#like yeah yeah kenny's injuries will be the story of the tournament but he was so FAST. so explosive!!

[thesportssoundoff]

“The XFL is a thing. Should you care about it?”

Joey

February 2nd, 2020

Another winter, another money mark attempt to figure out winter football.

The NFL has wrapped up another successful season and now it's Vince McMahon's turn to try once more with a brand new football league. In 2019, the son of his friend Dick Ebersole tried with the AAF which fell apart before the season finale could even take place. Vince McMahon seems more prepared than Charlie Ebersole and his backers, especially when you consider that the XFL apparently has long term financial backing place to absorb what figures to be some money losing seasons. The XFL's rule set which features things like a revamped overtime, a double forward pass concept, a continuously running game clock and a variety of different special teams related rules designed to entice an improved pace of play. Is the XFL going to revolutionize the NFL? Probably not. Will it provide some concepts that inevitably get stolen? I'm going with a pretty solid "oh yeah absolutely." It's live sports and chances are if you're reading this you know that the SportsSoundoff is all about live sports and activities that are able to cosplay as sports (axe throwing and chainsaw-ing come to mind).

If you're looking for more football to take in then the XFL figures to give you that and with readily-ish available-ish games across FS1/2, Fox, ABC and ESPN/2 platforms. Long story short, games will be out there for ya if you want to spell some time between the NBA's second half kicking off and the start of baseball and college basketball's tournament run. With a neat and tidy eight teams across a variety of markets, I'd like to go team by team and detail why you should try your hardest to give each team the benefit of your time. Some teams figure to be easy and some teams figure to be impossible BUT I've got free time and I gotta do something, right?

The Dallas Desperados The most intriguing coaching staff in the entire league

Let's start from the obvious; if Bob Stoops truly wanted to, he could be coaching in the NCAA right now. This is a guy who left Oklahoma as an insanely successful well liked legacy coach who won a national title and 10 conference championships. Bob Stoops took Oklahoma football to a level not seen since the Barry Switzer run and is clearly one of the greatest coaching minds of his era. Health and perhaps a general all around malaise for football led to Stoops stepping down but when you look around the number of college teams divided by the number of quality of minds currently available for head coaching jobs, there's zero doubt Stoops could've been the guy at any school he wanted to over the past two years. Hell, I would NOT be surprised if Stoops would've been on the radar of NFL teams if he did an Urban Meyer-esque TV gig as opposed to just falling off the face of the Earth and living life in the shadows. Instead he re-emerges in the XFL as the GM and head coach of the Dallas Desperados. Stoops admittedly took this gig because of its proximity to his recruiting trails of the past and just general all around comfort with the area. Stoops was the prized announcement of the XFL, the first coach they revealed and put in the biggest football media market of the entire XFL league. Long story short? Bob Stoops was a rare coup for the XFL and he's being advertised and promoted as such. So much so in fact that when Stoops stopped appearing in XFL promotional material for a short spell, there were rumors that the XFL was going to lose the only drawing card it had with Stoops maybe making a move all the way up to the NFL for the Cowboys head coaching gig. The fact the XFL has Stoops gives it something the AAF never had; a familiar well liked face who isn't tired or old hat; the two knocks that basically hurt the AAF when Steve Spurrier was limping around on the sidelines for the Orlando Apollos.

The intrigue goes beyond JUST Bob Stoops as the Bob Stoops coaching staff is genuinely pretty ridiculous. If you love the Lincoln Riley and Mike Leach style offenses then you know of the name of Hal Mumme. Mumme is the father of most of the modern air raid offenses you see today, the likes of which that get mediocre-y college coaches like Kliff Kingsbury head coaching gigs in the NFL. Mumme is a bit of a college coaching legend with concepts that have bled into the highest levels of football. Stoops will be the offensive coordinator for Stoops' offense and with a few years away from the coaching circuit, I'm intrigued to see if Mumme has anything new left to offer. Defensively, Chris Woods and Jim Jeffcoat have long ties to Bob Stoops or Hal Mumme. The offense has a mastermind, the defense has a glut of former defensive coordinators and there's a damn good chance that Bob Stoops could turn a solid run in the XFL into a head coaching job elsewhere. Just keep an eye on the Desperados coaching staff as a potential breeding ground for coaches into the next level.

DC Defenders Name defensive talent = ???

It seems like the XFL is going to make it a lot harder for defenses to really play a meaningful part in the games with rules clearly designed to go for more of a high paced scoring first and foremost brand of play. That said, the DC Defenders do have some defensive talent to keep an eye on. They've got a name defensive line with guys like former Giants starter Jay Bromley, USC's Kenny Bigelow, Washington Huskie Elijah Qualls and a linebacking core with Arizona undersized legend Scooby Wright, former Atlanta Falcons player Jonathan Massaquoi and former Bills player and early retiree from football AJ Tarpley. In the secondary is where things really have "could play in the NFL potential" with former draft picks Jalen Myrick and Bradley Sylve and former starters Shamarko Thomas and Matt Elam at the safety spots. Most of the attention will be on former National Championship winner Cardale Jones at the QB spot with name weapons like Malachai Dupree and Rashad Ross but in truth, I'm curious to see if their defensive talents can find their way back into the NFL.

Houston Roughnecks Actual NFL name talent

Soooo yeah, let's take a second to talk about the Houston Roughnecks. There's a WEALTH of NFL level talent on here, if not in actual talent but in name value. We can start at the QB spot where the Roughnecks at the very least boast an interesting "What if?" scenario. Going into the 2016 NFL Draft, a lot of teams needed QBs and the draft boasted some really interesting ones. The top two were pretty much locked in (Carson Wentz and Jared Goff depending upon your preference) and Paxton Lynch seemed like a solid lock as the #3 QB. After that? Free for all! The likes of Cardale Jones, Dak Prescott, Jeff Driskel, Connor Cook, Nat Sudfield and Christian Hackenberg were all fighting for spots to try and eek themselves into that next tier. There was a belief of sorts that Cook was the leader in that clubhouse but concerns about his personality and how teammates viewed him at Michigan State dogged him all the way down to the 4th round. The Cowboys were going to take Cook (who they had as a late 2nd round pick on their draft board) but he got snagged up as the Raiders as a developmental QB behind Derek Carr. The Cowboys, not exactly heartbroken but not exactly thrilled, moved to taking Charles Tapper out of Oklahoma and then with their comp pick (thanks Eagles! Thanks DeMarco Murray!) picked Dak Prescott at the behest of their coaching staff, bucking scouts who had him behind Jeff Driskel. Dak Prescott will likely earn anywhere from 30 to 40 million next year and Cook is trying to carve out his path in the XFL after failed stints in Oakland, Cincinnati and Detroit. It's a fun "What If?" scenario to toss around while Cook can perhaps reset his career in the XFL.

Beyond Connor Cook? Houston boasts a kicker in Sergio Castillo who as an all star in 2019 and boasts an NFL quality leg potentially. Kickers come and go in the NFL and if Castillo is good then he probably has a chance to pop up somewhere. RB De'Angelo Henderson was a 7th round pick who has bounced around the NFL and figures to probably get similar looks as a 3rd round COP back somewhere if he's good in the league. Cam Phillips and Kahlil Lewis are former NFL camp bodies while Sammie Coates played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. SS Marqueston Huff played in the NFL for a variety of teams and has a pedigree as a former 4th round pick. DL Kony Ealy, Gabe Wright and Walter Palmore could probably fill out the back end of an NFL defensive line rotation right now. There's some actual NFL talent lurking in these waters, even if most of it is probably training camp filler variety. Those guys still have merit!

