DG The Gate Of Bayside 2025 - 25/01/2025
Open The Dream Gate Title Match: YAMATO (c) vs. Strong Machine J
This was better than I thought it was going to be. Naturally, Strong Machine J isn’t my go-to singles competitor, and nor was his father, who I like greatly but I found him to be a compelling offensive wrestler throughout. I dug him and thought he was convincing in control, using well pin-pointed attacks on the ribs and the legs. YAMATO’s selling did a great service to selling that story too. I thought it was great and sold him being sympathetic despite J not being in his league, which can make that dynamic hard to buy. And they landed the finish really well, putting together some strong and exciting sequences that gave emphasis to the comeback. Very good match. Just shy of a MOTYC but it was a strong title bout. ***3/4
Marigold First Dream - 03/01/2025
Marigold World Title Match: Sareee (c) vs. Utami Hayashishita
Decided to give this a try in a very slow and uninteresting month on the wrestling calendar. I have not seen any Joshi in a while, maybe over a year. And I’ve never seen any Marigold despite its praise. I like Sareee as a wrestler though, which influenced this viewing.This opens up in a standard format - a lock up, a few headlock exchanges before working to the floor. They throw each other into the chairs in the crowd, which scatters the crowd. Sareee ends up with the advantage from the end of it. Now we got all the boring pleasantries out of the way, the match can finally begin with Sareee working over Utami, nailing her with a dropkick and laying into her with strikes and submission holds, including the single leg boston crab, which is transitioned into a fujiwara armbar variant. That was cool. Utami’s role mainly consisted of trying to make a comeback, getting small hope spots in before getting shut down. I didn’t particularly find her to be a compelling figure, but the work itself was more than solid. Outside of the occasional no-sell of a suplex, but that's a common thread in modern wrestling. They two escalated towards more bomb-throwing as it progressed which had some fine moments, like Sareee reversing Utami’s elevated powerbomb move into a sunset flip. And there definitely felt like there had been an advancement in the drama felt by the crowd too. I did think the match really lacked that extra layer of depth, as an outsider looking in, and I couldn’t connect with the exact story they were telling past it being a challenger overcoming the big champion. It was basic and simple in that regard. The finish didn’t come too late either, ending at the right time to bring a satisfying conclusion rather than a cold ending. ***1/4
WWE RAW - 06/01/2025
Tribal Combat Match: Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa
This was perfectly fine for a match until the interference took place. Granted the first portion of the match felt like one big opening act with no real second act, as this immediately went into Solo Sikoa taking advantage and working Roman over for seemingly an age. The work was competent and Roman’s selling was a good part in making it somewhat interesting, but it dragged greatly because of the slow pacing. Bereft of urgency and therefore any real excitement. Hogan worked simply, but he moved quickly. There was an energy to his matches. This wasn’t empty of it. The match had heat. It just didn’t have drama or danger. Eventually this moved on to its second act - a small one - and it’s just melodrama city. Solo talking about love isn’t my idea of good times, and then interference came. Finally a sense of urgency took over the match. But this happened, and then this, and then this. It’s just silly going from one extreme to the other. I don’t have an attention disorder. Please calm down. Roman won, after an age of false finishes. I felt nothing towards the end, but I still didn’t hate this. **3/4
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