Konosuke Takeshita vs. Shinya Aoki (DDT, 9/1/19)

Great stuff. Takeshita working barefoot sets the stage and Aoki goes in hard after the left arm, which Takeshita does a good job of selling. Subtle touches like him keeping it behind his back as he goes in for a single arm lock up, or trying for the octopus hold and Aoki seizing on the opportunity to snag the arm and continue working it. A very real sense of struggle throughout. At one point, Takeshita clobbers him with the big elbow to buy some time, and then Aoki taunts him outside of the ring only for Takeshita to bite and get caught in a Fujiwara armbar on the floor. Some neat counters, including Takeshita countering the front necklock with the Northern Lights suplex, and the only real big impact moves were a couple German suplexes and a brainbuster. I like that it takes Takeshita a bit to get the crab hold fully locked in on account of the bum left arm but when he really cranks it, it's a convincingly strong finish. Simple but effective and smartly worked. My kind of match structure.

Josh Barnett vs. Chris Dickinson (GCW, 9/14/19)

I'm not that familiar with Chris Dickinson but he looked okay here - his grappling is whatever but Barnett did a good job of giving him enough to create the illusion. Some of his kicks looked good and they came off more like cheap shots to stun Barnett, who clearly had the advantage on the mat. Good escalation into some shoot suplexes, including a very cool deadlift German from Dickinson and some nasty follow-up kicks, which leads to the finishing stretch and Barnett putting him away with a gutwrench powerbomb>knees>head kick combo. It didn't hit the same highs as Barnett/Suzuki but still a very good match.

Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Shuhei Taniguchi (NOAH, 11/2/19)

Short, brutal and a total blast. Shuhei smacking Fujita on the ropes and shrugging it off was top-notch, right before punt kicking him and planting him with an apron backdrop. Tons of big strikes, including a big blood-bursting headbutt, with an incredible visual of a crimson faced Shuhei no selling a Death Valley Driver so he can continue elbowing Fujita. And then Fujita's finishing run looked brutal, between the big open hands, the folding powerbomb, the punt kicks, and a final choke sleeper.

Takuya Nomura vs. Fuminori Abe (BASARA, 11/26/19)

A 10+ minute slugger with tons of cool stuff you'd expect to see between two spunky astronauts. A little grapple action, plenty of cheeky shots, some neat counters and transitions from Abe - love his dragon screw legwhip and his simple transition into the front necklock. Of course, the fakeout slaps are great, too. Nomura's real shitty to Abe on the ground and throws plenty of suplexes, including a gnarly half nelson that Abe no sells. They ramp up the baseball punches and headbutts during the finishing stretch, until Nomura slaps off an attempt, dragon suplexes Abe and KOs him with the high kick. Nothing fancy, nothing bloated -- just two friends wrasslin' and kicking the shit out of each other.

Josh Barnett's Bloodspot (GCW, 4/4/19)

Jonathan Gresham vs. Masashi Takeda

Takeda is soaking it all up and it's a blast to watch. He outwrestles Gresham in the opening exchange, headbutts the floor, and picks a fight with Gresham, whom I haven't seen much of, but clicked well with Takeda, who can do everything when it comes to professional wrestling. The last few minutes encapsulate the pro-wrestling love -- crazy slaps and flying armbars out of nowhere, pounding away at bloody eyeballs and a KO finish that looked like a KO finish. Can't think of a better sprint in 2019. 

Hideki Suzuki vs. Timothy Thatcher

A very good match, with Hideki's control and/or fighting for control being the best part of it, as Thatcher works sell well underneath. Slow build but a hot finish. Suzuki's shitty boots, face kicks and elbows alway look so insane, and Thatcher can cut loose when he wants to - that Hideki sell off the European uppercut was especially great. Super strong finish for Hideki, who comes into U.S. looking like a master.  

Minoru Suzuki vs. Josh Barnett

The early tradeoffs on the mat were very good, and the cool little Suzuki nuances added to them - I really liked his punch to set-up the leglock. And Barnett's good at throwing his weight into the exchanges - him tossing Suzuki like a sack of potatoes to get out of that snug side headlock was great. When Suzuki is forced to wrestle, he's still top-notch. His transition into the crucifix kneebar was slick. But the match stumbles a bit following the piledriver tease and doesn't have nearly the same chaos factor at Takeda/Gresham until they're wildly slapping each other to a draw. The highs are high enough and it's probably Suzuki's best singles performance of the year. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Timothy Thatcher (wXw, 3/9/19)

Loved this. Ishikawa is so fucking good, and he looked like he was right there in his primal element, having fun torturing Thatcher on the mat. Obviously Thatcher takes a lot of inspiration from Ishikawa and while Thatcher is very good at preparing to grab a hold or building up a submission attempt, his execution is nowhere near as snug as Ishikawa's. Thatcher's selling adds extra spice but the way Ishikawa cranks on an ankle, digs into a headlock, or wrenches on an armbar looks like hell. Each time you think Thatcher's got something crafty going on the mat, Ishikawa one-ups him and traps him in a hold. And I loved Ishikawa's do-si-do of limbwork to keep Thatcher from breaking the hold. Thatcher getting outclassed on the mat and resorting to strikes is great stuff and leads to some very snug shots from both men, a couple throws, and then the finish, which sees Ishikawa best him like a true big boss.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan (wXw, 10/6/19)

The nuts and bolts of professional wrestling. Simple, effective, hard-hitting and competitive, without being self-indulgent. Tons of nuances - I mean, Oney works a hell of a side headlock and keeps going back to the neck throughout the match duration. At one point, Thatcher is popping Lorcan in the face with boots to escape a single leg but Lorcan turns it into a modified STF anyway. The way Oney uses a slap to transition back to the side headlock was a real slick, veteran maneuver. Likewise, the way Thatcher uses his boot to try and break off an armbar is a nice touch. The selling was realistic, from Oney taking the belly-to-belly, to the way Thatcher kept his neck bent after taking a surprise half nelson suplex, and him still grabbing at Oney when he goes down off a big slap to the face. I thought the KO shoulder slap finish wasn't that strong compared to some of the earlier shots but still, a very cool match-up well worth checking out.