Fun Lucharesu - Day 1

NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania 2016

(2016/01/17)

Kobe

Destruction 2015 in Kobe

(2015/09/27)

Okayama

Destruction 2015 in Okayama

(2015/09/23)

G1 Climax 25 - Final Day

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/16)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 3 (Lazy-Ass Edition)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/24)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 1

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/20)

Newish CMLL (Lazy-Ass Edition)

CMLL 2015/06/09

Angel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Pegasso vs. Hechicero, Okumura, Bobby Zavala

Typically good trios match in three acts and great reminder of Hechicero’s amazing talents, him and Zavala were killing it here.

***1/4

Chismo Pick: Best of 2014

I just realized I never posted the list of my favorite matches of 2014, so here's my Top 15. Now, why 15? Why not 10? Or 20? Fuck me if I know. 16 is my fave number but I can't go with that. So I'm going with the closest thing. Then why not 17? Oh well... It needed to be more than 10, though, because 10 matches is way too few considering the fact there are thousands of televised pro-graps matches every year. Ergo:

Dominion

Dominion 2015

(2015/5/7)

Global Wars 2015 - Night 2 (Cherry-Picked)

ROH/NJPW Global Wars 2015

 (2015/5/16)

Roderick Strong vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Good but barely. This needed to be way better considering the names involved and the fact it was the last show on the tour. I feel like they were too obviously trying to repeat the Ibushi/Nakamura magic, and it didn’t quite work. It had some captivating spots and moments, but overall the match suffered from Nakamura’s too contrived and far-fetched spot setups, also they rushed into things unnecessarily. I hope they did better in England.

***

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/5/29

Ingobernables (Rush, Sombra, Tetsuya Naito) vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Thunder

Naito el Ingobernable is fantastic, and if he carries over that attitude to New Japan, it might end up being epic. He slaps people around, steals UG’s signature hand gesture, constantly does the obnoxious eye thing, his offense is stripped down, just in general he looks and acts mean. And then when it’s time for bumping for tecnicos or doing highspots, he does it perfectly, he’s simply an outstanding rudo invader from Japon. This trio brawl was excellent, the first two falls got plenty of time for developing plots and stories, I was positively surprised to see the segunda getting WAAAY more time than your typical CMLL segunda caida. Ingobernables slapping the Guerreros and Thunder around and decimating them was wonderful, the comeback was well done, and then we got UG and Thunder developing/accelerating their own beef by stealing falls on Rush from each other. Needless to say, they were noth involved in some heavy smackfests with Toro Blanco, and it was great. You know what, I’d totally like to see them doing a 3-way apuesta clash, would be radical! And to cap off this entire thing, we got an awesome post-match tussle, pure chaos and beatdowns everywhere. Excellent match!

****1/4

Global Wars 2015 - Night 1

ROH/NJPW Global Wars 2015

(2015/5/15)

Newish CMLL (Casas/Lee!)

CMLL 2015/6/2

Ingobernables (Rush, Sombra, Tetsuya Naito) vs. Thunder, Shocker, Ephesto

Tremendous trio totally carried by the Ingobernables swag. Naito fit in very well as an invading rudo, and teaming with Dickbag #1 and Dickbag #2 brought the very best out of him. Great booking here, the rudos were dominating the entire primera but then at the very end of it Sombra and Naito got caught off guard and pinned by Shocker and Ephesto, and needless to say, it infuriated Ingobernables to the point of unseen douchebaggery. Rush completely lost his mind in the segunda and carried Thunder to a damn good match-up, Thunder is progressing properly under the surly Rush watch. The finish of segunda was all sorts of fantastic and legit funny as hell. Excellent match.

****1/4

CMLL Bastante Nuevo

CMLL 2015/5/19

Triton, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs. Kamaitachi, Tiger, Okumura

Borderline great match with everyone looking good, Kamaitachi was super here with all the natural heat he was displaying. The primera got some nice time for classic llaves lucha, great stuff. BPJ busted out maybe his best performance yet.

***3/4

War of the Worlds 2015 - Night 2

ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds 2015

(2015/5/13)

War of the Worlds 2015 - Night 1

ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds 2015

(2015/5/12)

Wrestling Dontaku '15

Wrestling Dontaku 2015

(2015/5/3)

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/5/26

Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Nitro vs. Ultimo Dragoncito & Fantasy

Slick and clean match, everything was so smooth and the layout was catchy and designed to bring out the best. The Pequenos were relentless aggressors and the tecnicos’ comeback was super. I also really liked the finish.

***1/2

Wrestling Hinokuni

Wrestling Hinokuni

(2015/4/29)

Road to Invasion Attack

Road to Invasion Attack 2015

(cherry-picked)