1/11/26 STARDOM, CMLL-Japan Women's Title: Hazuki vs. Mei Seira 18:10
ML: This match had excellent work but lacked any tangible storytelling. It should have been a lot better than it ultimately was, but it wasn't laid out in a logical or dramatic manner. They just did stuff for 18 minutes, and the person who was winning the whole match eventually won after countless kickouts, with no real run from Seira to make us believe she could take this, or even a final hope spot. Hazuki did Lucha Libre, while Seira did her high speed style. The first half was better than the second because it was better developed and more competitive. Seira has a lot more speed and explosion, while Hazuki is more floating around doing ballet. Seira is a lot more impressive as an athlete and a worker, but this is the best Hazuki performance I've seen in ages. Hazuki isn't a great luchador, but she took things seriously and was consistently doing her moves rather than stalling. For a while, it seemed like Hazuki was usually in control, with Seira providing exciting bursts of action. As this progressed though, Seira was just hanging in there, willing another kick out, and that's hardly the best utilization of her great talent. Hazuki was good, but she basically rolled over Seira without ever seeming in her league in any way as a wrestler. Of course, this isn't the first time the worst wrestler dominated a match, and the fact it was still good says quite a bit. I don't need Seira to get her half of the offense, but she needs to do more to justify a match of this length than simply kick out a bunch of times. Hazuki is hardly Vader where survival alone earns you a certain amount of points. If there was a leg injury or some sort of storyline reason for Hazuki running away with this that would have been a different story, but at some point you really started to wonder what they were actually going for here. The speed, urgency, and intensity definitely picked up towards the end as they came closer to finishing each other, and there was a minute where you felt like they were going to get this back on the rails and have Seira accomplish whatever she was supposed to, either scoring the great comeback or at least making us believe in her. That never really happened. The 2nd half was mostly Seira surviving after failing to win quickly, but even in the first half, she was losing despite the pace being more to her liking. Seira couldn't win with her excellent checkmate the first time, and then Hazuki was ready for it later, but there needs to be more storytelling than that, and this wasn't even that close to the end. Yeah, I just don't really get the layout of this match. Hazuki isn't that much higher rated that she should just randomly get 80% of the offense and also win. You kept waiting for even Seira's last hoorah, but it felt like they didn't even want to delude you into believing she could win. Earlier, I thought it was building up to a really exciting finish, but then it just became Mei surviving without any actual payoff. Seira did a very good job of taking Hazuki's offense, but her own stuff is so much more impressive that her lack off offense combined with no real reason behind the absence hurt the match. It was still fun just seeing them roll out their moves, but Seira has done matches with a lot more impressive sequences even though the match was half the length because she was really in it fighting for every advantage. Here, Hazuki glided along following her moves up nicely, but Seira was in the passenger's seat all too often. ***1/4

2/21/26 UFC: Carlos Leal vs. Chidi Njokuani 3R
ML: Leal is one of the most fan friendly fighters in the UFC right now. He has great cardio, and can keep the pressure on for 3 rounds, getting inside and ripping the body. He's a hard and aggressive puncher who comes at the opponent consistently from start to finish. Njokuani is huge for 170, and he had to be durable to stand up to Leal's unyielding attacks. Njokuani was mostly fighting off his back foot, and was having a hard time keeping his back off the cage because he was walking straight back too much rather than cutting angles. He had excellent counters, but didn't show good footwork or use his range. It's crazy seeing a guy with such a size advantage just immediately concede ground and be content to fight a short range style his back on the cage. Like, what are we even doing here? Sure, Njokuani was doing a good job with his kicks and knees. I guess he is what he is at this point, but that's someone with muay thai strengths and more weaknesses, and it's hard to win a striking fight when you can't make the opponent hesitate and just allow him to move forward. Njokuani was probably doing more damage than it seemed given Leal just keeps pushing through, but if Leal isn't showing any signs of it, the judges probably aren't putting a ton of weight on it either. Leal has little defense beyond more offense, but he doesn't seem to feel pain. Leal is exciting, but he really just does what he does. Sure, I suppose I could criticize him for lack of diversity or whatever, but on the other hand, when the opponent isn't stopping what you are doing there's not a lot of need to change. Njokuani just doesn't seem to be able to put together the footwork, angles, strategy, and decision-making to really take advantage of his power and explosion when the opponent isn't intimidated. Chidi has the reach against the division basically. He should be throwing the jab and teep to keep Leal off, especially since it's no secret Leal is stepping forward. Leal almost had a knockdown with a 1-2 early in the 2nd, but Njokuani barely managed to keep his balance. Njokuani did a better job of circling away in the 2nd, so he wasn't getting trapped as often. Njokuani had more weapons, but he couldn't get much going until the third round when he did a better job of staying more towards the center, partly because he was much more effective with his jab. Leal was really just pressure boxing from start to finish, but there's so much pressure it's a constant barrage and Njokuani never made adjustments to shut it down. The 3rd round was the best, as Chidi fought with better tactics as well as more determination. I still think Leal won the third, but this could have gone either way. Leal win a unanimous decision 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. Good match.

