The Wrestling Bucket

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.