Wednesday 29 October 2008

Kaientai Dojo: 12th June 2008

More of the beloved K-Dojo. This show is all about the annual Strongest-K tournament. Overall, it's their best show of the year so far - a number of fresh match-ups, and a generally high standard throughout the two hours.

The opening match between Kashiwa vs. Takizawa was short and unremarkable - they are both guys that currently don't do anything to make me particularly interested. The second match between recently dethroned Kengo Mashimo and YOSHIYA was much better - it told a nice story of the company ace facing a tough challenge in a much larger opponent. I really liked Mashimo's focus here - he sticks with the arm work throughout, setting up the submission finish because the brainbuster wass likely out of the question. YOSHIYA's big boot looked devastating, and I thought led to a nice playing-dead spot before the finish. There was something about the way Mashimo seemed disproportionately lifeless that subtly indicated to the viewer he was luring his opponent in. Often, this spot just looks like lazy selling. I was really impressed with YOSHIYA, who seemed really motivated, particularly in his facial expressions both on attack (growly and aggressive) and defence (growly and hurting) . For a ten-minute match, I thought this delivered a coherent story and a lot of effort for a first round tournament match, and that's all I need.

Handsome JOE vs. MIYAWAKI was fine, building up the OMEGA vs. Team Handsome feud, with interference from KAZMA early on. JOE wins with his superplex, which I had to check was his finisher - I've been watching K-Dojo for a year's worth a shows, and that is possibly the first time I've seen him take a victory.

Then there was a intergender six person tag, with OMEGA members KAZMA, Ashai and Bambi against TAKA, Tonai and Apple Miyuki (good times). This was short and sprinty. The only particularly interesting part of this was Apple's interaction with the men.

The semi-final was between Boso Boy Raito and Oishi, for the former's UWA Middleweight title. Both guys are a little goofy, and wrestle a semi-serious style which mixes some fast action with some comedy, so you know straight away what your going to get. There's some nice wrestling in here also - the lucha-y start, Oishi's legwork and submissions, a couple of fast pinfall combinations. Raito works in all his computer game punch offense, including one on the apron at the end of a nice sequence of counters. I would say this was a high-end match within the genre they were going for, which is how it should be considered.

The main event was good - the Strongest-K Title match between new champion Yuji Hino and Mashimo's regular tag partner Madoka. What I didn't like about Hino's title win match is that it was hard to play his normal dickish heel against Mashimo, who is the dominant force in K-Dojo. Madoka is a much better opponent for him. It's obviously all about power vs speed. Madoka's offense looks credible - lots of kicks, some high flying, and a couple of crossface submission spots - but Hino inflicts greater cumulative damage of slams and suplexes, building to his powerbomb to finish it. I liked how Hino dragged out getting the final pinfall way past the point where Madoka was beat - its a good heelish move, and I find it annoying when the face then makes a comeback. Here, it just lead to a conclusive finish. I also like the little things that Hino does - at one point, he cockily let Madoka hit him in the face, shrugging it off initially, but then slowly indicating the blows hurt. He misses his first "FUCK YOU" senton after delaying it with a taunt, so rushes the second one to avoid the same outcome.

I believe this show is available on Torrents, and message boards. However, you can also buy the DVD from PUNQ. Support Norway at this tough economic times.

Monday 20 October 2008

ECW: 14th October 2008

ECW is going through a nice period at the moment. This happens with the WWE's second and third shows from time to time - for a while, they seem to put on tons of great free TV matches. Smackdown in the first half of 2006 was one such occassion, and I think ECW has had a couple of short good runs in the past 18 months. Anyway, this is a two match show, both qualifiers for Cyver Sunday ballots places.

