Sunday 29th April, 2012, 11.06am: Sitting in bed with nothing to do today EQUALS I write about some wrestling. I have a stack of WWE DVDs from when I last watched (Extreme Rules) to the present so that's what I'm doing for the next few weeks. I watched Over the Limit before this, and actually enjoyed it quite a lot. I thought the Punk/Mason vs. Show/Kane tag was a lot of fun and that Orton vs. Christian match was really a very good face vs. face WWE heavyweight match (with a particularly well-paced finishing stretch and some nice spots that played off the knowledge each man had of the others moveset). The I Quit main event was sort of worth watching for Cena doing his performance art limits of human endurance act, although that idea dragged on way too long and I didn't like recorded voice false finish.
11.13am: So, next up is Capitol Punishment, from June 2011. PLAY.
11.20am: I don't know what they do with R-Truth after this title match, because his title shot feels like what the character is really all about, but I'm enjoying how insane-looking he is in this gimmick. He's got some impressive mic skills that haven't seen much play in recent years.
11.23am: First up, a match to determine: (a) whether Dolph Ziggler can drag anything worthwhile out of Kofi Kingston, and (b) the US championship. In the meantime, there's some borderline intolerable misogyny going on as the commentators discuss Vicky Guerrero's weight. "Want to be of value, ladies? Don't forget to be thin and attractive. And even if you do make yourself more thin and more attractive, old overweight men who decide these things will probably still determine that it's not enough." Someone put that on the side of a bus.
11.40am: Cole says Kingston takes inspiration from Shawn Michaels. Kingston does some weak chops and pointlessly jumps around a bit in lieu of doing anything with any impact. I mention these things together for you to draw your own conclusions.
11.54am: Look, I'm glad they gave the belt to Dolph, and he was really good in the match, especially the way he bumped around and made Kofi's stuff look actually dangerous (he absolutely jumps into the crossbody which was, like, well good), but that ending was really rubbish. Firstly, I'm not sure if Kofi fell over while Dolph was going for the Zig-Zag (a much tidier ending), but if so, Dolph salvage it by making it a sleeper hold. Then, the ref is clearly able to see the rope break, whereas he should have been facing away. Thirdly, what happened to the old 'arm drops three time' finish for a KO victory? Lastly (and this is a bit pedantic, I grant you), Booker's going on about it being a DQ because of the use of ropes, which doesn't make any sense. I generally like how unpolished he is on commentary, it feels more real when events are surprising, but sometimes he needs to keep on-script more to get over the actual story points.
12.03pm: Alex Riley vs. The Miz next. Got to say, it's a smart move them doing this turn with his first big match in his billed hometown. I mean, I don't think he's getting that ovation on his own merits (yet) (maybe ever), but it should play well.
12.21pm: That was what it was. Riley has some terrible punches and they featured heavily, so that's not good. Miz played his role fine (I liked him taunting Riley then acting shocked when he actually got slapped), and the ending was a bit of a surprise. I hope they are not banking on Riley being a potential star, because I didn't see much here.
12.32pm: I'm going to make a potato rosti and bacon and eggs, because HELLO, it's a Sunday and I'm not dead yet.
1.34pm: Back now. This Obama skit is ridiculous. Remember: satire isn't funny if it takes a political position. Obviously, that doesn't include left-wing positions.
1.40pm: Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rios is next. Big Show interrupts Del Rios' entrance from behind, and I'll be honest: I would not look quite some comfortable waiting for the Big Show to run into me from behind as he did.
1.51pm: I really liked that as a half-angle half-match. The Mark Henry run-in and slam through the table was impressive, and the leg injury finish lets both men leave looking good. Show's sell job of the leg was really great.
1.55pm: Oh, come on. I've already sat through one Big Zeke vs. Wade Barrett match this week. Why is this happening again? Barrett runs through the usual heat-generating heel promo tactics: mentioning the national debt, rubbishing the education system, recommending the establishment of a monarchy. Standard.
2.04pm: Well, they kept it short at least. Nothing actually to be offended by, just nothing very interesting. NEXT.
2.06pm: This anti-bullying campaign is basically commendable but pretty incredible given the Vicky Guerrero stuff at the beginning. "Don't bully people. Except if they're full figured and slightly less attractive. They don't count. They're barely people."
