5 COUNT: APRIL 16-30, 2025

1) The Lucha Solos (c) vs. Los Hermanos De La Jungla (Pro Wrestling Revolution: The Gate of Revolution 4/18/25). PWR Tag Title match. Winner: Lucha Solos. Good to see the Panther Bros outside of the confines of DTU--between this match and the one at Hitchcock Memorial, the Aero and Fight got a some good buzz at WrestleMania Weekend. Hopefully, they can parlay that into some more high profile bookings on both sides of the border in the future. It was also nice to see this match really feature Fight Panther. Don't worry Aero got in his usual highlights, springing from rope to rope, flipping all over the place, but Fight got a lot of shine. A couple of bullet suicidas and a big time tope over the rope--got to show his power in a forearm showdown.

I hadn't seen the Lucha Solos before, but they really impressed. A couple of husky luchadores who could still get some good air. Ultimo Maldito was just smacking people in the face, and pulled off that Omega style rolling fireman's carry into a second rope moonsault with ease. Not to be outdone, his brother Divino hit a gorgeous springboard moonsault to the outside. The two had some creative double teams as well including the highlight of the match, Divino giving his brother a top rope head scissor and flinging him onto the Panther for helluva crash.

The match was fast paced, tho never reached that next level. There were a few superckicks that had a little too much light, but overall, a great showcase for both teams. Rating: Rocks

2) The IInspiration vs Kylie Rae & Nicole Matthews (Prestige "Nothing to Lose"4/17/25) Winner: The IInspiration. Solid indie debut for the former IIconics. Don't think the inaugural WWE women's tag champs will be showing up at your local union hall anytime soon, but Cassie Lee and Jessica McKay were pretty game for this special appearance. From their entrance, they showed the still had chemistry with each other and the crowd that made them a staple of the midcard during a fondly remembered time in NXT. Their fun personalities, good looks and surprising comic chops outweighed their in ring prowess, but they were always good enough workers. After a three year absence from wrestling, they could have taken their nostalgia pop and headed home, but they worked a well paced and nicely laid out match. It wasn't highly ambitious and their kicks were Charmin soft, but it looked like they were having fun out there and were letting the crowd in on it.

A lot of credit goes to their Rae and Matthews for making this look as good as it did. Matthews especially knew her role—upping the level of physicality to help keep the illusion of fight, rolling her eyes and mocking her opponents--giving GFTO vibes. Rae did her part in the ring, but everything else was disconnected. Her running storyline in Prestige is the bubbly babyface has been on a losing streak, and slowly working more heel. It's not a bad idea as Rae's cutesy persona feels close to the expiration date and a evolution in her character is hopefully on the horizon. Still-there are better ways of doing this than literally telling the crowd "I'm a Bad Guy Now". Rae has signed WWE ID contract, so perhaps Papa H can rummage up a Cora Jade's old leather jacket.

In the end, this was the IInspiration's night--taking the victory with a two man slam Rating: Warm FM soft Rocks.

3) Ninja Mack vs. Mascara Dorada (WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow 4/17/25) Winner: Mascara Dorada. Solid match--both guys showed up if neither showed out. Interesting contrast-you got Dorada, 23 years old, great build, cool gear--one look and you can see why this dude is the heir apparent to Mistico. While the Hitchcock Memorial is one of the bigger shows during Wrestlemania Weekend, the crowd is still 1/10 of the audience Dorado performs for every Friday night. Still he seemed game, put in some effort if not a epic--a couple of big high spots to pop the crowd (a crucifix bomb into a face buster, a crowd leaping cross body from the entrance stage to the floor). It was also good to see him show a little personality and enaging the crowd--if yer gonna try to replace Mistico--this is the stuff he needs to master. CMLL has a surplus of good to great workers--it's Mistico's aura and connection with the crowd that has set him apart.

On the other side of the ring there is Ninja Mack—a little older, a little stockier, his threads giving Halloween costume. After years of working GCW and Dragongate, it looks like he secured a midcard spot in New Japan's junior division. Still, when this match was done, he impressed me the most. Creative work, so fluid and smooth handspring across the ring or landing on his feet after a top rope hurricanrana. Even tho the big moves led to him crashing and burning for a loss, it still got a "goddamn" out of my mouth.

