Dolph Ziggler vs John Morrison
Really good mid-card match, kind of like what they would have in a Superstars main event spot. Morrison continues to look infinitely better than he did this time last year, hitting all his flashy athletic stuff really fluidly, and Ziggler is currently on a hot streak of quality matches. Plenty of cool spots and counters, exchanges that kept you guessing, and they did a really great job of getting the most out of their moveset for hot nearfalls (the Sleeper, the Fame-asser, the running knee, etc).
Randy Orton/Sheamus/Kofi Kingston/Mason Ryan/Sin Cara vs Wade Barrett/Cody Rhodes/Jack Swagger/Dolph Ziggler/Hunico (Elimination)
WWE usually has no idea how to book these kind of big elimination tag matches, and whilest this one actually did have some solid booking going on, it was still a pretty drab affair. Cara injuring himself early obviously fucked up their plans and caused them to change it up, which didn't help. Way too much Mason Ryan, too much Kofi and too much Hunico. Not that I have much against Hunico (other than his lack of ring attire), but he's clearly the weakest worker on the heel side. Sheamus getting DQ'd was probably the cheapest way of protecting him, but atleast the finish was smartly booked with Wade and Cody both getting to look like a big deal without Orton losing face.
Mark Henry vs The Big Show
This was really dissapointing. I wouldn't go far enough to say it sucked, because they did enough right, but it was easily both men's worst match of the year. It was laid out pretty well, and the count-out nearfall playing off Summerslam was pretty smart, but the action was dull, and the crowd shitting all over it made it worse. That said, I will never hate a match that sees The Big Show doing a goddamn top rope elbow drop. Merciful Mother Of Fuck, that was one of the most insane things I have ever seen in wrestling.
Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk
This was a good match, but I'd be lying if I said I was really into it. Despite the shitty build, I was still excited as it's two of the better workers in the company, but I thought this should have been much better. Took a long time to really get out of first gear, and the duelling arm-work (which kept the match interesting most of the way) didn't really go anywhere or get sold in a meaningful until the very end. Del Rio's best attributes as a worker (charisma, taking wicked bumps) weren't really shown, and I kinda hated the finish with Punk catching him in the Vice mere seconds after having his arm almost ripped out it's socket.
The Rock/John Cena vs Awesome Truth
First, let's talk about The Rock. He looked great, hadn't lost a beat. It'll be different working a singles match, but still. Those armdrags were SNAPPY, he took bumps, his charisma and presence is un-matched and he even busted out a freakin' Magistral Cradle. As a match this bombed, but literally had zero chance of ever being good. The "feuding partners" deal pretty much never makes a good match, especially when the WWE seemed to put so much effort into making it clear the heels had no chance of winning. Cena worked hard bumping and selling for them, but Awesome Truth just aren't a good in-ring team, which made most of the match a massive chore with everyone just waiting for The Rock. While this didn't make me any more excited about the WM28 main event, it did make me wish for Rock to return as a full or part-time roster member. Really it is a collosal waste that this might be one of the only two Rock matches we get, and only further highlights the stupidity and conservative nature of the WWE. Bah.
The Wrestling Bucket
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Monday, 14 November 2011
Low Ki vs Frankie Arion, CTWE 9/24
Pretty fun superstar vs local indy hero match. Ki is a big enough star at this point that him stepping into a small time promotion like this feels like a big moment for them, and Arion was pretty game. Arion doesn't do anything that will wow you or leave a lasting impression, but he was better than your average scrub and executed all his stuff well. Still, this was pretty much all Low Ki. He was really vicious early on when working Arion over, including some sick headbutts to the back of the neck and dumping him hard on the floor, and when it came time for Frankie's big comeback run, Ki put his offence over huge. One or two spots were slightly goofed and looked really over co-operative, but still a fun match of this kind and a great look at Ki in this role.
Suwama vs Jun Akiyama, All Japan 10/23
This was a good match, but definitely not the MOTYC it is being lauded at on some boards. The match on it's own is fine, but it's the emotion and outcome that puts it over the top and will probably lead to it being overated. 2/3 of the way in I was pretty on the fence about it and was wondering if when people call matches like this "King's Road" they actually understand what that means or wether they think it just means "suplexes off the apron", but the final third or so was pretty great and saved it. Akiyama's selling of the back, facial expressions, etc. were all pretty great, but that is what I have come to expect from a talent of his calibre. There was one uber-lame no-sell suplex exchange, which felt very forced and out-of-place. "This is a big NOAH/AJ title match, we have to do atleast one suplex fighting spirit spot" even if it was just as Suwama began regaining control of the match. Suwama in control is pretty dry and uninteresting, but atleast he tries to mix it up by busting out stuff like dives and an enziguri(!?). Anyway yeah, fine match that became great in the final section. Plenty of struggle and focus on transitions there, and I actually thought the kickout at 1>fire-up spot (which I usually cringe at) worked really well here as far as making Suwama look legit in the "ace" role and making the mountain Akiyama had to climb even bigger. Then there was THAT headbutt! Then a cradle nearfall!? Yeah. Good match though far from flawless or a MOTYC.
Drew McIntyre vs John Morrison, WWE Superstars 11/3
Pretty great little superstars main event and a nice reminder that these guys are still there and tearing it up. Morrison's flashy athletic shit was used pretty well throughout and his big spots (the flip off the stairs, the twisting hilo over the ring post) were impressive. Drew Mac is still Drew Mac and beat the tar out of him, and sold his ass off to make Morrison's offence look great. Really liked Drew suckering Morrison in to smash him into the ring frame, and the way they set-up the finish was really well done.
Mark Henry vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Smackdown 11/4
Well this was an awesome TV main event. Not necassarily something that will stand out at the end of the year, but a perfectly booked match between two of the best talents going that did an effective job making both of them look good whilest also building to the next PPV. After weeks of being almost non-existent job fodder, Henry made Bryan look great. When he was murdering him, he was really fucking murdering him, but he also gave him just enough offence to look like he could have pulled out the upset. The crowd pretty much exploded for Bryan's big comeback attempt, and the finish and everything after was good shit too.
