G1 Climax 2016 Night 1

The show begins with a highlight reel of past G1 events - including Tenzan's amazing run a couple of years ago. Usual nothing billion person tag starts things off as Shibata, Nakanishi, Liger, and Tiger Mask IV face Honma, KUSHIDA, Taguchi, and Captain New Japan. Taguchi saves KUSHIDA from a Liger surfboard using his as. KUSHIDA creates tons of movement for Liger flipping and running all over the place so Liger can take dropkicks. Honma lands some headbutts to Liger and Taguchi gets a flying chop. Liger palm strikes and tilt a whirls KUSHIDA. Captain runs wild against Shibata before Shibata has exactly enough of his shit and just clocks him. Nakanishi attacks iwth slow moves and beats Captain with a torture rack neckbreaker.

Kojima and Juice Robinson face Yano and Nakajima next. Nakajima is THE GENIUS OF THE KICK and from NOAH, so I haven't seen him much. Yano's tron including faces and schoolboy cradles rules. Kojima's theme sounds like it should be in F-Zero GX.Billion forearms from Kojima to Nakajima to start. Yano and Juice come in for an out of ring brawl. Lots of buffering. Juice runs wild on Yano, but THE GENIUS OF THE KICK kicks him in the back. Kojima beats up Nakajima on the floor, but he comes in and brainbusters Juice for the win. Omega and Takahashi beat Gedo and Yoshi-Hashi in a nothing match. Comedy Omega doesn't work as well as main event Omega. Omega's t-shirt and wacky shorts getup didn't work either. Elgin and Nakata and Finlay face Naito, Evil, and Bushi

 

 Elgin's double double and giant weight vest rules. Lots of fast action in here from EVIL, whose black and purple gear rules. Set of codebreakers on Finlay ends it, and Naito and Nagata had tremendous chemistry throughout this. Naito mocking him after the match was hilarious.

Tenzan's out to face Ishii in slick red and black gear with gold trim. Tieups lead to a Mongolian chop missing from Tenzan and Ishii hitting chops. They ram together and we get a forearm exchange. Tenzan Mongolian chops him down. Ishii gets a hard liftup suplex, but Tenzan stomps a mudhole in him for a while and hits one of his own. Kojima cheering Tenzan on gives this a nice sense of importance. Ishii goes for a superplex, but Tenzan avoids it, so Ishii forearms him some more. Tenzan gets a super-scary inverted calf branding. A diving headbutt gets 2 and we get some sick headbutt exchanges and a TTD. Tenzan hits a big lariat and a moonsault wins it! This ruled! Tenzan hugs Kojima for giving him his spot and one last chance to shine. It's a simple, easy story to tell and it works perfectly without a single word being spoken.

 

Tama Tonga faces Makabe, and I love his new gear and draping spinning neckbreaker. Lots of hard elbows on the ground by Tama and then some big headbutts and more forearm smashes. Great Stinger splash by Tonga. Flying knee hits for Makabe and gets the win. Good-ish match, but nothing too amazing.

Goto is up against Fale. Poor Goto.  Fale is slow even tossing Goto in the barricade. The Hand Grenade gets 2 and Goto avoids the Razor's Edge, hits a headbutt and locks on a long sleeper leading to the modified Final Cut for the win. Goto did his best, and it was thankfully kept short.

 

Tanahasih's return match is against Sanada - and it's Sanada's biggest match in his career by far. As I stated in the Observer preview, Sanada absolutely needs to be booked strongly here to be an effective long-term guy. Sanada's Punisher tanktop and black leather pants work for the heel act, but aren't a good look for a main eventer. Tana's new red and white with blue and black trim gear rules.

 

 

 

Lots of side headlock exchanges with Sanada rushing around creating a lot of movement. Great heel antics by Sanada where he kicks the rope into Tana's balls to get an edge. They brawl on the floor and Sanada drop toeholds him on the barricade. He works over the arm giving them reasons for Tana being slower than he would be normally. Sanada's leapfrogs are absolutely gorgeous and they lead to a dropkick ala AJ. Tana gets a dragon screw on the ropes. Tana's high angle cloverleaf is fantastic. Sanada gets a springboard dropkick, but he can't follow up due to the knee damage.

