Friday 2 December 2011

Sami Callihan vs Brodie Lee, EVOLVE 8

Holy stiffness Batman! This was exactly the war you want these two guys to have. Right at the bell Sami rips Brodie's shirt off to lay in the chops and Brodie responds with an almighty pimp-hand. The chops both guys gave out were ungodly. They also played up the big vs small story well, with moments like Sami struggling to hit suplexes on the big man and your "cutting the big tree down" spot. Sami was intense as always, taking the straps down at one point and spitting on his hands to give a chop a little bit more muster. Brodie takes some huge bumps for a guy his size, includng missing a big boot in the corner and flying out of the ring. This was followed by Sami hitting a big dive that destroyed the railing behind them. Brodie repeatedly dumping Sami on the apron was mean. Finish was great with Sami hitting a stiff-as-a-motherfuck diving forearm and then the Stretch Muffler with kicks to the head. Just a war of a match.

Go Shiozaki vs Takeshi Morishima, NOAH 6/11

This was another depressing reminder of how uninteresting NOAH has become. Morishima was pretty solid I guess, and threw his weight around effectively. I dug his various butt attacks and him countering a suplerplex by just falling on top of Shiozaki. But still this was just a long, boring, plodding generic heavyweight match. Yawn.

Munenori Sawa vs Ikuto Hidaka, Zero-ONE 11/9

This was Sawa's retirement match, and it really was what you would expect that to be. I guess I can't hate on it too much becuase it was a nice send-off and a crowd-pleaser, but as a match it was entirely predictable. Sawa gets to run through his spots, play to crowd and generally feel good about himself. Their strikes were pretty tame, and it was just so long and aimless (like most puro juniors matches). Hidaka got a few ankle lock nearfalls in which were tediously long and had zero chance of winning the match. Plenty of annoying Sawa gymnastics, goofy faces and no-selling, and Hidaka pretty much waiting for Sawa to hit him with Shining Wizards was irritating. Atleast the KO finish looked pretty sick and the right guy won.

Mark Henry vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Smackdown 11/29 (Steel Cage)

Another great TV match between these two, and their best yet. Not only did this feel like a huge match, but both guys came out looking fucking legit. Henry was superb in this, managing to murder Bryan in brutal ways early on (slingshot into the cage?), but then selling his ass off and giving him enough offence that Bryan looked like he took him to the level. A heel working an injury angle can be hit and miss, but thanks to the booking it was used as a chink in Henry's armour for Bryan to expoit. As the match went on, Henry was reduced to just running into Bryan with clotheslines to cut him off (and they looked brutal thanks to both guys). The sequences with the Lebell lock countered then countered again into the Ankle lock was crazy and a HUGE nearfall for Bryan that looked as close to finishing Henry as anyone has come since he won the belt. Final minutes were way dramatic and the finish was epic. Henry came out looking like he had just been given hell, and Bryan looked legit for giving him such a harsh storm to weather. Also, Henry yelling "Happy New Year" at Bryan as he beat the crud out of him was hilarious.

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