LA Wildcats The Josh Johnson Situation

So let's chit chat a spell about this. Josh Johnson is one of those guys that seems to pop up once a year on an NFL roster. He's been in the league since the dying days of the Gruden Era in Tampa Bay, a former fifth round pick who carved out a career as a somewhat competent-ish back up. He bounced around, played in the United Football League (consider THAT one) and seemed set to flame out. When the Redskins brought Josh Johnson in in 2018 after injuries to Alex Smith and Colt McCoy, Johnson stepped into the starting role and actually played pretty well! Not well enough to get brought back but well enough to earn another shot in the NFL as a back up for the Detroit Lions. Johnson was let go and continued his playing days by adding onto the XFL. I think Josh Johnson is the only dude to play in all three short term gimmick leagues (the UFL, AAF and XFL) but that's not where our story ends. Injuries to Jeff Driskel and Matt Stafford opened the door to play the NFL again when the Lions came calling. Surprisingly the XFL refused to follow the AAF's lead and kept Johnson to his XFL deal, forcing him to pass on a Lions opportunity. Josh Johnson basically has to be the best QB in the league to justify the XFL's decision to force him to stay in the league. Otherwise they'll probably be looked at unfavorably by future players for robbing a guy of an NFL opportunity. Also keep an eye on Nelson Spruce to be a big third down guy who racks up 1st downs.

New York Guardians ???

So I've looked over the roster a bunch, taken a gander at the coaching staff and honestly? I mean I don't have anything. This team on paper is pretty boring with no real flashy star name value and a head coach and offensive coordinator in Kevin Gilbride who had his best years some fifteen years ago if not longer. I suppose there may be some interest in seeing former AAF names like Jamar Summers and Luis Perez do stuff? This team is boring but boring teams can win games and boring games can win championships. Just don't expect the Guardians on paper to be something you'll feel compelled to go out of your way to see. In a way the Guardians match up pretty well with Vince McMahon's current WWE product; a severe lack of storylines and star power that compel and force you to go out of your way to tune in on a weekly basis.

St. Louis Battlehawks Football is BACK in St. Louis!

The Rams left St. Louis for LA in 2016 and to be entirely honest, I'm not sure if it worked out any well for the NFL. Surely the Rams bring in more money and notoriety in theory but it sure feels like the Rams have not exactly caught on with the locals in LA who are clearly baseball fans during the summer/fall and basketball fans every other time else. The Rams boast a tremendous team and watching a city like Kansas City enjoying its first Super Bowl win (in the great state of Missouri or Kansas or Kansourri) has me wondering how much more fun the NFL would be if the Greatest Show On Turf stayed in St. Louis as opposed to venturing out west and had kept up the tradition of having two teams playing in a rather "small" market. The fans of St. Louis will get to show how much they support football when the Battlehawks take flight (Ugh) in a few days. The Battlehawks have an intriguing roster with plenty of Mizzou names on it like WRs L'Damian Washington and former TE turned WR Markus Lucas. They also have swagmaster Marquette King trying to rebuild his NFL case after his falling out in Oakland. To add to the madness, the Battlehawks boast the most QBs on any of the 52 man rosters in the XFL and are led by Ole Miss QB legend Jordan Ta'amu who is coming off a failed stint in the NFL. I still really like Ta'amu and think he's got developmental upside for what it's worth but that's neither here nor there.

Seattle Dragons Holy shit Jim Zorn is still around?

The Redskins have a rather....interesting history in the modern era. Outside of a few brief periods of success from the likes of Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan, the Redskins head coaching history is rather no bueno. Among those bodies lost to the annals of history you have Jim Zorn. Zorn was a bit of a QB whisperer for the likes of Mike Holmgren and Dennis Erickson before surprising folks by making a massive leap from QB coach to head coach for the Washington Redskins in a stunning move. Zorn's move went...about as well as you'd expect. Jim Zorn became the latest victim of Redskins incompetence and then sort of just disappeared. He coached QBs for a bit after getting fired and then became the NFL equivalent of a ghost. Well Jim Zorn's back and back in Seattle where he led Matt Hasselbeck to some insane-o Seahawks records. The Dragons roster overall isn't exactly must see as it's mostly AAF leftovers with the occasional 2019 UDFA but at the very least seeing if Jim Zorn can wash off the Redskins stench some 10+ years later might be a bit of fun.

Tampa Bay Vipers A Florida all star team

The Vipers have the world's most name recognizable pseudo all star squad in the entire XFL. With former Bears head coach Marc Trestman at the helm, the Vipers boast a wide array of talents from various schools in the state of Florida. Miami Hurricanes WR Stacy Coley, Florida OL Martez Ivey and TE DeAndre Goolsby, South Florida QB legend Quinton Flowers will be trying his hand at RB as well as FSU RB Jacques Patrick and DB DeMarcus McFadden. That doesn't even begin to cover the number of Central Florida, South Florida and FAU players on this team as well. Also Aaron Murray is here and it seems like people are still going to try and make him into a thing after being a 4th round pick back in 2015.

#XFL #football #teams #sports

[frankbelloriley]

top ten wrasslin’ matches of 2018

So before I get into this, I’m gonna lay down some ground rules--well, more like tell you the rules I gave myself and those rules are 1) did it make me laugh a bunch and forget about how stupid the world is? (which is the basis for every one of these kinds of lists really) 2) would I show this to someone who had never seen wrestling before? and 3) one (1) match per episode/pay-per-view with one (1) exception for a good reason With that in mind, I’m going to get some honorable mentions out of the way:

Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho for the IWGP US Championship, and the Fatal Four Way for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship between Marty Scurll, KUSHIDA, Hiromu Takahashi, and Will Ospreay from Wrestle Kingdom 12-- they’re all really good and fun and worth checking out, but another Wrestle Kingdom 12 match is going on this list

The other two Chris Jericho NJPW matches versus Tetsuya Naito and EVIL--not on this list literally only due to the “one match per ppv” rule, but they’re all very fun, Chris Jericho is delightfully dickish and you should watch them in order to see Chris Jericho become a progressively more goth dad (he out gothed a dude named “EVIL” (all caps theirs, not mine) that’s how goth Chris Jericho got)

As much as it pains me and as much as it is a testament to what good wrestling there was in 2018, none of the Johnny Gargano-Tommaso Ciampa matches (1, 2, 3, which I can’t find online and whatever) are on this list (my favorite is probably their second match), and neither is Velveteen Dream-Tommaso Ciampa which rips (can I interest you in a fight between a Prince inspired wrassler who refers to himself in the third person and whose act became a giant subtweet of Hulk Hogan against just the biggest asshole in the world?). There is only one Johnny Gargano match on here, and if I’m writing a list of the best character arcs in 2018, the list goes Gargano’s redemption only to succumb to the dark side, Kazuchika Okada’s existential crisis after losing the championship, and Becky Lynch becoming The Man in that order. Becky’s arc really only started four-five months ago and much of it was spent by creative trying and utterly failing to get the crowd to boo her, and Okada’s arc was, by design, slow and frustrating after he lost the championship, but Gargano basically started the year as Luke Skywalker getting his hand cut off and ended the year as Kylo Ren yelling at a ghost on the salt planet, with every character turn making sense. It’s fascinating.

