KAI-GO GO NOAH Rangers (Kaito Kiyomiya, Volume 2)

[Hi! This is the second of a three part series of my look at Pro Wrestling NOAH's current Heavyweight Champion and all around good boy Kaito Kiyomiya. The first part is here, it focuses on some of the matches he had when he was still a Young Boy, along with the first big singles matches he had upon his return from his learning excursion. Definitely suggest you read that article first, checking out the matches you want to, before coming back to this entry. Thanks!]

Where we last left our hero, he was...well Kaito was getting his ass kicked. Coming back from excursion didn't bode well for Kaito, even with a handful of multi man victories and one singles victory against Andrew Everett. But, now under the tutelage of Go Shiozaki, a man some guy on Cagematch says "has an air of royal arrogance about him and in that sense he reminds me of Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z" which is fucking poetic, maybe the young man will finally find his way and do better for himself. But the Global Tag League is no play-date for soft men, the competition is tough, a title shot awaits at the end of this road. Will the newly forged team of KAI-GO make it to the finals?


With Go Shiozaki vs. Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue, NOAH Global Tag League Night 1, 3.18.18
I had to look up what a "Dark Agents" was finally. I now have a...vaguely general idea. The answer is "It's Akitoshi and the lads defending Christmas". If anyone who works for or with Pro Wrestling NOAH somehow reads this, first off why? Secondly, Bring back the Great Happy Christmas Championship.

Anyway, Kaito and Go took the majority of the offense in this contest. I hate to say it, but they didn't seem to sweat their opponents here. Kaito started off handily out wrestling Saito, before letting Go come in to chop a motherfucker or two. Barring the laziest Total Elimination I've ever seen, nothing special actually came out of the Dark Agent camp (Note: I'm not trying to be overly critical of the Dark Agents here, but it was a clothesline and a calf kick. Saito may as well have been giving Inoue emotional support for all his kick did to bring Kiyomiya down). A few minutes later, Kiyomiya rolled up Masao with an O'Connor with a Bridge for the pin.
**1/2 (Despite how low I'm rating this, it was a pretty fun watch. If you only have 10 minutes on your hands I would actually recommend this.)

Kaito, The Agumon (Kaito Kiyomiya, Volume 1)

So I really like Pro Wrestling, but I haven't been watching a lot for it lately. Blame Grad School, blame work, blame the pit of despair and self loathing depression's sunken me into (but mostly that last one), but I just kinda stopped after the G1 this year. So I want to try and kick my ass into watching it again. So instead of trying and failing to cover big shows...I'm just gonna watch wrestling. Sometimes it'll be a single wrestler, other times a string of title defenses, and sometimes I'm just gonna watch random matches during the week. Fuck it, I don't have a format anymore.

Ask literally anyone who I'm friends with or have talked to for more than 5 minutes at a wrestling show, they'll tell you I love Pro Wrestling Noah. I don't know why. Maybe I like the little guys. Maybe it's the fanatical fan-base. I got in just as Suzuki-Gun and New Japan's booking influence was heading out, so a lot of my opinions on the company are skewed compared to contemporary fans. I never knew KENTA in NOAH, or Morishima, Kobashi, or Akiyama. I call Takashi Sugiura and Naomichi Marufuji "Uncle". I consider Junta Miyawaki, Yosiki Inamura, and Kinya Okada my Young Boy class (and occasionally think of myself as being in that class. If you tell me you've never even briefly fantasized about being a wrestler, you're lying). So I'm hoping to use my new style to watch literally as much NOAH as I can, as well as some good 90s All Japan to kind of grasp where NOAH's roots came from.

So, Kaito. I...I don't know how I feel about Kaito. My emotions are mixed. There's something about him I don't like, but everyone else loves him so I find myself grudgingly biting my tongue. I guess I'm hoping to use this and future entries on my blog to suss out what it is I don't like about him. So thanks for coming with me on this journey, for the three of you who didn't violently close the tab to this blog.

Vs. Minoru Suzuki, Great Voyage in Yokohama Vol. 2,10.26.16
Look at Kaito here. So tiny, so full of hope.

Suzuki's gonna crush him like an orange.

