The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1995)

Get ready for the year they ran the Rumble match on fast-forward....

Royal Rumble 1995 - USF Sun Dome - 1/22/95

1995 was one of the more unusual installments in the Rumble series, featuring a pretty stacked undercard followed by a very underwhelming Rumble match.  The WWF unfortunately sacrificed the length and scope of the most epic match of the year to make room for multiple strong undercard bouts.

Kicking things off was an I-C Title match between Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett.  I was never a huge fan of this feud or Jarrett, but this match was fairly decent.  The booking was kinda clunky though, with Razor getting counted out and Jarrett challenging him to continue the match.  Since when does a wrestler have the ability to restart a match?  Shouldn't an authority figure of some kind have to make that call?  Anyway, this would be a classic case of "more guts than brains," as Razor's gallantry cost him the Title.

The one stinker of the night was next, as The Undertaker faced IRS.  At no time did IRS seem remotely like a threat to the nigh-invincible Dead Man, but this match got eleven-plus minutes anyway.

The WWF Championship was next as new Champ Diesel (I must reluctantly confess I was a big fan of his at the time) faced the former Champ Bret Hart.  This was an epic (if overbooked) face vs. face match where Bret played the de facto heel trying to take advantage of his less experienced opponent.  Much like the opening bout, this featured a restart.  Diesel had Bret pinned after a Jacknife Powerbomb but was attacked by his former friend Shawn Michaels.  The referee ordered the match to continue (Hey at least this time a person with jurisdiction made the decision.), and then several minutes later Owen attacked Bret.  The referee again ordered a restart, and after several more minutes and a ref bump, Shawn, Jeff Jarrett, The Roadie (why were JJ and Roadie there?), Owen and Bob Backlund all interfered, drawing a double DQ.  So yeah it was an overbooked mess, but the match was still pretty damn strong.  Bret and Diesel always worked well together and their 1994-95 trilogy contained some of Nash's best work.

Kev, all you gotta do is roll over.  Didn't anyone teach you that?

The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1994)

The 1994 Rumble ends in controversy as we have dual winners for the first time....

Royal Rumble 1994 - Providence Civic Center - 1/22/94

This here is your classic one-match show.  After one of the worst-ever Rumble undercards, we were treated to a damn fine Rumble match which at the time was probably the second-best edition.  The company was rebuilding after the roster losses of '92 and '93, and the New Generation was in full-swing.

The show opened with Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (subbing for an injured Ludvig Borga).  Since there was no feud here the match meant nothing, and wasn't very good anyway.  Next?

Match #2 is one of the more overrated I can remember, but it was important in setting up one of the biggest feuds of the year.  World Tag Champs The Quebecers defended against Bret and Owen Hart.  At the time I found this an oddly contrived setup.  Bret was rather above the Tag belts at this point and it seemed clear this would just be leading to the Bret vs. Owen feud.  Sure enough that's exactly what happened.  Bret took several minutes of Quebecer offense but opted not to tag in a fresh Owen.  Finally Bret's knee was so injured the referee stopped the match (also very contrived - why not just have the Quebecers pin Bret with a rollup or something?), and Owen went ballistic, attacking his brother and turning heel.  The match worked alright as an angle but really wasn't much of a wrestling match.

We returned to Throwaway City next, as I-C Champ Razor Ramon defended against IRS (one of the weaker perennial I-C contenders).  I never saw much chemistry between these two, so this was two-star fare at best.

The World Title match was next, as Yokozuna faced The Undertaker in a Casket Match.  Going into this I was very excited to see Taker finally get another Title shot after over two years, and I actually thought he might take it down.  As it turned out I'd be disappointed with the result, and nauseated by the match itself.  This was one of the worst-ever World Title matches, featuring slow-motion brawling, cartoonishly excessive overbooking (Ten, count them, TEN midcard heels would interfere on Yokozuna's behalf), and a laughably bad aftermath.  Taker was shut into the casket and his "ghost" would rise from the arena floor and ascend to the ceiling.  Said "ghost" was of course Marty Janetty (who incidentally is about 9 inches shorter and a hundred pounds lighter than Mark Callaway), and said "ascension" was accomplished through the use of clearly visible harness wires.  Good lord this was campy and idiotic.

Wait, how'd he end up on the TV screens? 
They couldn't possibly have prerecorded this bit, could they?

The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1993)

The WWF roster in 1993 may have been razor-thin (Razor, get it?), but I'll be damned if this show wasn't a lot of fun....

Royal Rumble 1993 - Arco Arena - 1/24/93

The 1993 edition had no right to be as good a show as it was.  I watched this show live on PPV, mostly for the Shawn Michaels-Marty Janetty clash, and was pretty captivated start to finish.  Despite a very depleted roster the WWF managed a fun Rumble PPV.

The opener was another fast-paced tag match pitting WWF newcomers The Steiners vs. The Beverly Brothers.  While nothing amazing, this was a highly entertaining way to open the show and showcase what the Steiners could do.  The match-ending Frankensteiner was brutal-looking.

Next up was the aforementioned, eagerly-anticipated I-C Title match between the former Rockers, as Marty Janetty returned to the ring to avenge his betrayal a year earlier at the hands of Shawn Michaels.  Adding to the intrigue was an angle taped a few weeks prior, where Marty attacked Shawn in the ring and swung Shawn's mirror at him.  Shawn threw his manager Sherri Martel in the way and Marty accidentally smashed the mirror over her head.  Sherri was at ringside for this match in a neutral corner, and by the end of the bout would turn on Shawn and attempt to help Marty win.  Her interference backfired however and Shawn retained the belt.  This match featured less high-flying than I expected but it made sense given the nature of the feud.  A very solid I-C Title match.

Third was a big-man match between the Big Bossman and the returning Bam Bam Bigelow.  Both of these behemoths could move fantastically well for their size, and this match is very much worth a watch.  Bam Bam won a hard-fought match on his way to a mini-push.

The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1992)

1992, the year in which arguably the greatest Rumble match of all time took place....

Royal Rumble 1992 - Knickerbocker Arena - 1/19/92

Now we're talkin'.  The '92 edition of the Rumble was primarily a one-match show, but what a match!  Late '91 saw some major additions to the WWF roster in Ric Flair and Sid Justice, and both guys were immediately thrust into the WWF Title picture, along with The Undertaker and the returning Randy Savage.  Taker had won the belt from Hogan at Survivor Series and lost it right back.  Since both title changes occurred amid controversy the Championship was held up and President Jack Tunney announced that a new Champion would be crowned by winning the '92 Royal Rumble.  The field was easily the most stacked in history at that time (and for many years since).  But before we get to this extraordinary main event...

