followed by a series of ground elbows, which Senka answered with a body slam then ground elbows. It's kind of cool seeing Senka do the old 80s hold down stuff in 2025, though overall, I would have preferred these two didn't get the stretch run. The best part of the match was the initial segment between Mio & Mayu. Iroha vs. Mayu was also good, and quite different with Iroha's power rather than Mio's speed. While it was commendable how interested the match seemed in increasing the audience's interest in the rookies, I really wanted to see more of the Mayu stuff that was genuinely top notch, and felt like the basic climax was kind of a let down after the match started so well. Everyone was trying though, and fought passionately to bring the victory home for their promotion. ***1/4

5/15/26 ROH Pure Title: Lee Moriarty vs. Ace Austin 16:06
ML: Austin was one of the better TNA guys, but that doesn't always translate to anything once the disaster artist Tony Khan gets a hold of them, see Deonna Purrazzo. His match against Will Ospreay 2 days earlier was the general problem with him in AEW, two guys doing a bunch of stuff just to do it, with little of it making sense or being incorporated in a remotely believable manner. I didn't know what to expect from him in a pure rules match, but I was pleasantly surprised that he dropped his usual junior style and committed to doing Moriarty's technical match. Austin still used his athleticism here and there, but largely in a manner that actually made some sense, usually for counters and evasions. To me, this is a match that was only good because of the pure rules, otherwise it would have looked too much like everything else and lacked credibility, seriousness, and intensity. Moriarty was more purely focused on submissions, particularly arm oriented, while Austin did a little of everything. Austin was using bigger offense, but his power moves sometimes set up a submission, such as the flatliner into the Koji clutch. One reason the match worked was because Austin kept having counters for Moriarty's holds. This wasn't always the usual stop and start, they were often locked up, and kept those segments going for a while. This played well into the exhaust their rope broke breaks story that Moriarty always tells in these pure rules matches. Moriarty also told the story of being the more experienced one under these rules. He was calculated in making Austin burn through his rope escapes 1st by going for pins and submissions in spots he might not have bothered with under regular rules. In the end, Moriarty outsmarted Austin, legally holding on to the ropes on his European clutch to get the win. ***

6/14/25 GLORY: Berjan Peposhi vs. Deniz Demirkapu 3R
ML: Another memorable all action fight from the best bout machine Peposhi. As usual, the workrate was very high, and there were several surprises. The expected fast start was aided by the ref refused to allow Demirkapu to get away with any holding, taking a point from him a minute into the fight after warning him once when he tried to slow things down after getting clipped with Peposhi's left hook. Peposhi was confident, walking Demirkapu down, but there were lots of wild exchanges. Peposhi not only did a good job of backing Demirkapu, but he would immediately claim that space by stepping forward with punches, usually powerful hooks. I felt like Peposhi only threw a few calf kicks, but suddenly Demirkapu's leg just gave out out of nowhere a minute into the second round, and I wasn't sure he was even going to continue. I think his calf suddenly just cramped up because this was at such a delay from whenever Peposhi might have done the damage. Demirkapu went down on his own again after throwing a kick. It looked like Demirkapu might lose to the three knockdown rule whether or not Peposhi scored a legitimate knockdown, but Demirkapu instead scored a high kick knockdown out of nowhere countering Peposhi's left hook. Demirkapu jumped up and sat on the turnbuckle thinking he had the finish. His leg looked healthy now, as he was going on adrenaline throwing 2 more high kicks against a very prone and somewhat woozy Peposhi. The fans really went wild for all this, and were now rooting hard for the underdog Demirkapu. Peposhi was wobbled, but the round ended just as he potentially stabilized against the ropes. What a wild roller-coaster round! I don't know how you score it. Peposhi had 2 knockdowns to 1, but lost the actual fighting portion, so theoretically it could be even. Both seemed healthy to start the third, which was a much tamer round. Peposhi held the center early, and was using his front kick and boxing, completely ignoring the damaged calf. Demirkapu was able to back Peposhi and get his hands going in the second half of the round. I think Peposhi won the round, and with the 10-8 round 1, he seemed a lock on the scorecards even though Demirkapu had the best run in the second half of round two, and outlanded Peposhi 118 to 89. Somehow all the judges came up with this being 30-25 Peposhi. Very good match.

5/13/26 AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Konosuke Takeshita 15:29
ML: Darby's AEW World Title reign is already the best in the promotion's history. This is the 3rd very good match out of 5 defenses, with only the PAC match being a pass, like everything he's done since returning from injury. This was originally announced as Darby vs. Okadabot, which would have been a massive effort clash, but thankfully in changing the challenger to a real wrestler, it wound up being Darby's 2nd best defense behind Ciampa, and the best AEW match Takeshita has wrestled since last year's AEW MOTY vs. Kenny Omega on 3/9/25. It's another wild big bomb fest. It's just not as intense or urgent as the Ciampa defense, but these two already proved they have excellent chemistry in their first singles match on 1/3/24. Both played off each other well, and made the other look a lot better. Takeshita is a great catcher, while Darby makes Takeshita's power look that much more impressive with his massive bumps. Darby was bouncing off Takeshita and getting tossed around like a sack of potatoes. Darby had almost no success until Takeshita accidentally charged into the steps and Allin hit a missile kick off them. Darby tried a coffin drop off the 2nd, but Takeshita caught him on the apron and did his blue thunder bomb to the floor, which was nuts. Another crazy spot saw Takeshita hit a massive avalanche German suplex where he actually hung on and bridged to get the near fall. Darby answered with an avalanche code red. Takeshita tried to use the steps again, but got scorpion death dropped on them. I love that these Darby matches are always coming up with different stunts and ways to use the objects. He always does his handful of signature moves like everyone else, but he's doing or taking a couple spots you've rarely if ever seen before each week to keep things fresh. That's especially important now that he's suddenly defending once or twice a week. I thought the selling slowed the match down this time, but at least most of what they did was massive enough to be worth putting over. The other thing that hurt this match is the same basic Don Callis nonsense we've been seeing for years where his guy has the match won, but the opponent winds up recovering because he kills 2 minutes trying to convince his guy to use the weapon when realistically, just staying on them and hitting 1 or 2 more big moves should be enough without the weapon. In this case, Callis gave Takeshita his giant gold ring, but Takeshita threw it away, which means he'll be the face in the PPV match against Okadabot, and may be on his way out of the family. Darby hit his coffin drop to the floor, and then tried the coffin drop in the ring, but Takeshita got his knees up. I loved the finish where Darby scampered to the top as soon as Takeshita got to the ropes to escape the scorpion, and hit back to back coffin drops for the win. This was one of the only times ascending the ropes was actually done quick enough that it seemed a realistic follow up to anything. ***1/2

9/29/24 Marvelous: AAAW Title: Takumi Iroha vs. Riko Kawahata 25:36
ML: This was a disappointing effort from Iroha after the overachieving win against Ozaki where she gave her all. Kawahata obviously isn't on her level push wise, but someone has to get a title shot. That's fine, but just don't force it go 25 minutes if it's just a standard defense against a 1st time challenger that has no chance. This wound up being half good and half boring like a Bret Hart match. There's way too much time spent on Iroha just stretching Kawahata out and having her way with her by holding her on the mat. Iroha wasn't really taking it to her or giving any more effort than necessary for a long time. Kawahata did some flashy flying when she got her turn. She's more entertaining than solid. Her execution was just good enough, but you didn't really believe in her hanging with Iroha in the kicking battles. Iroha progressively put forth more effort, and by the later stages, it's almost a different match with both showing fire, intensity, and energy. The final minutes were strong enough to save an otherwise more run of the mill big match. The build to them wasn't great, but the increased quality directly correlated with the increased effort from Iroha. Kawahata mostly fought from underneath, but was eventually able to hang with the ace credibly enough. While Kawahata hung in a long time, there was still no point where you thought she might actually win. A 10 minute match wrestled with the passion of the last 5 minutes would have been a lot better, but at least this got there eventually. ***

8/8/18 Marvelous: Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha 20:00
ML: This was the least of their 4 big matches. They were too individually strong to not have a good match together, but they were just taking turns doing their offense. It didn't feel like they had chemistry or were really making each other better. Neither are great at structuring a match, but they struggled even more trying to lay out the draw. This all felt pretty random. They gave and they took, but it didn't have the interpromotional urgency or intensity, it was just fine action from strong workers. Mayu did some fancy athletic moves, while Iroha had more force and impact. The offense picked up as time went by. Things began to peak when Iroha countered the avalanche Frankensteiner with a powerbomb, but Mayu avoided the swanton and hit her poisonrana. This was just about the end already though. Mayu survived the running three and time expired. ***