2.09pm: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio is more like it. I can not believe they ever booked Punk as a face for the first couple of years in the WWE. Is there a more naturally gifted heel out there at the moment (where the moment was, admittedly, 10 months ago)?
2.24pm: Really nice match with lots of cool spots. Obviously, Rey and Punk work really well together, as seen in the past. I liked the avoidance of each others stuff - the sequence where Punk avoided Rey's kick twice before getting kicked was really cool. Punk avoiding three 619s, with the third one transitioned into the GTS, completed that theme in a convincing ending. And if Punk wasn't actually nursing both an arm and leg injury, his selling had me convinced otherwise.
2.29pm: Christian vs. Randy Orton is next. I've liked both their prior matches, but this is the first with Christian working heel. For the record, Orton as face and Christian as a heel is really not playing to anyone's strengths. On the other hand, they've made it work in storyline terms. So much so that Booker T has geesebumps, which I believe is where your goosebumps have goosebumps.
2.50pm: I enjoyed this as well. The match was built around Orton's concussion, so that gave it a nice storyline. Orton does some stupid things that would obviously aggrevate a head injury, and I have this internal debate about whether that's acceptable. On the one hand, he sells it, so it is consistent. On the other hand, he KEEPS HEADBUTTING Christian and basic common sense screams at him to find another move. Has he even done headbutts before? King is explaining that he's probably not thinking straight, but even the most brain-addled can understand, on a primitive level: 'Head hurts, stop hitting things with head'. Christian doesn't actually stand out for me much here, although I do like that last month Christian does Edge's spear to a big cheer, and this month it comes off as a complete douchebag move. I should probably give them more credit for a storyline that has turned the fans so effectively.
2.58pm: Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger have been sent out to fill some time between title matches. Swagger tries to get heel heat by the standard trick of raising his arms, but no-one responds. They are ambivalent to his arms. He is saying to them 'Look at my arms, evil and raised' and the crowd collectively shurg and say 'S'just arms, man'. One guy at the back boos a little. It was a bit like my graduation, except almost everyone hated my arms.
3.10pm: I'll give the Obama impersonator credit for the quality of the impression. He absolutely nails the mannerisms. But this is still beyond stupid. I don't care that someone who is playing the part of someone else can do something that you wouldn't expect the person he is playing to be able to do, because IT'S A DIFFERENT PERSON.
3.30pm: And that was the Cena vs. R-Truth main event right there. Match was passable and inoffensive and I'm struggling to think of any real highlights. The commentators spend most of the match picking minor faults with the things other commentators say (although some of them were spot on, like Booker saying Cena always finds a way to pull victories out, and Cole saying that a day will come when he doesn't, and Booker saying that of course such a day always comes, and Cole then questioning what his point actually was). Booker also asks for the name of moves It occurs that Truth hasn't worked out how to turn crazy heel interview persona into crazy heel in-ring persona, and he mostly does his moves and mouths off a little bit. Finish is a nice little pay-off, and it doesn't feel like they'll be running a longer feud here.
3.36pm: So, you know, this was an actually good show. The main event wasn't really anything special, but the other title match and the Rey-Punk match was definitely worth the time, and the other stuff had some nice moments and didn't last too long if it didn't need to. Plus the next month is all about Punk, so I'm in a pretty positive-about-the-WWE place right now
Monday, 30 April 2012
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
How Great is Sasuke (Part 8 of Oh, Hai, Long Neglected Sasuke Project)
Great Sasuke and Dick Togo vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Genba Hirayanagi, NOAH, 30th October 2010
This came of like the Sasuke and Togo Show. For twelve minutes of wrestling, I absolutely don't mind watching two of my favourite guys show off their stuff, but I really got no sense of a sustained comeback from the NOAH guys, which was odd. Sasuke and Togo come off like two twenty years veterans absolutely in control, which is exactly appropriate. Togo leads the way through a series of lightening fast takedowns early on, at a speed that suggests his imminent retirement is not due to physical breakdown. Togo always works tight, but I got the impression that Sasuke was putting a little bit extra into his kicks and stomach jabs.. There's also slight suggestion of rudo Togo, a sneering smile on occassion, but it isn't overt. The combination of this, a quick efficient pace and some nice offence drives the heat section along nicely before the finishing stretch which had enough stuff, but little nearfall overkill. Even when on defence, I find myself watching Sasuke and Togo - Sasuke's sell of the elbow to the groin was the sort of slightly absurd oversell I love him for. Somersault plancha out of nowhere, senton, top rope dropkick to the ground rounded off a decent little match in highspotty fashion.
