So I'm bored with everything being cancelled  and there's really nothing new to talk about. So I'm going to use this thread to review matches from the past and recent history.  Feel free to add your own thoughts! 



Let's start with Trish vs Melina  

1. Trish  vs Melina Survivor Series 2005 Women's championship match-

The real highlight in this match was the effort Trish put into making Melina look like an absolute star, and a serious threat despite her not really being an established wrestler yet. Trish bumped and sold her ass off for Melina. Melina really didn't do anything flashy but the offense she did do Trish made look so deadly especially her bump for Melina's face-buster. I also liekd the fast paced start to the match with Trish doing a crossbody to the outside.  Another thing I liked about this match was the intensity, both Melina and Trish were really laying it into each other with their strikes. I also like how Trish had to resort to a different version of her Stratusfaction finisher as Melina had countered her usual finisher spots.  This may be a heretical opinion but I think Trish had  more in-ring chemistry with Melina than she had with Mickie.





2.

Second match
Gail and ODB vs Kong and Raisha Lockdown 2008


I feel like this match is a little overlooked from this time period, yet it has also aged better than some of the other KO matches from around this time. The bulk of this match was basically a Gail vs Melissa singles match, and those parts were as good as you'd expect them to be and surprisingly a good deal better than their actual singles match together ended up being years later. I liked that Gail got to bust out more of her lucha spots than she usually did during the last year or so of her first run in TNA. Melissa's work as Raisha was also really impressive and vicious-looking and makes me annoyed she didn't get more of a spotlight during her time in TNA as she was in the prime of her career. While they didn't make use of the cage that much, the few major spots they did do with it were really cool, especially Melissa stomping Gail's head into the cage, and Gail's super Frankensteiner. It was really weird that Kong was hardly used in the match though, was there something going on with ehr at this time?

Love this thread idea - I'm gonna hijack it, have some match requests for you to watch/review dex !

This Gail Kim vs. Madison Rayne match from 2012. This match was significant for a few reasons - one, it was a rare heel vs. heel bout. Two, this was one of the first/only times I felt like Gail had an opponent during her second TNA run in which the opponent was even close to being at Gail’s level and appeared to put the same effort in as her (Gail deserves all the credit in the world for what she was able to pull out of the likes of Tara/Mickie/ODB/Brooke during her second TNA run). Three, I’d say this was the best match Madison had up to this point.

Gail Kim vs. Madison Rayne - Victory Road 2012


I think this McCool/Gail series is interesting to look at - this is from when Gail first returned to WWE (the last time she was considered relatively important in WWE) and from when Michelle first turned heel. They had great chemistry and it’s a shame they never had a singles PPV match, or even a match on Superstars. 2009’s SmackDown women’s division was a really good year. McCool’s heel turn, Gail’s arrival, and Melina being sent to SD created a trifecta that I wish would have lasted longer - the Trump trade in October sending Melina and Gail to SD cut this era way too short.

Michelle McCool vs. Gail Kim - April 2009 
Michelle McCool vs. Gail Kim - May 2009 #1 
Michelle McCool vs. Gail Kim - May 2009 #2


These are 3 of the 5 matches Melina and Mickie James had on Heat. This was an interesting time for Melina and Mickie - coming off feuds with Trish, Lita, and with each other, there was a period in late 2007 and early 2008 where they were kept in the background. They both jumped back to the forefront during 2008 when Mickie won the title from Beth and Melina turned babyface, but I think the state of the division at the time is quite evident when you see these two were regulated to a web series after winning Women’s Championship matches at the 2006 and 2007 WrestleManias respectively. This was before we had the Superstars TV show to rely on for some longer divas matches, so these random matches on Heat were considered real treats at the time.

Melina vs. Mickie James - Heat October 2007
Melina vs. Mickie James - Heat November 2007
Melina vs. Mickie James - Heat March 2008 

(As a bonus, throwing in a match Melina and Candice had too - which I’d say was one of Candice’s most technically sound matches).
Melina vs. Candice Michelle - Heat September 2007


Staying on the topic of the division from 2007 - 2008: This match was also considered a real treat at the time - we didn’t often get divas triple threats, and Melina had always been a heel up to this point, so seeing her play a sort-of tweener role for one night was new territory. I think a lot of Beth's 2007 performances were pretty bland, but would rate this throwaway match on Raw as one of her better matches.

