Attack Wrestling & Dragon Pro Wrestling - Club 100: Thursday Night Throws 1 - 22/06/17 - Live Report

Club 100 are the shows Attack runs where they include a few lesser known names who are in training. This was the first Thursday Night Throws which is the first show devoted to the lesser experienced wrestlers. The show was in joint promotion with another Welsh promotion, Dragon Pro Wrestling. The Dragon Pro Academy trains up many of the newer faces on the Attack roster, so they are closley linked.

The show was for the live audience only and not filmed. There were still a few big names, most notably ATTACK Tag champs CCK (Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos), ATTACK Champion Chief Deputy Dunne and the main event which saw the two of ATTACK's best tag teams face-off.

ATTACK Wrestling & Dragon Pro Wrestling - Club 100: Thursday Night Throws 1 - 22 June 2017 - Cathays Bingo Hall

1) Danny Jones beat REG
 
2) Brothers Of Obstruction (Jim & Lee Obstruction) beat The Alaskan Brothers

3) Eight Person Tag Team match: CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos), Elijah & Los Federales beat "Bronco" Brendan White, Oliver Sudden & Jeff Ramsey
 

4) "Aussie Arrow" Kyle Fletcher beat Mark Davis MOTN 

5) Chief Deputy Dunne beat Beano

6) #1 Contenders match for the ATTACK Tag Titles: Bowl-A-Rama (Split McPins & Lloyd Katt) beat Mike Bird & Wild Boar 

Lucha Forever - All Rise - 18/06/17 - Live Report

This was one of the first Lucha Forever shows announced. I heard about it first from Will Ospreay on Twitter and immediately booked. The show originally had a four way ladder match between Ospreay, Pete Dunne, Ryan Smile and Travis Banks then David Starr replaced Dunne and Banks would have to beat Shane Strickland for the title to get in. Marty Scurll was also originally announced and was meant to face Mark Andrews (Mandrews pulled out late after suffering an injury at NXT's Download festival shows. The card all changed around but still looked good. 

In addition to the roster change, the venue also changed from a nightclub to the familiar Cathays Bingo Hall. It looked more professional than an Attack show with an actual entrance and two video screen either side of the entrance. 

It's also worth noting that the show occurred during a heatwave. The show was delayed which meant the crowd spent longer in the sun. Not the best way to start. Even the wrestlers felt the heat with guys like Katt and Webster joking about the heat and Dan and Robinson wearing changed attires to combat the warmth. 

Lucha Forever - All Rise - 18 June 2017 - Cathays Bingo Hall

1) Bowl-A-Rama (Split McPins & Lloyd Katt) beat Elijah & Jeff Ramsey

2) “Flash” Morgan Webster beat Kip Sabian

3) Chief Deputy Dunne beat Bea Priestley by DQ

4) Dan Molesey beat David Starr

5) CZW World Tag Team Championship match: CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) beat The Swords Of Essex (Will Ospreay & Paul Robinson) MOTN

6) Six Person Tag Team match: El Ligero, Eddie Dennis & El Mother (Definitely not Martina) beat Mike Bird, Wild Boar & Sierra Loxton

7) Jinny beat Mia Yim

8) Lucha Forever Championship Three-Way Ladder match: Travis Banks beat Mark Haskins and Shane Strickland

Attack Wrestling - Press Start 5 - 03/06/2017 - Live Report

The first time I heard bout Attack Wrestling was watching the trailer for Press Start 2. It introduced me to the weird and wonderful world of Attack and I followed the promotion for years. I attended my first Attack show this year in the Kris Travis Tag Team Tournament and yesterday I attended Press Start 5.

This was always going to be an interesting event. It was made even more intriguing since Santos Jr, under the instructing of Chief Deputy Dunne, destroyed the console which runs Press Start. Attack Wrestling was broken and full of glitches, no body knew what to expect. Especially since there were no matches announced.