William Regal vs Dean Ambrose, FCW 11/6
I remember the first time I ever saw Jon Moxley, it was a short squash against some masked doofus in CZW and thought "this guy looks like an indy William Regal with the way he is beating up this dork". Fast forward a couple years and this match happened. And it was GREAT. Regal cuts a promo early in the show making this feel like it is important for him as well as Ambrose, and that is how the match played out, with Regal seemingly more motivated than usual. He was just so good in this match, coming up with really unique clever ways to torture Ambrose, like tying his arm in the turnbuckle. And Ambrose's heelish one-armed comeback was fucking great too, just as him talking shit to Regal whilest being strangled with his own arm was. Really cut a fine balance between acting like an unlikable young prick, and a tough SOB you couldn't help but respect. I could have done with one final Ambrose comeback attempt before the finish, but he survived enough that when it was all said and done, he looked like the toughest motherfucker in FCW, and Regal looked like a killer. Great match.
William Regal vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Superstars 11/10
Two awesome Regal matches in the space of a week, yes that is what we need. With this being in the UK, Regal was really over, and Bryan worked almost in a heelish manner (refusing to break clean, taking cheapshots, etc). I wasn't expecting it and it made the match even more interesting. There was some slick chain wrestling to start with Regal looking absurdly quick and nimble for a 43 year old, and when they started laying it in the blows were stiff as fuck. At one point it looked like Bryan almost kicked Regal's head into the third row. As well as the student vs teacher story going on, Bryan targetted Regal's leg in a number of nifty ways. It didn't really lead to anything, especially when Bryan's finisher is an arm submission, but whatever, this was good. Also: Real Man's Man!
Mark Henry vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Smackdown 11/11
Much shorter than their first match, and not a main event so it felt less important. Still, it accomplished the same stuff the first match did (making both guys look strong), and what they did get time to do was good. Bryan managing to get the Lebell Lock in on Henry felt like a big moment, and Henry countering by straight-up deadlifting him into a slam was nuts.
Pretty fun superstar vs local indy hero match. Ki is a big enough star at this point that him stepping into a small time promotion like this feels like a big moment for them, and Arion was pretty game. Arion doesn't do anything that will wow you or leave a lasting impression, but he was better than your average scrub and executed all his stuff well. Still, this was pretty much all Low Ki. He was really vicious early on when working Arion over, including some sick headbutts to the back of the neck and dumping him hard on the floor, and when it came time for Frankie's big comeback run, Ki put his offence over huge. One or two spots were slightly goofed and looked really over co-operative, but still a fun match of this kind and a great look at Ki in this role.
Suwama vs Jun Akiyama, All Japan 10/23
This was a good match, but definitely not the MOTYC it is being lauded at on some boards. The match on it's own is fine, but it's the emotion and outcome that puts it over the top and will probably lead to it being overated. 2/3 of the way in I was pretty on the fence about it and was wondering if when people call matches like this "King's Road" they actually understand what that means or wether they think it just means "suplexes off the apron", but the final third or so was pretty great and saved it. Akiyama's selling of the back, facial expressions, etc. were all pretty great, but that is what I have come to expect from a talent of his calibre. There was one uber-lame no-sell suplex exchange, which felt very forced and out-of-place. "This is a big NOAH/AJ title match, we have to do atleast one suplex fighting spirit spot" even if it was just as Suwama began regaining control of the match. Suwama in control is pretty dry and uninteresting, but atleast he tries to mix it up by busting out stuff like dives and an enziguri(!?). Anyway yeah, fine match that became great in the final section. Plenty of struggle and focus on transitions there, and I actually thought the kickout at 1>fire-up spot (which I usually cringe at) worked really well here as far as making Suwama look legit in the "ace" role and making the mountain Akiyama had to climb even bigger. Then there was THAT headbutt! Then a cradle nearfall!? Yeah. Good match though far from flawless or a MOTYC.
Drew McIntyre vs John Morrison, WWE Superstars 11/3
Pretty great little superstars main event and a nice reminder that these guys are still there and tearing it up. Morrison's flashy athletic shit was used pretty well throughout and his big spots (the flip off the stairs, the twisting hilo over the ring post) were impressive. Drew Mac is still Drew Mac and beat the tar out of him, and sold his ass off to make Morrison's offence look great. Really liked Drew suckering Morrison in to smash him into the ring frame, and the way they set-up the finish was really well done.
Mark Henry vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Smackdown 11/4
Well this was an awesome TV main event. Not necassarily something that will stand out at the end of the year, but a perfectly booked match between two of the best talents going that did an effective job making both of them look good whilest also building to the next PPV. After weeks of being almost non-existent job fodder, Henry made Bryan look great. When he was murdering him, he was really fucking murdering him, but he also gave him just enough offence to look like he could have pulled out the upset. The crowd pretty much exploded for Bryan's big comeback attempt, and the finish and everything after was good shit too.
William Regal vs Dean Ambrose, FCW 11/6
I remember the first time I ever saw Jon Moxley, it was a short squash against some masked doofus in CZW and thought "this guy looks like an indy William Regal with the way he is beating up this dork". Fast forward a couple years and this match happened. And it was GREAT. Regal cuts a promo early in the show making this feel like it is important for him as well as Ambrose, and that is how the match played out, with Regal seemingly more motivated than usual. He was just so good in this match, coming up with really unique clever ways to torture Ambrose, like tying his arm in the turnbuckle. And Ambrose's heelish one-armed comeback was fucking great too, just as him talking shit to Regal whilest being strangled with his own arm was. Really cut a fine balance between acting like an unlikable young prick, and a tough SOB you couldn't help but respect. I could have done with one final Ambrose comeback attempt before the finish, but he survived enough that when it was all said and done, he looked like the toughest motherfucker in FCW, and Regal looked like a killer. Great match.
