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markoutmania · 5 years

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NJPW G1 Climax 29 Thoughts

G1 Climax 29 Thoughts -Couldn't watch all of the G1, hard to find time, but binge watched a bunch for the podcast today. Here are some thoughts!

Day 9: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Sanada -What a match! Loved how this built up to where the big moments & nearfalls felt huge! I bought the small package & dragon suplex nearfalls as they were going to be the finish, but secretly I knew Sanada was going to pull this out. Nope, he doesn't! Totally blown away, 2 High Fly Flows seal the win for Tanahashi! Really good match! 3.75 stars!

Kazuchika Okada vs Kenta -OMG!! THIS RULED! So hard fought! SO STIFF! Kenta's kicks & palm strikes were BRUTAL in this match! That moment when Okada had enough of Kenta's shit midway.. DANG! But Kenta kept blasting Okada with hard shots. The catching air dropkick on the outside and then the one inside by Kenta, wow! But when Okada hit his own dropkick and then hit his OWN catching air dropkick... WOWZA! The final stretch of back & forth leading to the finish, I bought so many things as the finish! So good! Top notch match, definitely go out of your way to watch this! 4 stars!

ZSJ vs Evil -WOW!! This was GOOD! ZSJ SOLD! I am all into this new development of ZSJ actually selling stuff! Between his selling, the fast pace & mix of Evil's hard hitting style vs ZSJ's catch wrestling, submissions and kicks.. Heck of a match! Evil picks up quite a win here, which surprised me. I thought it was building to ZSJ getting the win. Good stuff! 3 stars!

Day 10: Jay White vs Shingo Takagi -HOLY MOLY! Are you kidding me? That was SO FRIGGIN' GOOD! Jay White has developed into a helluva heel. Watching him sneak, snake & cheat his way through a match is a lot of fun. And that smirk he puts on, letting his opponent & crowd know he's getting away with it.. Sooooo hateable! So great! Shingo had so much fire, fury & bombs though! It took everything between Gedo & White to make it past Shingo who was put over huge here despite losing the match. So good, such good language & drama! Helluva match! Definitely watch this one! 4 stars!

Jon Moxley vs Tetsuya Naito -OMG! That was SOO MUCH FUN! Naito's stalling antics at the start of the match, playing mind games and making Moxley wait well.. kinda' backfired. Moxley just EXPLODED with offense, wild start as they brawled all over the arena. This was an interesting match in that Naito came up against someone who was even more unorthodox than himself. He spit on Mox, Mox spits back. Mox bites him, he bites Mox back, Mox bites him again! They kept up a good pace, action packed back & forth match though that supercanrana spot was a bit botched and a bit scary. Moxley survived El Destino and hit two Deathriders, the last one SPIKING NAITO RIGHT ON HIS HEAD!!! WOWZA! Moxley gets to 10 points! Really good match, super fun! 3.5 stars!

Juice Robinson vs Tomohiro Ishii -HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI! OMG! What a WAR! This was HARD HITTING! Two guys just STIFFING THE LIFE out of each other, no selling total BOMBS in displays of FIGHTING SPIRIT, and coming down to the one who could outlast the most bombs and deliver a deathknell to the other! Oh man. I JUMPED OUT OF MY CHAIR SO MANY TIMES DURING THIS!! These two guys just DESTROYED each other, SOOO MARKING OUT! Again, THIS WAS A WAR AND I MARK OUT MANIA LOVED IT! WATCH THIS WATCH THIS! 4 stars!

Day 11: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Evil -Good match! Evil went after the legs and Tanahashi did a great job selling his age and damage, making it seem like his time was gone and Evil had his number. But Tanahashi kept working through it all and not letting Evil build an insurmountable amount of damage on him until the old man chipped away at the younger stronger foe and pulled off the win. Good story, good match. 3 stars!

Will Ospreay vs ZSJ -OH MY GAWD!! That was MARK OUT MANIA FANTASTIC!! The chain wrestling, submissions, back and forth counters at lightning pace.. SOOOOO KICK ASS!! I am digging this new selling stuff ZSJ in the G1! Ospreay is of course currently amazing and this clash of Ospreay's offense vs ZSJ's catch wrestling offense was just phenomenal! I really loved this match! I recommend watching this match for sure! 4 stars!

Day 12: Hiroki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii -OMG!! Another STIFF WAR! Goto & Ishii WRECKED each other in this battle! Just stiff shots left & right, back & forth! It really was two men just stiffing each other until one of them was left standing. No complex story or psychology, just BEAT EACH OTHER TO A PULP! Great stuff! 3.5 stars!

Shingo Takagi vs Jeff Cobb -WOWZA! What a match! Stiff lariats, AMAZING suplexes, amazing displays of power, both guys surviving bombs back and forth.. Great action packed hard fought match. There is just too much awesome in this G1 tournament! Heck of a match IMO, 3.5 stars!

Day 13: Kazuchika Okada vs Sanada -OMG HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI OMEGA SUPREME BREAKDANCING MARK OUT MANIA!!!! GREAT MATCH!! Okada so arrogant and cocky early on. Sanada seeming possibly out of his depth after having lost the New Japan Cup final to Okada and then losing his IWGP Title challenge months later and now cocky Okada dominating him in the early goings. But Sanada kept at it. He kept fighting. Sanada survived Okada's bombs and kept going to Skullend. But Okada bounced back from that, hit Rainmakers, seemed like he'd pick up the win after all, all his early arrogance justified. But no, Sanada survived again and SKULLEND!! Nearly 2-3 minutes of Skullend sapping Okada's energy & fighting spirit, building an insurmountable advantage. But then Sanada let go of the Skullend with a minute left, moonsault.. KNEES UP! Okada seemingly on the verge of pulling it off after all once again but.. TKO BY SANADA! MOONSAULT TO OKADA'S BACK! MOONSAULT TO OKADA'S FRONT! SANADA FINALLY DEFEATS OKADA WITH LESS THAN 30 SECONDS LEFT IN THE MATCH!! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! I was JUMPING UP AND SCREAMING AT THE TV AND LOSING MY SHIT! OMG THIS RULED! I don't think it was as good as their New Japan Cup Final but it was REALLY great still! I'm in MARK OUT MANIA amigos! YOU GOTTA' WATCH THIS! 4.25 stars!

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kota Ibushi -Oh Man! That was a good match! It started off with Tanahashi kind of doing his thing going after the knee and then Ibushi hit that hurricanrana when Tana was gonna go for the High Fly Flow out of the ring and from there it was Ibushi having a counter for all of Tanahashi's signature offense! Hiroshi slaps at Ibushi, trying to old man vet put him in his place but then it turns into a STRIKE FEST, Ibushi fighting back and from there Ibushi is just picking his moments and putting Tanahashi away bomb by bomb. Ibushi's Nakamura tribute knee strike and then the close range knee strike and IBUSHI DEFEATS TANAHASHI!!! Good match! 3.5 stars!

Day 14: Tetsuya Naito vs Shingo Takagi -MIND BLOWN SUPER DUPER ELECTRIC GUITAR COMET SHATTERING MARK OUT MANIA! WOW! WOW WOW WOW!! What a match! The back & forth action, the hard shots from Shingo, the disrespect by Naito, Shingo hitting him even harder and harder as the match went on! So much action, so many advantage shifts, so dramatic in the last 7-10 minutes! It really looked like it could go either way. And SOOOO many moments I was yelling at the TV, jumping out of my seat, sure something was over and it kept going and it was AMAZING! Another star making match for Shingo out of a string of them he's put together this summer in NJPW! Naito picks up the win in just an EPIC hard fought match! INCREDIBLE! I am TOTALLY MARKING OUT!!!!! HOLY MOLY!!!! 4.25 stars!

Day 15: Kazuchika Okada vs Evil -WOW! What a hard hitting back & forth match that had me on the edge of my seat yelling at the TV in the final 7 minutes! Evil seemed to have Okada figured out in so many parts of this match, I legit thought maybe Evil was going to pull this off but no.. Okada has a level that no one else can go to! Okada finds a way to get the win after surviving some MAJOR abuse from Evil! Helluva match! 3.5 stars!

Day 16: Shingo Takagi vs Tomohiro Ishii -NO FREAKING WAY MIND BLOWN AWAY INTO SPACE AND OUT OF ORBIT AND BEYOND SUPER SONIC MARK OUT TO INFINITE AND BEYOND MANIA!!! THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWING FREAKING AMAZING!!! HOLY MOLY! The Ishii formula, ie 2 guys beat the FUCK out of each other until one dies, but taken to an ABSURD MIND BLOWING NEW LEVEL!!! Ishii & Shingo TORE THE HOUSE DOWN with this match! So STIFF! So back & forth! So AMAZING! So dramatic! I'M JUST TOTALLY 100 PERCENT BLOWN AWAY RIGHT NOW!!! No words other than WATCH THIS MATCH RIGHT NOW!! DEFINITE MUST SEE! 4.5 STARS!!!

Day 17: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Will Ospreay -OMG!! This was a good match! Very action packed, kind of formulaic but it worked really well. Much like vs Ibushi, Tanahashi tries to do his regular thing but once again he faces a younger opponent who has counters ready. But where Ibushi felt like he had finally surpassed Tanahashi and was confidently moving past one of his idols, Ospreay is in a more desperate situation here and he can't let up in the finishing stretch cos he knows that he hasn't surpassed the old man yet and so if he's gonna win it he can't allow the old man to get his stuff in cos then he'll be curtains. Ospreay gets a HUGE win over Tanahashi in a good match. Good stuff! 3.25 stars!

Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi -WOWZA HOLY MOLY! What a match! Hard hitting, back and forth, outstanding sequences and dramatic counters & nerfalls! Ibushi wasn't as confident here as he was when he surpassed Tanahashi but he did have an air about him that he was at least on equal terms vs Okada and in the end it was surviving the Rainmakers so he could hit the knees and put away Okada. It took 2 of them but he did it! Helluva match! 4 stars!

Day 18: Jon Moxley vs Juice Robinson -Fun match! I liked how Moxley kept introducing weapons & plunder into the match and everytime Juice resisted temptation and didn't use them. In the end Moxley let his wild side get carried away and it distracted him from putting Juice away and in the end he paid for it and Juice picked up the win and revenge for their US Title match earlier in the summer. Fun stuff! 3 stars!

Tetsuo Naito vs Jay White -Good match! The Switchblade was not as heelish here as he was in other matches, so it was more of a straight forward action packed match. They did have some good action, especially the 2nd half of the match. Naito seemed so confident & assured of his victory but the sequence of 20 million counters back & forth led to White getting the upper hand and wiping Naito out with a wave of offense that no one could withstand! The Switchblade wins and will meet Ibushi in the finals! Good match! 3.25 stars!

Finals: Kota Ibushi vs Jay White -EPIC HOLY MOLY WOWZA POWZA COSMIC EXPLOSION MARK OUT MANIA! GREAT MATCH! EPIC GREAT MATCH! These two had an epic G1 final! The Switchblade went after Ibushi's ankle repeatedly throughout the match, it was his in to gaining advantage repeatedly. Ibushi struggled through it and Bullet Club antics but kept dropping bombs on the Switchblade who could only survive so many times before his luck was all out. I like this new thing where Ibushi goes to a new level when you slap him. Slap Ibushi and invite your doom, apparently. Only nitpick I had about this match was Ibushi's at times spotty selling of his ankle. There had to be a way to do more things one legged instead of just dropping the selling at times to hit his moves like usual. But in the end, after epic back & forth struggle with both men surviving devastating bombs, Ibushi finally wins the G1 Climax! Great match, definitely watch this match! 4.25 stars!

Overall: WOW! There isn't anything like New Japan Pro Wrestling and the G1 in today's pro wrestling. There are lots of tournaments, lots of good ones at that, but none that will give you this many high end matches. Excellent G1! I watched 20 matches in one day, won't attempt that again hopefully!

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markoutmania · 5 years

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Progress Ch.88 SSS16 Day 2 Thoughts

Chapter 88: Super Strong Style 16 - Day 2 Show date: 5th May 2019

Aerostar vs Daga -OH MAN! What a FUN opening match! They were surprisingly a little awkward at the start of the match but they find their groove and Aerostar is AMAZING and Daga is very good, of course, and they have a really fun little match. Nothing out of this world but a LOT of fun! 2.75 stars!

Kyle Fletcher vs Jordan Devlin - SSS16 Quarter-Final -WOW! This was a really fun match. It could have been a SUPER match but there was a LOT of sloppiness, especially from Fletcher. He went for a springboard moonsault early and was not going to make the full rotation in a scary moment. Devlin caught him, stopped his dangerous trajectory and guided him down safely in a suplex fashion but they both sold it as if Fletcher hit the moonsault. 2 minutes later, Fletcher is out of the ring, Devlin goes for a moonsault off the top. Kyle is out of position, just like he was for Daga's dive in Day 1, but instead of Devlin splatting dangerously like Daga did, Jordan was able to save himself from disaster. Later in the match they tried for an epic series of reversals & counter reversals of the tombstone piledriver and so many times it was Fletcher again messing up during this chain sequence. I'm not saying Fletcher is crap, but I think he was not ready for these high profile singles matches. Not at all. Anyways, that stuff aside, the idea of the back & forth match they went for here was exciting but execution, as noted, left a lot to be desired. Ah well, fun anyways! 2.5 stars!

Ilja Dragunov vs Trevor Lee - SSS16 Quarter-Final -OMG! We get a long pre-match promo from Trevor Lee doing his big league WWE star schtick and trying to tell Dragunov that they should go easy on each other since they both work in the WWE system (Lee in NXT, Dragunov in NXT UK) and then he tricks the ref and low blows Ilja to try and steal the quick win. But it doesn't go down like that. Dragunov survives, and VERY QUICKLY destroys Lee with like 2-3 moves and IT'S OVER in moments! Dragunov advances! Fun but not much to this! 1.5 stars.

Jinny w/ Laura di Matteo vs Session Moth Martina - winner goes into Day 3's women's title match -OMG! So much fun! Martina may lack perfect execution & smoothness in the ring but she has so much charisma and is so gosh darned fun! You just can't help but fall under the spell of her antics. Jinny has really good submission game and great kicks from all I've seen of her from the MYC, NXT UK and here in Progress. These two worked really well here and put together a simple but very fun match. Martina defeats Jinny, a first for Martina, and we get a big moment for Martina and a farewell for Jinny. Good stuff! 2.5 stars!

Do Not Resuscitate vs Haskins, Havoc, Andrews and Ligero - No DQ tag team match -Wow! At times this was a TON of fun, and the Eddie Dennis-Mark Andrews reunion moment was pretty fantastic, but there was also just a lot of just pointless things happening in this match. It was just a lot of brawling & spots with minimal selling at times, with no direction other than ACTION & VIOLENCE IS HAPPENING THEY ALL HATE EACH OTHER! There are better ways to show the hate with in ring story than executed here but it was a bunch of violent fun and had some cool moments. Fun stuff! 2.5 Stars!

Kyle O'Reilly vs Paul Robinson - SSS16 Quarter-Final -WOWZA! This was REALLY GOOD! It started off a little odd, O'Reilly was kind of playing around & hokey and bossing around the little angry man, Robinson. But it turned into a HELLUVA match! Both men worked over each other's knees, used cool submissions, cool strike sequences, built up a heck of an in-ring story & struggle to a dramatic conclusion! I love when a match wins you over and this one certainly did going from kind of goofy to good! O'Reilly wins to face Devlin in the semi-finals! Good good match! 3 stars!

Postmatch Jimmy Havoc comes out and says he wants to wrestle his last match in Progress against Robinson to decide which one is the better man for sure. It will be a death match of course. OMG. Havoc-Robinson Death Match on Night 3!! Yowza!