ATTACK Wrestling - Press Start 5 - 03 June 2017 - Cathays Bingo Hall

1) ATTACK Tag Team Championships: CCK (Lloyd Katt & Splits McPins) beat Bowl-a-Rama (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos): This was a repeat of the first Attack match I saw live in the Kris Travis Tag Team Invitational. However, with Attack broken, Katt was dressed up as Chris Brookes, Splits was Lykos while Lykos was Splits and Brookes was Katt. The champions retained. Top marks to CCK for staying out at intermission in character.

2) WCWDrew (Drew Parker as Sting) beat ECDrew (Danny Jones as Sabu), ECDrew (Beano as The Sandman) and ECDrew (Brendan White as the Blue Meanie): Drew Parker has been dressing up as the stars of ECW for a while now but his opponents dressed up as former ECW wrestlers and Drew drew inspiration from WCW dressing as "the Icon" Sting.

Announcer Jim Lee (who was dressed as a woman carrying water) spoke about how two guys from Attack stole NXT Takeover. He then announced we were having a rematch between them tonight for the Attack 24/7 Championship.

3) Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne went to a no contest: Bate came out dressed as Dunne, he had the mannerisms nailed and even had a crude drawing of a bear on his knee. Dunne then arrived as Bate, it was strange to see him playing to the crowd. Dunne even had a little moustache but Bate ripped that off and threw it into the crowd. These two went through their usual spots but reversed the roles so for example, Bate used joint manipulation while Dunne hit an aeroplane spin.

Both men hit their opponents finishes then they went into a straight up slugfest. Chief Deputy Dunne then arrived in a wheelchair pushed by Santos Jr (he broke his foot at a previous show). Dunne then introduced the Anti-Fun Police. First Mark Andrews, then Eddie Dennis then Flash Morgan Webster! They took out Pete Dunne and announced they are holding Attack to hostage.

4) Tetris Table Match: Bird and Boar (Mike Bird and Wild Boar) beat Ryan Smile (as Eddie Dennis) and Kyle Fletcher (as Nixon Newell): This was the welcome back from the break. There were two tables on both sides with cardboard Tetris cardboard boxes on each side. Fletcher was fun as Nixon, screaming in a high pitched voice and hitting both the flip Piledriver and the Shinning Wizard. Bird and Boar were also pretending to be each other. Nixon put Boar through the table on one side but Bird went backstage and found another life (a big inflatable heart with plus 1 written on it). This restarted the match and allowed Boar to piledrive Smile off the apron through the second table.

5) Elijah beat Love Making Demon: Elijah has been raging a war on the silliness of Attack which included Love Making Demon. They swapped roles here with Eljiah coming out in the yellow Freddie Mercury jacket and Demon in the black tights and WWE transfer tattoos. The tattoos led to several John Cena style chants.

6) Anti-Fun Police (Mark Andrews, Eddie Dennis and Flash Morgan Webster) beat Travis Banks (as Mark Andrews) and the Brothers of Construction (Jim and Lee Hunter): Banks and the Hunters are usually part of the Anti-Fun Police but were the good guys here. Banks, fresh off his SS16 win in Progress, was dressed as Mandrews complete with skateboard. When the real Mark Andrews was beating down his doppelganger, he told him to "go back to TNA".

The match broke down with Chief Deputy Dunne instructing Santos Jr to destroy the console once and for all, the Brothers of Construction saved it and found the disk to change everything back. Dunne said that if they did this they would be returning as heels with the Anti-Fun Police. Cue the "Moral Dilemma" chant from the crowd. The Hunters said they will do what they always do and fix things. They put in the disk and the lights went on and off. Mandrews, Dennis and Webster returned to their usual selves and danced around. The Brothers of Deconstruction emerged from under the ring but were taken out and Mandrews got the win with the SSP. 

After the match Dunne got superkicked out of his chair and Travis Banks came to wheel his Anti-Fun Police partner to the back. More faces from Attack joined in the in-ring party as normal service has been resumed to Attack. 