The first match is between Evan Bourne and Chavo. This is really good. Sydal (I'm so knowledgeable) is the freshest thing in the WWE at the moment. His strikes are crisp and sound mean (his knee strike in particular here was completely killer), and he's bringing loads of new stuff (more lucha arm drag spots in this one match than I've seen from Rey since 2006). Chavo pulls out a load of cool stuff too - the roll through on the top rope knee strike into a crab was neat. They do a load of mat stuff that didn't feel like juniors killing time, without being about some body-part psychology - it was more about jostling for position, but not in that annoying a stalemate indie way. Bourne's first missed top rope rana, and his second leaping one were both impressive looking, as was the half-twist top rope tope (in the pike position). Striker references "Tiger Mask and the incomparable Dynamite Kid", thus creating a new meaning for the word incomparable (instead of "has no-one to compare to", it now means, "I refuse to make the comparison to the person everyone used to say wrestled like him"). This was all a joy.

The Morrison vs Finlay match seemed (from what I recall) to have been mainly a long series of armlocks, but I don't think in a lazy way. Finlay hits lariats with the healthy arm, and earns himself a tick (in the box marked 'not ruining Craig's day') Striker speculates that no-ones know what happens when someone is dragged under the ring. Is it a huge RAPE? The implications hung in the air. Also, he talks about Finlay's arsenal, which is a pun, because Arsenal are an Irish soccer team. Firstly, Arsenal are an English soccer team (football team). Secondly, how is that a pun? "Craig walked the dogs with leads, which is a pun, because Leeds is a city in England, where he lives". Striker earns himself a tick (in the box marked 'unfamiliar with English language') This was fine - fifteen minute Finlay TV matches are OK by me, even with the goofy Hornswaggle stuff and the many run-ins and the foreign object finish. Somehow, he makes all of that work. Morrison was useful here too.

Kaientai Dojo: 13th April 2008

This is a K-Dojo show at the Korakuen, and given that and the name of the show (ev. 7), I'm assuming this is the anniversary show. PUNQ has it.

Overall, this is a fun show (also known as a K-Dojo show). Let's focus on the longer stuff. The WEW Hardcore tag title Rumble was a bunch of silly nonsense, leading to the return of YOSHIYA and Apple Miyuki (good times), and their crowning as the new champs. Apple's game and takes a bunch of hardcore spots, including a springboard double foot stomp and a moonsault underneath a table top. This is a nice little addition to the show. FMW's old title's get everywhere - Apache Pro has the WEW Heavyweight title, K-Dojo has the WEW Hardcore tag title, and up the Independent Junior Heavyweight title has been through almost all the promotions, though mainly DDT. This is all very interesting (to you).

Osaka Pro's title was on the line in the (heavily clipped) match between Tiger's Mask and Kashiwa. We only got about five minutes of this, so it's hard to form a judgement. Kashiwa seemed a little out of his league here, which was the story the match was built around. Maybe he's being elevated, slowly - this is the first time I've seen a Kashiwa singles match. It didn't leave a particularly strong impression, but I blame the clipping.

The tag title match between Team HANDSOME and Madoka and Boso Boy Raito seemed like a sprint - I think clipping may have STOLEN the early build (though I watched it twice, and that is some smooth editing, because I can't tell where it's clipped). Anyway, this was packed full of fun - JOE posturing, TAKA eye-poking, Raito super-heroing, Madoka being too pretty-for-a-boy. Also, the wrestling was energetic and entertaining. I liked the finish a lot - an imaginative roll-up from TAKA after a series of big moves between he and Madoka. This is worth your time.

I had big expectations from the main event - the eventual dethroning of semi-permanent K-Dojo champion Kengo Mashimo by Yuji Hino. I like both guys, for a number of reasons. I really like the sheer joy on Hino's face as he cheats or flips off the crowd or takes a seat while his stable mates beatdown his opponent or taunts his oppenent with the offer of a handshake (and likely a cheapshot). But I found the match a little lacking. Hino steadfastly refuses to sell his injured arm for any lenghty period, which annoyed me, but at least wasn't the main story of the match.