2/8/20 STARDOM: Takumi Iroha vs. Mayu Iwatani 20:49
ML: Sareee got sick, so Iroha was a last minute replacement to still have an important, highly rated outsider face Mayu, although it was switched to a non-title match. They did a better job of making this feel like a bigger and higher stakes interpromotional match than on 8/8/18. This didn't have any sort of amazing start, but it felt like they were trying a lot harder to build it up. The layout was better, and it was escalating. It was by no means great in any of these areas, but they at least put more thought and effort into it. They were countering each other a lot more here than in 2018. Their chemistry was better, and the level of their work was higher. This felt more like the match they should have done in Marvelous because Mayu was always fighting from behind after Iroha ran Mayu's already sketchy shoulder into the post. Mayu kept selling the shoulder for a while, and did a good job of selling here in general without hurting the high pace, but Iroha moved on quickly to her better offense, and didn't return to it until the opening presented itself. In the end, there wasn't much of a shoulder storyline, Iroha didn't even need it to overwhelm Mayu. Mayu as the in match underdog was fine, it's a role she plays well, but this was laid out like a match where she was going to put the opponent over by selling for them only to eventually overcome, except she didn't because this was setting up the title rematch later in the year. Even with that in mind, this was the most inexplicably one-sided Mayu loss since Meiko Satomura ran right through her in 2015, and even that was more reasonable in pro wrestling illogic because Satomura was a much bigger star who was from 2 generations ago, whereas Iroha is a lesser star from Mayu's generation. Takumi sold when she needed to, but generally was able to cut Mayu off before Mayu ever gained any real momentum. Iroha has the size to be the dominant wrestler against the majority of her opponents, but her best stuff is when she's pushed. That's when her fire, energy, and intensity really come out. She's always a competent wrestler who executes well and is believable beating the opponent up, but her passion coming out is what can put her and her match over the top. Mayu sunset flipped her way out of the running three, and flattened Iroha with a high kick when she was trying to get back up. There were some good comebacks here, but they were always rather short lived. There were some great strikes in this match, but some of Iroha's kicks were very sloppy because she was connecting more with her toes, while Mayu's kicks were much more convincing than her elbows. Mayu took some big powerbombs, but saved herself turning the running three into a huracarrana. Iroha landed 3 big kicks when she got up, but Mayu countered her pin attempt rolling her into one of her own in a last ditch effort. Mayu was still wobbly when she got up, and a high kick and the running three put her away. They did more this time, but it was still mostly just doing stuff. This still seemed beneath the level they should be able to reach together, but ultimately it's the 2nd best of their 5 matches. It's definitely an enjoyable match from start to finish where high level wrestlers do their thing, but it only pulled me in a little. ***1/4

10/18/20 STARDOM World Of STARDOM: Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha 22:22
ML: Even moreso than their 2/8/20 match, this was a collection of good moves that's well executed, but felt rather random. They started with Iroha continuing where she left off as the dominant wrestler, with Iroha's low kicks leading to her working over Mayu's left knee. This didn't really go anywhere, with Mayu avenging with a Dragon screw on the outside to set up a couple of dives. Mayu's comebacks lasted longer here though, and she showed some flashier offense. The match quickly devolved into the usual back and forth, with good high paced action but little story. As the match progressed, Mayu was the one who was cutting Iroha off quicker, often using her athleticism. There wasn't really any rhyme or reason to the change in the dynamic. Mayu had more answers, sure, but there wasn't any particular story or evolution to the feud. The pendulum swung very far in the other direction by the later stages, as Mayu asserted herself this time and was bullying Iroha, prodding her with nudging kicks when she was trying to get back up. She used the running three on Iroha. Mayu was showing almost all the personality here. She was arguably too animated at times, while Iroha was either smiling or rather passionless. Iroha was really pretty bland here for the most part. Iwatani isn't much of a storyteller, but there was a lot more dimension to her offense and excitement to her game. Iroha really just stuck to what she always does. Mayu's striking was on point here, and that helped it to be the stiffest of their matches thusfar. Iroha started to show more emotion after avoiding the Dragon suplex. Iroha countered the avalanche Frankensteiner with a Ligerbomb, and now it was starting to seem like she really wanted to win the title. Iwatani almost flash pinned her turning the running three into a huracarrana. Mayu turned Iroha's bochi bomb into a huracarrana as well. Mayu couldn't exactly pull out a 3rd huracarrana for the 2nd running three, but she instead used the headscissors off her back to flip Iroha over into the flash pin even though Iroha got her foot onto the ropes in time. I think this finish would have been passable in isolation, but showing essentially the same thing 3 times in a minute wasn't very good. This was more of the usual 50/50 stuff. The benefit of that over the previous match is that Iwatani has better offense, but the February match being a real statement from Iroha was a better story than each doing a roughly equal amount of stuff. ***

1/3/26 Marigold GHC Women's Title: Takumi Iroha vs. Mayu Iwatani 25:09
ML: This was definitely their best match together. After 4 overrated matches, they finally more or less wrested to their combined capabilities here. It had a lot more energy, intensity, speed, and urgency than their past matches right from the outset, and turned into a big blowoff match with so many big moves. It didn't have a great layout or build, but they worked hard, fought seriously, and kept a high pace throughout. Iroha is much better now than she was in 2018 or 2020, she's just all around sharper, crisper, and more energetic in her big match performances, working harder and more urgently to win. She's the main difference because Mayu has been Mayu for a long time, a generational workrate machine who isn't great at laying out or carrying a match, but can always up her level to whatever the opposition can throw at her. Iroha was back to dominating here in the striking oriented first half, as she's got the power and weight of shot. When Mayu fought back hard, Iroha hit her harder. This didn't maintain the speed or energy of the 5/5/26 Iroha vs Sareee because Mayu isn't as equipped to match Iroha in striking as Sareee is. Mayu had a moment here and there, but she couldn't change the style for a long time. This early portion played off Iroha's dominant 2/8/20 win, but similar to the 10/18/20 match, Mayu was able to turn the tables as it progressed. Iwatani hit a tope, but then Iroha regained control suplexing her on the outside. She kept winning these little battles, but when she was trying to get Iwatani back into the ring, Mayu was able to hit her Dragon suplex on the apron to turn the match. Mayu was finally able to maintain an advantage and win an elbow exchange after this, but Iroha came back harder with her strikes. Mayu was hitting her big moves now, and slowing Iroha down with them. The last 10 minutes was mostly bombs back and forth, but it was Mayu who was hitting her best stuff and coming closer and closer. Iroha wasn't able to get her finishers off, so Mayu eventually won with 2 moonsaults in a row. ***3/4

8/8/24 Marvelous AAAW Title: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Takumi Iroha 22:58
ML: The best match Ozaki has wrestled in a long time. These two played their roles really well, and wrestled a very effective match that got you squarely behind the enthusiastic and energetic home promotion favorite Iroha. Ozaki was the diabolical methodical beatdown, Iroha is the fiery sprinting babyface who had too much heart and determination to be held back for long. Iroha was basically Chigusa Nagayo here, while Ozaki was Dump Matsumoto with some actual ability and movement. Ozaki still brings it outside of her own promotion when she doesn't have her minions around to wrestle for her. She still mostly used the chain and chair, but this was a consistent dangerous beatdown. Iroha would prefer to just wrestle a fast-paced match, but this isn't 1993 Ozaki, she has to be methodical, but she can provide the action with a good dynamic where Iroha contrasts what she's doing by making exciting comebacks with her running kicks. The fans got behind Iroha's energetic bursts, and it's okay that this wasn't sustainable because Ozaki wasn't fighting fairly. This went a little longer than it needed to, but they weren't stalling, and what they were doing always felt like it had staks and was meaningful. It's obviously not the most believable match in the sense that the weapons don't knock Iroha out, and the concussive damage doesn't even compound. Iroha won the moments when Ozaki wasn't using a weapon. Ozaki still took Iroha's bombs well, and had some answers for them that the typical chair basher wouldn't be able to do. Ozaki still has the flexibility and movement to pull out an arm drag or huracarrana counter when she needs to. Tommy Ran only decided there were rules for about 30 seconds, and then conveniently missed Ozaki bashing Iroha's head with the chair anyway. This was worse than if she just never did anything, but the real problem is the promotion doesn't bill this as a no rules or no DQ match even though the ref was really just there to count falls. At least Ran didn't stop Iroha from returning the favor with the chair shot. Iroha eventually bled from getting bashed. Ozaki eventually put the collar on Iroha and used the chain to hang her. Ozaki was very effective, but there's only so many things you can do with a chain and a chair. Iroha made a lot of little fiery comebacks, and always seemed in the match. This match had good intensity. They dropped the weapons for the finishing sequence, and this was by far the best part. Although Iroha avoided Ozaki's red mist and got Ozaki with hers, Ozaki still countered that running three attempt so Iroha's running three win a bit later didn't seem fluky. This wasn't a large crowd, but they were loud for Iroha whenever she did anything. ***1/2

8/10/96 JWP Openweight Title: Dynamite Kansai vs. Mayumi Ozaki 20:22
PA: They aired a long history package on Ozaki forming Oz Academy, and there was a fight she had with Kansai in a pool. Ozaki’s knee was far from 100%, and she was wearing a heavy brace. Kansai was deadly serious, while Ozaki, despite being the underdog at half Kansai’s size, was tough and determined not to show any weakness. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, high-spot match, this wasn’t it. This was a slow, heavyweight-style battle. It wasn’t their most exciting match together due to Ozaki’s knee. They did the best they could, and the way they presented it made it special. Ozaki’s facials were incredible. You could always feel her frustration, desperation, and the pain she was in. The post-match topped it all off, trying to hide her disappointment while a tear rolled down her cheek. It was a slow grind, largely mat focused with some brawling, which picked up after 15 minutes. It was paced well, and they worked an excellent finishing run with some great near falls. They did the best with what they had and put forth an intriguing match. It is disappointing in the sense that it should have been the culmination of all of their battles over the previous three years, but instead we got something different, and it’s a match that goes to show how important little things like the staredown, facial reactions, mannerisms and overall presentation are in terms of adding to the quality of a match and making it feel special. I think they put together the best match they could given the condition Ozaki was in, but the match they really wanted to do was the 12/26/97, which seemed like the culmination of 5 years of feuding. ***1/2

9/24/95 WWF In Your House 3: Triple Header: Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre LaFitte 16:37
PA: It’s 1995 WWF, so Bret wrestles a pirate, and they were feuding over a stolen jacket. He was a lot more motivated than he should have been. Bret did a good job in the early portion, but when LaFitte took over it was mainly just generic WWF heeling. Choking and stomping away for a while. Average stuff, but it turned into a memorable hard-hitting match in the last ten minutes. LaFitte turned it on and kicked into a high gear trying to put Bret away with dives. He missed a cannonball and Liger dive, then Bret made his typically good comeback, winning with the sharpshooter and putting the evil thief to rest. ***1/4

