NJPW/NOAH Wrestle Kingdom 16 In Yokohama Arena 1/8/2022

NJPW/NOAH Wrestle Kingdom 16 In Yokohama Arena 1/8/2022

This event would have been a big deal 15 years ago, but it really isn't now. NOAH's clearly the smaller promotion and half their roster is made up of guys who aren't even NOAH trueborns. The show also didn't have any big dream matches to it nor any title matches on this show to make it more intriguing. Maybe they will down the line, but I'm not holding my breath over it.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) [New Japan] vs Kongo (Aleja, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenou, Manabu Soya & Tadasuke) [NOAH]

Shingo won this one with a Last of the Dragon. The first half of this didn't have the big dogs interacting at all. Things got a little better in the second half, but Shingo vs Tadasuke is not really what I'm thinking of when I think of big NJPW vs NOAH dream matches, nor is Aleja getting his butt kicked for a large part of the match. Nakajima looked good here like he belonged but NOAH took the loss here when they shouldn't of and this could have been a lot better.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kaito Kiyomiya and Keiji Muto

Kaito hits an Okada dropkick early and kind of does his pose. Tana hits a jumping elbow on Kaito then gestures at Muto. Tana nad Muto go to the mat for a bit. Okada gets Muto tied up on the ropes and does Muto's pose then teases a dragon screw. Muto then hits Okada with the flashing elbow.

Tana dropkicks Kaito in the knee then puts him in a deep texas cloverleaf. Tana hit his flip senton for 2 off the 2nd rope. Mutoh gets in and puts Tana in the figure four. Mutoh dragon screwed Tana then took one back. Okada hit a top rope elbow on Mutoh, but Mutoh came back with a knee dropkick and a shining wizard.

Kaito started flurrying on Okada with forearms and euro uppercuts then did a twisting forearm off the 2nd buckle. Kaito then hit a top rope dropkick for 2. Kaito hit a big flying knee and took a slingbade from Okada, then Tana took a Muto shining wizard.

Okada spining tombstoned Kaito and then took a back dropkick, a shining wizard and a german suplex. Okada tried his big dropkick on Kaito and kind of missed it, but Kaito sold it anyway. Okada then hit a rainmaker for the win.

I wasn't impressed with this one. Kaito was treated as a joke from the beginning and did the job as expected and of course New Japan won. They had some logic going here with the NJPW boys doing Muto's moves but it's Mutoh and he'll always be an NJPW guy no matter what. Combined with the crowd not being allowed to cheer and this just wasn't that special.

WWE Royal Rumble 2022 1/30/2022

WWE Royal Rumble 2022 1/30/2022

I may have some more to add in the morning.

Starting a show with a DQ finish is a new one. Legit, I don't even know if I've seen that before, especially on a big show. Who does that?

The few minutes we got of Bobby vs Brock was good. I don't mind the finish as much as others as it atleast is going somewhere and creates an interesting angle.

The Women's Rumble wasn't good but thankfully wasn't the disaster it was previous years. Things are bad though when you have to call Cameron back to fill spots. You couldn't give any NXT girls a spot? I liked the Ivory spot and it was neat to see WWE recognize another title.

The Men's Rumble was one of the weakest Rumbles they have ever done star quality wise. There's no excuse for it either. They have 7.5 hours of new content a week and can't come up with some new stars? Vince was making new stars when he had one hour a week only. Who is going to even be able to be brought back for these things in 5 years at this rate? There were also 0 real surprises and Shane was the only real return. The spoilers for this were also mostly on the money with Walter being the only guy who didn't make it in.

The show also ended around midnight, which makes it one of the latest shows WWE has ever done.

WWE 205 Live 1/28/2022

WWE 205 Live 1/28/2022

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2022/01/wwe-205-live-1212022.html

Suhu Shah is Nigel's new co-host.