Therein lies the major problem with this match: it didn't really settle on one particular story. Instead it just moved between different bits of stuff, and between several seperate themes, without sticking with one. I mean, I like each guy's stuff, so I wasn't bored, but it lacked a bit of drama because of it. Hino is obviously dickish heel, to Mashimo's company ace, except Mashimo worked a long heat section in submissions on Hino. Plus, Mashimo can come off a little dickish himself. Then they dropped any face/heel dynamics, and worked a straight finish, with each looking for their finishers. I liked the lack of overkill in this section - K-Dojo generally protects finishers really well. Hino went over cleanly too, which was a pleasing bit of booking. I await the rematch, and see what they do next time around.

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Zero1: 26th June 2008

This is the last Z1 show I have for the time being. It's been a really good run of shows since April - at the moment they are a promotion well worth following. As well as the New Japan feud, there's been plenty of other stuff to enjoy. The next batch will contain the annual Fire Festival, so I can look forward to that - there are normally loads of good matches during that tournament.

This is a really good show. I'll skip looking at everything to focus on the three matches I really liked, and which made the whole show worth having a look at.

Following on from last month's tag match, Minoru and Sawa have a singles match. It is essentially a competitive squash - for a large proportion of the match, Minoru is in control against his lower-ranked yet energetic opponent. The strikes in this match are really intense, with both men landing some vicious-looking kicks (Minoru to Sawa when perched on the buckle, Sawa to Minoru on his spinning enziguri). The 450 was a surprise - I liked Minoru pulling out a superfinisher when Sawa kicked out of everything else. Had it gone a little longer, or been a little less one sided, this might have been close to my top matches.

The Tanaka/Sai vs. GBH tag was a good brawl - Tanaka was in full 90s hardcore mode here, running across the ring with a chair shot, trading stiff blows with the larger Makabe and Honma. Sai was also fun in this - he often inspires little more than apathy from me (maybe two pathies?). His running knee strike to Honma mid way through made me react audibly (something like "Woooahaha"), much to the annoyance of my previously sleeping girlfriend.

The main event is the Z1 junior title match between Dragon Gate's Mochizuki and Z1's Ikuto Hidaka. I wrote all my thoughts about this match on the DVDVR board, but I'll repeat them now. I thought, from a technical standpoint, this was outstanding. I will concede that a match like this will never have the same emotional impact of an interpromotional feud brawl, or a top heavyweight title match. But, when you don't have those factors in your favour, it's all about the performance.

The match starts off with both men trading shoot kicks. Hidaka's first flurry of kicks (on his left leg) takes Mochi into the corner. Mochi then targets Hidaka's left leg. After that point, Hidaka doesn't kick once with the left, switching solely to the right for all his strikes for the next thirteen minutes. This, to me, is the most amazing part of the match. Often with the juniors, who require their legs for most of their stuff, any leg work gets forgotten. Sometimes it kind of fades over time. Not a bit of that here. Hidaka manages to achieve something that most find very difficult - great selling of the legwork, but with slowing the match down at all.

He keeps on selling the weakened leg throughout, shaking it loose, and wincing whenever he does anything knocks it. (And if this intentional I would be in awe, but the springboard off the ropes and the Misty Flip lacked height and spring). Mochi, for his part, is pretty single minded in going for the leg, kicking it and using a figure four submission and Kanemoto's ankle lock (in a nice nod to Hidaka's recent match)

The legwork is a Mochizuki's defensive strategy against Hidaka's kicks. His offensive strategy (and Hidaka's also) mainly targets the head, looking for the knockout blow. When it comes to the finishing straight, however, there's been so few pinfalls, and so much focus on the legwork throughout the match that the kickout (even on the brainbuster) seem completely credible. They play off the January match and the May tag match with the two corner Ikkakugeri spots. Hidaka counters an attempted second brainbuster with his new brainbuster-to-knees move, before they both race to land the final winning shot.

I know. I'm a nerd. I even went back and rewatched this, just to ensure I wasn't wrong. I wasn't. And I think that if they are going to do these little things, then someone should appreciate it. The only real obvious knock against it was the 19-count spot at the beginning - maybe Hidaka timed it wrong, because he went from lying on the floor, motionless, to jumping back into the ring within two seconds. It didn't matter much. This is the best straight juniors match I've seen in 2008.

