Kana/Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Carlos Amano/Yuki Ishikawa, Kana Pro 1/10
This match was ran in 2005 with Yoshida in Kana's place and was very fun. This was good without being overly similar. There wasn't as much comedy, or any blood, but the matwork was pretty tight and the finishing run between Ish and Kana was pretty epic. Fujiwara shows his age, but still beams with charisma, and there was a great camera shot for him doing his headbutt-the-ringpost spot, which made a really sick sound. The joshi girls matches up fairly well, but the big finale between Ish and Kana made it. Kana was laying into him with some stiff blows and Ish sold his ass off to make you believe he might actually lose to a girl, before making a pretty epic comeback.
Virus vs Stuka Jr., CMLL 8/30
Dragon Lee Jr./Stuka Jr. vs Euforia/Misterioso Jr., CMLL 9/30
Not an awful lot that can be said about either of these, but they were both very good matches. Virus vs Stuka is another big Virus title match that delivered. Plenty of slick stuff on the mat, and the end run was plenty of fun despite not being overly spectacular. Virus's ringpost armdrag is still one of the most impressive spots in wrestling. The tag is a balls out spotfest with all four guys working hard for the Anniversary show. Dragon Lee Jr. in particular stands out and hits some crazy stuff whilest making it look easy. The highlights were the technicos diving off of the main stage and Dragon Lee's leapfrog rana on the ramp.
RockNES Monsters vs Super Smash Bros, PWG "The Perils Of Rock 'N' Roll Decadence"
TJ Perkins vs Eddie Edwards, PWG "The Perils Of Rock 'N' Roll Decadence"
The two matches I watched from the weakest PWG show of the year (by far), both fairly underwhelming due to the inherent flaws of PWG. The tag has some fun stuff, but is not fast-paced enough/spectacular enough to be high-end spotfest, and was bogged down with a LOT of weak video game nerd comedy, as well as going too long. TJ vs Edwards suffers from an obnoxious crowd trying to get themselves over. The match itself was pretty middlin', but stuff like Eddie punching TJ in the chest just because the fans chanted for it was weak. The final minutes with them trading submissions was pretty good but that was it.
Mark Henry vs The Big Show, WWE Vengeance
Awesome clash of titans big man match that I have to say I loved more than most people probably did. Henry has been on a roll this year, and this match showed him working many facets. From stooging on the outside, to methodically picking apart Show's leg, to the big end run, he covered all bases. Show sold the leg work excellently and Henry's offence always looks devestating. When it came time to throw bombs, they threw monster-sized bombs that got the previously dead crowd on their feet. And then there was that finish, I totally lost my shit for that.
Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena, WWE Vengeance (Last Man Standing)
Not going to comment on the rest of the show, because I thought it was all fairly boring, but this was solid if unspectacular. Working a match in a collapsed ring is a pretty novel gimmick, but I think they could have done more with it. Del Rio took a fucking lunatic bump getting thrown out the ring into the barricade, but everything else in the first half of the match bored me. There's just something about these matches that just feels so... sterile. The lack of any blood or any real violence, the forced booking, Cena's sometimes corny facial expressions, the reliance on props to make it exciting... it just feels very heartless and forced to me. The stuff with the props and brawling up the stage was fun, and I liked that ADR beat on Cena after the interference to make him seem more legit, but I still wasn't into the match all that.
The Wrestling Bucket
Thursday 27 October 2011
Saturday 15 October 2011
PWG Battle Of Los Angeles
Chris Hero vs Willie Mack
The kind of star vs lower down guy formula match that Hero has pretty much perfected over the last couple of years. In the same vein as his matches with Bonham, Gatson and Tozawa, and Willie brings tonnes to the table. Both guys beat the shit out of each other, including one lariat near the end in particular which looked like it could have killed a man. So very stiff, and it was paced and built really well. Willie's comeback was a little too easy for my liking, as he essentially no sold a match-ending move, but still great shit.
Kevin Steen vs Dave Finlay
This was not an epic bout, as it was a first round match and felt like one, but it was still really fucking good. Both guys brought it hard, and I loved all of the brawling and ripping at each other's faces. Finlay cheapshotting Steen instead of getting drawn into exchanges was classic. The legwork was sold great and well done from both ends too.
Claudio Castagnoli vs El Generico
Off the of my head I think this is almost certainly their best match together. Claudio has great chemistry with Generico like he does with Quack in that he's great at catching and bumping around for all his spots. They botched a rana spot but Claudio channeled Finlay himself and used it as an excuse to start beating the shit out Generico with a barrage of suplexes, and from that point on the match was fucking crazy and unpredictable. Some absolutely insane counters down the stretch that had me losing my mind, and the finish was very well done. Probably my favourite match from the show.
