What's new, defenders of delusive disagreements!
Welcome, one and all, to the 10th edition of...
The Weekly Watchlist Wrestling Roulette!
Yes, dear reader, it's back! The once-every-10-weeks tradition continues! We've reached 10 instances of Wrestling Roulette and 100 total Weekly Watchlists! Man, what a milestone. First off, I'd like to thank my mo- oh, it's not one of those occasions? Oh, my bad.
I didn't have anything big planned for this roulette, saving a big post for my upcoming 2 year special, opting instead to let the RNG gods decide my fate once again this week.
So, what did they spin up for me? Read on and find out!
Here's the rules for Wrestling Roulette;
1: I am allowed to pick 5 matches of my own from the list/not on the list I want to watch.
2: I am allowed as many rerolls as necessary until I land on a match I have not watched yet.
3: I am allowed 3 rerolls total if I land on a match I do not want to watch.
4: I am allowed to skip a match for free if it is too difficult to find or exists behind a paywall I do not want to pay for.
5: Wrestling matches can still be watched if they are not going to be up for consideration for a Wrestling Roulette review.
So, with the rules out of the way, here's what I watched for the week;
Facelift
So, you guys like the new look? Yeah?
Look, I'll be blunt, I really struggle with HTML. I did need to bend the ear of some AI bots, much to my chagrin, but over the course of an hour of reading and processing, I started to figure out what they were spitting out to me and was able to do some customizing and personalizing aside from what they spit out to me.
That aside, I felt like the blog needed a bit of a facelift, an updated look. Sure, I could have waited a few weeks and rolled this out at the two year anniversary, but post 100 felt like a good spot to roll out these changes. I may keep tweaking them as time goes on, but right now, I'm pretty pleased with how I've got things formatted.
I'd like to thank my silly lil' friend Rick for creating a blog, making his posts look much prettier than mine, and telling me "yeah, it's easy, just start with a div" when I asked how he got his posts to look the way they did. Whatever that meant. Thank you, amigo.
| Match | Show | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Daiki Inaba | NOAH N-1 Victory 2023 - Day 4 | 08/11/2023 |
| Jerry Lawler vs. Nick Bockwinkel - Title Vs. Hair No Disqualification | CWA | 11/08/1982 |
| Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin | NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 In Tokyo Dome | 01/04/2016 |
| Alex Shelley vs. Senshi vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Tiger Mask | TNA Sacrifice 2007 | 05/13/2007 |
| Ruckus vs. Nick Gage - Barbed Wire Boards Death Match | CZW Ultraviolent Tournament Of Death III | 07/24/2004 |
• • • • •
 |
| Poised, coiled, and ready. NOAH |
Bell To Bell
I'll be honest, I have watched very little NOAH, which nay come as a surprise to many, considering it's Misawa's home promotion after he defected from AJPW in the early 2000's and Timothy Thatcher has been a regular for the past few years. You'd think it would be perfect for me! But, alas, a lot of NOAH slips through my fingers, honestly, and I've forgotten that it's even around in the modern era. It seemed to have some sort of working relationship with WWE for a while there, with Omos becoming GHC Tag Team Champion with Jack Morris as Team 2000X for a brief 24 days in 2025, but that partnership really went nowhere. So NOAH just kinda exists in the same bracket as modern AJPW for me, I sometimes remember its around, may watch a show from time to time, but it's not really on my radar enough to know what's gong on.
I will say this, however, if NOAH is pumping out matches like this one on the regular, I may just consider watching it more often. I like their presentation and style, with little graphics to give some key info on everyone in the match and a clean look and feel to everything. Despite the canvas and ring being littered with ads, they don't really distract like... another certain promotion's do. But hey, that's just me.
Right from the get go, Nakajima and Inaba are taking it to each other with heavy strikes and strong holds, with a lariat from Inaba destroying Nakajima quickly in the early minutes of this match. I know Japan is famous for it's strong style of matches and wrestling, but these guys decided that they wouldn't hold anything back from the jump. I really enjoyed what both men got up to here, both impressing in their own ways. Both his hard and fought back harder the whole match, with a heavy strike exchange, German suplex, penalty kick, and a final slap to the face leading to a sweet double down moment.
There were a few near falls in this match that had me, including a delayed Tiger suplex, with me being completely clueless to each man's finish only making the ending stretch more interesting and exciting. In the end, a good 'ol brainbuster sealed the deal for Nakajima.
 |
| Brainbustaaaaa! NOAH |
Match Time: 13:35
This match delivered in all the right ways. It was the right length, hard hitting and exciting. I thoroughly enjoyed the effort both men put into this contest and made me want to keep an eye on them for the future. Great stuff.
