Big Japan: LOADS OF SHOWS

I've been racing through a number of episodes of Deathmatch Wars over the last few nights, starting with the two from the March 24th all the way up to the two from May 4th.

I don't think this is turning out to be a particularly good year for Big Japan. That said, there are currently three matches I'd consider for my MOTY list (Miyamoto/Sasaki vs. Sekimoto/Sasaki from January, Mammoth vs. Sekimoto from February, and the BJW tag title match from May 23rd that we'll get to next time). Necro has been involved, and he's fun, though he has generally partnered with Pondo. I can't stand Pondo. It's not only that he uses the same boring garbage spots every match, but that he seems to give his opponent nothing. No-one ever seems to get revenge for getting stapled in the head or stabbed with a knife - instead, they may get the start of a comeback, before he cuts it off and does something else. The tag match against Miyamoto and Sasaki was OK, though, despite him. Necro is insane - that flat back suplex bump to the outside was the act of a madman.

The Men's Club matches have been full of joy. The two 8 man tags (on the March 24th and April 28th show) were just exhibitions of flying and lucharesu. I laughed out loud when Madoka didn't sell Teioh's invisible fireball because he was new and didn't understand it. Then, in the next match, he sells it too early, keen to make up for his earlier mistake, while everyone stands around. Both of these matches had similar spots, but, you know, its impossible not to find this stuff a massive silly plus for Big Japan.

There were two big singles deathmatches in these shows, and I didn't really like either. The moonlight darkness match between Miyamoto and Shadow WX was a victim of the gimmick - matches that are hard to see aren't easy to watch. Aside from the punching the dark (I assume. They could have been doing a foxtrot.) there was a lot of waiting around until it was time to do the next lightube spot. The only one I liked was Miyamoto's moonsault - at the moment of impact, it all went dark. Then they fought on, and the symbolism was lost.

I didn't think Shadow's big title win stacked up well compared to the last two year's big death matches (Abby vs Sasaki in 2006, Miyamoto vs. Sasaki in 2007). I don't like deathmatches based around big jumps and over-elaborate setups, rather than hitting people with stuff and blood-letting, and Ito went straight for the splash of the side wall within the first two minutes. They fight around the boards in the middle, then go for the scaffold spots to finish: the big Dragon Splash off the scaffold, the suplex off the scaffold, the brainbuster through the light tube board. The last three minutes of the finish was hot, but it wasn't built up well in the preceding forteen minutes, and that's just a bad ratio.