2/21/26 UFC: Michel Pereira vs. Zachary Reese 3R
ML: This match had good action and a lot of solid connections, but it wasn't the most technical showing from Reese or impressive cardio from Pereira. Pereira doesn't seem sure how he wants to fight anymore. He's not doing anything unpredictable and he's carrying too much muscle and depleting himself too much to make weight. He is so fast and powerful in the first round, and after he gets rests. Everything this guy does is a threat to finish, but at this point he's really just trying to knock people out in the most conventional manner, whereas what made him great was that he was so unpredictable. He could drop Reese early in the rounds, but to an extent everything he was doing was doing or not doing was to avoid blowing up, and he just never went all out even when he stunned Reese. Since that's the way he chose to fight, he shouldn't have been losing so much as the round progressed because he wasn't even fighting that high a pace and Reese wasn't really grappling even though that was his advantage or doing anything in particular to wear him down. Pereira essentially found himself in a competitive fight where you didn't know if he'd have enough energy to defend properly in the 2nd half of rounds he started strong in without Reese really doing anything notably different. Pereira dropped Reese at the outset with an overhand right, and looked really good for two minutes but then Reese supposedly kicked him in the balls with an inside leg kick that looked to be at least 99% inner thigh. Pereira wasn't slow on the restart, but he was more hesitant, and Reese started getting his offense going by virtue of filling the gaps Pereira now left. Reese purportedly fouled Pereira again a minute later, this time landing on the belt. The thing with these blows is that neither were anywhere near a direct hit, possibly they pulled or grazed the cup along the way, but it was difficult to tell if Pereira was slightly fouled or simply taking a free break. Reese was trying to open up, but Pereira ducked his spinning backfist into a takedown. This was a clear round for Pereira, who scored the early knockdown and did work with his front kicks. Pereira had a debatable knockdown with a knee to the midsection early in the second (he clearly hurt Reese but Reese probably went down more from being offbalance and having Pereira jerk him), but again he wasn't aggressively following up despite his opponent clearly being stunned. Again, Reese stopped Pereira's momentum with an early foul, this time a finger that was definitely into the eye. Reese immediately Pereira down on the restart, but Pereira's grappling defense was much more impressive today, and he was able to get back up quickly. At that point we noticed Reese had a bloody nose. Visually, Reese certainly wore more damage than Pereira, which may have swayed the judges in a close fight. Reese wasn't displaying the best technique, but while he was kind of wild, his aggression was serving him a lot better then waiting and allowing Pereira to pick him apart as he often did in the first. Pereira did damage right at the outset, but Reese finished round 2 stronger. In each of these rounds, Reese landed a few more blows. Pereira has the more of direct and powerful strikes though. No knockdowns were officially scored, but I felt like the knee was the best shot over Reese's left hand that wobbled Pereira, and that Pereira did a little more damage overall. This round could definitely very reasonably be scored either way though, and that alone doesn't say much for a Pereira because this was presumably supposed to be a gimme to get him back in the win column after an 8 fight win streak gave way to a three fight lose streak. Reese definitely had more left going into the third, but if he didn't win the second, simply taking Michel down, which would have been a reasonable strategy, wasn't going to cut it, and again he didn't really try to wrestle. Pereira's best weapon was the powerful and accurate right hand, but he wasn't doing any of his wild or energetic stuff like in the past, or frankly a lot to set it up. Reese did a good job of mixing the low and middle kick. I especially liked the liver kick given Pereira's questionable stamina. The damage Pereira did to the nose was probably contributing to Reese also slowing down in the third. Pereira had to take down, but Reese tried to roll him right into an anaconda. Pereira had a good right hook late. This round was also close enough that it could have gone either way. I thought Reese won the round, but this time Pereira finished stronger than in the other two rounds because he didn't have to conserve his energy anymore. Pereira won a split decision 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Good match.

5/26/97 WWF RAW is WAR, WWF World Tag Team Title Match: Owen Hart & The British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin 10:14 / 13:25
PA: Shawn Michaels made a miraculous recovery from his career ending lost smile caused by jobberitis and this was his first match back. He and Austin were doing the tag team partners who hate each other gimmick, but that didn’t factor into the match at all. This was all action and everyone was on top of their game. The attitude nowadays is that longer is better; this match is a perfect example of proving that nonsense false. They basically just condensed the heat segments down, so there was still a classically structured tag match and the crowd ate it up, it was just at a fast pace the whole time instead of slowing to a crawl. Austin was pre-broken neck, so he could still go here, though he was in brawling mode which complimented the match. Bulldog had some good explosions and kept up. Michaels and Owen were the best, but it was mainly the Michaels show. It felt like it was going to break into chaos at any moment, and the rest of the Hart Foundation were hanging around the ramp, so that just added to it. 10 minutes of really good action at a pace you don’t often associate with WWF matches. Another thing I like is the finish. They didn’t do a million false finishes; Michaels just caught Bulldog when the referee was trying to regain control, and Austin got the pin in the chaos. I always liked the post-match where the Harts all jump in and beat up Michaels, and Austin doesn’t give a shit. He won the match and he sees helpless Bret all alone. All of this is really good. ***1/2

ML: This was an energetic sprint, a rare WWF match wrestled with genuine urgency. Michaels came back after almost 4 months and worked like he was trying to make up for lost time. He moved with more purpose here. I'm still not that impressed with his largely much ado about nothing offense and think he's overdoing things especially when his taking, but he reigned in his worst tendencies somewhat and delivered a lot of high speed action to win me over. He was definitely the furthest above his typical level, and his show stealing tendencies were working more for the match than just being a look at me. Austin did good character work, seeming genuinely intimidating and a bit unhinged in his rabid dog beatdown. He was mostly brawling, but you believed he was motivated to hurt the opponent. I kind of enjoyed him the most here even though he didn't really do any moves. Michaels & Austin were an interesting team because both were rushing to attack the opposition in completely different styles, but it worked because you believed they were going full force. Owen is the best wrestler in the match, but typically relied on his natural talent. Everything he did was precise and professiona, but he probably did the least to make this particular match stand out from his typical good work. Bulldog had no stamina by this point, but he understood the match they were trying to do and would do a single running move then either get cut off or make the hot tag. His one segment of extended offense was less of a drop off than you'd expect. The finish where the reluctant partners won when Michaels knocked Bulldog out with sweet chin music while the ref's back was turned, and Austin sort of stole his glory by just pinning Bulldog seemed pretty random. I liked the post match though where the Hart underlings ganged up on Michaels in the ring, but Austin abandoned him and instead tackled a somewhat helpless Bret Hart, who had stayed back in the runway where they watched the match from because he was out with a knee injury. ***

9/20/97 WWF One Night Only: Owen Hart vs. Vader 12:14
PA: A rare occasion where Owen got to be the babyface in the WWF. This was the sort of match Vader should have been having with Shawn Michaels a year earlier, but Michaels didn’t want to work with him. Owen gave a classic babyface performance with his bumping and selling, and trying to use his speed, while Vader would just clobber him down and do something devastating. Vader looked like a monster here, and you always had the sense that Owen was on borrowed time whenever Vader cut him off. It was a well-worked match. Owen got a big hope spot with the Sharpshooter and got a huge pop for bodyslamming Vader, which they’d been teasing all match. Owen got one more run in after that. The end seemed a little anti-climactic with Vader catching him coming off the top rope into a powerslam to win, a move that no one ever wins with. Really good match though, and certainly Vader’s best singles match in the WWF. ***1/2