The show opened similarly to the '91 Rumble, with an undercard tag match.  This time the Orient Express faced The New Foundation of Jim Neidhart and Owen Hart.  The New Foundation won a decently worked match with a Rocket Launcher after 17 minutes.  I had pretty high hopes for this new team but unfortunately they were saddled with terrible ring gear and the company never got behind them.  Then Neidhart disappeared from TV and Owen was left to team with Koko B. Ware while still wearing Neidhart's puffy pants.  Anyway, this was a decent opener but nowhere near the level of the OX-Rockers match from 1991.

Up next was the Intercontinental Championship - new Champion The Mountie had just defeated Bret Hart for the belt two days earlier at a house show.  Roddy Piper was then subbed in for the infirm Hart to challenge for the belt at the Rumble, and he soundly took down The Mountie with a sleeper hold to capture his first WWF belt.  Piper would also appear in the Rumble match itself, making him eligible to win both singles Championships on the same night.  This was a pretty one-sided throwaway match but it was nice to see Piper finally win some WWF gold.

Dead Man vs. Immortal

A bafflingly long stinker was next, as The Beverly Brothers (formerly the Minnesota Wrecking Crew II in the AWA) defeated The Bushwhackers.  Why this got fifteen minutes I don't know.  Just like two years earlier Luke and Butch stunk the place up in an ungodly long match.

The Tag belts were up for grabs in the semi-main slot, as Hawk and Animal defended against The Natural Disasters.  This was standard big-man brawling and led to the Disasters winning by countout.  The LOD would drop the belts at a house show only a few weeks later before disappearing from WWF TV for a little while.

The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1991)

Oh good, Hogan wins again....

Royal Rumble 1991 - Miami Arena - 1/19/91

The '91 Rumble was the first WWF PPV I ever ordered.  Why I chose that particular event to jump in the water I'm not sure.  It wasn't good though. 

The show opened amazingly, with an absolutely killer tag match - The Rockers vs. The Orient Express.  I know on paper that doesn't sound mindblowing, but trust me.  This was nineteen minutes of just spectacular action, and I think this was the moment when I really started to appreciate The Rockers, Shawn in particular.  I'd go so far as to call this the 1991 Match of the Year.  I shit you not.

It was kinda all downhill from there though.  Next was The Big Bossman vs. The Barbarian.  This wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly good either.  Passable.  Bossman was still feuding with Bobby Heenan and his henchman after Rick Rude's sudden departure from the company.  This was something to keep him busy until his mini-feud with Mr. Perfect.  Bossman won after 14 just okay minutes.

Third was one of the sloppiest brawls I can remember, as WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior defended against Sgt. Slaughter, in the first WWF Title defense on a Rumble card.  I figured Warrior would mow over Slaughter and resume feuding with Randy Savage for the belt, being that they hadn't yet wrestled since the start of their rivalry (Savage was obviously not cleared to wrestle but I didn't know that).  What happened instead was that Savage smashed Warrior across the skull with his sceptre (a pretty brutal-looking spot I must admit), allowing Slaughter to win the WWF Title and become one of the worst Champions ever (Even in 1991 I recognized on some level the concept of devaluing a championship.), and setting up probably the weakest WrestleMania main event in history.  This was pretty awful stuff.

How pissed was Warrior at losing the belt?  THIS pissed.

It was followed by two throwaway matches - The Mountie vs. Tito Santana in a quick squash that didn't belong on a PPV, and Ted Dibiase & Virgil vs. Dusty & Dustin Rhodes.  This would be Dusty's last televised WWF match, and I believe it was Dustin's only match in the company until he returned in 1995 as Goldust.  Despite Team Dibiase's win, Ted was upset with Virgil's performance and berated him after the match.  Virgil had taken all the abuse he could stand, and blasted Dibiase with the Million Dollar belt, turning babyface.

The 1991 Rumble match was easily my least favorite to date.  I had four wrestlers I was rooting for (The stip about the Rumble winner earning a WWF Title match was not yet introduced so it was anyone's ballgame.): Randy Savage, Undertaker, Hawk and Animal, none of whom lasted more than 14 minutes.  After all four of them were out of contention (Randy Savage actually no-showed the match after costing Warrior the belt) I more or less tuned out, as it was clear Hulk Hogan would be winning his second-straight Rumble match.  Yawn.  Hogan eliminated Brian Knobbs (gee I wonder why Knobbs got to be in the final four) and Earthquake to once again reign dominant over the entire WWF roster.  This match was notable however for two men exceeding the 44-minute longevity mark: Greg Valentine and Rick Martel.

Oh super, two of my picks just eliminated another one of my picks.
Thanks a lot, Legion of Dicks!

The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1990)

The 1990 Rumble offered a chance to elevate a new top heel, but they didn't take it....

Royal Rumble 1990 - Orlando Arena - 1/21/90

Here's where they started to solidify the format of the Rumble PPVs.  The 1990 edition was the first show that felt like a full PPV lineup at least.  The roster was deep enough for four undercard matches plus a pretty stacked Rumble bout.  Nothing on this show was exactly good and the ending pissed me off to no end, but at least they were ironing out the format kinks.

The opening match was a rematch from 'Mania V which wasn't any good the first time - The Bushwhackers vs. The Rougeaus.  The difference here was these two teams were given over thirteen minutes.  Yikes.  I don't think Butch and Luke ever had a good WWF match, which was a shame given their pre-WWF body of work as sadistic heels.  The Rougeaus had this match in hand as Raymond put Butch in a Boston Crab to set up Jacques' knee drop, but Luke tripped Jacques and the Bushwhackers hit their battering ram finish for the win.

Next was Brutus Beefcake vs. "The Genius" Lanny Poffo, eleven minutes of nondescript brawling ending in a wacky double disqualification after a ref bump.  Beefcake had the match won but Mr. Perfect came out to help Poffo, hitting Beefcake with a Perfect-Plex (which doesn't make sense unless you're trying to pin someone with it).  The ref woke up and threw the match out amid the chaos.  Not much to write home about here either.

The one strong undercard match was third, as Greg Valentine and Ronnie Garvin faced off in a Submission match.  This was better than it really had any right to be.  About sixteen minutes of solid work, featuring a lot of submission moves and counters, with Garvin eventually getting the win after hitting Valentine with his own shin guard and submitting him with the Scorpion Deathlock.  Strangely Garvin was gone from the company not long after.

Ah, the ol' Figure Four Rollover.