El Generico vs Willie Mack
Mostly just a fun comedy match. They had a dance-off, and I admit it got a laugh out of me. They did some Human Tornado tributes, with both guys going for the corner low-blow spot. This was supposed to be the "light" match for Generico as he had to work 3 times in the same night, but both guys still worked pretty hard near the end and it was still pretty damn stiff.
Kevin Steen vs Eddie Edwards
This was just "there". Not offencive but not particularly good. They started with a rote shoulderblock exchange, did a lot of comedy around poking each other in the eye and some other stuff. Eddie throws some mean kicks, and Steen biting him and mocking the American Wolves (to which the crowd chanted "Bite the wolf", ugh) was fairly entertaining, but then they lost me at the end when they traded superkicks like chops.
The Young Bucks vs The Kings Of Wrestling
I am glad both Hero and Claudio wrestled their BOLA matches, because if this was their swan song I would have been dissapointed. This was a long match that was like 90% comedy and the Kings making the Bucks their bitches. It's fun in premise but when it goes 25 minutes it can get boring. There was more incest gags at the Bucks which I didn't care for, but Claudio showing his power and stretching them out was fun stuff. I laughed at one of the Bucks begging "Please Claudio, don't!" before getting smacked. The Bucks were boring as always whenever they were on offence, and Hero was a non-entity despite being good off the hot tag, but really it was the length that killed it.
Kevin Steen vs El Generico
Like the FB match, I didn't come away blown away by this, but it was still a pretty fun hate-filled sprint. Much tighter than the FB match. Steen constantly playing to the crowd is easily his worst trait but I dug him taunting a kid in a Generico mask, and the big spots (dives from both guys, a tornado DDT up the wall) impressed. Some cool counters, and plenty of hate. It walked the fine line on overkill, but I think given the stakes and history it was on the right side. The finish was sick and I also thought the stuff that happened after the match with Generico bringing the kid in the ring and Steen smashing the trophy was pretty cool.
The kind of star vs lower down guy formula match that Hero has pretty much perfected over the last couple of years. In the same vein as his matches with Bonham, Gatson and Tozawa, and Willie brings tonnes to the table. Both guys beat the shit out of each other, including one lariat near the end in particular which looked like it could have killed a man. So very stiff, and it was paced and built really well. Willie's comeback was a little too easy for my liking, as he essentially no sold a match-ending move, but still great shit.
Kevin Steen vs Dave Finlay
This was not an epic bout, as it was a first round match and felt like one, but it was still really fucking good. Both guys brought it hard, and I loved all of the brawling and ripping at each other's faces. Finlay cheapshotting Steen instead of getting drawn into exchanges was classic. The legwork was sold great and well done from both ends too.
Claudio Castagnoli vs El Generico
Off the of my head I think this is almost certainly their best match together. Claudio has great chemistry with Generico like he does with Quack in that he's great at catching and bumping around for all his spots. They botched a rana spot but Claudio channeled Finlay himself and used it as an excuse to start beating the shit out Generico with a barrage of suplexes, and from that point on the match was fucking crazy and unpredictable. Some absolutely insane counters down the stretch that had me losing my mind, and the finish was very well done. Probably my favourite match from the show.
El Generico vs Willie Mack
Mostly just a fun comedy match. They had a dance-off, and I admit it got a laugh out of me. They did some Human Tornado tributes, with both guys going for the corner low-blow spot. This was supposed to be the "light" match for Generico as he had to work 3 times in the same night, but both guys still worked pretty hard near the end and it was still pretty damn stiff.
Kevin Steen vs Eddie Edwards
This was just "there". Not offencive but not particularly good. They started with a rote shoulderblock exchange, did a lot of comedy around poking each other in the eye and some other stuff. Eddie throws some mean kicks, and Steen biting him and mocking the American Wolves (to which the crowd chanted "Bite the wolf", ugh) was fairly entertaining, but then they lost me at the end when they traded superkicks like chops.
The Young Bucks vs The Kings Of Wrestling
I am glad both Hero and Claudio wrestled their BOLA matches, because if this was their swan song I would have been dissapointed. This was a long match that was like 90% comedy and the Kings making the Bucks their bitches. It's fun in premise but when it goes 25 minutes it can get boring. There was more incest gags at the Bucks which I didn't care for, but Claudio showing his power and stretching them out was fun stuff. I laughed at one of the Bucks begging "Please Claudio, don't!" before getting smacked. The Bucks were boring as always whenever they were on offence, and Hero was a non-entity despite being good off the hot tag, but really it was the length that killed it.
Kevin Steen vs El Generico
Like the FB match, I didn't come away blown away by this, but it was still a pretty fun hate-filled sprint. Much tighter than the FB match. Steen constantly playing to the crowd is easily his worst trait but I dug him taunting a kid in a Generico mask, and the big spots (dives from both guys, a tornado DDT up the wall) impressed. Some cool counters, and plenty of hate. It walked the fine line on overkill, but I think given the stakes and history it was on the right side. The finish was sick and I also thought the stuff that happened after the match with Generico bringing the kid in the ring and Steen smashing the trophy was pretty cool.