9/22/97 WWF RAW is WAR: Cactus Jack vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley 9:16 / 13:40
PA: Foley cut the classic promo before the match with Dude Love and Mankind talking to each other and introducing the WWF to Cactus Jack, while HHH threw a tantrum in the ring to put him over. They picked the right venue to bring Cactus out. MSG just started chanting ECW at the start. It was also the match that came directly after Vince McMahon got stunned by Steve Austin for the first time, so the fans were losing their minds. This is just Attitude Era brawling all over the building, and it’s pretty good for what it is, before that became a boring cliché. Cactus did a good job, HHH didn’t contribute much at all, but he didn’t have to. Chyna got in as much offense as he did, the good thing was it paid off later. She went to hit Cactus with a chair and he caught it, HHH shoved him and Chyna got sandwiched into the stairs, which got rid of her. They brawled and did moves all the way up the ramp. HHH pulled out a table to finish the job, but Cactus low-blowed him and won with a piledriver. I don’t think it holds up so well given we got these sort of matches every week from 1998 onwards, though it was on a higher level than most of those. For its time, it was good, and it has a pretty great finish. ***

2/12/21 PWA, PWWA Title: Jessica Troy vs. Robbie Eagles 16:18
ML: The PWWA Title was a women's title that Troy turned into an intergender title. Robbie is wider obviously, but they are the same height, and the weight difference isn't crazy since it's not MMA. Troy is a more talented opponent than Eagles generally gets in NJPW, so I'd rather see this since it was done seriously, respectfully, and tastefully. Eagles is one of the more submission oriented juniors, which lines up well with Troy's arm collector style, but this match was more about Troy doing a lot of the faster paced, quasi Lucha Libre stuff that Eagles likes to do. Eagles attacked the knee, while Troy attacked the arm, but it was more that they did an action oriented match and found openings or counters into their relevant submissions. Troy almost won with an avalanche poisonrana that took a while to set up. She hit a flying knee to the arm as Eagles used the ropes to pull himself back up, and nearly won with the wakigatame. Eagles came back spiking Troy on her head with an UltraKill variation, but then they did an awful finish where Charli Evans pushed him off the top rope to the floor for a DQ. Troy wasn't much more happy with this finish than the rest of us, complaining to Evans about ruining her match, which was answered with a superkick to set up their singles match. ***

10/28/55 NWA Chicago 2/3 Falls NWA World Heavyweight Title: Lou Thesz vs. Don Leo Jonathan (16:10 + 3:40) 19:50
ML: Thesz was 39-years-old and had first captured this title in 1939, 8 years after the 24-year-old Jonathan was born. Thesz was definitely portrayed as the grand master here, generally putting Jonathan on the defensive and forcing him to work from underneath, which presumably wasn't a role that 6'5" Jonathan was in much despite still being inexperienced. This was a very fast paced match for the style that was action packed in its own way. They kept things active and snappy, generally not staying in the holds past their expiration. It was mostly credible technical wrestling, but it still didn't feel nonsensical when they ran at each other or threw in a dropkick or a Thesz press, partially because the moves were performed with urgency over slickness. Both wrestlers took little cheap shots to get under each other's skin when they had the opening. It always felt like what they were doing was important, and escaping from the holds was a genuine priority. This was a shorter Thesz match so they sped up the pace and did quicker transitions since there was no reason to linger. Despite both being heavyweights, the wrestlers were quick and agile. It was all simple stuff, but high level, relatively believable grappling just the same. They maintained their intensity throughout the 19 minutes, finding a nice balance of skill and roughness to their technical wrestling. There's some flash to it, but it's hard nosed. It never gets too cute, and you never doubted the drive or toughness of the competitors. The only downside was that Thesz handled Jonathan too easily for the most part. I mean, comparatively, Jonathan got more from Thesz than many, but it's not until the 10 minute mark where Jonathan stuns Thesz with a couple of knees and locks on a guillotine that he really gets himself into the match. I thought he could take a fall because that's usually the way things work, but I don't think anyone believed he could actually win the match. Thesz dropkick that won the first fall was more throwing himself at Jonathan and trying to connect than anything else, which made it look like a high risk, high reward attempt that paid off. Jonathan had a run at the end with a series of his coconut crushes, but Thesz knocked him out countering into a backdrop to sweep. For a match of this era, it really flew by. ***1/2

8/22/81 AJPW 2/3 Falls: Mil Mascaras vs. Ricky Steamboat (12:30, 3:49, 3:26) 19:45
ML: These two were very different style technical wrestlers and this was the first and practically last time they ever worked together, but they did a good job of countering each other and making each other work. They were two of the top foreign idols who would tour All Japan, and they wrestled each other totally cleanly. Mil was the more experienced of the two, so he led Steamboat through his match, but there were a lot more control exchanges than in the typical Mascaras match because he respected Steamboat's ability. This was one of those matches where they really set out to do one thing, but then hedged, so neither exactly worked. It's 99% technical wrestling, but instead of paying off the arm work, or anything they were actually doing, they gave us that brief moment of high flying that we had been craving. To some extent that was good, but I think the match would have been best if it was more in the Steamboat mode of the brief bursts of running action followed by the more active Mascaras mat work, and in that case these action finishes wouldn't have been out of place. The way they did this match, they might just as well have stuck to their guns of doing the theme match and just had the two falls be by submissions. Outside of a Steamboat body slam, the entire first fall was grappling until they got up so Steamboat could do another body slam and a dropkick, then Mascaras avoided a dropkick and finished with his diving body attack. The brief second fall continued to be entirely technical wrestling, but Steamboat rolled through on Mascaras one high spot, the reverse diving body attack, and got the flash pin to even it up. The third fall was only slightly more action-packed. Mascaras hit two flying cross attacks in the third fall and applied the abdominal stretch, but Steamboat reverses, and they went tumbling to the floor where they exchanged more abdominal stretches until the bs count out. This was 100% technical to the point Steamboat didn't even throw a single chop. The technical wrestling was good enough that they didn't really need anything else, you can't say that about many matches outside the UK from this era, but the two tacked on finishes followed by the non finish kept any of the falls from truly feeling satisfying. ***