Damon Kemp vs Josh Briggs

Briggs fights off a double leg early. Kemp circles him and does some odd dance. Kemp hits a great uppercut then takes a big boot. Kemp takes a side slam then a splash as Briggs fires up.

Briggs slides outside while Kemp is on the ropes and Jensen tries to give Kemp a shot. Briggs stops him though and nails Kemp himself. Kemp hits a running uppercut and a flying shoulder. Kemp then does a forward rolling fireman's carry and Briggs hits a big lariat for the win.

This was about 5-6 minutes and was a fun but short heavy hitting match.

Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon vs Amari Miller and Lash Legend

Lash picks up Feroz and throws her. Feroz hits some nice leg kicks then Lash runs over Leon. Amari begs to get in and takes some armdrags. Leon helps Feroz to the 2nd rope for a nice senton atomico on Amari. Lash picked up Feroz and threw her with two nice slams.

Feroz took a 2v1 and Lash dropped a big elbow on her. Feroz blew a hot tag by missing her partner's hand and Leon hit a knee on Amari. Amari tried to tag Lash in but she was annoyed by it. Leon hit a bad dropkick and Lash step kicked her. Amari and Lash argued and Leon rolled up Amari for the win.

This wasn't good with only Lash looking okay. Amari and Lash argued after.

Joe Gacy vs Draco Anthony

Gacy wants a hug and Draco says no. Draco rolls him off a headlock then armdrags him. He gets some other light offense in and Harland gets on the apron while Gacy is in a headlock. Gacy then uses that to backdrop Draco. Gacy stomps Draco.

Shah asks Nigel for a 2nd time in 30 minutes who he thinks will win the Rumble (He thinks Rey will). Gacy works a long head and arm hold and takes a bad armdrag out of it. Draco running clotheslines him and gets some air on an overhead exploder. Gacy headbutts him in the chest and wins with a handspring into the ropes into a lariat. This was short and not very good. Draco is very very green and needs a lot of work.

Overall thoughts: Not a good one here as only Kemp/Briggs was good.

AEW Rampage 1/28/2022

AEW Rampage 1/28/2022

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2022/01/aew-rampage-1212022.html

Jon Moxley vs Anthony Bowens

 

Max rapped on Mox, ripping on his wife, book and him being on the indies.

Mox nailed Max to start then did a german to AB. Mox pounds on AB in the corner. Mox throws him into the rails then over them. The brawled through the crowds and AB was thrown over the rail. AB then pulled Mox's arm into the post.

Mox's arm was tied in the ropes and AB kicked the rope. Mox picked up AB for a suplex and then dropped him in a dangerous looking manner. AB came back with a spinning forearm.

We went to picture in picture break with Max getting in a cheap shot. AB superplexed him and had a weird landing. AB was back body dropped over the top on Max, then Mox tope'd Max. AB hit a very unusual draping ddt for 2. They traded forearms and Mox hit a bunch of knees. AB superkicked him but got slapped and then took a piledriver.

AB hit a ripcord slam for 2. AB tried to get a chain shot in but failed. Mox hit a big lariat and hit a paradigm shift for the win. There wasn't any great story here but Bowens really didn't do bad at all against Mox.

Bryan Danielson was seen watching the match on the TV.

Andrade and his manager went to Darby's locker room in the back. Andrade offered Darby a contract and Darby laughed at him. Darby told them to leave and manager shook his head no, then Darby got a baseball bat out and they said to take it easy.

FTR vs Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson

No entrance for either team. They botched a fireman's carry catch early and Lee hurricanrana'd Cash. Brock has put on a lot of weight since his debut. Brock and Dax did the double Arn Anderson duck spot. Dax took a double back body drop and Lee clotheslined Dax over the top then did a tope con giro but really did a flip double kick on Cash. Lee then dove on Dax and then did a crossbody for 2.

We went to picture in picture break. We came back from break with Brock taking control of FTR. Brock hit a nice gutwrench powerbomb and catapulted Cash into a kick. He then hit a ddt and Lee hit a frogsplash for 2.