Speaking of, no Aleister Black-Johnny Gargano at NXT War Games 2 match which might be as pure a classic wrestling story as there is, second only to the Gargano match that is actually on here. (In real life, Aleister Black hurt his leg, so in story, they explained it that he got attacked in the parking lot by an unknown person, so the mystery of who attacked him would go on for months (coincidentally the same amount of time it would take someone to recover from an injury like Aleister Black’s) until Johnny Gargano fessed up to the act by kicking him in the face, so now Aleister is seeking justice. Wrestling is delightfully extra.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs Asuka TLC match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship (no link, couldn’t find)-- whew (not “woo” in this house we boo the woo) Asuka was finally Asuka again (her first and last ppv matches in 2018 (this and against Charlotte at Wrestlemania) are super great and everything else is super not), Becky Lynch continued being the actual greatest, and I literally do not know how Charlotte Flair did not end up in the hospital after this. It’s not making the list for how the match ends in bullshit fashion even though it ends perfectly in character with consistent story logic (a pleasant fucking surprise from WWE especially considering, again, the rest of Asuka’s year)

None of the Shayna Baszler-Kairi Sane matches (can’t find NXT Takeover Brooklyn 4, but I found Evolution and NXT War Games II) (NXT was really good this year), which is a shame because all of which are great, but my personal favorite is on Evolution, and another match beats it out. As I’m writing out the list, I realized there aren’t a bunch of women’s matches, but that’s because WWE’s creative ideas for its women’s division was garbage until the Becky Lynch turn happened in August and got a crowd reaction they super didn’t want and tried to change until they were finally forced them to lean into it. However, Evolution was easily the best main roster WWE ppv.

Nothing from All In literally only because that show is for Wrestling Fans, and this list is supposed to be a “if you’ve never watched wrestling in your life” list. All In is good good fun, but if you show it to someone who’s never seen wrestling before, they’re gonna ask why are there dick druids, and you’re gonna have to explain that Joey Ryan, a dude who wrestles with his dick, came back to life after being murdered and the number one suspect was the guy from Arrow (really). Get into wrestling, then watch that PPV.

Good god, that’s a lot of honorable mentions. Anyway:

10. Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens, an open Intercontinental Championship Challenge on Monday Night RAW, August 27th - this is just a really fun wrestling match between two talented guys who were stuck in other feuds that were prolonged needlessly in 2018, and it was just fun to see these guys branch out, do something different, and tear the house down against each other like, “oh yeah, these two are really good at what they do, I almost forgot.”

9. Andrade Cien Almas vs. AJ Styles - Smackdown Live on September 18--Like Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, AJ Styles was stuck in bad storylines that meant to make him look like a strong champion but ended up making him look like a plot armored goober. Here we have the story of the cocky upstart Almas taking the veteran champion Styles to his absolute limit with a finish that is smooth as hell.

8. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Dominion on June 9th - Spoiler for the number two entrant but this is where I’m breaking the “one per ppv rule” because Hiromu Takahashi has a broken neck and no one knows if he’ll ever wrestle again, so this might be his swan song. (He doesn’t break his neck in this match, I wouldn’t introduce him like that) These are two dudes who flip with zero caution to themselves with some incredible flippy shit. Watch it and pray for Hiromu to make a full recovery.

7. Six Man Ladder Match for the NXT North American Championship with Adam Cole, Ricochet, Velveteen Dream, EC3, Killian Dane, and Lars Sullivan - Okay, so, about this. Excepting Killian Dane and maybe Lars Sullivan, everyone here has had a better match elsewhere this year (Lars probably had a better match against Keith Lee, Adam Cole had his best match against Ricochet, Ricochet and EC3 had their best matches against Velveteen Dream, and Velveteen Dream had his best match against Tommaso Ciampa), but everyone gets a moment to shine here, and this is the NXT introduction of Ricochet who is basically a flippy videogame cheat code who is made out of some sort of alien substance. At one point the two large men Lars Sullivan and Killian Dane toss Ricochet across the ring to each other like they’re playing fucking catch. It’s hilarious and maybe the fifth most insane thing that happens here. If someone was to come up to me like, “I know nothing about wrestling, what should I watch to find out if I like it?” I would probably show them this.

6. Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii,  G1 Tournament Match - I’m laughing just thinking about this match. I don’t think anyone would call Tomohiro Ishii the best wrestler in the world, but I love him with my heart. Kenny too, but a boyish giggle comes out of me every time Tomohiro no sells someone slapping the utter shit out of him and he says (presumably) something like “that it?!” (I’m a fan of this gif of Pete Dunne slapping a no-selling Tomohiro for Pete Dunne shaking his hand afterwards. Physical comedy!). Anyway, the story here is Kenny Omega has gone 6-0 in this tournament, Ishii (who he has a competitive history with) has gone 0-6 in the tournament, so Kenny takes him for granted and when he realizes his opponent won’t go down that easily, it’s too late. It’s quick, it’s fast paced, and very fun.

5. Meiko Satomura vs Mercedes Martinez, Mae Young Classic Quarterfinals - I had no idea who these women were before the Mae Young Classic, but I loved Meiko with her first match in it, while Mercedes was just, you know, fine. But this? Wheeew. Two veterans giving it their all, and if you don’t turn into a Michael Scott crying gif after when they show each other respect, we ain’t the same.

4. Johnny Gargano vs Andrade Cien Almas, NXT Takeover: Philadelphia -  Going with this one because it’s the most newbie friendly match, it kicks off Johnny Gargano’s year storyline at the finish, and Andrade Cien Almas is really really good at his job. It’s a simple “good guy versus arrogant heel” match, and Andrade comes out to a masked mariachi band as his entrance.

3. Kota Ibushi vs Cody Rhodes, Wrestle Kingdom 12 - there are probably better matches from Wrestle Kingdom 12 but this is my list so fuck you but this is the match where pro wrestling finally clicked with me after starting to watch it because of GLOW. Folks, this is a 20 minute Jackie Chan fight with Kota as the daffy Jackie Chan-like hero and Cody as Anime Biff Tannen. It is fast, has some wild acrobatics, and it is funny as hell.

2. Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega, 2/3 Falls Match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (Part 1, Part 2), NJPW Dominion on June 9th - If the last one was a comedy, this is an epic. This thing last an hour and a half, and it goes by in a flash. The entire Okada-Omega series is basically wrestling’s Lord of the Rings, and this is its Return of the King. The only reason it’s not number one because of the match’s lack of follow through in the months since, but man, this is great.

1. Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair, Last Woman Standing Match at Evolution (start at 29:45 then watch the end here)- *types then deletes a bunch of unintelligible vowels* Okay, so this is the first match that really took advantage of the NXT Horsewomen since their call up in a good long while and it rules. I’d say Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch had been given nothing for 2018 until August, but “nothing” would be a step up in some cases *cough* group therapy *cough* *cough* Nia Jax injuring every single one of them plus others and the only reason she still has a job is that she’s The Rock’s cousin *cough* Charlotte had her Wrestlemania match against Asuka, but this? This is mean, this is rough, this is the story of a girl, no this is the story of two former friends wanting to throw the other through a table. When pro wrestling is bad, it’s “what the fuck am I doing with my life watching this shit” bad, and when it’s good, there is nothing like it. This is the latter (not the ladder, but there are those here).

#told myself to finish writing this so i can work on my 'the year in summation' text post which i've done every year since 2015 #'it's a nice idea and one i want to keep doing throughout the years

[rabidwrestlingfan]

Operation Destroy

Author's note: This is a thing my brain created. Hope you enjoy. Too tired to be witty right now.... Oh yeah, and it's the sequel to Operation Switchblade 😉

Wren was exhausted both psychically and mentally. It felt like everything was falling down around her. Bullet Club was fractured at best, and she knew it would only get worse. Everyone would pick a side. In a perfect world everyone would side with Kenny and they could just get rid of the one who betrayed them. But this wasn't a perfect world. In the end Cody wasn't the only one who attacked Kenny, and they still didn't know who had stopped her rescue attempt. All she was sure of was that it wasn't the Jacksons or Marty. She trusted them enough to know they wouldn't do such a thing. The other members had an alibi, some could prove them and others couldn't. It didn't help ease her mind. She was still sidelined for the time being. 