Sanada lands the forearm combo, but Tana just kicks his knee to get the edge. Forearm exchange leads to a European uppercut exchange too. Sanada gets a dragon sleeper with a grapevine that gets a 2 on the arm drop and Tana BARELY GETS THE ROPES! Sanada blocks the miss on a moonsault Sanada gets a rolling reverse cradle into a dragon sleeper, but it's countered by Tana into a swinging neckbreaker. SLINGBLADE gets 2. Sanada avoids a dragon suplex, but eats an arm-trap German suplex for 2.

This match is absolutely amazing - they're making Sanada a top guy in one night. Tana goes up top, stands perched and goes for a High Fly Flow BUT SANADA GETS AN RKO IN MID-AIR FOR 2! Sanada slams him, hits a moonsault and gets 2.9. A second one hits and Sanada lifts him for another Dragon Sleeper and TANA TAPS! They made Sanada a top-level guy here - hopefully they keep up with the momentum.

 

 

Marafuji is out for his main event with Okada. Okada gets 2 off a neckbreaker. They fight on the floor for a bit and go back in for arm work on Okada - smart way to avoid the Rainmaker. A Fujiwara armbar further aids Marafuji, who lands some super-stiff chops against the ropes too. A backflip into a dropkick sends Okada to the floor while a HUGE over the top plancha hits. Marafuji goes for the sliced bread, but can't get it and Okada gets the over the knee Schwein for 2. Flying elbow and the Rainmaker pose, BUT THE RAINMAKER IS AVOIDED!

Superkick and a sliced bread, but it's avoided and Okada dropkicks him up top. Marafuji avoids a corner tombstone and hits a series of kicks, but Okada recovers and goes for another Rainmaker. It's a avoided, but he still lands a German. Marafuji recovers and hits a pump knee strike before hitting a fisherman's buster into an Emerald Flowsion for the win! This was another outstanding match and they have effectively made two long-term main eventers in one night.

Screenshot Gallery -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/68x04jhigd6sku7iwk819t9ilumh0wb6

WCW Great American Bash 1991 Part 1

 A new Wayback Playback is up and I've got two days off - so what the heck, let's give the "WE WANT FLAIR!" show a shot. We start with a shot of some very early '90s fans. We get the world's best Dennis Stamp lookalike taking tickets as the cameraman plays the role of a fan entering the building. It's as exciting as having a ticket taken and not sitting down can be.

The scaffold match is up first with Austin and Taylor facing PN News and Bobby Eaton - as divergent a team as have ever existed. Lady Blossom is with Austin, and Pat goes over her maritial history with Austin, Chris Adams, and Billy Jack Haynes. Pat points out how stupid this stip is to have for an opener with two teams that have no history either as opponents or allies beyond Eaton and Austin briefly feuding over the TV Title. The scaffold is ungodly high here too - fortunately, it's a grab the flag match!

So they kind of "solve" one risk by not requiring a bump, but of course you're still a billion feet in the air and can fall off if you get woozy. Neon everything is not a flattering color, and all of the various angles on PN's gear make him even fatter. They talk about Dusty loving the PN News gimmick, but being out of touch with rap as Vanilla Ice was over by that point. Bobby struggles to remove the flag, does so, and then the faces get powder to the eyes. Bobby won by grabbing the flag and Terry takes a bump off the top rope and everyone brawls.

 

We go to Jim Ross and Tony, whose hair is light brown! Pat talks about a far better scaffold match being Koko Ware against Bill Dundee in Memphis, which I'll watch later. Arn is with Paul E., dressed in a very '91 outfit of zubaz and a black with neon pink and green jacket. Ross talks about Barry and Lex having issues years ago to build up tonight's match. Sting vs. Nikita Koloff in a Russian chain match ishyped up. DDP and the Diamond Stud get a few sparklers while DDP is dressed in a ridiculous outfit even by his standards. Hall is also in some hilarious stuff.