WWE WrestleMania 33 Review

There's not a load of stand out matches on the WrestleMania card this year but it's always the highlight of the wrestling year. For the first time,  I've tried to fit in as much wrestling over this weekend as possible and it's been great. In theory, this should be the highlight but with so many promotions running top draw cards it's going to be tough.

Let's start with a quick review of NXT Orlando which took place the night before. The eight person tag match between Sanity and Team Perfect 10 was a great choice for an opener. It was fast paced and never let up. Ohno was obviously the fourth person on Tye's team and was far better in this role than No Way Jose. After his awesome "Fade to Black" promos, the former Tommy End delivered against Almas (who is seriously underrated). The three way tag match was the match of the weekend, just straight up awesome. I would question the booking of having DIY being eliminated first but maybe it was more of a send off for the Revival. I had high expectations for the Women's match and considering we've only seen Ember Moon in short matches, I feared it wouldn't live up. I was glad to be disappointed. Ember showed that she can hang with Asuka. I'm surprised Asuka retained but the dusty finish is the right call to set up a rematch. I do fear what the women's division will become when Asuka inevitably gets called up. The main event was good, not great but the crowd helped make it a main event style bout. I've never been impressed by Roode but he did good here. Overall, as normal a great show to watch. All matches above average which is what you expect from a TakeOver.

Onto the WrestleMania Pre-show. I expected Aries to go over but Neville cheating to win (like Asuka the previous day) opens up to a rematch. Neville has been great since returning and is the main reason why 205 Live is still interesting. The Battle Royal was a disappointment. Who the hell booked Braun to go out early and Jinder to be in the final two. I guess it makes sense for the celebrity involvement but I just don't understand how someone as awesome as Sami Zayn made it in here. I would have had Sami, Braun and Dolph as the final three. The IC title match was okay but nothing special, if it was on the main card they could have done with a hard-core stipulation but this was just the pre-show. I'm sure they'll get a rematch. A bit of a comedown for Dean as his Shield buddies take prominent positions on the card and he's stuck in a match that no one cared for.

Onto the main show. The New Day opened. I don't understand why they are 'hosting' and not in a match. Plus, I can't look at Xavier Woods in the same way anymore. AJ versus Shane was a blast and had the benefit for a very hot crowd. Props to AJ who could wrestle air and make it entertaining. He deserved better. It's not like he's a young guy with plenty of Mania's ahead of him. Also credit to Shane, not only did he pull out his insane stunts but he also looked like Zack Sabre Jr with his submission work and busted out a freaking SSP. Probably match of the night. Jericho and Owens went out next and put in a great match. Owens' finger on the bottom rope continues to show why he's one of the best. I bet facing Jericho at Mania meant a lot to Owens and he deserved it. The Raw Women's Four Way felt rushed for time. Considering the awesome match Charlotte, Sasha and Becky put on last year it felt a bit of a let down. The booking leading in wasn't the best either, clearly Bayley should have lost at the Rumble and won the title here.

The only spoiler I read was that the Hardys were back because WWE sent an email about it. Damn it. But it didn't stop me marking out when they came out. They were possibly my second favourite thing about wrestling when I first started wrestling (after the Rock) so it took me back to my childhood to see them hitting the Poetry in Motion and Twists of Fate. I've also seen their recent work for ROH including a contender for match of the weekend 24 hours prior to WrestleMania against the Young Bucks in a ladder match. Jeff did his silly dive like it's 1999 again and Matt got the belts to win. Strange they are doing the delete taunt but not the Broken gimmick. The mixed tag match was fine for what it was. Without the Miz it would have sucked but it worked in a kind of retro way.

