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.
The Wrestling Bucket
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Friday, 9 September 2011
ROH Catch-up
Homicide vs Rhino, Best In The World
Fun brawl. Started off pretty hot and they kept it up all the way through. I could have done without Homicide no-selling a table bump, but Rhino looked good. He splattered himself on a missed dive and wrecklessly threw 'Cide around like a sack of potatoes. Post-match table Gore was also sick. Interested to see what they do with Rhino in ROH.
Christopher Daniels vs El Generico, Best In The World
This was not a perfect match, but overall was very good. Daniels turned heel at some point, and he actually wrestles like a heel (begging off, eye-raking, gathering heat, etc) instead of a bland indy dream match guy. Most of the match was pretty heated, and all of Generico's spots looked really good. One awesome moment where they are fighting outside the ring and some emo-looking Daniels fangirl is yelling shit at Generico, so he plants Daniels right in front of her and blasts him with a chop as an unofficial "fuck you". Daniels on offence for a long time dragged a bit, and a lot of his counters don't look organic and feel rehearsed, but the finishing run was pretty great. They did a boo/yay exchange, headbutted each other in the face, Generico teased an apron brainbuster but got launched into the railing before eating a suplex on the outside for a hot count-out nearfall. Generico's counter to the BME also looked sick. Easy MOTN.
WGTT vs The Kings Of Wrestling vs The All Night Express vs The Briscoes, Best In The World (Elimination Match)
Long ass match that was kind of just there. It is actually a little remarkable how this went for 40 minutes or so and was never really actively good nor actively bad. It just happened. The Briscoes/ANX stuff was the only real good point, as they still continue to hate on each other, though it came in the form of cheapshots and the like instead of one big moment or showdown. There was also a big dive train, which ended in Claudio teasing a Ricola Bomb on King OFF the top rope to the outside, but instead ended with a Benjamin leap-up superplex, which I found totally hilarious. The final five minutes were pretty exciting, but that is not enough, and it was obvious no one cared about seeing WGTT vs Kings one more round.
Eddie Edwards vs Davey Richards, Best In The World
I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this, as I have seen it pimped by a lot of people, but they were the same people who pimped Davey vs Tyler and that match was an abortion. Thankfully, Edwards is much better than Black and as a result this was much better. Not great, not even close to the ****3/4 match they were trying for, but I came away thinking it was OK rather than hating it. The main thing the match has going for it is just how absurdly stiff and violent it is. Half way through the match I was actually kind of digging it just because of how much they were beating the crud out of each other. Kicks, chops, shoot head-butts, all were hit with brain-cell killing force. Where the match fell down was on the more important stuff though. From both a structure and story-telling point of view this was a mess. For one thing, neither guy ever had a sustained amount of control in the match. It was too back-and-forth, Edwards gets the upper hand for a few minutes, then Davey takes over, then back again and so on. Really killed the heat for the match as they never built heat up on one of them or established a clear story. Secondly, the first half of the match had Davey specifically targetting Edwards's arm (which did include a sick counter to the backpack jawbreaker and some SICK face-stomps out of a juji attempt), then half way though he stops all together and starts working over his leg with his Kurt Angle imitation Ankle Lock routine. Again, this had a cool Indian Deathlock ankle lock variaton, but you can see where this falls down... especially when the finish was a fucking KO of all things. The crowd barely reacted for the finish for good reason, they did pretty much the exact opposite of build towards it. The "story-telling" moments of Davey talking to Eddie were hilariously forced as is Davey Richards nature, and the end run was a mess, with stupid backdrop trading, a 1-count nearfall off a lariat and some other stuff. The match was getting by fine on shear brutality up until the point where Davey was back on offence a minute after getting 2K1 Bombed on the apron, double stomped through a table then again in the ring all in sucession. That kind of says it all.
Mark Briscoe vs Kenny King, No Escape
Jay Briscoe vs Rhett Titus, No Escape
This was kind of like Bret vs Doink & Lawler from Summerslam '93 - on their own they are two good matches, as an overall package it's great. Granted, this wasn't as good as Bret vs Doink & Lawler, but you get the idea. The angle here was that during both matches their partners would be handcuffed to the ring so they wouldn't interfere. Well, there was still interference as they would get in plenty of cheapshots, but that wasn't a problem. Both matches featured plenty of stiff shots, trash talk, some big bumps and most importantly HATE. I love Mark's punch combo, and half of his match with King was spent wildly throwing each other in the barricades. Jay trying to deflect the "He's a moron" chant towards the ref was awesome. Titus throwing Jay into Mark and Titus's big dive were both cool spots and the big angle with Briscoes using bolt cutters to loophole the situation and beat the fuck out of Titus 2-on-1 style while King goes nuts watching was excellent. Jay scaring the referee out of the ring and then throwing the keys to King's cuffs into the crowd is why he's probably the best guy on the roster right now.
Chris Hero vs Colt Cabana, No Escape
Fun match, but really needed more from Colt to reach the next level. Colt was in comedy mode here and was out there to have a good time. I dug this as a way of throwing Hero off his game and psyching him out early, but the match really needed Colt to get more serious once Hero got the advantage and started beating him up. Even moreso when you consider Hero is higher up in the pecking order than Colt is. Colt does throw some pretty great punches, but his comeback attempt fell flat with the crowd hard, and the ref bump finish was the sort of thing that I grew tired of in Hero matches years back.
Fun brawl. Started off pretty hot and they kept it up all the way through. I could have done without Homicide no-selling a table bump, but Rhino looked good. He splattered himself on a missed dive and wrecklessly threw 'Cide around like a sack of potatoes. Post-match table Gore was also sick. Interested to see what they do with Rhino in ROH.
Christopher Daniels vs El Generico, Best In The World
This was not a perfect match, but overall was very good. Daniels turned heel at some point, and he actually wrestles like a heel (begging off, eye-raking, gathering heat, etc) instead of a bland indy dream match guy. Most of the match was pretty heated, and all of Generico's spots looked really good. One awesome moment where they are fighting outside the ring and some emo-looking Daniels fangirl is yelling shit at Generico, so he plants Daniels right in front of her and blasts him with a chop as an unofficial "fuck you". Daniels on offence for a long time dragged a bit, and a lot of his counters don't look organic and feel rehearsed, but the finishing run was pretty great. They did a boo/yay exchange, headbutted each other in the face, Generico teased an apron brainbuster but got launched into the railing before eating a suplex on the outside for a hot count-out nearfall. Generico's counter to the BME also looked sick. Easy MOTN.
WGTT vs The Kings Of Wrestling vs The All Night Express vs The Briscoes, Best In The World (Elimination Match)
Long ass match that was kind of just there. It is actually a little remarkable how this went for 40 minutes or so and was never really actively good nor actively bad. It just happened. The Briscoes/ANX stuff was the only real good point, as they still continue to hate on each other, though it came in the form of cheapshots and the like instead of one big moment or showdown. There was also a big dive train, which ended in Claudio teasing a Ricola Bomb on King OFF the top rope to the outside, but instead ended with a Benjamin leap-up superplex, which I found totally hilarious. The final five minutes were pretty exciting, but that is not enough, and it was obvious no one cared about seeing WGTT vs Kings one more round.