ML: These two had a dark match at In Your House 2 on 7/23/95 that was a house show effort. This looked more promising with Bret starting with a tope, though he largely overshot it because Pierre was too close, and generally didn't disappoint. Pierre was larger than the not so Fabulous Rougeaus, but more interested in moving around, and he would do a decent job of throwing his body at the opponent when he wasn't brawling. He was a powerful wrestler who was credible throwing the opponent around, but wanted to do athletic moves like a much smaller man, long before that style became en vogue. Pierre was yet another wrestler whose WWF career was ruined by the insufferable diva Shawn Michaels, as Michaels used his clout to get the standard finish of Pierre beating useless Heavyweight Champion Diesel in Pierre's hometown of Montreal via screw job changed to Diesel winning clean. Pierre said he'd lose cleanly anywhere but his hometown. Their 9/15/95 match wound up being a double count out, then Pierre jobbed cleanly in Quebec on 9/16, but The Kliq made sure Pierre was now stigmatized as difficult, and he left WWF in November because he believed he was now being frozen out of anything meaningful (the end of this program with Bret was presumably planned prior to this). This wasn't the most elegant Hart match you'll see, but it had a lot more action and a lot less down time than his typical stuff. There's both good athletism and physicality from both. There were a handful of rest holds where both men couldn't possibly have shown less effort if they tried, but it started a lot quicker than most Bret matches, and slowed down a lot less often. Bret took a hard bumps into the corner and the steps. The match was lacking some aura because no one believed LaFitte could win, but it's wrestled with good intensity despite no one caring about the stakes because they were so silly. The guy Vince made a pirate because he was blind in his right eye from getting shot with a stick from a pellet gun as a kid had taken Bret's jacket, but apparently was willing to give it back if Bret beat him. Pierre hit the diving leg drop, but missed his cannonball finisher. Bret avoided the tope con giro as well, and now Bret was the one brawling. Pierre got his boot up for Bret's elbow off the middle rope, and turned his flying crucifix into his crucifix roll. Bret took a lot of good believable bumps here. The higher risk stuff from both kept missing, and that was how most of the transitions occured. This was actually kind of a car crash by Bret's more conservative standards, but Pierre getting Bret to be more action oriented made this more interesting than most of Bret's big matches, which tended to have longer periods of lethargy even when the opponent wasn't fooked. The finish was pretty lame though. They crashed into each other running the ropes, but Bret recovered first and got the sharpshooter on for the win. Their rematch from the RAW taping the following night wasn't as good, but is well worth watching. It was also a physical, hard hitting match. It doesn't feel like it's merely a repeat, but it also doesn't add that much to what they had just done here with a higher workrate and more effort. ***1/4

5/2/26 AAA: Rey Fenix vs. Laredo Kid 9:37
ML: Fenix looked much better than I expected him too, I guess the light and unserious WWE schedule is helping to prevent injury. He worked hard and took it seriously. Both are tecnicos at the moment, though it looks Laredo is going rudo, which sucks because he's probably the most interesting actual AAA guy now that Vikingo is a do nothing rudo. This was a fun little match of top this athletic action where they did a lot of similar offense. It was a little sloppy, but the main issue is it was just rushed. It's not their best match together by any means, but it was consistently entertaining. Fenix won with the Mexican muscle buster. ***

5/5/26 Marvelous AAAW Title: Takumi Iroha vs. Sareee 24:48
ML: A great match that's the best I've seen either wrestle by a wide margin. A stiff, intense, and well executed fight. Very credible and professional action where they battled from start to finish, and made you believe they were giving all they had and leaving it in the ring. They took it seriously and laid it in. It was actually believable that everything was doing damage, and thus that it mattered if they could avoid or counter a blow. These two just lost the tag titles at the end of 2025, but their friendship didn't cause them to hold anything back. The pace changes, but the action is nonstop. This is about as good as joshi gets in the 2020s. In particular, it had a desperation that few matches have these days. Sareee injured Iroha's knee with a Dragon screw then a footstomp off the apron, but they allowed this story to unfold rather than forcing the knee work immediately. Sareee pressed the advantage whenever she could because that gave her a better chance to win, but it never felt like this was her only path to victory. I don't think it was really that much about the knee in the grand scheme of things, it's trying to be a super intense, mostly believable fight rather than a story match. The basis is Sareee's thudding forearms vs Iroha's nasty low kicks. They don't waste any time. They don't let up. They give no quarter. This might be the stiffest joshi match thusfar in the 21st century. This was an actual great striking match because they were laying into each other again and again with ferocity and without regard to what the other was doing. It's based on beating the other down again and again rather than waiting around for one another. They fought so hard from the outset it was believable that they were slowing down a little as the match progressed from fatigue and damage, while at the same time they weren't fighting with less heart or determination. This was all about the impact, and it was savage and brutal. In the end, it's basically a higher paced, more energetic and savage version of 8/25/23 Sareee vs Arisa joshi MOTY. This one had more enthusiasm and less restraint. They kept it mostly believable as a fight. Iroha's eventual avalanche powerbomb didn't really fit because it was super slow and clunky to get off. Her attempt to counter the wrist clutch uranage with the go 2 sleep also didn't really connect. They were mostly striking until the finishing sequence, and I think the match would have been better just ending in a knockout than getting fancy at the end given how it ultimately turned out, but the stuff to do mentality always takes hold. It ushered in the finisher spam with Sareee countering the running three with a huracarrana and killing off her uranage having it fail so many times. Iroha won with the running three. Pound for pound, this is likely the highest impact match of the year. ****1/2

5/9/26 UFC: Roman Kopylov vs. Marco Tulio 3R
ML: Kopylov always seems to fight oversized Brazilians for some reason, going from Paulo Costa to Robocop. Tulio isn't as big as the last two, and in fact is the same height as Kopylov at 6'0", but Kopylov only cuts 5 or 10 pounds whereas Tulio probably cuts 30, so Tulio still looked like he should be in a higher weight class. Tulio has more power, and was doing a good job of fighting long. Tulio has a very effective stepping left jab, whether to the head or body, which he used really well in the first half of the fight, but then inexplicably largely abandoned. Kopylov is very loose and relaxed. He sometimes seems unimposing, but he can cover distance quickly. He's very springy, with fast hands, but is especially capable of surprising with his kicks. The good thing about him is he's an excellent counter striker who can really use quick reflexes and distance closing to his advantage. The bad thing is his cardio is weak, and he has to conserve his energy in order to be able to pounce on an opening. Tulio took the 1st round, and was off to a good start in the 2nd because he was more active. The entire right side of Kopylov's face was covered in blood from a bad gash on the right eyelid. Kopylov turned the fight timing the left low kick and dropped Tulio with a left straight late in the 2nd. Kopylov landed another big left when Tulio got up, and Tulio stumbled away backwards trying to escape until he fell. Kopylov seemed to be seconds from the finish, but just conceded to holding on the cage for the final 30 seconds. This was both terrible fight IQ and a concession to fatigue. Kopylov started round 3 the way he should have finished round 2, with two flash knockdowns in a row. You thought for sure he was going to finish now, but then he took Tulio down and just allowed Tulio to hold him tight from guard. Kopylov was somehow the more fatigued when they got back to their feet, and was just looking for another big counter, which he had the luxury of given he was going to win the decision unless Tulio did something big. I'm also not sure how well he could still see out of the right eye, so he might have been afraid he was prone to Tulio's lefts and just felt like his best option was to be cautious, but I think he was gassed regardless. Tulio eventually started opening up because he had to, and he landed a good shot just before the bell, but it was too little too late. Kopylov won a unanimous decision 29-28. Good match.

5/9/26 UFC Flyweight Title: Joshua Van vs. Tatsuro Taira R5 1:32.
ML: Very competitive striker vs grappler match where the outcome was in doubt going into the final round. Van has really fast and accurate hands, with excellent combinations. He's already a top 5 boxer in the sport even though he's only 24-years-old. Taira's hands are too low to block punches and his head doesn't move literally at all to avoid them, so Van was going to be a really tough opponent for him, and I didn't understand why he was favored as the challenger. He's an excellent grappler, and he's really tough, but there's just too many holes in his game. Both are unproven, sure, even if this is a title fight, but Taira feels like he's beaten lesser opponents so far, especially since Brandon Moreno, his one big win, is probably a fighter who is unfortunately just past it. Taira was able to take Van down into mount several times, but he had a really hard time implementing his offense once this occurred. Mount was actually a bad position for Taira because Van was most able to create space and escape, using the same elevation over and over. If Taira isn't really going to ground and pound though, locking Van down in half guard isn't really a winning strategy other than grinding out a dreadful decision. Mount gives Taira a lot more opportunities to find a submission even if it wasn't really happening. The way Taira could duck the punch into the double leg takedown and rack up control time still had to be disconcerting to Van, with his first round as champion being lost on his back. Taira knew the fighter he was, and wasn't getting fancy. He would strike with Van enough to push forward or duck into a takedown attempt. Van was well prepared to get back to his feet, and he was even the one throwing punches while they were on the ground. Taira finally tried a D'Arce choke, but Van was able to stand and reset things. Given how late in round 2 this occurred, it shouldn't really have mattered, and Taira should have gone up 2-0, but Van dropped Taira with an overhand right with 25 seconds left. It was a slightly bigger fall because Taira was trying to throw a kick, but definitely close to a one punch knockout out of nowhere on the first thing Van really did all fight. Taira was still hurt to start the 3rd, and now all the deficiencies in his striking game were apparent, and Van was picking him apart, which forced Taira's now slower takedown attempt to be out of desperation. It felt like Van was too hesitant in the first two rounds to be honest, as I don't think Taira declined that much, it's just that the spell he had over Van wore off once Van chose to be more proactive. Taira's effective strikes were calf kicks because Van is so heavy on the lead leg, but Van tried to be ready to land the right hand counter to scare Taira off from these. Otherwise, there was nothing he was going to do that was really going to hurt Van. Taira's very square to the opponent with little hip rotation, which helps him with his double legs, but means his punches are all with his arms, and really only poking range keepers. Van had way more impact, and was going to win any exchange big. Van hurt Taira countering the second takedown attempt in round 3 with a big knee that was technically illegal because New Jersey is still under the older worse rules. Taira's standup movement was even stiffer and more robotic as the fight progressed. Van put Taira down with the jab midway through the round, and Joe Rogan was assuming it was the beginning of the end. Van had 3 choke attempts, but you wondered if he should have just let him back up. Taira actually started landing again when he got back to his feet though, and got 2 takedowns. It was a really impressive comeback to salvage the 3rd round, which would definitely have been a 10-8 otherwise, but now you could at least make the argument for a 10-9. Taira's face was very swollen from cleanly eating so many punches. Taira landed a damaging calf kick at the start of the 4th, got the takedown, and had a real chance with the triangle. It was likely 2 rounds each going into the 5th, so even if Van was arguably still up a point, he needed this round. Taira got the early takedown, but couldn't keep Van down or quite secure a second one. Van was really opening up now whenever he had space. He landed 3 good shots amidst some unanswered work against the cage, but this really felt like an early stoppage. It's not that Taira hadn't taken a lot of punishment, but that we were so deep in a title fight that was so close when he'd taken a lot worse earlier. Shaolin Ribeiro probably didn't like that Taira turned away, but after the beating Taira bounced back from in the third, I think he earned the benefit of the doubt. This wasn't an all-timer because Taira's offense was lacking and his defense was bad, but Taira's ability to still do what he does well despite all the clean shots he took made it a really dramatic and compelling fight. Very good match.

