Nation Extreme Wrestling One Review

 

These announcers sound so professional to start this show. I don't know if they're actually good at their job yet, but a nice start. Like the production to start this show even if the promo that starts it off is a little weak. Really like the venue with the giant windows on one side letting you see the outside.

Travis Williams vs. Judas Icarus

I find it very funny that the guy named Judas is the face in this match. They do a good job of working the start of this match. Judas controls early until Williams cuts him off and starts working him over. Judas makes a comeback with some big strikes. Judas did such a slowly dropped, crisply executed DVD into the neckbreaker over the knee it was awesome. A really nice finishing sequence between the two closes out the match with Icarus hitting a Pepsi Twist for the win.

6/10

Illa Tribe vs. Voros Twins

Both these teams are fairly green looking in this match. Its biggest problem is being way too back and forth without letting the heel team get control of the match and work over somebody. I'm also not completely sure there is a heel team in this match. I'd have thought it was going to be the pretty boys but I was wrong. The faster paced this match got at the end with bigger moves and guys coming in to break stuff it became really evident that neither team has a lot of experience. Except for Shug messing up coming in to break up a count when his partner was under the rope and the ref not counting and him just laying on the ground nothing was poorly executed except for the Voros Twins' finisher. They were just always too obvious or slow about getting into place. With more seasoning I think these guys could be good teams, but only time will tell.

3/10

Evan Rivers vs. Sebastian Wolfe

A rought start from these two before Rivers does a pescado to the floor and that floor looks like a motherfucker to bump on which Wolfe does a good job of catching Rivers and dropping down so it's not a hard bump. They brawl to the outside and the camera just films them through the windows which is fun. They brawl back into the ring and mess up a reversal spot into a slam. Rivers definitely has higher aspirations as a wrestler than he has the execution for currently with a lot of his strikes not really hitting as hard or as accurate looking as you'd like. Wolfe gets an elevated flatliner to pick up the win. A pretty rough match that had a lot of mistakes early that really turned me off and they just couldn't get a good flow going for the match.

3/10

Veda Scott vs. Jacky Lee

I'm normally a big fan of Veda, but she seemed to be moving slower than normal in this match. She does a good job of controlling the match early on, but her stuff just doesn't pop. Jacky has a decent come back although his clotheslines were pretty weak. The ending to this match makes no sense. On the plus side compared to the previous matches Veda knows how to structure a match that wet fart of an ending aside.

4/10

Nicole Matthews vs. Daniel Makabe

I've never seen Matthews wrestle this technically before and she's doing a good job, but obviously outclassed by Makabe as that's his thing, but she does manage to catch him a few times. They do some work in the corner and Makabe breaks up the technical wrestling display with a dropkick right to the head with some stank on it. I like that Matthews keeps hitting two strikes then yells for emphasis and Makabe blocks it and takes the advantage back. Matthews traps him in the corner and puts his knee over the rope and dropkicks it, love that spot. Big fan of changing the target of a move to a specific body part, it's the best. They exchange holds back and forth again and Makabe does some nice work to turn it into a cattle mutilation and its so smooth and nice looking. Makabe hits a disgusting leg hook German suplex that drops Matthews right on the back of her head. Matthews hits a nice spider German suplex off the top and pulls herself up to go for a moonsault, but Makabe rolls out of the ring. Makabe wins a battle of leg control and gets her into a weird looking leg submission that gets the tap out. Great hold exchanges throughout this match especially considering both of them have been out of the ring for like eighteen months. One nice touch I really enjoyed is that I don't think either one of them did a normal cover they were always getting extra pressure for a cover and ready to turn a kick out into a submission. Great stuff from these two.

8/10

$hareef Morrow vs. Bishop

A slight change of pace as we get a smaller high flyer against a big boy. Morrow presses the advantage early on the outside until Biship catches him and chokeslams him on the apron. Morrow keeps picking his moments and countering the big moves to avoid real punishment. He slips out of a razor's edge and gets on the top rope and jumps off with a code red to get the three count. A simple match, but perfectly fine and both guys looked good in it.

5/10

The Wisemen vs. Fergie & Elliot Tyler

The look on Elliot's face as he watches Fergie dance down to the ring is phenomenal. Tyler and Suede go back and forth with more of a technical exchange. Fergie and Baronie tag in and it becomes a hoss boy battle with Fergie getting the advantage then dropping the straps and hitting a delayed vertical suplex. Tyler gets on his hands and knees as Fergie bounches off the ropes. Fergie steps on Tyler's back and crushes him to the ring as their opponents laugh. Fergie knocks them all off the apron then Tyler jumps off Fergie's back. Great sequence love that goofy shit. The Wisemen get Tyler in the corner and start punishing him. Tyler hits a blockbuster then makes a hot tag to Fergie. They do the everybody comes in and hits their moves spot and Baroni casually picks up the big Fergie and hits a DVD. Tyler accidentally hits Fergie with the bell and the Wisemen hit their finisher for the three count. A fun tag match between a solid team of heels and the crowd favorite goofy big man. A well worked match that just worked well. After the match Fergie takes exception to having been hit by the bell and belly to belly suplexes Tyler then puts a beatdown on him. Amazing how he went from getting a huge face pop to getting booed. Good work.

