The Silver Report: April 2019

WrestleMania 35 has come and gone. To be quite honest, I enjoyed this year's show for a good four out of seven hours. The wrestling was solid and despite some silliness, I was thoroughly entertained. Especially when Shane McMahon bounced off the top of that golf cart.

After the show hit its peak with Kofi Kingston winning the WWE Title (more on that in a bit), it just lost all momentum. Other than the main event, which exceeded my low expectations, it was such a drag to watch the last few hours.

While I can dissect this show even further or debate how WWE should shorten WrestleMania until the cows come home, we got a report to dive into.

The Underdog Story

Considering how big WrestleMania Weekend has become over this past decade, it always plays host to an insane amount of feel-good moments. Be it show-stealing matches, awe-inspiring spots, unbelievable surprises, or star-making performances, there is a lot to enjoy about the biggest weekend in wrestling.

Despite all our harping on them, the company that made this weekend a destination in the first place can still create some of the most emotional moments in the business. This year, WWE put on two matches that had many in tears — yours truly included.

The first match came to us on the Friday of WrestleMania Weekend at NXT TakeOver: New York. Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano clashed in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the vacant NXT Championship.

Looking at this match with a critical eye, Cole and Gargano had a very standard WWE multi-fall match, where the first two falls are little more than window dressing for the final fall. What made this match special — and completely overshadowed this big negative — was the crowd and their relationship with Gargano.

At the beginning of the match, the New York crowd completely turned on Gargano because they all decided that Cole deserved to win. Despite the initial boos, Gargano persevered and slowly won the crowd over with every kick out, rope break, and finisher reversal. By the end of the match, the entire Barclays Center was behind the man they vehemently booed earlier. The crowd's slow but organic turn amplified the emotion of the final fall to the point I had to fight back the tears as Gargano locked in the Gargano Escape for the victory.

Despite the obvious flaw of the first two falls doing nothing to build the final fall, you can't help but smile ear-to-ear when watching the final 15 minutes and seeing Gargano finally hoist the NXT Championship. Plus, Ciampa's surprise embrace at the top of the match made it all the sweeter.

The second match was on the big show itself, WrestleMania 35. Halfway through the nearly eight-hour show, Kofi Kingston faced off with Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.

After 11 years with the company, Kingston finally got his shot at the top prize. Considering the emotional underdog story, nobody was going to accept anything but Kingston walking away with the gold.

As such, everybody in the sea of 82,000+ people in the crowd and the millions watching around the world sat on the edge of their seats for every move, every swing of momentum, and every near fall. Although Kingston and Bryan didn't have the smoothest of matches, the heightened tension made you look past the blemishes and get even more invested in the bout. This tense 23-minute match culminated with Kingston hitting the Trouble in Paradise to a thunderous pop from the crowd.

The cherry on top was the post-match celebration. As the crowd erupted in joy, Big E and Xavier Woods rushed Kingston for a loving embrace. You could even see the tears flowing as Woods lifted Kingston onto his shoulder. To make the moment more magical, Kingston brought his two sons into the ring to celebrate with the New Day.

These were easily two of the best matches WWE put on this past WrestleMania Weekend. From action to drama to emotion, they had everything you need for great pro wrestling. Most importantly, both had excellent stories that the audience could get behind. That's why people couldn't fight back the tears when watching these underdogs win the big one for their respective brands.

Source: Bleacher Report

A Tale of Two Promotions

After All In's sellout proved there's an audience large enough for promotions other than WWE to run 10,000+ seat venues, ROH and New Japan took a big leap by announcing their intention to run a show from Madison Square Garden. Despite some interference by WWE, tickets went on sale for the ROH and New Japan's G1 Supercard in early August 2018 and sold out in record time. With that, WWE's 58-year stranglehold over MSG ended, allowing any wrestling promotion to run "The World's Most Famous Arena."

Although the G1 Supercard made history months before it even began, ROH and New Japan still had the monumental task of putting on a show worthy of its historic moniker. Could they deliver? The answer to that is a little more complicated than you would think.

On the New Japan side of the show, they absolutely delivered. From the strength versus speed matchup of Ospreay and Cobb to the nine-minute joyous spot fest that was the Junior Heavyweight Championship 3-Way to the high drama of Ibushi and Naito, every match that had Gedo's guiding hand was wonderful. Even though I'm disappointed that Jay White's IWGP title reign couldn't make it through one title defense, the quality of the match, the resulting pop from Okada's win, and my confidence in New Japan's booking have me optimistic.

Unfortunately, the ROH portion of the G1 Supercard dropped the ball hard. While there wasn't anything egregiously bad, all of the segments and matches produced entirely by ROH were incredibly underwhelming, especially when compared to New Japan's output.

On top of it all being underwhelming, it all felt uncharacteristic of ROH. The company has always been known for its high-quality wrestling, but you wouldn't know it from this show. More effort was placed on poorly emulating ECW's hardcore matches and WWE-like angles rather than what made ROH in the first place — superb professional wrestling.

Looking at the show as a whole, G1 Supercard was a success. Much like All In did before it, it proved that wrestling fans are willing to support good wrestling on a grand stage. So, hopefully, this isn't the last time we'll see New Japan and ROH (as long as they get their act together) on such a big stage.

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Must-See Matches of April

4/5/2019
NXT TakeOver: New York
Aleister Black & Ricochet vs. War Raiders
Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano - 2 out of 3 Falls Match

4/6/2019
G1 Supercard
Jeff Cobb vs. Will Ospreay
Taiji Ishimori vs. Dragon Lee vs. Bandido
Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

4/7/2019
WrestleMania 35
Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey

4/17/2019
NXT
Buddy Murphy vs. Velveteen Dream

4/20/2019
Sengoku Lord
Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

4/24/2019
NXT 
Johnny Gargano vs. Roderick Strong

4/26/2019
Road to Wrestling Dontaku Night 9
Roppongi 3K vs. Bushi & Shingo Takagi