This match is from the first whole NOAH show I ever watched, the same show where Katsuyori Shibata and Go Shiozaki went 20+ minutes and Katsuhiko Nakajima won the GHC Heavyweight championship (Put a Big Ol' pin in this match, we'll be coming back to it and the following title reign one day.) I remember liking the whole card, but besides the two above mentioned matches, Suzuki vs. Kaito was the match I remembered the most vividly. Probably because I love any time Minoru (rocking his old theme here) takes apart Young Boys on a whim. The same proved true in this match, but Kaito honestly got more offense in than most trainees usually do against Suzuki. After a flurry of offense and trying his hardest to stand up to The King, Suzuki brutalized him with strikes for a good 30 second stretch, which includes Kaito being stood back up to take more by Suzuki more than. A great mauling.
**1/2

A Summary of what I've been reading on DC Universe the Past Few Weeks

I just wanted to read more Tim Drake material and somehow I got swept up in multiple multi-run arcs.

That's the gist of what happened a few weeks ago. After I immediately binged the first two seasons of Young Justice (And got my heart fucking shattered for my trouble) on DC Universe, I started planning on what I wanted to read from their immense catalogue of comics. After a brief foray into the original Suicide Squad run, recommended to me by a friend (thanks Brian! Watching the Squad fight white nationalists in the 1980s was fucking great), I turned to the part of DC I wanted to know the most.

 I fucking love the Bat Family. Not Bruce, really. No offense to him, but I like his kids more.

Dick I love cause he's the eldest, the acrobat, the Titan's leader

Barbara I love cause she's intelligent, has er hands in the system at all times

Jason I love because of his riteous fury and his deep core desire to just be wanted

Damian

And then there was Tim. I knew like...next to nothing about Tim a few weeks ago. I knew he was the third Robin...aaaaand really that's all. He was partially the driving force behind my project to read as much Bat Family stuff as possible.

(Fun aside. In my research for this post and the project in general, the "Bat Family" consists of anyone who works in a semi-regular occurrence with the Batman, not just the Robins and Batgirls/women)

I needed to figure out where I was starting. There's 80 years of Batman to cover and my knowledge of the Bat only reaches about as far as the original DCAU goes. Tim Drake starred in his own series that started in 1993 and ran until 2009 so I figured that'd be a good backbone to start with. I figured I'd pick up Nightwing and Birds of Prey as I went along. I never planned to actually read any Batman this whole time if we're being honest. I just wanted to read the stories of the people around him...

The 90s weren't gonna let me do that. Not by a long shot.

Apparently the taste du jour of the 90s Batman was that everything needs to be part of a goddamn crossover event. From Robin Issue one to where I've stopped today on issue 32, I've read four separate multi-comic run arcs that had me darting all across the fucking website trying to follow the story. I only really stopped cause my friend Brian of Suicide Squad fame wanted to possibly catch up to me and join me in my escapades. So I wanted to take the respite in my crossover journeys to start logging exactly what I've read and continue to talk about what I'm reading. So, this is definitely gonna be a more informal rant than my future posts cause I'm going real quick off the top of my head, but...I hope you enjoy my ramblings here? This is more posterity than me thinking anyone will read this. But in case you're reading this in the future, this is where I started.

G1 Climax 29, B Block Session 2: The Middle Nights

We're two thirds of the way there, and I'm starting to feel the heat. Reviewing 5 really good singles matches every other odd day sounds really great at first, until you try putting that shit in practice. While I don't think it's gonna burn me out like the effort to watch every G1 match last year did, I'm definitely going to need a week or so away from wrestling after this year's tournament wraps up. If you wanna read my thoughts on the first three nights, you can find them here. But, for now, let's get going or I'll never get finished.

