HOG Las Vegas Culture Clash (4.16.26) review 

 

April 16, 2026 

 

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK REVIEW #13  

We’re in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Pearl Theater, one of the best venues this year. Hosts are Jason Solomon and JD from NY.  

 

Ken Broadway vs. Raymond Bright 

Bright is new on me. His movement around the ring is nicely fluid. He looks like a great prospect. Ken tries to do the ring apron spot, and it comes clean off, so he throws it over Bright’s head and boots his face off. I always like it when someone is able to improvise when shit goes south. Bright’s only obvious flaw is his strikes, which look very tippy tappy lightweight. The whole approach is a little too dancy and pre-planned. It’s also upsetting they shoot for epic in the opener. Bright’s love of gold confetti is fun. It reminds me of last day at Carat. Bright misses something, and Broadway puts him away with a Savage Elbow. **¼. This went a bit tits towards the end but Bright looks like a potential star. 

 

Raheem Royal vs. Kuro vs. JJP vs. JJ Doze vs. Phumi Nkuta vs. Angel Jacquez  

I challenge promotions running Mania weekend to not have a scramble match on your card. They all blur together. I don’t remember any of them. However… 

Yes, it was that blurry on stream. Royal did a moonsault off the balcony. However (again), we then just go back to hitting spots and no one cares. You hit the highest of high spots and kept going. Know when to go home, lads. Nkuta then wins with a normal finish. ** because someone jumped off the balcony.  

 

HOG Women’s Championship 

Shotzi Blackheart (c) vs. Charlie 

Charlie is the former Dakota Kai. This is only her second match after leaving the fed. 

Charlie looks a little rusty, which is to be expected when you’ve sat on the shelf for a year. Shotzi is waiting on her a few times. They get something completely wrong with Shotzi having to stop and change whatever she was going for. Shotzi ends up moving so gingerly around the ring it looks like she’s in slow motion. To almost offset that she hits a tope and absolutely cleans Dakota out with it. Like she’s keen to prove it’s not her that’s causing the match to be bad. Step kick finishes for Shotzi, which felt like it came out of nowhere. They didn’t build that well here, and Charlie was obviously some way off it. *½ 

 

Post Match: Steph De Lander jumps Shotzi. That’s someone else who missed a year and is rusty. Not the best of fortunes for Shotzi to get two rusty workers back-to-back.  

 

Brody King vs. Zilla Fatu 

This is a meaty scrap with heavy hands and guardrails. Meat being thrown around without consideration. Zilla does manage to sandbag Brody on what appears to be a big old powerbomb so that sucks. But they go right back to smacking the shit out of each other, so that’s ok. Zilla gets pushed off the ropes by Lance Anoai and the match is thrown out. Um, that’s a disqualification, sir. **½ 

 

HOG Cruiserweight Championship 

Daron Richardson (c) vs. Joey Silver 

Fun lovin’ Joey Silver tries hard, bless him, but he doesn’t move around the ring like a wrestler at all. I’m shocked to learn he’s been wrestling for 13 years and has been on TV for AEW. Richardson is better but very, very, very dancy and everything looks pre-planned. This is not a good match, at all. After doing a lot of shtick, Silver just hits a bunch of high spots for near falls. They have a silly finish where Daron throws his title to Joey and then whacks him with a lollipop while the ref is removing the belt. * 

 

Amazing Red vs. Bandido 

I saw Red’s trios match, and he looked in great shape. The match was nonsense, but he’s still got it.  

This is a cool match. Two of the most innovative, exciting workers from their respective generations. They do some parity stuff early doors to show how close they are, not only in quickness but speed of thought.  

Right after that Red hits a CRAZY OUTTA CONTROL TOPE AND THEY’RE IN THE CROWD!!! YES! Bandido immediately follows up with a dive into the front row. This is my kinda chaotic shit.  

