death.monster

2026 Recommended Matches

2026-12-31T00:00:00Z

2026 recommended matchlist in chronological order. Match must be scored at 4+.

Watanabe d. Suzume ★★★★¼
TJPW · New Year Princess · Jan 4
Okada d. Tanahashi ★★★★¼
NJPW · WK20 · Jan 4
MJF d. Rush ★★★★
AEW · Dynamite · Mar 6
Hanan d. Rina ★★★★
Stardom · Cinderella Tournament Final · Mar 15
Mascara Dorada d. Yutani ★★★★
CMLL · Martes Populares · Mar 31
Spark Rush d. Endo/Yamashita ★★★★½
TJPW · Grand Princess · Mar 29
Knockout Bros. d. Oiwa/Sabre Jr. ★★★★¼
NJPW · Sakura Genesis · Apr 4
Shiozaki d. Anzai ★★★★
AJPW · Champion Carnival Night 1 · Apr 12
Takeshita d. Okada ★★★★½
AEW · Double or Nothing · May 24
Allin d. PAC ★★★★
AEW · Collision: Fairway to Hell · May 9
Soberano Jr. d. Komander ★★★★
CMLL · Viernes Espectacular · Jun 5
Haste d. Endo ★★★★
NOAH · Legacy Rise · Jun 25
Tankman d. Jay ★★★★
St. Louis Anarchy · Circus Maximus · Jul 24
Omega d. Knight ★★★★
AEW · Redemption · Jul 26
Sareee d. Momono ★★★★★
Marvelous · Aug 8
Oiwa d. Uemura ★★★★★
NJPW · G1 Climax 26 Final · Aug 16
Connelly d. Holliday ★★★★
St. Louis Anarchy · Who Wants to Live Forever? · Aug 28
Mone d. Nightengale ★★★★½
AEW · All In London · Aug 30
Ospreay d. Omega ★★★★¼
AEW · All In London · Aug 30
Mako d. Bosby ★★★★
PRODUCE/Action · DEAN: Sunday School! · Sep 13
Malenko d. Low Ki ★★★★¼
PRODUCE/Action · DEAN: Sunday School! · Sep 13
Slade d. Connelly ★★★★
PRODUCE/Action · DEAN: Sunday School! · Sep 13
Soberano Jr. d. Bandido ★★★★
CMLL · 93 Anniversario · Sep 18
Spark Rush d. Hazuki/VENY ★★★★¼
Sareee-ISM · Chapter XII · Sep 18
Strickland/New Level d. Page/Brodido ★★★★
AEW · All Out · Sep 26
Ospreay d. Ricochet ★★★★½
AEW · Dynamite: A Tribute to PAC · Sep 30
Danielson/Castagnoli/Garcia/Kidd/Yuta d. Doyle/Alexander/Archer/Davis/Wardlow ★★★★½
AEW · Dynamite: A Tribute to PAC · Sep 30
Mone d. Aminata ★★★★
AEW · Grand Slam France · Oct 6
Ospreay d. Okada ★★★★
AEW · Grand Slam France · Oct 6
Tsuji d. Oiwa ★★★★¾
NJPW · King of Pro Wrestling · Oct 12
Moxley d. Davis ★★★★¼
AEW · WrestleDream · Oct 17

Helen - Linda's Head

2026-10-05T00:00:00Z

Listen to Linda's Head, by Helen on Bandcamp

I don't really follow music news so the new album from Liz Harris of Grouper fame's old side project band Helen showing up in my Apple Music was a real surprise. Helen's first album was a really underrated piece of janglegaze, very different from most of Harris's output as Grouper at the time. I liked The Original Faces just fine but I can't say I've thought about it much since it came out.

Like the first Helen album, Linda's Head gets into its ideas quickly. This is not a psych album, it does not overstay its welcome with 10 tracks in 31 minutes. Unlike The Original Faces, Linda's Head feels like a great batch of songs that needed to get out, not just a grouping of quality dream pop experiments.

The gorgeous "Starline" feels like a classic lo-fi indie track from the 90s, the loping "darkblue" an outtake from a Slowdive session. Grouper's work tends to be quite dark but some of these songs such as the rattling "Dead shark II" feels like a joyous ode to The Clean.

Helen was not a return I was expecting much from but the band's sense of purpose seems so much stronger than on the original LP, I'm genuinely hoping for some momentum for new work and not another 11 year wait until a new album.

