The Silver Report: September 2018

To be honest, I do quite a bit of rambling this report, so I am going to keep this intro short and (too) sweet.

As I will go into more detail briefly, September was a huge month for independent and alternative wrestling. We now live in a world where companies that aren't named WWE can sell out a 10,000+ seat arena, where wrestlers are more concerned with satisfying the fans than lining their pockets, where men and women are quite literally changing the world of wrestling as we speak. In short, we live in a post All In wrestling industry and that is gosh darn exciting.

Going "All In" on Independent Wrestling

Love it or hate it, you have to admit it that All In was special.

Like mentioned above, it quite literally changed the wrestling industry. While independent wrestling may not be on the same level as the WWE (and probably never will be), All In and its success made the mainstream take notice. It introduced the talents and styles of many different wrestling organizations to a larger audience than ever before via streaming services, pay-per-view, and WGN America. Hopefully, this exposure will lead to new and lapsed wrestling fans tuning into their alternative of choice over or in addition to WWE. Believe me, All In's impact will be felt for years to come.

Although All In will definitely be remembered for its impact on the industry, that's not all it will be remembered for. From Zero Hour to the main event — which finished only seconds before the broadcast was cut — it was a celebration of wrestling's past, present, and future. You had Stephen Amell throw himself through a table, an old-school NWA championship match with boxing-style entrances, Hangman Page carried out of the arena by penis druids, Chris Jericho attacked Kenny Omega while dressed as Pentagon Jr., a 30-minute match condensed into a non-stop 12 minutes, just to name a few great moments.

Looking at the show critically, All In was a great show. Some may even say it was one of the best shows of the year. Personally, I say All In is on the lower half of that list due to its rather slow start and some of the angles and gags being a little too hard for those who haven't caught up on Being the Elite to understand. Despite my qualms with the show, things kick into high gear once you hit the Chicago Street Fight and the show doesn't let up for a second.

In summation, huge thumbs up to Cody and the Young Bucks for putting this show together, the talent that put their bodies on the line for our entertainment, and the staff that made the broadcast possible. Without everybody's hard work, this incredible show would never have happened.

Source: Sports Illustrated

Bad Form in the Cell

I went into Hell in a Cell with low expectations. Like most main roster PPVs, the matches looked good on paper, but considering WWE's track record, there's always the chance that they'll find a way to screw it up.

Going into the main event, Hell in a Cell was doing better than the average main roster show these days. There were a couple stinkers in the Raw Women's Title Match and the Mixed Tag Team bout, but there was enough okay to great matches to counteract the bad. And the main event was Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman in a Hell in a Cell match. What could possibly go wrong?

Other than Mick Foley botching a two count, everything was all good until Roman speared Braun through a table. After the proceeding kickout, Roman and Braun would lay in the ring as all hell broke loose around them.

First, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre ran down to bully their way into the cell, only for Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins to stop them. The two teams would fight outside and on top of the cell for a good eight to 10 minutes before Rollins and Ziggler put each other through the announce tables at ringside. Then a returning Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman stormed the cell. Lesnar kicked down the door while Heyman maced Foley's eyes. Brock would then go on to F5 Roman onto Braun. After Lesnar made his quote-on-quote statement, he and Heyman left as a substitute referee called off the match right before the show cut to black.

It's hard to summarize how angry this debacle of a match made me. WWE quite literally flushed away all the work they did to try to rebuild the Universal Championship and Raw's main event scene. And just to bring back Brock Lesnar of all people! Seriously, WWE needs to move on because this over-reliance on Lesnar is doing serious damage to their product. Not only did Brock Lesnar's return at Hell in a Cell ruin a perfectly good main event, it made a mockery of the Money in the Bank contract (not that they've already done that multiple times in the past month) and made the top face and heel on Raw look like total chumps.

While these shenanigans may make a memorable moment, they'll also get people to take their money elsewhere. Especially in this post All In wrestling industry.

Source: India Today

Chaos in Kobe

Ever since Jay White returned from excursion late last year, the Switchblade has stirred up a whole lot of drama in New Japan, especially for Chaos.

Originally White was brought into the faction following WrestleKingdom by Kazuchika Okada as a challenger for midcard heavyweight titles like the IWGP Intercontinental and U.S. championships. Lately, the silver-tongued fiend has made an effort to challenge Okada's leadership at every turn. From his mind games with Yoshi-Hashi to trying to instill a killer edge in younger members Sho and Yoh, White's anarchist antics went unpunished as the faction concerned itself with the G1 then Okada's opportunity to win Hiroshi Tanahashi's place in the main event of WrestleKingdom.