Eddie Edwards vs Davey Richards, Best In The World
I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this, as I have seen it pimped by a lot of people, but they were the same people who pimped Davey vs Tyler and that match was an abortion. Thankfully, Edwards is much better than Black and as a result this was much better. Not great, not even close to the ****3/4 match they were trying for, but I came away thinking it was OK rather than hating it. The main thing the match has going for it is just how absurdly stiff and violent it is. Half way through the match I was actually kind of digging it just because of how much they were beating the crud out of each other. Kicks, chops, shoot head-butts, all were hit with brain-cell killing force. Where the match fell down was on the more important stuff though. From both a structure and story-telling point of view this was a mess. For one thing, neither guy ever had a sustained amount of control in the match. It was too back-and-forth, Edwards gets the upper hand for a few minutes, then Davey takes over, then back again and so on. Really killed the heat for the match as they never built heat up on one of them or established a clear story. Secondly, the first half of the match had Davey specifically targetting Edwards's arm (which did include a sick counter to the backpack jawbreaker and some SICK face-stomps out of a juji attempt), then half way though he stops all together and starts working over his leg with his Kurt Angle imitation Ankle Lock routine. Again, this had a cool Indian Deathlock ankle lock variaton, but you can see where this falls down... especially when the finish was a fucking KO of all things. The crowd barely reacted for the finish for good reason, they did pretty much the exact opposite of build towards it. The "story-telling" moments of Davey talking to Eddie were hilariously forced as is Davey Richards nature, and the end run was a mess, with stupid backdrop trading, a 1-count nearfall off a lariat and some other stuff. The match was getting by fine on shear brutality up until the point where Davey was back on offence a minute after getting 2K1 Bombed on the apron, double stomped through a table then again in the ring all in sucession. That kind of says it all.
Mark Briscoe vs Kenny King, No Escape
Jay Briscoe vs Rhett Titus, No Escape
This was kind of like Bret vs Doink & Lawler from Summerslam '93 - on their own they are two good matches, as an overall package it's great. Granted, this wasn't as good as Bret vs Doink & Lawler, but you get the idea. The angle here was that during both matches their partners would be handcuffed to the ring so they wouldn't interfere. Well, there was still interference as they would get in plenty of cheapshots, but that wasn't a problem. Both matches featured plenty of stiff shots, trash talk, some big bumps and most importantly HATE. I love Mark's punch combo, and half of his match with King was spent wildly throwing each other in the barricades. Jay trying to deflect the "He's a moron" chant towards the ref was awesome. Titus throwing Jay into Mark and Titus's big dive were both cool spots and the big angle with Briscoes using bolt cutters to loophole the situation and beat the fuck out of Titus 2-on-1 style while King goes nuts watching was excellent. Jay scaring the referee out of the ring and then throwing the keys to King's cuffs into the crowd is why he's probably the best guy on the roster right now.
Chris Hero vs Colt Cabana, No Escape
Fun match, but really needed more from Colt to reach the next level. Colt was in comedy mode here and was out there to have a good time. I dug this as a way of throwing Hero off his game and psyching him out early, but the match really needed Colt to get more serious once Hero got the advantage and started beating him up. Even moreso when you consider Hero is higher up in the pecking order than Colt is. Colt does throw some pretty great punches, but his comeback attempt fell flat with the crowd hard, and the ref bump finish was the sort of thing that I grew tired of in Hero matches years back.
Monday, 5 September 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Summer Of BattlARTS
Yuki Ishikawa/Super Tiger II vs Munenori Sawa/Hideki Suzuki, 5/22
Solid match to set up the Ishikawa vs Sawa singles match, though pretty much all the quality was coming from Ish. Wether it was making Suzuki's matwork interesting or smacking the taste out of Sawa, everytime Ishikawa was in this was good. Sawa and Suzuki did an OK job baiting him and no one was afraid to get in some cheapshots. ST2 was pretty awful, doing lots of fancy gymnatics which looked out of place in a shoot-style setting. Highlight was probably Ishikawa catching Sawa's stupid wind-up punch combo into an armbar, and the finish set-up the singles match appropriately.
Manobu Suruga vs Takeshi Takeshima, 6/19
Shoot-style competitive squash, and not a very exciting one. Only went less about 6 minutes but most of it was long holds with no urgency to them. Takeshima did get cracked open, and he had a pretty great comeback/nearfall sequence, but that was it.
Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda vs Hideki Suzuki/Tiger Shark, 6/19
Welcome the Daisuke Ikeda show..again. Similar to the 5/22 tag this was a one man show from Ikeda. Great selling of the youngster's submissions, and wasn't afraid to bite or claw his way out of a hold. What is it with the Tiger dudes doing flips and highspots in BattlARTS? I liked that the youngsters had to resort to devious tactics to gain the advantage over the vets, but it was lacking in the intensity/violence to take it to the next step.
Yuki Ishikawa vs Munenori Sawa, 6/19
Man this was good stuff here. Hot start with a handshake fake-out from Sawa, and plenty of blows being traded. The matwork had an almost viceral feel to it, with moments like Sawa pinning down Ish's hand and punching it. Ish busted out like a dosen swank counters (my favourite being the ankle lock out of the abdominal stretch) and was generally pretty outstanding. He let Sawa get plenty in on him and sold his ass off to make him look like an equal. There were moments where he looked like a tired old guy struggling to keep up with his younger rival. After struggling to make it up for the 10 count Ish said "fuck this" and resorted to dropping bombs on Sawa. Once again I loved Sawa trying to get cute with a stupid Mutoh spot and getting punished for it with an armbar, and Sawa desperately grabbing the ref during the finish was a very cool touch.
Solid match to set up the Ishikawa vs Sawa singles match, though pretty much all the quality was coming from Ish. Wether it was making Suzuki's matwork interesting or smacking the taste out of Sawa, everytime Ishikawa was in this was good. Sawa and Suzuki did an OK job baiting him and no one was afraid to get in some cheapshots. ST2 was pretty awful, doing lots of fancy gymnatics which looked out of place in a shoot-style setting. Highlight was probably Ishikawa catching Sawa's stupid wind-up punch combo into an armbar, and the finish set-up the singles match appropriately.
Manobu Suruga vs Takeshi Takeshima, 6/19
Shoot-style competitive squash, and not a very exciting one. Only went less about 6 minutes but most of it was long holds with no urgency to them. Takeshima did get cracked open, and he had a pretty great comeback/nearfall sequence, but that was it.
Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda vs Hideki Suzuki/Tiger Shark, 6/19
Welcome the Daisuke Ikeda show..again. Similar to the 5/22 tag this was a one man show from Ikeda. Great selling of the youngster's submissions, and wasn't afraid to bite or claw his way out of a hold. What is it with the Tiger dudes doing flips and highspots in BattlARTS? I liked that the youngsters had to resort to devious tactics to gain the advantage over the vets, but it was lacking in the intensity/violence to take it to the next step.
Yuki Ishikawa vs Munenori Sawa, 6/19
Man this was good stuff here. Hot start with a handshake fake-out from Sawa, and plenty of blows being traded. The matwork had an almost viceral feel to it, with moments like Sawa pinning down Ish's hand and punching it. Ish busted out like a dosen swank counters (my favourite being the ankle lock out of the abdominal stretch) and was generally pretty outstanding. He let Sawa get plenty in on him and sold his ass off to make him look like an equal. There were moments where he looked like a tired old guy struggling to keep up with his younger rival. After struggling to make it up for the 10 count Ish said "fuck this" and resorted to dropping bombs on Sawa. Once again I loved Sawa trying to get cute with a stupid Mutoh spot and getting punished for it with an armbar, and Sawa desperately grabbing the ref during the finish was a very cool touch.