David Starr vs Travis Banks - SSS16 Quarter-Final -OMG!!! This was pretty DAMNED GOOD! Heated! Stiff! Action packed! These two have history & bad blood and it showed as they tore into each other! The match ended in a double pin but Jim Smallman says "Nope! Carry on!" So then the intensity goes up MULTIPLE TIMES! EVEN STIFFER AND HARDER HITTING! Banks's mouth is busted wide open! THEY CAN'T STOP FIGHTING THROUGH THE CROWD! SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR BY STARR! GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR BY BANKS! BOTH MEN ARE COUNTED OUT??!!! AIEEEEEE! And then... RIP EACH OTHER INTO LITTLE BITTY PIECES BRAWLING BETWEEN THEM! All the Progress crew can't keep them apart until Jim says WE AIN'T HAVING IT! You either reign it in or your BOTH out of the SSS16 tournament! But if you can go to the back and calm down... One of the semi-finals tomorrow? NOW A TRIPLE THREAT MATCH!!! HOLY MOLY!!! FANTASTIC PRO WRESTLING! I LOVED this! 3.5 stars!!

Chris Ridgeway, Darby Allin & Lucky Kid vs Artemis Spencer, Chris Brookes & DJZ -WOW!! This was RIDICULOUSLY fun!! Basically a spot fest sprint but WHAT A FUN ONE! Everyone got to shine in this action packed lucha rules trios match. So many cool spots including a SKATEBOARD ASSISTED DOUBLE FOOT STOMP by Allin on Artemis Spencer! Super fun! 2.5 stars!

WALTER vs Trent Seven - World and Atlas titles unification match -WOAH! This was a good match! It was maybe a little hard to buy into Trent Seven being at times on equal terms with Walter but that aside they had a STIFF, brutally stiff, hard hitting match that saw Seven up against it but fighting back constantly and seemingly slowly chopping down the big man with the bigger weapons. The finish was great from a story telling point of view. The ref takes a bump, Walter goes to grab both belts and use them as weapons. Seven gets ahold of one of the belts, the ref is coming to. Walter tosses his belt aside and goes to the waking ref and points out Seven w/ the belt in his hands. The crowd FURIOUS as the ref scolds Seven, Trent doing all he can to assure the ref it is not what it seems. The ref takes the belt, Trent turns around.. SNEAK ATTACK BIG BOOT AND THEN REAR NAKED CHOKE! Seven is fading but close to the ropes. His arm drops twice, but stays up the 3rd time, he tries to fight, he gets a foot to the ropes but the ref doesn't see it and.. STOPS THE MATCH! The crowd now BEYOND FURIOUS! Walter kicks Seven's foot off the ropes before the ref can see it and with an angry crowd throwing middle fingers up at him, the ring general from Germany is crowned the 1st ever Unified World Champion of Progress! Great scenes post match with Seven being helped to the back, seemingly near death and Walter holding the belts in the air, rubbing his cheap win in the faces of the fans while the commentators wax poetic that the Progress World Title is almost like the one ring from Tolkien's LOTR mythos. Fantastic stuff! Great pro wrestling even if not the best match action wise. 3 stars!

Overall: WOW! This was a great show! Good & fun matches all up and down and the SSS16 tournament really heated up and I can't wait to see how it all concludes! The main event had a compelling story and with Walter turning "corrupted" by the Progress world title, you begin to look for who will be positioned to dethrone him. Good stuff! Can't wait for more!

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markoutmania · 5 years

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DEFY Now 07/18/19 Thoughts

DEFY Now 07/18/19 -So.. I have access to some other promotions through my Progress subscription and I decided totally on the basis of this episode having ULTIMO DRAGON, TAJIRI & SUPER CRAZY on it to get my first taste of DEFY via this episode! Lets see how it goes!

Matt Cross promo -He talked about all the matches he's had with Ultimo Dragon through the years and this was going to be the first time they lock it up on US soil. His plans for 2019 is to reach to the top.

The 20th Anniversary Match: Super Crazy Vs. Tajiri -OH MAN! This was so much fun! Both of these guys are slower and a bit fatter than when we all saw them tear it up back in the day but this was HELLA FUN! The first 5-7 minutes was just the crowd giving them chants & ovations and both of them just eating it up and playing to the crowd before they even locked up. They had a really smart match in that it was more grappling based with just a few signature spots. Super Crazy BLEW MY MIND because he out of nowhere bust out a STANDING CORKSCREW MOONSAULT ELBOW DROP! Fat Super Crazy busted that out! Tajiri used the mist and a KICK to get the win. So much fun, wasn't a GREAT match or anything like that, was just a fun match for us fans to relive some of the old days again and let the younger kids have a taste of what we enjoyed once upon a time! Good stuff! 2.5 stars!

Shane Strickland promo -He put over all the good times he's had in Defy and put over the fans, the promotion and just had a nice feel good farewell promo. That's nice.

Schaff promo -This was an ABYSMAL promo. Imagine putting a microphone in front of a younger dude and he just says the F-Bomb a lot, chews gum and comes off like some teenager trying to talk smack. Meh.

Ultimo Dragon Vs. Matt Cross -OMG!! SOOO MUCH FUN!! Ultimo Dragon can STILL GO! Not saying he's 1996 Ultimo Dragon but he can isn't washed up, that is for sure! This was a fun action packed little match. They didn't build up much drama or anything, it was mostly a sporting wrestling match. No big dangerous moves, just working holds, chain wrestling, some of Ultimo's signature spots and they teased and delivered on a la Casita/la Magistral roll up finish. Really fun match and MAN ALIVE, Ultimo's theme song is super catchy! Had a lot of fun watching this, wish Cross was given a bit more shine but he was on job duty but he did a fine job of it. Good stuff, 2.75 stars!

Overall: I really enjoyed that! I really dug the camera work A LOT in DEFY, the shows look really cool. I definitely will be checking out more DEFY in the future! Fun show!

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markoutmania · 5 years

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Progress 88: SSS16 Day 1 Thoughts

Chapter 88: Super Strong Style 16 - Day 1 Show date: 4th May 2019

Chris Brookes vs Ilja Dragunov -WOAH! What a great way to kick off this tournament! Hard hitting competitive match which saw Dragunov's chest & head get turned into hamburger meat via chops & strikes! Dragunov is so spastic but intense, he is very unique. Brookes impresses me every time I see him, he seems capable of having any kind of match. Brookes' kicks are really great, I think all tall long legged wrestlers should use kicks, they always look good with long legs. Stiff hard fought match. Finish came out of the blue but it worked. Good stuff! 3.5 Stars!

Daga vs Kyle Fletcher -This was OK. Early on they seemed to have some miscommunication issues and it took a while for them to gel with each other. To me while Fletcher has been fine in tag team settings, he was kind of rough & sloppy in a singles environment. Daga went for a dive early and Fletcher did not really catch him so Daga took a fairly nasty fall. Later in the match, Daga definitely caught Fletcher for his big dive off the top, cos Daga is a professional. Daga, IMO, was much smoother & better than Fletcher by a lot but this crowd was 100 percent behind the Aussie Arrow. Anyways, Fletcher wins via some sloppy moves. Pobre Daga. 2 stars.

Travis Banks vs DJZ -This was there. I know I may offend some but DJZ is fairly garbage as a pro wrestler. He has no storytelling tools. He has spots, more spots, a sound effect and then a constipated facial expression as he waits for his chance to do even more spots. I think it is pretty difficult, possibly impossible, for anyone to have a good match vs DJZ cos DJZ sells nothing and has no interest in story telling, just getting his shit in. So he is basically the Young Bucks as a singles wrestler. Banks was fine, he sold and tried to weave a narrative of frustration. It was about the only thing one can do when the other guy is as bad as DJZ. Thankfully Banks won and then cut a good promo afterwards. You can skip this match, IMO. 1 star.

Jordan Devlin vs Lucky Kid -DANG! This was GOOD! Much better showing for Lucky Kid than the last show. He still has his weird spastic act but he at least SOLD here and they told a nice little story with Kid's ribs being injured and him trying to do his never say die bit through injured ribs. Hard hitting match, very competitive. Devlin hit some BRUTAL looking moves that I would've bought as legit finishes. The brainbuster, BRUTAL, right on Kid's head. The avalanche springboard cutter move he hit, HE SPIKED THE BASTARD RIGHT ON TOP OF HIS HEAD! That SHOULD have probably been the finish cos it looked positively DEVASTATING! But Devlin followed that with an almost DANGEROUS BACKDROP DRIVER looking suplex and that finished things. Good match, I enjoyed it! 3 stars!

Aerostar vs Trevor Lee -BOOO! BOOOOOO! Lee was doing a lazy "I'm a WWE star" heel bit, doing a lot of nothing as if this was all a big nothing to him. I know it was heel gimmick schtick, I know, and it was effective but man it sure resulted in a limited and bad match. Aerostar was AMAZING. The crowd was so quiet when he came out but then between Lee's heel bit and Aerostar's unbelievable work they were chanting his name and 100 percent behind him before it was all over. There wasn't much to this match though, pre-match heel promo by Trevor, Aerostar doing his awesome stuff, Lee doing a really slow & boring advantage stretch for a short while then Aerostar making a comeback, hitting a MIND BLOWING tope that sent both him and Lee sliding who knows how far into the seats! More MIND BLOWING stuff from Aerostar followed then Lee took a swing at the ref, the ref ducked and Lee kicked Aerostar in the crotch and got the 1,2,3 and the crowd was BOOING SO LOUD IT COULD HAVE SHOOK THE ROOF LOOSE! Lee quickly scrambled to the back amid a SUPER pissed off crowd and then Aerostar was given a standing ovation with chants of "Please Come Back". Aerostar was FANTASTIC and it is worth watching for him but it is not a good match. 2 stars.

David Starr vs Artemis Spencer -Fun little match! Spencer was a bit sloppy at the start but when he got going he had some cool moves in his arsenal. Starr was impressive again and they had a decent match. Hard fought, a bit of back & forth and then Starr hit a series of moves that just annihilated Artemis and it was over. On the short side, wish it had been a bit longer and more developed but was good what we got from it. Fun match! 2.5 stars!

Paul Robinson vs Darby Allin -WOW! This was INTENSE! The world's angriest little man, Paul Robinson, vs death wish bump machine Darby Allin in a fast paced hard hitting all out match! This was a fight that had blood, crazy bumps and raw angry emotions! It may not have been very long but DAMN, this was a great little match. I want to see these two in a bigger more carnage spectacle match. Finish was abrupt but it fit the nature of the intensity of the match. Good stuff! 3 stars!

Chris Ridgeway vs Kyle O'Reilly -HOLY MOLY!! This was SUPER!!! Great chain wrestling, submissions, counters galore, strikes, kicks.. this had EVERYTHING! This was a hybrid of old school technical wrestling w/ MMA elements and it was treated like a sporting event and it was FANTASTIC! SUPER! I really enjoyed the HECK out of this! MOTN for sure! Definitely worth watching! 3.75 Stars!

Overall: This was great fun! There may have been some matches that weren't stellar but everything felt important and big, the venue was lovely and it was a pleasure to watch! I'm HYPED for Day 2!!

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markoutmania · 5 years

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Progress 87 Thoughts

Chapter 87: Breadknife Show date: 31st March 2019

Do Not Resuscitate address the Electric Ballroom -Long promo & angle to set up a big 8 man tag for SSS16: DNR vs Mark Andrews, Jimmy Havoc, Mark Haskins & El Ligero (who is replacing Eddie Dennis). Wasn't a bad angle/promo but a bit long. Would have preferred the show to start off with a match. But that should be a good 8 man tag match, under Streetfight rules too.

David Starr vs Connor Mills - SSS16 Qualifier -HOLY MOLY! What a KICK ASS little match! STIFF as FUCK hard hitting back & forth fight for a spot on the SSS16. When I first saw Mills I kind of laughed since he was so skinny & lanky and looks like a teenager but man, he really impressed me. Especially his kicks, he needs to do more with his kicks cos his long legs make the kicks look great. Starr is SOOO STIFF! His chops, his Stan Hansen lariats.. I kind of want to see him & Walter just chop each other into oblivion now! Starr also had a great cartwheel kick early in the match that got a pop from me. Mills has some great high flying too btw, to go along w/ his kicks. Really fun stiff hard fought match, I enjoyed it! 3 stars!

Kasey Owens vs Nina Samuels - Nina's title shot on the line -Wow! Shockingly decent match! The best match I've seen involving Nina Samuels! It was a hard fought competitive match with both ladies showing a good accounting of themselves. I'm really surprised since I haven't been high on Samuels at all up to this point. Glad to be wrong here. Fun match! 2.5 stars!

CCK vs LAX -OMG!! This was SO MUCH FUN!!! Good comedy, great fun, great action, great double team sequences, hilarious scenes.. This was just so much fun! The crowd hated the count out finish but it works for setting up yet another match between these teams and it's such a heel way of doing it by CCK. Nothing but love from me for this match, so much fun, I dug the heck out of it! 3.25 stars!

TK Cooper vs Angelico -Result & finish aside, this was a pretty decent match. Angelico got to show off his llaves in the 1st half of the match and was great at bumping to make Cooper's offense look good and of course selling the damage. Cooper did some things well, he definitely is up for bumping & putting over offense, even if he goes a bit cartoonish with it. TK also has some good athleticism but he is still a bit awkward & rough in execution and seems in a rush to scramble from one spot to the next. The match layout was formulaic but it worked for what they were going for. All in all, a decent match though I wish Angelico had gotten a better send off in Progress than this. 2.5 stars.

Lucky Kid vs Tristan Archer - SSS16 Qualifier -This was alright. There was some good action & it was meant to be competitive but GOOD GAWD.. Lucky Kid no sells so much stuff. He's popping up out of superplexes, super stiff shots & moves and doing just really silly kayfabe smashing no sells. I was not a fan of that at all. But it was alright. 2 stars.

Trent Seven interview -AMAZING promo from Trent Seven. The set up was a little silly but it paid off by the end and what a strong promo he delivered here. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE TRENT-WALTER!!!!!

Swords of Essex (c) vs Aussie Open - Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles -OMG!!! WILD CARNAGE SPECTACLE FEST! They sure used everything: Tables, ladders & chairs! Crazy spots like that almost GANSO BOMB piledriver off the ladder through a ladder by Davis onto Robinson.. NUTS! Ospreay had some moments of overacting, the wide eyed "Oh Shit I'm In Trouble" look got a bit over used, but otherwise he was really great in this match. Some of the athletic stuff like being thrown off a ladder, landing on the ropes and springing off for an Os-Cutter is just mind blowing! Aside from the crazy spots I found the match a little lacking. It played off their other 2 matches, yes, so I can't say there was no story involved but it just became a setting up of crazy spots and doing crazy spots, recover, repeat at some point. I guess these kinds of matches often do turn into that in many ways. Oh well, I was engrossed in it. Very FUN carnage spectacle! Good stuff! 3.5 stars!

Overall: Really good episode, some quality matches throughout and DANG I am SOOOOOOOO ready for SSS16!!!! Gotta' start on that soon!

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markoutmania · 5 years

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Progress 86 Thoughts

Chapter 86: Corrupted Harmony Show date: 10th March 2019

Do Not Resuscitate vs Anti Fun Police -Formula tag match, fun but nothing special. Still see nothing special out of Eaver or Mambo aka DNR. Meh. Best thing was the prematch with the microphone not working vs Dunne's megaphone. 1.5 stars.

Laura di Matteo, Jinny and Kasey Owens vs Nina Samuels, Millie McKenzie and Session Moth Martina -OMG! Before this match has even started.. The SPAZ DANCING MARTINA & MILLIE ENTRANCE!! HOLY MOLY! Hilarious! HAHAHHA! This was A LOT of fun! Martina is so much fun to watch and has been a revelation for me to watch in these last 2 Progress shows. Fun action, everyone got some shine here and Martina is a riot. 2.5 stars.

Team Whitewolf (A-Kid & Carlos Romo) vs Mark Haskins and Jimmy Havoc -OMG!!! SO GOOD! First off, there is a lot of buzz around A-Kid and all I gotta' say is that it is WELL DESERVED BUZZ! This kid is AMAZING! The level of talent, ability & skill he is showing at this young age is MIND BLOWING! A-Kid is FANTASTIC!! He worked so well vs Havoc & especially Haskins. This made me want to see a bunch of singles A-Kid matches. Great action, hard hitting, super competitive.. This was GOOD STUFF! 3.5 Stars!