I though Seth versus Hunter was a great match. The crowd didn't seem to agree but they may have been tired by this point. I read another review which I agree with which said if you watched the match on mute it may have been match of the night. After his sucky match last year, it showed Triple H can still go if he has the right opponent. Despite a long and interesting build, Orton versus Wyatt always felt like an afterthought. Both can put on great matches but probably need the right opponents, together it didn't quite work. Luckily, they had the projections onto the canvas of worms and other creepy crawlies which kind of saved this match. I'm sure they could have come up with a better finish but it was kept short so it's fine. Lesnar versus Goldberg must be the best under five minute match ever. Just pretty perfect. You have got to question bringing in Goldberg and leaving him squash the monster and win the title when he can't last more than 5 minutes in the match due to his age but nevertheless, the match rocked. Brock is a beast again and hopefully Goldberg is done. The Smackdown Women had to follow, it was fast a little sloppy and over pretty quickly. Did not care about Naomi. Yeah, it's a decent story that she had to give up the title and come back to win it in her hometown but I couldn't care less. After all this Women's Revolution talk, both women's matches were just thrown together multi-women matches that felt rushed.
I

wondered why Reigns versus Taker went on last. When they brought out JR for commentary I assumed this was the end for Taker. It sucks because I would have loved to see him against Demon Finn Balor and a blockbuster match against Cena. Taker started strong and it looked like we'll see a great showcase. But Taker looked beaten up and a shell of his former self. Roman didn't really know how to build a match around him so he stuck to his familiar routine. It sucked quite frankly and was a let down in the main event to a pretty great Mania. Reigns won and Taker left his hat, gloves and coat in the ring to retire. It was an awful main event but looking back at it in pure storyline terms it kind of works. Reigns was like the new lion in the pack putting out the old alpha male. Taker tried but couldn't keep up with him and lost.

I'm always going to love Mania even if it sucks (see last year) because all of the pomp and ceremony but this one was everything you'd want in a WrestleMania.

On other WrestleMania Weekend shows, Evolve's highlight was Ricochet versus Keith Lee. Whilst from what I saw from Supercard of Honor, the ladder main event between the Hardy's and the Young Bucks killed it. I still need to watch Mercury Rising and hopefully the Progress event but overall, what a weekend for wrestling.

ATTACK Wrestling - Kris Travis Tag Team Invitational 04/03/17 - 05/03/17 - Live Report

I've wanted to attend an ATTACK wrestling show for years, ever since I saw the trailer for Press Start 2 on YouTube years ago. Since they run shows in Cardiff, I should be attending a lot more. These shows were held over a weekend and were a tag team tournament in honour of the late Kris Travis who passed away last year. This tag team tournament set up in his name took place over two nights with the winners being crowned the Kris Travis Tag Team Invitational Tournament winners.

ATTACK Wrestling
Kris Travis Tag Team Invitational Night 1
04 March 2017
Cathays Community Centre, Cardiff

1) Quarter Final: Bowl-a-Rama (Lloyd Katt & Splits McPins) beat CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos): This was a pretty big match to kick off, Bowl-a-Rama are the tag team champions whilst CCK are the big heel team in ATTACK. Splits broke his nose (or as Katt later joked "Broke his face") after diving face first into the ropes on the suicide dive. Despite this, the Champions advanced.

2) Quarter Final: The Models (Danny Hope & Joey Hayes) beat The Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr.): This was my first time seeing the Models and also the the debut of Los Federales Jr after Sr has gone onto better things. Los Federales was hilarious, screaming high pitch Spanish phrases, he even unintentionally ripped his pants. Despite being the ATTACK Champion, Dunne was eliminated in the first round.

3) Drewy Funk (Drew Parker) versu Elijah Dahl went to a no contest: Drew Parker is currently in a EC-DREW gimmick where he dresses up as ECW wrestlers, he did one of my favourites, Terry Funk whilst Dahl is on a mission to get rid of silly gimmicks in ATTACK. I didn't get to see most the match as they fought away from the ring. They then went onto the balcony section where Drew fell through four tables. That was the end of the match but Dahl continued the attack until Flash Morgan Webster made his return.

In the interval, the ATTACK 24:7 title currently held by a fan named Warren switched hands, a 6 month old baby made him tap. The heel referee Shay ruled that the title had to be returned to Warren because the baby couldn't be shown on the show.