3/15/24: IWA Charli Evans vs. Rita Stone 14:35
ML: This was a big improvement over there 4/8/23 match, as Stone was a lot more impressive now that she was in her third year as a pro. She now possessed the move set to make you believe she could actually win this. Less was required of Evans to carry this, and being 4 minutes shorter, plus Stone being more confident in her offense made this a more explosive encounter. It was much more exciting, with a lot more bursts of action. The length itself was about right, but they didn't do a good job of building up to the finish. It was all good, but there was no real climax, as they just kind of randomly ended things with Evans cutting Stone off on the top rope and using a Death Valley bomb and a lariat. ***

6/21/24 IWA 30 Minute Iron Woman: Rita Stone vs. Charli Evans 30:00
ML: The sooner we admit that nobody active in 2024 actually needs 30 minutes for a wrestling match, the healthier we will all be. That being said, this was one of the better long matches because even though you knew it was going long, they didn't throw any portion away, and they padded this a lot less than most. It was certainly never dull. Evans is basically good at any length, but Stone was considerably more impressive in their previous match because, at half this length, she could basically go all out anytime she was on offense. Stone was still good here even though this length works against what she does best. Stone had already lost their first two matches, so she wasn't looking to get behind in this one, but Evans got the first fall here winning a flash pin exchange. Evans controlled this fall with her technical wrestling, but Stone was able to speed things up to start the second. This was a long fall after Stone couldn't even things up quickly, and things were looking really bleak when Evans avoided a corner charge and finished Stone off with a knee, fisherman buster, and lariat. Now Stone had maybe 11 minutes to score 2 falls when she was down 4-0 against Charli overall. She came out fast, but Evans grew very cocky when she was able to quickly cut Stone off. Stone willed her way way back into this, and finally got a pin turning an electric chair into a victory roll. They always got a 30-second break between falls, and after the last fall, Evans was ready for Stone to come out guns blazing, and cut her charge off with a big boot. Stone's determination never wavered, and when Evans tried to roll through her LaBell lock, she caught her legs and got the flash pin to even it up. The final four minutes where a mad dash to get what would presumably be the deciding fall. Stone took a Death Valley bomb and lariat, but kicked out at 1. Rita can't get no satisfaction with her rolling Stone, but got a submission in her LaBell lock with just 7 seconds left. Stone never released the hold, and they just allowed time to run out, rather than stopping the clock and giving Evans her 30 seconds, then getting 1 or 2 more moves in like they should have. The 3/15/24 match was more exciting, but this was better laid out, and felt like a big match. ***

11/7/94 SCW: Chris Benoit vs. 2 Cold Scorpio 16:48
ML: These two trained together in the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo, and traveled the world together, working together everywhere from big crowds on WCW PPV and North Korea forced attendance to tiny local gyms like this. This wasn't a major effort, but it was very well executed. Benoit's professionalism was readily apparent even though they were trying not to beat their bodies up too much for 30 people. They always work really well together, but this one took a while to get going, as they were pretty obviously killing time. Scorpio kept putting Benoit on the defensive, and Benoit would take a breather on the outside, until Benoit finally turned a Frankensteiner into a powerbomb. Benoit then had a long run plowing through Scorpio, with Scorpio working towards a comeback, but always falling short of turning the tide. Scorpio finally came back after avoiding a dropkick and got a near fall with an avalanche victory roll. Benoit countered a victory roll and powerbombed Scorpio, but Scorpio flash pinned him countering a second powerbomb into a sunset flip. This wasn't one of their best matches, but rather standard solid Benoit that's easy to duplicate, and always impressive. ***

5/20/17 WWE United Kingdom Title: Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne 15:27
ML: Dunne is from the sadistic breed of technical wrestler who does targeted attacks and enjoys small joint manipulation. His style favors punishment and pain over elegance and athleticism. Bate is a strong all around performer who would have gone a lot farther had WWE not killed the UK scene or possibly in AEW since WWE is only going to do so much with a guy who looks like he's about 5'2" (they claim 5'7") even under the best of circumstances. This was a good matchup because Dunne is more effective than exciting, while Bate is more a spot merchant than someone who really constructs a match. This was more towards Bate's match, with Dunne mostly reacting to him after some early heat with his mean technical work. These two had quite a few good counters for one another to the point you were starting to always be thinking about them changing it up mid move. Dunne did a good job of making Bate pay for his flying, countering the running shooting star press with a triangle, elbowed him out of midair, and matadoring a no touch tope, which led to the finish where he took the title with his bitter end (pumphandle flatliner). ***

4/17/21 IWA Submission: Charli Evans vs. Jessica Troy 17:32
ML: These two are good technical wrestlers, but the submission stipulation didn't really help the match. It kind of just kept them in the mode of forcing submissions when it would have been better if they just wrestled their regular match, and if they tossed on a submission after they knocked the opponent out, so be it. Troy often wins with an arm submission, so this was theoretically a better match for her. She just doesn't usually devote so much time to applying submissions. The match was good, but in the end, even more set up work to an area would have been better. This somewhat came later on when Evans worked the knee and Troy worked the arm, but it felt like they developed this a lot less than they would have in one of their random normal matches. Evans won with the ankle lock. This was definitely nowhere near the quality of their excellent 4/11/25 match, and is probably their worst match together. **3/4