Sunday 12 October 2008

Michinoku Pro: 20th September 2008

A quick one on matches from last month's M-Pro TV show that the fantastic desudesu uploaded on the DVDVR forums.

First up, Kagetora, Rasse and Shinjitsu Nohashi vs. Takeshi Minaminno, Ken45° and Maguro Ooma. I didn't really get much out of this. Rudo beatdown, followed by moves (spelt MOVES). It thought it lacked any real direction.

Next up, Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki and Ultimo Dragon vs. Fujita Jr. Hayato, Shu Sato and Kei Sato. How long are these introductions? I've skipped through five minutes and the match still hasn't started. Haven't seen Ultimo since his WWE run a few years back. I know the Satos from El Dorado - they look ridiculous. This is my first time watching Hayato. Some fans are sat on a taupaulin. I really want a cup of tea. Oh, the match has started. The match was unremarkable - to the extent that I am actually struggling to think of any worthwhile remarks. Sasuke gets beaten down, technicos come back and do some of their stuff. Fujita does some nice strikes, and Ultimo pulls out a nice lucha submission.

The main event was Yoshitsune vs. Osaka Pro's Tigers Mask. This was enjoyable - Yoshitsune is a bit limited in that he is an incredible flyer, but doesn't have a huge amount else. Tigers is a bit more grounded, and I usually like highflying juniors versus more suplexing and striking junior matches. The no hands tope con giro was amazing - hit at full speed and looking nearly out of control. There was actually a bit of psychology to this - Yoshitsune was working over the upper body of Tigers Mask throughout the match, but I didn't pick up on it until the finishing sequence: tilt a whirl chestbuster, then top rope running dropkick to chest, then shooting star knees to chest is a lot of violence-on-chest action. Not quite on the same level as Tigers vs. Black Buffalo from February, but good none the less.

I have a weird relationship with Michinoku Pro - I often toy with the idea of watching a whole batch, but never quite decide to do it. It has a lot of charm - not hugely serious, and definitely not turning out loads of great matches, but with a focus on producing fun matches. I could go for more of that.

Zero1: May 10th and May 29th

So I carried on working through the Zero1 shows that I had in my latest batch from PUNQ. The first show was fine, but didn't contain anything monumental. I enjoyed the Taguchi vs. Hidaka match. I don't really see the point of Taguchi - he doesn't seem to be either a good junior or a good heavyweight, and I've yet to be entertained by him. That said, he sold the legwork here really well. The finish left me a little flat, and only in part becomes my Hidaka markdom wanted to see him pick up the win - it also seemed a bit like there was a few more minutes of near falls in it.

Zero1 has recently began a partnership with BattlARTS, which will lead and has led to a number of cross-promotional matches. The Ishikawa/Sawa vs. Fujita/Sato match was the first one to happen - actually a few months before the official agreement was announced. There's some really fun work in this - in particular, Sato striking with both Sawa and Ishikawa, further reinforcing a growing belief I have that he's a really versatile guy. Sawa is exciting to watch, and Ishikawa is all grizzled and "here's a real forearm for your face".

The remainder of the show was just there. Ohtani and Nakanishi played to both men's strengths, mainly being built around the powerhouse Nakanishi beating down Ohtani. The main event was more of the Kanemoto vs. Tanaka feud, which has been one of the most important parts of this New Japan vs. Zero1 feud, watered down a bit in the tag match. All in all, there's nothing on here that is essential, unless you're a NJ vs. Z1 feud completist, but it's pretty fun.

The last match on the disc is from the May 17 Katsuta show, which featured Ohtani versus hardcore legend Mitsuhara Matsunaga in a (deep breath) Steel Cage Glass Rain Iron Ball Hell Death Match. Basically, there's a panel of glass above the ring, which after 10 minutes a demolition ball falls onto, shattering the pane and showering the ring with shards of glass. Anyway, the match isn't very good, consisting of moving between a variety of 90s deathmatch staples (nail board, fireball, scissors) with no real transition. The glass shower was an impressive visual, but oddly didn't look particularly horrific. Matsunaga barely flinched when it hit him, which is just the worst sort of selling - no-selling something that probably really hurt.

