The RAW match is a women's tag. I have no preconceptions if this collection of women are any good, except Beth, who I know to be fine. Nine seconds in, and I look for the 'Mute Lawler' button on Windows Media player (I refer to my legal television channels as my Windows Media player. It's just a little fun I like to have, copyright protection lawyers). This ws actually fine. The Bella Twins are competent, and don't look like pretty girls put in a ring with little training to justify their existence in a wrestling promotion. Beth drives the action, as short as it is, and looks as dominant as she ever does. No complaints.
Evan Bourne vs. Zack Ryder is the ECW match. I hoped to be impressed by at least one of them, as Bourne hasn't been as great this year so far (stuff with Henry notwithstanding) and Ryder is just working enhancement guys at the moment. This match was pretty formulaic, but it's a formula that works. Thing I've always liked most about Bourne is that he occassionaly does things that seem unusual. In this match, there's the matwork section with the series of armdrags which smaller guys normally wouldn't do in favour of more opening rope-running. Later, he escapes a sleeperhold into a single leg crab- comeback spots are normally more impactful, whereas Bourne shows here a greater interest in realism and looking less forced. Maybe he hasn't full adopted a template WWE small flyer style, and he's better for it. The great part about his WWE work is that he now has a couple of really spectacular high spots, which he works in much sensibly that an indie flyer would do. Anyway, this match turns out good. Ryder is charismatic enough to carry the middle section working on Bourne's injured ribs well enough before the comeback and hot finish stretch, and Bourne puts in a decent selling performance with the injury.
Main event is Jericho vs. John Morrison. With the horrendous writing Orton's charachter has attracted, Jericho is by far the best heel in the company at this stage, and this match is as much driven by his heel character work as it is Morrison's gymnastics. He even recalls the 2000 last man standing match with HHH, copying the lying on the corner taunt. Morrison suits his face turn - he has an impressive array of moves to show off. He hasn't changed significantly in demeanour except in small ways, such as the way and times he interacts with the crowd. I'm glad he hasn't turned in a grinning, fan-loving, cheery babyface all of a sudden, and prefer the more natural evolution of his character growing to love crowd approval after years of treating them with disdain. The last few minutes of this were exciting, and featured a couple of nice reversals of the Walls. I have no idea how Morrison has space to do a full 360 off a split leg moonsault, but there it was.
This show continues to provide the best hour of WWE TV each week. Who knew professional wrestling fans might enjoy professional wrestling?
Saturday, 13 June 2009
Sunday, 7 June 2009
DRAGON GATE - Infinity 132!
132
Dragon Gate USA Inc. Commemoration Bonus Match: BxB Hulk & PAC vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki
If like me, you like THE MOOOVS, then you'll love this match. All four guys are crisp as hell doing all this mind blowing stuff. PAC is the star in my opinion. He's easily become the best flyer I've ever seen. The stuff he does is unreal. Tanizaki was the glue of the match, holding things together and making sure everything transitioned right. BxB and PAC won after a Shooting Star Kneedrop followed by an E.V.O.P followed by an Inside Out 450 Splash. Got all that?
Cyber Kong vs. Masato Yoshino
Oh what a glorious match this was. These two have the best big man/little man chemistry in wrestling right now. Kong attacked before the bell and squeezed a pineapple all over Yoshi. Awwwwesome. He fired some pineapple debris at the crowd which I would think would hurt if it dinged me in the face. Kong controlled most of the match but Yoshino exposed the weakness of the big man's often injured arm to gain openings for himself. After some nice exchanges down the stretch, Yoshino trapped Cyber in the Sol Naciente Kai for the submission and the giant killing.
Post match Yoshino challenged his partner Doi for the Dream Gate at World. The crowd went banana, and as Doi was about to accept Gamma hit the ring saying he should be getting the shot. Thus Yoshino/Gamma was signed for #1 Contendership.
YAMATO vs. Don Fujii
As great as these two men were here, they were trumped by the greatest man of the day - SUPER SHENLONG. Yes you heard that right. After Yamato forced a double countout two minutes in, Shenlong hit the ring and got all firey and demanded a restart. So the match resumed and there was much interference from Real Hazard and Shenlong. The highlight of this was a series of EPIC FAILS by SS on everything he tried. It was glorious. Needs to be seen to be believed. Eventually it was a screwup on the heel side (Genki hitting Yammy with protein powder) that led to Don getting the cradle pin.
Tremendously entertaining show. You get a great fast paced match, a great big man/little man match, and a ...... well I don't know what to call YAMATO/Don but it was most definitely great.
Infinity 132 - 8/10
Dragon Gate USA Inc. Commemoration Bonus Match: BxB Hulk & PAC vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki
If like me, you like THE MOOOVS, then you'll love this match. All four guys are crisp as hell doing all this mind blowing stuff. PAC is the star in my opinion. He's easily become the best flyer I've ever seen. The stuff he does is unreal. Tanizaki was the glue of the match, holding things together and making sure everything transitioned right. BxB and PAC won after a Shooting Star Kneedrop followed by an E.V.O.P followed by an Inside Out 450 Splash. Got all that?
Cyber Kong vs. Masato Yoshino
Oh what a glorious match this was. These two have the best big man/little man chemistry in wrestling right now. Kong attacked before the bell and squeezed a pineapple all over Yoshi. Awwwwesome. He fired some pineapple debris at the crowd which I would think would hurt if it dinged me in the face. Kong controlled most of the match but Yoshino exposed the weakness of the big man's often injured arm to gain openings for himself. After some nice exchanges down the stretch, Yoshino trapped Cyber in the Sol Naciente Kai for the submission and the giant killing.
Post match Yoshino challenged his partner Doi for the Dream Gate at World. The crowd went banana, and as Doi was about to accept Gamma hit the ring saying he should be getting the shot. Thus Yoshino/Gamma was signed for #1 Contendership.
YAMATO vs. Don Fujii
As great as these two men were here, they were trumped by the greatest man of the day - SUPER SHENLONG. Yes you heard that right. After Yamato forced a double countout two minutes in, Shenlong hit the ring and got all firey and demanded a restart. So the match resumed and there was much interference from Real Hazard and Shenlong. The highlight of this was a series of EPIC FAILS by SS on everything he tried. It was glorious. Needs to be seen to be believed. Eventually it was a screwup on the heel side (Genki hitting Yammy with protein powder) that led to Don getting the cradle pin.
Tremendously entertaining show. You get a great fast paced match, a great big man/little man match, and a ...... well I don't know what to call YAMATO/Don but it was most definitely great.
Infinity 132 - 8/10
Saturday, 6 June 2009
ECW: 2nd June 2009
Opening match is between Mark Henry and Evan Bourne, a rematch from last week. Sometimes I think the WWE has two sorts of feuds - those that start with an issue and lead to a singles match, and those that start with a singles match, and leads to an issue. This is the second sort, designed for TV only. Hopefully its given some time, because it could be really good. The first match had a lot of great Henry monster offence, including a swinging head kick, and a bunch of nice spots as Bourne tries to find a way into the match - his diving knee seated senton to the outside looked great, as Henry took it brilliantly, bumping hard whilst catching still safely Bourne. Bourne takes a countout win, and thus a single match leads to an issue.
