Fantasy Booking Bullet Club's debut in WWE

The apparent signings of Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson were too much for me to resist the idea of writing out how I'd book their debuts. I focus on Styles being the leader of Bullet Club with Gallows and Anderson so a lot of Nakamura is ignored, but there are some hints of him including his first Wrestlemania match. This was reworked with some injury news, and some guesses at when some guys will be back from injury as well.

Royal Rumble

Anderson, Gallows, and Styles are all in the rumble. They work together to eliminate some people but nothing super obvious. Styles, Owens, Reigns, and Brock are the last four in the match. They all team up against Brock but it doesn't work. Brock eliminates Owens and Reigns. Gallows and Anderson come down and distract Brock allowing Styles to eliminate him and win.

Raw

Styles cuts a promo about Bullet Club with his two dumb enforcers with him. Heyman comes out and says Brock's coming for him at Wrestlemania. He's going to be training hard on his ranch. Owens comes out and challenges him for Fast Lane. Roman feuds with the Authority.

Fast Lane

Anderson & Gallows vs. New Day, Bullet Club can't make progress in the match with Xavier interference so they get some chairs and leave the tag champs laying in the ring.
AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens have a back and forth match, Styles retains by interference from Samoa Joe who joins Bullet Club as the fourth member.

Raw

Bullet Club cut a promo and they start too sweeting and crotch chopping now, got to slowly introduce ripping off nWo and D-X. Owens cuts a promo about how he didn't want to have to do this, but he's got friends too and out comes Sami Zayn.

In a Fast Lane rematch Anderson and Gallows beat New Day to become the tag team champions. (I'm not happy about it either)


Wrestlemania

Nakamura vs. D-Bry (This has nothing to do with Bullet Club, but I want it to happen)
Anderson & Gallows vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn ends a double count out as it just becomes a brawl into the crowd.
Samoa Joe beats Dean Ambrose for the IC Title
Roman Reigns beats HHH (That's why he's not involved with BC yet)
AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar is a back and forth match and when BC comes down to interfere Zayn, Owens, and Ambrose stop them from interfering. Styles beats Lesnar with a foreign object while the ref is distracted by the ringside brawl.

Raw

Bullet Club beat Ambrose, Owens, Zayn, and Daniel Bryan. After they win the match they continue the beat down. The lights go out and Finn Balor shows up on the stage. Bullet Club looks happy. Balor calls them out and tells them they're being assholes then lets Styles know he's coming for the belt. Styles tells him he's got to go through the rest of Bullet Club first.
Roman Reigns says he was distracted by the Authority but he's coming for the belt now and he doesn't care how many friends Styles has.

Payback

Cesaro comes back and he teams up with Balor to take on Anderson & Gallows, cool. Oops, Cesaro is a dirty traitor and turns on Balor before the match starts and he gets the shit kicked out of him.
Samoa Joe retains the IC title over Ambrose
AJ Styles beats Roman Reigns with Cesaro interference after Zayn and Owens trap Gallows, Anderson, and Joe in their locker room.

Raw

HHH says he's tired of Bullet Club ripping off the Kliq and he's going to even up the numbers advantage. At Extreme Rules it's a four corners match Styles vs. Ambrose vs. Reigns vs. SETH ROLLINS!
Cesaro beats Del Rio for the US Title.

Extreme Rules

Styles retains in the four way match. Rollins doesn't do anything heelish, but the other two don't trust him.
Anderson & Gallows beat Owens & Zayn in a street fight.
Cesaro retains against Del Rio rematch
Samoa Joe loses to Balor in a non-title cage match.

Raw

Balor points out he found a weak spot in the Bullet Club armor. And he's found the perfect people to back him up. Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta, the fucking Shield's back together and backing up Balor.