Fourth was another forgettable encounter - Jim Duggan vs. The Big Bossman.  Ten minutes of tedious brawling ending in a DQ when Slick tossed Bossman his nightstick and the referee saw him use it on Duggan.  Duggan was long since irrelevant by this point.

The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1989)

The first proper Rumble show as we know it today - 30 men instead of 20, and on PPV....

Royal Rumble 1989 - The Summit - 1/15/89

Given the positive reception for the '88 TV special, the WWF expanded the event in 1989 and put it on PPV.  The Rumble field was increased to 30 participants and featured all the company's top stars.  The '89 show on paper looks like a one-match card, which was kind of a trend early on.  The Rumble itself was so stacked there wasn't much talent left over for the rest of the show.

The opening match ended up sort of stealing the show though, as The Hart Foundation and Jim Duggan took on The Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo in a 2/3 Falls match.  This was fast-paced and very well-worked.  A strong opener.

Wait, was this a 4-on-3 handicap match?
What's the camera guy doing in their corner?

The big non-wrestling segment of this show was a posedown between The Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude, designed to start their long feud.  As with all posedowns this was silly, but business picked up when Rude whacked Warrior with a workout bar.

Next was a throwaway Women's Title match, as Rockin' Robin defended against Judy Martin.  This would be the last high-profile Women's Title bout for several years.

An odd heel vs. heel match was next as King Harley Race, recently disowned by Bobby Heenan, defended his crown against Haku.  Pretty nondescript stuff, as the aging Race was phased out of active competition.

The History of WWE Royal Rumble (1988)

From the wrestling-addicted putz who brought you The History of WWE WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series comes the Enuffa.com History of WWE Royal Rumble!

The annual tradition that generally garners one of WWE's best buyrates of the year, the Royal Rumble is considered the official kickoff to WrestleMania season.  Angles and feuds are set up at the January PPV that lead directly to WWE's biggest show.  It all centers around the 30-man (or occasionally 40-man) Rumble match, where the participants draw numbers to determine their order of entry.  Two men start the match and the rest are added at regular intervals (usually either 90 seconds or two minutes).  The object is to eliminate your opponents by throwing them over the top rope.  The last man standing is guaranteed a WWE Title match at WrestleMania.

The Rumble is usually one of the most fun matches of the year, as it's heavy on surprises and twists, and superstars are created or solidified.  This match type more than any other lends itself to group viewing and betting pools (For example my friends and I each draw numbers and whichever wrestlers correspond to our numbers, that's who we bet on).

Initially the Rumble match was simply a novelty, and the first edition was offered on free cable as counterprogramming to the NWA's Bunkhouse Stampede PPV.  Once again Vince tried to put the kibosh on Jim Crockett's PPV hopes, and once again Crockett's show flopped (In retaliation Crockett ran the free Clash of the Champions event opposite WrestleMania IV).  The inaugural Rumble match only featured 20 wrestlers, and no main event stars.  The following year it was expanded to 30 men and broadcast on PPV, and a few years later the stakes were raised by making the Royal Rumble winner the automatic top contender for WrestleMania.

The best Rumble matches tend to be the ones heaviest on star power, as the field of realistic winners is larger and less predictable.  But there have certainly been exceptions to that rule. 

Here now is the History of WWE Royal Rumble!

Royal Rumble 1988 - Copps Coliseum - 1/24/88

As I said before, the first Rumble was a free TV special and mostly featured midcard bouts.  It was the brainchild of Pat Patterson, who test-ran the concept a few times on house shows with enough positive feedback to make the match a televised event.

The show opened with a singles bout between Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat.  This was fine but ran a bit long, especially given the DQ ending.  It was the first instance I ever saw of the fans chanting "Rudy Rudy RUUU-DAAAY", which I found amusing.  Nothing too memorable, but it was an okay match.

The 2025 Enuffa.com Year-End Pro Wrestling Awards

Welcome to the 12th Annual Pro Wrestling Year-End Awards, here at Enuffa.com!  It is insane to me that I've been doin' this thing for TWELVE YEARS now.

2025 was a pretty crazy, tumultuous year for the wrestling biz.  WWE RAW found a new home on Netflix, Smackdown is back on USA, WWE PPVs are now on ESPN's streaming service which costs $30 a month instead of Peacock's $5, WWE began a parasitic symbiotic relationship with TNA and annexed purchased AAA, and AEW started their new TV deal worth $185 million a year ($100 more than their old deal), making them the second-most profitable wrestling company of all time and ensuring their solvency until at least the end of 2027 (Though grifters and fraudcasters are still pretending otherwise).  Their programming was also added to a whole new platform, HBO Max, vastly increasing their availability in the US and globally.

Both WWE and NJPW propped up ticket sales on the backs of retiring legends.  The latter treated their Ace with reverence and appreciation, while the former tried to shake things up with an ill-conceived heel turn no one really wanted, the catalyst for said heel turn disappeared from TV immediately afterward, and the whole storyline was so poorly received they reversed course less than six months later.

WWE attempted to cockblock multiple AEW PPVs, first by counterprogramming them with NXT specials that died a death in the ratings, and then with actual main roster shows like Saturday Night's Main Event which also did the worst number since the show's revival, and their ESPN Unlimited debut Wrestlepalooza, which garnered mixed reviews at best.  WWE dropped this strategy after that.

WWE also continued to jack up ticket prices to make up for the fact that overall sales have begun to slump, claiming record profits despite numerous sharp attendance drops in various markets.  AEW continued to struggle with weekly ticket sales, making slight improvements over 2024 but booking mostly smaller venues for Dynamite and Collision.  However their PPV attendance and buyrates remained strong, mostly up from last year.  TNA saw some of their best-ever attendance figures, mostly due to the PPV appearances of WWE and ex-WWE legends, and signed a new TV deal with AMC for 2026.  CMLL had a great year in terms of business, racking up numerous sellouts with Mistico continuing to prove himself the company MVP.  NJPW drew some of the weakest crowds in decades as they struggled to connect their audience to the latest crop of stars, but there is still hope after a sold-out WrestleKingdom 20 attendance.

WWE began openly aligning itself with the MAGA administration (inviting racist "comedian" Tony Hinchcliffe to a WrestleMania weekend event that went so poorly all recordings of it were pulled down) and brought accused sex trafficking accessory Brock Lesnar back into the company, alienating much of its fanbase and pissing away a lot of the goodwill they'd built up after Triple H took over Creative.  Even WWE Legend Mick Foley cut ties with the company.  AEW restored much of the goodwill they'd lost in the aftermath of the CM Punk fiasco by focusing on stars like Hangman Adam Page and Will Ospreay, and not trying to sign every free agent WWE let go.  Instead AEW additions included former independent talents like Megan Bayne, Kevin Knight, Thekla, and former TNA talents Speedball Mike Bailey and Josh Alexander.  WWE on the other hand snapped up every ex-AEW talent they could, signing Penta, Rey Fenix, Ricky Starks, Mariah May, Rusev and Aleister Black, none of which have been pushed very hard (Starks and May are still in NXT under new names). 