Before Wren could linger on the thoughts Kenny came up behind her. "You're gonna go grey." He joked quietly, pulling her hair out of her face. "You say this like somebody has seen more than a few inches of my natural color in... Years." She retorted with a small smile. Instead of admitting his defeat he snaked his hand up her shirt and lightly ran his hand across her skin. Her back and left side were a map of ugly blues and purples. "How are you feeling?" He questioned softly, like he was afraid she'd break. "I'm doing alright. I've gone through worse." She answered truthfully. The Canadian nodded slowly as he continued to rub her back. She knew he blamed himself. Whether it was for her being at the curtain or him not being there she didn't know. She'd futilely tried to tell him he had nothing to do with it the night before, but he wouldn't hear it. 

"When do you leave?" Kenny asked after almost two minutes of silence. He knew she planned on going back to the States soon. After a few months of personal time she was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. "Supposed to leave tomorrow night." Her plan had been to go with him back to the apartment and spend a few hours there before she left. She had to get her gear anyways. But she'd already been warned that her plans were going to change. She found herself thanking her aunt for insuring money wasn't a problem. Her inheritance had been the only reason she could put wrestling in the back burner. "Stay." He whispered just loud enough for her to hear. "It doesn't have to be for a long time. Just another week and I'll let you go without an argument. Just until we figure things out." The words were punctuated by a kiss to the base of her neck. He wanted to know who attacked her. He wanted to at least start planning his revenge. That's what he'd tell her anyways.

Kota had a feeling Wren would be a key part of the months to come. It crossed his mind as soon as he seen her laying on the floor just inside the curtain with blood smeared all over her face. It was proven when he seen the look on Kenny's face as soon as he seen her afterwards. So when they were walking to breakfast he made sure to distance her from Kenny. "He's going to cling to you." The Japanese man's words were hushed to further ensure only she would hear them. "He feels lost. He'll beg you to stay because he doesn't want to be alone. Stay with him. He needs to know that you're okay. It might even deter him from killing whoever did that to you."Just like that the man was gently nudging her forward and closer to Kenny. She didn't even get a second to reply. Yet she knew she had to listen to him. Even after just over three years of living with him she knew Kota still knew him better. Wren was sure he always would. So she'd went ahead and cancelled her flight and officially backed out of her bookings due to injury. Kenny had taken care of her, she couldn't just walk away when he needed the same. 

She was brought back to the present by curly hair tickling the side of her face. "Earth to Wren." Kenny joked before he placed another kiss on her temple. "Sorry. I was thinking about whether or not I called the hotel in Dayton and cancelled my reservation." She watched the understanding slowly wash over his face. "And you're stuck with me for at least two weeks, by the way." She added with a smile before slipping away from him and heading towards the bathroom. "I'm sure we can find something to do. Need help showering?" Kenny questioned with one of the first real smiles she'd seen since before his match the night before. "You know I hate to turn down a good thing, but shower sex is not on my to do list right now. In fact I'd rather get attacked by a rabid raccoon." She joked before closing the door. It was a few minutes later that Kenny heard her calling him. "What'd you forget?" He asked knowingly after he cracked open the door. "I grabbed the lotion instead of the conditioner." He couldn't help but chuckle. It wasn't until after he had helped her that he realised something had fallen out of her bag. He hadn't meant to read the note. "You have options." He mumbled, eyes going between the necklace at the bottom and the bathroom door.

The next couple of days had been largely uneventful. The two had spent the majority of it just lazing about the apartment. Except there was definitely a rift between them. Kenny's innocent jokes about sleeping with her had stopped. Even his actual attempts to sleep with her had stopped. There were no game tournaments or movie nights. He'd always make excuses about having other plans. It certainly didn't seem like he was clinging to her like Kota suggested. The colder her got towards her the more uncomfortable she got. He knew how she felt about Cody, so she knew he didn't think she was part of the mutiny. That didn't help her with the thoughts that kept running through her head. She started packing a bag when she woke up to an empty apartment on the seventh day. There was no note or anything. Just empty silence. The last thing Kenny expected when he unlocked the front door was to see her sitting on the couch crying. He knew that she'd hit the breaking point. 

"Wren?" His voice was a soft whisper. At one time that very whisper would have made chills race down her back. Now it was just another stab into her heart. "We don't have to do this. I can go. I'll find something to do with my shit and then... Just let me go." She begged him, futilely wiping her tears away. "Are you gonna tell me why you're running away?" He had the sense of mind to shut the door but didn't dare step closer to her. A dark chuckle left her before she was standing up. "Because this week has opened my eyes. It made me see things like they were. You treat me like I'm not even here, and I can't handle that. You've become such a big chunk of my life. I put you before everyone." He knew then exactly what was happening. "So you're gonna go run to White?" He asked sinisterly. His tone made her eyes go to his. "Excuse me?" Was all she could find to say. Where had he even gotten the thought from? "I seen the note in your bag in Sapporo. I thought it was because of the story about you not having a choice. I let it go. Then I grabbed your phone on accident the other day and seen the messages he was sending you. Figured you'd run sooner or later."

In a split second she was in front of him, a loud slap echoing in the silence. "How fucking DARE you, Kenny Omega! You had absolutely no right to invade my privacy like that. I'd never dream about doing something like that to you." She clenched her fists before turning away from him. Going to jail over a broken heart wasn't exactly something she wanted. "Besides, in case you didn't notice, I never replied to any of his messages. He's trying to toy with me. You fell right into his trap. But that's not even... You can't do that. You can't just act like you care about him wanting to get in my pants, when it didn't bother you a month ago. You can't play me like that anymore." In the end her voice was low. Kenny knew then what her problem was. In fact he'd known this would happen sooner or later. "I realised earlier that you'd never love me like I love you. That all my time secretly praying that you would was for nothing. I've always been yours and you'll never be mine."

The only thing she could hear was their breathing. His lack of an argument made her grab her backpack from beside the couch and walk over to the door. He hadn't moved even as she approached. "Wren... I need you..." His voice was rough as he spoke. Wren couldn't look up at him. She had to do this, and one look at him and she'd be done. "You don't and you know it, Kenny. I was just a naive girl that at least partially filled that hole in your heart. I was a placeholder. But he's back now, and you don't need me anymore." After a few seconds he finally moved so she could leave. He watched her go with tears in his eyes. A part of him did love her, but it was nothing like she felt. He'd known how she felt since they got stuck in the elevator nearly three years prior. In his head he could hear AJ berating him when he'd found out. The man had gotten so angry, and he wasn't afraid of voicing it. He'd always believed that Kenny was giving her a false hope. He had been.

The cab ride to the hotel had been full of tears and sympathetic glances in the rearview mirror. She felt broken and stupid. He'd told her from the beginning that they weren't exclusive, but then asked to room with her. It was an endless circle of will he won't he. Her thoughts drifted to the night she'd slept with Marty. It had started out as an innocent dinner whilst they awaited for their friend's arrival. By the end of the dinner she'd already told him how small she felt on terms of the Bullet Club. He made her feel cherished, but even then she immediately felt guilty. He'd assured her multiple times that she hadn't done anything wrong and he wouldn't mention it to a soul. The one time she'd brought it up he shut it down. He wouldn't let her beat herself up over it. In the back of her head she could hear Styles telling her that she wasn't where she was because of who she was sleeping with. She'd made it because of her skills.

Maybe it was her anger. Maybe it was heartbreak. She wasn't quite sure what possessed her to knock on the hotel room door later that night. He'd been toying with her and she knew it. All week he'd told her where he was staying and what room he was in. Even when he knew she wasn't there. On top of that were various messages about how she deserved better than the shattered remnants of Bullet Club. Maybe she'd regret it later, but at the moment she didn't care. Jay couldn't help but widen his eyes when he opened the door. He'd figured it would be a member of Chaos trying to be his friend. He never expected her to actually show up. "Make me forget." Was all she said when he opened the door. "You sure you wanna do this, doll?" He asked, eyes scanning the empty hallway. He'd barely heard her whisper a yes before their lips were together. He was quick to pull her into his room, kicking the door shut before pushing her against it. His lips trailed down to her neck when air became a necessity. A sharp nip just above her collar bone made her tug his hair with a gasp. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll make you forget." Jay muttered against her skin.