Beth Phoenix vs. Melina vs. Mickie James (Raw 2007) 


Lastly, I think these matches were some of the highlights of Nikki Bella and Natalya's careers.  I really miss Nikki's ring work, particularly as a face, and really wish she would have had a longer face run.

Nikki Bella vs. Natalya - Elimination Chamber 2017
Nikki Bella vs. Natalya - Falls Count Anywhere on SmackDown 2017

Yes people please give me suggestions for matches for meto watch/review


LS, I'll start with the Melina vs Mickie Matches
Melina is one of those wrestlers who seemed to be able to force Mickie out of her usual routine, and I'd say she was one of the few smaller wrestlers who were able to do this, Gail was another but to a lesser extent imo. Usually, the women who she would do o different spots with were bigger bases who she could pull off some lucha spots with. I really liked the technical starts to these matches and the general fast pace at the start too. The heel control segments in the matches were good as well, but I think all of these matches could have used a couple more minutes as often times the finish was abrupt. The commentary was also pretty cringe but obviously a product of the times. It's shocking how much more athletic and fresh Mickie James looks in these matches, than even just her matches form a year or so later, it's a shame Mickie was a bit of an underachiever at the later stages of her career as she clearly has a lot of pure talent.


Michelle vs Gail Matches
These just made me annoyed we never got a Gail vs Michelle ppv match. They had some really nice chemistry despite not having much in-ring time together at this point. I reallly liked how Gail got to use more of her lucha based face offense in WWE, and I'd actually say I think that on average her tv matches, especially in the first year or so of her second WWE run, were better than her tv matches in her first stint with TNA (and probably her second too honestly). Michelle's limb work was on point as well. . The 2008-2011 women's division in WWE could have been so much better than it ended up being with a little more effort from the bookers.

Melina vs Candice
Melina was one of the few women who could make Candice look like an actual wrestler and not just a model play-acting one. I liked the technical stuff at the beginning of the match but a lot of Candice's offense especially her strikes just looked really weak. I think a lot of Candice's improvements were overstated other women with similar backgrounds surpassed her level at a much faster pac than it took her to get to her level e (Michelle Mccool, Layla, The Bellas, Angela Fong, Naomi. Kaitlyn etc)


Mickie vs Melina vs Beth triple threat match- I found this match to be just ok, there were some creative spots like Melina putting Mickie into her leg scissors when she went for the Mickie-Rama, and some others but there were some slloppy spots too, and the match in general was too short to be anything special.

Nikki vs Nattie Matches
I really liked how Nikki's offense/move-set evolved throughout her career from being a fast-paced Lucha face to a catty hair pulling heel, to a power-house heel, to a technical face. I think these two matches are about the highest level one could expect from a Nattie match at this point, I really liked Nikki's transiitons into her submissions especially her finisher in the first match and felt the action was all really exciting and physical. It's a shame we never got a ppv style match with her versus Aauka or Sasha.


Bonus match
Bragging rights 2009 Melina/ Gail/ Kelly versus Michelle/Beth/Natalya

I really liked the opening and closing segments to this match. Gail and Michelle/Beth's interactions at the start of this match were really fun and fast paced , and the closing segment at the end with Melina and Beth was really exciting with some really cool spots like Melina's counter to Beth's slingshot suplex. Unfortunately, the middle portions of the match with Kelly's offense and the heel control sgements were pretty boring. Kelly was never that good but like Candice, her stuff has especially not aged well again just really slow and soft looking. The heel control segment was petty boring and lacking the good limb work found in many Mccool matches form this time period. Still a good match though imo.