William Regal vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Superstars 11/10
Two awesome Regal matches in the space of a week, yes that is what we need. With this being in the UK, Regal was really over, and Bryan worked almost in a heelish manner (refusing to break clean, taking cheapshots, etc). I wasn't expecting it and it made the match even more interesting. There was some slick chain wrestling to start with Regal looking absurdly quick and nimble for a 43 year old, and when they started laying it in the blows were stiff as fuck. At one point it looked like Bryan almost kicked Regal's head into the third row. As well as the student vs teacher story going on, Bryan targetted Regal's leg in a number of nifty ways. It didn't really lead to anything, especially when Bryan's finisher is an arm submission, but whatever, this was good. Also: Real Man's Man!
Mark Henry vs Daniel Bryan, WWE Smackdown 11/11
Much shorter than their first match, and not a main event so it felt less important. Still, it accomplished the same stuff the first match did (making both guys look strong), and what they did get time to do was good. Bryan managing to get the Lebell Lock in on Henry felt like a big moment, and Henry countering by straight-up deadlifting him into a slam was nuts.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Akira Tozawa vs Dingo, ACW "Guilty By Association"
Kinda borderline-ish, but I liked it enough. Both guys hit all their offence really well and lay in a really stiff beating on each other. Tozawa looked like he was pretty much making full contact with those bicycle kicks to the face. Dingo posts his hand and Tozawa works his arm a bit, including smashing it with chairs. Dingo makes a comeback after cutting off a dive attempt with a sick chairshot to the face, and goes to work on Tozawa. I was a fan of him in IWA:MS, so I am glad he Terry Funk'd his retirement. At one point he started kneeing Tozawa in the temple in an almost Regal-ish manner. Finishing run was good, I really liked Dingo's counter into a choke, and the crowd was pretty much going nuts throughout.
MASADA vs Jimmy Jacobs, ACW "Guilty By Association" (Hardcore)
This was solid, but a little underwhelming and couldn't top the match before it. A few minutes into the match both guys go the floor and fill the ring with chairs. The whole "ring of chairs" deal has created some great matches and moments before, but here I think it kind of restricted them later on. The brawling was all pretty good, and Jacobs spiking MASADA in the head was really horrifying, but without feeling like a gross-out exhibition. Jacobs took a number of wicked bumps, including an electric chair drop across chairs which he sold like it broke his tailbone. Jacobs also did a good job holding together the end run with a couple swank guilletine choke counters. The finish saw MASADA counter the Contra Code into a tombstone. Also as an aside that has no bearing on the match - the ACW commentators are god-awful.
Big Van Walter vs Finlay, wXw "Surprise"
Not an epic, but another good match from the Finlay Indy Run. They played up the big vs small story well, with Finlay having to work to knock Walter off his feet, where Walter just floored him constantly with ease. Both guys hit hard with Walter wailing on Finlay for most of the match. Finlay sells the back work like you would expect Finay to, I especially liked him not being able to hit the Celtic Cross because of it. The finish was not one I was expecting, with both guys brawling on the floor and Walter getting DQ'd for killing Finlay with a chair, but it came off feeling pretty organic and violent. This is just screaming for a re-match.
Jigsaw vs Obariyon, Chikara "Small But Mighty"
Pretty fun opening match. Very compact with a hot crowd, and worked at a good pace with a fair number of cool spots. Obariyon managed to counter a brainbuster into a lungblower and not have it looked totally contrived, and also hit an impressive deadlift slam on Jig (not that Jig is big, but Obariyon is also small-ish). Watching this I got the impression the Obariyon and Kodama may be two of the best scrubs Chikara have brought up in a while. They don't do stupid comedy or lame puro-nerd fanboy spots and actually execute their stuff pretty cripsly as well as having gimmicks that aren't goofy. Hopefully they continue to improve.
Eddie Kingston vs Kobald, Chikara "Small But Mighty"
Short match that was essentially a glorified handicap match with one of the other Batiri dudes helping beat down Kingston 2-on-1 for most of the match. Not particularly gripping, but Kingston can make that atleast half-way entertaining just through his charisma and stiffness when wailing on the masked goons. Both backfists looked nasty, but I hope Kingston starts branching out of Chikara again soon.
Kinda borderline-ish, but I liked it enough. Both guys hit all their offence really well and lay in a really stiff beating on each other. Tozawa looked like he was pretty much making full contact with those bicycle kicks to the face. Dingo posts his hand and Tozawa works his arm a bit, including smashing it with chairs. Dingo makes a comeback after cutting off a dive attempt with a sick chairshot to the face, and goes to work on Tozawa. I was a fan of him in IWA:MS, so I am glad he Terry Funk'd his retirement. At one point he started kneeing Tozawa in the temple in an almost Regal-ish manner. Finishing run was good, I really liked Dingo's counter into a choke, and the crowd was pretty much going nuts throughout.
MASADA vs Jimmy Jacobs, ACW "Guilty By Association" (Hardcore)
This was solid, but a little underwhelming and couldn't top the match before it. A few minutes into the match both guys go the floor and fill the ring with chairs. The whole "ring of chairs" deal has created some great matches and moments before, but here I think it kind of restricted them later on. The brawling was all pretty good, and Jacobs spiking MASADA in the head was really horrifying, but without feeling like a gross-out exhibition. Jacobs took a number of wicked bumps, including an electric chair drop across chairs which he sold like it broke his tailbone. Jacobs also did a good job holding together the end run with a couple swank guilletine choke counters. The finish saw MASADA counter the Contra Code into a tombstone. Also as an aside that has no bearing on the match - the ACW commentators are god-awful.