G1 Climax Night 8, 7.24.19

Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano (CHAOS)
Juice Robinson had, at the time, the best match with Yano in the G1 (this wouldn't last). Yano tried to ply his usual tricks, but Juice countered most by just bull rushing through. Pulp Friction put Yano away.
**1/4

Hirooki Goto (CHAOS) vs. Taichi (Suzuki-Gun)


Easily the best match these two have had, out of the three. Taichi tried getting into Goto's mind early by attacking one of the LA Dojo Young Lions, which Goto did not appreciate. The last minute was very good, with Taichi trying to use his mic stand, Goto thwarting it, then landing a Mexican Foul and a Gedo Clutch for the pin. Wish I had more to say, but this was better than I'm making it sound.
 ***1/2

G1 Climax 29, B Block Session 1: The First Three Nights

We are one third of the way through the tournament and it's been...really solid?

I've heard people call it the best tournament of all time. Which is a stretch, especially since last year's G1 was so amazing. I think a lot of people are using last year's G1 as the benchmark to make this claim so...that's a victory for 2018. Anyway, I decided there was no way that I was reviewing both blocks. So I picked B-block due to who was in it and the matches that excited me. I did a preview to the Block you can find here, but now we have to start looking at the tournament itself. Which is below. Let's fucking start this good shit.

G1 Climax Night 2, 7.13.19

Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
This was a weird pick to open the B Block, but in the end it turned out to be a really good, back and forth match. These two have never had a singles match together as far as I know, but what they got from a cold open was actually above anything I could have expected. The crowd was wild and getting really into both men at the finish. Juice picks up the surprise win here with the Pulp Friction after the Left Hand of God.
***1/4

G1 Climax 29: B Block Preview!

Like Andy Williams said, 'It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year'...

Fuck, man. It's the G1 Climax! It's basically the reason I haven't watched any wrestling in a month, and why I probably won't be watching much for the month after it's over. Can't let yourself get burned out. I'm covering the B Block alone here because it's the block that I'll be following in it's entirely this year. If you want to see someone's opinions on A Block, go check out my co-blogger Justin's A Block preview here. Probably 5 people will read this blog and I'm loaded on craft beer. Let's fucking break this down.

"Death Rider"
Jon Moxely
Age: 33
Pro Debut:2004
G1s: 1
Title History: 1x IWGP US heavyweight Champion (Current), 1x WWE Champion, 3x WWE Intercontinental Champion, 1x WWE US Champion, 2x WWE RAW Tag Team Champion, 2x CZW World Heavyweight Champion
Adopted Shota Umino as his son at Dominion this year.
Man, Jon's doing fucking great for himself. I hope he makes it through this tournament unscathed, With Ishii and Cobb in this block, I'm hoping Mox doesn't get dumped on his pretty face too much. As much as I'm looking forward to the singles matches he'll be in, I'm just as excited to see him in the opening tag matches with his new son Shota Umino. Hopefull he can give Shota the edge he needs to one day fight Kaito Kiyomiya and beat him.

"The Flamboyant"
Juice Robinson
Age: 30
Pro Debut:2008
G1s: 3
Title History: 2x IWGP US Heavyweight Champion
Somehow went from too much dread to not enough dread in like two years
Well, Juice has certainly been loose since the last G1. After a run that could be considered "meh" he lost and regained and lost his US title again. I wish I could be more excited for him, but if this year isn't a shot in his arm via major pickups over Naito, Moxley, or Ishii, I don't know what to tell you about him.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Presents: Global Junior Tag League, Night One

Well, it's been a while. Don't really have an excuse, but I'm here now, and I'm gonna be reviewing what I can. So, starting off this fourth(?) run of trying to review wrestling is the first night of Pro Wrestling NOAH's Global Junior Tag League. The downside is that the actual tournament matches on the card tonight were outdone by the semi-main and main event 6-mans that followed them. There is an upside, though, in that this was a perfect show that a non-fan of NOAH could jump in on. What do I mean by that? Hopefully once you've heard me talk about this card you'll see why.

Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue and Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Mitsuya Nagai and 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone and Quiet Storm)
I think the best thing I can say about this match is that it was inoffensive. There was nothing in this match that would cause someone to not keep watching the show, but I also wouldn't highly recommend it to anyone. It's the opener, what're you gonna do. Taniguchi eventually got the submission on Quiet Storm with some kind of Hammerlock Camel Clutch.
**

Tadasuke (RATELS) vs. Yoshiki Inamura (Kongoh)
Yoshiki is, or was, one of the local Young Boys in NOAHand he's only been here for less than a year. Although he's now in Kongoh (more on these glorious bastards later) I don't know whether his graduation was official or not. Here he squared off against Tadasuke of RATELS, who I've always subconciously classified as "the other RATEL" between him and his three stablemates. Inamura had a really fun match with Yuji Hino at the finals of the Tag League in early MAy I suggest you try and find, but this match turned out to be alright. Yoshiki landed an Oklahoma Stampede, getting brownie points from me, and went for what looked like a copy of Yuji Hino's FUCKING BOMB, which I will henceforth refer to as the GODDAMN BOMB if it becomes a regular thing. Tadasuke got out of the attempted plagiarism and after some quick pin attempts he nailed the rookie in the back with an elbow and got the pin with some kind of clutch. A neat match that did a good job at showcasing Inamura, even in loss.
**1/2

Archive Dive: G1 2006/ Wrestle Kingdom 1

No one tells you how unstable it is trying to review wrestling...or reviewing anything, probably.

There's a lot of lows, with time crunches to be the first one to talk about a show, being able to see exactly how many people aren't reading your reviews, and I still don't think I've recovered from last summer when I tried to watch all of the G1 and it shut my brain down for a week. But there's highs. Seeing the people that are reading some of the reviews of a relatively nobody never-done is astounding and it's been nice to share my thoughts on wrestling with the world at large. So how do I work around the parts of doing a wrestling blog I don't like while still doing it? New Japan World and ROH's Honorclub have huge libraries that, while not complete, have a lot of matches that people probably don't know about. Combine that with my want to get as much of my money's worth out of the subscriptions as possible, and I was struck with inspiration.

An Epiphany.

No time limits, no pressure. Most of Falcon Arrow Emporium is going to be focused around diving into these backlogs, wading through them like Zhang Liao in a Dynasty Warriors game, and finding what's good, what's great, and what's worth $10 a month for. There'll still probably be reviews of modern stuff scattered around (NOAH, ZERO-1, Anything else that might really interest me) and I still want to do a monthly Top TV match list. But as for New Japan and ROH? I'll get to modern stuff when I get to it.

Doing my research for this project (Read: After watching New Japan's CHAOS history video), originally I was going to start with dissolution of Great Bash Heel in April of 2009. But then I started digging a little father (Read: going to the GBH Wikipedia article), I found out the roots of Great Bash start coincidentally a few months before the original Wrestle Kingdom. Review every Wrestle Kingdom? Sounds fucking mad right? Well I'm that kind of fucking mad, so let's do this. ROH will come along when we get to it in the timeline as set by Honorclubs limits (2011). so let's go back in time, to August of 2006. The G1 was two blocks of 5. Liger was in one of the blocks (it did not go well for him, 1-4) and the stage is set for the finals. Satoshi Kojima, who at the time was part of All Japan Pro Wrestling's roster, taking on New Japan's Hiroyoshi Tenzan. The 3rd Generation explodes!...for the 3rd time since Kojima left New Japan.

8.13.2006
G1 Finals
Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tenzan looks incredibly trim here, which is either due to him gaining bulk over the years or black being a truly slimming color. This little under half hour match was something interesting to watch 13 years later. the biggest profile match I've seen out of either man here came from their NEVER Title shots against Shibata in 2016. The two were very evenly matched throughout the contest, with Kojima occasionally taking advantage using underhanded means. nothing as glaring as a low blow,  small things like taking a little longer to break when Tenzan reached the ropes, or "accidentally" raking his opponents eyes in an attempt to escape a hold. Tenzan made up for what his opponent was doing by using his sheer power advantage over him. He would win most of the strike exchanges, and capitalized with moves off the top rope more than Kojima did. Satoshi tried to take a count out victory by first DDTing Tenzan on the apron, then Lariating him over the ropes as he got back in the first time. As the match goes on, it's fun to spot the wrestlers surrounding the ring, like Makabe and his clearly fried yellow hair or the sphere that is Nakanishi. As the match picked up, Tenzan started busting out bigger and harder moves, leading to the anaconda Vice from him for the first time in the match. Kojima had applied it earlier but both times the Vicee reached the ropes to escape. Kojima hits a Koji Cutter out of a blocked Lariat, which is a new one for me, before going for another Lariat and being caught for a slam leading to the Anaconda Vice, which everyone thought would be the end. Kojima raked eyes out of it, before leading into two flesh crashing Lariats that should have been it for New Japan's chances. But, after kicking out, tenzan decided something needed to be done about all this, and proceeded to chop the ever loving piss out of Kojima's arm. After he nearly took his opponents arm off like a Buzz Lightyear action figure, Tenzan executed a pair of perfect Big Man Moonsaults, and two Tenzan Tombstone Drivers for the pin.
***1/2

