Spin Fly Kick

All Japan: Champions Carnival 2011 - Day 2

2011-04-26T21:53:00.005+01:00

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.

All Japan: Champions Carnival 2011 - Day 1

2011-04-25T11:37:00.005+01:00

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.

A (Possible) Wrestlemania 27 live blog

2011-04-04T19:37:00.005+01:00

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!

Kaientai Dojo: The rest of 2009

2011-03-30T18:34:00.005+01:00

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.

A Bunch Of: Black Terry Junior Handhelds (part two)

2011-02-07T23:10:00.001Z

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.

A Bunch Of: Black Terry Junior Handhelds (part one)

2011-02-02T21:14:00.004Z

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.

2010: A Wrestling Watching Odyssey

2011-02-01T23:58:00.000Z

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).

A (possible) Royal Rumble liveblog

2011-02-01T21:02:00.005Z

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.

How Great is Sasuke (part six II: part seven)

2010-10-10T22:38:00.001+01:00

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).

A (possible) Night of Champions 2010 liveblog

2010-09-21T19:33:00.006+01:00

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.)

Michinoku Pro: 15th September 1994

2010-09-07T22:57:00.006+01:00

A notable show, opening with SATO, Shiryu and and Terry Boy, marking the first appearance of the Kai En Tai stable. The latter is in the opening match. Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Terry Boy was one of my favourite M-Pro matches from 1993, and this is the rematch (or something, because it's 14 months later). There's a few knocks against this - the opening brawl feels like late 90s hardcore title material, with too much walking and not enough punching people. You get a sense of the changing dynamics of the promotion, with Terry Boy being in control for most of it and getting the better of Shinzaki with repeated attacks to the arm and counters of his trademark moves into armbars. Shinzaki eventually goes for a chair and opens Terry up leaving a large bloody gash over his left eye for the rest of the match. This is an interesting transition match. By the end of the show, Terry is pretty much working rudo, but here he is still slightly the underdog, and Shinzaki resorts to weapons to take control of the match in a typical heelish move. Yet it's a more aggressive Terry throughout - less sympathetic, more vicious on offence.

With all the focus on the new stable, Great Sasuke vs. Turako is heavily clipped. It starts from Turako's tope, then Sasuke does his no-hand somersault tope, then Turaki cheats to get ahead, then Sasuke comes back and wins (with a cross face chickenwing, somewhat unexpectedly). It's all solid, but this is a match missing a large chunk of it's body, and hard to judge.

Super Delfin and TAKA Michinoku v SATO and Shiryu was an excellent way to launch the Kai En Tai stable. It's part-angle really, a twenty minute rudo beatdown with a stretcher job for Delfin and a DQ finish when they throw the ref aside. It's also the first televised match featuring SATO the bruiser, rather than SATO the impossibly athletic heavy guy. There's no matwork or rope-running or dives here, just chops, kicks and punches designed to look as damaging as possible. Those chops were wild and great. The beating TAKA takes is really something, and his mini-comeback, featuring the no-hand plancha, completely had the crowd (and me). It was borderline cathartic as he made a two-on-one comeback - only for it to be snuffed out by a near-impossible mismatch (or, more accurately, a dropkick to the back of the head). The DQ was moments later, which was sensible, because the whole thing had acheived it's purpose and there was no way to improve upon it with another extended beatdown. Great stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing how TAKA ends up in the group after this.

Michinoku Pro: 30th July 1994

2010-08-30T22:25:00.000+01:00

This show is spread over two Champ Forums. There's a joshi match to start which I didn't get much from, and they show the end of a tag match with Terry Boy and Shiryu against Hanzo Nakajima and Masato Yakushiji which is really too short to have any feeling for. There is a Shiryu tope though, and that's always worthwhile.

OK, onto matches I care about. The six man tag (Kendo, SATO and Piloto vs. Super Boy, Delfin and Naniwa) was an absolute blast. The layout was pretty much comedy, comedy, comedy, highspots and finish. I was pleased to see more Kendo after enjoying a match of his from the previous year. Super Boy, once again, was tremendous.

This must be a WAR vs. M-Pro show. Jado vs. TAKA Michinoku was a fun match. It was built around TAKA being outmatched, but using big highspots to keep up. It's really made by the final run of big moves - they are well-paced and sold well - and the finish is really impressive, with Jado doing a super hurricanrana where he maintains contact and finishes in a pinning position. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Main event was Great Sasuke and Ultimo Dragon vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Gedo. A few things really stood out here. Firstly, it is really pleasing when you see a conventional wisdom shattered to pieces. In this case, many people's opinion of mid 90s Gedo was shaped by Scott Keith and his very negative opinion of him in reviews of the Super J Cups in 1994 and 1995. Anyone who still buys into that needs to see this match, because Gedo is really great in it. He's a completely dickish heel, faking injuries, stomping on heads and groins and riling the crowd up with a cocky swagger. He also takes a couple of big bumps, works some exciting nearfalls (particularly after a snap powerslam) and he does this nice thing where he gets dropkicked on the turnbuckle, bumps his head off the ring post (unprotected) and falls backwards.

Second thing is how different Sasuke and Dragon are. Sasuke is really good at selling the heels offence, while Dragon blows pretty much everything off in favour of more posing. Sasuke looks worn down going down the stretch, while Dragon just does his stuff. Sure, he has some high spots, but so does Sasuke, and they are far crazier (the quebradora over the turnbuckle to the outside would have been awesome, had Shinzaki caught him at all). And he blows stuff as well. The Segunda Caida WAR project is already doing its part to point out how overrated Ultimo Dragon is - I am completely on board with that. Anyway, the match is pretty good, Dragon aside. There's a couple of minor weaker moments - the above mentioned quebradora and one of the other Sasuke's dives has a weird catch which couldn't decide if it was successful or blocked - but a lot of it is a good time.

Michinoku Pro: 11th June 2010

2010-08-26T01:52:00.001+01:00

Rasse vs. Daisuke Sasaki featured Sasaki brining some nice looking high spots and sequences and Rasse, bizarrely, bringing next to nothing. Sasaki could potentially be a fun flyer. The two Kowloon matches (Satos vs. Numajiro and Oyanagi, Minamino, Ooma and Ken45° vs. Yapper Man #1 & Yapper Man #2 and Kenbai) didn't do anything I hadn't seen before. The latter in particular was heavy on the rope running and light on structure.

The multi-promotional invitation match pitted El Samurai, Takashi Sasaki and Boso Boy Raito against Ryuji Ito, HIROKI and Daichi Sasaki. I believe this was Daichi Sasaki's debut - I don't know what his connection is to Sasuke, but the story of the match was all about him getting beaten up. Samurai was a lot of fun in this, especially the bit where I thought he'd actually broken Daichi's nose with a punch, and then he follows it up with a bunch of dickish submissions where he kept returning to the nose. Daichi, for his part, brought the weakest strikes of all time. I don't know if it was on purpose, but there's no escaping the fact that he did a lot of stroking of chests.

The semi-main was Ultimo Dragon, Minamino and Nohashi vs. Shinzaki, Kenou and Hiugaji. Unlike every other Kowloon trios match for the past two years, this one was packed with genuine heat, violence and palpable dislike between the two sides. Heel Ultimo Dragon is as watchable as face Ultimo Dragon is dull. He comes off like a true rudo captain, directing triple teams, taunting opponents, taking shortcuts, begging off and luring the faces into an ambush. Also, his new mask is awesome. It starts with Hayato attempting to fight through an injured leg, until Kenou kicks it to shreds. This leads to Minamino leaping in, sparking a huge brawl - not a time filling one like, but truly glorious chaos. Even Shinzaki was motivated, moving faster than I'd seen in a long time against Nohashi. The pairing on Minamino and Kenou produced the matches best moments: this gets so intense that Kenou seems to lose all interest in the match at the expense of kicking Minamino a bunch more times. There's a spot where Nohashi has him on his knees, and he still keeps on punching Minamino in the midriff despite him being far less of an immediate concern. He forgoes making a hot tag when he has the opportunity (more kicking), and even when he's the last man standing after an series of moves between all six, he prefers to take Minamino to the outside and post him some more, rather than seek a pinfall. It's kind of exhilirating, and the match is kind of one of my favourite things from Japan this year.

Finally, the main event: Great Sasuke and Dick Togo vs. FUNAKI and TAKA Michinoku, for Sasuke's 20th anniversary. Sasuke comes out the some heavy metal, fist-pumping and faking playing the guitar in the crowd. He also has a little beard. Obviously, it was goofy as hell. This is a match of two very different teams. First question - how is it that FUNAKI looks like the oldest, most tired person in this match. He's spent the last decade doing backstage interviews and two minute matches. Anyway, he and TAKA really don't do anything of interest in the whole match - their heat section on Sasuke was plodding and dull and not exactly classic Kaientai DX. Sasuke and Togo, on the other hand, worked really hard. Togo is the support player here, but all of his bits were really fun, his offence is still crisp and violent where other 90s juniors have become slack. His somersault tope was pretty spectacular, almost threatening to outdo all of Sasuke's crazy dives. He's also really great at getting the crowd going, and setting up Sasuke to take centre stage. Sasuke, for his part, was his usual self once he got there, a combination of big risky moves and the weariness of an ageing body. Spot of the match was Sasuke missing a somersault senton, watching TAKA roll out of the ring, and dragging himself up the turnbuckle to have another go. Fun, but perhaps not as good as I was hoping.

A Bunch of: 2010 Japan Indie Title Matches (part one)

2010-08-17T01:54:00.002+01:00

What with Shuji Ishikawa and Daisuke Sekimoto's KO-D title runs and several other big title matches and switches over the year so far, I thought work through them in addition to all the Big Japan, Michinoku Pro, Battlarts and K-Dojo shows I'll be reviewing in full. That way, I actually might have seen enough stuff to justify submitting a 2010 Japanese ballot at DVDVR.

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yoshihito Sasaki, Union Pro, 24th January 2010

First half of this was about Ishikawa taking away Sasaki's lariat and chopping arm and Sasaki taking away Ishikawa's knee strikes and kicking leg. The second half of this was about both guys unloading their heavy weaponry, which included Sasaki's lariat and chops and Ishikawa's knee strikes. So, you can see, this match is problematic. Hard-hitting, perhaps even well-paced, but problematic. Yoshihito Sasaki is also not a guy averse to taking dangerous head drops, nor to completely no-selling them, which given I was already feeling ill-disposed towards the match already really did no it no favours.

Dick Togo vs. Billy Ken Kid, Osaka Pro, 11th February 2010

Tremendous Togo performance. Last year, I thought some of his face-in-peril work was the best in Japan, this year it's a rudo performance that impresses. The match is divided into a series of heat sections with brief comebacks, and Togo finds new and interesting things to do each time, whilst letting BKK to bring a few highspots. The mask theft stuff was great: not a DQ in Japan, but completely disabling as he tries to obscure his face. My biggest problem is that BKK's final comeback - the one where he got his mask back - was disappointing and lacklustre. It really should have been "OK, I've taken 30 minutes of this crap, ENOUGH", but amounted to some weak strikes and the feeling like he almost didn't know what to do next, leaving Togo to take the offence back right where it should have built to the satisfying payoff. Frustrating finish to a great solo performance.

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, Union Pro 28th February 2010

I liked this much more that the Sasaki match, and the odd thing about saying that is that, as a match, its much less ambitious. The leg vs. arm story in the Sasaki match is much more interesting, but the execution is weak, which is really such a widespread thing in Japanese wrestling it gets a little depressing. Here, it's very much a case of keeping things simple, leading to a fun power match. Sekimoto is much more worthwhile when against a bigger guy. His power stuff becomes impressive and he doesn't go into finisher overdrive. He's someone I have learned to enjoy in his own way (like in these sort of matches and in tags) - can't expect anything particularly smart, but in certain circumstances his angry-faces and running-around and sort-of-topes have a familiar charm.

Kaientai Dojo 9th August 2009

2010-08-17T01:53:00.001+01:00

I watched the openers at some point in the past, and had no desire to rewatch a battle royale or PSYCHO vs. Quiet Storm again. I have no memories of either being any good.

First real match of interest was Minoru Suzuki vs. Kengo Mashimo. Most of this was perfectly decent - two guys knocking seven bells out of each other is hard to get wrong. Mashimo gets smart first and targets Suzuki's arm with loads of kicks and a couple of armbars. The fight against the submissions is too long - drama builds for a while, but it soon becomes apparent there isn't going to be a submission, which means it peters out. The long-term selling is a bit suspect - Mashimo blows off Suzuki's early attacks to launch a comeback, whilst Suzuki isn't too emphasise his damaged arm. That aside, I liked the strike exchange at the finish, with Suzuki ducking and diving, and the chance opportunity to lock in the rear naked choke felt in keeping with a match where Suzuki was higher ranked but was mostly coming from behind.

Next up, TAKA vs. Kashiwa for the title. I gave this two watches, because the first one left me completely surprised. Basically, it boils down to this: given the opportunity, Daigora Kashiwa might be one of the best wrestlers in Japan that nobody talks about. Nobody. He's like Tamon Honda in that he completely doesn't look like what popular Japanese wrestlers look like in 2010, and his style isn't particularly pretty, but it is very effective and like basically nothing within the current indie scene. He has two basic weapons: his headbutts, which he uses like chops or kicks as his go-to offence, and a camel clutch which he regularly looks to get TAKA in position to lock in. The headbutts come from all angles and are targetted against all limbs - TAKA occassionaly looks completely surprised by this, as another headbutt strikes him in the midriff or the hip or the arm. Near the end, he combines the two, headbutting TAKA in the back of the skull whilst fighting to keep him in the hold.

TAKA is mostly along for the ride here, but to his credit he keeps in simple and responds to the camel clutch attempts with his own submission hold (whatever he calls that). My favourite part of the match was where Kashiwa fights out of this with headbutts to the arm to weaken the hold. This is a match with plenty of scrambling for position and fighting for holds, which I really liked. Add to this a fun opening where Kashiwa surprises TAKA mid-streamer shower and a really great finish where TAKA can't hold onto the headlock submission so shifts to this leg-scissor version that Kashiwa can't escape from. Had I seen this earlier, it would have made my Japanese top 10 at least, and probably higher.

The main event, Oishi and Asahi vs. YOSHIYA and GENTARO, was predictably mindless. Loads of back and forth with no real structure or anything more long-term than the present second and occassionally the one after that, all capped off with a rubbish looking finish - whatever there awful assisted Canadian Destoyer is called, GENTARO jumped right out of it. However, let me reinterate: everyone, track down the title match. It's really good.

Michinoku Pro: 5th October 2009 (part two)

2010-08-15T21:48:00.001+01:00

Kinya Oyanagi vs. Kenbai and Takeshi Minamino vs. Rasse were both quick openers. The latter was a three minute mismatch, which was a shame because bigger guy vs. Rey Mysterio lookalike has potential to be fun at least (see bigger guy vs. Rey Mysterio matches from past decade).

Next, Shinjitsu Nohashi and Rui Hiugaji vs. Yapper Man #1 and Yapper Man #2. I have no idea where they clipped this: it was either in the middle, or just showed the last four minutes. This seemed kind of low-impact, even in the high spots (planchas with little force, dropkicks placed on the chest), so it wasn't even that good a sprint.

I never really enjoy either Ken 45 vs. Ultimo Dragon purely as wrestlers, but they deserve credit for the performing aspect here: Ultimo is good at rallying babyface support from the seated masses, whilst Ken 45 is fine as an expressive rudo. The booking in this was very WWE-ish, with a lone babyface taking on a heel stable single-handedly, and coming unstuck due to a mix-up. The story works though, and distracts away from both guys limited in-ring work, which is smart.

Sasuke and Shinzaki and Numajiro vs. Shu and Kei Sato and Maguro Ooma was your Standard Kowloon Match - plenty of action and exchanges, but little in the way of structure. Not quite comedy, not quite serious, too much Numajiro (who seemed to be the focus of the match, especially the finish, so maybe it's was an anniversary match). Sasuke's involvement is limited, more's the pity, a few comedy spots (his overly-delayed Randy the Ram forearm is always amusing, but spots involving trolleys have been overplayed now) was about it. There are brief moments I liked here - some of the Kowloon teams bumping from weak Numajiro offence, and their slick triple team offence - but most is largely forgettable.

The main event was my favourite match from Japan in 2009 - reviewed elsewhere - and, quite frankly, it is the only thing worth watching on this show. But then, they give the match and the build-up over an hour of TV time, so you get the impression the promotion knows that too.

A (possible) WWE Money In The Bank 2010 Live Blog

2010-07-20T21:09:00.007+01:00

Tuesday, 20th July, 9.10pm: This show has been finished and completed for nearly two days, and I have managed to inadvertently find out who leaves the show with the world title belts. Damn you Twitter and my inability to not follow links even though I suspect they will spoil a surprise.

9.15pm: PLAY. I have a cup of tea (no milk or sugar). Just hardcore tea. My wife is drinking heavily in the corner and cursing at the Irish (this is a lie).

9.21pm: Smackdown Money In The Bank match. And Kofi is first out. Great news for fans of Kofi Kingston in ladder matches. Maybe he'll try that stilts spot again. Four guys I like in this (Dolph, Christian, Matt and Big Show), four guys I don't care four (others, look up names yourself)

9.27pm: Big Show was awesome at the beginning of this. I loved the look on his face as he breaks that first ladder under his weight.

9.59pm: Well, how about that? At first watch, I thought that was really good. Felt a lot more like a fight and a struggle compared to the usual spotfest with elaborate unrealistic setups. Having the two big guys in there gave it a different feel, with one story being about how the smaller guys could restrain them. Big Show's involvement was great - he made getting the huge ladder into a real performance for what could have been very dull - but they don't overplay his stuff and use credible stuff to keep him out. He took Kofi's DDT like a king. A little bit, I thought Dolph was the best guy in this. He's a good bumper, so there's plenty of opportunity for that (has he started doing Foley's apron bump regularly? Onto ladder was a cool spot), but his best moments came fighting with Kane on the ladder, scrambling over him then catching him with a sleeperhold. Kane does some stuff I don't like, but the booking of Drew Macintrye as the guy left at the end only for Kane to stop him was a great way of getting a face pop. Had it been Matt Hardy, for example, it would have been badly received.

10.15pm: Oh, and Kofi was inoffensive and that announce desk leg drop was nuts. Well played, WWE. Next match.

10.17pm: Next match soon. Errands have emerged.

11.25pm: Sheamus interview. I'd like to clarify that great white sharks do have souls. Some produce beautiful poetry (largely unwritten), about the loneliness of being a shark in a world that thinks you are soulless. Decent interview. Sheamus has got better at talking.

11.28pm: Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox begins. It's the battle of the divas with surnames. This was what it was. Alicia Fox looks more able than the average diva. Is it futile to point out that if you can't do a suplex because of a bad back, you can't then do a moonsault?

11.36pm: Speaking of divas, my wife has just fired our cleaning lady for putting the shampoo in the conditioner's spot on the shelf (utter fiction).

11.39pm: That was not a realistic conversation between Jack Swagger and the (imaginary) Ma Swagger, unless Ma and Pa Swagger are divorced. Or, more probably, if they are still are married.

11.40pm: Haven't seen the Usos before.

11.50pm: That was a perfectly decent, if short tag match. Felt like they packed a lot in and I was surprised only about seven minutes passed. Usos look like competent heels, and that assisted samoan drop was very cool. I'm very into the Harts being top team now, after being jobbed out all of last year. They complement each other well - definitely a greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts deal

Wednesday, 21st July, 12.01pm: Tired. Going to put on the Segunda Caida radio hour and fall asleep to Eric and Phil's melodious banter and Dean's falsetto. Will finish this tomorrow, providing my wife doesn't insist we got out shooting dogs again (absolutely never happened before).

11.52pm: This is ridiculous. I've been procrastinating watching stand-up on Youtube. Onwards.

11.56pm: Man, I wish I'd watched more Smackdown this last month. Rey vs. Swagger is on my screen now. Rey appears to be wearing his tribute to the gimp from Pulp Fiction costume, one of the lesser superheroes.

Thursday, 21st July, 12.05am: I love Rey busting out the split-leg moonsault as he's going around on a bad leg. Commentators missed how clever that was.

12.11am: Just a really nice match. Swagger looks great beating up Rey, Rey plays to his strengths (great selling, nice comebacks, including a couple of really nice dodges which barely missed). Couple of minor annoyances (Rey's setup headscissors seems to get less and less believable, and the top rope DDT was telegraphed and looked overly co-operative.

12.16am: This MitB angle is WELL played out by this point. Are they doing a split personality thing with Kane? That was the only thing that struck me as interesting here. That tombstone was a mistake, there was daylight and some of the following night between Rey's head and the mat.

12.20am: Layla vs. Kelly. SC's Eric says Layla is good, I have seen no singles matches of hers in 2010. Let us test this hypothesis. LayCool always strike me as two of the better developed characters on the show, and it's not just booking - they play them well.

12.27am: Fine for what it was. I liked Layla using Finlay's ring apron spot, but the slightly botch the dodgy finish. OK, it's late again. More sleep.

6.22pm: Right, I'm finishing this tonight. RAW ladder match now.

6.35pm: OK, a lot of this is really uninspiring and unimaginative multi-person ladder match fare. But Mark Henry pushing four guys off the ladder in two directions was a really cool visual. Bourne and Henry are the only people I care about so far, mostly for actually bringing something new to the table.

6.40pm: Morrison's obstacle course run to the ladder was nice - sort of thing that usually goes wrong. His unprotected bump inside the ladder looked really nasty.

6.43pm: Not a word of a lie: Henry bump off Edge's spear outside was the greatest bump ever taken by any man ever.

6.50pm: Fuck it. COME ON EVAN.

6.54pm: Nowhere near as good as the Smackdown match. Highspots weren't as good, loads of stuff that was overly contrived. The few nice moments featured Henry (his elimination was great, his bumping and selling off of that terrible offence was a sight to behold) and Bourne (I liked the shooting star out of nowhere). It felt like all the really good ideas were taken by the Smackdown match. All things in moderation, WWE.

7.02pm: Main event: Sheamus vs. Cena, in a cage.

7.30pm: A perfectly solid main event, with overbooked ending. Not particularly violent or hate-filled, nor did it feature anything standout-ish, but it was all put together well. I thought that they might actually give Sheamus a cleaner win at one stage, before Nexus came out. That said, this felt like a match where Sheamus seemed at home as heel champion and main-eventer, and I think that was Cena's doing.

7.33pm: I think it's time to move Cena away from the title belt for a bit, which this Nexus angle gives the opportunity for. Overall, a good show, with most things solid, and only the second ladder match disappointing my expectations. The opener was most surprising of all, and I recommend a watch.

7.35pm: My wife has just proof-read this post, and dislocated my arm as a punishment (a complete fabrication).

A Bunch of: Jerry Lawler's Memphis 2010

2010-07-06T12:06:00.005+01:00

Jerry Lawler's Memphis promotion is back on TV, and as part of my Indie-cision 2010 project, I figured I'd watch the first four shows together. You too can do this at Lawler's website. The episodes run to around 35 minutes once the adverts and WWE clips are stripped out, and with two or three matches and interviews on each of them, I'm not expecting a classic. But quite a lot has been solid, and there's some fun to be had as well. Let's focus on the good stuff.

Derrick King is quite clearly the best guy on the show so far. He's had one short match with sort-of bland babyface Matt Boyce which was a really nice two and a half minutes of action. His main input so far has been this little feud with Koko B. Ware, which started with a really intense promo exchange, followed it up with a pull-apart brawl the following week, then had a four minute match in the last week. I loved King's selling off punches and his expressions after bump-taking, and he generally carries off the pace of his matches with significant presence.

I also liked the two Kid Nikels and Eric Wayne vs. Cody Melton and Stan Lee matches from what they appear to be calling their tag division - nothing complicated, but it felt really fluent and pacy and there's plenty of no-nonsense stiffness. The first was longer, and they do an abridged version of the longer formula with a false then a real face-in-peril section, whilst the second is almost entirely heat section, then a quick comeback victory. Both classic templates and all four guys do them well. Cody Melton and Stan Lee have a versatile heel act - it's much more obvious in the second match, when they slow things down more, cheat more and get cockier, whilst in the first one they pace is faster and they have to work together more and cheat less.

There's been some good booking and some less good decisions. It's at its best when sticking to simplicity - fight one weeks leads to match next week. There's main storylines so far have: Koko vs. King, which has progressed nicely with both guys doing good work inside and outside the ring, and the Southern title tournament which has been used for two additional purposes - the building up of heel Brian Christopher, and to establish Matt Boyce as the second top babyface (below Lawler). Christopher's turn sort of came out of nowhere (tagged with Lawler one week, cut a heel promo the next), but he's pretty dislikable and suits the role. His in-ring work hasn't been particularly notable yet, but the booking of his character is covering it up. Boyce, as mentioned above, is a little bland, but he's being booked well - he can bump, and he keeps sneaking quick pinfall victories. Aside form his match with Derrick King, the formula worked well against the physically imposing Tommy Mercer.

Lawler needs to establish a program for himself, because the show is missing a top babyface at present. They started to set up a program with Kevin White last show, which will hopefully go somewhere. In the meantime, there seems to be about thirty colour commentators/managers who want to retire Lawler or stop him winning the title or other unspecific threats. A re-run of Lawler vs. Jimmy Hart is no bad idea, but they need to pick a direction. On a related point, Brandon Baxter, as commentator, has been excellent, talking up the matches and the workers, but not in an annoying, paid-by-the-superlative way. Ring announcer and occassional commentator Lauren Jenkins is keen (and very pretty, has this been noticed by anyone yet?) but she is right at the bottom of the learning curve of doing good commentary - Baxter, however, is really good at working all her observations into something more insightful.

I will be watching more of this.

Big Japan: 28th September 2009

2010-07-06T09:26:00.003+01:00

The show really gets started with Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinya Ishikawa vs. Takashi Sasaki & Kankuro Hoshino. Where on Earth did this come from? It's a pretty odd combination of guys - the deathmatch guy and the perennial whipping boy against the non-deathmatch heavyweight and the rookie. But everyone is completed fired up and super motivated here. The first few exchanges were scrappy, in the good sense, as it set up the intensity of the next ten minutes. Winning seemed important here, which is an impressive achievement for such a throwaway tag. No-one was content standing on the apron, given any opportunity they'd come in, break up a submission, double team an opponent or charge the partner in the opposite corner. I liked Yoshihito giving a viscious low larait to Takashi to break up a submission, only for Hoshino to come in a do the same once the roles were reversed.

In fact, the whole match showed a different side to Hoshino, who got way more offence that he would normally be allowed against other higher ranked guys. Ishikawa survives a lot of offence, Yoshihito lariats Hoshino and takes Takashi out, allowing Ishikawa the big comeback with a flurry of nasty forearms for a really satisfying finish. Hoshino's anguish at losing completed the deeply competitive feel to the match. This would have made my Japan 2009 ballot had I watched it in time. I don't like it when people talk about a match having a lot of hatred, and I've heard that word used to describe this. That seems like something that really should only apply to actual feuds. In that case, you expect rules to be broken because the importance of a well-contested wrestling match go away when there's an emotional issue at stake. This match really got over the importance of victory but was contested, broadly speaking, within the rules of a wrestling match - not hatred, but an intense competitive feel. Really great under-the-radar match.

Have you ever wanted to see Bugs Bunny doing a Pearl Harbour Splash? Then the Street Fight Dress Up deathmatch is for you. A bunch of comedy spots revolving around the fact that Numazawa and Kasai came out in a panda suit and a Bugs costume. Also expect headlocks on giant masks, mask swapping, masks being spun around so the guy can't see and other stuff (involving masks). Not actually a wrestling match, however. The tag titles match with Sekimoto and Okabayashi against Shinobu and Madoka, set up by the really good six-man on the previous, was much more predicable than the aforementioned trios. Madoka again impressed as a kicker and Shinobu is still a good face-in-peril, but the finish wasn't as dramatic because you never really got the sense that the challengers might win.

There's two Miyamoto death matches on this disc. The first is from the same show as all the previous matches, and is against Isami Kodaka. Apparently this went sixteen minutes, but it's pretty much a sprint. During the early portion, I felt like Miyamoto was much more comfortable in the role of champion, confidently taking and maintaining control, tossing Isami around, even stealing a spot or two from his former tag partner. Isami's comeback made use of the cage, which is a smart way to use your big gimmick in a match between an underdog and the champion. From there one, it's a lot of finisher and highspots using the cage and the remaining tubes (and a ladder and some chairs). These two don't no-sell anything (apart from anything, all the spots would actually hurt) but I never got the sense of an epic struggle and fatigue that you might expect - it's more fighting spirit and a final knockout blow. Isami takes more risks - his double knee with tubes (missed) and the same move with a chair off the cage are two of the highlights - whilst Miyamoto has a much more credible moveset in between high spots. Overall, there's probably about five false finishes too many, and other niggles, but an entertaining deathmatch nonetheless. I liked this more than the terribly overblown Takeda-Miyamoto match.

The second Miyamoto match is from two days later against Abby Jr. There are, allegedely, 445 lighttubes forming a solid wall around the ring and lying across the mat. This is a total gory spectacle, much less than a match - with so much plunder, there's no build to big spots, they pretty much start bleeding immediately. You know that image of Shawn Michael's face in the first Hell in the Cell - completely covered in blood. Imagine that, but extend it to the entire body of a fat Japanese man. Thinking about it now, there's probably a decent monster vs. underdog champion match in there somewhere, but it is well and truly hidden behind both the gruesomeness and, at times, Abby's slightly dodgy execution. His somersault senton spots onto tubes do not work out well (watch out for the second one, where he land headfirst but barely breaks the glass) and he quite obviously punches through the rope tubes early on after the first bump failed to break them.

Big Japan: August 28th 2009

2010-07-05T00:00:00.003+01:00

Shinya Ishikawa vs. Ryuichi Kawakami was a completely non-offensive opener. It has solid matwork and both guys will throw a forearm with some force. Ishikawa now seems to be using the dropkick as a finisher, and it's pretty much his strong suit.

The MEN'S World match was skippable, as was Jun Kasai and Jaki Numazawa vs. Hoshino and Shimizu, which had loads of the former teams schtick (which I'm bored of). Shimizu does't really impose himself on the match, the focus seems to always been on Hoshino, who seems to be permanently matched up with these two. He does take a suplex from the top to a bunch of chairs outside, which was absolutely crazy perhaps unnecessary in an undercard match like this. It's lot like he made a glorious comeback and got over because of it. It's a Kasai and Numazawa match, and the crowd are apparently only interested in Kasa and Numazawa, not matter how much Hoshino risks death.