Big Van Walter vs Finlay, wXw "Surprise"
Not an epic, but another good match from the Finlay Indy Run. They played up the big vs small story well, with Finlay having to work to knock Walter off his feet, where Walter just floored him constantly with ease. Both guys hit hard with Walter wailing on Finlay for most of the match. Finlay sells the back work like you would expect Finay to, I especially liked him not being able to hit the Celtic Cross because of it. The finish was not one I was expecting, with both guys brawling on the floor and Walter getting DQ'd for killing Finlay with a chair, but it came off feeling pretty organic and violent. This is just screaming for a re-match.
Jigsaw vs Obariyon, Chikara "Small But Mighty"
Pretty fun opening match. Very compact with a hot crowd, and worked at a good pace with a fair number of cool spots. Obariyon managed to counter a brainbuster into a lungblower and not have it looked totally contrived, and also hit an impressive deadlift slam on Jig (not that Jig is big, but Obariyon is also small-ish). Watching this I got the impression the Obariyon and Kodama may be two of the best scrubs Chikara have brought up in a while. They don't do stupid comedy or lame puro-nerd fanboy spots and actually execute their stuff pretty cripsly as well as having gimmicks that aren't goofy. Hopefully they continue to improve.
Eddie Kingston vs Kobald, Chikara "Small But Mighty"
Short match that was essentially a glorified handicap match with one of the other Batiri dudes helping beat down Kingston 2-on-1 for most of the match. Not particularly gripping, but Kingston can make that atleast half-way entertaining just through his charisma and stiffness when wailing on the masked goons. Both backfists looked nasty, but I hope Kingston starts branching out of Chikara again soon.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Dick Togo vs James Mason, ASW 8/2
Taken from Togo's retirement world retirement tour, this is from a Liverpool indy show. Pretty cool to see Togo adapt to this kind of match, working as a stooging, cheating heel instead of a more prototypical juniors style. Mason was very game, and is a really slick grappler, which meant some pretty cool mat exchanges between the two, and he hits his offence pretty well. He played to the crowd way too much for my liking, though. Whatever he was doing - in control, selling, mounting a comeback, he was always turning to the crowd and trying to get noise out of them; Felt like he should have focused more on his opponent.
Go Shiozaki vs Jun Akiyama, NOAH 8/6
First part of the match is pretty dry, but everything after Go getting his jaw cracked was really good stuff. Akiyama smashing and kneeing Go in his bloody mouth was not only really sick but a smart way of gaining and maintaining control through the match. Go gave his best effort since the Sasaki match, I thought he was really good and didn't do anything stupid. He has some crazy chops. Akiyama was also excellent, as he always is in the clutch, and the two of them put together a really well built, dramatic match. For a 30 minute match, I was also surpised at the lack of downtime once they got going. Best GHC title match since Morishima vs Sasaki IMO.
Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Los Traumas, LUCHA POP 8/27
This was pretty awesome. Started off with Terry and T2 going on the mat, and it was actually pretty bleh. Too your-turn-my-turn and too nice, but it did serve it's purpose in helping to build to the big Navarro/T1 stand-off, with T1 instantly slapping his Dad down. Navarro sold that slap like a gunshot and Terry's "what the hell? I thought we were being sportsmen?" reaction was great. And then Navarro getting up and tying to rip his son's arm off as a receipt was SUPER-great. The mat wrestlig wasn't super tricky or flashy, but instead was intense and felt like guys trying to tear each other's limbs. T1 must have never got the presents he wanted for Christmas.
Randy Orton vs Mark Henry, WWE Night Of Champions
This was a good match with a really great, satisfying outcome. Henry has been the hottest act in the company since they nerfed Punk, and has been awesome all year, so to see him finally win the big one felt well deserved. The match itself was exactly what it should have been, with Henry being a total monster and Orton putting up a fight, but ultimately putting Henry over bigtime. Henry's offence all looked brutal (especially the bear paw swipe that knocked Orton to the outside) and Orton made him look like a killer. The commentators actually did a fine job and made the apron DDT feel like a huge moment, and the finish was great with how un-formulaic for a WWE match it was. Let the Mark Henry era begin.
CM Punk vs HHH, WWE Night Of Champions (No DQ)
Hunter is really reaching at this point, I don't think it's possible for him to work a match anymore without a bunch of smoke and mirrors. All of the brawling was actually pretty cool, and Punk's Savage elbow through the announce table was a "holy shit" spot. Once the over-booked interferences started this quickly became a pile of crp, though. Not only did they seemingly go on for what felt like forever, but they made no sense as the guys interfering were attacking both dudes. Punk may have survived one Pedigree, but this was still a massive step back for him.
Masato Tanaka vs Necro Butcher, Zero-ONE 9/17
Thought this was pretty underwhelming seeing as this is a good pairing on paper. The bumps were nasty but not anything memorable and I thought it was blatantly exhibition-y and went from spot to spot, instead of being a brawl. It may have been the bad camera angle but it also looked like Necro was pulling his punches quite a bit on the sitdown duel. Necro punching out the chair was great, but that was all I'll remember about this.
Munenori Sawa vs Hayato Fujita, Zero-ONE 9/17
Rock solid juniors kickfest. This kind of kneepad juniors kickfest is kind of generic and not really that compelling, but it's still better than a mastabatory spotest. Both dudes hit very hard and there was some good exchanges, but it never really reached that "wow" level. This was all about Sawa, giving him a last hurrah before his retirement at the end of the year, and Hayato sold his ass off for him. Sawa can be pretty goofy, and he toned it down a lot here, but still had a stupid grin on his face when getting his ass kicked, which was a little annoying.
Taken from Togo's retirement world retirement tour, this is from a Liverpool indy show. Pretty cool to see Togo adapt to this kind of match, working as a stooging, cheating heel instead of a more prototypical juniors style. Mason was very game, and is a really slick grappler, which meant some pretty cool mat exchanges between the two, and he hits his offence pretty well. He played to the crowd way too much for my liking, though. Whatever he was doing - in control, selling, mounting a comeback, he was always turning to the crowd and trying to get noise out of them; Felt like he should have focused more on his opponent.