4) Quarter Final: Bird and Boar (Mike Bird & Wild Boar) beat CJ Banks & Sam Bailey: I was unfamiliar with Banks and Bailey outside of their small appearance on the World of Sport special but they quickly assimilated in with the ATTACK culture and won over the fans. Despite being heel, Bird and Boar were also very entertaining and it's good to see them breaking out in other UK promotions. Banks called for beers after a WhatsUp and went to the back to get some, Bailey then fell the numbers. Banks turned back up after the match with beers but was to late.

5) Quarter Final: Project Lucha (El Ligero & Martin Kirby) beat FSU (Eddie Dennis & Mark Andrews): I believe Ligero is the most underrated guy in the UK indies, Andrews is one of the best whilst Kirby and Dennis are both capable of pulling out big performances, therefore, this was a worthy main event. Looks of quick action from all me with near falls all around. Project Lucha won which set them up as favourites to win the tournament.

ATTACK Wrestling
Kris Travis Tag Team Invitational Night 2
05 March 2017
Cathays Community Centre, Cardiff

1) Semi Final: Project Lucha (El Ligero & Martin Kirby) beat Bird and Boar (Mike Bird & Wild Boar): Both teams were very entertaining as they were in Night 1 and got the second night off to a great start. Some good back and forth wrestling with plenty of near falls and of course, a little bit of comedy too. Project Lucha won to advance to the final.

2) Semi Final: The Models (Danny Hope & Joey Hayes) beat Beer-a-Rama (CJ Banks & Lloyd Katt): Because Splits "broke his face" in Night 1, they did a Raffle (RAFFLE!) for his tag team partner. The winning ticket was 316 which led to CJ Banks coming out. Thanks to performance on the previous night, the fans took to him right away and led to duelling Beer and Bowling chants. The Models were not to be outdone and played to the comedy too, including a section where no one could move Katt's bowling ball, like it was Thor's hammer. The Models advanced which I wasn't too pleased about at first (more on that later).

3) Kid Lykos beat Mark Andrews: With the finals set, there was extra non tournament matches. The first was a straight up high flying showdown. There wasn't a lot of comedy but there was some great wrestling. Mandrews made Lykos look great and put him over in dusty fashion. From a pure wrestling standpoint, this was probably the best of the weekend.

4) Morgan Webster beat Elijah Dahl: This was Flash's in ring return to ATTACK after many months away. Webster managed to get revenge for the likes of Poppa Sunflower,  Love Making Demon and Ravin' Danny Jones by beating Dahl with a little help from Drew Parker.

In the interval, there was a massive raffle (RAFFLE!). One of the prizes was a photo with the ATTACK! 24:7 Champion Warren. A fan named Luke won which led to a Luke chokeslaming Warren to take the title. Heel referee Shay took the title off Luke and passed it back to Warren claiming they couldn't show Luke on the show.

ATTACK Champion, Chief Deputy Dunne made his way out with the hilarious Los Federales Santos Jr and said no man can beat him. Leading rather obviously to Nixon Newell showing up and laying down the challenge.

5) ATTACK! Title Match: Chief Deputy Dunne beat Nixon Newell: There's been rumours of Nixon signing the WWE for the last few months and it seems like she is finishing up but there is some uncertainty. This was a good straight up fight with Nixon looking like she was going to detrhone the new champion. Some shady tactics led to Dunne retaining.

6) Brendan White defeats Danny Jones and Drew Parker and Sam Bailey: Drew was dressed up as Rhino tonight. This was a welcome come-down from the previous matches just before the main event. There was some good multi-man spots. Drew injured his ankle late and Brendan got the feelgood win.

