10/28/26 AEW TNT Title: Darby Allin vs. Josh Alexander 15:10
ML: Hechicero is obviously a more talented wrestler than Alexander, but this was better than Darby's defense from 2 weeks ago because Alexander is a much better matchup for Darby. Darby is most impressive against powerful opponents who can throw him around, but are still athletic enough to keep up with him. Alexander definitely fits that bill, as he's got lean muscle, and this was one of his best performances in AEW, although like most wrestlers, he was generally way better before he got here. This was a fast paced, all action match featuring Alexander's suplexes and power moves. Darby was able to take all his crazy bumps against Alexander, while Hechicero just knotted Darby up, which made for a slower and less exciting match given Darby didn't have any answers. You never really believed Alexander would win because he's so poorly booked in AEW as one of Callis' random goons after being a top star in TNA with a year long 30 defense run from 2022-2023, but Darby did as much as he possibly could to make his throws look devastating. Darby made a lot of comebacks here to help keep the crowd engaged, they just didn't last more than a move or two because Alexander has a high fight IQ, and was ready for many of Darby's follow-ups. The killer spot here was Alexander doing a tombstone off the apron through 2 chairs, though they didn't get much out of it, which will surely piss off the segment of old school fans that still thinks every piledriver should be a stretcher spot. It's crazy that they couldn't at least get a legitimate dramatic near finish out of this spot though. Darby got ragdolled the whole match, and then randomly won with a flash pin, which was just a means to an end. Alexander was kept strong to an extent, but still always felt like a weak challenger because he was obviously just this weeks cannon fodder. The wrestlers made as much as they could out of what they had to work with though, which is all you can ask. ***

1/12/80 PNW 2/3 Falls NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race vs. Rick Martel 24:55 (16:54, 4:55, 3:06)
ML: Race had much better offense than almost all of the babyfaces of his era, but was also great bumper. You can't really go wrong with him as long as they are on the move, and he liked to push the pace and keep things active as long as it was a reasonable length match. If he's doing the hour long match associated with the NWA World Heavyweight Title then there's going to be a lot of filler obviously. Martel was a serious wrestler before Vince turned him into an arrogant poser. Even his pre WWF stuff has been disappointing to look back at though, as while he has some fire, he doesn't really do that much most of the time. He's certainly competent, but he's not really AWA champion material. This is easily the best match I've seen from him randomly looking over some of his stuff in the past year, as nothing else I've rewatched has been worth talking about. He's still mostly complementing what Race is doing, and not that exciting offensively, as he's the one slowing things down here and working the arm lock. That being said, they were both putting genuine effort into the holds, so it was compelling enough even though it was obviously largely stagnant during these portions. Even though Martel's arm work didn't really play a roll going forward, almost everything they did worked in the moment because they put the effort into making you believe it was important. The was the classic NWA title format of the heel champion challenging the popular "local" babyface. Martel had no chance of winning in reality, but both did a good job of working around that and making you believe. The match built well and felt urgent, intense, and dramatic. Martel's offense certainly paled in comparison to Race's, but he put his heart into this, and wrestled with a lot of conviction. This helped make him a good babyface because his effort made it much easier to get behind him. Race won the first fall with a vertical suplex, making things look that much bleaker for Martel after he had failed to win the opener despite controlling much of it. The thing with Race is he didn't need a lot of offense because most of what he did was highspots in a time when everyone else wasn't just doing high spots like today. Martel was really pushing in the second fall, and they had a couple good dramatic near falls with the piledriver and the backbreaker before Martel escaped the vertical suplex and put Race to sleep. Martel was focused on putting Race to sleep again in the 3rd. Martel back body dropped his way out of the piledriver on the floor, and they went back and forth with near finishes including Martel getting the sleeper two more times, but there wasn't much TV time left when the fall started, and Martel couldn't put Race out before time expired. Martel's first fall arm work lasted too long, especially since his goal was to win with the sleeper, but most of the rest of the match was fire. ***1/2