Not content with this, Red hits a fucking KUHRAZZZZYYYY dive off the stage. While the match is solid after this, they definitely peak early by doing those crazy dives early on. 21 Plex is countered into the Code Red in a nice spot, but they don’t get it straight away. When the finish does come, it’s Bandido scooping Red up off the canvas RIGHT INTO the 21 Plex. Some sensational stuff in here. One of those ‘did you see that shit’ matches. **** 

 

Great match. Hands down the best thing on this show, by a fucking mile, and the second best match I’ve seen all weekend. It was just fucking cool, man.  

 

HOG Championship 

Charles Mason (c) vs. Michael Oku 

This has a hard time following Bandido-Red and all those crazy spots. Mason, prime cunt, goes after Amira and drags her around ringside by her hair and Oku murders him with a dropkick out of nowhere. Mason, dickhead that he is, does some fun stuff like the fish hook into the lariat. This match suffers from Oku Main Event Syndrome. Which is where it’s needlessly long for no real reason.  

 

At least they make the Canadian Destroyer mean something here with Oku catching Mason with it, outta nowhere, on the ramp. It buys Oku breathing time after a lengthy choke and won’t lead to a pin on the outside. Ultimately it goes nowhere though as Oku, the dumb bastard, tries to lean right back on the half crab and gets choked out again. Ugh. ***. This was decent but far too long. Would have been better keeping the valet abuse and the last part of the match and dumping half the run time.  

 

HOG Tag Team Championship 

Hardy Boys (c) vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Midas Black & Jay Lyon 

This is full on memes wrestling. Karl Anderson is definitely showing he can still work. I’ve noticed some effort from him over this weekend. The sad part is the Hardys are more likely to get rehired, and they are so broken down now. Jay Lyon does a cool dive, but he does it through a hoop, for reasons? Matt gets his shit in. Jeff gets his shit in. They both really struggle when they’re not hitting spots though. Both stand there waiting to get hit with stuff and take lousy bumps. The Good Brothers get distracted by another tag team and then slowly walk back to the ring after Jeff has hit the Swanton. This was stupid with a dumb finish that made the Good Brothers team look dumb as rocks. *¼  

 

The 411: 

The highs on this show were very respectable. I loved Bandido-Red and Mason-Oku was good but overlong. Considering the standard over Mania weekend, this is just another middling show. Having one of the better matches on it does help though.  

 

Show Ranking:   

NJPW Death Vegas 7.5  

Wrestlecon Supershow 6.3   

HOG Culture Clash 6.1 

MLP Multiverse 5.9  

Dragon Gate USA: Gate of Sin City 5.8   

Progress 5.6   

Bloodsport 5.5  

Ladies Night Out 16 4.5   

Hybrid x PWU Midnight Xpress 4.1   

MDK Fight Club 4.0   

CCW High Rollers 3.4   

Podermania~! 3.1  

Juggalos 2.2   

  

Best Matches:   

Tremont & Gage vs. Takeda & Yamashita vs. Desperado & Kasai (NJPW Death Vegas) ****¼   

Bandido vs. Amazing Red (HOG Culture Clash) **** 

Zack Sabre Jr vs. Fuminori Abe (NJPW Death Vegas) ***¾   

Mark Davis vs. Masato Tanaka (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***¾   

Man Like Dereiss vs. Michael Oku (Progress) ***½   

Tim Thatcher vs. Charlie Dempsey (Bloodsport) ***½  

Gisele Shaw vs. Persephone vs. Killer Kelly vs. Shotzi Blackheart (MLP) ***¼  

Manders vs. Thomas Shire (Hybrid/PWU) ***¼   

Bandido vs. Galeno del Mal (Wrestlecon Supershow) ***  

Hechicero vs. Jonathan Gresham (MLP) *** 

Charles Mason vs. Michael Oku (HOG Culture Clash) *** 

Ben K & Hyo vs. Aero Panther & Fight Panther Jr vs. Jordan Oliver & Alec Price (DGUSA) ***  

Fuminori Abe vs. Erick Stevens (Bloodsport) *** 

  

Matches watched: 110 

Number of coffees drunk; 7 

Number of Geoguessr seeds played as a welcoming distraction: 9 

Number of motivational/tactical Irn Bru’s drunk: 6