Monday 31 January 2011

Random stuff from this weekend

Austin Aries vs Akira Tozawa, DGUSA "United: Philly"

This was good but, like the matches from the previous night, nothing special. Tozawa repeated the missed splashes spot, but otherwise once again looked perferctly fine. It got pretty hot near the end with some big nearfalls and I liked a lot of the exchanges, especially the one that lead to the finish. Refreshing to see Aries back working as a face, and the outcome actually felt like a big deal.

Los Traumas vs Faby Apache/Mary Apache, DTU 1/29

My problem with this match wasn't so much the ring-work but the concept. This is two violent asskickers working even with two girls and I just wasn't able to buy it. Granted, the Apaches aren't exactly Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres, but they aren't Aja Kong level ass-kickers either. The first half of the match was them taking it to the mat and working even, and I wasn't buying it. I would have been able to buy it had the females been working from beneath and finding openings, but they won more exchanges than they lost and the Traumas sold too much for them. T1 was wrestling with a bandaged shoulder and it wasn't touched once, which would have easily been the most believable way to make this match work. The part where the Traumas finally say "fuck if they are chicks, we are going to bring the pain" was great, and the man-on-women violence was certainly a horror show, but it was too little too late for me at that point.

Dr. Cerebro vs Commando Negro, IWRG 1/30

This was a great lucha title match and so far my favourite singles match of the year. The mat wrestling in the first two falls was just excellent. In a lot of IWRG matches the mat stuff can feel like guys are giving up holds or countering stuff too easily, but here both guys were visibly struggling and working for every counter and shift in momentum. Some of the holds they were locking in were just crazy, especially the one Commando used for the second fall. The build to the higher impact moves was really well done and the third fall was great. Cerebro was totally fired up all the way through, and the finish was as good of a "guy gets upset out of nowhere" moment as there has been in a while.

CZW "From Small Beginnings Comes Great Things"

Sami Callihan vs Alex Colon

This was a pretty solid upstart vs established star match. Sami was Sami, lots of hard shots and crazy facial expressions. Colon seemed pretty fair, his stuff looked kind of weak when exchanging blows with Sami, but he was playing a sleazy cheating heel, so it made sense atleast, and he also had some nice facial expressions. Nothing great, but it atleast made me interested in a rematch, and Sami going apeshit on everyone and breaking some kid's back post-match was awesome.

Philly's Most Wanted vs The Briscoe Brothers

This was pretty good if not without flaws. The main problem with this was the awful dead CZW crowd and that Mark Briscoe didn't allow the heels to build up heat on him for long during his FIP section. Otherwise this was a pretty heated match with all four guys really going at it. Sabian is a guy I thought sucked in the past, but seemed pretty decent here as a bitch heel with small man syndrome, and Joker is a guy who can brawl and trade blows with guys like the Briscoes. The finishing run was also pretty good with lots of good exchanges and sequences. Still you wish the crowd was better, but I'm excited about the No DQ rematch. Good match.

Post-match promo from the Briscoes is five stars. GO LOOK AT FUCKIN YOUTUBE, GO LOOK AT MUTHAFUCKIN YOUTUBE.

Jon Moxley vs Brodie Lee

This was another good brawl that suffered from the awful crowd. Brodie has grown his beard out and looks as intimidating as he has ever done, and seems to have really grown into being a great big man worker. Early on he dominated Moxley and was shrugging out all of his stuff, including a chairshot to the head. Mox took some nasty garbage bumps including one through a table which broke awkwardly and looked real nasty. This kind of lost it near the end though, and stuff like a figure four felt out of place. Didn't care for the CZW garbage spots at the end and the finish came off feeling really underwhelming.

WWE Royal Rumble

Edge vs Dolph Ziggler

Got to get a kick out of Edge's feeble Spear being worked as "too dangerous". This started slow... and stayed that way until the final minutes. Dolph in control was dull and mostly restholds, but I am almost tempted to say Edge wasn't a totally useless sack of shit, purely because I marked for him busting out the Edgecator. Shame it wasn't the finish though, and we had some bullshit with Vickie and Kelly to follow. I guess they had to do something for nearfalls once they realised Edge has like 2 trademark moves. The legdrop into powerbomb counter and Spear into the sleeper were neat, but this was still not good.