5/9/26 WWE: Asuka vs. IYO SKY 18:07
PA: Whether this is Asuka's last match remains to be seen, apparently she's now "semi-retired", whatever that means, after this emotional post-match, an Instagram post where she posted the lyrics to the song My Way, and tributes from WWE wrestlers. If she's done, she went out giving a good, professional performance, as she always has done. Her offense is nothing stiff like it was in the Kana days, but it still looks good enough, and her submissions still look great. Usually when she was on offense the match was quite good, if unspectacular. When IYO was on offense, it was non-stop goofiness with her constant posing and head shaking after every move, all this look at me stuff ruining the match. Asuka at least went 10 years in WWE without turning into a clown. IYO's offense looks very low-impact, particularly when she was trying to strike Asuka. I haven't seen enough of IYO in WWE to confirm this, but it looked like she was trying some things she doesn't normally do, which weren't working well, and would either get messed up or just look awkward. The best part of the match was the struggle around the submissions, though even that saw IYO flailing around to the point where it looked like she was tapping out. The big spot they had was IYO blocking the mist with a clipboard on the announce table. It was a cool spot in theory, but then the two just stared at each other afterwards and did nothing, so it ended up being lame. There wasn't much of a story, and the crowd decided to protest, chanting for their released friend Kairi Sane most of the time. It was a solid match that never got boring, and that's all I could really hope for. The time for these two to have a great match would have been 2014 before Kana left Japan. **1/4

5/5/26 Marvelous: Mio Momono vs. Mei Seira 6:43
ML: These two came up in Marvelous together, but Momono is 3 years older and debuted 2 years earlier. The haven't been in a match together since Marvelous 5th Anniversary show on 7/19/21 when Momono & Starlight Kid beat AZM & Hoshizuki, as Seira was called then. This was a short match, partially because of the high speed style, but also because Mio wrestled a full length tag right afterwards for Rin Kadokura's retirement. They went all out the whole time, doing a lot of mirror spots and counters back and forth. I don't think they worked together as well as they were capable of by any means, it's a little less sequence oriented and a little more just fast back and forth action, but they definitely made up for it with individual talent. I wanted this to be more like 12 minutes, but they gave us more action in 6 1/2 than Punk will provide in this decade, and beyond if the strings hold up that long. Momono won with her JK bomb. ***1/4

5/6/26 AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Kevin Knight 15:32.
ML: The ongoing story of the challengers somewhat beating themselves by trying to up their wildness and recklessness instead of sticking to what they do best, and the knee injury that resulted in for Knight were done better than expected. This was othetwise a much different match than the last two Darby defenses because Knight is also a babyface high flyer. It was a little slower and more technical, and more of a junior style high flying match than the more intense and hard hitting matches against Ciampa and King. This was a little better than their Continental Classic match from 11/26/25 that Knight won because it was a bigger match and no one got injured enough to go on the disabled list along the way. Darby knocked Knight into the announcers desk with his tope, but Knight was ready for the missile kick, getting up out of the chair and Frankensteinering Darby off the top to the floor, which was an insane bump. Knight did a swandive lariat with Darby sitting on the announcer's desk, which was very reckless, and screwed up his knee in story. Both wrestlers were hobbling around, but I guess that was an advantage to Darby because he wants to win with the scorpion. Knight was able to make it to the ropes to escape the death lock, and then got the knees up for the coffin drop, which hurt his knee some more. Darby survived the coast-to-coast missile kick that did him in last time. The knee damage from the landing on Knight's UFO splash slowed his cover down enough that Darby kicked out. Knight decided against going to the top rope again, and walked over to Darby, but Darby kicked his knee out and nearly choked him out. Knight escaped the guillotine, but Darby was able to hit the coffin drop with him draped on the top rope, then a regular one for the win. This has been a really strong title run so far, but the next two challengers PAC and especially Okada are a big step down unless PAC can find something resembling his pre 2025 injury level. ***1/4

3/20/94 WWF WrestleMania X - "Ten Years in the Making": Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart 20:21
PA: Great wrestling, drama, storytelling, flawless execution, and even the soap opera adds to it. Bret led the match, but this was really about showcasing Owen, who was the one carrying it to greatness from the very start. He makes you hate him by being over the top obnoxious and constantly complaining about Bret cheating, while he’s cheating at every opportunity. It’s a technical masterpiece with two brothers who know each other so well they can reverse anything the other tries. The pace is excellent all the way through. There’s no dead time here, and Owen shines during every sequence. The early part of the match was mat based with some well timed high spots. Owen wants to outwrestle and maim his brother, while Bret just wants to outwrestle him and put him in his place. They called back to the Royal Rumble, with Bret injuring his knee trying for a plancha and Owen zeroed in on it. The drama went to another level from there. Where Bret stood out was in his selling of the knee and a tremendous comeback toward the end. The last minutes feel like the end could come from anywhere, and Owen outsmarted Bret by blocking a victory roll and putting him in a pin he couldn’t escape from. ****1/2

ML: Arguably the best WWF match of all-time, and one of the greatest opening matches. Bret removed most of the flying they had planned on Owen doing the day before the match because he thought the fans would cheer Owen, and that would keep him from getting over as a heel. This was a big gamble, and it likely hurt the match as a standalone, even if it helped establish their proper roles for the lengthy feud. Luckily, Owen is so good at absolutely everything he totally made the heel thing work right away even though it was quite different from what he had done the rest of his career, and there was a lot of pressure on him, as this was the biggest match of his career and the brothers had to sell Vince on this program because he didn't care about good wrestling. Bret's new layout focused on making Owen more vicious and dislikable. Owen was really cocky here, and he tried to be more annoying and shady, mocking the collar and elbow tie or grabbing hair to win a technical exchange, adding to his character without detracting from his performance. It was . This was such a well-worked and well-constructed match, very smooth, with a logical progression that felt natural and flowing. It's one of the few Bret matches that's consistently interesting from start to finish because they always had something going on, even when they seemingly weren't really doing much. They worked a powder keg scenario to get the Neanderthals to appreciate good technical wrestling through the promise of it exploding into the usual mindless punching. Every exchange of holds threatens to lead to an flair up. Bret legally pisses Owen off by running to the ropes and dropping to his knees to escape a reverse waistlock, sending Owen crashing to the floor. Owen's tactics to piss Bret off are more dubious. He works a hair pull into his gymnastics armbar escape, then nudges Bret's face with his foot to incite him. They begin picking up the pace briefly and exchanging some slaps. Bret got his typical back injury when Owen picked him up like a body slam, but ran him into the ring post. Owen then mixed a backbreaker and his belly to belly suplex in with back submissions such as the camel clutch. Bret punched his way out of the sharpshooter and tried for his own, but Owen used the hair to flip him over. Bret hurt his own knee landing on his pescado, which played off the injury he suffered against the Quebecers at the Royal Rumble that led to the brothers falling out. Owen then went after the knee, slamming it into the ring post and kicking it out to recreate his post Rumble treachery. By introducing new stories, they distracted the fans so to speak, and allowed themselves to do a mostly technical match that was built around winning by submission or flash pin. Bret needed a big bomb because his body was giving out on him, but survived the superplex. Owen got to the ropes to escape the sleeper, but low blowed Bret before the ref made him release. This seem to allow Owen to win with the sharpshooter, but Bret pounding the canvas apparently doesn't count as tapping. Bret eventually reversed the hold, but Owen was so close to the ropes he just grabbed them as soon as Bret applied his own. Bret countered Owen's corner charge and nearly had a hope victory roll out of the corner, which was how Bret beat Bam Bam Bigelow to win the 1993 King of the Ring, but Owen was well aware of this, and adjusted his weight to come down on top for the win. The match was intense, and most of what they did served a purpose in addition to looking good. It was riveting because it was clever and told a good story in addition to displaying a lot of skill, but like most Bret matches, it's still not exactly exciting or spectacular or fast paced. Owen proved he could beat Bret, even if he won because he was both opportunistic and lucky. ****1/4