It wasn't until Wren rolled over to escape the sun that she remembered the night before. That was also when she realised she'd woken up alone. Her sadness was eased with the knowing that it was his room so he hadn't just run away. Once she got up she seen a bowl of fruit sitting on the desk with a slip of paper that had a smiley fave drawn on it. She spent the next half hour getting dressed and munching on the treat he'd left. She was getting ready to leave when the door opened and Jay came in carrying two cups of coffee. "Morning, sleepyhead." He joked before handing her one of the cups. "Didn't know what you liked so I just grabbed a regular coffee and a few sugars and whatnot." She was in awe as the creamer cups kept coming. He'd gotten three of nearly all of the options. She didn't even comment as she fixed her coffee. She didn't know what to say to the kiwi.

 Suddenly his fingers were brushing against her neck. "Guess I got a little worked up. Sorry." He muttered before a smile graced his lips. "Guess it's a good thing you have an excuse to wear that puffy scarf." Those words made her freeze. "Huh?" She muttered in panic. She thought all the way back to the first time she'd ever seen him trying to think of any other time he had seen her in the scarf. "That giant zebra looking scarf you were in Sapporo." He answered like it was obvious. She set her coffee down before she turned to look at him. "It's my good luck charm, and I wear it anytime one of the guys have a title on the line. My aunt made it for me." Wren stated simply, watching his demeanor change. He went from relaxed to on edge as soon as she finished talking. "And the only way you would have seen me in it is if you seen me at the curtain when I was going to help Kenny..." She trailed off with wide eyes.

Suddenly the kiwi in front of her laughed. "I'd hoped to keep you going for a little longer... But looks like I got too caught up." He admitted with a sinister smirk. "I must say that it was remarkably easy to get Jessicka to help me. Seems like there's a lot of bad blood there. I just asked her to incapacitate you before he made it backstage, but she did so much better." Her mind was racing and she barely heard his words. Of course Jessicka would help bring her down. They hated each other. "Operation Switchblade may have ultimately failed but Operation Destroy is going great." He continued to taunt her. "How the hell did you know about that?" She snapped at him finally. Had a Bullet Club member ratted them out to the other factions? "I was trying to find you before New Years Dash and when I did I overheard you and Omega talking about it. It actually made me chuckle. You sure do have original names." Any sensible person would have left then. They wouldn't give him the pleasure of watching them work it out. But she had to unravel the sweater. 

"So you get the belt from Kenny and that deepens the divide. Page comes out and Kenny immediately denies that and so on. Where do I fit in all of this?" She honestly couldn't put that part together. "Are you saying that you haven't pushed them away since that night? That you haven't been at least a little bit suspicious of everyone that wasn't in that ring that night?"  Wren wished she could prove him wrong, but he was right. She'd blown off everyone but the Bucks and Marty once they got back to the hotel. She was so scared that one of them was a traitor that she just stopped communicating. The once live and ridiculous group chat hadn't been touched since that night. "Without you they all fall down. And all the important pieces have fallen. That IS why you're at a hotel, right?" Jay queried before he chugged the rest of his coffee. That made her blood run cold. Kenny. "You son of a bitch!" She yelled before she ran out of the room, door slamming behind her.

By the time she got back to her own room she had talked herself out of just showing up at the apartment. She'd been cruel to Kenny when he didn't deserve it. She'd turned her phone off before she'd even left. It would have undoubtedly rang all through the night. Yet when she pulled it out of her bag she just stared at it. What would she say? Confirming Jay's part in things wouldn't fix what she'd done. Knowing the truth didn't extinguish her fears of another brother turning their back on her. Would Kenny even answer if she did call? Wren sat down with her back against the bed, still stating at the phone. What was the right course of action? Suddenly there was a loud persistent knock on the door. "Wren? Wren, open the door." Her eyes widened when she heard the voice.  What the hell was he doing there? Slowly, she stood up.

#i write stuff #wrestling imagines #slight mentions of m/m #literally only like 160 words shorter than the first one #finally corrected the name

[beingallelite]

Every Thursday we will offer you compelling analysis, a look at the best wrestling you might have missed over the previous seven days and an interview or feature focused on some of the most important newsmakers in the sport.

This is a historic time to be in the wrestling business and should be an exciting era for fans as two megapower promotions collide. We will be your guide as All Elite Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment wage a Wednesday wrestling war and promotions big and small continue innovating and reinventing what is possible inside the ring all over the world.

Brandi Rhodes doesn't dream small. If she and her partners did, they'd still be grinding away on the independent scene or begrudgingly collecting a paycheck from WWE as they watched the clock on their professional careers slowly wind down.

Instead, they are launching the first real competitor the wrestling space has seen in decades—and doing it their way.

As chief brand officer for All Elite Wrestling, the shiny new promotion launching this October on TNT, she spends most of her time building partnerships and making people feel like they matter. As a professional wrestler and manager, she more often sows chaos and discord.

She'll fully occupy both roles at All Out, the sequel to a pay-per-view that essentially launched the promotion into existence and made the fledgling group the talk of the community, stealing the hearts of fans throughout the wrestling world. It returns to the scene of the crime in suburban Chicago this Saturday on Bleacher Report Live with a show that promises to do something most follow-up acts can't—top the original.

Just days before the event that will set the stage for the promotion's television debut and establish its ongoing direction and storylines, Rhodes, who is married to fellow wrestler and AEW vice president Cody Rhodes, sat down for a two-part interview with Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden to discuss her ever-shifting world.

Jonathan Snowden: I know it's got to be hectic heading into a major show like All Out. It occurs to me that very soon this isn't going to be something you guys have to grapple with every couple of months or every few weeks. It's going to be a weekly thing, every single Wednesday. Are you ready to step out into the storm?

Brandi Rhodes: Yeah, I think we're ready. Being on the road every week is not new to me. I've had a little bit of a reprieve actually, so it's kind of welcome to be traveling again so frequently and able to be fully engrained in the work and busy, busy, busy. We're all looking forward to it on our end. It's actually a little bit lighter a schedule than we're used to, so it's going to be very nice.  

JS: I'm really excited by the women's division you're building at AEW. I think it could be a real secret weapon, especially because many fans in the United States have never seen what a lot of them can do. But you've also got what I see as quite a challenge in front of you. How do you mesh the tremendous women from the Japanese Joshi Puroresu scene that Kenny Omega is helping scout with the Americans who come with different skill sets and a different approach in the ring?

Rhodes: One of the best things about our division is that it's so very diverse. We have a lot of female wrestlers who bring a lot of different things to the table. I think you're right that a lot of the Joshi talent hasn't been seen before, so it's great to have them on board to show people what they can do.

They'll be mixing with people like Allie and Brit, who have been on the indy scene for awhile but haven't really broken through, either. I think it's going be a nice mix no matter what you like.

There are a lot of fans who really like that high-flying, fast-moving, hard-hitting action. And there are some people who really love to be fully invested in the character work of someone and wondering what's going to happen next in the story and where it's going to go.

That's the beauty of what we're doing. There's no box that anyone is going to be forced into. They are allowed to be authentically who they are and that will be a recipe for success.

JS: I've been watching over the last several weeks as you've announced some familiar faces for the All Out Casino Battle Royal like Sadie Gibbs and Jazz. Pardon the pun, but I'm pretty jazzed about it.

Are these signings for just the single match in Chicago, or does it indicate a more long-term relationship with AEW is either in place or possible?