In-ring quality was night and day between the Big Two.  WWE personalities and podcasters now openly poo-poo the idea of good wrestling being important (though they still complain about the existence of star ratings when someone else gets high marks), while AEW delivered some of the best matches and PPV events in company history.

I'll get into more detail as we go through the awards, so let's get to it....

 

Oscar Film Journal: The Front Page (1931)

Welcome to another Oscar Film Journal entry, here at Enuffa.com!  Just getting back into the swing of things and chipping away at the list, and we're still in the early talkies era, with an adaptation of the hit Broadway comedy The Front Page.  

Directed by Lewis Milestone and produced by Howard Hughes, The Front Page takes place almost entirely in a Chicago press room, where reporters from different newspapers await the impending hanging of a convicted murderer whose death sentence may or may not be valid.  The city's sheriff and mayor are up for re-election in a few days and have clearly used this public execution as political capital.  When the convict escapes thanks to the sheriff's incompetence, one of the reporters hides him in the press room in the hopes of scoring an exclusive interview.  Meanwhile that same reporter is on his way out of the business, having gotten engaged to his sweetheart, with plans to move to New York to become an advertising rep.  His unscrupulous boss however will go to great lengths to convince/force him to stay, not wanting to lose his ace reporter.

Oscar Film Journal: The Love Parade (1929)

Welcome to the first Oscar Film Journal entry of 2026!  I did forty of these things in 2025 and hope to beat that record this year.  Let's get started....

Today's subject is one of the earliest Best Picture nominees, from the third annual Oscars (1929/1930).  Premiering in November 1929 and directed by Ernst Lubitsch in his first attempt at a talkie, the film is The Love Parade, a pre-Code musical starring Maurice Chevalier and a debuting Jeanette McDonald.  

The Love Parade is about a military attaché to a foreign embassy stationed in Paris, who gets sent back to his own country of Sylvania (Wait, you mean the same fictional country later featured in Duck Soup??) as punishment for a slew of scandalous affairs, ordered to report to Queen Louise, herself a confirmed bachelorette.  The pair of course hit it off right away; she is intrigued by his serial philandering and he in turn is fascinated by her disinterest in marriage.  They have a torrid affair and agree to wed, with the understanding that he will become a Prince Consort, a figurehead with no real power or responsibilities.  But almost immediately he's unable to come to grips with his newfound lack of purpose, and the relationship quickly falls apart.

NJPW WrestleKingdom 20 Review: Hiroshi Tanahashi's Final Match

The 20th annual NJPW WrestleKingdom show is in the books, and it ran the gamut, going from dismal to fantastic over the course of four hours.  It will be most remembered for the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi, but also for the long-awaited crowning of Yota Tsuji as the company's new face.  It was your textbook two-match show, like so many old WWE PPVs where the undercard was mostly skippable but the big matches delivered.  Let's examine the Tokyo Dome show that was....

So yeah, thinking about this show frustrates me in a way because if Gedo had just booked a few noteworthy undercard bouts we'd be talking about WK20 as a slam dunk.  As I said in my preview, if any card should've been assembled to hook new and lapsed fans alike who tuned in for Tanahashi's final match, this was the card.  But instead Gedo shoved everyone outside the top three matches into clusterfuck bouts and as a result no one really got time to shine.  If I'm a former NJPW viewer who bought a ticket to see Tanahashi retire, no one on this undercard is catching my attention other than Tsuji and Takeshita.  I will go to my grave not understanding the thought process behind this lineup.

NJPW WrestleKingdom 20 Preview & Predictions

This Sunday is the 20th annual NJPW WrestleKingdom show, and this year it's built around the retirement of one of the all-time greats, the man who almost singlehandedly saved New Japan Pro Wrestling, Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Yes, the company's greatest Ace is hanging up his boots and focusing solely on being NJPW President.  To mark the occasion he'll be wrestling his greatest rival, Kazuchika Okada, and the Tokyo Dome will be completely sold out at nearly 50,000 fans.  Seems like a great opportunity to hook a lot of new viewers by showcasing the full-time roster in a slew of killer matches.  Which begs the question: Why in the hell didn't they do that??

Aside from the legendary main event, there will be an IWGP World/Global Title match pitting Konosuke Takeshita against the company's presumed new Ace, Yota Tsuji.  But aside from that there's nary a big match on this show, and I'm beyond baffled by it.  No Jr. Title match, no Tag Team Title match, no big singles bouts for Finlay, Umino, Uemura, Shingo, Hiromu, Kidd, ZSJ, Newman, Oleg or numerous other young stars who could really use the opportunity in front of the largest audience NJPW's had in years.  Instead everyone is crammed into multi-man bouts with the exception of newcomer Aaron Wolf, an Olympic judoka who's become a mainstream star in Japan.  Unfortunately from the sounds of it he's a charisma vacuum thus far.  Maybe he'll step up in the NEVER Openweight Title match against his mentor Evil, but as of now it sounds like another Gable Steveson scenario.  Why this guy gets a big singles match but the other names I mentioned do not, I'm sure as fuck I dunno.  You have the chance to deliver one of the great Tokyo Dome shows and instead it's mostly a WrestleMania 27-type clusterfuck.

Anyway let's look at this card....

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK19)

January 4th weekend 2025 gave us a pair of Tokyo Dome shows, one traditional WrestleKingdom PPV, the other a special cross-promotional show featuring not only NJPW stars but guests from AEW, CMLL, ROH and Stardom.  The former drew a robust 24,000 fans and felt a bit more like the WK shows of a decade ago....

While not quite recapturing the magic of NJPW's recent golden age, WK19 did feel like a step in the right direction, with a big focus on the younger generation of stars and a feeling of commitment to the future.  There wasn't a bona fide Match of the Year on this show but there were a few matches just below that level and plenty of drama in the main event.

The show kicked off with a 4-way tag team ladder match for the Jr. Tag belts, with Intergalactic Jet Setters defending against Catch 2/2, Bullet Club War Dogs and Ichiban Street Boys.  This was a pretty standard ladder match with lots of action and big spots, some of which didn't land.  I think I'd have preferred a straight 4-way like the openers of WrestleKingdoms past.  As I expected, the one team who hadn't held these titles came out on top, with Kosei Fujita grabbing the belts for his team.  Solid opener.  