KENTA and Atsushi Aoki vs. The Great Sasuke and Kenbai, NOAH, 10th October 2010
This match has quite a gradual build. It opens with some sensible, non-flashy matwork and submissions and everyone looks pretty even, even tiny Kenbai. KENTA and Aoki really didn't seem interested in doing anything noteworthy during the whole section beating down Kenbai (who, I think, is a masked Yuki Sato). Then it gets going more when Sasuke tags back in, and he introduces a chair which backfires twice (including a somersault senton bump right on it). This introduces a second heat section and finally Aoki and KENTA step up the pace a bit. Kenbai hits a bunch of nice spots and Sasuke does his apron somersault bump which misses (naturally) and there's a couple of really close falls that I sort of bought at the time, before KENTA levels Kenbai with a lariat and they finish him off about four times over before the pinfall.
The whole match was fine, and I enjoyed it, but KENTA and Aoki often don't give me much to write about other than variations of the theme: 'Ooo, KENTA just did a stiff kick' or 'Ooo, KENTA just did a stiff forearm' or 'Ooo, similar things about Aoki'. They seem so obsessed with being intense and stoic that they never really perform, they just do hard hitting stuff at pace, and sometimes I want more. Sasuke, on the other hand, is all about the performance. Watch him during the strike exchange with KENTA - you get the sense of the impact and increasing damage from each of KENTA's forearms, while KENTA robotically takes a shot and carries on regardless. And he shows here that it is not a choice between seriousness and performance. His early matwork looks as fluid as Aoki (who has a technical gimmick), and I liked the look and gestures he made when caught between Aoki and KENTA early on, trying to make sure he got out without taking a sneeky double team. Above everything, he's pretty unpredictable which you can't say of someone like KENTA. And only he has an ongoing career retrospective on a well-respected wrestling review blog, so the rewards are fairly clear.
Great Sasuke and Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. El Samurai and TAKA, PWFG, 22nd January 95
The most interesting part of the match's layout is how Fujiwara moves from a supporting role to the main focus of the match, which is a nice example of a match evolving from its initial premise. The early part of the match is an extension of the TAKA-Sasuke feud, and you really get the sense those guys were unleashing on each other. There's a great spot in the first half where when both Sasuke and Fujiwara runs off the ropes (which looks like Sasuke taking a cue from Fujiwara), but Fujiwara fakes out a dive while Sasuke goes flying. He then stomps around with mock disappointment in being outpaced by Sasuke.
Fujiwara spends most of the first half breaking up every pinfall or submission attempt on Sasuke. This pleased me - I never quite understand the logic of a team partner not trying to break-up every pin attempt if they could. After Sasuke finally gets out, Fujiwara takes over. As it gets closer to the end, he mostly squares off with a very game TAKA who surprises him a few times and who seems difficult to finish off. The finish finally comes when Sasuke hits perhaps three big aerial moves to keep Samurai out of the way before Fujiwara finally gets the armbar, catching TAKA mid-air in a cool-looking spot.
The match is packed for of really fun moments. I'm not sure how I felt about how it flowed together, but it's definitely worth a watch.
This came of like the Sasuke and Togo Show. For twelve minutes of wrestling, I absolutely don't mind watching two of my favourite guys show off their stuff, but I really got no sense of a sustained comeback from the NOAH guys, which was odd. Sasuke and Togo come off like two twenty years veterans absolutely in control, which is exactly appropriate. Togo leads the way through a series of lightening fast takedowns early on, at a speed that suggests his imminent retirement is not due to physical breakdown. Togo always works tight, but I got the impression that Sasuke was putting a little bit extra into his kicks and stomach jabs.. There's also slight suggestion of rudo Togo, a sneering smile on occassion, but it isn't overt. The combination of this, a quick efficient pace and some nice offence drives the heat section along nicely before the finishing stretch which had enough stuff, but little nearfall overkill. Even when on defence, I find myself watching Sasuke and Togo - Sasuke's sell of the elbow to the groin was the sort of slightly absurd oversell I love him for. Somersault plancha out of nowhere, senton, top rope dropkick to the ground rounded off a decent little match in highspotty fashion.