Recommended

deep glens - carver

2026-10-05T00:00:00Z

Listen to carver, by deep glens on Bandcamp

deep glens first came to my attention last summer when he opened for Autechre in St. Louis. I found his IDM rooted in a lot of the custom software Max/MSP methods as Autechre to be appealing enough where I purchased his 2022 LP earn grips at the show and enjoyed it several more times over the fall and winter.

earn grips is a slice of minimal IDM focused around novel layering of disparate loops. the sequel, carver, shows Bullion mastering tape manipulation techniques to further push his ideas into richer and more complex territory.

While his debut LP was texturally fascinating, with strong compositional interplay, there was not a lot in the way of forward melody, it was more a series of moods. carver is more synth oriented and its melodies are tuneful and beautiful. "music camp with the kid from montecello" sounds like the outside of a dance club at 2 a.m. "coin machine"'s twinkling melody reminded me of the glorious synths of early Autechre.

"guire sleepover" might be my favorite composition of deep glens. there are three interlocking parts that stumble over each other over rich pad sweeps, like an Orbital song trying and failing to be born. the gentle synth massage "fisher fading" is proof that Bullion has a lot to say outside glitchy rhythm pieces.

I wonder whether the move to more physical forms of composition with tape caused Bullion to be more selective or mindful of the loops he uses but whatever it is, carver is the step forward you'd hope to see out of a promising young artist.

Recommended

PAC v. Darby Allin - No Count Outs for the AEW World Championship - AEW Collison: Fairway to Hell

2026-10-04T00:00:00Z

In honor of the wrestling talent of Benjamin "PAC" Satterley after his tragic and sudden death at age 40, I wanted to take a look back at PAC's final AEW World Championship match against Darby Allin on the May 9th, 2026 episode of AEW Collision: Fairway to Hell.

A key aspect to AEW's resurgance since 2025 has been better vibes, especially on Collision. The single biggest aspect of this to me is the embrace of unusual venues. In the deepest pit of post-Punk AEW, putting 1400 in a basketball arena that could fit six-to-eight-thousand was providing a low-rent and low-energy environment. Tony Khan came up with an idea a bit more clever than just moving to smaller buildings, which is considering the MOST interesting buildings you might be able to work if you simply don't consider seating 800 a non-starter.

Fairway to Hell is one of those shows, taking place in the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, a building for the TMRW Golf League, an indoor live golf/e-sports hybrid thing the PGA sponsors with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. It's trying to make TopGolf into some shit you watch.

The important part is that it's a modern e-sports type production arena:

And it's also a golf course:

Darby and PAC had a hot recent history and their matches involved high levels of brutal violence.

Watch “AEW Full Gear HIGHLIGHTS: Darby Allin vs PAC! | 2025” on YouTube

Watch “Darby Allin vs PAC: MATCH HIGHLIGHTS | AEW Dynamite, 1/14/26” on YouTube

Now I'm going to assume you are a thinking person and not insult your intelligence by pointing out that we are in a no count outs match and are making strong efforts to remind everyone of the space. Sometimes you don't have to be that clever in wrestling, you just need to give the people what they want.

Immediately Allin rolls out of the ring and takes the long walk around the gates back to the course, taunting PAC at the edge of the bunker. Perhaps considering revenge for PAC's previous pre-match obliteration of Allin on an early year's Dynamite, Allin wants to take advantage of the lack of count outs to fight in the environment. They immediately lock up above the bunker and start throwing only haymakers.

The boys really get into the yardiness of this match by of course taking a bunch of big bumps in the bunker.

PAC gains the edge after a belly-to-belly suplex and performs the Brutalizer in the trap. The match cannot be decided out here though, this is not falls count anywhere. It has to go back to the ring. A commercial break follows that was not on the tape. By the time the match PAC is tying Allin's neck chain to the tag rope.

PAC is blasting Allin with huge damage moves. His long-setup running lariat is a misstep and Allin recovers enough to trip PAC, allowing Darby to spring in behind for the Scorpion Death Drop. A near-fall and Allin tries to head to the turnbuckle. He's slow enough for PAC to recover and deliver this rather brutal looking avalanche falcon arrow:

Darby is able to kick out and roll from the ring to recover. PAC follows and sets up a table to splash onto Allin. Again the long setup kills PAC and by the time he's in the air for the 450, Allin has exited the scene, sending PAC crashing through the table alone.