Forgot Madison vs Gail VR 2012
This match was solid but maybe not quite as good as I remember it being? Madison had some nice offense especially with her combo moves, and I think this match marked the start of Madison being a less dull wrestler, but also this match could have used more time and also some more high spots as outside of some of Madison's offense ther wasn't really any major spots that stood out from the whoole of the match . The heel vs heel dynamic also made it a little harder to get into so many years removed from the match. Still solid.


Next up the Hamda vs Speed Queens singles matches

Hamada vs Taylor

Hamada vs Sarita (Unfortunately I can't find the full match anywhere online, so I'm partially going off memory for this one)


I don't think it is possible to have a competitive match as good as these two while under the same time restraints Taylor vs Hamada was shorter and the stuff the pulled of was a little less advanced than the Sarita match, but they packed so much into this short time frame, they seriously packed like ten minutes of content into under 3 minutes and did so without and major mess-ups and with almost everything looking really smooth and clean they only criticism I have is that some of Hamada's kick-outs were a little late. Just a really great match and I do mean great which is incredible considering it was less than 3 minutes long .

Hamada vs Sarita, on the other hand, was slightly longer (but still criminally short) and felt lone of the only times ( and honestly probably the only time) Sarita was able to fully cut loose as a face in TNA, and show what she was fully capable of. Some parts of the match were slightly less smooth than the match with Taylor, but the stuff they were doing was of a higher difficulty, and they still were really smooth for most parts of the match. It is really unfortunate how badly TNA wasted Hamada, and how it started a handful of years to early to be a plausible candidate to be signed by NXT. She would have shined in some takeover style matches and desrevered to be able to showcase her talents to a wider audience.

Shimmer - Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kuurrihara vs Madison Eagles and SDR

This was a pretty damn good match. I had a couple of issues with it, one being that I like flippy lucha Hamada more than power move Hamda, and I felt the heel control segment at the beginning went on for a little too long and was a little repetitive. This could have been solved with the faces getting more offense at the start of the match, but on the other hand, I like that Madison and Sara started the match in control as usually, faces have control of the match at the start of most tag matches, so that was a fresh wrinkle that they added Obviously with the caliber of talents in the match you know everything was really smooth and hard-hitting. There were some great near falls like Ayumi breaking up the pin after the royal butterfly, and SDR kicking out of Hamada's moonsalt. Overall a really solid match.


ROH
SDR and Serena vs Ayumi Kurrihara and Hiroyo Matsumoto

I honestly did not like this one as much. The "chain wrestling" at the start between Serena and Hiroyo was really slow, lethargic, and basic. I've mnnever been the biggest fan of Serena as a wrestler especially as a heel , and this match did little to change my mind. Hiroyo also seems to have improved a lot in the years proceeding this match as her work here wasn't as good as I am use to seeing from her but still wasn't bad. I fel that match picked up a bit fas it went on I liked the cool s=ubmisison move Ayumi used on Serena, I also liked Sara kicking Ayuumi when she ahd Serena in that hanging armbar. and I really liked how good the finish looked with Ayumi Hitting the uranagi and Horyo hitting her backdrop supelx, Serena did bump really well for those.

Some US indy/Lucha
Faby Apache vs Lacey Lane( Kayden Carter from NXT)

Pretty fun match. The start of the match was fast-paced and exciting, and throughout the match, they were really laying it into one another with their strikes. Faby did really well in the role of the heelish veteran wrestler her stuff is just really smooth and he movements look effortless it is disappointing that she has not been exposed to a wider audience yet in her career or at least a larger US audience. Lacey also did well, the one criticism I do have with this match is that it seemed to lose momentum and energy near the end it just kind of ended, I've never been a fan of time limts draws ecpially when there isn't a reason to have a decisive winner as this was just a one-off match to the best of my knowledge. Still a fine match.

Keyra vs Lady Shani vs Lady Maravilla  



Overall some really good stuff here, I'm a big fan of Keyra. I'm not sure if it really gelled into aa good cohesive match rather than being just a collection of some really nice moments, but I liked a lot of the creativity although some of the moves were a little too convoluted for my tastes but that is lucha for you. The head-scissors transition  into the straight jacket hold by Keyra was a really cool moment, the finsih was pretty decent too even if the transitions into the different submissions were a little slow.  I think Keyra and Maravilla were the stars of the match, Shandi did not seem to be as good as them.      

