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It genuinely took me by surprise how much I enjoyed it. I always try to put a positive slant on things when they catch me out by being better than I’d perhaps anticipated.

I think it was that so many matches exceeded my expectations. The Trios Tag Match was so much fun (and I had zero interest in it, or those titles in general, as much as I love Nana and they are getting him booked). Athena has been killing it but her vs Sakazaki was hardly a major bout on this card - and they crushed it for their spot. And the Claudio/Eddie main event was fantastic. So nuanced and detailed, with so many beautiful little touches. I could honestly praise it for hours.

And as I said in my review, although I’m a little surprised that TK resisted the urge to pull the trigger on at least one of the ‘feel-good’ title change opportunities (for either Mark or Eddie) I’m really not unhappy that he has enough confidence in his long-term vision and story-telling to turn down the easy booking option. Having sat through the entirety of the Sinclair era where it felt like the ‘easy’ (/lazy) option was picked every time, it felt very refreshing and I’m open-minded enough to see where it leads. (Plus it helps that I love Joe & Claudio in those roles so have no issue with them carrying on).

Super-immobile Tanahashi being carried by Garcia and the totally bizarre Pure Title switch to Shibata still stand out now as low points though!

McXal wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 12:26 pm It genuinely took me by surprise how much I enjoyed it. I always try to put a positive slant on things when they catch me out by being better than I’d perhaps anticipated.

I think it was that so many matches exceeded my expectations. The Trios Tag Match was so much fun (and I had zero interest in it, or those titles in general, as much as I love Nana and they are getting him booked). Athena has been killing it but her vs Sakazaki was hardly a major bout on this card - and they crushed it for their spot. And the Claudio/Eddie main event was fantastic. So nuanced and detailed, with so many beautiful little touches. I could honestly praise it for hours.

And as I said in my review, although I’m a little surprised that TK resisted the urge to pull the trigger on at least one of the ‘feel-good’ title change opportunities (for either Mark or Eddie) I’m really not unhappy that he has enough confidence in his long-term vision and story-telling to turn down the easy booking option. Having sat through the entirety of the Sinclair era where it felt like the ‘easy’ (/lazy) option was picked every time, it felt very refreshing and I’m open-minded enough to see where it leads. (Plus it helps that I love Joe & Claudio in those roles so have no issue with them carrying on).

Super-immobile Tanahashi being carried by Garcia and the totally bizarre Pure Title switch to Shibata still stand out now as low points though!

Amen

Can’t agree with the Shibata win being a low point tbh. I think it fits him well. So far it feels like he’s been more mat/ground based in his wrestling, which we can all agree is ideal for him.