The May 29th show had two big tag matches, both of which were very good. The 45 minutes of the show was dedicated to clipped versions of a couple of unimportant matches - qualifiers for the Fire Festival, and a juniors tag match. Then it's time for the big junior tag,Sawa/Hidaka vs. Mochizuki/Minoru, four guys who started out in BattlARTS and I watch the promotional video and ... is this a Japanese power metal version of A Whole New World from Aladdin? Seriously? Who did this? I tried a Google search for all those words. It returned one hit - to a definition of the word "Seriously?".

Anyway, I really liked the match. This was a continuation of the Hidaka/Mochizuki feud over the Z1 junior title, and was slightly more shoot style than pro-wrestling, referencing the four men's BattlARTS roots. The first bit and heat section on Hidaka are pretty entertaining - Minoru playing to the crowd helps - but the match really kicks into another gear with the hot tag to Sawa - the octopus stretch spot was really nice - and then the final stretch with Hidaka and Mochizuki, who played off their January title match with Hidaka avoiding Mochizuki's knee strike and rolling up for the win. What I also really liked was some of the matwork sequences - the Mochi's jujigatame roll-through into the Hidaka's Shawn Capture was particular nice.

The main event really emphasises what I said in an earlier post about how natural this New Japan vs. Zero1 feud has been - it's a tag between Ohtani and Tanaka (Team EMBLEM!) and Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata. Ohtani and Tanaka have had matches with Nakanishi of late. Nagata, one of New Japan's top guys, returns from injury and joins the feud, shifting Z1's ace Tanaka's focus onto "Mr. IWGP", building toward their big showdown (tomorrow, as it happens).

This goes to a 30 minute time limit draw, and is clipped by about five minutes. This is exactly the sort of heated, energetic main event matches that an interpromotional feud should produce. Ohtani pulls out some of my favourite selling of the year in the early part of this match, wincing as he claps with the crowd after the facewash, and flinching as he raises his arm too high to grab the ropes. Nakanishi, a quite frankly appalling worker, is fine in this sort of match in short spells. They do a ten minute long finish stretch, which I enjoy because the near falls are usually broken up. Nagata looks like he has the measure of Tanaka at the end before he runs out of time, so I don’t dislike the lack of a finish because it comes across as a plot point building to a future match, rather than a cop-out. I'd watch this again.

A good show on the basis of these two matches, which nicely set up quite a few more in the coming months.

Thursday 9 October 2008

BattlARTS July 26th 2008: Ishikawa, Otsuka and Sawa vs. Ikeda, Usuda and Super Tiger II

So, I've just downloaded a match that is getting loads of attention on the DVDVR boards: Yuki Ishikawa, Alexander Otsuka and Munenori Sawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda and Super Tiger II, from the BattlARTS July show.

I preface this by saying I've watched absolutely no BattlARTS or, for that matter, any worked shoot promotions before. In fact, my sum total of experience of anything even slightly related to the genre is those Takada matches in New Japan in 1995-6, the Yamazaki vs. Hashimoto feud, and one Maeda match from the 1980s. And I watched that Joe vs. Angle match from earlier this year, which was totally definitely UWFi style. Cough. Anyway, this is a match which Phil Schneider has called possibly the best thing ever done in this style, so apparently, I'm starting from the top. Normally, I wouldn't like doing that - but I really want to see this now.

Play.

So, the match is an elimination tag. Sawa is in a lot at the start, and he brings loads of energy and takes quite a lot of offence from the opposing team. I'm struck immediately by the amount of quality mat wrestling and the intensity of the striking, but both are to be expected in this style of match. The first fifteen minutes fly by with loads of submissions (and loads of everyone running in to break up holds with head stomping and, in Super Tiger's case, out of control flying elbows) until Sawa gets eliminated. That spot is really nice - he gets caught with a knee bar then an anklelock when he goes for the Shining Wizard, while his partners are prevented from making the save.