1.4.2007
3, Koraku 1-chrome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Japan
The Home of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Yomiuri Giants
42,000 seats
The Big Egg
The Motherfucking Dome.

I just wanted another excuse to do that intro. Let's get into the undercard.

El Samurai, Masanobu Fuchi, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Akira Raijin, Kikutaro, and Nobutaka Araya
Ryusuke Taguchi looks like he wishes he were literally anywhere other than this match. Kikutro was Back Suplexed, DDT's, and Dodon'd to be pinned at the end of this short, bizarre match.
*, only because of Taguchi's bitchin' pants

Gedo and Jado vs. MAZADA and NOSAWA Rongai (Tokyo Gurentai)
An okay contest. Jado and Gedo are really good asa tag team and it showed here. Going to be honest when I say that I had no idea who NOSAWA and MAZADA were before this match and I probably wouldn't go out of my way to see them again in the future. Superbomb from the top rope followed by a frog splash by Gedo for the pin.
**

Buchanan, D-Lo Brown and Travis Tomko vs. Togi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano (Great Bash Heels)
THE ATTITUDE ERA IS INVADING.
AND THEY BROUGHT A HIRED GUN FROM TNA WITH THEM.

D'lo Brown and Tomohiro Ishii were in the ring at the same time here, which is something right out of a custom Fire Pro Wrestling Promotion. Entertained by the time capsule that is the GBH team, knowing what directions Ishii and Yano will take in the future, and how uninspired they really were in the ring here. Match ends when Buchanan is hit in the back with a chair and Lariated by Makabe. Only seek out as a curiosity, not if you're looking for a good match
* 1/2

Suwama, TARU (Voodoo Murders), Giant Bernard, and RO'Z  vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Riki Choshu and Takashi Iizuka
The Chosu coalition was winning early, until they decided to tag Naofumi (now YoshiTatsu) in, who was promptly and immediately taken advantage of. During the beatdown of Yamamoto, we got a shot of the commentators, including my new favorite picture of the week; Yoshihiro Takayama in a Hawaiin shirt, looking as unimpressed as anyone who's ever been on commentary.

I feel you, man. This undercard has been a slog.

I thought this would be another match on the pile of skippables until Nakanishi tagged in and started going nuts. I get why this man was IWGP Heavyweight Champion now. He out the Rack on TARU, and when Suwama tried to save his friend, Manabu chucked the Fuck from his shoulders ONTO THE CHARGING SUWAMA. All this before Racking (Read: Olympic Slammed) RO'Z, who I want to remind you was about 300 pounds. A fucking Monster, was Monster Morning here. Unfortunately, someone decided to tag Yamamoto back in, who Suwama killed with a Bridging Backdrop Driver. Catch the last five minutes of this one.
**1/4

Jushin Thunder Liger, Minoru, Milano Collection AT (CTU), Shuji Kondo and YASSHI (Voodoo Murders) vs. Kaz Hayashi, Koji Kanemoto, TAKA Michinoku, Tiger Mask and Wataru Inoue
Fuck's Sake. No.
i'm sorry if this comes off as unprofessional, but I'm a Lab Technician not Dave Meltzer, so excuse me if this one isnt as deep as it could be. But I knew a grand total of three of the men who started this match. Two of them wear masks, and TAKA is an ageless demi-god who hasn't changed since 1997. I know many of these men, just by name, were staples of Junior Heavyweight action in their times, but their times were not my times. You want to send me Minoru or Wataru Inoue matches, be my guest. But here, it was just "Liger and four bodies" against "Tiger Mask, TAKA, and three bodies". Tiger Mask won by Tiger Suplexing a man who I think was YASSHI.