Go Shiozaki vs Jun Akiyama, NOAH 8/6
First part of the match is pretty dry, but everything after Go getting his jaw cracked was really good stuff. Akiyama smashing and kneeing Go in his bloody mouth was not only really sick but a smart way of gaining and maintaining control through the match. Go gave his best effort since the Sasaki match, I thought he was really good and didn't do anything stupid. He has some crazy chops. Akiyama was also excellent, as he always is in the clutch, and the two of them put together a really well built, dramatic match. For a 30 minute match, I was also surpised at the lack of downtime once they got going. Best GHC title match since Morishima vs Sasaki IMO.
Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Los Traumas, LUCHA POP 8/27
This was pretty awesome. Started off with Terry and T2 going on the mat, and it was actually pretty bleh. Too your-turn-my-turn and too nice, but it did serve it's purpose in helping to build to the big Navarro/T1 stand-off, with T1 instantly slapping his Dad down. Navarro sold that slap like a gunshot and Terry's "what the hell? I thought we were being sportsmen?" reaction was great. And then Navarro getting up and tying to rip his son's arm off as a receipt was SUPER-great. The mat wrestlig wasn't super tricky or flashy, but instead was intense and felt like guys trying to tear each other's limbs. T1 must have never got the presents he wanted for Christmas.
Randy Orton vs Mark Henry, WWE Night Of Champions
This was a good match with a really great, satisfying outcome. Henry has been the hottest act in the company since they nerfed Punk, and has been awesome all year, so to see him finally win the big one felt well deserved. The match itself was exactly what it should have been, with Henry being a total monster and Orton putting up a fight, but ultimately putting Henry over bigtime. Henry's offence all looked brutal (especially the bear paw swipe that knocked Orton to the outside) and Orton made him look like a killer. The commentators actually did a fine job and made the apron DDT feel like a huge moment, and the finish was great with how un-formulaic for a WWE match it was. Let the Mark Henry era begin.
CM Punk vs HHH, WWE Night Of Champions (No DQ)
Hunter is really reaching at this point, I don't think it's possible for him to work a match anymore without a bunch of smoke and mirrors. All of the brawling was actually pretty cool, and Punk's Savage elbow through the announce table was a "holy shit" spot. Once the over-booked interferences started this quickly became a pile of crp, though. Not only did they seemingly go on for what felt like forever, but they made no sense as the guys interfering were attacking both dudes. Punk may have survived one Pedigree, but this was still a massive step back for him.
Masato Tanaka vs Necro Butcher, Zero-ONE 9/17
Thought this was pretty underwhelming seeing as this is a good pairing on paper. The bumps were nasty but not anything memorable and I thought it was blatantly exhibition-y and went from spot to spot, instead of being a brawl. It may have been the bad camera angle but it also looked like Necro was pulling his punches quite a bit on the sitdown duel. Necro punching out the chair was great, but that was all I'll remember about this.
Munenori Sawa vs Hayato Fujita, Zero-ONE 9/17
Rock solid juniors kickfest. This kind of kneepad juniors kickfest is kind of generic and not really that compelling, but it's still better than a mastabatory spotest. Both dudes hit very hard and there was some good exchanges, but it never really reached that "wow" level. This was all about Sawa, giving him a last hurrah before his retirement at the end of the year, and Hayato sold his ass off for him. Sawa can be pretty goofy, and he toned it down a lot here, but still had a stupid grin on his face when getting his ass kicked, which was a little annoying.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
PWG EIGHT
Kevin Steen vs PAC
This was a pretty love-it-or-hate-it kind of match and I was more in the latter half of that unfortnately. For me this is Kevin Steen at his worst, constantly doing lame comedy and playing to the crowd too much instead of focusing on the match. It's all so mastabatory and self-indulgent, which I wouldn't mind if he was a heel in PWG, which he isn't. It was even worse here as there moments where he would throw out stupid one-liners while trying to be serious. The big spots were all pretty big, and PAC in particular does some breath-taking shit like a twisting asai moonsault, but that wasn't enough to keep me into the match, and for an opener this was typically PWG-ish in going too long and having too many nearfalls. I did get a good kick out of Hero referencing Kelly Kelly on commentary, though.
Brian Cage-Taylor vs Brandon Gatson
This was an interesting match to watch. Not necassarily good, but interesting. Two (relatively) young guys going out and putting on their own match without being lead by a more experienced guy like Hero. Some of their ideas were good, some were not - a lot of stuff was just thrown at the wall. Gatson has some pretty slick highspots, and ate a pretty nasty clothesline bump on the apron. He also threw some nice kick combos and hit a pretty spectacular Sasuke Special and landed on his feet. Some parts were pretty sloppy, though, and some parts just felt like an indy moves exhibition.
El Generico/Ricochet vs Alex Shelley/Roderick Strong
For some reason I thought this was supposed to be Shelley and Aries? I figured since I'd downloaded it I'd give it a watch anyway.... so yeah, this pretty much sucked. First half of the match was horribly dull and boring, second half was just a shitty indy MOVEZ spotfest. They tried to make Generico vs Shelley a hot match-up with cheapshots, but I wasn't buying the intensity from either guy. Highlight of the match was a pretty insane out-of-nowhere dive from Ricochet.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero
This was very, very good and easily the highlight of the show. I'm not sure wether I liked it over their first title match or not, but the did a good job of making it different enough whilest also keeping most of the things that made that match good. All of the opening matwork was really fun. They worked a bunch of different holds and kept it feeling like a chessgame, I especially loved the fight for leverage over the full nelson. In their first match Claudio targetted Hero's arm, and managed to keep control, but Hero was still managed to come back with elbows after a while, in this match Claudio targetted Hero's leg to much greater effect. They built really well from the mental chess opening stages to both guys getting testy and kicking it up through the gears. Hero moving his knee pad from his good leg onto his bum wheel to give it more protection is the sort of REALLY neat touch that makes a good match great, and I liked him not being able to hit the big discus boot because of it. Claudio used the legwork to hit a fucking insane Giant Swing into a Nuetralizer, and the finish itself was also sick as hell.