Eddie Dennis vs DJZ -This wasn't bad, surprisingly! DJZ was much like he was in the match vs Angelico: no selling, just getting his shit in. But Eddie Dennis did more to connect w/ the crowd throughout and create an in ring narrative to follow, basically forcing a structure to the match that helped this where the match vs Angelico lacked these things. Charisma goes a long way I guess. Was annoyed that Dennis hit the turnbucklel bomb and DJZ no-sold and bounced out into a counter spot. Way to no sell DJZ, among many no sells. Anyways, Dennis was very good throughout this in terms of connecting w/ the crowd. 2 stars.

Chris Ridgeway vs Spike Trivet - SSS16 Qualifier -Wow! This match was basically Chris Ridgeway STIFFS THE LIFE OUT OF Spike Trivet! I don't care much for Trivet or his work but man.. Did he take a king sized beating here. So many stiff shots. Not a great match or anything but wowza.. STIFF FEST! 2 stars!

Austin Theory vs Trent Seven -This was good! The pre-match banter was fun and led to a heated little match between these two. Hard hitting, good action, fun spots and competitive. Trent Seven seems really consistent in these 10-12 minute hard hitting matches. He has so much charisma and connection w/ the crowd & has fun matches. Austin Theory was better here than vs Devlin the show before. Fun match! 3 stars!

South Pacific Power Trip vs El Phantasmo, Angelico and Jordan Devlin -Fun match! Lots of action and cool spots. It lacked drama, admittedly, but was still a lot of fun. ElP was the standout star of the match. Angelico & Devlin didn't have as much time to shine in the match for that team. Travis Banks was head & shoulders above both of his partners though they seemed to be pushing Cooper a lot but Cooper & Niwa both seemed a bit green to me, not very smooth on execution. Cheap heel finish using the ropes, darned Kiwis steal the win. Fun match! 3 stars!

Overall: Fun show! Team Whitewolf vs Haskins/Havoc was the MOTN IMO, Seven-Theory & SPPT-Angelico/ElP/Devlin were all good too. Lots of fun matches on this chapter, Session Moth Martina continues to be a standout for me as far as being loads of fun to watch. Fun stuff!

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markoutmania · 5 years

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Progress 85 Review

Chapter 85: Progro.Naut Show date: 9th March 2019

Angelico vs DJZ - SSS16 Qualifier -Eh, it was ok. I feel this match was a case of Angelico being brought in to be a base for a smaller guy cos it's something he is very giving & good at doing. DJZ has zero psychology involved in his wrestling. Basically zero selling, zero in ring narrative, just spots & setting up spots. Angelico's role here felt very much to just give DJZ a good exhibition. It was disappointing in that regard, Angelico did not really get to do much in this match other than base for DJZ. I can tell you have had an influence on me in that it makes me sad to see him underused here. Ah well. 1.5 stars.

Trent Seven vs Ligero -Wow! That was good! Hard hitting back & forth action with some good build up to believable nearfalls. They didn't take it to the next level, probably didn't have time to do that kind of match, but what we got was pretty good! I MARKED for the Horn Grab Suplex, that was both hilarious & awesome, and only works w/ a masked opponent w/ horns to be fair haha. Good match! 3 stars!

Session Moth Martina vs Millie McKenzie - Women's Title Match Qualifier -OMG! Soooo much fun! The comedy stuff was HILARIOUS! Martina was so entertaining here. When they got to the "serious" part of the match they had a pretty good little action packed match. Jinny showed up late and we got kind of a goofy ending & postmatch. But up to that, really fun fun match. Fun stuff! 2.5 stars!

Jordan Devlin vs Austin Theory - SSS16 Qualifier -Decent match. It felt a bit like they were just going through a bunch of moves, didn't really tell a story but it did feel competitive at least. Austin Theory knows how to work a generic heel gimmick, otherwise was pretty vanilla like many indie guys. Theory had 2 spots which were examples of dumb things people do on the indies to make things look cool. Stepping out on the apron, grabbing the ropes to leap through the ropes back into the ring, roll up to his feet and hit a dropkick was one. Repeat but this time rolling up to hit a blockbuster. Adding more rolls & flips and convolution when just hitting a standing dropkick or a running blockbuster has more actual force & propulsion behind it than adding rolls & flips to what you are about to hit. Anyways, it was decent, not terrible but nothing great either. 2 stars.

El Phantasmo vs Travis Banks -WOW! This was good! Travis Banks as the somewhat cowardly leader of a heel Kiwi group is really great, much better than just the angry face character he plays in NXT UK. He has so much character & charisma in this role. Phantasmo didn't show a lot of his character work that I saw in other stuff but man he can go in the ring. Both he & Banks put together a good what I sometimes refer to as a melting pot jr heavyweight style match. Good action, good use of the heel stable, cheap finish but it works if they're going for a bigger match in the future. Fun fun match! I enjoyed it. 3.25 stars!

Anti Fun Police vs The 198 -This was alright. Some of the comedy bits were pretty funny & fun. Some of the wrestling stretches were fine, nothing special. Was kind of a mixed bag, made me a big sleepy to be honest. Was alright. 1.5 stars.

Do Not Resuscitate vs Eddie Dennis, Mark Haskins and Jimmy Havoc -Being completely honest, this was underwhelming. The atmosphere was ELECTRIC before the match and as it started but it was just kind of a sloppy brawl where at times everyone seemed to be tired or something, at least appeared that way. Haskins had his arm destroyed, Havoc stapled everyone, shenanigans, weapons finish, DNR win.. meh. I wasn't crazy for this. 2 stars.

Overall: Trent Seven-Ligero, Martina & El Phantasmo-Banks was all good, the rest was pretty skippable IMO.

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markoutmania · 5 years

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Progress Wrestling Thoughts

So I got a month subscription to Progress Wrestling and am attempting to watch all the 2019 shows so far. Here are some thoughts on the first 2 shows I watched for 2019.

Chapter 83: Remove Child Before Ironing Show date: 20th January 2019

Ilja Dragunov vs Timothy Thatcher -What a HARD hitting STIFF match! These dudes beat the HECK out of each other! The match was quite sloppy at times but it was a lot of fun. STIFF BEATINGS in this match! 3 stars!

Nina Samuels vs Laura Di Matteo w/ Jinny -Much of this was sloppy and very formula, by the numbers match lay out wise. Meh. 1 star.

Eddie Dennis and Mark Haskins vs Do Not Resuscitate (Spike Trivet & Drew Parker) -Some of this was a LOT of fun, some of it was sloppy & flat. Haskins was the best worker in the entire match, weird seeing Dennis as a face since he is a heel in NXT UK. Wasn't awful, had some really fun moments but also had some not so good. A mixed bag but decent enough. 2 stars.

Angelico vs Jody Fleisch -That was good! There were a few awkward moments where Fleisch would take a while to set a spot up but otherwise this was a good aerial vs strikes & submissions battle. Angelico's llave game is on point and you know, him as a guy hitting strikes & tying opponents up in lucha submission holds is a version of Angelico I'd love to see in main events vs his current role of being the straightman to Jack & opponents. Loved the quickness & smoothness Angelico put on that llave to end the match. Good stuff! 3 stars!

Aussie Open vs Do Not Resuscitate -Decent match. Chuck Mambo & his partner (did not catch the bloke's name) were sloppy as heck and have some of the worst looks I've seen in wrestling. They have bodies/physiques & gear of total green amateurs and I got the impression that is not what they are. Aussie Open were better, cleaner execution of moves, cooler offense, better teamwork. This was a very formulaic match but decent enough. 2 stars.

Shigehiro Irie vs Chris Ridgeway -Good match! Hard hitting, some good back & forth, felt like a fight. I did not buy the finish at all cos Ridgeway does not lay his strikes in that solidly so I don't buy his flimsy PK being something that would put this big ass Japanese guy down but, finish aside, good action and this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it! 3.25 stars!

Swords of Essex (c) vs CCK - Tag Team Titles -Oh Man! This was a really good match until Lykos' got injured and the whole mood of the match was kind of killed. Poor Lykos. But until that, this was a pretty good match! Good action, good sequences, some cool double teams & spots and it was building up really well until.. The injury and the energy just left the crowd & the match. Aside from the sad ending, twas a good match! 3.5 stars!

Overall Thoughts: Decent show, some fun matches and I really liked the ring announcer/host of the show, he was hilarious. Looking forward to more 2019 Progress! ***************************************************************************** Chapter 84: Eskeewd beef! Have anybody got any bokkle oran doove? Show date: 24th February 2019

Mark Haskins vs Do Not Resuscitate (Trivet and Mambo w/ Parker) -This was a lot of fun! Wasn't great wrestling, Mambo was again not impressive at all and I didn't think much of Trivet either but Haskins was good and this was fun. The Jimmy Havoc angle afterwards was actually pretty awesome! I MARKED for it and I'm not crazy for Havoc's work. But this was a lot of fun, set a good tone for the show. 2 stars.

Bea Priestley vs Millie McKenzie -This was ok, but not great. Bea was very sloppy here and a lot of what she does comes off as cosplay more than style. Millie was fine, I had no problems with her in this match and the way she soldiered on after Bea attempted rope jumping dropkick that turned into land on Millie's face & body as hard as possible showed how tough she is. I'm being generous and saying it was ok, it really wasn't good at all but Millie did her best with what she was up against. 1.5 stars.

Eddie Dennis promo -Meh?

Jinny w/ Laura di Matteo vs Nina Samuels -Did not care for this. Nina Samuels has not been impressive in NXT UK or here. She is around mid to late 2000's era WWE Divas level. I've seen Jinny have some decent matches in NXT UK & in last year's MYC but she didn't seem that much better than Nina here. Not a fan of this match, was like a longer 2000's Divas match. Meh. 1 star.

Travis Banks vs Jordan Devlin -Oh man! This was a good match, developing into a really good match when the run-in DQ finish cut that momentum short. But good hard hitting action between these two who had those really good matches in NXT UK. In the end, Banks' New Zealand protoges ran in to save him and we get a DQ finish and then the 3 Kiwis destroying Devlin. Good match! 3 stars!

Swords of Essex (c) vs Aussie Open - Tag Team Titles -OMG!! This was FANTASTIC! The atmosphere was great, Ospreay & Robinson have such a hostile relationship w/ the crowd, great crowd heat for this. Great action, dramatic nearfalls, back & forth momentums.. This was just a ton of fun. Really enjoyed this! Cheap finish that works in setting up an even bigger rematch, a TLC match for the tag titles, and was great pro wrestling. Can't say enough, dug the heck out of this! 4 stars!

Trent Seven (c) vs Timothy Thatcher - Atlas Title -WOW! This was really good! And sooooo STIFF! So many hard chops & European uppercuts! Hard hitting back & forth match! So much fun, this was really good! Simple story to it but it worked, good stuff! 3.5 stars!

WALTER (c) vs Chris Ridgeway - World Title -DANG! Another good match! Hard hitting, goes w/out saying of course, HARD STIFF shots aiding a simple in ring story for a fun match. It didn't go very epic or take things to a next leel but it was still pretty good! I love watching Walter destroy opponents, I must confess. Walter may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I personally think he goes in too hard on the chops, but I really like his basic moves turned lethal via his power style. Good match! 3.25 stars!

Postmatch Trent Seven-Walter angle: OMG!! Trent Seven challenges Walter to a title unification match at a future show and I WANNA SEE THIS MATCH SUPER BAD NOW!!! I'm legit MARKING OUT!

Overall: This rocked! Especially the final 3 matches, they really brought it in these last 3 matches. Super excited for the next chapter!!

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markoutmania · 7 years

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Lucha Underground has finally landed on Netlifx and as I begin rewatching Season 1, I thought I’d try something different so... Comic doodle recaps! Enjoy my doodle recap of the 1st episode!

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markoutmania · 8 years

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Mark Out Mania Coverless!

Hola, amigos! Welcome to a special coverless special of MARK OUT MANIA! I'm 'Dro aka Pedro Boyd and this is a, usually, weekly digest blog that Josh Ritter and I do where we share our thoughts on pro wrestling! We both have had a lot of things come up over the last three weeks and this kind of took an improptu hiatus of sorts. With the Euros kicking off today I have to confess that I will probably be more obsessed with football than the grappling arts for the next few weeks but we may do some of these coverless issues to tide us over til we kick things back in full force. Anyways, in this Coverless issue Josh does some NXT write ups while I do some Lucha Underground and New Japan on AXS write ups! So let's get to it!

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Lucha Underground 05/25/16

'Dro: Recap of cop drama, Trios title business, Chavo-Cage-Gift of the Gods business and then it's off to the Dojo and PENTAGON being on his FEET! Vampiro tells him he's not ready to go to the Temple, Pentagon disagrees.. They spar a bit and Vampiro reiterates that Pentagon isn't ready. He can go to the Temple but he's not ready to face the Monster! AIEEEEEEEEE!!!!! MARK OUT MANIA!!!

Mascarita Sagrada vs Joey Ryan I LOVE the introductions that Famous B does for Mascarita. The sad thing is they're getting me, and probably a lot of other viewers, SOOOOOOOO into Mascarita and then frustrating us because he loses everytime. I'm hoping it leads to Mascarita getting a huge win by Ultima Lucha 'cos I really, really want to see him win! Especially when he's busting out BOSS Topes like he did in this match and doing that Fireman's Carry slam and all the nearfalls he had. The low blow being no sold because Ryan has an iron crotch for some reason was funny, they both worked the comedy well here. I just hope this leads to Sagrada winning at some point! Fun stuff!

Taya Valkyrie looks in the mirror and likes what she sees, (and so she should WOWZA), and then she dresses to the nines and beats up masked men at a club of some sort! HELLS YEAH! Johnny Mundo is in a tux and they drive off! Fun stuff! Then we're off to King Cuerno's hunter's lodge and he talks about being the real King of the Jungle and shows off his latest acquisition... MIL MUERTES!!! Muertes is in his coffin with a glass cover and HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI my mind is BLOWN THE F-BOMB AWAY!!! I can't wait til the episode where Mil's eyes open and he breaks out of that glass! SO AWESOME!!!

Gift of the Gods Title Match: (c)Chavo Guerrero vs Cage WOAH! I was expecting this to be a squash by Cage and it sure started out that way. Cage was just massacring Chavito all over the place. But Chavo fought back and his fight kept growing and growing as the match went on! I mean, Chavo hit a TOPE on Cage! He hit a sunset flip powerbomb! Three amigos! FROG SPLASH!!!! Chavo put up a HELLUVAFIGHT here! But discus lariat and Lucha Destroyer and we have a NEW Gift of the Gods Champ: Cage! Postmatch he announced he's cashing in vs Matanza.. HOLY MOLY!!!! Really good match, shockingly so and what a match Cage vs Matanza should be!!

Taya leads PJ Black & Jack Evans to a surprise Johnny Mundo has for them: A KO'd Fenix! Why is this good for them when Fenix is their partner? Because Mundo is going to be their partner now! Oh Dang! They're happy with that and Mundo gives Fenix a kick before departing. Oh.. There will be vengeance I suspect! Then we go to Dario's office where Cortez Castro & Joey Ryan rummage through Dario's office trying to find evidence when they stumble upon a bunch of money! Mr. Cisco busts them and thinks they were robbing Dario without asking him so he's off to rat on them! Ryan pulls out a gun as if he was going to blast Cisco away right there but Cortez gets in the way and arrests Cisco instead! Oh dang.. does this mean cover busted??? Pretty cool and curious where it's going!

LU Trios Title Match: (c)Rey Mysterio, Prince Puma & Dragon Azteca Jr vs Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans & PJ Black Well! I'm a bit mixed on this match. On the one hand there were some SPECTACULAR spots throughout this main event. Lots of great spots in a fun spotfest. But some of the spots were too convoluted, mix in a bit of sloppiness at points and then overdoing the low blows to an extent I thought it had to for sure mean the finish and it didn't. In the end, distraction by Taya opened the door for Evans to whack Azteca Jr w/ a chair to lead to NEW trios champs! Fun match but I think my expectations were really high and it could not live up to my expectations. Ah well. Fun stuff!

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NXT 05/25/16

Josh: William Regal opens up to let us know that Bayley is injured and can not face Asuka at Takeover for the Womens Title. Tonight we get a triple threat of Carmella, Nia Jax, and Alexa Bliss to determine a new number one contender.

