Author: dtm666

The most amazing thing about the Kenny Omega/Jungle Boy match wasn’t the fact that it was a really good match. It wasn’t the fact that it proved Kenny Omega was more than capable of elevating younger talent to another level. Nor was it the fact that it proved that Jungle Boy was more than capable of going the distance and taking it to that next level to be a big-time main event star, thus establishing to the audience that his time will come and he’ll be ready for it.

No, the most amazing thing about this match was that there wasn’t a fuck finish.

No countouts, no DQs, no bullshit outside interference from the Bucks or the Jobber Club (that came after), nothing that would constitute a shit finish that you’d expect from a free TV title match on WWE or TNA, for that matter. No, this was a very old-school, very compelling match that saw two guys bring their A-games, busted their asses, and made each other look better than before. You didn’t come out of this match thinking Jungle Boy was some loser after taking the fall like you would a Roman Reigns match in WWE; you came out of it thinking Jungle Boy hung in there, took it to the champ, and yeah, he didn’t win, but his time will come and it’s only a matter of WHEN, not IF.

To me, this was the first truly great Kenny Omega match of the year. Probably not to the level of his legendary New Japan classics, but still pretty damn good. It certainly cemented his status as the “best bout machine” and proved that he is more than capable of elevating younger talent to that higher level. This was Sting almost beating Flair and not quite making it, but people got a better impression of the Stinger than they did before. I got that same feeling with Jungle Boy.

Somewhere in Louisville, someone named James is having a conniption fit over that comparison.

The rest of the show wasn’t too bad either. A fun match between Hangman Page and Powerhouse Hobbs, a really fun match between Matt Sydal and some kid named Dante, and another brawl between MJF’s group and Jericho’s group. Nothing blowaway or anything like that, but a good example of this being a one-match show.

I had this on the DVR still and I figured I’d give it a watch. Not much to say in general because it was a lame duck show during a lame duck period of being stuck in a Friday Night death slot where nobody was watching while the NBA playoffs was a thing.

They started the show with the MMA Cage match between Jake Hager and Wardlow… and it was almost as good as any MMA match that I’ve seen in that I was almost passing out of boredom. Then Wardlow flipped Hager and I was back into it for a bit before Hager tapped him. Then MJF caused some trouble, hurting Jericho’s arm and even punching out Dean Malenko, who has had neck issues. All the old guys with bad necks are taking better bumps than half the roster in NXT. Go figure.

Other than that, it was one of those nothing Friday shows that also featured a Miro title defense. I like Miro’s new gimmick of being God’s favorite wrestler and thanking God for his hot wife, parodying all those fighters thanking God for their gifts in beating people up. That’s fun.