My Breaking Point

If you read this blog over this past year and a half, you have probably noticed how conflicted I've been about WWE's main roster. Despite having the most talented roster in company history, the product is the worst it has ever been in my opinion — and I watched through John Cena's entire reign of terror. 

Although I knew the product was at its worst, I still hung on. There are still a bunch of talented wrestlers in the company. There were a couple storylines that I actually enjoyed. There was still hope — or so I thought.

I can confirm that after almost 16 years of watching, WWE has finally broken my resolve. I no longer have the will to watch a product that so vehemently despises its audience. It's not worth wasting my time, money, and brainpower on a wrestling show booked by an out-of-touch lunatic that has no desire to change with the times.

So what got me to this point? What made this rabid wrestling fan turn on the company that got him into pro wrestling in the first place?

Well, it was the main event of Hell in a Cell 2019. Seth Rollins was set to defend his Universal Championship against "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt in the titular structure. 

Leading up to this match, Wyatt's Fiend persona was built up to be a movie monster. This meant he was both physically unstoppable and psychologically terrifying. In fact, The Fiend's mask looked to be inspired by horror movie classics and he carried a lantern made of his former self's severed head. The aesthetic was there, his debut match blew everybody away, and he was used sparingly to build the mystique. There was no way in hell WWE could have screwed this up.

Long story short, they did. And in glorious fashion too.

Objectively, Seth Rollins vs. The Fiend was a good match. Hell, it was an excellent match. 

Built around making The Fiend look absolutely indestructible, the match did its job to perfection. Rollins literally hit The Fiend with everything but the kitchen sink — and The Fiend kept kicking out. Fifteen plus curb stomps, kendo stick shots to the ribs, multiple weapon shots to the head, nothing could put The Fiend down for the count. 

Then the ending happened. 

With The Fiend's head buried under a ladder, steel chair, and metal toolbox, Rollins decided to take a sledgehammer to his opponent's cranium. Before swinging the sledgehammer, the referee stepped in to tell Rollins that "This is not who you are". After a minute of inner turmoil, Rollins used the sledgehammer to strike The Fiend's head. As Rollins made contact with the pile of weapons, the ref called for the DQ — in a fucking Hell in a Cell match where there are no rules!

While the ending was horrid, the post-match was even worse. As chants of "AEW", "Restart the match", and "Refund" rang through the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, The Fiend would resurrect to attack Rollins. This attack ended with The Fiend applying the Mandible Claw as fake blood poured out of Rollins like a fountain. 

At that very moment, the entire mystique, terror, and wonder surrounding The Fiend dissipated as I began to laugh. Not the reaction you want for your horror movie monster. 

The Fiend officially jumped the shark. And with that, I officially jumped ship.

I've been angry at WWE booking before. Hell, I lived through the 2014 and 2015 Royal Rumbles, Brock Lesnar's stranglehold of the Universal Championship, and the insufferable Roman Reigns push. In fact, you can look back into the archives of this very blog to find most of them. 

What makes this one different is WWE isn't the only game in town anymore. Look at NXT, AEW, New Japan, Stardom, Impact, PWG, or many others around the globe. There is a promotion to satisfy any fan of professional wrestling. 

So, I'm done clogging up my time to keep up with supposed "big leagues" when it doesn't satisfy me anymore.

Best Matches of 2018

Source: WWE

It's that time of year again. Time to look back at the past year and determine which matches were the best of the best.

Personally, I'm finding it harder and harder to whittle down the list since there is so much high-quality wrestling readily available. I only regularly follow WWE and New Japan, which is just a small piece of this enormous pie that is professional wrestling. There are great matches happening everywhere — and some aren't even televised!

What I'm trying to say is don't take this or any other "Best of 2018" as the be-all end-all. It's all subjective since we all like and dislike different things. Use these lists to get a feel for matches you may have missed or gain a new appreciation for the matches you already love.

So without further ado, here are my favourite matches from 2018 in chronological order. If you are looking to check any of these bouts for yourself, I highly recommend subscribing to the WWE Network, NJPW World, and/or the Global Wrestling Network.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito 

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12

While Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho gets all the attention from fans and critics, it's the main of Wrestle Kingdom 12 that does it for yours truly.

Going into this match, both men wanted a chance to redeem their underwhelming IWGP Heavyweight Championship match from four years prior. Suffice to say, they did just that and more. In fact, Okada and Naito put on one of the slickest matches of the year as they kept the fast and dramatic pace you see in the closing minutes of most New Japan matches going for nearly 30 minutes.

Despite falling short of fulfilling his destiny of winning the Heavyweight Title in the Tokyo Dome, Naito proved to the critics and the world that he can deliver when the lights are the brightest.

Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Johnny Gargano 

NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia

With how many phenomenal NXT TakeOver matches that happened in 2018, it can be easy to forget that arguably the best year in NXT history all started with this bout.

As the first match by WWE to receive five stars from Dave Meltzer in over six years, Almas vs. Gargano was nothing short of special. Looking at this match technically, it's a master class in wrestling. Both men weaved together moves and counters in a way that was much more than a combat sport — it was pure artistry.

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

Nothing last year could touch the feud between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. From their beloved partnership as #DIY to Ciampa's heartbreaking betrayal, the NXT faithful watched this feud bubble in the background for two years before it was brought front and center for NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.

Unlike Gargano's wrestling clinic with Almas, this Unsanctioned match was all about storytelling. The match slowly built over the course of its 40-minute runtime by making some ingenious callbacks to their match at the Cruiserweight Classic, Gargano's sacrifice in the ladder match against the Authors of Pain, and Ciampa's attacks with the crutch. After an emotionally draining 40 minutes, this slow burn hit its climax as Gargano used Ciampa's own knee brace — from the knee injury that led to Ciampa's betrayal — for the submission victory.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku Night 2

To newer fans of New Japan brought in by the likes of Okada, Omega, Naito, and Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi felt like a relic of a bygone era. Although the Ace was key in leading New Japan to its current success, many — myself included — believed his position at the top of the company had been passed to the new crop of main event talent.

Well, we were all wrong as Tanahashi used 2018 to prove to his critics that he is still one of the best wrestlers on the planet. And this meeting with Okada at Wrestling Dontaku was the match that made everyone take notice.

Despite falling short of stopping Okada's record-breaking title reign, Tanahashi put on an unbelievable performance that saw the Ace hit Okada with everything from his signature Slingblade and High Fly Flow to Okada's own Tombstone Piledriver and Rainmaker lariat.

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori 

NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 25 Finals

Rather than being a spectacle of high flying and fast-paced action that the Junior Heavyweights are known for, the finals between Hiromu Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori blended the disparate styles showcased throughout the Best of the Super Jr. tourney into one epic match-up.

The match was mostly a technical affair where both men worked over different body parts. Fast-paced action segments and huge spots were used as brief flourishes, heavy hitting strong style strike exchanges emphasized the physical toll of the match, and quick move-countermove sequences conveyed their intense desperation to win.

All-in-all, this is the absolute best of New Japan's Junior division putting on a 34-minute wrestling clinic. Enough said.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega 

NJPW Dominion 2018

Talk about an emotional rollercoaster. The fourth meeting between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada — their third for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship — was easily the tensest match of 2018.

This match was so tense that every move felt monumental. The swings in momentum made your heart skip a beat, especially if you were cheering for Omega. Each fall in this two out of three fall affair built to an incredible crescendo as Omega hit the One-Winged Angel for the final three count to the soundtrack of Don Callis repeatedly screaming "Hook the leg!"

As the culmination of Kenny Omega's two-year journey to the top of New Japan, this match is as perfect as you can get in this sport. I know that I couldn't hold back the tears when the final fall was recorded — and a match that can move one to tears is indeed special.

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa

NXT TakeOver: Chicago II

Did you think this feud was over with the Unsanctioned match at TakeOver: New Orleans? Well, think again.

The deep-seated hatred between Gargano and Ciampa boiled over into a Street Fight reminiscent of the old-school hardcore matches from the late 90s and early 2000s. As such, both men tried to maim each other with anything they could get their hands on — even ripping up the ring to reveal the wooden boarding underneath! Every strike, grapple, and weapon shot escalated the tension of the match until it was all released through the incredible and highly emotional climax.

While I've gone into detail on it before, the final five to 10 minutes of this Street Fight skyrocketed it to legendary status. Seeing Ciampa pull Gargano down to his level by making Johnny Wrestling snap felt like watching the fall of a once great superhero. It unleashed demons within Gargano that have gone onto mold him into something darker and arguably better.

Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era 

NXT 7/11/2018

Considering the consistently excellent quality of NXT TakeOvers, people have forgotten how good matches on NXT TV can be.

During 2018, NXT TV played host to a whole bunch of matches that could've easily stolen the show at a TakeOver. Although I don't have enough room to highlight them all here — that's what the Silver Report's Must-See Matches section is for — there's one match that deserves to be showcased on this list. That match is Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era from the July 11 edition of NXT.

Looking at this match on a base level, it's a textbook tag team match. The heels (Undisputed Era) isolate a member of the face team (Moustache Mountain) and work over a body part until the faces get the hot tag. What makes this match special is how it slightly subverts this formula to elicit a passionate response from those watching.