7) Finals: Project Lucha (El Ligero & Martin Kirby) defeat The Models (Danny Hope & Joey Hayes): I was a little bit confused as to why the Models made the finals, they put in good performances but I expected a regular team to face Project Lucha in the finals. Possibly Splits' injury changed that but then the Models went ahead and shut me up. It's impossible to describe this match, I bet it won't even translate onto the DVD, it was just fun, pure fun. There was hardly any wrestling in the first 20 minutes of the match, just four blokes messing around. There was dance contests, taunt-offs, a chicken fight and even a call back to one of Kris' most memorable matches in ATTACK when he faces Martin Kirby and stuck a plunger to his head. The heel referee eventually had enough and called the match a no contest, declaring himself the winner. The new fan favourite of ATTACK, CJ Banks turned up an hit a stunner on the referee. He pulled out his own referee shirt (which was too small) and took over as ref (even if he did go for a crowd surf during the match). Project Lucha won the match, honestly, I don't know if I'll ever laugh so much at a match ever again.

The wrestlers then came out and surrounded the win. Even though they lost, Danny Hope said heartfelt few words about Kris and thanked Mark Andrews for bringing everyone together. Amazing end to a brilliant weekend.

PROGRESS Wrestling - 15/01/17 Live Report

My first live wrestling show of 2017 was PROGRESS Wrestling in Birmingham. With the WWE UK Tournament happening the same weekend, some of the talent was unavailable (including the World and tag team champions, Pete Dunne and Moustache Mountain respectively) and the likes of Ospreay, Sabre and Scurll missing, the card looked lacking. Luckily PROGRESS had some surprises up their sleeves.

PROGRESS Wrestling

CHAPTER 42 - Life, The Universe and Wrestling
15 January 2017

O2 Academy, Birmingham

Before any in-ring action. Jim Smallman opens and talks about some of the talent working the WWE Tournament but he said he had no hard feelings because he also has friends in WWE. This brought out Finn Balor to an almighty pop. He joked around and randomly, played a game of musical chairs. It was an amazing surprise start to the show and great to see Balor in such a small place.

1) Ringkampf (Axel Dieter Jr. & WALTER) beat The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) - Great opener. Dieter looks like a natural heel with a smug look plastered on his face whilst WALTER is just a big brute who makes the London Riots look small. Ringkampf really impressed me and I also liked the look of London Riots. MOTN.

2) Jack Sexsmith beat Sebastian - Bit of a comedy match really, nothing to write home about. After the bout, William Eaver, who was at ringside with Sebastian, looked like he would turn face but ended up leaving with Sebastian.

Jimmy Havoc came out to a great reaction. He ran down the recently reformed Swords of Essex after Will Ospreay turned his back on him at the last event. Havoc then called out someone from the back for an impromptu match. It turned out to be the recently WWE bound Tommy F'N End.

3) Jimmy Havok beat Tommy End - It was great seeing End live before he joins NXT. Understandably he didn't go all out here but it was still a decent exhibition which felt special. End put Havok over then amazingly travelled down to Blackpool on the same day to debut against Neville at the UK Tournament.

4) Alex Windsor beat Livii Grace - This was in the Women's Championship tournament and was easily the worst match of the night. It was the match after the break and could have been placed elsewhere. It was slow, sloppy and not a good welcome back.

5) South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper & Travis Banks) beat The Origin: Banter Edition (El Ligero & Dave Mastiff) - Fun match, obviously some comedy from Ligero and Mastiff. Mastiff even put on an El Generico match and did some lucha spots. I still believe Ligero is one of the most underrated UK talents.

6) Spud beat Paul Robinson - Spud was the hometown boy and making his PROGRESS debut. Robinson is part of the Sword of Essex with Ospreay and attacked before he match with his belt. Spud nearly killed himself with a trio of suicide dives and won by DQ.

Rampage Brown was to defend his Atlas Championship (over 205 pounds) in an open challenge. He was answered by Matt Riddle!

7) Matt Riddle beat Rampage Brown to win the PROGRESS Atlas Championship - Bro are you kidding me? Finn, End and Riddle as three surprises? I've always liked Riddle but he's become one of my favourites recently as I track down random matches of his, so I was so happy to see him live. The finish came a little out of nowhere but that's Riddle for you bro. It sent me home happy in a show where I didn't expect much but it really delivered.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 Review

Wrestle Kingdom is like the WrestleMania of New Japan. I don't think I've seen a Wrestle Kingdom from start to end, I think I've always picked matches but I decided this year to watch every match, including the pre-show matches.