7/1/94 WWF Monday Night Raw, WWF World Heavyweight Title: Bret Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid 14:36 of 17:35
PA: Classic underdog challenges the champion match. Kid starts out looking like a jobber, but he fights through with guts and tenacity to make comebacks and gets in little runs of offense, trying to win quickly. Bret takes him lightly, and realizes it’s going to take a lot more effort than he thought as the match progresses, getting more frustrated and vicious into a heat segment. The structure pays off tremendously with a great Kid flurry at the end, and you’re left thinking he could have won if he didn’t make one mistake. The fake finish where Kid had his foot on the rope added nothing and seemed pointless. I suppose they either did that because it was TV and they had a commercial break or they didn’t want the crowd turning on Bret since he was in the subtle heel role for the match. In any case, both were on top of their game, and they told the story perfectly. The action was pretty much flawless, and Kid’s offense is still really exciting today, let alone in 1994. ****1/4

ML: Kid had been in the WWF for a year, holding the tag titles for a week with Marty Jannetty, but this was not only the first time he challenged for the heavyweight title, it was his first singles title challenge period. Kid was the perpetual underdog, and certainly not a serious threat to actually win the title. They built the match around the mismatch though, telling the logical story of Bret forcing Kid to work himself into the match, and struggle for brief hope spots and minor advantages. This was a very smart, well structured match, one of the best layouts and performances of Bret's career. It established Bret as a dominant champion who initially underestimated his opponent as an unworthy challenger, and Kid as a lovable underdog babyface who gave all he had and then some, turning a squash into something that had about as much drama as one could hope for a given the ranking disparity. Bret was super solid carrying this, being a sort of technical bully whose strikes looked damaging, and were aimed at wearing 1-2-3 down for the sharpshooter. Kid kept things interesting as best as he could from underneath, and was the one who provided most of the exciting moments with his high flying and athletic kicks. It's a rare WWF match where Bret is the physically imposing wrestler, but he's at his most violent beating Kid up and grinding on him for most of the match. This was a very relaxed performance where Hart wasn't threatened enough by what Kid could potentially send his way to consider taking chances or deviating from his methodical game plan. Kid had heart and resilience, enough to stay in the match, but sometimes that just meant getting his leg on the rope to avoid being pinned when his flying crucifix backfired and Bret slammed him down to the canvas with a Samoan drop. The ref counted 3 here, but Hart was also a face here, and refused a win he knew he didn't earn yet. Kid began coming close with a couple of flash pins, but still couldn't sustain the offensive. The tide finally turned when Bret took a chance because Kid had shown enough resilience to make Bret believe it was going to take a little more to beat him. His elbow off the middle rope backfired. A fired up Kid was now hitting his exciting high risk moves. Finally, Bret avoided a senton atomico and nearly applied the sharpshooter, but Kid was too close to the ropes. Kid had another big chance when he slammed Bret off the top rope, but Bret wasn't that badly hurt. He avoided Kid's missile kick and sharpshootered him in the middle of the ring for the immediate tap. Both wrestlers played their roles perfectly, and got the most out of a matchup that could probably only go so far given the ranking disparity. Since the match was built and worked properly, and every other WWF match didn't look like this (as is Tony Khan's problem with his idea of the underdog getting elevated), Kid gained from the loss by progressively closing the gap throughout while the champion remained the man for still winning a match he controlled the majority of despite a few scares. ***1/2

12/17/95 WWF World Heavyweight Title: Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog 21:09
ML: Bret would like us to believe without specifically coming out and saying it that the regular chinlocks in their Summerslam 92 match were necessary because Bulldog couldn't remember the match and/or was out of shape from a summer of legal and illegal drug use, but while Bulldog was certainly going through a rough and irresponsible period, I think only the rookie level of obvious spot calling during the rest holds was actually added. Bret wasn't a high workrate or moves oriented wrestler, and while he was overall talented and credible enough to often have good matches anyway, this was really just Bret's typical big match formula. Left to his devices, Bret will deliver something that's half really good and half boring AF, give or take. They had a chance to surpass their most famous match tonight because Bulldog came into this match in a better place, but they really just backloaded the match instead. There's no question that the 8/29/92 match before 80,000 seemingly adoring British Bulldog fans had the better aura and atmosphere, but your opinion on which was actually the better wrestling match probably depends upon whether you find the rest holds more tolerable when they are regularly interspersed or when they are front loaded. This was truly the tale of two matches. The 1st half was basically as useless as your padded Gedo epic. They really weren't even trying, to the point it felt like the only thing they were really building to was the start of the actual match. The 2nd half had consistently really good action though, and if this was simply a 10-minute action packed TV match, it would have been a top 5 WWF match for the decade. Bulldog did a bit of his gymnastics early, but just kept doing the chinRock, and there was no struggle or urgency at all to make us believe this was accomplishing or leading to anything. Bret took some good bumps again, particularly making Bulldog reversing his whip into the corner look a lot more impressive than it has any right to, but there wasn't even a storyline reason for Davey just grabbing all these headlocks and chinRocks like how Jumbo Tsuruta could get away with a slower, less action oriented match against Toshiaki Kawada or Kenta Kobashi by telling the story that the young guys were such big underdogs that they valued any control they could get and maintain over him. This match picked up considerably when Bret bulldoged the Bulldog. Smith countered the superplex by crotching Hart on the top rope. Davey's forearm to the back knocked Bret into the steps, giving him the excuse to blade, which was still banned in WWF, though Hart had similarly gotten away with it against Roddy Piper by setting it up well and claiming it was hardway. While the blood was surprising, it didn't have the impact it could have because Vince ordered them to keep showing only the wide angle, and half the time they had a split screen showing Diana Smith making worried and concerned faces. Bulldog was mostly attacking the back to set up his running powerslam. Bret hit his pescado then tried a reverse body press to the outside, but Davey caught him and did the running powerslam on the floor, which was a big surprise. This was still in the days when WWF guys generallly didn't even kick out of finishers in the ring, so the stretcher carting Bret off would have been more reasonable than him going on to kick out of a dozen more finishers like Will Ospreay. Davey moved the mat and tried to suplex Bret on the floor, but Hart got revenge crotching him on the guardrail. They did one flash pin to harken back to Wembley, but then they really just had Bret win out of nowhere getting the boot up to stop Bulldog's corner charge then finishing with la magistral. This finish might have been even more random than the Summerslam one, with less setup and not getting the benefit of so many fans not caring how Davey won, just that the British guy did. The highs were still higher here, and it had actually gained a lot of momentum in the 2nd half, but this start was difficult to stay awake through, especially since by 1995, the big title matches had moved away from the idea that they were going to ease into things because this might well last an hour. Both of their matches were good, but had the same problem of simply having too much of the same filler. They theoretically could have passed 5 minutes as simply but much more effectively by having Davey work over the cut, though it's possible that they didn't really capitalize on the blood because if they focused on it too much, Vince would have realized Bret was playing him and then Bret really would have screwed Bret. ***

3/5/25 ROH: Mistico & Neon & Fuego vs. Hechicero & Volador Jr. & Rugido 12:32.
ML: Lucha Libre done by actual Mexican Luchadores in AEW/ROH should be better than the quasi hybrid stalling then getting around to a sequence bastardization that most of the guys in AEW are doing. Real Lucha flows a lot more, and has a better pace. The issue in AEW is they just kind of roll out some dudes who are used to doing 3 fall 20 minute matches before 12,000-16,000 adoring fans at Arena Mexico and have them do a 1 fall 10 minute random no stakes match before 1000 mostly comped zombies in an empty building. The result is usually doesn't feel like an important match to the Luchadores, and thus they lose track of the idea that they need to put their working boots on and try harder to get over with this audience that doesn't really know or care about them. None of these AEW Lucha matches have as much speed or as impressive sequences as in Mexico. The action seems much more constrained and, by CMLL standards, even orderly. This was probably the best of bunch though because Hechicero had some good technical wrestling early, the rudos showed good teamwork, Fuego picked up the pace more than others have, and Mistico insisted on getting more of his usual flying in. Neon was new to ROH, so he arguably tried harder than some of the others, impressing with a double jump Frankensteiner and a simultaneous tope con giro with Fuego before Mistico finished Rugido with la mistica. ***

11/19/95 WWF Survivor Series 1995: Rad Radford & Skip & The 1-2-3 Kid & Tom Prichard vs. Barry Horowitz & Bob Holly & Hakushi & Marty Jannetty 18:45
PA: Good action all the way through, with the typically bad Survivor Series finishes. The Kid was working as a heel for the first time after turning on Razor Ramon the week before. The eliminations were just throwaway flash pins for the most part. Hakushi was the early standout, particularly his segments with Skip. Hakushi and Horowitz were the most over babyfaces in the match. The guys would mostly just get in and out, and the action kept moving. It slowed down in the middle. Radford kept picking up Horowitz because Skip told him not to pin him. Of course, Horowitz ended up pinning Radford, and Skip and Sunny yelled at him. After the Kid got rid of Horowitz, with the weakest of the eliminations, a dropkick to the back and legdrop, that left the Kid & Skip vs. Jannetty. Very good action with Skip and Jannetty, the best of the match with some exciting near falls and the only good finish. Jannetty went up and Sunny shook the ropes. Skip went up for a superplex, but Jannetty blocked it and powerbombed him off the top rope. Janetty and Kid were working toward a good finish, but then Sid came out and snapped Jannetty’s neck on the top rope to give Kid the win. ***