Hard to complain about what we got-but it felt like a 10 minute tease for something bigger. Rating: Rocks.

4) "Hangman" Adam Page vs Kyle Fletcher (AEW Dynamite 4/30/25) Owen Hart Tournament Semi-Final. Winner: Page. It feels good to see AEW being bold again. The promotion has been in a weird place since the first All In London in 2023. That event felt less like a launching point to a new era and more like a grand finale. There was a vibe that AEW hadn't "finished the story". Practically all the Day 1 narratives and questions, both inside and outside the ring, had been answered and resolved. They had reached the peak, and the decline seemed inevitable. The descent was hastened by CM Punk, after months of searching, finally locating Tony Khan's last straw. Throw in MJF's baby face run that while not disastrous, its WWE/John Cena esque presentation seemed antithetical to the idea AEW was based upon.

In 2024, the company played it safe. It was still a quality product, but safe is a bad look for a challenger brand. It was a year a giving well deserved flowers; a championship run for Samoa Joe, a proper send off for Sting, dream matches for Bryan Danielson, a Nigel McGuinness return to the ring, Adam Copeland working a one off lucha style match. Instead of giving us a fresh future, it seemed like AEW was trying to re-write wrestling's pre AEW past, giving the fans the history it should of had. This wasn't necessarily bad, in fact a lot of it was quite good. Still it felt more like fan fiction than something new and original.

There were some bright spots; the ascension of Swerve, the arrival of Ospreay. However both those pushes felt like they were bred in captivity, that the leash was on, to be observed from a safe distance, instead of being released in the wild and welcoming the danger. This year however-the danger is back and this match is a prime example. Two of AEW's big guns going head to head on free teevee; the winner getting Ospreay at the Double or Nothing PPV.

It would have been easy to manipulate the Owen Hart tournament to avoid giving a loss to either guy. It would have been easy to have a dirty finish giving Fletcher the win, and protect Hangman. Why not? Ospreay and Fletcher just finished a great program--run it back and don't worry about splitting the crowd with face vs face contest. Or better yet, how bout a triple threat match? That is safe thinking--fuck that in 2025 AEW!

Instead we got a clean classic match with Page coming out on top. This was just filled quick hard strikes and blunt force trauma.Somehing to be felt, not merely appreciated. Fletcher lost nothing but the match--looked great, not slowing down a bit after getting a big gash in his back early on. Page looked revitalized--he's got that fight back in him, and so does AEW. Rating: Roast!

5) Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena (WWE WRESTLEMANIA 41 4/20/25) Undisputed WWE Title Match. Winner: Cena. The Reason for the Season! While my interest in WWE is currently at an all time low and I'm not a big fan of either guy, I was intrigued when this match was announced. Cena and Rhodes may have their flaws, but the grander the stage, the two have historically lived up to the moment. Rhodes has always been the definition of extra--always doing the most for whether the match warranted it or not (dude did a fire spot for lukewarm tv feud with Andrade.) Cena may be definitive example of "sports entertainment", but "Big Match Jon" moniker is more than just branding--with the right opponent he can put in a classic.

So it was a surprise that this match was so lackluster, so empty. It was neither guy's finest hour, but the majority of the blame falls on Cena's shoulders. His indifferent and apathetic heel character gave Cody nothing to work with—all of Cena's resentment is directed toward the fans, not Rhodes. The match did not feel personal motivated, and weirdly, with a record breaking 17th world championship on the line, Cena never seemed professionally motivated either.

I can have some respect for the commitment to character work, but there was no excuse for his in ring work. Even in his prime, no one was going mistake Cena for Misawa, but at least the effort was there. Here however--almost none of his offense had any zip, no illusion of physicality. This led to Cody leaning into oneof his worst traits--overdramatic selling. Case in point, Cena had Cody in a headlock, making no effort to give it any semblance of pressure and Cody is flailing like he's sinking in quicksand. Cody tried to add some energy on his comebacks, but Cena seemed out of position for every cutter and kick.

To be fair, the match did pick up some momentum two thirds of the way in with Cena delivering some good AA's. That all came to a screeching halt when Travis Scott made his appearance and molasses strolled to the ring. (if there was ever a time to bring back the Brandi spear, this was it). Boring shenanigans and a belt shot later, and we got a new champ. Complete disappointment. Rating: Rent