When people mention the “love of the game” these days, my mind goes to the people around the pro wrestling industry. I’m biased on that front, since I count myself in that number, but anyone who spends even a few minutes on pro wrestling Twitter can see that amidst all the tedious discourse, there are some truly talented people plying their trade. The MVs that people have been posting online have been a real joy for me to dig into, and they’ve been getting a lot of attention online as well.
The appeal is clear. These editors put in their own time and have the creative freedom to explore their abilities with the benefits of freedom of music choice and lack of corporate oversight. What we get in return are some truly lovely, bite-sized homages to pro wrestling that not only capture the emotions that wrestling can evoke, but can even spark new interest (such as the case with @ElClubLucha’s lovely Villano III MV).
The one I want to highlight today is @kaybebop_’s Eddie Kingston Tape #1 set to Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly.” Utilizing that classic VHS aesthetic to evoke the old tapes that Kingston himself took inspiration from, this video wonderfully utilizes audio clips from Kingston’s own career set to highlights of his in-ring work. The video does a lot here, not only showing the direct lineage from the King’s Road classics of the 90s to Kingston’s contemporary work, but also drawing throughlines on narrative themes that have underscored Eddie’s entire career. Actual goosebumps rise on the match cut of Eddie saying the words “in misery” decades apart.
Beautifully done stuff, give it a watch if you haven’t already.
On to The Real…
Note on dates: Review dates refer to my local timezone in the Philippines, match dates are based on the timezone each match occurred in.
Cachorro de Guerra vs. Atomick Star (Lucha Memes Hechicero vs. Xelhua 7/28/24)
Reviewed: August 4, 2024
All I really want from my Arena Coacalco matches is blood and dirt. This delivers both in spades even if it’s a little too flawed to be great. Star bleeds early after an early ambush from Cachorro, but then the latter gets sliced open with a bottle a little later as well. All the floor brawling is really great, just tumbling into the crowd constantly. At one point, Cachorro even does moves onto Star who has a fan pinned beneath him. I wish Cachorro did more punching or chopping than the kicks he centers the first half on, but that’s balanced out by Star throwing these real thudding, bone-deep chops all throughout. Good shit. There’s also a hilarious bit too where Cachorro and Atomick keep wrestling like this is a falls count anywhere match and the referee doesn’t indulge them one bit. It strays a little too far from the good shit in the back half and it’s a little too long and loose for what this kind of match should be, but I enjoyed the carnage for the most part.
Rating: ***½
Hechicero vs. Xelhua (Lucha Memes Hechicero vs. Xelhua 7/28/24)
Reviewed: August 4, 2024
One of the better llave displays of the year, all of which seem to feature Hechicero at the helm. This one excels in all the same ways, with the beautiful chain wrestling down on the mat. On this go around too, with a little more space to breathe than he’s often given in CMLL, Hechicero really puts a lot behind each hold. Not only the struggle and thought behind getting each one in, but also actually wrenching on the thing to get over the damage of it.
But what I liked most of all too are some of the subtler aspects of the dynamic. Xelhua puts in a strong performance but I love how the match plays on his strengths and weaknesses as a performer. Xelhua has the most success on the mat, enduring Hechicero’s holds and even slipping out of them to grab his own submissions. But when they get to their feet Hechicero’s easy to seize control with his strikes. It’s really only by keeping things on the mat that Xelhua has any real shot at success, and even then, Hechicero is such an experienced hand. A lovely struggle between generations that makes you feel every twist of a join.
Rating: ****
Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer (AEW Dynamite 7/31/24)
Reviewed: July 31, 2024
A historically strong pairing delivers once again. The most enjoyable I’ve found Ospreay on AEW TV has been his run ins with bigger workers that force a David/Goliath dynamic on him and this is no exception. Archer isn’t always this interesting but when his raw power is combined with one of the freak bumpers of the world in Ospreay, it makes for a rather potent mix. It’s a match that focuses on super simple things: Ospreay dying before using small openings to get back into the game. Archer’s cut offs and control feel especially brutal with Ospreay bumping and selling for it as well. And with only body work to focus on, Ospreay’s actually kind of mindful of his selling here.
Is it perfect? Certainly not. Ospreay’s capacity for excess rears its ugly head even in what should be a concise TV bout. A kick out at 1 for the variation of the Hidden Blade that looks better than the rest? Have any self-respect, Ospreay. And the selling is present but not perfect, but that’s all right, really. The rest of this is just sick enough to work fine for what it is.
Rating: ****
Hangman Page vs. Darby Allin (AEW Dynamite 7/31/24)
Reviewed: July 31, 2024
If you’ve been keeping track of my ratings closely, or maybe scrolled down to check the asterisks on this ahead of time, it might be a bit of a surprise to see this rated lower than Ospreay/Archer. I’ve certainly been much higher on Hangman and Darby as individual talents than the two workers in the opener. But this is an interesting case of what gets lost in the execution of a thing in spite of things making sense on paper.
I understand Hangman Page’s heel turn, and I think that he’s made smart adjustments in the ring to make himself more despicable since his return. But in a match like this–still great!–the cracks in the act start to show through a little. Page excels in facilitating Darby death here with the German on the floor, all the crazy bumps on the steps, and even structurally allowing for an initial shine before turning the match into an extended heel heat. That said, one can feel the heat leaking out of the control segments with Page’s attempts being more methodical and slow paced as a heel. All the big Darby death spots rule, of course, but Page taking the time to mug for the camera, soaking in a crowd reaction that’s mixed to good (not entirely his fault, rather bland crowd all night), all these things read as Page wrestling like he’s already over as a heel when the reality is that he should be working to get over as a heel. It’s a subtle difference, and I wish there was a little more attention paid to that here.