This was a pretty love-it-or-hate-it kind of match and I was more in the latter half of that unfortnately. For me this is Kevin Steen at his worst, constantly doing lame comedy and playing to the crowd too much instead of focusing on the match. It's all so mastabatory and self-indulgent, which I wouldn't mind if he was a heel in PWG, which he isn't. It was even worse here as there moments where he would throw out stupid one-liners while trying to be serious. The big spots were all pretty big, and PAC in particular does some breath-taking shit like a twisting asai moonsault, but that wasn't enough to keep me into the match, and for an opener this was typically PWG-ish in going too long and having too many nearfalls. I did get a good kick out of Hero referencing Kelly Kelly on commentary, though.
Brian Cage-Taylor vs Brandon Gatson
This was an interesting match to watch. Not necassarily good, but interesting. Two (relatively) young guys going out and putting on their own match without being lead by a more experienced guy like Hero. Some of their ideas were good, some were not - a lot of stuff was just thrown at the wall. Gatson has some pretty slick highspots, and ate a pretty nasty clothesline bump on the apron. He also threw some nice kick combos and hit a pretty spectacular Sasuke Special and landed on his feet. Some parts were pretty sloppy, though, and some parts just felt like an indy moves exhibition.
El Generico/Ricochet vs Alex Shelley/Roderick Strong
For some reason I thought this was supposed to be Shelley and Aries? I figured since I'd downloaded it I'd give it a watch anyway.... so yeah, this pretty much sucked. First half of the match was horribly dull and boring, second half was just a shitty indy MOVEZ spotfest. They tried to make Generico vs Shelley a hot match-up with cheapshots, but I wasn't buying the intensity from either guy. Highlight of the match was a pretty insane out-of-nowhere dive from Ricochet.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero
This was very, very good and easily the highlight of the show. I'm not sure wether I liked it over their first title match or not, but the did a good job of making it different enough whilest also keeping most of the things that made that match good. All of the opening matwork was really fun. They worked a bunch of different holds and kept it feeling like a chessgame, I especially loved the fight for leverage over the full nelson. In their first match Claudio targetted Hero's arm, and managed to keep control, but Hero was still managed to come back with elbows after a while, in this match Claudio targetted Hero's leg to much greater effect. They built really well from the mental chess opening stages to both guys getting testy and kicking it up through the gears. Hero moving his knee pad from his good leg onto his bum wheel to give it more protection is the sort of REALLY neat touch that makes a good match great, and I liked him not being able to hit the big discus boot because of it. Claudio used the legwork to hit a fucking insane Giant Swing into a Nuetralizer, and the finish itself was also sick as hell.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
ROH Death Before Dishonor IX
Tommaso Ciampa/Rhino vs Homicide/Jay Lethal
This was just there. Totally unexciting opening match. Lethal looked good whenever he was in, hitting all of his stuff pretty crisply, but that is all there is to say. Ciampa pretty much sucks, and Rhino and 'Cide did nothing.
Shelton Benjamin vs Mike Bennett
I 100% legit fell asleep during this match watching it live. Granted, it was around 1AM UK time, and I was tired, but still. Watching it the next day, I got drowsy all over again. Totally boring and uninteresting match. Bennet kinda worked Benjamin's back with lots of tedius restholds, and there was some crap with Brutal Bob interfering, and that was that.
The Young Bucks vs FutureShock vs The Bravado Bros (Elimination Match)
This was OK for your undercard spotfest. There was some good spots including a sweet dive train, FutureShock hitting a Doomsday Device/Suicide dive combo, and one of the Bravados getting suplexed off the apron to the floor, but it never really hit that level of "holy shit this is crazy". The Bravados were heeling bigtime, and while I appreciate the effort it really did nothing but slow the match down. Once they were eliminated it picked up a lot, but was still not great or anything. This should have been the opener.
El Generico vs Jimmy Jacobs
This was the first half a really good match, interupted by the big Steen angle. It started with Jacbs being tentative and Generico aggressively trying to light a fire under him, and I was enjoying it all well and good. Jacobs hit a dive, a Spear on the apron, and then a big DDT off the top. At this point Steen comes out from the crowd to call Steve Corino a pussy before getting his mic cut-off. Security comes out to escort him before Jabobs decides this is too civil and dives on Steen to start a brawl. And it was awesome. Then Generico hits a big dive, only for Steen to dodge it (leaving Generico to whipe out security) and start cleaning house in the ring. Cary Silkin stepped in the ring and they teased Steen hitting Package Piledriver on him, which would have really been taking one for the team, but it was all broken up. Cornette managed to pop Steen in the face during all of the crazy, and Steen was escorted out while Generico and Jacobs still try to get at him. I am not sure what to make of the angle, as the ROH fanbase WANTS Steen to fuck up the place, which kind of kills it, but the whole thing came of feeling chaotic and REAL, and it made me want to see Steen vs everyone involved, so it did it's job.
Charlie Haas vs Michael Elgin
I like both of these guys more than most people seem to, but even I thought this was pretty underwhelming. They tried to play this off as a power vs power match, but how strong is Haas really? Elgin might be stocky, but he's not really that big, and I am not wowed by Haas being able to suplex him. The brief moments where they fought on the floor were good, but everything in the ring was pretty dry. Haas won with a lariat, which came off really flat as A) it isn't an established finisher in 2011 ROH and B) it didn't look like a match-ending move.
Roderick Strong vs Eddie Edwards (Ring Master's Challenge)
I debated wether to bother watching this or not, as I knew there would be no way this could be good. I started watching it for five minutes then realized it went atleast 45 minutes and said "fuck it". No thank you.