Shuji Ishikawa & Shinobu & Madoka vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yoshihito Sasaki & Yuji Okabayashi was the six-man tag match on this card I had low expectations going in, which turned out to be completely unjustified. Madoka and Shinobu are the two Men's Club juniors who seem comfortable in their with the heavyweights. I thought there offence looked credible, Madoka's kicks are more than equal to Sekimoto's chops, and don't do anything overly contrived. Speed of Sounds would have been dreadful in the same position. Shinobu is good in the face-in-peril, and the heavyweights don't go over the top with offence, almost toying with him with a series of stretches. Ishikawa makes the match-up seem even enough, and he's a fun hot tag - I liked him cutting off Sekimoto during his big lariat corner charge with a well placed knee. Still, it seemed like Sekimoto's team were taking the win, until Okabayashi fights for a german with Shinobu leading to the three man german spot - however, his team mates hold on, meaning that Sekimoto just suplexes his partner. Sekimoto even shows some rare theatrics when he realises what he's done. What I liked most about this was the sense that each of the teams were moving as one. You got the feeling that the underdogs got the win through their combined efforts. How pleasing.

Ryuji Ito & Takashi Sasaki & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Yuko Miyamoto & Masashi Takeda & Isami Kodaka was the six-man tag on this show that I was looking forward to. And, well, it's kind of a bit rubbish. It had none of the intensity that some of the matches in the tag league had. Sasaki is a guy who spent much of that tournament becoming grumpy and surly at all these kids, so I have no idea who this was that showed up. Instead, it felt like an episode of Dirty Sanchez, with each team taking it in turns to do increasingly silly bumps on the tacks or the kenzans. By the end, I felt completely desensitized to it all, which is completely pointless in a deathmatch, which needs the anticipation of the big spots. For a match in 2009 which was all about taking dumb bumps, I liked that barefoot Kasai vs. Abby match way more, which at least had plenty of personality.

Michinoku Pro: 29th April 1994

2010-06-29T21:15:00.004+01:00

This is a commercial tape which just has the second Shinzaki vs. Great Sasuke match. The first half an hour has a bunch of clips focusing on Shinzaki, bits from previous matches, bit of him being a monk in a monk place, some training. It would be fair to say that this is really all about Shinzaki - more on that at the end. Anyway, big match feel is inevitable.

Sasuke's entrance music is the greatest music I have no idea the words for yet still sing along to in a borderline-racist way. The match starts off great, Sasuke attacking with both men still wearing their robes, eventually diving off the top in a weird half somersault, half headfirst dive which could have gone very wrong. It settles down from there, with a nice little mat section. I liked Sasuke's perserverance taking Shinzaki with his arm, fighting to maintain position, kicking Shinzaki's legs from under him as he tried to get up. After Shinzaki outpowers Sasuke and takes control for a bit, Sasuke resets and that's when this really gets going. He half-catching him with a couple of SPIN FLY KICK's, but follows up with a long series of nasty kicks to the head and the face. The dynamic then completely changes, with Shinzaki on the back foot and Sasuke unleashing his entire arsenal. I liked all the nearfalls, each move visibly took its toll on both men. Nearing the end, Sasuke manages two space flying tiger drops, but on the second one Shinzaki catches him on the way and turns it into a powerbomb. This scored an impressive 0.8 on the Sasuke scale of skulldeath, which was followed by a Vader-Cactus like powerbomb on the outside. Completely nuts.

Shinzaki gets in a few highspots (including a praying quebrada) but the match was pretty much done after the two powerbombs, giving this a definitive and satisfying ending. The slightly odd thing about this match is the story. Shinzaki is the all-conquering heavyweight of the promotion, yet Sasuke is more than his equal here, and not just through risk taking - he's faster, better on the mat and more violent in striking. This nearly pushes Shinzaki into an underdog role by the end.

Still, I thought this was really great - the oddness in the story of the match isn't a bad thing, just a curiousity. I mean, I completely get the story of the match, it's just not perhaps what you would expect - it didn't have the stop-start awkwardness of the first match, great highspots, really good selling from both guys. 2010 juniors should imitate this match structure a lot more, instead of all this your-turn my-turn stuff.

WWE Superstars: 4th March 2010

2010-06-12T21:25:00.005+01:00

I've been going over some Superstars shows as part of getting back into current WWE. Got a bunch of reviews coming in the next couple of days. Opening match of this show is Kofi Kingston vs. Chavo. This is a match of two polar opposite performances - Chavo has great-looking offence, whilst Kofi has awful looking offence. He does a tope which barely creeps over through the ropes, whilst Cole mentions his "imaginative" offence. Perhaps in this case, he was imagining what it would be like to do a tope whilst wearing armour. Chavo, on the other hand, leads Kofi through some matwork (whilst making it look like Kofi was matching up), works the blood stoppage with palpable exasperation and does some really nice looking stuff, like the roll-up boston crab, before the inevitable loss.

William Regal is on Superstars. Amazing. I am short of William Regal in 2010. He's against Evan Bourne. I am short of Evan Bourne in 2010. And he is short in 2010 (aha!). This was a really fun six minutes of match. I was really enjoying Regal submission work - with a smaller opponent, he really gets to improvise increasingly painful and elaborate looking stretches. I also liked how Evan battled to escape - they do a nice little roll through with Regal holding on before shakes it off. For the size difference, Regal's bumping off Bourne's early offence - headscissors, monkey flips - and his selling of the strike to the back and the knee to the chin at the end were an utter treat.

The Kane-Mike Knox match had little to recommend for it, aside from Knox's chokeslam bump. I don't think I've seen a guy the size of Knox take such a great bump off that move. The main event was Goldust vs. Jericho. I got a kick out of the early interactions - Jericho's has two facial expression which he does well. Firstly, there's when he doesn't understand why something has happened, and Goldust's schtick let's him play that one out. Secondly, he knows how to look smug, and when the smugness comes off the back of some minor victory (here, a shoulderblock that knocks Dustin down), it works really well. Goldust is so good taking the beating - I loved the little wild swinging fist as he fell down at one point, and he does a tremendous job selling his throat after getting guilottined (a move which rarely looks any good). His comeback was typically exciting - he really gets the crowd involved as he fought out of a sleeper, and there was some nice nearfalls. Both the first version and replay of Dustin getting caught by a dropkick as he came off the top really was as spot-on as the commentary suggested.

Quite the little TV show, with two matches that are definitely worth your time. Superstars, I am sorry I did forsake you these past three score and seven...weeks? Maybe.

Michinoku Pro: 31st March 1994

2010-06-02T23:15:00.006+01:00

This show went across two episodes of Champ Forum. I'll be reviewing it out of order, so I finish with the main event (which actually aired in the first episode).

Quickly through the undercard. The Monkey Magic and Super Delfin vs. Shiryu and Leon Guererro tag match has a few fun moments - Leon is a bigger guy, but he's impressively quick and athletic - but for the most part this was disposable. The TAKA Michinoku vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa was short, but I really liked the opening few minutes of matwork, which looked nicely competitive and flowed well. Then they dropped it for some nearfalls, which wasn't as interesting. Terry Boy vs. Masato Yakushiji was worked around Yakushiji going for Terry's legs whilst Terry yanked apart Yakushiji's arm in a thousand different ways. I liked how they stuck with this throughout and how the weak arm filtered into the finish.

For something I had no high expectations for going in, Wellington Wilkins Jr. vs. Yone Genjin was a really interesting, and often highly enjoyable match. Often in matches between technical wrestlers and guys with untrained gimmicks, it is the wrestler that struggles to match up with the untrained guy, the story being that he's too unconventional to wrestle in the normal way. Here, however, it is Genjin who can't get anything in on Wilkins, who is completely not afraid to kick and clobber his opponent in the head on a regular basis. This is an inversion of a cliche that I kind of liked, and one that actually makes sense.

After a while, a baffled looking Genjin starts throwing chairs, which seemingly gives the match an excuse for the match to really spiral out of control. There's lots of nonsense in this, but it's entertaining nonsense. Wilkins sort of looks like he's really enjoying himself, throwing Genjin into walls and tables and sending him hurtling across the arena on a trolley. The whole thing ends with a double count-out or disqualification or something unimportant, and then loads of post match high jinks (Genjin brings a bicycle into the ring, fails to get into to start, so Wilkins just charges him and kicks him in the head a few more times for being a damn fool).

The main event was Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Sinzaki, which may be there first time singles meeting, at least the first one recorded. This is the second Sasuke match I've watched in a row which felt a little disconnected between the first and second half. It starts out tentative, ocassionally builds up pace, before they reset and start again. I think this can work in some settings - like with a dominant crowd favourite and a outmatched heel - but when both guys are taking breaks to regroup after every exchange, it takes away some of the momentum. There's a bit where Shinzaki visibly loses his composure, takes Sasuke to the outside and throws him around, flips him into the chairs and posts him and suddenly the match is rocking. Then, after regrouping, the go to some matwork. The work isn't bad at all, far from it, but the layout is a little confusing.

That said, the finishing stretch is really nice. Sasuke looks to be in control, hitting a bunch of his big trademark spots, only to be caught mid Asai moonsault and tombstoned. They spill to the outside, and Shinzaki sitout powerbombs him through a table. Remember, in Japan, tables are made of tables. The fatigue selling during all of this is spot-on, and I liked the real sense that Sasuke's fightback was like a survival instinct - upon chancing to knock Shinzaki from the ring, he gets up and starts running for the ropes without even a look at where he would be diving. A double KO finish leads to the rematch in the following month, and my only real technical criticism is that they needed a more hard-hitting or intensive first half to justify it. I'm going to be the last person to criticise guys for overselling, but the cause and effect from first to second half was probably a little out.

Michinoku Pro: March 4th 1994

2010-06-02T21:39:00.001+01:00

The opening match was Great Sasuke, Shiryu and Terry Boy vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, Yone Genjin and Gran Naniwa. The first two-thirds of this was a little unstructured and underwhelming. There's some not-the-worst comedy stuff with Genjin, some well-tested sequences between Sasuke and Shinzaki and some other entertaining stuff, but it doesn't really come together all that well. However, after the sort-of hot tag, the last ten minutes really kicks off as it breaks out in a brawl in the crowd. The camera struggles to keep up as there is much flying around (including one point where Sasuke throws a guy into the chairs who I'm fairly sure was not Shinzaki, Genjin and Naniwa) and guys choking other guys and chairs thrown around and it's the sort of chaotic scene I really like. Then, the final stretch of high spots was really exciting, flowing into and out of the ring with very little let-up. I liked the resumption of Terry vs. Shinzaki, leading to some of the best falls. Sasuke and Shiryu finish with stereo somersault topes, after the more familiar dives spot. A pleasing conclusion to an otherwise passable (and pretty long) six-man.

The main event (or match number two or whatever) was Super Delfin vs. SATO in a mask versus hair match. The odd thing about this match is how in control SATO was throughout. It kind of had the slight feel of the 1997 Santo vs. Casas hair versus mask match, because whilst Delfin was nominal rudo, he had significant crowd support, like maybe the fans didn't want to see Delfin lose his mask despite everything else. They shouldn't have been concerned, because a small box featuring a very masked Delfin kept on appearing in the bottom corner of the screen to offer thoughts (maybe on the outcome).

There wasn't as much crazely impressively athletic matwork as in other SATO matches I've seen. Instead, there were quite a long string of nearfalls and Delfin kickouts and submission escapes, which pushed my patience slightly (three powerslams in a row was the peak of this). That said, I thought there was a clever little story here, with Delfin seemingly working the match fairly and being outwrestled, only for him to low blow SATO mid hurricanrana for a cheap victory and a screw-you to the fans he was gaining babyface sympathy from. SATO gets a hair cut as I start to suspect that both this match and the previous mask match were just part of an elaborate makeover program where 1993 masked, long-haired SATO said 'I really want to look like 1996 Dick Togo'.

Michinoku Pro: February 4th 1994

2010-06-02T01:29:00.000+01:00

Show opens with a decent Terry Boy vs. Ricky Fuji match. I've seen Fuji in Super J Cup matches, and never really thought he looked good. In a brawl, however, against a babyface as sympathetic to crowds as Terry Boy, he makes a lot more sense. He does a series of headlocks where he takes advantage of the position and punches Terry in the face. The match is particularly notable for Terry's bladejob, which was pretty impressive. I continue to be impressed with Terry's sense of timing and ability to connect with the crowd during his comebacks.

The main event is a six-man tag between Great Sasuke, SATO and Shiryu vs. Delfin, Shinzaki and Naniwa, and could serve as the best possible introduction to the promotion from this time period. It pretty much has everything from familiar spots and sequences, comedy, an impressive pace and an insight into each guys characters. Right from the start, SATO and Delfin match up which gives the former opportunity to show off his athleticism whilst Delfin bumps, shouts at the audience and mugs when SATO remains unexpectedly in the ring. Sasuke and Shinzaki pair up as their feud continues - I liked Shinzaki's 'where did that come from' face after Sasuke catches him with his spinning kick. There's a hugely impressive series of spots where SATO bests both Naniwa and Delfin (and later, Shinzaki) with a combination of takedowns and moves that uses one man against the others. I particularly liked how this wasn't just mindless technical wonkery - the kind of sequence that just exists to show off how imaginative the perfomers are. Instead, they use to tell a mini story of rudo frustration against a technically superior technico, calmed down by Shinzaki's Zen monk schtick.

They do they increasingly familiar spot where Delfin's accidentally does armbreakers to his team mate. There's also some regular spots I don't like (like the hurricanrana into the middle of sat-down guys), of course. They repeatedly tease dives in the early section, which I quite liked as they only went all out for their trademark dives right at the end, starting with a spectacular Shiryu tope where he goes the wrong side (the right side) of horizontal, followed by SATO's no hand two rope springboard, Delfin's plancha and Sasuke's quebrada. It's not, as is probably indicated by the number of individual spots discussed, the deepest of match stories - there's lots of enjoyable individual exchanges and a general crowd-friendly theme of the technico's one-upping their opponents. As a result, however, it is tremendous fun.

A (possible) WWE Over the Limit 2010 Live Blog

2010-05-27T22:02:00.007+01:00

May 28th, 22.03: I must apologise for the lack of posting in the past month. I've been busy with a number of things, and also, a very little bit, I wanted a bit of a wrestling watching break. Anyway, getting back into things with last Sunday's WWE PPV - Over the Limit. I haven't watched any WWE tv since the RAW after Wrestlemania, so this is really going to be a catch up. By the way, the name of this PPV is odd. There can't be such a shortage of names that you need one that close to another which they will obviously never use again. (Has this been noted elsewhere? I am out of the loop)

22:10: Roll intro. Wait, was that Warrior in the opening video?

22.18: Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre is the opener. I am excited, but it has nothing to do with the opener, Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre.

22.28: Nope, didn't like that at all. Kofi's offence is just the worst. At least he's added an overly elaborate Japanese indie ripoff finisher to increase his credibility. McIntyre is bland. He should consider adding an overly elaborate Japanese indie ripoff finisher.

22.40: R-Truth vs. Ted Dibiase is next. Ted has the Million Dollar Belt and is accompanied by Virgil, circa 1990. That guy has not aged well. In that, he has not aged at all. That's some incompetent ageing.

22.55: I don't think Virgil loves this anymore. The commentators manage to interpret many emotions (concern, disgust, panic, lust, enuit) from that one expression. Maybe that's why he looks like he hasn't aged. It's a mask. It's a man in a Virgil mask. In the good old days of wrestling, black men got put in masks. Today, a black man has been put in the mask of a black man. This we call progress.

22.57: Match was fine. I enjoy some Ted Dibiase bumping and a bit of old-school glassy-eyed selling. The finish was underwhelming and looked a bit rubbish though.

22.58: I pause the show, and move to bed, to annoy my wife with tapping keys whilst she attempts to sleep.

23.21: Drew McIntyre goes crazy in Teddy Long's office when he doesn't contravene the rules of sports. He doesn't destroy the picture of a man in a Martin Luther King mask, however.

23.23: Rey vs. Punk next. This is what I most regret about not watching WWE over the past couple of months.

23.32: Man, there's some great bumps in this. Punk's head first into the railings and Rey's slide into the chair both looked awesome. What could be more appropriate in a quasi-lucha stipulation match, that they do a medical stoppage spot? The answer is: letting Punk bleed like a Brazo. The fans annoy with the 'boring' chant. Ignore them, guys, I love actual selling.

23.35: They must have annoyed Punk as well, but that little bit after Rey got in the ring and they'd fixed Punk's head was awesome violent. That suplex on the outside was, like, the greatest thing I've ever seen.

23.45: Really good match. It had a simple story, with both guys looking for their finishers, great selling from both guys and a good build. I love how violent a match they work together - it shows a great deal of trust in each other abilities, because there was plenty of kicks and other stuff (like the corner powerbomb) that looked nasty, and probably could have been. The finish was out-of-nowhere, but in a good way. Post-match activities went as you would expect, yet another testament to Punk's acting abilties.

23.50: I develop The Fatigue and sleep for a number of hours.

May 30th, 21.35: Annnnd...back. Yes, I slept all that time. I wake up and go straight into Hart Dynasty vs. The Miz and Jericho. This Bret Hart US title angle is a little silly, but I guess it might help get the younger three over, after a year of jobbing them out to everyone. And they're the champions as well? I lost track.

21.56: Nothing actively wrong with the match, but not much that stood out. There was a surprising number of near falls, including a couple that actually would have made satisfying finishes (like the role up from Miz's attempted sharpshooter). The Hart Dynasty's version of the Hart Attack isn't as good as the original.

22.00: Edge is a heel now. That is an improvement. The justification for the turn, however, makes absolutely no sense or either real life or wrestling terms. Or is a convoluted way of saying 'just fancied a change'. This match could be OK though, with the Rated RKO history and the finisher vs. finisher build giving an obvious storyline.

22.13: That was an odd finish, it looked a little like they made it up on the spot, which suggests that wasn't a worked injury. But maybe the would know I'd think that, so they worked a finish which looked like it wasn't a worked finish, so maybe it wasn't a worked injury. But then they would know that I'd think that, so they would have wouldn't have worked that finish unless they had to, so maybe it wasn't a worked injury. Of course, they would know that I would think that they would think that so - sorry, out of time. This concludes today's episode of 'If wrestling booking was like the Princess Bride'. The match wasn't much. I liked how Randy worked a couple of Edge's restholds, looking for escapes, but the rest was just typical Edge and Randy Orton moves, performed by Edge and Randy Orton.

22.20: Big Show in the world title scene is a welcome return, after a year of him propping up the tag division. Big Show as a serious face is an intriguing proposition.

22.38: I got over-excited. It's an intriguing proposition if WWE didn't always resort to the most tediously uninspiring booking. There was some fun bits in this - Big Show running ropes and knocking guys all over the place always looks great, and Swagger and Big Show are well matched, with Swagger getting in a moments of credible offence (limited by the time constraints), which bodes well for a longer match.

22.45: The Divas title match slot is filled with a Divas title match. Maryse comes to the ring displaying some of poses that earned her a spot on the WKO 100 countdown. Michael Cole goes over the history of the feud between Maryse and Eve (three weeks old today!). Maryse attacked Eve at a photoshoot. Eve gets payback at the makeup table. You see: they are women. Next month, Maryse attacks Eve during a cosmetic surgery consultation. Eve gets revenge whilst shoe shopping. Maryse challenges Eve to a rematch whilst parking badly.

22.50: Maryse kicks the ring post. I agree with Matt's analysis (Ooooooooooo. Oooooo etc.) Maryse displays some of the selling that earned her a spot on the WKO 100 countdown, and ignores it.

22.58: I Quit match for the main event. I didn't watch the Last Man Standing match, but that finishing spot was a pretty imaginative way to finish a match never has imaginative finishes. That said, its not really in keeping with Cena's character. Cena's a battler and an overcomer of adversity. They should have saved that for an Edge match.

23.02: Pro-Cena crowd on a PPV. Unusual.

23.14: Striker attempts to build drama (his job) by suggesting that delays in responding suggest Cena and Batista are considering quitting. Cole ruins it (his job) by suggesting they might just be winded. When does Michael Cole's try-out period run out? Seems to have gone on quite a long time now.

23.30: Decent spotfest, if a little gimmicky at the end. Not the dramatic piece of performance art Cena-Orton was, of course, but they couldn't recreate that.

23.32: An underwhelming show overall. Punk-Rey was really good, but the main events felt like they were treading water, and the booking was dull and not at all creative. Maybe the writing staff should change their name to Uncreative, amiright?

Kaientai Dojo: June 9th 2009

2010-05-14T21:41:00.005+01:00

A couple of short quick six man matches to start. Yuji Hino was a lot of fun in his match against three of K-Dojo's young guys who I can never distinguish because they are essentially the same guy. I always like his no-sell which backfires spot, and he basically squashes his opponents at the end, setting Randy Takuya (I do, in fact, know the names) up for his powerbomb, temporarily discarding him to lariat Takizawa, then going back to the powerbomb for the win.

Next match is a three-way for the WEW hardcore tag titles, and features Quiet Storm tagging with JOE, Kashiwa and PSYCHO, and the Brahmans. These matches are semi-serious at best, and this had plenty of goofy comedy and a decent share of casual unprotected head shots. This had a couple of spots with the barbed wire board at the end, but the whole thing was pretty uninspired.

I liked the Monster Plant vs. Gurentai six man a lot. There are guys in the Japanese indies that are really at ther best either fighting up or fighting down. Evenly matched matches tend to bring out the worst in people like Sekimoto - they through selling and structure out of the window and replace it with a thousand meaningless repetitions of the same moves. Kengo Mashimo is another decent example. I think he's better than Sekimoto as he tends to tell simpler stories with a more streamlined moveset, but even so, I've seen some thirty minute Mashimo matches where I just want to grab him by his loose fitting trousers and tell him to stop it. All of this is my way of saying that Mashimo vs. Minoru Suzuki works really well. They trade matwork pretty evenly, but once Suzuki stops being sporting and heads outside, Mashimo is always on the backfoot, so the match becomes about the nefarious Gurentai and how Mashimo might make a comeback. Suzuki, for his part, seemed motivated, and doesn't forget to work as well as all that gurning and dickishness. Everyone else plays their roles well - NOSAWA and MAZADA are essentially henchman, triple teaming Yamato then bumping for KAZMA's power stuff, which ensures that the focus remains on Mashimo and Suzuki. The brawling was pretty solid and the finish didn't go on too long - Yamato was the obvious guy to take the fall, and he didn't kickout excessively once he got isolated.

I found myself enjoying the TAKA vs. Sasuke match almost despite my better instincts. Early leg work being blown off for high spots is basically a cliche of current Japanese junior wrestling, and I'd be the first to point this out as bad wrestling in promotions I like less with guys I like less. So, let's try and justify a hypocrisy. Firstly, I liked the build - they went from the leg work, which I liked as it seemed really fighty, with both guys stomping on each other knees in between holds, to less grounded stuff with much less of a clear break. I hate those matches where both guys seem to basically reset, like they fufilled some quota of matwork. The first out-of-ring spots seemed to happen more by accident, which I can buy. It never felt like a match of a thousand finishers, more like a steady progression through bigger and bigger moves. Secondly, they did bring the weak legs back in later - not technically perfect, but a nice touch. I always like Sasuke's borderline comedy exaggerated selling, and the final run of TAKA kicking him in the head before the Michinoku Driver II had plenty of wobbly-legged, glassy-eyed moments. The dives were all suitably insane - TAKA's top rope quebrada took plenty of audience with him. I love how visibly happy Japanese fans are to almost be knocked out in the course of the match. Finally, I think there are intangibles going on here. These are two guys who just match up well, and have so much history together that any match is going to be slick and pleasing to watch. I don't know if TAKA has ever beaten Sasuke in a singles - all those mid-90s matches I watched seemed to have the same finish (and often the same finisher run, which I thought they might be playing off here with the kickouts) - so I guess this might have been presented as a big deal. One of those things lost in translation.

A Bunch of: 1993 Michinoku Pro Commerical Tapes (part two)

2010-04-11T20:58:00.004+01:00

A few more (near-complete) matches from some DVDs. First up, a trios from August 19th, pitting Sasuke, SATO and TAKA against Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa and Jinsei Shinzaki. This had a nice opening exchange between Naniwa and SATO - they match up well, especially where Naniwa is taking impressive looking bumps off of SATO really quick takedowns. There was a short rudo section and I've got to say that TAKA isn't really impressing me in that role, and his selling of the beating is lacklustre at best. They do some comedy - the arm-wringer spot and the fake defection by Naniwa - and everyones trademark dives. I was hoping for a little more Sasuke vs. Shinzaki, but they just skirmished early on.

The August 20th show had a title match between Sasuke vs. Shinigami. This was very by numbers. The opening few minutes stuck to the mat - there's a definite distinction between workers like SATO, whose opening sequences are usually quick, more lucha-inspired and based around takedowns and kipups, and workers like Sasuke whose matwork is slower, more technical and based around submissions or holds. Delfin adapts well to both styles. They blow that off soon enough and, probably due to some clipping, the match felt rather like one of those 'The best ten moves of Sasuke' YouTube videos, and Shinigami, whoever he is, did not come off as a threat.

Finally, there were two SATO and partners vs. Delfin and Super Boy tags, the first from August 11th with Gran Hamada, and the second from August 20th with Piloto Suicida. I've seen SATO and Super Boy match up a few times now, and they have some really fun spots. I particularly like the monkey flip spot where SATO lands on his feet - Super Boy looks away, only for Delfin to tell him to look back, where upon he does this completely over-the-top sell of his surprise where he falls over into the ropes. It's much as if SATO didn't just land on his feet, but in the process, he also morphed into Rikidozan.

Weird thing about these two matches was I liked Hamada a lot more than Piloto, who is a second-rate luchadore at best and whose moveset mainly seems to consist of raising his arms in triumph, but the Piloto match was probably better (or at least, more enjoyable), as it gets a lot more time to build up. I guess it felt like a houseshow match as it was heavily into crowd pleasing, with a few short rudo sections. The Hamada match did have just some really slick matwork at the beginning. Above I mentioned the different types of opening exchanges within the promotion - Hamada is definitely a technical holds kind of a guy, but he moves more interestingly from holds and exploits little bits of leverage in a way only old Mexicans do. Final point, I don't want to undersell how much I've been enjoying Delfin during this time-period, but it is Super Boy who is the most fun to watch bounce around the ring. Consider me a fan.

A Bunch of: M-Pro 1993 Commercial Tapes (part one)

2010-04-06T00:54:00.006+01:00

I have four commercial releases from 1993 that I thought I'd put together in one post. First one has matches from July. I enjoyed the clips from Shiryu vs. Terry Boy. One of the things I've been enjoying most about Terry is the styles he brings together. Obviously there's the lucha-inspired offence, but he also drops in several American spots, like a long side headlock sequence or inside cradles off the ropes. The finish to this is Terry doing Flair's corner bump then coming off the other turnbuckle with a crossbody. Other thing I've enjoyed is the body language. The DVD I'm watching is fairly bad quality, yet his mannerisms - like the bemused turn of the head after Shiryu flips onto his feet off of some takedown - tell me what look I could expect to see on his face if I could see that much detail. It's interesting to be essentially watching like someone in the cheap seats on a DVD, yet reveals which guys really know how to convey a story to the whole crowd. Shiryu has a great tope.

Main event tag was Delfin and Naniwa against SATO and Sasuke. This was entertaining stuff, they paired off to start and switched after two sets of exchanges, so we got some opening mat work and typical lucharesu stuff, followed by the rope-running sequences. Delfin was in fine form, kicking Sasuke in the face after his does his backflip corner attack, then teasing a dive before blowing it off due to crowd cheers. SATO was a little off on a couple of his highspots, but he's still impressive to watch. Sasuke was doing his usual spots so that was completely fine by me. Naniwa is the only one I don't have much sense of as a wrestler. They do the comedy spot where Delfin does over-the-shoulder armbreakers without looking at whose arm is given to him, leading to the inevitable switch where he gets Naniwa's arm by mistake, while Sasuke and SATO cheer him on. They finish with some dives and Sasuke wins with his in-ring quebrada on Naniwa. Nothing exceptional, and I got the impression they mistimed a couple of things (like the breakup of the Delfin Clutch), but even by-numbers M-Pro from this period is fun to watch.

Second show is the commercial release of the July Champ Forum show I reviewed before, with clips from a few other matches. One thing I realise between my first and second watch is that Sasuke's in-ring quebrada press was pretty much his finish, which adds to the finish because he after Delfin kicks out of that at two, he tries a top-rope version (again for a two-count) then the pinning rana for the win. I'm always a fan of super-finishers in big matches, especially when convential weaponry has failed.

Michinoku Pro: 10th December 1993

2010-04-05T00:08:00.002+01:00

There's lots of clipping in the early matches (Shiryu vs. Yakushiji, Wilkins vs. Hoshikawa, Gran Naniwa vs. Nakajima) leaving plenty of action and spots but not much sense of whether the matches were put together well. Probably somewhere in the middle. The Shinzaki and Damian vs. Predator and Yone Genjin had some nice bumping by Damien (who may or may not be the Perros del Mal affiliated Damian 666) and some surprisingly quick lucha sequences from the larger Predator, then a bunch of comedy spots which seemed to revolve around lots of miscommunication leaded to Shinzaki calming everything down with his powers. Again, this was clipped, but was fine for what it was.

Moving onto the matches that were more or less complete, Terry Boy, Battle Ranger and TAKA took on Ricky Fuji, Crazy Boy and Super Boy. This had plenty of quick exchanges and a lot of dominance by the technico side. The finish stretch was highspot heavy, but also featured a number of the sort of contrived bits I don't normally like (like synchronised toeholds and hurricanranas). You get the impression TAKA is starting to stand out - his dives are the most spectacular, and he takes the pinfall. That said, Terry Boy is by far the best for working for the crowd - his moveset is simpler and he openly interacts with them more. This was followed by a Sabu vs. Jerry Lynn match that was basically a spotfest. The most annoying bit was Sabu not breaking the table on his somersault dive, then Lynn being first up to try a powerbomb on the table. I'm always struck by how Japanese tables are actually made of tables.

Next up, Great Sasuke and Tarzan Goto vs. Mr Pogo and Masaru Toi. Nothing say's mid-90s Japanese indies like Tarzan Goto and Mr Pogo. This match was fantastic. It starts out as a brawl, and they keep an incredible pace when they finally get to the ring, with Sasuke running through his highspots and Goto being absolutely awesome punching and headbutting everything that got in his way. Sasuke goes for his quebrada, only to be hit with a cane mid-flight. What completely makes this match, however, is the heat section, where the heels tear up Sasuke's back with a splintered cane and the crowd are tremendous. Part of this is down to Goto, whose frustrated apron work allowing triple teaming in the ring was really great, and part is down to sticking to traditions- Sasuke manages two brief comeback, but is cut-off, before his third leads to a all-or-nothing dive to his corner and a genuinely hot tag. This leads to a great chop battle between Goto and Pogo, with the former finally running rampant, dropping Toi with a brainbuster, and bending a chair multiple times over his back. This all leads to Sasuke's revenge, bringing the crowd to it's peak, which was a couple of quick nearfalls, and a submission victory - a pleasingly short conclusion to an utterly wild match, which had a distinctly Southern feel, including the crowd. I'm sure Sasuke's selling and underdog act against the FMW guys is important to how much I liked this, but nothing compares to how into Tarzan Goto I was coming out of this match. Completely badass.