Stud has the toothpick and flicks it at the camera long before Razor. Z-Man comes out with tons of hot chicks. Zenk dives in and hits a double lariat onto both, resulting in DDP taking a bump. DDP low bridges Zenk and we get Stud dominating and boy is his gear awful. Yellow with blue text and a giant diamond. Pat and Jim talk about how the Diamond Stud is an improvement over every other gimmick that was much worse or just nothing than this. Hall lays in some nice chops. Stud cheats holding the ropes and Pat and Jim talk about how DDP paid to fly himself in everywhere because of all the club money he made.

Stud takes him down with the chokeslam, but he poses and only gets 2. This balding guy with a skullet and a suit-style t-shirt is amusing. They brawl and Z-Man brings DDP in a after he gets slapped. A bridging back suplex gets the win for the Stud. We get OZ! YES!

 

This is so amazingly bad. The movie license tie-in is here to face Ron Simmons. Nash's grey hair is great - and it's probably his actual hair color at the time. They talk about how great it is to have a guy who can't bump for Ron and a guy who can't fly for Oz - perfect style matchup! Tony talks about how each guy does squats. Long top wristlock. Nash can't even take a good drop toehold here. Nash bumps over the top for a lariat, and his boot is falling apart. THE CROWD POPPED! Long test of strength here. Future World Champion Nash tosses Future World Champion Ron Simmons on the floor and The Great Wizard stomps him. Hug of bears is locked on. Ron wins with a flying shoulder tackle! Mr. Shirt Suit Guy is unamused.

WCW'S TOP TOP RANKINGS. I love this idea. Robert Gibson gets a mild pyro and mild reaction for his match against Richard Morton. Richard Morton's business mullet and bright silver and purple gear are amazing. I love the brawl on the ramp. Morton's gear is off too - with purple on the right side and white on the left for the trunks and white on the right and purple on the left for the tights. Alexandra York's getup is astonishing too.

 

Morton also has a ponytail mullet. Everything about this rules. Minus the match. It's fine-ish, but nothing amazing. Bill Alfonso is the ref hear looking like he's on day 2 of a 10 day bender - so downright young compared to his ECW days. Morton snaps the leg on the post. Gibson's white, neon green, and red gear is something else. Morton works on the leg, which is good - but does too much near the rope, so that's kinda stupid. Morton tears the gear up to reveal the knee pads and braced protecting his surgically-repaired knee. Jim and Pat talk about during Robert's team with Ricky Gibson, he actually played Ricky's role in the matches.

Figure 4 by Richard leads to 2 guys chanting for Rock 'n Roll. Tuxedo Suit guy is unamused by this stuff. Gibson FINALLY reverses the figure 4, which hurts Morton thanks to wrestling physics. Robert fights from his knees and they talk about how much better the tape version was because they nixed matches for the VHS. After several more centuries of working on the knee, we get more working on the knee. If you need to full out a Ricky Morton moveset in a game, this is the match to do it with. Gibson gets a DDT! The red, white, and blue ring apron remains good-looking today. Dropkick misses for Gibson, so Morton gets the leg avalanche. Ricky goes for a calf branding, but gets slammed and Gibson hits an enzuiguri. They each go for a dropkick on the ramp and York distracts so Morton hits him with the word processor to win. Holy Jesus was this an awful use of two legends.

Part 2 will be up once the show's up on the Torch site.

WWE Cruiserweight Classic Week One Rundown

This wasn't a night of amazing matches - but Ho Ho Lun was impressive and Kota Ibushi was set up as the top seed in this whole thing. Cedric Alexander also looked good and hopefully he gets a regular NXT gig off of this thing. It's very weird to have Mascara Dorada working both CMLL and WWE at the same time too.

http://insidepulse.com/2016/07/14/wwe-cruiserweight-classic-7-13-16-week-one/



Screens -

 

 

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/x97qhafredkvmtxxn9sp5g0y44x20fqy

UFC 200 Press Conference Recap

Dana welcomes us to the show 15 minutes after it was supposed to start. He says it's the biggest, baddest fight car in history and we see Brock next to DC. Brock is asked why he is representing Canada and he says it's simple - "I live there!" Brock is asked if he's ready to fight and he says he came to win, and it's no bullshit - he's here to fight. Brock is asked if this fight goes well, will he do more fights. Brock says you never know - but this could just be a teaser.