Oh wait, I figured out Milano Collection based on the Paradise Lock. So...Yeah, thanks for that SANADA.
**

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Toshiaki Kawada
Okay, Undercard over. Let's get serious with a fucking serious match.

There was a definite feel in the air between these two men. Shinsuke came in looking like he had something to prove, Kawada had another body to put in the ground. This was the greatest story in wrestling of the young upstart and the confident veteran.

Fuck. Yes.






Kawada was definitely easily the more powerful man in the ring this night, but Shinsuke was willing to cut whatever corners he could to win this match. Holding on after rope breaks, taking every shot that was open to him, nothing was held back. And then, Shinsuke slapped Kawada, and Kawada proceeded to beat the fuck out of this young man. At that moment, not 5 minutes in, the future multi time IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion was on the fast track to losing this match. Despite his best efforts, trying hard to power through being dumped on his head, and cinching in armbars multiple times, it was all for naught by the end. A sick powerbomb from Kawada got a one count. A Brainbuster got a two. Shinsuke, going for what I could only assume was the only thing he could think to try, went for Kawada's legs and cracked himself against his foe's knee. Twice, somehow, it wasn't his best night. That put Nakamura out for the three. Not the greatest match on the show, or either man's best, but it was still very good.
***1/4

Triple Crown Championship [2nd Defense]
Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Yuji Nagata
I never thought I'd enjoy watching Uncle Murder and Uncle Justice fighting each other, or at least as much as I did here. I just see them as two completely different entities who, in todays New Japan, just wouldn't meet in a full blown contest. But not even two minutes in they decide to slap the piss into each other, and it's on from that point. Suzuki took over early, taking Nagata outside and busting him open with a chair against the post. Unfortunately, this only managed, once Yuji busted Minoru up himself, to invigorate the challenger. For maybe the third time in my watching history, Suzuki is on the ropes and getting kicked down at every step for the better part of the match. He'd start a comeback here and there, including a sweet reversal from an exploder and hitting the Gotch piledriver at one point in the match, but Nagata seemed to have his number the whole time. Yuji had the title won, Suzuki was dead to rights, wasn't coming back. But he got the cover, the ref counts 1, counts 2, and New Japan's challenger lifted the champions shoulder up. Because it was apparently time to go to school. That one opportunity, like any time in a Minoru Suzuki match, was all it took to doom Nagata. Minoru fired up with strikes after this insult, stopped a backdrop, and locked in a Rear Naked Choke for the win. Hopefully I haven't understressed how awesome this match was. Definitely paired well with the previous match.
***1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Championship [3rd Defense]
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Taiyo Kea

Look at that fucking beauty of a belt.

Having never seen Taiyo before, I was very impressed by his athleticism. I almost was admiring how good he was, until he NAILED TANAHASHI WITH A LANDSLIDE ON EXPOSED CONCRETRE. HOW DARE YOU USE A COUSIN OF THE FALCON ARROW IN SUCH A TERRIFYING WAY. I'd Gif it, but I don't want New Japan taking my blog down before it even gets too far off the ground. Taiyo took over most of the match from here, just annihilating Tanahashi in the ring. Using a great combination of strength and athleticism to take apart the defending champion. Tana showed some bursts of life, but each time he tried to capitalize on a mistake, he was shut down and the beating continued. Kea hoisted Tanahashi into the Fireman's position to finish him off, when Hiroshi slipped behind him and started to fire back. With this renewed energy, the fight became very back and forth, each man gaining advantage when he could and trying to end the match. Taiyo's last big moves came in the form of a Saito suplex and a Sleeper slam that dumped the champion right on his head. Yeowch. A normal man would be defeated by this, but even 12 years ago Tanahashi was not a normal man. He fought long enough to catch Kea with a Strait Jacket German, a Dragon Suplex, and finally putting Taiyo away with the High Fly Flow. A great match.
***3/4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima vs. Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono
Mutoh immediately cleaned house with Shining wizards.

This Month on The Online, January 2019

Wrestling in America right now is fucking awesome.