9/22/1996 WWF Mind Games, WWF World Heavyweight Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind 26:25
PA: This followed the typical Michaels MO where he pretty much kills the monster as any threat at the start and then they have to regain credibility. It was less of an issue here because Foley had been built strongly since he debuted. He knew he could get over taking wild bumps and coming back all the time, and Michaels upped his intensity by a lot. The great thing here was it managed to feel like an out-of-control brawl, with all kinds of spots you never saw in the WWF before this match, but never so out of control that the wrestling lost any of its meaning. It was in Philadelphia, and Foley probably would have turned himself babyface, except he cut a funny promo on the Free For All that he was going to win the WWF title so he’d never have to go back to the bingo hall filled with people he didn’t give a damn about. Classic cheap heat that worked easily because the ECW mutants were probably the most thin-skinned wrestling fans that have ever existed (at least before AEW). Michaels threw a tantrum when he wanted to boomerang out of the corner but Foley wasn’t there, which actually led to a good brawling segment. Of course, Michaels had to get on top, but Foley ended up trying to get the Mandible Claw on, which did a good job of establishing the unpredictability. The big spots they did were done exceptionally well. They just seemed like part of the brawl rather than a set piece setup. Foley took some pretty spectacular bumps, which either looked brutal or were actually brutal. There wasn’t much of a story going on here other than Michaels is more vicious than ever because he has to be, and Foley has a high pain threshold, but that got them through. Michaels went after the knee, but that didn’t do him much good. Foley ended up mauling him. When Michaels came back, Foley ended up hung in the ropes, which is a great visual and one you never see anymore. He tried the Mandible Claw a couple of times, prompting Michaels to go after the hand, blasting it with a chair, then stomping it and biting it. Foley did a great job of selling the hand, and the psychology was that he didn’t know what to do, so he just lost his mind, starting hurling chairs and tried to put Michaels in the casket at ringside. They’d set up a table early in the match, and by the time they got around to using it you’d forgotten all about it. Michaels went up for a dive, and Foley knocked him off and backdrop suplexed him through it, although Michaels turned in midair, so Foley took all of it and Michaels sold it like death anyway. You might as well just say the match ended there because Michaels set up a chair near the turnbuckle for no apparent reason. Foley grabbed another chair and went up stairs and Michaels superkicked the chair into his face. It didn’t really look like a Sweet Chin Music, but JR screamed it a bunch of times anyway. At that point Vader ran in, then Sid ran in, and it ended up in a non-finish. Foley put the Mandible Claw on after the match, and of course, Undertaker was in the casket, which was the only reason it was there, although Foley did make a cool entrance with it. ***1/2

5/5/26 Marvelous AAAW Title: Takumi Iroha vs. Sareee 24:48
PA: Good match between two pros who know how to work a good bout. It was pretty safe and formulaic though. They weren't trying anything new out there. The action itself was very good. Sareee worked over Takumi’s leg for most of the middle portion, and Takumi sold it well. There were plenty of suplexes and strikes to keep things moving, so it never dragged. Sareee started pummeling Takumi, which was fine, but when the referee pulled her off, it was supposed to look like things were getting out of control, but Sareee just gently pushed the ref and told Takumi to get up. From that point, the injured leg was completely forgotten about, and it felt like we might as well have started the match right there because nothing beforehand mattered. The finishing run was strong enough, aside from one overly long setup for a top-rope powerbomb. There were some good near falls. I know some people hate Sareee's Uranage spam, but she does it with enough urgency and always tries to win with it, so I don't have a problem with that. There was some high quality stuff here. Their execution was good, and they looked brutal with each other at times. It's really just the modern formula that keeps it from being anything memorable, though it'll certainly end up as one of the best women's matches of the year. ***1/2

11/17/1996 WWF Survivor Series: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin 28:36
PA: Long, drawn out, basic match executed exceptionally well. That’s where its greatness lies. In the way everything looks so natural, their timing, their selling, the way they switch from wrestling to brawling, and how they got 28 minutes out of doing so little. Nothing is out of place, and it tells the story of Bret working through his ring rust against a hungry Steve Austin. It’s the sort of match young wrestlers should be learning from decades later because they could never have a match like this now, ever since everyone’s basics got so bad. It is very slow paced and there’s not a whole lot going on, so it’s far from the most enjoyable match to watch, and it could have had 10 minutes lopped off it and you wouldn't have lost much. The best parts were probably the slugfests, which were well built and electric when they happened. The early portion isn’t much more than Bret trying to hang onto a hammerlock until Austin hit a Stun Gun about six minutes in. Things start picking up with a slugfest around the ten-minute mark. Bret made his comeback, and they ended up brawling all over ringside. Austin essentially took over, staved off his comebacks, and beat the crap out of him. He eventually hit the Stunner, and there was a nice touch where he dragged Bret back from the ropes to give him an out, instead of just having Bret kick out of his finisher. Austin turned to submissions afterwards, and continued cutting Bret off. He locked in the Million Dollar Dream, but Bret pushed off the turnbuckle and Austin pinned himself. Same finish as WrestleMania VIII, but it was the logical finish here. This was far from the best match they’d have together, and their WrestleMania 13 rematch was better in just about every way, but it’s overall a very good, old-school match. There’s something to be said about the aura these two guys had in MSG, and it definitely elevates the match as well. The commentary was another story. Vince was at his what a maneuver worst and presenting Bret as this old, washed-up wrestler the entire time. Basically burying him a month after signing him to the infamous 20 year contract. Jim Ross was a mixed bag, but far from his best work. ***3/4

3/23/1997 WWF WrestleMania 13, No Holds Barred Submission Match: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin 22:05
PA: I don’t know what there is to say about this match that hasn’t already been said. It probably had the best build up to any match I’ve ever seen, despite the fact that it wasn’t even supposed to happen. Austin was like a rabid dog going after Bret every chance he got, and Bret had been screwed so many times he’d finally lost his mind. This wasn’t going to be a wrestling match like they had at Survivor Series. Ken Shamrock was the referee and went mostly unnoticed, aside from being twice the size as any other referee, and wearing a children’s referee shirt so he looked even bigger. Straight away, it was chaos, as Austin double legged Bret and they started brawling. They fought into the crowd, and they did a good job. They weren’t walking around with each other, and it was called for. But fighting amongst fans who are just smiling and trying to get on camera was never a good look. It didn’t last too long though. Once they got in the ring, Bret went after Austin’s knee like a real heel. Austin’s selling through this whole part was excellent. He had the pained expressions and he kept fighting back. Bret tried to Pillmanize Austin, but got out of it and nailed Bret with a chair for a monster pop. Austin’s fire was so good here, and he never stopped favoring the leg. They fought outside again and Austin juiced. Bret took his viciousness up a level in the ring, zeroing in on the cut and the leg. Austin got a huge pop for kicking him in the balls. Austin’s selling and fire in this match is something wrestlers should study. There’s no lying around, he’s always fighting back, and you can feel the pain. It’s a classic babyface performance. Austin tried to use some microphone cable, but Bret clocked him in with the bell, and then came the Sharpshooter spot that made Austin’s career. It’s one of the times where a long submission hold works because Austin sold it the way he did. He almost broke out of it, then he passed out because he’d rather die than tell Bret he was the better man. If it’s not the best WWF match ever, it’s certainly second only to Owen vs. Bret from WrestleMania X. ****1/2

3/3/1997 WWF Monday Night Raw, WWF European Title: Owen Hart vs. British Bulldog 16:58
PA: A classic wrestling match that was more like a Japanese style or Stampede match than anything these two normally did in the WWF. Owen was throwing in some funny heel antics and being a total dick to get the crowd against him. He’d cheat and then act like a sportsman. He got some huge heat every time he did. It never overwhelmed the match though. Owen was brilliant all the way through, taking care of Bulldog so he wouldn’t blow up. He knew when to slow down and speed up so Bulldog was able to burst when he needed to, and Bulldog, to his credit, looked great in this, probably the best I’ve ever seen him in a singles match. They pulled out all the stops, doing every big spot they knew. Owen kicked out of Bulldog’s powerslam finisher, and tried to finish with a victory roll, but Bulldog reversed it to win. ****

7/6/1997 WWF In Your House: Taka Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke 10:00
PA: Before Brian Christopher came through and turned the whole thing into a joke, the WWF did attempt to answer the WCW cruiserweights. I think Sasuke was supposed to be the face of the division, but the deal fell apart. The fans didn’t know who they were, but they worked a smart match. It was a condensed Michinoku Pro match that didn’t give the crowd a chance to get bored, and they won them over. Both were in top form, but Michinoku was more impressive than Sasuke here. They had a rematch the next day on Raw, but this was the better of the two. ***1/2

7/6/1997 WWF In Your House: Bret Hart, Brian Pillman, Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart & The British Bulldog vs. Goldust, Ken Shamrock, Road Warrior Animal, Road Warrior Hawk & Steve Austin 24:31
PA: This match is magic right from the entrances. Steve Austin looked like he was having the time of his life getting booed out of the building. The Hart Foundation were introduced one by one starting with Pillman until the roof blew off the place when Bret was introduced. Bret and Austin started, and the heat was insane. The crowd reacted to every move and every punch. Pillman couldn’t go anymore, ever since the ankle injury he was done, but his antics were fun, getting cheered for his heeling, and he was wearing a shit-eating grin the whole time. The 10-man format allowed for all the lesser wrestlers in the match to get in and out. I actually think Shamrock looked the worst in the match because he was like a deer in the headlights at the crowd reactions. The best wrestling came from Owen. He and Austin were the standouts. Austin really had his persona down, looking unhinged like he wanted to kill the Harts. The match broke into a brawl, and Austin tore apart Owen’s knee and bashed it with a chair in the chaos, which led to Owen being taken to the back. Bret got revenge for him later, bashing Austin’s knee with a fire extinguisher and doing the figure four around the post to send him to the back. Up until this point the match was all time classic level, but it dropped off after that. Everything felt like filler until Austin came back. There was a Bret vs. Shamrock segment which was awkward. It got better when the Bulldog came in, but it never picked up again until Austin limped back out. He and Bret had another tremendous segment. Bret got the Sharpshooter on Austin, but Animal broke it up, and then Austin put the Sharpshooter on Bret and Owen came back. Austin and Owen finished it up, with Austin clotheslining Owen outside and putting the boots to him in front of the Hart family at ringside. Bruce threw a drink at Steve from behind, so Austin went after Stu. The brothers all jumped in and Owen rolled Austin up when he got back in the ring. They kept brawling after the bell, and Austin tried to beat up the Harts with a chair and got hauled off in cuffs, flipping the crowd off from behind as he left. The show ended with all of the Harts, Stu, Helen, the kids, grandkids and some random kids who told security they were Harts all in the ring. A special ending to a special match. ****1/4