KENTA and Atsushi Aoki vs. The Great Sasuke and Kenbai, NOAH, 10th October 2010
This match has quite a gradual build. It opens with some sensible, non-flashy matwork and submissions and everyone looks pretty even, even tiny Kenbai. KENTA and Aoki really didn't seem interested in doing anything noteworthy during the whole section beating down Kenbai (who, I think, is a masked Yuki Sato). Then it gets going more when Sasuke tags back in, and he introduces a chair which backfires twice (including a somersault senton bump right on it). This introduces a second heat section and finally Aoki and KENTA step up the pace a bit. Kenbai hits a bunch of nice spots and Sasuke does his apron somersault bump which misses (naturally) and there's a couple of really close falls that I sort of bought at the time, before KENTA levels Kenbai with a lariat and they finish him off about four times over before the pinfall.
The whole match was fine, and I enjoyed it, but KENTA and Aoki often don't give me much to write about other than variations of the theme: 'Ooo, KENTA just did a stiff kick' or 'Ooo, KENTA just did a stiff forearm' or 'Ooo, similar things about Aoki'. They seem so obsessed with being intense and stoic that they never really perform, they just do hard hitting stuff at pace, and sometimes I want more. Sasuke, on the other hand, is all about the performance. Watch him during the strike exchange with KENTA - you get the sense of the impact and increasing damage from each of KENTA's forearms, while KENTA robotically takes a shot and carries on regardless. And he shows here that it is not a choice between seriousness and performance. His early matwork looks as fluid as Aoki (who has a technical gimmick), and I liked the look and gestures he made when caught between Aoki and KENTA early on, trying to make sure he got out without taking a sneeky double team. Above everything, he's pretty unpredictable which you can't say of someone like KENTA. And only he has an ongoing career retrospective on a well-respected wrestling review blog, so the rewards are fairly clear.
Great Sasuke and Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. El Samurai and TAKA, PWFG, 22nd January 95
The most interesting part of the match's layout is how Fujiwara moves from a supporting role to the main focus of the match, which is a nice example of a match evolving from its initial premise. The early part of the match is an extension of the TAKA-Sasuke feud, and you really get the sense those guys were unleashing on each other. There's a great spot in the first half where when both Sasuke and Fujiwara runs off the ropes (which looks like Sasuke taking a cue from Fujiwara), but Fujiwara fakes out a dive while Sasuke goes flying. He then stomps around with mock disappointment in being outpaced by Sasuke.
Fujiwara spends most of the first half breaking up every pinfall or submission attempt on Sasuke. This pleased me - I never quite understand the logic of a team partner not trying to break-up every pin attempt if they could. After Sasuke finally gets out, Fujiwara takes over. As it gets closer to the end, he mostly squares off with a very game TAKA who surprises him a few times and who seems difficult to finish off. The finish finally comes when Sasuke hits perhaps three big aerial moves to keep Samurai out of the way before Fujiwara finally gets the armbar, catching TAKA mid-air in a cool-looking spot.
The match is packed for of really fun moments. I'm not sure how I felt about how it flowed together, but it's definitely worth a watch.
Thursday, 5 April 2012
Michinoku Pro: 15th December 1994
This Champs Forum episode opens with the earliest Ikeda-Ishikawa match I've seen. It's not of epic length or anything, but it's a really great eight minute match. It's violent at times, with some particularly nasty knee strikes and headkicks, and Ishikawa punching Ikeda in the kidneys. There's also some really neat mat transitions going on. Most importantly, it excels as a well-told, self-contained story. I watched it a few times to pull out all the things going on, because it goes at a relentless pace. It starts with Ishikawa trying for the armbar early, but Ikeda manages to avoid it. Ikeda starts off on the mat too, then turns to the headkicks after one gets a near standing ten-count. Ishikawa avoids more kicks and turns them into leg bars, but Ikeda manages to land another, then continue with the head attacks and shifts to the german suplex. A second one is blocked by Ishikawa going deadweight and rolling through, but his armbar attempt is again blocked. Ishikawa holds on, takes Ikeda down again, and this time he can't block the submission hold.