• • • • •
 |
| Filmed on a sweet potato. CWA |
Bell To Bell
Digging deep into the archives here for this roulette spin, this is one of the very few Jerry Lawler matches I've seen, actually! Despite being a multi-time champion with a career spanning multiple decades, Lawler has eluded a lot of my viewing. Maybe it's a Memphis thing, with tapes being hard to track down or find in decent quality, I dunno, but this was far and away the most Lawler I've seen so far. Bockwinkel, on the other hand, I've seen a few matches of, but this is also his Watchlist debut! I could have sworn he made an appearance with a Hennig match, but apparently not!
The stip behind this match is pretty simple, title vs hair, with Bockwinkel putting his AWA Southern Heavyweight Title on the line in this match. Lawler spends a lot of this match getting his ass absolutely handed to him, with Bock poking his eyes, punching and kicking him in the corner, and wearing him down on the floor as well. Maybe it's a style thing that I'm not as familiar with, being more familiar with wrestling post 1990, maybe it's a southern thing, with this taking place in Lawler's home of Memphis (is that the south? I'm Canadian, everything is south of me), but Lawler getting his ass beat for the majority of this and looking like a totally limp noodle was not what I was expecting.
I mean, honestly, his comeback is a limp headbutt to Bock's gonads after getting out of a pin. Bock begs off from there as Lawler starts to wear him down with punches, his comeback swift and impactful. There's not a lot as far as "wrestling" in this match, a snapmare is about as close as we get to an actual "wrestling" move being performed, until Lawler's piledriver gets a 2 off a rope break. The rest is punch, kick, stomp, and sell. Again, there's probably a disconnect here, with commentary trying to fill in the gaps for the story, but it really just comes down to Bock being dirty and wanting to wear out Lawler.
We get some bleeding from Lawler before we go back to the floor, the brawl clearing a sturdy table at ringside and a rope standard being used to jab at the gut of a downed Lawler. It's easily 70/30 or even 80/20 Bockwinkel, which I guess is the standard heel/face forumla for these old southern territories, because when Lawler comes back, he wails on Bockwinkel, and Bock sells like a demon. We're treated to a pair of Lawler's signature top rope fist drops, with the second keeping Bockwinkel down for the final three. Everyone's hair is intact, and Lawler is your new AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion.
 |
Match Time: 15:45
Again, it's probably a generational, territorial, or stylistic disconnect for me, but this match just didn't click. Lawler's constant selling was fine, but I'd have wanted maybe just a bit more of him on top than what we got. Bockwinkel looked dangerous throughout and kept his challenger down, and wasn't afraid to sell like death once Lawler got on offence. A fine match from both men.
• • • • •
 |
| Lethal Power. NJPW |
Bell To Bell
It's kinda weird, watching this match so many years later. I mean, it's been 10 years and these two are in such different points in their careers. Lethal is all but retired at this point, being more of a cornerman in AEW than anything else. Elgin, on the other hand, may as well be retired, the allegations made against him during the 2020 #SpeakingOut movement, legal troubles in Japan, and being blackballed from most of the indies in America have led to him having just around 60 matches in the last 6 years, being out of action since 2024. I don't want this to take away from the match, because this match was fun! But it's just interesting to look at where these guys were positioned 10 years ago vs now. Importance and prominence to semi-retirement and being disgraced.
Lethal walks into this match the ROH World Champion, back when that title still meant something. They work this in a real good blend of styles, with it being easy to argue that there isn't a whole lot different from a NJPW Junior Heavyweight style and ROH's signature style, when you really boil it down. Lethal is blazingly quick and precise, while Elgin is built up as a human brick wall, someone that takes real effort and persistence to take down. Yet another match that suits the "styles make matches" argument, Lethal dances circles around Elgin but gets tossed around and flattened just the same when he does get caught.
They have several exciting near falls that, if I didn't know to expect this match to go a good distance, would have tricked me into thinking things would be over quick. I really enjoyed how well these two worked together, honestly. with Elgin able to use his power to turn Lethal inside out on a few occasions, nearly putting him away with a massive gutwrench top rope driver, but Lethal managed to survive. Even after a buckle bomb, Lethal is able to use his manager, Truth Martini's "Book of Truth" to avoid the Elgin bomb. Seconds later, the Lethal Injection takes Elgin out of the match for the count of three.
 |
| Get injected, dummy. NJPW |
Match Time: 12:00
Not overstaying it's welcome, this match did everything it needed to do in just a touch over 10 minutes. Both men worked really well against one another and were able to blend their styles in a way that really complimented each other well.