This match continues the same theme, though Henry looks even more dominant after his embarrassment over losing last week. The match is a bit short to be worth much on its own, and Bourne doesn't really get a proper comeback before the disqualification finish, which is weaker than the count-out one, because it had nothing to do with Bourne. Still, my expectations are raised that some good stuff will come out of this. Bourne needs something like this - he's not been as interesting as he was last year, and it's great to see Henry not just making up the numbers at the top of the ECW card.
There's a Zack Ryder squash that I don't care about, and Tommy Dreamer vs. Paul Burchill, which is likely his last ECW TV match. The match is pretty mediocre, which somehow seems appropriate. Burchill works pretty aggressively, but he still lacks a purpose - I commented elsewhere last week that he's a larger, technically competent heel on the same show that is being built around Jack Swagger.
Main event is Christian vs. Tyson Kidd. Opening bit of matstuff was fun, and I wish they would ever be a situation where a long mat section between both guys could happen. I enjoyed this a lot - really energetic back and forth stuff, which should go at least a small way to elevating Kidd. Christian takes a nasty looking back bump into the stairs, leading to this week's episode of Christian Shows America What Selling Looks Like. The back injury doesn't get in the way of his comebacks as much as leg work does, but he still remembers it throughout. They get time for a lengthy (and hot) nearfall stretch, before the run-ins. I particularly like how, just like Matt Hardy in 2007, Christian has speeded up his finisher. This was a worthwhile show.
This match continues the same theme, though Henry looks even more dominant after his embarrassment over losing last week. The match is a bit short to be worth much on its own, and Bourne doesn't really get a proper comeback before the disqualification finish, which is weaker than the count-out one, because it had nothing to do with Bourne. Still, my expectations are raised that some good stuff will come out of this. Bourne needs something like this - he's not been as interesting as he was last year, and it's great to see Henry not just making up the numbers at the top of the ECW card.
There's a Zack Ryder squash that I don't care about, and Tommy Dreamer vs. Paul Burchill, which is likely his last ECW TV match. The match is pretty mediocre, which somehow seems appropriate. Burchill works pretty aggressively, but he still lacks a purpose - I commented elsewhere last week that he's a larger, technically competent heel on the same show that is being built around Jack Swagger.
Main event is Christian vs. Tyson Kidd. Opening bit of matstuff was fun, and I wish they would ever be a situation where a long mat section between both guys could happen. I enjoyed this a lot - really energetic back and forth stuff, which should go at least a small way to elevating Kidd. Christian takes a nasty looking back bump into the stairs, leading to this week's episode of Christian Shows America What Selling Looks Like. The back injury doesn't get in the way of his comebacks as much as leg work does, but he still remembers it throughout. They get time for a lengthy (and hot) nearfall stretch, before the run-ins. I particularly like how, just like Matt Hardy in 2007, Christian has speeded up his finisher. This was a worthwhile show.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
AULL: 16th May 2009
Negro Navarro vs. Solar is an absolute can't fail match-up. I'm relatively new to both guys, but I've never been anything other than amazed by the two veterans. Firstly, age has no effect on their pace - these guys can put together some sequences as fast as much younger guys. Secondly, both guys are old-school is the most meaningful definition of the term - their matches are built around the classic psychology of struggle for the upper-hand and superiority. Solar is a permanent technico, but Navarro doesn't wrestle strongly rudo. The focus is on the moves and the grappling, and that is rooted firmly in an old school mentality.
This match here could be a contender for lucha match of the year, and is a title match, so while 2009 has already seen some great instances of Navarro brawling, especially with Black Terry, this is going to hit the mat hard.
The first part of primera caida is a one-upsmanship battle of takedowns. There is an element of increasing complexity to each armdrag or snapmare as a form of posturing to the audience. Solar holds on after a hiptoss, rolls Navarro through into an arm lock and flips his opponent to the mat again in one particularly lovely sequence. From the takedown and reset stuff, they move through one shorter and then one longer sequence of complicated lucha submissions and counters. One of the joys of lucha matwork is the way leverage is used to generate some truly unlikely combinations. From a crucifix armbar submission on his front, Navarro moves into a position to be able to ease the pressure on his arms and follow round into a stretch muffler. Solar counters by taking one of Navarro's legs and moving around until he had the leverage advantage and Navarro was on his back. The blend of elaborate submissions but constant struggle for position is really the pinnacle of lucha matwork. They move into a quick rope running section, with Solar hitting several armdrags, a headscissors and a quebradora, before taking the fall with a submission.
Segunda caida is a more intense Navarro - bearing in mind he's a pretty intense looking guy in the first place - coming out to even the score with leg takedowns and a series of very twisty leg locks. One day I'm going on a course to learn the lucha names for all these submissions. Solar has a few counters here, but Navarro is in full maestro mode, and has a hundred different ways of positioning Solar to lock in another nasty looking hold. The double ankle lock one is really nice, holding on ankle, while locking and twisting the other with his legs. Both guys know to add in little extras that make the battle look harder - loose limbs are grabbed to add an extra contorsion to the submissions; Navarro wrenchs back on a headscissor. Solar seems to take advantage on the rope running section that completes the fall, but Navarro counters a roll-up pin with a complicated sequence of twists that leads to his own cradle pin, and then stops Solar running off the ropes with a rolled through front face lock. This last bit is breathtakingly quick.
The third fall does to an extent capture the idea of a final tussle for the winning combination, but I didn't get a sense of huge drama. There is again some impressive submission stuff in here - Navarro's mid air Indian deathlock is quite a feat of balance, if not strength, as was the campana hold. I liked the exchange between the two tapatias - again, the guys move around to manipulate leverage that makes an unlikely counter seem reasonable. The third fall also had a running section. You get the slight sense that Solar picks it up at the end - his tosses and takedowns seem more forceful. The finish made sense - Navarro misses an elbow, Solar follows up by going for that arm, before using the injury for an armlock/pin combination for the win and the title - but comes across a little flat, as there seems to be nothing particularly special about that particular combination. It's probably fits into their mentality of match-building - the combination of the intricate and unlikely matwork combined with the hard fought sense of struggle - leading to what could be considered a more legitimate-looking finish. Justifiable, but still flat.
Overall, while there is depth to this match, with subtle shifts in control worked throughout, they weren't particularly noteworthy. The wrestling certainly is noteworthy - really great, intense mat work and fast sequences between two guys who could have a good match together whilst actually asleep. A match I'll rank highly, but the lack of a stronger story prevents it from top of my list for the year.
This match here could be a contender for lucha match of the year, and is a title match, so while 2009 has already seen some great instances of Navarro brawling, especially with Black Terry, this is going to hit the mat hard.
The first part of primera caida is a one-upsmanship battle of takedowns. There is an element of increasing complexity to each armdrag or snapmare as a form of posturing to the audience. Solar holds on after a hiptoss, rolls Navarro through into an arm lock and flips his opponent to the mat again in one particularly lovely sequence. From the takedown and reset stuff, they move through one shorter and then one longer sequence of complicated lucha submissions and counters. One of the joys of lucha matwork is the way leverage is used to generate some truly unlikely combinations. From a crucifix armbar submission on his front, Navarro moves into a position to be able to ease the pressure on his arms and follow round into a stretch muffler. Solar counters by taking one of Navarro's legs and moving around until he had the leverage advantage and Navarro was on his back. The blend of elaborate submissions but constant struggle for position is really the pinnacle of lucha matwork. They move into a quick rope running section, with Solar hitting several armdrags, a headscissors and a quebradora, before taking the fall with a submission.