Sunday, 28 August 2011
More G1!
Giant Bernard/Karl Anderson vs Satoshi Kojima/Dan Maff, NJ In USA 5/15
This was pretty fun thanks to Maff and Bernard. Bernard is a big time player in New Japan, and Maff never broke out outside JAPW, so Bernard was not afraid to talk shit to Maff and treat him like a bitch. This got Maff all fired up and he brought the goods. He was super fired up and took the fight to the big man, highlighted by a great out-of-nowhere dive and some sick fatboy sentons. Kojima and Anderson just ran through their shit, and Anderson being the one to pin Maff felt wrong, but Maff made this stand out.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, NJ 8/5
Well this was a pleasant surprise. Tenzan may be a broken down bag of crap these days, but for one match here he managed to rewind the clock back several years and stole the show. Nakamura was also fired up and dished out his usual great knee-based offence. Tenzan's fired up comeback with the Dick Murdoch turnbuckle face stomp was well done and the crowd were eating him up. Nakamura sold his stuff really well and got foled in half off one lariat, and the big finishing nearfalls section was pretty damn great. Loved the struggle in the Anaconda Vice, and Nakamura's counter was great, and then Tenzan countering again with a big old headbutt was even better! Nakamura's desperation shoot-punch is such a great spot, and the diving knee strike was epic. Hell, all of the final third was epic. Best G1 match in a few years!
Yoshihiro Takayama vs Tetsuya Naito, NJ 8/10
Yuji Nagata vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NJ 8/11
Togi Makabe vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NJ 8/13
Nothing to see here. The Naito match is a mediocre beating from Takayama on a mediocre underdog. The Makabe match is completely forgettable and plodding. The Nagata mach was pretty solid but still not anything memorable, though it had it's moments.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toru Yano, NJ 8/13
This was a shocker. Toru Yano, probably the worst guy on the roster, has the best Tanahashi match in over a year? Shit. Yano is a scumbag, but this crowd loves an underdog and it didn't matter how much he cheated or how much of an asshole he was, they wanted to see him pull out the upset. The crowd pretty much carried this and made it memorable, but even as a guy who doesn't like Yano or Tanahashi, it's impossible not to get sucked into the "Yano as underdog" story. Tanahashi is the company ace, Yano is a mid-card heel, and all of the transitions in the match were pretty smart in refelecting that, as Yano resorted to hair-pulling, chair shots, exposing a turnbuckle, etc in order to get the advantage. Early on Tanahashi goes to hit a dive off the apron and Yano blasts him mid-air with a chair. Awesome. The crowd were hot for Yano and every nearfall he got, and even boo'd Tanahashi. Some of the nearfalls were great, Tanahashi bled AND there was a ref bump spot that worked. Tanahashi coming back easily every time was pretty annoying, but it atleast played into the story, so eh. If there was one match that I did not expect to like but did this year, this is it.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Minoru Suzuki, NJ 8/14
Looking at the G1 cards, this was the match I was most looking forward to, and it delivered. Crowd were super into it and behind Nakamura. The interference from Suzuki's boy added to the match, and they built the heat on Nakamua well. Nakamura's offence looked as good as it has ever has and both guys hit hard. Loved the finishing run with Suzuki being all over Nakamura and Nakamura just trying to hang on and find and an opening. Good shit.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Tetsuya Naito, NJ 8/14
Was not into this as much as the other two Nakamura G1 matches I watched. Most of it felt like a really by-the-number big match. Naito works Nakamura's leg, but it's just filler, and the match was entirely carried by the hot crowd. I dug that they played off finishes from previous matches, but that was it.
This was pretty fun thanks to Maff and Bernard. Bernard is a big time player in New Japan, and Maff never broke out outside JAPW, so Bernard was not afraid to talk shit to Maff and treat him like a bitch. This got Maff all fired up and he brought the goods. He was super fired up and took the fight to the big man, highlighted by a great out-of-nowhere dive and some sick fatboy sentons. Kojima and Anderson just ran through their shit, and Anderson being the one to pin Maff felt wrong, but Maff made this stand out.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, NJ 8/5
Well this was a pleasant surprise. Tenzan may be a broken down bag of crap these days, but for one match here he managed to rewind the clock back several years and stole the show. Nakamura was also fired up and dished out his usual great knee-based offence. Tenzan's fired up comeback with the Dick Murdoch turnbuckle face stomp was well done and the crowd were eating him up. Nakamura sold his stuff really well and got foled in half off one lariat, and the big finishing nearfalls section was pretty damn great. Loved the struggle in the Anaconda Vice, and Nakamura's counter was great, and then Tenzan countering again with a big old headbutt was even better! Nakamura's desperation shoot-punch is such a great spot, and the diving knee strike was epic. Hell, all of the final third was epic. Best G1 match in a few years!
Yoshihiro Takayama vs Tetsuya Naito, NJ 8/10
Yuji Nagata vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NJ 8/11
Togi Makabe vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NJ 8/13
Nothing to see here. The Naito match is a mediocre beating from Takayama on a mediocre underdog. The Makabe match is completely forgettable and plodding. The Nagata mach was pretty solid but still not anything memorable, though it had it's moments.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toru Yano, NJ 8/13
This was a shocker. Toru Yano, probably the worst guy on the roster, has the best Tanahashi match in over a year? Shit. Yano is a scumbag, but this crowd loves an underdog and it didn't matter how much he cheated or how much of an asshole he was, they wanted to see him pull out the upset. The crowd pretty much carried this and made it memorable, but even as a guy who doesn't like Yano or Tanahashi, it's impossible not to get sucked into the "Yano as underdog" story. Tanahashi is the company ace, Yano is a mid-card heel, and all of the transitions in the match were pretty smart in refelecting that, as Yano resorted to hair-pulling, chair shots, exposing a turnbuckle, etc in order to get the advantage. Early on Tanahashi goes to hit a dive off the apron and Yano blasts him mid-air with a chair. Awesome. The crowd were hot for Yano and every nearfall he got, and even boo'd Tanahashi. Some of the nearfalls were great, Tanahashi bled AND there was a ref bump spot that worked. Tanahashi coming back easily every time was pretty annoying, but it atleast played into the story, so eh. If there was one match that I did not expect to like but did this year, this is it.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Minoru Suzuki, NJ 8/14
Looking at the G1 cards, this was the match I was most looking forward to, and it delivered. Crowd were super into it and behind Nakamura. The interference from Suzuki's boy added to the match, and they built the heat on Nakamua well. Nakamura's offence looked as good as it has ever has and both guys hit hard. Loved the finishing run with Suzuki being all over Nakamura and Nakamura just trying to hang on and find and an opening. Good shit.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs Tetsuya Naito, NJ 8/14
Was not into this as much as the other two Nakamura G1 matches I watched. Most of it felt like a really by-the-number big match. Naito works Nakamura's leg, but it's just filler, and the match was entirely carried by the hot crowd. I dug that they played off finishes from previous matches, but that was it.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Ode To A Sami Callihan
Sami Callihan vs BJ Whitmer, CZW "Tangled Web 4"
Solid match that may have been really good had the crowd not been so obnoxious. It started off pretty well with both guys trading blows and going to war, but after once Whitmer gained control it kind of lost steam. Sami did some really brutal facewashes made nastier by the great camera angle, but I thought the spot with him trying to hit dive in between two rings was kind of retarded (you have to see it to understand that). I liked Whitmer's knees and crazy new MMA-esque submission, but the crowd totally shat on him to the point where it wasn't good heat but "go away" heat, and while he kinda worked it at first it looked like it threw him off and he became lost afterwards. Shame.