I know that that seems kind of moronic to say, but to me it's true. I've been so buried in New Japan for the past few years, I haven't really been paying attention to the American companies. I knew Impact was not only still alive, but doing good, that ROH was recently signing like a dozen new, major stars, and that a company named Major League Wrestling vaguely existed. well, with a new year came a new interest in getting away from New Japan. At least in terms of being my entire focus. I've wanted to do articles like this ever since I started Falcon Arrow Emporium, and I'm glad I finally got to do it starting in 2019. A few things to have in mind as you read my Top 10.

1) I'm new to this format, so if I seem jumbled and disjointed in my recaps, that's why. I'm much more used to reviewing full shows. Hopefully I'll get better as I continue this.
2) I'm only watching ROH, Impact, and MLW right now, because those are easy for me to watch and easy for me to get into with the familiar faces and convenient methods of watching. I might watch more companies in the future, but for now these are the only groups I'll be watching.
3) This is my opinion, the way every wrestling fan has an opinion. My taste isn't yours or the next readers. I'm just letting people know what matches I recommend from the given month, this isn't me trying to make a definite list of final quality.

Got it? Cool, let's get going.

10) Rich Swann vs. El Hijo de Vikingo
Impact Wrestling, 1.25.19
Taking the lowest spot this month is a match featuring a wrestler who was instantly made in my eyes. Before watching this episode of Impact, I had no idea who El Hijo de Vikingo (SON OF THE FUCKING VIKING) was. After this match I think I need to find more of him. He was pretty good here and he has a look that speaks to me on a styles clashing level. This was also the first match of the Impacts that took place in Mexico, and this crowd was just alive. Rich Swann was dominant for most of it, breaking down with Vikingo trying everything he had in the end, before Rich 450'd him from the middle rope, which was like 4 feet in the air.

9) Moose vs. Brian Cage
Impact Wrestling, 1.18.19
If you like Hoss Fights, this was your big match of the month. Moose probably shattered his hand chopping the ring post outside at some point, based on the noise it made. It effected him through the whole match, but he was still able to hold control for most of it. But Cage is, in fact, a fucking Machine, and he was able to come back and nail Moose (who is 6'5" and almost 300 lbs.) with a Drill Claw (Which is the Steiner Screwdriver, so Jesus Christ). Low on the list but I still heavily enjoyed it.

8) The Rascalz vs. The Lucha Bros.
Impact Wrestling, 1.11.19
I didn't really know who the Rascalz were before I started watching wrestling this month, but they've really started impressing me, despite the Rufio/Lost Boys thing they do all the damn time. Not much to talk about here, just a wild, 800 moves at 70 miles an hour. Lucha Bros. are awesome, and I hope they get those fat AEW checks for a long time.

7) Dragon Lee vs. Rich Swann
Major League Wrestling, 1.12.19
Major League wrestling breaks Impact's hold on this month's top ten with a real great opener from a few weeks ago. What starts as an even contest of sportsmanship is turned quickly by Swann as he takes the liberties he saws fit to steal. Dragon Lee came back from it though, and eventually pinned his opponent after a Suplex into a powerbomb that has a name I don't trust myself to type properly. Fun match, places higher than 8 by the virtue of Swann taking over for most and Dragon making a good show of coming back.

6)Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack
Impact Wrestling, 1.11.19
A rematch from the Pay-Per-View the previous Sunday. Sami and Willie fought for a series of roll ups towards the end, before Sami went for a Piledriver that Mack countered for a roll-up pinfall. Better than the match from the previous night in my mind, both of these men could step up and be contenders for the Heavyweight title in Impact, or any other company, whenever they really wanted to. Not as Hoss a Hoss fight as Number 9, but a better match than Moose and Cage by virtue of the final minutes in the ring.