Momoe Nakanishi vs Kumiko Maekawa

These are two talents who wrestled during Joshi's down period in Japan in the 2000's. Which is unfortunate as both are great, (Nakanishi especially makes everything she does look effortless) and dserved to eb recognized by more people. This match starts out great Mmo's selling of Kumiko's body-scissors makes it seem like that simple hold is almost inescapable. I also like how long it takes Momo to get any momentum in this match Kumiko keeps cutting her off until she is able to target the leg, and even then it's not for long. Momo is really good at playing the underdog babyface. A couple of criticisms I do have is that none of the limb work really goes anywhere, and Kumiko basically ignores the damage to her leg as the match goes on but that is common in Joshi especially in bigger matches, also there was too much interference, the ending sequence is also a little repetitive, and I'm not a big fan of time limit draws/ Still a solid match overall with some good stuff in there.

Azumi Hyuga vs Gami

Azumi is someone who like Momo Nakanishi simply came along at the wrong time. If she had debuted just a few years earlier instead of in the late 90's she would have wrestled during Joshi's peak years and her talents would have been widely appreciated. This match was really fun to watch, it starts out with some good techncial wrestling and Gami (who is also underappreciated) busts out some really unique submission holds which I liked. Azumi tries to quicken the tempo and while she is able to get off small spurts of offense Gami is always able to cut her off with another unique submission. The match gets into it's final phase and Gami seems content to trade big moves with Azumi and wrestle at Azumi's pace which proves to be her downfall as a destiny hammer (diving knee stike) and a Michinoku driver finish her off after a great struggle. Really fun match That I really recommend viewing if you have the time.


Ayakk Hamada vs Mariko Yoshida

Some really good mat work at the start as one would expect from Mariko. The match in general is justa really good mix of Mariko's vicious submission style with Ayako's high spots. It''s a shame western fans didn't get to see Ayako in her athletic prime as she was really quite incredible during this time period her springboard moves look so effortless. The closing stretch was great with Mariko cositng her self the match by pulling Ayako up before the 3 count so she could inflict more pain , the slap/palm stirke battle near the end was really cool to. The match was capped of by Ayako murdering Mariko with spinning kicks to her skull

Ember Moon vs Ruby Riott NXT

A lot of people act like this period was a down period for NXT's women's division, but I disagree and this match is a prime example of why. Great fast pace start to the match, I really like how much smoother and quicker their pin exchange was than what you see a lot of other female wrestlers do when they try that type of sequence. I also liked how the match got a lot more physical as it went on both Ember and Ruby were really laying it in there as the match went on. Some great high spots as the match hit its closing stretch Ruby's diving senton always looks really impactful. It is a real shame that Ruby only got one real takeover title match I think her vs Asuka, or Ember in a takeover style singles match would have been really great.

Just wanted to say that although I'm on a wrestling watching sabbatical, I'm enjoying reading this thread. Keep it up dex !

Athena (Ember Moon) vs Hikaru Shida Shimmer

This was a pretty good match imo. Some decent, if basic, chain wrestling at the start, and I really liked the gina swing into the Boston crab spot. I liked Athena's attempts at creative offense even if they didn't come off super smooth all the time such as her flipping stunner, and the springboard ddt, they might not have been super smooth but they still looked pretty cool. The closing stretch was ok if a little too one-sided on Hikaru's part. Some aspects of the match that I didn't like are is that I felt they spent a little too much of the match in a hold that didn't really have an impact on the finish of the match in any way. Athena used the same hold about 3 times which kind of slowed down the tempo of the match a little too much in my opinion. I also feel that Shid'as running knee can be a little hit or miss on how impactful it looks, and in this instance, it did not look impactful enough to finish the match imo. I also found the constant chanting by the fans to be a little grating so nI eventually had the match on mute. Still a pretty good match.