Johnny Gargano/Tomasso Ciampa VS TM61

Gargano and Ciampa have been on a winning streak, TM61 is formerly The Mighty Don’t Kneel which they throw in as a catchphrase in an inset promo. Australian boys who I hear are talented, Ive never seen them in action so lets see how it fares. Early mat reversals by Miller and Ciampa, Shane Thorn and Gargano come in and we get some ‘Johnny Wrestling’ chants. After some arm reversals Thorn hits a nice dropkick and TM61 start working Gargano over with some double teams and quick tags. Ciampa gets a hot tag that gets some chops in but Miller fights back with his own. Thorn gets a tag and mistimes a double team so a double back elbow just ends up with Thorn hitting one. TM61 hits a sweet standing moonsault/fistdrop combo and get some time in the ring with Gargano and Ciampa on the outside. Ciampa and Gargano work over Thorn after we come back from break with some nice chops that echo through Full Sail. Ciampa cuts off the hot tag attempt and we end up with both men down. Miller does get tagged in and is a house of fire. Gargano breaks up a pin attempt after an assisted neckbreaker and hits a tope suicida that he lands pretty hardly on the ramp with. Ciampa slaps the shit out of Thorn then hits a huge running knee to the face. Gargano tags in and they do a low superkick/knee to the back of the head combo for the win. Fun match and debut for TM61 and we get another win for the Gargano/Ciampa team. Ending run was hot.

Video package of Joe winning the title from Balor. We get him steamrolling through folks with a Joe voiceover talking about the steel cage match. He promises at Takeover we will see the end of Finn Balor.

Bayley interview sad about not being cleared for Takeover. Nia interrupts and says she broke her before giving her a shove. Carmella comes in and Nia tells her she will run through her and that little blonde Alexa. Miss Bliss comes behind Nia and asks what she has to say about her. Nia smugly says shes not even worth it before walking sway. I dig the killer Nia, hopefully the monster buildup continues. The womens division in NXT is great.

Really cool promo video of “vintage” lucha on a projector with a man in a mask watching, he slowly unlaces the mask before removing and bringing it in front of his face, which we never see. Then the words Andrade “Cien” Almas. So we get an official name for La Sombra, interested to see what he ends up doing. Really neat little video for him.

Austin Aries comes down to the ring to cut a promo. He talks about the overuse of “The Best” in sports vernacular and prefers to be known as great. He mentions that he came in along with another person comes into create a buzz. He says he will be the next NXT champion and the lights go out and Nakamura’s music hits to a loud reaction. Nak makes his grand entrance and the fans definitely love it. We get Nakamura chants. He starts talking in Japanese and says sorry, you don’t understand Japanese. Aries says I don’t understand you, Shinsuke says me neither. Nak says NXT Championship not coming to greatness, coming to King of Strong Style and does his finger points at a smiling Aries. More Nakamura chants break out and William Regal’s music hits. He announces a match between the two for Takeover. Crowd loves it, Aries and Nakamura seem to love it. Shinsuke offer a handshake which Aries accepts.

American Alpha promo backstage talking about their Takeover match against The Revival. Nice little promo for the two ending with the Ready, Willing, and Gable. I could do without the little towel bit at times.

No Way Jose VS Jonathan Ortigan

Jose is big for the Full Sail crowd, lots of chants. We get Jose dancing to a clapping audience. Jose gets the win in dominating fashion. He has decent timing working with the crowd but nothing to write home about. Post match Jose comes over to the announcers and gets them to dance with him.

Balor promo for the Steel Cage match, my eyes glaze over and I just picture Johnny 5 from Short Circuit in wrestler form.

Asuka backstage promo that is short and sweet. When asked about her thoughts on number one contender match. “No matter who wins….I will defeat them.”

Carmella VS Alexa Bliss VS Nia Jax

Alexa bails and lets Carmella and Nia fight it out, with Jax overpowering Carmella. Bliss tries to take advantage by getting on the top rope but Jax spots her so she climbs down and back to the outside. Carmella fights and whips Jax into the corner shoulderfirst so Alexa comes in to take advantage. Working Carmella over with some stomps before kicking Jax to keep her on the outside. Carmella tries a roll up hat is unsuccessful. Alexa’s “you’ve gotta be kidding me” bitch face is great. She does a reverse handspring into knees to Carmella’s gut that was sweet. Nia makes her way in and Bliss hits her with knees to the gut before a Sparkle Splash that almost gets a three before a Carmella breakup. The smaller girls join forces to try and double suplex Jax who holds her weight and throws both over. This has been really well executed and put together so far. Jax misses on an diving attempt at both and sprawls to the outside. Carmella tries a tope but is caught by Nia and Alexa breaks it up with a kick. She gets Alexa to the outside and tries a dive again, this time a lope through the bottom rope and its hit nicely leaving Nia on the ramp.

Carmella and Alexa trade moves back and forth before hitting a Bronco Buster. She gets a triangle choke on Alexa before Jax pulls Bliss out. She hits a headbutt to Carmella and tries getting her on her shoulders. Carmella slinks around and gets a sleeper locked in. Jax backs her into the corner to break it up. Carmella follows it up with a top rope Thesz Press (!). Nia fights back and throws Carmella to the mat and hits her legdrop for the victory. Asuka comes out post match to hold her title in the air while Nia trash talks in the ring. Asuka gives her devilish smile before coming down to the ring. They get face to face and Jax tells her if she gets this close to her again, she will drop her where she stands.

Good show overall. Ramping up to Takeover which looks good already. Thumbs up.

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NJPW on AXS 05/27/16

'Dro: After FOREVER AND A DAY... New Japan is BACK on AXS! We're going into the G1 Tournament! Hells Yeah!

Bad Luck Fale vs Tetsuya Naito Clipped to all heck but some really cool bits in it. Fale's shoulder tackle and the way Naito bounced off it was BOSS! The body shots by Fale, the way Naito avoided that clothesline.. Some good bits in here for sure but also some really sloppy ugly bits like the execution on that roll up finish. Ah well.

AJ Styles vs Katsuyori Shibata Really fun match! Shibata's strikes and quick transitions overwhelming AJ early on leading up to that STIFF boot sending AJ off the apron to the guard railing so they could set up Shibata going for the kicks and missing and hitting the ringpost before the commercials! That was a great set up and when they came back from commercials if Shibata had sold the HECK out of the leg, it would've ramped things up a lot in the match. But Shibata was barely selling the leg at all in what they showed coming back from the commercial break but the escalation and the final stretch sequences were pretty off the chart going into the Brainbuster DDT and the Styles Clash to give AJ the win. Really fun stuff!

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kota Ibushi HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI!!! What a GREAT match this was! These two really went all out here! So many great spots here from the standing corkscrew moonsault, the slingblade planting Ibushi on his head, the High Fly Flow to the outside, the gazillion corkscrews, the straight jacket German suplex, the UNBELIEVABLE rope assisted German from the apron to back in the ring by Ibushi, the hanging missile dropkick... So many great moments! Tanahashi sweeping Ibushi with a wave of offense to make him defenseless for the High Fly Flow at the finish was a great touch to a really great match. Super great stuff, fun to the sun and beyond!

Postmatch Tanashi does the super babyface promo and reflects on his epic match against Ibushi to end a really super episode! So glad New Japan is back on AXS! Kick ass stuff!

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Lucha Underground 06/01/16

'Dro: Recap of the Trios Tournament, the Cage-Chavo stuff, then the Trios title change from last episode and it's off to the Temple with live music courtsey of Voodoo Glow Skulls before we get a rundown of the show to come and it's off to the first match!

Son of Havoc vs Daga Oh man! That was a good match! Some cool spots like Havoc hanging SIDEWAYS off the ringpost out of the ring and then dropping an elbow on Daga on the floor outside. Daga's sweet reverse Michinoku Driver, Havoc's cartwheel Muta elbow.. Lots of fun stuff! Kobra Moon slithers to the ring and watches Daga with glee and tries to help him out but it doesn't work out for Daga, Havoc hits his Shooting Star Press for the win. Fun match! Postmatch Kobra Moon is all over Daga, trying to give him that sugar but he is not interested and lets her know but this only seems to turn her crank even more! I do not know where that story is going but I still think it's kind of fun and interesting. She comes off very scary in her attraction to Daga, where will it go? Should be interesting!

Rey Mysterio is beating up a heavy bag when Dragon Azteca Jr announces his intentions to go after Matanza. Rey rebukes this idea and he and Azteca Jr look ready to go at it when Prince Puma shows up, TALKING, and Rey is kind of getting into it with him!! They all calm down because they have a match up ahead.. WOW! Was not expecting tecnico tensions!!

Trios Title Match: (c)Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans & PJ Black vs Rey Mysterio, Prince Puma & Dragon Azteca Jr HOLY MOLY! What a super fun match! I now see why they had so many low blows in the previous match between these teams, it was to build up to the finish of this match the rematch. I dug this match more than the first one, had a stronger narrative throughout it and everyone seemed to have better chemistry here. They still had a bunch of super amazing spots like Puma superplexing Evans from the top turnbuckle onto everyone on the floor outside! DEEEYAMNNN! The low blows came up twice in this match, earlier when Rey was the face in peril and later when Taya distracted the ref and Mundo low blowed Azteca Jr. That's the final straw for Puma who then kicks Mundo straight up in the balls in front of the ref leading to a DQ win for the heels. Postmatch Puma SUPERKICKS Taya which upsets EVERYONE, especially Rey & Azteca Jr. The look of disbelief on Mundo's face sold this moment like gangbusters. Mundo carries out the KO'd Taya while Rey struggles with Puma and Azteca Jr and.. WOW! Total implosion of the tecnicos here! SUPER Fun match and very interesting angle developing from this!

Azteca Jr storms the room where Matanza is kept but Jade is there to interfere. She tells Azteca that Matanza did not kill their parents.. Dragon Azteca did! Jr doesn't believe it, in almost Luke Skywalker-ish denial but Jade tells him the truth hurts sometimes as he leaves and then she stares into the eyes of the monster! WOW!! That was TREMENDOUS! Loving the continuity here!

LU Title Match: (c)Matanza vs Cage YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME THROUGH THE MOON HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI MARK OUT MANIA!!! What a match! Two huge monsters tear into each other, seemingly a stale mate in power so Cage starts busting out the lucha moves! He starts doing all the stuff a junior heavyweight luchador would do and it throws Matanza off and it just escalates from there! Cage busting out crazy dives? Check! Both guys suplexing each other into oblivion and back? A million times check! Super dramatic nearfalls? Yep! This has everything and for a while I legit thought Cage was going to pull this off but then Matanza catches Cage in his finisher and that's all she wrote! WOW! What a super, SUPER war this was! Top notch fun and just great stuff! If you want to see two big guys beat each other up with big spots, you'll dig this for sure!

What a great episode of Lucha Underground! This is the kind of episode that reminds me why I am soooooooo addicted to this show! LUCHA LUCHA LUCHA!

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NXT 06/01/16

Josh: The Revival open up and talk about their upcoming matchup at Takeover with American Alpha in a rematch for the NXT Tag Titles. Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa come out, Dash asks what they are out here for. Ciampa says that American Alpha is better than the Revival, they cant beat them and cant beat Ciampa and Gargano. We get back and forth about big leagues versus their bingo halls. Nice little back and forth between the teams. We get a double dropkick from Gargano and Ciampa while the Revival keep talking trash while on the aisleway. We get a match between the two teams agreed upon tonight.

Nakamura is backstage. He is asked about his match with Austin Aries and how it will go. He says Aries will bow down to the King of Strong Style.

Tye Dillinger VS Buddy Murphy

Dillinger is definitely over with the Full Sail folks. Murphy, not so much. Dillinger does some arm work including some nasty bends on Murphy’s fingers. Murphy fights back and goes on top. Later we get 5 or 6 camera takes of punches in the corner by Dillinger. He drops the kneepad and hits a firemans carry into a backbreaker to the exposed knee for the victory. Decent little match, nothing to write home about but nothing bad either.

We get video of Corey Graves talking with Samoa Joe and Finn Balor discussing their upcoming cage match. Joe looks bored and checks his nails while Balor talks about losing the title and how it stunned him. Samoa Joe talks about getting what he deserved. Joe talks about having to jump through hoops for a shot. Joe and Balor go back and forth with Joe talking about being confident while Balor thinks he is just entitled. Later Balor talks about going to Japan, Joe asks who put him there. Finn says his hard work did, Joe thinks otherwise and calls it revisionist history. They then talk about Joe having experience in the cage while Balor has none. Joe says Finn knows he has the advantage, no one can come in and keep him from whipping Balor’s ass. They get annoyed with one another. Really fun segment.

Elias Samson VS Austin Aries

They go back and forth with Aries working over the arm, Drifter had a good spot putting Aries torso outside the ropes and whipping him neck first. He goes to pummeling Aries in the corner and screams at the audience. Following it up with a side headlock isnt the best of choices, pal. Crowd is mild overall although the action been good outside of some disjointment. Aries hits a lope to the outside and rolls Samson back in. He follows it up with a roaring elbow, a big kick to the face. Then he does a neckbreaker that goes onto a front chancery. Capture knees to the top of the head then he bridges over for The Last Chancery for the surrender. Cool finish.

Aries hypes his match with Nakamura. We get a hype picture of the contract signing between Asuka and Nia Jax. Same promo video as last week for Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas. He will be taking on Tye Dillinger at the next Takeover event.

Ciampa/Gargano VS The Revival

I need a Satin Jacket, wish theyd make a comeback. Dawson and Gargano start out, Johnny hits some classic babyface armdrags into a dropkick. He and Ciampa try cutting off the ring between Dash and Dawson. Ciampa hits a nice knee to Dash who is on the ring apron. Dawson gets Ciampa to come over and sends him through the ropes, following up with a taunt to Gargano to distract the ref so Dash can hit a clothesline on the outside. Ciampa gets to play face in peril and gets cut off from making a tag. He gets an opportunity after throwing Dawson into the ringpost. Dawson catches him before he can make the jumping hot tag. Good stuff there. After a blind tag they stop the hot tag again but Ciampa works his way out for house of fire Johnny Gargano. We get trading near falls with partner saves. Awesome superplex by Dawson turns into a stolen pin by Gargano. Post match the Revival is livid and beats down on Ciampa including a brutal looking Shatter Machine that Ciampa took full fledge. American Alpha come down and make the save, sending the Revival to the back.

Contract signing between Nia and Asuka. I always enjoy the way Regal says Asuka. Nia snatches the mic from Regal before he can compliment Asuka. Nia says everyone is running from Asuka and she doesn’t know why. Talks about breaking Bayley, “the heart and soul of NXT” She cuts a good promo with some great facials. Asuka says Nia talks too much. Both women sign then Asuka yells in Japanese. She tells Nia she should be scared of her. Asuka starts wailing on her but Nia picks her up and powerbombs her hard to the mat. Good setup and way to end the show. Im digging Nia.

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NJPW on AXS 06/03/16

'Dro: Two new episodes back to back this week but I got in for just the finish of Makabe-Shibata so no thoughts on that one.. But we're in G1 matches!

AJ Styles vs Kota Ibushi HOLY MOLY!!! What a match! This had so many SUPER spots and great sequences! The part where Ibushi went for that springboard Apron German suplex he used on Tanahashi last week but AJ blocked it and went for a Tombstone off the apron only for Ibushi to counter with a rana throwing AJ into the railing... OFF THE CHARTS! There were 4-5 amazing nearfall sequences that I legit bought as the end of the match, so darned good! Ibushi survives some crazy stuff to hit an OUT OF THIS WORLD Phoenix Splash to get the big win! WOW! Awesome little match!

We get a GREAT bit of Tetsuya Naito talking about wrestling with the Ignobernables in Mexico and falling in love with it and bringing it back to Japan and.. I'M SUPER DUPER SOLD AND OVER THE MOON MARKING OUT! Then we get to the action with Naito dressed in "business suit Skeletor" outfit as Josh Barnett put it coming to the ring and I'm SOOOOO psyched for this main event!

Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi This was so much fun! Not a GREAT match but a lot of fun. Especially Naito's antics, oh man, he was so much fun to watch here. The stalling, the heel bits, the spitting stuff.. It was great heel stuff. Tanahashi returning the spitting towards the end and them getting into stiff strike exchanges was a lot of fun. Naito's DESTINO wasn't executed very well here so the finish didn't quite come off but man, this was a lot of fun! Jim Ross' anger at Naito throughout the match was hilarious also.