The Miz vs Randy Orton

This somehow managed to be even worse than the previous match and was a complete bore. I want to like Orton, but he does absolutely nothing to engage me or the audience. He doesn't sell in a compelling way that allows you to buy into the match, his offence is mostly him standing and clubbing people with the odd random move here and there, his execution isn't good enough to grab your attention, he seems hesitant to take any bumps, no believable match enders outside the RKO, etc. etc. Not that Miz was much better, but Orton felt like the bigger problem. Bad, bad match.

The Royal Rumble

This had a mix of a lot of good and a lot of bad. It was all going pretty well until about the half way mark but went downhill after Punk's elimination and nose-dived pretty horribly at the end. Most of the highlights actually came from the mid-card guys like Bryan, Morrison (the spot where he caught himself on the rail was fucking great and one of the best spots in RR history), Regal, Chavo, etc. The Punk/Nexus stuff was good while it lasted but they shouldn't have had Khali take some of Nexus's momentum and Booker's entrance before Cena going against them. I actually found the Hornswoggle comedy funny at first but it definitely over-stayed it's welcome. Show and Henry should have played a bigger parts after the build they put into them. Didn't care about Diesel and thought he looked as immobile as ever but fuck he was the most over guy in the match, which is actually kind of sad more than anything. Miz eliminating Cena makes me think they will run Cena vs Miz or Miz vs Cena vs Orton at Wrestlemania, the latter of which I really hope not. Del Rio winning it is alright though I'm not overjoyed about it, but he is still the second best option after Punk, which again is kind of sad. The false finish with Santino did nothing for me. No Taker and no Christian was also dissapointing, and no Nexus/Corre stuff in the match itself was weird considering the build.

Also 40 guys proved to be too much, the match dragged on like fuck after the 30th guy and there was easily 10 guys who served no purpose other than bumping the numbers.

Sunday 30 January 2011

DGUSA "United: NYC"

Sami Callihan vs Akira Tozawa

After his breakout performance against Hero last year, Tozawa is the only DG guy I can get excited about, and this was a fun PPV opener. There was an amusing sequence early on where both men kept doing for splashes and missing over and over, but things got heated quick. Tozawa once again looked good here, working on Sami's level when it came to dishing out and trading blows, and he took a couple of notable bumps such as a suplex on the bare floor and a missed dive into the rail (both were really too soon into the match to mean anything but bleh).

Jon Moxley vs Jigsaw

Moxley is great on the mic and a total heat magnet, he makes me think of a sleazier, lispless Jack Swagger. Jig rushes the ring and hits a huge dive early. This was pretty solid, but nothing to write home about. The crowd were really weak for this.

Jimmy Jacobs vs Brodie Lee

This was a solid big vs small match, but if anything underwhelming and nothing special. Brodie gave Jacobs a running powerbomb onto the stage, otherwise this was forgettable.

I gave up watching the rest of the show. Blugh.

Saturday 29 January 2011

IWRG 1/23

Dr. Cerebro/Negro Navarro/Multifacetico vs Gran Apache/Mazada/Commando Negro

It was quite refreshing to see Navarro work against a lower down opponent and dominate him on the mat rather than work evenly - he was a fiend with some of the stretches and holds he locked Mazada in. Apache and Cerebro matching up didn't really blow me away, but was solid. Cerebro pulling Apache's hand away from the ropes as he reached out from an STF was neat, though, as was him limping after a leg hold. I've never seen Mazada before, but he was a fun heel here, one great spot (which benefitted from great camera work) saw him sneak under the ring then trip up an unexpecing Cerebro. The ongoing Apache/Navarro war was also fun. The third fall with the rudos brawling and beating everyone down was my favourite, and the technico's comeback had a really chaotic feel to it. Apache shitting a brick and running into the stands from a pissed off Cerebro was the highlight of the match. Commando and Multifacetico brought very little, but that doesn't stop this being a pretty fun match.