Sami Callihan vs Finlay, EVOLVE 9
This was excellent. Not only one of the most hard-hitting matches I have ever seen, but they told the veteran vs upstart story amazingly. Right at the bell, Sami tried to rush Finlay only for Fit to blast him straight in the face. What a great way to set the tone for the rest of the match. Finlay was amazing in this, never getting drawn into Sami's attempts at striking exchanges and cheapshotting him like a fucking asshole. Sami getting in his face only for Finlay to headbutt him was so great. The beatings dished out were insane, every shot was stiff as all fuck, making both guys look like the two baddest sons of bitches on the planet. Finlay worked over Sami's leg, busting out all sorts of nasty, creative holds you'd never see in WWEland. Finlay makes simple bodyslams look devestating, and the spot where he distracted the ref so he could cheapshot Sami in his bad leg just BECAUSE HE COULD was a total dick move. Towards the end of the match, Sami went for a suicide dive and flew flat-out into the rail face first. And the finish was worth a million stars, Sami is pretty much done for, but remains defiant to the end, giving Finlay the finger before Finlay kills him with the returning tombstone. Such a deeply brutal match and a total war, littered with so many great individual moments it would be impossible to list them all. Finlay finished looking like the toughest guy in pro wrestling history, Sami took his lumps and came out looking like a world beater. Just an excellent match and up there with Punk vs Cena as being truly transcendant.
Sami Callihan vs Necro Butcher, CZW "New Heights"
This was barely even a match, and a dissapointing one at that. Mostly just an angle in the Sami vs DJ Hyde feud, with Hyde telling Necro if he doesn't beat up Callihan he doesn't get paid. After that it's basically a staple gun match, and I kind of blame Necro for it as he introduced the staple gun. Granted, they staple each other in some legit nasty places, like the armpit and side of the head, but this is the sort of gross-out garbage I try to avoid in hardcore wrestling.
Solid match that may have been really good had the crowd not been so obnoxious. It started off pretty well with both guys trading blows and going to war, but after once Whitmer gained control it kind of lost steam. Sami did some really brutal facewashes made nastier by the great camera angle, but I thought the spot with him trying to hit dive in between two rings was kind of retarded (you have to see it to understand that). I liked Whitmer's knees and crazy new MMA-esque submission, but the crowd totally shat on him to the point where it wasn't good heat but "go away" heat, and while he kinda worked it at first it looked like it threw him off and he became lost afterwards. Shame.
Sami Callihan vs Finlay, EVOLVE 9
This was excellent. Not only one of the most hard-hitting matches I have ever seen, but they told the veteran vs upstart story amazingly. Right at the bell, Sami tried to rush Finlay only for Fit to blast him straight in the face. What a great way to set the tone for the rest of the match. Finlay was amazing in this, never getting drawn into Sami's attempts at striking exchanges and cheapshotting him like a fucking asshole. Sami getting in his face only for Finlay to headbutt him was so great. The beatings dished out were insane, every shot was stiff as all fuck, making both guys look like the two baddest sons of bitches on the planet. Finlay worked over Sami's leg, busting out all sorts of nasty, creative holds you'd never see in WWEland. Finlay makes simple bodyslams look devestating, and the spot where he distracted the ref so he could cheapshot Sami in his bad leg just BECAUSE HE COULD was a total dick move. Towards the end of the match, Sami went for a suicide dive and flew flat-out into the rail face first. And the finish was worth a million stars, Sami is pretty much done for, but remains defiant to the end, giving Finlay the finger before Finlay kills him with the returning tombstone. Such a deeply brutal match and a total war, littered with so many great individual moments it would be impossible to list them all. Finlay finished looking like the toughest guy in pro wrestling history, Sami took his lumps and came out looking like a world beater. Just an excellent match and up there with Punk vs Cena as being truly transcendant.
Sami Callihan vs Necro Butcher, CZW "New Heights"
This was barely even a match, and a dissapointing one at that. Mostly just an angle in the Sami vs DJ Hyde feud, with Hyde telling Necro if he doesn't beat up Callihan he doesn't get paid. After that it's basically a staple gun match, and I kind of blame Necro for it as he introduced the staple gun. Granted, they staple each other in some legit nasty places, like the armpit and side of the head, but this is the sort of gross-out garbage I try to avoid in hardcore wrestling.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Summerslam and beyond
Mark Henry vs Sheamus
I only caught of the finish of the opener, but it looked fine. This however was everything it should have been and pretty damn awesome. Really fun slugfest with both dudes stiffing the hell out of each other. Both guys took some big bumps, and babyface Sheamus is badass. The finish was not only a great visual but really smartly booked as far as putting Henry over big without Sheamus losing face and setting up a rematch.
Daniel Bryan vs Wade Barrett
Believe it or not, this was NOT a total carryjob from Bryan(!), and Wade gave easily his career performance and had his career match here. He timed his cut-off spots well and busted out some knarly offence like the slingshot backbreaker and the knees in the ropes. Both guys hit very hard, and that was probably the sickest flying knee Bryan has ever hit. Loved the tease of the Wasteland off the apron, and Bryan countering it later into a choke and then transitioning into the LeBelle Lock. The elevated lariat was clearly a spot Bryan lifted straight from his matches with Nigel, but it was a cool spot nonetheless. Really good mid-card bout.
Christian vs Randy Orton (No Holds Barred)
I didn't think this was a great/MOTYC calibre match, or even the best of this kind of match WWE has ran this year, but it was still a really good WWE-style hardcore match. The blade ban and overuse of props kind of puts a ceiling on how good this match can be, but it delivered. Christian had his best outing since turning heel, and took a hell of a beating. I liked how they made him out to be a bitch with the pre-match angle, but by the end of the match he had eaten enough shit that, even though he lost, he had managed to prove he wasn't a pussy, and came out looking like one tough son of a bitch. The choke with cane was pretty creative and violent, and the spot with Orton going into rage mode after getting spat on was good stuff. Orton's blood added to the match, and the finish was sick.