With Chaos' attention diverted away from the problem child, nobody clued into what would happen next. Following Okada's loss to Tanahashi in the main event of Destruction in Kobe, White made his intentions clear — he won't be apart of a Chaos led by Okada.

White would take care of Tanahashi with a swift Blade Runner before turning his attention to the defeated Okada. As White's attack began, Yoshi-Hashi ran down for the save only to be dispatched by White almost immediately. Following Yoshi-Hashi's run-in was longtime Chaos member and Okada's former manger Gedo. Considering their former partnership, Okada turned his back to a chair-wielding Gedo as he readied to gang up on the mutinous White. Unfortunately for Okada, Gedo would blast the Rainmaker with a chair shot and align himself with the Switchblade to bring an end to Destruction in Kobe.

Although I haven't been a big fan of White's in-ring style since his return from excursion, I have to say that he has tremendous potential as New Japan's trickster, a character that uses his greater intellect to trick others for their own amusement. This manipulative nature has come across perfectly in White's antagonistic tenure in Chaos and his incredible promo work. Add Gedo into the mix and there's a lot of ways the Switchblade can make his ascent to the main event of New Japan.

So, will you breathe with the Switchblade?

Source: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Must-See Matches of September

9/1/2018

All In

Hangman Page vs. Joey Janela - Chicago Street Fight

Kenny Omega vs. Penta El Zero M

Golden Elite vs. Bandido, Fenix & Rey Mysterio

9/5/2018
NXT
Johnny Gargano vs. Velveteen Dream

9/7/2018

Road to Destruction Night 2

Golden Lovers vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Will Ospreay

9/15/2018
Destruction in Hiroshima
Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii

9/16/2018
Hell in a Cell
Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose

9/19/2018
NXT
Pete Dunne vs. Ricochet

9/23/2018
Destruction in Kobe
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

9/30/2018
Fighting Spirit Unleashed
Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll
Golden Lovers vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii

The Silver Report: August 2018

Every so often, usually at the end of a main roster WWE PPV, I wonder to myself: "Why do I still watch this?" As I grow older and mature as a wrestling fan, that question becomes harder to answer.

It may be nostalgia, but I can't think of a time where I've been so disengaged by Raw and SmackDown. I don't even watch them live anymore. To be honest, my time isn't worth wasting five hours on a subpar to bad episode. If there is something worth watching, I have the episodes saved on my PVR to check out at a later date — if I even get to them.

Getting back to my conundrum, I'd say I keep watching out of loyalty. I got into professional wrestling because of WWE and originally, I felt an obligation to support them due to that. Over time I came to realize how little WWE as a company cared about their fans — despite what their executives may say — and my loyalty shifted. Nowadays, it's a loyalty to the great men and women, like AJ Styles, Asuka, Bayley, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, and Shinsuke Nakamura, that put their bodies on the line for our entertainment.

So in conclusion, as long as WWE employs wrestlers that I like, then I will still watch and cheer on, no matter how much I want to tear my hair out sometimes. Guess the frustration has become part of the fun.

You Can't Beat God

After 90 grueling matches, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi were the two left standing as block winners of the 28th G1 Climax. Tanahashi held Okada to a 30-minute draw in order to win A Block, while Ibushi won B Block, thanks to having wins over the three men (Kenny Omega, Tetsuya Naito, and Zack Sabre Jr.) he ended up in a four way tie with. 

Despite their taxing journeys to the G1 finals, only one of them would get the chance to main event WrestleKingdom 13. The question is: will Ibushi overcome the man he considers God or will Tanahashi move one step closer to regaining his position at the top of New Japan?

With Omega in Ibushi's corner and Katsuyori Shibata in Tanahashi's, both men waged war for 35 minutes. As they hit each other with hellacious strikes and devastating moves, Ibushi seemed to be on his way to conquering the biggest obstacle in his wrestling career. Unfortunately for the Golden Star and his fans, the Ace was far too resilient. Tanahashi took everything Ibushi dished out, even some incredibly violent strikes later in the match, and hit three High Fly Flows in a row for the victory. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, Ibushi tried to reach God, only to come crashing back down to Earth. The disgrace of this defeat was too much for Ibushi as he would run to the back covering his face. 