Main event is a mask match between Super Delfin and SATO. Not a huge amount of suspense over the outcome here. I was struck by the speed of some of the exchanges, especially watching SATO float around on the mat and some of the sequences off the ropes. I liked the build up of this, moving from Delfin being in control with a series of submissions, to SATO's run of near falls, interspersed with a couple of great highspots. SATO's no-hands somersault plancha is breathtaking. I did start to feel like the nearfalls were gettinga bit excessive, as moves started to get repeated for the same two-count result. However, I liked how Delfin finally regained the advantage, with an increasingly frustrated SATO risking everything on a top rope senton and missing, making him an easy target for a flash pinning german suplex.

A highly enjoyable show. The FMW tag is probably my favourite Sasuke match up to this point. Be warned: the quality of a lot of these shows is much lower than perhaps people have gotten used to. You are all spoiled. It's good for the soul to strain your eyes watching one blocky Asian leap at another, like we always used to (Note: it's not good for the eyes).

A (Possible) Wrestlemania Live Blog

2010-03-29T18:13:00.004+01:00

Monday, 18.17: By my reckoning, Wrestlemania actually finished 14 hours ago, which makes the use of the word 'live' in the title somewhat erroneous. To compensate, I'll be blogging not only on the wrestling I'm watching, but the life around me (small flat, wife watching awful celebrity ice skating TV, sausages cooking). A Wrestlemania/Life Blog, perhaps.

18.19: I press play on the legally obtained video on my computer. It's Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania! Wrestle! Mania! The Wrestlemania-ness of it all is overwhelming. The reception to Fantasia is underwhelming. Well done, universe. You remain in a perfect balance.

18.20: I hate patriotism. Not just the nauseating brand of US patriotism currently being shoved down my throat in this opening video. All patriotism. Hate it all. Except British patriotism.

18.24: Man, every year the introduction video gets more absurdily grandiose, yet still I get the chills. I don't know how they do it. Sausages are cooked.

18.25: I eat a sausage. It is good. My wife tells me to put the laptop down and concentrate on my dinner.

19.07: Let's try again. Tag title match first. Weeeellll....AWESOME....Big Show.

19.14: Rushed, but that was quite fun, especially (perhaps entirely) when Show was doing stuff. Pulling Miz out of the ring, throwing Truth into the post, bumping off the top, punching Morrison out.

19.18: Legacy triple threat next. One thing I like about this card is that there are a bunch of non-title feud matches. Most PPVs usually have one at most. Orton as babyface feels not right. Expecting the Breakdown 98 formula triple threat here.

19.26: I don't like fantasy booking, but it occurs this would have been better as a tag match, where Randy has to find a partner. And in my head, that partner would have been Dustin.

19.36: Predicable story aside, that was actually quite well done. Not much down time, some cool spots as Orton works out how to outsmart two opponents and there is apparently a lot of people that have been waiting a long time to cheer him. I'm glad he's still just doing his old character against heels, rather than turn face in some obvious, cliched way.

19.41: Money in the Bank. Not sure who I think is going to win this. What I do know is that Shelton Benjamin is the most athletically gifted Shelton Benjamin. I'm cheering on Christian.

19.54: I take a perverse amount of pleasure watching dumbass Kingston powerbombed headfirst into the ladder. Don't tell anyone how I live.

20.06: Kofi using the split ladders as stilts, hobbling across the ring, then slowly moving up the two is the most retardedly amusing thing I can remember in a WWE gimmick match.

20.14: Yeah, that was just a Money in the Bank match, and even by those standards, the spots weren't particularly crazy, and the finish was a little anticlimatic. This is a match that needs

20.29: I take a break to test my wife's new iPhone Shazam app. What an age. It got AFI, Phobia, and Akercocke ("Of Menstrual Blood and Semen? Gross"), but did not manage Sisters of Mercy. Or more correctly, it did not identify the right Sisters of Mercy. Ah, those similar bass-lines. Back to the show.

20.59: More distractions. How is Sheamus' first year unprecedented? WWE champion within the 12 months? That's been done. He's not even headlining Wrestlemania, placing him a rung behind Lesnar. He appears to be wrestling a black man. No, wait, that's Triple H.

21.05: Triple H and Sheamus are like night and day, except they wrestle the same minimal mobility weak brawling and resthold style. Triple H and Sheamus are like night and a particularly well-lit night.

21.16: Ugh. If there's an inverse relationship between match quality and how much Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler feel they need to talk afterwards about match quality, then I should note that Lawler says we just witnessed 'a classic'.

21.20: Hey, it's Wrestlemania 26. And I'm 26. I'd never really noticed before. I bet it's always been like that.

21.23: CM Punk is great.

21.25: I will say it again. CM Punk is great.

21.38: Punk vs. Rey was full of nice little moments, both guys laying into their kicks, Rey's moonsault DDT, several long complicated sequences that came off really smooth and all the setups to the 619. Far too short though to tell much of a story. Hopefully a precursor to a great rematch.

22.07: At some point in your life, you realise that you've just been watching one old man beat up an older man slowly for about twenty minutes, for no discernable reason. I guess the idea is that it was supposed to be cathartic to see a one-sided story of revenge, but it got tiring quickly. This didn't have the usual overbooking of a McMahon Wrestlemania match, partially because all the garbage stuff is probably not compatible with Bret's physical health. That said, if anything was crying out for distracting overbooking or people to fight as proxies for the two physically limited guys, it was this match.

22.18: Edge vs. Jericho. As the entrances happen, I check, and yes, I was 19 years old for Wrestlemania 19. When was the last time the Rumble winner actually main evented Wrestlemania, rather than just got a title shot? Answers on a postcard, not to be mailed.

22.42: As you would expect, this was a match with no body, because Edge can't work as a babyface. He can't really work as a heel, but at least his heel persona papers over the gaps. And this is the match you throw in all the gimmickry? - ref bumps, belt shots, multiple improbable kickouts. Even the post match fight used a gimmicked bump high spot, something he wouldn't need if Edge had credible looking offence. Basically, don't help out the old cripple whose at least earned the right for someone to cover for him, but do cover for the perfectly healthy guy who just can't put a match together. Jericho was fine here, he does his usual stuff and schtick (although a little downtuned). I actually liked the finisher theft stuff, for a change, given the build-up story of the spear being Jericho's constant come-uppance.

22.56: Divas take turns to do finishers. I can do maths, so I should be able to work out who wins. Mickie's DDT looked spectacular. Vickie pulls out the Malenko frogsplash. Points for getting that joke.

22.58: And they are actually going to main event with HBK and Taker.

23.02: This show needs to two great main events. By the way, I was seven during Wrestlemania 7. Curiouser and curiouser.

23.31: The wife has gone to sleep next to me, so I am typing less. Cena vs. Batista was no great surprise. It had the selling of a heavyweight clash, which I liked, and then the predicable counters of finishers which is fine, but not particularly exciting. Thought Cena's selling of the neck left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, I enjoyed Cena laughing his ass off with the pathetic-looking Cena haters.

Tuesday, 00.14: I will need to watch the main event again, but here are my initial thoughts. Firstly, this was clearly superior to last years effort. Last year's match has three sections. Ten minutes of meaningless mat stuff, the dives, the finisher stretch and selling. This might have been Taker's greatest performance, his selling both of the leg and of fatigue were incredible. The opening exchanges starting really energetically and felt meaningful - both going for weaknesses and fighting for positions. Possibly HBKs best performance since returning in 2002 as well, I can't really find fault with it. He's not the seller that Taker is, but his early stuff was really focused and believable, he was not afraid to bump all over and the moonsault spot was crazy. I'm glad they didn't repeat last year's dive section, opting instead to tease it and work in new spots. The final stretch became finishers and they probably stretched it out too long, but in the context I didn't really care. Main event of the biggest show of the year, leading to a retirement storyline permits you to stretch believability a little more than usual.

My major point about the match last year was that they more or less coasted on the vast resources given to the match - the buildup, the atmosphere, the time and the booking - and didn't create anything truly exceptional. I didn't feel that here. There was a strong sense of a real battle, a tremendous performance by Taker, and the feeling that the various elements came together as a gradual escalation than the preliminary section-dives-finishers layout of last year.

00.46: Time for sleep. Overall, a fairly middle of the road show, with just one excellent match. That said, I'll probably always watch Wrestlemania. I'll be there, watching Wrestlemania 80; God only knows how old I'll be then. Night.

Michinoku Pro: August 24th 1993

2010-03-28T23:05:00.003+01:00

Sasuke sings well (and my audio is out) or lip syncs really badly to open the show. Then, Wellington Wilkins debuts against Naohiro Hoshikawa in some form of time-limit multi-fall worked shoot match. This was a complete squash, and not really a fun one. Wilkins takes the match 8-0 or something similar. Next match is a trios, with TAKA, Terry Boy and Jiraiya against Shiryu, Leopardo Negro and Mercurio. This started with some typically enjoyable exchanges. TAKA and Leopardo started out with some pretty stiff strikes. I particularly liked when Jiraiya and Mercurio would matched up, where they started off with Mercurio easily overpowering Jiraiya, tossing him over the ropes and throwing him around,. Then Jiraiya demands Mercurio not tag out and match up again, before working some cool little guy overcomes bigger guy spots. Mercurio was really fun stooging for Jiraiya both times they matched up, the second time bumping all over the ring of a series of unlikely armdrags. This sort of starts to develop a heat section on TAKA, but that ends after he backflips off the turnbuckle and the finish is a little messy, with Terry Boy doing a rolling pin where he kept banging into the guys in the middle of the ring. Still, this was a nice little undercard match.

Jinsei Shinzaki has a handicap match designed to make Jinsei Shinzaki look all-powerful. The semi-main is SATO and Piloto Suicida vs. Super Boy and Gran Naniwa. SATO is Dick Togo and he is pretty spectacular in his stuff against Super Boy. They're two chunky guys doing some really cool speedy matwork exchanges and, second time they match up, SATO pulls out a couple of no-hands top rope moves. Then they do a nice series of dropkicks where Super Boy repeatedly ricochets off the ropes before taking a nutty backwards over the top rope bump. I got the impression that this was a match where Piloto was supposed to be the star, given all his posturing to the crowd, but by comparison, his actual work with Naniwa is a lot less impressive and basic. SATO's first exchange with Naniwa were much more exciting, a bunch of quick takedowns, and handstand into a headscissors and (because this is Dick Togo) just punches him in the face. Actually, this was quite a one-sided - the rudos had a few sections in control, but that mainly seemed to be filler. I am excited for all the future SATO/Togo.

The main event is a rematch for UWA Welterweight title between Sasuke and Super Delfin. This starts off a lot more technical and mat-based than the first match, and relies at lot less heavily on Delfin's rudo stuff. Delfin, as challenger rather than champion, is a lot more focused, postures less and is noticeably more aggressive. There's a lariat in the middle looks to hit really hard. Sasuke, I notice particularly in this match, is just an exceptional bumper - each little bump seems to be done in such a way to maximise how impactful moves look, even if it's just an armdrag or hiptoss. He has this great way of bumping off taking armdrags his arms and legs are spread wide so it looks completely really quick and reckless, and he goes over the top moreso that round to the side wherever possible, so to fall flatter on his back. A minute detail, but I appreciated it.

I mentioned in the first match how there was some odd structuring decisions, like how they'd go from picking up the pace to more feeling out matwork, which runs contrary to usual ideas about build. I'm not sure I dislike it per se, but it struck me as a little strange. There was a few similar things here, like how Sasuke's comebacks were often a submission hold or takedown, but overall that fit better because this was a very in-ring match, which led to a few nice moments of tussling for position on the submissions. These are two guys who just work well together - it's not a very deep match in terms of story or ideas, but all their interactions are just pleasingly well put together and it feels like they move naturally from one bit to the next. Shinzaki causes Sasuke to lose the title, and I am really looking forward to that match because while I permanently love Sasuke, I'm really into the 1993 Jinsei Shinzaki.

Craig's Puro matches of the year 2009

2010-03-09T01:09:00.003Z

The DVDVR poll is finished, here's my final top 20 for 2009:

1. Kenou vs. Fujita "Jr" Hayato, (M-Pro, September 5th)
2. Koji Kanemoto vs. Hayato "Jr" Fujita (New Japan, December 19th)
3. Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Takahiro Ohba & Manabu Suruga (FUTEN, April 9th)
4. Yuko Miyamoto & Takeshi Sasaki vs Isami Kodaka & Mashashi Takeda, (Big Japan, March 26th)
5. Fujita "Jr" Hayato vs. The Great Sasuke (June 19th, M-Pro)
6. Alexander Otsuka vs. Yujiro Yamamoto (BattlArts, February 15th)
7. Kenou vs. Fujita "Jr" Hayato, (M-Pro, December 12th)
8. Super Tiger II vs Katsumi Usuda (Battlarts, August 30th)
9. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Satoshi Kojima (AJPW, September 26th)
10. Munenori Sawa vs Yujiro Yamamoto (Battlarts, August 30th)
11. Katsumi Usuda vs Yujiro Yamamoto (Battlarts, July 27th)
12. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. KENTA & Jun Akiyama (NOAH, October 3rd)
13. Fujita "Jr" Hayato vs. The Great Sasuke (November 8th, M-Pro)
14. KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama (NOAH, May 17th)
15. Alexander Otsuka vs. Akira Shoji (RJPW, September 11th)
16. Yuki Ishikawa vs Yuta Yoshikawa (Battlarts, August 30th)
17. Taiyo Kea & Minoru Suzuki vs. Suwama & Shuji Kondo, (All Japan, March 14th)
18. Shinsuke Nakamura & Hirooki Goto vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takashi Sugiura (NJPW January 4th)
19. Kota Ibushi vs Shuji Ishikawa (DDT, November 29th)
20. Yuki Ishikawa vs Tiger Shark (Battlarts, July 27th)

Craig's Top 100 wrestlers of 2009 - numbers 13 to 20

2010-03-03T01:02:00.005Z

Number 21 to 100 here.

13. Todd Morton - I never got to see any of Todd Morton's matches against Bull Pain or Mitch Ryder, but I did see him matched up against Bill Dundee and Chase Stevens, which was enough to switch me on to his act. He is what modern wrestling should be about: not trying to invent a new style, but taking something timeless and making in contemporary. In Morton's case, he has the schtick and mannerisms of a old Southern heel, but with the hard bumping and speed of a junior heavyweight. I think you have to work hard to get the same schtick over with modern audiences more hip to the functioning of pro wrestling, and I don't think there's anyone in the US who will work as hard as Morton. Like all the greats of US wrestling, he gets so much mileage out of the smallest things.

14. Dr. Cerebro - As part of the trio with Black Terry and Cerebro Negro, Dr Cerebro has been in some of the best lucha matches of 2009. One of the reasons they are a great trio is that they can scale back or ramp up the degree of rudoism depending on their opponents (less vs. Oficiales, more vs. Zatura and Traumas), which gives them a wide range of roles within the promotion. I've been a big fan of his matwork in particular all year, his exchanges with Trauma II and one of the Piratas on par with that of his trio captain. He is a rock-solid hand as a brawler (check either of the two Dinastia Navarro revanchas from April) and as a bumper. I'm enjoyed his singles match with Juvi from June and I'm looking forward to 2010 Dr Cerebro flying solo more often.

15. Trauma II - There have been enough people who have already said that Trauma II is the most improved guy of the year. Plenty have pointed to his seeming need to be carried through mat sequences in the early Navarro/Terribles match, and how his abilities in this area have grown out of all proportion since that time. They point to his title match with Zatura as a truly modern lucha libre match, a blend of classic title match that works lots of other ideas (targetted limbwork, finisher stretch), as one of the most creative and satisfying matches of the year. All these things are true, and they get him this placing on my list.

16. Yoshihiro Takayama - 2009 was a year Takayama had a number of opportunities, after winning the Triple Crown, and he took them. Had possibly the only good Mutoh match of the year, where the selling of the leg gave a purpose to Mutoh's usual repetitive act. The title change with Kojima was a really good heavyweight match, probably his best match of the year, and the finish to the Suwama match was possibly the most unearthly violent thing I've seen in 2009 (review of both matches here). I'm someone who enjoys facials, and Takayama always brings great facials, as well the sort of simple yet violent moveset and match layout I prefer.

17. Great Sasuke - It's no secret to regular readers of this blog that I'm a fan of current Sasuke (my full Sasuke project match index is here). As far as 2009 goes, I recommend both his serious work (had great matches with Hayato "Jr" Fujita and a good one with TAKA) and his comedy work (his Sumo Hall match was a delightful bit of absurdist theatre). He was the best guy in an otherwise tedious tag match in Kensuke Office too. He still does impressive highspot, bumps like a guy half his age, is one of the best sellers in Japan, is highly creative and plays a great gullible mark in comedy matches. So there.

18. Arkangel De La Muerte - Arkangel usually works rudo captain in undercard trios with his Tuareg stable, which are where my favourite CMLL matches are found. Nearly on Virus' level as a rudo carrying someone through long mat sequences, he's also a great bumper and base for the bland flyers he's often paired with. The best Arkangel matches in 2009 are probably during the feud with the Angels trios, especially the one with Virus and Bronco from December.

19. Yujiro Yamamoto - I've rewatched a couple of BattlArts matches since I submitted this ballot, and think I may have underrated Yamamoto even at this position. A fantastic matworker, as shown in his matches with Otsuka and Usuda (both top 20 Japan matches for me), he's the only young BattlArts worker who look on the level with their older elites, especially when carry lesser guys on the mat. His match was Sawa was as stiff a contest as I saw anywhere else this year. He, like the best BattlArts guys, is a details wrestler, the intracies of a hold or the way he works into a dominant position are perhaps the most satisfying part of his matches. A future potential number one.

20. Valiente - As well as being a spectacular flyer (his no hands top rope quebrada is possibly the most breathtaking highspot in lucha, if not all of wrestling), Valiente has produced some of the best matwork falls in CMLL this year, and is more than up to the task of keeping up with Virus in both trios and their cool little lightning match in April. I have a bias towards rudos in rankings like this, because they do more of the things I care about in wrestling. Valiente is a technico is just as able as any rudo at holding a match together, especially as a captain, knowing when to hold off and when to let loose with something dazzling.

Lucha Libre Mexicana in Brussels: A Day

2010-03-01T16:37:00.010Z

Ah, Brussels. To me, the very name conjures up an image of the people of Brussels going about their lives and their work in the city where they work and live. Of course, whatever else you may think, there is one thing we can all agree on - Brussels is not in Oxford. Yet, that is where I found myself on Sunday morning, nine hours before the Cirque Royal hosted the second of two Todo X El Todo shows which I had a ticket for.

I set off at half five of the morn, first by car (Suzuki Swift, my flat to the bus stop), then by bus (Oxford Espress, bus stop to Baker Street) then by underground train (underground train, Baker Street to London St Pancras). I have never travelled on the Eurostar before, and it was an enjoyable experience. Recent air journeys has conditioned me to associate checking in and passport control with invasive personal searches and ludicrous restrictions on hand luggage contents, so it was refreshing to meet the bored eyes of an attendent who couldn't care less if I went through the scanner laden with metal coins and have packed in my bag a bottle of (non-clear) Apple Tango. Ha! The fools. They won't be so care-free when I work out how to make an explosive device out of metal coins and (non-clear) Apple Tango. I concede that the prototypes have been failures, mainly looking like damp metal coins.

I watched some of disc three of the New Japan set on the train (Killer Khan vs. Andre is a really great match, Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask is a really bad match) and listened to Immortal's 'Pure Holocaust' on the iPod, then arrived at Brussels Midi at 12.30pm, Belgian time, and took the metro to Madou, the final leg of the journey. It was at this point I stepped outside for the first time since Baker Street. The first thing you notice about Brussels is how cold and wet it is during a freak storm which killed fifty people in France that day. I walked towards Grand Place for a quick ham and cheese omlette, chips and a Tongerlo Dubbel (brune, if you're asking), Belgian beer being a secondary reason for making a day trip to Brussels. Back to the theatre for 2.30pm, collected tickets, took seats.

The Cirque Royal was a really nice venue, seating down to floor level all the way around the ring, then a huge ring of balcony seats going up a long way. According to Santo, the Saturday show was a sell-out. This was not, however, but most of the lower seats were full. The crowd was a mixture, plenty of masked children in Rey Mysterio t-shirts with parents, some older rowdy teens and then plenty of couples both young and old who had gone out for the Sunday to watch some lucha libre. There was no-one there who looked liked they be chanting at a wXw show, for example.

The show started about twenty minutes late, which is practically early by most lucha shows standard. There were two annoucers, one in French and the other in Flemish due to the biligual status of Belgium's capital. I was waiting for Terry Wogan to summarise it in English (a niche joke, at best). They were probably doing the standard "lucha for non-lucha fans" spiel about lucha being about good vs. evil, technicos vs. rudos and then, out of nowhere they are both saying "Black Terry", and I shot out of my mental happy place where I retreat every time foreign languages are spoken around me. Black Terry is my favourite luchadore in the world, I was thinking only last week how I may never see him live as he doesn't seem to be one of the guys who does Santo's European tours. And there he is, first guy out. In a referee's top. Mother of fuck. Who flies Black Terry out to Belgium just to referee? I will tell you now: it was not a Jesus who loves me.

Anyway, we are five paragraphs in, so let's talk about the wrestling. The opening match was the minis title match, with Octagoncito against Mascarita Dorado (who, unless I've forgotten what he normally wears, was dressed as a mini el Hijo del Santo. A Santitocito, if you will). I thought this worked well as an introduction to the style, which is a good idea on a show promoted as much to art fans as to die-hard lucha fans. They started simple, with the rowdy teens ironically cheering every takedown and moved on to some arm drags and other lucha rope running stuff. They seemed to be having some problem with the ropes, which were too loose. Also, Dorada ended up botching a springboard moosault after slipping off the top rope. Octagon drew boos by pelting Dorada in the chest a bunch of times, and it was nice to be amongst people who aren't desensitised to that. Slaps to the chest, as we shall see, were a great way of getting heel heat on this show. I think I was hoping for something more spectacular though, Dorado seemed quite restrained. This wasn't, for example, the exhibition that Dorada vs. Pequeno Damien 666 was from last year, but then Octagoncito is nowhere near the base that Damien is.

Next up was Solar vs. Negro Navarro. They were wrestling an una caida match, so we got a sixteen minute matwork masterclass, as they worked through some of their extensive repetoire. They build up from simple takedowns to longer counter wrestling sequences and more unlikely submission and while I'm aware this may be a minority interest - it did not strike me that many people around the arena were watching this thinking to themselves, "here's the WKO100 third best wrestler of 2009" - I found it mesmerising. I think I may have been sat agog because I had the sense that the little Mysterio-shirted kid next to me was looking at me as if to say, "Whats so great about this? Where's the 619?". "Screw you, little kid", I said back inside my brain, "and watch these two guys take each other down in 619 different ways". Yes, I'm quite the quick thinker when I have time to write down an imaginary conversation nearly a day later.

I guess, objectively, it was about standard for them, but there were a couple of thing I found from seeing the live version. Firstly, they never stop talking. It's either meaningless noise or Spanish (the happy place again beckons), but it really adds to the competitive one-upmanship. Secondly, one of the reasons they work so well together is the way they split to roles. Solar is constantly interacting with the crowd, posing, encouraging them to cheer, whilst Navarro is nearly stoic, occasionally nodding his head when he knows he's been bested or sniffing in derision. Standing there, he looks like the toughest human being on the planet, it is an aura that almost can not be quantified, and only live performances do it justice. After about fifteen minutes of matwork, Navarro slaps Solar in the chest and the audience really react, whilst he slowly turns his head around to look at the most vocal with a slight smile and menace in his eyes. Just a tremendous performance.

After an interval of thirty minutes, they introduce a title match between Angel Blanco and Hurracan Ramirez Jr. This wasn't particularly good, and was the time during the show when my brain really went, "you booked this over a Black Terry match? He's standing right there, and he would have made Ramirez look amazing". Angel Blanco did some decent bumping, but this mainly struck me as not having many ideas, and the ones they did have weren't really well executed. They even did two near identical tope spots.

The main event was Cassandro and El Hijo del Santo vs. Magno and el Hijo del Solitario. Right up front - this was the most fun I have ever had watching a wrestling match ever. Before I start wheeling out superlatives, this was a best of three fall match with a classic formula: technico fall, rudo fall, comeback technico fall. Cassandro comes out and I will say (as a tribute to Eric), he was wearing a fabulous two piece robe radiating the same brilliant blue as the heavens from where he descended. This is what he was wearing the night before. He had unreal hair both days, looked truly beautiful and felt a confusion I had not felt since my corporal beatings in the headmasters office during my boarding days at Repton. I have seen two recent Cassandro matches previously, yet from those and (mostly) from this, I have no problem calling him the most spectacular wrestler, anywhere, in the world.

I love the reaction he got, which was identical to the first time I saw him in the London show. I didn't understand the tradition of exoticos in lucha libre, assumed he'd do an entertaining gay or drag queen act with a load of schtick. What nobody expected is the extent of his athletic gifts. His first armdrag and flip up are met with a collective "Wha?". From then on he continued to amaze a crowd that was already won over. His execution is perfect. His workrate is tireless - he'll go from one takedown, to a quick hip shake at the crowd then run straight into the next sequence. He drops in comedy spots before doing something else. I loved his rope running bit where he prances over Solitario. I got the impression from the short video on Belgian TV that on the first night Santo, maybe the luchadore with the all-time most beautiful opening fall work, did a lot more of his spots in the first caida. In this match he took a back seat and allowed Cassandro a complete showcase. They also both seemed to be having a great time, Cassandro was smiling almost constantly between bits, which could only add to the enjoyment.

Santo is someone I love watching so much that providing I see him once in a year, for long enough to go, "yeah, he's still El Hijo del motherfucking Santo", he'll appear in my list of the best wrestlers alive. I also really enjoyed the rudos. El Hijo del Solitario was hugely entertaining, from the moment he camply ran to the ring lip-syncing to AC/DC's 'You Shook Me All Night Long', thrusting himself into the turnbuckle. He ran up into the crowd at the start to shout at a teen, followed by Santo who walloped him in the middle of the people. Both rudos bumped all over and did everything they needed to do in a match all about the technicos. They both also had some really stiff strikes, I remember Cassandro taking an audibly nasty right hand from Magno to the side of the head, and Santo ends up sprawled across the front row while Solitario chopped him right in the chest. In fact, the rudos were so aggressive in the second fall that they had the old lady (and many others) next to me covering her eyes after a series of strikes, then a senton, then a double team assisted front lungblower.

The deciding fall finished with stereo topes (the ring rocking as our technicos hit the ropes at the same time), Santo's like a dart and Cassandro's with a little giro. Our seats were above to exit right in front of the ring, so the dives came towards and then under us. The visual of seeing Santo and Cassandro dive out of the ring and then right out of sight was amazing. The whole theatre, young children and elderly couples alike, cheered and laughed and clapped in awe and it was just a fantastic moment.

After the show I followed a similar route to the one I took there, only in reverse. I forwent stopping around afterwards for photos to make sure I made my train, only realising when I got there how much time I would have had to spare. In keeping with a theme I listened to Immortal's 'Sons of Northern Darkness' and watched a couple more New Japan matches, but mostly half-slept. I got home at half ten, British time, and then did the other half of the sleep. A good day.

Craig's Top 100 wrestlers of 2009

2010-02-26T22:25:00.004Z

Well, the WKO100 is complete, so I thought I'd put my ballot up here as well. I'm posting numbers 21 to 100 here now, and will put up a seperate list of the top twenty with some attempted justification and matches to check out. Please feel free to leave your thoughts.

21. Solar
22. Bryan Danielson
23. Daisuke Ikeda
24. Freelance
25. Austin Aries
26. Goldust
27. Dick Togo
28. Takeshi Sasaki
29. Sami Callihan
30. Big Show
31. Toro Bill
32. John Cena
33. Yuko Miyamoto
34. Chris Jericho
35. Koji Kanemoto
36. Osamu Nishimura
37. Mark Henry
38. Blue Panther
39. Bill Dundee
40. Takeshi Ono
41. Necro Butcher
42. Randy Orton
43. Jack Swagger
44. Undertaker
45. Jon Moxley
46. Tamon Honda
47. Zatura
48. Ricky Marvin
49. Oficial 911
50. Giant Bernard
51. Jigsaw
52. Mitch Ryder
53. Toshiaki Kawada
54. Cassandro
55. Trauma I
56. Jerry Lawler
57. Oficial Fierro
58. Manabu Suruga
59. Shinsuke Nakamura
60. Averno
61. Isami Kodaka
62. Stuka Jr
63. Bull Pain
64. Matt Hardy
65. Ted Dibiase
66. Mashashi Takeda
67. Mitsuharu Misawa
68. Loco Max
69. Ikuto Hidaka
70. KENTA
71. Shuji Ishikawa
72. Ou Kobushi
73. Pirata Morgan Jr
74. Negro Casas
75. Jeff Daniels
76. Cerebro Negro
77. Yuji Hino
78. Tiger Mask I
79. Jun Akiyama
80. Eddie Kingston
81. Yoshihiro Fujiwara
82. Munenori Sawa
83. El Hijo Del Santo
84. Avisman
85. Danny Havoc
86. Jeff Hardy
87. Evan Bourne
88. Chris Hero
89. Hirooki Goto
90. Hooligan
91. Espiritu Maligno
92. Sangre Azteca
93. Shinjiro Ohtani
94. Primo Colon
95. Ricky Steamboat
96. Shu El Guererro
97. Dragon Rojo Jr
98. Euforia
99. Tiger Shark
100. Zach Ryder

How Great is Sasuke (part six of thank you, eclectic mix of matches from DVDVR message board matches folder)

2010-02-23T20:33:00.002Z

Sanshiro Takagi and Great Sasuke vs. Yasu Urano and KUDO, DDT, 23rd September 2009

This match alternated between boring indie-ish tag match and parody WWF hardcore brawl, with a couple of ridiculous spots thrown in along the way. This didn't work as well as the Weapons Rumble, because it wasn't a consistently ludicrous in a way that made it a self-contained piece of absurdist theatre. I didn't think the silly spots were as impressive looking as that earlier match, and the only thing that kept me entertained for the twenty or so minutes is the fact that Sasuke's earnest (yet incredibly wrong-headed) risk-taker act never seems to get old to me. I laughed when he crashes over the barrier inside the barrel, then when Takagi signals they try one more time, he nods and agrees immediately.