John Cena vs CM Punk
It was never going to beat MITB, the sequels rarely beat the original, but this was still another top notch match between the two main eventers who have the most chemistry since Rock and Austin. Really, really high-end match and easy no.2 WWE MOTY. The first half of this was actually much stronger than the MITB, and all of the technical work was good stuff. Cena slowly powering out of holds then hitting explosive suplexes works. Loved him deadlifting Punk out of a stretch into a crazy powerslam. Punk's execution has never been better, and his knees and kicks are brutal. He was also busting out all sorts of unexpected offence like the falling headbutts, the picture perfect Savage elbow drop and a fucking mongolian chop of all things. This was really well built, with Cena repeatedly going for his trademark comeback routine, only for Punk to keep cutting him off, but with Cena getting progressively closer to completing his comeback roll each time. He'd go for the shoulerblocks and Punk'd counter with a sick knee to the face, he'd later hit them and go for the Protoplex, only for Punk to counter, etc. and when Cena hit it all the way through the place was going nuts. All of the submission nearfalls were still super-hot, and I loved how they mixed up the boo/yay exchange with different shots each time. Cena hit the best dropkick he will ever hit, a Sting-esque corner splash, and his final pissed off flurry was great. The finish brings it down, but really this is about as BS free as a match with HHH as referee will ever be, so I was more than happy.
CM Punk vs John Cena, RAW 8/22
This was a damn fine TV main event. Not as good as the PPV matches, or their first TV main, but still good shit. The stuff before the break was solid, but everything after was great. They do finisher teases/counters/build/nearfalls really well, they play off spots from previous matches, Cena's crossface actually looks better than his STF and he got ridiculous air on his legdrop. Loved Punk's elbows to the head and the motherfucking BUSAIKU KNEE out of nowhere. KENTA wishes he was this good. The TV finish was what it was, but this pairing has so much chemistry even a "lesser" bout is good.
I only caught of the finish of the opener, but it looked fine. This however was everything it should have been and pretty damn awesome. Really fun slugfest with both dudes stiffing the hell out of each other. Both guys took some big bumps, and babyface Sheamus is badass. The finish was not only a great visual but really smartly booked as far as putting Henry over big without Sheamus losing face and setting up a rematch.
Daniel Bryan vs Wade Barrett
Believe it or not, this was NOT a total carryjob from Bryan(!), and Wade gave easily his career performance and had his career match here. He timed his cut-off spots well and busted out some knarly offence like the slingshot backbreaker and the knees in the ropes. Both guys hit very hard, and that was probably the sickest flying knee Bryan has ever hit. Loved the tease of the Wasteland off the apron, and Bryan countering it later into a choke and then transitioning into the LeBelle Lock. The elevated lariat was clearly a spot Bryan lifted straight from his matches with Nigel, but it was a cool spot nonetheless. Really good mid-card bout.
Christian vs Randy Orton (No Holds Barred)
I didn't think this was a great/MOTYC calibre match, or even the best of this kind of match WWE has ran this year, but it was still a really good WWE-style hardcore match. The blade ban and overuse of props kind of puts a ceiling on how good this match can be, but it delivered. Christian had his best outing since turning heel, and took a hell of a beating. I liked how they made him out to be a bitch with the pre-match angle, but by the end of the match he had eaten enough shit that, even though he lost, he had managed to prove he wasn't a pussy, and came out looking like one tough son of a bitch. The choke with cane was pretty creative and violent, and the spot with Orton going into rage mode after getting spat on was good stuff. Orton's blood added to the match, and the finish was sick.
John Cena vs CM Punk
It was never going to beat MITB, the sequels rarely beat the original, but this was still another top notch match between the two main eventers who have the most chemistry since Rock and Austin. Really, really high-end match and easy no.2 WWE MOTY. The first half of this was actually much stronger than the MITB, and all of the technical work was good stuff. Cena slowly powering out of holds then hitting explosive suplexes works. Loved him deadlifting Punk out of a stretch into a crazy powerslam. Punk's execution has never been better, and his knees and kicks are brutal. He was also busting out all sorts of unexpected offence like the falling headbutts, the picture perfect Savage elbow drop and a fucking mongolian chop of all things. This was really well built, with Cena repeatedly going for his trademark comeback routine, only for Punk to keep cutting him off, but with Cena getting progressively closer to completing his comeback roll each time. He'd go for the shoulerblocks and Punk'd counter with a sick knee to the face, he'd later hit them and go for the Protoplex, only for Punk to counter, etc. and when Cena hit it all the way through the place was going nuts. All of the submission nearfalls were still super-hot, and I loved how they mixed up the boo/yay exchange with different shots each time. Cena hit the best dropkick he will ever hit, a Sting-esque corner splash, and his final pissed off flurry was great. The finish brings it down, but really this is about as BS free as a match with HHH as referee will ever be, so I was more than happy.
CM Punk vs John Cena, RAW 8/22
This was a damn fine TV main event. Not as good as the PPV matches, or their first TV main, but still good shit. The stuff before the break was solid, but everything after was great. They do finisher teases/counters/build/nearfalls really well, they play off spots from previous matches, Cena's crossface actually looks better than his STF and he got ridiculous air on his legdrop. Loved Punk's elbows to the head and the motherfucking BUSAIKU KNEE out of nowhere. KENTA wishes he was this good. The TV finish was what it was, but this pairing has so much chemistry even a "lesser" bout is good.
Thursday, 18 August 2011
PWG All Star Weekend 8
Kevin Steen vs Willie Mack
Really fun fatboys match with a veteran vs upstart story. Both guys work stiff and dish out hard shots, and also do some really impressive and pretty flying and highspots. Steen in particular goes for a pretty insane pop-up moonsault attempt. It went just a little too long for an opening match, but they got the story across well and the upset finish was great. I also love that Willie has a move called the Chocolate Thunder Bomb.
Generation Me vs RockNES Monsters
Pretty standard Gen Me match, which is mediocre. Most of their matches are the same shit, they only really care about the final part of the match when they can do big spots, everything before that is just boring lazy filler crap. There was some comedy early on, with RockNES shoving Max's crotch/ass into Jeremy's face and some other incest stuff, but I wasn't digging it. Goodtime was the only guy in this who was any good, and is a really slick highflyer. They played off the finish to the KR2 tag scramble which was neat, but Yuma's John Woo tornado DDT looked really hokey and the finish with the DDT/Superkick combo was just awful as Max visibly didn't connect with the kick.
Eddie Edwards vs Alex Shelley
Standard rote indy opening exchange leading to some stuff leading to some more stuff. I laughed out loud at the crowd breaking out into a "THIS IS AWESOME" chant for Shelley doing an abdominal stretch after 10 minutes of pretty much nothing happening. Both guys took time to reply to asshole fans, including Edwards being bewildered that someone could possibly like The Big Show and mocking the Chokeslam, which is pretty much the height of indy small man syndrome/anti-mainstream douchebagery. Both guys ran through their movesets, did an RVD/Lynn roll-up exchange, did some blatant legslapping, and then Edwards no-sold some stuff for the finish. I pretty much hated this.
Kevin Steen/Akira Tozawa vs El Generico/Ricochet
Not a perfect match, as it loses steam at points and Steen walks a fine line with how obnoxious he can act, but this is still pretty great. Mostly built around Steen vs Generico, and their interactions are as good as any in the feud. Ricochet hits some pretty crazy flippy highspots and Tozawa is pretty great, especially loved him faking Ricochet out with a chop then cracking him in the jaw. Final ten minutes are just total insanity, with Steen countering the Brainbuster into a Package Piledriver, Steen taking a reverse Frankensteiner off the top and Generico dying on an apron German suplex. And the finish itself was ridiculous. I also loved that Steen and Generico didn't go for the predictable handshake after the match. Up there with the best PWG matches ever.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero
Long match, even by PWG main event standards. The crowd was burnt out by this point, and Hero could have sold Claudio's armwork better, but still this was almost shockingly good for the length it goes. It started with some pretty sound technical stuff, solid matwork and some crazy Hero armdrags, and they built well to the strikes. Claudio botched a springboard uppercut, but it was covered well and didn't affect the match. Claudio actually did a pretty good job controlling the match for a long period of time, keeping it interesting without going to restholds or anything. Loved Hero's trash-talking, and his high-flying stuff is even more spectacular and impressive off the second rope (after the top rope broke, which made the match feel even more unpredictable). Finishing run was also really well done, with them building to a small number of big nearfalls instead of overkill or annoying 2.9 nearfall sequences. Overall I thought this was a really well paced, well built long match and good shit if you're willing to put in the time.