June PPV

Styles beats Balor with some shenanigans but Shield stop interference.
Samoa Joe retains IC title against Seth Rollins
Anderson & Gallows beat Ambrose & Reigns

Money in the Bank

Styles beats Seth Rollins to retain world title
Finn Balor beats John Cena in a number one contender match
Cesaro retains US title against Nakamura
Samoa Joe retains IC title against D-Bry
Owens & Zayn win the tag belts in triple threat against Gallows & Anderson, and Ambrose & Reigns

Summerslam
Balor beats Styles in a steel cage
Cesaro retains against John Cena
Samoa Joe retains against Nakamura
Zayn & Owens retain belts against Ambrose & Reigns. Gallows and Anderson lay out everybody after the match

Raw

Balor cuts a promo talking about how Bullet Club has shown they aren't unstoppable and he has the proof in his hands. Bullet Club come down and beat the shit out of him. Zayn and Owens run down and get beat up too. The Shield run in next and Bullet Club retreats.

Hell in a Cell

Balor retains against Styles in Hell in a Cell
Gallows & Anderson win tag belts in a no-dq match against Zayn & Owens
Samoa Joe retains against Roman Reigns
Cesaro retains the US title against Nakamura

Raw

Balor, Shield, and Zayn challenge Bullet Club to Survivor Series. Styles says Survivor Series isn't what Bullet Club and says it's going to be Wargames. Owens is by them and pissed he didn't get chosen. I wonder what this could lead to.

Survivor Series

Bullet Club wins War Games with Styles making Balor tap to the calf slicer

Kevin Owens beats Nakamura

Raw

Styles is cocky and challenges Balor at TLC
Owens says they should have taken him, he's a winner.

TLC

Balor retains the world title in an awesome TLC match against Styles
New Day beat Gallows, Anderson, & Cesaro for the tag belts.
Samoa Joe loses IC title to Owens

Cesaro retains US title against Zayn

Now all the members of Bullet Club are over as is Balor and Zayn with their introductions and then Owens turns on Zayn in the rumble and sets up their Wrestlemania match. I don't state it but Styles should never be pinned or submitted before Summerslam. Not even behind the refs back and definitely not in any six man tags or random tag matches. He never takes a loss until Balor beats him,

NJPW/CMLL Fantasticamania 2015 Preview

I really missed the boat on hyping up Wrestle Kingdom 9, on NJPWworld.com but everybody was doing that so I'm sure it's fine. And what I'm not seeing get as much hype is the two shows they have airing live this weekend the Fantasticamania shows they co-promote with CMLL. I'm a fan of lucha libre so this show or series of shows is always a favorite of mine to watch. I was hoping for another La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match, but that's not to be at this point in time. I'd love to go match by match and give cool insight, but while I like CMLL, I'm not super well versed in all of the wrestlers. I know the ones I really like and a lot of those guys are going to be on these shows, but it's an imperfect knowledge, but I do know that there is a lot on these shows to get excited for.

The shows seem to be more of a CMLL showcase in Japan as there are quite a few matches that are just the CMLL competitors against each other under CMLL rules which means 2/3 falls which have their good and bad sides. I like the concept occasionally, but with CMLL using it for all of their matches it tends to fall into too much of a paint by numbers where the first two falls are pretty quick and then it's a long third fall so it might as well just be a one fall match without the first two. Still there's always the chance that a match can make the stipulation work in ways I don't expect so I still appreciate that. The NJPW guys seem to be mostly mixed in with CMLL workers in six or eight man tags which should be fun to watch. A lot of the NJPW guys have been on tours in Mexico and have some lucha libre influence on their style. KUSHIDA should definitely fit in well with the luchadores and I know Okada and Nakamura will work well with that style as well.

Both nights give us big tag matches where Tanahashi is teamed up with some of the luchadores against Okada and Nakamura which should result in some awesome matches. The first night has Tanahashi teaming with Mistico and Stigma. I haven't seen much of Stigma, but Mistico is Mistico II the guy who took over after the original Mistico left CMLL and became Sin Cara. He was Dragon lee, but his younger brother became Dragon when he became Mistico. What I'm trying to say is names in lucha can be really confusing. The Mistico who is going to be wrestling is awesome so with four really good wrestlers I'm sure the match will be one to watch. Especially with Okada having a chip on his shoulder about losing to Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom. Their match at the second night might be even better as Tanahashi will be teaming with Volador Jr (who is fucking awesome), Kota Ibushi, and Atlantis while Okada and Nakamura will have Ultimo Guerrero and Mr. Nieblas on their team. I don't know much about Nieblas, but I know Guerrero is really good. You may have been able to guess that by his last name. It runs in the family.