The main event is Great Sasuke vs. TAKA. Coincidentally, it's also the earliest version I've seen of a now familiar match-up. I liked this a good deal. There's a clear distinction between the 1994 NJ junior style and what was coming out of big singles matches in M-Pro at this time, which were faster and had very little in the way of long early matwork sections.Throw in the FMW garbage matches and you really can make a case for the Sasuke's impressive versatility even this early in his career. I liked the pacing of the big spots, and the sense of escalation in them - to take one example, TAKA one-ups Sasuke's quebrada with a top rope version. As you might guess, it's an ace vs. young upstart type of a match, but TAKA looks really strong throughout, like he might pull off the win. I actually bought into one of the near falls off a cross-arm powerbomb. Aside for all the impressive spots, it's Sasuke's reaction to his near-defeat that is crucial to the match, the way he's stunned and slapping his own face the shake himself out of it. His victory comes across as opportunistic and fortunate, like it was a solitary lapse in TAKA's concentration being the deciding factor. There's some slightly intermittent clutching of an injured arm that keeps trying to distract me from enjoying the whole match, but that's the only obvious flaw.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Michinoku Pro: 30th October 1994
This is a commercial release, rather than an eight-generation taping from an old VHS, so I'll be enjoying the sight of wrestlers with definitive edges. Unfortunately, a number of this unfuzzy wrestlers have very forgettable matches, prompting me to wonder why the video quality people did not co-ordinate better with the wrestling quality team. Why am I straining to watch awesome Super Boy matches, but I can see Wellington Wilkins Jr take some lousy bumps in near-HD quality (This may be an exaggeration)?
I also liked the main event between Sasuke and Onita, in a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Double Hell Exploding Ring Death Match. First of all, the pre-match build was great. Sasuke is flown by helicopter to the venue, with a camera pointing straight at his face, jaw-set, looking ominous. When they come back, it's dark, and the atmosphere makes it seem like An Event is about to happen. The match itself stuck with a simple deathmatch psychology - use the nasty things before you opponent uses them on you. The build to the first big spot had loads of teases, and when it comes, it is unexpected, with Onita suddenly charging Sasuke into the wire from what looked like a standing stalemate. Onita takes a couple of bumps onto the barbed wire and explosion boards, before Sasuke pulls out the space flying tiger drop over the electrified wire, in what critics (me) are calling a completely ridiculous but awesome decision. Onita regains the advantage, firstly with a throw that used Sasuke's momentum out of the ring onto the boards, and then basically powerbombs Sasuke until he gets a three count just before the time-limit. I don't quite understand the exploding ring gimmick - is the point to finish the match before it detonates, or to keep out of the way when it detonates (hopefully with your opponent in the blast zone)? - but there's little doubt its a visually impressive finale. It leads to some deeply melodramatic post-match activities where Sasuke plays actually dead and Onita trys to revive him. Quite the enjoyable spectacle from start to finish.
Anyway, that deals with the two first singles matches (Masato Yakushiji vs. Wellington Wilkins Jr, and HANZO Nakajima vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa, for those who need to know). Then there's a La Pantera vs. Super Delfin match that I was excited for, but never really gets going after a promising opening of lucha takedowns and submission. This had a whole run of real awkward-looking Pantera spots which look like botches that just kills any latent momentum that they had. Delfin is really into short comeback in his matches at this time. This was basically Tornado DDT, Delfin Clutch and we're done.
The trios (TAKA, Jinsei Shinzaki and Gran Naniwa vs. SATO, Shiryu and Terry Boy) is maybe the first Kaientai trios, and it is really fun. The show is outdoors and the opening brawl is absolutely not afraid to give the video producer a headache (the whole thing is nicely put together so that get a sense of the three separate exchanges all happening together). Then they reset and hit the ring, which gives the Kaientai guys a chance to show off all there new triple team stuff. There's a super-intense Terry Boy-TAKA staredown before they match up, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how TAKA ends up changing allegiance. The other team does mount a comeback, but the focus is still on the rudos - their dives were spectacular (SATO and Shiryu do stereo somersault topes, causing me to rewind twice so I could watch each one individually) and their team mentality finally isolates Naniwa for an awesome SATO senton. I'm aware that when the KDX feud really gets going, I'm going to be spoilt with great trios and eight-man tags, but I did enjoy a whole bunch of this.