AEW Worlds End 2025 Review: MJF Regains the Triple B

The final AEW PPV of 2025 is in the books, and it was another very good show with some historic happenings and some excellent wrestling.  Two new champions were crowned on the men's side and a few ongoing angles were furthered.  Let's get into it....

The main card opened with the long-anticipated first-time match of Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita.  This ended up feeling very much like a first-time match, where they were saving some stuff for later.  But it was an excellent back-and-forth match for most of its 17 minutes, and then it suffered from a very bad finish.  They started off methodically but built to an exciting exchange of signature moves.  After a nearfall off a Poison Rana, Takeshita sent Okada into the corner, where he retrieved a screwdriver from the turnbuckle.  Referee Paul Turner had to make himself look ridiculous to pretend he didn't see Okada hit Takeshita with it, turning around for no reason at all.  Okada scored the pin and hid the screwdriver to advance to the finals.  This just looked bad, and if they were going to have a screwy finish to a Continental Classic match it should've been something more surreptitious.  Helluva match till the ending.  ****

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK18)

WrestleKingdom 18  was a very good show but I have to consider it a mild disappointment overall.  Too many matches didn't get as much time as they should, even one of the main events, and it was missing that top Match of the Year candidate almost every Tokyo Dome show has had since 2013. That's not to say there wasn't a lot to enjoy here though.

The main card kicked off with the Jr. Tag championship, as Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney faced Catch 2/2 in another rematch from last summer.  TJP, who had been stuffed into a casket in the last bout between these teams, came out dressed as a mythical Filipino creature called Aswang, or a cannabalistic shapeshifter, which was a little hokey but looked kinda cool.  These teams had a crisp back-and-forth bout lasting close to ten minutes before TJP sprayed Moloney with red mist and Catch 2/2 hit double knees to regain the titles.  Solid match to start things off.  

Next was the first of multiple bouts that got shortchanged, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi.  The technician and the new NJPW President exchanged a ton of grappling, reversals, submissions, etc. and packed a lot into their nine minutes, but five more would've taken this match to the next level.  The two men went back and forth with rollups until Tana finally held Zack down for the three.  Very good but could've been so much more.  

AEW Worlds End 2025 Preview & Predictions

2025 has been yet another banner year of AEW PPVs, featuring once again some of the best top-to-bottom wrestling shows these old eyes have ever seen.  And it sure feels like Tony Khan and company plan to close the year with a bang by the looks of this Worlds End lineup.  

Side note: How fuckin' cool is this poster?  Looks like an Avengers movie. 

The third annual Continental Classic is drawing to a close and it was another fantastic tournament, featuring a slew of bangers and one legit Match of the Year contender in Kyle Fletcher vs. Speedball Mike Bailey.  Despite the absence of the injured Will Ospreay and the substitution of Jack Perry in place of Darby Allin, they pulled off a helluva tourney.  And the semis and finals are still to come on Saturday, including one of the more anticipated first-time matchups in recent memory.  But we're also getting a HUGE four-way for the AEW Men's Title, the first defense of the new Women's Tag belts, and a slobberknocker of a Women's World Title match.  Let's take a look!

Mixed Nuts Mayhem: Toni Storm/Mark Briscoe/Orange Cassidy/Roderick Strong vs. Marina Shafir/Claudio Castagnoli/Daniel Garcia/Wheeler Yuta

This one was just added.  You have to respect the super deep cut reference to a mid-90s Christmas movie that flopped hard at the box office.  Anyway, this will be a fun clusterfuck.  They set up a Toni Storm-Marina Shafir feud on Wednesday in a Marina vs. Mina match where Marina looked more comfortable on her own than she ever has before.  She seems to have finally turned the corner as someone who can hold her own rather than just be Moxley's heater.  I'll be interested to see this as a one-on-one match.  But for now we have a party match full of weapons I imagine.  I think the heels take this one to help set up the aforementioned singles match between the two women.

Pick: Death Riders

Continental Classic Semi: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada

I'm kinda baffled they didn't engineer this to be the tournament final, but the important thing is, we're getting it, it's gonna be fuckin' sick, and it won't be the last time.  I'm actually not sure who to pick for this tournament.  I think Okada winning again would be kinda pointless, we've already seen that and I'd rather see someone else elevated by this tournament.  My preference for a final would be Takeshita vs. Fletcher, and that could happen, but I could also see Okada beating Takeshita in their first meeting to set up a rematch.  Fletcher already beat Okada in the tournament block, so if Okada-Fletcher ends up as the final it seems like Okada probably wins there.  Maybe Okada wins the tourney but Takeshita takes the Unified Title off him in March or something.  Or, maybe Takeshita wins this whole thing and becomes the new Continental Champion (Okada would remain International Champion) so they can have a unification match later.

Pick: Okada

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK17)

Kenny Omega made his long-awaited, triumphant return to the Dome and helped make a masterpiece...

Not unlike what we saw exactly six years ago when Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada blew the roof off the Tokyo Dome and broke the star ratings system forever, Omega and Will Ospreay lived up to everyone's unreasonably high expectations and more, with a violent, story-driven epic that proved to be only the beginning of their feud.  They'd equal it six months later in an AEW ring.

Omega-Ospreay served as the centerpiece for a very good WrestleKingdom show, one that didn't reach the heights of WK9, 10 or 11, but somewhat recaptured the magic of the glory years.  For the first time since pre-pandemic times, WrestleKingdom felt like a huge flagship show with a star-studded lineup, in front of an engaged audience of 26,000.  The six undercard matches were all kept short and fast-paced, while the final three bouts were given room to breathe and delivered big.  I'd have liked to see a few of the smaller matches get more time, but aside from one glaring example nothing felt terribly shortchanged.  

The main PPV kicked off in classic fashion with an energetic Jr. Tag Title match, as TJP and Francesco Akira defended against Yoh and a match-stealing Lio Rush, who took a nasty bump on the ramp that busted his eyebrow open.  It wouldn't be the first instance of blood on this show.  Rush came off like a big deal in the match but his team came up short when TJP countered Yoh's finisher into a cradle to retain.  Really fun opener that felt like a throwback to the 2015-2017 Jr. Tag openers. 

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK16)

2022 saw the once surefire PPV of the Year contender falter for the first time in a decade, as WrestleKingdom 16's two nights featured a pair of excellent main events but not many memorable moments beyond that....