11/19/16 2/3 Falls WWE NXT Tag Title: Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa (5:07, 13:34, 3:34) 22:15.
ML: This match was good, but had trouble getting out of its own way. It's one of those matches that wanted to be a lot more clever than it actually was. Good action, but almost as much didn't really work as did. FTR's homage to '80s tag team forms and structures was more obvious in these days with the ref missing the hot tag shenanigans and whatnot. While entertaining, and honestly better executed and more exciting than what it was working off, it often seemed to try to way to hard to be more than it actually was, calling attention to itself instead of just resting on it's own merits. FTR executed solidly and held the match together. Gargano brought flash and energy without usually being too cute with his athletic offense. He was fighting 2 on 1 a lot, getting a move or 2 in then getting cut off. Ciampa brings more energy and intensity. He's the more believable but less exciting member of DIY. The first fall concluded when Gargano slung himself back into the ring for a spear at a charging Dawson, but Dawson caught him out of the air and they finished him with the shatter machine. In the second fall, Ciampa made a good hot tag and got to the point of almost getting the finish with his running knee, only to just stop fighting completely, and eventually start a chant for Gargano to get up off his knees. You wouldn't need a partner if you just won the match, but Ciampa preferred to just randomly became a cheerleader because apparently there weren't enough other ways to stall and they couldn't come up with 1 of a 1,000 reasonable ways for Dawson to cut him off. Embarrassing. The whole end of this fall with FTR dragging Gargano back in, but it quickly backfiring on them made no sense whatsoever. They did a good job of making the near falls in the third fall dramatic, but again, sometimes it felt like they were specifically trying to have "the most dramatic match of all-time" instead of just letting their stuff stand on its own. Gargano supposedly may have shattered his leg kicking the title belt, and instead of finishing him off, Dawson did some silly play acting and then eventually got around to applying the reverse figure 4, for the long overdramatic rope crawl. So phony. Dash took the leg out with a clip, but still couldn't finish Gargano off. It seemed odd that DIY were the team that won via submission given FTR had done all the actual body work (not that this matters outside of delusional pro wrestling misconception). This had more good action than their previous match, but had a lot more issues also. ***

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 6/30/76 Lincoln, England: John Naylor vs. Bobby Ryan
DC: The wrestling displayed was of really good quality. Because they were smaller and faster than the average worker on WOS, it feels they were definitely more advanced than most. It was interesting to see how they were very competitive on the mat and really put over that they were trying to outwrestle each other. And when the opportunity was there, they would accelerate the tempo briefly for some speedy flashes of spectacle, which showed the urgency to capitalize on a perceived opening that could potentially lead to a pinfall. Technically, they did everything right, but what prevented this match from reaching true greatness was that it lacked that extra bit of intensity that made the most famous WOS bouts so great. So, while this was truly excellent, it felt at times a bit too playful compared to the MOTY (Rocco vs. Jones), which took place on this very same show and had more of a feeling of importance to it. Excellent match. ****¼  

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 6/30/76 Lincoln, England: Bert Royal vs. Sid Cooper
DC: This was quite a heated and passionate bout that was over with the crowd. Bert Royal put a lot of importance on his selling to make the opponent look strong. Sid Cooper wasn’t bad, but he definitely was quite basic. Cooper’s main strength was that he at least showed some viciousness and came across as a mean rulebreaker who was trying to win at all costs. Royal played the role of the sympathetic veteran quite well, and he really put over the idea he wasn’t going to give up trying to overcome Cooper’s roughness. This certainly wasn’t a technical masterpiece, but it was pretty good for what it was and served its purpose. Good match. ***¼

St. Louis 9/10/76 St. Louis, MO Kiel Auditorium, NWA Missouri Heavyweight Title Lumberjack: Bob Backlund vs. Harley Race 6:06 of 17:35
DC: Bob Backlund worked hard and showed that he was indeed a capable wrestler. Harley Race bumped and sold like crazy. Everything Race did looked particularly well executed. And you could tell Race’s main concern was getting his opponent and the match over. Only six minutes of heavily-clipped silent footage exists of this two-out-of-three falls match, so it’s hard to say how good this match actually was. What we have available indicated that it was a really good match, and I really enjoyed what I got to see. Very good match. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/30/76 Solihull, England: Bobby Ryan vs. Maurice Hunter
DC: Bobby Ryan was the European Lightweight Champion at the time. This was a very well-wrestled contest featuring some of the best technical wrestling of the time. The execution and the insight shown by both grapplers that made them stand out as two of the most outstanding technical wrestlers of 1976. And even though this was being wrestled as a very fair contest without rulebreaking, they showed a good amount of intensity. If this would have lasted longer and wasn’t just a one-fall contest, it potentially could have turned into a truly great bout. Excellent match. ****¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 11/30/76 Solihull, England: Marty Jones vs. Terry Rudge
DC: The British Light Heavyweight Champion Marty Jones took on heavyweight wrestler Terry Rudge in this catchweight bout. The grappling displayed was very snug and intense. Terry Rudge was the more powerful and rough of the two, but Marty Jones was not intimated and showed tremendous confidence in his ability. Rudge played his role as the aggressor quite well. Jones was really good at balancing between putting Rudge over as a tough opponent and still maintaining a strong level of competitiveness going. They really portrayed the dynamic between the light heavyweight and the heavyweight very well, as the storytelling put over the idea so well that Jones, while focusing on his superb technique and his ability to show bursts of energy, had to show more tenacity due to facing a heavy no-nonsense opponent. Jones was very nimble and versatile, and he really was the best pro wrestler in the world in 1976. The match ended in a draw, but Rudge said after the bout about Jones that “this man is a real champion” and received much applause from the appreciative and satisfied crowd. Great match. ****½ 

AJW 12/8/76 Koshigaya, WWWA Tag Team Title: Maki Ueda & Jackie Sato vs. Yum Ikeshita & Shinobu Aso 6:00 shown
DC: Beauty Pair vs. Black Pair. This was the original incarnation of the Black Pair. Both Yumi Ikeshita and Shinobu Aso showed a lot of intensity, and it really was this intensity that made the match. The Black Pair were very aggressive and heelish. The Beauty Pair did a good job of acting like the innocent sweet girls in trouble. Maki Ueda did a particularly good job of wincing in pain and despair. The Beauty Pair was able to overcome the onslaught by the villains, as Ueda pinned Ikeshita after a tombstone piledriver. Very good match. ***½ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 12/29/76 Woking, England: Alan Serjeant vs. Zoltan Boscik
DC: Alan Serjeant displayed his tremendous technical skills here. And he basically forced Zoltan Boscik to join him in his quest to make this a competitive grappling contest. Boscik wasn’t as skilled as Serjeant was, but Boscik was good enough at following Serjeant’s lead. Perhaps the most pleasantly surprising aspect of this match was the fact that Boscik was so into having to step up his game to keep up with Serjeant’s matwork that he either forgot or lost interest in doing a lot of his usual exaggerated heel stuff. There were some funny moments, but that was all done within the context of the grappling, kinda like the type of stuff you’d see in Johnny Saint matches. Overall, this was a darn good match and fun to watch. What prevented it from being truly excellent was that there was a bit too much focus on all the trickery and poetic justice, which is cool to watch, but sometimes it can get a bit too much. And the match was just a one fall match, which made it feel like a counter wrestling exhibition in comparison to the multiple-fall classics we’ve seen on WOS that feel more like hard-fought battles. That being said, this was an excellent performance by Serjeant and a surprisingly good performance by Boscik. Very good match. ***¾

