Ramblings of an Englishman

Moving onto the third PPV in roughly 9 weeks I'm beginning to feel burned out on these reviews. I'd be honest combined with Grand Slam there has just been no time really to build to this show outside a few matches. A lot feels thrown together last minute but I expect this is a good card the talent on the card normally deliver but I won't be covering the build on TV just the matches. Zero Hour Much like All Out I won't be breaking down match by match. It is good to see Atlantis Jr enjoyed him in World Tag league the other year and hope to see more, I'd watch more CMLL but I ain't paying all that Youtube premium stuff. Anna Jay seems better but I still think she needs more of a Japan run, do STARDOM have a tag league? That would be also a benefit. I think it is time for The Acclaimed to be done again if they ain't turning or winning the belt then what is the point time for Bowens singles run. Speaking on tag teams I love The Outrunners give them a sustained ru

As we head into September we find ourselves 2 weeks removed from All In ready for All Out. I really feel that these PPV's are too close together it's only been 2 weeks and I still yearn to go back to Wembley. I feel there's not enough time to fully build a card and it honestly relies on two or three key feuds that didn't get a blow off on All In. Lukcily I feel these are strong feuds with added matches that you can expect quaility. AEW is a company that works it's best bell to bell and with PPVs that is what you get so let's break down the card and see what I enjoyed.  Zero Hour Breaking from tradition I won't break the buy in show match for match. This is largely as these were thrown together last minute so I'll just say a few things about what I liked. Beginning with before any matches I want to start with how great Hologram and The Beast Mortos are, I guess we are getting a Hologram extended universe if The Clone/El Clone trademarks are anything to go

  I started writing this on my way to work the Thursday after All In, I didn’t want my thoughts to be wrapped in hyperbole as for the second year in a row I attended the show. However, I find myself unable to shake that and truly believe this is one of AEW best shows they have done.  I won’t break the show down match by match I feel it’s different being their live to watching on TV. For example, pretty sure I missed half of last years Stadium Stampede because there’s just too much going on and too many places to look. But I will say for a PPV card it flowed so much better than last year. This could be because of the build to All In being more fleshed out this year headed by a main event where someone puts their career on the line over two friends fighting.  I do think as expected Ospreay vs. MJF and Swerve vs. Danielson were the stand out matches. I will honestly say that Swerve vs. Danielson was one of the best matches in AEW history and is for sure the best match I’ve ever seen live.

 New Japan Pro Wresting is in a transitional period. Gone is the peak of the 2010s and the Okada and Tanahashi feud, the rise of Los Ingobenarbles De Japon (L.I.J) and the various other peaks we are now in a state of flux. The old guard are even older, top stars have left in Okada, Will Ospreay and Jay White and with Naito looking closer and closer to retirement New Japan needs to change and evolve with its young roster to pick back up a bit of momentum.  I’d love to sit here today and say the way to change New Japan back to its peak to get rid of the likes of EVIL and David Finlay and replace them with the likes of Kaito Kiyomiya and Luke Jacobs but that is an unlikely thing to happen. I wanted to outline some key changes I’d like look at implementing with the current roster which I feel would help reestablish New Japan as a force in the pro wrestling world despite really being the third biggest company in the world right now.  House of Torture First things first probably one of the m

As we enter the summer month there's no bigger tournament in wrestling then New Japan Pro Wrestling and their G1 Climax. The premiere tournament which the winner main events Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th. Following a weird G1 last year of 4 blocks we are back to the normal 2. With this being a G1 without Okada, Ospreay, White, Tanahashi & Ishii this will provide New Japan with a sink or swin situation. With the G1 back to 2 blocks of 10 away from the clusterfuck of the last years 32 man tournament in 4 blocks this is the first traditional G1 for multiple wrestlers. The main one to look out for in this G1 is who does New Japan trust the most for their future. The following wrestlers are entering their first 2 block G1 (and some their first ever G1 Climax) Shota Umino Gabe Kidd Yota Tsuji Ren Narita Yuya Uemura Boltin Oleg Callum Newman That's over a quarter of the people invovled and with Umino & Tsuji you have two of the favourites. With New Japan wanting to usher in a

Back again with the crossover wrestling event of the year. At a time when co-operation between companies seems at an all time high it shouldn't be forgotten in large part where we were a few years ago. Forbidden Door the term coined by now NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi was because the partnership simply didn't exist and now we have not just AEW & NJPW on this show but representatives from CMLL and STARDOM as well a true big corrover event (and if I'm RevPro I'd be begging to get invovled with this considering they have partnerships with NJPW & CMLL already).  Regardles on that I always feel this is an odd show to buidl towards. You have four companies working together and three not in the same country as the main company hosting the show. It hurts who you can book and when they can show up. Either way on the show on the day should be good fun. Zero Hour Kyle Fletcher vs. Serpentico A surprise addition to the card following on from Kyle Fletcher losing the ROH