That said, they do get just enough right to make it work. Darby dies for this as he always does, but as is his real hidden strength, he makes the transitions feel both clever and explosive. Sometimes he does so in the span of a single comeback such as baiting Hangman onto the steps to sweep his legs out onto the steel, and then using that as a set up for a killer tope suicida. There’s also the nice little reversals of fortune Darby tries to apply like whipping Hangman with a belt as the latter has done recently to others and then even attempting a Buckshot Lariat finisher steal. The final moments are a little stretched thin from Hanger, bordering on NXT levels of tedious, but at least saved by how sensible Darby’s victory is in the long run. Much like 2004 Samoa Joe, Hangman Page is weak to the roll up this year. That’s about the only comparison I can make to 2004 Samoa Joe with Hangman now, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.
Rating: ***¾
Wheeler YUTA vs. Anthony Henry (ROH on HonorClub 8/1/24)
Reviewed: August 2, 2024
Another great display of YUTA’s situational awareness. Where he was greeted as a villain at Supercard of Honor, this crowd at the ROH taping is a lot warmer to him. That said, there’s enough that YUTA does here to bridge the gap between Supercard and this match. For one, YUTA pays for his dirtier tactics here. He goes to expose the steel turnbuckle and ends up getting his neck dropped on it instead. That’s a perfect bridge into Henry’s neck work which does a lot to babyface YUTA as he tries to work to escape Henry’s clutches. It feels so good too that Henry’s given some real room to breathe here and play his craft. Love how Henry makes YUTA work twice as hard to get back into the game for the first comeback, and his hard strikes are famous at this point. I do wish they made a little more of Henry’s jaw injury, and there’s a few moments of silliness like the striking double down, but otherwise this shit is tailored to appeal to my taste. Patient chain wrestling, consequential holds, and steady escalation, hell yeah.
Rating: ***¾
Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin, & FTR vs. Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, & The Beast Mortos (AEW Collision 8/3/24)
Reviewed: August 4, 2024
The most Collision ass tag we’ve had in a minute. By that I mean, it’s just a real hearty eight-man tag for most of it, centered on those classic tag ideas. We get one of the better babyface shines here even with Dax and Darby running circles around the heels to start. The babyfaces gel so well together and keep such an enjoyable pace throughout the shine that one can see the heels really working hard to finally bring their numbers to cut off the opposite side’s momentum. They swarm at it like animals too, rushing Cash on the outside and using their numbers at every turn to maintain the control.
It mostly sticks to those core principles throughout. The heels need their numbers, the babyfaces can fend for themselves for the most part until things get overwhelming. Everyone plays their role in this great too. Strong’s the anchor for the heel team, but Mortos gets some of his great power stuff in too without ever taking too much shine away from the babyfaces. Bennett and Taven spend much of the match just bumping and stooging in various ways. They have their moments in control, but they mostly bumble out for the babyfaces and that’s a great way to use them.
And of course, it’s not Darby without some great bumps. One crazy one just from a pop up drop from Mortos then later a side Russian leg sweep off the apron from Bennett. This does start to break down in the back half but never strays too far away from its core tag principles. And the finish is one of the more satisfying babyface TV finishes in a bit too. All our heroes nail a move from the mat and get a clean win. Real feel good TV wrestling all around.
Rating: ****
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Hirooki Goto (NJPW G1 Climax 34 N10 8/4/24)
Reviewed: August 5, 2024
Hirooki Goto was never one of my guys. I got to New Japan late in the Bushiroad boom, so the Goto I’ve always known is the loser that went on a spiritual journey just to get owned by Kazuchika Okada and become an underling in his stable. That’s the Hirooki Goto I know. I missed the G1 win, I missed the time when people considered him an overdue potential IWGP Champion.
This might be the closest I’ll ever get to experiencing it in earnest. Goto’s stuck around New Japan being a loser for long enough that it’s come all the way back around to being endearing, especially so in the face of the other people slated to have better luck than him moving forward. It’s easy to root for Hirooki Goto when the threat of Callum Newman hangs in the air, and against an outsider threat like Konosuke Takeshita, it works too. Takeshita’s stronger, faster, hits harder. And man, it feels good to see Goto stand his around against that. I honestly bit on so many of those final nearfalls even though I already knew Goto would pull out the win. I wasn’t even ready for how good that finish would look too, Goto hitting that big headbutt to meet Takeshita’s elbow, and having to wait for the smoke settle to see that it’s Goto standing triumphant.
For one night in a long time, the G in G1 stood for Goto.
Rating: ****
Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser (WWE Raw 8/5/24)
Reviewed: August 6, 2024
Another fun TV scrap between these two. This one suffers a little more from some of the WWE-isms that I don’t care for. Kaiser has to pause to get in a little trash talk that borders on the monologue variety, for example, and I also don’t love his faked injury to get into his control segment. Outside of that though, this is fun. They’re throwing heaters all throughout and not in a way that feels cooperative or stale either. They’re just these stiff shots folded into the innate babyface/heel narrative of the match, and that makes it so much better. One gets the impression they’re actually fighting for an advantage instead of aiming for some kind of dick measuring contest. All that struggle makes this stand out a little more than some of the lesser efforts in the WWE bogged down by similar problems. Hitting hard fixes a lot of problems.
Rating: ***¾