I also liked the main event between Sasuke and Onita, in a No Rope Exploding Barbed Wire Double Hell Exploding Ring Death Match. First of all, the pre-match build was great. Sasuke is flown by helicopter to the venue, with a camera pointing straight at his face, jaw-set, looking ominous. When they come back, it's dark, and the atmosphere makes it seem like An Event is about to happen. The match itself stuck with a simple deathmatch psychology - use the nasty things before you opponent uses them on you. The build to the first big spot had loads of teases, and when it comes, it is unexpected, with Onita suddenly charging Sasuke into the wire from what looked like a standing stalemate. Onita takes a couple of bumps onto the barbed wire and explosion boards, before Sasuke pulls out the space flying tiger drop over the electrified wire, in what critics (me) are calling a completely ridiculous but awesome decision. Onita regains the advantage, firstly with a throw that used Sasuke's momentum out of the ring onto the boards, and then basically powerbombs Sasuke until he gets a three count just before the time-limit. I don't quite understand the exploding ring gimmick - is the point to finish the match before it detonates, or to keep out of the way when it detonates (hopefully with your opponent in the blast zone)? - but there's little doubt its a visually impressive finale. It leads to some deeply melodramatic post-match activities where Sasuke plays actually dead and Onita trys to revive him. Quite the enjoyable spectacle from start to finish.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Michinoku Pro: 29th September 1994
Right, here we go again.
This show was spread over two Champ Forums, and is a pretty stacked card, with two NJPW juniors dropping in and four singles matches on it. This is a bit unusual, and also presents a little bit of a problem for reviewing. I have liked Michinoku Pro singles matches, but like lots of juniors wrestling they tend to follow a certain predictable path, apart from on rare occasions. As a result, they don't always present a huge amount to write about. That said, watching the show was sort of instructive about when singles matches work well, and when they are missing something.
Before that, the show opens with Terry Boy and SATO vs. Hanzo Nakajima and Naohiro Hoshikawa. This was a fun TV-show tag match, mostly serving as an opportunity for the newly-formed Kai En Tai team to show off theit cool double teams. From the stuff I watched before, it was obvious how much personality Terry Boy had, and how much he could connect with the crowd. Here, it's channelled into rudoism, and it works just as well as when he was the plucky underdog crowd-favourite brawling with Shinzaki. SATO is such a bruiser here - he keeps more grounded than in his pre-KDX days, but all of his stuff looks great. They finish with an assisted powerbomb that looks absolutely brutal. The other team has their brief comeback and does some dives and it all serves its purpose very nicely.
The TAKA vs. Gran Naniwa match was really interesting. Both guys were fired up at the beginning - the sort of pre-match activities that usually go before a grudge match - and the first few exchanges in and around the ring were really heated. The match itself then had a lot of submission matwork, often with one guy copying the other or trying to top the previous move. All good so far. Where I think the match starting lacking was in the finish stretch, which, despite the impact going up, was just less intense than when they were just slapping each other. The high-risk stuff was good, but felt a little bit like it was included because it MUST BE INCLUDED. TAKA even misses his first no hand plancha, but then does it successfully about 60 seconds later in a spot that is not as impressive to watch second time around.
Super Delfin vs. El Samurai was fine, but gave little to write about. Although not ground-breaking or anything, I liked the early lucha exchanges. Delfin (and in particular his head and neck) was on the receiving end of most of the offence until the right at the end, where he stage a comeback - a couple of big DDTs and the Delfin Clutch. I have no problem with this - I think my opinion on overly long finishing stretches is pretty clear, and I also have no problem with the finish (it's wrestling, stop worrying about things looking absurd). The match just didn't have much else to say about it. One thing that is obvious: Delfin as crowd-favourite is nowhere near as fun as Delfin as a rudo. Shiryu vs. Jinsei Shinzaki is a mismatch, but it was cleverly put together. Shiryu has some really great looking offence that was credible against his much larger opponent. The in-ring tope landed with head unprotected squarely into Shinzaki's chest.
I really liked the Great Sasuke vs. Shinjiro Otani main event. In terms of 1994 junior matches (and this sticks very much to the New Japan juniors style) I'd place it below the second Liger vs. Sasuke match, but above the Super J Cup matches (from memory, I'm due to rewatch them). In 1994, Otani is basically the most expressive human being on the planet. There's a moment after the bell when Otani jumps Sasuke from behind and takes control for a minute or so where Sasuke has the opportunity to land a spinning kick. His face, as he falls outside of the ring and stands back up, is one of bafflement and shock. They spend most of the first two thirds of the match on the mat, with Otani targetting Sasuke's arm. Sasuke is a similarly expressive wrestler, although he does so in body-language, so these mat exchanges come across as really competitive struggles, with Sasuke grappling to avoid armbars and Otani finding different ways to return back to it. Then they hit the highspots and the finishing stretch, which was roughly the right length and finishes with the usual collection of german suplexes and powerbombs that we've all seen before (in a good way, though - the textbook is a the textbook for a reason).