Black Terry vs Angel Mortal (Hair vs Hair)

This was actually a little underwhelming in the sense that it wasn't the MOTYC that is should have been, but the match's problems are the over-booking and shitty finish rather than the fault of the wrestlers. However there's still no way this could have not been good, and we get some damn fine gritty brawling in this. Mortal looked his best yet, just beating Terry to a pulp and working on his leg through the match. Terry was Terry, selling his ass off then coming back like a house on fire (on one leg). Both men bled and beat the hell out of each other, which is really all this match needed.

Monday 24 January 2011

First NOAH of the year

Kensuke Sasaki vs Takuma Sano, NOAH 1/15

This was a pretty fun slugfest of sorts. Both men hit very hard and Sano seems a lot more motivated than usual. He hits some pretty nasty double-stomps, which Sasaki sells bigtime to the point of making Sano look like a threat to him. There's one overly long Figure Four spot, but again Sasaki sells it well enough to make it seem worthwhile. Sano brings it more than I can remember him doing in a long time, even busting out a cool elbow combo and hitting a savate kick that plants Sasaki right on the jaw. Nothing high-end, but a solid match nonetheless.

Jun Akiyama/Akitoshi Saito vs Go Shiozaki/Shuhei Taniguchi, NOAH 1/15

This was pretty average. Taniguchi still sucks, though Akiyama got a good exchange out of him at the start that led to them both showing hardway blood. Unfortunetly the intensity wasn't kept up, and the rest of this was pretty mediocre and padestrian. Akiyama waving Saito off and telling him "I got this" before the finish was a nice touch, even though Go pinning him didn't feel like a big moment at all.

Yoshihiro Takayama vs KENTA, NOAH 1/15

What a horrifying display of violence this was. These two have become one of the most reliable pairings in puro, due to Takayama being able to make KENTA look like a threat while keeping the heavy vs junior psychology intact (his selling was really great at points), but more importantly because they absolutely fucking maul each other. Good God this was stiff. Every knee strike, lariat and kick connected with audiable force, and Takayama even hardway’d himself with a sick headbutt in grizzly fashion. KENTA hit a breath-taking double stomp from the top the outside, and there was also a jaw-dropping shoot punch exchange. I only wish the crowd had been better, but otherwise this was really good stuff.

Friday 21 January 2011

This Week's WWE and UWE

John Cena vs CM Punk, WWE RAW 1/17

Man both these guys are great. Epic staredown at the start of the match makes this feel like a huge clash of the titans worthy of being on PPV. Both guys really brought it and seemed super-motivated, working at a fast-pace, putting a tonne of force into every strike and every bump. Cena’s punches and body-blows were great. So much great shit in this; Cena’s strength spots, Punk cutting Cena off just at the right times, the STF counter to the GTS, Cena countering a superplex with a fucking headbutt, etc. Punk busts out the best looking Koji Clutch I’ve ever seen, and Cena sells it like he is dead afterwards, even falling on his ass after catching Punk in mid-air for the posting spot. Also worth noting they got a bigger nearfall off Cena’s legdrop (which has never won a match) than any ROH main event gets. RAW finish brings it down, but this is RAW, and for a teaser of a PPV match between the two, this was awesome.

Chris Masters vs Curt Hawkins, WWE Superstars 1/20

This was a decent short match. Hawkins sticking to sitting in the same hold for most of a four minute match was weak, but otherwise he was solid. Masters was his usual good self, and I dug the finish that put over the Masterlock big.

David Hart Smith/Darren Young vs Zack Ryder/Primo, WWE Superstars 1/20

When did the black John Cena stop looking so green? The kid seems to have improved a lot; he was really fired up and hit his brief flurry nicely. Working with Regal probably helped. The rest of this was ok, didn’t care for much outside Smith’s powerbomb and “call me”.