Kevin Steen/Akira Tozawa vs RockNES Monsters
Hot start from RockNES, but it sorta dies down quickly and becomes Steen beating up both of them. It's OK and makes sense given the booking, but they just didn't make this compelling as it should have been for two young tries trying to hang with a top star. Too much goofy shit and comedy. Even though I like the guy, I do find it really amusing that Steen's character is that he is an obnoxious douchebag loudmouth, and that he is now the top babyface in the promotion. A comment about indy fans? They kinda blew an avalanche PP attempt, but made up for it with Yuma dying from one on the apron for the finish. Tozawa was a in a total backseat role, which is a shame, but the post-match antics with the Bucks and Hero were pretty great.
El Generico vs Eddie Edwards
This was definitely better than Edwards vs Shelley, but was still mostly them "just doing stuff". Edwards worked Generico's leg, but Generico never sold it once outside one spot where he couldn't hit a dive over the rope... so he went up top and hit one, completely overiding the point. Eddie was the aggressor most of the match and tried to "bully" Generico, but as much as I DO like the guy, he is just too vanilla for that kind of role. The final part of the match did pick up bigtime though, with both guys taking a spill to the outside, fighting on the apron (leading to the thirdest sickest apron bump of the weekend), Eddie hitting his big top rope rana and sick lariats, and THEN paying off the legwork for the finish.
Chris Hero vs Akira Tozawa
This was very good and easily MOTN, though still a big step down from their first match. Hero laid in a really violent beating on Tozawa. Chops, elbows, boots and stomps all looked really vicious and Hero also acted like a total dick. At one point he almost decapitated Tozawa with a running boot. The finish was well done, and a good way to end the feud. Tozawa crying during his farewell was emotional, he has grown into one of the most exciting wrestlers around in PWG, lets hope it's not the last we see of him.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Low Ki
I am 99% sure these two have never wrestled each other before, not even in tags or scramble matches, and it kinda showed. That's not to say this was bad, because it definitely wasn't, but there were obvious moments of awkwardness (what was up with Ki's running elbows?). Both guys dished out some shots, but they really should have played up the big vs small story much more than they did. You have the biggest guy in the main indys against a guy who is 5'8, and Ki was able to hit the Ki Krusher with relative ease. The awkwardness did lead to one sick spot where Claudio kinda sat up during a double stomp and got it right in the fucking face. Highlight of the match was also Ki double stomping Claudio's arm mid-air during an attempted elevated uppercut. The finish was predictable, with both guys surviving finishers, and came off as anticlimactic. Not a bad match by any stretch, it was solid, but ultimately forgettable. I expect future matches could be better.
Really fun fatboys match with a veteran vs upstart story. Both guys work stiff and dish out hard shots, and also do some really impressive and pretty flying and highspots. Steen in particular goes for a pretty insane pop-up moonsault attempt. It went just a little too long for an opening match, but they got the story across well and the upset finish was great. I also love that Willie has a move called the Chocolate Thunder Bomb.
Generation Me vs RockNES Monsters
Pretty standard Gen Me match, which is mediocre. Most of their matches are the same shit, they only really care about the final part of the match when they can do big spots, everything before that is just boring lazy filler crap. There was some comedy early on, with RockNES shoving Max's crotch/ass into Jeremy's face and some other incest stuff, but I wasn't digging it. Goodtime was the only guy in this who was any good, and is a really slick highflyer. They played off the finish to the KR2 tag scramble which was neat, but Yuma's John Woo tornado DDT looked really hokey and the finish with the DDT/Superkick combo was just awful as Max visibly didn't connect with the kick.
Eddie Edwards vs Alex Shelley
Standard rote indy opening exchange leading to some stuff leading to some more stuff. I laughed out loud at the crowd breaking out into a "THIS IS AWESOME" chant for Shelley doing an abdominal stretch after 10 minutes of pretty much nothing happening. Both guys took time to reply to asshole fans, including Edwards being bewildered that someone could possibly like The Big Show and mocking the Chokeslam, which is pretty much the height of indy small man syndrome/anti-mainstream douchebagery. Both guys ran through their movesets, did an RVD/Lynn roll-up exchange, did some blatant legslapping, and then Edwards no-sold some stuff for the finish. I pretty much hated this.
Kevin Steen/Akira Tozawa vs El Generico/Ricochet
Not a perfect match, as it loses steam at points and Steen walks a fine line with how obnoxious he can act, but this is still pretty great. Mostly built around Steen vs Generico, and their interactions are as good as any in the feud. Ricochet hits some pretty crazy flippy highspots and Tozawa is pretty great, especially loved him faking Ricochet out with a chop then cracking him in the jaw. Final ten minutes are just total insanity, with Steen countering the Brainbuster into a Package Piledriver, Steen taking a reverse Frankensteiner off the top and Generico dying on an apron German suplex. And the finish itself was ridiculous. I also loved that Steen and Generico didn't go for the predictable handshake after the match. Up there with the best PWG matches ever.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Chris Hero
Long match, even by PWG main event standards. The crowd was burnt out by this point, and Hero could have sold Claudio's armwork better, but still this was almost shockingly good for the length it goes. It started with some pretty sound technical stuff, solid matwork and some crazy Hero armdrags, and they built well to the strikes. Claudio botched a springboard uppercut, but it was covered well and didn't affect the match. Claudio actually did a pretty good job controlling the match for a long period of time, keeping it interesting without going to restholds or anything. Loved Hero's trash-talking, and his high-flying stuff is even more spectacular and impressive off the second rope (after the top rope broke, which made the match feel even more unpredictable). Finishing run was also really well done, with them building to a small number of big nearfalls instead of overkill or annoying 2.9 nearfall sequences. Overall I thought this was a really well paced, well built long match and good shit if you're willing to put in the time.
Kevin Steen/Akira Tozawa vs RockNES Monsters
Hot start from RockNES, but it sorta dies down quickly and becomes Steen beating up both of them. It's OK and makes sense given the booking, but they just didn't make this compelling as it should have been for two young tries trying to hang with a top star. Too much goofy shit and comedy. Even though I like the guy, I do find it really amusing that Steen's character is that he is an obnoxious douchebag loudmouth, and that he is now the top babyface in the promotion. A comment about indy fans? They kinda blew an avalanche PP attempt, but made up for it with Yuma dying from one on the apron for the finish. Tozawa was a in a total backseat role, which is a shame, but the post-match antics with the Bucks and Hero were pretty great.