Segunda caida is a more intense Navarro - bearing in mind he's a pretty intense looking guy in the first place - coming out to even the score with leg takedowns and a series of very twisty leg locks. One day I'm going on a course to learn the lucha names for all these submissions. Solar has a few counters here, but Navarro is in full maestro mode, and has a hundred different ways of positioning Solar to lock in another nasty looking hold. The double ankle lock one is really nice, holding on ankle, while locking and twisting the other with his legs. Both guys know to add in little extras that make the battle look harder - loose limbs are grabbed to add an extra contorsion to the submissions; Navarro wrenchs back on a headscissor. Solar seems to take advantage on the rope running section that completes the fall, but Navarro counters a roll-up pin with a complicated sequence of twists that leads to his own cradle pin, and then stops Solar running off the ropes with a rolled through front face lock. This last bit is breathtakingly quick.
The third fall does to an extent capture the idea of a final tussle for the winning combination, but I didn't get a sense of huge drama. There is again some impressive submission stuff in here - Navarro's mid air Indian deathlock is quite a feat of balance, if not strength, as was the campana hold. I liked the exchange between the two tapatias - again, the guys move around to manipulate leverage that makes an unlikely counter seem reasonable. The third fall also had a running section. You get the slight sense that Solar picks it up at the end - his tosses and takedowns seem more forceful. The finish made sense - Navarro misses an elbow, Solar follows up by going for that arm, before using the injury for an armlock/pin combination for the win and the title - but comes across a little flat, as there seems to be nothing particularly special about that particular combination. It's probably fits into their mentality of match-building - the combination of the intricate and unlikely matwork combined with the hard fought sense of struggle - leading to what could be considered a more legitimate-looking finish. Justifiable, but still flat.
Overall, while there is depth to this match, with subtle shifts in control worked throughout, they weren't particularly noteworthy. The wrestling certainly is noteworthy - really great, intense mat work and fast sequences between two guys who could have a good match together whilst actually asleep. A match I'll rank highly, but the lack of a stronger story prevents it from top of my list for the year.
Friday, 29 May 2009
WWE: Superstars 28th May 2009
Been away for a couple of weeks. Having a little marriage and honeymoon. Don't worry. It's over now. Anyway, I come back, and there's a new WWE show which is just wrestling matches, and I LOVE wrestling matches. Last week there was a nice little CM Punk-Jericho match. This week, there's some John Cena. Let's do it.
Tag match between Carlito and Primo and Haas and Benjamin. I am shocked how much of a turnaround Carlito has had since this tag team run. I'm not saying he's a great worker or anything, but he looks happy in the ring, and the team is over. Decent little formula match. Primo is fun to watch - entirely unnecessary flips aside, he does his share of flying around. WGTT cut Primo off and it feels like 2003 again, with Haas and Benjamin working the arm in tandem. The Cryme Tyme interruption ruins the build of the heat section, leading to a lukewarm tag and a flat finish. I assume this builds to something else, but I was all set to recommend to call this decent.
Finlay and Swagger are the ECW match. The four minute ECW match. If this was longer, it would have been pretty great. We could imagine that the story here is that a continually developing Swagger doesn't get bogged down on the mat with Finlay again, who has been shown to match him there. So instead he comes out with a barrage of strikes and impact moves. Finlay manages a couple of comeback spots to make a little competitive, but this is all about elevating Swagger, which is fine.
And... I have now caught up with the basketball thing. Half of my brain feels the response was stupid, childish and that Vince managed to make himself look like the jerk. The other half of my brain contains a reminder that I'm frequently amused by all those things.
Main event is Cena vs. Ted Dibiase, which I'm looking forward to. Cena's like Rock is being a top guy who always looks to elevate anyone he's with, including midcard guys. The Swagger match a couple of weeks a go is a good example. Cena bumps around for Dibiase, and Dibiase comes off as a smarter opponent against Cena's more highly charged character. In fact, although the commentary puts over Dibiase smartness as learning from Orton, Dibiase seems much more cerebral than Orton ever does. Obviously, Dibiase does falling fistdrops, which are great, and he can throw as punch too. There's a nice crossbody roll-through sequence as Cena puts over his strength and lifts Dibiase in the Attitude Adjustment position. Dibiase avoids three attempts at Cena's finisher, which I enjoyed. Cena finally resorts to his secondary submission finish, obviously playing towards the Big Show match on Sunday. Simple, effective TV match, with a clear dynamic and plenty of energy. Good stuff.
A show worth watching on a regular basis, especially as it is all wrestling. I like the concept of a show case show with each brand getting one match. RAW wins this week for best match. I don't usually get time to watch all four WWE shows, so I'll be continuing to watch this and ECW on a regular basis, and trying to post thoughts when I have them (intermittent).
Tag match between Carlito and Primo and Haas and Benjamin. I am shocked how much of a turnaround Carlito has had since this tag team run. I'm not saying he's a great worker or anything, but he looks happy in the ring, and the team is over. Decent little formula match. Primo is fun to watch - entirely unnecessary flips aside, he does his share of flying around. WGTT cut Primo off and it feels like 2003 again, with Haas and Benjamin working the arm in tandem. The Cryme Tyme interruption ruins the build of the heat section, leading to a lukewarm tag and a flat finish. I assume this builds to something else, but I was all set to recommend to call this decent.
Finlay and Swagger are the ECW match. The four minute ECW match. If this was longer, it would have been pretty great. We could imagine that the story here is that a continually developing Swagger doesn't get bogged down on the mat with Finlay again, who has been shown to match him there. So instead he comes out with a barrage of strikes and impact moves. Finlay manages a couple of comeback spots to make a little competitive, but this is all about elevating Swagger, which is fine.
And... I have now caught up with the basketball thing. Half of my brain feels the response was stupid, childish and that Vince managed to make himself look like the jerk. The other half of my brain contains a reminder that I'm frequently amused by all those things.
Main event is Cena vs. Ted Dibiase, which I'm looking forward to. Cena's like Rock is being a top guy who always looks to elevate anyone he's with, including midcard guys. The Swagger match a couple of weeks a go is a good example. Cena bumps around for Dibiase, and Dibiase comes off as a smarter opponent against Cena's more highly charged character. In fact, although the commentary puts over Dibiase smartness as learning from Orton, Dibiase seems much more cerebral than Orton ever does. Obviously, Dibiase does falling fistdrops, which are great, and he can throw as punch too. There's a nice crossbody roll-through sequence as Cena puts over his strength and lifts Dibiase in the Attitude Adjustment position. Dibiase avoids three attempts at Cena's finisher, which I enjoyed. Cena finally resorts to his secondary submission finish, obviously playing towards the Big Show match on Sunday. Simple, effective TV match, with a clear dynamic and plenty of energy. Good stuff.
A show worth watching on a regular basis, especially as it is all wrestling. I like the concept of a show case show with each brand getting one match. RAW wins this week for best match. I don't usually get time to watch all four WWE shows, so I'll be continuing to watch this and ECW on a regular basis, and trying to post thoughts when I have them (intermittent).