Postmatch Naito beats on everyone including the ref and cuts a promo. SWEET! So much fun and now another episode!

Yuji Nagata vs Karl Anderson That was fun! Both guys did some fun stuff here, especially with facial expressions. I dug when Anderson was going for something off the top and Yuji kept fighting spirit-ing up until Anderson had a look on his face of fear and panic that sold the moment so well. Also dug the spin kick to the back followed by the enziguiri from Nagata. But Anderson snuck in his cutter to get the win, BOOO, I was rooting for Yuji. Postmatch Anderson has a HILARIOUS promo telling Nagata to make him some F-ing sumo stew and do his laundry hahahha! Fun stuff!

Tomoaki Honma vs Michael Elgin This was a lot of fun! Elgin had some really impressive power moves I have to say, he has a terrible look but some good power game going on. Honma was so charismatic and a ton of fun here. The crowd was so behind him and so was I, was sad when he lost. Good stuff!

Shinsuke Nakamura with a sweater recounts a tough elbow injury he was going through during the G1 Climax and all the ends he went to towards getting back in the ring. Totally hyping this next match, WOOOO!

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Tomohiro Ishii WOW! This was a really good match! I loved Ishii pulling out stuff no one was expecting like that leaping enziguiri and that dropkick. Nakamura had to rely almost soley on his kicks and knees because of his elbow situation so Ishii had more of an opening to put a beating on Swagsuke. Some great sequences and nearfalls in this and an awesome finishing stretch. Super fun, Super good match! Great stuff!

Great postmatch promo from Nakamura who seemed legit grateful for being able to wrestle and for the match being so good against Ishii. Nakamura reflects on the match in his Noro yarn looking sweater and what a great week of New Japan on AXS!

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Lucha Underground 06/08/16

'Dro: We get a recap of the Drago-Jack Evans nunchuk issues, the cop drama stuff and the Pentagon-Matanza issues before going to Dario's office where Jade informs him that Azteca Jr knows where Matanza is and wants to kill him but Jade stopped him. She warns Dario that he better not be lying to her, he of course claims he's not and offers her a match against Dragon Azteca Jr at Ultima Lucha II with the mask on the line (or that's what it sounds like)!!! WOAH!!! Then off to the Temple where Matt Striker and Vampiro give out some HUGE news that ULTIMA LUCHA II is coming up and that there will be a 12 man match with the winners going on to fight each other in an elimination match with the winner being the number one contender for Matanza's championship! WOW! Melissa Santos is harrassed by Marty the Moth to give him the mic and he calls out Killshot who sneaks up behind Marty and.. IT'S ON!

Killshot vs Marty the Moth Martinez Just a brawl outside the ring where the referee counts both men out of the ring. The crowd boos but we know this is more about the set up than it is the match. They brawl, Killshot gets the better of Marty and gets the dog tags back.. For a few moments before Marty suplexes him and takes the tags back. He nearly gets scalped but he escapes with the tags! DANG! Good angle to give this feud some more gas, good stuff!

Mr. Cisco is getting grilled by the cops and the police chief. They want him to wear a wire but he isn't interested in that until they say they'll let him rot in prison. He asks what they want to get Dario on and they list a bunch of crimes and add that Dario will bring about the END OF DAYS!!!! Cisco looks like he's gonna' help... HOLY MOLY!

Nunchuk Match: Drago & Aerostar vs Jack Evans & PJ Black OH MY GAWWWWWWDDDDDD!!!! TO THE MOON AND BEYOND THE STARS AND PAST TIME AND SPACE MARK OUT MANIA HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI!!! Was this the FUNNEST THING OF ALL TIME?!!! INSANE spots, nunchuks, people flying from way up high including a dive off Dario's roof by AERO FUCKING STAR!!! Super fun, stiff nunchuk shots, AIRGUITAR WITH GUITAR NOISE, Jack Evans trash talking and yelling out "Cowabunga" and... JUST THE GREATEST THING OF ALL TIME!!! Oh man.. This could've been an Ultima Lucha match in terms of super fun! Unbelievable awesome fun in this match! WOW!

The combatants for the 6 on 6 match are coming out when PENTAGON JUNIOR comes out in the wheelchair and he thanks Chavito for being the only one to wish him well while he was injured but now.. HE HAS TO DESTROY CHAVO! Pentagon goes on to do just that and cap off with... BREAKING... CHAVITO'S... ARM!! NUCLEAR BOMB HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI MARK OUT MANIA!!! Does this mean what I think it means?... PENTAGON IS GOING TO FIGHT IN THIS MATCH?!!!!!

Dario comes out w/ Jade and makes a HILARIOUS quip about Chavo catching a "bad break" and asks the crowd if they want Pentagon to replace Chavito.. Uh.. HELL YEAH THEY SAY YES!!! Pentagon has CERO MIEDO and it's on!

6 on 6 Match: Rey Mysterio, Prince Puma, Son of Havok, Sexy Star, The Mack, Texano vs Johnny Mundo, Taya, Fenix, Ivelisse, King Cuerno, Pentagon Jr Are you kidding me?! HOW CAN THIS SHOW BE THIS FUCKING AWESOME?!!!! What an UNBELIEVABLY fun match! Everyone gets to shine here, almost everyone gets a JAW DROPPING dive spot and we get a fairly clean finish for the heels in this!! This was sooooooooooo good! There is no way I can detail everything that happened, it's impossible. Too much great stuff, too much great fun... I LOVE THIS SHOW!

And then if that wasn't enough we go to Cuerno's trophy room and the glass case with Mil Muertes and Katrina is there and is all "Arise from your grave" (OK, she didn't really quote Altered Beast but you know it was subtext yeah..) and MIL MUERTES IS REVIVED AND NOW WITH RED FUCKING EYES! BEST WRESTLING SHOW IN THE WORLD!!!! Oh yeah... I LOVE LUCHA UNDERGROUND!!!!!! LUCHA LUCHA LUCHA!!!

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NJPW on AXS 06/10/16

'Dro: A very sharply dressed Hiroki Goto welcomes us to another episode of G1 matches! WOO!

Satoshi Kojima vs Yujiro Takahashi WOAH! This was a pretty good match! Very hard hitting and Kojima looked really great, he looks like he could have another run in him IMO. Yujiro's stripperesque valet.. Those camera men were creeping on those shots! Not that I'm complaining. The lariat Kojima hit, I LEGIT thought that was the finish. Cody Hall dragging the ref out as violently as he did totally took me by surprise. Shenanigans ensue and Yujiro picks up the win. We get more creepshots on Yujiro's valet and then some fired p words from Kojima backstage. Really good stuff!

Hiroki Goto vs Kazuchika Okada WOWZA! What a KICK ASS match! Hard hitting, some great sequences between these two and I loved the escalation of intensity as it went on. Great spot when Okada leaped over the railing to splash Goto in the seats. Also some of the leaping elbows by Okada were boss, especially the back elbow in the corner and the elbow drop off the top. Goto's counters to the Rainmaker towards the end were AWESOME! It had me MARKING OUT like a NUT! And then.. GOTO WINS!! OH HELL YEAH! Postmatch Goto does three cheers promo and it's just all great stuff!

Man, what a kick ass show! I LOVE these G1 episodes! Can't wait for next week!

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That is it for now! If you want to follow us on Twitter Josh is @s1rgoth and I am @texanspaniard up on there. Thanks for reading, see y'all in the near future and adios!

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markoutmania · 8 years

Photo

Hola, amigos! Welcome to the twelfth issue of MARK OUT MANIA! I'm 'Dro, aka Pedro Boyd, and this is a weekly digest blog that mi amigo, Josh Ritter, and I do where we share our thoughts on professional wrestling! This week Josh had a lot on his plate so.. It's all me! I take a look at Lucha Underground, NXT, Reality of Wrestling, do my Top 5 Wrestlers of the week and then there is a cover feature that is very near and dear to my heart so let's jump right into that!

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El Dandy Cover Feature

EMLL 07/28/89 Hair vs Hair Match: El Dandy vs Emilio Charles Jr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGtYgCBBTOU

'Dro: HOLY MOLY! What a GREAT match with such a cool finish! This is a HATE filled match! Emilio attacks Dandy before the match and spends much of the first fall biting Dandy, ramming him into the ring posts and punching him about the head repeatedly! Inbetween attacks Emilio shakes and trembles with his anger and rage, shaking his fist and puffing out his chest in animalistic shows of aggression! Dandy gets some shots in but everytime he gets the upper hand in the first fall the official gets on his case about using closed fists which then leads to an opening for Emilio to attack and get the advantage right back. There was one punch that Dandy took, the way he sold it by falling like a bag of bricks was so well done. Charles hits a splash off the top to win the first fall.

But he doesn't let up his attack between falls, continuing on biting and kicking at Dandy and dragging him out of the ring and ramming him into the ringposts until finally the blood is flowing and Dandy's white gear is ready to get bloodied up! But Dandy mounts a comeback and now it's his turn to do all the things to Charles that was done to him! Biting, ramming into ring posts, punching about the head.. the hate is showing! Soon both men are bloody messes and after a La Magistral roll up to tie things up Dandy continues with the retribution by continuing his attack on Emilio the way that Charles had done to him between falls!

Both men brawl and get bloodier until they both seem to realize that they're putting themselves too big a hill to climb with all the bloodletting and that they're going to need to try and just win this match for the ultimate blow in this hate filled feud ie make the other get their head shaved. We get a series of roll ups and super close nearfalls, even a GERMAN-AHHHHHH SUPLEX-AHHHHH! Dandy goes for a top rope diving headbutt and later a top rope senton splash, neither one lands and Emilio almost pins him both times for those misses. Emilio hits another splash off the top and I thought that might be it but NO! Dandy is still in this! Emilio sends Dandy outside and then he runs off the ropes... SUICIDE DIVE! The impact sends Dandy flying into the crowd!

This is significant because for some reason, that tope suicida is what reignites the HATE in this match! Dandy climbs out from the seats and with both men on their knees outside the ring they commence to just PUNCHING THE F-BOMB OUT OF ONE ANOTHER! It's so heated the referee jumps out of the ring and breaks it up and yells at both men to get back in the ring. They get back in the ring and continue the brawling til a spinning leg lariat sends Emilio out of the ring and then Dandy climbs to the top.. HIGH CROSS BODY OFF THE TOP TO EMILIO ON THE FLOOR OUTSIDE!! They come back in, MORE brawling ensues and Emilio falls through the ropes outside again and Dandy runs off the ropes and... LEAPS OVER THE TOP ROPE AND DIVES INTO EMILIO HEADFIRST IN A SPECTACULAR DIVE!!!

The referee is doing the count, both men get up to thier knees and once again... SUPER HEATED HATE BOILING OVER FISTS A FLYING PUNCHING ENSUES! The referee counts both men out while they get to their feet and just beat the snot out of one another until the official's screaming at them gets through that the match is over! Both men climb into the ring and angrily argue and debate with everyone about this, wanting for the match to continue for a real winner to be determined but no.. Their hate has caused them both to lose here! So both men get shaved!

I remember in the past few years the apuestas match between Blue Panther and Negro Casas that ended with both men getting their heads shaved and how unsatisfying it was to me. At first I felt similar here because I got so into this but as I reflect on it I actually really like this finish. It played into the hate factor in this match between Dandy & Emilio. Both men lost themselves in the hate and heat of battle so many times, how else was this to end than with both men being run through the swords they created? Fantastic hate filled bloody pro wrestling awesomeness that everyone should see! GREAT match!

EMLL 12/01/89 National Middleweight Title Match: El Dandy vs Emilio Charles Jr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g8ZJ7UQKMc

'Dro: I won't lie, my expectations for this match were pretty high after how great the hair match was. This match is a lot of fun but it feels slightly disappointing because it wasn't in the same quality of the hair match. First fall both men go through some nice chain wrestling bits til they reach a stand still. Then Emilio counters Dandy's attempt at something with a German Suplex and immediately gets the pin for a short fall. Second fall is kind of similar, only Dandy is gaining the advantage and he uses a crucifix roll up to score the pin and tie things up. The third fall has the good stuff here. Charles uses a figure four leglock to punish Dandy in a great stretch highlighted by the wonderful selling by El Dandy. His clawing at the canvas in pain was great! Emilio then uses a sharpshooter/Scorpion leg lock on Dandy but still no submission. Dandy fights back but can't get a surfboard on and misses a senton splash off thet op. Emilio nails a body splash off the top though for a dramatic nearfall. Dandy is sent outside, SUICIDE DIVE by Charles and then later Dandy gets the upper hand and sends Emilio outside for his OVER THE TOP ROPE PLOW INTO OPPONENT WITH HEAD dive! The commentator focuses on the count, tying this match to the hair match and the double count out but both men make it inside on time. Dandy tries to win with a bridging German, Emilio kicks out. More exchanges then Dandy gets La Magistral roll up on his rival and it's a 3! Dandy wins! Postmatch Emilio puts the belt around Dandy's waist and both men shake hands. Fun match.

EMLL 03/23/90 El Dandy vs Angel Azteca https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wloROXyWO4

'Dro: OH MAN! This is FANTASTIC! I don't know what the issue at hand is but it must've been something because when Dandy makes his way to the ring he and Azteca are immediately ready to go at it as soon as Dandy climbs into the ring! Both men are tecnicos here but they're both angry at one another, that is for sure, and while it's not hate filled it is very heated! The match is a mix of technical wrestling and angry heated exchanges. No way I can give a play by play cos too much action for me to recollect but the general gist of it is Dandy wins the first fall with La Magistral roll up, Azteca submits Dandy in the second fall to set up the deciding third fall. Both men go all out with Dandy acting the more heelish of the two, even grabbing Azteca by the eye holes of his mask and DRAGGING HIM AROUND THE RING BY THEM! Dang! The crowd gave Dandy some boos for that. Azteca hits a suicide dive on Dandy that sends Dandy into the second row in quite SPECTACULAR fashion! Dandy goes for a dive of his own but Azteca ducks so Dandy stops himself, waits for Azteca to stand up and then goes for a plancha but Azteca seems to catch a knee to Dandy. Both men are down on the outside for too long and we get another double count out finish! Postmatch both men are HOT and want the match to continue. They at least want the referee to move out of the way and let them duke it out. At one point Dandy even sucker punches Azteca! Then he yells at Azteca to hit him back and after enough yelling Angel does that only for Dandy to floor him with a retaliation punch! Nothing is resolved here but what great fun it was! Really good match, so much great work within it. I can't wait to see more between these two because this was just stellar! Super stuff!

EMLL 06/01/90 NWA Middleweight Title Match: (c)Angel Azteca vs El Dandy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0fLKAa3QFU

'Dro: SUPER DUPER HOLY MOLY MARK OUT MANIA!! What a GREAT match! The first fall was surprising because it was really long and it was fantastic! It was 15 plus minutes of both guys punishing each other with submission holds and really struggling to escape them or reverse them. Nothing was cheap or easy here, everything had to be fought for. It was interesting how punishing the submission work seemed to be and I kept expecting one or the other to lose their temper and for things to "pick up" in terms of offense but they both seemed determined to win this fall through a submission. Dandy did a thing I had never seen before, whipping Azteca to the ropes and then dropping to his knees and doing a kind of back bodydrop from his knees. He did it twice and then went for a third which was a mistake because Azteca put on the breaks, clapped Dandy's head and then put on a submission where he had Dandy's arm behind Dandy's back and then he stepped over and hooked Dandy's legs with his feet and fell backwards and Dandy submitted instantly! Wow! What a hard fought first fall!

At the start of the second fall Dandy goes after Azteca's legs but soon Azteca turns that around on Dandy and punishes him with first a figure four leglock and then another leg hold. Dandy's selling through this is top notch! After much struggling Dandy reverses the leg hold on Azteca and now he's punishing the champ! Azteca struggles to the ropes but Dandy pulls him back and then Dandy goes for an interesting hold where he has the legs tied up around his one leg as he gets on his knees and has Azteca's arms hooked so both men are back to back. But Azteca struggles his arms free and he grabs a hold of Dandy's arms and starts stretching Dandy's arms from this position! Both men eventually collapse and release and Dandy sells the leg for a while, even asking for a break which gets him a standing count by the referee! But then both men take to running off the ropes and Dandy lands a crucifix roll up for the three count! They're tied a fall a piece now!