5) Low Ki vs. Fred Yehi for the MLW Heavyweight Championship
Major League Wrestling, 1.12.19
The first MLW match on the list and the first title match. Low Ki is some kind of next level when it comes to presentation, if this past month of MLW has shown me anything. This title defense came on the same show as Tommy Dreamer and Brian Pillman caning each other (more on that later) and kind of came out of nowhere to me. It was a great, tense match that had the definite air of a heavyweight title match. Unfortunately, Fred Yehi was definitely not as ready for Low Ki as he needed to be to even survive. Despite being kicked around for a good part of the match, Fred managed to try and take it to the champion, but it proved futile a lot of the time. Low Ki seemed 2 steps ahead of him at most points. Ki caught Fred on the top rope, threw him down, and Double Foot Stomped him. Would have liked to see it go longer, but what we got was still good.

4) Tracey Williams vs. Zack Sabre, Jr.
Ring of Honor, 1.11.19
I fucking love technical wrestling, and I'm going to be very bias at times on these lists. But I believe even beyond my bias this was a fantastic match. I really can't go into detail with a match like this because I'd just be going " And then Zack put him in a hold, then Tracey escaped and put him in a hold, then Zack tried escaping and-" yeah you get it. Match ends with Zack locking in...
Hold on, lemme find the proper name...

"Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness"

...Wait, all these wacky submissions have names?


3) Brian Pillman, Jr. vs Tommy Dreamer, Singapore Cane Match
Major League Wrestling, 1.12.19
Told you this one was coming back.
 Let me make it public right now. I love Brian Pillman, Jr. I love him as much as a heterosexual man can love another heterosexual pro wrestler he may never actually meet. I wasn't a wrestling fan while his father was still alive, but I'm a fan for this glorious fucker. I'm not one for no-DQ style matches, especially halfway through a feud, but this one was great. All you needed was both men's promos before the match to grasp the general feel of the match. Brian came out in like 4 layers of clothing that were ceremoniously stripped as the match went on. I didn't think I'd be a hyped for the match as a whole as I ended up being, I've been weary of Tommy for a while now. But I'm glad I was proven wrong. Pillman won with a Strait Jacket Neckbreaker after going back and forth with Tommy with the canes and various other plunder. This match is on Youtube for free,GWN or Honorclub needed. Go fucking watch it.

2) Johnny Impact vs. Killer Kross, Street Fight
Impact Wrestling, 1.11.19

Taking the silver medal this month is not, in fact, the Impact Heavyweight title match from the end of the month. Rather, its Johnny Impact and Killer Kross' Street Fight from a few weeks prior. If there's one wrestler I'm really hot on since watching Impact again, it's Kross. I demand a Low Ki and Killer Kross match with UWFi rules. We need this on the next Jericho Cruise. This fight was great in showcasing Johnny as the big dog in house (even though he fucked Cage over at Homecoming) and Kross came out as a dominant force that could take the title, really at any time he wanted to. They fought outside for a long time, they had a lot of good exchanges in the ring, copious plunder was introduced, and none of it really felt out of place. Impact almost had Kross, before Moose of #9 fame ran in to distract the champion long enough to give Kross the time to hook in a Rear Naked Choke. I loved this match, and I almost put it as number one. But, after watching this match and the eventual number one, I couldn't make that choice.

1) So Cal Uncensored vs. The Briscoes for the ROH Tag team Championships
Ring of Honor, 1.11.19

When I first watched this match, I kind of knew that this wouldn't be topped. All action, all hype, completely ROH Tag title style. The fans ate it up the entire way through. It started hot and heavy with SCU giving no fucks throwing chairs in the ring. Briscoes, not liking to take any kind of shit without throwing some themselves, responded in kind with weapons. SCU tried everything to get their tag titles back within the scope of the rules, and several times it looked like they were going to get their belts back. But the Briscoes persisted, as they do, eliminating Scorpio Sky from the equation with a Jay Driller, leaving Frankie alone to fight off the champions. He put a great fight, getting up when most people really would've chosen to stay down, but was finally planted with a Powerbomb/Neckbreaker combination for the pin. It wasn't the biggest technical showcase, or maybe the match with the biggest personal issue, or involving my favorite wrestlers, but this match had the air of a war, and the crowd was insane and fueled on bloodshed and violence the whole way.


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All of Impact Wrestling's shows are archived on Global Wrestling Network 
All of Major Leage Wrestling's shows are archived on Youtube 
All of Ring of Honor's shows are archived on ROH's website.