4/29/26 AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Brody King 16:27
ML: These two have always worked well together, with King being Darby's best big man opponent. This was their 9th singles match, with Brody up 5-2-1. However, it’s 2-2 in AEW, and even though King's stock has gone up a lot since the House of Black split up, he was the underdog here by virtue of Darby holding the promotion's top title. This was the high quality match you'd expect, a no nonsense, high effort spotfest featuring reckless high flying from Darby counteracted by brute force power from Brody. This Darby weekly title defense run is about attrition, and a big man like King who throws him around effortlessly is taking time off the reign if he can't end it outright. That being said, it wasn't the traditional David vs. Goliath match where the overmatched little man had to find a way to slay the giant, so much as a match where both men had success when they could implement their style. Whether or not that's a good thing kind of depends on whether you are more interested in the moves or the storytelling. This was strong when it comes to the offense, but weak on making it much more compelling than it is in isolation. This was probably their best match together though. I think they did a little more here because it was a title match, but these two have a good work ethic to begin with, and it never feels like they are holding back in their matches together. This started wild, and only got more crazy from there. As much as I like King for being a better athlete than most guys his size with a much higher workrate, he never quite attains the aura of a monster despite having all the physical prowess. Last week's Darby vs. Ciampa match had more intensity, and this didn't make up for it with the danger factor in the sense of how is Darby going to overcome this huge guy who is ragdolling him. Darby is the most Sabuesque active wrestler, building his whole style around killing the opponent with his high risk offense a little more than he kills himself by doing it. With Darby being so good at being determined to win at all costs to his body, and King not exactly being a fearsome Vader type, sometimes it felt like Darby was just as apt to get hurt by injuring himself rather than from dealing with a beast who has 125 pounds on him. For example, after Darby's tope just bounced off King, he probably got the worst of his missile kick to the floor with King sitting in a chair. Darby's knee was hurting from this landing, and then King did a senton with Darby on his back with his knees bent underneath him to make the injury a lot worse. Darby did some good selling here without compromising the pace of the match. Later, Darby took a massive bump off the second rope to the floor from a chop. Allin got a sleeper on the outside, but King slammed him off through a table. Darby avenged with his code red on the announcer's table, and was successful with the tope this time. Darby was winning a striking battle in the corner, but Brody had enough of this, and just tossed him to the floor like a toy. King took the barricade out missing his cannonball though. Darby powerbombed Brody off the apron then hit the coffin drop to the outside and 2 coffin drops in the ring for the win. Darby felt like a champion here, and the outcome didn't feel like a fluke. This Darby title run is already the most interesting thing AEW has done in the last year or so. I worry trying to have him do the kind of matches he's done against Ciampa & King on a weekly basis is going to result in him being out for half a year, but Darby's style is built around making us worry about his health because he doesn't, and that idea that he can only fly close to the sun for so long is how Darby's first title run will be memorable even though it will likely be brief. ***1/2

4/16/23 NJPW: Shingo Takagi vs. Robbie Eagles 22:24
ML: Shingo did his junior style here, and it was a good mix, with both doing fast paced running sequences, but Eagles having the advantage when he could get his submissions on, while Takagi had the edge when he could clobber Robbie. Shingo obviously had the power, but Eagles is very quick and explosive, often outmaneuvering Takagi, as his reflexes and creativity were excellent answers to Shingo's linear, brute force style. Eagles always felt competitive here, with Takagi going out of his way to sell for him, and making him seem like a legitimate threat who did damage to his knee. Even though Shingo has been a "heavyweight" for a while now, he's mostly just wider than Eagles. There's no way he's 5" taller as billed, and they don't look physically mismatched by wrestling standards. There was too much playing to the crowd at a few points early on, but this escalated well, and didn't feel like a padded, dragged out match. They were serious and pushed the pace more often than not, with Eagles giving an exciting performance. Eagles is always able to deliver an interesting submission performance because he uses his flying and counters to weaken the body part and/or find a way into the submission. He does a 450 splash to weaken the knee rather than simply to show off. Once Shingo finally took over, he was too slow to cover or get back up because of the knee injury to win until Eagles went down right beneath him after the pumping bomber. ***1/4

4/22/26 AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Tommaso Ciampa 18:01
ML: Darby finally winning the title was one of the only things longtime AEW fans still cared about seeing. Having it take place in a random 2 minute TV match instead of a well built to proper PPV main event was such a massive disappointment, and is example 999,999,999 of why anything booked by Tony Khan will never stay very far above the bare minimum audience for long. I'll take the Darby run because he's still their most interesting TV performer, but if the plan is to have Will Ospreay win the title at Wembley, it seems like a ton of unnecessary gymnastics to go from MJF to Darby to heel to Will in a 4 month span. And then what??? Ospreay just holds the title until he gets injured again because there's really nothing else on the horizon? Ciampa has been a great addition because he's actually serious and wrestles with intensity, the two things this company is most in need of. You can actually watch his match and feel like it's an actual sporting contest where guys are giving a genuine effort to win. They made this feel like a big, important match. I don't think there's much argument about it being an A for effort, but after that the debate comes in because it was a car crash where they were mostly killing themselves for our enjoyment. The match had intensity and felt important, but their basic way of showing us that they really wanted to win was by taking risks, rolling out big spots and taking dangerous bumps. This was a very physical and brutal match. It was mostly Darby being crazy, but Ciampa put his body on the line as well. These are two of the only AEW guys who aren't just going through the motions of jumping around and stalling, and while I don't think they wrestled a particularly intelligent match, they won me over with their enthusiasm and desire. Darby was taking hard bumps on the outside into the barricade and metal ring frame. He took the top off the ring post and did a body attack over the barricade through a table. Ciampa emerged very bloody only to have Darby knock him into a barricade with a tope. Ciampa did an insane avalanche psycho driller to the floor, a spot there's no way to avoid both men hitting the floor hard on. I didn't like Ciampa's comical overselling of his hip, you could believe he actually injured it there if he wasn't so corny. Ciampa had catapulted Darby into the metal underneath the ring earlier, but when he tried to do it in the ring into the exposed turnbuckle, Darby landed on the middle rope and countered jumping off with a diving footstomp. Matches like this are tough to review in an interesting manner because they are just a collection of wild and danger spots. I don't know how much sense any of this carnage made, but at least they weren't boring. Ciampa countered the coffin drop with a rear naked choke. He avoided the corner charge so Darby finally met the exposed turnbuckle, then hit his bicycle knee finisher, but Darby kicked out. He hit it again after project Ciampa, but it still wasn't enough, so he decided to use the scorpion on Darby, uncharacteristically taking forever due to a crisis of failed finisher confidence, and Darby reversed it and kept adjusting until he got the submission. They were definitely sacrificing their bodies, and there wasn't much beyond that, but it felt like an important match, and I think everyone at least appreciated the effort. Imagine how much better this company would be if Ciampa got the robot Okada's belt and actually brought this intensity and energy to the PPV's instead of having the guy who seems every bit the physical specimen of a broken down nursing home resident sleepwalking through every defense and laughing all the way to the bank. ***1/2

5/2/26 UFC: Brando Pericic vs. Shamil Gaziev R2 3:44
ML: There's shockingly been a couple of somewhat interesting heavyweight fights this year, with Josh Hokit vs. Curtis Blaydes being the best. Granted, this was still two guys who weren't particularly skilled or conditioned exchanging sloppy punches because the ref Daniel Movahedi wouldn't let Gaziev get away with hugging, but it was a generally entertaining slugfest, and that's really all you can ask for in a division where stiffs like Derrick Lewis & Cyril Gane are supposed to be the "good" fighters. Pericic has the power, but what separates him is his hand speed and his ability to mix body shots into his punch combos. He has a very high punch output for the division. Landing 100 standing strikes in a heavyweight fight that's less than 2 rounds is certainly uncommon. Gaziev didn't really have any defense, and his stamina wasn't great either. His mouth was open early, and throughout. Brando had a lot more belief in his ability to knock Gaziev out by pressing forward throwing bombs then he did of Gaziev catching him in the process. This was working well for a most of the 1st round, and Gaziev was mostly just clinching to try to get a break, but he was trying to answer with his own punches especially when Pericic got inside, and eventually Brando stepped into a great uppercut counter. Gaziev backed Brando into the cage with his follow up punches, but Brando fought his way off the cage, and was still believing in his power punches and slugging it out. He took back over before the round ended, but Gaziev became the first fighter to make it to the second round against him. Gaziev was better when he could throw shorter punches, especially coming forward. He didn't have the speed or technique of Brando, but he was very determined, and anytime Brando stopped throwing, Gaziev would pick up the slack. Brando didn't look good at the start of the 2nd. He was circling away and backing up, just trying to rely on his jab. Gaziev was still eating shots, but generally seemed to be taking over because Pericic wasn't active enough. Brando pushed forward after landing a good right cross, backing Gaziev from one side of the Octagon to the other the series of punches. Both were running out of gas midway through the 2nd, but it was Pericic who was able to put a big right hand behind the jab to wobble Gaziev, and then Brando finished with a big right hook. I was personally more entertained by the Jack Della Maddalena vs. Carlos Prates main event, but it was so increasingly one-sided that one could say this ultimately was the better match because Gaziev was in it throughout, and at least had one big moment where he might have won if something else went right in the next 5 or 10 seconds. Above average match.