Kagetsu and Kahoo Kobayashi vs Arisa Nakajima and Tsukassa Fujimoto (OZ Academy)

The couple things that separate Joshi wrestlers from a lot of western female wrestlers is the speed at which they work, along with the intensity and impact of their strikes and moves. This match is a good example of this advantage. The match was wrestled at a fast pace, even if there were a few clunky moments (like the delay in getting the springboard armdrag of in the opening segment of the match between Kagetsu and Tsukasa), and the strikes by Arisa and Kagetsu looked and sounded great. I really liked some of the transitions and counters that were use in the match such as Fujimoto's transition from her rollup into a strange arm hold, Nakajima's counter of Kagetsu's kick into an ankle-lock, and also I really liked how Nakajima transitioned her doge of Kagetsu's kick into a sunset flip instead of a schoolboy like most do when doing that type of spot. I also really liked some of the tag team spots Kahoo and Kagetsu did such as the assisted senton, and the enuiguri roundhouse kick combo. If I had any complaints about this match it would be that it was a little too dropkick heavy and that it never seemed like Kahoo and Kagetsu really had a chance of winning.

Tara and Brooke Tessmacher vs Sarita and Rosita Hardcore Justice 2011

I think this was Sarita and Rosita's last real matches in TNA. This wasn't quite as good as I remember it being. There are some good spots, such as Sarita's flipping senton of the ring apron her chicken wing driver on Tara, and the brief segments between Sarita and Brooke. Sarita was one of the only ones outside of Gail who was able to make Brooke look like a legit prospect, and she did with Brooke having one year less experience than when Gail and her matches with her . This suffered from a common problem TNA matches had at the time where the heels didn't really get much offense compared to the faces. Which meant we got more of Tara's slow-moving offense compared to having more of Sarita's exciting innovative maneuvers. This also was shorter than I remember it being, and could have sued another 3 or 4 more minutes. Still, this was probably one of the better Knockouts tag title matches, not that that's saying much I did like the ending with Brooke paying Rosita back by preventing ehr from being able to tag in Sarita, and I liked how the match didn't end immediately after Tara's hot tag.

Lacey vs Serena Deeb ROH 2007

I thought this was fun albeit short match. I liked the start with Serena aggressively going after Lacey's arm even if it did not really lead to anything. I also think the spot where Lacey tried to snap mare Serena off her arm was clever. Lacey was a really entertaining heel too watch, her offense while not super flashy was not boring to watch either, which isa problem some heels have where they make their matches boring. in an effort to get booed when I don't think is necessary in most cases. Lacey's reactions and expressions during the match were also entertaining, and I thought Jimmy blowing smoke in Serena's face was a nice heel manager spot. Serena's offense was pretty basic but everything she did was executed smoothly and she did a good job in playing the babyface to Lacey's bitchy heel character. One criticism I do have was that the finish looke dkin of weak , but that is a small gripe.

dex you should check out Liv Morgan vs. Santana Garrett from Main Event, a breath of fresh air. Even with a couple slower/sloppier moments, the bulk of it was fun. www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/kB5e52mrhHWOLevYNow?syndication=0?logo=0&autoPlay=1&quality=720&related=0

Liv's offense continues to look impressive. However, I'm not a fan of her flatliner finisher - it's a solid move, but looks weak compared to the rest of her offense. I still vote for the springboard codebreaker she used on Asuka.

Apr 18, 2020 3:05:46 GMT LS said:

dex you should check out Liv Morgan vs. Santana Garrett from Main Event, a breath of fresh air. Even with a couple slower/sloppier moments, the bulk of it was fun. www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/kB5e52mrhHWOLevYNow?syndication=0?logo=0&autoPlay=1&quality=720&related=0

Liv's offense continues to look impressive. However, I'm not a fan of her flatliner finisher - it's a solid move, but looks weak compared to the rest of her offense. I still vote for the springboard codebreaker she used on Asuka.