1/2/94 AJPW: Toshiaki Kawada & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers 8:01 of 14:56
ML: Fantastics made this an interesting match from start to finish with their active, high action offense. It wasn't the Fantastics fastest paced or most exciting performance, but keep in mind Fantastics were in the heel role because they were the foreign team. They didn't cheat per se, just double teaming, but in the Southern tag formula, they were the ones who were isolating and double teaming Ogawa until he finally made the hot tag. They worked better with each other than Ogawa worked with them, but they hit the right notes, it just lacked the enthusiasm it would have had with Kobashi & Kikuchi instead. Kawada's awaited run was short-lived because the Fantastics were able to regain the advantage through double-teaming, including a double stun gun. Kawada nearly came back brushing Fulton's diving attack aside, but Rogers immediately caught him with a missile kick. Ogawa eventually ducked a lariat and Kawada caught Fulton with the high kick from the apron when he bounced off the ropes, allowing Ogawa to DDT him and tag. Kawada then just randomly won with his stretch Plum, which no one was submitting to at the point. This finish was so random, haphazard, and abrupt it kind of ruined the match, and this is coming from someone who always complains about the lack of submissions in AJPW. Kawada was effective picking his spots, but he basically just let the Fantastics make the match, doing no more than he had to. Ogawa did most of the work for his team since it wasn't a big match. He performed well technically, but didn't get you excited about him. ***

8/20/16 WWE NXT Women's Title: Asuka vs. Bayley 14:07
ML: I thought the first half was worse than their previous match, but the 2nd half was better. It was a rare WWE match where Asuka was properly portrayed as dangerous. In one sense, she didn't need to get as much in because one strike was stopping Bayley in her tracks. On the other hand, her offense was much more flowing believable and impactful, and her just waiting around for Bayley to run or jump at her was trying my patience. I can't say I was particularly convinced by any of the athletic stuff Bayley did. She was active and trying, but just seemed so slow at getting off these overly cute pedestrian high flyer moves Asuka should have seen coming a mile away. All the actual explosion here was coming from Asuka. The 2nd half of the match was more credible and spontaneous because Bayley did Asuka's style, exchanging strikes or submissions. The intensity increased considerably down the stretch, and the crowd was into it. Bayley survived the Asuka lock twice but was eventually knocked out from a buzzsaw kick. ***

2/7/26 UFC: Michal Oleksiejczuk vs. Marc-Andre Barriault 3R
ML: The fighter who was moving forward was always the one who was winning the fight. Oleksiejczuk did a good job of staying long and threatening enough with the right jab even though he was barely landing it to instead just land powerful lead left hooks and straights. He was the one applying all the pressure in the 1st round, but because Barriault was more concerned with safety than offense, Oleksiejczuk was consistently able to stay in striking range without paying for it. Oleksiejczuk is clearly the better athlete, more fluid and flowing, with better hand speed. Barriault seemed to be just hanging in early and trying to make Oleksiejczuk keep expending energy because Oleksiejczuk usually wins in the first round. Oleksiejczuk usually loses in the first round too, but Barriault is no match for him physically, so he really didn't start until round 2. Barriault did a much better job of holding his ground in the second, and that made it easier to time Oleksiejczuk coming in. Oleksiejczuk would shut off Barriault's momentum down by ripping the body, but at least in this round Barriault was more willing to stand up to Oleksiejczuk. Barriault had a good run in the middle of the second when he was able to get his half collar tie going. This was ultimately his most successful strategy throughout. Oleksiejczuk was cut beneath the hairline above the left eye. The fight was even going into the third. Oleksiejczuk's corner essentially told him that they wanted movement not brawling, which made sense because he's the better athlete when he utilizes it, while Barriault fought his way back into the fight by making it dirty, close range punching. Oleksiejczuk had to finally use his jab and lead hook in the third to keep Barriault away from him, mixing in the right body hook. Barriault was again aggressive in this round, trying to clinch. I didn't like Oleksiejczuk trying to shoot because that initiated the inside fighting that was the only thing Barriault was really better at. He was definitely the more fatigued of the two though, which was likely the reason he was making these bad decisions. When Oleksiejczuk instead pushed forward, Barriault still largely just covered and retreated. The third round was close, and the initiative was more evenly split then the other two rounds, but ultimately Oleksiejczuk was more proactive. Oleksiejczuk won a unanimous 29-28 decision. Good match.

AJPW 5/1/76 Tokyo, Champion Carnival: Giant Baba vs. Jumbo Tsuruta 26:15
DC: By the mid 1990s, these two would have ended up being in the same match together (either as partners or as opponents) for over 1,000 times in total. At the time of this match, Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta were a regular tag team and had only had one singles match against each other. So, this was quite a big match, as AJPW’s top star Giant Baba faced off against his future successor. This match was doomed from the start, though, as both men needed someone to uplift the match to make it memorable. Tsuruta would later be able to do the uplifting himself, but in 1976, he wasn’t quite there yet. He executed a really nice dropkick, though. Baba was truly a master of pro wrestling booking and had a great vision for pro wrestling psychology, but he lacked the physical ability to make it work without a top-notch worker giving him a helping hand. The great Billy Robinson would be able to deliver an all-time classic with Baba on 7/24/76. And in 1976, Tsuruta had two really good matches thanks to the guidance of two well-respected Americans, Verne Gagne (3/10/76) and Terry Funk (6/11/76). Baba vs. Tsuruta was good, but it clearly didn’t reach the excellence they were aiming for. This happening on the 27th day of the Champion Carnival tour probably didn’t help much either. There just wasn’t enough memorable action happening, as both men seemed spent, and the majority of the match saw them looking exhausted on the mat. Good match. ***