Tully got involved and Arn nailed Tully for it. Lee countered a backdrop for a close 2. FTR hit a spike piledriver and won it. FTR probably gave too much here but made the faces look good. I would not be happy at their predicament right now if I were them.

Thunder Rosa did a promo on Mercedez Martinez and MM responded. MM said she would beat her in their match.

We got a super short video package on Sareena Deeb.

Julia Hart vs Jade Cargill

Jade shoulders her down early and catches her with a spinning back breaker as Julia jumps up. Jade does pushups and situps and gets rolled up for 1. Julia hit some bad kicks and a forward handspring. Julia reversed a powerbomb for 2 and took a big pump kick. Jade then hit her double chickenwing drop for the win.

This wasn't good with Julia's offense being terrible.

Jurassic Express and Private Party did split screen promos. Matt said PP has the formula to win. Matt said his team would become champs tonight. Christian said Matt was never on his level and said PP isn't on J-E's level. I thought Isaiah Kassidy was onto something during the short bit of mic time he had here.

AEW Tag Titles - Jurassic Express vs Private Party

 

They started before the bell rang and Kassidy hit a nice tornillo on Saurus. PP then hit the gin and juice for 2. PP missed on a top rope leg drop/frogsplash combo. JB made the hot tag to Saurus but everyone ran. Hardy snuck in a chair shot on Saurus' knee and Blade attacked Saurus.

We went to break and came back. Kassidy jumped off of Quen's back for a splash on Saurus but missed. PP grabbed both of Saurus' legs but he kept walking over to JB. JB got the hot tag in and took out both PP members. Quen took a huge back body drop bump to the outside on Kassidy, then ended up in the crowd for a dive sell.

JB was on Quen's shoulders. Saurus pulled him off and put JB on his shoulders. Kassidy crossbodied JB and he flipped over for a slam. The Gunn Club was shown at ringside and Quen hit a nice pele kick on Saurus. PP hit the silly string and did a real nice tornado ddt out of it. JB then got the STF on Kassidy and Quen SSP'd JB to break it up.

Quen tried a gin and juice but JB turned it into a canadian destroyer. J-E then hit the back body drop into a sitout powerbomb. The Gunn Club attacked J-E after and nailed them with tag belts to end the show.

I thought this was the best I've seen PP look since their debut. The storytelling wasn't great but the action flowed well and they didn't do too much, so I enjoyed the main event.

Overall thoughts: I thought they went 3 for 4 here with Julia Hart's match being the only stinker. I liked this one.

WWE NXT UK 1/27/2022

WWE NXT UK 1/27/2022

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2022/01/wwe-nxt-uk-1202022.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2022/02/wwe-nxt-uk-232022.html 

Die Familie vs Gallus

I'm not a DF fan. Just 3 guys who were randomly thrown together and have little in common.

Gallus did a double chop to Teoman early. Wolfgang does an interesting armdrag on Raja then him and Mark Coffey grab Raja's harms and catapult him over. Teoman fought off Mark in the corner and dropkicked him from the 2nd rope.

Dempsey (Regal's son) and Mark trade euro uppercuts. Dempsey has Mark in an armlock then does Pat O'Connor's old move where he circles the body while holding the armlock. Mark takes some knees from Dempsey and Raja and hits a big backdrop on Dempsey.  Mark makes the hot tag to Wolfgang and Wolf double axe handles Teoman off the top and flurries him.

Wolf does a cool little back senton and a neat exploder into a slam. Raja hits a reverse ddt on Wolfgang for 2. Joe Coffey gets in and hits a pop-up euro uppercut and a nice shoulder block on Raja. He then overhead belly to belly suplexes him for 2. Joe does a double jump crossbody on Raja then Raja backcrackers him.

Joe fights off Dempsey and kind of pounces him into the corner. Gallus hits a nice high/low for 2 then Mark hits a nice double sledehammer shot on Dempsey. Teoman clips Wolfgang then Dempsey gets the win on Wolfgang with an STF.

