NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed 9-30-18

The ads for the Tana movie are something else. The show starts off with a recap of the March show, along with iffy in and out audio. If Babelfish was a voice, it would be this voiceover guy - he has zero emotion and it sounds like a machine saying words. Juice vs. Cody is hyped up with a nice recap of their past. Hoping JR and Kevin Kelly have good chemistry tonight. It's amazing that a time has come where I'm hoping Jim Ross can keep up, but Kevin Kelly has hit his stride with NJPW. Rocky is out with Sho and Yoh to face Liger, Taguchi with a rugby outfit on, and ACH. Liger's legend grows with time - he has an aura around him now that he never had before.Giant JUSHIN LIGER chant starts the match off.

Sho eats a tilt a whirl and then a Romero special! DUELING ANKLE LOCKS BY THE PARTNERS! Taguchi is putting more effort into cheering on his partners for this parade of strikes in the corner than most of the NWO put in all of their matches combined. HIP ATTACK BY TAGUCHI! 3K miscue leads to Liger getting another backbreaker. ACH comes in and runs wild with a basement sliding dropkick. HIP ATTACKS TO 3K! Rope to rope to rope hip attacks! Hip attack leads to a double atomic drop, but ACH lands a slew of dropkicks.before the babyfaces (and an iron ass) win the day - but the camera misses the finish. This was an absolute blast.

Page and Owens are out to face The Addiction. Chase and Daniels have great chemistry and Daniels hits a BME off a Kaz tombstone onto him to win. Goto has a main event-level theme. It would be perfect in a God of War game, and he teams with Baretta and Chuckie T. They'll face Sabin, Jeff Cobb with the ROH TV belt, and Flip Gordon. Sabin really needs the MCMG gear again - trunks weren't flattering for him before and they're much worse now as he's older, way paler, and in worse physical shape.

Sabin apron PKs Goto after Cobb does big man spots. Goto clubs and elbows Sabin a bunch. Sabin and Baretta get into a chop fest. Flip hits a springboard slingblade, but Trent avoids a 450 and hits a knee plus. Goto and Cobb have fantastic chemistry together and Cobb avoids a GTR and gets a suplex out of it. The Best Friends suplex Cobb and flex before Cobb hits a double teardrop suplex on them! Jeff hits the wrath of the Gods on Chucky, who takes some awkward bumps. Goto and Cobb argue, and I'm fine with that - more of them!

Archer and Davey Boy Jr., with bling team with ZSJ to face hte LIJ team of SANADA, Naito, and EVIL. EVIL attacks the shoulder of ZSJ and Davey forearms the shit out of SANADA. Inverted snapping Muta locks from DBS are great. Davey Boy Jr has finally found charisma! Sada reverses a Lance chokeslam with a rana. Naito runs wild on Davey. ZSJ uppercuts EVIL, who chops him down. EVIL lands a fireman's carry powerbomb, but the STO is countered into a bridge and ZSJ wins. Davey attacks a young boy on the floor after the match. Kairi Sane is shown in the front row. Love this massive EVIL chant and how disappointed EVIL is in himself for losing - thus making it seem important.

Gedo and Jay White are out to face Tanahashi and KUSHIDA. Tana and Jay have a wonderful brawl on the floor. Switchblade and Tana have fantastic chemistry - but White's babyface works against this gimmick. I can see this really being a perfect fit for him when he gets a bit of age on his face.Gedo is a great base for people to work off of and he has to be the best booker/wrestler ever in that he is still prominent - but not THE guy in any way and perfect as a second for anyone.

Blade Runner countered into the twist and shout. Switchblade distracts the ref so Gedo can crotch Tana before the Blade Runner hits and he beats Tana. At the least the camera caught the finish - off to the side and in a way that made it hard to see. This is great stuff because in the shorter term, Jay gets the win and looks stronger - but it's clear that Tana will hold the case through WK and if they want to have Jay take the case from someone, they set up that he CAN beat the man who held it before. He gets unreal heat after the match with a huge FUCK YOU SWITCHBLADE chant. He says that he beat Tana and should have the rights to the case. Time for intermission.

I love the bell tolling and the intro song airing to end the intermission. I would probably mark out for that live, bros. Marty vs. Ospreay is up. Marty is the Guy - his theme is one of the best in the business. Kevin Kelly says they won't know how long Takanashi will be out for, but he will be back. Marty's revamped jacket is great, but the Bullet Club-style side is far better than the goofy leopard-print version.