There's a bunch of cool stuff in the next portion of the match with Otsuka, my new religion. Firstly he pulls out a lucha-y counter and submission. Then he pulls out a nasty head vice, which looks doubly nasty when Super Tiger doesn't get taken down to the mat but instead finds his head twisted at right angles (very wrong angles) to his shoulders.

Gradually, the match moves from matwork and submissions to more striking. There's a point about 22 minutes in where Ikeda stomps through Ishikawa's skull to break a pin, then Usuda delivers a handful of the most legitimate looking headkicks I can remember seeing. Ishikawa gets revenge some minutes late, headbutting Ikeda, then mouting him and punching his SQUA in the face. And so it goes on. More importantly, this is combined with a subtle, slow deterioration-type of selling which really conveys to cumulative damage building up over the course of the bout, and really makes the match for me.

Otsuka finds more clever things to do when an opponent swings a kick wildly, transitioning into a knee bar on one occassion, and a leg-capture suplex later on. I really loved having a knockout blow in the three headdrop suplexes that eliminated Usuda. They are headdrop - they should be sold like death.

The match finally comes down to Ikeda and Ishikawa, who just let everything hang out. Amongst all the hideous violence, there's one kick that seems to just catch the front of Ikeda' face, which I can only reasonably assume removes the nose. Anyway, they strike and strike, and catch a couple of possible finisher submission, but neither find the winning shot and time runs out at 45 minutes.

I am conscious that new things often seem particularly exciting, but even so, I still thought this was on another level to most of what I've seen this year. It'll definitely feature in my top matches of the year. There's something very unforced about it, which probably comes from not working in spots to pop the crowd. I asked around to see whether the reason this was getting so much attention was because it was an exceptional example of the BattlARTS style, or because it was at the usual standard, but extended into a long match with an different format in the elimination match. The answer appears to be the latter. Therefore, more BattlARTS please.

Tuesday 7 October 2008

WWE No Mercy 2008

I watched this last night, and posted some thoughts on the DVDVR board, many of which I have recreated below from memory and also from copy and pasting. Overall, I liked all three title matches, and was not really interested in anything in the middle. Some parts came off like an segment on RAW, which was odd, but a person could probably spend too long worrying about such things. Because I bristle with positivity, let's mainly focus on the stuff I liked.

Henry vs. Hardy was as good a big man vs. little man sub-ten minute match as you will watch. It was the best version of the "smaller opponent goes for larger opponent's legs" story I can remember. Hardy got in a good amount of offence, and Henry made it look entirely credible. I loved the finish, where Hardy blocks Henry's slam by punching his leg before hitting his finisher.

I don't get the love for Show vs. Taker I've noticed from listening to various people. I mean, the finish is really bold, innovative and completely surprising, but the rest of the match was just WWE brawling. Fine, but nothing I'm over going to watch it again. I should watch it again just to make sure I don't need to.

Triple H vs. Hardy was a good slow build to hot finish section WWE main event. I winced at Jeff full back bump from the tope - that's really quite insane. The last few minutes were really exciting - possibly because there really was an element of wanting to know if they would pull the trigger on a Hardy title run.

The main event did everything I hoped for, and more. This was a ladder match where the ladders were weapons, as is fitting for the feud. No tables, no elaborate setups, no nonsense. The couple of bigger spots were well placed. I also appreciated some of the details - Jericho dangling by one leg as a nod to this year's MITB finish, the eye shot to make Michaels drop the belt and fall off. The tug of war at the finish was an amazing visual, and one of those things that really makes you think, "why has no-one thought to do that before?" The announce table spot made me think of the Mind Games match, and actually, I think that's a good comparison for this match - while similalry being built around spots, there is a natural progression and coherent story to the whole thing.