Great Sasuke and Yuki Ishikawa vs. Gulliver X and Gulliver XX, BattlArts, 26th December 1996

First of all, Gullivers X and XX do a pirate gimmick replete with an eyepatched manager wielding a rifle and a megaphone, so already they have scored the maximum points (thirty) in the category 'Does this match feature wrestling pirates?'. They are perfectly solid rudos here, which I guess leads me into my main talking point that the match is a real hybrid of lucha and Battlarts. A little weird, maybe, but it worked well, and only lost momentum a couple of times nearer the end with odd manager run-ins. Ishikawa didn't have as much in ring time as Sasuke, but when he was in he was fun working a submission section around the smaller Gulliver. Gullivers were a fun team, they did plenty of cutoffs, the smaller one launched himself into the ringpost near the end and the larger one threw a surprising dropkick. Sasuke leaping into some headbutts was unexpectedly stiff, he followed up with a perfectly aimed spinkick to the head, and he pulls out his no hands somersault tope near the end, which is always impressive. Oh, and the smaller of the Gullivers also has a great tope, followed by Ishikawa immediately jumping off the apron and putting the boots in, in my favourite moment of the match. So, loads of nice moments and generally flowing tag match made this very enjoyable.

Tiger Mask IV & Hiromi Yagi vs Great Sasuke & Chapparita Asari, M-Pro, June 24th 2000

This was a well worked little mixed gender tag match, with the novelty of the male-female interactions providing most of the fun stuff. Both guys, but especially Sasuke, were good at giving the women plenty of offence without it looking contrived or unbelievable. Yagi is one of the smallest wrestlers I can remember seeing, but her stuff looked good - she had some fun sequences leading to her armbar submission with Asari at the beginning, and all her armdrags and counters against Sasuke were nice, as was her top rope plancha. I thought they probably went back to the Yagi-outwrestles-Sasuke well a couple of times too many as it got a little repetitive, but overall this was very worthwhile, with a little comedy and plenty of entertaining action.

Hayabusa vs. Great Sasuke, FMW, December 11th 1996

This, to me, is how you do a spotfest. They open up with a couple of minutes of feeling out matwork, but really everyone is waiting for the high spots. From then its high impact moves all the way down the line. First half is all of Hayabusa's big stuff - somersault dive, quebrada, 450, brainbuster. I liked him cutting off Sasuke's quebrada with a chair to the face, as he set it up early so everyone could see what was going to happen except Sasuke, who was facing away. Second half was pretty much all Sasuke's doing big stuff - handspring somesault dive, tiger suplex, thunder fire bomb - before the final cut off and the top rope Falcon Arrow. This works for me for two reasons. Firstly, there are distinct segments of control, which tells a simple yet effective story. There are small fightbacks in between so it seems competitive, but no ridiculous back-and-forth, so it doesn't seem overly contrived. Secondly, each high spot has impact. Flicking back through the match, there was quite a bit of downtime after each big move. There is a real sense of fatigue and damage at the end of what is a reasonably short match. Ah, simpler times.

Michinoku Pro: 24th July 1993

2010-02-21T13:08:00.004Z

The opener between Terry Boy and Jinsei Shinzaki was completely great and seems to me to be a match more people should talk about. It had the feel and the structure of a Southern grudge match, although still set in the context of a 90s lucharesu promotion.. Before the bell, Terry Boy planchas off the top buckle taking out Shinzaki and his manager (whose name I am yet to learn and can't find anywhere). Then there's some mic work, from which I understand Terry Boy saying 'Sleeper Hold' several times, leading to him putting a sleeper hold on the manager and I love the response that gets. He puts one on Shinzaki who makes the save and they spill to the outside, then Shinzaki takes over throwing Terry recklessly into the chairs while the front row audience members move as quick as possible.

The match is naturally built around longer periods of Shinzaki in control, leading to Terry Boy taking a pretty huge beating, plenty of stomping and big slams, a chair assisted double foot stomp, culminating in Shinzaki carving open his head with something metal. Terry Boy has a couple of short comebacks: one short one as he dodged a charging Shinzaki (who is not afraid to launch himself into the ringpost), only to be caught running back along the apron, another after kicking Shinzaki in the head to break a pinfall and then the final one at the end with Terry Boy throwing great punches and Shinzaki falling all over the place as it looks like he might lose. I really liked the finish, as Terry Boy gets himself disqualified in his momentum, but still takes the moral victory as Shinzaki goes crazy after the bell, knowing he'd been shown up and tearing up the seating area. Bloody, heated, strong characters and a great underdog story that makes you want to see more. I raised the question in the last review, and based on this one match alone, Jinsei Shinzaki was a tremendous wrestler in 1993.

The main event was the first UWA title match between Sasuke and Delfin. This was a fun match, in two main areas. Firstly, Delfin's rudo act dominated most of the first two thirds of the match, his cheating and thumbs up to the crowd riling everyone up for the Sasuke comeback. Secondly, the final third, while not overly long, was filled with all the trademark Sasuke highspots (and a huge Delfin plancha), culminating in the always exciting space flying tiger drop, a moonsault press and a pinning hurricanrana. As well as being spectacular to watch, I felt they fitted nicely into the overall structure of the match, first as desperation comeback moves, then as match winners. The near-countouts added to the impact and importance of these moves. There were a couple of odd moments in this - some quick mat exchanges and takedowns seemed a little out of place following a Delfin control segment (you were think these were more opening gambits that the usual response to being stomped in the groin) - but this was a highly enjoyable showcase match.

Michinoku Pro: 19th June 1993

2010-02-18T11:56:00.003Z

As part of my ongoing Sasuke watching project, I plan to go through as much 90s Michinoku Pro as possible. I ordered a bunch of DVDs from the heroic WrestlingDVD.net, and I'll be reviewing them here.

The opener is a brief squash Jinsei Shinzaki squash, followed by him being attacked by Shiryu leading into a second match, which was also distinctly squashish in nature, although the opening minute or so featuring Shiryu's tope was pretty impressive looking. It's a constant irritation to me that current junior wrestlers, however much they bring impressive highspots, have such awful topes, where the diver comes through the ropes and then kind of grabs the person they are diving onto and pushes them down. A great tope is a no-hands head-first dive. If you don't look like you are risking some neck damage, I don't want to know. It's going to be interesting as this project continues to get a feel for Shinzaki. He's obviously the only real heavyweight in a promotion of lightweights, which gives him a certain role and pretty favourable booking. However, I've no sense going in if he's actually any good. Terry Boy comes out at the end, setting up a match between the two at the next show.

Super Delfin is another guy I have no real sense of, as I don't really watch Osaka Pro, and in terms of New Japan juniors, he was always more on an also-ran. However, his match with TAKA Michinoku showed a deeply villanous heel persona I was previously unaware of. The match was pretty fun, starting off with TAKA matching up well against Delfin, a TAKA dive, before Delfin takes over leading to a pretty conclusive finishing section. The Delfin Clutch finisher is one I also considered pretty dumb in, say, the 1994 Super J Cup, but as a heel move (complete with evil laugh), it makes a lot more sense. Post match brawl sets up Sasuke vs. Delfin on the next show.

The main event was Sasuke and Kendo against Villanos IV and V. This was a really enjoyable match. They opening pairings have some nice mat exchanges, and everything starts off respectful and competitive, but as Sasuke and Kendo increasingly come out on top of the exchanges, the Villanos drop right into rudo mode. It was hard to say whether Sasuke or Kendo were the more impressive here - both have their share of really graceful flying. Sasuke has one really beautiful sequence of takedowns leading to a headscissors. I really like a well-executed headscissors where it doesn't look like the opponent is just flipping themselves over contrary to actual physics of the move. As far as I'm concerned, Santo does the best headscissor takedowns in the world, but Sasuke's here was really good. I loved the sequence where Kendo got knocked down, kips up only to be blasted in the chest again, leading to this glorious Whack-a-Mole spot where he kips up and down so quickly that he baffles Villano, and spins away with a flourish.

This all leads to a section with both Villanos just beating on their opponents. The Villanos are large, powerful-looking luchadores, and they do a convincing beatdown. Then, just as Sasuke's comeback starts the match ends, I guess running out of TV time. This was a shame because I think as a complete match this would have been really good. Did Kendo become someone else afterwards? He's not on much on my pile of DVDs, but I was really impressed with his performance here.

NECW: Episode 4

2010-02-16T18:33:00.004Z

Episode four's opener is the first time I've seen DC Dillinger in action. He is played, I believe, by Brad Garrett. As a lean big guy, I didn't get the sense of him being actively great, but his generic offence (big boot, sidewalk slam) looked OK, he didn't move awkwardly, and Scott Levesque's brief minutes in control didn't look implausible. Basically, he'd be the best guy in Kronic but the worst in the Outsiders. This was nearly a squash, I'd be sort of interested to see how he'd do a real match.

The main event between Brandon Locke and Little Guido was one I was semi-looking forward to, and it was a little disappointing, but generally OK. I was kind of hoping submission fighting James Maritato was going to show up, but the opening matwork was indieish to say the least. Locke is a decent bumper and sells offence nicely, but his control sections relied heavily on restholds and he doesn't have the heel schtick to make that particularly compelling. Guido's no Mysterio when it comes to outsized babyfaces, but the match was structured simply enough, and the Guido comeback, when it came, was plenty spirited. The finish was, I guess, the result of the fact they could neither job their number one contender nor their visiting recognised name, but I'm not sure a walk-off countout victory was any really better.

You are missing nothing by not seeing this episode. Yes, I missed the womens tag. I've got to get on with this life.

How Great is Sasuke? (part five of some matches from 2009)

2010-02-10T20:02:00.002Z

Aside from the final M-Pro show of the year, the TAKA title match and some tag from Osaka Pro, I think I've managed to track down all the 2009 taped Sasuke. Will accept corrections on that point, of course. Stick through the first few matches, there is "gold" (really great wrestling) in them "hills" (list of wrestling matches)

Great Sasuke and Bambi vs. Handsome JOE and Yuu Yamagata, K-Dojo, April 12th 2009

Six minute match clipped down to a bunch of Sasuke mashochism comedy spots. Given those parameters, this was fine, and completely missable.

Great Sasuke vs. Toshiaki Kawada, HUSTLE, May 4th 2009

Mostly, this match is a squash, but kind of a fun one, as Kawada kicks Sasuke around and Sasuke looks anguished in his mouth and eyes. Would have been better had he not botched his comeback, falling off the rope on a handspring elbow, meaning he never really had a hot minute or so of offence. Still, this was less than six minutes and did not feature a particularly motivated Kawada, so I recommend taking enjoyment from the little things, such as the pervasive thought, “how bizarre a match up is this?”

Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Super Crazy, NOSAWA Produce, July 9th

Not much to say for this. The most entertaining thing they did was the spot where every time Ultimo held Super Crazy, Sasuke hit Super Crazy, but Sasuke held Super Crazy, he ducked so Ultimo hit Sasuke instead. In fact, the match seemed to be built around the flaky alliance of Sasuke and Ultimo, leading to some mask ripping and talk afterwards of a mask match, though I think we can safely say that will never happen. Maybe they could have a match where the loser has to have their photo taken, in a mask, in public?

Great Sasuke vs. Fujita "Jr" Hayato, M-Pro, November 8th

This is the decider is a best of seven series between the heel Kowloon stable, and the M-Pro Seikigun, and it is definitely one of my favourite matches of the year, as well as a match that cement both mens’ places in my top 20 workers for 2009. This is worked a lot more evenly than the June match, which was more dominant champion vs. veteran underdog. First of all, this match is a reminder that Sasuke is really good on the mat. The opening section was a lengthy exchange of well worked holds with really believeable transitions between them, and there’s also a bit in the middle where Sasuke goes from one arm submission to another as Hayato escapes each one. There’s some other really nice spots, like the capture suplex with Hayato’s leg fully extended on Sasukes shoulder, or his pinpoint accurate top rope dropkick to Hayato’s head as he lay on the mat.

It’s also a showcase of great Sasuke selling – there are parts of this where he actually seems to be holding his myriad injured bodyparts together with his hands. Hayato is no slouch with the selling, of course. Even as a youthful junior, his transitions to offence never feel like a guy who has decided its now his turn – there’s pause after a surprise counter attack. Also, having watched a bunch of Sasuke matches where his opponents barely move from Sasuke’s forearms and elbows, it is gratifying to see someone make them look really good.

They build to the inevitable Sasuke highspots, while Hayato steps up the stiffness of his kicks and knees. I really felt myself getting into the nearfalls at the end, which is curious given the relative unimportance of a victory. The nearfalls never even approached overkill, which is remarkable for a 30 minute match. Instead, the match has a natural buildup to the biggest moves, and a pacing that suggested the right level of physical toll. Finish is simple, and really vicious, with Hayato again capitalising on a missed highspot, and launching into a series of big kicks and running knees. In a year where junior epics have lost all sense of proportion, Michinoku Pro have produced several long matches done absolutely the right way.

Minoru Suzuki and Super Tiger II vs. Great Sasuke and Kuniyoshi Wada, Real Japan, December 10th

Super Tiger II is by far my least favourite of the wrestlers who are liked or have been liked by people in the parts of the wrestling internet fandom I frequent. He’s someone that gain attention in some of the better Battlarts matches in 2008, but the more I see him since then, the more I think he gets exposed. His kicks, which were clearly his biggest selling point, have been weak and aimless in a lot of what I’ve seen him in. There’s plenty in this match to distract me as well, an awful elbow drop, a terrible posting bump that misses by inches, and a general inability to even flinch when hit. There’s a point in the middle where Wada is chopping Tiger, and Sasuke is being chopped by Suzuki, and the camera changes between the two, showing two completely different approaches to selling.

Aside from this, this match wasn’t very good. Sasuke is at a point in his career where he does not have the hardest strikes by quite some measure, and when up against two guys that really aren’t interested giving much, it really doesn’t look all that impressive. Suzuki especially, the disrespectful jerk character he works often comes off as more than just a gimmick, like he’s completely aloof to the idea of wrestling as a contrived performance. His idea of eating offence is more like something to tolerate before he can have another go. Even at the end, he makes every effort to show he has not participated in a physical contest recently. I scowl and curse at him, safe in the knowledge that the distance between us is how ever far it is from my flat to the road outside, and then from the road to Japan.

NECW: Episode 3

2010-02-09T00:24:00.003Z

Opening tag was between Rican Havoc - Ryan Bisbal and Don Vega - the Russian gimmicked he Red Devil Fight Team. Rican Havoc is a fun name, the sort of thing that if I came up with I would down tools and call it a good day. This opened with some decent matwork. The first couple of exchanges between Bisbal and Chekov were quite intense battles over position, before it settled into more simple headlock stuff. The blind tag leading to the transition to the heat section was clumsy, but ended with the highlight of the match - an insane over the top rope bump by Bisbal, with his legs crashing into the guardrail. The end felt like the Letts Notes version of the southern tag formula, with a couple of minutes working on the leg, a hot tag and a finish. It needed a bit more time, and it seemed like they wasted a pretty heroic bump. Bisbal seems more than decent, his selling couldn't be faulted here, his mat work is solid and he's not adverse to an impressive bump. Not sure Vega is up to much, however, as his hot tag was pretty lacklustre.

The main event was between TJ Richter and the Blue Meanie. Total comedy match, as you would expect. Richter is entertaining as the overly serious guy constantly getting his humiliated - they run almost every possible variation of sidekick interference backfiring on heel. The interactions between the midget and Richter are enough to keep this enjoyable, as is Richter overselling for Meanie's comedy offence in tried and tested routines (the classic eye poke, cover eyes, nipple poke, arms jolt away in surprise, another eye poke). I'd happily watch Richter again.

Overall, not a bad episode at all, both matches, ignoring the Scott Levesque squash, doing essentially what they set out to achieve. Shall continue to stick with it.

NECW: Episode 2

2010-01-28T00:51:00.003Z

The opening match is the first look at the tag champions, the Crown Jewels, against Davey Loomis and Alex Payne. This was a frustratingly bad match, and the blame is entirely the challengers. The effeminate or gay or prima donna gimmick is a staple of US wrestling, and it works. I'm not particularly comfortable with the obvious homophobia that means its great for drawing heel heat, but it doesn't stop the fact that it works. It allows the guy or guys playing the gimmick to wind up the crowd, stall, and distract or humiliate opponents. The way to build a good match out of it then relies on the babyfaces. You want, as in this match, the stalling, preening guys to get some form of come-uppance. You want your noble babyface to finally boils over in frustration and punch the guy in the face. Here, one of the champions spits on Loomis, and he does nothing. Not the slightest indication that he knows wrestling is performance. The comeback, when it comes, is lacklustre to the point of disbelief. No angry, fiery fightback, but a springboard crossbody. Like when you were at school, and some kid pushed you too far, and you saw red, leaped onto the table, and bounced back at him. There was a bunch of other annoying stuff like that, added to the fact that Alex Payne is pretty out-of-shape (and not fun in the way that old fat wrestlers can be). The only good point about this match was the referee freaking out after being kissed by the challenger, and in his embarrased rage, he disqualifies him. When the referee outperforms you, you need to re-evaluate.

Most of the show was given over to the big cage match between champion Max Bauer and rival Alex Arion. This started really promising - simple cage-based violence, with Arion bleeding early and Bauer delivering some impressive right-hands. There's a cool bit where Arion's manager chains the door to stop Bauer getting out, only for Bauer to remark that he doesn't want to escape, causing the manager to panic. However, they ran out of ideas, trying to create thirty minute epic when they probably only had enough stuff for half that time. Arion hits five frog splashes, for a two count; Bauer hits two of his Bauerbombs for the same, then two diving headbutts, then a very sloppy third Bauerbomb off the top rope for the victory. Very disappointing.

One other thing I'll note about the show is they need another commentator. This one guy hasn't got the verbal skills of, say, a Kent Walton, so he mostly just describes exactly what is happening, even when tedious ("he has him up...now he's down") something that I already knew, given that I watch most matches rather than listen to them on my iPod.

NECW: Episode One

2010-01-27T11:25:00.007Z

Before delving deep into US independent promotions, I downloaded the first few episodes of New England Championship Wrestlings new TV show. I've watched a few of their internet shows in the past, and while nothing has seemed groundbreaking, there's a charm to the promotion. Your heels (they have heels) berate a crowd happy to jeer heels (they have a crowd that jeers heels), your babyfaces (they have babyfaces) are likeable, and no-one, anywhere, remarks that the action in the ring is, and I quote "awesome". Apart from that, I start with no prejudices.

The first few episodes are airing introductory matches and segments, which is sensible. This first episode starts with a TV title match between Kris Pyro and Chris Camaro. This was pretty by-numbers, Pyro isn't anywhere near the exciting, explosive high flyer you would think, and Camaro do a fairly perfunctory cocky heel gimmick. They do plenty of stuff but none of it really means anything, and some of it just looks like they are working through pre-arranged sequences at two-third speed. I don't expect pre-arranged sequences in my professional wrestling.

The main event is a tag match between Real Natural (Brandon Locke and Scott Osbourne) and two skinny Canadians, Twiggy and Stupefied. Twiggy was kind of a non-entity (to the point he seemingly baulked on a dive, and his partner did it instead), but Stupefied had enough personality to carry the team. He's a little annoying at the beginning, but he mostly looked good, a few suspect hot tag lariats aside. The heels are a minor revelation here, especially Scott Osbourne. They were the sort of team who devote most of their energies to making the other team look much better. They are athletic bumpers and sold for punches and dropkicks that probably didn't earn it. Scott Osborne has a couple of great bumps, a face first one first off a drop toe hold and a later on a DDT onto his. Throw ina couple of classic heel tag spots and the southern tag formula, and this came across as a solid effort all round.

The next episode has a Max Bauer title match that I'm looking forward to.

Indie-cision 2010: Statement of Mission

2010-01-27T00:42:00.000Z

I'm someone who likes following a promotion, to the extent that I will sacrifice time watching heavily pimped matches to watch the latest DVD from a group I know well. It's why Big Japan and Kaientai Dojo and Michinoku Pro wrestlers will appear on my ballot for top 100 workers of the year, and why I may overrate matches from those promotions, or at least underplay the mediocrity of some undercard tag match with a couple of guys I have come to like. That's not to say I'm deluded - such things genuinely bring me a great deal of joy. But I acknowledge familiarity and context play a role in that perspective.

I would, however, like a US or English-speaking promotion to watch on a regular basis (other than WWE), not least because in a foreign language, you miss all the talk that goes with an ongoing angle or feud. The problem is, however, that the style (call it the workrate style or, more accurately/less catchily, the no-selling, no personality, thousand finishers style) that has come to dominate US independent wrestling is, well, awful. I am frequently baffled that when it comes to non-deathmatch US wrestling, the basterdised junior heavyweight style of Ring of Honor, CZW and other east coast indies superceded the sheer majesty of what I think of as Southern wrestling. Sure, there is XCW-Midwest, but that sometimes seems like the only champion, and as a UK resident, getting DVDs is difficult and relying on uploads fills me with a huge guilt. What's worse is that if I look closer to home, all your British wrestling promotions have lost all their World of Sport era heritage, in favour of shipping in flippy Americans.

Amongst all that, however, I am convinced there is some good, maybe even something better. So, I'm making it an ambition for this year to check out as many independent promotions as possible and uncover the proverbial hidden gems. If I can find one or two to really get behind, I'll feel vindicated, and if I can turn others on to something new and exciting, I'll feel like a leader of men.

Kaientai Dojo: 12th April 2009

2010-01-25T13:44:00.004Z

There was a four month gap between taped K-Dojo shows, I have the first three of 2009, and there's four more to come.

There's a couple of clipped openers to start, before the three-way UWA Middleweight Title match. This was about eight minutes of spots, some of which were kind of fun using all three guys, and some of the timing was pretty impressive. I don't know how to do a well-worked three way, they often become sprints. This was a sprint, it was fine. Quiet Storm shouts his name out a lot, putting me in mind of Matt Damon in Team American, but I think he could be a fun, short bruiser in the Dick Togo mold. He throws nice punches and lariats at least.

The WEW Hardcore tag title match was a bit sloppy. They brawl out into the crowd at one point, and Kojiro leaps off a ladder which is on an elevated bit, with the ladder slipping as he jumped and him basically hitting nothing but floor - this was stupid, and not in a good way. First time I've seen Inematsu post-heel turn, but this wasn't really a match that allowed him to standout.

The Yuji Hino-KAZMA match was pretty slow paced. I'm not someone who gets particularly excited by your-turn-my-turn strike battles, which this did have, partly, I would assume, to play out the grudge match aspect of the match. This wasn't the semi-comedic heel Hino that you often get with him against smaller guys, but he's still plenty expressive throughout. KAZMA, by comparison, is incredibly bland, both facially and through his moveset. I thought they did a decent job with the fatigue, nearer the end, and overall this was perfectly decent power-based match.

The bit that I liked about the tag title match was right at the beginning, with Tonai doing some arm-based mat stuff that I wasn't expecting. It became a footnote, but Hiro Tonai is not a wrestler I've ever been interested in before, and now I am. While Takizawa is your standard crowd-rallying indie junior with shiny trousers, I feel like Tonai might actually be pretty useful in a more understated way, and want to see him in some singles. Champions do less schtick (in Oishi's case, less stick) and more jumpy-kicky stuff, and this was largely forgettable.

I'd watched the main event before, on download when it first aired, and didn't think much of it, so I was surprised to give it a rewatch and discover I actually did. I mean, the body part stuff, particularly TAKA's leg selling goes nowhere (or more specifically, it goes elsewhere), but aside from that annoyance, they actually put together a very focused match, built around each man looking for his biggest moves, and returning to them where possible. I thought there were some nice touches here. I liked the bit where Mashimo reaches the ropes after a crossface, only to end up in a similar position a few moments later - however, when Mashimo reaches for the ropes as before, TAKA grabs the arm and locks it up, forcing his opponent to shuffle much close to the ropes and grab them with his teeth. We got 22 minutes out of the 38, and I have no earthly idea how it was clipped that much without me noticing. The finish reflected the length of the match - the Michinoku Driver II almost a collapse and a slam rather than a deadly head-drop. Certainly more good than bad in this, and a pleasant surprise.

Big Japan: 12th July 2009

2010-01-19T12:03:00.000Z

I watched the tag league final from the May show, but decided as it was a one match show not to post a review. The final itself was a less good version of the group match, and I have to question the necessity of booking a thirty minute draw and a six minute overtime - as a result, it was necessarily overdone. The nearfalls in the last few minutes were just too much. Also, the problem with Isami and Takeda taking that much punishment, then turning the match around in a few minutes is it really lack credibility. That said, for all the structural defects, its hard to fault the effort, and the level of carnage, and at least, for the most part, the nearfalls were partner assisted, which is better than continual kickouts.

To this show - I appear not to have the June card. The Isami vs. Sasaki ladder death match was simple and effective. I like Sasaki against the younger guys - he maintains a kind of barely restrained contempt for them. Crazy spot of the match was the fishermans neckbreaker rights on the ladder, but ladder assisted violence was plentiful here, and I liked a couple of other features - the leg work, while it lasted, was kind of novel, and I liked the finish (or more specifically, I liked how, in the aftermath of Sasaki kicking a ladder into Isami's head, he rolled around liked he'd just kicked a ladder).

I also found myself enjoying the Dradition six man with Fujinami, Sekimoto and Okabayashi on one side, and Saito, Sasaki and Shinya Ishikawa on the other side. It felt like the prescence of older guys forced the younger guys to drop endless strike exchanges and no-selling, and actually wrestle - there's plenty of decent mat work to start, they use a lot more submissions, and the power moves are minimised, making those that are used seem that much more impactful. The match is built around the two older guys and the two higher ranked heavyweights alternating control of the match, at the expense of the two rookies. Ishikawa is good for bumping and selling - a little too textbook, perhaps, the sort of bumping that can remind you its a bump rather than make the other guys offence look nasty, but you can tell he's trying. The old guys were fun, and I wish they'd always stick around.

The title match is difficult. If you are going to do over-the-top spotfest, that's fine - I can enjoy that, and am not going to get all serious about a match that clearly isnt. It's why I like Abby Jr matches. There were elements of that here - spots where they challenge each other to climb the scaffold just to hit each other with tubes and do a highspot don't make you think of anything other than a (quite violent) exhibition. But then the middle of this felt much more like an actual competetive war, for all the violence, I felt like they were selling the buildup of the damage. In fact, I was with it until the completely unnecessary ending sequence. A Yankee Driver off a scaffold should finish a match. If you want to do more stuff, do it beforehand. My basic defence of deathmatches to non-fans is that when done well, they conform to a basic story common to most wrestling - that opponents are fighting towards what they consider a match-winner, be it an established finisher, a submission hold on a weakened limb, or anything else which the story of the match dictates. In this environment, the scaffold if the match winner (just as the lighttubes equate to your basic strikes in a non-deathmatch environment). I would have just accepted a kickout of the driver off the top, followed with the moosault off the top, with Takeda barely moving . The run of moves between those two points though are the sort of mindless nonsense I'd expect from guys like Kasai and Numazawa.

Maybe that's the reason for the frustration. In a promotion like BattlArts, the best the young guys can do is match up with the older generation who, to my eyes at least, regularly turn out great examples of their style. In Big Japan, the new generation has a chance to take the deathmatch style beyond where it stagnated with the older generation by 2008. We saw in the tag league the three top young guys, guided by Sasaki, deliver the same level of violence of a Kasai, but combined with better selling, better execution of transition moves, better brawling, and most importantly, more dramatic and exciting stories in the ring. The 2007 Sasaki-Miyamoto title match really set out a template for that, but its taken a while to find more than two guys able to consistently deliver this. This title match, ultimately, felt like a massive step back from this.

How Great is Sasuke? The story so far...

2010-01-01T01:20:00.005Z

1993

Great Sasuke and Kendo vs. Villano IV and V, M-Pro, June 19th
Great Sasuke vs. Super Delfin, M-Pro, July 24th
Great Sasuke and SATO vs. Super Delfin and Gran Naniwa, M-Pro, July 26th
Sasuke, SATO and TAKA vs. Super Delfin, Gran Naniwa and Jinsei Shinzaki, August 19th
Great Sasuke vs. Shinigami, August 20th
Great Sasuke vs. Super Delfin, M-Pro, August 24th
Great Sasuke and Tarzan Goto vs. Mr Pogo and Masaru Toi, M-Pro, December 10th
Great Sasuke, Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, Mr. Pogo, Masaru Toi, FMW, December 20th

1994

Great Sasuke, SATO and Shiryu vs. Super Delfin, Jinsei Shinzaki and Gran Naniwa, M-Pro, February 4th
Great Sasuke, Shiryu and Terry Boy vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, Yone Genjin and Gran Naniwa, M-Pro, March 4th
Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, M-Pro, March 31st
Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinzaki, M-Pro, April 29th
Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger, NJPW, July 8th
Ultimo Dragon vs. Great Sasuke, WAR, July 17th
Ultimo Dragon and Great Sasuke vs. Jinsei Shinkazi and Gedo, M-Pro, July 30th
Great Sasuke v Turako, M-Pro, September 15th

1996

Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger, New Japan, April 29th
Hayabusha vs. Great Sasuke, FMW, December 11th
Great Sasuke and Yuki Ishikawa vs. Gulliver X and Gulliver XX, BattlArts, December 26th

1999

Magnum TOKYO vs. Great Sasuke, Toryumon, February 17th
Great Sasuke vs. SUWA, M-Pro, April 1999

2000

Great Sasuke vs. Yuhi Sano, Super J Cup 2000, April 9th
Tiger Mask IV & Hiromi Yagi vs Great Sasuke & Chapparita Asari, M-Pro, June 24th
The Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask IV, TAKA Michinoku, Magnum TOKYO and Pantera vs CIMA, Pentagon, Sumo Dandy Fuji, Masao Orihara and Sasuke The Great, M-Pro, November 5th

2001

Tiger Mask IV and Great Sasuke vs. Jado and Gedo, New Japan, August 19th

2003

Great Sasuke vs. MIKAMI, March 2nd

2009

Great Sasuke and Bambi vs. Handsome JOE and Yuu Yamagata, K-Dojo, April 12th
Great Sasuke vs. Toshiaki Kawada, HUSTLE, May 4th
Masaaki Mochizuki & Great Sasuke vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & El Blazer, Kensuke Office, May 21st
Great Sasuke vs. Fujita “Jr” Hayato, M-Pro, June 19th
Sasuke, CIMA and Gamma vs Tanizaki, Oishi & Asahi, Dragon Gate, July 8th
Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon vs. Super Crazy, NOSAWA Produce, July 9th
Great Sasuke vs. Sanshiro Takagi, DDT, August 23rd
Sasuke, Liger, Ibushi and Tiger Mask vs. Taguchi, Togo, Kanemoto and TAKA, New Japan, August 30th
Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki and Kesen Numajiro vs. Shu Sato, Kei Sato and Maguro Ooma, M-Pro, September 5th
Minoru Suzuki and Super Tiger II vs. Great Sasuke and Mitsuya Nagai, Real Japan, September 11th
Sanshiro Takagi and Great Sasuke vs. Yasu Urano and KUDO, DDT, 23rd September
Great Sasuke vs. Fujita “Jr” Hayato, M-Pro, November 8th
Minoru Suzuki and Super Tiger II vs. Great Sasuke and Kuniyoshi Wada, Real Japan, December 10th

2010

Great Sasuke and Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and Ultimo Dragon, RJPW, March 18th
Great Sasuke and Dick Togo vs. TAKA Michinoku and FUNAKI, M-Pro, June 11th
Great Sasuke vs. Takeshi Sasaki, FREEDOMS, June 21st
Great Sasuke and MIKAMI vs. Asian Cougar and Miracle Man, Osaka Pro, August 20th

Spin Fly Kick on Twitter

2009-12-30T21:10:00.003Z

I've avoided Twitter all my life, and yet this morning, when I noticed Segunda Caida now has one as a promotional tool for content, I thought to myself that by imitating this I can now achieve two aims:

1. Have a Twitter account.
2. Not need to write about my current lunch/locations/feelings about wars

So, follow Spin Fly Kick for complaints about selling in a more easily digestible form. Will also add short thoughts and links to great matches and wrestling news as and when it occurs, countdowns, quizzes (unwinnable).