El Generico vs Eddie Edwards
This was definitely better than Edwards vs Shelley, but was still mostly them "just doing stuff". Edwards worked Generico's leg, but Generico never sold it once outside one spot where he couldn't hit a dive over the rope... so he went up top and hit one, completely overiding the point. Eddie was the aggressor most of the match and tried to "bully" Generico, but as much as I DO like the guy, he is just too vanilla for that kind of role. The final part of the match did pick up bigtime though, with both guys taking a spill to the outside, fighting on the apron (leading to the thirdest sickest apron bump of the weekend), Eddie hitting his big top rope rana and sick lariats, and THEN paying off the legwork for the finish.
Chris Hero vs Akira Tozawa
This was very good and easily MOTN, though still a big step down from their first match. Hero laid in a really violent beating on Tozawa. Chops, elbows, boots and stomps all looked really vicious and Hero also acted like a total dick. At one point he almost decapitated Tozawa with a running boot. The finish was well done, and a good way to end the feud. Tozawa crying during his farewell was emotional, he has grown into one of the most exciting wrestlers around in PWG, lets hope it's not the last we see of him.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Low Ki
I am 99% sure these two have never wrestled each other before, not even in tags or scramble matches, and it kinda showed. That's not to say this was bad, because it definitely wasn't, but there were obvious moments of awkwardness (what was up with Ki's running elbows?). Both guys dished out some shots, but they really should have played up the big vs small story much more than they did. You have the biggest guy in the main indys against a guy who is 5'8, and Ki was able to hit the Ki Krusher with relative ease. The awkwardness did lead to one sick spot where Claudio kinda sat up during a double stomp and got it right in the fucking face. Highlight of the match was also Ki double stomping Claudio's arm mid-air during an attempted elevated uppercut. The finish was predictable, with both guys surviving finishers, and came off as anticlimactic. Not a bad match by any stretch, it was solid, but ultimately forgettable. I expect future matches could be better.
Sunday, 14 August 2011
The Briscoes vs The Bravado Bros, ROH "Tag Team Turmoil"
Checked this out because Briscoes have been on a tear lately, and the Bravados have an act that makes them pretty hatable. Jay cuts a promo on WGTT and ends with the awesome line (to the Bravados) "nothing personal boys, but we're gon' kick yo' ass". And that they do. The match was only around 6 minutes long, and Bravados got in more offence than they should have, but the Briscoes' beating and schtick was fun. Really liked the booking of the interference upset finish, too.
Yoshihito Sasaki/Kazuki Hashimoto vs Yuji Okabayashi/Shinobu, BJW 7/25
MOTYC for matches less than ten minutes. Short-ish match, but tonnes of action and asskicking. As you would expect, Sasaki vs Shinobu is where it's at, with both going fighting tooth and nail and trying to tear each other's heads off, but Ok and Hash also brought it in spades. Stiff match all round. Sasaki and Shinobu hate each other so much, and Okabayashi throws his muscle around effectively. Shinobu and Sasaki even go at it after the bell.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NJ 8/2
I enjoyed Takayama beating up the pretty boy ace, but this stopped short of being anything memorable. Takayama brought it and dished out the pain, but not on the same scale he would against a guy like KENTA. Which is fine, Tanahashi is the company ace, not a junior, so I'm not expecting Takayama to run through him. Tanahashi makes an OK punching bag, but he really isn't good enough at striking and doesn't "bring it" enough for me to really buy his comeback, nor does he sell the beating well enough to make me buy Takayama having a chance of winning.
Yoshihiro Takayama vs Giant Bernard, NJ 8/6
Pretty mediocre superheavyweight match. I actually thought Takayama once again did a good job. Here he was an old bastard trying to prove he's not past it and can still hang with a guy like Bernard. At the start of the match, he couldn't beat Bernard in a test-of-strength, so resorted to a cheapshot. He then lost a shoulder tackle exchange and immediately got to his feet and brushed it off, trying to act like it didn't phase him. After that the match was pretty crappy, as Bernard is pretty damn boring when on offence and the crowd didn't give two craps either. They did a decent job making the finish feel like an upset, but too little too late.
Checked this out because Briscoes have been on a tear lately, and the Bravados have an act that makes them pretty hatable. Jay cuts a promo on WGTT and ends with the awesome line (to the Bravados) "nothing personal boys, but we're gon' kick yo' ass". And that they do. The match was only around 6 minutes long, and Bravados got in more offence than they should have, but the Briscoes' beating and schtick was fun. Really liked the booking of the interference upset finish, too.
Yoshihito Sasaki/Kazuki Hashimoto vs Yuji Okabayashi/Shinobu, BJW 7/25
MOTYC for matches less than ten minutes. Short-ish match, but tonnes of action and asskicking. As you would expect, Sasaki vs Shinobu is where it's at, with both going fighting tooth and nail and trying to tear each other's heads off, but Ok and Hash also brought it in spades. Stiff match all round. Sasaki and Shinobu hate each other so much, and Okabayashi throws his muscle around effectively. Shinobu and Sasaki even go at it after the bell.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama, NJ 8/2
I enjoyed Takayama beating up the pretty boy ace, but this stopped short of being anything memorable. Takayama brought it and dished out the pain, but not on the same scale he would against a guy like KENTA. Which is fine, Tanahashi is the company ace, not a junior, so I'm not expecting Takayama to run through him. Tanahashi makes an OK punching bag, but he really isn't good enough at striking and doesn't "bring it" enough for me to really buy his comeback, nor does he sell the beating well enough to make me buy Takayama having a chance of winning.
Yoshihiro Takayama vs Giant Bernard, NJ 8/6
Pretty mediocre superheavyweight match. I actually thought Takayama once again did a good job. Here he was an old bastard trying to prove he's not past it and can still hang with a guy like Bernard. At the start of the match, he couldn't beat Bernard in a test-of-strength, so resorted to a cheapshot. He then lost a shoulder tackle exchange and immediately got to his feet and brushed it off, trying to act like it didn't phase him. After that the match was pretty crappy, as Bernard is pretty damn boring when on offence and the crowd didn't give two craps either. They did a decent job making the finish feel like an upset, but too little too late.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Chikarasaurs Rex: When the sequel beats the original
Eddie Kingston vs Adam Cole
This kind of match is a little frustrating, and even more so when you try to "rate" it. On the one hand you had a guy putting on a hell of show and being off the charts, on the other you had a guy dragging him down and sucking hard. As bland as he is as a babyface, Adam Cole is worse as a heel and I found him nearly infufferable. Outside of playing from the generic cocky heel handbook 101, he is the indy Edge as far as shitty offence and absurd facial expressions go. I enjoyed Kingston wailing on him, but once Cole went on the offence the match plummeted. I almost felt bad for Kingston having to sell some of this shit, as Kingston screaming in pain and hobbling as Cole gently brushed his leg looked silly. Still, King tried and he atleast was great, and the finish with the seated backfist was pretty cool.
Johnny Saint vs Johnny Kidd
What you expect from this match, and a tonne of fun to watch. Plenty of cool mat trickery and neat counters, and even some amusing mind games as well. Saint did a lot of his usual spots, and they are still awesome, and it's impossible to have "running through his moveset" as a complain for a guy like Johnny MF Saint. I was actually more impressed by Kidd though, he was more simplistic and aggressive in comparison to Saint's flash, and he threw in a few subtle heel moments to make the match feel more competitive.
