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.