Night one has some singles matches for titles in the middle of the show that I'm really excited for. Volador Jr. is a great wrestler and going up against Gran Guerrero to defend his belt should really have him at the top of his game. He definitely has a good look and style and I would be surprised if WWE was interested in grabbing him at some point. There's also a light heavyweight title defense with Stuka Jr and Mephisto which should be fun, because luchadores know how to do fast paced exciting matches well.

I've seen a decent amount of Cavernario since he was in the Un Busco De Idolo tournament and I've only heard good things about his opponent Rey Cometa so that should be a fun match on the second night. The real reason to get excited about the second night is going to be the main event of La Sombra vs. Mascara Dorada. La Sombra is my favorite luchadore and one of my favorite wrestlers over all. He's had some amazing matches against Nakamura and Volador Jr. It should be a phenomenal close to the show and I'm hoping for La Sombra to win the match, and I'd love for him to start showing up in NJPW regularly.

This is a great way to get introduced to some of the CMLL competitors if you're mildly familiar to NJPW. And if you're not this should be a fun way to get introduced to what all of the wrestlers can do. You get to see everybody working with some styles they don't always work and showcasing what makes both CMLL and NJPW different from WWE If you want to find out more about lucha these are two of the people I follow on twitter who are always live tweeting lucha shows.
@luchablog
@RobViper

Here's the full card for the two shows and the results of the shows leading up to them Fantasticamania Cards

These should be some fun events and I'm looking forward to them. I won't be watching either live, but I'll be watching them after work and I should be giving some feedback about them afterward. And to follow up all these words here's some video evidence to back up how I feel about a lot of these wrestlers

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. La Sombra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayNOkRmnXhw
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. La Sombra 2 - http://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00210_1_4
La Sombra vs. Volador Jr (mask vs. mask) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ar4lEZB8s

NJPW World

When it was announced that Jeff Jarrett's new promotion GFW had secured a PPV spot for New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 9 I was pumped. When they announced that JR would do the commentary for it I was even more excited, but none of that compares to the announcement today about NJPW World their on demand streaming service. It's basically their version of the WWE Network and so far I like the way NJPW's is set up better. When you search a wrestler the results you get are just the match so you don't have to scroll through a video to find the checkpoint for the match it's right there. So far it's set up like youtube for NJPW and that is perfect for me.

If you want to check it out it's at NJPW World and it's easy to sign up with this guide that helps translate it for English speakers Sign up guide The rest of the site is in Japanese as well as are all the searches so I've got a google doc going translating wrestlers names into Japanese and I know that several of these work from experience so far. I'm using google translate to do the work for me so there could be mistakes so feel free to fix things and add wrestlers name translations Another trick about names is that someone like KUSHIDA has to be spelled in all caps or it won't find him. This is a deal that's cheaper than WWE's network and has more shows run per month that go up on the site and has a huge video catalog of awesome wrestling.

Sometime later I'll probably put together a more comprehensive post with recommendations of what to watch and stuff, but right now it's pretty new and I'm just getting the hang of navigating stuff. But if you follow me on twitter @magell2 I'll be tweeting out videos I'm watching since they have wisely built that right into the system so there will be recommendations there.

WWE Network & NXT Arrival

It would be crazy of me to have a wrestling blog and not talk about the WWE Network launch. It's not a perfect launch, but it's been pretty damn good. I still can't get it to work on my X-Box 360 which is a bummer, but it's working well on my computer and they are improving the experience every day. The first day the search function would show you the matches for a wrestler and then start the PPV the match occurred on. Two days later all the PPVs had bookmarks on the timeline so you could jump to the match you wanted to watch. Today, being Thursday even though this probably goes up after midnight and is on Friday, I searched a match and when I clicked the link it jumped right to the part of the PPV where the match started. So it's pretty awesome so far.