I found the Liv vs Santana match to be pretty decent, Liv's offense like you said was pretty good, but I agree the finisher doesn't really work a finishing move. The set-up isa little too convoluted for my tastes, and it just doesn't look like a match finisher. I agree her variation of the codebreaker works better as she can hit out of a variety of different ways.   

I have to say I have been a little disappointed with Santana's WWE run. A lot of her matches so far have been a little on the bland side even when facing someone like Io. For whatever reason her indy work comes off a lot better than her work in mainstream promotions like WWE or TNA. 

Manami Toyota vs Hikari Fukuoka (November 18, 1993)

Slower than your average Manami Toyota match and I don't really mean that as a negative thing.. The bulk of the first part of the match is just Manami and Hikari torturing each other with various different holds. . The match has a few sloppy moments during the start of the latter part of the match, but also some nice monuments such as a cool top rope power slam by Hikari, and a diving body press to the outside (past the guardrails) by Manami. . The finishing stretch was a little weird Manami seemingly couldn't get Hikari up for the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex a couple of times and then just went to using a regular german suplex which went fine, she tried it again for the finish and it went better than the first two attempts but still didn't look great. A solid match hurt by some sloppiness and miscommunications.


Akira Hokuto vs Mayumi Ozaki (November 18, 1993)



Some real disrespect shown by Akira towards Mayumi at the start of the match , starting the match with a cocky smirk and no selling Mayumi's early strikes. The disrespect continues even after Mayumi gets her in a nifty leg lock, she's still smirking and gains control of the match back easily and hits some big moves including a sick piledriver .  Mayumi is able to regain control again however by transitioning a sunset-flip pin into a another leg hold. One of things I like about joshi wrestlers is the intensity in which they apply their submissions holds and that is in full display with this match. The match continues with each trading control for a bit until the pace starts to pick up. Mayumi hits a springboard forearm smash followed by a great springboard flipping senton to the outside  Akiria isn't bale to regain momentum until Mayumi misses a twisted bliss, which Akira is able to followup by hitting a cool looking powerbomb . The finishing stretch of the match is the typical Joshi style training of big moves. There are a lot of really cool spots during this stretch including a top rope northern lights suplex by Akira, another two powerbomb variations by both Akira and Mayumi , and finally Akira hitting her northern lights driver to win the match with a cocky pin as if if she didn't just barely get through a war.  Really good match. 

La Chiquita Azteca vs Chaparrita Asari. 13-10-1996

Really fun but also pretty sloppy spot fest. I'm mostly fine with the sloppiness because of the level of difficulty of the spots they were trying to pull. This match had a lot of really nice displays of athleticism and creativity. The trading of fats paced offense at the start of the match was really nice, Asari hit a really cool looking armdrag out of a yoshi tonic position, and Azteca's springboard ensuguri was cool s well The middble poriton of the match got sloppy with a pretty bad springboard moon-sault botch by Azteca and it got a little too scoop slam heavy. Even so there was plenty of nice spots in the middle portion as well including a wheelbarrow transition into a Boston crab , and a twisting top rope yoshi-tonic. The ending was a little disappointing, Azteca hit's Aasari with a couple of really nice dives including a Quebrada, but then the match just ends ( or the video I found wasn't the entire match, who knows) and Azteca starts attacking Asari with chairs. Still there were a lot of impressive spots in this match which is what you want out of a spot fest , and the stuff theyw ere able to pull of looked so effortless and smooth.

Takako Inoue vs Debbie Malenko

Debbie Malenko was one of the better American female wrestlers to wrestle inJapan during the '90s. While she is clearly better than the likes of Teri Power (aka Tori) you still see some of the same weaknesses in her work compared to the Japanese wrestlers that you do with the other Americans just to a lesser extent. Her striking moves don't look as impactful as they could be, and she doesn't move around the ring as quickly as some Japanese talent does. Still she held her own pretty well as this match shows. I liked the start of this match with Takako getting the advantage early with a springboard arm-drag into an armbar. Only for Debbie to get control by targeting Takako's legs with some cool leg submissions. There was a sloppy looking gut-wrench suplex by Debbie in the middle portion that was unfortunate. Justa lot of nifty submissions by Debbi in this match you can really see the training she received from the Malenko's in play. The finish was a little underwhelming as Takako kind of ignored the leg work Debbie inflicted on her. Decent match overall but nothing great.