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/8/76 Woking, England: Ivan Penzecoff vs. Mel Stuart
DC: Ivan Penzecoff liked to incorporate cartwheels into his offense and defense, which was cool. And he did some cool old-school British escaping. He had some Russian heritage on his grandmother’s side, which is why he wore a ring jacket with the Soviet flag on it. It took Mel Stuart a little while to get warmed up, but once he did, this match became quite competitive. Execution was quite good overall, and the work looked quite stiff. At some point, Penzecoff, in an attempt to be creative, went for a bizarre-looking leg submission that caused him to get tied up in the process, so he had to ask the referee to help break the hold. This wasn’t a technical masterpiece, but I really appreciated the snugness and the effort displayed by both participants. Quite an entertaining bout, for sure. Good match. ***¼ 

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/26/76 London, England Royal Albert Hall: Roy St. Clair vs. Bert Royal
DC: Both these workers showed their grappling skills, which were certainly better than average. This was a competitive bout that was wrestled in a fair manner. The quality of the wrestling was such that you’d respect them for what they did. However, they didn’t do anything that would make you think this is a top 10 bout of the year or anything like that. This match is an example of the WOS Wrestling product simply being more advanced and evolved than virtually any other wrestling in the world at that time, as even a preliminary bout like this one is still better than most of what was happening in other places in the world. Good match. ***

Joint Promotions WOS Wrestling TV 5/26/76 London, England Royal Albert Hall: Vic Faulkner vs. Zoltan Boscik
DC: Vic Faulkner’s eagerness to have an enjoyable bout forced Hungarian wrestler Zoltan Boscik to step up his game. The dynamic between the two made for an entertaining match. Faulkner did a particularly good job when it came to allowing Boscik to do his heel stuff that he loves to do yet also making sure the match would mainly be about actual wrestling. Good match. *** 

AJPW 6/11/76 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, NWA World Heavyweight Title: Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta 26:37
DC: Terrence Funk had the honor of being the NWA World Heavyweight Champion for the entirety of the year 1976, and at the time, this was the most prestigious title in the professional wrestling world. On 12/10/75, Funk had defeated Jack Brisco in Miami Beach, Florida to win the ten pounds of gold. During his 424-day reign as The Heavyweight Champion of the World, Funk defended his title on many occasions against many different opponents all over Northern America. And on this one occasion, he even defended the title in Japan as well against Tomomi ‘Jumbo’ Tsuruta. Terry Funk and Jumbo Tsuruta certainly were no strangers to each other. Tsuruta was trained in Amarillo, Texas, hometown of the Funks. Tsuruta’s main trainer was Dory Funk Jr. (Terry’s older brother), and the Funk brothers wrestled Tsuruta on numerous occasions in singles and tag team matches over the years. AJPW founder Giant Baba had been the top star of AJPW ever since the league’s beginnings in 1972, and what was so special about this match was that Tsuruta was now the one chosen over Baba to take on the visiting World Heavyweight Champion, which showed that Tsuruta was seen as ready enough to have a shot at the biggest prize of them all. In 1974, Baba had been able to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Title for a week when he was able to beat then champion Brisco (until losing the belt back to Brisco). So, it definitely was plausible that a (brief) title change could happen here in this match. Terry did an excellent job carrying this bout in a subtle manner, as he was able to be a dominating champion while making Tsuruta look like a credible challenger. If anything, Terry was micromanaging a bit too much, which automatically caused Tsuruta to rely a bit too much on Terry’s guidance. In the end, what we got was an enjoyable and memorable title bout, and that’s all that matters, of course. In fact, this is probably the most seriously wrestled big wrestling match that’s available of Terry’s entire career. And the match also is an excellent example of Tsuruta already being a solid worker back in the mid 1970s. The work was really good all the way throughout this bout, but the reason it’s not a MOTYC is that they played it a bit too safe and didn’t push boundaries enough. Perhaps if no WOS footage of 1976 would have been available, this match would have been standing out more. When it comes to big Tsuruta matches in 1976, this match was technically and structurally arguably even better than Tsuruta’s match against Verne Gagne, but it felt like Gagne allowed his match to be more creative and free-flowing (which ultimately made the Gagne match a bit more interesting and memorable). Very good match. ***¾

1/31/2026 WWE Royal Rumble 2026: Gunther vs. AJ Styles 24:04
PA: Whether this is Styles’ last match remains to be seen. The whole post-match thing where he took his gloves off then put them back on, seemed to be saying, ‘yeah, I’m retired from WWE, but, see you in AEW in a couple of months’ (and who’d want to retire in Saudi Arabia anyway?). This built well and everything they did was good when they did it. The problem is they stop to play to the crowd or wander around after doing anything. That’s HHH wisdom: do as little as possible, milk it as long as possible. It was a fundamentally good match, ruined by being stretched out to 24 minutes when it should have been 12 based on what they did. Gunther is good at beating down anyone, and anyone can take the beating he dishes out. Styles made these classic comebacks, which were always perfectly timed, and he looked excellent doing so. You don’t watch Styles and think this guy is 48. The best part of the match was Styles getting the Calf Crusher on and Gunther countering it into a Sleeper. There was a nice run of false finishes for AJ after that, until Gunther took over with one of those stupid Ric Flair low blows, and finished a while later with a 2 minute sleeper hold, which again, how useful is a submission hold if it takes 2 minutes to put anyone away? This match was decent overall, but proof that you can’t even have a good old school match anymore because modern nonsense poisons even that. **1/4

8/29/78 AJPW 2/3 Falls: Dos Caras & Mil Mascaras vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Rocky Hata 8:36 of 23:21.
ML: They did a good job of keeping this match moving while still staying true to the technical wrestling. They would start out with striking or rope running, go into the grappling, and then counter back out into more of the brief standing action. Caras was once again good here, showing the most quickness and agility. The Rocky Hata Picture Show was an improvement over Baba. He's certainly not as good as Jumbo, mainly he just has a dropkick, but can basically do a lesser version of the same thing a lot more than Baba can. Jumbo pinned Caras with a sunset flip in the first fall. The second fall was skipped. The 3rd fall finish saw Hata miss a dropkick and Caras hold him so Mascaras could pin him with the diving body attack. The first fall showed the potential to be better than the Baba match, but we didn't get much after that 2:33 of the 3rd fall), so it's hard to even rate it. I'm confident this is at least a good match though.