The thing I appreciate the most about the Network is being able to essentially construct best of DVDs for wrestlers that I love that will never get those DVDs. I started my searching with Lance Storm and watched his match against Chris Candido at ECW Heatwave 1998 and just watched most of that show and the first three matches are really good. Beside the match I already mentioned you get Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn and Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome. I have a good list of wrestlers I want to search after Storm. Some of them are guys I vaguely remember liking and want to see if they are still good like Lash Leroux, Val Venis,  Essa Rios, and Too Much. But more importantly is the ability to check out people like Storm, Dean Malenko, Christian, and all the other wrestlers that are great in the ring, but didn't have the personality to get them DVDs or big time matches.

The biggest high point for my excitement about the Network was NXT Arrival which aired earlier today. The stream broke for me before the main event, but I can live without that match live, although I do want to see Neville vs. Dallas in a ladder match.

The show started with Cesaro vs. Zayn and that match was so good. It played off the history the two men had facing each other in so many great ways that while the match would be good for somebody watching this as their first exposure it was enhanced by having watched the previous matches. So much good stuff in this match, so there's lots to talk about so I'll try and keep it brief. First off the commentary for this whole show and especially this match was so much better than what the main shows get. Why Regal hasn't gotten called up to the main shows is beyond me. Zayn starts off strong, but of course Cesaro puts a stop to that and then goes to work on the injured knee of Zayn and he does a beautiful job of it. He does some dragon screws and rolls up keeping a hold on the leg and does it again and he has some nice submissions to work the leg without being submission moves you'd expect to end the match. Zayn has an attempted comeback where he's on the apron and gets Cesaro on the outside. Zayn's knee is injured so when he does the dive it's an Arabian Press Moonsault so he doesn't put any more pressure on the leg, unfortunately Cesaro caught him and slammed him onto the ramp. Zayn of course refuses to give up and fights into the ring and they just do more awesome stuff and everybody should watch this match. Kind of bummed Zayn didn't get to pull out the win, but if this match doesn't get him onto RAW before March is over WWE is crazy.

Mojo Rawley beat CJ Parker in a short match which is good because I don't care about CJ Parker.

The Ascension beat Too Cool in a decent tag match. I don't care for the Ascension, but I'm a big Too Cool fan ever since they were Too Much so that helped get me interested in the match. Both teams do their usual stuff it was good enough.

Then we get the Women's Title match between Paige and Emma and it was great. A lot of technical wrestling and submission attempts in this match, so anybody worried about Emma being too much of a comedy wrestler on Raw and Smackdown can put those fears on the backburner. Much like Zayn/Cesaro it had the two competitors countering each other based off their previous matches and they did some beautiful looking counters. Emma is in control for more of this match than their last match and I appreciated it. It's not often Paige plays the face in peril so it was good to see her play it here and Emma puts her in some brutal looking submissions to do it. Best part of the match Emma hitting a sitout powerbomb on Paige for a two count while the crowd chanted "Better than Batista," and she did the move perfectly so the chant fit. Paige fights back and hits the Page Turner, but Emma kicked out and then got put into the Scorpion Deathlock Double Chicken Wing and Emma taps out to an awesome looking submission after a hard fought contest.

There were entrances for Xavier Woods and Tyler Breeze before Rusev came out and beat the shit out of both of them which sucked because Tyler Breeze is awesome. Then the stream died and I missed the main event, but I'll watch it soon and I'm looking forward to it, but even without the main event Arrived is worth the two hour watch time, and the Network is worth the 9.99 a month price tag.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla TEN: Review

B-Boy, Candice LeRae & Willie Mack vs. Peter Avalon, Joey Ryan & Ryan Taylor

I want to say this is how you start a show, but this match is so awesome, I'm not sure that's actually true. I'm a huge fan of the PWG six man matches though so every time I see one it hits every part of my wrestling enjoyment buttons. Everybody looks awesome and we also get Taylor nailing Scott Lost who's sitting ringside and then Lost comes back to hit an ace crusher on the apron later in the match. B-Boy also hits Taylor with a ridiculously brutal combo of kicks before the ace crusher. Joey and Candice do some great stuff including Candice hitting a beautiful springboard reverse hurrincanranna then doing a suicide dive into a tornado DDT. Willie Mack hits Avalon with a Chocolate Thunder Driver for the win in a super satisfying match that I could watch every day.