WrestleKingdom 16 Night 1 overall was I daresay the weakest edition since 2012, with a pretty fantastic main event, a very good semi-main, a couple good matches, and some pretty not-good stuff.  Most of this show did not feel like a Tokyo Dome show to me, and while the reduced, silent crowd didn't help things, that didn't hurt 2021's edition much at all.  This show was missing the magic for most of its running time, partly due to booking, partly due to the lack of Kota Ibushi or Jay White, partly due to the product just not being very hot.   

Things started off with a rare opening singles match, as former partners Sho and Yoh squared off.  This was one of three bouts hurt by lame WWE-style shenanigans.  Yoh went right after Sho to start things off, and the action spilled to the outside right away, but Sho took advantage after using a ring crew member as interference.  Sho dominated much of the action but Yoh went after a leg, locking in a calf crusher variation and getting a visible tapout while the referee was distracted by Dick Togo.  Sho locked in his own Snakebite submission and almost got the win but Yoh just barely made the ropes.  Sho tried to use a wrench but Yoh sent him crashing into Togo and rolled him up for the win.  This match was good, and a solid opener, but far below my expectations. 

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK15)

The second two-part WrestleKingdom show was all about the ascension of Kota Ibushi, in front of a COVID-reduced Dome crowd....

Despite a reduced crowd and shortened lineup, the 2021 edition of WrestleKingdom was, like 2020's, a pretty excellent double album.  In a COVID world, sadly the crowd and time limitations kept WrestleKingdom 15 from fully giving you that epic PPV of the Year-type feeling, but I'll be damned if NJPW didn't work really hard to live up to previous editions.  What we got were two three-hour shows with very little fat on the bone and multiple ****+ matches on each night.  Hard to complain much about that, even if I do miss WrestleKingdom being the single-night blowout of years past.  But let's get to the Night 1 matches.

After the usual forgettable pre-show Rumble to decide the KOPW 4-way on Night 2 (they missed opportunities here to elevate one or two youngins), the PPV got down to business in earnest with Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo to determine the number-one contender for Taiji Ishimori's Jr. Heavyweight Title.  Takahashi won the 2020 Best of the Super Juniors tourney, while ELP won the Super-J Cup.  These two had an excellent high-energy opener that saw ELP go all out to show off his prodigious athleticism, while Takahashi seemed to be conserving a little something for Night 2.  ELP paid homage to Bullet Club leaders of old, hitting a Styles Clash and nearly getting off a One-Winged Angel.  Ultimately though, Takahashi stole this match by countering ELP's finish with a Rey Mysterio hurricanrana trap.  A damn fine opener. 

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK14)

The first-ever two-part WrestleKingdom took place in 2020, and it was overall a helluva weekend of pro wrestling.  The two shows played like a double album of sorts, with the first disc containing by far the two best tracks, and the second disc being a more solid overall album. 

Night One took a while to really get going, thanks to three consecutive 8-man tags.  I would've liked another singles match in one of these slots rather than just trying to get everyone on the main card.  But the three openers were inoffensive at worst and were kept short.  The first of these was the best, thanks to Jushin Liger and his old-school pals (plus Taguchi) having one last romp to show off their stuff.  Everyone in the match looked great for their age.  After nine minutes Taguchi hit Liger with a Buma ye (that's Nakamura's finisher except with a hip attack instead of a knee), followed by a Dodon for the three-count.  I'd have had Liger win the Night One match, because why not?  He's in there with mostly other old-timers anyway, there's no torch to pass in this match.  But this was a fun opener. 

Next was Suzuki-Gun (led this time by Zack Sabre Jr. to hype his Night Two singles match) vs. LIJ (minus Naito of course).  This was technically the best of the 8-man tags but still too short to amount to much.  The story was Zack vs. Sanada, and Zack won the match by tying Bushi up in knots while smiling sadistically at his Night Two challenger.  This was fine.  

The final 8-man pitted Goto, Ishii, Yano and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi and NEVER Champ Kenta, in another match to hype a Night Two singles bout.  This was pretty basic, with the biggest spot being Ishii hitting a hard-fought brainbuster on Fale.  After all eight men started brawling in and around the ring, Goto hit the ushigoroshi followed by the GTR on Takahashi for the win.  Another serviceable but forgettable undercard match.  

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK13)

I'm not sure there's ever been such a great PPV that left me with such mixed feelings as WrestleKingdom 13.  From a booking standpoint everything was done really well.  From a match quality standpoint there wasn't a bad bout in sight, and a few were flat-out excellent.  But the decision to limit the show to four hours when thirty extra minutes would've elevated it to the Best PPV Ever conversation, coupled with numerous impending departures, made this a bittersweet show.  AEW was about to launch, and the wrestling landscape would undergo some radical changes.  WK13 was the end of an era for NJPW.....

In the opening match, which has to be on the short list for best openers ever, Will Ospreay defeated Kota Ibushi for the NEVER Openweight Title.  This match was fast paced and dazzling as expected, with loads of back and forth offense, some intense striking battles, and tons of athleticism as only these two can deliver.  My favorite spot involved the two of them trading strikes while Ibushi was hanging upside down from the turnbuckles (which is where a legit Ibushi concussion occurred).  Late in the match Ospreay kicked out of a Last Ride and avoided the Kamigoye knee (though Ibushi at one point hit him with the Boma Ye, a move he'd adopt in tribute to Nakamura), knocked Ibushi loopy with a driving elbow to the head, and landed the Stormbreaker to win the title.  Ibushi was stretchered out with a kayfabe concussion that in fact turned out to be a legit minor one.  These guys left enough on the table for a rematch, which occurred during the G1 Climax and actually topped this one.  Regardless, this was an incredible opener that set a high bar for the night.

Next up was the Jr. Tag triple threat, with El Desperado & Kanemaru defending against RPG3K and Shingo & Bushi.  This match was fine and all action, but was too short to amount to that much.  It was far better than a WWE throwaway but still felt like a throwaway.  This was one of four or five matches that could've used five more minutes, hence my earlier comment about the show needing an extra half hour.  Shingo was the star of this match, dominating the later minutes and finishing off Sho with Last of the Dragon to win the belts.  He'd break out of the Junior division later in the year, in favor of becoming a NEVER-style bruiser.

Another match that could've used more time was Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the RPW Heavyweight Title.  As expected this was a stiff, gritty fight pitting Ishii's strikes against Sabre's grappling.  Sabre dominated a lot of this match, which made for a pretty shocking ending when Ishii submitted to Sabre's new double-arm octopus hold.  This match was very good but about five minutes short of greatness.