Friday, 8 May 2009
DRAGON GATE - Infinity 127, 128, 129!!
A boat load of Infinitys surfaced recently so I'm gonna blast through all of them now so as to not get behind.
127
1. Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka
This match concerned me. Warriors-5 were waaaaaay too schticky for my liking here. I have no problem with Gamma being a part of the group but I don't want the group to become a "Gamma Group" per se. They need to tone down that stuff, it really took from this match alot.
2. Akebono vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Fun squash to get BIG BABY 'BONO over. Mochi won't be hurt by this whatsoever. No problemo.
3. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda & Ryo Saito vs.
Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk
Your average good DG 6 Man with the focus on building Hulk vs. Yamato. Kanda took the fall after some Speed Muscle double team offence. Post match Doi called for a Dream Gate challenger that has never fought for the belt before. Much to his surprise, out walked Akebono. OH SHIT SON! Doi initially looked petrified but then manned up and got all up in the giants face.
What a weird title match we have on our hands.
Weaker than usual Infinity but still perfectly acceptable pro wrestling.
Infinity 127 - 6.5/10
128
YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii
Really fun tag. YAMATO/Mochi interaction is always awesome and this was no exception. Ryo continues to settle nicely into his rudo role and the Big Don was his usual charismatic self. Ryo got the duke over Fuji but his celebration was cut short when Killer Hulk hit the ring and laid him out, but then YAMATO took the opportunity to attack Killer and challenge him for Aichi.
Open the Triangle Gate Title: Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Taku Iwasa (c) vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA
This was great great stuff. Towards the end we started to get some bigtime Korakuen heat and KAGETORA was wrestling like a man possessed. It was tremendous. He was eating big moves like he was starving but 'KAZE couldn't put him down. Eventually CIMA and Gamma came to his rescue and KAG started to turn things around leading to getting a big pinfall win with a SICK Sheer Drop Kekonitteki on Taku. New champs! Little to no Warriors-5 schtick, which is a GOOD thing.
Infinity 128 - 8/10
129
Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda, Cyber Kong
OMG Tozawa vs. YAMMY~!~! This was seriously the greatest thing ever - crazy shrieking, butt butts, random laughter, YAMATO's smirk, duct tape ... I could go on. Surrounding the craziness there was one heck of a TV tag match. Cyber pinned Tozawa with a God damn Ultimae Warrior splash. Unbelievable.
Open the Twin Gate Unified Tag Title Contendership Tournament
- Final: Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk vs. Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito
Doinkloads of interference but for the most part it worked. Crowd was really into the big nearfalls and such down the stretch. They played up Cyber laying out Yoshino multiple times to further their feud nicely. World-1 became overwhelmed by interference so Doi tried to help his buddies and nailed Ryo with a Bakakare but it only got a nearfall. It came down to BxB and Ryo and eventually BxB was put down by a Double-Cross. Good match.
Infinity 129 - 8/10
127
1. Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka
This match concerned me. Warriors-5 were waaaaaay too schticky for my liking here. I have no problem with Gamma being a part of the group but I don't want the group to become a "Gamma Group" per se. They need to tone down that stuff, it really took from this match alot.
2. Akebono vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Fun squash to get BIG BABY 'BONO over. Mochi won't be hurt by this whatsoever. No problemo.
3. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda & Ryo Saito vs.
Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk
Your average good DG 6 Man with the focus on building Hulk vs. Yamato. Kanda took the fall after some Speed Muscle double team offence. Post match Doi called for a Dream Gate challenger that has never fought for the belt before. Much to his surprise, out walked Akebono. OH SHIT SON! Doi initially looked petrified but then manned up and got all up in the giants face.
What a weird title match we have on our hands.
Weaker than usual Infinity but still perfectly acceptable pro wrestling.
Infinity 127 - 6.5/10
128
YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii
Really fun tag. YAMATO/Mochi interaction is always awesome and this was no exception. Ryo continues to settle nicely into his rudo role and the Big Don was his usual charismatic self. Ryo got the duke over Fuji but his celebration was cut short when Killer Hulk hit the ring and laid him out, but then YAMATO took the opportunity to attack Killer and challenge him for Aichi.
Open the Triangle Gate Title: Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Taku Iwasa (c) vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA
This was great great stuff. Towards the end we started to get some bigtime Korakuen heat and KAGETORA was wrestling like a man possessed. It was tremendous. He was eating big moves like he was starving but 'KAZE couldn't put him down. Eventually CIMA and Gamma came to his rescue and KAG started to turn things around leading to getting a big pinfall win with a SICK Sheer Drop Kekonitteki on Taku. New champs! Little to no Warriors-5 schtick, which is a GOOD thing.
Infinity 128 - 8/10
129
Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda, Cyber Kong
OMG Tozawa vs. YAMMY~!~! This was seriously the greatest thing ever - crazy shrieking, butt butts, random laughter, YAMATO's smirk, duct tape ... I could go on. Surrounding the craziness there was one heck of a TV tag match. Cyber pinned Tozawa with a God damn Ultimae Warrior splash. Unbelievable.
Open the Twin Gate Unified Tag Title Contendership Tournament
- Final: Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk vs. Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito
Doinkloads of interference but for the most part it worked. Crowd was really into the big nearfalls and such down the stretch. They played up Cyber laying out Yoshino multiple times to further their feud nicely. World-1 became overwhelmed by interference so Doi tried to help his buddies and nailed Ryo with a Bakakare but it only got a nearfall. It came down to BxB and Ryo and eventually BxB was put down by a Double-Cross. Good match.
Infinity 129 - 8/10
Monday, 4 May 2009
BattlArts: 14th February 2009
My abject disappointment that the world snooker final ended early is replaced by the realisation that I had downloaded matches from BattlArts February show. BattlArts - like snooker, except they punch for real.
First up, Otsuka vs. Yamamoto. Otsuka is my favourite guy in the promotion, and Yamamoto is an undercard guy who seems to be ignored in favour of Yoshikawa in some parts (although not at Wrestling KO, which is why I'm excited about this). The match, though only ten minutes long, is fantastic, and is currently my puro match of the year. The first five minute are all mat exchanges. I knew already that Otsuka is great in complex, intricate matwork and he is here, with loads of slick escapes that moves credibly into the next hold or struggle over the next submission. What I wasn't expecting was for this to be nearly matched by Yamamoto, who has his own line of counters into leg submissions and really contorted, leveraged holds.
Otsuka surprises Yamamoto by abandoning the mat section first, dropping him with a piledriver. The most legitimate, wrong piledriver in the world. The story is then Yamamoto's head versus Otsuka's leg. They do a lovely section where Otsuka goes for his giant swing, which Yamamoto fights into a front headlock, which Otsuka turns into brainbuster. The ending stretch is great - Otsuka goes for a number of head-drop suplexes between headbutts and kicks to the face, while Yamamoto fights for his leg bar, before finally taking one head drop too many. Everything is done with such focus here that the ten minutes it's given is used as well as can be. Great matwork, fantastic selling and a dramatic final struggle all make for an early contender for match of the year, and place both guys comfortably into the top 20 workers of the year.