BattlArts: 26th July 2009

2009-12-30T10:37:00.002Z

Here's some more BattlArts. Opening couple of matches are short enough. Basen TAGAI vs. Super Tiger was not good. I appreciated the focus on the arm, but the arm work was pretty lacklustre, and Super Tiger's kicks were sloppy (and not the fun, deadly looking sloppy, but the sort of sloppy that makes you question why that would knock a guy out). I also didn't really like the Walter vs. Yano match. Yano takes it to the outside and introduces a chair, which I hated. BattlArts is somewhere where the regular striking often looks (and is) nastier than most promotions . The chair would be unnecessary if Yano was able to actually hit anyone hard. He also does some other stuff that looks weak, like his standing splash to Walters arm (or leg, I temporarily can't remember what he was targetting in this match). I was hoping for Walter to smack Yano around a lot more, and there were a few nice punches (although I realised that they were actually to the shoulderblade rather than the head, which doesn't make much sense as an offensive strategy from a pure striker who struggles more on the mat with submissions). I did like the suddeness of the finish though, and Yano sold it like the victim of a blunt force head trauma (which it might actually have been).

Usuda vs. Yamamoto was a really great match. Comparing it to the other two great singles from February with these two guys (Usuda vs. Yoshikawa, Yamamoto vs. Otsuka), this combined elements I really liked from both - great, completely organic matwork exchanges and Usuda's selling in particular. I also liked the sense of a veteran on the backfoot, having to really struggle to find an opening to sneak a victory. In the Otsuka match, Yamamoto was very much the underdog for the middle of the match, but here's he is really in control. His mat counters are both visually impressive yet never contrived looking. Has this the length of the Yoshikawa match and the final few minutes of drama, I think we'd be talking match of the year.

I liked Ishikawa vs. Tiger Shark a lot. This was another great Ishikawa performance, where, like the Walter match on the previous show, the other guy (whilst mainly being along for the ride) plays his role. He had plenty of head kicks, and whilst I never really bought him as a realistic threat (which was probably the intension here), he didn't look out of his depth in any aspect. Ishikawa is maybe the best guy I've seen this year for little details, which in the context of the realistic BattlArts style, are really great.. Firstly, he never stops moving or doing things - in a submission, he'll look to add extra pressure by including another limb; on the backfoot he'll be firing off little counter punches, even whilst falling to the mat. The finish was a great example of the former, first countering an armlock with one of his own, then manoevering around so he was on top, then adding the headscissors to clinch the victory.

And the main event tag was just kind of OK. There was a load of no-selling that I wasn't wild about, with Sawa and Sasaki shrug off punches to the face. Then, after all that indyish no-selling and strike exchanges, they tag on a finish that was much more realistic, with a single knockout blow that just happens to get the job done. The match was really built around a feud they seem to have, which meant limited Otsuka, especially in the last seven minutes or so. His mat section wit Sawa wasn't high end Otsuka mat dominance, but was fine; in particular the bits where Sawa was fighting to avoid a suplex. Also enjoyed his running headbutt to the back of Yoshikawa - especially as it looked liked he was lining up for a punt. Otsuka will make you sell.

Big Japan: 28th April 2009

2009-12-13T22:01:00.006Z

Two big tag league main events in this show. First one is Takeda and Kodaka vs. Shuji Ishikawa and Ito. This was a complete sprint, with a brief foray into the world of established tag team formula wrestling. There was a couple of spots that really highlighted the essence of the rookie team. Firstly, Takeda running charges a lightube into one of his opponents - I think it was Ito - and afterwards sells it with a look of, "what did I do that for?". Secondly, Isami lifts his knees to block a lightube assisted frog splash. They are a team that are frequently required to throw themselves in harms way to overcome higher ranked or larger opponents, and its this that makes them underdogs that the audience really want to get behind.

Other things I liked about this included the early work with Ito and Ishikawa targetting Takeda's back, the stiffness of Ishikawa's knee and kicks and even Ito's strikes looked more forceful than usual - I suspect this is because Takeda and Kodaka are relatively better bumpers and sellers for that sort of thing than much of the Big Japan roster. So many deathmatch guys have such perfunctory non-hardcore offence that its impossible for the match the come off as a series of spots with weak filler. Hence, I'm a big fan of Ishikawa kneeing guys with an audible thunk. I thought it definitely strayed into overkill at the end, which I'm not forgiving even if they want to play up the resilience of Takeda and Kodaka. Takeda's german suplex to Ishikawa onto Ito who was beneath a barbed wire board was an impressive spot.

The main event was a pretty typical tag match. They opened with some basic holds and counters, which was fine (and certainly by keeping it simple it looked a lot less contrived that some indyish matwork). The middle is power stuff on Miyamoto, targetting the back. The finish was typical back and forth stuff. I thought the execution of these elements was fine, although nothing stood out as unique or exceptional to me. If you are going to have two deathmatch workers doing straight tag matches, Miyamoto and Sasaki are the ones to do it. They have the moveset and they can match impact with Sekimoto and others, and they are better sellers and bumpers - Miyamoto in particular, during the heat section. I liked the surprise rollup finish here, which prevented further overkill, but I'm hard pushed to call this anything other than standard, with some things I really didn't like (like the Sliding D steal to no reaction, for no reason).

Best WWE matches of this decade (part three)

2009-12-07T19:05:00.002Z

I'm working through a list of 64 nominated matches to compile this list. As aresult, it's unlikely the list will be my TOP 64. Some matches you might consider best of the decade aren't on that list. Feel free to suggest them, and I'll either shoot them down immediately (don't suggest Flair vs. HBK or Rock vs. Hogan or similar spectacle matches) or try and have a watch. As it now is:

1. Umaga vs. John Cena, 28th January 2007
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
3. Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit, 28th May 2001
4. Matt Hardy vs. Edge, 18th September 2005
5. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay, 9th Novmber 2007
6. William Regal vs. Chris Benoit, 16th July 2005
7. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22 June 2007
8. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
9. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
10. Hardy Boys vs. MNM 28th January 2007
11. Eddie Guererro and Tajiri vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, 22nd May 2003
12. Finlay vs. Undertaker, 9th March 2007
13. Steve Austin vs. The Rock, 1st April 2001

More thoughts:

William Regal vs. Chris Benoit, 16th July 2005 - I've watched three of their matches in quick succession (Pillman memorial, No Mercy 2006, this match) and they are all strikingly similar in terms of content and sequences, in the way that two guys who have a great match will often do (Sting-Vader is another good example). This is face vs. face, but it's the most violent face vs. face match you're going to watch in WWE. In all three of those matches, Regal bleed hardway from a headbutt. This is a match on a D-show, and Regal's bleeding hardway from a headbutt. Really nasty surfboard submission, and even nastier elbows from Benoit. In the Pillman match they do a tombstone reversal spot, which they do here also, only Benoit does a shoulder breaker, which is even better given the crossface finish. Loads of great struggle spots, this and the No Mercy match have a really cool battle over the crossface, with Regal blocking it until Benoit found a way to loosen Regal's grip.

Matt Hardy vs. Edge, 18th September 2005 - Exactly what you want out of a feud ending cage match. Guys punching each other, loads of bumps off the steel, a couple of high spots thrown in and an insane finish. Added into that, they play off the concussion from the previous month a lot, making everything, even Edge's usually weak looking offence looked deadly. I like how they moved between the twin aims of victory and revenge, which helped to deal with the most obvious flaw of escape cage matches (that there are usually loads of chances to win and slow crawling or climbing exposes the concept)

Steve Austin vs. The Rock, 1st April 2001 - Hard not to be massively disappointed revisiting this now. My biggest problem is how unepic it felt, despite the billing. Top two guys in the promotion, two year lrematch, huge arena - you expect a epic heavyweight war. I don't think either was so limited they needed all the gimmickry to have a war, although I was decidedly unimpressed with Rock's offense here. Even then, the furniture and weapons stuff felt weak to me - Rock obviously taking the table slamming with hands, the bell shots missing by a visible distance. Finisher theft stuff feels like a crutch to fall back on in lieu of anything more meaningful. There's other minor niggles as well, but it doesn't matter at this point. The finish is well executed as an angle, with Vince motivations being revealed slowly, but again this distracts from the actual matchup. Austin bouncing around the rings and the ropes was the only bit I really liked - that level of selling for long stretches whilst working fully heel was one of the things I really liked in his matches later in the year, particularly against Benoit. That match proves to me that Austin at least didn't need gimmickry to have a great match at this point in his career.

Best WWE matches of this decade (part two)

2009-12-05T01:45:00.003Z

The list:

1. Umaga vs. John Cena , 28th January 2007
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
3. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay 9th November 2007
4. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22nd June 2007
5. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
6. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007
7. Hardy Boys vs. MNM, 28th January 2007
8. Finlay vs. Undertaker, 9th March 2007

Umaga vs. John Cena , 28th January 2007 - Eddie Fatu died about an hour before I'm writing up this match which I watched last night, and it feels to me that talking about this match is an appropriate tribute, it being the best of his career (and possibly the best Cena match too) . There was a period in 2007 where WWE could have made a long-lasting monster heel out of Umaga. Perhaps this main event push was too fast, or not followed up well - his matches with Jeff Hardy later in the year rank amongst my favourite Jeff matches ever, but he was soon lost in the mid-card, and then distinctly not winning against HHH upon his return that summer. The character was well developed up to this point, with Estrada directing everything like Umaga really was a savage. In this match, there are a bunch of nice touches where Estrada stops Umaga from doing something counterproductive (like break up a ten-count just to hit Cena with the steps).

Much like a southern tag, monster heel vs. champion babyface is a difficult formula to mess up. John Cena had two perfectly decent matches with Khali later in 2007 because of this. Here, though, you've got a monster heel with a great looking moveset and an ability to bump, which means they could build a match around a series of Umaga domination sections with Cena selling his injuries (which he does brilliantly), and comeback spots. I liked how each comeback was increasing in its violence, as Cena had to go further and further beyond the norm to try to beat Umaga. It's an incredibly studied performance from Cena, torn between wanting to assert his superiority as champion and feeling no joy for the lengths he is being forced to go to. The monitor shot illustrates this best - he shows no eagerness, only weariness, walking up the steps to bash it into Umaga's skull, and raises the weapon to the crowd after doing so, but with a completely blank face.

What I like most about this is the balance and pacing off all the hardcore spots. It felt neither like overkill, nor like big spots with meaningless filler in between. There's a gradual build in their visual impact, and a lot of variety. The finish is great, with the ring literally pulled apart. The visual of Cena roaring, face red with blood, choking out an increasingly blue Umaga borders on iconic. Watch Cena during the final ten count. There's no celebration here, or particular pride in what he had done. It's because of the level of storytelling, along with the quality of its execution and the numerous memorable moments, that I placed this match top of the list. Probably the best gimmick match of the decade. This is also feels appropriate to have a match on top that is pure WWE style.

Eddie "Umaga" Fatu, 1973-2009.

Best WWE matches of this decade (part one)

2009-12-03T21:59:00.005Z

Hey, this decade which doesn't have a snappy name like The Nineties, or The Eighties or countless (seven) others, is ending. I will compile a list of the best WWE matches from this decade in our new series: Best WWE matches of this decade. Currently:

1. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guererro, 23rd June 2005
2. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay 9th November 2007
3. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay, 22nd June 2007
4. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004
5. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels, 23rd April 2007

Rey vs. Eddie, 23rd June 2005 - Both men were at the point of their careers where they no longer relied on their moves - this thing is carried by everything in between, Rey's at the start of being the best babyface underdog in WWE history, and Eddie's every mannerism and reaction is hugely absorbing and believable. Opening establishes an Eddie trying beat Rey fairly. When this fails, he cheapshots in a break, and uses the outside to injure his opponent. Eddie's heel act is so understated for the most part, yet everything conveys his villany. The comebacks and cutoffs are textbook, and I love how this match has no hot finisher stretch and no high spots. In 2005, I expected them, hoped for them, was a different wrestling fan. I missed so much in the story telling. The finish is the perfect payoff. Eddie slips from his focus when he becomes convinced he's finally beaten his man - he avoids a 619 and finishes his suplexes. Rey, for his part, sells every inch of his predicament. This match is Eddie's - and this momentary lapse in focus and indulgence of his crowd taunting habits presents an opening, the only real opening, and Rey takes in and wins out of almost nowhere. I'm thinking top 5, probably higher.

Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay, 9th November 2007 - The first few minutes are pretty even - Rey lays into his punches, matching Finlay's intensity; after they spill to the outside, Finlay takes an above and beyond back bump off a Rey baseball slide and follows up with a hugequebrada. After that, Finlay looks awesome, in the original meaning of that word. This match is an absolute stomping, Finlay destroys Rey for most of this and looks unstoppable, more so than many of Rey's larger opponents. Some of the highlights include catching Rey mid-rana and powerbombing him into the corner and a nasty bump into the barricade. Aside from a couple of short comebacks (all ultimately cutoff, first with a lariat, and secondly knocking Rey off the ropes as he springboared), Rey's job here was to bump and sell, a task he obviously excels at. That said, I enjoyed some of his kicks, and the 619 seemed to connect with the point of the boot which was nice. The best thing about this match up is that Finlay can (and does) look great destroying Rey, but the size difference isn't as obvious a gimmick here compared to similar Rey underdog matches, especially with the way Finlay bumps and stooges for all of Rey's offence. I find there's added intensity find this credibility.

Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, 18th April 2004 - This is a fish-out-of-water story, with Randy failing right from the beginning to compete in this environment, losing his barbed wire bat and running for cover. I don't know if the barbed wire board is gimmicked, but it looks pretty evil and distinctly denser with wire than most. The teased fire spot and Bischoff's intervention doesn't work for me - I get that it's about Mick wanting to go as far as possible, but it has no possible payoff, ruins the flow and weakens the impact of what follows by comparison. Orton's bump onto the tacks is great - the shock in his face at the landing is joyous, and that visual should by all rights be as iconic as Austin in the sharpshooter. Didn't coming away thinking I watched a particularly hate-filled encounter, and the match suffers from lacking a decent finish - an RKO onto a barbed wire bat (allegedly) lacks the impact of any of the big spots, or even Mick's suplex bumps onto the ramp. All told, I liked this plenty. Crowd chant "ECW" halfway through, but this is Mick's WWE tribute to his IWA Japan days, with the barbed wire board and the fire and the tacks. Would be topped in gimmickry in the Edge match, but this is a much better executed version and told a more compelling story.

Big Japan: 26th March 2009

2009-11-23T18:51:00.000Z

The undercard was pretty vanilla. Abdullah Kobayashi and MASADA vs. Ryuji Ito and Shuji Ishikawa was totally the Abby show - I enjoyed his performance, and thought the match was OK.

The main event is the now-famous lighttube and double board death matches between the team of Miyamoto and Takeshi Sasaki and the team of Takeda and Kodaka. This is the second time watching it, and it is as much of a spectacle second time around as when I watched in it April. The crowd heat by the end is fantastic, and even with a more analytical eye, it is well-merited. First thing that struck me about this match is the precision. Deathmatches can be sloppy, with poor execution disguised behind the weapons and blood. Everything here is crisp and on target, and it adds so much to the overall brutality, especially in the non-weapon spots (Takeda and Kodaka's double drop kick, for instance).

Secondly, you can't underplay how physical this was, and how much Takeda and Kodaka took (especially the latter). Isami is borderline clinically insane - each of the two big bumps (somersault senton to a table on the outside, powerbomb to a ladder landing on his head) alone were crazy, but both together in a twenty minute match is another level entirely. That's his role, and his frame and stature make him perfect for it. He's the most sympathetic of the two and the best seller. Takeda, in contrast, is much more of a fighter - he is on the wrong end of lengthy heat section, but unlike his partner, is able to fight back. The spear into the lighttubes, for example, was a really nice lead in to the (short-lived) hot tag.

Sasaki is just dominant here. I could read excessively into his performance, but he seems like a kingmaker. There's a contempt to the way he regards the young pretenders made richer by his relationship with Miyamoto - someone from the same generation as Kodaka and Takeda who he hand-picked after Yuko proved himself. It is something to see someone draw actual heel heat in Big Japan, but Sasaki manages it here, by a combination of his meaness and their sympatheticness.

Miyamoto takes the most interesting role. As champion he's expected to be more dominant than his earlier days, but what he actually he brings to this match is an essential balancing act - great looking offence (his speed is notable, as are his lariats) but also enough vulnerability to allow the opposing team a credible path to victory. In truth, Sasaki looks too dominant throughout to achieve this. I don't think there is a junior heavyweight in Japan (outside of Battlarts) who is better than Yuko.

The key spots were used well. Aside from the big Isami bumps and Takeda's bumps (I jumped when he was thrown through the middle ropes, shattering four or five lighttubes), the biggest were used by the underdogs to turn the tide, and the match built really well to them. Firstly, the double suplex to Sasaki through the lighttube board was the logical way to stop Sasaki. Secondly, the suplex off the ladder onto Sasaki and the barbed wire board, which eliminated Sasaki and set up a weakened Miyamoto for the loss, came after a nice sequence of Takeda fighting back up the ladder, Sasaki ending the hope spot (drawing boos) and then Isami battling back in to finally set up the big spot. The right ending to a perfectly told underdog battle. Sasaki's disgust at the end is great.

Obviously, watch the main event if you don't watch anything else on this show. Possibly the best deathmatch in two years.

ECW: November 10th 2009

2009-11-13T21:19:00.004Z

I have been watching ECW all the while, just not posting reviews. I've started several, but scrapped them after they proved dull. The shows are excellent, do not get me wrong, but haven't found anything worthwhile to say. Quite frankly, there's enough wasted words on the Internet (running by in the Blogosphere, just past the Twitterscape) and I don't need to join in. I've been enjoying the lengthy feud story arcs, particularly of Christian and Regal, but also of Burchill and Helms.

I nearly got tickets for this show, but it turned out that it was fortunate that I didn't, as I ended up with a work thing. I'll see Christian live one day, and I will go nuts for his entrance music. Opening Abraham Washington intro was kind of pointless, an entire segment built around a quick pop culture reference. The segment has a charm, albeit a special one.

Some has a Vote Jedward sign in the audience as Goldust comes to the ring, and already I wish this was not in Britain. The "Who are ya" chant during the last segment was tired enough. If they'd done that right after Washington's lengthy introduction, that would have been funny, but no. I'm so proud of my fellow countrymen. And while I'm complaining about people who use words, there is nothing ironic about Burchill "preparing to take on ECW's superhero next week" while this week he's facing ECW's most bizarre superstar. It's not even coincidence, let alone irony. It's just two occurences. Fine little TV match. Goldust is one of the best guys anywhere for four minute TV matches. Strong selling, well-timed comebacks and cutoffs, crisp offence; Goldust in incredibly watchable even with so little time.

I don't think there's anyone anywhere in the world having as much fun with his life than Zack Ryder, and I'm glad we get to share in his dorky glory. He'll probably take my no. 100 place on my WKO ballot, just for a year's worth of entertaining television.

New commentator annoys for a second time at the beginning of the Regal-Christian match with his lack of English speaking ability, saying how Christian had problems checking in last night, and that you don't want to allude to anything, but Regal has connections. You see, the thing about Regal is, well, I ain't saying he a golddigga. But he ain't...erm, let's focus on the match rather than soil this blog's near perfect reputation for not using racial slurs. I liked this match a lot. What I particularly liked is how both men have enough confidence in themselves and each other to stray away from the formula match which Christian has used so well this year with less experienced opponents. There was no particular bump which switched the match from early Christian control to heel opponent body part work, which is the biggest structured element of most Christian matches. Instead, the match feels a lot more organic and contested. They work lots of struggle spots, especially Regal, whose had this short section of pinfall attempts where each looked like it required a huge effort. Christian displayed hints of heeling, in the face of strong support for Regal. I liked the Killswitch being used as a nearfall, in desperation, and the push off the turnbuckle bump being used by Regal on defence rather than on attack. Christian's elbows to escape the Regal Stretch were awesome. Working with Regal this summer and autumn really seems to have improved Christian's striking.

I don't think this was better than their two matches in August and September, for all the things I liked about it. I think the crowd may have diminished my enjoyment - maybe it was the pace or the style (a match bereft of rope running or excessive reversal spots lacks the immediacy of, say, a John Morrison match) or the split allegiances, but their reactions were all over the place. I would suspect this had an impact of Regal and Christian's performances - both men are experienced enough to work off the crowd, so when a crowd is as confused as this one was, it must throw them. Something felt slightly off throughout the match. Objectively though, this was excellent.

I will say this though. Don't you think it's sort of ironic that I just watched an episode of ECW, while tomorrow I'll probably watch something from Japan? Don't you?

A Bunch Of: Yoshihiro Takayama

2009-11-10T23:00:00.004Z

Been catching up on All Japan. Takayama is a guy I really like. If you read this blog a lot, you'll notice I often talk more about things like selling and facials more than moves and spots. The essence of enjoying Takayama is in his facials. He has a fairly gnarly face to start with, but he conveys a an awful lot of discomfort and hurting with just the curl of a lip. Also, I like that he's lumbering. He's one of the biggest guys in Japanese pro-wrestling, so I find it credible that a physically limited guy is still such a threat.

The story of a good Takayama match is all about how his oppenents combat the size. The Takayama-Muto match from April is a great example of this. Muto has his established, repetitive moveset, which targets the legs of his opponent. Against Takayama, such a moveset makes a lot of sense, and with really great selling, you get a simple match based around Muto's relentlessly targetting the legs whilst Takayama, perversely, fights from below before his legs finally give out. You could argue that the match lacks a certain drama, and I wouldn't outright disagree. It still remains a well executed and coherent story.

First thing I watched was the Suzuki and Takayama vs. Suwama and Kono from 26th of July. This tag was part of the build towards Suwama's title shot in August. I didn't really like this. Firstly, the opening half is predominantly Suzuki and Kono trading leg locks in the ring, whilst Takayama and Suwama brawl a little lethargically around Korakuen. I wasn't really feeling the animosity that the build to a showdown should generate. In the latter stages it almost felt like Suzuki and Takayama were doing all they could to make Suwama's strikes and lariats look deadly, which is commendable. Suwama could just hit harder though.

This led to the title match from August 30th. The start to this is slow, and not in a good way (feeling out, looking for an opening) but like they were going at two thirds speed. There's some sloppy work early on as well - the back body drop looked awful. It got better when Takayama took control - his knee strikes, low drop kicks and apron strike combos looked good. I don't like how Takayama's selling was almost too much for the relative weakness of much of Suwama's early stuff, while Suwama does by Takayama's significantly stiffer offence. The last six or seven minutes were great, however, filled with some nice spots (the suplex off the the top that almost landed Takayama on his head) and of course the massively violent final exchange - both guys punching each other in the face, and a headbutt that sounded like two concrete blocks slamming together. A little disturbing, given the hardway bleeding and Takayama's own medical history, but for sheer violence, it was quite amazing. At the same time, the finish felt like they went 'right, now we go', which while great self-contained, actually serves to emphasise how underwhelming the first twenty minutes are. The biggest problem with the middle was that Suwama was working as an equal in terms of power and impact, without the moveset or the epic heavyweight fatigue selling a twenty five minute match of that style should involve,

Takayama vs. Kojima from September 26th was so much better. Takayama's got a cockiness early on - the bit where he carefully lines up the chest slap so he could pull back on the armbreaker was great. His face said 'I can hit you whenever I'm ready'. Simple psychology with Koji targetting the head, either because of the historic injury, or the end of the Suwama match. The finish isn't brutal like the Suwama match, nor is it the most creative thing you've ever seen, but it works well enough, with Kojima sticking with his lariat until it gets three. Kojima selling an self-inflicted injured arm as a result was a nice touch. I loved Takayama's facial reaction of disbelief to the kickout of the German. Sense of cumulative damage was well done here, and the crowd, especially after the German kickout, were really into the idea of a title change and made this feel like an Event. Much shorter, more consistently impactful, and a well told story make this a success.

Big Japan: 1st February 2009

2009-11-05T21:42:00.002Z

Aww, Big Japan in the littlest venue in Japan. Probably. I don't watch Ice Ribbon. Watching the pre-show footage, I'm kind of fascinated with Big Japan audiences. In the US, hardcore wrestling feds are almost entirely male, and a certain sort of male at that. The amount of Japanese couples that seem to be at these shows, like its a place to go for a date, blows me away. And then there's groups of respectable looking girls there together,. How has that happened? (and how can we make it happen everywhere?). I should say that I got this DVD (and all of these 2009 Big Japan DVDs) from Ultimo the Great. I won't link his site, because officially he doesn't sell the DVDs on it, and I don't want to ruin his elaborate ruse.

Kasai and Numazawa on double duty tonight, for some reason. The opening six man is fun silliness. Abby seemed to be being particularly absurd here, lots of hammy overacting and ridiculous facials. I'm not sure at what point the continual assault with a broom to (and indeed in) a man's posterior stops being pro wrestling, but I suspect the middle section of this match certainly flirted with that boundary. Funniest moment was between Abby and MEN's, with Abby on the top wanting MEN's to come closer for his mongolian chop, and the two of them arguing about it back and forth. Fine for what it wanted to be.

The middle two tags were clipped, but I didn't get anything in particular out of what was shown. The show was really about the main event six man match. This was a barbed wire match. I can't remember the last time I saw a good barbed wire match. (Wait, yes I can, Big Japan had one nearer the end of last year. That may have been an eight-man or more). This managed the (presumably simple) task of feeling quite brutal. There was plenty of skin stuck to wire to get the point across - MASADA's arm seemed quite cut up. They through in some other stuff as well with tubes and ladders. Kasai's reaction to the punted lighttube in his back was great. It may have lost it's way a little in the middle, after they'd already broken half of the wire from various bumps, but it finished strong, with MASADA destroying Kodaka. The powerbomb was really nasty and unprotected for a bump onto glass, and the texas cloverleaf sat right on the wire was suitably evil.

MASADA was really great in this throughout - he must have gone through the wire at least four times, and his sections on attack were exciting - I've spoken before how he works at a quick pace in this sorts of matches, really piling the offence on. The best example here was wear he downed all three opponents with chair shots, did his wooden needle thing, cut some wire off with clippers, and piledrove Miyamoto into it, all in quick succession. No sense dragging these things out.

Am I the only guy on the internet who sings the praises of MASADA of all people? Should that be telling me something? Answers to these question and more besides on the next exciting installment of "MASADA and me".

Big Japan: 12th March 2009

2009-11-05T20:58:00.002Z

I watched the outdoor show from the previous month, but was quite uninspired by it. The main event did an old school Big Japan (pre-2003) style deathmatch, with glass, bricks, boards, barbed wire and eventually a bunch of fire spots. This was fitting, giving the participants were Abby, WX Winger and (less relevantly) MASADA, who fitted right in as the main aggressor role. Not a good match by any means, as a lot of it was sloppily executed, the big spots (especially the Emerald Froison to the outside burning table) took a long time to set up and in the end, the whole things just felt like an exhibition of nasty bumps rather than a wrestling match. The final fire spot (blown right into Abby's face, like the old days) is really quite insane, but then even managed the less the drama of that with some weak WX lariats before the pin. I did appreciate Winger's heel act though - biting a bleeding man's head and spitting into the crowd should get so much more of a reaction than crowd laughter. Let's move back indoors.

There was a bunch of stuff from this show that others had recommended, and I didn't go for any of it. In particular, the Kasai vs. Numazawa was the big deathmatch main event, playing off their very bloody history of matches with a lot of gimmickry. The opening segment has the two of them sat around a table with a sketch of what they wanted for the match, as if you didn't know it was going to be an exhibition anyway. No mistake, I enjoyed the lunacy of this, but its a badly put together match. I mean, the first emerald froison off the scaffold through the table was a massive spot, but a minute later they are up doing more stuff. The second dive was even crazier, the height of that dive was bordering on that where you have to think that even with precautions, there's a real chance of serious injury. I'm writing this up two days later, and I can't remember the finish. I have no memory of it. That how much this was just a stunt show.

Takeda and Kodaka vs. Inoue and Hoshino was the worthwhile match from this show. Firstly, its nice to have a deathmatch with guys who are more than capable of starting off with mat exchanges and simple feeling out, without it looking forced, weak or like when Tommy Dreamer tries to wrestle. Hoshino's roaring elbow was nice. All four guys are underdog guys usually, so when put together its interesting to see them looking to assert dominance from a roughly equal footing, no-one backing down in strike exchanges. The first barbed wire board spot is used by Inoue to achieve the first definite period of control, the second one used by Isami to make the tag, both of which are smart uses of the gimmick. Takeda's exploider on Hoshino looked great as a small guy throwing a larger guy on his head - Hoshino takes a great bump here.

What makes this match is the final stretch. You have Inoue taking just piles of violence. The chair shots into the barbed wire board was pretty crazy and, with the increase in intensity at that moment, one of the most exciting things I've seen this year. I loved the recklessness with which the board was later used, thrown back and forth between Inoue and Takeda. This is Inoue's best performance in forever - really top-notch selling all the way down the stretch. Takeda's scrambling legs during the winning pin was a nice touch - this is the first stage of them becoming the underdog team who pulls out wins, and the sense that they need to fight hard for every victory is made clear with little things like that.