Rhodes: Most of the women you'll see at the Casino Battle Royal are non-active members of our roster. As I've mentioned on the Road to All Out, we don't have 21 women on the roster and the match requires 21 women.

So, this is an opportunity for a lot of these women to get in front of a larger audience. Maybe an opportunity most of them have never had, or at least not in a long time.

Right now, most of these women aren't actively members of the AEW roster. But that doesn't mean they won't continue to work with us.

JS: It sounds like this is an opportunity for them to impress the people in the back, who will surely be watching closely.

Rhodes: I feel like it's more an opportunity for them to impress the audience. They're our core and who we're listening to. They kind of have their finger on the pulse of what they want.

If someone makes a great showing and the audience is really, really loving them, that certainly will go a long way.

JS: I absolutely love the feature you did on the Road to Fight for the Fallen about your figure skating career. It was super-relatable to everyone who has ever failed at something and spent years seeking redemption. My whole family was Team Brandi after that moment. Then you came out at Fight for the Fallen and were a villain! Is that dichotomy tough to pull off?

Rhodes:  Actually, it's not. I think my character is a little more complicated than people give her credit for. I do have these moments when I can rope you in and have you very much on my side—and even feeling sorry for me. But in those moments, it's up to you to decide if that's real.

So, the last couple of times I've done it, I've proved I wasn't really about what I was supposed to be about. In the case of Allie and Awesome Kong, I cried crocodile tears and wanted people to be behind me and be my friend and cheer for me. And the first chance I got, I took the easy route. And I won.

And that's what it's about. It's about winning the matches. It's good when you create those emotions. When you can just feel that burn like "my God, how dare you?"

One of my favorite characters to watch growing up was Sensational Sherri. Man, she pissed me off all of the time. But I always wanted to see her and see her get her comeuppance. She was just so much fun to hate. I think about her sometimes with some of the things that I do.

It gets even more complicated because I do work with Cody, and a lot of the times he is a good guy. It's hard to see him as a bad guy, especially with everything he's done for pro wrestling in general. So, it's an interesting on-screen relationship. I'm true to myself, but I always have a soft spot for my husband no matter how nefarious I am.

JS: It's fascinating to watch you navigate social media as one of the most high-profile women in all of wrestling. Some of the fans are lovely; others less so. I don't want to speak for you, but from the outside, it looks like there is a sizable contingent of fans who seem uncomfortable with a woman, especially a woman of color, in a decision-making position. Does it feel that way to you sometimes, too?

Rhodes: Social media always has that anonymous factor to it where people can say whatever they want to say without being accountable.

Definitely, there are people who have adverse reactions to our brand as well as my role. That's OK. It's just social media and it's never going to change as far as I can tell. But it's not going to stop me from doing my job and what I need to do and what I love to do.

I think in wrestling generally there is this good old boys' system. Where you always have a lot of men at the top and a lot of men making all the decisions. And I think it's time we kind of stepped away from that. Truly, in our minds. It's one thing to say it and another thing to actually accept it, be about it and walk the walk.

I'm looking forward to that with AEW and hoping we continue this journey and continue to see women differently than the industry has in the past. And that includes my role. As positions come open and we grow, I hope the best candidates get the jobs and not just people in the right network or people with the right number of years in the industry.

It's a paradigm that's shifting right now and it's taking some people, including some members of the audience, a little bit of time to catch up.

In part two of our exclusive interview next week, Rhodes discusses the struggles a performer can face as a woman in wrestling, the promotion's commitment to inclusion of all kinds and why fans should give this new group a chance.

'Hard Times' Promo of the Week

Kenny Omega isn't normally known as a promo guy, but he absolutely blistered the hide off of Jon Moxley in the most recent episode of Being the Elite.

This was filmed with the camera and lighting setup used for Road to All Out, a good aesthetic choice as the normally breezy goofball went on the attack in an interview that got very personal, very quickly.

Omega was critical of Moxley's decision to wrestle in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's notoriously strenuous G1 Climax tournament and offered no kind words wishing him a speedy return from a staph injury that will prevent the wrestler formerly known as Dean Ambrose from competing at All Out.

The highlights:

"Did I go to Japan and wrestle 24 days in a month before fighting you? No, you see, I did this thing, Jon. It's called being a professional. What am I supposed to say? I was ready, I took you seriously. I never got myself injured. I got myself in the best shape of my life. You never took me seriously. You never took this PPV seriously.

"You owe everyone an apology, you owe me an apology, and you should really look in the mirror, Jon, mm-hmm, you should look in the mirror and you should ask yourself, ‘what the f--k am I doing?’

"I'm playing this all back in my mind and I'm thinking I'm being really insensitive, because this is a real serious injury, it could have happened to anybody, right? You were careless. I blame you. And if people want to look at me like I'm the bad guy? Well, jeez, they're just as bad as you are, Jon. You left a lot of pieces, a lot of broken dreams, and a lot of disappointed fans laid upon my feet. And they're begging for something now, huh? What kind of wrestler does that?"

The Illegal Double Team Hot Take

In many ways, wrestling promotion is a lost art.

The old masters, men like Dusty Rhodes or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, could take the skeleton of an idea and turn it into oral gold. They didn't need a script or a committee of writers to craft their dialogue—it came from the heart, as authentic as the men who performed it.

As wrestling became more "corporate boardroom" than "outlaw biker bar," the way wrestlers talked changed to suit those shifting sands. Instead of responding like a normal human being—sometimes angry, sometimes funny, sometimes even with imperfect delivery—the wrestler has become nothing more than a vessel for a Hollywood writer.

The template for the modern wrestling promo was created by The Rock—sarcastic, funny and sneering. But he was a singular performer. Those who have followed have paled in comparison when trying to do his act, to the point that today's Rock clone is barely an echo of the original.

The result is often awkward, stilting and hard to take seriously, each wrestler, no matter their supposed background or motivation, sounding like the exact same vascular automaton.

That brings us to Road to All Out. The presentation on this weekly series is the antithesis of what we've come to expect from wrestling promotion. The sitdown interviews, particularly, have given matches that might otherwise not seem especially important the kind of gravitas that is rare in contemporary wrestling.

When Jim Ross sits down to talk to "Hangman" Adam Page, it doesn't feel like a wrestling interview. It feels like the best kind of sports programming, a version of 24/7 for the squared circle.

Short on histrionics and long on authenticity, it's a look inside the mind and heart of an athlete facing a significant challenge. There aren't the long, tortured pauses or panicked looks as the performer forgets a line that we see so often on wrestling television. Instead, it's a man sharing his story in a calm, calculated and compelling way.

Ross invented the form in signature interviews in WWE's glory years with figures such as Austin and Mick Foley and excels at highlighting who the wrestler really is and what their motivations might be. It's excellent, compelling television. I hope it's a staple of AEW programming going forward.

Three-Count: Looking Ahead

AEW All Out (Aug. 31, Bleacher Report Live):

Chris Jericho vs. "Hangman" Adam Page for the AEW World Championship

Kenny Omega vs. Pac

The Lucha Bros vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AAA World Tag Team Championships

#brandi rhodes #kenny omega #jon moxley #hangman page #jim ross #all elite wrestling #aew #article #bleacher report #promo: all out #posted on: 8.29.19

[puroresuroad]

There was a crazy amount of good puro to enjoy this January. NJPW obviously takes the headlines with the Tokyo Dome and the first of the New Beginnings tour underway, but we also had the DDT Grand Prix to enjoy as well as many other promotions starting the year off with a bang. Here’s a look at the most must-watch Puroresu from the month of January…

ZERO1 World Heavyweight Title Match               

Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Yusaku Obata 

From Zero1- Happy New Year at Korakuen Hall- 1st January

One day into 2018 and we have one of our first match of the year candidates. This has a little of everything. They start with the basic grappling before Tanaka decides “nah! lets do this in the crowd”. What follows is a chaotic brawl complete with mad table dives and insane chair shots. This is more then just some hardcore brawl though and it soon settles into a hard hitting puro match with an awesome closing stretch. If you like pro wrestling you should give it a watch.

