The Wrestling Bucket

Yoshihito Sasaki/Shinya Ishikawa vs Ryuichi Kawakami/Kazuki Hashimoto, BJW 5/27

We miss the first half, but what we get is pretty decent. Sasaki still hates everyone and everything and that seems to carry every match he's in. Kawakami kinda sucks but can atleast dish out some sick elbows, and kills Ishikawa with a brutal german suplex. Dug the duel kicks on Sasaki and Sasaki really kills Hash for the finish. And then spits on him after, glorious.

Ryuji Ito/Abdullah Kobayashi/Shadow WX vs Yuko Miyamoto/Isami Kodaka/Kankuro Hoshino, BJW 5/27 (Deathmatch)

This was your standard garbage match, but built around resident jobber Hoshino taking an asskicking but then managing to pull out the upset win. That story aspect of the match made this watchable, as Hoshino really eats some gruesome shit and his final sectin facing off with Abby is the highlight of the match. Everything else was pretty bad though, typical shitty crowd brawling to start, Abby busting out some New Jack-esque wolverine glove, Shadow sucking, Ito sucking, etc. Finish was sick, though.

Damien Wayne vs Vordell Walker, GOUGE 6/25 (Falls Count Anywhere)

This took place in a cool outdoors setting. The stiff brawling all over the place was really good and the bumps on the wooden platform and through the table looked good even with the low-budget filming. Wayne's rope-hung legdrop and elbow drop across the chair were both nasty, creative spots and his bump through the ropes from the belly-to-belly was a little crazy. The blood added a lot, and the nearfalls section was really good despite the tiny crowd. Finish was a great way of having the heel win clean without the babyface look bad, and I marked for a piledriver actually being a finish in 2011.

Black Terry/Argos/Multifacetico vs. Dr. Cerebro/Mortiz/Semental, IWRG 8/7

Obviously this is all about Terry vs Cerebro and all of their brawling is pretty damn great. Loved the whipping with the belt. The other four guys did well in secondary roles, I really dug the 3-on-1 beating on Terry in the first fall. Argos's rana off the apron and Multifacetico's dive into the stands were both cool highspots, and I got a kick out of Terry talking shit in Mexican. The heel ref bullshit brought it down a little, but the final Terry vs Cerebro showdown was fairly epic.

Randy Orton vs Christian, Smackdown 8/30 (Steel Cage)

This was OK but had way too much lame WWE-style "escape the cage" focus. The first half was pretty weak and Christian on offence was kind of a bore. The ad break felt like it ate up a lot, but Orton was appropraitely intense and I marked for Christian's Frogsplash. The punt spot and Christian's fake-out before climbing the cage were both pretty clever, and the finish was appropraitely big, if a copy of the Punk/Orton blow-off. Thought the match was largely carried by the hot crowd but it was fine.