Usuda (with hair) vs. Yoshikawa next. This got really good. Opening eight minutes or so were fine - nice strikes (especially the opening, with Yoshikawa surprising Usuda and knocking him ridiculous for a second) and good matwork exchanges. They establish some themes early on - Usuda's arm bar is quickly escaped, and Yoshikawa begins the leg work. The turning point is the long leg submission on Usuda, quickly followed by a couple more. Usuda is really great selling in the hold, and although there were a couple of points early on where he kicked with it, at the point where the leg really became the story, this ended. Yoshikawa is pretty relentless here, meaning that the veteran Usuda needs something desperate to turn the tide. This takes the form of the punt - the one he did against Yano last year was nasty, but this one split Yoshikawa open. From there, a series of wrenching arm submissions is enough for a hard-fought victory. The match had the feel of a sporting encounter where youthful energy and intensity dominates, but veteran instincts manage to claw a win out of a desperate situation. Excellent work.
The main event tag was less impressive. It was certainly less driven by any underlying story, and I didn't think the actual work was as interesting. You can normally rely on Super Tiger for some wild kicks, but they were noticeably weaker here, and at one stage he seems unsure what to do - Ishikawa and Yano are in the middle, and Sawa comes in with a kick to help his partner. Super Tiger, in the mean time, stands in his opponent's corner not doing anything. The Yano and Sawa team are fine - they can work around the mat competently, and Sawa is all youthful exuberance, running around and kicking everything that moves and is called Super Tiger or Yuki Ishikawa. Ishikawa is his usual great self - he work almost entirely with strikes and matwork, but makes everything interesting. Take his exchange with Sawa in the middle. They fight over an ankle lock, and Ishikawa combines this with a boot right in Sawa's face. His matwork sections are a highlight - the control and the use of leverage or a stray limb to gain an advantage make for great looking sequences, but there isn't enough of him in this match to make it particularly noteworthy.
Overall, this show continues from 2008 in establishing BattlArts matches as a definite fixture in my end-of-year ballot. The two singles, in particular, are a bit special.
First up, Otsuka vs. Yamamoto. Otsuka is my favourite guy in the promotion, and Yamamoto is an undercard guy who seems to be ignored in favour of Yoshikawa in some parts (although not at Wrestling KO, which is why I'm excited about this). The match, though only ten minutes long, is fantastic, and is currently my puro match of the year. The first five minute are all mat exchanges. I knew already that Otsuka is great in complex, intricate matwork and he is here, with loads of slick escapes that moves credibly into the next hold or struggle over the next submission. What I wasn't expecting was for this to be nearly matched by Yamamoto, who has his own line of counters into leg submissions and really contorted, leveraged holds.
Otsuka surprises Yamamoto by abandoning the mat section first, dropping him with a piledriver. The most legitimate, wrong piledriver in the world. The story is then Yamamoto's head versus Otsuka's leg. They do a lovely section where Otsuka goes for his giant swing, which Yamamoto fights into a front headlock, which Otsuka turns into brainbuster. The ending stretch is great - Otsuka goes for a number of head-drop suplexes between headbutts and kicks to the face, while Yamamoto fights for his leg bar, before finally taking one head drop too many. Everything is done with such focus here that the ten minutes it's given is used as well as can be. Great matwork, fantastic selling and a dramatic final struggle all make for an early contender for match of the year, and place both guys comfortably into the top 20 workers of the year.
Usuda (with hair) vs. Yoshikawa next. This got really good. Opening eight minutes or so were fine - nice strikes (especially the opening, with Yoshikawa surprising Usuda and knocking him ridiculous for a second) and good matwork exchanges. They establish some themes early on - Usuda's arm bar is quickly escaped, and Yoshikawa begins the leg work. The turning point is the long leg submission on Usuda, quickly followed by a couple more. Usuda is really great selling in the hold, and although there were a couple of points early on where he kicked with it, at the point where the leg really became the story, this ended. Yoshikawa is pretty relentless here, meaning that the veteran Usuda needs something desperate to turn the tide. This takes the form of the punt - the one he did against Yano last year was nasty, but this one split Yoshikawa open. From there, a series of wrenching arm submissions is enough for a hard-fought victory. The match had the feel of a sporting encounter where youthful energy and intensity dominates, but veteran instincts manage to claw a win out of a desperate situation. Excellent work.
The main event tag was less impressive. It was certainly less driven by any underlying story, and I didn't think the actual work was as interesting. You can normally rely on Super Tiger for some wild kicks, but they were noticeably weaker here, and at one stage he seems unsure what to do - Ishikawa and Yano are in the middle, and Sawa comes in with a kick to help his partner. Super Tiger, in the mean time, stands in his opponent's corner not doing anything. The Yano and Sawa team are fine - they can work around the mat competently, and Sawa is all youthful exuberance, running around and kicking everything that moves and is called Super Tiger or Yuki Ishikawa. Ishikawa is his usual great self - he work almost entirely with strikes and matwork, but makes everything interesting. Take his exchange with Sawa in the middle. They fight over an ankle lock, and Ishikawa combines this with a boot right in Sawa's face. His matwork sections are a highlight - the control and the use of leverage or a stray limb to gain an advantage make for great looking sequences, but there isn't enough of him in this match to make it particularly noteworthy.
Overall, this show continues from 2008 in establishing BattlArts matches as a definite fixture in my end-of-year ballot. The two singles, in particular, are a bit special.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Big Japan: July to October shows (part one)
I've been working through all the Big Japan shows since the last one I reviewed in full. Come 2009, I'll start on show-by-show reviews, as Big Japan is moving towards my favourite promotion in Japan. My girlfriend has recently looked over my shoulder whilst I've been watching these shows, expressing disgust at the gory deathmatch stuff. I explained to her the validity of watching deathmatch wrestling as something other than morbid. I talked at length about a basic psychology of professional wrestling matches which build towards a certain winning move, something teased by early attempts, or something which logically follows from wear down hold. I elucidated that the weapon based offence of these match is just a tool and mechanism for telling the same story, but instead of finishing moves, the winning blow is the big hardcore spot.
Anyway, she'd walked off a long time before I finished this thesis, which is probably for the best because the next line was, "plus, some of this stuff is really cool", which lacks a certain intellectual rigour.
What's been good in the second half of 2008? Let's do this by type of match, of which there are basically four in Big Japan. Firstly, the MEN's Club matches. Most shows, especially the bigger ones have one. To be honest, a lot of these matches, especially in the final bit, are entirely interchangeable, but they do a good line in continuous motion wrestling. Watching these matches is furiously entertaining, which is really there purpose. They do have a small degree of continuity between matches, generally with some issue between a couple of the guys, which tends to get lost amongst all the other action. They also tend to play off comedy spots from match to match, taking the joke a little further, or doing something else with it.
I know the October 27th match got mentioned by several people as the pick of the bunch, but I certainly can't find reason to single it out. The stuff with Onryu and Sato was amusing, playing off the previous month's eight-man. MEN's stuff, especially with Shinobu is always nice - they do a spot where MEN's uses Shinobu to charge into one of the other guys in the corner, and keeps reversing the Irish whip so Shinobu is always the one running into the corner. Then he uses his as a projectile and catapults him. Actually, thinking about this, the seven-way UWA Middleweight title match from August 18th might be my favourite for number of entertaining spots - the invisible sword, and the human chain submission bit stand out in my head. Anyway, it's all very simple and fun, and exactly the sort of thing that undercards need.