Ospreay hits a suicide dive to the floor to start. Apron superkick by Marty! Marty chops him down and Will does this sweet bridging bump for it. Marty does a slick bottom rope choke and flexes before eating a flying Chuck kick. SUNSET BOMB TO THE FLOOR. Goddamn! Oscutter leads a backslide into a superkick by Marty. They go for a double-up-top super rana on the ropes, but slip and Marty turns it into a much safer version. Marty chops the shit out of him and Will fires up! They each do a bunch of things for a few seconds until Will hits a superkick to the neck for a double-down. SUPER BUTTERFLY GETS 2. Package side piledriver hits and then the graduation ends it! Goddamn that was just an insane match.

Kenny Omega's rise to the top of the Bullet Club is shown. AJ's New Japan run feels like it was a decade ago - it's amazing how much the business has changed since then. The Firing Squad's domination is shown too. GoD is out with a fan grooving to their theme, and Haku is at ringside. Bucks are out in their BTE Ibushi-influenced gear. It's amazing how the Bucks truly did make themselves the stars they have become - and they've changed wrestling in the process. When history looks at them, it will be quite favorably.

Shockingly, the Bucks are over here. Giant corner knees hit, but a big bulldog is led into a lariat for a flip sell. A TABLE BREAKS ON A NEW JAPAN SHOW! Loa hits a super legdrop and Tama hits a frog splash for 2.9. Matt is still down on the floor off the table bump. Nick gets a one-man comeback- he is a fantastic Ricky Morton tonight. Handstand as a counter into a superkick! MATT GIBSON GETS THE TAG AND FIRES AWAY. Pop-up double sotmp to Tonga into a Loa backstabber in the the other corner. Loa ducks one superkick, but eats a double for 2! Delayed More Bang for Your Buck hits for 2.9!

Meltzer Driver into a GUNSTUN OUTTANOWHERE! IT ONLY GETS 2! Ape Shit hits and gets 2.9, but another Gun Stun gets the win. The GoD wins the gold in front of their dad! This show has been far greater than the sum of the parts going into it. This was another fantastic match, and the US Title mach is up next. We see Juice's dad hype him up on Skype before his title win. Cody is shown beating Juice with a Vertebreaker to build this up. Cody looks custom-made for the NWA Title. I love Juice doing the Bret deal of giving his glasses to kids in the crowd.

Cody with Ziggy Stardust paint is a cute touch. Cody has 6:05 on his boots whle Kevin Kelly talks about how Dusty was a huge influence on both of these men. Cody had him for his life, while Juice was made better by Dusty in NXT. Kevin Kelly is telling a compelling narrative of both men essentially being sons of Dusty in some sense - with Juice being an NXT son who had his promos influenced by him, while Cody had his entire life influenced by him. TRIANGLE CROSSBODY BY CODE IS MET WITH AN OVERHEAD BELLY TO BELLY. Goddamn, Juice is turning into Brock!

Cody gets taken down in the corner and hit with a super-fast cannonball. A running powerbomb by Juice is turned into a rana by Cody. Apron disaster kick misses for Cody. High crossbody off the top hits for Juice. Nice figure 4 by Cody. Juice hits Pulp Friction, but Brandi pulls Cody to the floor! Juice's punch combo meets a thumb to the eye and a SUPERKICK! VERTEBREAKER HITS FOR 2.9!!!! Superplex by Juice hits, BUT CODY SMALL PACKAGES HIM TO WIN IT! WOW!

Ishii and Okada come out to face the Golden Lovers, who have a fantastic VTR with Ibushi as a young boy. Kevin Kelly is so good at telling the narrative of the competitors - he's doing the best job of that since Jim Cornette in OVW. Boy howdy are Ibushi and Okada good together. Ishii and Omega bully each other around until Ishii just pounces him down. Omega forearms him to death, but Ishii barely registers. Ibushi comes in and kicks away before Ishii chops the shit out of him. Kevin talks about Okada coming back from excursion and beating Okada to become the legend he is today. Omega hits Ishii with a froggy crossbody for 2.

Omega hits a running spinning...DDT-ish thing? Ishii lands a brainbuster. Okada's in and eats a missile dropkick by Ibushi. Gorgeous mix of moonsaults by the GL for 2.5. Shotgun dropkick by Okada! Okada and Omega face off! Forearms plenty! GIANT CHOP BY OMEGA! DROPKICK HITS! Ibushi hits a KENTA combo into the V Trigger for Okada and then a snap German!

Rope V Trigger hits! Angel turned into a tombstone, turned into a tombstone - but Ibushi gets knocked down and Okada gets the tombstone and an Ishii sliding D gets 2! Rainmaker into a half-nelson uranage right on the neck! Ibushi boots Ishii and they just forearm each other hard. Golden Trigger is avoided and Ibushi eats a spike DDT. DROPKICK TURNED INTO A POWEBROMB BY OMEGA! Pele by Ibushi to Ishii! Billion slap exchange by Ishii and Ibushi!