It wasn't great but it was a decent trios match with a crowd who was into it.

We get some clips from Smith and Carter winning a qualifer for a #1 contenders match then we see Jack Starz and Dave Mastiff also qualifing for a #1 contenders match. Starz told them to bring their A-game and bring everything they've got. That match will be next week.

We see Devlin warming up in the back for his match tonight.

Jinny vs Amale

Jinny hits a knee to the gut and Amale comes back witha headlock and clothesline. Amale hits a slam and a dropkick for 2 and Amale gets her neck rammed into the ropes. Jinny hits a bunch of stomps and Amale comes back with a sunset flip. Jinny hits some knees to the gut while on the mat and octopus stretches her.

Amale gets out of it and hiptosses her. Jinny hits another knee to the gut and Amale makes a comeback. Jinny gets driven into the turnbuckle and gets a facewash kick then takes a northern lights suplex for 2.

Jinny gets the pin soon after with her feet on the ropes. They messed it up as Jinny really didn't get them on until the 3 count was almost made and there's no real way the ref didn't see it. This was not good at all and both girls looked really green.

Meiko Satomura vs Blair Davenport in a Japanese Street Fight next week, whatever that is. Blair says she is the ichiban gaijin and Meiko said next week will be a fight. Blair says she isn't intimidated by her. Meiko said she beat her last time, but she destroys her now.

We see the fans getting cleared out for the empty Arena Match.

Nathan Frazer is interviewed then Die Familie walks in. They ask what he is doing in their locker room, and he questions whose locker room this is. DF says they don't need advice from him. They have some words and Frazier leaves as they celebrate their win today.

NXT UK Title - Empty Arena Match - Ilja Dragunov vs Jordan Devlin

 

Devlin takes a HARD headbutt to the face as he poses with the title. Devlin then holds the title up and says this is his. Drag sells the eye. Devlin misses a title shot to the head then takes some german suplexes. Devlin ties him up in the ropes and slaps him hard.

Devlin grabs a screwdriver but Drag kicks it out and gets out of the ropes. He then lariats Devlin over the top and goes with him. Devlin gets slammed on the floor but Drag comes back with a nice lariat. Drag gets thrown into the steps and Devlin throws the steps into the ring. Drag then charges at Devlin and knocks him through the barricade. Drag throws Devlin into some chairs and throws some chairs into the ring.

Drag hit what sounded like a hard chair shot across the back of Devlin. Drag then suplexed Devlin on some chairs on the floor for 2. Devlin sits in a chair and Drag chops him and knocks him over. Drag yells "talk about my family now" and Devlin apologizes, then Devlin is thrown into a table. Drag hits a super stiff lariat to the back of the neck but ends up diving and crashing through a table.

Devlin bangs Drag's head off some boxes then pushes one into him. Devlin then gives him a hard slap. Devlin thumbs Drag in the eye then bangs his head off a box. Devlin then moonsaults off the box onto him.

They head back to the ring and a table is brought in. Devlin chairs him. The table is set up in the corner and Drag hits a bunch of elbows to the head of Devlin. Drag hits a neat suplex for 2. Drag goes up top and takes a chair to the knee then a spinning death valley driver. Drag running death valley drivers Devlin into the table for 2. Drag goes down selling his eye and says Drag can't do it if the fans aren't here. Devlin hits a hard brainbuster for 2.

Devlin gets cable ties and ties Drag's hands behind his back. Devlin pounds on him then chairs him in the leg while telling him "you don't get to leave with that title". Devlin tries to conchairto him on the steps but Drago moves and does a jumping kick. Drag then does the moscow torpedo headbutt off the steps and wins it.

This was a very strong match and few deliver in big matches like Drag does. This was violent, I loved all the crap they talking to each other throughout and Drag is such a great seller. This is must see and will be one of the best matches of the year.