The Briscoe Brothers vs The All Night Express (Ladder War)
This iPPV was a one match show, and this was the one match. This wasn't the best match in the feud, and it wasn't as good as the Briscoes/Steenerco ladder match, but it was still very good. It kind of lacked the sense of wrecklessness and "shit is out-of-control" from their earlier matches, instead it was much more deliberate in it's violence. All four guys were killing each other with chairs, ladders and bits of broken tables. Titus and Jay were both completely drenched in their own blood, which was sick, and big bumps were taken by all. Mark did the Terry Funk helicopter spot, and then a pretty crazy splash off the big ladder through a table. King not bleeding kinda sucked, and I would have prefered a couple more big holy shit spots before the finish, but still a good blow-off to one of the best feuds of the year.
This was just there. Totally unexciting opening match. Lethal looked good whenever he was in, hitting all of his stuff pretty crisply, but that is all there is to say. Ciampa pretty much sucks, and Rhino and 'Cide did nothing.
Shelton Benjamin vs Mike Bennett
I 100% legit fell asleep during this match watching it live. Granted, it was around 1AM UK time, and I was tired, but still. Watching it the next day, I got drowsy all over again. Totally boring and uninteresting match. Bennet kinda worked Benjamin's back with lots of tedius restholds, and there was some crap with Brutal Bob interfering, and that was that.
The Young Bucks vs FutureShock vs The Bravado Bros (Elimination Match)
This was OK for your undercard spotfest. There was some good spots including a sweet dive train, FutureShock hitting a Doomsday Device/Suicide dive combo, and one of the Bravados getting suplexed off the apron to the floor, but it never really hit that level of "holy shit this is crazy". The Bravados were heeling bigtime, and while I appreciate the effort it really did nothing but slow the match down. Once they were eliminated it picked up a lot, but was still not great or anything. This should have been the opener.
El Generico vs Jimmy Jacobs
This was the first half a really good match, interupted by the big Steen angle. It started with Jacbs being tentative and Generico aggressively trying to light a fire under him, and I was enjoying it all well and good. Jacobs hit a dive, a Spear on the apron, and then a big DDT off the top. At this point Steen comes out from the crowd to call Steve Corino a pussy before getting his mic cut-off. Security comes out to escort him before Jabobs decides this is too civil and dives on Steen to start a brawl. And it was awesome. Then Generico hits a big dive, only for Steen to dodge it (leaving Generico to whipe out security) and start cleaning house in the ring. Cary Silkin stepped in the ring and they teased Steen hitting Package Piledriver on him, which would have really been taking one for the team, but it was all broken up. Cornette managed to pop Steen in the face during all of the crazy, and Steen was escorted out while Generico and Jacobs still try to get at him. I am not sure what to make of the angle, as the ROH fanbase WANTS Steen to fuck up the place, which kind of kills it, but the whole thing came of feeling chaotic and REAL, and it made me want to see Steen vs everyone involved, so it did it's job.
Charlie Haas vs Michael Elgin
I like both of these guys more than most people seem to, but even I thought this was pretty underwhelming. They tried to play this off as a power vs power match, but how strong is Haas really? Elgin might be stocky, but he's not really that big, and I am not wowed by Haas being able to suplex him. The brief moments where they fought on the floor were good, but everything in the ring was pretty dry. Haas won with a lariat, which came off really flat as A) it isn't an established finisher in 2011 ROH and B) it didn't look like a match-ending move.
Roderick Strong vs Eddie Edwards (Ring Master's Challenge)
I debated wether to bother watching this or not, as I knew there would be no way this could be good. I started watching it for five minutes then realized it went atleast 45 minutes and said "fuck it". No thank you.
The Briscoe Brothers vs The All Night Express (Ladder War)
This iPPV was a one match show, and this was the one match. This wasn't the best match in the feud, and it wasn't as good as the Briscoes/Steenerco ladder match, but it was still very good. It kind of lacked the sense of wrecklessness and "shit is out-of-control" from their earlier matches, instead it was much more deliberate in it's violence. All four guys were killing each other with chairs, ladders and bits of broken tables. Titus and Jay were both completely drenched in their own blood, which was sick, and big bumps were taken by all. Mark did the Terry Funk helicopter spot, and then a pretty crazy splash off the big ladder through a table. King not bleeding kinda sucked, and I would have prefered a couple more big holy shit spots before the finish, but still a good blow-off to one of the best feuds of the year.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
A bunch of matches where the men are men
Low Ki vs Amazing Red, ICW 4/3
This wasn't anything special, but fans of their original series together 9-10 years ago may enjoy this. All of their John Woo faux-ninja fighting sequences are still pretty cool, and both guys hit hard with their chops and kicks. It went way, way too long though, and lost steam pretty quickly after the first 15 minutes. I also thought it was way too even with Red controlling large parts of the match - part of the appeal of their original matches was Red trying not get obliterated by Ki. Ki getting back at some douchebag fan by casually tipping his drink over his crotch was pretty funny, though.
KENTA/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Kotaro Suzuki/Atsushi Aoki, NOAH 5/25
Aoki was fired up and KENTA hits people very hard but this was largely forgettable. The first 25 minutes were uninteresting, the big KENTA/Kotaro counter exchange looked pretty rehearsed and Kanemaru sucked as always. Standard lengthy juniors tag.
Jun Akiyama vs Katsuhiko Nakajima, NOAH 7/10
Solid match and Akiyama working juniors is always fun, but this didn't go beyond being solid. Nakajima brought it and Akiyama beat the crap out of him, but it lost it's heat and momentum pretty quickly and dragged after that. They got it back for the final minute, but meh.