Ibushi eats a nasty lariat for 2.9! CRO COP HIGH KICK TO ISHII! Golden Trigger to Ishii ends it. This was incredibe. Ibushi and Ishii have tremendous chemistry. Hopefully Ishii has a long run in him yet, because he's having the run of his career now. Ishii is peaking at a shockingly old age - it's not quite like Nick Bockwinkel being incredible at 49, but damn near close - especially given how much more hard-hitting the style is now. The Elite is out to congratulate them.

Kenny talking about all the yellow seats in the building to start with a camera shot SHOWING TONS OF YELLOW SEATS is amusing. Omega talks about the fans wanting to see him face Ibushi once again. Kenny speaks in Japanese to Ibushi and tells us he's just translating what he said to Ibushi. Kenny wants the rematch in one week, BUT CODY INTERRUPTS! CAN WE SEE HANDSOME BATTLE II!? Cody says he and Kenny are friends now and he and Ibushi are...getting there... Cody wants a 3 way against them both. Kenny says let's do it. Well, this is a great way to get Cody into the main event scene, make you want Ibushi vs. Omega, and Ibushi vs. Cody once again. GOODBYE AND GOODNIGHT! BANG! What an incredible show. Ibushi and Cody shake hands and they all pose to end it. A highlight reel properly closes the show out.

The post-match press conference airs with Omega and Ibushi. Kenny says that Ibushi says it feels weird for three men on the same team to fight and he has two losses to avenge this year. Kenny says that three ways are rare in NJPW and with them on the same team, it's very weird. Ibushi says this could become legendary, and Kenny agrees. Kenny says it won't be strong style, but it will be new style. Kenny says he wants to face Jay, but when he's found himself. It took him 10 years to find himself, and he finds Tana annoying as The Ace. Kenny talks about the Jericho cruise and puts him over as his toughest foe.

Bellator 206 - Rampage vs. Silva IV

This is the first show I've seen on DAZN, and the video quality is top-shelf. I love this 20 second clip of Bellator highlights being replayed a billion times over canned heat as a pre-show hype thing. OUR GUY 50 CENT in 2018 is hilarious. Gaston Bolanos faces Ysidro Gutierrez in the opener, with YG landing some nice punch combos. However, Gaston just floors him with a flurry and after a good 3,000 shots, Beltran stops it. Keri Melendez faces Dakota Zimmerman, who is 12 years younger. Keri takes her down quickly, but gets locked in a triangle. Dakota can't put preasure on it and the round ends. Round 2 is all-action, as is the start of round 3 before it slows to a crawl with a long takedown attempt against the cage by Keri. Keri wins by split decision.

Aaron Pico faces Leandro Higo to put him back on the fast track - hopefully, if you're Bellator. Pico lands some big shots to the gut and jaw, but Higo stays alive. Pico lands more shots and hits 5,000 shots on the ground before he gets up and is on rubber legs, gets hit a few more shots and Higo goes limp and falls down. THE REF STILL DOESN'T STOP THE FUCKING FIGHT and lets him take even more damage before ending it.

A Lima-Koreshkov hype video airs. Lima lands a slew of leg kicks, which is about it for three rounds. Mauro talks about how past their primes Wanderlei and Rampage are while DC poses in the crowd. In round 5, Lima gets a choke to win. Rampage vs. Wanderlei gets hyped up with an awesome Rampage promo. Wanderlei looks 80 in this video and older coming out to the cage, where Mauro once again calls him way past his prime. Wanderlei simulates lifting his legs high for knees and does the fist roll.

 They circle. And circle. And circle. Silva lands a jab and they circle. Larry Zbyszko is telling them to turn up the heat a little bit. RAMPAGE THROWS AND LANDS AN OVERHEAD RIGHT and we go back to a clinch. Wanderlei needs oxygen after 5 minutes of nothing. He's done, Gus. Silva throws a ton of shots and rocks him a bit. Jackson lands a big shot and Silva hangs on for dear life. Jackson slugs and knees away on the cage. Rampage drops him with a billion shots and it's finally over.

Rory is out to face Mousasi. They have a fast-paced battle that is a bit hurt mid-round by announcements over the PA drowning everything out. Rory gets sliced off an elbow when he dives in and puts himself in a bad position. A billion elbows end it and Gegard wins it in impressive fashion to retain his title.

WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV w/ What Happened When Commentary

This is the legendary SHOCKMASTER DEBUT show. It starts off with Regal subbing for an injured Pillman and Austin against Arn and Roma, in airbrushed shirts. They have a pretty solid match even with Regal having no major chemistry with Austin. He's great as a dickhead heel looking down on Brian for daring to get injured, and Arn cheats to win with a schoolboy using the tights.