How Great is Sasuke? (part four of recurring)

2009-11-04T19:01:00.003Z

Minoru Suzuki and Super Tiger II vs. Great Sasuke and Mitsuya Nagai, Real Japan, September 11th 2009

Found this looking for Otsuka matches on Lenny's site. This is a weird mixture of guys. This starts with a fun section where Sasuke is overly confident with Super Tiger, hopping around like Sayama, and then freaks out a little when the headkicks start getting close. After a short mat section, Sasuke demands Suzuki comes in, who proceeds to stomp on his chest and chop him. At this point, I thought they were going to do a fun fish-out-of-water story, but Sasuke isn't in this much afterwards. Nagai and Super Tiger have a uninspiring kick and forearm exchange, with Super Tiger throwing some weak looking forearms and me screaming inside my head for him to just start kicking harder. I don't know what's happened to Super Tiger this year - he was never a guy to hold a match together, but he'd had some great kicks and wild strikes. He's not even good for that at the moment. Neither guy does much to sell or build on these strikes and I stop caring. Sasuke and Suzuki have another section in the middle which is pretty much the high point, Sasuke misses a somersault senton, Suzuki kicks him right in the spine. Tiger and Nagai finish off together as Suzuki and Sasuke have brief exchanges around the ring and crowd. I felt quite disappointed by this overall. I was hoping for a heroic beating, but Tiger looked unimpressive and Suzuki only got serious near the end.

Tiger Mask IV and Great Sasuke vs. Jado and Gedo, New Japan, August 19th 2001

I enjoyed this - I didn't think it was ground breaking, but was still perfectly entertaining. I have been told that TMIV, a punchline in 2009, was decent around this time, but I didn't see much evidence of that here. His selling during the heel beatdown was perfunctory at best, and his transition after that section was landing on his feet out of a german, and hitting a tope which, ironically for two athletic spots, is very lazy. Sasuke's section features a lunatic high spot, somersaulting towards Jado on a table, but barely touching him and hitting the floor, which is a shame because it would have been a great high spot. At least he sells the back injury after that point, because that looked painful. The finish stretch is typical, with plenty of action, and the finish comes after Sasuke it hit with a thrown chair whilst on the top and falls into a flatliner, thus breaking up his series of finishers.

Big Japan/Men's Club: 28th January 2009

2009-10-30T22:06:00.005Z

I've started to ignore, for review purposes alone, Men's Club matches. That may be trickier with this show, which is entirely Men's Club. This may be quite brief. Only reason I'm writing it up is I'm looking forward to the Dick Togo match at the end. Let's give this a go.

Opener has six guys, of whom I know only KUDO from previous Men's Club matches, and I vaguely know Kotoge is from Osaka Pro. The latter is the only one in this who leaves any lasting impression on me, and that purely for how fast he was between the ropes. The rest is largely personality-less flying.

Next match is...distinctly uglier: Sekimoto and Ito vs. Kasai and Numazawa. I wish I knew what they were saying in the pre match interviews. If the last match lacked personality then this one doesn't. Kasai is phenomenally watchable. His stuff isn't always good, and he can be annoying, but in the right setting, he has remarkable presence. This is wrestled as a comedy match, meaning I don't mind Kasa and Numazawa's goofy stuff here - it's just in the middle of a proper deathmatch it seems incongruous. Sekimoto manages the most anguished sell of broom handle penetration, to the extent that it must of actually hurt, because Sekimoto isn't the guy to sell anything that much. Ito has some really weak kicks these days. Fun stuff: Kasai failing to get the aerosol to work, before realising a kick in the stomach was probably just as effective, and Sekimoto standing up as Kasai was on the top for Pearl Harbour, with Kasai signalling for a time-out.

Dick Togo could have plugged any pretty junior into his match with Yuki Sato. This was an impressive display - the range of attacks on Sato's midriff, the punches, the bumping for the short comebacks. They worked a nice little section with a leg-scissors, with Sato fighting out using his elbow in Togo's knee. Sato sold exactly enough to fufill his end of the bargain - he pops up a couple of times, but generally he seems to have kept the chest injuries in mind throughout, and I thought his forearms were weak looking on purpose. The final senton looked great, as did the slick magistral pin into a crossface. I would say this was a marked success.

And finally, a fourway tag match, featuring, unusally, some fairly regular team mates (Oishi and Asahi, Speed of Sounds, Madoka/Ibushi and MEN's/Shinobu). One thing I notice is that hardly any of these guys, for all their jumping around, have good dives. Shinobu has an OK quebrada, and Ibushi has a range of impressive acrobatics, but no-one has a dive that looks like a great weapon. That's the biggest difference to me between modern lucharesu and lucha - there's no bases to make dives look great (and keep them safe still) and no divers who'll throw their whole body into it like a lot of luchadores will, which is probably at least partially because of the first point.

Anyway, this was an enjoyable romp through some well-worn spots, with an great pace. Yet, it's the little elements of story I remember the most. I love how Ibushi continually forgets that in these matches Teioh is king and everyone humours him with the silly stuff (after Ibushi gets the win, Teioh himself comes in a points out the Men's Club logo on the mat, and the fact the he is Men's Teioh). I also love the relationship between Teioh and Shinobu - comedy requires a fall guy, and Shinobu plays the role earnestly. The bit where Teioh tried to pin Shinobu because everyone was doing it was very funny.

Nice little show. I even found enough worth writing about.

Big Japan: 13th February 2009 (part two)

2009-10-30T19:58:00.002Z

They manage to squeeze four matches into this show, and three of those came in the first twenty five minutes. Takeda and Isami vs. Okabayashi and Kawakami is joined in progress. I thought this was pretty fun for what aired. Isami has a fairly unique demeanour - he almost seems like he's holding back on some of his strikes. A lot of young smaller Japanese wrestlers look like their bursting out of their faces with the strain of each forearm. Isami doesn't particularly, and it comes across punkish. Theses younger guys can work a decent tag match without all the Big Japan gimmickry - they have a couple of double team spots, and interesting non-deathmatch offense (I love Takeda working quasi-shoot style or amateur spots into his matches, the takedown like suplex looks great). Both guys, Takeda in particular, make Okabayashi's Sekimoto like offence look great, the bump off the wild lariat was a highlight. Still, this was six minutes of a nine minute match, but I felt they put in a good effort.

Abdullah Kobayashi & MASADA vs. Shadow WX and Ohashi was nearly a squash, with WX marginalised and Ohashi taking a beating. Nothing particulalry exciting, although I did enjoy Abby cartwheeling the referee to break a submission hold halfway through. This is the reason for Abby - completely dumb stuff. Also, increasingly creepy moustaches. The final Masada powerbomb was head-bouncingly brutal.

I didn't realise, foolishly, that they were playing for the draw in the main event - I should have. This is exactly how those tiring Sekimoto vs. Tanaka matches go. I'm really not interested in watching a never-ending cycle of finishers without any build or purpose, but there's about ten minutes of that nonsense at the end of this. Only thing I particularly liked about it was Shuji Ishikawa playing his role well. He had a bunch of great knee based strikes and running attacks, which were doubly pleasing every time they cut off a badly timed Sekimoto flurry. His few in-ring exchanges with Mammoth were good and properly conveyed the sense of two big men clashing. Ito isn't really the guy to really sell nearfalls, despite the magnitude of offense he took, so I never felt drawn into the finishing stretch.

This entire show wasn't great - the headline stuff from the tag tournament was quite underwhelming, and not smartly worked. I expect better match ups later on.

Big Japan: 13th February 2009 (part one)

2009-10-27T23:02:00.002Z

This is the first batch of shows featuring the Maximum Tag League, which goes on until the end of May. I like how they have teams from all their 'divisions', and adjust the type of match depending on the participants. The first match between the team of Inoue and Hoshino and team Yoshito Sasaki & Shinya Ishikawa was easy enough to watch. The only thing that I particularly like about the littlest S. Ishikawa is his dropkicks, which look great. They do two short heat sections, neither leading to a particularly hot tag. I normally like Hoshino for bumping and underdog selling, but they didn't seem to be going for that here.

Next match is a big deathmatch of Sasaki and Miyamoto vs Jun Kasai & Numazawa. This had some weak brawling to start. They'll do crazy things with weapons, but the older deathmatch guys are generally terrible in-crowd brawlers. Miyamoto does his moonsault over the stairway, which is a pretty insane spot, given the risks from missing, but the camera never picks up on that. I'm also a little bored of Kasai and Numazawa's broom-based comedy spots. Thankfully, this eventually settled down into a simple, bloody spotfest - not well put together, but fun at least. Kasai and Numazawa go together into the lighttube cage in an overly contrived spot. They do a superplex and a Frankensteiner off the side cage, the later onto tacks. After loads more weapon assisted moves, Sasaki brings out a bucket of kenzans, but the final Yankee Driver doesn't really seem to make contact with any (I've never gotten over watching Sasaki wrestle Abby Jr with one stuck in his skull for fifteen minutes). Kasai's appeal is crazy highspots, and Numazawa needs them to disguise he can't wrestle (watch how weak the few non-hardcore moves he does to see this).

With the pretty poor opening ten minutes, its not surprising this was nowhere near as good as their match last June (which was highspots and highspots and huge energy for twenty five minutes), but the final stretch was entertaining in the car-crash kind of way. My favourite touch, and its such a small thing, but Miyamoto got the jump on his opponents at the start - its seemingly the oldest booking cliche in Big Japan that the champion gets attacked during his introduction. I thought that played nicely into the ongoing theme of Miyamoto's development as a champion.

Michinoku Pro: 5th September 2009

2009-10-16T00:05:00.001+01:00

All I have from this show, at present, is the main event, but as I tend to enjoy Michinoku Pro undercards without feeling the need to over analyse them, it's not that much of a problem.

So, this is a Tohoku Jr. Title match between champion Fujita 'Jr' Hayato and challenger Ou Kobushi. Kobushi returned at the last TV show, and now he gets a title match. I don't know him, but a little research reveals he debuted in 2008 in openers, so as this is a return match after a lengthy absence, this would be consider a mega-push by any standards.

In the Sasuke match in June, Fujita is the secondary character to Sasuke's broken down ageing junior attempting to compete with the new generation story. This match, however, is all Fujita's. After the inital water-testing exchanges, the first ten minutes of this have Kobushi looking strong, and this is made by Hayato's selling. It's not delayed, first-I'll-fight-back junior type selling either - it's each strike is carving in my chest, this hurts type selling, right from the beginning. I loved the distance he attempted to put between them in the first half, especially where after being rolled back in the ring, he rolls straight out the other side. It really helps the pacing and impact of a strike based match if they can be spread out. I never got the feeling of becoming desensitized to striking during this match.

The second half starts with one short comeback. Pleasingly, the early damage remains a constant, even during the brief moments of quick activity. By dropping, fatigued and clutching the chest after a series of kicks or rope running, these feel like desperations spots, and unlike the thousands of other times this is said, genuinely conveyed a story of fighting through the pain (the secret, it turns out, is actually demonstrating the "pain" part, as well as the "fighting" part). There's a point, nearer the end, where Hayato seems to say "enough". He has a great pissed-off face, swings a kick and invites Kobushi to kick back. Often when these exchanges are done, it seems contrived - here it seems designed to remind the audience who the champion is, and is used as an actual turning point in momentum, rather than an exhibition of stiffness. Each strike is sold, which again distinguishes it from lots of these types of spots.

I loved the final run of Fujita offence. I don't want to undersell the fact that I thought Kobushi more the decent throughout, and this is demonstrated best in the finish. He eats a load of nasty offence, and sells the damage like he's done, which makes his kick out of the knee strike impressive. Often, in junior type matches, a finisher kickout is ignored by the guy on offense, who will just go for another move, and another, until something else happens. Fujita looks genuinely aggrieved and disbelieving that he didn't win. The knockout finish, given the match, was really appropriate - the first head kick was brutal, and basically won the match - Fujita staggering, knocked loopy sell tells that story, and Ou looks, in that moment, ever inch champion-elect. The follow-up roundhouse served merely to finalise it.

It many ways, this is a very simple match. The movesets are stripped down to just to most effective weapons - the kicks, stomps, submissions and a couple of suplexes. For a strike-based match, each strike or series of strikes felt important, rather than filler. The ways they are used tell a strong story, and the individual performances, particularly (but not only) the selling of damage, give credence to that story. I am sorely tempted to call this my match of the year. I can think of no other match in 2009 which is so viscerally impressive, yet so smartly worked and excellently performed.

IWRG 18th June 2009: Trauma II vs. Zatura

2009-10-12T23:41:00.006+01:00

I had a few other Trauma singles matches lined up to watch, but I ended up only watching this, and then a couple of other minor matches from the same card. The Piratas trios has its moments, but was pretty standard fare. I'll try and watch Dr Cerebro vs. Juvi tomorrow.

This is a title match, and it is a deeply, deeply pleasing one. The mat work here is focused on injuring bodyparts, which is somewhat unusual in this setting. I thought both guys looked great moving around on the mat, and the holds all were designed for submissions, not the kind of one-upsmanship you often get (to be clear, I like that style, especially where used to tell a story, but sometimes feels a little disjointed). The first fall is predominantly Trauma II in control, and he uses a number of painful looking arm submissions on Zatura's taped up shoulder. He's also not afraid to punch Zatura right in the arm in between. I liked the suddeness of the finish, with Zatura locking one of those all-limb, inescaple holds that is completely lucha. In a nice touch, the hold was predominantly controlled using the legs.

Over the course of the first and starting again in the second fall, Trauma develops (or possibly redevelops) a shoulder injury also, which is the focus of Zatura's second fall control. There's a moment where Trauma exits the ring to get a breather, and he seems to convey a frustration over how close he's come to losing in two straight falls. The second fall finish was beautiful - a rope assisted rolling takedown into a (again predominantly leg-controlled) arm submission.

The third caida is where they drop the mat stuff and go for broke. Trauma does a great corner powerbomb, Zatura later responds with a gorgeous top rope moonsault. They spill to the outside - Trauma gets a (OKish) tope. The last few minutes are really good. It descends into both guys throwing punches - a long way away from the early matwork - before Zatura tries for a pin with some takedowns. I feel like I'm in danger of over analysing the finish, but how I would like to see it would be that Zatura had to break his tapatia due to his injured arm (if you watch, you see he releases that arm first). This allows Trauma to reverse the move and secure the win.

The match feels like its included a mixture of different influences - the control and transition of the matwork is distinctly lucha, but the submission work feels a lot more puro/shoot-based. The extending selling of a bodypart as the main story isn't typical either. I thought they really managed to pull it off and achieve something that felt, for want of a better word, new and exciting.

Dragon Gate Infinity 146!!!

2009-10-12T12:05:00.002+01:00

146

Sandwiched between the best pro wrestling TV show of the year the week prior and a Korakuen show the next week, Infinity 146 looked to be a pretty low key show. However it turned out to be one of the most solid episodes of the year from start to finish. The show featured the two main matches from the tour show at the always lively Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2.

Shingo & YAMATO vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanisaki

This match pitted the company’s current singles champs (who did a lovely double belt pose pre-match) against the #1 contenders to the tag titles. If you didn’t get enough Tani last week, there was plenty more for you here. The KAMIKAZE team isolated him early and he did what he does best – create sympathy. Doi eventually got his usual hot tag and we got a very fun finishing stretch which came down to Shingo and Naoki. They laid it in hard, including some sick headbutts which Naoki busted himself open with. The finish was awesome as Shingo turned him inside out, and I mean INSIDE OUT with an insane lariatoooo and then put him down with the Made In Japan. Good match.

RealHaz attacked post-match to build to the Twin Gate match at Korakuen and also Tani’s first Brave Gate defence against “Mr. Brave Gate” Genki Horiguchi.

Non-title Match: Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC vs. CIMA, Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka

Crowd was H.O.T. for this from the get go. Lots of things going on here. Yoshino and PAC were having a personal game of one-upmanship for the title of GREATEST WRESTLER ON PLANET EARTH AT THIS VERY MOMENT, Gamma appeared to have taken the last protein bar at lunch and BxB was NOT happy about it so he was all uppity at him, CIMA was working his ass off as he usually does in multi-mans and Susumu was just being Susumu – keeping everything flowing as it should, catching flying dudes and throwin’ some choice lariats.

The match was quality, your typical really good DG 6 man. Not quite the level they get to when in front of a crazy US crowd or at a big DG PPV, but still better than 95% of the wrestling than you saw this month. Like I said, PAC and Yoshi were just outstanding. These guys are just the most mindblowing athletes in the world. We got the big finishing stretch that you’d expect and it was Susumu (who’s getting a push) who got the deciding pin over PAC with the Mugen.

Over the credits we got footage of Ryo Saito tying up Yoshino in a rope while Araken posed. I love Real Hazard.

I should mention that the new Infinity theme by THE PIXY CHICKS is without doubt the grandest wrestling TV show music going. You just have to hear it.

Infinity 145 – 8/10

A Bunch Of: Black Terry

2009-10-10T12:27:00.009+01:00

It's coming towards the end of the year, and I'm catching up with some matches for some guys who'll appear near the top of my WKO 100 ballot. This one is all Black Terry.

First up, the trios between Cerebro Terribles and the team of Zatura and the two Traumas, from June 15th. This had a great matwork first fall. Zatura and Cerebro Negro had a nice long section with nice matstuff and armdrags. Trauma II looks really useful matching up against Dr Cerebro - I like flowing matwork where it looks like the moves between holds seem to involve some work, or leverage. Trauma I isn't quite as good, but he's in there with Terry, who leads him through some nice sequences. There's a great reaction by Dr Cerebro near the end of the fall after Trauma I gets Terry in a leglock straight out of his father's playbook. The technicos take the fall. The rest of this match is a little odd, as the Cerebros take the second fall and dominate most of the third falls, without much of a technico comeback. Terry works on Trauma I's arm for large parts of this, and Trauma does a good job selling his arm, although it doesn't matter for much for the match. There was a couple of time Terry seemed to be missing punches to Trauma, before I realised he was punching him in the arm, not the chin. Cerebro Negro seems to legitimately injure himself, leading to medical attention, which seems to throw everyone off. Overall, solid but not that special.

Moving forward to August 10th, and we have a Cerebros trios not involving Navarro or his offspring. Almost as good though, because this was the pirates. Who doesn't love pirates? I really liked this. It has a great opening - Terry ends up in los Piratas corner, and fights off all three with elbow, before Hijo del Pirata Morgan ends up in the same position, and does the same, and they have a huge standoff, and I thought it was glorious. Really long matwork fall to start. Terry and Hijo seem to really be working hard in their section, fighting for each hold. There's some cool stuff in there too - Terry stands on Hijo's hand to move behind him. Loved the faceoff with Barba Roja on the apron. I'm never sure who I like more out of Dr Cerebro and Cerebro Negro. Dr Cerebro does a lot more arm-drag type stuff (although there was a lovely long sequence in the middle with at one point the Doctor leveraging Morgan Jr over with a complicated looking leg entwinement), while Negro does a lot more holding on to limbs, moving between numerous holds in one sequence. I don't really have a strong preference either way, especially as their sequences always look good and they are working slightly different roles within the trio. The matwork breaks down with another Piratas breakup of a submission, and soon after a short rope running exchange between Morgan Jr and Dr Cerebro, the Cerebros take the fall with two submissions and a pinfall, all simultaneously. Very much a classic fall, with a classic finish.

The second fall breaks out of the matwork pairing, and moves into more intense brawling sections around the ring, with the rudos taking control. Los Piratas looked like a great unit here, during the triple teams. This ends with the Dr Cerebro and Negro getting back into the fall sending two of the Piratas to the outside, followed up with great topes (Dr Cerebro's is a real head first suicidal) before Hijo del Pirata Morgan throws his mask at Terry. Terry's reactions here are delightful, slowly working out what the mask in his hand means, then his protests to the referee as he was disqualified.

The final fall begins with the rudos in charge, but this switches over and then the Cerebros get to control with their triple teams, which are very slick. Cerebro Negro does a nasty looking double foot stop over the rope to the apron. I really liked the pacing of this match, especially the way brawling and triple team work was used as a basis to build upon towards the finishes. Each falls felt like a seperate encounter with an real sense of momentum and control. It was interesting to see the Cerebros working crowd favourites here, but also to see Terry win with a low blow - both equalising the cheating in the second fall, and a nod to old rudo habits. I wish the revancha the following week had been aired, because this is one of my favourite lucha trios of the year.

Finally, I've got Black Terry, Cerebro Negro and Fantasma de la Opera vs Dinastia Navarro (this is from IWRG on 9th July). This had an inauspicious start, as they break straight into brawling. I didn't think it was particularly bad, like ohtani's jacket did, just not very interesting. There is a point in the second caida, however, where Navarro gets really intense and starts fighting back, throwing great punches, which Terry takes exactly like he always does, rocking about yet still standing up. I love this sort of brawling - so often you see one person punching another, and the other running away, so it looks very weak. Here, Terry and Navarro are right up against each other, and it looks great. The fall ends with Navarro staring out the referee, and he looks like the biggest badass on the planet. The third fall is good, with a sequence of submissions and breakups, before the dives leave Terry and Navarro alone for the finish, which is exactly what you want. Good stuff.

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 145!

2009-10-01T23:18:00.001+01:00

145

Yup, we haven’t had too many of these in recent weeks, due to pesky real life issues clogging up my time, but I have been INSPIRED to write a new review this week. That inspiration has come from one man named Naoki Friggin Tanizaki, my absolute favourite wrestler in the history of the world (this week). Infinity 145, eminating from Hakata Star Lanes, was the Naoki show. Well actually it was the Naoki & His Daughter Show. The show centered around the Open The Brave Gate tournament to crown a new champ. We had two semi final three ways with the winners meeting in the final.

Naoki Tanizaki vs. Kzy vs. Super Shiisa

I’m not the hugest fan of three ways and triple threats anymore, but this was fun and kept nice and short. Kzy heeled it up with the help of his Real Hazard buddies at ringside (he’s really fitting into the rudo role nicely) and I think most of the crowd expected him to advance past veteran lower carder Shiisa, and the man who Kzy beat at World, Tanizaki. They were right as far as Shiisa went, as he was pinned after a mask-jacking by Kzy. However they were very wrong as far as Naoki went. He battled past the RH interference to snatch a win and move to the final. Post match he was beatdown bigtime by chair shots and a Kzy-Time (Canadian Destroyer from the corner).

KAGETORA vs. Tozawa vs. Super Shenlong

Again, same kinda deal. Short snappy three way. Shelong did some funny stuff before being booted and it came down to the two more senior members. Both KAGE and Tozawa have been kept pretty strong this year so it was anyone’s guess who’d advance. Lots of cool stuff exchanged down the stretch with Tozawa’s Germans being particularly choice. KAGE hooked him out of nowhere in his high speed cradle of doom that he’s been beating people with, and Tozawa was done.

Final – KAGETORA vs. Naoki Tanizaki

Tani is of course banged up coming in after the RH attack, and KAGE doesn’t waste any time getting control by working over the injured neck. Basically the first 7 or 8 minutes are all just KAGETORA picking him apart with innovative holds and other hurty stuff. With certain guys this could be boring, but when you have Naoki selling like he’s being water-boarded by Jack Bauer, it’s all good. Add in the bonus of young Yuki Tanizaki (who couldn’t have been more than 3 years old) in the crowd with Mom, looking completely worried for Daddy and the scene just gets that bit more dramatic. They started teasing comebacks throughout the middle of the match and then by the time they got down to the last 5/6 minutes the Lanes fans were starting to rock. Down the stretch it was just all big moves and 2.999999999 cradles. Naoki kept looking for his knee strikes out of desperation and KAGE just kept looking to deliver that one big final blow that would keep the pesky Tanizaki down. A DDT on the apron didn’t do it, an Ikkitousen didn’t do it and even Naoki’s own Beach Break being used on him didn’t do it.

Poor Yuki was in floods of tears at this point and a more humane individual than myself may feel that was not good. I thought it was pretty great. PRO WRES EMOTION~!!~!! Little kiddies SHOULD be crying. God knows I cried when Earthquake cut a promo saying he was coming to MY town. She even mouthed “Papa” at one point during her distress. Awesome. Naoki was meanwhile selling his guts off in the ring and just looking for any opening to give him even a small chance of winning. A HYOOOGE Beach Break of his own got him back in the game but he was too tired to hold the cover. Damage was done though, as KAGE was looking pretty out of it. The next big nearfall came, ingeniously, with the high speed cradle of doom and every man, woman and child in the building bought it. Such a huge pop for Naoki kicking out. A series of running knees nearly put KAGE away, but more was needed. A killer rolling sole butt to face got a 2.999, but Tanizaki FEELING THE MOMENTUM, hoisted KAGE up for a second Beach Break, this time holding the pin for the 1-2-3. The crowd erupted, Naoki collapsed with joy, Doi, Yoshino and Hulk (who were going batshit insane at ringside) hit the ring and then in maybe the wrestling moment of the year, the camera cut to Yuki looking overjoyed, raising her arm in the air, and then later cooly making a peace sign towards the camera. Naoki brought her into the ring for the post match speech and it was one of the happiest scenes I’ve ever seen in wrestling.

Gotta give credit to the man who was kind of overshadowed following the match – KAGETORA. He wrestled a hell of a match, guiding the thing from start to finish and really putting Tani over huge.

Not just the best Infinity this year, but one of my favourite ever.

Infinity 145 – 9.5/10

How Great is Sasuke? (part three of more than three)

2009-09-28T00:06:00.005+01:00

Magnum TOKYO vs. Great Sasuke, Toryumon, February 17th 1999

A widely lauded match, but one that surprised me a lot. The opening ten minutes is very mat-based, more so than anything I've seen Sasuke in before, and a lot moreso than I would expect from anyone in Toryumon. I guess Michinoku Pro were working with BattlArts at the time, so maybe that explains it. I liked the mat work - it was the more realistic looking sort with lots of struggle, rather than the more graceful lucha variety. Sasuke appears to be bleeding from the lip or nose, which only emphasises how tough the grappling was. He also has a couple of submissions he keeps attempting to work in, but Magnum blocks the jujigatame successfully. This doesn't feel like juniors killing time in the same way as it often does - predominantly because of the struggle between holds and the sense that the two are really jostling for position. I'd rather that the armbar became important later, but not massively so.

The second half of this is driven by highspots. Tokyo ends the mat section, where he was predominantly on the losing end, with a tope followed by an spectacular top rope quebrada. These high spots were well paced, with plenty of downtown and recovery to make them seem important. Sasuke responds later - first with suplex onto a table from the apron, then a somersault senton over the top rope to Tokyo who is lying on the table. While this was both crazy and beautiful, the follow up top rope springboard dropkick to Tokyo standing on the table was utter madness, as after making contact Sasuke had a huge drop, hitting the table on the way down.

I'm a fan of huge highspots when treated with enough respect in the aftermath. Sasuke, rightly, seemed just as badly damaged by the last one as Tokyo, if not more so. This leads into the final finishers stretch, with Sasuke bringing out all his big moves to finish off his opponent. I was starting to feel that the end was too long and a little meaningless, until the finish, which was brilliant and very unexpected. Tokyo comes back with some of his big moves, cumulating with his shooting star press. However, the moment of impact is sold as the final straw on his back, which was worn down with those table spots, and he rolls off Sasuke before he can make a pin, visibly pained. Sasuke then capitalises, first with a senton atomico to the back for a great near fall, and then a thunder firebomb for the three count.

Overall, a really excellent match. A satisfying finish like that will do a lot to raise my opinion of a match. Add that to in the well executed mat work and the breathtaking highspots before it, and there's no scope for anything but little complaints. Sasuke, I'm starting to think, really was at his best in more indy-ish settings. His matches in M-Pro or here in Toryumon seem a little more unconstrained and less formulaic than something he might have done during his New Japan appearances, and this can produce some spectacular results.

Great Sasuke vs. Yuhi Sano, Super J Cup 2000, April 9th 2000

I think the version I saw of this is clipped, as the match is pretty much all highspots. Sano has a great tope, Sasuke throws in a Space Flying Tiger Drop, Sano suplexes Sasuke over the top to the apron. The match was pretty even until the end, which is both great and not a little lunatic. Sasuke takes a top rope German, a dragon suplex and a roundhouse kick. I loved that they did a shoot-style KO finish for this, and Sasuke’s failed attempts to stand up and beat the count were great. There isn’t much transition into the last few killer moves, it feels almost like Sano decided that he was done with niceties. Actually, I think I like that – the top rope German is opportunism, and essentially decided the match, and the two moves that followed just capitalised on a near-dead Sasuke.

Sasuke, Liger, Ibushi and Tiger Mask vs. Taguchi, Togo, Kanemoto and TAKA, New Japan, August 30th 2009

This had fun moments, and not surprisingly, mainly from the veterans. I enjoyed first Togo and then Kanemoto controlling the match against Liger – Togo throws some great punches, a beautiful dropkick and looks slick on the mat too, whilst Kanemoto is entertaining striking Liger and taunting his team mates in between. Togo is probably the most impressive in this. He even manages to land squarely on his feet flipping out of a german suplex in a flash of improbable athleticism. There’s a couple of nice Sasuke touches – his sell of the facewash is very over-the-top, and after a cool spot where Taguchi pulls Tiger Mask in the way of Liger’s Shotei thrust, Sasuke’s little “what are you doing?” reaction was delightful. The last few minutes were pretty exciting, especially Sasuke’s missed apron senton, followed by Togo’s somersault tope.

ECW: 21st September 2009

2009-09-21T18:20:00.003+01:00

I loved the Regal stuff at the beginning of this show. Most defeated heel title challengers come out and demand another chance like it's their right. Regal comes out with a menancing politeness, attempting to charm his way into another shot whilst barely containing his anger at the perceived wrong to him. Regal's got the facials and the acting ability to pull this level of detail off without forcing it down anyone's throat. He was great in his short match with Hurricane, doing everything humanly possible to make make a cruiserweight comedy guy look like a credible opponent. Just a great display of bumping and selling, which also served to supplement the little story about how he was unprepared for a match.

The Zack Ryder-Yoshi Tatsu match was OK. My favourite thing about it was Striker referencing Misawa after the roaring elbow. Oh, and Ryder's music, which is just heinously catchy. The match itself is pretty generic TV fodder - fast stuff to start, chin locks in the middle, a few near falls. Yoshi's is seemingly getting his choice of puro junior spots, which makes his offence seem fresh, and he's continuing to learn how to work the crowd. Ryder's a guy I am just entertained by. He plays the gimmick brilliantly.

The battle royal suffered, like they all do, from meaningless stuff early on. Once the ring cleared, though, there was lots of enjoy. Goldust in particular was a blast. He has great babyface offence, hits it hard and fast and times it right. His rope running stuff at the end with Ryder was fun. Shelton skinning the cat and pulling Jackson over the top was a cool little spot. The finish was surprising (for everyone who didn't see the results before), and providing they're not actually lining Ryder up for the belt now, I approve - he's not the right guy to win, but he'll make a fine challenger. A decent little show, and no mistake.