4/11/26 AAA: El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Laredo Kid 6:56
ML: The AAA Latin American Champion Wagner faced the AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Laredo is a brief but spectacular sprint. While Penta vs. El Hijo del Vikingo should have been the best match on the card, these two still looked as good as they were last time I saw them, whereas Penta & especially Vikingo were way down. Kid did a good job of using his speed and being exciting. He did some spectacular high flying including a tope con giro off the post and a 450 splash off the apron. Wagner obviously had the size advantage, and was beating Laredo up with stiff strikes and high impact offense, including a bodyslam off the apron. This was all good back and forth action. They packed as much as they could in, but it was obviously rushed. Wagner won with a moonsault and the Wagner driver. ***

4/15/26 Pandemonium Pro: Natsupoi vs. Johnnie Robbie 8:10
ML: This was the first time these two wrestled each other, but they were in step on all the high speed stuff. Robbie is way better than most of these STARDOM girls, and one of the reasons is her sequences feel a lot more reactive and a lot less simply practiced, but I was still surprised it all looked this good. The choreography here was impressive, and all the bursts of action were good fun. Robbie's beatdown in between was fine, but you were happy when they picked the pace up again and went back to working with each other. Natsupoi is a very effortless mover. Robbie is more well rounded, but Natsupoi has the grace and balance to make what she does well come off as something beyond the standard athletic action. This was quite good while it lasted. It was definitely on the short side, ending a bit abruptly, albeit with what looked like a 4 count because the ref started her count too soon so she essentially stopped her 1 count before touching the mat then restarted and counted 3. Anyway, the length was fine given this was just a midcard small indy show match and Natsupoi had a long flight from Japan while Robbie had 4 matches in 3 days, but I'm sure they will have better matches together if they get the opportunity. ***

4/16/26 WCP West Coast Pro Women's Title: Johnnie Robbie vs. Mio Momono 16:35
ML: This was a longer, more consequential title match main event than Robbie's match the day before against Natsupoi. It was a better match overall, though the high speed interplay between Robbie & Natsupoi was definitely more impressive, and due to that it was a better match when it was at it's best. That felt more like your typical Natsupoi high speed match, at least the ones that have a chance of being good where they are dueling flash and spectacle, while Momono usually wrestles opponents who are very different than her stylistically. Mio is typically the fiesty, speedy underdog who outmoves her larger, slower opponent, but Robbie is also a smaller more athletic wrestler. This wasn't a mirror match because Robbie used power moves and submissions to counteract Momono's flying, still setting it up as Mio having the advantage in what she does best, but at the same time Momono didn't just have such an advantage that she really just had to find a way to push the pace and keep from getting knocked out of the air. Either woman was as apt to answer their opponent's flash pin attempt with one of their own, and there was a lot of quick back and forth. These two have trained together, and have good chemistry even though they only wrestled against each other once in an eight woman tag a year ago. The match got better and better as it progressed and they really began answering each other counter for counter. The last few minutes had really fun back and forth before Mio took the title with her JK bomb. Again, this is a match that can likely get a lot better as these two become more familiar with one another. ***1/2

1/11/94 WWF: Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner 24:55
ML: Most of the Coliseum Home Video matches are average to low effort house show fodder, but occasionally there's a hidden gem like this one time dream match between two of the more famous sets of brothers the sport has produced. The Steiners vs Owen should have been great because Owen can put over their fast-paced suplex heavy style by taking a bunch of big bumps like Hiroshi Hase, and hopefully they'll actually sell some of his speedy athletic stuff. While Owen's portions were predictably the highlight, this was more of a well wrestled match than something reminiscent of the higher energy Steiner stuff from NJPW or even WCW. The match was also very inconsistent in tone and style, largely due to Bret, who just kept slowing things down and ensuring a bunch of mat wrestling and rest holds were included. He seemed to think that holding a chinlock somehow had something to do with the Steiners amateur wrestling background. This was a rare WWF face vs face match. For me, those succeed at a much higher frequency because you get a lot less crappy offense and shenanigans, but I don't think a lot of the "technical" wrestling from Bret actually helped the match, and telling the more conventional story of amping up the animosity and growing more chippy while trying not to do anything too far outside of the legal and honorable would have been better than what Bret actually did. Bret was unfortunately the dominant force in the match, and not a force for entertainment, that's for sure. The match would start to take off with Owen, working fast running sequences and throwing some great suplexes of his own, but then stagnate again with Bret. Even though Bret didn't really do much, it was still one of the stronger offensive WWF matches of the era due to the other three. It seemed like Bret was actually going to get going with a dropkick and a DDT, but then he applied a lengthy sleeper, only to reapply it right after Rick broke it by running him into the corner. Bret did try to offer some direction as the match progressed. He attempted a shoulder injury story, selling big after crashing the post. Scott tried to suplex Bret back into the ring, but Scott injured his knee when Bret suplexed him to the floor instead. Gino picked on Owen for not going after Scott's knee, and claimed he was too small and weak to make the abdominal stretch work on him. It definitely felt like Bret and Owen weren't on the same page here because both were essentially wrestling the style they like to wrestle. Owen was doing a more Steiner friendly style, while Bret was trying to tell a story since they had 25 minutes, but not getting much cooperation from the others, so in this case it's not necessarily his fault, but to some extent you are making things worse with story rather than better if you can't get anyone else on board, so they just blow it off and do unrelated stuff once they take over. Scott took more impact on the knee when Owen slingshoted him over the top to the floor. Bret tried to put the Sharpshooter on Scott but Rick saved, so Owen tried to put it on Scott instead, but Rick saved again. Both teams were loose with the rules without either team being overtly heelish. This knee stuff was about as far as any of Bret's ideas really went. By the later stages, it was obvious that Bret wasn't up for the type of match the others wanted to wrestle, and thus grew increasingly uninspired as they wanted to do moves rather hold onto each other. Owen vs Rick had the best chemistry, and they had some impressive segments, though Rick got sloppy at the higher pace sometimes. Scott was always the smoother executer with the more impressive offense. In the end, this was good because they are all individually talented wrestlers, but there wasn't that much double teaming, and everybody kind of just did their own thing, which works with Owen because Owen could pretty much make anything and anyone look at least decent, if not fantastic. The finish was really bad even if it had some fun out of the ring action. Scott ran Owen into the ropes, and Owen knocked Rick and Bret to the floor by crashing into Rick. Scott followed them outside with Savage's patented double axe handle, then Owen hit a pescado to Rick. This was the quickest double count out ever. Joey Marella reached 10 before Owen and Rick even got back to their feet. The count out came so soon that announcer Stan Lane assumed it must have been some random DQ. There were three different post match brawls that four referees including Bill Alfonso, and three agents "fat" Pat Patterson, Tony Garea, & Rene Goulet weren't enough to stop. All of this would have been great to show on TV to set up a big PPV match, but only the hardcore fans were renting these tapes, and with Owen soon turning on Bret and the Steiners leaving WWF in mid April, they unfortunately never had a rematch. ***

JWA 12/3/69 Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, NWA World Heavyweight Title: Dory Funk Jr. vs. Giant Baba 33:25 of 60:00 (10:38 of 21:07, 2:47, 10:00 of 36:06)
DC: Dory Funk Sr. was at ringside to support his son, Dory Funk Jr., in what was the second time Dory Jr. defended the NWA World Heavyweight Title in Japan. The first time took place the previous night against Antonio Inoki, which tells you that Dory Jr. was taking on the two biggest rising stars in Japanese pro wrestling (and two future promoters of legendary puroresu leagues). Giant Baba pulled all the stops here, as he did some fancy rolls on the floor in an attempt to take Funk down, which he succeeded at the second time. Baba showed a good amount of viciousness, eager to impress and, more importantly, eager to show the will to win. Funk, the wily veteran, was not afraid of Baba, and took it to the big man whenever the opportunity was there. Of this two-out-of-three-falls match, we got to see half of the first fall, which looked like a fall that did a good job of keeping things interesting and making people anticipate what’s about to happen next. There was a big reaction for Baba scoring the first pinfall after he hit a superbly executed running neckbreaker. The Funks really sold this pinfall tremendously, which made it even more awesome, and made people believe that Baba could walk away the champion after this match was all over. However, Dory Jr. once again proved he was more than capable of handling himself and knew he had to score an equalizing fall as soon as possible to avoid a disastrous loss overseas. He proved that he was indeed THE man, as he managed to make Baba submit less than three minutes into the second fall as a result of a very aggressive rendition of the Funk spinning toe hold. The third fall was easily the most exciting one, but it couldn’t have worked so well without the previous two falls, as the first two falls really did an excellent job of setting up the anticipation for the third fall. Baba may not have been the most physically and technically gifted wrestler, but he had such a great mind for pro wrestling psychology. Baba understood how to make the most out of each situation. It’s not a surprise that he would become the mastermind behind AJPW, a league that would become known for many puroresu classics featuring great psychology (and great booking). Dory Jr. had such great chemistry with Baba, in spite of this being only the second match (and first singles match) between the two. Dory Jr. was a great NWA Champion, because he cared about the title, he cared about the business, and he cared about making his opponent look like a great challenger. Another remarkable thing about this match is how ahead of its time it is in terms of big match drama. In many ways, these two really paved the way for excellent 1970s (Japanese) pro wrestling in terms of how to work a big important title bout that people will remember for years to come. It’s a shame we only have a little over half of the match available. This is definitely one of the most memorable matches of the 1960s. Excellent match. ****¼