Friday 7 October 2011
The Great Sasuke/Super Delfin/Gram Hamada/Jinsei Shinzaki/Tsubo Genjin vs Kaientai DX, K-Dojo 6/18
This was part of the Dick Togo retirement tour, and if nothing else it was cool seeing these guys go at it one last time. Obviously this couldn't touch the stuff they were doing in 1996, but it was never going to, so it was worked mostly as an exhibition with everyone getting to hit some of their trademarks and get their pops. Hanzo Nakajima (some dude in a Ninja gaiden-ish costume) replaced an injured Hayashi and was perfectly fine. Hamada hit a top rope rana, which was shocking for his age, but ultimately this was nothing more than a solid nostalgia match.
Go Shiozaki/Takashi Sugiura/Shuhei Taniguchi vs Yoshihiro Takayama/KENTA/Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 9/11
This was still a pretty awesome war. First brawl of this nature NOAH has done in several years and they should really do it more often. Everyone was really bringing it, even Kanemaru. Takayama brawls like a motherfucker with Go (hurling chairs at him, smashing him with the belt, etc), KENTA and Sugiura beat the living fuck out of each other and even the Taniguchi/Kanemaru end run was good. They could have sold the ass-kicking more, and it went a bit too long, but there was so much hate and so much payback I was willing to forgive. Takayama doing a full on "Come at me bro" pose while no selling an exhausted Go's chops was hilarious and their post-match brawling was great at hyping their title match.
Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose, FCW 9/18 (30 Minute Ironman)
I saw this getting a lot of praise and was sceptical because, shit, when was the last time Tyler Black was watchable? But it was actually a good match. Not great, but very good and I imagine one of the best things to happen in a FCW ring. The former ROH champ is still on the bland side, but his execution was much tighter and his chops and kicks all looked pretty stiff. The artist formerly known as Jon Moxley was pretty fantastic in this, he just beams with charisma and everything he does looks so natural. I loved his cocky dancing and taunting, and there was an amusing spot early where he was sea-sawing in the ropes as Rollins laid into him with kicks. They did the Rude/Steamboat story with Ambrose getting DQ'd with a lowblow then using the advantage to score 2 easy falls and keep Rollins in trouble. Rollins came back too early into the match for my liking, which took away a lot of the drama, but he actually sold a missed Pheonix Splash as a game-changing miss. The final minutes were suitably dramatic, and the overtime section started great with a big Ambrose flurry before a terribly Tyler Black-ish finish of bucklebombs and superkicks.
This was part of the Dick Togo retirement tour, and if nothing else it was cool seeing these guys go at it one last time. Obviously this couldn't touch the stuff they were doing in 1996, but it was never going to, so it was worked mostly as an exhibition with everyone getting to hit some of their trademarks and get their pops. Hanzo Nakajima (some dude in a Ninja gaiden-ish costume) replaced an injured Hayashi and was perfectly fine. Hamada hit a top rope rana, which was shocking for his age, but ultimately this was nothing more than a solid nostalgia match.
Go Shiozaki/Takashi Sugiura/Shuhei Taniguchi vs Yoshihiro Takayama/KENTA/Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 9/11
This was still a pretty awesome war. First brawl of this nature NOAH has done in several years and they should really do it more often. Everyone was really bringing it, even Kanemaru. Takayama brawls like a motherfucker with Go (hurling chairs at him, smashing him with the belt, etc), KENTA and Sugiura beat the living fuck out of each other and even the Taniguchi/Kanemaru end run was good. They could have sold the ass-kicking more, and it went a bit too long, but there was so much hate and so much payback I was willing to forgive. Takayama doing a full on "Come at me bro" pose while no selling an exhausted Go's chops was hilarious and their post-match brawling was great at hyping their title match.
Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose, FCW 9/18 (30 Minute Ironman)
I saw this getting a lot of praise and was sceptical because, shit, when was the last time Tyler Black was watchable? But it was actually a good match. Not great, but very good and I imagine one of the best things to happen in a FCW ring. The former ROH champ is still on the bland side, but his execution was much tighter and his chops and kicks all looked pretty stiff. The artist formerly known as Jon Moxley was pretty fantastic in this, he just beams with charisma and everything he does looks so natural. I loved his cocky dancing and taunting, and there was an amusing spot early where he was sea-sawing in the ropes as Rollins laid into him with kicks. They did the Rude/Steamboat story with Ambrose getting DQ'd with a lowblow then using the advantage to score 2 easy falls and keep Rollins in trouble. Rollins came back too early into the match for my liking, which took away a lot of the drama, but he actually sold a missed Pheonix Splash as a game-changing miss. The final minutes were suitably dramatic, and the overtime section started great with a big Ambrose flurry before a terribly Tyler Black-ish finish of bucklebombs and superkicks.
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