Second type of matches is the non-hardcore heavyweight stuff, usually based around Sekimoto and Mammoth. They won the tag belts in July, and have defended them a few times. My general impression of these isn't particularly favourable. Nothing actively bad, but also nothing I can really recommend. The September 14th match against Numazawa and Kasai is the best of the lot - it breaks down into a brawl early on (and a good one), with Kasai and Numazawa taking a load of shortcuts having earlier indicated they wanted a straight wrestling match. Mammoth was a lot of fun here.
Also need to mention the rookies. This, to me, is one of the most positive aspects of Big Japan is the amount of time they have spent in the past year in building up a new generation of guys to freshen up the entire card - they have newer guys in their deathmatches in Hoshino and Isami, as well as new guys in their non-hardcore stuff. Hoshino is fantastic as a slightly unlikely-looking wrestler who will take a bunch of crazy bumps (especially onto the edge of ladders and tables) and even more of a beating. His August 18th hardcore match with MASADA, blowing off their summer feud, was surprisingly great - wild brawling all around Korakuen, Hoshino takes a suplex off a raised seating area, loads of big, nasty looking nearfalls with the drama of Hoshino trying to sneak a upset victory. MASADA is a guy I never really liked until recently, and I can't quite put my finger on why that has been. He is a bit workmanlike (in a good way) in his matches, moving between each spot with a sense of purpose. He's also suitably reckless with some of his weapon stuff - which only makes a guy like Hoshino more sympathetic for his eventual comeback. His match with Takeshi Sasaki on November 1st was almost as fun. MASADA dominates again (using his head sticks in a spot that appalled my girlfriend more than anything else she happened to see), and Sasaki gets to play more of an underdog than he usually would, is is pretty good in that role. And his roundhouse kick is better than anyone else in wrestling.
Big Japan, to confuse me, now have two S. Ishikawa's, and even now I can't quite remember which name goes to which guy. Shinya Ishikawa is working non-hardcore tag team undercard stuff. He's energetic and works hard, and he could be useful, although I've been enjoying the stockier Okabayashi in those matches. I shall call him mini-Sekimoto. He's like Sekimoto, only one-eighth the size (of seven Sekimotos). Shuji Ishikawa is a bigger guy, and although he's not been around as much, I think I'm going to enjoy his work - he has a simple offence, but uses his size well. I know in 2009 he tags with Ito a lot, and I'm looking forward to seeing him on a more regular basis, both in deathmatch and non-deathmatch stuff. The standout match for me so far is from October 27th, in a six-man hardcore match with Ito and other rookie Takeda, which was a lot of fun. Ito's been tagging with the rookies a lot, which gives those matches an smart simple story - the young guys end up taking a lot of offence from the more experienced opponents, while Ito tries, ultimately in vain, to get into the match and take control. Shuji Ishikawa presence changed this a bit - he's a lot more dominant, as a bigger guy, making the match slightly more even.
I'll talk about Isami next time. Next time: deathmatches. And Isami.
Anyway, she'd walked off a long time before I finished this thesis, which is probably for the best because the next line was, "plus, some of this stuff is really cool", which lacks a certain intellectual rigour.
What's been good in the second half of 2008? Let's do this by type of match, of which there are basically four in Big Japan. Firstly, the MEN's Club matches. Most shows, especially the bigger ones have one. To be honest, a lot of these matches, especially in the final bit, are entirely interchangeable, but they do a good line in continuous motion wrestling. Watching these matches is furiously entertaining, which is really there purpose. They do have a small degree of continuity between matches, generally with some issue between a couple of the guys, which tends to get lost amongst all the other action. They also tend to play off comedy spots from match to match, taking the joke a little further, or doing something else with it.
I know the October 27th match got mentioned by several people as the pick of the bunch, but I certainly can't find reason to single it out. The stuff with Onryu and Sato was amusing, playing off the previous month's eight-man. MEN's stuff, especially with Shinobu is always nice - they do a spot where MEN's uses Shinobu to charge into one of the other guys in the corner, and keeps reversing the Irish whip so Shinobu is always the one running into the corner. Then he uses his as a projectile and catapults him. Actually, thinking about this, the seven-way UWA Middleweight title match from August 18th might be my favourite for number of entertaining spots - the invisible sword, and the human chain submission bit stand out in my head. Anyway, it's all very simple and fun, and exactly the sort of thing that undercards need.
Second type of matches is the non-hardcore heavyweight stuff, usually based around Sekimoto and Mammoth. They won the tag belts in July, and have defended them a few times. My general impression of these isn't particularly favourable. Nothing actively bad, but also nothing I can really recommend. The September 14th match against Numazawa and Kasai is the best of the lot - it breaks down into a brawl early on (and a good one), with Kasai and Numazawa taking a load of shortcuts having earlier indicated they wanted a straight wrestling match. Mammoth was a lot of fun here.
Also need to mention the rookies. This, to me, is one of the most positive aspects of Big Japan is the amount of time they have spent in the past year in building up a new generation of guys to freshen up the entire card - they have newer guys in their deathmatches in Hoshino and Isami, as well as new guys in their non-hardcore stuff. Hoshino is fantastic as a slightly unlikely-looking wrestler who will take a bunch of crazy bumps (especially onto the edge of ladders and tables) and even more of a beating. His August 18th hardcore match with MASADA, blowing off their summer feud, was surprisingly great - wild brawling all around Korakuen, Hoshino takes a suplex off a raised seating area, loads of big, nasty looking nearfalls with the drama of Hoshino trying to sneak a upset victory. MASADA is a guy I never really liked until recently, and I can't quite put my finger on why that has been. He is a bit workmanlike (in a good way) in his matches, moving between each spot with a sense of purpose. He's also suitably reckless with some of his weapon stuff - which only makes a guy like Hoshino more sympathetic for his eventual comeback. His match with Takeshi Sasaki on November 1st was almost as fun. MASADA dominates again (using his head sticks in a spot that appalled my girlfriend more than anything else she happened to see), and Sasaki gets to play more of an underdog than he usually would, is is pretty good in that role. And his roundhouse kick is better than anyone else in wrestling.
Big Japan, to confuse me, now have two S. Ishikawa's, and even now I can't quite remember which name goes to which guy. Shinya Ishikawa is working non-hardcore tag team undercard stuff. He's energetic and works hard, and he could be useful, although I've been enjoying the stockier Okabayashi in those matches. I shall call him mini-Sekimoto. He's like Sekimoto, only one-eighth the size (of seven Sekimotos). Shuji Ishikawa is a bigger guy, and although he's not been around as much, I think I'm going to enjoy his work - he has a simple offence, but uses his size well. I know in 2009 he tags with Ito a lot, and I'm looking forward to seeing him on a more regular basis, both in deathmatch and non-deathmatch stuff. The standout match for me so far is from October 27th, in a six-man hardcore match with Ito and other rookie Takeda, which was a lot of fun. Ito's been tagging with the rookies a lot, which gives those matches an smart simple story - the young guys end up taking a lot of offence from the more experienced opponents, while Ito tries, ultimately in vain, to get into the match and take control. Shuji Ishikawa presence changed this a bit - he's a lot more dominant, as a bigger guy, making the match slightly more even.