Brian Cage vs. Anthony Nese

This match be intense. These two guys are jacked to the gills with muscles, but they can still move and do awesome shit. Nese takes a sick looking bump on the apron when Cage sweeps his feet out on him and he lands face first, it's awesome. Nese pulls out some nice power moves and high flying moves and the power moves look so much more impressive being done on a monster of a man like Cage. Nese looked really impressive with the Fosbury flop to the outside and landing on his feet. Lots of good back and forth action in this match before Cage hits Nese with a buckle bomb and then then Weapon X for the win.

Forever Hooligans vs. RockNES Monsters

This match starts with shenanigans and gets the Hooligans corner spot turning into a fake brawl between them out of the way and from that point on it is fucking hard hitting action. The Monsters look really strong in this match and get a lot of near falls toward the end, but it's not enough to overcome Azucar and Koslov. Awesome stuff from all four men and it is a joy to watch this unfold. I really like the finisher that the Hooligans use. It just looks painful.

Michael Elgin vs. AR Fox

The classic battle of speed versus strength, but it's better considering you have one of the strongest and one of the fastest guys in this match. Fox does some big dives and lands on his feet to make them look even more impressive. Elgin does his delayed vertical suplex and holds Fox up for approximately forever if I counted correctly. Fox doesn't just go with speed and dives though, he gets some big moves in and they go back and forth perfectly before the brutal ending where Fox is on the top rope and Elgin nails him with two hard backfists then hits a top rope powerbomb for the win. Just great stuff from these two guys.

Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick

A fun tag team match between these two teams which may have best opening of any match ever. The tag belts are suspended above the ring for the main event ladder match so Gargano gets on Taylor's shoulders and Kendrick gets on London's as they try to grab the belts and then Taylor and Kendrick start wrestling on there and it's phenomenal. Good wrestling throughout this match with some fun shenanigans as well. Nice to see a match that doesn't try to be epic on a PWG show and this fit that bill well and was just good fun.

Kyle O'Reilly vs. TJ Perkins

If you like techinical wrestling you have to watch this match. The beginning of this match is just super slick catch as catch can wrestling and these guys make it happen fast and smooth. TJ is probably the best wrestler who loses almost every match he's in. Lots of great back and forth until O'Reilly catches TJ on the apron and twists his arm down over the top rope and starts to work the injured body part. Perkins eventually makes a come back and they start to go back and forth with near falls before O'Reilly counters a frog splash with double knees and then hits one of his crazy combos with like 15 moves in a minute and when Perkin's kicks out O'Reilly spins right into the cross armbreaker to get the submission. Fantastic match between these two which showcases submissions, strikes, and wrestling and is just a delight to watch. Definitely the best match on the show.

Adam Cole vs. Kevin Steen vs. Drake Younger (PWG Championship, Guerrilla Warfare Match)

If you like violence, piledrivers, and hard hitting action, this is the match for you. It starts off with Steen and Younger working together to beat the living shit out of Cole all around the Legion Hall. The truce doesn't last forever and it becomes a real three way match and everybody gets hurt violently. Lots of near falls, but I like that they are ended by the third guy interfering instead of just a kick out, because a lot of the moves they take are huge. Best example being when Cole does the flipping piledriver to Younger through a table, Steen pulls Cole out of the ring, hits the apron powerbomb then rolls in to cover Drake for a two count. The end of the match is perfect. Steen gets Cole up on the top rope and hits Generico's top rope brainbuster for a two count before Younger pulls him out of the ring. Young goes for the cover, but Cole rolls him up with a crucifix pin and gets a quick three count to retain the belt.

The Young Bucks vs. Dojo Bros vs. Inner-City Machine Guns (PWG Tag Championship, Ladder Match)

Like most tag team ladder matches this thing is like watching a car crash in the best possible way. Lots of action from everybody to start the match with dives and craziness, but it doesn't take long before a ladder makes its way into the ring followed by an even bigger ladder, because that's how ladder matches work. Rich Swann seems to take the biggest beating out of everybody involved. I loved Nick Jackson saying he got it while the ladder was being pushed over in reference to his normal falling off a ladder then springboarding off the top rope onto everybody, but instead missing and crotching himself on the top rope. The ladders are used well, but not relied upon for the match which was nice. The end sequence is a little bit flat as Matt low blows Edwards and then superkicks him and Roddy while Nick climbs up to grab the belts.