WWE Breaking Point: 13th September 2009

2009-09-14T21:43:00.004+01:00

I've been rubbish at writing up WWE PPVs of late. I'm genuinely excited by this show though, especially the Punk-Taker match. I think they made a bad choice in booking Taker vs. Punk so soon, as Punk is on a roll, but I can't see Taker submitting. I'd jump out of my seat if he did, however.

Tag titles to begin. I haven't really been watching RAW, but Henry vs. Big Show is quite the matchup. This follows the Jericho-Show formula, with Jericho doing the lion's share of stuff in the ring, bumping and stooging, especially at the beginning and at the hot tag, with Big Show being sparingly. The knockout punch finish from the outside is such a great spot. It feels like the heels stealing a victory, even though it's (broadly speaking) legitimate.

The Legacy-DX match was kind of ludicrous. I didn't dislike it, partially because I'm thrilled Legacy were given an almost equal footing in the match, and won cleanly. But there was a lot that was just done badly. First of all, Rhodes and Dibiase were holding this together. I like that in a storyline sense, as the proper tag team, but really, without them being very very energised, this would have dragged awfully. Shawn Michaels is a terrible brawler. I liked the fight at the top of the steps, with the crowd forming a circle and chanting and having a great time. The ending took far too long. If your aim is to do the 'good guys lose in a two-on-one' situation, having HHH layed out for, like, an hour, after being hit once in the head looks stupid. It needs to be decisive, with Legacy quickly capitalising on their advantage. The endless Michaels comeback spots ruined it. Also, they were playing for the drama of having HHH almost make the save, but the submission they went for was so hard to apply that by the time HBK tapped, it barely looks like a submission at all (quite aside from the fact that the Dream is a knock out move anyway). The positives are all with Legacy, who took the opportunity to shine. Dibiase, in particular, looks like a credible main eventer. Unlike Michaels and HHH, whose puerile schtick is about my least favourite thing in all wrestling. The Montreal comeback was sort of amusing, I guess.

The ECW title match was truly excellent. They threw in a bit more mat stuff at the beginning, which looked great. This was less strikey (although still very strikey) compared to the TV match, but Regal brings outs a couple of great suplexes to fill up the violence quota. Christian myriad selling talents are less necessary against Regal, who makes his own offence look great - instead, it's Regal's selling ability which is more prominent here. Doesn't stop Christian setting up the middle with one of his over the buckle bumps to the outside. Working with Regal seems to have improved Christian's striking, which was his only real weak point. I liked the body shots in particular, but I particularly like how they are able to lay into each other during transitions. It makes the whole thing seem like a more legitimate fight and a tougher struggle. Match of the show, and one of the WWE matches of the year.

The Cena-Orton I Quit match is less a wrestling match, and much more a piece of performance art. The story was strong, and in this bloodless WWE environment, the level of physical violence was as much as they could realistically achieve to tell it. The cane shots to Cena's exposed ribs seemed legitimate, and Cena should be commended for his commitment here. Its not met uniform approval, but I like Orton's evil persona overacting in this setting. I also loved the symbolism of the key, being tauntingly out of reach - made me think of The Life of David Gale, of all things. These sorts of dramas need the hero to overcome the antagonist, and a sense of poetic justice, which we certainly got with the handcuff assited STF inches away from the key. I didn't love it all - Cena has developed a worrying tendency to go from great selling to no selling, which he does near the end. It detracts from his excellent performance all the way through the body of the match.

I don't know how to talk about the main event. I mean, even though deep down I remember enjoying how the smaller Punk matched up with the bigger Taker, the ending is so deeply unsatisfactory that it's all that I can think about. Repeats of the Montreal screwjob are not clever. It needs to be said, in a loud voice to whoever it is in the creative team who thinks they are. Not because I feel angry about the first one, but because they are now tired and cliche, especially when they insist on repeating them in the same city. I assume they realised the massive booking mistake they made in having this first match up between the two be a match which Taker could never lose, and decided that a short-term negative reaction from a screwjob finish would be compensated for a better long term feud narrative. I assume that, because the idea that this was always the long term plan is far too unpalatable. They'll go to Hell in a Cell next. What I actually want, however, is to see a singles match between the two.

How Great is Sasuke? (part two of lots)

2009-09-14T13:19:00.008+01:00

I turned back to some older stuff last night - I had planned to watch an Ohtani vs. Sasuke match from 1994 (taped from Eurosport, apparently) but that was a no-go as the downloaded file was corrupted or something. So, I content myself with these guys.

Great Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon, WAR, 17th July 1994

I didn't get much out of this. First of all, parts seemed a little clumsy and sloppy, which is never good when working the quick stand-off spots they begin with here. I also didn't like the two identical asai moonsault spots. I get that Sasuke was stealing moves a little bit, but Ultimo's version, although happening after, looked weaker in comparison, and didn't make the they were going for at all. By about seven minutes in, it already felt like they were hitting finishers, with loads of powerbombs and headscissors.

Overall, it all felt a little mindless - there didn't feel like there was a solid body or story of the match to build from for an exciting finish. Instead, they basically kept with the back-and-forth stalemate stuff which opened throughout, just using bigger moves. It felt repetitive, and even Sasuke's top rope somersault dive couldn't pick it up. I also thought Ultimo in particular looked a bit lethargic, but I can't really find anything particularly excellent that Sasuke did here, so it's not like I can just blame Ultimo.

Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger, New Japan, 8th July 1994

The rematch to the Super-J Cup semifinal. This is really great. There is a real intensity to the entire match. Sasuke comes flying out of the blocks, sending Liger outside, then following up with a wild over the top tope/plancha. Back inside, and Sasuke dominates for most of the first ten minutes, and looks great doing it. His arm work is far from perfunctory - there's this sense that he's pulling back particularly hard. I wish they armwork became important later, but that's an old complaint. Liger seems no less competitive here, firing back early on with a somersault dive off the apron to the outside. The asai moonsault spot and top rope plancha are placed perfectly - at a moment where Liger seems to be getting back into it, Sasuke cuts him off and fires off a couple of his big moves. Sasuke looks to hurt himself from the latter (if it wasn't legitimate, then this was some excellent selling).

I really loved the sense of fatigue and desperation in the finishers and near falls, and the top rope finisher makes the perfect conclusion. This feels like the right length, has great pacing and two excellent performances, making it one of the best juniors matches I can remember. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up when I rewatch more junior stuff.

Actually hard to believe these matches were a week apart, given my diverging opinions of them. I've never been a huge fan of Dragon, and that match just never clicked for me, even though I tried watching it a couple of times. Massively impressed with the Liger match though.

How Great is Sasuke? (Part one of many)

2009-09-12T15:43:00.004+01:00

I’ve been thinking about the Great Sasuke recently. He’s a guy who I watched when I first got into puro, through the usual gateway tapes. He’s one of the guys whose got a long list of must-see 90s junior matches, and when you’ve seen no puro before, it’s kind of perception changing. Then I watched him in 2007 and at first I have a lot of trouble getting into the absurdist comedy brawls and general ridiculousness he now fosters.

Lately, though, I’ve really been starting to think about him as one of my favourite guys in Japan. The point where this happened was the Puroresu Summit show where Sasuke works a light tube death match as an almost surrealist piece of performance art. I’ve really liked his two title matches in June, and there’s plenty of minor performances as well. Even at 40-years old, he takes insane bumps, and will carry an otherwise unremarkable match purely by the lengths he’s willing to go to create excitement. Despite the mask, he places great emphasis on selling and facials, sometimes excessively so – the silliness of some of the brawls lead to some fairly bizarre weapons which can’t possibly cause the amount of damage he suggests. But, given the choice, I’d rather watch someone oversell than undersell. Maybe more than anything, he commits to everything. Watch the way he plays the gullible mark throughout the Minoru Fujita feud.

So, I’ve decided to take some time and try to get a measure of his entire career (20 years old this year). Partially, I’m interested in the evolution of his style. Partially, I’m interested in going back and rewatching those mid-90s junior classics and seeing how they hold up given how my opinion of junior wrestling has shifted over the last few years. It’s also an opportunity to finally get around to watching Michinoku Pro’s glory years. I get the impression when watching him that some time ago Sasuke decided that while he might never be considered the greatest junior from the peak period in the mid-1990s, he was always going to be the most interesting. Let’s find out if that hypothesis holds up to my deadly scrutiny.

Great Sasuke vs. MIKAMI, Michinoku Pro, March 2nd 2003

The highspots in this were pretty spectacular. I don’t know that there was an issue here, but both guys go for the violence straight away in a way that felt more heated than a regular singles match. Take your pick for highlights – the german suplex into the ladder looked nasty, and I love how Sasuke barely rolled out of a cover. One thing I notice is that Sasuke conveys pain much more strongly than many guys - in an age when it is fashionable to undersell or ignore it in favour of fighting spirit spots, this is refreshing. The missed somersault senton to the ladder was made to look agonising (probably aided by the fact that it definitely was agonising). MIKAMI brings an impressive array of high flying moves – his own somersault senton to the outside was unbelievable and one of the most lunatic highspots I can remember. I appreciated Sasuke selling all the chest-crushing damage. The finish is classic last burst of energy series of Sasuke finishers, which works for me.

For what was basically a spotfest, I felt that they made an effort with the transitions, and that the spots were well placed and had some sense of structure rather than the less satisfactory your turn-my turn stuff that often pervades high end junior wrestling.

Masaaki Mochizuki & Great Sasuke vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & El Blazer, Kensuke Office, May 21st 2009

This match was kind of fascinating. Its major purpose was the kick off the Mochizuki-Nakajima feud. You can tell they are feuding because they kick each other, over and over. Not hard, of course, because if they had, you’d expect there to be some evidence of cumulative damage or wearing down. They probably would have carried on kicking each other until they got hungry and had to leave for dinner. In the meantime, Sasuke, who has a minor role here, puts in a delightful performance. I loved little details like him diving at Blazer from his corner whilst Blazer was positioned waiting for Mochi to finish his rope running and kick him. It makes so much more sense that a guy standing idly by just because his partner is mid-sequence.

Also, and perhaps obvious, but when he’s hit on the head, he reacts like he’s been hit on the head (for comparison, when Mochi is kicked in the leg, he reacts like his leg has been surgically enhanced). At one point, Mochi hobbles around after a reasonable length of time on defence, then boots Blazer, walks a few steps and THEN he shakes his knee. Ghastly. I like that Sasuke didn’t throw in crazy spots to overshadow the main story, as poorly executed as it might have been, but keeps the body together while the main guys are brawling around. I’m not sure there’s a sell in wrestling I find more splendid that Sasuke’s “Oh God, what did I do that for” contorted mouth after a missed somersault senton. He’s an ageing junior, and he sells like it. Even after a successful spin kick, there’s a little hobble. Sugi is fine here – he does a poor job while he’s on defence, but he’s good for quick burst of spectacular flying, even though it was pretty standard El Blazer spots here, and this provides an effective counterpoint to all the kickbag stuff.

Not enough to outweigh the bad for the match, but great to see Sasuke outwork the more fashionable juniors, predominantly with his mind.

Great Sasuke, CIMA and Gamma vs Tanizaki, Oishi & Asahi, Dragon Gate, July 8th 2009

There’s not enough goofy Sasuke bits to drag this comedy match towards being good. Sasuke is a great stooge for these sort of matches – he plays his part earnestly, perpetually gullible, his well-meaning actions usual backfire for everyone’s amusement. The majority of this is a combination of fast-paced lucharesu spots, dodgy comedy spots and CIMA and Gamma doing something that makes the camera pan away. Pretty much what you expect. Forgettable.

Great Sasuke vs. Sanshiro Takagi, DDT, August 23rd 2009

Utterly ludicrous match. A new weapon is introduced every minute or so. They range from hot water, trashcans, a bike (Sasuke slowly circles the ring, only for Takagi to knock him off with a bat in a ridiculous spot), several women, a barrel (cue the somersault senton back bump that will probably kill Sasuke one day), a cupboard full of mummies, a pre-recorded message from Sasuke encouraging the crowd the jeer Takagi and cheer Sasuke, and a camera phone (with Sasuke refusing to have his photo taken, shielding his face with a badminton racquet). They throw in some crazy spots at the end – Sasuke sets Takagi on the cupboard, places the barrel over his head and does another somersault senton; it took so long to set up Takagi had moved ages before, and just watched as Sasuke plunged head-in-a-barrel first into the cupboard. I can tolerate DDT’s special brand of parody wrestling in short doses, and this also benefits from a few moments of lunacy and several more that are just patently absurd. Fun stuff.

BattlArts: 5th July 2009

2009-09-09T19:59:00.006+01:00

A new BattlArts show at last, courtesy of Lenny. Because they are a puroresu organisation, they are running a tournament this summer. Here's some matches.

Yamamoto vs. TAGAI was OK. The early matwork was decent. This is Yamamoto's match - TAGAI doesn't do much outside of his moves, while Yamamoto is selling and building up small themes. I like how Yamamoto sets up the finish by attempting earlier his big submission holds when he has opportunity - the leg bar, the jujigatame and the rear naked choke. His counterwork is really impressive. TAGAI is fine on the mat, but not very good when standing up - that corner clothesline was very weak. I loved the battle over the armbreaker at the end, with TAGAI blocking, and Yamamoto working out a way to leverage the block apart. I'm not the first to say it, but Yamamoto is where the future of BattlArts should lie, not the indy juniors they have.

The Ishikawa vs Walter match gives us a brilliant performance by Ishikawa to bring to bring the whole thing together. Walter's got stiff strikes, but it is apparent that he hasn't got much else. Opening few minutes have Walter punching and Ishikawa putting over how deadly they are. He targets Walter's arm - a minute or so later, Walter starts kicking, and Ishikawa (like a king) switches his submission attack to the leg immediately. It's stuff like that which convey a sense of strategy, and hence a story. As the match progresses, Walter's limited arsenal becomes his weakness, and Ishikawa takes control. You get the sense that Walter would have lost without the time limit. I really liked how Ishikawa conveys the struggle on the mat with the larger opponent - each counter or roll-through looks like hard work. Ishikawa is excellent at selling things like that. There are two hugely violent right hand from Walter which Ishikawa sells like gunshots, but the nastiest spot was the headbutts. The sound of the first one made me feel as little ill. Would have been really great if it wasn't such a one-man show. Walter seems to have no idea about allowing for underdog comeback spots, cutting several off with awkward transitions.

I liked the Sawa vs. Super Tiger match too - not as much as the Ishikawa match, but it built into a surprisingly good match. Sawa will still throw in a couple of his goofier spots, but he leaves it until later, and concentrates on striking and matwork, which he is good at. Super Tiger is someone I don't really like much outside of short bursts in tag, or opposite someone who can build a match around great selling of strikes. But I liked the way he let the balance shifted in this match. Super Tiger really puts over Sawa's comeback in the middle, and the match develops into a very even, pacy affair. I loved the finish - Super Tiger finally lands one of his big kicks, and he repeats this until Sawa can't answer the ten. Sawa looks strong in defeat, selling the strike but giving the crowd something to cheer for. Probably the best Sawa match I can think of.

Nothing high-end from this show, but these three matches are worthwhile.

ECW: 25th August 2009

2009-08-31T23:29:00.004+01:00

Been away for a couple of weeks (Edinburgh Fringe 2009 oh yeah), so let's get back into some wrestling. I've a review of Summerslam coming - goodish show (there's more). I'm also thinking of doing a Great Sasuke project, based on my growing love of Sasuke this year, and my lack of M-Pro watching from the early to mid 1990s. Thoughts, my regular readers?

So, the Extreme Championship Wrestling. Regal on this stick is good times, especially him reaching breaking point as Christian taunts him with "eight seconds" and the Bill stuff. And who else in wrestling can get away with a finger wag? (If nobody thinks about Hogan, I'll get away with this)

Goldust and Sheamus get a video package. Not Rock-Austin, but then that would be pretty weird. Shorter match, but intense. So many WWE feuds, even the headline ones, don't convey the hatred that I'm getting from this series. I was delighted with the non-finish because I want to see a no-dq based gimmick match, and see Dustin go out it.

Zack Ryder makes the tag match for me. The ridculous way he refuse to take a tag because he's fixing his knee pads, and shouting orders at Benjamin, much to Shelton's displeasure was as entertaining as anything. Yoshi gets some kicks in, but this was all about the angle and the feud. And here's a question - whose the worst Tyler? Reks or Black? Both are bigger athletic guys who can jump around a bit, which seems to be the only thing they bring. I'm going with Black because Reks is just a third show undercard guy, while Black is pushed as a guy as good as Danielson or McGuiness.

Main event is just great. Not often you see such a long TV match with such protracted level of violence. Regal makes everything look killer. Christian can't match him for striking ability, although he has a go. What he can do is take big bumps and sell like the best babyface in the company that he is. The arm wringer off the apron was nasty. Regal's selling is also great. He makes Christian's elbow to the face look like he'd been shot, even though it was probably pretty safe. They both convey the overall toll of the match - watch Regal collapse near the end for a pin cover. I loved the finish - Christian impulsively lashes out at Koslov over the previous week's beatings, provoking the interference which costs him the match. That final knee was exactly violent enough to cap off this match. Right to the top of my WWE MOTY list for you. Almost.

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 142

2009-08-24T13:41:00.001+01:00

First a quick look at the Warriors-5 Produce Infinity 140. I haven't watched the Mochi Produce 141 yet, but there's no real rush on that.

The W-5 show was bags of fun.

-Rocker/Wrassler Ricky Fuji did an awesome concert with all the wrestlers at ringside and Great Sasuke doing awesome air guitar and air drums.

-Pretty solid tag with KAGE and Susumu taking on some of the M-Pro guys.

-Main event was one of the funniest matches of the year. I had a smile on my face the whole time. Good action too! I really like OMEGA.

142

Susumu Yokosuka & KAGETORA vs. CIMA & Gamma

Teammates collide in wonderful wonderful gear!!!! Seriously CIMA and Gamma's get-up needs to be seen to be believed. Fun brawling, and plenty of W-5 antics which have really grown on me. "OOOOOO!". Nice action down the stretch, CIMA was going for the kill on KAGE and he got caught with an AWESOME cradle that I've never seen before. Good match.

Highlights

Naruki Doi, Naoki Tanisaki{W} (6:52 Implant) Akira Tozawa{L}, Dragon Kid

Yasushi Kanda, Kenichiro Arai{W} (10:03 Low Blow->Samson Clutch) Masato Yoshino{L}, BxB Hulk

Two fun looking matches here. Would have like to see non-clipped versions. Points of note include Naoki de-pantsing himself for the finish (his unique way of debuting new gear) and Araken attacking a BxB dancer (which is a first to my knowledge).

YAMATO & Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Katsuhiko Nakajima

This is like as saliva inducing a match as I could have fathomed. And it lived up to the hype. Awesome, hard hitting match. Really great chemistry between the teams and they busted out lots of cool stuff like the TOPÉ MASAAKI (which I adore). Came down to Shingo and Kats with the time limit ticking down. Great finishing stretch, with brutal forearms from Takagi and kicks from Nakajima. Big pull apart after the time limit expired.

Funny skit with Speed Muscle in Philadelphia trying to rent a car closed the show.

Overall a really fun episode. One of the best of the year.

Infinity 142 - 8.5/10

Big Japan: 2nd January 2009

2009-08-17T23:57:00.000+01:00

And I finally move into 2009. The consensus appears to be that these next few months of Big Japan shows are packed with loads of quality matches, especially with the tag league, so I'm excited. I've never seen a promotion put so much into getting new guys over quickly as BJW has with its recent additions, which can only be good because lots of 2008 suffered from a feeling of stagnation.

From now on, my policy is to ignore Men's Club matches for the purpose of review unless particularly prompted to discuss them by something extraordinary, because it's just pointless. I end up saying the same things over and over. We also get a few minutes from the rookies, which made me want to see Okabayashi vs. Hoshino soon, and a slapstick hardcore match with all the usual guys that wasn't any good at all, but seemed to make the crowd laugh.

There are two really worthwhile tag matches on the show. The match between Mammoth and Sekimoto and Yoshihiro Sasaki and Shinya Ishikawa started out and developed a lot like most of the formers recent title defences. I thought Ishikawa was fine taking offence - he's not the most dramatic seller but it got the job done, and he shows plenty of intensity when fighting back against two guys he's physically outmatched by. Sasaki's hot tag section last only a couple of minutes before being cut-off again, and it looks like a standard finish where the weaker team member, although showing a lot of fight, is finally overcome and his partner can't save him.

However, the surprising thing here is that, partially by opportunity, the momentum shifts back towards Ishikawa and Sasaki - Ishikawa delivers two great dropkicks, the first squarely in Mammoth's chest, knocking him down, and the second off the apron to the outside in the spot of the match (the speed of the dive and Mammoth bumping his head to the concrete made it). This leaves Sekimoto and Sasaki alone, and Sasaki crushes him with a top rope DVD and two big lariats for the win. And I'll tell you something - I bemoan Sekimoto not being able to sell anything, but he looked shaken and dazed five minutes after the pinfall, really putting over the finish. This was an underdog victory that caused a audible reaction of surprise from me - I loved the shock and delight when Sasaki realises he's won. I don't want to overstate the performances here, which were pretty typical - the emphasis being on the aggression on attack rather than the selling on defence, which is only half the job. But the layout of this, especially with the unexpected finish, and the natural progression in the momentum elevated this above all the other Mammoth/Sekimoto matches since last July.

The main event lighttube tag match between Miyamoto and Sasaki and Ito and Shuji Ishikawa was terrific (although I acknowledge that so far no-one agree with me). This match has two stories being played out. Firstly, it's about Shuji Ishikawa developing as a deathmatch wrestler. Watch his early tentativeness with the lighttube, and the way he charges with it but manages to stop before hitting the turnbuckle when Sasaki moves (thus showing he's not fully committed to the attack). The match really kicks off at that point - the opening brawling was just preliminary as both teams test each other. Ishikawa takes a ton of lighttube shots, the second headkick one from Sasaki making him bleed hugely for the ear. He sells it all like he's in shock, which I love given the story. Also, he comes back at the end with the spot of the match - a huge running lighttube-assisted knee-strike.

The second story is about Miyamoto struggling to take his rightful place as new champion. Sasaki looks dominant here, driving the offence and saving his partner when needed. Miyamoto is frequently the guy Ito and Ishikawa are able to turn the tables on. Ito catches Miyamoto with a kick to a lighttube as Miyamoto sets up for his moonsault. At the end, it is Miyamoto who takes the loss for his team, further establishing the story that I would expect to feature in the coming months. Overall, a very positive start to the year, and the emphasis stays with the new guys and Miyamoto, I'm likely to enjoy this promotion a great deal.

WWE: All the TV August 11th - 14th

2009-08-16T21:06:00.006+01:00

I watched ECW, Superstars and Smackdown this week, like most weeks. I tend to review ECW and Superstars because they are wrestling focused. Smackdown is usually good for one long TV match, but has more angle stuff that isn't worth reviewing. But ever since Punk won the title and began the turn, I've watched every show. And it hasn't disappointed - his promo work as a heel and his performances in matches all the way through have been so much better than anything he's done in WWE since joining in 2006. Last week's title match was the best example yet - his post-match beatdown, shouting "Fixing him up so I can break him again" to the EMTs, forcing the stretcher guys to take the long way around the ring just cemented him as my favourite current heel in wrestling. Matt Hardy's return is also intriguing, and his heel turn momentum was ruined by injury so I could quite happily watch months of Punk vs. Matt main events.

ECW packed five matches and an interview segment in this week, two of which were dull squashes. I want to know where the Kozlov-Jackson stuff is going. I'm still pulling for homoerotic courtship ritual. Zack Ryder busting out a hand-phone and a "Call me" on his way to the ring added another layer of dorkiness to a character I'm fast falling in love with. Matt Striker questioning whether Yoshi Tatsu had even seen a superhero before was utterly ridiculous and borderline offensive. He's not from a cave, he's from Japan. He used to wrestle with Jushin Liger, whose whole look was based on a superhero, and who you, Matt Striker, have referenced before.

The only particularly good bit of wrestling was Regal-Dreamer, which was Regal dragging Dreamer through to a good six minute TV match by virtue of the fact that at times, Regal can look like the most vicious man on the planet. He's relentless when attack a limb and his strikes always look deadly. Maybe I'm being unfair to Dreamer, whose job here was to eat a beating and set up Christian vs. Regal, which has the potential to top MOTY lists, based on their few recent encounters.

I enjoyed Smackdown, aside for the dull Khali-Kane stuff. Kane is never as violent or sadistic as he is made out to be. Unlike Mike Knox, who came across like an absolute psycho after dropping Finlay on the steps. I look forward to Matches. The Finlay-Ziggler match was fine, as Finlay pulled a game Ziggler through a pretty stiff little TV match - I enjoyed the return of the ring apron spot, but Ziggler's boot, catching Finaly between it and the ringpost was spot of the match and looked really nasty.

Punk vs. Morrison was also good. Some people just work better as a heel or a face. With Punk, his strike based offence is much more suited to working heel, and now he's fully turned, he's free to drop in also sorts of violent kicks, like those knees at the end with Morrison in the tree of woe. The knee drop on the apron looked really great. The match is carried along by Punk, with Morrison contributing his flashy offence (It's a standing shooting star press. How are both commentators continually messing this up). The GTS looked great as well, as Morrison sold the blow like he'd been shot.

I'm glad they didn't do something stupid like bury the Hart Dynasty in the main - but I don't understand why this needed to be a handicap in the first place. Why couldn't an injured Jeff take on one of them, lose because of his injury, which affects his standing not a little but raises that of his opponent? The stuff post match sets up what could be a really good match next week - I'm excited to see Matt Hardy again. Smackdown has the freshest main event scene in the company since, what, 2002?

I've saved Superstars until last, because it featured the match of the week in Goldust vs. Sheamus. I loved the early intensity to signify the bad feelings between the two, Sheamus pushing Dustin away from a tie up, and Dustin using the momentum to come off the ropes felt like the sort of thing someone would do when tussling over a grudge. There were some great punches by Dustin, and his selling made There were some great punches by Dustin, and his selling made Sheamus look mighty. He's so old school in the way he draws the crowd in - there's a lot of upper mid-card guys who are being heavily pushed who wouldn't have gotten that sort of response. I've struggled to get into Sheamus yet - there's not something I could say 'yeah, he does that well' or 'I like that move' - but I thought his simple moveset worked well here, especially with the way Dustin sold it all. The reactions after the roll-up were great too. The first two five minute matches were good, but give Dustin ten minutes, and he makes for great TV.

Big Japan: 19th December 2008

2009-08-11T19:55:00.003+01:00

Big end-of-year show, and they manage to pack a lot into two hours, albeit with some clipping of the unimportant stuff, which is not worth discussing.

We get a barbed-wire board tag with three of the Big Japan new guys (and Inematsu, whose been doing this for a while now). At the moment, I think I prefer guys like Isami taking a beating rather than working a fairly even tag match with similarly ranked guys. Can't fault the effort though, as all the guys bump hard through a 12 minute sprint, but it doesn't have the solid structure and story that a underdog-type match does. If you wanted me to pick a highlight, it would be Hoshino carrying on his crazy habit of splaying his back against something metal.

The six man with all the deathmatch guys didn't really do it for me, and wasn't helped by the editing. The match does a good job of elevating Shuji Ishikawa, who saves his partners over and over and ends up on the winning end of most exchanges. Obviously, he's not taking the same level of nutty violence as someone like Sasaki or Kasai, but he looks fun knocking everyone down with his size.

I ending up liking the tag titles match. The opening is pretty standard stuff, Sekimotos ignores some leg work and Mammoth is an entertaining hot tag, with his lariats and his theft of the Ligerbomb. Actually, it was a novel change watching Sekimoto and Mammoth work the other end of the tag formula. The last eight or so minutes after the hot tag were where this got entertaining - everyone goes at full speed and while Sekimoto is a deeply flawed wrestler, he knows how to get the crowd going with all of his energy. I enjoyed Liger here - especially forcing Sekimoto to sell the leg at least for a time with his persistent stomps and submission work. He matches up well against the bigger Mammoth; I liked his palmstrikes and koppou kick out of nowhere, and Mammoth sold them well. I could watch a singles between the two as a lesser Liger vs. Hashimoto type match.

Really, the show hinged on the success of the title match, and I've gone back and forth on this, which generally indicates it wasn't a huge success. The opening is definitely weak, especially the ridiculously slow bit where Miyamoto regroups in the crowd and Shadow WX does nothing by the side of the ring and some weakish brawling. Given the lack of weapons, they at least pace the two big spots well, although WX annoyed me by barely selling any of the damage of barbedwire and explosions. In fact, my biggest complaint of the whole thing is WX looks like he isn't entirely interested - watch him roll slowly out of a bridged german suplex instead of work nearfall. His lariats lack force and aside from one bit when he rips off his t-shirt, he generally seems to lack any fire. It's not even selling fatigue, because he's like it from the start. Obviously, I'm not the guy breaking glass over my chest or getting barbed wire in my head. Miyamoto's victory is a pleasing moment though, even if it wasn't the amazing dramatic conclusion to the chase that I'd hoped for.

2008 is now done. I'll try and do a top ten list of 2008 Big Japan matches soon. I think we can all agree that this wasn't an excellent year overall, especially compared to 2006 and 2007, but there's good in there if you look hard enough.

Michinoku Pro: 19th June 2009

2009-08-10T13:02:00.000+01:00

I watched this show, which is basically three trios matches and a title match. I have to say that I really liked the Satos tag match. The opening few minutes are a really energetic, borderline-wild brawl, they do two heat section (one on Nohashi, and one on Dick Togo, who gets to resume his role from the last show as a fantastic face-in-peril) before the finisher stretch, which was fine. I enjoy the Sato twin schtick, as I do most of the time that guys in Japan wrestle as actual heels (Yuji Hino is the other example I'd use) The other trios were more or less standard undercard lucharesu stuff - some comedy, dives, lots of moves and little of any real substance.

So to the main event. In the month of June, Sasuke wrestled two serious title matches. Not that Ridiculous Sasuke isn't a lot of fun, but a its nice to see a bit of a change. Both men bring something more to this match that most junior matches (and to be fair, most matches). Hayato "Jr" Fujita is developing into an excellent champion, with his own surly, cocky personality - watch as his stalks around the ring - and a simple but deadly moveset. He's solid on the mat and isn't afraid lay into his strikes. His role here is as the man to be beaten, and because of his strong ground game and striking ability, he requires someone to take the offence to him. Sasuke is the veteran, broken down by years of matches like this and the high-impact style of the 1990s. While he wrestles comedy matches these days, here he looks to recreate the Sasuke of the previous decade and win the title. To beat Hayato, he has to use his big moves and take big chances.

