GCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport 6 - 08/04/2021
Lio Rush vs. Yoya
An awesome Junior Heavyweight version of a Bloodsport match, being able to blend some of the aerial stunts like a cross body counter while keeping the vibe of the show. Lio Rush was in a rare predicament of being the bigger of the two and he made the most of it. He played with his apparent amateur wrestling background to lead the bout while Yoya did shit around him. ***1/2
Josh Barnett vs. Jon Moxley
This was a cool main event. There was a ton of blood on both sides and Barnett led Moxley through the grappling stages well enough to build to a climactic finish. ***
WWE WrestleMania 37 - Day One - 10/04/2021
WWE Title Match: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
A Heavyweight match that was two big guys being Heavyweight guys? A right sight. Thankfully, this was a good one too. Other than Lashley kicking out of three future shock ddts, this was a solid match through and through with minimal complaints. Drew McIntyre worked well in the face role, rallying the crowd and selling for Lashley to held up his end too. The finish was well executed with Lashley rolling through Drew attempting the Bret/Piper finish and submitting Drew for the shock win. ***1/4
Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
Consider me disappointed. I'm glad Cesaro got a win at WM against a former WWE Champion. But this just felt rushed and not as interesting as laid out. The story notes with the giant swing were well done, but I was left cold by everything else. Seth's corkscrew spot felt like it should've been a highlight moment but it wasn't. It was just another move. Quite disappointing. **1/2
WWE RAW Tag Team Title Match: The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) (c) vs. AJ Styles & Omos
This was laid out in two ways. The first half of the match had the New Day working over AJ Styles in the rare heel in peril style match. This part was fine. Different is good. But it was wasted as it's just filler to build towards the hot tag for Omos. Omos was protected and he did his four moves well enough. **1/4
Steel Cage Match: Shane McMahon vs. Braun Strowman
This had a terrible build and no one expected this to be anything great. And it wasn't. Shane’s goons attacked Braun before he entered the cage, injuring his knee with the chair. This gave Shane an advantage that no one would buy otherwise. This didn't last too long to be fair. Shane got some heat, Braun made him pay and Shane took nasty bumps. Braun ripping the cage wall down to drag Shane back in made this somewhat worth watching. **
WWE SmackDown Women's Title Match: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bianca Belair
This was a really good main event. I still think that this should've been swapped with the opening bout because that felt hot and this didn't. Nevertheless, this was a solid match with some rather unique work using the hair. Sasha Banks used it for more leverage on her submissions, she used it as a defensive tactic and Bianca Belair used it to whip Sasha which was pretty insane. Bianca Belair was way over the top emotionally. This is a big moment for her and she didn't hide it one bit. Some toning down when it came to her reactions, especially when it came to the nearfall, was desperately needed. ***
WWE WrestleMania 37 - Day Two - 11/04/2021
Randy Orton vs. The Fiend
This didn't even make sense within its own world. So incoherent. No. This match doesn't deserve any more words than this. DUD.
WWE Women's Tag Team Title Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Natalya & Tamina
Aside from Tamina being inexplicably over, this had nothing to sink your teeth into. I like Shayna a lot but she wasn't great in this herself. This was four women slowly, painfully going through their planned spots. Nia Jax tried some trash talking and tried to elevate the match by asking Tamina and Natalya to lay the strikes in but it was hopeless. I know Jimmy Snuka is her dad and all but the Snuka tributes by Tamina were tone death and really inappropriate. At least this isn't something you could call embarrassing. *
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
This was super fun. With the appearance of Logan Paul, I was worried that he'd have a heavy involvement in the match but there was nothing of the sort until afterwards. These two went out and had a competitive back and forth match, not wasting any time in trying to end each other with brain busters on the apron, exploders galore and package piledrivers. A short, compact variation of their other matches. Well done. ***1/4
WWE United States Title Match: Riddle (c) vs. Sheamus
This totally delivered for me. This was everything I wanted it to be. It was stiff, simple with no overly complicated spots and it had a great finish with Sheamus hitting the knee drop and then busting Riddle upon on the Brogue Kick while Ridde was doing a moonsault. Before this, Sheamus slipped off the ropes when he attempted a White Noise, but he just did it on the ground and didn't derail the match. You just know that *insert random indie wrestler* would've gone back upto the top rope to try again. Awesome bout. ***1/2
WWE Universal Title Triple Threat Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Edge
This wasn't a great triple threat match like WM 30 had but it was good nonetheless. They certainly made me think that both Edge and Daniel Bryan had the match won at certain points in the match before that momentum was snuffed out. The conchairto spots were wicked and Bryan's selling of his was excellent. Someone I was speaking to genuinely thought he was having a seizure. I think Roman pinning both was a great character moment. I think Roman's new gimmick can either be way too melodramatic with the in-match soliloquies or he can just be plain boring, but having the gall to stack Edge and Bryan on top of each other like King King Bundy winning a handicap squash in the build to WM 2 is an excellent character choice. ***1/2
DDT April Fools 2021 - 11/04/2021
KO-D Tag Team Title Match: Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi) (c) vs. HARASHIMA & Yuji Okabayashi
I'm upset that Eruption lost here. They were having a good tag team title reign with many different opponents, but HARASHIMA is set for a KO-D Openweight Title Match against the winner of Akiyama and Dino so it makes sense that he comes out with a strong victory. The match was really good in parts. Some mis-steps derailed the closing stretch somewhat but they worked well throughout the match. There was a slower pace than usual with HARASHIMA and Sakaguchi being tentative and careful when against each other and the same with Higuchi and Okabayashi. Higuchi and HARASHIMA had some cracking exchanges in the near enough. HARASHIMA and Sakaguchi as a duo was great as always. ***1/2
KO-D Openweight Title Match: Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Danshoku Dino
Considering this was in Korakuen Hall, this felt considerably bigger than a lot of the recent KO-D Openweight Title Matches. And that's mostly thanks to Dino. Dino is a comedy sex deviant, but he has a presence, that's for sure. The charm of this match was Dino as well. Not including the hump based offence, he is really unorthodox in every other way - forward rolling into Akiyama who is coming through the ropes is not something many would try - and it puts Akiyama off his game. Akiyama tried to implement his wrestling skills only for Dino to grab his private area and deter Akiyama from trying that again. So the mind games were excellent. Admittedly, the finishing stretch with the close nearfalls was hard to swallow. Dino is a company icon and former KO-D Openweight champion, but I had zero doubts about who was winning this match. So no, the match didn't end on a dramatic high. But this was a really well executed main event. Nothing egregious from Dino that usually turns people off. Akiyama worked as the no nonsense veteran who's out of his depth against this bizarre character he's never come across before. Great title match. ****
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