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title Match 

TAJIRI (c) vs. Kotaro Suzuki 

From AJPW- New year wars- 2nd January

Tajiri isn’t far off his 50’s, looks in his thirties, wrestles like he’s in his 20’s and dresses like an outcast teen, it’s incredible really. Both he and Suzuki rule from a technical standpoint and they use this to slowly build towards a hard hitting closing stretch, with Suzuki seeming to have worked out how to dismantle the champion. It may not be as flashy as the NJPW or the NOAH junior matches you see these days, but in many ways it showcases what those matches often lack with its brilliant pacing and psychology. The finish will put some people off but it’s actually kind of cool when you look at it. Some people have gone completely off Tajiri but this is a good showing for him.

Triple Crown Title Match 

Joe Doering (c) vs. Zeus                         

From AJPW- New year wars- 2nd January

Nothing fancy here just two bulls smashing into eachother. Joe establishes early that he’ll win in a straight up striking exchange and there’s a great moment in the match where the realisation seems to dawn on Zeus and his face tells the story. With his hand forced, Zeus throws caution to the wind in an attempt to take out the bigger man. Every bump feels big and every lariat feels stiff, all adding up to a great main event to bring AJPW into the new year.

AJPW World Tag Team Title Match 

Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (c) vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama 

From AJPW- New Year Wars- 3rd January

Nothing flashy or fancy at all here, just four guys slapping, kneeing and power bombing each other into oblivion. The build is slow and things sort of just plod along at times. These four make up for it though, in brutality and a great closing stretch, in which there are multiple believable endings.

IWGP Tag Team Championship

Ropongi 3K (c) vs the Young Bucks

From NJPW- Wrestle Kingdom 12 4th January

The Bucks are chasing their 7th IWGP Junior Tag Titles here with Ropongi 3K now taking the place of their usual rivals. This match is a spinal practitioner’s nightmare with both teams essentially each losing a member early on to back issues. The rest of the match essentially build upon this story with both teams doing an awesome job of selling. No amount of back pain is gonna stop them doing some crazy spots mind. Awesome opener to this year’s Tokyo Dome show

Cody Vs Kota Ibushi 

From NJPW- Wrestle Kingdom 12 4th January

Cody’s “sports entertainment” style and tactics give him huge heat in NJPW but to this point he hadn’t had any standout matches. Ibushi on the other hand is the prototypical NJPW star and fan favourite, so this match provides the purest heel vs face match on the card. Cody does a lot of his dastardly heel stuff but brings the goods when needed, including an apron cross-rhodes that is just completely devastating. The crowd are super-hot for the beloved Ibushi as he desperately tries to fight back, and this feels every bit like a big main-event match as a result. There’s a great underlining Kenny Omega subplot too. It’s a big shame this doesn’t go on very long but considering some people thought it would be a dud, this overachieves in many ways.

Never Openweight Championship, Hair vs Hair Match 

Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Hiroki Goto         

From NJPW- Wrestle Kingdom 12- 4th January

Goto had a very quiet 2017 where he went from lower end main eventer who couldn’t quite get the big one to a complete afterthought. Here he’s down to only having his hair left to offer. Suzuki straight up dominates Goto here. He beats him up, chokes him out and just breaks Goto down piece by piece. He also pulls out a dropkick Okada would be proud off and a vicious headbutt in reference to Goto’s pal Shibata. He’s just completely vicious, which is what you want from Suzuki. As for Goto, who knows what they want from him in 2018, what you get though is a lot of what we’ve seen before which is the only real downside here. Great stuff and obviously the post-match is interesting too

IWGP JR Heavyweight Championship Match

Marty Scrull © vs Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takashi vs Kushida 

From NJPW- Wrestle Kingdom 12- January 4th

Oh yeah, it’s time for some flips. Marty Scull officially wins the Tokyo Dome’s best entrance gear competition. He also does a great job as the clever heel avoiding trouble and picking his moments to strike. He’s literally got a bag (ok well a box) of tricks waiting to unleash on the opposition too. Of course everyone produces some crazy cool spots but they never fall into the junior match pitfall of looking choreographed. Nobody ever seems like their waiting for a spot or wandering into the right position. There’s a few moments late in the match where things clearly don’t go quite to plan but nothing unrecoverable. For those who love their high flying action and big spots this was essentially match of the night, though it doesn’t quite match up to some of the previous singles match combinations between these four. Still a must watch mind.

Mike Bailey vs. Shuji Ishikawa

From DDT- D-Ou Grand Prix 2018- 5th January

The match that had a lot of DDT fans talking and easily stole the show on night one of the Grand Prix tournament. This David & Goliath tale looks like it might turn into at squash early on, but Bailey fights back with his speed and innovation to put a hurting on the (much) bigger Ishikawa. Credit to both of these guys for making this match work as well as it did.

GHC Heavyweight Title Match 

Kenou (c) vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

From NOAH- Navigation for the future- 6th January

Kiyomiya is 21 years old and has only two years of experience behind him. In reality he doesn’t have any business being anywhere near this match. He sure makes the most of it though, as Kenou leads the youngster through to a strong showing. They play off the fact it’s somewhat of a mismatch early on, but Kiyomiya builds momentum as things progress. They don’t try to make it anything it’s not and the match is better for it. Cool finish to boot.

Shuji Ishikawa vs Kazusada Higuchi

From DDT- D-Ou Grand Prix 2018- 14th January

What’s that? You like watching big dudes beat each other up? Well then you need this match in your life! Nothing fancy here, just big chops, lariats, powerbombs, piledrivers and all that good hearty stuff. Higuchi had a good if mostly quiet tournament, but he’s one of the most underrated guys out there on the Japanese Indies and he puts in a star performance here.

Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs. Flamita & Bandido 

From Dragon Gate- Open the New Year Gate- 16th January

If your in need of some crazy flippy action to get you through those winter blues, then you can’t do much better then this. Xavier & Wentz are getting a lot of Ricochet, Ospreay and Sydal comparisons, and while they’re far from finished products they put on a heck of a show here. Even if you not into this style of match, its still worth a viewing.

IWGP Intercontinental Title Match

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki 

From NJPW- New Beginnings In Sopparo- January 27th

NJPW produce their second real MOTY candidate and it’s only January! Tanahashi has defeated Suzuki before but he’s enters with months worth of injuries. Suzuki’s psychopathic tendencies hit an all time high, as he goes for the leg. Like at Wrestle Kingdom against Goto, Suzuki wants to brake Tanahashi, but whilst at Wrestlekingdom most people just enjoyed watching Suzuki put a beatdown on Goto, here you feel great sympathy for Tanahashi. Tanahashi sells amazingly, some guys will sell an injury only for it to magically disappear when they make their comeback, but not Tanahashi. It’s painful and even a little sad to watch at times, but ultimately provides a gripping story. A must see.

DDT Grand Prix Final 

HARASHIMA vs. Shuji Ishikawa

From DDT- D-Ou Grand Prix 2018- 28th January

HARISHIMA needs to create space to stand a chance against Ishikawa, pity for him the ropes are in a state of disrepair. Ishikawa just mauls him over like a bear. HARISHIMA’s heart keeps him in it but despite everything he throws Ishikawa’s way, Ishikawa just keeps on coming like some horror villain. HARISHIMA’s facial expressions sell the story towards the end in this brilliant tournament finale.