6/10

Mike Bailey vs. Artemis Spencer

A nice back and forth at the start of the match with some strike exchanges and some really loud chops. Bailey kicking Spencer in the stomach during the chop exchange and immediately paying for it is great. Bailey's kicks sound and look so brutal. I like Bailey's change from smaller high flying baby face underdog, to cocky dickbag who is a hard striker. He always had the kicks, but he's really added some extra oomph to them now. Everytime Artemis gets an advantage then takes a second to plan ahead Bailey hits something and takes the advantage back. Both men go to get back into the ring, see they're facing off, and start brawling on the apron. Spencer's chest is pretty fucked up looking already in this match. I like the difference in their kicks where Spencer hits with his shin, but Bailey is connecting with the top of his foot which is why Spencer's chest is so much more fucked up. Bailey hits the shooting star press knees to the back of Spencer and lands on his feet. Spencer breaks up the cover by grabbing the bottom rope just in time. Spencer stops Bailey's attempt to springboard into the ring then jumps up the ropes and hits a Spanish Fly for a two count. The two men brawl into the crowd and Spencer charges for a kick, but Bailey backdrops him through a table then makes his way to the ring for a countout. Spencer breaks the count and the two men brawl on the corner and Spencer knocks him down to the mat then hits a spiral tap and gets a three count. A fun back and forth match between the two. A lot more strikes exchanges where they just stand and wait for the opponent to hit them than I really like in a match.

8/10

The show had some great matches and some real green indie wrestlers on it as well. So its a real fun show to watch. If you don't have a ton of time to watch mediocre wrestling just check out Makabe vs. Matthews and Spencer vs Bailey that are around the 1:10 and 2:00 marks respectively. The show had some great production value for an indie show and the commentary was really good. One of them was definitely trained as a sports commentator because he had the voice down pat.

Wrestling is Fun

 

We all get invested in different forms of media. I love music, movies, books, and television, but when it's done right none of those compare to professional wrestling. The most intensely I've felt that was after AEW's All Out. Except for the Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall every match on the show could have been a main event to a PPV. Every one of their shows has gotten me excited to post and tweet about the show, but this one made me bummed out that I didn't have somebody to talk to in person about it. It was the kind of show where after watching if for four hours I almost started it back up and wanted to talk to anybody about it for just as long as it aired. I haven't felt that way about wrestling in a long time and it rules.

The last time I really felt this way was near the start of Ring of Honor and when I found out about the company as a whole and the idea that there was independent wrestling that wasn't on television following the demise of ECW and WCW. There are always moments that get you hyped up in wrestling, but they don't always last like this one has. Especially since I was a WWE fan for a while. Everytime they did something great like when Nakamura and Asuka won the Royal Rumble in 2018 and then neither really mattered at their Mania matches and both lost, you kind of get trained to accept disappointment after something cool happens in WWE.

And to be honest that is probably the best thing about AEW. The booking rewards you for being a fan. You can get invested in the faces quest for the gold because he's going to win the belt. Hangman is away for Paternity leave and when he comes back the crowd is going to go apeshit and he is going to fight for the world title and be the one to defeat Kenny Omega because that's been the story since they were the tag team champions. Hangman leaving actually works well with all the big names coming in, plus when Bryan Danielson fails to dethrone Omega it will be even better when Hangman does it.

AEW has had plenty of shows filled with great matches so the difference this time is everybody who showed up. Starting with CM Punk who we knew was wrestling on the show, but getting to see him return to the ring after seven years was a treat and he did a great job. Then we get the surprise debuts of Minoro Suzuki, Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson and it just changes everything.

To me Ruby's debut is the most definitive statement of why AEW is so much fun to watch. The other three are big deals in their promotions, but Ruby was never given anything to really do in WWE despite the crowd clamoring for it. She was maybe a midcard talent when WWE released her, but she came to AEW and the crowd popped because she proved how good she was before she was in WWE and they were ready to see her be the athlete she is without any handcuffs on her. That debut pop was just as good as the others and she never was treated with that kind of fanfare before going to AEW.

As much as my favorite tag team winning the tag belts in my current match of the year is a factor in how much I love this show, the undeniable biggest factor is Bryan Danielson being in a company that embraces the same idea of wrestling as him. The promo against Kenny gives me hope of him racking up wins against the indy guys on dark to build up his resume. Is that because I would love to see him wrestle Lee Moriarty, Daniel Garcia, and Wheeler Yuta. Yeah, of fucking course it is those guys all rule and I would love to see them work the American Dragon. And then obviously the matches against Kenny Omega and the other signed AEW talent, especially the match Punk said he wanted of teaming with Danielson against the Young Bucks.

But it isn't just the debuts and possibility of the future, the matches that happened on the show all mattered too. Kingston and Miro had a feud with like two weeks of build, but with a minute of promo time between them they made the match matter and then had a fucking banger of a match with both men throwing bombs and refusing to stay down. It's a match I knew Kingston could do, but didn't know Miro could and he backed up why he's treated the way he is in AEW. The star of the show for me is Young Bucks vs Lucha Brothers. I can't be objective about this match these are the two best tag teams in wrestling for the last two decades and they've always had great matches against each other and in the steel cage they upped the dramatics and violence and had an all time classic that is the match of the year and one of the best tag matches of all time.

What I find the best is that after this show I'm not just excited about AEW shows and the future I'm just excited about the idea of professional wrestling in general. I'm back to watching random matches on youtube, paying attention to live shows on IWTV and even watching NJPW shows again. I went and played around at the basketball court and spent time thinking about how I want to open up a wrestling themed bar. I haven't felt that way in a long time and its just so awesome that AEW has reopened that part of me. I never stopped liking wrestling, but as CM Punk tweeted years ago in WWE this poop isn't fun anymore and as he tweeted after All Out, This shit is fun again.