Low Ki vs Necro Butcher, IWA:EC "Stiff Competition II"
Not sure where this would rank with their other two matches, but it's pretty great. All the ass-kicking you would expect. Unlike their first two matches, Necro wrestled more heel-ish here, cheapshotting Ki at the bell (after Ki brought some kid in the ring and gave him his t-shirt, which I thought was very cool), gauging his face, choking him, etc. He connects with one uppercut early that looks like it could have broke Ki's jaw. Ki sold the beating great and his double stomp on the bleachers was fucking nuts. Ki stomping on Necro's bare foot to escape a hold was pretty neat. Only thing I disliked was how in-organic the set-up to the chair stomp was, but it was still pretty brutal. The finish and the move that set it up both made me mouth the words "holy shit".
SHINGO vs Akira Tozawa, Dragon Gate 7/17
I was not in love with this, but I did like it a fair bit. This wasn't the Tozawa who we came to love in PWG, but he still knows how to kick some ass. As much as I detest SHINGO, I've never denied that he can hit hard and also deliver an ass-kicking, and that's what this match was. Both guys worked stiff, took big bumps and punched each other in the face. The dive caught into the DVD on the floor and the apron german suplex were both sick. The armwork was aimless but atleast SHINGO sold it for once and they actually had some struggle in between big moves. The crowd was pretty awful though and the finishing run was too typical of a Dragon Gate match and almost lost me. Still, the best DG singles match I have seen... maybe ever?
Takashi Sugiura vs Kensuke Sasaki, NOAH 7/23
Far, far from a flawless match but I did really dig it for one reason: They beat the living FUCK out of each other. Lord have mercy, this may have even been stiffer than Finlay vs Callihan. All of the suplexes and no-selling REALLY brought this down and they almost lost me with it at several points, but Christ alive if the pure violence and brutality wasn't compelling. Both of these guys are legit tough bastards and beat the living shit out of each other, the no-selling was unnecassary in adding faux-machismo. Still, holy fuck was this brutal and the story with both guys just trying knock the other guy the fuck out really worked. I lost it for the finish with the face-punching.
William Regal vs Darren Young, WWE NXT 9/6
A babyface Regal beats respect into a youngster! Regal is great at so many things, and beating people up has to be one of the best. It wasn't just about the stiff blows, but the coy veteran moves, like stepping on Young's hand as he begged off, and kicking him in the corner while acting innocent to the ref. Regal getting on the headset and asking Young to apologise was 100% Regal, and Young's bump over the turnbuckle before it was pretty damn bonkers. We all need more Regal on TV.
This wasn't anything special, but fans of their original series together 9-10 years ago may enjoy this. All of their John Woo faux-ninja fighting sequences are still pretty cool, and both guys hit hard with their chops and kicks. It went way, way too long though, and lost steam pretty quickly after the first 15 minutes. I also thought it was way too even with Red controlling large parts of the match - part of the appeal of their original matches was Red trying not get obliterated by Ki. Ki getting back at some douchebag fan by casually tipping his drink over his crotch was pretty funny, though.
KENTA/Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Kotaro Suzuki/Atsushi Aoki, NOAH 5/25
Aoki was fired up and KENTA hits people very hard but this was largely forgettable. The first 25 minutes were uninteresting, the big KENTA/Kotaro counter exchange looked pretty rehearsed and Kanemaru sucked as always. Standard lengthy juniors tag.
Jun Akiyama vs Katsuhiko Nakajima, NOAH 7/10
Solid match and Akiyama working juniors is always fun, but this didn't go beyond being solid. Nakajima brought it and Akiyama beat the crap out of him, but it lost it's heat and momentum pretty quickly and dragged after that. They got it back for the final minute, but meh.
Low Ki vs Necro Butcher, IWA:EC "Stiff Competition II"
Not sure where this would rank with their other two matches, but it's pretty great. All the ass-kicking you would expect. Unlike their first two matches, Necro wrestled more heel-ish here, cheapshotting Ki at the bell (after Ki brought some kid in the ring and gave him his t-shirt, which I thought was very cool), gauging his face, choking him, etc. He connects with one uppercut early that looks like it could have broke Ki's jaw. Ki sold the beating great and his double stomp on the bleachers was fucking nuts. Ki stomping on Necro's bare foot to escape a hold was pretty neat. Only thing I disliked was how in-organic the set-up to the chair stomp was, but it was still pretty brutal. The finish and the move that set it up both made me mouth the words "holy shit".
SHINGO vs Akira Tozawa, Dragon Gate 7/17
I was not in love with this, but I did like it a fair bit. This wasn't the Tozawa who we came to love in PWG, but he still knows how to kick some ass. As much as I detest SHINGO, I've never denied that he can hit hard and also deliver an ass-kicking, and that's what this match was. Both guys worked stiff, took big bumps and punched each other in the face. The dive caught into the DVD on the floor and the apron german suplex were both sick. The armwork was aimless but atleast SHINGO sold it for once and they actually had some struggle in between big moves. The crowd was pretty awful though and the finishing run was too typical of a Dragon Gate match and almost lost me. Still, the best DG singles match I have seen... maybe ever?
Takashi Sugiura vs Kensuke Sasaki, NOAH 7/23
Far, far from a flawless match but I did really dig it for one reason: They beat the living FUCK out of each other. Lord have mercy, this may have even been stiffer than Finlay vs Callihan. All of the suplexes and no-selling REALLY brought this down and they almost lost me with it at several points, but Christ alive if the pure violence and brutality wasn't compelling. Both of these guys are legit tough bastards and beat the living shit out of each other, the no-selling was unnecassary in adding faux-machismo. Still, holy fuck was this brutal and the story with both guys just trying knock the other guy the fuck out really worked. I lost it for the finish with the face-punching.
William Regal vs Darren Young, WWE NXT 9/6
A babyface Regal beats respect into a youngster! Regal is great at so many things, and beating people up has to be one of the best. It wasn't just about the stiff blows, but the coy veteran moves, like stepping on Young's hand as he begged off, and kicking him in the corner while acting innocent to the ref. Regal getting on the headset and asking Young to apologise was 100% Regal, and Young's bump over the turnbuckle before it was pretty damn bonkers. We all need more Regal on TV.
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