Variety Pack Week 1: NJPW, WCW, ICW, NXT, & More

Welcome to the first edition of Variety Pack! Where I look at a variety of wrestling matches from around the world and let you know if I think you should too.

It’s been awhile since I have had the drive to write wrestling reviews. Doing entire shows really burned me out after awhile, and that is how I came up with this concept. Often I will watch a full show but just as often I will skip around different streaming services and watch some of my favorite wrestlers. During a week I would say I watch at least 80 matches, some weeks more and some weeks less. I can’t think of the last time I didn’t watch at least one match in a day though. I am going to pull one match from each day that I watch and give you a blurb on that match. Some weeks will have a theme, but the running theme will be that I won’t repeat a wrestler in a single column. Matches will range from old to new and all around the world. If you have some specific themes you’d like to see, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter.

DAY ONE: SANADA vs Zack Sabre Jr. from NJPW New Japan Cup 2018 Day 8 (watched live 3/18/18)
Up to this point Sabre has an incredible run in the New Japan Cup with his first two matches (Tetsuya Naito and Kota Ibushi) both earning a 4.5 star rating from myself. This tournament may be serving as a breakout performance for Sabre in NJPW. SANADA didn’t get the best draw for quality match ups thus far (Chuckie T and Toru Yano) but was able to have a good match with Chuckie and one of the better Yano matches I have seen. This match was great and during the heat period while Sabre was locking SANADA in as many submissions as possible I was thinking we could be getting a low key MOTYC. Unfortunately, once SANADA went back on offense there was no selling of the damage whatsoever and they really lost me. Sabre’s work here was *****, unfortunately that of SANADA was not. SANADA’s performance vs Okada last month shows me that he can be a main event player but this match let me down for that reason. Another positive note from the match was that Kevin Kelly really shined on commentary, basically going solo as Bad Luck Fale could barely be heard. While I would say this was my least favorite of Sabre’s NJ Cup matches, I would still give it a high recommendation. (****¼)

DAY TWO: Tower of Doom Match – Arn Anderson, Barbarian, Kevin Sullivan, Lex Luger, Meng, Ric Flair, Ultimate Solution & Z-Gangsta vs Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage from WCW Uncensored 1996
I have long said this is the worst match of all time from a major promotion and vowed to never watch it again. Then Tony Schiavone decided to do a watch along episode of Something to Wrestle With of this show and I joined along for the pain. The cage itself is an impressive structure but watching the Mega Powers fight their way through three layers of cage and bad guys is painfully boring. At one point they actually make it down to the ring for some action but that is still not good. There is a heat period towards the end of the match that has Solution & Gangsta working alone with Hogan & Save that is especially bad. The finish involves The Booty Man (who won the 2nd worse match of the night) bringing Hogan & Savage a frying pan, Hogan nearly forgetting that a pin was needed and Luger messing up his spot. Meltzer gave this match -3 stars, I don’t do negative stars but as I said I am fully convinced this is the worst match from a major company. Watch if you wanna see why WCW would have been dead by the end of 1997 without the nWo. (DUD)

DAY THREE: Team Defiant (BT Gunn, Martin Kirby, Primate, Rampage & Travis Banks) vs Team IPW:UK (Austin Aries, Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis, Mark Haskins & No Fun Dunne) from Defiant Chain Reaction 2018
Defiant is the renamed WCPW that gained a small following over the last year and a half in the UK. Shortly after their re-brand they were invaded by IPW:UK, who won a match on an episode of their weekly YouTube show (airs every Friday) to gain control of the company for three weeks. To say the feud was lackluster would be an understatement. There was plenty of talent involved on both sides but the fans were given little reason to care in the on month worth of TV taped in one shot, and it showed. This is where things lead to, a classic Survivor Series elimination match. Aries holds both the IPW:UK World Title (defeating Mark Haskins on 11/17) and the Defiant Title (defeating Marty Scurll on the first episode of Defiant that aired 11/15). The match lasts nearly 40 minutes and unlike the WCW vs WWF match to gain complete control in 2001 this one never hooked me. I like a good amount of members of both teams but the action was merely good and it never really felt like there was anything on the line. (***)

DAY FOUR: Jimmy Havoc vs Keith Lee vs Matt Riddle in a First to Two Falls Three Way Tables match from RIPTIDE Point Break (2017)
Talk about an interesting gimmick idea here, I can’t think of ever seeing a three way tables match, let alone one with these rules. Riptide is a great promotion out of the UK that I highly recommend giving a view on Highspots. The way they shoot their shows is truly beautiful in itself. This one starts out in hilarious fashion with Havoc putting himself through a table, only to be told that it doesn’t count. These may have been some of the stiffest tables I’ve ever seen, Lee tries to powerslam Riddle through one in the corner (that’s nearly 500 combined pounds) and the thing doesn’t budge! The match functioned in the typical three way formula that involved a lot of one-on-one action. The use of the tables was well down and the match was a good watch. (***½)

DAY FIVE: LAX vs Lucha Bros from Bar Wrestling 10: March Of The Pigs (2018)
This match happened 2 weekends ago and got a live buzz as being fantastic. Bar Wrestling is a company run by Joey Ryan (don’t let that scare you away) that started last year and has their whole library on Highspots Wrestling Network. I saw this match happen live last year at Beyond Americarana and would recommend that one over this one if you’re only making time for one (available on Powerbomb.tv). This was a very fun car crash, tag team match. There was never a single tag and they went from 0-100 with the action after a brief stare off to start. You get both teams hitting their signatures and a great, long chop exchange. I’d call this one of the two best Bar Wrestling matches, alongside Brian Cage & Matt Cross vs Jeff Cobb & Willie Mack from the third show. Check this one out, LAX are making a name for themselves after being marque names here in the northeast and it’s great to see. (****)

DAY SIX: Gillberg © vs James Ellsworth for IWC High Stakes Title from IWC Seventeen (2018)
This match happened last week and was posted for free on their YouTube page Thursday, a big surprise to me as I feel like this would have sold some DVDs. This is the first time I’ve watched IWC in a very long time, back when I was watching AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Zema Ion (DJZ) & Sterling James Keenan (Corey Graves) were being used as prominent stars of the company. Since then this has also served as the home base for Elias before his WWE run. Both men competed to their limited full potential here, Gillberg getting stuck trying to do the chin lock on Ellsworth’s lack of chin, Gillberg’s spear and the no chin music by Ellsworth. I was honestly hoping for a lot more comedy in the match, if you’re looking for that than check out Ellsworth’s Bar Wrestling 9 match vs Joey Ryan. (*)

DAY SEVEN: Jushin Liger vs Tyler Breeze from NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 2015
I had not watched this matched since it first aired that I can recall and it still feels surreal to see Jushin Thunder Liger in a WWE ring. I remember being so excited to see Liger in a WWE ring and that still holds true today on another watch. It also serves as a reminder as to just how over Breeze was during his NXT run, before turning into yet another character that didn’t quite translate to WWE TV. The match is nothing special for for anyone who is a fan of Liger it is a very cool moment and match to enjoy. Breeze also had a fantastic entrance based off scenery in NYC set to a runway theme. (***)

Check out all these matches and more at these links:
Access Defiant
Gillberg vs. James Ellsworth (IWC’s YouTube Page)
Highspots Wrestling Network (Bar Wrestling & RipTide)
New Japan World
WWE Network

Check out reviews of every match I watch here.

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I welcome suggestions for later editions!