Hi Dave,
What an amazing show last night at Global Wars!
If I had more than two thumbs they would all be thumbs up.
Best Match- 10 man tag main event but ACH vs Nakamura was a very close 2nd
Worst match- Moose & Gedo vs. Takaaki Watanabe & Silas Young by default. You know Moose is limited so wasn’t expecting a lot here
Crowd was hot all night and arena seemed sold out to me with standing room only. Didn’t seem as packed as last year but that is just gauging it by the beer crowd line-up!
Long lineups for the NJPW stars autographs.
Some technical difficulties with the lights going out a few times in the arena.
There were some crazy spots in the main event and so much action to follow. Roddy’s superplex spot outside the ring was wild as was Hanson’s flip dive to everyone to the floor. That was a lot of weight and momentum to try to slow down.
AJ got a huge reaction live as did all the New Japan stars
Card top to bottom was top notch and hope they continue to make this an annual event
Looking forward to the TV taping tonite.
UFC Fight Night
Thumbs in the middle
Not a must see card
Best Performances: Neil Magny, Li Jingliang
Faber vs Edgar was a fun super fight on paper. Edgar more aggressive but was hoping for more fireworks and a finish.
Nice see Munoz win in his retirement fight, especially since his last few fights have had quick finishes. I’m glad they gave him time for a classy speech on his way out.
Magny looked impressive surviving the 1st round storm and coming back to win in decisive fashion.
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Grant Zwarych
Wrestling Observer Index
Thumbs Up
Best Match: 10 Man Tag Main Event
Worst Match: Moose/Gedo vs Young/Watanabe
Stream worked great all night for me. I was in Philly live for both of the shows there and thought the difference in crowd really stood out (we’ll see how that comes across on VOD I guess), with Night 2 in particular being a really hot crowd. This was very good, but I thought both Philly shows were better.
Dan Babic
Thumbs in the middle
Best match: Tied between Nakamura/ACH and Okada/Alexander
Not sure if my expectations were just too high given the talent lineup, but I thought this was just a good, not great, show. One of the problems may have been that you could read the lineup and easily predict who was winning each match. I think that hurt a lot of the matches. Worth my money and time for sure. The stream held up too which may be a first for ROH. If they can keep that up I’ll be a regular customer.
The New Japan guys were clearly a cut above most of the ROH guys, which is both a compliment to just how good the NJPW guys are how indy some of the ROH guys are in many ways (even if undeniably talented).
It’s a shame Chris Sabin developed his personality after injuries wrecked his body. Nakamura is ridiculously talented – I know, news flash. Elgin/Tanahashi was very good in some ways, a bit clunky in others. Elgin is missing something. The main even didn’t do a whole lot for me, I thought it was a disjointed mess with no real story, just a bunch of stuff happening. At the same time, all ten of those guys are so talented it couldn’t be bad.
I’m torn on the commentary. At times I thought they were effective, other times I thought they were lost or just plain annoying. That said, still better than the mannequins that call Smackdown.
-Richard Karels
Wrestling Hullabaloo
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Team ROH vs. BULLET CLUB
Worst Match: Gedo/Moose-Young/Watanabe
This was a weird show, because on one hand there was absolutely nothing bad (even the “worst match” was totally fine), but until the main event nothing really delivered on quite the level I was expecting either. Like you I was pretty underwhelmed by the crowd, especially after having been in attendance this past Wednesday night in Philly; we were much, much louder throughout the show and I would suspect were more knowledgeable on the New Japan guys too, given the staggering amount of NJ t-shirts being worn. I think once those Philly shows come out on VOD you’ll see what I mean. Either way, I only went to night 2 and I thought that show was a lot better than this one.
Still, again, nothing on the undercard was bad, and then the main event was absolutely fantastic, jaw-dropping stuff, so I don’t see how you can go lower than Thumbs Up here. Between the crowd being much quieter and most of the guys having wrestled two shows just a few days ago, it’s understandable that the show wasn’t quite up to the same lofty standards they had set a few days back.
John Carroll
Bronx, NY