Edgar is asked about Conor keeping the 145 pound title and he says it's not his decision to make. Brock's blue belt in BJJ is talked about and he's asked what his skill level is now for grappling compared to when it ended. He says his goal is to be a fifth degree blackbelt and he loves training - but he doesn't care about having the belt and views it as a label. Brock is asked if he has kept up on his striking game after he went back to WWE, and he says he's worked with Pat Barry since coming back to WWE.

Jon is asked about DC's best qualities and "he has a very punchable belly" is his response! Hunt says he's looking forward to playing punchface with Brock. Jon is asked about what happens if he loses and he says unlike DC, this isn't a make or break fight for him. Brock is asked how he feels now and if he had anything after he left UFC. "I FEEL FUCKING AWESOME, WHY DOES IT MATTER - I'M HERE!" DC is asked how hard it is to hear Jon brag now and he says he's just here to kick his ass on Saturday. Jon is asked if he's towards the end of his run and he says no - he's sober now and he beat DC before when he was at the height of his partying. 

 Cain is asked how he feels and if he feels his body can stand up to training much longer. He says yes and he's coming to beat Browne. Brock is asked if Vince will allow him to fight more after this show if he wins. He says he'll get through Saturday and see what happens. He confirms that he's booked for Summerslam and we go to Miesha. She is asked if she feels like the champion now or if that will only happen if she wins. She says she wants to beat all the best, but beating Amanda is the first step towards doing that. Amanda says she can beat Miesha and she deserves the shot and she'll become champion on Saturday.

Jon and Brock are asked about their UFC 100 memories and Jon says he was so excited and nervous. Brock says his biggest memory was avenging the loss to Mir and being excited to get his hands raised and "saying some things that were very memorable". He's asked what beer he drank that night and he says he has two - one for the public to see and one for me to enjoy. Dana says "stop asking him questions!" He thanks Dana for being a great promoter and says that without the fighters, UFC would be nothing and "we're all over the world now" with ESPN coverage.

Miesha is asked if she watched UFC 100 and she says she did and her dream was to get to UFC 200. Amanda is asked how she feels coming back and having so many fans after her injury. She says she's happy to be back and will win. Ariel returns to UFC TV with Jones saying he's the one and only and Ariel getting a big pop. Ariel asks if he can get over the DC era by winning and putting his past behind him. 

Ariel asks DC if Jon is in his head, and he says he is - but if you spent a day in his life, you'd know Jon is just a manipulator. Brock is asked if it's surreal to be back and he asks about the ESPN interview where he said he was retired. Brock says that flying in allowed him to take it all in. Before, he took it for granted and he wasn't in the right place mentally. He says even flying into Vegas felt different this time around. Ariel says that Eddie sparred for 150 rounds and Brock refuses to answer  before saying "3,000!"

Dana is asked if he likes titles changing hands a lot and he says he has no control over that - he loves having dominant champions though. Miesha is asked if she prepares for fights differently and she says she works with a new sports doctor to help her nutrition. Browne is asked if a win over Cain puts him in line for a shot and he says it should. Amanda is asked if she mentally breaks and she says it's not true. Dana is asked if he'll up the bonuses and he says no - everyone's making tons here and it's over.

TNA Impact Wrestling 7-5-16 Rundown

That the best episode of Ippy and Bippy ever! Final Deletion made this show as a whole tolerable. TNA should fire their creative staff and just use the Hardys - they will at least ensure a fun show. Belts already mean jack-shit anyway except for the World Title, so just do whatever - turn it into DDT for half the show and have fun.

http://insidepulse.com/2016/07/05/tna-impact-wrestling-results-7516-jeff-hardy-vs-matt-hardy-in-final-deletion-and-ultimate-x-for-x-title/

Screens -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/gewenbue4vdfi4srbenaetbcn7ikctes