Yoshi Tatsu vs Tyson Kidd, WWE Superstars 1/20

This was a good match. Started with some nice chain-wrestling; nothing complex, but all pretty smooth and I enjoyed it. Kidd’s legwork was good but made even better by Yoshi’s selling. Tatsu selling the leg by hopping during his comeback was more than you’d see from anyone actually in Japan, and the finish was pretty good too and helped Kidd save face in defeat.

Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes, WWE Smackdown 1/21

This was pretty meh. Too short, and for a cruiserweight match with a flier getting his leg worked over this wasn’t half as good as Yoshi/Kidd.

Drew McIntyre vs Trent Barretta, WWE Smackdown 1/21

This was even more fun that last weeks squash. Drew looked great, and Trent looked as good as I can recall him being. His kicks were stiff and the bumps he took off the mid-air powerbomb and the finish were huge.

Negro Navarro/Solar vs Psicosis/Histeria, UWE 1/19


This fell into the “good but nothing special” gap but I still enjoyed it. Nice matwork at the start between the two teams, with Navarro in particular looking like a real maestro and pulling out some cool unexpected counters. I haven’t watched Histeria in a couple of years and it was nice to see him still looking good. Rudo’d it up with his stooging and mask pulling on Solar and throws some stiff chops.

Black Terry/Los Traumas vs Rocky Santana/Sadico/Robin Maravilla, UWE 1/19

This was pretty great and seemed to one of those matches driven by role-playing. Santana wants Terry, but Terry is like the head kingpin and the Traumas his henchmen. Rocky and Terry start on the mat, and their body language tells the story. While they trade holds evenly, Rocky is visibly working for every advantage, whereas Terry is just so casual and seems to brush Rocky off. “Yeah, I’ll just trap your legs together then stomp on then, what of it?”. Later on one of the Traumas held Rocky in place so Terry could casually pick his shots. The Traumas were fucking great in this. Their beatdown during the second fall was brutal, beating the shit out of everyone and busting out the apron double-stomp and riling up the fans to boiling point. Combine it with their looks and they are probably the most intimidating guys in wrestling. There was one great moment where Sadico briefly got the upper hand on T1 by going after his injured shoulder, only for T2 to run in and go bezerk on him for it. All of the Terry vs Rocky interaction was excellent, from Terry treating Rocky like garbage early, to Rocky later getting in a big flurry on him, to the final showdown between them with the crowd fully behind Rocky. Sadico was also great. Another big early MOTYC from Black Terry, who is increasingly becoming an all-time great with every month.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Gran Apache/Angel Mortal, IWRG 1/16

The rematch, and it picked up where they left off. I didn't think the mat sections of this were nearly as strong as in the first match, but they more than made up for it when it came time to brawl. Apache was fucking great in this, after him and Mortal won the second fall he starts verbally berating Terry and smacking the shit out of him, basically acting like a world class prick. Terry bled a bunch and sold Apache's beating like only Terry will sell a beating. There was a fantastic close-up of Tery's face as Mortal was ripping and gouging at him that was totally grotesque. And in true Black Terry fashion, when it was time for the comeback, he came back with a motherfucking vengeance, turning Mortal into a bloody mess himself. Not sure wether I prefered this over the first match, but both are great and early MOTYCs, and 3 weeks in this is looking like an early shout for feud of the year.

Recommended Viewing (Ongoing)