I'll talk about Isami next time. Next time: deathmatches. And Isami.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
WWE: Backlash 2009
I've been watching quite a lot of things, but haven't written much - though the number of drafts I have saved is getting a little silly. There will be more soon, including the rest of the Champion's Carnival, as it emerges, and some lucha.
I realised I didn't even write about Wrestlemania, mainly because I didn't have much to add. Taker vs. Michaels was an obvious highlight, but I'm not sold on it as being WWE match of the year, let alone anything more all-encompassing. First ten minutes are pretty standard stuff, and Michaels submission work is tedious. Everything from the dives onwards is fantastic though - a perfect count-out spot, and excellent selling through the finishers section. This was aided by both men having a number of big moves, but I don't want to take anything away from them here - the best possible version of these WWE clash of legends-type epics. The main event left a bad taste, and was a quite considerable waste of Orton's work and character development since, roughly, the summer of 2007.
But on to this show. Opener is a rematch of my current MOTY between Jack Swagger and Christian. It was another great match, and the best thing on the show. I didn't think it was as good as the TV match, but that was predictable as they were in the opener, but there were a few little bits that didn't click quite as well. That said, the elements that I loved about the title match were present here - like Swagger continuing to grow as a ring general and Christian's selling. Thought they ran out of steam a little bit at the end (and I couldn't reasonable attribute that to portraying fatigue), and the cheap finish is a bit unnecessary, though I understand why they feel the need to protect Swagger like that (maybe if he hadn't taken quite so many pinfalls in February they wouldn't need to). Swagger shows again he can control the middle section of a match with interesting work, setting up an exciting finish, as if he had been doing it for years.
I thought the thing that the Steamboat-Jericho match suffered from, for me at least, was being on the opposite end of the expectations game as before the Mania match. The surprise of how great (relatively) Steamboat looked there increased everyone's expectations and hype to the extent that you almost started to believe he was as good as he ever was. What is actually, objectively true is that Steamboat is an older man, but one who still knows how to put together a match. His offence isn't as crisp or as strong (though of all the 80s legends to wrestle nostalgia matches in this decade, no-one has looked better) but he can still sell like a champion. Watching him this last month has be great, and if this is his final run, it has been a fitting tribute - he's been involved in three really entertaining matches, and not looked out of place with much younger guys. I think we should be wary, however, of seeing them (particularly the two on pay-per-view) as much more than good, really well executed nostalgia matches, simply because others in his position has been so embarrassingly poor.
The Hardy's match was fine, and the ending was an interesting idea. I liked how they didn't go crazy with the TLC spots, instead saving one for the end. Matt's is great as a heel, continuing on a two year streak of being great. Michael Cole manages to come out with the stupidest line of the night when he said that there were no submissions in this match as the only way to win is to say "I Quit". Did you ever even watch Flair-Funk? CM Punk vs. Kane similarly was fine, with some smart arm work, and the double armed chokeslam at the end was maybe the best thing Kane has ever done in a wrestling match. Punk's ability to lose without ruining his push is a useful thing for the bookers, and he has entertaining matches with bigger guys - see his matches with Batista last year.
Main events take up nearly half the show. The six-man was well put together - opening face dominance, two distinct heat sections, hot tag and finisher spots is an established classic, and everyone was working hard (even HHH, who wasn't really in the match until the end, but who impressed with noticeable reactions to the ring action). Nobody (especially on commentary) remembers the 2000 six man tag for HHH title (with Rock, Taker and Kane on one side of the greatest mismatch in history), but this was thousands of times better. Orton is great - he's the best heel in the company (a company which currently employs Chris Jericho). His character is deranged, and vain, but not comically so. I loved the finish - the mistake that cost Trips the match wasn't goofy, they got a great nearfall out of the RKO, Orton looked fantastic lining up the punt, and even better grabbing the belt and marching off with it without even an acknoledgement to the crowd. If he doesn't keep that belt for a long run, they have missed yet another trick.
I thought the last man standing title match was good, but not great. Maybe these matches have been ruined for me by Jericho-HHH, which may still be one of my favourite matches of the decade, but for one thing, I expect at least some blood (I'm a sensible, mild-mannered 25 year old with two degrees from Oxford University, before you judge me). Wrestling grudge matches, especially ones with a violent tradition, need blood. It's not so much about being a gore-fan as much as supporting (in a long-established wrestling way) the story trying to be told. A near thirty minute match, where both guys are trying to render the other unconcious definitely requires something more than the usual main even finishers exchange and announce desk bump. The spotlight stunt finish, while visually shocking, also doesn't sit particularly well with me. It's too overgimmicked and special-effects driven for me. Basically, I thought there was a lack of balance and build - instead of increasingly violent near-finishes culminating in one final can't-top-this-spot, there was WWE main event near-finishes, culminating with an angle.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the match, nor the performances of both men within those limitations. First of all, I was shocked to find it was a thirty minute match. Secondly, the ten-counts were well-worked - the flipside of them not going particularly violent for most of the match was that they could credibly do regular ten-count spots without it seeming like overkill. Thirdly, Cena is pretty much the only guy I've enjoyed watching Edge go against in a year. It's entirely intangible, but in there with Cena, Edge seems like a main-eventer. Against any other top name, he's always seemed out of place.
Great show, overall - nothing bad, plenty of entertainment and variety and a few surprises, which is exactly what I watch WWE shows for, and which, when they get it right, they can do better than anyone else.
I realised I didn't even write about Wrestlemania, mainly because I didn't have much to add. Taker vs. Michaels was an obvious highlight, but I'm not sold on it as being WWE match of the year, let alone anything more all-encompassing. First ten minutes are pretty standard stuff, and Michaels submission work is tedious. Everything from the dives onwards is fantastic though - a perfect count-out spot, and excellent selling through the finishers section. This was aided by both men having a number of big moves, but I don't want to take anything away from them here - the best possible version of these WWE clash of legends-type epics. The main event left a bad taste, and was a quite considerable waste of Orton's work and character development since, roughly, the summer of 2007.
But on to this show. Opener is a rematch of my current MOTY between Jack Swagger and Christian. It was another great match, and the best thing on the show. I didn't think it was as good as the TV match, but that was predictable as they were in the opener, but there were a few little bits that didn't click quite as well. That said, the elements that I loved about the title match were present here - like Swagger continuing to grow as a ring general and Christian's selling. Thought they ran out of steam a little bit at the end (and I couldn't reasonable attribute that to portraying fatigue), and the cheap finish is a bit unnecessary, though I understand why they feel the need to protect Swagger like that (maybe if he hadn't taken quite so many pinfalls in February they wouldn't need to). Swagger shows again he can control the middle section of a match with interesting work, setting up an exciting finish, as if he had been doing it for years.
I thought the thing that the Steamboat-Jericho match suffered from, for me at least, was being on the opposite end of the expectations game as before the Mania match. The surprise of how great (relatively) Steamboat looked there increased everyone's expectations and hype to the extent that you almost started to believe he was as good as he ever was. What is actually, objectively true is that Steamboat is an older man, but one who still knows how to put together a match. His offence isn't as crisp or as strong (though of all the 80s legends to wrestle nostalgia matches in this decade, no-one has looked better) but he can still sell like a champion. Watching him this last month has be great, and if this is his final run, it has been a fitting tribute - he's been involved in three really entertaining matches, and not looked out of place with much younger guys. I think we should be wary, however, of seeing them (particularly the two on pay-per-view) as much more than good, really well executed nostalgia matches, simply because others in his position has been so embarrassingly poor.