The heavyweight tag match was definitely superior to its Jr. counterpart, as Guerillas of Destiny, The Young Bucks and Evil & Sanada had a wild, energetic match.  The big story element here was Tama Tonga's apparent change of heart at wanting to be a "good guy."  So GoD refrained from their usual illegal shenanigans and it ended up costing them.  The last few minutes of this were insane, with big move after big move.  With GoD knocked out of commission, Evil and Sanada hit Matt Jackson with a Magic Killer, followed by a Sanada moonsault to win the belts and officially move into a tag team centerpiece spot, replacing the departing Young Bucks.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK12)

New Japan draws its biggest Dome crowd in twenty years, thanks partly to a huge dream match...

WrestleKingdom 12 - 1.4.18

The 2018 edition of NJPW's flagship show took some very unexpected turns (most of which made total sense in hindsight) and left more than a few people scratching their heads by the end.  But regardless of flauting anyone's expectations, the 12th WrestleKingdom was still a helluva show.  The nine matches on the main card ranged from inoffensive to pretty awesome.  While WK12 lacked for me that one blowaway match, it was a newsworthy PPV with a ton of variety, and while a bit of an endurance test (The shortest bout was over 14 minutes), never got boring.  There was no intermission and the matches were presented one after the other without a lot of wasted time in between.

The show kicked off with the Jr. Tag Team Titles, as RPG3K defended against The Young Bucks.  The match, like its WK11 counterpart, was much more psychology-based than your average Jr. Tag match, as the Bucks and Sho/Yoh waged a war of attrition, one man from each team selling a back injury.  I especially liked the exchanges where Nick and Sho took turns kicking the injured backs of their respective opponents.  This match got a robust 18 minutes before the Bucks hit Yoh with the Meltzer Driver and finally tapped him with a Sharpshooter.  The ending felt a little flat to me but otherwise this was a fine opening match.  RPG3K would regain the titles shortly after this and the Bucks moved up to heavyweight over the summer.

Next up was the one skippable match, the 6-man gauntlet.  This was mostly pretty nondescript but also inoffensive.  The first segment involved Suzuki-Gun against War Machine and Michael Elgin, which had some fun exchanges and ended in roughly six minutes with Zack Sabre causing Rowe to pass out with a leg scissor.  Ishii/Yano/Beretta then made quick work of SG when Yano rolled up Taichi for the pin forty seconds later.  A few minutes after that Yano pinned Taguchi with another rollup.  Finally the champs, Fale and Guerrillas of Destiny arrived and had the longest segment of the match, looking pretty dominant for a while but ultimately losing the straps as Beretta polished off Tama Tonga with a Dudebuster.  So new six-man champs as per usual.  Again, this match was skippable but fine for what it was.  If this is the worst thing on your PPV, you've put together a pretty damn good PPV.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK11)

The greatest in-ring feud of all time began here....

WrestleKingdom 11 - 1.4.17

Well this was a big deal, folks.  WrestleKingdom 11 was, as expected, a major hit for New Japan, proving unequivocally that they'd recovered from the significant talent losses of 2016.  But more importantly it was headlined by one of the most buzz-worthy main events of the last twenty years.

The big news coming out of WrestleKingdom 11 was that the 2017 Match of the Year had already been decided.  Hell, this may have been the match of the decade.  I almost don't know how to describe it.  I can't remember being this blown away by a wrestling match since the Triple H-Shawn Michaels-Chris Benoit main event at WrestleMania XX.  If anything tops Okada vs. Omega in 2017 (or anytime soon) I can't wait to see it.  This was nearly 47 minutes of just about everything you could ever want out of a main event.  The match started methodically with both men showcasing their grappling skills.  Act 1 lasted roughly 15 minutes and then the match surged to another level, with Act 2 consisting of some of the most insane high spots I've seen since the Attitude Era.  Omega landed a moonsault from the top rope, over the railing to the floor, he took a back body drop over the top rope through a table on the floor, Okada took a Dragon Superplex that looked like it killed him, and so on.  And this was only the second act of the match!  After this the drama actually escalated as both guys tried to put each other away, Omega kicked out of the Rainmaker (joining a very exclusive club) and tried in vain several times to hit the One-Winged Angel before finally falling to the fourth Rainmaker of the match.  Again, this went 47 minutes and didn't feel a moment too long for me.  I've never seen anything like this.  Dave Meltzer awarded this match an unprecedented six stars, and in no way do I consider that hyperbole.  Okada vs. Omega was one of the most incredible wrestling matches I've ever seen in my thirty-plus years as a fan.  They'd wrestle twice more in 2017, creating the greatest trilogy of matches since Flair-Steamboat (or maybe ever), followed by a match in 2018 that astoundingly was even better.

Jeezus Christ this match was incredible.

The main event was so good in fact that I feel like the rest of the card got unfairly overshadowed.

The show opened with Tiger Mask W (aka Kota Ibushi) vs. Tiger the Dark (aka ACH) in a quick, lighthearted six-minute match.  Nowhere near what these two are capable of, but it wasn't supposed to be.  Ibushi would fortunately drop the mask just in time for 2017's G1 tournament and resume being the all-encompassingly awesome Golden Star.

The first standout was the Jr. Heavyweight Tag match, a vastly more memorable bout than the previous three WrestleKingdom 4-ways.  Don't get me wrong, those are always fun, but it was great to see the Junior Tags get a simple two-on-two match that told a story.  But this still had the crazy high spots, like Trent Barreta doing a swan dive out of the ring and hitting nothing but floor.  Jeezus, how did he not die?  Rocky Romero then got double-teamed to death before making a surprise comeback and winning the belts.  This was great.

Next was the Gauntlet Match for the six-man belts, a three-segment melee that was fine, but kinda peaked early.  The Bullet Club trio faced the Chaos trio in a fun 7-minute match before moving on to the LIJ trio.  LIJ made short work of the BC and then faced the Champions, Kojima, David Finlay and Ricochet.  LIJ's cheating tactics won the day and the straps (only to lose them one night later to Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi).  This was fine, but forgettable.

Cody (Rhodes) made his big New Japan debut against Juice Robinson, in what was a fine showcase and more than I was expecting.  Juice got in a lot of offense (the reason became apparent at New Year's Dash when Juice pinned Goto to earn a NEVER Openweight Title shot), but Cody predictably won with the CrossRhodes.  Solid debut for Cody wherein he began to demonstrate his worth as a New Japan star.  This was also unexpectedly Juice Robinson's coming out party, as he quickly became a very viable rising star in New Japan.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK10)

NJPW followed up the near-perfect WK9 with another near-perfect show....

