7 Ups & 3 Downs From IMPACT Wrestling (18 Nov)

1. Five Stars If It Were In The Tokyo Dome

Christ, Josh Alexander vs. Minoru Suzuki far exceeded the already exceptionally high standards set for itself.

It was everything a pay-per-view main event required, given away on free television by, of all companies, IMPACT Wrestling. Tell that to yourself five years ago and you'll have a chuckle. Hell, even one year ago, it was impossible. Now, it's a regularity.

The match very much fit the traditional New Japan standard in that stiff blows to the face and chest were frequent features of the match. Suzuki, at one point, laughed at Alexander's attempts to wind him, but as time progressed, it was Josh's strikes that came with more ferocity behind them. In fitting with his current character arc, Alexander kept his emotions in check, didn't get overwhelmed with trying to do good by his family (his wife, Jade Chung, was front row), and narrowly avoided a Gotch-style Piledriver. A C4Spike followed not long after.

Josh Alexander pinned Minoru Suzuki clean. He's getting his proper World Title run. Just not yet.

This is a case of trusting IMPACT Wrestling. They wouldn't waste a year of building up Josh Alexander post-North, just to throw it all away in Moose's favour. There's something more to this, and this match did a damn good job in justifying that.

A superlative display of professional wrestling.