Epilogue: Having a bit of a break causes me to re-evaluate some of my more strident assumptions about good and bad examples of wrestling. What is different between this sort of juniors match and a stereotypical Dragon Gate match, which similarly has limbwork that doesn't factor into the finish? Firstly, I conclude, the matwork is better. It stands alone as part of the story of the contest, rather than the way you fill up the first fifteen minutes of your forty minutes super epic. The second difference is the balance - with these high-end 90s junior matches, the length of the finish stretch indicates that the matwork was really just time-wasting, whereas a twenty minute match with twelve minutes grounded, you can reasonably consider it to be where both guys try and wear down their opponent before turning to their match winning moves. Thirdly, there is definitely a difference in the portrayal of long-term effects. Current juniors go from one extreme to another - from limping horribly to jumping around in five seconds. Here there are times where Sasuke favours the arm, and times where he uses the same arm, but there aren't the wild inconsistencies. There isn't the cliched "look at me battle through the pain" moments that people mistake for intensity. By the end, both guys seem exhausted, and their is a sense of cumulative damage throughout the match. That is what I think selling is really all about.
This show was spread over two Champ Forums, and is a pretty stacked card, with two NJPW juniors dropping in and four singles matches on it. This is a bit unusual, and also presents a little bit of a problem for reviewing. I have liked Michinoku Pro singles matches, but like lots of juniors wrestling they tend to follow a certain predictable path, apart from on rare occasions. As a result, they don't always present a huge amount to write about. That said, watching the show was sort of instructive about when singles matches work well, and when they are missing something.
Before that, the show opens with Terry Boy and SATO vs. Hanzo Nakajima and Naohiro Hoshikawa. This was a fun TV-show tag match, mostly serving as an opportunity for the newly-formed Kai En Tai team to show off theit cool double teams. From the stuff I watched before, it was obvious how much personality Terry Boy had, and how much he could connect with the crowd. Here, it's channelled into rudoism, and it works just as well as when he was the plucky underdog crowd-favourite brawling with Shinzaki. SATO is such a bruiser here - he keeps more grounded than in his pre-KDX days, but all of his stuff looks great. They finish with an assisted powerbomb that looks absolutely brutal. The other team has their brief comeback and does some dives and it all serves its purpose very nicely.
The TAKA vs. Gran Naniwa match was really interesting. Both guys were fired up at the beginning - the sort of pre-match activities that usually go before a grudge match - and the first few exchanges in and around the ring were really heated. The match itself then had a lot of submission matwork, often with one guy copying the other or trying to top the previous move. All good so far. Where I think the match starting lacking was in the finish stretch, which, despite the impact going up, was just less intense than when they were just slapping each other. The high-risk stuff was good, but felt a little bit like it was included because it MUST BE INCLUDED. TAKA even misses his first no hand plancha, but then does it successfully about 60 seconds later in a spot that is not as impressive to watch second time around.
Super Delfin vs. El Samurai was fine, but gave little to write about. Although not ground-breaking or anything, I liked the early lucha exchanges. Delfin (and in particular his head and neck) was on the receiving end of most of the offence until the right at the end, where he stage a comeback - a couple of big DDTs and the Delfin Clutch. I have no problem with this - I think my opinion on overly long finishing stretches is pretty clear, and I also have no problem with the finish (it's wrestling, stop worrying about things looking absurd). The match just didn't have much else to say about it. One thing that is obvious: Delfin as crowd-favourite is nowhere near as fun as Delfin as a rudo. Shiryu vs. Jinsei Shinzaki is a mismatch, but it was cleverly put together. Shiryu has some really great looking offence that was credible against his much larger opponent. The in-ring tope landed with head unprotected squarely into Shinzaki's chest.