Bobby Eaton's out to face Scorpio. This is one of the many eras with Eaton just as a glorified enhancement talent - but still with credibility from the Midnight days and his singles TV Title run. Bobby slugs him with a great right hand in the corner. Scorpio was years ahead of his time with his feats off the top rope and we see some guy in the crowd for eons.Eaton gets a flying elbow, but a thrust kick and a 450 end it. The replay shows Scorpio nailing him hard with it on the head.

Johnny B. Badd with a mask due to the Badd Blaster going off in his face is up. Johnny's out in an amazing zebra-print getup. Maxx elbows him hard. Maxx misses a second rope splash and Johnny covers him to win. Johnny wins the guitar too.

 

FLAIR FOR THE GOLD TIME! Ric is out with Sting and Davey before Parker, Sid, Harlem Heat come out before THE SHOCKMASTER SHOCKS THE WORLD! Tony does a great rundown of this where they got this shitty jacket at Ross before buying a Stormtrooper helmet and throwing glitter on it at 5PM. Tony says that it looked like Fred hit a rocket up his ass and was thrown through the wall. Dusty made the character a goofball to play off of it all and it sorta worked.

 
Orndorff and Steamboat are up. Orndorff's wearing the belt over the robe. Michael Buffer is out and I love the idea that ALL titles are important. A light rig goes out early on and we get some basic matwork. Paul lands a nice elbow for 2. Tony talks about the Shockmaster's debut LOOK never actually being discussed until the day of the show. Ricky lands a few nice running shots. They fight over a backslide and Steamboat gets 2. Tana is so much like Steamboat with his work - only more charismatic. Paul rolls through a crossbody for 2, but Ricky rolls through a slam to win it! Paul piledrives him on the ramp on the belt.

Sting and Flair face the Kongs next. Harley is with them and Tony does a Harley impression saying they're awful and being trained by Jody Hamilton. Tony sells the story of the Kongs never being taken off their feet and it's a simple story, but it works here. It's amazing that after the Shockmaster, we get two fat guys in a mask and big vest. Buffer does the intros here too.

The Kongs look SO GIGANTIC and not in a good way - they just look like two fat indy guys. Sting hits dropkicks and slams before running wild with chops on them. One fat guy misses an elbow and Sting hits a lariat. Stinger splash and a Superfly dive end it. Sting's splash off the top was gorgeous. A replay makes the slams look disgusting with Sting's hands all up in the nuts. Tony mocks his brown and white outfit before Sting and Flair shake hands.

A RICK FLARE fan gets his sign on TV. Wow, that is just dreadful. Rick Rude and the Equalizer are out to face Dustin and a mystery partner. Rick comes off as THE MAN here. Conrad talks about how now fans would get mad because he's body-shaming them and Tony says most are, so he's right. Animal comes out in a slick black car to bring out Hawk as Dustin's partner, with Animal as a distraction.

Hawk dominates Rude to start. Tony puts over his traps, and even in '93, they are ungodly. Hawk goes for a neckbreaker, but Equalizer bumps before the move - so Hawk just keeps him down and fistdrops him. He covered for it pretty much perfectly. Hawk and Dustin hit a doomsay device while Tony talks about Dave Sullivan always came up to him and asked if his work was okay. Rude hits a flying chop. Equalizer misses a lariat and hits Rude. Hawk hits a double lariat and a double facebuster. Hawk dives into the pile during a bodyslam to end it. Hawk looks so great being menacing.

Jesse's Hendrix shirt is incredible and they plug a Camaro contest. We get a clip of Animal coming out in it alongside the ad - and that's pretty good for WCW's production. Tony and Conrad talk about these contests being a gimmick to get mailing info. A PRO WRESTLING KING OF SPORTS hat guy in the crowd.

Davey vs. Vader is up for the title. Davey grounds and pounds him early on the ramp before Vader teases a suplex on the ramp, but Davey hits a DELAYED VERTICAL SUPLEX ON THE RAMP. Goddamn what a hot start. Davey dropkicks him down. BIG LARIAT OUTSIDE IN ON THE RAMP! VADER CLUBS HIM IN THE CORNER! Vader misses the barricade bodyblock and Davey puts him on the barricade gut-first - and A FAN SHOVES VADER OFF IT. Wow, that was something else.

Davey hits a Samoan drop that looks awesome. Vader lands the vertical bodypress. Vader lands his own Samoan drop too and goes up for a splash off the top that gets 2. Davey goes for a sunset flip, but Vader does the butt drop and misses. Vader chinlocks him, but Davey lands a crucifix bomb for 2. Davey slugs him and gets a GODDAMN DROPKICK with Vader up top and stomps away. Vader boots him and hits a Vader bomb for . Vader dives into a powerslam, but Nick gets a shot to the head. Vader goes up for the powerslam, but Harley clips the knee and Davey loses. Davey beats up Harley and Cactus beats up Vader. Conrad talks about how Harley is the last man standing in this match