1) New Japan Rumble: This was like a Royal Rumble but as eliminations also occur by pinfall and submission. So like Aztec Warfare then, except this one is full of old vets who struggle to bump. Michael Elgin was man number 1 which was cool as he was returning from injury. Then man number 2 was Billy Gunn, really? Someone needs to tell Billy to tone down the gimmickry. He's awful but not the worst, that goes to Bone Solider who looks like a CAW I thought up as a child on Smackdown Know Your Role. Plus, he can't wrestle. Instead of brawling in between the entrances, everyone seems to stand and stare when the countdown starts like they ran out of spots. It's awful. Liger doesn't get eliminated then gets eliminated and I don't know what's going on. It comes down to Elgin and Cheeseburger. They try and save the match but it's well beyond saving. Elgin hits Cheeseburger with a powerbomb to finish a truly awful match.

2) Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger the Dark: This is based on the new anime show. Tiger Mask hit the Golden Triangle Press to the outside, just in case you were wondering who was under the mask. My suspicions are right about Tiger the Dark as it's ACH. Ibushi and ACH could have one hell of a match even in limited time but they keep it simple here. Ibushi hits the Last Ride Powerbomb for good to triumph over evil (although Tiger the Dark is apparently more of a Anti-Hero rather than straight up evil).

Quick note, I'm listening to the English commentary by ROH team Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. They are awful in the pre-show but get better when the show starts. Still not great but good enough to listen to, even with limited knowledge of NJPW.

3) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice: I'm not a fan of either team but will admit the Bucks can be enjoyable in short doses. There's some good spots like the Bucks faking the countout and hitting Superkicks on the entrance ramp and trying to win by countout and Nick Jackson's counter to Rocky's springboard hitting a bulldog/missile dropkick. The Bucks move out of the way of Trent's dive which leaves Trent hitting the floor hard. The Bucks work over the Rocky but he survives for Trent to recover, block the More Bang for Your Buck and allow Rocky to get the roll up win. It's meant to be a big title win but the titles change hands so much, it's hard to care. If they insist on using Americans, why not bring back MCMG.

4) NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships: Gauntlet: We start with Bullet Club versus Chaos. It's short and uneventful. Ospreay goes on a little run but is a little sloppy and Adam Page follows with a SSP off the apron. The Bullet Club advance but are quicky dispatched by Los Ingobernables de Japon. The match picks up with Ricochet and Finlay working well together, Kojima having a run and LIJ being straight up bad guys. LIJ pick up the win and take the titles. It's the right call as EVIL, Bushi and Sanada are all too good to be doing nothing but the titles switches in the 6-Man tag titles is almost every match.

5) Cody vs. Juice Robinson: I've read a review where the reviewer called this the worst match on the card. It's harsh, it's not that bad. Juice pulls out a great performance but Cody is a little too over the top. Now I've seen a few matches of Cody outside of WWE, it seems he's not going to be the performer who gets MOTYC. He plays his character very well (as he did in every character in WWE) but he's in the odd position of working like a WWE wrestler on the indies, NJPW and TNA. He's best off going back, it may be a longshot but in the last year we've seen AJ Styles, Nakamura and Chris Hero sign to WWE so stranger things have happened. Cody wins obviously, gotta wonder why he wasn't booked against Japanese talent, surely that's the point of going to New Japan.

6) ROH World Championship: Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole: I'm biased because I don't see the appeal in Cole. He competed in one of my favourite matches in 2016 but basically hung on the coat-tails of the other five men in the match. All he has going for him is his catchphrase and I imagine that gets annoying quickly. Luckily O'Reilly controls this match. He's bulked up a bit which suits him if he is going for heavyweight and his strikes were brilliantly stiff. Cole works the limb but then hits a suplex over the knee to win it. And that's it. Cole becomes the first ever three time champ in a lackluster match. I was a bit out of the loop and now found out that O'Reilly didn't sign a ROH contact. O'Reilly deserved the title ages ago and should have been the man to defeat Lethal.