The third fall is the great peak they've been building to. So many dramatic nearfalls! Both men get nearfalls via roll ups and reversals and then it escalates to Dandy getting a nearfall via a backdrop suplex and Azteca getting one off a vertical suplex. Azteca misses a moonsault, Dandy hits a diving head butt, super dramatic nearfall! Dandy is sent out of the ring and then.. FANTASTIC Top Suicida that sends Dandy flying into the 2nd row in spectacular fashion! Back in the ring we get more super close nearfalls from roll ups and Dandy's leg gives out on an attempt to put a surfboard and then after all the nearfalls and the crowd building to a fever pitch, Dandy gets a La Magistral roll up and HE WINS THE THIRD FALL AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP! Afterwards Dandy wants a handshake while Azteca wants an apuestas. Well, WHAT A MATCH! It was a true battle of skill in many ways and the build to the end was just top notch. Can't recommend this enough, GREAT match that all should see right now!

EMLL 12/14/90 Hair vs Hair Match: El Dandy vs Satanico https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMpe0N7GRvg

'Dro: OH MY GOD! What an AMAZING match! Satanico attacks Dandy before the match and BUSTS HIM WIDE OPEN! As the ring announcer does the introductions Satanico crows about his deeds while Dandy bleeds outside the ring. As El Dandy is announced Satancio rushes his rival and proceeds to toss him into ring posts and have the man bleed all over fans in the front row. He drags him in the ring and proceeds to bite and batter Dandy all over the ring. Dandy tries to fight his way back in and Satanico keeps cutting him off. A recurring theme happens where Satanico will hit knees to the midsection and Dandy will try to tell the ref he was hit low. The ref doesn't buy it in the first fall, but just keep it in mind. Dandy fights back and goes for a few roll ups and then he trips up Satanico and goes for La Magistral Roll Up and... HE PINS SATANICO! Bloodied and battered, Dandy wins the first fall! The second fall is more back and forth. Dandy has more of a footing now and is giving the offense back and Satanico is trying to find a way to tie things up. We get a kick to the midsection that Dandy tries to say is low but again the ref doesn't buy it. Eventually Satanico gains advantage and tries to make Dandy submit with a Gory Special but Dandy won't give in so Satanico transitions the hold into a pinning predicament and ties things up going into the 3rd fall!

Early in the third fall Dandy goes on the attack and works with vigor and focus to bust Satanico open! Ramming him into ring posts, biting him and you know what? It works! Satanico gets busted WIDE open! And what follows is all out war as both men bleed, bite, scratch, claw and try to end the other as the heat of battle goes nuclear! Dandy's dive over the ropes was quite a high spot in the heat of the action as was Satanico leaping off the apron to splash Dandy on the floor outside. There are so many nearfalls, some of which cause Satanico to punching at the canvas, and heated strike exchanges it's just FANTASTIC stuff! But then it happens.. Satanico is running off the ropes, Dandy moves out of the way and the referee gets bumped to the outside. Dandy goes for a leg lariat, Satanico evades it and then Dandy begins jumping up and down on his knees pointing to his crotch and crying "FOUL! FOUL!" Satanico looks at his rival as if he has gone crazy! The referee comes in and Dandy pleads his case, Satanico denies it vehemently becuase of course he didn't do it but remember all those appeals throughtout the match that Satancio had fouled him? It all finally adds up to the official and he DISQUALIFIES SATANICO!! As Satanico LOSES IT and argues with the ref, Dandy on the ground points to his head to talk about how smart he is. Satanico punches at the turnbuckle in frustration while Dandy gets a wreath of flowers placed around his bloody neck. Satanico gets his hair cut while Dandy crows about it in an interview and it's just FANTASTIC! Such a fantastic match, another super high recommendation for everyone to watch this match!

CMLL 12/06/96 Three Way Apuestas Match: El Dandy vs Negro Casas vs El Hijo del Santo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga7GQP0R8U0

'Dro: THROUGH THE ROOF ONE OF THE GREATEST MATCHES EVER HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI MARK OUT MANIA!!! So the rules of this are fairly simple. It starts off with all three men in the ring at the same time. When one of them is pinned/submitted they "advance" to the apuestas portion of the match. The two left duke it out til one of them is pinned/submitted and the loser goes on to the apuestas. The person who wasn't pinned/submitted leaves and is no longer a participant in the match. The two losers then battle it out with hair/masks on the line! Got it? Alright!

At the start of this match both Negro Casas and El Dandy attack el Hijo del Santo and are beating him from pillar to post as the crowd boos as loudly as they can. Santo tries to fight back but the numbers are against him. Friction rises up between Dandy and Casas and they go at it for a bit til Casas directs their attention back to Santo and they double team him and to the dismay of the fans they pin el Hijo del Santo who now will have to fight for his mask against whomever loses between Dandy and Casas. But before that can happen Casas decides to take some cheap shots at Santo and then Dandy comes out and does the same as well. Then both men go at it and it doesn't take long for Casas to target Dandy's knee and he goes after it with bad intentions. A scorpion hold later, Dandy submits and now Dandy will have to defend his hair against Santo's mask! Santo is pissed 'cos he wanted Casas and Casas? Oh he has the biggest smile in the world and is rubbing it in Santo's and the crowd's face like no tomorrow! He even attacks Santo from behind and rips up his mask a bit before leaving and gloating in his victory! The heel gold from Casas here is phenomenal!

Santo is FURIOUS at how this has turned out and he kicks Dandy out of the ring. Dandy is selling his leg like no tomorrow, putting it into doubt if he can even get in the ring to compete in the apuestas. This could just be a forfeit! But Dandy makes it in and Santo takes his anger out on Dandy. Dandy fights back but makes the mistake of ripping up Santo's mask some more. No, I wouldn't do that dude. That fires Santo up and he TEARS into Dandy and puts him in a surfboard hold to draw the submission and the first fall. He even kicks at Dandy's leg while he's down immediately afterwards, the anger in Santo's body language is so visible and palpable here. As the second fall gets going Santo continues to beat on Dandy but Dandy catches a kick and then begins tearing into Santo with chops and strikes! he has Santo reeling til he misses a standing headbutt. Santo gets back on the attack and begins BITING Dandy's forehead which is the point I remember that Santo was actually a rudo at this time. From the crowd reaction you would never tell! Santo is all about busting Dandy wide open and amigos.. Dandy hits a GUSHER! It doesn't take long for blood to just be shooting all down his face and torso but this also fires him up and this starts turning into a back and forth brawl! Dandy starts biting on Santo's head now, trying to bust him open, and things go back and forth til Dandy gets the La Magistral Roll up on Santo and PINS HIM! THEY'RE TIED UP A FALL A PIECE WITH MASK AND HAIR ON THE LINE!!!

At the start of the third fall Santito is BEGGING off outside the ring as Dandy goes after him. He even retreats into the crowd and goes to a trash can and grabs something out of it to go after Dandy with but the referee takes it out of Santo's hand and Dandy attacks! They fight out in the crowd and then they go back to ringside and Dandy rams Santito into the ring post! Oh yeah, Santo is busted open now. They fight, they get SUPER bloody! Dandy gets sent out of the ring, Santito runs off the ropes and DIVES OVER THE TOP ROPE AND HITS ONE OF HIS GREATEST TOPE SUICIDAS EVER! It's so great I leap out of my seat and was pumping my arms in the air shouting "SANTO! SANTO! SANTO"!! And I know how this match is going to end but I'm that into this! Short while later Dandy tries to leap over the ropes to splash Santo but Santitot steps aside and gives Dandy a helpful shove on his way down! More fighting, more bleeding. Both men become such unbelievable bloody messes by the time this match is over it is insane! Some close near falls here off of a superplex by Dandy and also after that leg drop off the 2nd turnbuckles by Dandy! Dandy tries to go up to the top too many times though, Dandy catches him and hits an Electric Chair drop off the top and that sets up Dandy for... THE CAMEL CLUTCH! Dandy tries to take it but he can't... HE SUBMITS! EL HIJO DEL SANTO KEEPS HIS MASK!!!

Postmatch Santo has a few short words and storms off to the back. A very emotional Dandy gets on the microphone and makes some appeals before having his hair shaved and man oh man... THIS IS A MUST SEE ALL TIME CLASSIC MATCH! This is a match I've always wanted to see because 1) Always heard it was one of the best matches of all time and it definitely lives up to that billing. 2) This was from the time period that Dandy was a jobber in WCW and I wanted to see if he was still as good as in the past in this match. He was, he totally was. It is a legit shame that this guy was a jobber in WCW or anywhere when he was such a great talent. Definitely watch this match, watch ALL of these matches and enjoy the awesomeness of El Dandy!

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Lucha Underground 05/18/16

'Dro: We get a recap of the Aztec Medallions and then about Pentagon's injuries at the hands of Matanza and then it's off to the Temple with Dario Cueto shoving money around when Cage rushes into the office complaining about Chavo stealing his medallion. Dario tells him he better catch him soon because once Chavo puts the medallion into the belt he's in the match. Cage says Chavo will have to go through him to do so and Dario asks him to come out to the ring with him! Dario comes to the ring and announces it's time for a Gift of the Gods match to determine the next Gift of the Gods champion! He calls out the medallion holders and they all come: Texano! Joey Ryan! Sinestro de Muerte! Aerostar! The Mack! Sexy Star! But what about the last one that Chavo stole? Here comes Chavo with a chair and the medallion! Cage attacks and is whooping up on Chavo. He grabs the bag and goes to take the medallion out but... what?! That's not the medallion! It's a washer! Chavo whacks Cage with a chair and puts the medallion in the belt! Dario tells Cage the bad news, he's not in the match, so Cage OBLITERATES Chavo with weapon X! DANG! Great opening to the show and I have to say.. Dario was AMAZING announcing everyone to the ring. Especially his announcements of the Mack and Sexy Star! Great stuff! Great stuff!

Argenis vs Daga vs Kobra Moon vs Mascarita Sagrada Oh man! This was a lot of fun! Famous B doing Mascarita Sagrada's introduction was so great! He did such a good job hyping up Sagrada I really, really wanted Mascarita to win! The match was a lot of fun, typical multi-person pace with stuff happening constantly. It was mostly Sagrada a house on fire at first and then Daga & Argenis having fun exchanges. Kobra Moon was working her gimmick and doing an angle where she was attracted to Daga. In the end she kills poor Mascarita with a Michinoku Driver looking move and then offers up Mascarita for Daga to get the win. Daga was not sure what to make of Kobra Moon's advances and seemed not that into it but, and hear me out, I did kind of like that she behaved kind of like an animal. An animal likes someone, it leaves kills for it. I dig that she is committed to the gimmick. That's cool with me. Anyways fun match.

Backstage Killshot was getting ready when Marty the Moth shows up and annoys him and does finger gun stuff that turns into them having an improptu little sparring session and Marty hitting the concrete. Killshot points finger guns at Marty and says "Bang" before leaving and Marty laughing like a loon! Interesting!

Killshot vs Marty the Moth Martinez WOW! This was a super hard fought competitive match! Killshot bloodied up Marty's mouth and nose with all his kicks and strikes and Marty used his power and size advantage to put quite a beating on Killshot. I assumed at the start that Killshot would win but as the match turned into a war I wasn't so sure. Both guys survived some pretty hefty bombs from one another to the point I thought maybe Marty was going to win to set up a rematch but after a lot of back and forth Killshot finally PLANTED Marty on his head to get the win. Postmatch Marty attacks Killshot from behind, brutalizes him and then steals Killshot's dog tags! Oh no he didn't! Well all I will say is that was a really good hard hitting match and I'm up for a round two between them! Good stuff!

Gift of the Gods Title Match: Texano vs Joey Ryan vs The Mack vs Sinestro de la Muerte vs Aerostar vs Sexy Star vs Chavo Guerrero Jr What?!!! This was fun, though definitely not the level of crazy spotfest it could have been, but that finish... Man... I get what they were setting up but it's just not that cool on paper. Anyways, lots of fast paced action and some funny bits with Joey Ryan vs Sexy Star & The Mack. Aerostar had a SPECTACULAR backwards diving plancha onto everyone outside the ring in the spot of the match! Alot of things build to everyone kicking Chavo's butt which then leads to Cage showing up and then... ATTACKING EVERYONE! Cage destroys everyone and then letting Chavo win. BOOO! Postmatch Cage announces that Dario Cueto has already made a match frothe Gift of the Gods next week. Chavo will have to defend against Cage! Meh.

Post-credits we find ourselves at the spooky dojo where PENTAGON JUNIOR is attached to all these wires and Vampiro is BEATING HIM WITH A STICK while yelling "Silencio" at him! Vampiro is trying to teach him mind over matter and that this is nothing compared to what Matanza did to him. But then Vampiro pulls out a bat wrapped in barbed wire and goes to beat Pentagon with it when we cut away. AIEEEEEEEEEE!!!! HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI!!! This all better lead to SUPER SAIYAN PENTAGON JR!!! Love this show!

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NXT 05/18/16

'Dro: We get a cool video package of Bayley vs Nia Jax to open the show and then it's off to the ring! Alexa Bliss leads Black & Murphy to take on Austin Aries and a partner of his choice. Who is his partner going to be? HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI! IT'S SWAGSUKE!!!!

Austin Aries & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Blake & Murphy Oh man! This is pretty much an out and out squash by Aries & Nakamura here. They did a bit where Nakamura didn't tag in Aries when Austin wanted in and finished off their opponents himself which makes me think maybe there's gonna be a beef between those two. The bigger thing, postmatch Alexa LEAVES Blake & Murphy! Her angry head shake and lemon lip expression was AWESOME! And then it appeared that Blake & Murphy split up! WOW! A lot came out of this! Great stuff!

Backstage Bayley says that tonight will end just like London and then she gets back to regaining the NXT Women's Championship. Then we get a special look at ASUKA! I could've done without the bits of the band but the clips and the story told.. AWESOME! ASUKA ASUKA ASUKA!!! No Way Jose cuts his first promo backstage and that was kind of goofy in a not so good way, some work to be done there for sure. But he is fun in the ring. Nia Jax walks through the hall and she looks like she is ready to KILL tonight! I'm kind of fearing for Bayle if I'm honest! Carmella has some comforting words about Enzo and then props for Big Cass and then says she's on her own journey to become the NXT Women's Champion.

Carmella vs Peyton Royce This was a lot of fun! Carmella has improved a ton and her moves are looking really smooth and that legscissors submission finish looks GREAT! Royce did pretty well in there too and they had a pretty fun little match. Carmella picks up the win and I guess her story is she's beginning her journey towards the Women's title.

We see some clips of Samoa Joe & Finn Balor from a house show and it looked CRAZY and WILD and amazing! All out brawl with the entire roster holding them apart and this leads to what looks like cellphone footage announcing that Joe vs Balor at Takeover it will be... A STEEL CAGE TITLE MATCH!! HOLY MOLY!!! ... HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI!!! That is going to be AWESOME!!

Blake and Murphy appeal to Alex Bliss but she is having none of it! Tonight was the final straw and she's off on her own without having to carry them on her back anymore. The two partners stare off and it doesn't look good for them.

Ciampa & Gargano vs Birch & Ryzin Wow! Some great double teams by Ciampo & Gargano here in this squash. I definitely want to see these guys go at it vs American Alpha and vs The Revival! Good stuff!

William Regal gives props to Enzo & Cass and The Vaudvillains in their success on the main roster. Then announces next week American Alpha will defend against The Revival! OH HELL YEAH! We see Bayley getting ready in the back and I think it's main event time!