Darby recovers enough to toss PAC back in the ring where he applies the Scorpion Death Lock, the same move PAC tapped to in January. The stakes of this one are too high and PAC crawls to the ropes. Now Shafir, Garcia, and Yuta are out, mostly to annoy the ref and distract Allin's attention. He is indeed distracted enough for PAC to attack his blindside, setting up a tombstone on the ring stairs, incapacitating Allin for whatever is next.

Yuta and Garcia's actual purpose is now made clear—they are the construction crew. These Bob the Builder bitches start constructing a table altar in the entrance. PAC, unwilling to finish the match instead of using his lemmings' device hauls Allin on his shoulders for the long march up the stairs to the second deck. A commercial cut missing on tape later, Shafir, Referee Stephon Smith, PAC, and Allin are in the stands above the entrance. Unable to effectively defend against PAC, Allin gets yooted through the tables below.

Only because it takes forever to manage to get the corpse of Darby Allin into the ring after this, with PAC having to go the long way back around and down the stairs despite his urgency to do so, does Darby actually kick out of the pin attempt. PAC seems sort of lost at this point on what to do. The Blowjob Brothers distract Stephon again with a chair while Marina slides PAC the title. Darby however summons enough fighting spirit to pop to his feet, boot PAC straight in the dick, then blast him with the procured title. Coffin drop and 1, 2, 3.

Hilarious match, the sort of thing a kid thinks of when thinking of the craziest spots possible and these guys went out and performed it.

Rating ★★★★☆

In Memoriam Ben "PAC" Satterley

PAC was a generational talent of the current era, often referred to as your favorite wrestler's favorite wrestler. His death just one day after his final match on AEW's All Out PPV was shocking and incomprehensible in the same way Eddie Guererro's, another generational talent suddenly struck down in his prime, was.

One thing you hear over and over from his peers was that PAC was a bridge to Japan for a lot of modern talent whose careers were largely defined by Japan such as the Young Bucks, Zack Sabre Jr., and Ricochet. He is foundational to the current era. PAC was instrumental in driving PWG's early buzz online. He was arguably the biggest standout of the black and gold NXT era and was half of the best feud and best match of NXT against his longtime frenemy Sami Zayn (f.k.a. El Generico).

This is what Triple H took from you.

Also the NXT match:

Watch “FULL MATCH: Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn | NXT Title Match: NXT TakeOver R Evolution” on YouTube

These boys were nuts:

He was then the focus of the last genuinely good piece of WWE programming, 205 Live, a show built around the momentum from the aptly named Cruiserweight Classic. He later risked his career to stand up against the lack of respect from WWE and their unwillingness to move him to the main show despite proving himself repeatedly against top main roster talent. He held out a year in protest and when he did secure his release, went back to Dragon Gate as a full-time roster member for almost a year, anchoring one of Dragon Gate's most successful runs.

PAC then pulled off the most important business moves of an already illustrious career by being one of the founding members of AEW in 2019. His most notable match was probably the first singles with Orange Cassidy at the last pre-COVID AEW PPV, Revolution 2020 which established Cassidy as a force on the roster. PAC missed significant time with injuries but was also instrumental in establishing two titles: the workhorse All-Atlantic Championship (later retooled into the International Champtionship), and the AEW Trios Championships as a third of Death Triangle with Penta and Fenix.

Watch “FULL MATCH: PAC vs Orange Cassidy | AEW Revolution 2020” on YouTube

PAC returned from another extended injury abscence and the company exits of the Lucha Bros. to join Jon Moxley's Death Riders faction where he spent the last of his career as a productive upper mid-carder that was slowly building background buzz for a probable transitional World Title in the near future.

I cannot understate how much buzz PAC had with indie fans at one point. All my entire suite would talk about at 2018's All In was if PAC would show up. He did not but we were surely on the right track. I was lucky to be able to see him wrestle live a few times including two of the very best matches of all time in AEW: vs. Ospreay at All Out 2024 for the International Championship the and vs. Okada at Dynasty 2024.

Watch “FULL MATCH: Will Ospreay vs PAC – AEW International Title | AEW All Out 2024” on YouTube

Wrestling would be a lot better today if more people took wrestling as seriously as Ben Satterley. PAC's talent feels almost unimportant listening to his friends and family speak of what a beautiful and humble friend Ben Satterley was, but he chose to give his life to the business and we have to consider it with the historic import it held. There was never a time when PAC ever hit his peak. He was better at age 40 than he was at any time in his career. Fans all over the world will never forget his contributions to the sport.

Fire Flower

2026-08-13T00:00:00Z

MOBOT fire flower