        Recommended Puroresu for January 2018 There was a crazy amount of good puro to enjoy this January. NJPW obviously takes the headlines with the Tokyo Dome and the first of the New Beginnings tour underway, but we also had the DDT Grand Prix to enjoy as well as many other promotions starting the year off with a bang.

[oracleadyton-blog]

Nice Sunday watching sweaty people beating up each other. I have yet to watch the rest of UFC 217′s card but GSP-Bisping was really good. Emotional, hard hitting, tactical. And after that it was Power Struggle time. As always i can’t be bothered with most of the undercard or 5vs5 match with Gedo so yeah.

In the finals of the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) defeated Super 69 (ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi).

Fun match. They start early on with the usual sports anime comedy with Taguchi running from one ring post to another as Coach ACH spurs him. ACH himself seem fairly popular in Osaka. Amazing athlete and good worker, blends well with Taguchi’s silliness. As for RPG3K, they already look like veterans. Sho with a couple of great power spots. The story of the match was ACH’s rib injury that he sold with increased wight as the match went on. Roppongi double teamed him but he hit them with a huge comeback culminating in a great 450° splash on Yoh. Anyway the damage sustained is more than the one given and RPG3K are able to hit their finisher for the win. Huge push for the new aces of the Junior Tag division. 3 starz.

At the end of the match the Young Bucks challenge Roppongi for the belts at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Hype.

Minoru Suzuki (c) (with El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Toru Yano in a Bullrope deathmatch for the NEVER Openweight Championship.

Great video package introducing the blood fued between the two. Suzuki is more than eager to start the match but YTR, cunning as a fox, jumps him before the referee can tie him to the rope. Anyway Suzuki is able to subdue him and the ref ties Yano. From here on the first half of the match is a relentless beatdown by the former King of Pancrase and every time Yano tries to run or cheat the rope is in the way. Lots of creative use of the rope. But Suzuki is basically throwing around the guy for ten minutes. Also some random Suzuki-Gun interferences because why not. After quite some time YTR manages to expose a ringpost and throws Suzuki at it. A low blow and a powerbomb for a near fall as Taichi (who else) breaks the pin. Suzuki recovers and chokes Yano with the rope, then piledriver for the win. 

It was a fun match! It wasn’t going to be good in the traditional sense so yeah, at least we got some entertainment out of it. On one hand i don’t enjoy seeing Suzuki in comedy matches given his age and who knows how many years/months of good work has ahead of him, but on the other his over the top character fits well such moments. 2.5 starz.

After the match the entire gang is beating up Yano - and the refs, and the ring crew, and the Young Lions - and Goto makes the save. So Goto-Suzuki at WK?

Marty Scurll defeated Will Ospreay (c) in a Singles match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

They start with the usual chain wrestling. I always enjoy it, but for whatever reason wasn’t making much for me this time. A lack of intensity. Marty is more over in Japan than i expected, lots of woop woop from the crowd. Still have to understand what’s supposed to be villainous about his character but yeah. They go outside but the crowd doesn’t seem to be really into it; they still pop for a few moves and any high quality combination - and there are quite a few - but Marty isn’t really able to get any heat. Cool flowing DDT by the Villain on the ring apron. So for the first two thirds the match feels just there but things pick up towards the end. Marty goes for the fingers and tortures Will. Back and forth as Ospreay hits a huge lariat and the Essex Detroyer but Scurll kicks out. A Shooting Star Press by Will while Marty is hanging on the third rope. Now the crowd is into the match. The champion goes for the OsCutter but Marty catches him in a rear choke, a couple of quick pin attempts and Scurll rolls up Ospreay for the win.

Wow. So the story between the two is that Ospreay is better but Marty always beats him for the gold. On one hand it kinda sucks that a two years chase for the belt ends in a ~30 days reign but, as would become clear soon after the match, it makes for an exciting story. Fun match but lacked intensity. Quite a letdown, i expected more from these two but still, good enough. 3 starz.

After the match Will is incredulous and starts complaining to the ref. Kushida comes out and asks a title match. Ospreay wants his rematch. Hiromu Takahashi also makes to the ring donning an helmet and a pair of gloves. Very smart considering what happened before. He’s finally able to talk on the mic and challenges Scurll. The crowd chants for Hiromu. Marty announces a Fatal Four Way at Wrestle Kingdom. Whooo. When used sparsely these stipulation matter a great deal.

Kenny Omega (c) (with Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Beretta for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

Kenny’s playing heel while clearly underestimating Beretta. But he’s on a mission. Hard hits from early on. Oddly enough they had a couple of table spots right at the beginning: first Omega suplexed Trent on the metallic legs of the table - looked nasty -, then he also hit the double stomp spot from Wrestle Kingdom 11, breaking the table in the process. The crowd is still cold but the intensity is on a different level from the match before. The story of the match is that Beretta is taking a classic babyface beating and there isn’t much back and forth aside for a couple of comebacks that warm up the crowd considerably. Beretta hits a huge top rope german, a single leg dropkick and a piledriver for a close count. Apron piledriver, then a tope but Omega ducks and Trent goes through another table, breaking it. Barely answers the 20 count. The beatdown from Kenny starts again and Beretta is selling a lot. Eats lots of snap dragon suplexes and V-Triggers. A second comeback from Trent with a lariat and his cradle neckbreaker for another near fall. Is basically a WWE style match with good selling and interesting moves. Another couple of near falls, OWA, 123, Kenny retains.

Good enough. My impression is that they’re trying to build Trent as a guy who can take a beating. Looking forward to his G1 debut next year. 3.5 starz.

After the match Omega asks for a challenger in both english and japanese. Crowds always pop for that. Surprisingly enough Chris Jericho answers the call se we’re getting there at WK. I wanted Ibushi but this is quite the dream match. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

Osaka was really hot for Tanahashi. Fewer Ibushi chants than normal. The Ace starts displaying superior mat wrestling and every time Ibushi starts a comeback he cuts him off viciously, targeting his right knee. Reminded me of his Okada matches, with Tana playing the ageing fan favourite that has to resort to heel tactics to keep up with the new blood. And as a matter of fact he managed to turn some people in the crowd against him as the match went on, but even then the building was mostly in his favour. Lots of hard strikes and cool spots. Ibushi made a Nakamura spot - the apron-knee thing, i don’t know if it has a name - that got a huge reaction. Kota built a sequence with a frankensteiner from the top rope and the deadlift german while hanging of the ropes but missed the phoenix splash. Tana also missed the High Fly Flow. Tanahashi keept targeting Kota’s knee relentlessly but finally Ibushi’s had enough. Stiff palm strikes and even Red Shoes has to pull him away from the Ace. Ibushi keeps away the ref while punishing Tana with kicks. Now the match has really picked up. Ibushi hits a Last Ride for a close 2. Goes for another one but turns it into a phoenix plex but his knee gives up and the both fall to the ground. Kota goes for the Kamigoye but Tanahashi reverses it into a slingblade an then there’s the classic Ace sequence: slingblade, dragon suplex, two High Fly Flow for the win.

Great ending. Ibushi hugs Tana: he’s not at that level yet, but he’s close. Just a very good hard hitting match. 4.25 starz.

After the match Tanahashi puts over Ibushi telling him to come at him again in the future. After that starts playing with the crowd like the old times, with the air guitar and all that but SWITCHBLADE ARRIVES. It’s Jay White! Looking GREAT. I mean he’s very cute. Challenges Tana in both japanese and english, but the Ace tells him to go back to the cue, so White attacks him. Beats him up and hits the Shellshock. Good heel heat. So we’ll have them at WK. I don’t see Jay winning unless they want to push him like crazy from day one like they did with Okada but who knows. Also that would mean Tana’s losing two WK in a row. I mean there are lots of interesting things that could happen.

It was good!