Surprise, surprise a PWG show is awesome and you should buy the DVD. Lots of good stuff on this show and it seems a little more varied than some of the other PWG shows which can be a lot of hard hitting mile a minute matches.

RoH Border Wars 2013

Nothing says timely like a review seven months after the show happened. I might have a review of PWG TEN tomorrow depending on if I get my highspots.com delivery tomorrow or not.

ACH & Tadarius Thomas vs. Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander

Fast paced tag opener to start the match and Coleman and Alexander pick up the win after Coleman leaps up to the top and hurrincanrannas ACH off the top and Alexander hits a springboard frog splash. A fine match from all involved and a good way to start the show. I don't dig the team of Coleman and Alexander, they are just too similar as wrestlers. ACH and Thomas are both high flyers, but nothing like each other with ACH being flippy and super charismatic and Thomas with all his capoeria kicks.

Roderick Strong vs. Mike Bennett

Another solid match in the show between these two guys. I've really enjoyed Bennett since he came back from the break he took. He's really cut down on how much heel stuff he does outside of the ring to jaw jack with fans, but still has that slow heel style that works well. These guys do some good brawling on the outside and Bennett hits an impressive spinebuster from the floor onto the apron. Some shenanigans at the end, but Roderick picks up the win with the sick kick and that's the important part, Strong winning.

Rhett Titus vs. BJ Whitmer (I Quit Match)

Despite the stipulation this is pretty much just a standard brawl between these two guys. They do it well, but with an I Quit Match you want something more and it never happens in this match. Plus the ending is horseshit. Titus grabs some zip ties, but Whitmer stops him and then ties Titus to the ropes. He grabs a chair to wallop him, but Corino comes out to take the shots and instead Titus quits which is immediately followed by Jacobs and Compton attacking and then right into the next match. Why didn't they attack before Titus quits? Or free him? I don't know and I don't think anybody does. Just a blah match all around.

Jay Lethal & Michael Elgin vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Cliff Compton

It's all Lethal and Elgin to start the match and it starts hot and they do some awesome brawling on the outside before going into the ring and the RoH team keeps the advantage and Elgin gives both SCUM members a delayed vertical suplex. Lethal does a suicide dive and hurts his leg and is helped to the back. Elgin keeps the advantage all on his own for a bit, but eventually the numbers turn on him. Elgin has Jacobs on his back with a sleeper hold but Elgin doesn't care and grabs Compton and hits a deadlift german suplex and crushes Jacobs as well. Steen comes out and becomes Elgin's partner and comes in hot. Steen goes for a package piledriver, but Jacobs cuts his knees out and rolls him up for a quick three count. An exciting good match from these men. Elgin looked very impressive as he always does.

Eddie Edwards vs. Taiji Ishimori

This match was awesome. Hard hitting, athletic, and tons of near falls, everything I like to see in a wrestling match. Ishimori's chest gets lit up and is a nice bright red color from Edwards chops after the match. Ishimori hits an awesome meteora from the top and lands perfectly to stay on top of Eddie for a two count. A nice sequence of hard kicks from each other that ends with Ishimori hitting a reverse hurrincanranna that Edwards stands up from and delivers a lariat that leaves both men down on the mat. The finishing sequence is Edwards hitting Ishimori with everything and then some including a hurrincanranna from the top with them both standing up on the top. Ishimori then kicks out of a powerbomb followed by a sitout powerbomb so Edwards hits the Die Hard Driver for the win. Just great stuff from both men and so far the best match of the show.