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 8/15/74 Dunstable, England: Bert Royal vs. Steve Logan
DC: Kent Walton mentioned that Steve Logan’s moustache was a “Mexican style tash.” He definitely looked like a sleazy rudo. While Bert Royal looks like he could be your next-door neighbor who enjoys gardening, he was actually quite the accomplished wrestler. He was not as spectacular as his brother Vic Faulkner, but he was still definitely a wrestler you wouldn’t want to skip matches of. Logan was very no-nonsense in his approach, and he was very good at making it look like he was giving his opponent a tough time against him. Royal was very well aware of Logan’s reputation, and made sure to not take a backseat in this match. Logan was acting very gritty and tough, and really only sold when needed and/or appropriate. Royal’s selling was more prevalent and more of the sympathetic good guy kind. Royal knew he had to really go for quick and technical takedowns in order to start gaining an advantage in this match. Once he had the advantage, he knew his technical superiority would allow him to stay in control via manipulation of his opponent’s limbs and joints. Logan occasionally appeared to be helpless on the mat, but his brute strength and general resolutionary instincts allowed him to remain a threat at all times during this contest. In other words, this really was a very competitive contest featuring a lot of struggle from both sides. The effectiveness of the match overruled any sort of shortcoming the match may have had in the gracefulness department. The fact that they constantly stayed on top of each other and both treated this like a serious contest is what made this intriguing all the way through. This was a darn good British wrestling bout. Excellent match. ****¼   

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 8/15/74 Dunstable, England: John Naylor vs. Zoltan Boscik
DC: Zoltan Boscik was a Hungarian wrestler who was capable of a lot when he was in there with the right person. And this was one of those matches, as John Naylor was an excellent wrestler. Naylor’s ability, speed and mindset was great, but his execution was not always the crispest. Boscik was really enjoying this bout, as he was able to channel his inner technical wizard self in this bout. This once again shows that Naylor was so good at bringing out the best of his opponents, just like Naylor was able to do in the 1973 match against Frenchman Jacky Ricard. Naylor was almost like a 1970s version of Owen Hart in the sense that he was such a natural in the ring and more speedy and agile than most people around him at the time. Boscik was wrestling like a bird freed from his cage, as he was free-flowing his way through this bout like a flower that had finally blossomed. What a tremendous performance by John Naylor, not only in the less subtle ways, but especially in the more subtle ways, as he enabled Boscik to unlock levels Boscik didn’t realize he was capable of reaching. Great match. ****½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/20/74 Catford, England: Alan Serjeant vs. Mick McManus.
DC: Mick McManus was more renowned than his right-hand man Steve Logan, McManus was the less no-nonsense and more theatrical of the two. Alan Serjeant was a very serious grappler who was solely focused on trying to be the best wrestler he could be. While this match was interesting and featured plenty of displays of struggle and competitiveness, McManus ultimately simply wasn’t anywhere near Serjeant’s level technically. There was a funny moment where the referee got stuck in a hold. While this was enjoyable, in many ways, this was like a lesser version of Bert Royal vs. Steve Logan (mainly due to the overrated McManus being not quite good enough to have an excellent singles match). This bout relied a lot on crowd heat, McManus’ status as a top heel and the match lasting a long time, which emphasized this was a knock-down drag-out affair. Very good match. ***½  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/11/74 Preston, England: Vic Faulkner & Bert Royal vs. Pete Lapaque & John Lapaque 18:00
DC: They did the row-the-boat “double-leg spread” spot. Later in the match, they also did the do-si-do spot. It was extremely interesting to see this match contained two tag team tropes that would be staples in tag team competition for years to come. It was an exciting fast-paced match. While it was kind of one-sided, it was very entertaining. Tag team matches appeared to be a relatively rare and special type of event at the time. That made this bout even more memorable. Very good match. ***¾ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/11/74 Preston, England: Johnny Saint vs. Terry Jowett
DC: Terry Jowett was trying to match Saint’s technical wrestling, and Saint tried to outsmart Jowett. While Jowett was clearly a good technical worker, Saint always seemed to be a step or two ahead of him. Still, this was fun to watch, because both men agreed to battle each other in a clean and technical way. Johnny Saint escaped a headscissors in a very Saint-esque way. Commentator Kent Walton mentioned Saint was trained by Billy Robinson as an amateur and that you can’t get any better training than that. Saint’s countering and escaping was enjoyable. However, what made Saint’s carry performance less impressive than the one performed by Mark Rocco in his 1973 bout against Jowett was that Rocco was showing more versatility, while Saint really only wanted things to go a specific way. Very good match. ***½     

PWFG 4/19/92 Tokyo Taiikukan: Minoru Suzuki vs. Wayne Shamrock 14:46
DC: Some of the moments in this match looked more realistic than the early days of Pancrase, which was probably because it was more real. That being said, this was definitely a work, but it was a realistically worked shoot-style match. There was a lot of struggle and resistance shown. This, in combination with the urgency and concentration shown, made this a truly recommendable pro wrestling bout. Ironically, though, the idealistic focus on realism kind of prevented this fruitless match from being a great pro wrestling match. This means it didn’t quite reach the levels of their great 3/4/91 match. Still, this match is truly recommendable, because it’s a tremendous example of what pro wrestling could be like if the focus was on creating something that resembled a sport a lot more than entertainment. Excellent match. ****