Most of the Undisputed Era's offense is spent dissecting Trent Seven's leg in order to set up the impassioned finish. After Tyler Bate accidentally falls into Seven for a tag, the injured Seven puts up a valiant fight only to be caught into a devastating heel hook from Kyle O'Reilly. Blocked from breaking up the submission by the referee, Bate struggles with the decision of whether to throw in the towel or not. As Seven screams worsen, Bate caves, thus ending Moustache Mountains' NXT Tag Title reign but saving his partner and mentor for further injury.

Pentagon Jr. vs. Sami Callihan

Impact Slammiversary XVI

2018 was a major year for Impact Wrestling. After years of rampant mismanagement, laughable storylines, and horrendous wrestling, nobody thought the former Total Nonstop Action would ever turn things around. To the surprise of everyone, Impact, with the help of Don Callis and Scott D'Amore, did just that and Slammiversary XVI was the event that solidified their new place in the industry.

The one match on the card that — quite literally — hammered home Impact's bold new lease on life was Pentagon Jr. vs. Sami Callihan, Mask vs. Hair. While both men showcased some great technical wrestling throughout, it was the sheer brutality and gruesome violence that etched this match into the minds of wrestling fans.

I will admit I may be a little bit biased since I saw this match live. But in all honesty, being there live to hear the ting of metal as both men hammered each other with railroad spikes and experience the crowd lose it when Callihan kicked out of a Penta Driver through two chairs was the best birthday present this wrestling fanatic could ever ask for.

Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano

NXT TakeOver: WarGames II

Johnny Gargano's slow descent into villainy was easily the best storyline of 2018. What made this storyline even better was that Gargano still believed he was the hero — that he was only doing what was absolutely necessary to get rid of evil incarnate, Tomasso Ciampa. Unfortunately, one of Gargano's "heroic" actions made an enemy of Aleister Black.

Much like Gargano's other matches on this list, the ensuing bout was nothing short of phenomenal. In a match that stole the show at TakeOver: WarGames II, Black and Gargano held nothing back. Black brought the stiff strikes and cracking kicks while Gargano brought the smooth chain wrestling and high-flying offense.

Although the wrestling was top notch, the story of Gargano trying to play both sides of the face/heel coin as Black cut through the shenanigans in order to get his revenge made this match feel incredibly significant to development both wrestlers. Plus, Black absolving Gargano of his sins before hitting the final Black Mass for the win was the cherry on top of this delicious match.

The Silver Report: July 2018

Ever since I started the Silver Report back up, I've had one problem: I can't watch all the wrestling that I want to in a month.

With the accessibility of the Internet, it has made watching wrestling easier than ever before. Where you would be stuck with what was available on TV or at your local DVD store back in the day, you now have so much wrestling at your finger tips. With a constant source of wrestling nowadays, you run into my problem more often than not, especially when you report about the industry professionally or for fun.

Personally, I am so behind on a lot of wrestling. I have a months' worth of Raw and SmackDowns saved on the DVR and 40 matches of the G1 to still work my way through. That's not counting my huge backlog of wrestling DVDs and getting around to finally watch Stardom for the first time.

While this may seem like a little concern for many, I worry about it because I want to try to encapsulate the world of wrestling in a month through the stories I feature and the matches I label as "must-see." Despite my backlog of wrestling continuing to grow, I will always try to watch as much wrestling as my eyes can take in order to provide you all with the best Silver Report each and every month.

Making an Impact in the T-Dot

It has been a turbulent few years for the company formerly known as TNA. Plagued by years of horrible management and horrendous wrestling, everybody wrote them off. Everybody, myself included, thought that there was no way Impact Wrestling could come back from all the setbacks.

Well, Impact Wrestling has been proving everybody wrong for the past four months and it was hammered home with the excellent Slammiversary XVI. From the opening match to the closing moments, no match on Slammiversary felt the same — even with three hardcore matches on the card. From the all-out spotfest of the opener to the gruesome brutality of the Mask vs. Hair match, each bout told a unique story. While a couple matches, mainly Eddie Edwards vs. Tommy Dreamer and Madison Rayne vs. Su Yung, fell flat, they were much better than anything WWE's main roster is doing.

Considering Slammiversary took place in Toronto, yours truly made the trip to watch the show live. Despite a few criticisms I have over the mishandling of general admission seating in the balcony, the show well overshadowed any misgivings I had. The smaller venue made the show feel much more intimate than any wrestling show I've been to and the balcony view gave my friends and I a perfect angle to see the ring and ramp area. 