Matt Taven vs. Mark Briscoe

I'm pretty sure Matt Taven is a good wrestler, but from his title defenses I haven't been able to find out. Mark Briscoe beats the shit out of Taven for almost the entire match all of Taven's offense comes in after Martini interference. Taven works Briscoe's right arm for a bit, but Briscoe doesn't give a single fuck and when he starts his comeback it's all about red neck kung fu with his right arm. The ending comes when the Hoopla Hotties get on the apron and makeout so Taven gets an Oklahoma roll with a handful of tights for the win. Just a squash where the guy getting squashed picks up the win after shenanigans. RoH is not doing Taven any favors with this title run.

Davey Richards vs. Paul London

This match is awesome. Davey accepts that people hate him and plays dick heel well. They start off with some nice chain wrestling and then both men do what they do best. Richards kicks really hard, and London does some cool high flying. I want to say the ending sequence has some cool stuff, but since London get's legit fucked up during it, I'm not a huge fan of it. London goes to headscissors Richards out of the ring and lands on his feet holding Richards for a tombstone then Richards flips over and hits a tombstone on the outside. London gets onto the apron and Richards goes for a double stomp and one of his feet misses the chest and hits London in the face and concusses him. But still they go to the top and London flips over Richards with a powerbomb then goes for a shooting star press and takes knees to the chest and Richards rolls over for the pin. Great to see London back in RoH and a fun match to watch knowing London ends up being okay afterward.

Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole

A good match between these two with Cole working the leg of Briscoe to setup the figure four. Briscoe does a good job of selling the leg and gets his hope spot when they fight onto the apron and he hits a big DVD there. Briscoe keeps starting comebacks, but Cole just gives him a shot to the knee and takes back over. The end closes in as Cole hits a top rope german suplex, then delivers a superkick, followed by a superkick to the back of the head, and then the bridging straight jacket german suplex for a two count. Cole goes for the figure four but Briscoe pushes him off and into the ref. Corino comes down and offers Cole a SCUM shirt, but Nigel trips Corino on the top rope and hits the Tower of London. Cole turns around and Briscoe hits the Jay Driller for the win. Just such a shitty fucking ending to this match.

I don't know how I feel about this show. It does have two really good matches in Richards/London and Ishimori/Edwards. The main event is really good until a shitty ending, and the SCUM vs, RoH tag match is good, but it's pretty okay stuff and not great. I want to say pass on it, but the two great matches are just so good. So if you've got the disposable income for lots of wrestling pick it up, but if not you can find better wrestling in PWG and other RoH shows.

RoH has been the biggest indy promotion for so long and they still can't balance their cameras so the lighting doesn't look completely different on every camera, it's infuriating. Or they do the lighting poorly, I don't really know which it is. I hate Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuiness on commentary. I'm also tired of how much interference there is in RoH matches. I know the idea of what RoH is has changed, but goddamn just give me the best wrestling without all these horse shit finishes.

Major League Wrestling: Reloaded Tour Day 1

Stampede Bulldogs vs. Bobby Quance & Puma

A fun back and forth match between two good teams right here. Puma plays the face in peril and Quance gets a nice hot tag. Puma and Quance get a close near fall with a tombstone from Puma and a follow up shooting star press from Quance before Harry Smith makes the save. The Bulldogs end up with the win after a springboard blockbuster sitout powerbomb combo for the pinfall. An exciting way to open up the show.

Shane Twins vs. Criado & Chad Hart

Then we get this where the Shane Twins use their power to dominate the match until one of the Shane's misses a running clothesline in the corner and Chad Hart rolls him up and has his feet on the ropes for the three count. Quick match, not much too it, and not much fun to watch.

Chayson Rance vs. PJ Friedman vs. Matt Martel

Really short match between these three, but it had some nice comedy of Friedman and Martel beating up Rance and pulling each other off from making the cover. Friedman hits Martel with a sick exploder suplex and then Persephone gets on the ringside and hits Friedman with her heel and Rance rolls him up for a quick pin. Super short match, but had some nice spots.