Mike Quackenbush vs Claudio Castagnoli
This was pretty underwhelming and maybe the worst match these two have had together. This is a pretty consistant match-up, so that's not to say the match sucked, but it just wasn't anything special. One of the best things about Quack vs Claudio is how slick their exchanges are but here a lot of stuff was executed pretty loose. Most of the wow factor came from the ridiculous height Quack was able to get off certain spots, inlcuding a huge asai moonsault. Most of the match was pretty dull and plodding, with Claudio vaguely targetting Quack's back, but mostly with restholds and shit. No urgency and felt like they were filling time for the end run. And a lot of the stuff near the finish came off very random, like Quack busting out a Dragonrana and a Ricola Bomb from the apron. It may have just been me but it felt like they were just throwing shit against the wall. Quack surving a big run of offence then coming back to win out of nowhere was a little annoying too.
Eddie Kingston vs Jigsaw
I liked this a bunch, but it once again fell down the same pitfall most indy wrestling does: trying to force an "epic". The first two thirds of the match were quality. Both guys being aggressive and bringing it without breaking the face vs face status quo. Jigsaw in particular brought it much more than I was anticipating and, outside a couple flubbed superkicks (seriously, stop them), was pretty stiff. Both guys targetted bodyparts and sold them well. One great spot saw Kingston egg Jig on to take him down only for Jig to whipe him out with a big flurry of strikes. Eddie wildly swinging punches whilest crumpling to the mat was also cool. It kind of fell off a cliff near the end with a bunch of finishers and forced "we are equal" spots, including Jig surviving all three of King's finishers in a row, which was baffling, and Kingston hitting the worst Sliding D ever, but it wasn't bad enough to drop this below "very good".
Mike Quackenbush/Johnny Saint vs Colt Cabana/Johnny Kidd
Another match that was a total blast and even better than the singles from the night before. Every match-up delivered and was awesome. I especially loved the way Quack and Colt were working the body-scissors early on. Saint and Kidd seemed to work a bit tighter than the night before, and they built on some of the spots from the singles match nicely. The finish was awkward, but all four guys looked like they were having a tonne of fun wrestling this and I dare you not to enjoy it too.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Sara Del Rey
Claudio has been kind of frustrating this year. His weaker performances have come against his better opponents and his better performances have been against weaker opponents. Case in point, this. These two had a match in the 2008 TPI that got a lot of love, but I thought it was really sloppy. Del Rey has a rep for being a "good" female wrestler, and while she's definitely better than Kelly Kelly or Mickie James I still think "good" is a stretch. As sexist as it sounds she is like pretty much every other female wrestler these days, sloppy and fairly unco-ordinated. Anyway, this was still pretty solid because of the intergender/underdog story, but even then it doesn't take much work to gain sympothy as a woman getting beat up by a guy Claudio's size. Claudio was a pretty good asshole, worked Sara over well and sold bigtime for submission nearfalls, making this better than their 2008 match. The outcome was pretty telegraphed, but Claudio's performance was still pretty impressive, even if this does read like I am underating the match. It was solid, but they didn't hit the high notes they were going for.
This kind of match is a little frustrating, and even more so when you try to "rate" it. On the one hand you had a guy putting on a hell of show and being off the charts, on the other you had a guy dragging him down and sucking hard. As bland as he is as a babyface, Adam Cole is worse as a heel and I found him nearly infufferable. Outside of playing from the generic cocky heel handbook 101, he is the indy Edge as far as shitty offence and absurd facial expressions go. I enjoyed Kingston wailing on him, but once Cole went on the offence the match plummeted. I almost felt bad for Kingston having to sell some of this shit, as Kingston screaming in pain and hobbling as Cole gently brushed his leg looked silly. Still, King tried and he atleast was great, and the finish with the seated backfist was pretty cool.
Johnny Saint vs Johnny Kidd
What you expect from this match, and a tonne of fun to watch. Plenty of cool mat trickery and neat counters, and even some amusing mind games as well. Saint did a lot of his usual spots, and they are still awesome, and it's impossible to have "running through his moveset" as a complain for a guy like Johnny MF Saint. I was actually more impressed by Kidd though, he was more simplistic and aggressive in comparison to Saint's flash, and he threw in a few subtle heel moments to make the match feel more competitive.
Mike Quackenbush vs Claudio Castagnoli
This was pretty underwhelming and maybe the worst match these two have had together. This is a pretty consistant match-up, so that's not to say the match sucked, but it just wasn't anything special. One of the best things about Quack vs Claudio is how slick their exchanges are but here a lot of stuff was executed pretty loose. Most of the wow factor came from the ridiculous height Quack was able to get off certain spots, inlcuding a huge asai moonsault. Most of the match was pretty dull and plodding, with Claudio vaguely targetting Quack's back, but mostly with restholds and shit. No urgency and felt like they were filling time for the end run. And a lot of the stuff near the finish came off very random, like Quack busting out a Dragonrana and a Ricola Bomb from the apron. It may have just been me but it felt like they were just throwing shit against the wall. Quack surving a big run of offence then coming back to win out of nowhere was a little annoying too.
Eddie Kingston vs Jigsaw
I liked this a bunch, but it once again fell down the same pitfall most indy wrestling does: trying to force an "epic". The first two thirds of the match were quality. Both guys being aggressive and bringing it without breaking the face vs face status quo. Jigsaw in particular brought it much more than I was anticipating and, outside a couple flubbed superkicks (seriously, stop them), was pretty stiff. Both guys targetted bodyparts and sold them well. One great spot saw Kingston egg Jig on to take him down only for Jig to whipe him out with a big flurry of strikes. Eddie wildly swinging punches whilest crumpling to the mat was also cool. It kind of fell off a cliff near the end with a bunch of finishers and forced "we are equal" spots, including Jig surviving all three of King's finishers in a row, which was baffling, and Kingston hitting the worst Sliding D ever, but it wasn't bad enough to drop this below "very good".
Mike Quackenbush/Johnny Saint vs Colt Cabana/Johnny Kidd
Another match that was a total blast and even better than the singles from the night before. Every match-up delivered and was awesome. I especially loved the way Quack and Colt were working the body-scissors early on. Saint and Kidd seemed to work a bit tighter than the night before, and they built on some of the spots from the singles match nicely. The finish was awkward, but all four guys looked like they were having a tonne of fun wrestling this and I dare you not to enjoy it too.
Claudio Castagnoli vs Sara Del Rey
Claudio has been kind of frustrating this year. His weaker performances have come against his better opponents and his better performances have been against weaker opponents. Case in point, this. These two had a match in the 2008 TPI that got a lot of love, but I thought it was really sloppy. Del Rey has a rep for being a "good" female wrestler, and while she's definitely better than Kelly Kelly or Mickie James I still think "good" is a stretch. As sexist as it sounds she is like pretty much every other female wrestler these days, sloppy and fairly unco-ordinated. Anyway, this was still pretty solid because of the intergender/underdog story, but even then it doesn't take much work to gain sympothy as a woman getting beat up by a guy Claudio's size. Claudio was a pretty good asshole, worked Sara over well and sold bigtime for submission nearfalls, making this better than their 2008 match. The outcome was pretty telegraphed, but Claudio's performance was still pretty impressive, even if this does read like I am underating the match. It was solid, but they didn't hit the high notes they were going for.
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