JANUARY
- The Miz vs John Morrison, WWE RAW 1/3 (Falls Count Anywhere)
- Masato Tanaka vs Togi Makabe, NJPW 1/4
- The Big Show vs Dolph Ziggler vs Drew McIntyre vs Cody Rhodes, WWE Smackdown 1/7
- Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Gran Apache/Angel Mortal, IWRG 1/9
- Yoshihiro Takayama vs KENTA, NOAH 1/15
- Christopher Daniels vs Claudio Castagnoli, ROH "Only The Strong Survive"
- Roderick Strong vs Jay Briscoe, ROH "Only The Strong Survive"
- Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Gran Apache/Angel Mortal, IWRG 1/16
- John Cena vs CM Punk, WWE RAW 1/17
- Black Terry/Los Traumas vs Rocky Santana/Sadico/Robin Maravilla, UWE 1/19
- Dr. Cerebro/Negro Navarro/Multifacetico vs Gran Apache/Mazada/Commando Negro, IWRG 1/23
- Black Terry vs Angel Mortal, IWRG 1/23 (Hair vs Hair)
- Davey Richards vs TJ Perkins, ROH "SoCal Showdown II"
- Low Ki vs Davey Richards, PWG "Kurt Russellreunion 2: The Reunioning"
- Legends Wrestle-Royale, PWG "Kurt Russellreunion 2: The Reunioning"
- Chris Hero vs Kevin Steen, PWG "Kurt Russellreunion 2: The Reunioning"
- Claudio Castagnoli vs El Generico, PWG "Kurt Russellreunion 2: The Reunioning"
- Dick Togo vs Antonio Honda, DDT 1/30
- Dr. Cerebro vs Commando Negro, IWRG 1/30
- Homicide vs Jon Moxley, DGUSA "United We Stand" (No DQ)

FEBUARY
- Manobu Soya/Seiya Sanada vs Daisuke Sekimoto/Yuji Okabayashi, All Japan 2/6

- Sami Callihan vs Alex Colon, CZW "Twelve"
- Brodie Lee vs Sugar Dunkerton, Chikara "Caught In A Cauldren Of Hate"
- Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs The Batiri, Chikara "Caught In A Cauldren Of Hate" (2/3 Falls)
- Edge vs Rey Mysterio vs The Big Show vs Drew McIntyre vs Wade Barrett vs Kane, WWE Elimination Chamber (Elimination Chamber)
- The Miz vs Jerry Lawler, WWE Elimination Chamber
- John Cena vs CM Punk vs Randy Orton vs Sheamus vs John Morrison vs R-Truth, WWE Elimination Chamber (Elimination Chamber)
- El Generico vs Michael Elgin, ROH "9th Anniversary Show"
- Yuki Ishikawa/Hideki Suzuki vs Daisuke Ikeda/Super Tiger II, BattlARTS 2/27

MARCH
- The Kings Of Wrestling vs Kevin Steen/Akira Tozawa, PWG "DDT4"
- Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano vs Go Shiozaki/Shuhei Taniguchi, NOAH 3/5
- Negro Navarro/Blue Panther vs Satanico/Solar, FMLL CMLL 3/5
- Ikuto Hidaka vs Takafumi Ito, Zero-ONE 3/6

- Chris Masters vs Tyler Reks, WWE Superstars 3/10
- Big Van Walter vs Sami Callihan, wXw 16 Carat Gold: Night 3
- Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Solar/Ultraman, Coliseo Coacalco 3/13
- Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Solar/Ultraman, Arena Azteca 3/13
- Virus vs Demus 3:16, CMLL 3/19 (Hair vs Hair, Loser goes back to the Mini's Division)
- Blue Panther/Solar/Rocky Santana vs Black Terry/Negro Navarro/Rey Mendoza Jr., UWE 3/16
- Chris Hero vs TJ Perkins, ROH "Defy Or Deny"
- Eddie Edwards vs Michael Elgin, ROH "Defy Or Deny"
- The Briscoes vs The All Night Express, ROH "Manhattan Mayhem IV"
- The Kings Of Wrestling vs L.A.X., ROH "Manhattan Mayhem IV"

APRIL
- The Briscoes vs Adam Cole/Kyle O'Riley, ROH "Honor Takes Center Stage: Night 1"
- The Briscoes vs The All Night Express, ROH "Honor Takes Center Stage: Night 2"
- Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes, WWE Wrestlemania 27
- CM Punk vs Randy Orton, WWE Wrestlemania 27
- Sami Callihan vs Daisuke Sekimoto, CZW Best Of The Best X
- Sami Callihan vs Adam Cole, CZW Best Of The Best X
- Low Ki vs Akira Tozawa, PWG "Card Subject To Change III"
- Claudio Castagnoli vs Joey Ryan, PWG "Card Subject To Change III"
- Chris Hero vs Zack Sabre Jr., wXw "Kreuzzug ZXI: Union City"
- Eddie Kingston vs Akira Tozawa, Chikara "King Of Trios: Night 3"
- El Generico vs 1-2-3 Kid, Chikara "King Of Trios: Night 3"
- Blue Panther vs Negro Casas, CMLL 4/24
- Daisuke Sekimoto/Yuji Okabayashi vs Manobu Soya/Ryota Hama, BJW 4/28