7) IWGP Tag Team Championships: Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano: Not much to say about this match. Honma was Honma, Yano was Yano, everyone was everyone, The best bit of the match was Tanga Roa dropping the F-bomb a record number of times. Corino had to go off commentary for laughing too much and I had tears in my eyes. I don't know why English speakers swear so much in NJPW. I remember Ospreay being pretty potty mouth against Ricochet last year. Yano and Ishii wins which is an odd pairing I'm not sure I like.

8) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi: This was one of the matches I was looking forward to. I've always liked the Junior division, it's what first drew me into New Japan when Prince Devitt won the tag titles. The former Kamaitachi had a great match with Dragon Lee last year while KUSHIDA is always a joy to watch. The match disappointed me slightly but maybe I was expecting too much .Takahashi looked a little sloppy but that could just be nerves in his first big match. I was very happy to see two Japanese wrestlers face off, and I imagine they will continue this feud and get better matches.

9) NEVER Openweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto: With all the other titles changing hands, it was clear which way this was going to go. You gotta be good to have the nickname 'The Wrestler' and Shibata is that good. He owns the NEVER Openweight division and has made the title his own. They worked a stiff match, not as good as the title match from last years Wrestle Kingdom but decent enough. I didn't get too invested and as predicted Goto won. Good match but nothing special

10) IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi: Naito is so cool, how he isn't main event is the big question (like how Pentagon Jr isn't the focus of Lucha Underground). Naito brought something different out of Tanahashi. Tanahashi didn't do the clean break and stole Naito's taunt. They both work over the legs and traded submissions. They sold the legs well as the match wore on. Naito hit the Destino to be the only champion to retain so far. It doesn't make up for not main eventing Wrestle Kingdom 8 but beating Tanahashi to retain where everyone else lost the titles, is a good sign. Also every member of LIJ hold gold. The match itself was great but didn't reach MOTYC standards.

11) IWGP Heavyeight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega: What a match. It's pretty much a perfect match. Metzer gave the match 6... out of 5. I don't agree with that. It's an amazing match but not as good as Nakamura/Zayn from 2016 for me. Omega plays the Terminator in a fun sketch before his entrance. There was some heat on these two for main eventing but Okada pumped out another performance which solidifies him as the face of New Japan. Despite his popularity, Omega has had his critics but he put in a best in the World performance here. He showed he had it all, speed, strength, skill and his strikes were as stiff sounding as anyone's. It was a long match but there was no slowing down from the bell. There was also some huge spots, like Omega's shoutout to to Ishi by clearing the barricade and hitting Okada spot on with the Golden Triangle Press. The Bucks and Gedo are at ringside supporting both men but thankfully never get involved. The Bucks do set up a table which Okada brings out. Okada hits a big back body drop on Omega from the ring to the floor and through the table. Okada cut his back open at some point but sells the abdomen as Omega does well to work it over. Omega then switches to the neck which is fitting as Okada has had problems. It's worrying how much damage Omega is doing to Okada's neck, it must hurt so bad. Okada hits a tombstone and hits a couple of Rainmakers with Omega copying with a knee. They trade finishers some more with Okada getting the win with a final Rainmaker.

Final thoughts: I've seen a lot of praise for the event but I thought much of the card lacked. The final few matches delivered and the main event is one I will be talking about at the end of the year as one of my favourites. I skipped through from New Years Dash and watches a few matches. A few things happened. Dragon Lee debuted and took out Hiromu Takahashi but I thought it was Fenix when he first showed up. Ospreay does not like Shibata, that's a match I want to see. SUZUKI-GUN are back even though I don't know how many matches of them I want to see aside from Okada/Suzuki. And the 6-man tag titles changed hands again because it doesn't really matter. Oh and Omega said he is going to re-assess his future. Quite what that means is uncertain but I would imagine it's a bluff and he'll be back before anyone realises he's missing.