• • • • •
 |
| A fantastic lineup. TNA |
Bell To Bell
A unique four way match showcasing TNA's exceptional X Division, this one involves tags, keeping two men in the ring with two men on the apron. Anyone can tag in anyone at any time, so it's a free-form tag team match, of sorts. There's no pair of guys that wants to try and isolate or wear down a single or other pair of guys, everyone wants in at some point to try and win the match, so it brings a unique level of strategy and planning to a match that would otherwise be pretty chaotic, with 4 moving pieces in the ring at all times.
It's also really interesting to see who is in this match. Alex Shelly as a singles is really fun, a few years away from forming one of the most influential tag teams of the 2000's and early 2010's in the Motor City Machine Guns. The ECW expat Jerry Lynn is still able to have quick and exciting matches despite being in the twilight of his career, arguably. Senshi, better known as Low-Ki, is quick and brutal, living up to his questionable reputation of being a less-than-safe worker but always managing to excite the crowd. And finally, there's Tiger Mask, the fourth man to take on the legendary moniker, who still wrestles in the mask to this day! It's fun to see a New Japan "legend" (this being his 12th year in the business) in the ring here with these guys, adding an extra bit of flair and fun to an already fun match type.
To the surprise of none, this match moves art a blistering pace, all four men quick and nimble on their feet and given just a hair more than 10 minutes to step inside the 6 sided ring and wow the crowd. I mean, nothing in here is exceptional or worthy of being remembered for decades to come, honestly, but they were all in top form and worked really well with one another. They spend a lot of the early bit trying to tie each other up in holds, eventually moving into a quicker middle and ending sprint, the pace quickening as they land quick strikes and precise aerial moves.
Jerry Lynn was honestly the linchpin of this match, working with everyone either one-on-one or being the anchor of a lot of the multi-man moments. The finish revolved around Lynn being trapped on the top rope, with Shelly, Senshi, and Tiger Mask all coming after him in a revolving door of attackers. In the end, Shelly survives and fends off Tiger Mask, nearly pulling Lynn down for a headscissors and a pin, but Lynn rolls through and gets the win instead! Excellent and exciting finish.
 |
| So close! TNA |
Match Time: 10:45
Now this is a match that did not overstay it's welcome. In and out in the amount of time it takes to make yourself a coffee, with quick and exciting action to keep you hooked for as long as the match is on your TV. As an exhibition of the X Division, something that was a highlight of TNA for almost it's entire existence, this match does exactly what it set out to do. Fantastic work.
• • • • •
 |
| Some real animosity here. CZW |
Bell To Bell
On paper, this match should be loads of fun! But if there's one thing my brief stint covering CZW for Three Ring Circus, it's to keep your expectations for CZW very, very, very low. This match has a painfully slow start, with Ruckus staying outside the ring for several minutes before getting in to confront Gage. I mean, with the "skill" of both men in this match, I expected this to be something awesome! Ruckus is one of the best indie guys of the 2000's, full stop, and Gage, despite being early in his career here, could more than hold his own in these deathmatch style matches. But man, this kinda sucked.
The match wasn't atrocious by any means, but it never got out of first gear. It's like the gear shift just got stuck in transition to second, and they could never quite force it over that hump. The fact that this match barely squeezes over the 5 minute mark doesn't help it either, with Ruckus spending a lot of the early moments of this match getting a chair cracked across his back. There seems to be some real animosity here, which there very well could have been, with both men selling their hatred for each other really well. Ruckus wants nothing to do with Gage, and Gage just wants to beat the snot out of Ruckus.
My favourite moment was when Gage use a thumb tack covered rubber chicken to beat on Ruckus. It lasts about as long as that sentence took to write, so don't seek out this match for that moment alone, it's really not worth it. Things start to feel like they're moving in the right direction when they get back in the ring, with Ruckus flipping around Gage for a moment before the weapons come back into the equation.
The entire point of this show is that each match is a death match with a different weapon or gimmick involved, with this match being a "Barbed Wire Boards Death Match." So, naturally, there are barbed wire boards in the ring. Ruckus does a swanton onto a board-covered Gage, getting a bit of colour from the barbed wire, but nothing in this match is overly gory. Ruskus' razzle dazzle is avoided, leaving Ruckus to land ass first in a barbed wire board in the corner, with the finish coming after Gage powerbombs Ruckus into a board in the middle of the ring.
 |
| Yeah, that's gotta suck. CZW |
Match Time: 7:20
Barely getting out of first gear, this match did very little to please in its short time. It was hard hitting and had some fun moments that saved it from a worse rating, but there was very little going on in this match to attract attention or meaningful discussion.
• • • • •
Well, there we go, 100 weeks down. Crazy how fast the time has gone. Feels like only a week ago I was playing around with the idea of a blog and now I'm 100 posts deep. I don't yet have anything special planned for my 2 year post, but I'm sure I'll think of something.
Until next week. Be well, stay safe, and love one another.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
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