I really liked the Great Sasuke vs. Shinjiro Otani main event. In terms of 1994 junior matches (and this sticks very much to the New Japan juniors style) I'd place it below the second Liger vs. Sasuke match, but above the Super J Cup matches (from memory, I'm due to rewatch them). In 1994, Otani is basically the most expressive human being on the planet. There's a moment after the bell when Otani jumps Sasuke from behind and takes control for a minute or so where Sasuke has the opportunity to land a spinning kick. His face, as he falls outside of the ring and stands back up, is one of bafflement and shock. They spend most of the first two thirds of the match on the mat, with Otani targetting Sasuke's arm. Sasuke is a similarly expressive wrestler, although he does so in body-language, so these mat exchanges come across as really competitive struggles, with Sasuke grappling to avoid armbars and Otani finding different ways to return back to it. Then they hit the highspots and the finishing stretch, which was roughly the right length and finishes with the usual collection of german suplexes and powerbombs that we've all seen before (in a good way, though - the textbook is a the textbook for a reason).
Epilogue: Having a bit of a break causes me to re-evaluate some of my more strident assumptions about good and bad examples of wrestling. What is different between this sort of juniors match and a stereotypical Dragon Gate match, which similarly has limbwork that doesn't factor into the finish? Firstly, I conclude, the matwork is better. It stands alone as part of the story of the contest, rather than the way you fill up the first fifteen minutes of your forty minutes super epic. The second difference is the balance - with these high-end 90s junior matches, the length of the finish stretch indicates that the matwork was really just time-wasting, whereas a twenty minute match with twelve minutes grounded, you can reasonably consider it to be where both guys try and wear down their opponent before turning to their match winning moves. Thirdly, there is definitely a difference in the portrayal of long-term effects. Current juniors go from one extreme to another - from limping horribly to jumping around in five seconds. Here there are times where Sasuke favours the arm, and times where he uses the same arm, but there aren't the wild inconsistencies. There isn't the cliched "look at me battle through the pain" moments that people mistake for intensity. By the end, both guys seem exhausted, and their is a sense of cumulative damage throughout the match. That is what I think selling is really all about.
BLOG UPDATE: Where we are now
So, a strange thing happened last night. I watched a wrestling DVD for the first time in about ten months. The recent hiatus has been a combination of work and study taking up more and more time, combined with a degree of wrestling burnout at the beginning of 2011. I felt sure I would come back to it, soon, one day, maybe tomorrow, but for a long time, I was lazy. Too lazy to sit on a bed and watch fake sport on a laptop (Note to biographers: omit this)
I suspect missing Wrestlemania was probably the deciding factor (more on that in a moment). So I went home last night, and sorted out which DVDs I hadn't yet watched into a pile. Afterwards, I watched a DVD, and I enjoyed it a great deal, and now I'm writing some words about it. It's a bit like the old days, in 2011, when I watched a DVD and then wrote words about it. Part of me was tempted to just start writing a review without even acknowledging the break. I'd be all "What absence? I've actually been here the whole time, watching and reviewing inside my brain." But I RESPECT YOU ALL TOO MUCH to do that. I hope you feel that.
So what's the plan? Good question, self. Firstly, there is the pile to deal with. This consists mostly of 1994 M-Pro, 1993 FMW and some 2010 Japanese indie stuff like the sort that I still like (M-Pro, K-Dojo, possibly some FREEDOMS). Then, I'm expecting an order of WWE DVDs from 2011-12, which I will be starting on over the weekend. I'm going to do a Possible Live Blog for each PPV, and maybe some stuff on the TV shows. Then I need to catch up with the big things of 2011. 2011 is basically a lost year at this point. I watched maybe a bit of Lawler indie stuff, and a couple of IWRG handhelds, and WWE and (apparently) two days worth of Champions Carnival and that's it. Maybe I'll finish off the Carnival, if I still have the files but I'm on the hunt for a best of 2011 comp. Does goodhelmet still do these?
I did decide, however, not to try to be as all-watching as before. In 2009 and 2010 I watched loads of stuff from everywhere to contribute to the WKO 100 and the DVDVR ballots. It apparently leads to the burnout. From now on, it's going to be stuff I enjoy and stuff I think I will enjoy and occasionally things I know I'm going to hate but will enjoy writing about. And then other things that I think I should be watching. Oh, it's happening again.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 25 April 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 4 April 2011
A (Possible) Wrestlemania 27 live blog
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!
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!
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Kaientai Dojo: The rest of 2009
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.
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.
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