Baley vs Nia Jax WOW! WHAT A MATCH! This was so great! From before the match, Nia Jax dropping the smile was a great idea. She has a beautiful warm smile and if she ever does a face run then it will be glorious in that context but as a giant monster that pretty smile detracts from the aura she should be bringing to the ring. Here she came out with an absolute killer look on her face as if she had bad intentions on mind for what she was going to do to Bayley and it helped the atmosphere of what was to come so much. This was definitely a different match than their Takeover London one. Nia showed she learned from those mistakes and focused on causing an absolute uphill battle that would be too big for Bayley to climb. The focused attacks on the left arm as a means to take away the guillotine choke by Bayley was great storytelling and Bayley's selling of her left arm destruction was top notch. Bayley despite being put further and further under a mountain was great in how she kept fighting. Her intensity and fighting spirit grew and grew as the match went on. I loved the spot where she climbed to the top, her hair kind of a mess and her eyes bulging with determination to win at any costs. She went for a high cross bodypress but that's not what was important, that moment of her looking so raw and genuinely fierce was such a warrior moment and told the story so well that she wasn't giving up no matter what. Of course it all builds to the guillotine choke but Bayley can't get enough on it because her left arm has been damaged. Nia goes to counter into a suplex but Bayley struggles down, hurts her leg but grits through it to hit a DDT! She can't even put her weight on the cover so of course Nia kicks out. The ref checks on Bayley, she's selling the leg to the extent I'm thinking she legit got injured but then Nia CRUSHES her with an AVALANCHE! A leg drop or two to Bayley's injured leg for good measure and then... LEG DROP O' DOOM! Nia gets the win after an epic battle and this was FANTASTIC! What a great match that told such a compelling story! Definitely go out of your way to watch this because it was pretty great!

Great episode of NXT! A lot of stuff happened and then there was that great main event! The episode really breezed by, great show!

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Reality of Wrestling Episode 105

'Dro: The commentators welcome us and run down the night's main event before going to the ring..

Sidney Porter vs Gustavo Mendoza The commentators sure talked up Mendoza before the match but I have to admit I was not very impressed with him. His look is pretty bad and his in ring work was really simple. His opponent looked way fitter and moer athletic than him but he was the jobber here. Mendoza won and meh.

The ROW Champion, Gino, is interviewed about his match against the 2nd Generation Giant.. Shawn Studd. Gino says he's the giant in ROW already because of what he's done so far and goes on to put himself over some more. Not a bad promo in terms of what he said but how he said it is a different question. Definitely could use with more presence and confidence in that area. The Ministers of Defense talk about their match against Abel & Q tonight and they're planning to lay a beatdown on their foes, especially Abel. Because it's all about that money or something like that.

The Ministers of Defense vs Abel Andrew Jackson & Mysterious Q This was fun even if it was formulaic. Abel & Q had really good tag chemistry here, doing quick tags and keeping the pressure on their opponents. The Ministers of Defense continuosly wanted to isolate Abel to give him a beating for their past workings I assume. Guess Abel was not a great boss because they sure had it out for him. But hot tag, Q gives out sloppy offense and then he and Abel finish off their rivals with some cutters and the victory is theirs! Fun by the numbers stuff and by the way the commentators were talking up the tag work of Abel & Q I'm wondering if this is the start of a tag run for them.

Cameron Cole is checking his cellphone when Evan Snow comes over and tells him he has VIP tickets to the hip hop party later tonight. Cole is all excited but then remembers he's supposed to go do something with his friend who is all into the Organic smoothies from last time. Snow insists Cameron bring him along and Cole makes a phone call. More to come later I'm assuming. Ayden Cristiano is asked about Rex Andrews open challenge for the TV title and Cristiano says that's why he's here and then they announce next week it will be Rex Andrews vs Ayden Cristiano. Alrighty then!

Booker T comes out to the ring, thanks the fans and then calls out the ladies to the ring. They all come out to the ring and it's the first I've seen of any lady wrestlers in ROW to date. Booker hypes up the ladies and asks them all if they want a shot at the title, they all say they do while the champ looks unimpressed. Then Booker says he got the hottest free agent in the Gulf Coast.. KYLIE RAVE? Kylie something. She comes out in a little black dress and acts goofy and tries to shake the girls' hands but no one is shaking her hand. Meh, this did not really do a lot to sell me on being excited about ladies action in ROW. Hopefully when they get in the ring they will win me over with their wrestling.

We get a recap of Black vs Davidson from last episode which leads to a promo from Ryan Davidson. He rehashes what he's said in the past about Marcellus Black being an American football player and how that doesn't mean anything in a wrestling ring. He promises to leave Black laying flat next time. Recap of the Taylors win from last episode and then we get words with them afterwards. They put over being from Cleveland, Ohio and how the tag team titles aren't going anwywhere. They welcome all teams to come try but says that they'll do the same to all of them. Was a good promo delivery wise for sure. Kid Ransom is holding an ice pack to his head from when JJ Blake hit him with Ol' Reliable the cowbell. Ransome says JJ shouldn't have done that 'cos now he's going to get the bulls horns and then he yells at the interviewer to get out! The Shogun of ROW, Marcellus Black, congratulates Ryan Davidson and Stevie Ray for getting the drop on him but says that he always knew people would be out to get him once he stepped off the football field but a warning.. That was not his final form! What does that mean?! Who knows but curious to find out!

ROW Heavyweight Title Match: (c)Gino vs Shawn Studd Oh man was this ever bad. This match was Gino doing a lot of sloppy stuff and mostly connecting with enziguiris and Shawn Studd, who I had a lot of expecation about for whatever reason, being greener than green and looking tired just moments into the match. This was sloppy and not a whole lot happened in a short period of time. While Gino distracted the ref, Par Beast came out and chokeslammed Studd and Gino dragged Studd in and hit his finisher, Gail Kim's finisher I don't know the name of it, and got the pin. Blegh. Terrible main event for an otherwise fun episode.

Won't lie, that main event left a bad taste in my mouth but what can you do? Bad matches happen sometimes.

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'Dro's Top 5 Wrestlers of the Week -Reminder that this is not a list of who I thought were the best performers of the week. It is a list of who made me MARK OUT the hardest! OK? OK!

05-Kobra Moon She does not seem to be very beloved online and I don't get it. Everything she does is in line with her gimmick. She walks like a snake, she rests like a snake, she attacks like a snake and she sells like a snake. She totally commits to that gimmick, and that will always get mad props from me. I don't know where this story with Daga is going but I know it is at least interesting and feels different and I know it's Kobra Moon who has me into it.

04-Bayley & Nia Jax These two had a FANTASIC main event on NXT this week! They both put so much into it and they just worked off each other so well. Bayley's selling and her raw warrior spirit in an uphill battle perfectly complimented and played off Nia's improved killer monster game and her strategy to take away the guillotine choke, her kryptonite, from Bayley. These two deserve mad props for that match, definitely watch it if you haven't!

03-Kevin Owens That relevos increible tag on RAW, KO's smarky comments to his partner and hated rival Sami Zayn throughout the match were HILARIOUS and some of the best moments of the entire week! Owens is the best character on the main roster WWE and the guy is just owning it up!

02-Shinsuke Nakamura SWAGSUKE! KING OF STRONG STYLE! Check it out, he comes out as Austin Aries mystery tag team partner and not only do I LOSE MY MIND MARKING OUT.. the Crowd goes TOTALLY APE NUTS FOR IT! Nakamura is one of the absolute most must see acts in wrestling today and we're so lucky he appears nearly every week on NXT!

01-Pentagon Jr HOLY MOLY RAVIOLI! Pentagon's still damaged and crippled and if last time we saw him in Lucha Underground wasn't bad enough this time Vampiro is beating him while he's hanging in the air! AIEEEEE! Also, Pentagon has been TEARING IT UP all across the world in matches against his brother Fenix and you can expect some more reviews of that coming in the near future. Anyways, Pentagon rules and no one captures my imagination or makes me mark out harder than he and even though it was a small postcredits scene.. I have CERO MIEDO in saying Pentagon is NUMERO UNO!

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That is it for another issue! If you want to follow us on Twitter Josh is @s1rgoth and I am @texanspaniard up on there. Thanks for reading, see y'all next week and adios!

#mark out mania #mark out mania weekly #pro wrestling #lucha underground #nxt #reality of wrestling #el dandy #wrestling reviews #2016

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markoutmania · 8 years

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Hola, amigos! Welcome to the eleventh issue of MARK OUT MANIA WEEKLY! I'm 'Dro, aka Pedro Boyd, and this is a weekly digest blog that mi amigo, Josh Ritter, and I do where we share our thoughts on pro wrestling! This week we both had some issues getting to all the stuff we had planned to do but we still got some stuff done y'all. I cover Lucha Underground, NXT and Booker T's Reality Of Wrestling while Josh kicks some butt on our cover feature! Plus, my top five wrestlers of the week bit but let's get going with our cover feature!

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Iron Shiek Cover Feature

https://youtu.be/FjYp0JtIuII Mike Dorsett VS The Iron Sheik(W/Classy Freddie Blassie) WWF January 21st, 1984

Josh: Sheik is champ here, we had confusion at first with Mr. Fuji in the ring thinking he is going to be the one wrestling but no dice. It’s the champ’s match, baby! Sheik hits a sweet back body drop that looked fully like he threw him over with his head. He looks to the great Blassie for approval. Dorsett with a classic jobber look. Black singlet, pasty white and non descript. Sheik’s clubs and stomps are always enjoyable, Dorsett tries to fight back but gets hit with an awesome Belly to Belly suplex into a Camel Clutch for the surrender. He gets on the house mic to yell Iran Numbah One, Iran Numbah One. Fun little squash match, that Belly to Belly was seriously great.

WWF 12/26/1983 WWF Title Match: (c)Bob Backlund vs The Iron Shiek

'Dro: This was TREMENDOUS! Our commentators, Gorilla Monsoon and Pat Patterson, fill us in before the match that Backlund is moving strange because he's still suffering from an attack to his shoulder and neck by the Iron Shiek from the week previous. Shiek jumps Backlund before the bell and what unfolds is a simple but well told story of an injured champion who is trying to fight back but fighting back hurts him and on top of that his foe is attacking his injuries non-stop. Shiek goes after the arm and the neck, Backlund sells and sells. When Backlund tries to comeback the crowd is always up to POP but using offense hurts him and opens the door for Shiek to retake the advantage right away. At one point Backlund tries to do all headbutt themed offense since using his arms is hurting him, trying ANYTHING to stay in the fight. But of course.. His neck is also injured! Using the head is not so smart cos the head is attached to the neck! Gorilla & Pat do a great job constantly reinforcing the narrative of what is happening and the shots of "Ayatollah" Blassie screaming orders at Shiek (mainly to kick the arm and neck) with bloodlust in his eyes and shots of a very concerned Arnold Skaland totally sets up the finish. Backlund is basically convulsing, Shiek is standing over him, Blassie's yelling at him to kick him but Shiek puts the CAMEL CLUTCH ON INSTEAD! Commentators sell the HELL out of how much Shiek is stretching him making me think he's doing more than he's actually doing, WHICH IS BRILLIANT, and then Arnold THROWS IN THE TOWEL! Backlund's manager is immediately in there and checking on his charge with great concern in his eyes while the MSG crowd is PISSED and Iron Shiek gets on the mic and yells "IRAN IRAN IRAN" drawing more ire and it's all AMAZING! Simple but great story telling results in an engrossing riveting match for me. Top notch stuff as history is made and Iron Shiek wins the WWF World Heavyweight Championship!

https://youtu.be/f0TnTeOBYX0 The Iron Sheik © VS Tito Santana WWF World Heavyweight Championship Match January 21st, 1984

Josh: We get some garbage thrown in the ring when Sheik enters, crowd is definitely hot for this one. We get a ‘Camel Jockey’ sign in the audience. Santana is a house of fire early on with a big bodyslam and chokes him with part of Sheik’s attire and clotheslines him with it. Sheik bails to the outside for a breather before getting atomic dropped that sends him over the top and to the outside again. Sheik works the crowd and Santana works him with a side headlock that he wrenches over and over again. Sheik throws him off the ropes that ends up with a big right hand and another headlock. Tito stays on top before Sheik cuts him off with an eye poke and goes to work clubbing and beating Santana down. Sheik tries a rolling senton that Tito moves out of the way of. Santana’s wobbly selling here is great. They fight over a suplex that Tito wins and it’s a beaut, Sheik convulses on the mat. Santana tries a splash and Sheik gets the knees up. Sheik locks on an Abdominal Stretch which of course Gorilla reprimands the execution of. This time it proved to be right as Santana reversed before another eye poke from Sheik. He clubs Tito and whips him off the ropes before Tito comes over with a sunset flip. Santana come right back with a small package then starts punching him, followed by a couple of dropkicks sends Sheik to the outside. Sheik brings a chair into the ring that Danny Davis stands on to prevent the usage. Sheik shoves him and Santana tries picking it up. Davis and Tito are both grabbing the chair and Sheik clubs Santana from behind. Davis falls and Santana hits his flying forearm for the visual victory. Both men are DQed and we get some post match brawling. Really fun and good match, made Santana look good without winning the title.

'Dro: Since I'm watching this match off the DVD from the DVDVR WWF 1980's set I get a really long promo from the champ, the Iron Shiek, before the match. The strange thing is that it is almost a total babyface promo! He talks up his amateur credentials, all that he went through to get here from Iran and he gives his opponent total props! Not the promo I was expecting at all! The pre-match with all the crowd booing and trash throwing towards the Iron Shiek and through the introductions really builds up the atmosphere and it all seems to build to a fever pitch leading to Shiek trying to attack Tito before the match and Santana running wild on him! Josh covered the action so I'll just add that this was a lot of fun. It was interesting that the Sheik gave so much in this match and had such relatively tiny shine in this. It was mostly the Sheik getting his butt kicked and the crowd eating it up! But it worked, maybe because the crowd was so into it. Also Gorilla Monsoon was awesome on commentary. He injected so much life into things even when calling moves by strange names. Fun fun stuff!

https://youtu.be/PnllFcTjKV0 The Iron Sheik VS Tony Atlas WWC 1987

Josh: Sheik in Puerto Rico. Atlas is over huge, crowd goes nuts when hes introduced and we get some bullhorns. Sheik wants the mic and runs down Puerto Rico, Atlas gets handed a flag and says Hola Puerto Rico. Sheik is jawing with the fans and goes outside. Atlas breaks a full nelson with his arms and smashes his ass against Sheik which the crowd loves. Tony is flexing and the crowd is eating it up, Sheik walks around looking for cheers for himself. They are definitely working the crowd. Sheik makes the cardinal mistake of banging Atlas head into the turnbuckle and we get the long running trope that black wrestlers heads are too hard for that shit. Atlast fights back and the crowd is fired up, he hits a headbutt that Sheik sells like a gunshot before rolling to the outside. Atlas works him over when he gets back in before Sheik comes back with a kick followed by spitting and wiping his sweat off onto Atlas and posing. Iron Sheik’s shtick is always entertaining. He tries quieting the crowd before another stomp then gets onto the ropes to pose again. Atlas messes up a sunset flip reversal by not grabbing the legs. They go outside to brawl and Sheik wraps a cord around Atlas neck. Bell starts going off and we end with a double countout. Match wasn’t good but the crowd and Sheik’s shtick made it entertaining. Sheik takes a chair with him on the walk back to the outside in case any fan is feeling froggy.

https://youtu.be/iURvFeCZyog Mike Rotundo(W/ Captain Lou Albano)VS The Iron Sheik (W Classy Freddie Blassie) WWF June 22nd, 1985

Josh: This is probably the most excited a crowd has been for a Rotundo match as he comes out to “Born in the USA”. This is the shameful run of Albano as a babyface manager. Sheik is co tag team champion here and Rotundo is one half of the US Express. We get USA chants early on with Sheik jawing with the audience. Bruno is on commentary with Vince here, always a treat. Sheik tries a few takedowns on Rotundo who works out quickly, showing that both men may be skilled on the mat but the babyface is better. An Iran Sucks chant breaks out while Rotundo takes over on offense. Sheik takes an atomic drop by flying over the top rope to the outside and he begs off when rolled back in. We get an airplane spin and the crowd is digging it. He goes for the pin and Nikolai Volkoff comes in to break it up for a DQ. They try double teaming Rotundo and George “The Animal” Steele comes in for the save with a chair. Crowd goes home happy with the result.

https://youtu.be/99T--4wDaD0 The Iron Sheik VS Buddy Landell Mid-South Wrestling, September 1981.