Eve vs Layla Superstars 2009

This match is notable not so much for the quality of it in general, but how decent it was for wrestlers of Layla and Eve's experience level ( under 3 years and under 2 years respectively).. It was a very clean match and while simple had some nice spots like Layla getting out of the keylock with a jumping snapmare. and Eve's beautiful handspring moonsault. Layla's work on Eve's leg was decent but a little repetitive, and Eve's selling of the lef was also solid but she basically ignored it for the closing stretch. Overall a very decent match for their experience levels, and oen where you could see the potential that they ahd that WWE did not seem super interested in capitalizing on

Gail Kim vs Kay Lee Ray British Bootcamp 2

This was one of the few times I got to wrestle another highflying babyface style wrestler while in TNA. I felt that Gail and KLR really meshed well together. The match wasn't super long but it had its fair share of memorable moments. I really like KLR's counter of Gail's body-scissors into a surfboard stretch, Gail's dropkick counter to KLR's springboard attack, and how each was able to counter the other's finisher into their own. The only minor negative I have with this match was a little hesitancy between some of the moves like Gail's top rope twisting crossbody, there was a little too much looking back for my liking on that spot, but that is a really minor nitpick. It's a little annoying we really didn't get to see Gail in more creative faster-paced matches such as this one.

Daizee haze vs Sarah Stock

Pretty cool rollup exchange at the start, outside fo one sloppy moment. Some decent technical wrestling at the first stage of the match too. There is, unfortunately, a decent chunk of the middle portion of the match that is pretty sloppy with a couple of botches. Match gets better when Sarah takes control and works on Daizee's back with some nice submissions and power moves. The fishing stretch is a little sloppy and underwhelming too, unfortunately, Daizee does hit a nice german suplex and a dive to the outside though.. For the level of talent in this match, it was honestly pretty disappointing, Sarah and Daizee just seemed to be off their games and just didn't click together for this match.

Tracey Brooks vs Lacey vs Alison Danger vs Daizee Haze ROH

This was a decent little sprint . It wasn't super long but it had a few good spots that kept me interested. I liked the Boston crab/cattle mutilation combo Lacey and Alsion used on Tracy, and I really liked Daizee doing a top rope diving foot-stomp to break it up. The tower of doom spot is cliched nowadays, but from the time period, this match si from it was a much more novel spot than it is in today's era so it does not annoy me as much as it would normally. I thought the closing stretch between Lacey and Daizee Haze was very solid, and I felt that those two really held the match together as I've never been a big fan of Danger or Brooks. They were ok here though for the most part.

Shinobu Kanodri vs Akira Hokuto AJW Dreamslam 1993

Probably one of the greatest matches of all time. Hokuto stars the match with a sucker punch that knocks Kandori down and immediately she grabs aa mic and starts talking trash to Kandori instead of taking advantage. How does Kandori respond to this? By almost ripping Hokuto's arm off with an armbar of course! This match is just an all-out war and both Hokuto and Kandoria repeatedly try to kill each other. Kandorai's weapons of choice are submissions holds and strikes mostly with the odd power move, while Hokuto's uses the classic Jos, and only have the energy to trade shots to the face .hi big move style. I loved how much of a struggle there is each time Kandorai tries to lock in a hold. By the end of the match, both are bloody and battered and can barely stand, both have kicked out of each other's big moves (with Kandori even using Hokuto's own finisher on her). Hokuto is lucky enough to get the last shot in that knocks Kandori down and out, Hokuto barely ahs the energy to frag herself over to Kandori and cover her for the win, not even being able to hook the leg. Just an amazing, masterpiece of a match. The physicality and pure hatred shown in this match is stunning, along with the amazing selling. This is a match that every fan should watch.