WrestleKingdom 10 - 1/4/16

Wow.  New Japan Pro Wrestling did it again.  They were tasked with living up to the transcendent WrestleKingdom 9 and somehow they managed to do just that.  WrestleKingdom 10 set the bar VERY high for all other wrestling shows in 2016, it was no stretch to say the Best PPV of the Year Award was already decided as of January 5th.  There was literally not one bad match on this show.  It started off incredibly fun and with almost no wasted time in between matches the pitch never dropped below "neato."

The opener was predictably wild and innovative, as reDRagon, The Young Bucks, Roppongi Vice, and Aerial Dogfight (Matt Sydal & Ricochet) tore it up with crazy tandem moves galore.  After nearly 17 minutes of non-stop offense Matt & Nick Jackson regained the Jr. Heavyweight straps.  Great way to kick things off, as usual.

Next was the NJPW debut of The Briscoes, who teamed with Toru Yano against Bullet Club members Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Takahashi.  This was probably the weakest match of the night, but only by default.  For twelve minutes these six put on a helluvan entertaining little show, culminating in Yano and the Brothers winning the brand-new Six-Man Championship.

For the first time ever the Ring of Honor World Title was defended in the Tokyo Dome as Jay Lethal and Michael Elgin delivered a fine undercard match.  While a bit underwhelming for a major title bout, this was still very solid stuff.

Moving right along, the hits kept racking up with Kenny Omega vs. Kushida in the rubber match for the Jr. Heavyweight Title.  While not as strong as their previous two bouts (understandable given the time constraints), this was still easily a 3.75-star affair and told the story of Kushida defying the odds to regain the Title.  It also served as Omega's swan song in the Jr. division (as we'd see the following night).  Damn good stuff.

The History of NJPW WrestleKingdom (WK9)

My proper introduction to NJPW, and one of the greatest PPVs I've ever witnessed....

WrestleKingdom 9 - 1/4/15

Every so often a wrestling PPV comes along that seems to render obsolete everything that came before.  There aren't enough superlatives to describe how fucking good the ninth edition of WrestleKingdom was; from top to bottom this show was entertaining at worst, and more often than not was transcendent.  At the time WrestleManias 17 and 19 were the two PPVs I considered the cream of the crop, but WK9 left them in the dust and heralded a string of absolutely stunning shows from NJPW.  As of 2015 this was the best wrestling show I'd ever seen, and it still ranks very high on my all-time list. 

The show opened with an amazing display of Jr. Heavyweight tag team wrestling, with reDRagon defending their straps against the Young Bucks, Forever Hooligans and The Time Splitters.  There was no big story being told in this match, it was simply a game of aerial oneupmanship.  All four teams worked at a blistering pace to rev up the 36,000 in attendance, and this match accomplished exactly what it needed to.

Next up were the only two low points of the show, a six-man tag and an 8-man.  Each match only went five minutes and both were inoffensive but forgettable.  The first pitted Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma against Bullet Club members Bad Luck Fale, Jeff Jarrett and Yujiro Takahashi in a sports-entertainment kinda match.  Nothing much memorable here other than Honma getting a rare PPV win.  The other multi-man was a little more fun, as Naomichi Marufuji, TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), and Toru Yano faced the Suzuki-gun stable of Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka.  This one had better action than the six-man but was just as brief.  Don't worry though, from here on out this show had nary a lull.

The fourth match was an MMA-hybrid between Minoru Suzuki and Kazushi Sakuraba, to be won only by submission or knockout.  Both guys worked a gritty, realistic fight in which Sakuraba beat the hell out of Suzuki's arm, only for Suzuki to come back with an airtight choke for the win.  Not quite at the level of WK7's Nakamura-Sakuraba, but still captivating.

The fifth bout took this show to the next level, as Tomohiro Ishii defended the NEVER Openweight Title against Togi Makabe, in one of the most ferocious knock-down matches I've ever seen.  At several points this match devolved into each man taking turns smashing the other with forearms and palm strikes.  Makabe would take this match with the King Kong Knee Drop.  This is probably the greatest NEVER rivalry since that Title's inception.

Nothin' like a knee drop to the head.

Top Ten Things: Avenged Sevenfold Albums, RANKED

Welcome to a brand new Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  It's been a while since I did one of these lists, and this one isn't quite ten items, but hey, some editions of TTT have *more* than ten, so screw you!  Just kidding, please keep reading....

Today's topic is the discography of one of my favorite metal bands, Avenged Sevenfold!  Formed in Huntington Beach, CA in 1999, A7X is known for complex, theatrical songwriting and fearless genre-bending, incorporating a diverse set of influences into their distinct melting pot of audacious, bombastic sounds.  Initially the band went for a hybrid of metalcore and punk sprinkled with melodic hooks, but they pretty quickly began experimenting with other genres, veering all the way into Broadway musical numbers and country-rock ballads by 2007.  On their most recent effort they went full avant-garde, defying all logical expectations and forging their own unique artistic path.  This is a band never content to rest on their laurels; they don't just push the envelope, they shred it.  

Like a lot of their fans I discovered A7X on the heels of their breakthrough third album City of Evil, but it was their self-titled fourth record and its follow-up Nightmare that really hooked me in 2010.  Since then I've found myself often revisiting their catalog in the form of intense deep-dives, where I'll get stuck on album or two and play them on a loop before moving on to the next, always hungry for new material from them.  

As with all great musical artists, Avenged Sevenfold crafts songs and albums that reward numerous listens, blending intricate musicianship, balls-out aggression, and deeply heartfelt, relatable human themes.  I'm not sure there's another metal band with so many songs that make me well up.  In a genre known for macho chest-thumping, A7X isn't afraid to explore big feelings and make profound statements about the human condition.  Their music has a genuine vulnerability to it, even amid pounding drums and machine gunning guitar riffs.  That reason perhaps more than any other is why their music resonates so heavily for me, but I also love the fact that they aren't beholden to any genre expectations so many other metal bands adhere to.  They unapologetically make the music they want to make, and that's so much more exciting to me than when a band goes in predictable directions out of obligation.

But enough pontificating, let's get to the countdown!    

HM: Diamonds in the Rough

I've kept this collection of B-sides and covers out of the ranking for obvious reasons, but I felt it warranted a few words.  M. Shadows is on record saying he wished the band hadn't released this CD, as the songs were left off their self-titled album for a reason, but I'm gonna go on record myself as saying there are a few real gems here.  Aside from two covers (Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" and Pantera's "Walk") and alternate versions of "Almost Easy" and "Afterlife," Diamonds in the Rough contains seven previously unreleased songs, of which three were absolutely good enough for the fourth album in my opinion.  I'd have cut "Critical Acclaim" and "Scream" and added the three tunes mentioned below.  Don't sleep on this collection.

Key Tracks: "Demons," "Until the End," "Dancing Dead"