So what we get is a 90s junior in a 40 year-old body. The highspots still come, but they don't flow as fast or as smoothly as they might have done in 1994. There's less stuff in between, except selling fatigue or damage. I've got to say that the selling from both guys here is impeccable - the match lasts 28 minutes, but it doesn't feel like one of those junior matches that go on and on for the sake of creating an epic - the selling of fatigue and cumulative damage paces all the big moves, and makes each one seem like a match-winning opportunity. Neither man hops up to pop the crowd with the sort of fighting-spirit comeback that typify a lot of juniors matches, usually to their detriment.

Sasuke comes up with four legitimately insane high spots - the missed apron dive, the top rope plancha, the rope dropkick to the outside and the no hand top con giro to a pile of chairs (Hayato moved). I think it's through these highspots that the story is built - Sasuke's risk do not all pay off, but when they do, he moves closer to winning. The placing of these four spots allow the momentum to shift back and forth. Hayato remains defensive, waiting for an opportunity when one of these chances backfires to really go for the win. After the missed tope, you get the sense that the momentum has really shifted back to Hayato - Sasuke still fights away, blocking a series of strikes with a desperate arm-trap overhead suplex and pulling out his biggest moves, including the Fire Thunder Bomb, but the champion eventually overcomes this final effort with more strikes and a couple of other bigger moves (a german suplex and a plancha of his own).

Really excellent match, an obvious lock for my top 20 (it's probably a top 5 match right now) - go and watch it now.

Craig's Puro MOTY 2009 (so far)

2009-08-09T21:15:00.001+01:00

Thought I'd post my current on-going MOTY list for puro matches only, based on what I've managed to watch so far. Most of this is based on my thoughts watching the matches first time around, so positions may change. Also, some of the odder choices will probably fall off once I get more caught up. I've not really started on 2009 Big Japan yet, as its one of the promotions I watch every show for, and I've just receive the latest batch. I'd expect a lot more BJW in this list by the end (I watched the March deathmatch tag online). Regular readers will know I also watch Z-1 and K-Dojo shows, but I don't expect many entries to this list from that.

I've got Ditch's recommend lists, and I pick and choose which matches from the big three to watch, based on existing prejudices. I did watch both Nakajima vs. KENTA matches and disliked them both. I've still got the two big NJ vs. NOAH tags from early in the year to watch. I've only just started the Champions Carnival, and randomly watched the one G-1 match online yesterday, out of curiousity as much as anything. I've got that one Ishii LOCK-UP match from April to rewatch, because I couldn't decide how much I liked it. Feel free to make a case for you favourites so far in the comments, and I'll try and give them a fair viewing.

1. Miyamoto & Sasaki vs Isami & Takeda, March 26th, Big Japan
2. Hayato "Jr" Fujita vs. The Great Sasuke, 19th June, M-Pro
3. Otsuka vs. Yamamoto, February 14th, Battlarts
4. KENTA vs. Jun Akiyama, May 17th, NOAH
5. Kea/Suzuki vs. Suwama/Kondo March 14th, AJPW
6. Hirooki Goto vs. Giant Bernard, March 22nd, NJPW
7. Usuda vs. Yoshikawa, February 14th, Battlarts
8. Nakamura vs Goto, August 7th, NJPW
9. Sawa and Hayato vs Tiger Shark and Saito, April 12th, Battlarts
10. Mutoh vs. Takayama, April 5th, AJPW
11. Togo, Yoshitsune and Rasse vs. Kei Sato, Shu Sato and Ooma, March 1st, M-Pro
12. TAKA Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke, June 9th, K-Dojo
13. KENTA vs Marvin, June 4th, NOAH
14. Yoshie vs. Ishii March 15th, NJPW
15. Mascarita Dorada vs. Pequeno Damien 666, March 20th, Ultimo Dragon Produce

Big Japan: 21st November 2008 (part two)

2009-08-08T16:22:00.002+01:00

So, the other matches from this show don't lend themselves to much detailed reviewing. Case in point, another Men's Club eight-man tag. They actually have a slight storyline going on at this time, with the (sort-of) feud between MENS's Teioh and Oishi. The basis of the feud is a lot of words in Japanese and the UWA Middleweight title, of which I understand only the latter. Men's Club matches are visually impressive and brainless, wrestled at a ridiculous pace and specifically designed not to be taken seriously. So throwing words like "long-term selling" or "building drama" are a waste of time. Unlike Dragon Gate, which building an entire promotion on this style, this is more like an entertaining sideshow, and I have no objection to that. Taking that onboard, this match itself was pretty forgettable, and a lot of the spots were recycled.

I enjoyed the hardcore tag match with new guys Hoshino and Takeda and opponents Ito and Shuji Ishikawa. Takeda is transforming from a quasi-shoot style guy into a deathmatch worker, which is interesting to watch - there is a slight feeling that he's learning how to add hardcore elements to his existing offence (for example, a number of suplexes onto chairs). I like Hoshino for being insane enough to use his body as a weapon, despite how much damage it would do him - the high point of this match is his top rope senton to the outside on Ishikawa. He's not the strongest guy or the fastest guy so he resorts to these sorts of spots to gain an advantage. Fun brawl, mainly on the rookies side.

It would have been nice to see something story develop with the Sekimoto/Mammoth tag title run, rather than a series of fairly meaningless title defences. This episode they defend against two lower card veteran in Taniguchi and Benkei. This went pretty much as expected - after a couple of early exchanges, Sekimoto and Mammoth dominate, Taniguchi makes a (not very) hot tag, the challengers make a bit of a comeback before the champions prove too strong. Formulaic stuff, but not offensive.

I watched the December 14th show, but decided it wasn't interesting enough to write-up. I'll do the big year-end show next time.

Big Japan: 21st November 2008 (part one)

2009-08-08T13:25:00.004+01:00

I have a secret pro-wrestling confession: I enjoy watching Masada. I don't know why. I never did when he was in the Carnage Crew in ROH, but I find I've enjoyed loads of his Big Japan matches in the past year. I didn't like his title match with Ito, but his singles with Hoshino and Sasaki were a lot of fun. Plus, him doing MEN's Teioh spots on the last show with the rest of Men's Club was hilarious. He wrestles at a good pace, especially when brawling around the arena, which can often have a lot of deadtime. I like how he sets up weapon or hardcore spots quickly too - it's "right, here's a weapon, that goes there, let's do a move now".

Anyway, I enjoyed his match with Isami Kodaka. Like the Hoshino match, he dominates and delivers a pretty violent beating, but allows Kodaka a decent amount in the comeback. I liked the weapon-based stuff with the ladder and the barbed wire for credibility more than the reverse hurricanrana (as impressive looking as that was). Other violent highlights include Masada (sort-of) catching Isami from a plancha to the outside, then german suplexing him into the chairs, and the now-obligatory powerbomb onto a ladder, with Isami's head landing on the metal. Fun stuff.

Thing I like most about Big Japan is the variety in styles you get on a single show. As well as the heavily-gimmick deathmatch stuff and the hardcore brawling stuff, there's the lucharesu-type Men's Club matches and the non-hardcore heavyweight division (generally, the Sekimoto matches). Increasingly, however, I've found the latter to be the blandest. I don't understand why, of all the new Big Japan rookies, people particularly care about Shinya Ishikawa, who does the fighting-spirit act like half the Japanese indie scene, and I don't feel he particularly distinguishes himself. I've enjoyed Yoshihiro Sasaki in the past, especially some of his matches Z1 in 2007, and he is best in short bursts, which his role in this tag allowed for. Only bit I really liked was the struggle at the end, with Kondo going for his submission finish, and having Ishikawa fight away from it or Sasaki break it up until it finally got the win. The rest was a little generic.

The main event was one of those deathmatches where Abby Jr decides he's going to take a bunch of crazy spots, bleed, bump and sell his way through twenty minutes. Miyamoto brings out a giant light-tube hand and breaks the whole thing over Abby's head. The lighttubes on the rope were too close together to break with the usual back bump, so Abby dives face first through ten of them. Twice. He headbutts lighttubes into Sasaki's chest and chops through five of them with his hand, in a fit of overexburance. Abby Jr is good times.

As to the rest of the match, they managed a good pace, and the three way tag format meant something was always going on with one of the pairings. It also led to some of the slightly goofy spots that multi-man matches do, but this was more of a crowd-pleaser than anything deeply serious. The main story of the match, aside that was all about establishing Miyamoto as the next challenger for the title, which would have been exciting for me if I hadn't already seen the resulting title match, and thought it was rubbish.

Part two to follow.

BattlArts: 12th April 2009

2009-08-02T14:00:00.001+01:00

It's been a long time since some BattlArts emerged, so I'm looking forward to this. I've actually got the whole show this time, rather than just the top few matches, courtesy of Lenny.

The opener is between Ryuji Walter and Sanchu Tsubakichi - I know neither. Ryuji Walter takes some energetic submission stuff from his opponent, before absolutely destroying him with just stream of sick strikes. This isn't good by any objective criteria, but it certainly gets a visceral reaction. Chihiro Oikawa vs. Esui is a similar experiment in watching two wrestlers I haven't seen before, as I often pick and choose my BattlArts matches and don't watch the undercard stuff as much. I thought this was fine and quite basic, Esui had her submission and Oikawa had her strikes.

Munenori Sawa/Fujita Jr Hayato vs. Tiger Shark/Akifumi Saito, was, I think, my favourite match on the card. Really, really simple match, with about 80% of it being kicks - all four guys whaling into each other until one doesn't get up. I love Hayato's attitude, and he stalks around the ring. Saito takes a quite heroic beating. Tiger Shark combines my three loves of sharks, tigers, and wrestling characters based on sharks and tigers. He has only short spells in this, but looks right at home. I loved his exchange of punches with Sawa, and his sneaky strike as Sawa winds up for a big punch.

Next, Yoshikawa vs. Yano. Lukie on DVDVR says this is an important match because its one of the first big matches between the new generation of BattlArts guys. But this was awful. Yoshikawa wasn't great, but I wasn't offended by what he was doing. Yano was appalling. I've seen people describe a person's performance as embarrassingly bad before, but I never knew what that was like until I saw this. He should never throw uppercuts. He should never do that deranged jilted lover drunk on gin attack. He should never use the ropes as a springboard. The matwork was weak - clearly, neither guy is a natural on the mat, and if I wanted to draw a positive from this match it would be that I have renewed admiration for Usuda because I really liked the matwork in his matches with both guys.

And the main event is Yamamoto/Super Tiger vs. Ishikawa/Usuda. It wasn't blowaway amazing, but certainly good enough. Everyone matches up at least once, and its hard to pick which bit was best - Yamamoto began all his sections with immense energy, and has nice long sections on the mat with both his opponents; Super Tiger lands some nasty-looking kicks - his big spinning one was right on the mark and looked great. Ishikawa and Usuda do exactly as they always do - great on the mat, plenty manly standing up. I liked the pace and the build through matwork to strikes to some high impact stuff at the end to finish off Yamamoto. Selling was good, particularly by Yamamoto and Ishikawa.

ECW: 28th July 2009

2009-07-29T21:18:00.003+01:00

Video recap of the title change at Night of Champions to begin. I enjoyed the match as much as I'm ever going to enjoy a Tommy Dreamer non-gimmick match, as it was worked at a good pace and Christian led him (probably) through a textbook competitive face vs. face match.

First match is another Burchill vs. Reks match. So, Reks is the big guy who has high flying offence. He's Mark Jindrak or Sean O'Haire. Burchill has a great mean attitude and matches in with a no-nonsense moveset. He makes Reks offence look good too. He seems like a veteran guy putting over a green guy in a short TV match, except he's at the other end of his career. He needs to be given an opportunity.

Kozlov has a squash, mainly I would guess while they wait to start his ECW title feud. At least, I hope that's what's happening, rather than a dull power feud with Ezekiel Jackson. Of course, if this all turns into a homoerotically-charged courtship ritual, I am SOLD.

This week, Goldust is putting over Sheamus, who needs a competitive match to decide if he's any good. Actually, this ended up more as a competitive squash, with Sheamus cutting off most of Goldust's comebacks quite quickly. Goldust is so old-school in getting the audience involved in the match. I see little details in Sheamus' performance that bode well - the facial mannerism, taking time to sell the strike to the lip. Maybe if he could just become a little bit less blinding my eyes.

It is just wrong how much I get excited when I hear Christian's music. Damn you catchy emo-metal. Damn you. But it mean's Christian is in a wrestling match, and that's always good. I'm ashamed to admit how much joy I get from watching the dorkiness of Zack Ryder. Unlike most guys given the arrogant narcissist gimmick, I'm getting the underlying insecurity of the character that makes it more relatable. He has a catchphrase because he thinks he needs a catchphrase to be a big star (regardless of how meaningless it is), he trys to talk tough but he's using out-of-date terms like "bro", he wears an outlandish set of tights hoping to be like the coolest people who wear odd combinations and make them work (and he looks like he's trying to hard). It's done perfectly because of how seriously he takes all this stuff which is oestensiably ludicrous. Then, beneath all that is a perfectly effective wrestler, which stops the thing being purely comedy.

Deep psychoanalysis aside, I enjoyed this match a lot. They get a surprising amount of time, and they use it well, with Christian dominating moreso than he often does, playing off the idea that Ryder isn't a serious contender. I love how slick his low-impact mat stuff is - he exudes control in the early going. He takes a customary bump to the outside, setting up the heat section with Ryder working the ribs and Christian selling it throughout. The finish is good as it gave the impression of both a hard-fought victory, putting Ryder over, but with Christian hitting a series of signature moves uncountered at the end, it also felt like a the better man won, and that Ryder still has some improving to do before he can move to the next level.

Even I'm surprised about the amount I found to write on the main event. Is it possible to overanalyse things? Tune in next week for my eighteen part thesis on that very question.

WWE: Superstars 23rd July 2009

2009-07-28T16:48:00.003+01:00

Back to the one match from each brand format this week, and the show is a good one.

Christian vs. Regal is the match of the week, and I would expect nothing less. It has all the things that both guys bring to your ten-minute TV match - a few brief mat exchanges, a big Christian bump (over the rope, headfirst onto the apron, then to the outside) setting up the middle heat section with loads of intensity from Regal, consistent selling from Christian throughout and nice strikes from both guys (Christian steps up this side of his repetoire with a bunch of stiff elbows). Hoping against hope for a longer match - I keep waiting for something to be better this year than the first Swagger-Christian title match, and so far, nothing is.

I also liked the Bourne-Noble match, and had it been longer, may have been in contention for match of the week. Noble keeps preventing the shooting star, making for a nice little theme of the match. Bourne always seems like a guy willing to throw in a bunch of spots from different styles - I always enjoy his lucha-y armdrags - and Noble will bump around for a high flyer. I wish he was pushed to the level he was at in 2002.

The main event is the weakest of the show, as I find myself increasingly going off Morrison, and his interpretative dance offence. Especially that weak looking Pele kick, which I would happily pay to never see again. Sure, it looks pretty, but it barely grazes most of the time, and there's no way a kick from that angle can ever have any force compared to say, a punt. His knee strike is good, however. I've never dislike Kane as much as some people - he seems to be able to have non-offensive matches with people of all sizes, which is an asset for a big guy. Overall, this was OK for what it was.

ECW: 21st July 2009

2009-07-26T18:52:00.002+01:00

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Regal is a good opener. Yoshi continues to develop the sort of personality that will help him get over with an American audience. Regal is great here - there's his opening taunt ("I don't like to foreigners") and his great looking strikes, but more than anything he's one of the best guys for making wrestling looking like actual combat and real effort. At least two of Yoshi's kicks look good, including the finisher - I assume this is because Regal is a man and demanded to be kicked in the head before the match.

The rest of the show is really just filler, and I'm struggling to think of much of interest to say. The Jackson match isn't even an entertaining squash. Goldust and Benjamin's match is fine but unremarkable - the finish was a bit flat, but the rest was textbook undercard five minute made-for-TV stuff. I'm more interested in Burchill and his offence, than I am in Tyler Reks and his blandness, but that's not where the booking staff are.

I'm glad to be able to say that they in fact do know roughly what they are doing with Abraham Washington, who now seems confident in a heel persona. But this isn't a main event or anything making me wanting to watch the PPV more than I would do already because of my new-found Christian fandom. I watch ECW because they do focus on the wrestling. When over ten minutes of a forty five minute show is taken up with chat, I feel like I'm wasting my time. Looking forward to Superstars, though.

A Trio of Trios: Cerebros Terribles vs. Dinastia Navarro (part 1)

2009-07-20T21:08:00.001+01:00

Cerebros Terribles are Black Terry, Dr Cerebro and Cerebro Negro, and have been teaming together since 2008. Black Terry is, at this point, the guy I would most happily knock over my grandmother to watch. I mean, I'm not all that keen to do it, but if someone tells me that I am definitely going to have to knock her over, then there had better be some Black Terry professional wrestling behind her. Otherwise, it would just be wrong. Dinastia Navarro is Negro Navarro and his two sons, Trauma I and Trauma II. Black Terry vs. Negro Navarro would be the match I need to see in 2009. Anyway, someone loves me, because a bunch of their matches have appeared (and my grandmother remains blissfully unassaulted). Let's put them together.

All these matches are basically round four hundred and fifty two (and three and four) in their series of "Who's the greatest?". First one is from March 28th of this year. Primera caida is pretty much all on the mat. Terry starts out with Trauma 1.5 (I.V?) - I have no idea which is which, so I take their expected value, for five minutes all on the mat, and then Navarro comes in for another five minutes with Dr Cerebro. Terry's and Navarro's mat sections are very different though, and play to each guy's strengths. Trauma is game, and knows some nice stuff, and isn't lazy selling submissions, but Terry is leading him through the transitions and creating a competitive encounter on his own. There are loads of real nice little touches - he finds a complicated submission, but only holds it for a few seconds because of a sore leg from the previous bit. It's not Terry's most spectacular matwork ever, but I still find him compelling working with a less experienced guy.

Navarro is matched up against a much more experienced guy in Dr. Cerebro, and they engage in a back-and-forth battle of one-upsmanship. The transitions and level of complexity are much higher here - a number of Navarro's holds fabulously intricate. The last few exchanges up the intensity - Navarro counters one Cerebro hold with a version of his own that's slightly more elaborate, and then they properly hit the mat (rather than exchanging standing holds) for the last couple of holds and counters. They finish the fall with some rope-running from the Traumas and a couple of awkward moves - this is a slightly abrupt end to an otherwise excellent fall.

Terry and Navarro start out the second fall, which eschews all mat stuff in favour of brawling. They roll outside for a brief flurry from Navarro and a standoff and you really want to see more. What we get after is a pretty simple rudo beatdown fall, which is fine, with all of the Navarro's losing out to double teams and effective offence from Los Cerebros. This lead to the third fall which carries on in the same way until it all spills to the outside and we get another brief glimpse of Terry and Navarro brawling. Navarro throws some really great rights, Terry is ducking with jabs, Navarro boots Terry into the ring chairs - felt and looked really genuine. Overall, I think this comes in as being really good, but not really great. The first fall is great, and the second two are well done, with brief glimpses of hopefully what 2009 has in store.

I'll skip over the second match (the rematch from the following week) and move onto match three, which is on IWRG's TVC Deportes show from April 16th, in the next post. I can no longer find the April 23rd match in full, which up to this point was my favourite of the series, so I'll have to substitute in something else down the line.

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 138!

2009-07-19T22:25:00.001+01:00

138

Dragon Kid, Taku Iwasa & Akira Tozawa vs. Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & Naoki Tanizaki

Short and sweet trios action designed to get Taku over on his big return. It did just that as he looked like a beast finishing Tani with a series of lariats and a Noshigami. The interaction between Kid and Yoshino in this was as friggin awesome as ever, and made my pants just a tad moist in anticipation of the DGUSA show in Philadelphia. Post match saw Iwasa challenge Yoshino for the Triangle at World. He accepted. Tozawa screamed.... alot.

Akebono vs. Gamma

Well this ruled, but honestly would you expect anything different. Highlights include Akebono getting the Evian Treatment with an assist from KAGE, Gamma beating Bono over the head with the water bottle, Gamma attempting a big scoop slam on Bono, Bono returning the Evian Treatment in kind, a kendo stick tug of war (which Gamma lost), many squishings, sarcastic clapping by Bono and many more squishings.

Phenomenal match. I demand a Best Of 51 Series between the two.

Open the Brave Gate Title, No Ropes Match: CIMA © vs. Kenichiro Arai

Araken looked asleep as per usual and he started the match by just standing in front of CIMA and letting him kick the shit out of him, like me when I play my 6 year old cousin in PS2 wrestling games. Then out of nowhere Arai dodged a kick and CIMA nailed the post, PSYCH! Fine way to get the heat. The heat consisted of throwing CIMA outside the ring, holding him while a pantsless Cyber Kong poured whiskey down his throat, then duct taping him to the ring post. Pantsless man, forced alcohol consumption, duct tape..... sounds like your average date.

Anywho, CIMA was counted out and Arai was the new champ. Fans weren't down with this. As Real Hazard tried to exit stage left, Big Baby Bono cut them off at the pass and demanded a restart. So a restart we got. We got more RH and W5 interference than you can shake a stick at, and many many props came into play. First we had this little trolly thing that both men took things flying out of the ring on (this looked to fuck CIMA up), we had a spanner which Arai put in his wrist tape, we had a ladder which Arai used to channel Terry Funk and then Kanda used for an awesome John Woo and of course we had much shenanigans surrounding Araken's beer bottle.

Finish was pretty amazing to be honest. About 6 men held together a structure of tables and ladders that I'm not going to even attempt to describe, and then CIMA jumped off another ladder onto the structure which was on top of Araken. So cool. One Schwein and one Meteora (off a post) later and CIMA retained the Brave Gate.

Post match Doi challenged CIMA for a double title match at the main event of World.

Overall I enjoyed this show. It was very much on the gimmicky side of things, but I don’t mind that every once in a while. Especially when it’s entertaining, and this was.

Infinity 138 - 7.5/10

ECW: 14th July 2009

2009-07-19T19:04:00.004+01:00

Pretty good TV, this one. The opener was good. Not a high end Christian match, owing more the the high standard he has set this year, but another in his on-going series of TV matches based on top notch body-part selling. His big bump this week was another off the top buckle following a Shelton kick. I love big bumps that become the story of the match, rather than just a quick shock, and Christian does it every week. Aside from that, I liked Shelton using his top rope leap for a purpose outside of flashy gymnastics.

The rest of the show had shorter matches. Yoshi Tatsu comes out really energised, which is exactly what he needs to do. He and Burchill matched up well - I'm hoping there's now an opening for Burchill now Swagger has gone. Yoshi falls off the rope going for his SPIN FLY KICK, and if that wasn't a deliberate botch, then they dealt with it superbly - Burchill was straight in there with a backdrop driver, and then manufactured an argument with the referee allowing Yoshi the chance to hit his finish. Nice work.

Goldust and Zack Ryder have a non-offensive match. Goldust is doing a version of his character that is playing more to the crowd than before - it's a nice blend of allowing the inevitable nostalgia without overshadowing the guys he will mainly be escalating by being a far more interesting. Can't generally go wrong with a healthy Dustin, and if you watch how fast he moves between the ropes, I think it's safe to say he is that.

This show was about escalating Koslov as much as anything else, on commentary during the Christian match (which was awesome) and destroying Dreamer in about four minutes. It was delighted to see Christian running in after the main event still selling the arm. It's really great to see that sort of pride in the work. This ECW stint will be a great opportunity to reset and rebuild the Koslov character after being built up and then beaten by HHH, Taker and Michaels to further their stories. I like how his character is no longer just a machine, and is being allowed some personality. Got to love the smirk.

ECW: 9th July 2009

2009-07-18T22:55:00.002+01:00

The ECW undercard is a little underwhelming at the moment, post-shuffle. There's the Bella Twins doing a twin gimmick where they switch places, at the expense of Katie Lea, who actually is worthwhile in the ring. Ezekiel Jackson cuts a pointless promo and has a squash match (he at least does a nice lariat). They waste my wrestling watching time with the Abraham Washington segment (I'm still hopeful that intentionally bad comedy gimmick, as evidenced by Dreamer's reaction, and the hairbrush). On the positive side, the first time someone punches him is going to get a fantastic reaction.

The Yoshi Tatsu-Shelton Benjamin match was a pretty decent little TV effort. Yoshi (already getting crowd support) seems to have half a moonset at the moment - his stuff into the finish was fine, but he had nothing earlier in the match, and his couple of bits look awkward. If they are looking for another Tajiri, he's going to need to develop some personality. Tajiri was great at interacting, without words, with the crowd. Benjamin was solid here - I much prefer him as he currently is, with more ground attack and more character than as the Man Who Jumps.

You have got to love Christian's entrance being accompanied by a slack-jawed child shot (this is how I look at home during Christian matches also). I hope that makes his next Titantron video. I enjoyed this a lot - Christian bumps around, including a full-force body drop over the ropes to the outside, and Kozlov looks good on offence. I'm also enjoyong some of his facials - Christian's first punch was met with a great look of shock and anger. Nothing particularly high end, especially relative to Christian's better matches this year, but the seven minutes this got implies they have a pretty great longer match in there for a later date.

But please, don't ever ask Tommy Dreamer to do colour commentary again. Sometimes, when he talks, it makes me wish that I was listening to the relative coherence and meaningfulness of Sarah Palin's resignation speech. Example (paraphrased): "Tommy, what are Christian's assets? Tommy?" "Sorry, I'm lost in this action. I'm scouting these guys as well" "What are his assets was my question" "His assets? Everything". Great scouting, there. Also, even if it's easy, don't let your commentary team make him look like more ridiculous by discussing how dumb his answers to their questions have been. He's still the champion.

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 137!

2009-07-07T14:05:00.000+01:00

This weeks Infinity featured action from the 6/11 show eminating from Korakuen Hall. The main event was the much anticipated Open The Dream Gate match between partners Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino.

137

1. Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. CIMA & Gamma

Real Hazard's Twin Gate wasn't on the line here, but the story was that if the boys from W-5 won then they'd be getting a title shot soon. Match was pretty decent. Lots of interference as one would expect. I feel like I haven't seen CIMA and Genki wrestle in ages, and I had forgotten how well they mesh. The action down the stretch was alot of fun as DR. MUSCLE of all people hit the ring seemingly to attack CIMA, but suddenly he laid out RH with lariats and unmasked to reveal Susumu Yokosuka. Gamma rolled up Ryo for the pin. Post match Saito and Susumu set up a single match for the next Korakuen.

2. Naruki Doi (c) vs. Masato Yoshino - Open The Dream Gate

Easily the biggest match on Infinity this year, as SPEED MUSCLE EXPLODES. Let's hope they're not calling each other out in raps 20 years from now.

The early stages were tentative, telling the story that both wrestlers knew how dangerous the other was. Doi was the first one to raise the pace by hitting a huge topé to the rail. Yoshino hurt his leg in the process and Doi went to work for the next several minutes. Yoshino was looking in trouble until he saw an opening to attack Doi's arm. So we had both guys selling injuries and taking turns of having control. It was good stuff so far.

Things got more heated as it started to come down to strike exchanges. The crowd sensing the difference in the action started to get more and more into it and popped big for some close nearfalls. They were both attempting signature moves, but being partners, each guy knew what was coming and had a counter. Doi was the first one to bust out something new, countering a Lightning Spiral by hitting a BIG running turnbuckle Powerbomb. As he looked to finish Yoshi off with his Muscular Bomb, the Speed Star regrouped and finally hit his Lightning Spiral for a big nearfall.

They were at a stalemate when they met on the top turnbuckle to duke it out. Yoshino surprisingly outstruck the more heavy hitting Doi and went for his spring board Sling Blade but Doi caught him and hit a huge Avalanche Doi555. Yoshino, fueled by adrenaline, jumped right back to his feet saying "COME ON PARTNER, IT'LL TAKE MORE THAN THAT". They traded more nearfalls with Yoshino coming scary close with various Torbellino cradles. He then locked in the Sol Naciente submission but Doi fought out and hit an awesome Release Tiger Suplex. He followed it up with a Bakatare Sliding Kick, a series of slaps and another Bakatare for the pin.

Phenomenal match. Really smartly worked in the early stages and out of this world action down the stretch. ****1/2 if I'm to put a rating on it.

As the show went off the air we got brief clips of mcKZ and Naoki Tanizaki miscommunicating and then making up, and then we had our weekly visit with the Open The Handsome Gate champions plugging various happy fun things to us.

Infinity 137 - 9/10 (Best of the year, pretty much all due to the main)

WWE: Superstars 2nd July 2009

2009-07-05T00:35:00.004+01:00

Ah, Superstars. My favourite of cross-branded WWE TV show. Santino vs. The Brian Kendrick is the Raw match. It would be good if they could make Santino a little more rounded as a comedy character now he's been turned, mainly by the crowd, babyface. His schtick as a heel was funny enough that the audience began to cheer for him - I don't see any need for him to switch to a different routine. The match is entertaining for the three minutes it gets, and both guys are hard to not enjoy.

Smackdown match number one is John Morrison versus Charlie Haas. John Morrison is also a guy whose babyface turn has led to the a complete change in character. It''s just lazy writing for someone to basically press refresh on the attitude, where a gradual and justifiable evolution is so much more rewarding. I'm also not as convinced by him as a singles guy as I was in his team last year - sure, he gets to do all his impressive flippy offence, but he doesn't feel like the guy putting good matches together. I liked his match last week with Punk, but not as much as some others, and I'd place any credit for it with Punk. Anyway, this match is another example - he takes a nasty bump chest first onto the steps, but ignores it soon after to hit his gymnastic stuff. It's like the bump is just another way of being flashy, rather than contributing anything to the match.

The ECW match is the debuting Tyler Reks, who I think was or is the FCW champion against Zack Ryder, a guy whose character at least is somewhat of a guilty pleasure. Match is too short (again) to really get into, but I will note that for all his goofiness, Ryder has some perfectly decent offence, and you can't fault him for effort.

The WWE have apparently jumped onto the latest fad, which is called reading. What ever happened to good old fashioned listening to words? That clip from the gauntlet match on Raw really makes me want to watch that match on Raw without already knowing what happened on Raw.

CM Punk vs. Edge is the main event. Of the many great things in this Punk slow-burn heel turn is how JR is utterly convinced by everything Punk says and does - here completely siding with the eye injury explanation for the Bash title match. All that stuff I said about lazy writing in turns earlier...completely does not apply to Punk. JR also redefines the word undisputed: "Undisputed means they go to any brand to defend their tag titles". No it doesn't. You can all see what I have done there. The match is passable and not particularly exciting, but it serves its purpose with the finish. I said it of the Bash and it applies here too - this is the first time I've seen the WWE use these non-finishes to actually achieve something. Usually, a DQ in a title match on PPV is used because the writers want to feud to continue for a bit, but don't want the babyface to lose. Here, the finish still draws the ire of the crowds, but channels it towards Punk's on-going character development. And the best thing about it all - it all makes complete sense. His motivation, his actions, the response from commentators - it all follows on naturally and is completely consistent. The best heels, as Foley noted, are the ones that truly believe that they are right.