Bull Nakano/Aja Kong vs Akira Hokuto/ Shinobu Knadori

This is somewhat of a sequel to the singles match between Akira and Shinobu even though they are on the same side in this one. Note how in the interview segment before the match when Akira and Shinobu are interviewed they are spaced out far apart from one another and are not a cohesive unit at all, while Bull and Aja are close together and are totally on the same page. The first half of the match clearly demonstrates the difference between these two "teams" Hokuoto and Kandori both try to take on Aja and Bull by themselves and both fail miserably for the most part. Sure they get in their spots of offense, but Aja and Bull are always able to quickly cut them off and regain control. You can see how far apart Hokuto and Kandori are even just by how they tag in and out with Hokuto slapping Kandori to tag her in at one early point of the match and Kandori kicking Hokuto. Things don't really change until the last section of the match where Akira and Shinobu finally start to begrudgingly work together out of a mutual hatred towards their opponents more than anything else. Hokuto and Knadori are able to pull off the come back to win after Hokuto kills kong with serval northern lights drivers. This match had a bit of everything, lots of drama, lots of stiff strikes, lots of cool submissions, and of course lots of dives and big spots. A very enetrtaining match, if a bit on the lengthy side.

In honor of Becky's career, I will review one of my favorite matches of hers

Sash vs Becky NXT Takeover unstoppable

I think this was probably one of the best takeover matches from this era of NXT if not the best. One of the reasons why this is my favorite Becky Lynch match in WWE, is because it is a prime example fo Becky using her technical wrestling knowledge and skills instead do of just being a brawler. There were some really nice pin exchanges at the start of the match that was done quicker than you usually see women pull off that type of spot. I really liked Becky's fire and aggression at the start of the match. When the match started to kick into the next gear was when Sasha took control, her work on Becky's arm was tremendous and so vicious. Not only was her limb work vicious and tough to watch (in a good way) but it was also really innovative I liked how she transitioned some of her submissions into different moves like a back-stabber at one point. Becky's selling throughout all of this was tremendous as well. Becky's comeback was pretty coo, especially her deadlift back suplex out of Sasha's short-arm scissors, all of her suplexes in the match were really cool to be honest and a lot more varied than her main roster move-set. I liked the finish of Sasha doing a top rope divorce court into her Bank-Statement finish, although I would have liked her to have had altered the submission a little bit to traget the arm that she worked on a little more., but that isa really small nit pick.Overall a truly great match.

May 12, 2020 7:10:04 GMT dex said:

In honor of Becky's career, I will review one of my favorite matches of hers

Sash vs Becky NXT Takeover unstoppable

I think this was probably one of the best takeover matches from this era of NXT if not the best. One of the reasons why this is my favorite Becky Lynch match in WWE, is because it is a prime example fo Becky using her technical wrestling knowledge and skills instead do of just being a brawler. There were some really nice pin exchanges at the start of the match that was done quicker than you usually see women pull off that type of spot. I really liked Becky's fire and aggression at the start of the match. When the match started to kick into the next gear was when Sasha took control, her work on Becky's arm was tremendous and so vicious. Not only was her limb work vicious and tough to watch (in a good way) but it was also really innovative I liked how she transitioned some of her submissions into different moves like a back-stabber at one point. Becky's selling throughout all of this was tremendous as well. Becky's comeback was pretty coo, especially her deadlift back suplex out of Sasha's short-arm scissors, all of her suplexes in the match were really cool to be honest and a lot more varied than her main roster move-set. I liked the finish of Sasha doing a top rope divorce court into her Bank-Statement finish, although I would have liked her to have had altered the submission a little bit to traget the arm that she worked on a little more., but that isa really small nit pick.Overall a truly great match.

Agreed, this was one of my favorite Becky matches too, for the reasons you mentioned as well as the fantastic storytelling. This wrestling style really suits Becky a lot more than the brawler style we saw during her Raw Women's title reign.

I stumbled upon this match today and figured it was worth watching over anything from Backlash.



Any time I watch Meiko I'm blown away at how much better her stuff looks than anyone we watch regularly in the US. All her offence is so crisp and well executed, everything is so quick and looks like it really fucking hurts.