I cannot stress how good this show was. It quite literally made me forget that I stood for four hours straight. So, if you are a lapsed fan of Impact or are curious considering all the positive buzz surrounding the promotion, I highly recommend making time to watch Slammiversary XVI. You'll be happy you did.

Source: Uproxx.com

Women's Evolution? I Think Not

The weekend before the July 23 edition of Raw, WWE started teasing a special announcement by Stephanie McMahon to open said show. Considering how the company has done everything to make Stephanie seem like the patron saint of women's wrestling, it was easy for many to deduce that the announcement would have to do with the women's division. What exactly the announcement was to be was a toss up between a women's tag division and an all-women PPV. Come time for the announcement, it turned out to be the latter. 

Along with some speeches talking up the journey to this "historic" announcement, Stephanie and Triple H shared a few details about the show. First of all, the PPV, WWE Evolution, will take place at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island on October 28. It will include over 50 women from WWE's past, present, and future. Plus, all women's titles (Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and NXT UK) will be defended on the show, along with the finals of the 2018 Mae Young Classic.

While you can't discredit how huge this announcement is for the women of WWE, let's remember the truth of how we got to this moment. The reason for this so-called "Women's Revolution/Evolution" is because of a problem that the WWE created. They were the ones that emphasized looks over wrestling ability, thus holding down their division, and quite possibly women's wrestling in North America, for decades. 

Yes, they're making efforts to fix the problem now, but it rings hollow when WWE puts themselves on a pedestal for doing it. And in the case of #GiveDivasAChance, they're literally rewriting history in order to not give credit to former employee — and advocate for this change — AJ Lee. Plus, there have been plenty of all-women wrestling shows from the likes of Shimmer, Eve, and Stardom. Even, TNA ran all-women PPVs from 2013 to 2016.

While I can go on about the problems and fallacies of WWE's portrayal of their women's division, you don't have all day. So in summation, I find it hard to trust WWE's promise of an all-women wrestling show when the most visible part of its women's division — the main roster — is so poorly handled and they seem more concerned with hiding that fact rather than fixing it. How am I supposed to believe that WWE Evolution will be a step in the right direction, instead of more baseless "Women's Evolution" propaganda?

Source: CBS Sports

B is for Best

Well it's time to talk about the G1 Climax, New Japan's huge 91-match round-robin tournament which takes place from mid-July to mid-August. Much like the Best of the Super Jr. tournament, the G1 is known for its match quality. In fact, some of the top Match of the Year contenders usually come from this tournament. And if you have been following along with this year's tournament — correction: this year's B Block — you'd understand why.

Not to devalue the match quality or effort of those involved in A Block, but B Block is stacked this year. Just look at the Must-See Matches I listed from the G1, all of them are from B Block. Other than Tama Tonga, who seems more concerned with making a statement through interference and DQ losses than putting on quality matches, the guys in B Block brought their A game. Even Yano has been putting on good to great matches!

But if I have to single out two wrestlers that are the stars of this year's B Block and the G1 as a whole, I'd say Tomohiro Ishii and Zack Sabre Jr. While these two might not be the biggest stars of the company, they are certainly the workhorses — and a long tournament like the G1 allows them to flourish.

Individually, each one has their own unique style that can easily adapt to any situation. In the past year, Sabre Jr. has learned how to perfectly adapt his unbelievable grappling and submission skills to the New Japan style. What were once slow plodding affairs during last year's G1 are now expertly paced wrestling clinics with an added pinch of body horror. On the other hand, Ishii is the epitome of strong style. The man deals out the stiffest and strongest strikes you'll ever see and he can take an exceptional amount of pain. Ishii's best matches, such as this year's showdowns with Goto and Ibushi, are literal wars of attrition.

Despite my problems with A Block's over-dependence on stretching the rules and the BC OGz constant interference in Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga matches, this year's G1 has been loads of fun. Now to watch the last 41 matches before the end of August.

Source: ProWrestling.com

Must-See Matches of July

7/7/2018
G1 Special in San Francisco
Young Bucks vs. Evil & Sanada
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee

7/11/2018
NXT
Mustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era

7/15/18
G1 Climax 28 Night 2
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano
Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito

7/18/2018
NXT
Candice LeRae vs. Kairi Sane vs. Nikki Cross

7/21/2018
G1 Climax 28 Night 6
Sanada vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii

7/22/2018
Slammiversary XVI
Fenix vs. Johnny Impact vs. Petey Willaims vs. Taiji Ishimori
Pentagon Jr. vs. Sami Callihan - Mask vs. Hair Match
Austin Aries vs. Moose

7/26/2018
G1 Climax 28 Night 8
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

7/28/2018
G1 Climax 28 Night 10
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi