So, KENSO apparently has a concussion, and will miss the rest of the tournament. I don't know when that happened, but it possibly explains his weird match with Suzuki. Unless he got the concussion after Suzuki got annoyed with him.
Show opens with Hama vs KONO, and I am deeply surprised how much I like this - I have no real priors on either go, even after the first night, expected nothing, and got something good. Hama is enormous, and if you are that big and you steal Vader strikes and Abdullah elbow drops for a moveset, your offence is bound to look great. Hama's bodyshots and Vader forearm shots in the corner looked particularly nice. KONO struggles at first, so opts for a cheapshot with a chair. This mostly seems to anger Hama, who spends the next eight minutes clubbing the life out of KONO, who manages to hang on. You almost get the sense that Hama punches himself out, and when he does, KONO works out that his kneestrikes are managing to have an effect, and he sticks with it until Hama stays down. The pace is a bit slow at times - there's a few moments where Hama stands around a bit, and you want him to push on faster, but that's my only problem with this. Good stuff.
Funaki vs. Omori had a bunch of stuff I liked. I'm not sure it hung together as a match particularly - it felt like matwork, some spots on the outside, some finishers, without a sense of build, but there was definitely individual parts worth watching. As with the Suwama match, I liked Funaki's arm work, particularly the way he fought into position for the attempted armbreaker. I was surprised, and hence enjoyed, the couple of highspots thrown in - the pescado almost went to far, meaning Omoro came down right on his head, which looked nasty. Funaki also unleashed a bunch of really stiff kicks - these were perhaps most effective when used to escape the Axe Driver. I still don't like Omori's weak lariat, but Funaki ducking it for a KO head kick was a great finish out-of-nowhere. Match was objectionable at all really, just felt lacking as a whole.
Doering vs. Akiyama was decent, but no more than that. It's a short match, felt like it could have open a episode of Superstars, with a simple layout, no real back and forth, and both guys working in quite a bit of their moveset. Doering takes an early advantage with more work on Akiyama's neck, dropping him over the ropes and the rail. It doesn't lead to an epic Akiyama selljob, given the time constraints. Both Akiyama and Doering transition to being on the attack with a burst of unexpected offence. I think both cases managed to come across as opportunism - their opponent created a bit of space, which was promptly seized upon - but it's not far away from the sort of Japanese wrestling cliches I certainly don't expect from Akiyama at least. One thing I did quite like is the emerging story of Doering's vunerability to flash roll-up pins: twice in two nights.
I had mixed thoughts about Kea vs Suzuki. Early on, it felt like they were playing off the fact that they knew each other well by trying find ways to surprise the other. There was a nice spot when Kea catches Suzuki with a death valley driver when he looked like he was about to run onto the ropes. Suzuki capitalises on a missed yakuza kick and spends most of the match ripping up Kea's leg. Therein lies the problem with the match - Kea's selling of the leg was absolutely dire. He'd go from hobbling around to running ropes within a couple of seconds. Whatever they were building with Suzuki's submission work (some of which was pretty fun, especially the spot where he played dead, then kicked Kea's leg out from under him) was pretty much ruined by that.
Suwama vs. Nagata is the sort of match that I see people write about, where they basically add their own storyline to give it some importance. Nagata is the deadly outsider. Suwama is the young behemoth trying to hang with him, battling for the honour of his home promotion. Sure, you can make anything look like Tenryu vs. New Japan in 1993 if you squint at it enough. It's nonsense really, because none of that is reflected in the wrestling. What you do have is two guys, working really hard, but without any real sense of story. There's some arm stuff that sort of fluctuates in importance and lots of big moves and near falls and clearly the crowd are into it. It's too back-and-forth, and not nearly dramatic enough at the end. It's just a heavyweight match in Japan, circa 2011, and nothing more.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Monday, 25 April 2011
All Japan: Champions Carnival 2011 - Day 1
I've always really enjoyed a Japanese wrestling tournament, even when I have reservations about the quality of the Japanese wrestling. They can act as a sense-check for the worst excesses of the style, allowing me to watch guys with some fun stuff but not have to endure 25 minute overkill-fests. They can also add some much needed extra dimensions to the matches, both by adding an overall goal and also by allowing mini-stories to develop in a reasonably self-contained environment.
Anyway, it's 2011, and I have some pretty severe reservations about watching All Japan, but I am endeavouring to review all of the Champions Carnival. Outside participants are a mixed bag - Jun Akiyama is in, but so is Yuji Nagata. Akiyama is maybe the only heavyweight in Japan able to still work that style well, while I haven't cared about Nagata at all in a couple of years. Then again, it's always good to revisit assumptions, so maybe I'll be surprised. Suzuki and Funaki are both in, but no Nishimura. No Mutoh or Kojima either (has something happened there?). The rest of the lineup is the usual All Japan guys: Suwama, Kea, Hama, KENSO, Doering, KONO and Sanada.
Show opens with Seiya Sanada vs. Joe Doering. This was laid out as a pretty typical big man vs. little man match. I thought Doering was good in his role - he threw Sanada around a bunch, and thought he bumped around quite well for Sanada's comeback. I didn't like Sanada's hurricanrana reversal of the powerbomb that set-up the finish - it looked clumsy and fake. Sanada does the plucky underdog thing with fighting spirit thing, and it's very OK. He did have a tendency to alternate from selling to moving normally for the purpose of some of the exchanges, which was irksome.
Ryota Hama vs. Takao Omori was next. Any Hama match is always going to be about how he is enormous - it's all fat-man offence, avoiding fat-man offence, and offence scuppered by fat-man. It's an easy formula, and I don't find the layout of the match objectionable. Omori has some really annoying stuff though that distracts from it's execution - his two selling modes are: winded, and puzzled. Neither are good. I didn't buy his lariat as the finish either. I can't decide whether that was a bumping problem, but Omori's lariat always looks pretty low-impact against smaller guys, so it's not surprising I think much of the finish here either.
Minoru Suzuki vs. KENSO was a really weird match. I often get tired with Suzuki matches because he often seems willing to forgo the story or structure of a match in order to get his act over. Its good to see a Japanese wrestler with that level of charisma, but better wrestlers will work it into a match rather than use it to completely override it. Here, though, KENSO was giving Suzuki nothing, no-selling loads of stuff and not really bringing much on offence either, except some open-handed slaps. It seemed like Suzuki was having to try anything to keep the match going, but he isn't a patient man, and by the end, he seemed really irritated. There was a long sleeper hold where KENSO looks legitimately half-unconcious, but doesn't fight it. All pretty awkward, and a little uncomfortable too.
KONO vs Yuji Nagata really wasn't any good. It had a pretty bad case of my-turn-your-turn-itis, and nothing really went anywhere. Nagata targets KONO's leg for a while, but that gets dropped soon after. This match seemed caught between trying to establish Nagata as a major contender and playing off him being outsized. In the end, Nagata won relatively simply, but he neither seemed all-conquering, or like a gritty survivor. They both pretty much just roll through his stuff and eventually, something gets a pin. I think it was a backdrop driver, but it could have been anything, really - it's not like anything mattered.
Taiyo Kea vs. Jun Akiyama was the highlight of the show - it went to a thirty minute draw, and was really well put together. It's not on the level of Akiyama's best long match stuff from 2010, but I really liked it all the same. They start off with some really nice matwork, non-perfunctory stuff where both guys seemed to be fighting for control. The section ends with a burst of Akiyama offence and a nearfall - Kea rolls out of the ring, ultimately leading to Akiyama getting dropped on the back of his head on the mats. This feels like a Akiyama trademark in some of his better carryjobs, and gave the match (and his oppenent) something to work around. Akiyama's selling is really good, and I though his comebacks were well timed to keep the match interesting. Kea didn't quite have enough stuff to fill the middle part (there was a bit of repetition), but I didn't feel like he was being majorly carried. He certainly laid in with his chops, which looked pretty vicious. Jun's final comeback starts with some great opportunism - a drop toehold onto the rail, then a follow-up knee into the same barrier. The final stretch was well paced - Akiyama is great at this heavyweight epics because he brings the right balance of realistic fatigue and fighting-on, and Kea certainly seemed to be following suit for the most part. I would have preferred that there hadn't been a kickout from the super Exploider - that felt like it should have been a match-ender - but that was really the only complaint. The story seemed to be that Akiyama was close to victory but just ran out of time, which is much better way of finishing than these thirty minute draws where guys are just throwing out stuff and waiting for the bell.
Suwama vs. Masakatsu Funaki is the final match of the show. On one level, it's a story of powerful youngster against a crafty veteran submission fighter. On another level, it's a great satire on the state of the Japanese education system. Funaki focuses on attacking Suwama's arm, with nasty kicks and armbar submissions. Suwama, however, in the role as a young man failed by the schooling system, fights back using this arm for lariats, this arm for forearms and this arm for pretty much everything else. Every time he does so, he receives a pain in this arm, but, due to his inadequate teachers, can not connect cause and effect. You can see it baffles him - sometimes he takes a few seconds to pause and reflect on the puzzle, standing motionless until he abandons the puzzle and clutches his arm instead. Funaki's persistence and strategy ultimately pays off and ... no, sorry, my mistake, Suwama wins because he is strong and mighty. Don't stay in school, kids.
Anyway, it's 2011, and I have some pretty severe reservations about watching All Japan, but I am endeavouring to review all of the Champions Carnival. Outside participants are a mixed bag - Jun Akiyama is in, but so is Yuji Nagata. Akiyama is maybe the only heavyweight in Japan able to still work that style well, while I haven't cared about Nagata at all in a couple of years. Then again, it's always good to revisit assumptions, so maybe I'll be surprised. Suzuki and Funaki are both in, but no Nishimura. No Mutoh or Kojima either (has something happened there?). The rest of the lineup is the usual All Japan guys: Suwama, Kea, Hama, KENSO, Doering, KONO and Sanada.
Show opens with Seiya Sanada vs. Joe Doering. This was laid out as a pretty typical big man vs. little man match. I thought Doering was good in his role - he threw Sanada around a bunch, and thought he bumped around quite well for Sanada's comeback. I didn't like Sanada's hurricanrana reversal of the powerbomb that set-up the finish - it looked clumsy and fake. Sanada does the plucky underdog thing with fighting spirit thing, and it's very OK. He did have a tendency to alternate from selling to moving normally for the purpose of some of the exchanges, which was irksome.
Ryota Hama vs. Takao Omori was next. Any Hama match is always going to be about how he is enormous - it's all fat-man offence, avoiding fat-man offence, and offence scuppered by fat-man. It's an easy formula, and I don't find the layout of the match objectionable. Omori has some really annoying stuff though that distracts from it's execution - his two selling modes are: winded, and puzzled. Neither are good. I didn't buy his lariat as the finish either. I can't decide whether that was a bumping problem, but Omori's lariat always looks pretty low-impact against smaller guys, so it's not surprising I think much of the finish here either.
Minoru Suzuki vs. KENSO was a really weird match. I often get tired with Suzuki matches because he often seems willing to forgo the story or structure of a match in order to get his act over. Its good to see a Japanese wrestler with that level of charisma, but better wrestlers will work it into a match rather than use it to completely override it. Here, though, KENSO was giving Suzuki nothing, no-selling loads of stuff and not really bringing much on offence either, except some open-handed slaps. It seemed like Suzuki was having to try anything to keep the match going, but he isn't a patient man, and by the end, he seemed really irritated. There was a long sleeper hold where KENSO looks legitimately half-unconcious, but doesn't fight it. All pretty awkward, and a little uncomfortable too.
KONO vs Yuji Nagata really wasn't any good. It had a pretty bad case of my-turn-your-turn-itis, and nothing really went anywhere. Nagata targets KONO's leg for a while, but that gets dropped soon after. This match seemed caught between trying to establish Nagata as a major contender and playing off him being outsized. In the end, Nagata won relatively simply, but he neither seemed all-conquering, or like a gritty survivor. They both pretty much just roll through his stuff and eventually, something gets a pin. I think it was a backdrop driver, but it could have been anything, really - it's not like anything mattered.
Taiyo Kea vs. Jun Akiyama was the highlight of the show - it went to a thirty minute draw, and was really well put together. It's not on the level of Akiyama's best long match stuff from 2010, but I really liked it all the same. They start off with some really nice matwork, non-perfunctory stuff where both guys seemed to be fighting for control. The section ends with a burst of Akiyama offence and a nearfall - Kea rolls out of the ring, ultimately leading to Akiyama getting dropped on the back of his head on the mats. This feels like a Akiyama trademark in some of his better carryjobs, and gave the match (and his oppenent) something to work around. Akiyama's selling is really good, and I though his comebacks were well timed to keep the match interesting. Kea didn't quite have enough stuff to fill the middle part (there was a bit of repetition), but I didn't feel like he was being majorly carried. He certainly laid in with his chops, which looked pretty vicious. Jun's final comeback starts with some great opportunism - a drop toehold onto the rail, then a follow-up knee into the same barrier. The final stretch was well paced - Akiyama is great at this heavyweight epics because he brings the right balance of realistic fatigue and fighting-on, and Kea certainly seemed to be following suit for the most part. I would have preferred that there hadn't been a kickout from the super Exploider - that felt like it should have been a match-ender - but that was really the only complaint. The story seemed to be that Akiyama was close to victory but just ran out of time, which is much better way of finishing than these thirty minute draws where guys are just throwing out stuff and waiting for the bell.
Suwama vs. Masakatsu Funaki is the final match of the show. On one level, it's a story of powerful youngster against a crafty veteran submission fighter. On another level, it's a great satire on the state of the Japanese education system. Funaki focuses on attacking Suwama's arm, with nasty kicks and armbar submissions. Suwama, however, in the role as a young man failed by the schooling system, fights back using this arm for lariats, this arm for forearms and this arm for pretty much everything else. Every time he does so, he receives a pain in this arm, but, due to his inadequate teachers, can not connect cause and effect. You can see it baffles him - sometimes he takes a few seconds to pause and reflect on the puzzle, standing motionless until he abandons the puzzle and clutches his arm instead. Funaki's persistence and strategy ultimately pays off and ... no, sorry, my mistake, Suwama wins because he is strong and mighty. Don't stay in school, kids.
Monday, 4 April 2011
A (Possible) Wrestlemania 27 live blog
Monday 4th April, 7.43pm: Everyone on the social networks seems to be adamantly trying to lower my expectations (mostly about this Wrestlemania show, but also overall with this life), but as ever I am filled with a childish excitement and my spirits can not be dampened.
7.45pm: The Rock! Is here! And his music!
7.54pm: He talks and leads the crowd in some chanting. Meanwhile, someone in the crowd has a Wrestle Maina sign. I am excited by near-impossible illiteracy.
8.00pm: Atlanta! Wrestlemania! Rock! The People! (and repeat)
8.04pm: The world heavyweight title match with the Royal Rumble winner is the opening match and Christian is booked to stand in a corner. Many people would have their spirits dampened by these decisions. Not me. I am just looking forward to an Edge match.
8.23pm: There's a lot of Edge criticism in the parts of the Internet I frequent, but really there are just two problems with his work - his offence, and all the things he does when he's not on offence. Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rios works a very smart, simple match around these limitations, and I end up enjoying what he does. The last few minutes with the Christian-Brodus Clay exchange were the best part. I'd quite like to see that match. I didn't like Edge coming close to a submission victory without any build-up to it, nor the business-exposing escape from it.
8.27pm: The Rolls Royce no-sells Edge's terrible offence.
8.35pm: Michael Cole's special protective booth is hilarious. Cole taunting King from behind it is hilarious. King calling Cole a moron is hilarious.
8.37pm: My guess for Rey's superhero costume is Hit Girl.
8.52pm: Sort of a weird match. It felt kind of disjointed for most of it, with each guy doing some nice stuff, but not much flow. They trade protective medical gear - Rey headbutts Cody Rhodes with the face mask, then Cody clocks Rey with the knee brace, which is an interesting finish because it feels like justifiable rule-breaking after Rey went there first. I wasn't sure how they were supposed to be playing Cody's injury - he loses the mask, but doesn't sell the kicks to the face like the major damage you might expect. Of course, they could be doing an Eddy Guererro arm injury thing, but that would be weird given that Cody is supposed to be narcissist who presumably wouldn't wear that ugly mask just to gain an advantage.
8.53pm: Of course, it is theoretically possible to overthink professional wrestling.
8.54pm: And it's time for the annual frustrated comedy writers segment, with Snoop Dogg and Teddy Long auditioning talent for Snoop's tour. It's always embarrassing when black guys pretend to be black. OK, Zack Ryder singing 'Friday' makes me actually laugh out loud, but then I'm very into the Zack Ryder character.
9.10pm: Eight man tag is quick. Big Show looked great, charging around and bumping and punched a guy out, so that'll do me.
9.15pm: Ah, time for a break because the wife wants to finish this season of 30 Rock.
11.34pm: Randy Orton (with giant meaningless cube) vs. CM Punk is next.
11.54pm: Yeah, I really kind of liked that. Borders on being a one-man show, Punk demolishes Orton's leg and does Punk stuff (awesome laughing at Orton when his leg buckles on the run up to the punt, and the look of his face after he dodges the RKO is perfect - a mix of shock and delight at his own quick thinking), but Orton sold it all well and held up his end. Finish was predictable, but other than that, a good match.
Tuesday 5th April, 12.05pm: Cole looks like such a faggoty homosexual gay in his ring gear, but obviously I don't mean that in the way you might take it.
12.22pm: I was kind of hoping Lawler's first Mania match might have been a bit better - it's starts really good, watching Cole being pulled face first into his protective glass booth over and over had me giggling in delight, but the middle was too long and Lawler didn't need to sell for Cole that much. I was hoping for a piledriver, but the dropkick absolutely connected. Austin's involvement added to the fun - there's a moment where Swagger touches him, and you hear the whole crowd, as one, say 'stunner'.
12.44am: This Mark Collie song is so cool.
12.49am: This Triple H entrance is so absurd.
12.53am: This Johnny Cash song is so cool. However, with all this buildup, it now feel's like there hasn't been any wrestling since, I think, when Taker was 14-0.
1.26am: There were parts of this match that I liked. The story of Taker refusing to lose and his selljob and HHH's frustration were well done. It was also far too long, and the finisher series was not exactly imaginative - ten minutes of a move, a near fall, and surprised look, and repeat doesn't really inspire me. I've said it before, and I stick to it - I like a match that does a lot with very little than a match that does just enough when the wrestlers are given so many extra resources (table bumps, no DQ, finisher theft spots, almost an hour of air time).
1.37am: What the fuck is a Snooki?
1.45am: The main event does not have the big match feel. Actually, it kind of has the SD main event feel. It was mostly fine and all, with a tendency towards overbooking at the end. Miz wasn't even benefitting from Cena's usual PPV heat, it basically feels like the crowd don't like Cena, but also don't like Miz, and as a result don't really get into anything. I just about convinced myself that the finish makes sense. I mean, I don't really know what Rock would have done to stop Cena winning if there hadn't been a restart for him to introduce the no DQ rule, but whatever.
1.49am: It's late and I have tired of typing and, to an extent this show. But yet I am still filled with childish excitement. I win, expectation lowerers.
1.50am: The Rock! Poses to close the show! And his music!
7.45pm: The Rock! Is here! And his music!
7.54pm: He talks and leads the crowd in some chanting. Meanwhile, someone in the crowd has a Wrestle Maina sign. I am excited by near-impossible illiteracy.
8.00pm: Atlanta! Wrestlemania! Rock! The People! (and repeat)
8.04pm: The world heavyweight title match with the Royal Rumble winner is the opening match and Christian is booked to stand in a corner. Many people would have their spirits dampened by these decisions. Not me. I am just looking forward to an Edge match.
8.23pm: There's a lot of Edge criticism in the parts of the Internet I frequent, but really there are just two problems with his work - his offence, and all the things he does when he's not on offence. Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rios works a very smart, simple match around these limitations, and I end up enjoying what he does. The last few minutes with the Christian-Brodus Clay exchange were the best part. I'd quite like to see that match. I didn't like Edge coming close to a submission victory without any build-up to it, nor the business-exposing escape from it.
8.27pm: The Rolls Royce no-sells Edge's terrible offence.
8.35pm: Michael Cole's special protective booth is hilarious. Cole taunting King from behind it is hilarious. King calling Cole a moron is hilarious.
8.37pm: My guess for Rey's superhero costume is Hit Girl.
8.52pm: Sort of a weird match. It felt kind of disjointed for most of it, with each guy doing some nice stuff, but not much flow. They trade protective medical gear - Rey headbutts Cody Rhodes with the face mask, then Cody clocks Rey with the knee brace, which is an interesting finish because it feels like justifiable rule-breaking after Rey went there first. I wasn't sure how they were supposed to be playing Cody's injury - he loses the mask, but doesn't sell the kicks to the face like the major damage you might expect. Of course, they could be doing an Eddy Guererro arm injury thing, but that would be weird given that Cody is supposed to be narcissist who presumably wouldn't wear that ugly mask just to gain an advantage.
8.53pm: Of course, it is theoretically possible to overthink professional wrestling.
8.54pm: And it's time for the annual frustrated comedy writers segment, with Snoop Dogg and Teddy Long auditioning talent for Snoop's tour. It's always embarrassing when black guys pretend to be black. OK, Zack Ryder singing 'Friday' makes me actually laugh out loud, but then I'm very into the Zack Ryder character.
9.10pm: Eight man tag is quick. Big Show looked great, charging around and bumping and punched a guy out, so that'll do me.
9.15pm: Ah, time for a break because the wife wants to finish this season of 30 Rock.
11.34pm: Randy Orton (with giant meaningless cube) vs. CM Punk is next.
11.54pm: Yeah, I really kind of liked that. Borders on being a one-man show, Punk demolishes Orton's leg and does Punk stuff (awesome laughing at Orton when his leg buckles on the run up to the punt, and the look of his face after he dodges the RKO is perfect - a mix of shock and delight at his own quick thinking), but Orton sold it all well and held up his end. Finish was predictable, but other than that, a good match.
Tuesday 5th April, 12.05pm: Cole looks like such a faggoty homosexual gay in his ring gear, but obviously I don't mean that in the way you might take it.
12.22pm: I was kind of hoping Lawler's first Mania match might have been a bit better - it's starts really good, watching Cole being pulled face first into his protective glass booth over and over had me giggling in delight, but the middle was too long and Lawler didn't need to sell for Cole that much. I was hoping for a piledriver, but the dropkick absolutely connected. Austin's involvement added to the fun - there's a moment where Swagger touches him, and you hear the whole crowd, as one, say 'stunner'.
12.44am: This Mark Collie song is so cool.
12.49am: This Triple H entrance is so absurd.
12.53am: This Johnny Cash song is so cool. However, with all this buildup, it now feel's like there hasn't been any wrestling since, I think, when Taker was 14-0.
1.26am: There were parts of this match that I liked. The story of Taker refusing to lose and his selljob and HHH's frustration were well done. It was also far too long, and the finisher series was not exactly imaginative - ten minutes of a move, a near fall, and surprised look, and repeat doesn't really inspire me. I've said it before, and I stick to it - I like a match that does a lot with very little than a match that does just enough when the wrestlers are given so many extra resources (table bumps, no DQ, finisher theft spots, almost an hour of air time).
1.37am: What the fuck is a Snooki?
1.45am: The main event does not have the big match feel. Actually, it kind of has the SD main event feel. It was mostly fine and all, with a tendency towards overbooking at the end. Miz wasn't even benefitting from Cena's usual PPV heat, it basically feels like the crowd don't like Cena, but also don't like Miz, and as a result don't really get into anything. I just about convinced myself that the finish makes sense. I mean, I don't really know what Rock would have done to stop Cena winning if there hadn't been a restart for him to introduce the no DQ rule, but whatever.
1.49am: It's late and I have tired of typing and, to an extent this show. But yet I am still filled with childish excitement. I win, expectation lowerers.
1.50am: The Rock! Poses to close the show! And his music!
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Kaientai Dojo: The rest of 2009
I'm very far behind with all the Japanese promotions I like, but I've just acquired some DVDs and I'll be working through them at some form of a pace. Going to start with the three K-Dojo shows from the end of 2009. Last time I watched K-Dojo, Daigora Kashiwa was having the match of his career and legitimately one of the best matches in Japan in 2009, to the attention of no-one. Maybe more hidden gems will follow, and I will gain in popularity for my trailblazing.
Show one apparently packs twelve matches into 105 minutes, so this might be clippy. First half is from September 23rd. GENTARO and Oishi have a match for the Independent Jr title, joined near the end, but early enough to see a really pretty space flying tiger drop from GENTARO. This actually looked like it might have been decent, it comes down to GENTARO ripping up Oishi's arm and Oishi going for GENTARO's weak leg and I don't have an issue with how they told that story in the last four minutes, so who knows how the other fourteen might have been. GENTARO is sort of someone I casually lump in with a load of other Japanese sleaze workers because he shows up in all these promotions that are headlined by Big Japan undercarders, but his actual execution is good and his offence looks nice and he was doing a bunch of selling here. Makes me think about checking out that one hour draw against Sawa from the Gannosuke show to test this theory.
The rest of the September show section is a TAKA vs. Urano match. Urano's a DDT guy, I think. This match had a weak looking slap exchange and not much selling and a load of TAKA finishers at the end and a kickout at one and I didn't care for it. October 18th show opens with some clips, then Kaji Tomato vs. Boso Boy. Kaji Tomato is Kaji Yamato. Tomato, Yamato, you see. This was very flippy. Some of the flips were good (no hand somersault plancha), some of the flips were not (most of the others). Tomato's finish is, well, imagine if a Canadian Destroyer was done sideways so it was essentially a flying crucifix pin. It's that. I mean, for flip's sake.
Yuji Hino vs. Taishi Takizawa was for the STRONGEST-C title, some form of recognition for stiff chopping. The match, all fifteen minutes of it, is based around a chop exchange, in that it is entirely a chop exchange. They chop each other around the ring, to the back, up the stairs, behind the projector screen (leading to this cool visual of two shadows chopping each other), back to the ring, and finally into a chop finish. Kind of incredible that they kept it interesting. Hino starts to dominate near the end (multiple chops), with Takizawa running out of steam (weak chops), but manages to fight back (ducks chops), only to be conclusively spun inside out by a wicked lariat (full arm chops). Amusing, and not at all bad. It's like how Sting and Vader worked a good match around a limiting gimmick. It's not by any means a Sting-Vader level match, however, Hino is very watchable.
Let's ignore the monstrosity of that was the Dino/JOE vs. Oishi/Asahi tag (A match built around the notion that small undergarments and being attacked by the groin of a homosexual is still funny), and move to the TAKA vs. KAZMA title match. Really this just felt like a match to switch champions and establish KAZMA, Kashiwa and Mashimo as THE heel stable. There wasn't anything actively wrong with it - KAZMA does some power stuff, TAKA tries to find openings and works through his moveset. It just wasn't very exciting or dramatic, and I had to rewind through it to try to remind myself if anything of note happened (it didn't).
The November show has some matches on it. There was a three way tag match between Kengo Mashimo and Daigoro Kashiwa, Taishi Takizawa and Hiro Tonai and JOE & Randy Takuya. The problem with this match was that is struggled from having too many people doing too many things - nothing ever developed because people were always cutting each other off. There was also a tendency to focus more on cool spots where one person takes out two people in elaborate ways. The double camel clutch (as in, two people in the same submission) and double crucifix armbar thing that Mashimo does was kind of cool, I suppose. Anyway, I really spent most of the match just wanting the heels (Mashimo and Kashiwa) to run over everyone, but it was too broken up. It all leads to Tonai turning on his partner and joining Monster Plant, so that was a thing that happened.
The TAKA, Togo and MEN's Teioh vs. Kota Ibushi, Oishi and Asahi match was fun enough. It joins with two shortish heat sections on Asahi and TAKA respectively, then its pretty much a sprint - maybe closer to MEN's World matches than the Kaientai-DX trios of old, with everyone gets a few minutes of stuff, and pairings frequently changing. There's about a minute of typical great Dick Togo mowing down everything in his path - I do love him as a hot tag. He's also the guy in this conveying the idea that there are two teams competing for a win - diving in for desperate saves and blocking off guys. Ibushi was the guy bringing the high spots here - I don't think Ibushi brings anything substantive to a wrestling match, but he's still an impressive gymnast, and his quebrada was huge.
KAZMA vs. Yuji Hino was a main event. I really just don't get much out of KAZMA - he's really bland and hasn't got the personality for top heel, and Hino's playing babyface here which is completely not as fun. I was glorious dick Hino and his come-uppance, so I didn't really like this at all. I did enjoy Hino's suplexes because if you look like him, you should be able to throw people, even the size of KAZMA, around. Other than that, it all felt a bit like the build up to another match between the two stables they represent.
Not actually a huge amount to be positive here, which is a shame. The one saving grace is that I enjoy the K-Dojo style doesn't lead to the worst excesses of Japanese indie wrestling, which means that I end up mostly being uninspired by the matches, rather than aggravated. Let's hope things pick up as 2010, though.
Show one apparently packs twelve matches into 105 minutes, so this might be clippy. First half is from September 23rd. GENTARO and Oishi have a match for the Independent Jr title, joined near the end, but early enough to see a really pretty space flying tiger drop from GENTARO. This actually looked like it might have been decent, it comes down to GENTARO ripping up Oishi's arm and Oishi going for GENTARO's weak leg and I don't have an issue with how they told that story in the last four minutes, so who knows how the other fourteen might have been. GENTARO is sort of someone I casually lump in with a load of other Japanese sleaze workers because he shows up in all these promotions that are headlined by Big Japan undercarders, but his actual execution is good and his offence looks nice and he was doing a bunch of selling here. Makes me think about checking out that one hour draw against Sawa from the Gannosuke show to test this theory.
The rest of the September show section is a TAKA vs. Urano match. Urano's a DDT guy, I think. This match had a weak looking slap exchange and not much selling and a load of TAKA finishers at the end and a kickout at one and I didn't care for it. October 18th show opens with some clips, then Kaji Tomato vs. Boso Boy. Kaji Tomato is Kaji Yamato. Tomato, Yamato, you see. This was very flippy. Some of the flips were good (no hand somersault plancha), some of the flips were not (most of the others). Tomato's finish is, well, imagine if a Canadian Destroyer was done sideways so it was essentially a flying crucifix pin. It's that. I mean, for flip's sake.
Yuji Hino vs. Taishi Takizawa was for the STRONGEST-C title, some form of recognition for stiff chopping. The match, all fifteen minutes of it, is based around a chop exchange, in that it is entirely a chop exchange. They chop each other around the ring, to the back, up the stairs, behind the projector screen (leading to this cool visual of two shadows chopping each other), back to the ring, and finally into a chop finish. Kind of incredible that they kept it interesting. Hino starts to dominate near the end (multiple chops), with Takizawa running out of steam (weak chops), but manages to fight back (ducks chops), only to be conclusively spun inside out by a wicked lariat (full arm chops). Amusing, and not at all bad. It's like how Sting and Vader worked a good match around a limiting gimmick. It's not by any means a Sting-Vader level match, however, Hino is very watchable.
Let's ignore the monstrosity of that was the Dino/JOE vs. Oishi/Asahi tag (A match built around the notion that small undergarments and being attacked by the groin of a homosexual is still funny), and move to the TAKA vs. KAZMA title match. Really this just felt like a match to switch champions and establish KAZMA, Kashiwa and Mashimo as THE heel stable. There wasn't anything actively wrong with it - KAZMA does some power stuff, TAKA tries to find openings and works through his moveset. It just wasn't very exciting or dramatic, and I had to rewind through it to try to remind myself if anything of note happened (it didn't).
The November show has some matches on it. There was a three way tag match between Kengo Mashimo and Daigoro Kashiwa, Taishi Takizawa and Hiro Tonai and JOE & Randy Takuya. The problem with this match was that is struggled from having too many people doing too many things - nothing ever developed because people were always cutting each other off. There was also a tendency to focus more on cool spots where one person takes out two people in elaborate ways. The double camel clutch (as in, two people in the same submission) and double crucifix armbar thing that Mashimo does was kind of cool, I suppose. Anyway, I really spent most of the match just wanting the heels (Mashimo and Kashiwa) to run over everyone, but it was too broken up. It all leads to Tonai turning on his partner and joining Monster Plant, so that was a thing that happened.
The TAKA, Togo and MEN's Teioh vs. Kota Ibushi, Oishi and Asahi match was fun enough. It joins with two shortish heat sections on Asahi and TAKA respectively, then its pretty much a sprint - maybe closer to MEN's World matches than the Kaientai-DX trios of old, with everyone gets a few minutes of stuff, and pairings frequently changing. There's about a minute of typical great Dick Togo mowing down everything in his path - I do love him as a hot tag. He's also the guy in this conveying the idea that there are two teams competing for a win - diving in for desperate saves and blocking off guys. Ibushi was the guy bringing the high spots here - I don't think Ibushi brings anything substantive to a wrestling match, but he's still an impressive gymnast, and his quebrada was huge.
KAZMA vs. Yuji Hino was a main event. I really just don't get much out of KAZMA - he's really bland and hasn't got the personality for top heel, and Hino's playing babyface here which is completely not as fun. I was glorious dick Hino and his come-uppance, so I didn't really like this at all. I did enjoy Hino's suplexes because if you look like him, you should be able to throw people, even the size of KAZMA, around. Other than that, it all felt a bit like the build up to another match between the two stables they represent.
Not actually a huge amount to be positive here, which is a shame. The one saving grace is that I enjoy the K-Dojo style doesn't lead to the worst excesses of Japanese indie wrestling, which means that I end up mostly being uninspired by the matches, rather than aggravated. Let's hope things pick up as 2010, though.
Monday, 7 February 2011
A Bunch Of: Black Terry Junior Handhelds (part two)
More IWRG. There are twenty days left in February. Oh Jesus.
Solar, Ultraman y Super Astro vs Negro Navarro, Black Terry y Signo, March 21st
I watched a couple of these matches from 2009, and they were good stuff, but this one seemed a step above those. The match is predicably built around Solar and Navarro, their first section is long but, at times, breathtakingly quick, and it seems like they deliberately stepped it up to elevate their exchanges above the first two pairings. They only had one fall to work with, so they switch partners. Terry, while less spectacular had different, yet equally compelling exchanges with each of the three opponents. I get the impression he leads the way with Ultraman, bumps like crazy for Astro and works equally on the mat with Solar. It really builds up to a crescendo - and a fitting one, with Navarro and Solar left in the ring for one more dazzling series of exchanges.
Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro y H. del Signo vs Pantera, H. del Pantera y Zatura, February 11th
The Cerebro-Zatura matwork in this was really nice - both guys are fast and slick and I could have watched more. Terry vs. Pantera was the focus here, and their interactions, especially their brawling, was top notch. Pantera sold a beating and his comebacks like a trooper (who, as the simile suggests, are notoriously good at selling beatings) and I guess they were playing off the fact Terry had just lost his hair a few days before and wasn't interested in playing games. It is really an all-out performance by him. There's a moment in the third caida where Terry gives a look and physically readjusts before going back into battle again. It's those little performance details that set him apart.
Black Terry y Doctor Cerebro vs Hijo del Diablo y Gringo Loco, February 7th
What I found, watching this match soon after the January match, is that cage contains and focuses the violence of the first brawl. I remember reading that once about the Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard I Quit match from 1985. That's not to say this match has the exact same feeling as that one - no-one here is Tully Blanchard, trying to get away from his predicament - but it's pretty intense all the same. The Gringos team do what they need to do, beat up the smaller Mexicans and bump around for their comebacks, but its the selling . I loved Gringo Loco faking out on a dive and escaping the cage - very no-honour-amongst-thieves.
Black Terry, Negro Navarro and Villano IV vs Ultimo Dragon, Blue Panther and Olimpico, April 24th
Tremendous match. Blue Panther vs. Navarro is obviously the banner matchup here, and it's as good as you might imagine. I've got to say that, strictly in pure matwork terms, I thought Panther was better. I'm aware that this really like comparing sticks and stone (when the task at hand is breaking bones), but there are just moments when Panther looks so effortless as he moves around the floor or rolls into a new hold in an improbable way that no-one else can do. Terry vs. Olimpico was also a really nice matchup - it's a different sort of long matwork section which is heavier on the takedowns and tussle, and lighter on and I also liked Villano IV as a chunky, slap-you-down counterpoint to the intricate beauty of Navarro/Panther. Dragon didn't actively offend me, although there must be a hundred other guys I wish had been in there. In his defence, most of those guys would probably be professional wrestlers.
Trauma I vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan, August 4th
I had high hopes for this, because I like a Trauma and I like pirates. As it turns out, it was all very OK, but I wasn't blown away. The first fall was all trading submissions, which was nice, but it wasn't the most exciting matwork I've seen in IWRG this year. I also quite liked the stiffness of their around-ring brawling, and both guys are not afraid to give a kick to the head, nor take one in return. Maybe it was that it sort of lost steam nearer the end, but I just didn't love it.
Solar, Ultraman y Super Astro vs Negro Navarro, Black Terry y Signo, March 21st
I watched a couple of these matches from 2009, and they were good stuff, but this one seemed a step above those. The match is predicably built around Solar and Navarro, their first section is long but, at times, breathtakingly quick, and it seems like they deliberately stepped it up to elevate their exchanges above the first two pairings. They only had one fall to work with, so they switch partners. Terry, while less spectacular had different, yet equally compelling exchanges with each of the three opponents. I get the impression he leads the way with Ultraman, bumps like crazy for Astro and works equally on the mat with Solar. It really builds up to a crescendo - and a fitting one, with Navarro and Solar left in the ring for one more dazzling series of exchanges.
Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro y H. del Signo vs Pantera, H. del Pantera y Zatura, February 11th
The Cerebro-Zatura matwork in this was really nice - both guys are fast and slick and I could have watched more. Terry vs. Pantera was the focus here, and their interactions, especially their brawling, was top notch. Pantera sold a beating and his comebacks like a trooper (who, as the simile suggests, are notoriously good at selling beatings) and I guess they were playing off the fact Terry had just lost his hair a few days before and wasn't interested in playing games. It is really an all-out performance by him. There's a moment in the third caida where Terry gives a look and physically readjusts before going back into battle again. It's those little performance details that set him apart.
Black Terry y Doctor Cerebro vs Hijo del Diablo y Gringo Loco, February 7th
What I found, watching this match soon after the January match, is that cage contains and focuses the violence of the first brawl. I remember reading that once about the Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard I Quit match from 1985. That's not to say this match has the exact same feeling as that one - no-one here is Tully Blanchard, trying to get away from his predicament - but it's pretty intense all the same. The Gringos team do what they need to do, beat up the smaller Mexicans and bump around for their comebacks, but its the selling . I loved Gringo Loco faking out on a dive and escaping the cage - very no-honour-amongst-thieves.
Black Terry, Negro Navarro and Villano IV vs Ultimo Dragon, Blue Panther and Olimpico, April 24th
Tremendous match. Blue Panther vs. Navarro is obviously the banner matchup here, and it's as good as you might imagine. I've got to say that, strictly in pure matwork terms, I thought Panther was better. I'm aware that this really like comparing sticks and stone (when the task at hand is breaking bones), but there are just moments when Panther looks so effortless as he moves around the floor or rolls into a new hold in an improbable way that no-one else can do. Terry vs. Olimpico was also a really nice matchup - it's a different sort of long matwork section which is heavier on the takedowns and tussle, and lighter on and I also liked Villano IV as a chunky, slap-you-down counterpoint to the intricate beauty of Navarro/Panther. Dragon didn't actively offend me, although there must be a hundred other guys I wish had been in there. In his defence, most of those guys would probably be professional wrestlers.
Trauma I vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan, August 4th
I had high hopes for this, because I like a Trauma and I like pirates. As it turns out, it was all very OK, but I wasn't blown away. The first fall was all trading submissions, which was nice, but it wasn't the most exciting matwork I've seen in IWRG this year. I also quite liked the stiffness of their around-ring brawling, and both guys are not afraid to give a kick to the head, nor take one in return. Maybe it was that it sort of lost steam nearer the end, but I just didn't love it.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
A Bunch Of: Black Terry Junior Handhelds (part one)
So, IWRG seems like the place to see the wrestlers who should be occupying the top spots of a list of best wrestlers in 2010. The good news is that I have already watched some IWRG. I've copied in some old reviews from boards and drafts and things into this post, then I'll put new stuff later tonight.
Los Traumas I/II vs. Suicida/Zatura, (IWRG January 14th) - from an old and unnecessarily long review in my draft folder
One thing I really like about Trauma II is his long mat sections: watching him always feels like he's improvising holds as he goes along. I'm sure if you properly broke it down, they would all be variations on a theme, but a lot of his stuff actively feels like he's coming up with new things to do every few seconds. I really liked his, well, ah, the problem with his stuff is there aren't names for these submissions, so all I'm left with is redundant sentences like, "I really liked his submission hold where he bent Suicida in a number of uncomfortable directions". What I did not expect from a Trauma II opening mat section was that he's learned that the best counter to most unlikely lucha submissions is to punch his opponent in the face. There's a couple of sections where the Suicida-Trauma II mat sections break down into brawling, which made this feel like something a bit different. From there it descends, in a really good way, into just a brutal beating. Trauma II completely no-sells when Zatura misses a dropkick from behind and immediately slaps him on the floor. Trauma I blocks a Zatura tope by kicking him in the chest, then after Suicida was pinned both Trauma smack him all around the outside area. Trauma II has some great worked punches, even with a close up handheld they look great, and he mixes them up with audibly violent wild swinging slaps. This first fall was really great. After that, I felt a little disappointed with the next two falls. Both are short, but the way the first fall was set up, it felt like this should have been worked as a mismatch, with Zatura and Suicida only getting back into it by fluke. To me, aside from the opening minute of the second fall when Trauma I gets all knee-happy with Suicida, it seemed like they almost reset after the awesome beating of the primera. Anyway, I don't want to stray into fantasy booking, but the second two falls undercut the first fall, and the end result fell flat. Still, given that two third of the match was the first fall, the overall result is still a good match.
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco/El Hijo Del Diablo (IWRG, January 24th)
Tremendous brawl. Terry, in particular, eats an awful beating then comes back with one of his own, but all four guys were great throughout. Super-hot way to kick off the feud.
Negro Navarro/Black Terry/Dr Cerebro vs. Solar/Zatura/Suicida (IWRG, January 28th)
This match is absolutely dominated by the first fall, nearly 20 minutes long and packed full of some of the best wrestling of the year (which I have seen). Each pairing brought something new. The Solar/Navarro sequence was packed full of a selection of familiar exchanges and new things. I liked how, as it went on, the number of counters increased, as neither man was happy to be bested. There's something pleasing about one guy rolling away from a submission, only for the other guy to catch a stray leg and keep a sequence going. Terry vs. Zatura may have been even better for long, organic series of counters. This sort of matchup plays to Terry's ability to work with younger guys and adapt to them. It's one of the areas he clearly has the edge over Navarro. Unlike the 50:50 split of control in Solar vs. Navarro, all of these exchanges felt like the veteran in control, only to be one-upped by the younger technico. Terry seems to enjoy the sport of it, visibly smiling to himself at times. Finally, Suicida and Cerebro put an exclamation point on the matwork with an exhilirating minute of rope-running and an awesome tope.
And despite their shortness, I appreciated the second and third falls. They played off the themes set up at the beginning, and it makes sense that they should not be lengthy, given the mini-epic that was the first fall. That said, the climax really felt like it had been reached at the end of the first fall.
Negro Navarro/Trauma I vs. Pirata Morgan/Hijo del Pirata Morgan (IWRG, January 31st)
Pirata Morgan is, in his old age, as out of shape looking as Navarro is in great condition, yet he still moves with a surprising grace. His matwork isn't elaborate, but he works little things. I loved the section with him controlling Trauma on the mat through working on his leg, building up to the big enziguri. It was simple stuff, but done really compellingly. The younger Pirata matches up well with Navarro, he's a step behind and doesn't have as much ingenuity on the mat but he earns his handshake at the end. In fact, this match really highlighted the younger guys, first having them match up against the parents, then having them go for each other once they older two are eliminated. This leads to a really great, dramatic, hard-fought finishing stretch. I loved the visual of the two dads watching from the sides.
Hijo del Diablo vs. Dr. Cerebro (IWRG, January 31st)
Just a really well put together match. I was struck by how relatively simple all the individual parts were, yet it comes together as a fantastic whole. It sort of has the title match structure, but with elements of a grudge match thrown in (for fun, etc.). First fall is all on the mat, both guys working pretty straight. I think the relative simplicity of this mat section, compared to the more elaborate things Navarro and Solar might do, held allow the match a sense of gradual build, especially as the out-of-ring elements of the match kicked in. The second fall has Cerebro down, only to fight back. Again, nothing here was particularly complicated. Cerebro's blood certainly added to the drama of his comeback, as did the crowd heat. The third fall is where they bring out everything - topes, dives, top rope moves, seconds getting involved and a screwy crowd-pleaser of a finish. Cerebro's selling throughout is great - he really conveyed the stoic determination of a outsized champion whilst still showing the effects of the battle.
Black Terry and Shu El Guererro v. Negro Navarro and El Signo (HH, February 14th)
Shu vs. Navarro have a fantastic long mat section, packed full of nice reversals and intricate takedowns. Loved Navarro rolling away, with Shu catching him by the leg and pulling him into the next hold. The mount position stuff was really nice as well - the camera picks up Navarro scouting out his way in. Maybe as good as most Solar vs. Navarro mat sections. Signo vs. Terry is a less impressive mat section, but a tremendous brawl, Signo absolutely unleashes on Terry at the end of the first fall, opening him up (hardway?). This builds through the second fall with loads of violent looking stuff until the final showdowns, which are completely epic, Terry and Navarro slugging it out and looking exhausted. Plus the setting, which has been noted ad infinitum.
Sangre Chicana, Black Terry and Negro Navarro vs Solar I, Rocky Santana and Olimpico (UWE, February 13th)
This was some tremendous Solar vs. Navarro, really complicated and fast and several new things (to these eyes). But it's hard not to love Sangre Chicana as the sleazy counterpoint to the elegance of Solar and Navarro. It must say something not good about me, but I think I may have loved the three or four really amazing Chicana face punches as much as ten minutes of Solar vs. Navarro. Terry is playing third fiddle here, which is a bit of a shame. His matwork section with Santana was pretty nice, but it served as more of a warm up to the main event.
So, overall, Terry, Trauma I and II, Solar, Dr Cerebro and Negro Navarro are all top 15 candidates. Need to go back over other things to sort out the rankings, and watch more IWRG. Zatura and Suicida are top 40 guys, at a guess. Shu, Pirata Morgan, Signo and Chicana will make the list based on these single performances, probably midway down. I daresay I will find space for Gringo Loco and Hijo Del Diablo by the end - they were lucky to be matched up against the best guys in the world several months, but neither are slouches when it comes to brawls and general slimy rudoism.
Los Traumas I/II vs. Suicida/Zatura, (IWRG January 14th) - from an old and unnecessarily long review in my draft folder
One thing I really like about Trauma II is his long mat sections: watching him always feels like he's improvising holds as he goes along. I'm sure if you properly broke it down, they would all be variations on a theme, but a lot of his stuff actively feels like he's coming up with new things to do every few seconds. I really liked his, well, ah, the problem with his stuff is there aren't names for these submissions, so all I'm left with is redundant sentences like, "I really liked his submission hold where he bent Suicida in a number of uncomfortable directions". What I did not expect from a Trauma II opening mat section was that he's learned that the best counter to most unlikely lucha submissions is to punch his opponent in the face. There's a couple of sections where the Suicida-Trauma II mat sections break down into brawling, which made this feel like something a bit different. From there it descends, in a really good way, into just a brutal beating. Trauma II completely no-sells when Zatura misses a dropkick from behind and immediately slaps him on the floor. Trauma I blocks a Zatura tope by kicking him in the chest, then after Suicida was pinned both Trauma smack him all around the outside area. Trauma II has some great worked punches, even with a close up handheld they look great, and he mixes them up with audibly violent wild swinging slaps. This first fall was really great. After that, I felt a little disappointed with the next two falls. Both are short, but the way the first fall was set up, it felt like this should have been worked as a mismatch, with Zatura and Suicida only getting back into it by fluke. To me, aside from the opening minute of the second fall when Trauma I gets all knee-happy with Suicida, it seemed like they almost reset after the awesome beating of the primera. Anyway, I don't want to stray into fantasy booking, but the second two falls undercut the first fall, and the end result fell flat. Still, given that two third of the match was the first fall, the overall result is still a good match.
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco/El Hijo Del Diablo (IWRG, January 24th)
Tremendous brawl. Terry, in particular, eats an awful beating then comes back with one of his own, but all four guys were great throughout. Super-hot way to kick off the feud.
Negro Navarro/Black Terry/Dr Cerebro vs. Solar/Zatura/Suicida (IWRG, January 28th)
This match is absolutely dominated by the first fall, nearly 20 minutes long and packed full of some of the best wrestling of the year (which I have seen). Each pairing brought something new. The Solar/Navarro sequence was packed full of a selection of familiar exchanges and new things. I liked how, as it went on, the number of counters increased, as neither man was happy to be bested. There's something pleasing about one guy rolling away from a submission, only for the other guy to catch a stray leg and keep a sequence going. Terry vs. Zatura may have been even better for long, organic series of counters. This sort of matchup plays to Terry's ability to work with younger guys and adapt to them. It's one of the areas he clearly has the edge over Navarro. Unlike the 50:50 split of control in Solar vs. Navarro, all of these exchanges felt like the veteran in control, only to be one-upped by the younger technico. Terry seems to enjoy the sport of it, visibly smiling to himself at times. Finally, Suicida and Cerebro put an exclamation point on the matwork with an exhilirating minute of rope-running and an awesome tope.
And despite their shortness, I appreciated the second and third falls. They played off the themes set up at the beginning, and it makes sense that they should not be lengthy, given the mini-epic that was the first fall. That said, the climax really felt like it had been reached at the end of the first fall.
Negro Navarro/Trauma I vs. Pirata Morgan/Hijo del Pirata Morgan (IWRG, January 31st)
Pirata Morgan is, in his old age, as out of shape looking as Navarro is in great condition, yet he still moves with a surprising grace. His matwork isn't elaborate, but he works little things. I loved the section with him controlling Trauma on the mat through working on his leg, building up to the big enziguri. It was simple stuff, but done really compellingly. The younger Pirata matches up well with Navarro, he's a step behind and doesn't have as much ingenuity on the mat but he earns his handshake at the end. In fact, this match really highlighted the younger guys, first having them match up against the parents, then having them go for each other once they older two are eliminated. This leads to a really great, dramatic, hard-fought finishing stretch. I loved the visual of the two dads watching from the sides.
Hijo del Diablo vs. Dr. Cerebro (IWRG, January 31st)
Just a really well put together match. I was struck by how relatively simple all the individual parts were, yet it comes together as a fantastic whole. It sort of has the title match structure, but with elements of a grudge match thrown in (for fun, etc.). First fall is all on the mat, both guys working pretty straight. I think the relative simplicity of this mat section, compared to the more elaborate things Navarro and Solar might do, held allow the match a sense of gradual build, especially as the out-of-ring elements of the match kicked in. The second fall has Cerebro down, only to fight back. Again, nothing here was particularly complicated. Cerebro's blood certainly added to the drama of his comeback, as did the crowd heat. The third fall is where they bring out everything - topes, dives, top rope moves, seconds getting involved and a screwy crowd-pleaser of a finish. Cerebro's selling throughout is great - he really conveyed the stoic determination of a outsized champion whilst still showing the effects of the battle.
Black Terry and Shu El Guererro v. Negro Navarro and El Signo (HH, February 14th)
Shu vs. Navarro have a fantastic long mat section, packed full of nice reversals and intricate takedowns. Loved Navarro rolling away, with Shu catching him by the leg and pulling him into the next hold. The mount position stuff was really nice as well - the camera picks up Navarro scouting out his way in. Maybe as good as most Solar vs. Navarro mat sections. Signo vs. Terry is a less impressive mat section, but a tremendous brawl, Signo absolutely unleashes on Terry at the end of the first fall, opening him up (hardway?). This builds through the second fall with loads of violent looking stuff until the final showdowns, which are completely epic, Terry and Navarro slugging it out and looking exhausted. Plus the setting, which has been noted ad infinitum.
Sangre Chicana, Black Terry and Negro Navarro vs Solar I, Rocky Santana and Olimpico (UWE, February 13th)
This was some tremendous Solar vs. Navarro, really complicated and fast and several new things (to these eyes). But it's hard not to love Sangre Chicana as the sleazy counterpoint to the elegance of Solar and Navarro. It must say something not good about me, but I think I may have loved the three or four really amazing Chicana face punches as much as ten minutes of Solar vs. Navarro. Terry is playing third fiddle here, which is a bit of a shame. His matwork section with Santana was pretty nice, but it served as more of a warm up to the main event.
So, overall, Terry, Trauma I and II, Solar, Dr Cerebro and Negro Navarro are all top 15 candidates. Need to go back over other things to sort out the rankings, and watch more IWRG. Zatura and Suicida are top 40 guys, at a guess. Shu, Pirata Morgan, Signo and Chicana will make the list based on these single performances, probably midway down. I daresay I will find space for Gringo Loco and Hijo Del Diablo by the end - they were lucky to be matched up against the best guys in the world several months, but neither are slouches when it comes to brawls and general slimy rudoism.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
2010: A Wrestling Watching Odyssey
So I've had a inconsistent year watching professional wrestling, owing mostly to me coming to the end of my doctorate. The end result of this is not exactly the amount of wrestling watching required to form splendid end of year opinions, and a nearly completed doctorate. So, I have February to do something about that. Each day of this month I will update this blog with comments about matches I've watched and workers I'd consider for the WKO100 ballot. I've got some half finished reviews to throw up as well.
So expect content, followed by panic, despair, some jokes (basically a coping mechanism), stupid post titles, and finally, when all else looks lost, a moment of clarity. Then I'll probably get drunk and write out a list full of whimsy (dead guys, celebrities, women, inanimate objects, Dragon Gate guys, in increasing order of whimsy).
So expect content, followed by panic, despair, some jokes (basically a coping mechanism), stupid post titles, and finally, when all else looks lost, a moment of clarity. Then I'll probably get drunk and write out a list full of whimsy (dead guys, celebrities, women, inanimate objects, Dragon Gate guys, in increasing order of whimsy).
A (possible) Royal Rumble liveblog
Tuesday 1st February, 2011, 9.02pm: The 24th annual Royal Rumble finished nearly 48 hours ago from the sold out something arena, Boston. But this blog is LIVE. It's going to be a night of surprises (I haven't watched WWE in about 3 months)
9.05pm: Opening with the world heavyweight championship. Edge comes out. Is he champion? Yes. I literally have no idea. (Surprise #1 if we're counting). Dolph Ziggler is the challenger, which is welcome. Edge is a babyface champion? Oh nuts.
9.08pm: There is a sign saying 'We hate sign guy', displaying a level of knowing irony not usual associated with WWE fans (I usually associate irony with the fans of Mike Modest's old promotion, Pro Wrestling Irony)
9.14pm: There's something amusing to me about talking about Edge's marriage to Vicky Guererro. Sure, they were married, she just kept her old husband's surname. This isn't actually very amusing, is it?
9.28pm: Edge has terrible offence, yet Ziggler is bumping like a maniac to make it look acceptable. That powerbomb counter was a nice nearfall, Dolph really let it look nasty in the way he twists and lands half on his shoulders.
9.39pm: Ziggler's performance and substantial booking gimmickry can, apparently, make for a decent Edge match. How is it that after all these years, Edge has absolutely no presence as a champion? The spear spot was predictable enough, but it was done very artlessly and made Edge look a guy who only has one useful tool. Also, when someone stacks the deck against someones favour like that, you kind of want to see it backfire in their face, not just have to guy work around it via a technicality.
9.46pm: Miz vs. Randy Orton. Of all the upper-midcarders they elevated to champion in one fell swoop, the Miz is the first one that works for me.
10.11pm: I really liked that. I think the thing I got into as the match went along was how much it felt a lot like a fight in how stiff and intense a lot of the action was, and how no-one really kept control for a long time. Plus, it kept pretty localised to the ring, which seemed to magnify the intensity. WWE doesn't know how to do fights anymore. A lot of matches which are actually booked as grudge matches go over the top, around the arena, use gimmicks and other things to try to divert your attention away from the banned lack of blood. It does work for me at all, and actively dimishes the violence. This was not booked as a grudge match but as a title match, yet the effect was something that they should try to replicate in the future.
10.30pm: Quick break. Stryker is talking about Cody Rhodes and his broken face. I know I can be pedantic, but this is ridiculous: "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has shattered dreams, no pun intended". Tell me, Matt, what would be the point of that sentence if a pun was not intended? Otherwise you would have just said, "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has some feelings of great disappointment". And then you probably would still have pointed out there was no pun intended. Only then, you would have been right.
10.35pm: The only reason I care about these things is because Matt Stryker portrays himself as an intellectual, what with his Morrissey references and his long words.
10.43pm: Laycool vs. Natalya. I can't believe it took ten years for them to work out that no-one likes Michael Cole and that there might be some interest in playing up to that. OK, this is now a fourway. Eve is the forth participant.
10.52pm: That was the very definition of clunky booking at the end, should such a thing need visual representation.
10.55pm: So what I really want to happen is for the Danielson romance angle to carry on with all these girls, then one of them is his girlfriend for a bit, then someone tells him he needs to break it off AND THEN he turns around and says, "I've got until FIVE, referee".
10.57pm: Next year, the number of times this Royal Rumble by numbers promo has been used will be one of the numbers used in the Royal Rumble by numbers promo.
11.01pm: OK, Rumble match time.
Wednesday 2nd February, 201112.20am: Mixed thoughts on the match. I loved the first half - you had the undercard guys doing some cool stuff (Bryan vs. Punk opening as a wink to the "internet" fans, Regal vs. Bryan, Morrison's crazy ringbarrier spot), before it settled down into the first important narrative of the match, being Punk and his Nexus' complete control. They built up the eliminiations, brought in Khali to disrupt the rhythm for the first time as a fake turnaround point, leading up to Cena's entry and elimination of all the Nexus. I particularly liked how after Khali gave the Nexus a fright, they lost their form and tightly organised attacks, allowing Cena the opportunity to take out all four. The stuff with Hornswaggle in the middle worked as light relief, but the real problem with the second half is that we never got showed the jeopardy. I just didn't buy most of the entrants as likely people to defeat Cena, and the ones who I did were either used poorly (like the Big Show) or arrived far to late to create any real tension (Orton). Of course, Cena didn't win, but that isn't really the point. I'm delighted that the top of the card is so unrecognisable from two years ago (no Taker, HHH, HBK), but there is still some way to go to truly establish the next generation of main eventers. I worry they'll end up going for the wrong guys (Kingston, Sheamus) rather than guys like Swagger or Ziggler.
12.25am: Oh, but that ending was just fabulous. It's the kind of wouldn't-it-be-cool-if idea that you never actually expect to see, much less subverted.
12.29am Surprise #2 was Del Rio winning.
9.05pm: Opening with the world heavyweight championship. Edge comes out. Is he champion? Yes. I literally have no idea. (Surprise #1 if we're counting). Dolph Ziggler is the challenger, which is welcome. Edge is a babyface champion? Oh nuts.
9.08pm: There is a sign saying 'We hate sign guy', displaying a level of knowing irony not usual associated with WWE fans (I usually associate irony with the fans of Mike Modest's old promotion, Pro Wrestling Irony)
9.14pm: There's something amusing to me about talking about Edge's marriage to Vicky Guererro. Sure, they were married, she just kept her old husband's surname. This isn't actually very amusing, is it?
9.28pm: Edge has terrible offence, yet Ziggler is bumping like a maniac to make it look acceptable. That powerbomb counter was a nice nearfall, Dolph really let it look nasty in the way he twists and lands half on his shoulders.
9.39pm: Ziggler's performance and substantial booking gimmickry can, apparently, make for a decent Edge match. How is it that after all these years, Edge has absolutely no presence as a champion? The spear spot was predictable enough, but it was done very artlessly and made Edge look a guy who only has one useful tool. Also, when someone stacks the deck against someones favour like that, you kind of want to see it backfire in their face, not just have to guy work around it via a technicality.
9.46pm: Miz vs. Randy Orton. Of all the upper-midcarders they elevated to champion in one fell swoop, the Miz is the first one that works for me.
10.11pm: I really liked that. I think the thing I got into as the match went along was how much it felt a lot like a fight in how stiff and intense a lot of the action was, and how no-one really kept control for a long time. Plus, it kept pretty localised to the ring, which seemed to magnify the intensity. WWE doesn't know how to do fights anymore. A lot of matches which are actually booked as grudge matches go over the top, around the arena, use gimmicks and other things to try to divert your attention away from the banned lack of blood. It does work for me at all, and actively dimishes the violence. This was not booked as a grudge match but as a title match, yet the effect was something that they should try to replicate in the future.
10.30pm: Quick break. Stryker is talking about Cody Rhodes and his broken face. I know I can be pedantic, but this is ridiculous: "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has shattered dreams, no pun intended". Tell me, Matt, what would be the point of that sentence if a pun was not intended? Otherwise you would have just said, "not only does Cody Rhodes has a shattered face, he also has some feelings of great disappointment". And then you probably would still have pointed out there was no pun intended. Only then, you would have been right.
10.35pm: The only reason I care about these things is because Matt Stryker portrays himself as an intellectual, what with his Morrissey references and his long words.
10.43pm: Laycool vs. Natalya. I can't believe it took ten years for them to work out that no-one likes Michael Cole and that there might be some interest in playing up to that. OK, this is now a fourway. Eve is the forth participant.
10.52pm: That was the very definition of clunky booking at the end, should such a thing need visual representation.
10.55pm: So what I really want to happen is for the Danielson romance angle to carry on with all these girls, then one of them is his girlfriend for a bit, then someone tells him he needs to break it off AND THEN he turns around and says, "I've got until FIVE, referee".
10.57pm: Next year, the number of times this Royal Rumble by numbers promo has been used will be one of the numbers used in the Royal Rumble by numbers promo.
11.01pm: OK, Rumble match time.
Wednesday 2nd February, 201112.20am: Mixed thoughts on the match. I loved the first half - you had the undercard guys doing some cool stuff (Bryan vs. Punk opening as a wink to the "internet" fans, Regal vs. Bryan, Morrison's crazy ringbarrier spot), before it settled down into the first important narrative of the match, being Punk and his Nexus' complete control. They built up the eliminiations, brought in Khali to disrupt the rhythm for the first time as a fake turnaround point, leading up to Cena's entry and elimination of all the Nexus. I particularly liked how after Khali gave the Nexus a fright, they lost their form and tightly organised attacks, allowing Cena the opportunity to take out all four. The stuff with Hornswaggle in the middle worked as light relief, but the real problem with the second half is that we never got showed the jeopardy. I just didn't buy most of the entrants as likely people to defeat Cena, and the ones who I did were either used poorly (like the Big Show) or arrived far to late to create any real tension (Orton). Of course, Cena didn't win, but that isn't really the point. I'm delighted that the top of the card is so unrecognisable from two years ago (no Taker, HHH, HBK), but there is still some way to go to truly establish the next generation of main eventers. I worry they'll end up going for the wrong guys (Kingston, Sheamus) rather than guys like Swagger or Ziggler.
12.25am: Oh, but that ending was just fabulous. It's the kind of wouldn't-it-be-cool-if idea that you never actually expect to see, much less subverted.
12.29am Surprise #2 was Del Rio winning.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
How Great is Sasuke (part six II: part seven)
I've been compiling this selection of Sasuke reviews for ages. In the original version, I had a joke about Peter Mandelson limiting downloads from Megaupload. It's no longer relevant, but it was very funny. First half is old stuff, second half is 2010 stuff.
Great Sasuke, Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, Mr. Pogo, Masaru Toi, FMW, December 20th 1993
The tag match without Shinzaki and Onita that I just reviewed last month was a hidden gem. I think there's a six-man from M-Pro also from December 1993 on a DVD I've yet to buy, but this match is in FMW and its a lot more barbed wirey than the earlier efforts. 90s Japanese indies are like Mayhem albums - it would feel wrong if they was well produced, so when the camerawork misses loads of stuff, it actually enhances it. The opening was weirdly unstructured, with everyone pair off but in close proximity to each other, so it looked odd that a heel would be beating up a face and another face would be beating up a heel almost back-to-back, with no interaction between the two. But it made it seem more chaotic, so it worked. Loads of blood, barbed wire spots and Tarzan Goto throwing the best wild punches in puro made this a wild and crazy good time.
Great Sasuke vs. SUWA, M-Pro, April 1999
I liked this. They start off with some decent competitive mat stuff which has a bit of quick lucha-type exchange of some stuff clearly influenced by Sasuke working Battlarts (an armbar and an anklelock are two moves I don't remember he using before). It really kicks off when Sasuke goes for his asai moonsault and Suwa yanks him off the apron by his leg. The roles here are just what you want, Sasuke's moveset is perfect for someone eating a large beating then launching a high impact comeback, whilst SUWA is a merciless prick who combines some really impressive stuff (his over the top tope is beyond amazing) and plenty of cheating and shortcuts to give the match a real face vs. heel dynamic. Not sure why, but Sasuke was rana-happy here, he must have done at least four from different positions. They save all their big stuff for the last few minutes, which works for me. Very enjoyable.
Great Sasuke vs. Takeshi Sasaki, FREEDOMS, June 21st 2010
Sasuke's representing Kojika's Army against Sasaki's FREEDOM's guys. This match had a few interesting moments, like Sasuke flipping and attacking the Satos (also in Kojika's Army), but nothing of particular note over the course of the seven minutes and was really both guys just going through some of their stuff. Sasuke's corner senton to the outside hit not a great deal up to the point where he hit the floor (some distance, you may remember, from his starting point).
Great Sasuke and Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and Ultimo Dragon, RJPW, March 18th 2010
On the place this was downloaded from, I saw it described as an "awful, awful match". How? It was a perfectly fine old guys doing eleven minutes tag match. It's a Fujinami match, so like Mutoh, it's going to be based around his very specific match winning strategy of leg work. Choshu is going to lariat some people, look grumpy and do some stomping. Sasuke will do an absurd highspot and sell everything too much. There's a couple of awkward moments, but that's mainly because Ultimo has a rubbish moveset that he can't even execute well - watch him land on top of Sasuke in a missed SPIN FLY KICK spot. There's a tiny smattering of decent matwork at the beginning, and I kind of liked when Fujinami got all scrappy, kicking and chopping at Choshu until it broke up the scorpion deathlock-in-Japanese. Let's be clear, it's not very very good, I just get annoyed that old guys doing simple stuff is in someway actively bad.
Great Sasuke and MIKAMI vs. Asian Cougar and Miracle Man, Osaka Pro, 20th August 2010
Well, here's four guys that will bump like freaks. This starts with a few minutes of pointless brawling, but after that there was a lot of nutty highspots, and I'm definitely someone who thinks that if your not going to put together a structured tag match, you better be a lunatic. Sasuke takes a lot of bumps, several onto to the ladder - the first whilst superplexing his opponent, assisted by his partner, in one of his trademark accidentally kill himself whilst naively trying to do good. Cougar bumps to the outside and into the crowd on multiple occassions and has some nice looking offence. MIKAMI is the worst offender for not bothering to put a match together and just get his stuff in, but even then, I enjoyed his beautiful top of ladder senton (although partially because I was convinced it was going to slip and kill him).
Great Sasuke, Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, Mr. Pogo, Masaru Toi, FMW, December 20th 1993
The tag match without Shinzaki and Onita that I just reviewed last month was a hidden gem. I think there's a six-man from M-Pro also from December 1993 on a DVD I've yet to buy, but this match is in FMW and its a lot more barbed wirey than the earlier efforts. 90s Japanese indies are like Mayhem albums - it would feel wrong if they was well produced, so when the camerawork misses loads of stuff, it actually enhances it. The opening was weirdly unstructured, with everyone pair off but in close proximity to each other, so it looked odd that a heel would be beating up a face and another face would be beating up a heel almost back-to-back, with no interaction between the two. But it made it seem more chaotic, so it worked. Loads of blood, barbed wire spots and Tarzan Goto throwing the best wild punches in puro made this a wild and crazy good time.
Great Sasuke vs. SUWA, M-Pro, April 1999
I liked this. They start off with some decent competitive mat stuff which has a bit of quick lucha-type exchange of some stuff clearly influenced by Sasuke working Battlarts (an armbar and an anklelock are two moves I don't remember he using before). It really kicks off when Sasuke goes for his asai moonsault and Suwa yanks him off the apron by his leg. The roles here are just what you want, Sasuke's moveset is perfect for someone eating a large beating then launching a high impact comeback, whilst SUWA is a merciless prick who combines some really impressive stuff (his over the top tope is beyond amazing) and plenty of cheating and shortcuts to give the match a real face vs. heel dynamic. Not sure why, but Sasuke was rana-happy here, he must have done at least four from different positions. They save all their big stuff for the last few minutes, which works for me. Very enjoyable.
Great Sasuke vs. Takeshi Sasaki, FREEDOMS, June 21st 2010
Sasuke's representing Kojika's Army against Sasaki's FREEDOM's guys. This match had a few interesting moments, like Sasuke flipping and attacking the Satos (also in Kojika's Army), but nothing of particular note over the course of the seven minutes and was really both guys just going through some of their stuff. Sasuke's corner senton to the outside hit not a great deal up to the point where he hit the floor (some distance, you may remember, from his starting point).
Great Sasuke and Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and Ultimo Dragon, RJPW, March 18th 2010
On the place this was downloaded from, I saw it described as an "awful, awful match". How? It was a perfectly fine old guys doing eleven minutes tag match. It's a Fujinami match, so like Mutoh, it's going to be based around his very specific match winning strategy of leg work. Choshu is going to lariat some people, look grumpy and do some stomping. Sasuke will do an absurd highspot and sell everything too much. There's a couple of awkward moments, but that's mainly because Ultimo has a rubbish moveset that he can't even execute well - watch him land on top of Sasuke in a missed SPIN FLY KICK spot. There's a tiny smattering of decent matwork at the beginning, and I kind of liked when Fujinami got all scrappy, kicking and chopping at Choshu until it broke up the scorpion deathlock-in-Japanese. Let's be clear, it's not very very good, I just get annoyed that old guys doing simple stuff is in someway actively bad.
Great Sasuke and MIKAMI vs. Asian Cougar and Miracle Man, Osaka Pro, 20th August 2010
Well, here's four guys that will bump like freaks. This starts with a few minutes of pointless brawling, but after that there was a lot of nutty highspots, and I'm definitely someone who thinks that if your not going to put together a structured tag match, you better be a lunatic. Sasuke takes a lot of bumps, several onto to the ladder - the first whilst superplexing his opponent, assisted by his partner, in one of his trademark accidentally kill himself whilst naively trying to do good. Cougar bumps to the outside and into the crowd on multiple occassions and has some nice looking offence. MIKAMI is the worst offender for not bothering to put a match together and just get his stuff in, but even then, I enjoyed his beautiful top of ladder senton (although partially because I was convinced it was going to slip and kill him).
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
A (possible) Night of Champions 2010 liveblog
21st September, 7.34pm: Tell me. Is this live-blog-several-days-later concept I wheel out for WWE PPVs working? Does anyone like it?
7.35pm: (Or me? Does anyone like me? Maybe if people got to know me better...)
7.36pm: So, I'm watching this PPV, having actually sat down and watched some recent WWE TV. I'm excited for Big Show vs. Punk, and Miz vs. Danielson. I am not excited for the world title matches. No Christian match, which is a shame because he's been on a great run since July - his matches with Drew Macintyre have been some of the best things in US wrestling this year.
7.37pm: (I had macaroni cheese for dinner, and I am in the process of making some tea.)
7.39pm: Show starts. Picture flash. Words are ominous.
7.44pm: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston. Why is this happening again? Dolph has managed to carry something half-decent out of Kofi in past months, but I'm tiring of it.
8.04pm: That was OK. Kofi didn't do much that was offensive, and Dolph was fun on offence and bumped pretty big for a few of Kofi's spots (particularly the outside body press). Dolph has a couple of really nice little touches within his repetoire. I like how he scrambles for a pin after doing some move with an obvious urgency. Also, he works the sleeperhold in very well, capitalising on an opportunity with an almost pounce-like motion.
8.07pm: (I've just had some Coke, and I'm wearing an Emperor t-shirt)
8.10pm: Punk vs. Show next. Well, they are embracing Punk's home support then. Kind of cool. Punk's on mic. He loves Chicago.
8.11pm: Wait for it...
8.14pm: Just a great promo. Undiluted, self-righteous Punk is as good as mic work gets.
8.20pm: Man, I wish that wasn't just five minutes, because it was tremendous fun. Obviously, it's hard to book a long small heel vs. monster face, but this packed a lot of nice stuff in. I love Punk's stiff knees, Big Show's bodyshots, the slingshot senton to the outside (and Punk counting Show out and praying for him to stay down), and the spear on a mid-air Punk.
8.27pm: (I went for a swim this evening and earlier today I saw a crow.)
8.30pm: Miz vs. Daniel Bryan.
8.50pm: No thoughts as we went along, because I was completely absorbed. Tremendous match, probably the best thing I've seen so far this year, certainly in the US. There are two excellent performances here. Firstly, Bryan's selling of his injured arm and his fighting through the pain facials made this a really dramatic fight. Secondly, this is a match that has really sold me on the Miz. His arm work was all really nasty - the shoulderbreaker, the snap over the ropes and loads of other stuff which relentlessly targetted the arm all look great. In fact, both men brought loads of stiff offence and some stuff I've never seen in WWE before, like the lariat off the top. Some of the nearfalls absolutely had me, especially the two rollups and I loved the swerve finish (I was convinced they were going to do a bullshit DQ finish).
8.53pm: Also, great booking, great crowd heat, great stuff on commentary. And how satisfying is it to see a seven month long storyline paid off that well?
8.56pm: Cena is a slick promo, smart, funny (but not desperately so) and the sort of confident that wins over parts of an otherwise hostile crowd.. He also make a refreshing change of pace from the somewhat uninspired intensity of the other guys.
9.10pm: I shall go and do some tasks.
9.12pm: (I tidied the kitchen and I'm sure there were some others tasks.)
9.41pm: Diva's match. One thing I really like about the WWE women's division is the writing of storylines and characters which capture the subtle tensions, bitternesses and jealousies that groups of women experience. Case in point: Layla looking like thunder.
9.49pm: Well, it's not like the match was particularly good, but I kind of enjoy McCool schtick at times, and I'm Lay-Cool aren't breaking up. Their best friend mean girls act is the best thing the division has been built around in years, plus its is frequently hilarious (especially when combined with Ki).
9.52pm: I find it impossible to be excited by another Kane vs. Undertaker match. The whole storyline is absurd and the language gets more and more ridiculous each time. Whose the demon? Who will eat whose soul? What will happen when the screaming nemesis of children's dreams meets the harrowing strangler from the dreaded abyss? Then you throw in the world title, so you get this wierd narrative on commentary where they alternate between hyperbole about one souless evil attempting to destroy an inhuman monster (who, by the way, was recently in a vegetative state in a hospital, like hospitals would be happy to admit one of those without comment: "Well, nurse, the problem seems to be in his black heart and the fact he doesn't respire". His health insurance must be a financial burden.) and a title match story, where they are competing for a belt. Why couldn't you just book a straight up title match? That would at least be novel at this stage.
10.09pm: Match was a slugfest, in the most onomatopoeiac sense of that word. Taker's glassy-eyed, worn down selling is good, but for all the stuff used to set up this match, it wasn't even particularly violent. Sometimes, it pays to be a little more understated.
10.11pm: (I'm very good at the A-minor chord and my bedtime is 12am)
10.14pm: Tag team gauntlet match.
10.20pm: Tyson Kidd is trying to get himself more over by amping up his highspots. It might work, his asai moonsault was impressive. Cole tries to help the process by calling him a 'bundle of energy'. As is everything.
10.30pm: Not really sure how to deal with these sorts of matches. You basically get a miniscule formula tag match at the beginning and the end, and a bunch of spots in the middle as they move from Harts vs. Usos to Bourne/Henry vs. Macintyre/Rhodes, one team at a time. Bourne looked great in this, his jumping rana seems physically impossible. Rhodes manages to completely kill the hot tag by bumping way to early for a Henry chop though - the crowd collectively deflates with how ridiculous it looked. The finish ended up being anticlimatic.
10.31pm: (I write regular wrestling reviews of noted wrestling blog Spin Fly Kick).
11.08pm: Just whistled through the main event six man elimination. This mostly worked OK through the booking, which a multi-man has to because there's never time to develop much through the wrestling. Jericho's early elimination, teasing of Cena-Orton, Barrett as outsider, Edge and Sheamus' brief alliance, the Nexus run in and the remaining falls concealed some fairly run-of-the-mill action. The finish seemed rushed - a minute long between the last two guys, but four minutes of Orton posing with the belt is weird.
10.10pm: One great match, a couple of decent things, but a lot of stuff that could have been better. But definitely watch the US title match.
11.11pm: (That concludes this comprehensive 'getting-to-know-me' session. I assume I am now much beloved.)
7.35pm: (Or me? Does anyone like me? Maybe if people got to know me better...)
7.36pm: So, I'm watching this PPV, having actually sat down and watched some recent WWE TV. I'm excited for Big Show vs. Punk, and Miz vs. Danielson. I am not excited for the world title matches. No Christian match, which is a shame because he's been on a great run since July - his matches with Drew Macintyre have been some of the best things in US wrestling this year.
7.37pm: (I had macaroni cheese for dinner, and I am in the process of making some tea.)
7.39pm: Show starts. Picture flash. Words are ominous.
7.44pm: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston. Why is this happening again? Dolph has managed to carry something half-decent out of Kofi in past months, but I'm tiring of it.
8.04pm: That was OK. Kofi didn't do much that was offensive, and Dolph was fun on offence and bumped pretty big for a few of Kofi's spots (particularly the outside body press). Dolph has a couple of really nice little touches within his repetoire. I like how he scrambles for a pin after doing some move with an obvious urgency. Also, he works the sleeperhold in very well, capitalising on an opportunity with an almost pounce-like motion.
8.07pm: (I've just had some Coke, and I'm wearing an Emperor t-shirt)
8.10pm: Punk vs. Show next. Well, they are embracing Punk's home support then. Kind of cool. Punk's on mic. He loves Chicago.
8.11pm: Wait for it...
8.14pm: Just a great promo. Undiluted, self-righteous Punk is as good as mic work gets.
8.20pm: Man, I wish that wasn't just five minutes, because it was tremendous fun. Obviously, it's hard to book a long small heel vs. monster face, but this packed a lot of nice stuff in. I love Punk's stiff knees, Big Show's bodyshots, the slingshot senton to the outside (and Punk counting Show out and praying for him to stay down), and the spear on a mid-air Punk.
8.27pm: (I went for a swim this evening and earlier today I saw a crow.)
8.30pm: Miz vs. Daniel Bryan.
8.50pm: No thoughts as we went along, because I was completely absorbed. Tremendous match, probably the best thing I've seen so far this year, certainly in the US. There are two excellent performances here. Firstly, Bryan's selling of his injured arm and his fighting through the pain facials made this a really dramatic fight. Secondly, this is a match that has really sold me on the Miz. His arm work was all really nasty - the shoulderbreaker, the snap over the ropes and loads of other stuff which relentlessly targetted the arm all look great. In fact, both men brought loads of stiff offence and some stuff I've never seen in WWE before, like the lariat off the top. Some of the nearfalls absolutely had me, especially the two rollups and I loved the swerve finish (I was convinced they were going to do a bullshit DQ finish).
8.53pm: Also, great booking, great crowd heat, great stuff on commentary. And how satisfying is it to see a seven month long storyline paid off that well?
8.56pm: Cena is a slick promo, smart, funny (but not desperately so) and the sort of confident that wins over parts of an otherwise hostile crowd.. He also make a refreshing change of pace from the somewhat uninspired intensity of the other guys.
9.10pm: I shall go and do some tasks.
9.12pm: (I tidied the kitchen and I'm sure there were some others tasks.)
9.41pm: Diva's match. One thing I really like about the WWE women's division is the writing of storylines and characters which capture the subtle tensions, bitternesses and jealousies that groups of women experience. Case in point: Layla looking like thunder.
9.49pm: Well, it's not like the match was particularly good, but I kind of enjoy McCool schtick at times, and I'm Lay-Cool aren't breaking up. Their best friend mean girls act is the best thing the division has been built around in years, plus its is frequently hilarious (especially when combined with Ki).
9.52pm: I find it impossible to be excited by another Kane vs. Undertaker match. The whole storyline is absurd and the language gets more and more ridiculous each time. Whose the demon? Who will eat whose soul? What will happen when the screaming nemesis of children's dreams meets the harrowing strangler from the dreaded abyss? Then you throw in the world title, so you get this wierd narrative on commentary where they alternate between hyperbole about one souless evil attempting to destroy an inhuman monster (who, by the way, was recently in a vegetative state in a hospital, like hospitals would be happy to admit one of those without comment: "Well, nurse, the problem seems to be in his black heart and the fact he doesn't respire". His health insurance must be a financial burden.) and a title match story, where they are competing for a belt. Why couldn't you just book a straight up title match? That would at least be novel at this stage.
10.09pm: Match was a slugfest, in the most onomatopoeiac sense of that word. Taker's glassy-eyed, worn down selling is good, but for all the stuff used to set up this match, it wasn't even particularly violent. Sometimes, it pays to be a little more understated.
10.11pm: (I'm very good at the A-minor chord and my bedtime is 12am)
10.14pm: Tag team gauntlet match.
10.20pm: Tyson Kidd is trying to get himself more over by amping up his highspots. It might work, his asai moonsault was impressive. Cole tries to help the process by calling him a 'bundle of energy'. As is everything.
10.30pm: Not really sure how to deal with these sorts of matches. You basically get a miniscule formula tag match at the beginning and the end, and a bunch of spots in the middle as they move from Harts vs. Usos to Bourne/Henry vs. Macintyre/Rhodes, one team at a time. Bourne looked great in this, his jumping rana seems physically impossible. Rhodes manages to completely kill the hot tag by bumping way to early for a Henry chop though - the crowd collectively deflates with how ridiculous it looked. The finish ended up being anticlimatic.
10.31pm: (I write regular wrestling reviews of noted wrestling blog Spin Fly Kick).
11.08pm: Just whistled through the main event six man elimination. This mostly worked OK through the booking, which a multi-man has to because there's never time to develop much through the wrestling. Jericho's early elimination, teasing of Cena-Orton, Barrett as outsider, Edge and Sheamus' brief alliance, the Nexus run in and the remaining falls concealed some fairly run-of-the-mill action. The finish seemed rushed - a minute long between the last two guys, but four minutes of Orton posing with the belt is weird.
10.10pm: One great match, a couple of decent things, but a lot of stuff that could have been better. But definitely watch the US title match.
11.11pm: (That concludes this comprehensive 'getting-to-know-me' session. I assume I am now much beloved.)
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