While some may be confused why New Japan management wouldn't go with the huge money match of Omega vs. Ibushi to main event WrestleKingdom, especially since it seems to be building in the background for a while now, New Japan does long-term storytelling better than any wrestling company today. They book their major storylines around grand character arcs. Much like Omega needed to fall to his lowest point (the Bullet Club civil war) before finally winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Okada, this major setback will be the catalyst for any even greater triumph in Ibushi's future.

Source: Sports Illustrated

The Reign of Terror Is Over, Let the New One Begin

FINALLY, Brock Lesnar's year and a half reign as Universal Champion is over! So, why am I not happy?

This should be one of the best moments of the year. No more BS to explain why Raw has no heavyweight champion, no more five minute or less championship squashes whenever Brock decides to grace us with his presence, no more protecting a lazy champion because he's a supposed draw — I can go on. Unfortunately, WWE mucked things up with a smoke and mirrors show in order to protect their image.

First, Braun Strowman came down before the main event to declare he would cash-in his Money in the Bank briefcase against the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns. Stowman's explanation was that he didn't want a to be as cheap as those opportunistic cash-ins. While Strowman's logic was faulty at best, everybody let it slide since we all thought it was only moments away from Strowman hoisting the Universal Title. Well, it turned out to be a bait and switch as Strowman never got the chance to cash-in.

Leading into the finish, Lesnar incapacitated the Monster Among Men with one F5 on the floor and a few chair shots before he hurled the briefcase up the ramp. Distracted by his attack on Strowman, Lesnar walked into a spear by Reigns for the win. Immediately following Reigns' win, Summerslam would go dark before the crowds' negative reaction to Reigns and the main event as a whole was caught on-camera.

While I wasn't too keen on another Reigns coronation, what made this one sting was how WWE sacrificed Strowman in order to keep the crowd from turning on the main event. Stowman, one of the biggest stars in the company, was made to look like a complete idiot for not cashing in at the beginning of the match. While Strowman may not have won the ensuing triple threat match that would've followed the cash-in, at least, he could've been protected if Lesnar took the pin.

Now, we're left with the next chapter in Reigns' never-ending push and my emotions are mixed. While I am sick of Reigns being shoved down our throats, I can tolerate this title reign as long as we get good Universal Title matches. The defense against Finn Balor the night after Summerslam is a good start. Now WWE needs to keep the ball rolling and re-establish the Universal Title. If not, we could be in for another terrible reign.

Source: Independent

Must-See Matches of August

8/4/2018
G1 Climax Night 14
Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii

8/10/2018
G1 Climax Night 17
Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

8/11/2018

G1 Climax Night 18

Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi

8/12/2018

G1 Climax Final

Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

8/18/2018

NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4

Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain

Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Last Man Standing Match

8/20/2018

Raw

Finn Balor vs. Roman Reigns

8/27/2018

Raw

Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

8/29/2018

NXT

Undisputed Era vs. Pete Dunne & Ricochet

The Silver Report: January 2018

I started the Silver Report a good seven years ago as my weekly round-up and analysis on "all" (mostly WWE and TNA at the time) wrestling news. Over the years, it took on different forms and lengths, but it was always a nice outlet for my thoughts on professional wrestling.

Now as my taste in wrestling has matured and my knowledge of the industry has grown tenfold, I re-debut the Silver Report. Not just as an outlet for my thoughts and opinions, but to hopefully introduce newcomers to wacky world of pro wrestling while enriching the tastes of current fans.

One of the ways I hope to achieve that goal is through the brand new Must-See Matches section at the end of every Silver Report going forward. Must-See Matches will be my curated list of the best matches for the current month of discussion. So if you don't have the time to keep up with everything going on, these are the matches that will give you the most enjoyment for your time.

Naito! You Just Made the List!

January 4th and 5th had tons of great moments for New Japan from Minoru Suzuki shaving his head to Jay White declining an offer to join the Bullet Club, but nothing was bigger than the closing moments of New Year's Dash.

After Tetsuya Naito and his stablemates in Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) dispatched Kazuchika Okada and Chaos in tag team action, Chris Jericho rushed the ring and attacked Naito. Although the attack was brief as Jericho was quickly pulled out of the ring, it was such a surprise to see Jericho since everybody thought his deal with New Japan was for just one match with Kenny Omega.