Overall thoughts: 2 of the 3 matches were good and the Dragunov/Devlin match is a must see. It was a good show.

AEW Dynamite 1/26/2022

AEW Dynamite 1/26/2022

 

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2022/01/aew-dynamite-1192022.html 

 

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2022/02/aew-dynamite-222022.html 

TNT Title - Ladder Match - Cody Rhodes vs Sammy Guevara

Both entrances were skipped here. Sammy backflipped over Cody early and dropkicked him. They pushed each other and got in each others faces. Cody bridged a ladder between the ring and the rails.

They went into the crowd and brawled. Cody then ran hard and lariated Sammy over the rail. Sammy came right back though and did a springboard off the barricade into a cutter. They went back into the ring area and Sammy rammed Cody in the face with a ladder. They then collided heads not too long after.

Cody and Sammy fought on the ladder and Sammy took a high suplex off of it. Cody whipped Cody with the belt and hit him with a ladder. A ladder was put upside down and Cody dropped Sammy gut first through the hinges of it. Cody then put Sammy in the figure four through the ladder. Cody threw a ladder at Sammy's head.

Cody went up a ladder then Sammy jumped off another ladder to hit a super high cutter. Sammy climbed the ladder and got knocked off it, landing onto the ropes. They both climbed up ladders and Cody hit a cross rhodes off of it onto Sammy.

They climbed the ladder and both hung off the hanger that held the belts but both fell down. Cody worked more on Sammy's knee by banging the ladder off of it then Fuego del Sol came down to get in Cody's face. Sol got destroyed for it then Sammy did a corkscrew dive onto Cody on the outside then hit a GTH.

Cody got put on the ladder that bridged outside from earlier. Sammy climbed a ladder near it and did a senton on it that looked super dangerous. The ladder barely budged and Sammy's body moved in a very odd way. Neither ended up selling it and both were back up on a ladder soon after. Sammy banged Cody's head off of the hanger holding the belts and grabbed them to win it.

I'm not a big fan of ladder matches. I felt like we've seen just about everything you can do in them for the most part, though some of the spots they did here felt a little more fresh. They did too much as usual and did some very dangerous spots that they didn't sell.

Tony interviewed Starks and Hobbs at a beach that was frozen over in an inside joke to this show being called "Beach Break" yet being in Cleveland in the winter. Hobbs said Dante Martin got lucky by beating him. Starks gave a shoutout to Jay Lethal and said he didn't forget about Jay's challenge to him. Starks said he accepts the challenge for the FTW title. Tony said his hand was frozen to the microphone.

Wardlow vs Elijah Dean and James Alexander

They named Wardlow "Mr. Mayhem" here. Doesn't fit him. The two jobbers here are in very good shape and really are only an inch or two shorter than Wardlow with a little less meat to them. Wardlow powerbombed both of them multiple times and won in a quick one. No problems with this.

Spears asked about chairing the opponents after but Wardlow turned it down.

 

Santana, Ortiz and Chris Jericho vs 2.0 and Daniel Garcia

Santana hit a three amigos early with help from Ortiz. Ortiz hit a stiff lariat on Garcia then Garcia was double flapjacked and dropkicked. Jericho tagged himself in and Ortiz tagged himself back in as they argued. The heels capitalized while they argued. We went to break and returned with the heels in control. Jericho begged for the hot tag but Santana was tagged in over him. Santana did some assisted backwards roll into a double cutter then S&O did a powerbomb into a discus lariat for 2. Santana and Lee were left in there and Jericho assisted with a judas effect leading to a Santana piledriver for the win. I think it was a little soon for this kind of implosion but the match made sense.

Archer, Jake and Dan Lambert said Archer's match with Page will be a texas deathmatch. Page seemd shocked that it would be a texas death match. Page's reign is bringing back memories of Rey Mysterio's short WWE title reign at this point. There HAS to be something going on to account for how little screen time he gets. You could legitimately watch these shows and forget this guy is the champ with how bad of a job they are doing with him.