The Hardy's match was fine, and the ending was an interesting idea. I liked how they didn't go crazy with the TLC spots, instead saving one for the end. Matt's is great as a heel, continuing on a two year streak of being great. Michael Cole manages to come out with the stupidest line of the night when he said that there were no submissions in this match as the only way to win is to say "I Quit". Did you ever even watch Flair-Funk? CM Punk vs. Kane similarly was fine, with some smart arm work, and the double armed chokeslam at the end was maybe the best thing Kane has ever done in a wrestling match. Punk's ability to lose without ruining his push is a useful thing for the bookers, and he has entertaining matches with bigger guys - see his matches with Batista last year.
Main events take up nearly half the show. The six-man was well put together - opening face dominance, two distinct heat sections, hot tag and finisher spots is an established classic, and everyone was working hard (even HHH, who wasn't really in the match until the end, but who impressed with noticeable reactions to the ring action). Nobody (especially on commentary) remembers the 2000 six man tag for HHH title (with Rock, Taker and Kane on one side of the greatest mismatch in history), but this was thousands of times better. Orton is great - he's the best heel in the company (a company which currently employs Chris Jericho). His character is deranged, and vain, but not comically so. I loved the finish - the mistake that cost Trips the match wasn't goofy, they got a great nearfall out of the RKO, Orton looked fantastic lining up the punt, and even better grabbing the belt and marching off with it without even an acknoledgement to the crowd. If he doesn't keep that belt for a long run, they have missed yet another trick.
I thought the last man standing title match was good, but not great. Maybe these matches have been ruined for me by Jericho-HHH, which may still be one of my favourite matches of the decade, but for one thing, I expect at least some blood (I'm a sensible, mild-mannered 25 year old with two degrees from Oxford University, before you judge me). Wrestling grudge matches, especially ones with a violent tradition, need blood. It's not so much about being a gore-fan as much as supporting (in a long-established wrestling way) the story trying to be told. A near thirty minute match, where both guys are trying to render the other unconcious definitely requires something more than the usual main even finishers exchange and announce desk bump. The spotlight stunt finish, while visually shocking, also doesn't sit particularly well with me. It's too overgimmicked and special-effects driven for me. Basically, I thought there was a lack of balance and build - instead of increasingly violent near-finishes culminating in one final can't-top-this-spot, there was WWE main event near-finishes, culminating with an angle.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy the match, nor the performances of both men within those limitations. First of all, I was shocked to find it was a thirty minute match. Secondly, the ten-counts were well-worked - the flipside of them not going particularly violent for most of the match was that they could credibly do regular ten-count spots without it seeming like overkill. Thirdly, Cena is pretty much the only guy I've enjoyed watching Edge go against in a year. It's entirely intangible, but in there with Cena, Edge seems like a main-eventer. Against any other top name, he's always seemed out of place.
Great show, overall - nothing bad, plenty of entertainment and variety and a few surprises, which is exactly what I watch WWE shows for, and which, when they get it right, they can do better than anyone else.
Monday, 27 April 2009
DRAGON GATE - Infinity 126!
And now we're into post-Gate Of Anniversary stuff, and on the road to the "DEAD OR ALIVE" PPV.
126
Fukui City Gymnasium
1,250 Fans
Cyber Kong & Yasushi Kanda vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki
First time I've ever seen DG in this building. Pretty cool looking and the crowd rules. So anyway, yeah A NAOKI TANIZAKI MATCH~!, let the greatness roll. Kong looked good being all powerhousy and Kanda was good in the general type roll for his team. Naoki sold his ass off and brought the charisma and energy. The hot tag to Doi was awesome as he's up there with Roderick Strong when it comes to great houses of fire. Real Hazard won after a PINEAPPLE BOMBER, and a newly bald Anthony Dubyah Mori hit the ring to get him some but he was overwhelmed. The save was made by Masato Yoshino of all people, and the crowd went nutrageous.
YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk
Yoshino got a ridiculous pop for his entrance. It's not his hometown so I dunno what the deal is. For some reason watching Hulk wrestle seemed very fresh. Maybe he hasn't been on alot of episodes recently, I dunno. YAMMY and Ryo make a heck of a sleaze ball team. Hulk had some new offence such as a Flipping Capture Suplex which was rad. Ryo pinned BxB with a new finisher called THE DOUBLECROSS (picture armed crossed Razors Edge). Post match promo's building to YAMATO and Hulk down the line.
Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA
Main event time and this was awesome. W-5 are so entertaining and KAGE is a beast of a worker. The KAMIKAZE side, of course as we all know is beyond awesome. Lots of heat between Shingo and KAGE here, God how much would that singles match rule. CIMA continued to look good since his latest comeback, which is a good sign since he doesn't appear to be getting a reduced role or anything. Anyway finish came down to KAGE and Tozawa and the former Juku leader put up his usual good fight until KAGE put him down with the Ikkitousen.
Afterwards we got a big brawl breaking out between about 12 guys on the roster and it was great because it solidified that all the factions are at war with each other.
Really good episode. Loved all the matches, and the crowd was hot.
Infinity 126 - 8/10
126
Fukui City Gymnasium
1,250 Fans
Cyber Kong & Yasushi Kanda vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki
First time I've ever seen DG in this building. Pretty cool looking and the crowd rules. So anyway, yeah A NAOKI TANIZAKI MATCH~!, let the greatness roll. Kong looked good being all powerhousy and Kanda was good in the general type roll for his team. Naoki sold his ass off and brought the charisma and energy. The hot tag to Doi was awesome as he's up there with Roderick Strong when it comes to great houses of fire. Real Hazard won after a PINEAPPLE BOMBER, and a newly bald Anthony Dubyah Mori hit the ring to get him some but he was overwhelmed. The save was made by Masato Yoshino of all people, and the crowd went nutrageous.
YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk
Yoshino got a ridiculous pop for his entrance. It's not his hometown so I dunno what the deal is. For some reason watching Hulk wrestle seemed very fresh. Maybe he hasn't been on alot of episodes recently, I dunno. YAMMY and Ryo make a heck of a sleaze ball team. Hulk had some new offence such as a Flipping Capture Suplex which was rad. Ryo pinned BxB with a new finisher called THE DOUBLECROSS (picture armed crossed Razors Edge). Post match promo's building to YAMATO and Hulk down the line.
Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA
Main event time and this was awesome. W-5 are so entertaining and KAGE is a beast of a worker. The KAMIKAZE side, of course as we all know is beyond awesome. Lots of heat between Shingo and KAGE here, God how much would that singles match rule. CIMA continued to look good since his latest comeback, which is a good sign since he doesn't appear to be getting a reduced role or anything. Anyway finish came down to KAGE and Tozawa and the former Juku leader put up his usual good fight until KAGE put him down with the Ikkitousen.
Afterwards we got a big brawl breaking out between about 12 guys on the roster and it was great because it solidified that all the factions are at war with each other.
Really good episode. Loved all the matches, and the crowd was hot.
Infinity 126 - 8/10
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