MAY
- Randy Orton vs CM Punk, WWE Extreme Rules (Last Man Standing)
- Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes, WWE Extreme Rules (Falls Count Anywhere)
- Christian vs Alberto Del Rio, WWE Extreme Rules (Ladder)
- The Miz vs John Cena vs John Morrison, WWE Extreme Rules (Steel Cage)

- Drew McIntyre vs Chris Masters, WWE Superstars 5/12
- Sami Callihan vs MASADA, CZW "Proving Grounds"
- Chris Hero vs KENTA, wXw/NOAH "Genesis In Germany"
- Randy Orton vs Chrisian, WWE "Over The Limit"
- Avisman vs Freelance, IWRG 5/29

JUNE
- Dr. Cerebro vs Multifacetico, IWRG 6/2
- Virus vs Guerrero Maya Jr., CMLL 6/7
- AJ Styles vs Bully Ray, TNA Slammiversary (Last Man Standing)

Friday 14 January 2011

WWE TV 1/10-1/14 (And last week's fourway)

Sheamus vs John Morrison, WWE RAW 1/10

These two have managed to work up some real chemistry together and this was another good match between them. Sheamus was in control most of the way and he has become really great at working a guy over and keeping it interesting. Lots of nasty looking stretches, slamming Morrison gut-first onto the steps and cutting off a dive attempt with a knee to the gut were all sick. Morrison hits some pretty questionable offence which brings this down, but his selling was really good. One part near the end saw him struggle to get to his feet and fall on his ass, only for Sheamus to punt him in the spine.

The Miz/Alex Riley vs Randy Orton/Jerry Lawler, WWE RAW 1/10

Holy fuck was Lawler awesome in this. The mini-feud with the Miz has been a lot of fun but this was easily the best he had so far, beating the hell out of Miz and brawling like it was 1983. The guy is still great playing FIP and I loved all of his facial expressions and rallying the crowd behind him. Miz was also good with his cheating and pussing out against Orton. Orton and Riley were just there, but Lawler getting the win over Riley with Ortons assist is about as good of a conclusion to the mini-feud as possible, and was a nice way to keep the Orton/Miz momentum going.

Rey Mysterio/R-Truth vs Alberto Del Rio/Cody Rhodes, WWE Smackdown 1/14

This was solid, but really any match with Rey is going to be. Truth isn’t very good though, and brough the match down whenever he was in the ring. The finish also came off looking awkward.

Drew McIntyre vs Trent Barretta, Smackdown 1/14

Pretty fun squash. Drew was extra pissed off and beat the hell out of Trent. He back-handed the shit out of him. Drew’s reaction to the finish was also great.

The Big Show vs Wade Barratt, Smackdown 1/14

This was more about the angle than anything else, but the match itself was very very solid. The angle itself came off great too, and I am amped for Show vs Zeke.

Kofi Kingston vs Jack Swagger, Smackdown 1/14

This was pretty bad. Swagger was underwhelming and stuck to mostly restholds and Kofi was his usual bad self. The SOS is a terrible move, too.

The Big Show vs Dolph Ziggler vs Drew McIntyre vs Cody Rhodes, Smackdown 1/7

This was from last week but I forgot to comment on it (and its well worth commenting on). Everything about this ruled fucking hard. The angle with Ziggler was all well done, as well as the Wade interference, and the match itself was one of the best big-man matches in a long time. Show was tremendous at dominating the match and everyone else was willing to bump around for him (the best being Drew’s apron bump and Cody flying off the top rope onto Show). Loved all of the teamwork efforts to neatralize Show, and there was a real sense that they were all fucked once Show made his comeback into the match. This felt like one of Show’s defining performances and one of the best fourways in years

Wednesday 12 January 2011

New Japan "Wrestle Kingdom V"

Jushin Liger/Hector Garza vs Mascara Dorada/La Sombra, NJPW 1/4

Dorada blew a spot early in, but otherwise this was a fine exhibition spotfest and nothing more.

Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki, NJPW 1/4

This was actually the most heated match on the show. Both guys made it clear they didn’t take kindly to each other and laid it in with slaps and kicks. It dragged in parts, but I liked the struggle over the sleeper spot, and both mens’ selling (Nagata of Suzuki’s submissions and Suzuki of an injured arm) was quality. This was a good match, though it would have benefitted from going shorter.

Prince Devitt vs Kota Ibushi, NJPW 1/4

Vanilla dime-a-dosen juniors wrestling. Nothing that made me want to lose the will to live but I can't say I enjoyed any aspect of this. Ibushi has been running through the same spots for about four years now.

Hirooki Goto/Kazuchika Okada vs Takashi Sugiura/Yoshihiro Takayama, NJPW 1/4

I liked Okada not backing down against the NOAH guys and getting double-teamed by them, but it should have been so better and the rest of this was pretty plain Jane. For an interpromotional match this was massively lacking, and the Sugiura/Goto section was particularly mediocre.

Jeff Hardy vs Tetsuya Naito, NJPW 1/4

Why was Naito wearing a t-shirt wrestling a title match? This was not good.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Go Shiozaki, NJPW 1/4

This was surprisingly smartly worked from Go’s end. Most of the match is built around Go targeting Nakamura’s leg and Go did well. He had some creative ways of attacking the leg like chopping at it, ramming Nak leg-first into the ring-post, etc. and he would go back to leg when trying to cut off Nakamura’s comebacks. Nakamura didn’t really sell it outside the finish though, and the crowd never bought into Shiozaki winning, leaving this as nothing more than solid.

Masato Tanaka vs Togi Makabe, NJPW 1/4

I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this, best match of the show to me. I was expecting a mediocre attempt at a slugfest, and there was some solid slugging, but this was actually more story-focused and felt like a more traditional US feud pay-off. Makabe comes into the match with his neck bandaged from where Tanaka legit injured him with a table spot, and it becomes the target of Tanaka’s offence. Tanaka was good here, coming off like a dickhead heel and going after the neck injury. He did one lame no-sell spot but it lead to a Sliding D to the neck so I’m not complaining. This also felt like an ECW-ish match thanks to the weapons used, and Tanaka got CREAMED with a chairshot, and Tanaka putting Makabe through a table in similar fashion o he way that injured him was a great peice of continuity. The finish with Makabe powerbombing Tanaka through a table off the apon then hitting his finisher felt like as good of a pay-off as they could have done.

Satoshi Kojima vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, NJPW 1/4

This was terribly bland and dull. There was some dueling limbwork, so it wasn’t *totally* directionless, but none of it was interesting nor sold in a dramatic way. Tanahashi’s execution and mannerisms are also more than questionable. A crappy main event to finish a mostly mediocre show.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

More lucha

Negro Navarro vs Solar, AAA Arena Neza 1/8

There is only so much two guys can do to keep things fresh when they have wrestled each other on tape over a hundred times, and halfway into this it was looking just like more of the same. I am a fan Solar and Navarro but there is only so many times I can watch them trade the same holds (nice to look at though they are) over and over. Fortunately it picked up in the second half and both guys seemed to crank up the aggression and intensity, putting a bit more rigor and torque into their holds. They busted out a couple of nice new moves too, like Solar's judo throw into the vice. This didn't break away from the mould enough to be a great match but it was still good.

Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Gran Apache/Angel Mortal, IWRG 1/9


Now this was much more up my alley. This was IWRG guys vs outsiders, so there was a much larger sense of animosity and hate. It was still worked like a maestros mat-wrestling contest, but the sense that these guys didn't take kindly to each other was pretty clear. Apache and Mortal fit in real well in this environment, and more than held their own against Terry and Navarro. Mortal in particular sold his ass off vocally and facially to make Navarro look like a badass. The first two falls things were kept civil but the built to them all snapping was great, with Navarro being a dick with handshakes and Apache getting his own back. The moment when Navarro blows a gasket and punches Mortal right in the fucking kidney was great, and the final minutes with everyone throwing fists was really chaotic. The first real MOTYC of 2011.

Friday 7 January 2011

WWE TV 1/3-1/7

The Miz vs John Morrison, WWE RAW 1/3 (Falls Count Anywhere)

Everything before the commercial break was pretty standard, though Miz jumping Morrison on the ramp and Morrison's stage dive were both cool, but everything post-break was pretty awesome. Morrison has slowly been becoming a good wrestler over the last month or so, and he took a couple crazy bumps, both on the steel barricade and with the missed Starship Pain through a table on the outside (which was a great "holy shit" spot). Still the best thing about this was the nearfalls and how good both guys came out looking. Miz gets a clean, decisive win and survived Morrison's finisher, and Morrison lost because of his high-risk style. The first awesome match of 2011.

Daniel Bryan/Mark Henry vs Tyson Kidd/Ted DiBiase, WWE Superstars 1/6

This was alright. Henry wailing on DiBiase after getting slapped was fun and Bryan and Henry are a cool team that have chemistry together. Kidd is really OTT and corny, like if Davey Richards was in the WWE, and the heels' control section was dull, but Bryan's hot tag was great and full of enegry. Bryan was Bryan, and Henry was fun in his role but really the heels brought nothing and this was passable.

Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio, WWE Smackdown 1/7 (2/3 Falls)

Usually I'm not a fan of short falls in these types of matches as it makes the gimmick feel perfunctary, but here Del Rio winning in a matter of minutes made sense as to make him look like a threat after Rey missed an attempted 619. Rey continuing to sell the hurt arm into the second fall was a nice touch. Rey was really on-point in this match, coming up with crazy counters, hitting all of his high-flying stuff smoothly and keeping the match at a fast pace. This was a good match but didn't seem much better than any of their other matches together. Alberto staying on the arm all match was good, but he is clearly way below Rey as a wrestler, and the BS-finish was weak for a blow-off.

Monday 3 January 2011

New Years indy lucha

Suicida/Los Traumas vs Dr. Cerebro/Black Lancer/Carta Brava Jr., ??? 1/1

First fall had a couple of minute of dandy Cerebro/T2 matwork. Nothing mind-blowing, but all pretty tight. I guess I would be more impressed if I saw it from other workers, but the standard for these guys is high. Second fall was your standard rudo beatdown. Again, nothing that'll blow you away, but it was all spirited and lively. Having never seen either of Cerebro's partners before, they both seemed competetant. The third fall breaks down and we get some decent brawling, including a brutal slingshot double-stomp from T2 on Brava Jr. There is an awesome moment where Lancer rips his shirt off and tries to go toe-to-toe with T1 and gets smacked down, and Cerebro just starts yelling at him and firing up on the apron. The submission T2 used for the finish was totally sick looking, but in the end this was a solid match and nothing more.


Black Terry/Negro Navarro/Mascara Ano Dos Mil Jr. v. Ultimo Dragon/Ultraman/Solar, ??? 1/1

There was a pretty weak Utlimo/Dos Mil exchange at the start of this but fortunately it wasn't long before Solar and Navarro tagged in. On the scale of things, this was probably one of the weaker Solar/Navarro match-ups in recent memory though. Not to say it wasn't good but there was nothing really new or particularly stand-out about it. Maybe they have become victims of over-exposure with the introduction of BT Jr.? There is a breif Terry vs Solar mach-up, but otherwise Terry was left to work with the visibly over-the-hill Ultraman and 2011 Ultimo. I like Ultimo more than most, but in 2011 he doesn't bring anything to the table, and sadly this match looked much better on paper than it turned out to be and had nothing going for it outside the Solar/Navarro stuff.