1/31/26 AEW, TNT Title Mark Briscoe vs. Tommaso Ciampa 18:39
ML: The effort in AEW has seemingly been declining by the week, but Ciampa has to get over here, and went hard in his debut, determinated to prove himself. I'm not sure I'm excited about another 40 year old WWE reject winning a title, but he's better than any of their other current singles champions by default, so I'm definitely not going to complain. At least for the moment, he's bringing some life to this stagnant promotion. This was a well executed match with notably more stiffness and intensity than usual. It probably felt more like a NJPW match then an AEW or WWE match since it was pretty strike happy. Mark was taking this more seriously, not doing much of the redneck kung fu stuff despite lots of exchanging. Ciampa did a psycho driller on the apron and off the middle rope. There was a ridiculous spot where Ciampa hit a running knee with Mark on the table, then threw Mark back into the ring and stood on the table forever, turned around without even bothering to look for Briscoe, who was still trying to get a his balance on the top, got off the table then Mark finally leaped at him and put him through the table with the froggy bow. They did a nice job of picking up the urgency after this. Presumably this was going the distance to avoid giving Ciampa the title or a loss in his first AEW match, but Ciampa actually finished Mark off with the running knee. The Model Kyle Fletcher then walked out of the entrance and spent more time actually looking at his foe than in most of his "matches", so it's probably all downhill from here for Ciampa. ***

8/25/77 AJPW, 2/3 Falls NWA United National Title: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mil Mascaras (22:48, 7:46, 3:20) 33:54
ML: This match was much longer than it needed to be, which resulted in Mascaras not only doing more technical wrestling, but also spending a lot more time in each hold. He was on the ascendancy most of the match, with Jumbo fighting from underneath trying to escape, but Mascaras generally outmaneuvering him. This match was about Jumbo hanging in there and finding his moment to strike. He's the worst technical wrestler, but he had enough ability to take over at points, and the question was whether or not he could make the most of those opportunities. Jumbo did a good job of finding a way out after Mascaras gained the initial advantage, but his window before Mascaras regained control usually wasn't that long. The match worked because Jumbo was competitive enough that you believed he could overcome and retain. The more energetic 25 minute version would have been better, but this was a good layout where both guys had something to prove and could gain from the victory, Jumbo being both an up and coming wrestler as well as one who was able to beat the best guys from all around the globe sometimes. It felt like a big match, but I'm assuming from the dry ice that it was really hot in a gym that wasn't air conditioned, which also wasn't helping things seem energetic. There was a lot of struggling over control, though they could have made that more forceful. The first fall had two brief finishing sequences, one for each wrestler, before it actually ended. Mascaras hit 2 of his flying cross attacks and took Jumbo's back, but Jumbo countered into a leg lock. Later Jumbo hit a gutwrench suplex and a backbreaker, but still couldn't get the submission with the cobra twist. Finally, Jumbo whipped Mascaras into the ropes, but Mascaras cut him off with his flying cross attack, hit another, then got the submission. Jumbo knew he had to go above and beyond in the heart department to keep from getting swept, and that played out well in the 2nd fall. This fall started fast, with Jumbo showing more urgency now that he was down, but when no one could finish it quickly, they went back to the submissions. Mascaras tried to counter a bear hug with a guillotine, but Jumbo's neck slipped out, setting Jumbo up to use the giant swing. Jumbo hit his jumping knee, an airplane spin, then won with the missile kick. Mascaras still dominated the 3rd fall, but Jumbo hung in and seemed opportunistic enough to pull it off. Mascaras daring eventually worked against him when he followed the flying cross attack with a dropkick that knocked Jumbo to the floor, and Jumbo didn't catch him well on the plancha. Jumbo just beat the 20 count, and while this wasn't the way Jumbo wanted to win, he didn't really have a choice because he just managed to barely crawl back in the ring himself. ***1/2

8/24/78 AJPW, 2/3 Falls NWA International Tag Title: Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras (14:55, 6:15, 3:10) 24:20
ML: Caras debuted in 1970, and this was the key match of his first Japan tour, which he did his best to make the most of, though Mascaras was the star so he didn't get to fully show out. The opening between Jumbo & Dos was excellent, mixing speed, technique, and struggle. Jumbo had diversified enough that he was now able to do a couple running sequences that felt more like lucha. Unfortunately, the opening was the strongest portion of the match. Overall, it was still much faster paced than last year's Mil vs Jumbo for the obvious reasons of it being shorter and a tag, but the inclusion of Dos may have been the primary reason. Baba obviously isn't the ideal opponent for luchadores, and that's what kept the match down. They initially played off that, thwarting an Irish whip, but for the most part Baba was just sidelined. Luckily Jumbo wrestling 20 minutes is rarely a bad thing. Baba tried, but he lacked the grace to really do much for this opposition, and couldn't really base for them. This was predominantly technical wrestling, but took advantage of Mascaras & Caras' athleticism in between. Jumbo worked almost the whole first fall, and that came back to bite his team, as Mascaras came in and got the submission after two flying cross attacks. Jumbo made Mascaras submit to the Canadian backbreaker to even things up. Baba came in at the end of the 3rd just to immediately pin Dos with a gutwrench suplex. Jumbo was really strong here. He had to be given this was basically one against two. Dos was better than Mil, but not by a lot, though this had to be a really exciting discovery for the Japanese fans who were already big on his brother. ***1/2

5/28/91 UWA 2/3 Falls Mask vs. Mask: El Canek vs. Blue Blazer 6:03 shown
ML: This looked pretty impressive offensively, but 1 fall was skipped and the rest was still heavily clipped. What we saw was almost all Owen's offense, which surely was the best use of the time they were willing to devote to this. Owen was a more aggressive and proactive heel than in NJPW despite still being the spectacular performer here. He was very solid, but less flashy than usual. Canek had enough international experience to to be okay with Owen not really doing true Lucha. Canek did a dropkick, and then nothing until the finish, which had the jumping around but no real drama. Owen won the 2nd fall landing on his feet for a backdrop then hitting a German suplex. He's seemingly on the ascendancy in the 3rd until Canek finally makes his brief comeback to take it. I enjoyed what we saw, but obviously you can't really get the feel for a 3 fall match when you basically just get the 2nd fall plus the 3rd fall finish.