Starting this feud with Naito opens up the possibilities for Jericho to feud with more excellent New Japan talent like Ishii, Ibushi, Tanahashi, and even Okada! It's unbelievable to see the 47 year old Jericho on top of the wrestling world in 2018, but it is well deserved.

Almas and Gargano Steal Royal Rumble Weekend

It is rare to see any match in January eclipse the excellently crafted bouts of NJPW's WrestleKingdom supershow, but WWE did just that with the main event of NXT TakeOver: Philadephia. As the first WWE match in over six years to receive five stars from Dave Meltzer, Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT Championship was nothing short of an instant classic.

Leading up to the match, it felt like such an unlikely main event. Almas had been dwelling in the obscurity of NXT's mid-card for most of his tenure, while Gargano seemed to be in a holding pattern as his feud with former partner Tommaso Ciampa was on hold until Ciampa had healed from injury.

Despite all the baggage these two had coming in, it all melted away when the match started. Almas and Gargano just work so well together as they chain their moves together like no one else in the business. The fast pace and smooth wrestling made the 32-minute long match fly by. When all was said and done, both Almas and Gargano solidified their positions as major players in the WWE for years to come.

Golden Lovers Reunite

Ever since "The American Nightmare" Cody joined Bullet Club at the end of 2016, tensions between him and leader Kenny Omega have been building. Those tensions would come to a head at the end of NJPW's second New Beginning in Sapporo event.

After Omega lost the IWGP U.S. Championship to Jay White in the main event, Cody made his move by hitting a Cross Rhodes on Bullet Club's leader. But before Cody could hit the finishing chair shot on Omega, Kota Ibushi made the save. After dispersing Cody and his fellow Bullet Club usurpers, Ibushi and Omega embraced each other in a surprising reunion of former tag partners.

While many suspected a Bullet Club implosion sometime in 2018, nobody thought it would be this soon. Plus, nobody thought we'd see Omega and Ibushi reunite as the Golden Lovers. Most of the rumour and scuttlebutt surrounding these two centered around them feuding instead of reuniting.

Although the story may end up with them fighting in the end, Omega's current ousting from the Bullet Club and his reunion with Ibushi opens up plenty of intriguing possibilities. Could we see the Golden Lovers vs. the Young Bucks in the not-so-distant future?

Tale of Two Rumbles

The 2018 Royal Rumble was an interesting show. It had arguably one of the best Royal Rumbles of all-time in the men's bout, one of the most disappointing in the first-ever women's bout, and a lot of disappointing finishes and average matches in between. While it was a better than average show, the position of the two Royal Rumble matches and their drastic difference in quality made for an uneven four plus hours.

First up, the men's bout was a high-octane affair with excellent storytelling, fun eliminations (especially Slater's elimination of Sheamus), nice surprise entrants, and an intense final 15 minutes. Its hour plus run time flew by because of how entertaining the match was. And to put the cherry on top, the right wrestler won in Shinsuke Nakamura.

On the flip side, the first-ever Women's Royal Rumble was another misfire in WWE's so-called "Women's Evolution." Although the right woman went over in Asuka, the match was full of sloppy wrestling, focused far too much on the nostalgic entrants, and criminally held its biggest surprise for the post-match theatrics.

Speaking of those post-match theatrics, what an awfully lame way to debut Ronda Rousey. Yes, it was done to protect both her and Asuka, but what was the point of her eclipsing Asuka's moment at the very end of the show? It undermined the preceding match while simultaneously teasing viewers of what we should've had.

In all honesty, I would take Asuka vs. Ronda Rousey as the final two in the Women's Royal Rumble over Rousey cartoonisly pointing at the WrestleMania sign any day.

Must-See Matches of January 

1/4/2018
WrestleKingdom 12
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kushida vs. Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay - Four Way Match
Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - No DQ Match
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito

1/23/2018
205 Live
Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali

1/24/2018
NXT
Johnny Gargano vs. Velveteen Dream

1/27/2018
NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
Aleistar Black vs. Adam Cole - Extreme Rules
Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Johnny Gargano

1/28/2018
New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2
Roppongi 3K vs. The Young Bucks

Royal Rumble
Men's 30-Man Royal Rumble

1/29/2018
Raw
Asuka vs. Sasha Banks

1/31/2018
NXT 
Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Bate - No.1 Contender's Match for the UK Championship