All Japan: Champions Carnival 2011 - Day 2

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

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 Bunch Of: Yoshihiro Takayama

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.

All Japan: 5th April 2009

I watched all of the 2008 Champions Carnival in March, and enjoyed it. The 2009 event just appeared on DVDVR, courtesy of Spin Fly Kick's very own Alan (I don't know how he gets GAORA in Ireland). I watch it, and I opine.

Day one, match one is Hama vs. ZODIAC. Hama is like a Japanese Big Daddy V. He's like a Japanese Kamala. He's big, is what I'm saying. And Japanese. This match is built around the fact that Hama is big. He uses the fact that he is big to do moves which require him to be big. I struggle to care about ZODIAC, but Hama could be a fun in his next few matches.

Match two is between Nishimura and Senada. First half of this is Nish dominating on the mat. Second half of this about Senada targetting Nishimura's leg. The leg work is fine, and Nish sells it to the finish, as I would expect. Senada is pretty focused, and Nish, in keeping with both his old school gimmick and the resorts to a surprise roll up for the victory. A well put together, coherent match. My only complaint is the match lacked a bit of drama or excitement near the end, but it's hard to expect much else from a first day match between two guys I don't expect to win their group.

Joe Doering vs. Kaz Hayashi is an interesting first day match. The way this was put together was clearly to establish junior Hayashi as a credible contender. Hayashi hits a great looking tope early in this - a lot of topes in Japan become more like diving forearms (Sekimoto's is the worst example), whereas in Mexico, a tope is head-first and out-of-control. Kaz skull crashes into Joe's chest, and I am pleased. Obviously enough, Joe dominates most of this match, throwing Kaz around with a huge back body drop and a fallaway slam. Kaz's short comebacks work and looks believeable, and builds through bigger moves culminating in an impressive Air Raid Crash. There is some smart wrestling here - bigger moves like the german is blocked early on, but is hit later when Kaz has managed to wear Joe down a little. Also, each move does greater and greater damage, allowing him to finally hit one of his finishers. Kaz's progress in this tournament could be one of it's best features, if booked well.

I wasn't really all that impressed with Kojima and Suwama. It begins energetically, with Suwama gaining the advantage. They fight on the outside with a teased powerbomb off the apron, culminating with an elevated powerbomb on the outside, which was a pretty big bump that didn't really feature into the rest of the match. In fact, for all the big moves being thrown out in this match, they're wasn't much evidence of long term cumulative selling. Then again, Suwama popped straight up after a Koji Cutter and kicked out at one on the penultimate lariat, so it's probably unfair to expect deep selling when short-term selling wasn't great either. And it's probably unfair to expect short-term selling when your watching a match between Kojima and Suwama.

Next match was between Kea vs. Suzuki. This began well, lots of nice striking, Kea looking good on offence, taking control of the ring with Suzuki trying to get in, leading to Suzuki surprising Kea with a jujigatame to establish the danger of a quick submission. But Kea just kills me by ignoring the arm whenever its convenient. I appreciated the stiffness in this, but Kea (a man with three other limbs) kept using the bad arm to attack, and most of the time didn't even bother to do the intermittent arm clutching that a lot of Japanese wrestlers do in lieu of actually selling. Suzuki's submission stuff is entertaining - he finds lots of interesting ways of working arm locks. Kea adds to his list of bad selling by shaking off everything, including a cradle piledriver, and goes for his finishers. Suzuki decides all this no-selling looks like fun with a kickout at one of one of Kea's finishers, goes down for three after the next one, and that's a match - one that had better ideas than execution.

Last match of the night was between Mutoh and Takayama. Takayama's the new Triple Crown champion, having beaten Muta last month. Adding to the intrigue, Mutoh nearly missed the tournament with an injury. Little surprise how this match goes. Mutoh plays the broken down star with just a couple of very effective weapons still available to him, which he will use on repeat and at all available opportunities until they get a result. This time, its delivers a surprisingly great, coherent wrestling match, as Mutoh is relentless in attacking Takayama's leg with dropkicks and figure fours, completely cutting his offence out of the match, and kept on going until he gives up. Great performance here from Takayama, selling every blow to the leg like he's been shot in the thigh and made the final figure four look like agony. This became a good example of taking something formulaic and making it really work.

Good end to a quite variable show. A lot of effort all-round, but some of the matches were dragged down by the participants not working smartly. I like tournaments because they allow for the possibility of developing little themes, and there's a few nice opportunities for that here. I look forward to the next show.