Jurassic Express and AHFO argued in the stairwell. AHFO challenged for the tag titles. Hardy said Private Party would become tag champs on Rampage and JE accepted the challenge.

CM Punk came out. He showed off MJF's scarf and challenged him for tonight. MJF came out. He asked if the crowd wanted to see them fight but he said no this week. He said he would take on Punk though in Chicago. MJF went off on Lebron leaving Cleveland. Punk said he always gets back up when put down then MJR brought out Pinnacle. Spears got Punk from behind and Punk got beat up 5v1. FTR stretched out Punk and Spears chaired him in the back. Wardlow didn't look real interested in getting involved in this and MJF told him to powerbomb him. Wardlow powerbombed Punk on a chair. MJF then sat on Punk crosslegged like Kenta and said he would see him in Chicago. This segment went too long and they didn't really build up their match next week well.

The Acclaimed complained about Jon Moxley. Max said Bowens would beat him up on Rampage.

Julia Hart and Griff Garrison were interviewed. Mark Sterling came in and said Jade was challenging her for the TBS Title. Griff said it wasn't a good idea as she was hurt and Julia signed it before reading the contract. Julia told Griff that she can make her own choices.

Red Velvet vs Leyla Hirsch 

 

Red ran to the ring and mounted Leyla with punches. Red then hit a leg lariat. They fought outside and Red clotheslined her out there. Red axe kicked her as she hung over the middle rope and hit a stunner. Red triangle'd her but got lifted and slammed against the buckles.

Red got whipped into the corner, jumped off the 2nd buckle then did a twisting stunner. They had a weird german reversal section then Red did a spear. Hirsch did a bad powerbomb and knee for 2. Red tried some kind of spin kick but Leyla rolled her up while grabbing the tights to win. Leyla armbarred her after but Kris Statlander broke it up and chased her.

This was sloppy and killed the crowd. This was not good at all.

The House of Black did a vignette. Black said HoB is built on conflict. King said that Pac denounced the House and will be humbled. He said Pac will feel true pain and will thank them after.

Sammy Guevara came out again with cue cards as we went to PiP.

Britt Baker came out with her PWI awards and magazine covers waiting for her in the ring. She ripped on Cleveland for the Browns' performance against the Steelers. She said she won't settle for female wrestler of the year, but wants to be female wrestler of the decade. She said she will be the champion they deserve. This was a waste of time promo that didn't accomplish much.

Lights Out Match - Adam Cole vs Orange Cassidy

They did the Frye/Takayama punch spot early then OC did a pockets dropkick to Cole because he is just so mad at him. OC was then backdropped on the guard rail. Cole went for a chair under the ring and found Danhausen. OC then did a wraparound ddt.

Cole pump kicked OC on the floor. Cole went for a panama sunrise from the apron but was speared through a table. Cole then kicked the steps into OC's hand against the ring.

We went to break and returned with Cole in control. OC countered a suplex attempt then falcon arrowed him through chairs. Cole called for help and Best Friends and The Elite brawled. OC hit a beach break on Cole for two. OC then hit the orange punch but was holding his hand after. He then got a low blow but revealed he had a steel cup on. OC did his stupid slow foot slaps then hit a panama sunrise for 2. God forbid any canadian destroyer variation ever ends a match in this promotion.

Cole ran to the back through the stage and of course Tony Khan had to get on camera. Cole then hit an F-U on OC through a table for 2. They fought on the stage and OC got hit with a light. Cole climbed up high on the stage and OC followed him. OC hit a low blow on him then hugged him for some reason. Cole pretended not to be able to get out of it then they both went through the stage below with OC winning.

I didn't like this at all. It had the usual comedy, the usual canadian destroyer kickout spot and they did too much.

Overall thoughts: This was a long show. They did too much in the first match and it really hurt everything that followed. The women's match sucked and the main had the usual AEW hallmarks with comedy, canadian destroyer kickouts and big moves.