Roderick Strong & M-Dogg 20 vs. Dark Fuego & Pete Wilson

A back and forth match between these two teams that gets a lot of time. Wilson looks pretty weak on offense, like he doesn't really know what to do, but when it's Strong lighting him up with chops and throwing him around it is glorious. They do some brawling on the outside which is highlight first by how Wilson ends up out there which is Strong nailing him with a powerbomb then picking him up and flipping him out of the ring and onto Fuego, and then after some brawling Fuego and Wilson go up on the second level and moonsault off onto Strong and M-Dogg. The ending is a little weak as Strong and M-Dogg go for a big boot on Fuego, but he ducks and they kick each other then Fuego and Wilson hit 450 splashes for the win. Good work from all these guys taking a match where the crowd was booing some decent back and forth technical stuff from M-Dogg and Wilson to the beginning to making the crowd super hot for everything they were doing. Lots of fun to watch.

Chad Collyer vs. Chris Hero

Wrestling! Exactly the kind of match you'd expect from two awesome technical wrestlers and they do some smooth chain wrestling at the beginning before kicking it up a notch. Everything is crisp and just looks really good. Hero picks up the win when he counters a vertical suplex into the Hero's Welcome. Chad Collyer is a wrestler I love to watch and I wish he had gotten a big break in one of the bigger indy promotions.

Sonjay Dutt vs. Jack Evans

We get a flippy spotty match from these two and it's one of those nights where Evans isn't on his game and it's pretty sloppy. Even the ref gets in on botching the rollup finale so Dutt hits a standing shooting star press to get the three count. Not a bad match, but nothing that good either.

Havana Pitbulls vs. Los Maximos

Solid match from these two tag teams as Los Maximos were on their game and didn't mess up any spots, but they didn't go for any high spots so that definitely helped them out. Finish comes by way of Reyes hitting a Maximo with a backbreaker and then Romero comes off the top with a knee drop for the three count.

American Dragon vs. Teddy Hart

Oh God! Teddy Hart beats Bryan Danielson by submission, I'm so sad. Still it's a good match between these two and it's really intense from the get go with awesome back and forth chain wrestling and Danielson laying in some stiff looking shots. Danielson controls the match until he rips off Teddy Hart's stupid pants and then Hart starts a come back and hits a corkscrew plancha followed up by the shooting star DDT that Danielson avoids into the cattle mutilation, but Hart escapes and gets the submission by armbar.

Jerry Lynn vs. Mike Modest

Decent back and forth between these two before Homicide interferes and distracts Lynn so Modest can roll him up and get a pinfall with a handful of tights.

Steve Corino & Sabu vs. Raven & Vampiro (#1 Contender Match)

This is the dumbest fucking match ever. So Corino is the champ and whoever gets the pinfall gets a title shot except for Raven because Corino used his stroke as champ to stop him from getting that. And whoever gets pinned can't fight for the belt for six months. Corino keeps laying down for Raven and the tag partners keep fighting each other. The match ends when Sabu legdrops Corino through the table and then Vampiro DDTs Raven and puts him on top of Corino so Raven wins, but doesn't get a title shot and then Vampiro beats the shit out of Raven after the match and demands they go one on one at some point in the future. Just a bad concept for a match, although everything is done well it's just too convoluted and takes away from the wrestling.

Homicide vs. Low Ki

And then we get to the main event and these two do what they do which is good stuff. They bring the physicality and go all out for this match. Homicide hits his tope con hilo and kicks a fan as he goes over the guardrail, but it's cool he gives her a hug before going back to beating up Low Ki. Ki escapes the cop killa a couple of times and the second time locks in the dragon sleeper, but Homicide rolls him over to get the three count while still in the submission. After the match there are shenanigans. Jerry Lynn comes out for revenge, but Low Ki stops him because he and Homicide and buddies and just wanted to see who was the better wrestler. But then Gary Hart comes out and has Homicide and Ki beat the shit out of a 'fan' and then Homicide hits Court Bauer, the promoter, over the head with a broom and then they spit on him a bit and talk about how they don't care what he wants he's bringing violence to MLW.

Overall it's a pretty solid show from MLW. In general every MLW show has way too many matches for the amount of time the show lasts, but this time it cut short the matches that deserved to be short and the good matches got enough time although I would have liked to see Danielson vs. Hart and Collyer vs. Hero go for a bit longer. So if you can find this bad boy for cheap think about grabbing it. It's worth the time spent watching it even for an almost ten year old indy show.