The best thing about Jericho's title run is that people will now stop referring to his 2001-2 title run as the pinnacle of his career. It was getting like how we Brits still talk about how we won the World Cup in 1966, or Americans still talk about how you won the Ryder Cup in, you know, whatever year that was. Also, this run will clearly be much better, and will replace any bad memories left from it - back then Jericho didn't have nearly the same strong character to base his few title matches around. This time, his role, and the tenor of his title run are well defined.

Monday 6 October 2008

WWE Unforgiven 2008

I had this to watch before I put No Mercy on. Yeah, I know, I hear there's TV shows in between each PPV. I've been skimping a bit.

So the gimmick of the show was the three Scramble matches. I liked the ECW version, which kept the action going for the full 20 minutes, helped greatly by opening the show and having a fresh crowd. Plus, the finish was really exciting - you got the sense of panic as everyone frantically trying to find a winning move in the last minute, while Matt Hardy desperately runs away stopping everyone doing the same. Really believable and dramatic. The Smackdown version didn't have as much energy throughout, and had a much stupider finish. Why did Jeff not stop HHH's final pinfall, but go for one of his own? He was standing right there to stop it. Now, if they had done it so HHH got his final pinfall at 19:58, but the ref counted Jeff's fall as well, which creeped in at 19:59, well, that would have been clever. I did like that HHH had to keep his entrance to under 10 minutes.

I liked the tag match. Nothing original or groundbreaking, but they worked the formula fine, right down to the Midnight Express lure your opponent out of the ring to catch them with a surprise double team. A longer, heated finisher stretch would make take this up a level.

The Michaels-Jericho fight was another good installment in the feud. It was by no means perfect - I'd rather see a match built around "I punch your eye" than around gimmicked violence - the table spot, the announce desk spot, for instance. Plus, no blood. You have to escalate these things, and as there was blood in the July match, there are certain expectations. Basically, the level of hate-fuelled violence wasn't enough for the way it was sold by the commentators and the after-match angle. Michaels does an interview afterwards, and says that he is content, but not satisfied. I suspect he is also bearded, but not with beard.

The main was really quite slow - for the third version of the same match in one night, you would think they would try to find something new to do to keep the concept fresh. However, once Jericho made his surprise entry, then didn't do anything after his first failed attempt to hobble into the match, the finish was obvious. Not unappreciated though - Jericho's is at his very best right now (especially in his present self-righteous heel character), and Punk will be better off taking on another main event feud before a proper title run. I can't believe, a year ago, I was worried about him returning to be a pale comparison of the Jericho of 2000, or even Jericho of 2005. I need never have worried.

Zero1: April 29th 2008

So, let's start with the show I had on late into last night - Z1's April Korakuen Hall show. I got it from PUNQ. There is only man to get any and all puro DVDs in Europe, much like it was in Roman times.

I enjoyed this show more overall that the sum of its individual parts. I find this happens sometimes with shows where there is no standout match, but everything was OK, and the card is arranged well. It wasn't close to reaching the heights of the the March 2nd show, which I still think is the best Japanese show of the year (Hidaka/Tanaka vs. Kanemoto/Taguchi, Sato vs. Nakemura and the the BJW tag title switch).

For the purpose of a two hour TV show, the 9 match card was basically cut down to 4 matches, ignoring the clipped version of the KAMIKAZE match, which was only 5 minutes before clipping and the martial arts match, which I could and couldn't care less about. The show gets going with the Great Sasuke/Minoru Fujita vs. Dick Togo/Ikuta Hidaka tag. This was a lot of fun - Fujita's inevitable double cross, while obvious, was the right payoff for this particular story line. I've had a bit of trouble getting into Sasuke in 2008 - I forgot sometimes its not 1994 anymore. However, his matches in Z1 and this feud with Fujita has been entertaining by shifting from crazy highflying to consistent (and openly light-hearted) storytelling. I can appreciate that in 2008. The match itself is fine - lots of action down the straight until the finish. Togo's always impressive, and he and Hidaka are satisfyingly fluid together.

The Ohtani/Omori vs. Chono/Yasuda tag was nothing special, but short enough that I don't object. I like how this New Japan vs. Z1 feud has many facets and evolves in a natural way. It started with Omori vs. Nakanishi, with a couple of other guys getting involved from the start (Kanemoto, most notably). This leads to tag matches which introduce new participants who split off and give seperate and new matchups. Tanaka gets involved, setting up a series of title matches as outsiders challenge for Z1's top belt (which will culminate in Nagata vs. Tanaka next weekend) In the meantime, something like this Ohtani vs. Chono feud starts, within the context of the main rivalry, but built upon seperate issues. This is now a feud that has stretched out 10 months, in two different promotions, but it still finds ways of remaining fresh. This is pleasing.

Anyway, Ohtani is someone else you have to appreciate in the context of it now being 2008. At the expense of the workrate, he relies more on crowd interaction, facial expressions and an increasing surliness. This ended up being fine.

I have mixed feelings about the Sai vs. Mashimo match. It was a 29 minute match edited down to 14 minutes. Sometimes this makes a match better. Sometimes, however, it cuts out the meat of the match to save time, so you never get the full story. I guess the only people who know were the ones in Korakuen that day, and they are now all dead (Note: they are not now all dead). Anyway, Sai sells Mashimo's legwork in the slightly unconventional way of basing his entire offence on using that leg as much as possible, so I curse him and decide this match is not as good as it could be. I'm a mark for Mashimo, though. His headkicks look really great. He's also someone who can can do a half hour match with a very simple moveset really well.

The main event was a 30 minute broadway draw, which you could tell from the opening mat work - normally Sekimoto and Tanaka will charge into each other and throw bombs from the first bell. It built well, and when the finishing stretched kicked in around the 20 minutes mark, I enjoyed it much more than if the same thing had happened in a Sekimoto vs. Tanaka singles match, which normally become a loop of the same few moves until time runs out. I'm increasingly becoming a fan of Sato - he wrestles juniors well despite being a much bigger guy, and also looks good trading power moves and suplexes with heavyweights. Maybe its frustration at how the Z1 main event scene has been a little static for 2-3 years now, but I think its time to finally pull the trigger on him as a top guy in the promotion.

This leads into an impromptu 7 vs. 7 match, to decided who wins the Sword vs. Axe feud for April (apparently each side had an equal number of wins. What were the chances?). This is short (8 minutes) and sweet (everyone took turns breaking parts of Namiguchi's face) and the sort of disposable, chaotic mess that is hard not to like.

Then the disc stopped. Sleep occured.

Welcome

I decided that of the many topics I write about on my first blog, wrestling was the one which was unlikely to interest anyone except other people who like wrestling. That means you, Reader of This. I'll mainly be writing here about shows and matches I've watched, and then telling you whether I thought they were "good" or "bad" (or variations on that theme, such as "well" or "unwell"). You should definitely leave comments. Nothing starts a good debate better than a plurality of people involved in the discussion.

What do I watch? Lots of different things. I regularly follow a number of smaller Japanese promotions: Zero1, Big Japan, Kaientai Dojo and El Dorado. This I supplement with notable matches from the bigger Japanese promotions (New Japan and NOAH), or something else that has caught my attention (generally anything involving a live octopus). I watch WWE PPVs, and some TV shows, if I find the time and motivation. I do occasionally watch ROH, but that's the only US indie promotion I do. I like watching lucha, though have less access to it. Hopefully all of this will become apparent as I post more.

So that is a lot of wrestling to write about. That's not to say this blog will be free of my insightful social and political commentary (Have you noticed that Sarah Palin? She has said a number of silly things), but it'll probably be linked to wrestling in some clever and edgy way (Have you noticed that Sarah Palin? It's like she's been booked by Russo).

I'm expecting to post two-three times a week, based on my current watching patterns. When I write a new post, I'll give a signal. The signal will likely come in the form of a new post. Alternatively, I may tug sharply on my left ear. You will need to watch very carefully for that, because it will happen fast, and also you're not in this room.

Haveatchu.