Josh: Iron Sheik cuts a pre taped promo, talks about Iran being known for two things: oil and wrestling. He talks about coming to Mid South to take on anyone with the guts to face him. Really good promo from Sheik, who has two seventy pound weights that he says he can double the repetitions of anyone who wants to try lifting and swinging. Im sure those weigh about 10 pounds each but the visual is awesome. Anyone that can do more than him gets a $1000. Ladies whistling for Buddy here, Watts talks about difference in lifting between American and “European” as he calls it. Saying Sheik has probably been lifting those clubs since he was a child but that the exaggeration that he can outlift anyone may cause him to lose his thousand bucks. Sheik throws Landell over with a sweet Judo style hiptoss that Landell ends up getting a headscissors on after, then is followed by a standard hiptoss by the Sheik that ends the same. Crowd is loving Landell as he locks on a side headlock. Sheik tries to run the ropes opposite of Landell who ends up catching him again with a side headlock. Landell gets a shoulderblock then after bouncing off again Sheik hits him with a foreward headbutt to take control. Sheik lifts him and drops him with a nice stomach breaker that Landell sells well. Huge elbowdrop followed by a pin, Sheik lifts him up after a one count and takes him to the corner so the fans can see their pretty babyface meet the curved boot of the Sheik. We get a huge deadlift high angle German Suplex by Sheik. Landell convulses on the ground as he takes the pin. That was awesome. Really fun little tv match.

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Lucha Underground 05/11/16

'Dro: We open with a recap of the Trios tournament, Lorenzo Lamas involvement and the Mil-Matanza battle and then we get Dario Cueto walking into a bar where Lorenzo Lamas is waiting for him. Dario pays him some money and thinks that's it but not so fast. Lorenzo lets Dario know that the police have opened an investigation on Dario and the Temple and that the Temple is VERY important to his employer and that he will be showing up there. Dario seems nervous but drinks up and .. kind of smiles. OOOH! Who is Lorenzo Lamas' employer?! Super intriguing!

Three Way Aztec Medallion Match: Cortez Castro vs Joey Ryan vs Mr. Cisco Not a whole lot happens in this match. Joey gets bumped out of the ring and Cortez and Cisco fight for a short while before Joey runs in, knocks Cisco out of the ring and then schoolboys Cortez for the flash pin. Meh. I'm guessing they're keeping this stuff short 'cos the main event is going to be BEYOND epic!

Mil is in front of his shrine when Catrina shows up and tells an AMAZING story! She's nearly 200 YEARS OLD and she recaps Mil's story and then says that the first coffin match she needed Mil to "die" so she could make him more powerful than ever but not tonight. Tonight she needs Mil to close the coffin on Matanza so she can lick the face of a GOD and become whole again! HOLY MOLY! They walk off but who's that watching in the darkness? KING CUERNO! After they leave Cuerno breathes in all the fog and smoke and follows after them. HOLY MOLY! Where is this going to go?!! Can't wait to see!

LU Trios Title Match: (c)Rey Mysterio, Prince Puma & Dragon Azteca Jr vs Ivelisse, Son of Havoc & Johnny Mundo That was a ton of fun! The tensions between Ivelisse and Taya was awesome and boiled over postmatch. I'm hoping we get a singles between them out of all of this. Mundo played up his role as an A-hole partner while the champs did their cool spots and it was super fun. Azteca Jr throwing Mundo face first into a wall via a Rana was pretty sweet, especially with how Mundo bounced off that wall like champ! In the end, team troubles opened things up for the champs to finish off Son of Havoc. Postmatch, as alluded to, Taya attacked Ivelisse so hopefully we get that in the future. Fun stuff!

Lucha Underground Title Graver Consequences Match: (c)Matanza vs Mil Muertes HOLY MOLY! That was AWESOME! Perhaps less a great match and more a great spectacle! The Day of the Dead folks came out and placed flowers by the coffins before the match with spooky lighting and it sure added a ton to the atmosphere of what was about to go down. Mil and Matanza had a very bruising affair. Powerbombs onto coffins, Flatliner onto coffin, numerous suplexes and stiff right crosses to the head! Matanza tore open Mil's mask and then used part of the ring to bust Mil open! Catrina broke a chair over Matanza's back only to get choked but then.. MIL SPEARED MATANZA THROUGH ROWS OF SEATS! Mil getting the chain mail glove and it leading to the punch through the coffin spot later had me MARKING OUT like a nut! The spectacle stuff, amigos, that's what was spectacular here. And when spectacle and gimmicks coincide, like when Matanza broke a chair over Catrina's back and threw her and the stone into a coffin and closed the lid leading to Mil SUICIDE DIVING Matanza.... FANTASTICO! Mil survived a lot in this match, and so did Matanza, but in the end the Man of a Thousand Deaths was due one more as Matanza hit his finisher INTO the coffin and closed the lid down on Mil. And the spectacle wasn't over when the match was. Dario opened the coffin with Catrina to find it EMPTY! And when the people came to take Mil's coffin away one of the hooded ones removed his hood to reveal... KING CUERNO! HOLY MOLY! Fantastic stuff! It doesn't touch Season one's Grave Consequences but this was SOOOOO much fun it is definitely worth checking out!

After the credits we see Lorenzo Lamas again who nervously climbs into a limousine to give his employer Dario's money and to let him know that Dario thinks his brother Matanza is actually the most powerful man around. Lorenzo thinks it's his employer, his LORD! WHAT?!! Who is this mystery guy lighting up a cigar?!!! I have not ONE clue who this is going to be! Another awesome episode of Lucha Underground! LUCHA LUCHA LUCHA!

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NXT 05/11/16

'Dro: We get a video telling us that the android Finn Balor is returning and guess what's opening the show? Balor Bot comes to the ring and brings up his matches with JOe and for each one he says "Boot I wah-hunnnnn" and then... Elias Samson comes out SINGING! The fans are booing their asses off but you know what.. This is the most entertaining thing HE'S DONE YET! His song was hilarious! Bot Balor hits a Pele kick and then tosses the Drifter's guitar, because robots hate anything that makes non-gear grinding noise, but Samson manages to catch it. PHEW! Can't have that break! Good stuff!

Eric Young cuts a promo about this is where he should've been all along and I wonder if all TNA guys do the same promo in NXT.

American Alpha vs Jobbers The usual awesome squash match as these two show off thier moves. The Revival walk out to try and psyche out the champs before it's over but that just leads to American Alpha finishing their foes with gusto to show their rivals it's not working! Fun stuff! Can't wait for that rematch to happen!

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA is interviewed backstage and asked about Alex Riley's comments from last week, specifically about rage. Swagsuke's reply? Rage? (Does mock trembling) Shaking with rage! Then walks off! HELL YEAH! Please kick Riley extra hard for all the fans, Shinsuke!

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Alex Riley Wow! Nakamura has such a great entrance, especially when he does that Matrix pose when the nosedive noise happens in his theme. Match was basically a squash. Riley got some licks in, including some chops that seemed to leave some marks on Swagsuke's chest. But after Riley mocks Nakamura.. Shinsuke lays waste! Nakamura hits a barrage of knees and strikes before the corner knee thing and the reverse exploder before... SHINKASA! Awesome sauce! Nakamura has so much charisma it's off the charts yo! Fun stuff!

Austin Aries bothers William Regal about stuff and then Blake & Murphy interupt to set up a tag match for next week. OK.

Alexa Bliss vs Rachel Ellering WHAT?? The Road Warrior's manager had a daughter who's a wrestler?!!! This made me MARK OUT, I won't lie! This was a lot of fun! Alexa gave a lot to Rachel, to the point I legit thought maybe Rachel was going to win. She seemed to be creating an uphill battle for Alexa but uh oh... PSYCHO EYES! And when Alexa gets psycho eyes it's squash time. Alexa tosses Rachel down and hits her splash for the win. Good stuff! I dug this! Love all the 2nd gen names appearing in various promotions!

Bayley is asked about when she's going to get her NXT Women's Title rematch when Nia Jax interupts her and this leads to a challenge for a match between these two! HELL YEAH! Nia-Bayley part 2, that will do!

Finn Balor vs Elias Samson Kind of a competitive squash in a way. Samson was given some shine but not a whole lot because it was mostly Balor owning him for a prolonged period. Some great stiff shots by Balor on Samson that had to make the Drifter hating crowd happy. Balor wins with his brain buster finish. Postmatch Balor cuts a promo saying he's now POSSESSED with the NXT title and Joe comes out ranting and raving. Regal comes out to stop a fight from breaking out and declares that they'll fight on June 8th and the next Takeover and Joe says Balor doesn't deserve it which leads to a plancha from Balor laying Joe out! Balor poses with the belt and leaves Joe laying. Quite the end!

Really fun episode though one show-wide complaint.. that crowd! Those annoying chants! Blegh! But besides those losers, super fun show! They set up some good stuff!

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Reality Of Wrestling Episode 104

'Dro: Commentators run down the night's show and then it's opening match time!

ROW Tag Title Match: (c)The Taylors vs Legion Oh man that was fun! Two guys from Legion challenge The Taylors for the Tag Team titles. It's funny, as I was watching it I was telling Josh that this is the first they've even mentioned that they had tag team championships in this promotion in the few shows I've seen now. The Taylors are two fat dudes, one massively big and one smaller and athletic but still fat. The massively fat one hit a sideslam on the masked opponent that looked TREMENDOUS! The commentators, who liked to declare every pin attempt as an "It's Over" moment, really made that particular one feel like it could be over cos that was a kick ass sideslam. The smaller fat dude gets isolated and worked on by the challengers but before the hot tag he just SHOT through the air with such velocity to hit a TREMENDOUS dropkick! That was KICK ASS! Biggest dude gets in there, wrecks stuff then sets up for the smaller big dude to hit a FAT GUY MOONSAULT! Oh HELL YEAH! Champs retain! That was damned fun!

Postmatch an interviewer asks the Taylors, who are announced as The Taylors before the match and referred to such throughout the match, what their tag team name is going to be? WHAT WHAT WHAT?? Seriously?! They answer you can call us the Tag Team Champions! Whatever, that was dumb.

Abel Andrew Jackson is greeting us from the White House again with Breaking News. But he gets a call first and it's all to set up that next week we'll see America's Greatest Superhero (him) team up with the Greatest Mysterious Superhero (Q) against the Ministers of Defense! This guy has so much charisma, it's too bad the sound quality is so awful on this. But this guy is fun.

A hipster dude is talking up the smoothie bar at some organic juice place and is off to go get a smoothie for his buddy, who I should know cos he was on another episode I saw, but I can't remember his name. OK hipster dude.

Kid Ransom vs JJ Blake This was equal parts fun and equal parts bad/funny! Kid Ransom is an overweight white kid who wears a camo singlet with cowboy boots and carries a bullrope with a bell on it to the ring. JJ Blake is an athletic black guy who does the "DYNOMITE" deal from Good Times and even wears a hat kind of like from that show. There were some cool moments in this like a boss overhead release belly to belly suplex by Ransom on Blake. Then there were moments like Ransome going for an inside cradle but then rolling away and while Blake is on his back the ref starts the count?! I guess gravity was trying to win the match. Ref eats a bump later, Ransom hits a spine buster then tries to revive the official. JJ gets ahold of that bullrope and bell and wallops Ransom for it. The ref pops his head up immediately when Blake goes for the cover then does the 1, 2, 3. Fun stuff, even the bad funny bits were fun.

Chris Russo is with "Ruthless" Ryan Davidson He just hits on the experience vs rookie stuff from last week towards Marcellus Black, hyping tonight's main event. Alright, I'll buy it. We hear from the Ministers of Defense about their match against Abel and Q next week and they were pretty fun actually. Meanwhile backstage Marcellus Black is painting his face for the night's main event. Then we catch up with JJ Blake about his win vs Ransom and he says who saw him use the bell? Everyone but the important one, the official, saw it so it doesn't matter. What they saw was him be DYNOMITE! Good stuff!

Some highlights from last episode's TV title match before an interview with the new champion, Rex Andrews. He's asked about him breaking Bryan Keith's arm and Rex is pissed that he just won the title and he's asked about that instead of congratulations. He forces Chris Russo to congratulate them then cuts a pretty kick ass promo about how when Bryan Keith can't hold his child in his arms or put food on the table he'll be thinking about Rex Andrews while he's collecting paychecks and championships. DAMN! Kick him when he's down! Loved that promo! They hype John Studd's kid being here next week but now it's time for the main event!

"Ruthless" Ryan Davidson w/Stevie Ray vs Marcellus Black Fun stuff! I dug before the match, Davidson was walking to the ring and there was a little kid who was paralyzed with fear as he stared at Davidson with his mouth open. Ryan got in the kid's face and talked some trash and the boy's father was just EATING it up! That was awesome! Japanese style streamers were tossed into the ring during Marcellus Black's introduction which was a cool visual with his Great Muta inspired face paint gimmick. They didn't do anything out of this world in the match itself, it was pretty by the numbers formula stuff. Very simple but I think it was because this was to set up for bigger stuff down the road. Black has some cool Booker-T styled kicks with his long massive legs that I dug a lot. The match ends on a DQ when Stevie Ray pulls out his little club weapon and KO's Black from behind with it. Ref calls the DQ and Stevie Ray and Davidson proceed to toss the official out of the ring before stomping away at the former NFL star. They leave him laying as the fans boo and for sure this is going to bigger stuff down the road! Fun angle!

That's it for another episode, I know I'm a few weeks behind this show but I definitely and going to keep watching cos it's pretty fun!

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'Dro's Top 5 Wrestlers of the Week -A reminder that this is just a list of the folks I MARKED OUT the hardest for this week and not a list of who was truly best this week. You follow? Alright!

05-Emma, Dana Brooke & Becky Lynch I'm putting all three ladies here because they had a tremendous week. On RAW the bit where Emma made fun of Becky's eye injury and said she needs eyes on the back of her head, I didn't know what was coming. When DANA BROOKE attacked I MARKED THE F-BOMB OUT and was like "HELL YEAH! EMMA & DANA TOGETHER AGAIN!!" And when Dana threatened to punch Becky right in the eye as Emma held Lynch in place.. That felt SUPER real and threatening! I legit kind of gasped thinking she was about to get her injured eye jacked up (and I know it's kayfabe and still I'm swallowing it hook, line and sinker!). Then the mocking pat on the head instead of the punch.. HELL YEAH! But maybe the bit that put this over the top to awesome land was when the villains walked off and Becky cried. Not a fake looking cry, but a genuine looking traumatized in pain cry. The kind of real reaction real people would have to an assault potentially. Oh man.. That was such a great touch to really connect the viewer at home to Becky. Then you add the Smack Down match between Dana & Becky with the thumb to the eye by Emma leading to Dana getting the cheap win. They're stacking the deck against Becky and it makes you want to root her even harder to overcome it all. Everyone involved in this did such a great job this week, huge props to them!

04-King Cuerno Dude spied on Mil Muertes & Catrina, breathed in their evil fog mist stuff then revealed himself to be one of the Day of the Dead folks who took Mil's body away. I can't wait to see where that goes! Kick ass!

03-Matanza Splatterhouse dude tore up Mil Muerte's mask so he can bloody the Man of a Thousand Deaths up with part of the wrestling ring, powerbombed Mil onto caskets more than once, buried Catrina and the magic rock in a coffin, and later hit his finisher where Mil landed inside the casket before closing it to win the match. Splatterhouse Matanza Cueto OWNED!

02-Shinsuke Nakamura Swagsuke RULES! I love his entrance, I will stop everything I'm doing to watch his entrance when he shows up on NXT. And then he ate some nasty chops by Alex Riley before murdering A-Ry with a million strikes and stiff kicks. KICK ASS! Swagsuke ruling it up!

01-Mil Muertes Dude speared Matanza through rows of seats, put on a chain mail glove, punched through a coffin, hit Matanza with a Flatliner onto a bunch of coffins, then lost the casket match and was taken away by Day of the Dead people. I'd say DUDE OWNED THE UNIVERSE this week!

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That'll do it for another issue! No new New Japan this week cos of re-runs, can't wait for new episodes to get going on that show again! Anyways, if you want to follow us on Twitter Josh is @s1rgoth and I am @texanspaniard up on there. Thanks for reading, see y'all next week and adios!

#mark out mania #mark out mania weekly #iron sheik #lucha underground #nxt #reality of wrestling #wrestling reviews #pro wrestling #2016

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